Buried alive in the Qing Dynasty

Page 215

In addition, Kangxi actually asked Kong Yuqi to send additional "Confucian donations" to the people of Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Zhili in the name of defending Confucianism...

After co-authoring, the Confucius family in Qufu specifically took the blame for the Qing Dynasty?

Just when Kong Yuqi was about to collapse from grief, Huang Zhisheng, who brought him to Beijing, suddenly whispered in his ear: "Shenggong, Dengzhou..."

Fortunately, there is Dengzhou!

Kong Yuqi's heart was suddenly filled with hope... Fortunately, there is still Dengzhou to go to!

The big deal is to hide your name and become a rich man in Dengzhou.

Thinking of this, Kong Yuqi's spirit immediately returned to him, so he took the title book, picked up his robe, and walked quickly into the South Study Room, and bowed three times and nine times to Kangxi: "Slave Yan Sheng Gong Kong Yuqi , Respectfully, the emperor's holy peace!"

Immediately, Kangxi's voice sounded: "Kong Yuqi, from today onwards, your title will be missing one character. Don't call me Shenggong Yan, just call me Shenggong!"

"Slave leads the decree! Slave thank you..." Kong Yuqi kowtowed and said inwardly, "Sheng Gong? Does it sound like the leader of the White Lotus Sect? Who thought of it?"

Chapter 497 Kangxi, hurry up and increase the dispatch and levy!

Hearing that Kong Yuqi called himself a slave, Kang Mazi was taken aback, and asked Kong Yuqi, "Shenggong, I don't remember you carrying the flag, why do you call yourself a slave?"

In the Qing Dynasty, calling yourself a slave in front of the emperor is not an honor that ordinary courtiers can have!It must be in the banner, must be a bannerman or a coated slave.If other people want to call it a slave, it is somewhat presumptuous.

Kong Yuqi hurriedly kowtowed and said: "If you go back to the emperor, this servant has submitted a booklet and asked to raise the flag the year before last... This is the greatest wish of this servant, and I hope that Lord Long Live will make it come true."

What he said was sincere, and Kangxi nodded slightly after hearing it, as if he was quite appreciative, but it is still a bit inappropriate to let the descendants of the most holy master be slaves.Besides, Kangxi has elevated Kong Yuqi to a position similar to that of the great lama of Xueyu... Kangxi worships the great lama as his teacher. It is impossible for a master to call himself a slave when he meets his apprentice, right?

Thinking of this, Kangxi smiled and said: "There is no need for a slave... My wish is to become the holy master who can rule the world and make the people of the world live and work in peace and contentment, and now you are the Confucian saint who assists me. They are also about the same age, so why not become brothers with different surnames. From now on, you can call me Emperor Brother and call yourself a minister."

"Slave, brother, thank you Lord for your kindness." Kong Yuqi kowtowed to Kangxi again.

Kangxi said again: "Brother Shenggong, don't go back to Qufu in the future. I reward you with Tongzhou City as the main altar of Confucianism."

Tongzhou City was originally the terminus of the Grand Canal and a transportation hub in the east of Beijing.But after the water transport to the southeast was interrupted, Tongzhou declined sharply.After the change in Beijing last year, a large number of water workers and their families living in Tongzhou ran away with Yang Qilong. Those who did not run away with Yang Qilong were afraid that the Qing army would massacre the city, and they all disappeared, so Tongzhou was vacated.

Of course Kong Yuqi knew that Kangxi's purpose of transferring himself to Tongzhou was to strengthen control, so he didn't dare to refuse, and immediately said: "Brother Emperor, I will move all the family members from Qufu to Tongzhou."

Kangxi shook his head and said with a smile: "That's not necessary, Kong Lin must be watched by someone, just move the capital of the direct lineage to Tongzhou."

"Brother, thank you, Brother Long En." Kong Yuqi thanked and kowtowed again.Today he is almost turning into a kowtow, but this kind of life will last for a long time!When he arrived in Tongzhou, he was held in the palm of Kangxi's hand, so why not go to Beijing to kowtow every now and then?

Thinking of this, Kong Yuqi gritted his teeth, and took out the inscription requesting for additional assignments, "Brother Emperor, the third grandson of the false Zhu is now destroying the true Confucianism and promoting the false Confucianism in the southeast. I am Confucian orthodox!

As the most holy descendant, the minister should stand up without hesitation and give a shout.However, my younger brother has the heart to kill the enemy, but has no power to kill the enemy. On behalf of the Confucian scholars in the world, I implore the emperor to send troops to the south of the Yangtze River, crush the false Confucianists, kill the false saints, and ban the false scriptures...The younger brother also knows that the world is uneasy today , the four directions are not stable, and the military expenses are difficult, so the above table requests the emperor to send Confucianism and religion protection funds to the concubine who hates hypocrisy and hypocrisy, to recruit soldiers and protect the country! "

After hearing Kong Yuqi's words, Kangxi quickly suppressed his joy, frowned and asked, "Is there going to be an additional levy? Will it hurt the people?"

Kong Yuqi hurriedly kowtowed and said, "Brother Huang, if the false Confucianism and the false scriptures continue to grow, the common people will really have no way out! My brother begs the emperor to think about the common people in the world, and increase the levy!"

As soon as Shenggong's younger brother took the lead, the ministers in the South Study immediately knelt together, and all of them said in unison: "Please, the emperor thinks about the common people in the world, so hurry up and increase the levy!"

When Kangxi saw everyone saying that, he "had to" sigh: "Then... how much is appropriate?"

The question of how much to add, of course, has been studied long ago.Kangxi's principle is that if you don't add it, you have it, if you want to add it, add enough!

These days, he carefully studied the three payment increases in the Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties, and he came to the conclusion that the increase in the payment was correct, and the fault was that the increase was too late and "add fuel and increase the payment", and there was no one-step increase.

After Kangxi, the holy lord, conducted research using the method of "after the fact", he concluded that the best time to increase Liao's salary was actually after the end of the Korean War.During the Korean War, the Liaodong Ming army suffered heavy losses, and the elite Li Chengliang had managed for many years was completely lost.If the Wanli court can resolutely increase Liao's salary at this time, don't increase it, and send several million taels to Liaozhen so that they can make up for the losses in the Korean War, then there will be nothing later.Because all the warriors under Nurhachi went to serve as soldiers in the Ming Dynasty to earn money, so why would he rebel?

Of course, now Kangxi has also lost the best time to increase dispatch and levy, so he can no longer be picky about the reform and expansion of the new army... This is also the group of ministers in charge of the Eight Banners New Army and the Minister of Nanshufang Our unanimous opinion!

At this time, the chief academician Tuhai said: "Long live, after Wu Yingqi, the king of Pingxi, entered Shaanxi, not including Guanwai, Saibei, and Gansu, but only Henan, Shandong, Huaibei, Zhili, and Shanxi, which are directly under the imperial court's five provinces. There are more than 2 million mu of land, and an extra three cents of silver for one mu can be 600 million taels... The servant suggested that the positive amount of the tax package should also be set at three cents, and the tax package with the small tax should also be a few cents. One million, so that the imperial court can collect 800 million a year just for the two land taxes.

In addition, the imperial court can also set up tax cards at the main road intersections of various provinces and state capitals, and collect taxes by plucking geese... It should not be difficult to collect three or four million yuan a year.Coupled with various taxes such as salt tax, customs tax, and mining tax, the imperial court's revenue can be maintained at 400 to 2000 million!

With this income, the imperial court can build flintlock guns, forge Weiyuan cannons, recruit Mongolian warriors, and train them strictly... In less than two years, 30 new troops can be achieved! "

Kangxi still seemed hesitant, "Will the tax of six cents per mu be too heavy?"

"It's not too important," Tu Hai said, "There are only 300 to [-] million households in the five provinces directly under the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty. With [-] million mu of land spread out, each household can have an average of [-] mu of land... If it is calculated as [-] mu , six cents per mu, the total is only six taels of silver, which is almost the price of six shi of wheat. Why is the annual output of a hundred mu of land in the tens of shi, how can paying six shi of wheat be considered too much?"

Kangxi nodded, and said: "It's not much, so if I spare them a little more, I will use six shi of wheat per hundred mu and six taels of silver per hundred mu as the tax amount, and the people below can choose by themselves. Both food and silver can be paid.

In addition, the local government can no longer charge more! "

"Emperor Shengming!"

The ministers below knew this result a long time ago, and now they are all pretending to call Shengming.

But having said that, the tax rate of six cents per mu is actually not too heavy.In the early days of a dynasty, when the population was small, the per capita land was relatively large, and the administration of officials was still relatively clear, it was completely acceptable.

And when the population increases, the per capita decreases, land mergers increase, and farmers are forced to bear heavier land rent and usury interest, let alone a tax of a few cents, even a tax of a few cents will deprive some of the bottom people cornered.

Of course, with a large population, the industry and commerce tend to be developed. If the country can collect enough industrial and commercial taxes, it will have enough financial resources to maintain its rule.It's just that it is more difficult to collect industrial and commercial taxes, and it is not as easy to collect as land taxes.

However, the Ming, Qing, and Wednesday dynasties in China now have a small population. Except for the Ming Dynasty, the industry and commerce of the other two dynasties are not developed, and they cannot collect too much money. Therefore, it is the three dynasties that really determine who will rule the world. Which of the three of them can manage agricultural taxation well.

In this regard, Emperor Kangxi took a shortcut by using the method of taxpayers, so that he could get money and food in the shortest time.

On Wu Zhou's side, because there is enough land to distribute, the progress in equalizing the land is very smooth.It is nothing more than to distribute the land in Sichuan to the people who have no land and little land. As long as the land in Sichuan is not distributed, Wu Zhou can pay more taxes to the subordinates.

On the contrary, Daming is the most difficult to handle...

Chapter 498 Scholars rebel, as long as there are books!

October of the first year of Ming Wang Jianguo.

With the appointment of Yang Xiuqing, Governor of Jiangbei and Ambassador of Huaihe Salt Transport appointed by the Ming Dynasty, and the promulgation of a series of new policies on salt affairs, the market in Dongguan, Yangzhou finally became bustling again.

The East Gate of Yangzhou is next to the Grand Canal, and it is also the channel through which the salt produced in northern Jiangsu enters Yangzhou through the Salt Canal and the Grand Canal... Therefore, from the middle and late Ming Dynasty, this area has become the world's richest Yangzhou Salt business gathering place.

However, although this salt merchant was rich, in the eyes of Kang Mazi, the little sage of the Qing Dynasty, he was just a bunch of fat pigs raised in captivity... When he needed money, he just caught a few and slaughtered them.Since the chaos in Guangdong and Yunnan, the military expenditure of the Qing Dynasty has been completely out of control, and the little tax of the court can't bear the expenditure at all, so it's time for the "fat pigs" in Yangzhou to be slaughtered. In the past three or four years, back and forth It paid off no less than 2000 million taels of silver.

Of course, Kangxi is the Holy Lord!They will not take the money of these salt merchants in vain.So when Huaidong was about to be attacked by the Ming army, he ordered Shi Lang and Fu Honglie to arrest people according to the roster of Yangzhou salt merchants serving silver... No, to protect them!

Shi and Fu protected the whole family of a prominent salt merchant in Dongguan, Yangzhou, including maids and servants, and sent them to Beijing.Men were all slaves, while women were judged by their age and appearance, and those who were passable were given to the eight bannermen who lost their wives during the Beijing Incident as wives.Kangxi himself also set an example and distributed ten Yangzhou skinny horses to commemorate the Ma Jia family who died in the chaos in Beijing...

But when Shi Lang ran away, he still stayed behind... He didn't slaughter the city, he just captured the salt merchants who gave money to the Qing Dynasty as military expenses, and also handed over the traffickers who bought the high-end brothels and skinny horses in the whole city of Yangzhou. ransacked.

Therefore, what was recovered by the Ming army was a city of Yangzhou that still had some vitality.

Of course, this Yangzhou city cannot be compared with the prosperity of Yangzhou in the late Ming Dynasty before the ten-day disaster, but it is considered a good place in New Daming, which has a population of only 2000 million.

Moreover, the beach salt fields in the three state capitals of Yangzhou, Tongzhou, and Huai'an still exist. These are the roots of Yangzhou's prosperity!

With the implementation of Yangzhou's new salt policy, businessmen and capital coveting the great profits of the salt industry began to gather from all over Ming Dynasty to Yangzhou Dongguan.And among them, some guys from the big salt merchants who "fleeed back" from the north also started their old business of selling salt with familiarity.

In a small alley near Dongguan Street in Yangzhou, a house that has been vacant for several months and was only rented out recently lived in a group of "small salt merchants" who are said to have come back from the north and are now planning to start a business together. .

And the two leaders are exactly Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi!

One of these two is from Hubei, and the other is from Fujian. Their accents are wrong and they are too easy to reveal their secrets, so they don’t go out much after arriving in Yangzhou. "Invite" the "salt N generation" who went to Beijing to work as slaves, and went out to deal with the sale of salt.

They chose to "engage in salt" not only to cover up, but also to facilitate the transfer of "rebel funds"-this is the conclusion they came to after studying the "anti-book" written by Jin Yiwei of the Ming Dynasty!

It turns out that the cause of rebellion is very expensive!

Therefore, in the records of Jin Yiwei's anti-book, the Bailian believers in the Ming Dynasty were busy collecting money most of the time... Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi didn't need to study how to collect money, Kangxi would give them funds.

But how to transfer these funds, how to concentrate the rebel Bailian believers, how to transport the weapons used for the rebellion, how to carry out the propaganda and agitation work for the rebellion, and how to set up the rebel command organization, how to issue the rebellion order, and how the anti-thief groups How should the middle and lower levels of the government be controlled... A lot of questions, etc., are recorded in great detail in the Jinyiwei "anti-book" that Zhou Peigong found.

This book... is simply a guide to rebellion!

After Zhou Peigong got this wonderful book, he felt like a treasure. Not only did he immediately copy the entire book and take it back for careful study, but he also tempted Li Guangdi, Zhang Ying, Zhao Shenqiao, and Gao Shiqi who went south with him to read it together.

And when these few were in the territory of the Qing Dynasty, they could still hold on, and they didn't even glance at them.But when the sandboat they took arrived at the Guazhou port tax customs in Yangzhou Prefecture from Haizhou, they immediately changed their minds... Now that they have embarked on the road of rebellion, they still have to read the rebellion guide carefully!

What if there is something in it?

Just when Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi were reading the book with great interest, and there were still inexplicable smiles on their faces, there was a sound of footsteps coming from outside the study where the two were.

Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi, who were studying the anti-book, panicked at once. Li Guangdi put down the anti-book, picked up a flintlock, and pointed it tremblingly at the door.But Zhou Peigong took a deep breath and said, "Who is outside, is it Zhang Wu?"

Zhang Ying's voice came from outside: "It's me, Li Liu."

Only then did Li Guangdi heave a sigh of relief. He looked down at the flintlock pistol in his hand, and found that it was not loaded with ammunition at all...

At this time, the door squeaked, and it was pushed open, and Zhang Ying, who was dressed outside and with a hood on his head, walked in quickly.

"How?" Zhou Peigong asked.

"It's done!" Zhang Ying sighed, "It's the atmosphere of the new dynasty after all... It's easy to do things, and there is no need to give a bribe of one tael of silver, and the salt price worth 5 taels has already been obtained!

And their salt law is really clever... There is no root (proof of privilege for selling salt), no matter who can set up a business, and then sell salt.You only need to deposit a deposit in the guarantee account established by Dongchang Guanyin in the name of the firm, and you can purchase the corresponding amount of Yanyin.

As for where to sell salt and at what price, Lianghuai Salt Transport Yamen will not ask.As long as you pay the customs duty of 5.00% of the salt price in accordance with the law, and then pay some vehicle and boat tax, you can sell it all over the world!

And there won't be any private salt... First, the salt is not expensive at all; second, there is no salt import ticket from the Yanmen, Yangzhou tax customs can't pass, and tax customs everywhere can't pass. Invoices and tax invoices, the merchants who distribute salt in other places dare not buy it at all.

What's even more clever is that although Changyan and Yanyin are not expensive...but the salt transport Yamen and Yangzhou Tax Customs can get a lot of money. "

Zhou Peigong had been Tu Hai's master before, and he knew that there were many tricks in the salt business. Hearing Zhang Ying's words now, he felt a little unbelievable, so he asked, "It's not expensive, so how do they make money?"

Zhang Yingdao: "I inquired with someone, this salt is a sale of merchants, they have to pay a rent for the salt farm, and a commercial tax at the end of the year.

And we are shipping merchants, we have to spend money to buy salt, and we have to deposit an interest-free deposit... We are interest-free, but the Dongchang official bank will transfer the interest payable to the Yanyun Yamen, we take After salt, a 5.00% customs duty has to be added.

In the end, all of us transporters have to register in Yangzhou Prefecture and rent or purchase business premises. We also have to pay a commercial tax every year, which can be fixed or increased according to the amount of salt trafficked.

All these things add up, and they get a lot of tax money!These taxes are one link after another, and if one link is missing, the following transactions cannot be done.Moreover, the Yanyun Yamen, Yangzhouguan, and Yangzhou Prefecture Taxation Department, which are responsible for collecting money, only care about the accounts and ignore the money, and the money does not pass through them at all. The account has to be checked at the end of the year, and there is no way to start... This method is really good, there is no way to escape the salt tax, how much money will be collected in a year?

Shall we pass a secret document to the emperor so that the Changlu Yanzheng of the Qing Dynasty can also use this method? "

Chapter 499 Rebellion must be justified!

Both Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi have true love for Daqing. Of course, they wholeheartedly hope that Daqing can get better a little bit. Now that Ming has a good way to collect salt tax, they naturally hope that Daqing can follow suit. So both of them agreed. nodded.

"Although False Ming is a traitor, there are indeed many good ways, and the officials seem to be relatively clean, which is really incomparable with the former Ming... We really have to tell the emperor about their good ways."

"It makes sense! It's not shameful to call the teacher to make a plan to make it clear..."

Zhang Ying nodded, and said again: "Now that Yanyin has been obtained, all you need to do is go to the merchant to buy salt and you can start. By the way, when I went to the official bank to do errands, I found many scholars from the countryside of Yangzhou Changing bank notes."

"What are they doing for bank notes?" Zhou Peigong asked.

Zhang Ying said with a smile: "Of course I want to take the bank ticket to rush for the exam... Peigong, Jinqing, you two also go to take the exam for Juren. Next month, there will be a township exam here in Yangzhou Prefecture. If you pass it, you can go to Nanjing." The exam is over, with the knowledge of the two of you, it shouldn't be difficult to pass this township exam, right?"

According to the plan formulated by these "rebel Confucianists", their next step is to divide the army into three groups, and go to Nanjing to reason... They also organized a public letter to oppose the equalization of the land, and incited to stop the examination.

The scholar rebelled!Of course, we had to act recklessly without reasoning, so Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi went to Nanjing to be responsible for reasoning.

Along the way, go to Tongcheng to plan an uprising!The plan they made before was to do it together in Tongcheng, Changzhou, and Shaoxing.

But after studying anti-books here in Yangzhou for a period of time, they realized that they couldn't do this.

On the one hand, it is because their strength is limited, and they are too weak after being divided into three.On the other hand, after the failure of the rebellion in Shaoxing and Changzhou, there was almost no way to escape.

Considering the powerful force of Ming Dynasty, the rebellion will definitely fail!

If there is no way out after the rebellion fails, then going to Changzhou and Shaoxing to make troubles will be like giving away someone's head?

This gift of heads is not something ordinary people can do... If someone can't bear to betray the organization, it will be terrible!

So after careful consideration, everyone decided to concentrate the rebellion forces in Tongcheng, and Zhang Ying and Gao Shiqi went to Tongcheng to lead the rebellion together.Tongcheng is very close to the Dabie Mountains. After the failure of the rebellion, if you drill into the mountains, you can quickly escape to the territory of Wuzhou.

In addition, Zhao Shenqiao counted all the way alone, and stayed in Yangzhou to be in charge of the salt transport company that several of them had set up.

Li Guangdi, who was planning to go to Nanjing with Zhou Peigong for the bus application, was a child prodigy when he was a child. He liked exams the most. When he heard that there was a township exam in Yangzhou, he immediately felt itchy and said with a smile: "Okay, let's take one Bar!"

Zhang Ying nodded: "I know that you, Li Jinqing, are eager for skills... I will give you and Pei Gongbao the township examination cram school!"

Li Guangdi was taken aback, "What? Tuition... classes?"

Zhang Ying took out three thread-bound books from his sleeve pocket with a smile, and handed them to Li Guangdi, "Brother Jinqing, I have inquired about them. These three books are "Theory of Evening Fields" and "A Preliminary Explanation of Mathematical Sciences", "A Preliminary Explanation of Xenomorphology"... This "On the Evening of Fields" is said to explain why the land should be averaged. Measuring the size of the field. It seems that Zhu and Qi Juntian are very determined, and they will do everything to the end!"

"Then let's take a good look!" Zhou Peigong has already grabbed "Equal Fields" into his hands. We need to know the truth of the surname Zhu before we can refute him in the book on the bus. ... Then Tongcheng will raise troops under the banner of Confucianism, even if we lose, we will be able to win the name of our Confucianism, and there will be chaos in the Puppet Ming Dynasty in the future! "

Li Guang nodded, "That's right, we have to take a good look...Dun Fu, is there anything else?"

"Yes, yes... I bought a total of three copies of "On the Evening of Fields". Let's each have one copy. Let's take a good look."

The book "Equal Fields" is a thin book, with a total of only [-] to [-] words, and the content is not complicated. It only talks about three issues, one is fairness; the other is to clarify property rights; the third is to suppress mergers.

According to Zhu Heqi, due to the corruption of officials since the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the immorality of scholar-bureaucrats, and various inappropriateness of the Ming court itself, the situation of land ownership in the world has been greatly confused.A large number of official fields and guard land were occupied, and private grain households sent the land to the vassal kings and scholar-bureaucrats in order to avoid taxes.There is also a large amount of land that is hidden and not recorded.

After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they massacred the scholar-officials and heroes who dared to resist its tyranny, causing the land of the anti-Qing warriors to be divided up by obedient people and shameless scholar-bureaucrats who shaved their heads and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

In view of the above reasons, Jian Guo Ming Wang believes that the current land occupation situation is unfair and unfair, so the re-division must be overturned!

Secondly, due to the turmoil since the end of the Ming Dynasty and the policies of renaming fields, coastal relocation, and enclosing banner lands implemented under the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the land ownership situation in the new Ming Dynasty is very chaotic.Many people occupy land that does not belong to them, and they are always worried about being taken away by the original owner, so they cannot produce with peace of mind.Therefore, it is also necessary to carry out redistribution to thoroughly clarify property rights.

Finally, and of course the most important reason, is that through the land equalization system, mergers can be greatly suppressed!