People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 565: Scholars’ Self-rescue!

At this moment, the scholars were a little panicked, and then they looked at Captain Liu who had not yet spoken formally and said: "General Liu, you are a craftsman, you may be more sympathetic to those craftsmen and the common people.

But you don't show any sympathy for people like us. You don't know that it's not that easy for us scholars.

Now you can see that these ordinary people have a lot of resentment towards us, and this resentment comes for no reason.

We have not done anything that is against the will of heaven and earth. Even if we have, do you think we, the scholars, are the ones who are leading these things?

No, it is the landlords who are in control.

And what can we do?

Since we are paid by others, we can only do things for them.

If we don’t do it, not only will our reputation be ruined, but the landlords will not let us go.”

When the scholars said this, their voices were sincere and heartfelt, as if they had suffered a great injustice.

Because they feel that they have indeed suffered a lot of injustice.

Even at this moment they suddenly felt the dangerous aura approaching.

Especially those ordinary people seemed to have received some help instantly.

They felt a lot of danger at once.

Because they know that if this matter is not resolved this time, these people will definitely not let them go.

This is especially true for the people who are present at the scene.

Looking at their eyes as if they want to eat me up, I know that all the past events will be dug up.

And if it were to be uncovered, how would they be able to bear it?

In this situation, if you are found out, you will be dead.

Therefore, how to eliminate the hatred of these people is the most important thing for me now.

Another scholar said: "That's absolutely right. You all think that we are the ones who are causing harm to you, but have you ever thought that we have such great power?
We are just ordinary scholars, and we are just the people who work for them in their mansions.

You ordinary people are working outside with your backs to the earth and your faces to the sky, so we sympathize with you if you feel it is hard.

But are we, the scholars, so good?
Are we scholars really treated as well as you imagine?
Actually, it’s not. ”

When this was mentioned, other scholars also began to speak out: "You see our glorious side, but you never see the pain we suffer behind the scenes at the hands of those vulgar landlords.

None of them have any literary talent at all, and they don't understand what good manners are.

We are just puppets in their hands, and we will always be just something for them to decorate their facade.

So now when we see them get knocked down, we are happy because they finally got knocked down.”

When this was said, many scholars quickly stood up.

“We did do some things that were harmful to you before, but we didn’t do it intentionally.

Think about it, if the landlords asked us to come up with an idea, would we dare to disobey it?

If they ask us to let you get hurt, can we disobey these people's orders? We have to do it."

"We all know that you have suffered so much injustice outside, but we are not living in peace in that mansion either.

We are ordered by them to come up with ideas to trample all of you under their feet.

They ask us to come up with ideas to make your work very hard, so that you can continue to work hard to survive and have no time to fight them.

In this case, you can only grow a little bit of food on the land, and in this case, you can only become puppets in their hands.

And what we see, we know that if we stand up against them, this will be our fate.

You are indeed very pitiful, and you do have your own pitiful qualities. You are even more pitiful than the rest of us.

But it's not us who make you feel pity.

Every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt has its creditor. Those landlords are the ones you should hate.

Even people we should hate together.

Because they make us the opposite of you.

Because when they came up with this idea, we were also tormented in our hearts.

Don't think that we are very happy when we come up with these ideas.

Because we are all made of flesh and blood, many of you are our neighbors and our relatives, but we have no way to change anything.

If we don't do it, someone else will always do it.

If we don't come up with this idea, someone else will always come up with it.

If we don’t do it, our loved ones will be threatened.”

After Wang Dahai and Liu Baihu heard this, they smiled and said, "See, you see it now, don't you?"

Captain Liu said, "We just need to enjoy this play here. These scholars will start to argue for themselves, but we can actually hear something interesting in their arguments.

Do you feel that although these scholars are quibbling, some of what they say is actually true?

The status of scholars here is actually not much higher than that of ordinary people. Even in the landlords' mansions, they are actually not much different from playthings.

So in this situation we should treat them differently. Some scholars have indeed not done anything harmful to others, so they can be developed into useful people to us.

But some people who really follow the landlords and help them to commit atrocities can be killed.

This is also called distinguishing the real enemy in our military strategy. Dividing them can really put us in an invincible position. "Wang Dahai once again gave Liu Baihu a thumbs up when he heard this, "Otherwise, why do you say that you, a guy who knows only a little bit of writing, are the most powerful? I am just a rough guy and have never thought about learning anything myself.

But I didn't expect that you are so good at using all the military tactics. I really need to be careful when dealing with you.

From now on, I will admire you. Don't worry, I will never go against you again. If I go against you, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death!"

Captain Liu said: "What are you talking about? What I am doing now is not a military strategy. I only know a little bit. If I really learned something, I would be really powerful. Don't look at our governor as a weak scholar. In fact, he is really powerful. He took down the entire small country in just a few words.

If we can learn even a little bit of his strength, it would be amazing.”

As he spoke, he heard the scholars below saying again: "My fellow villagers, you also know that among us scholars there are actually good people and bad people. Scholars like us don't do anything harmful to the world on a daily basis.

The most we can do is to give these landlords some ideas on how to get more taxes. Even though it may cause you some hardship, you won't be killed.

Besides, even if we didn’t come up with this idea, do you think no one else would have come up with it?
There are many scholars in the world who want to work in the landlord's house. If we are not there, there are others. So it’s not our fault. We are just following orders.

Just like you craftsmen, if you go to someone else's house to make cabinets, you can make the cabinets according to your own preferences, but you still have to listen to the boss's instructions.

We are actually the same. We have no way to choose our own preferences. We can only listen to and do what others tell us to do.

So there is no need for everyone to focus all their hatred on us. Now that we see these landlords being dealt with one by one, we are actually very happy. You have to figure out who the real enemy is. "

I have to say that some of these scholars are actually quite eloquent. With just a few words, they can make many people believe it, as if it is indeed the truth.

Even among this group of annoying scholars, there are still many who have done good things.

Because although these scholars were giving advice to the landlords, as this scholar said, sometimes they were only giving these advice because they were forced by the landlords.

They are like those craftsmen who go to work for their employers. They cannot do what they want and have to follow the arrangements of others.

Although these scholars and craftsmen are from two different professions, what they do can actually be compared, that is, they cannot do what they want.

Another scholar said, "Take me for example. I can assure you that even though I was an aide to a landlord, I have never done anything that would harm the people.

I even repeatedly advised the landlords to be nicer to the common people."

He stood up and said to the people, "Do you remember that the landlords wanted to unite and collect a so-called foot fee two years ago? What is this foot fee called?

That is, as long as you walk into the city gate, you must pay for your journey.

Do you know what this so-called foot money is? It is another amount of money in addition to your entrance fee.

If this levy is really implemented, how many of you will lose your families because of it?
But do you know why this money was not collected?

That's because I and another staff member from the City Lord's Mansion suppressed this matter."

Many common people were surprised to hear this. The City Lord's Mansion did want to collect this so-called foot money in those one or two years, and many common people had heard about it at that time.

There was quite a commotion at that time.

Captain Liu and Wang Dahai looked at each other in surprise.

Wang Dahai even laughed and said, "I didn't expect that these heavy taxes and levies are everywhere."

Captain Liu smiled and said, "That's right. If there were no such heavy taxes, what would those bureaucrats eat and drink? They are squeezing the common people like sugar cane, trying to squeeze out all the juice from the sugar cane bit by bit."

The common people below heard this and whispered to each other.

"I think I've heard about this."

"Yes, that's right! There is such a thing."

"What happened two years ago caused a lot of discussion at the time."

When everyone heard this, they were so scared that they almost peed their pants.

"You're right, I make a living by selling vegetables in the city. After paying the city gate fee, I can earn a few cents a day to make ends meet.

If I had to pay another foot fee, I would starve to death.

I didn't expect that they were the ones who made the fuss about not collecting the money for the foot. Is this true or false?"

"Whether it's true or not, let's hear what he has to say. Anyway, this thing is true."

Hearing the people talking below, the scholar started talking.

“That incident was a big deal back then, and many people knew about it, but why wasn’t it implemented?
Let me tell you why it was not implemented. It’s because I discussed it with the aide of the City Lord’s Mansion.

At that time, both I and the aide of the City Lord's Mansion were accountants, so we were very proficient in numbers. After we calculated, we found that many things could be carried out without that extra money.

But why is there still a lack of money to repair the city wall? That’s because there is an overlap in military expenditures.”

As he spoke, the scholar became very proud. He said, "At that time, after we calculated the accounts, we submitted them to the City Lord's Mansion."

I told him that the reason why someone suddenly proposed to collect this fee was that even though the military expenditure was overlapped, there were still people who wanted to take advantage of this idea.

If we collect this foot tax again, not only will all the expenses in our city increase, even ordinary people will suffer, and each mansion will have to spend more every day because of this foot tax.

At that time, the city lord and many landlords thought we were exaggerating, but we presented the facts and settled accounts with them.

It turns out that if this fee is collected, those who sell vegetables, water and grain every day will sell their products at a higher price because they have to pay the extra fee.

In fact, this money will eventually be paid by the people in the city and the landlords themselves.

However, although these landlords paid more money, the ones who benefited were the soldiers.

Those soldiers are pushing this matter forward, and even soldiers will get a share of this foot money. This way, it is equivalent to them getting an extra amount of military funds, and they can also get a share of this foot money every month in the future.

The city lord and the landowners were very angry when they heard this. After calculating again and again, they finally found the discrepancy in the overlapping military expenses and cancelled the collection of the money. "

……

(End of this chapter)