At the foot of Fenghuang Mountain, by the Xiaofu River, Bogu County and Yanshen Ancient Town.
Zhao Xiaolou carried a gun on his shoulder, a marching backpack on his back, and leggings on his legs. He followed the team from the city and headed north along the Xiaofu River.
The autumn air is crisp and clear, and the green gauze tents are no longer visible in the fields by the river.
The autumnal equinox has passed, and large areas of summer corn have been harvested. All the mountain valleys and slopes, and the corn fields are covered with a layer of yellow. The farmers are happily harvesting corn in the fields, and the willow baskets are filled with corn cobs.
Straw bag.
The men happily picked up the heavy corns, their faces full of harvest joy.
After staying in the mountains for a long time, it was rare to come to the foot of the mountain. Zhao Xiaolou and his party felt very excited. Seeing the joy of this harvest, they also felt inexplicably happy.
"This year's corn harvest is quite good!"
"This corn cob is so big."
"It seems that the locusts have little impact."
Captain Liu said, "The corn has been harvested this late, so it's time to plant wheat."
There was so much corn harvest that even the soldiers of the Shence Army passing by felt happy.
Their trip was going to Zhangdian Town, a hundred miles away.
Zhangdian, Jinling, and Yanshen Town were the three major towns in Zichuan at this time. At this time, two of the three towns were under the control of Qingzhou Prefecture under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and only one Zhangdian Town was under the control of the Qing army in Jinan Prefecture.
Now in the autumn harvest season, Shence Town, who has been training hard at Qingshi Pass, finally got the mission to send troops, attacking Tai'an Prefecture all the way, and entering Jinan Prefecture all the way.
Zhao Xiaolou and the others headed into Jinan and headed for Zhangdian.
At the time of the corn harvest, the Ming army would begin to harvest grain. They would buy grain from the people, attack the Qing troops who went to the countryside to collect grain, and even seize some township strongholds to further squeeze the Qing army's space.
"Why is this river called the Filial Woman River? Have there been any famous filial women in the past?" Zhang Tiezhu asked.
"Didn't Vice Captain Liu say it before? If you don't listen well,"
"Vice Captain Liu, please tell me more."
At this time, the team had just left Qingshi Pass and headed north through Yanshen Town. Although they had already entered Jinan Prefecture, this area had actually always been the sphere of influence of the Ming Army. The nearby gentry and people were also protected by the Ming Army. The Qing Army
They didn't dare to come, so the people came to see the Ming army when they had anything to do, and everyone was more relaxed.
Even the armor was packed and carried on the back, and they moved forward lightly.
"Okay, speaking of the Xiaofu River, there is a myth and legend that has been circulating for a long time. This is also related to the fact that our Boshan County used to be called Yanshen Town. It is said that there used to be a woman named Yan Wenjiang in Qi.
Young and widowed, she still respected her parents-in-law, served them carefully, and fetched sweet water from far away, without being interrupted by the severe cold or the scorching heat of midsummer. Finally, God was moved, and the spiritual spring was born in Yan Wenjiang's room.
But her vicious mother-in-law became suspicious when she saw that she no longer carried water but had water every day. She found an excuse to send her daughter-in-law out of the house and went into Yan Wenjiang's room to pick up the cover of the spiritual spring.
Women's River."
Later, it became Lingquan Town. In the Tang Dynasty, someone built a Yan Wenjiang Temple in the town, which the Tang people collectively called the Xiaofu Temple. In the Song Dynasty, some people even said that she was a descendant of Yan Hui, and from then on she was honored as a saint.
, was named Lady Shunde by the imperial court, and Yan Wenjiang Temple was also inscribed as Lingquan Temple.
As time went by, Lingquan Town was gradually called Yanshen Town and became more and more lively. Our emperor specially designated it as Boshan County.
Although Boshan is a county, it is surrounded by mountains and has little and barren land. The upper and lower fourth-class land is only more than 70,000 acres, of which the upper and middle second-class land only has 17,000 acres. The agricultural income cannot even meet the people's rations, but the mountains here are
Duoye is rich in minerals, including coal, iron, lead and other minerals. In the Ming Dynasty, due to the remoteness of the mountainous area, the private mining industry was very developed. A few families, three or five pickaxes, a few lamps, a few ropes, and a wheel were enough.
Coal can be mined, so there are a large number of privately owned small mines and a large number of miners here.
The developed private mining industry has also driven the ceramic kiln industry here. The clay near the coal seam is an important material for burning porcelain, and coal is a good fuel for burning porcelain.
Yanshen porcelain is cheap and hard in texture, so it is very popular in Shandong.
After the Shence Army stationed in Yanshen Town and Qingshi Pass, the place quickly returned to its former glory. Even the move of the capital to Dengzhou made the place more prosperous. The imperial court's support for mining, porcelain kilns and other industries and commerce made this place reach a level of
new heights.
After the influx of a large number of refugees from Shandong, the imperial court recruited refugees to settle here and promoted the planting of corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sorghum, etc. Miscellaneous grains were planted all over the mountains and slopes, including Qingdao, Laizhou, Haizhou, etc.
The food that is constantly being transported from the ground has greatly made this place prosperous.
Therefore, not only Yanshen Town, but also the villages on the border with Jinan are very supportive of the Ming Dynasty.
Locusts broke out twice this year, and there were sub-heavy floods in summer. The Yellow River Flood Area was swamped, and people suffered a lot.
The Ming Dynasty actively provided disaster relief, and especially issued orders to encourage people to catch locusts, dig up locust eggs, and transport food to purchase locusts and locust eggs from the victims.
You can exchange food for locusts and money.
For three catties of locusts, give one catty of grain. For one catty of locust eggs, give three catties of grain.
They also sent people everywhere to spread the methods of catching and exterminating locusts, such as digging soil in flooded riverbanks to find eggs. In the locust stage when they have just hatched, it helps them to be light-loving and unable to fly.
They are lured by digging ditches, burning fires, etc., then catching them with nets, soaking them in water, drying them in the sun, and exchanging them for food.
The Shao Tian Dynasty not only set up locust collection points on the borders of the Qing-occupied areas, but also sent people to go deep into the Qing-occupied areas of Shandong and Henan to collect locusts.
Locusts can be exchanged for food. For those people, who is not happy? Under this stimulation, it is difficult to effectively organize the eradication of locusts in the originally turbulent and chaotic Central Plains. However, in the end, this kind of locust food exchange was forced by Shao Tianchao.
Although locusts appeared sporadicly in various places, they did not form a major locust plague sweeping the Central Plains.
Otherwise, there would be no harvest from the corn connected to the Xiaofu River, because locusts like to eat these green crops.
When farmers picking corn on the roadside saw Zhao Xiaolou and the others passing by, they greeted them with a smile and asked them to pick some corn.
Li Baoquan waved his hand.
He trains every day, not only practicing martial arts, but also always emphasizing military discipline, but no one dares to take things from the common people.
When the farmer saw that they didn't pick it, he just carried the basket over and stuffed it into their arms, causing them to refuse again and again.
"Get angry and sing!" Deputy Liu led everyone in singing and continued marching.
In autumn, on the mountain road beside the Xiaofu River, the Ming army's Imperial Camp Shence Army in red military uniforms meandered like fire dragons, adding a touch of color to this golden late autumn.
When Zhao Xiaolou and others arrived at West Village, orders came from above to rest and station their battalion in West Village.
It was still early, so the officers ordered the auxiliary troops to set up camp outside the village and set up tents.
There happens to be a security chief organizing grain collection in the village. This is under Zichuan County, Jinan Prefecture. However, this security chief was appointed by the Ming Dynasty. The local Baojia and the township leagues were organized and all took orders from Boshan County.
When the autumn harvest begins, the guardians begin to go to the villages to collect grain.
Whether it is corn or wheat, etc., the grain will be harvested as soon as possible during the harvest season.
The common people also paid a small amount of silver to Boshan County, keeping enough grain and selling the remaining grain to the county.
Starting from this year, in the entire area controlled by the Shaotian Dynasty, grain will no longer be exchanged for silver, but will be levied and paid according to what is planted.
Expropriation is also very simple. First, the large and small acres of land are unified into standard acres, and then the upper, middle and lower fields, as well as land, beaches, etc. are converted into standard acres.
Every mu of land is taxed for millet, wheat, or grain. Whatever you plant, you will be taxed for it. The land tax per mu is two dou, which is divided into two liters of silver, plus the public fire cost of two liters and two pieces. The total is two dou per mu, four liters and two liters.
combine.
Different grains are converted into rice and wheat in proportion.
Apart from this, there are no other levies, donations, levies, three rates, or surcharges. They are all gone. It is very simplified. Most importantly, the actual burden is much less than in the past.
In the past, even if the official land tax was just a certain amount, the various additional benefits, especially such as floating income and consumption, were often several times the official tax, making the people more miserable.
Nowadays, all the levies are converted into dings of silver, which are collected according to the acres, and the number is still fixed. Although dings are added, no tax will be added.
Even those who grow corn or sweet potatoes can be converted into staple foods such as cereals and paid into grains, and there is still a unified conversion standard.
For people who own land, paying less than two and a half bushels per acre is actually less than one-tenth of the output, and they can still pay it in two quarters.
Tenants who do not have land do not even need to pay rent to the landlord. They do not have to worry about the landlord passing on rent to them again, because the government stipulates that the autumn harvest is divided between the landlord and the tenant 40-60, and the summer grain goes to the tenant.
.
Landowners can still retain about 30% of the harvest after turning it over to the landowners.
After working hard, the people paid 40% of the rent, but they were still able to live.
When the Tatars controlled this place before, there were many items to collect grain, such as inns, tributes, land rent, warehouses, wages, restoration of consumption, etc. The rice items also included white grain, black beans, grains, grains, etc.
Half consumption, foot fees, public funds, pond workers' donations, grain accumulation, school donations.
There are also Liao rates, suppression rates, and training rates.
The three rates already include training rates, but the local government also levies rates and donations of five cents per mu, which is said to be the township founding league. Then they also levy river fees, and other things such as self-government donations, voluntary education donations, household registration donations, and even husband-clearing fees.
There are many types of fees and charges.
These additional fees are more than twice as high as the official tax. When it comes to paying the grain, the biggest problem is still the floating fee. Ordinary people use various methods to pay one stone for grain, but in fact they have to pay more than two stone.
.
Sometimes I have to fold silver again, and as a result, I have to fold it again and again, and the burden increases.
The people have no idea how many names these additional taxes and levies have. Anyway, the yamen add them at will. No matter what they do, they just levy additional taxes on the people. Even each time they levy an additional tax, they have to collect an additional fee and fire.
Consumption.
Anyway, the final actual payment often exceeds more than half of the output.
Naturally, the people were miserable, and many people simply abandoned their land and fled. Those who did not escape had to bear the taxes of fleeing, and were not given a way to survive.
Since the arrival of the Ming army, taxes have been simplified.
All kinds of labor and fees in the past were all unified into Ding Yin, and a fixed value was set. For every stone field of grain, an additional dou of Ding Yin grain was levied.
No matter how many servants there are in the place, how much office expenses are needed, etc., the dingyin will not change, and the land tax will not change.
Finally, add 10% of the fire cost, and there are no other collection fees, fire costs, consumption on top of consumption, floating charges, etc.
Various fields, slopes and forests, large and small acres are also uniformly converted into standard acres for collection.
This year, the collection has been carried out directly in kind and sent to the countryside.
Before, during the Chongzhen period, and again when the Tatars came, the common people had to pay 35% or more of the land revenue, but now, after simplifying and reducing the burden, it is actually limited to less than 10% of the land harvest, and there are even exemptions in times of famine.
Therefore, the people were very active in paying grain.
After the grain is harvested and dried, payment begins immediately, and the Grain Department also sends people down to work with Baojia from various places to first collect the grain, and finally collect it at the grain stations in each township, and then transfer it to the granary in the prefecture and county.
From the grain depots in townships to the granaries in prefectures and counties, there are many transfer warehouses on the transportation lines. There are also large grain storage warehouses in some important core places. There are also military warehouses in garrison areas.
This brand-new grain acquisition and storage network was used to distribute and supply grain to the Ming Dynasty controlled areas, maximizing grain distribution and supply.
"Everyone is very active in handing over food and lining up."
"Well, I didn't see any of those officials acting arrogantly or doing good things."
Captain Li Baoquan said with a smile, "In the past, all local expenses were covered by that little grain and silver. This was even an important opportunity for them to make money, but it is different now."
Nowadays, officials have the Lianlian Bank, and yamen at all levels have the Minister's Bank. There are also budget allocations above. The number of officials, staff and salaries have been increased. Expenses such as inns and schools are no longer borne by the local governments themselves, but are allocated through financial allocations.
.
Another factor is the strict supervision from above.
The matter of grain collection is directly under the responsibility of the Grain Department, and there are also layers of supervision such as governors, sub-inspectors, governors, chief administrators, inspectors, patrol inspectors, and even the censor who patrols the grain. Who dares to reach out randomly?
Especially the punishment is severe.
Just like in the past, when we were collecting grain, engaging in small and large fights, and kicking the stems of stems, whoever dared to do anything now would be engaged in military law. We are not afraid that you have the means, but we are afraid that the higher-ups will actually do something about it.
After everything is simplified, the people will no longer be confused and confused. They only need two buckets of four liters of two combined grains per mu. If they dare to collect additional items, they can appeal at any time.
For this fixed grain, if there is a large or small bucket of floating harvest, even if the difference is large, you can appeal.
In the past, they dared to harvest more than two or even three or four liters from one stone of grain. But now, when weighing one stone of grain, if they dare to harvest two or three liters more, it is a big deal.
"My hometown in Yanzhou, Zhejiang Province, has been doing this for a long time. Now the burden of farming is very light. The fire consumption of the land does not exceed 10% of the harvest, and there are not many seeds. If it is your own land, a family can plant five acres of land and pay for it.
In addition to expenses such as ground vines and seeds, you can save enough food for the family and sell some. You can also plant an acre of mulberry or two acres of cotton, raise silkworms and weave cloth, which will be enough for your own clothing, and you can also sell it to buy oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.
There are a few taels left."
Zhao Xiaolou had been working hard to save money and sent most of his military pay back to his hometown. The land in the mountains of Yanzhou in his hometown was cheap, so he bought a lot of land. The family farmed for themselves, planted mulberry trees and tea gardens, raised silkworms, weaved silk and grew tea.
, there are many economic benefits.
Even during slack times, the brothers can work part-time in the workshops to support their families.
Zhao Xiaolou is now waiting for Yu Ying to find a wife.
"You tell me why the imperial court used to levy so heavily and there was always no money. Now it levies so much to support both officials and soldiers. Is it enough?" Zhang Tiezhu asked.
"That's because the imperial court now levies industrial and commercial taxes, and has monopoly sales of tea, salt, wine, minerals, spices, etc., as well as customs, handicraft workshops, trade, and buying profits. Adding in the gold, the income is almost as much as a ding.
I heard that landowners can only earn 30 million yuan in silver, but other items include more than 20 million yuan. Such a large income is certainly enough," said team leader Li Baoquan.
Captain Liu smiled and said, "Actually, this is not entirely the case. In the past, whether it was during the Chongzhen period or after the arrival of the Tatars, the people were burdened with heavy burdens. More than 50% of the income from the fields was turned over, but it did not actually enter the state treasury.
The actual amount of tax collection is actually very low, and the amount retained by local governments is relatively large, and only part of it is turned over to the national treasury.
Another thing is that the bulk of the money paid by the people is actually surcharges and expenses in various places. These do not go into the national treasury. In fact, most of them are taken away by corrupt officials.
Therefore, no matter how much the people paid, the court still had no money.
Now, although we people only turn in about 10% of the harvest, the imperial court actually gets it, and even the 10% of the fire consumption is returned to the public and put into the treasury. Do you think it can be the same?"
In the past, when taxes were collected, the collection rate was very low, so the people paid more, but the court collected less. Especially the gentry and bureaucrats gave preferential treatment, colluded with each other, and the land area was unclear, so the court's tax collection was confusing.
It has always been those officials who colluded with each other to commit corruption and line their own pockets. Who was in charge of the court?
In the past, all the military households in the guard stations became beggars, and the land was occupied by officers, bureaucrats, and honorable ministers. A large number of military fields could not supply the guards with military supplies, and they needed local supplies. Now, after a large number of military fields in the garrison stations were cleared, they were sold.
Not only can these fields be rented out, but there can also be a large amount of land sales and additional income from land rent.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the number of fields cultivated by various local guards reached 890,000 hectares. In Yongle, the country received more than 23 million shi of grain and grain from the fields cultivated by the guards. In the same year, the tax on grain and grain from the civilian fields was only more than 31 million shi.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, such a large number of guards stationed in the fields could not only support the soldiers of the guards, but also could not submit additional grain to the country. They had to rely on the nearby prefectures and counties to provide monthly grain. This was a sinkhole.
How shocking will it be if the guard farmland, which accounts for more than 10% of the country's total cultivated land, is released?
Even after more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, many wastelands were reclaimed in various places, but most of them were not reported and land taxes were never paid.
After talking and laughing, the camp officer sent someone to deliver the order.
"The Logistics Office has just purchased a batch of corn from the village, and we will allow each team to pick it up at the camp."
While marching, you could buy food and other supplies along the way, so naturally you had to buy them locally. The logistics department even bought a lot of vegetables, some chickens, ducks, pigs, etc.
"Zhao Xiaolou, come with me to the logistics office to get corn."
The logistics department purchased a lot of corn, etc., the auxiliary camp loaded several large trucks, and the sentries of the war camp went to collect three days' worth of supplies.
The two men carried back more than a hundred kilograms of corn cobs. After being harvested and dried in the sun for several days, they still smelled sweet. "We will cook the corn cobs tonight and peel the remaining cobs. This will be our ration for the next three days."
"Captain, didn't you get pork, chicken, duck or anything?"
"Forget about the chickens and ducks. I think the pork will be distributed later. Let's peel the corn first. Once it's peeled, it can be sent to the auxiliary camp to be ground into cornmeal, and then you can make steamed buns."
"Isn't it just a ten-pound stick per person? It doesn't take much effort, it will be done in a while." Zhang Tiezhu looked relaxed.
"This newly harvested corn is so fragrant," Zhao Xiaolou held a plump corn cob and smelled it. From his hometown in Yanzhou, Zhejiang, he had never eaten corn before. It was soft, waxy and sweet, so he cooked it and ate it.
Pancakes or steamed buns are delicious.
"Let me tell you, corn is harvested everywhere now. Let's go to Zhangdian Town. There is no need to buy it on the way. We have to carry so much to buy. It's so tiring. We can just buy it and eat it now wherever we go."
"Stop saying a few words, hurry up and get to work, and reiterate that you are not allowed to leave the camp without authorization, let alone harass the people. If anyone violates military discipline and is caught by the military police, he deserves to be whipped or even beheaded, but don't bring trouble to everyone.
Be honest to me, rest as soon as possible if you have nothing to do, you have to rush tomorrow, but don’t wait until a few days before you really go into battle, only to have them all lose their spirits, become cowards, and embarrass me." Team leader Li Baoquan shared the corn.
Bangzi, while sternly reminding the team members.
“We’ll ask Deputy Liu to continue teaching with us later,”
"Well, let's talk about the nine-into-ten shotgun tactics later, especially some precautions when attacking a city," Deputy Liu said.
Zhang Tiezhu was dissatisfied, "We are marching outside, and we have to do all this work at night, so we can't rest peacefully?"
