Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 218 0213 [Plead for the people]

When Zhu Ming returned to Yangzhou, he didn't disturb the officials, but directly lived in Min's house.

He brought Min Zishun's family letter with him, and Min Wenwei immediately went down the mountain after hearing the news, and hurried to his brother's house.He often claimed to be Zhu Ming's teacher, but at this moment he was extremely respectful: "Min Wenwei of Yangzhou Academy, pay homage to Governor Zhu!"

"Why do you need to be polite, the chief of the mountain, sit down and talk." Zhu Ming pretended to support him.

After Min Wenwei sat down, he was still flattering: "The prefect Zhu is extremely talented. At the first glance, I was sure that the prefect must be the talent of Zaifu!"

After talking nonsense with this person for a long time, Zhu Ming asked, "Is Huang Qianshan in Yangzhou City?"

Min Wenwei retreated the servants, leaving only his own brother, and said in a low voice, "It's always been here. The people who built the plank road made trouble. Although he brought troops to suppress the thieves, he said he would sit in the town himself. In fact, he didn't even dare to go out of the city. It is the magistrate of Yangzhou who put down the chaos. This person is not good at suppressing thieves, but he is very good at extorting money!"

"I heard that a while ago, he had a quarrel with Judge Gao Yun." Min Zishun's father said.

Zhu Ming asked, "How does Gao Yun judge this person?"

Min Wenwei said: "Although Gao Yunjuan also took advantage of the bandit suppression to collect money, he still has a sense of propriety. Huang Qianshan completely disregarded the life and death of the people and ordered the three counties of Yangzhou to raise miscellaneous taxes. It was raised once when the plank road was built, and when the chaos was quelled It has been added again, and now there is still a tax increase!"

Zhu Ming asked again: "How much will the tax increase for the rich, and how much will the tax increase for the poor?"

Min Wenwei said: "Taxes are levied according to grain tax, tea tax, gold tax, wine tax, and vinegar tax. Every time the tax is collected, it is the same as the regular tax."

Well, Huang Qianshan doesn't target the common people at the bottom. He treats all common people equally when it comes to exorbitant taxes.Even the merchants in the city were forcibly recruited several times.

If this continues, it is estimated that the four major families in Yangzhou want to rebel.

"The Xiang army didn't move out?" Zhu Ming asked again.

Min Wenwei said: "If you send out the Xiang army, you have to alarm the court. How dare the Lizhou Road officials? The soldiers who put down the chaos are all temporarily recruited local soldiers and archers. These soldiers are also quite miserable now. After the chaos was put down, they were taken away Build plank roads. Moreover, food and pay are often deducted. If this continues, only one or two months will be needed, and thousands of town soldiers and archers will have to rebel!"

"How is the plank road going?" Zhu Ming asked.

"It's almost finished, but Huang Qianshan just insists on not leaving, and seems to want to levy an extra sum before the Chinese New Year." Min Wenwei said.

Zhu Ming asked in surprise, "Is he crazy?"

Min Wenwei said: "It's crazy. I am addicted to taxation. Otherwise, why would Gao Yunpan argue with him? Gao Yunpan has been in charge of the tax on Lizhou Road these years. He knows that if it continues to be collected, it will definitely stir up trouble again. Civil uprising."

Huang Qianshan is Wang Fu's henchman, and he can barely be regarded as Zheng's party, but he has little relationship with Zheng Juzhong.

As the saying goes, my party's party members are not my party members.

Zhu Ming was too lazy to impeach this person. First, he would offend Zheng Juzhong and Wang Fu, and second, there was no need for impeachment.This kind of corrupt official and traitorous minister, it is best to get promoted quickly and let the Song court step on him.

Although he is not impeached, he still has to suffer.

Zhu Ming said: "You don't have to get used to this kind of person, contact the people inside and outside the city, surround the place where he temporarily stays, and it's best to kill a few of his followers."

"This... I'm afraid this is not good." Min Wenwei was a little scared.

Zhu Ming said: "Don't worry, I'll be in charge of the end. Huang Qianshan didn't even dare to come out of Zhoucheng, so he must be very timid. To deal with this kind of person, the weaker you are, the more he will push forward. If you are tough, he will be scared away He suppressed the civil unrest and concealed it. If there is another civil unrest, how dare he report it to the court? It is impossible to settle accounts after the fall. The one who is responsible for collecting taxes is Gao Yunjuan. What can he do as a prisoner? He has repaired the plank road and will not be dismissed. The soldiers just don't want to give up their rights. Once the soldiers are dismissed, he will have no chance to extort money."

The Zheng family's house is in the city, and Zhu Ming doesn't want to show up for the time being, so he lives in the Min's house in the countryside.

Min Wenwei convened a discussion with the brothers in the family, and everyone felt that it was time to show off their muscles.So he went to discuss with several other families, and even connected with merchants inside and outside the city. The Li family ran to contact the soldiers and archers.

With such a large-scale conspiracy, news leaked out quickly, and ordinary people also wanted to join the gang.

Gao Jingshan, the judge of Lizhou Road Transport, heard the movement, and was so frightened that he rode back to the city and went straight to Huang Qianshan's temporary residence: "Huang Xiansi, you have done a great job, and everyone inside and outside the city is going to make a noise."

Huang Qianshan lives in the Jinghu Guild Hall. He knows that extortion and extortion are too hateful, and he doesn't even dare to step out of the hall.Hearing this, Huang Qianshan was still able to remain calm, and said with a smile: "Gao Dajuan is making alarmist remarks again. Thousands of soldiers and archers are stationed in Huangjinxia. Which unscrupulous people dare to make trouble after eating bears' hearts and leopards?"

Gao Jingshan was furious, and shouted directly: "Once civil unrest is stirred up, those town soldiers and archers will probably rush to the forefront!"

Huang Qianshan asked suspiciously: "I don't treat them badly, what are these messes?"

Gao Jingshan said: "You let the Zhizhou lead the troops, but let the deputy envoys persuade the farmers to take care of the money and food. Can the military officials be trusted? The military pay has been withheld long ago, and now the Golden Gorge is full of resentful soldiers!"

The punishment envoy often also serves as the envoy to persuade farmers, and there is also a deputy envoy to persuade farmers, who is also affiliated with the secretary of punishment and prison.The vice-envoy to persuade farmers was originally served by civil servants. During the reign of Zhenzong, military officials were selected as military officials who basically had no power, so they could participate in military affairs in frontier roads.

Huang Qianshan took advantage of the relegation of the transfer envoy and crazily invaded the local power. He had no confidants to use, so he even asked a military official to help him manage the military rations.

Wu Chen persuaded the deputy envoy of agriculture, usually there is not much money, why don't you take the opportunity to get more money?
Of course Huang Qianshan knew about the embezzlement, but he didn't know the extent of the embezzlement.At this moment, he finally panicked and asked, "The soldiers really want to cause chaos?"

Gao Jingshan said: "They worked hard to repair the plank road, and more than a dozen fell to their deaths, but their food and wages were deducted. Do you think they feel better? If I and Hu Zhizhou hadn't suppressed them, and transferred some money and food from the state government, I'm afraid they would have died sooner or later." Just rebel!"

Huang Qianshan thought about it and said: "Since the plank road has been repaired, let's dismiss the soldiers."

Gao Jingshan asked back: "Your Excellency said that they can be dismissed if they are dismissed? They still have unpaid wages. Even if they don't make up the owed wages, they will have to pay for them to go home anyway!"

Huang Qianshan said: "I will give you two hundred guan of money and five hundred stones of food."

Gao Jingshan roared angrily: "These money and food, each person can only get a few tens of pennies, more than ten catties of food, are you sending beggars?"

"Then...give me five hundred guan as money and one thousand shi for food." Huang Qianshan's heart was bleeding.

Gao Jingshan walked away in a huff and said, "I don't care, I'll go back to Xingyuan Mansion!"

Huang Qianshan thought about it alone, and felt that he could add some more, which should be able to get rid of those Qiu Ba.He summoned his followers: "Go and call Hu Zhizhou and Zhong Quannong, and tell them that I want to distribute food and dismiss the soldiers."

The Golden Gorge has already exploded.

Thousands of town soldiers and archers were already ready to move, and when they were provoked, hundreds of people clamored in an instant.

They surrounded Zhizhou and the deputy envoys for persuading farmers, shouting and demanding their wages. More soldiers rushed to hear the news, and soon gathered thousands of people.

Hu Zhizhou intends to persuade, but Zhong Quannong tries to intimidate.

This guy is a polished military officer, and he borrowed a few horsemen from Lizhou.He asked Xiang Jun to urge his horse forward, and he held his knife and shouted: "How dare you rebel? Go back to the camp honestly, and you will be able to return home in a few days!"

"If we don't go home, we want food!"

"Even if no food is paid, we have to make up for the wages we worked hard to build the plank road!"

"That's right, make up the wages!"

"Wages are also needed, as well as food and salaries!"

"..."

The soldiers shouted loudly, and several horsemen backed away in fright, but Zhong Quannong rode forward and drew his sword and threatened: "Anyone who makes noise will be killed!"

"Kill this bird officer!"

The soldiers were completely angry and rushed forward in a swarm.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhong Quannong immediately fled on horseback, and several Xiang troops ran even faster.

Hu Zhizhou was dumbfounded for a moment, the owner ran away, he was a scapegoat, and he was very likely to be beaten to death on the spot.

Hu Zhizhou was eager to gain wisdom, and he raised his arms and shouted: "Follow me to get money and food, go!"

Zhizhou's followers also shouted.

The paid soldiers who had rushed over subconsciously followed Zhizhou and his followers, and ran towards the barn in the barracks.

There is not much food here, which belongs to the daily food food, and on average, it is more than 20 catties per person.In the case of looting, many people ran away carrying grain bags, and their hands and feet were so slow that they didn't even catch a hair.

Taking advantage of the looting of food, Hu Zhizhou also fled with his relatives.

The soldiers who made a fuss about the wages were still unsatisfied, and rushed to the city of Zhou.

There has been chaos in Zhoucheng for a long time. The people inside and outside the city, and even shop assistants, have surrounded the Jinghu Guild Hall.They want to be more civilized, they just gathered a crowd and shouted, asking Huang Qianshan not to levy any more taxes.

When the soldiers arrived outside the city, Zhu Ming suddenly rushed out with Li Bao and others on horseback.

Bai Sheng shouted: "Tanhualang is here, Tanhualang is here!"

While shouting, the elders of several big families also brought people over to shout.

It really made these soldiers quiet. A temporary officer of the township soldiers said: "Mr. Zhu, we respect you and Mr. Yuanzhang for your benevolence and righteousness. Don't block our way today."

Zhu Ming said: "If you kill an official, it will be difficult to deal with it. You have wives and children in your family. If you trust me, you will follow my orders and promise to help you get back the wages you owe."

The soldiers did not speak any more. They believed in Zhu Ming, but they were worried about accidents, and at the same time they did not dare to really rebel.

Zhu Ming got off his horse, untied the sword from his waist, and threw it to Bai Sheng.Then, he walked in front of thousands of soldiers with bare hands: "You will surround me and enter the city. If I cheat, you will beat me to death with sticks. How about it?"

This approach is full of sincerity.

The officers said one after another: "We believe in Mr. Zhu, so let's go to the city with Mr. Zhu."

Thousands of soldiers surrounded Zhu Ming and went straight to the Jinghu Guild Hall.

The common people around the guild hall who resisted the tax heard that Zhu Ming was also coming, and gave way one after another.

Zhu Ming said to the soldiers and civilians around him: "Fathers, folks, if you trust me, I will go in and speak for you."

"Zhu Xianggong decides for us!" An old man suddenly knelt down, which was arranged by the Zheng family.

"Master Zhu, please make the decision for us!"

The surrounding people also knelt down as if the virus was contagious. More and more people knelt down, and even the most peripheral soldiers who were making money also knelt down.

Zhu Ming tidied up his clothes, and walked into the hall under the watchful eyes of the people.

(End of this chapter)