The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Shortly after Li Zhi passed away, Mao Wenlong finally bought all the food in Linqing and packed all the joints. Mao Wenlong got on a big ship and went to sea, and Wang Wenlong also went south back to Fujian.

On the way back to Fujian from Shandong, Wang Wenlong could see with his naked eye that disasters were everywhere.

In fact, the rain situation this year is much better than last year. However, the weather changes in the 28th year of Wanli affected the grain storage of each household last year. The resulting lumen also reduced the number of people who were able to return to their hometowns to farm last year, and the subsequent impact was concentrated. It only appeared in the 29th year of Wanli.

In the fourth month of the lunar calendar, disaster reports have included the entire North China area south of Shuntian Prefecture; the Yellow River management project in Henan still requires a lot of investment, because the progress of the major disaster project has also been delayed, causing the Yellow River in Hezhou Prefecture to dry up and bottom out , and delayed spring watering.

The disaster in Fujian finally reached a level that could be recorded in history books. This year, Jinjiang, Nan'an, Hui'an, Tong'an, Putian, and Xianyou all reported disasters, and grain production in the four major plains along the coast of Fujian all decreased.

Fortunately, the vigorous promotion of sweet potato and pumpkin planting in the past two years, as well as the rising immigration of Dajuan Island, have eased the pressure on refugees. Therefore, when Wang Wenlong returned to Fuzhou, the refugee situation outside Fuzhou was still under control, and the number of refugees gathered was even smaller than last year. Most of it.

This somewhat relieved Zhu Yunchang, the newly appointed governor of Fujian.

Jin Xuezeng has returned to his hometown, and his health is really not good. He went to the hospital to retire again last December after the disaster relief in Fujian. Emperor Wanli still had a good impression of him, and he nodded in agreement despite his busy schedule. So Jin Xuezeng returned to his hometown this year to recuperate and was appointed as the new governor. Zhu Yunchang, whose ancestral home is Dantu, Nanzhili and registered as a military household in Yunnan, took office.

Xu Xueju also moved his position this year. He resigned as Fujian Zuobu Chief Envoy and was newly appointed as Fujian Patrol Patrol Deputy Envoy.

Even though his name is deputy envoy, it actually means flat.

In the Ming Dynasty, in order to prepare for maritime disasters, patrol roads were set up in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong to supervise the officers and soldiers of the Coastal Guard Station. They were responsible for military supplies, coastal defense, regiment training, and military affairs. Fujian's annual coastal defense expenditures have to go through Xu Xueju's hands. This official position is divided from the functions of the inspector. His left hand is in charge of the army, and his right hand is in charge of food and grass. He is very fat.

Xu Xueju was transferred from Si Yamen, the chief envoy in charge of Fujian's local administration, to deputy envoy to patrol the sea. He spent a period of time in the military to gain experience. This was actually a special arrangement for his next step in taking charge of the highest governor's position in Fujian.

There was a new governor in Fuzhou, and the streets became more chaotic. The "Xun Bao" also moved out of the editorial office that was originally located next to the Fujian Bu Zheng Shi Si Yamen, and used the profits from the "Xun Bao" to purchase a new courtyard in Hengjin Lane. .

"Fujian is really in chaos now, and Gao Yin is here to cause trouble." Xu Xueju said angrily.

Wang Wenlong shook his head and said: "With the new official taking office and the reorganization of the old forces, there will be chaos for at least a year. Governor Zhu is afraid that he will suffer."

After Zhu Yunchang came to Fuzhou, he also tried his best to make friends with the local gentry, especially Wang Wenlong, who had been very popular among the scholars in Fuzhou in the past two years.

After learning about what Wang Wenlong had done, he attached great importance to it and sent a special letter to Wang Wenlong's home to invite Wang Wenlong to be a staff member. However, Wang Wenlong was still in the capital at that time and naturally could not receive it. It was not until Wang Wenlong returned to Fuzhou in the past few days that he specially brought gifts to pay homage to him. After a visit to the new governor, he subtly declined Zhu Yunchang's invitation, and then made a deal with the new Fujian Chief Envoy to separate "Xun Bao" and Xiang Feisha from the original Fujian Chief Envoy Si Yamen.

Just as Wang Wenlong analyzed for Xu Xueju before, Jin Xuezeng was very powerful and deeply rooted in Fujian. Once he left, Zhu Yunchang, who was transferred from afar, faced an extremely difficult situation when he took office.

For the people who have to provide disaster relief, there are also various chores to immigrate to Taiyuan Island. The instability of coastal defense caused by a large number of immigrants is a headache. What is even more troublesome is that Gao Yin has established a "Yin Party" in Fujian for several years, and has been Want to intervene in Fujian local administration.

As soon as Jin Xuezeng left, the Yin Party and the demons came together and started to seize control of the customs and customs originally owned by the provincial government.

Xu Xueju is also quite dissatisfied with Gao Yin now, mainly because he wanted to take his small treasury "Xunbao" and Xiangfei yarn with him when he was transferred from the Yamen of the Chief History Department.

The profits from Wang Wenlong's operation of these two businesses were quite generous, and there was no withholding. The newly appointed chief ministers of Fujian were quite happy to let Wang Wenlong take away his operating balance.

But when all the procedures were about to be completed and he was about to leave, Gao Yin jumped out and forced the "Xun Bao" to allocate 800 taels of silver, otherwise he would report to the imperial court "Xun Bao" to embezzle the yamen's property.

Wang Wenlong couldn't handle this matter and reported it directly to Xu Xueju. Xu Xueju became extremely angry when he heard this. The requirements for official ethics in this era cannot be calculated according to future generations. Xu Xueju himself felt that when he left the Yamen as Chief Envoy, not only did he not appropriate a penny from the Yamen, but he also handed back a lot of profits. The small treasury of the Yamen was extremely rich, and he had done his best to benevolent and righteous.

However, Xu Xueju had not made things difficult for Gao Yin in the past few years. Gao Yin was obstructing him at this time, not giving him any face at all. But after a fight between him and Gao Yin, Xu Xueju told Wang Wenlong with a dark face: "Send eight hundred taels of silver to Gao Yin to prevent that guy from making any more noise."

Xu Xueju had been the chief envoy for such a long time, and Gao Yin had just changed his position when he was swayed by Gao Yin. He already hated Eunuch Gao deeply.

Gao Yin didn't care about the rules in Fujian officialdom. His position as tax supervisor was entirely given by Emperor Wanli. Just like a few months ago, Emperor Wanli announced the withdrawal of all eunuchs when he knew he was going to die. He didn't know when the emperor's mind changed and he changed his position. Taken back.

Eunuch Gao himself doesn’t know how long he can sit in his position, so why should he maintain a good relationship with the local officials?

Xu Xueju is also using his own abilities to help Zhu Yunchang, but what he can do is really limited. What Xu Xueju has to do at this stage is to try his best to capture the coastal guard soldiers and battalion soldiers in Fujian to further strengthen his own strength, so as not to When he took office, he was in the same embarrassing situation as Zhu Yunchang.

Xu Xueju said: "Gao Yin sent people to Fuzhou Fuxue Middle School yesterday to check the family background of all the students. They extorted money from each family according to the map. How can anyone do this? Where is the dignity of a scholar?"

Wang Wenlong nodded when he heard this. He knew this. A year ago, he was still wondering in his heart. Gao Yin had such a huge power in Fujian. How could there be a rebellion in history where Wang Yu led various students to attack Gao Yin? He didn't understand until he returned to Fuzhou these days.

The "posthumous edict" incident caused by Emperor Wanli in the capital eventually affected the whole country. The main impact was on the tax eunuchs in various places. They all felt that they might not be able to collect taxes anymore, so they intensified their efforts after this incident. While Emperor Wanli is still alive, collect enough taxes.

The method Gao Yin came up with was to extort money, specifically looking for rich people in Fujian, pointing to their houses and saying there were mineral veins under the houses - all the mineral veins in the Ming Dynasty belonged to the emperor, and Gao Yin had the right to supervise the mines, which was theoretically doubtful. If there is a mineral vein under your house, you can dig it. If no mineral vein is found after digging, you will be unlucky and Gao Yin will not compensate you at all.

So the whole process evolved into Gao Yin's subordinates looking at which family was powerful and pointing at their house and saying they wanted to mine. Who was willing to let Gao Yin lead his people to demolish their house for mining? In order to calm down the incident, they He could only give Gao Yin a bribe.

But Fuzhou is so big and there are so many powerful families that Gao Yin can't just look at which house has a beautiful house and just go up and bite them. If he offends a powerful family, the investment and output will not be worthwhile.

So what Gao Yin came up with was to go to Fuzhou Fuzhou Prefecture School to find the list of students from various prefectures. Those who could study in Fuzhou Fuzhou Prefecture School basically had good conditions. Gao Yin asked for the list and analyzed their family situation one by one. , making a list of key victims who have money but no background, and then blackmail them one by one with the list.

Those scholars from Fuzhou Prefectural School found themselves and their classmates' families being named one by one within two days, and no family could escape.

Moreover, Gao Yin didn't just blackmail you once. He found your home during the iron ore exploration today, and he can also explore the copper mine tomorrow.

Unless your house is really dug down and there are no mineral veins underneath, as long as the house is still built on the land, there will be no problem if you check it ten or eight times.

Fuzhou scholars who have a little money naturally feel that they are meat on the chopping block, and they are the kind of people who are repeatedly crushed. They don't know when it will be their turn again, and they have no legal means to deal with Gao Yin. This kind of pressure Now, it would be strange if he was not forced to surround and beat Gao Yin.

Wang Wenlong knew that it was only a matter of time before the chaos among all living things began.

Wang Wenlong said to Xu Xueju: "Gao Yin only collected taxes on the rich in Fujian. When I came back from the capital, I saw all the eunuchs in various places going crazy collecting taxes. The banknote checkpoints on the canal are really amazing. Linqing Eunuch Ma Tang's tax collection is no different from robbery."

Because the bulk of Fujian's foreign trade is overseas trade, and the maritime merchants in the four major plains of Fujian each have their own channels, Gao Yin really can't get much tax revenue here. In fact, the most ruthless tax collectors are the eunuchs on the canal. .

The most famous one is Ma Tang, the eunuch who supervises the two major gold bank offices in Linqing and Tianjin. Wang Wenlong and Mao Wenlong gave him a lot of money for doing business. When talking about this stuff, even Mao Wenlong clicked his tongue.

On his way back from the capital, Wang Wenlong couldn't get off the boat when it arrived at Linqing because there were more than ten miles of traffic jam in front of the banknote customs, waiting to be taxed.

Ma Tang's tax collection method is not to take a percentage based on how much goods you transport, but to collect all receivables.

For example, when Matteo Ricci arrived in Linqing by boat, he was detained along with the boat. Ma Tang said he wanted to collect taxes from him, and then locked him up in a temple and asked Ricci to file taxes on his own.

Matteo Ricci reported a tax amount, but Ma Tang did not reply, and then reported a higher tax amount, but Ma Tang still did not reply, which confused Ricci. He did not know what kind of figure the eunuch wanted to receive to be satisfied. (End of chapter)