Sun Zhixian, with pig bristles on his head and dog hair on his back, was locked in a shackle cage and placed in front of the Confucian Temple, where he died for seven days.
His tragic situation deeply shocked the entire Zichuan gentry.
Gu Xianshou, the newly appointed magistrate of Zichuan County in the Ming Dynasty, had just arrived from Fengtian. As a result, the gentry and landowners in the county lined up to see him. He thought he was here to give gifts, so he asked his entourage to tell him to get rid of old customs.
No need to send gifts again.
"Sir, those people are here to pay back the arrears, return the annexation, and sort out the land."
Gu Xianshou was confused and full of doubts.
He is a Tianqi Juren and a native of Kunshan.
Now the palm seals of the Military Department of the Imperial Court of Admonition are given to Gu Yanwu who was involved in the incident. He is his nephew and his five brothers. Xianzheng and Chongzhen were promoted officials in Yan'an Prefecture, and Xianjian was appointed as the magistrate of Qiantang County. After Chongzhen died, the Gu family became all
In this turbulent situation, he ran to save the country and raised his troops to revolt.
Gu Xianshuo is only the county magistrate now. In fact, it is not that he has little merit. It is just that he was involved in a case before, which caused this fifth-grade official to be demoted several levels and was demoted to be the county magistrate of Zichuan.
Gu Xianshou put on his green official robe and asked his entourage to invite these local squires and elders to come in.
As soon as these people came in, they were very polite to Gu Xian, vying to speak, demanding to pay the debts accumulated over the years, returning the occupied fields, etc.
"Don't worry, tell me one by one, one by one!"
After a while, Gu Xianshou finally understood. It turned out that Sun Zhixie's death had deeply stimulated these gentlemen of Zichuan Township. Sun Zhixie's death was so tragic.
These days, Sun Zhixian screamed in front of the Confucian Temple for seven days, especially at night, the sound was even more pitiful. None of the well-known country gentlemen in the city could sleep well, and had nightmares all night long.
They approached Wen Hu and wanted to make up for the arrears and return the encroachment. The problem was that Wen Hu didn't care about this. He was just a general in the imperial camp and did not interfere in local affairs.
They could only wait uneasily for Gu Xianshou to arrive.
"The Holy Emperor has decreed that all debts accumulated in the previous areas will be exempted. In the newly recovered areas such as Shandong and Henan, land and silver will still be exempted this year and will be levied again from next year."
Gu Xianshou told everyone about the emperor's benevolent government.
But these people refused to give up.
"Your Excellency, we didn't want to owe it before, but for some reasons, we did owe it. It was our fault. We are now willing to make up for it, even if it's in silver."
Gu Xianshou stroked his beard and said, "If a saint has benevolent government, all the previous ones will be avoided."
"That's not okay. Sowing the land to provide food is a matter of course."
"Yes, yes, we really shouldn't have accepted submissions and names before. Now we have all woken up and are willing to make rectifications immediately. The fields that were concealed and underreported will be re-measured and registered by the county magistrate.
, we will make up for everything we owed before, for ten years at a time.
"We have sorted out the occupied official land and military farmland. Please take a look at it and send someone to check it and take it back."
"We don't dare to occupy another acre or centimeter."
No matter what County Magistrate Gu said, these people were determined and insisted on taking the initiative to clean up all the owed taxes, occupied fields, etc., and even asked to start immediately. Moreover, they had already conducted self-examination, and now they are waiting for the county to arrange it.
Just let someone check and receive it.
They have also prepared money for the food they owe, which can be converted into silver and turned over, and they are willing to bear the fire costs.
After finally sending away these gentry and powerful men who were like ants on a hot pot, Gu Xianshou was a little bit dumbfounded.
"That Xie Qian created such a Sun Zhixie who is worse than a pig or a dog. It seems to be really intimidating."
The county magistrate, chief secretary and other officials who came to take office could not help but sigh, "That Sun Zhixian looks really miserable. If he is like this, he will probably go to hell and not be reincarnated. He will have to enter the realm of animals in his next life."
, who is not afraid?
And you don’t know, county magistrate, that Xie Qian is really ruthless. He killed more than 300 people from the Sun Zhixian and Han Yuan families. They killed all the young men, castrated all the young boys, and all the women.
They were sold into brothels as prostitutes, and all unmarried young women were sent to the palace.
The two major local tribes are almost wiped out."
Xie Qian's approach was not about attacking local tyrants for money and food, but about destroying families. In the end, he even dug up the ancestral graves of the Sun and Han families. The bones of ancestors of all generations were thrown out and exposed to the sun, and all the things buried in the coffins were dug up.
They left, and in the end even got a lot of black dog blood, and the ancestral graveyards of the two families were poured with feces.
Killing people is not as heart-wrenching as this.
The most frightening thing is that Xie Qian, the white-robed warrior who did these things, was actually recommended by Shence Counselor Wen Hu, and by the emperor's decree, Xie Qian was specially appointed as the Shandong regiment training Zichuan battalion officer, and was awarded the guerrilla rank. Ding Keze also
As a garrison, the White Robe Society formed a White Horse Battalion with 500 riders.
Now he is still stationed at the foot of Santai Mountain.
This god of murder was recruited and turned into a guerrilla, and the White Robe Society, which specialized in killing local tyrants and landlords, became the White Horse Camp.
Who is not afraid?
Han Yuan is currently in trouble in Beijing and the civil service department, but so what, his family has been confiscated, everyone is dead, and the little boys who are the hope of several families in the future have all been castrated.
The Sun and Han families, once the local leaders, were uprooted in this way, leaving no room at all.
I once thought that no matter who was in charge of the world, they, the gentry and landlords, would never change. So when Dashun came, they surrendered, and when the Qing army came, they surrendered to the Qing. I thought that after the Ming army came back, it would be a big deal and they would return to the Ming Dynasty.
But now that Xie Qian is doing this, who wouldn't be frightened?
After thinking about it, I could only show my loyalty and beg to let him go.
"Sir, I think this is not a bad thing. Since they take the initiative to pay off the money and return the encroachment, they should just go with the flow."
Gu Xianshou looked through the books left by each family, which recorded in detail the amount of arrears reported by them over the years, the amount of land they had occupied and concealed, etc.
It's really amazing.
Zichuan is not a plain area with many fields and wide land. It is surrounded by two mountains. The narrow valley brought by Xiaofu River and Fanyang River in the territory is generally narrow and crowded.
During the Chongzhen period, most of the little land here was occupied by Prince Heng's Mansion in Qingzhou, Prince De's Mansion in Jinan, etc., and most of the remaining fields were occupied by powerful families such as the Kong family.
Even the official fields previously owned by the county were all occupied.
Although Zichuan does not have much land, it has a good geographical location and is located on an important transportation route. Especially to the north out of Zichuan, there is the Qibei Plain. To the west, it reaches Jinan, and to the south, it is another must-see.
The river valley passes through and leads to Qingzhou, Tai'an and other places.
In addition, there are many coal, iron and other mines in the mountainous area, and the porcelain making industry is also quite developed, so this was originally a pretty good place.
However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, land annexation was too serious, and the land was basically concentrated in the hands of the princes, gentry, and powerful men. There were basically no taxes, not to mention industrial and commercial taxes and mineral taxes.
Therefore, the local gentry were very powerful and wealthy, but the yamen could not collect taxes. They could only distribute various taxes and persuade donations, which ultimately fell on the people.
The gentry who came just now not only wanted to make up for the outstanding grain taxes, but even said that they would faithfully pay mining taxes, industrial and commercial taxes, customs duties, taxes, etc. in the future.
Those people now feel that money is really something external to themselves.
"Mingfu, if we want to quickly restore stability to Zichuan, we need money, more importantly, food, and we need to recover some fields. Otherwise, it will be difficult to start. We have to recruit refugees, cultivate the fields, and even restore industry and commerce, resume mining, etc. Now the local area
It’s just right that these people are so cooperative.”
"Yes, while Shence Jun and Xie Qian are still there, get the matter done quickly, otherwise when they leave, these people will probably do it again."
These officials all came from Fengtian, some were from juren backgrounds, and some were just scholars, but they all had experience in local posts some time ago.
Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty has very high requirements for officials. Although it does not have high requirements for family background, it has extremely strict performance evaluations. There are requirements one by one. The standards must be met, otherwise the official will not be appointed for a long time.
Generally, the term of magistrates in remote counties is about three years, and in the mainland, they are termed every five years. But now the Shaotian Ministry of Civil Affairs requires officials to take a small test every year and a big test every three years. Officials must also write their own performance reports every year. The officials' colleagues and even
Both superiors and subordinates must also write their own reports.
In short, the assessment is extremely strict, and it is impossible to just get by.
Not only must they not be corrupt, they must also have political achievements and abilities, otherwise they will be eliminated and removed from office.
Everyone has finally found a real vacancy, so naturally they want to perform some political achievements to get promoted. If you do well, it won't take three or five years.
Nowadays, this opportunity is rare. Taking advantage of this enthusiasm, accepting these gentry's payment, surrender of land, etc. will immediately open up the situation, and even directly be a major political achievement.
"The sage has decreed that all the debts accumulated in the past will be forgiven and will not be pursued."
"Sir, let's just change the name. Instead of clearing out the accumulated debt, can't we just say it's a payment and tribute payment? Anyway, we didn't ask for it, and it's not in our pockets. All the money will be accounted for when the time comes, and it should be turned over to the state treasury. It should be turned over to the state treasury.
The reserved place should be turned over to the province, so what are you afraid of?"
Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was, Gu Xianshou felt a little interested.
He was demoted from the fifth rank to the seventh rank county magistrate. In fact, he was involved in a clique case in the court. He was impeached by the censor to form a clique, exclude dissidents, and falsely accused Ruan Dacheng, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Ma Shiying, the governor of Jiangsu, etc.
In fact, he was not wronged by the fact that parties were united and opposed by different parties. Although the emperor repeatedly emphasized that it was not allowed to form parties for personal gain and party fighting to attack, it was impossible to prohibit such things.
Gu Xianshou was a member of the Donglin Party. He and some Donglin Party officials who were originally from Fushe formed a poetry club in private, and then attacked Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying together, which seemed to be an endless entanglement.
The emperor also warned him, but he refused to give up.
In the end, Hong Chengchou impeached him for forming a clique, and the emperor asked the three divisions to open a case for investigation. The case was quickly investigated and closed, without much expansion, and was dealt with very quickly. All the members of their poetry club were demoted and demoted.
Leave Beijing.
Gu Xianshou was originally a fifth-rank minister in the ministry, but was suddenly demoted to a seventh-rank county magistrate.
He also wanted to make some political achievements and return to the court.
Agree to this now.
The next day, all the officials from the Zichuan County government office came together to pay their respects, and then gave something to Gu Xianshou. He took it and saw that it was actually a list of deficits in the government's warehouse accounts, and these county government officials
The officials in each department actually expressed their willingness to take the initiative to take responsibility and make up for the shortfall.
Looking at these officials, many of them are local hereditary officials, controlling all aspects of a county's taxation, justice, etc., and can often even supplant some county magistrates and other chief officials who do not understand political affairs.
Now, these people came over on their own initiative, expressing their willingness to make up for the previous deficit, and even handed over the real account books.
"Very good. As long as the deficit is settled, I won't pursue any past matters. You guys can continue to do your job and do your job well!"
The officials were relieved, breathed a sigh of relief, and left with gratitude in their mouths.
Gu Xianshou sat alone with those lists for a long time, and finally called a few subordinates, "This is all the credit of Shence Army and Xie Qian. We still have to be grateful. Now that the arrears have been made up, the shortfall has also been filled."
Once the situation is over and the treasury is full, let’s use some aid to pay the troops.”
"That's right." Several officials also knew that the credit was theirs, "I just want to talk to them later and ask them to help our county organize team training and Baojia. Otherwise, when they leave, we won't be able to have anything on hand."
There is no force at all."
"Indeed, it would be best to get some weapons."
"It would be best if Xie Qian can always stay in Santai Mountain."
A few people talked and laughed, and agreed to bring out some food. Yinliang thanked Wen Hu, thanked them, and planned to buy some vegetables, meat, etc. to send.
The army and the people are in a fish-water relationship, and the army and the people are like one family.