Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 165: Eat Both Ends
"Do you think they don't know that food is the most important thing for the people? But the people need to hand in too much grain, which results in a shortage of food. This happens every year. How do you think the people of Zhenjiang Prefecture survive?"

Cui Shulan is obviously a woman, but she knows a lot. It seems that the Cui family in Zhenjiang also attaches great importance to the education of their own girls.

No wonder most people say that girls from wealthy families are sensible.

Now it seems that this is true.

"Zhenjiang Prefecture is close to the Yangtze River Basin, so how could there be a shortage of food? Before the Crown Prince promulgated the reform, no one in the country handed in their grain harvests. Unless the harvest was poor, there should be enough left after handing in the grain."

Yang Chen decided to visit Zhenjiang Prefecture in person and naturally investigated what the climate change in Ming Dynasty had been like in the past year. He quickly asked this question, but got a jaw-dropping answer.

"The weather is indeed good this year, but the taxes imposed by the imperial court are too high!

The people had to pay a certain amount of tax on the grain they handed over, and in addition, they needed various buyers, otherwise the government would make things difficult for the people. In order to survive, many of these people took the initiative to sell their land to my family. My father wanted to be a good person, so he accepted the people's request. However, he did not expect that Zhou Shizhong, a corrupt official, would determine my family's property in order to support his family to gain a foothold in Zhenjiang Prefecture, and then start to take action! It is particularly abominable to occupy the magpie's nest!"

Cui Shulan’s answer left Yang Chen stunned. He never expected that such a thing could be possible.

In order to survive and prevent their food from being taken away by other corrupt officials, the people took the initiative to surrender to the local wealthy families.

Now it seems that the Cui family has been able to grow bigger and stronger because it has truly won the hearts of the people!

"What is going on? Tell us in detail."

Zhu Chong, the only member of the royal family present, couldn't wait to find out what was going on behind this.

His status gave him the responsibility to maintain the royal power. If he did not stand up now, he would definitely be punished if his father found out in the future.

Following Cui Shulan's explanation, Yang Chen quickly understood the whole story.

First of all, there are many reasons why the people became refugees. One of the reasons is that the prefect Zhou Shizhong was a dictator in the local area. In order to cultivate the family he supported, he directly cut off the support of the Cui family.

Not only did he attack the Cui family, he also tried his best to distort the edict issued by Zhu Yuanzhang.

For example, the corvée was abolished and replaced by a tax system based on the amount of land used. From now on, the people no longer had to leave their hometowns to perform unpaid corvée, but could pay grain and head taxes in exchange for corvée labor.

As a result, when it came into the hands of Zhou Shizhong, this policy that benefited the people turned into a policy that abolished corvée labor, but the price was to pay more grain, while the real money and silver became blurred.

How could the uneducated people possibly doubt the prefect's words? In the end, everyone fell into his trap, and the target of the people's hatred shifted to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Therefore, in order to avoid corvee labor, the people had to entrust their land to the Cui family in the form of a contract.

This is why Zhou Shizhong targeted Cui.

"So, now most of the people in Zhenjiang Prefecture have left? Who will cultivate the fields? What about the food? Since he is following such an order, isn't he worried that the local headman will report it to the censor?"

Both Yang Chen's eyes and tone were extremely unfriendly.

Why did he go to Zhenjiang Prefecture?

Wasn't it because of the local human resources, plus the proximity to the Yangtze River? Before the steam engine was developed, he could use water power here to improve industrial efficiency.

But no matter how advanced the equipment is or how high the technology is, people are still needed!
It takes people to mine the poisonous salt mines, and it also takes people to crush it into powder and dissolve it into water. Now all the people in Zhenjiang Prefecture have run away, so what can he do?

The head of the village is equivalent to the village chief in later generations, but his authority is not as high as that of the village chief.

Cui Shulan was quite helpless. She seemed very angry about what Zhou Shizhong had done, but she could do nothing about it.

"Brother Yang, you think too simply. Ever since Zhou Shizhong wanted to take action against the Cui family, it has been his order to decide who will be the village head.

I don't know the censor you're talking about, I only know that everyone from the court is in cahoots with him, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the imperial edict to the capital to complain to my elder brother and His Majesty!"

After a deeper understanding, Yang Chen finally understood what Zhou Shizhong was trying to do.

Not only did he rely on his position as the local prefect to target the Cui family in order to develop his own family, he also took bribes and perverted the law to distort Zhu's will. Why did he do this?

All of this is to pave the way for his own family. Although Zhenjiang Prefecture is a very ordinary prefecture, it controls 100,000 hectares of land. Even if only one-tenth of these fertile lands fall into his hands, it can generate unimaginable benefits every year.

Now, the original local head of the village should have been a talent from the government, but Zhou Shizhong used a situation similar to "labor dispatch" to bribe the head of the village.

The head of the village is equivalent to the head of the village, responsible for local taxes and corvee labor. However, now the head of the village has become a puppet of Zhou Shizhong, and he does not have the final say at all. As the hub between the government and the people, he cannot have the final say. One can imagine what kind of life the local people are living.

The people were already living a hard life, and now they were fooled by the puppet headman. Not only did the court not cancel the corvée, but they also collected more money and took away their ancestral land. In the end, all the villagers began to move closer to the family cultivated by Zhou Shizhong.

In the future, anyone who is required to perform corvee labor will be sent away by people who have been prepared long ago by Zhou Shizhong.

At that time, he would take the money for corvée labor and the taxes paid by the people. After all, the people were cooperating with him and the land was in his hands, so he would get the biggest share no matter how he took it.

You may even eat two or three ends!

Not to mention Yang Chen, even Zhu Chong couldn't help but smack his lips.

"Good fellow, he's playing so extravagantly! If father knew, he would definitely skin him alive!"

He also used tax revenue to commit corruption in his fiefdom of Xi'an. In his opinion, there were only a few ways to commit corruption.

However, he did not expect that after just a short while outside today, he would be able to witness such a variety of corrupt methods, including taking bribes. No wonder he heard about how his father's policies were good for the people.

The lives of the common people are still far from getting better. Given the behavior of these guys, the imperial court allocated 10 million taels of silver, and only 100,000 taels of silver that could go into the pockets of the common people would be used to burn incense and pray to Buddha.

At the same time, this also made Yang Chen more determined to train a team, a grassroots team from the army. Only by spreading the Daming Mass Service Center throughout the Daming and implementing the policies he recommended to Zhu, can the Daming become stronger at the fastest speed and with the best efficiency.

"Doesn't the local people realize that Zhou Shizhong is exploiting them unscrupulously? No one dares to resist?" Yang Chen asked in confusion.

Cui Shulan smiled, and then said contemptuously:

"Of course there are, but think about it, sir, how many people can sue the officials?"

After saying this, Yang Chen realized that his question seemed to be in vain.

The people in power are often confused. He had seen people suing officials before. When the people went to the court to confront the officials, they found that the officials they sued were sitting high in the court, judging them from a high position.

If you are lucky, the other party will even say something like "Who is suing me?"

If you are unlucky, you will be told, "Someone! Give him a hundred lashes before he speaks!" If you want to inform the government, you have to go to the capital. This is one of the few ways Zhu Yuanzhang left for the people, and that is the Great Edict.

Yang Chen had to admire Zhu Yuanzhang. During his reign, as long as the people came to the capital with imperial edicts, he would free up his hands to manage the matter. The number of officials who died as a result of this reached tens of thousands.

This type of imperial trial is extremely rare.

If this happened in other dynasties, it would never have happened.

Even when other emperors of the Ming Dynasty were in power, they all tried their best to cancel the edict because they found it troublesome.

The Great Edict thus became the solo performance after Zhu Yuanzhang, and the end of his policies without exception slowly manifested themselves with the passage of time.

Cui Shulan now believes that Yang Chen is the eldest son of the capital. Since she has to sue him anyway, instead of walking towards the unknown capital, she might as well take advantage of the strength now and tell him everything.

Zhou Shizhong used his power to control officials and the clans in the town and village.

The people had no choice but to submit to his tyranny, and very few people thought of resisting.

The Cui family also ended up being destroyed because they deliberately resisted and refused Zhou Shizhong's control.

How many people were killed by bandits who were officials during the day but took off their official clothes and put on night clothes at night.

It was not easy for Cui Shulan to walk here alive. If she had not met Yang Chen, she would have become a dead bone on the roadside.

As a private united organization of the people, members of each clan are even more dependent on the clan's management and orders.

It was also because of Zhou Shizhong's command that the people were even more reluctant to respond to conscription.

According to the system of commuter corvée, the village head only needed to find someone to do the corvée work. As to whether it was the person himself, it was up to the local officials to decide.

When the clouds and mist parted and the sky became clear, Yang Chen understood the whole story. Instead of feeling happy, he felt very depressed.

He stood up, looked at the sun that was about to turn into sunset in the distance and sighed:
“When prosperity comes, the people suffer; when decline comes, the people suffer. In this world, cannibalism exists everywhere, but I didn’t expect it to be so close to me.”

Yang Chen thought he had some understanding of the cruelty of the Ming Dynasty, but he did not expect that people could be so despicable for their own selfish interests.

At the same time, I also feel sad for these people, because Zhou Shizhong and others will face the most cruel punishment next!

"Zhu Chong."

"What do you want, Brother Yang?"

When Zhu Chong heard Yang Chen calling him, he immediately straightened his body, looking as if he was ready to go into battle and kill the enemy.

"You have heard what the woman said just now, Lord Yu. She is a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. She went to the capital to seek justice with the imperial edict in hand. Now we have caught her. Since you are the son of His Majesty, you should share the responsibilities for your father.

Personally, she is the sister of the commander under your command. If the soldiers on the front line knew that the Ming Dynasty they are protecting has let down their relatives and that their relatives have been persecuted by corrupt officials, then their morale will inevitably be shaken. The army is the last guardian of a dynasty. If they cannot even protect the families of the soldiers, how can they have the face to protect the entire Ming Dynasty?

So, you should know what to do later.”

Zhu Chong felt a burning desire in his heart. He had wanted to share some of the responsibilities with his father a long time ago, but he encountered too many obstacles and was never able to do it well.

Now that there is an opportunity to show off, how could he let it go easily?

"Brother Yang! I know what to do!"

After getting the reply, Yang Chen didn't say much, but looked up at the vague city buildings in the distance. The gate of Zhenjiang Prefecture was right in front of him. As long as he arrived there, a horrific fight would take place.

I just don’t know whether Zhou Shizhong will fight to the bitter end or just accept the punishment of fate.

No matter what his final outcome is, Yang Chen will not let him have an easy time.

"You've all rested, right? If you've rested, then follow me!"

Yang Chen wasted no time and rode his horse towards Zhenjiang Prefecture. As for Cui Shulan, he arranged her in a carriage filled with female relatives.

Cui Shulan thought she would fall into the hands of a group of bad guys, but she didn't expect to end up in such a situation. Sitting in an ordinary carriage, she found that she was surrounded by women and suddenly became extremely uneasy.

Firstly, she had never experienced this before, and secondly, as she had left home for the first time as a refugee, she was now somewhat covered in mud, which naturally made her out of place compared to the glamorous looks of the others.

"Sister, you don't have to be nervous. We are all female workers in the master's house. They used to work in the prime minister's house, but now they have been taken back by the master."

"That's right, I think you seem to be very delicate, sister. You must be suffering to be in this state. Wipe your face quickly."

Whether it was Xiaochun and her four relatives, or Lu Xuefei and other female relatives, they would all treat Cui Shulan very well.

As they got to know each other better, Cui Shulan told her everything about her family.

Under Zhou Shizhong's arrangement, the Cui family arranged for most of the arrested people to be sent to that poisonous salt mine.

Although the rock salt extracted from the poisonous salt mine is poisonous and can kill people if eaten, there are still many people willing to invest in the purchase of rock salt and then sell it to those who know nothing about it.

There is no way, the price of salt is so attractive that selling it is a lucrative business.

It is normal for these people to do whatever it takes to make money.

Zhou Shizhong did nothing but take commissions and still made some money, so many people in prison were arranged by him to mine in the poisonous salt mines.

Before Cui Shulan fled Zhenjiang Prefecture, her father and other brothers and sisters were arrested, and they are probably being held in this position now.

A group of women felt very sorry for Cui Shulan's experience, and some even shed tears out of empathy.

Outside on horseback, Yang Chen saw the aura of solidarity and hatred in Zhu Chong, and it seemed that he was about to start a massacre, so he tried to dissuade him and said:
"Zhu Chong, I know you definitely want to avenge your father, but let me make it clear in advance that you need sufficient evidence to do anything, otherwise it will be bad if something goes wrong."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Chong's face turned confused, and he asked solemnly why:
"Brother Yang, I don't understand. Since Zhou Shizhong has been so blatant and disregards the orders of the emperor, what's the point of keeping him alive?

Letting him live one more day in this world means allowing him to persecute the people for one more day. Besides, didn’t you just say you wanted to do justice for Cui Shulan? "

(End of this chapter)