Di Ming

Chapter 109 Murder Night
Kong Jiulang couldn't help but smile as he left the Wang family compound.

That's it.

As long as Master Wang gives his approval, he dares to invite Green-Headed Monk into the village. This has happened more than once.

Zhu Xiaogui and Ning Dajiao, you two little brats actually made me lose face in front of the brothers in public. If I don't get revenge, how can I be the leader of the gang in the future?
Originally, I only wanted to extort you two outsiders. As long as you obediently paid tribute, I didn't want to take your lives.

But you have gone too far in bullying me in public, so you might as well die.

Kong Jiulang's revenge against Zhu Yin and Ning Caiwei was certainly not just to vent his anger.

It's for profit.

If he doesn't retaliate fiercely, none of the brothers in the gang will be afraid of him anymore.

Nobody's afraid of me, so my time as the big brother is up.

What Kong Jiulang didn't know was that he had been secretly watched by Zhu Yin's men for the past few days.

From the moment he left his home to his trip to the Wang family mansion, and then back to the village, he was being watched by spies sent by Zhu Yin.

This man was used to being arrogant and had no sense of espionage. He was unaware that his whereabouts were under Zhu Yin's surveillance.

So, as soon as he left the Wang family mansion, he went straight out of the village and rode his horse northwest.

That direction leads directly to Baohua Mountain, where Green-Headed Monk resides!
……

The grapes at the Zhu family's house are fully ripe.

The bunches of grapes were heavy, attracting several bees that buzzed around them, reluctant to leave.

They even ignored the golden, fragrant osmanthus trees blooming in the yard.

The autumn air is crisp and clear, and life is peaceful and serene.

Zhu Yin and Ning Caiwei sat under the grapevines, enjoying fresh grapes while chatting.

"Pah!" Ning Caiwei spat out the grape skin. "Although ancient grapes are small, they are really delicious. They taste much better than those Sunshine Rose grapes."

"Hmm, where were we? Oh, about taxes. How much autumn tax do we have to pay?"

Zhu Yin shook his head. "This is a trap. The fifty acres of wasteland at the foot of Wohu Mountain belong to us, but we don't grow a single grain of food, yet we have to pay land tax. It's too corrupt."

"The regular tax is five liters of rice per mu, plus 0.4 liters for fire loss. So, for fifty mu of so-called land, the tax would be 270 liters of rice, worth one tael and three mace of silver."

"Isn't it a lot? But this is just the regular tax. There's also the corvée tax, which you can think of as the poll tax. The poll tax is for people aged 15 to 60."

“Zhang Juzheng’s Single Whip Law merged land tax, corvée labor, and miscellaneous labor into a single unit of land tax, all of which was converted into silver. The calculation was very complicated, and we estimated that we would have to pay about four taels in total.”

Zhu Yin chuckled as he said this, “Do you know how much the wealthy Zhang family paid? Only five taels, just one tael more than us.”

Ning Caiwei peeled a grape and popped it into his mouth, frowning as she asked, "Why? Are gentry exempt from taxes?"

Zhu Yin shook his head: "The Ming Dynasty has never exempted officials and gentry from taxes; there have only been preferential exemptions. Moreover, the preferential exemptions were not for taxes and grain, but only for corvée labor."

"The only ones exempt from paying grain tax are the meritorious lands that are awarded as rewards. According to the system, even if the Zhang family members hold the highest rank, they cannot be exempt from paying even a single shi of grain tax."

"Many people in later generations do not understand this and immediately say that Ming Dynasty officials and gentry were exempt from taxes."

"What officials and gentry could actually reduce or exempt was only miscellaneous labor (material costs), and the amount of reduction or exemption was very limited."

"With the Zhang family's assets, they should pay at least a thousand taels every year, but they only pay five taels."

When Zhu Yin got to this point, he was reminded of the recurring cycle of history.

"The problem isn't with the tax system, nor with preferential policies; the problem is with property registration."

"According to the tax system and preferential policies of the Ming Dynasty, officials and gentry also had to pay a lot of taxes, and there was no way to escape it."

"But in reality, they escaped. Ironically, many people in later generations thought it was a problem with the tax system and preferential treatment."

"In the early Ming Dynasty, the fish-scale register recorded over eight million hectares of taxable land. By the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, only four million hectares remained, a reduction of more than half. Could land simply vanish into thin air?"

Ning Caiwei understood and nodded, saying, "It's not a problem of tax system and preferential treatment, it's a problem of officialdom."

"Corruption in officialdom has rendered fiscal registration completely ineffective. Some people may be extremely wealthy, but in government records they are just ordinary people. A large number of their properties are not registered and do not exist on the books, so there is no way to collect taxes."

"But I don't understand. Since the government doesn't register them, a large amount of land has no owner or deeds in the law. So the law doesn't recognize property rights."

"Those big landowners would rather not have property deeds than not evade taxes? How can they prove that land not recognized by law belongs to them?"

Zhu Yin laughed and said, "You've asked the key question again. Actually, as long as the bureaucracy is corrupt enough, it's entirely possible to manipulate things."

"For example, we have fifty acres of wasteland at the foot of Wohu Mountain. Fifty acres is correct, but what if we changed it to five acres?"

"We could easily remove a zero, changing it from fifty mu to five mu. That way, the remaining forty-five mu would be concealed, wouldn't it?"

"The location is still at the foot of Wohu Mountain, and the location on the fish scale register has not changed, which proves that it is our land, the property rights are there, and the land deed exists. Only the amount has changed."

"Everyone knows it's fifty mu, not five mu. But the government's registration of taxable land is five mu."

"It's like state-owned assets worth 1 billion yuan. The assets are right there, but they're being sold off for a mere 100 million yuan. What does it matter whether the other 900 million yuan is legally recognized or not? The property rights belong to the buyer anyway."

“Zhang Juzheng reformed the system and re-measured the land, which increased the taxable acreage to more than seven million hectares. But after his death, the taxable acreage dropped to four million hectares. Everyone in the court knew the truth, but no one cared, including Wanli.”

"When the Manchus entered the pass and slaughtered the peasants, good heavens, the number of re-registered farmland reached 1100 million hectares. Do you think the Ming Dynasty concealed how much farmland?"

"Similarly, what is being concealed is not only land, but also population. If a household has a hundred slaves, it can be registered as ten."

"This is why, although there were nearly 200 million people in the late Ming Dynasty, the official population was only over 60 million."

"The Ming Dynasty did not have effective population statistics; the data were all fake, copied year after year, and even in the late Ming Dynasty, they were still copying data from the early Ming Dynasty."

“Take Qingqiao Village for example. There are actually more than 6,000 people there. But only half of them are officially registered, and only half of them pay taxes. The other half are all slaves and unregistered households who are dependent on officials and gentry in terms of personal relationships. These people clearly exist, but they are not registered in the Yellow Register.”

"The population of the Ming Dynasty increased several times and the economy was much stronger than at the beginning of the dynasty, but the fiscal revenue was decreasing."

"Commercial taxes are truly a systemic problem, even worse, utterly appalling. People are begging for food while holding a golden rice bowl, destined to die of poverty."

Ning Caiwei sighed, "If things are like this at the grassroots level, why didn't emperors throughout history take any measures? Were they just waiting to die?"

Zhu Yin snorted coldly, "I am a descendant of the Ming Taizu, and by all accounts, there are many things that I, as a descendant, should not say. But I must tell you the truth, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were truly terrible."

"None of the dozen or so emperors were decent. If Wanli had truly been a wise ruler, with his 48-year reign, he would have had every opportunity to save the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, not only was his ability mediocre, but he was also too self-serving."

"They can't even see the crisis, they don't know the real problem. Their biggest folly is not to seize military power."

"Do you really think that becoming emperor and occupying the central position makes you the Son of Heaven? What is the Son of Heaven? A strong army and powerful horses are the true Son of Heaven."

"If one truly has the ability and a sense of public duty, and still holds imperial power, how could the country have fallen after several decades?"

Ning Caiwei smiled and said, "Then you should do a good job. If we can control the Ming Dynasty, there will be hope for the world."

"Whether the Zhu family will succeed or not depends on you, little tiger. You must make your ancestors proud. Yeah, go for it!"

Zhu Yin stood up, tiptoed, picked a bunch of grapes for Ning Caiwei, and continued:

"Those of noble birth tread high positions, while the talented and handsome are relegated to low ranks. The imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty has become increasingly rigid. Although the system of hereditary privilege at the beginning of the dynasty has almost collapsed, most of those who pass the examinations are sons of officials."

Ning Caiwei nodded and said, "I've noticed that too. Apart from Gu Qiyuan, the scholars in Qingqiao all come from official and gentry families."

"But that's normal. Children from official and gentry families have a better chance of passing the exams. However, overall, the imperial examination system was the fairest system available..."

Just as the two were talking, the clever Kangxi walked over.

"My lord," Kangxi reported, "we've been keeping an eye on Kong Jiulang for several days, and today we finally discovered that he went to the Wang family."

"He came out of the Wang family's house not long after he left, with two thugs in tow, and rode out of the village on horseback."

"We followed him for over twenty miles and confirmed that he had gone to Baohua Mountain..."

Zhu Yin said, "You continue to keep a close watch in secret, remember the six methods of tracking that I instructed you to use, and don't arouse his suspicion."

"Yes." Kangxi accepted the order and withdrew.

Now, the Kangxi brothers hold the young master who saved their lives in the highest esteem.

Ning Caiwei sneered, "Fang Jian's reminder was correct. Kong Jiulang really does want to find Green-Headed Monk. It's definitely to deal with us."

"They're probably after us." Zhu Yin's face was full of murderous intent. "Fine. We'll take this opportunity to eliminate those two scourges, Green-Headed Monk and Kong Jiulang."

"Didn't you want to acquire Tianyu Pavilion at a low price but lack funds? Here comes the money!"

……

Baohua Mountain, Wolf Kiss Valley.

The mountains here are high and the roads are narrow, with numerous grottoes and treacherous forests. Standing on the mountaintop and looking west, you can see Qixia Mountain.

Such a beautiful place has been turned into a den of thieves.

At this time, a mountain gate was set up at the Langwen'ao Pass, overlooking the area, and several fierce-looking bandits guarded the pass.

As soon as the government troops go up the mountain, they can be seen from the mountain no matter which direction they come from.

In addition, there were always people tipping them off, and the government launched several raids on the mountain, but not only did they fail to achieve anything, they also lost many people, so they never came again.

At this moment, Kong Jiulang, accompanied by his two brothers, traversed mountains and valleys to reach the pass of Langwen'ao. He took off his straw hat and laughed, "It's me! Kong Jiu!"

"Why is Ninth Brother here?" The bandits guarding the pass opened the mountain gate and let Kong Jiulang in.

It is clear that Kong Jiulang is very familiar with them.

"How is the Great Bodhisattva feeling?" Kong Jiulang asked. "I've come here to introduce business opportunities to the Great Bodhisattva."

The so-called business referrals were, of course, businesses involving robbery, murder, and theft.

The reason why Green-Headed Monk has been able to commit evil deeds for many years and still escape justice is because there are people like Kong Jiulang in various places outside the mountains who act as his accomplices and collude with him.

The thief laughed and said, "Business? That's great! The brothers are getting bored to death up in the mountains. Ninth Brother has landed a good job today, so let's all take this opportunity to go down the mountain and have some fun."

Soon, Kong Jiulang was led into the "Hall of Righteousness," where the infamous Green-Headed Monk was drinking with women on either side of him.

The patrons in the hall were all leaders of the thieves, and they were all drunk.

Green-headed Monk was a bald man with deep-set features, yet he was extremely ugly. His face was full of fleshy muscles, and he had a large, bulbous nose. He was also very burly, looking like a bear. This man was only thirty years old, but he had already been committing evil for ten years.

He was called Green-Headed Monk because his eyes were green, which looked a bit creepy.

This person's background is somewhat bizarre.

He was from Songjiang. His biological father was a Dutch missionary who seduced a shameless married woman in Songjiang and fathered Green-Headed Monk.

Therefore, this person is an extremely rare case of a foreign father and a Chinese mother, and his appearance is somewhat similar to that of a foreigner.

"Haha! Little Kong, you've come at the perfect time!"

Green-headed Monk laughed loudly, "I was just thinking of going down the mountain to loosen up my bones, snatch a few new beauties, and kill a few people."

Kong Jiulang said with a smile, "Otherwise, how could I understand your thoughts best, brother? I know you're bored out of your mind on the mountain, so I've come to offer my help."

With a wave of his hand, Green-Headed Monk sent a numb-looking woman forward, who limped forward to pour wine for Kong Jiulang.

After drinking a cup of wine, Kong Jiulang immediately said with great enthusiasm, "So that you may know, brother, a family from out of town has come to Qingqiao North Lane. The head of the family has two children, and they are a fat sheep!"

"I've already scouted the place. They keep dozens of servants; they must have a lot of gold and silver. They're rich, outsiders, and orphans..."

Green-headed Monk waved his hand to interrupt Kong Jiulang, "Do those two children have any background or powerful connections? Little Kong, that's the most important thing."

Kong Jiulang laughed and said, "Brother is so meticulous. How could I dare to hide this matter? They know Magistrate Zhuang, but it cost them a full four hundred taels of silver to settle in Qingqiao Village!"

“Brother, what does this mean? It means their relationship with Magistrate Zhuang is nothing special! Otherwise, why would Magistrate Zhuang spend four hundred taels of silver just to say a word or do a favor?”

Green-headed Monk squinted at Kong Jiulang's eyes, and finding that he didn't seem to be deceiving him, said:

"Xiao Kong, you're in this line of work too, you should know who you can mess with and who you can't. Don't try to harm me."

“If my brother falls into the hands of the authorities, he might implicate you. We’re in this together.”

Kong Jiulang's expression was very confident. "Brother, don't you trust me? We've cooperated many times. Even if you kill that child's entire family, Magistrate Zhuang won't be your sworn enemy."

"Besides, what can the government troops do to you, brother, even if they come up the mountain several times? You have a hundred or so good men under your command, who are you afraid of?"

"I guarantee you, brother, that you'll make at least several thousand taels of silver this time. It would be a shame not to take advantage of such a fat sheep."

Several thousand taels of silver... even Green-Headed Monk was tempted.

"I can only go down the mountain and enter the village if at least one of the three families—the Zhang family, the Wang family, and the Liu family—agrees," Green-Headed Monk said. "Otherwise, I'll be in trouble if I offend any of them."

Kong Jiulang looked smug; his already large nostrils appeared even larger, almost like two eyes. He said:
"Don't worry, brother. Of course, we need to inform them beforehand about such a serious matter as entering the village to kill someone. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to do it."

"To tell you the truth, brother, I have already persuaded that smiling tiger Wang Chaoque. With his consent, brother can go down the mountain to the village at night."

"After the job is done, I will only ask for 10% of the reward as a reward for my hard work."

Green-headed Monk finally smiled, patted Kong Jiulang on the shoulder, and said, "Alright, I'll take the job!"

"That's great!" Kong Jiulang put down his wine cup. "But brother, you should bring more good men. Those two kids have several skilled servants and quite a few slaves. If there aren't enough people, things might go wrong."

Green-headed Monk said, "Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. When I, this Bodhisattva, strike, I strike with thunderous force!"

Kong Jiulang grinned mischievously, his big nostrils glaring at the other man. "Doesn't my brother like beautiful women? He has quite a few pretty girls at home. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to bring them all up the mountain?"

The green-headed monk laughed in a hoarse voice, his laughter twitching like a ventilator. "And quite a few pretty girls? Then it's not just about making money."

Kong Jiulang said, "Brother, in a few days, we can go to Tangshan, go directly down from the east mountain, and head straight for the Zhou family's villa!"

"It's just another... headless bloodbath!"

.........

August 27th, dusk.

After returning from Baohua Mountain, Kong Jiulang discussed with Green-Headed Monk about going down the mountain to take action. Satisfied, he went to the Ruanyu Tower in town to drink and have fun.

He ordered several noodle shops in one go and had a great time at the Soft Jade Pavilion all afternoon. As the sun set, he left the town, his belly protruding and drunk.

When we entered the village, night had already fallen and the lights were twinkling.

He walked to the mill where he used to gamble, and habitually stopped to urinate.

The crescent moon in the clear autumn sky coldly watched him, casting his faint shadow on the ground.

Before he had even finished urinating, he suddenly noticed an even taller moon shadow beside his own shadow on the ground.

Although he had been drinking, his mind was perfectly clear. Upon seeing the shadow, the last bit of urine he was about to urinate stopped abruptly, and he broke out in a cold sweat, immediately reaching for the knife at his waist.

However, before his hand could even touch the knife, his entire body was lifted up like a chick by an eagle, his feet off the ground.

"Ugh..." Kong Jiulang's throat was choked, and he couldn't utter a single word, but he saw who was choking him.

It was the strange guard who accompanied Zhu Xiaogui and Ning Dajiao.

Kong Jiulang wasn't stupid; he knew perfectly well that Zhu Yin was following him.

He never imagined that a child could be so cunning.

Soon, Kong Jiulang was dragged into a dark carriage, with only the faint, cold moonlight shining through the windows.

He was tied up tightly, and his mouth was gagged completely.

It seemed like a long time had passed before he was carried into the woodshed.

Before long, two small figures appeared at the door of the woodshed.

Under the dim light of the cold moon, the two small figures looked like two ghosts.

Kong Jiulang's eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a fear he had never felt before.

He had never been so afraid of his two children as he was tonight.

"Kong Jiulang?" A clear, childlike voice called out. It was deep, calm, and ethereal.

Kong Jiulang's body trembled.

Zhu Yin slowly entered the woodshed and sat down in front of Kong Jiulang.

Ning Caiwei, who was behind her, lit a lamp.

Under the lamplight, the two delicate, fair faces, like the golden boy and jade girl in a New Year's painting, suddenly came to life, unlike ordinary people.

"Let me guess." Zhu Yin, with his hair in two topknots, smiled innocently. "In order to regain your authority and take revenge on us, you decided to ask Green-Headed Monk to do it and kill us with a borrowed knife."

“But, in this village, you are merely a dog of a wealthy family. Without your master’s permission, you dare not invite bandits into the village.”

Zhu Yin picked a pine branch from the woodpile, observed the grain of the wood, smelled the pine scent, and said:
"So, you went to Wang Chaoque and sought his consent."

“Wang Chaoque agreed. Otherwise, you wouldn’t dare to invite Green-Headed Monk.”

"Green-headed Monk has already agreed. He'll make his move in the next few days and come down from the East Mountain, right?"

Kong Jiulang twisted his body desperately, hissing and roaring, his eyes filled with panic, and his nostrils flared wide. Where was the ferocity he had shown before?
At that moment, he was utterly terrified.

Not only were their whereabouts thoroughly tracked, but their thoughts and plans were also guessed!
This child is absolutely terrifying.

Zhu Yin gently poked Kong Jiulang's nose with a pine branch, frowning as he said:

"How annoying! I told you before, you shouldn't glare at me with your nostrils. Believe me or not, I'll shove a stick up your nostril. What if you glare at me again?"

Kong Jiulang: "..."

"Little tiger," Ning Caiwei sneered, "aren't we supposed to skin and dismember it as soon as we catch it?"

Zhu Yin shook his head, patted Kong Jiulang's face with a pine branch, and said:
"I heard that you once skinned a boy and pulled out his tendons? It must have hurt a lot, right? And you also skinned a woman, didn't you?"

"So, some people call you Kong the Skin Peeler. You're pretty amazing. But do you know what karma is?"

He pointed at Lancha, "My bodyguard is a hunter by trade, and he's best at skinning and dismembering. But he's never tried skinning a human. I want him to give it a try."

Upon hearing this, Kong Jiulang turned ashen-faced with fright, his soul nearly leaving his body.

The horrific scene of the boy and woman he had skinned immediately flashed into his mind.

That was the dirty work he did on orders from the Wang and Zhang families.

Those were the pageboy of the Wang family and the maid of the Zhang family. They had eloped and were discovered, and were executed by private torture.

Of course, he did it personally not only because he was ordered to, but also to establish his own notorious reputation.

At the time, he was thoroughly enjoying the execution.

It's a kind of pleasure that comes from dominating other people's lives and suffering.

But he knew better than anyone how painful that kind of punishment was.

Zhu Yin smiled, revealing his growing teeth. "I can make you pay for this in a heartbeat right now. Of course, I can also give you a quick and easy chance."

"Whether you are skinned alive or given a quick death depends on whether you can control the situation."

Kong Jiulang suddenly felt a heat in his lower body, and the half-empty urine that he hadn't finished urinating suddenly gushed out.

Scared to the point of peeing.

……

On August 30th, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Haishi.

Night had fallen. The entire village was dark and silent.

Occasionally, a few barks from dogs would break the silence.

On the newly repaired wooden bridge at the foot of Dongshan Mountain, dozens of dark figures appeared like ghosts, their chilling blades flashing in the faint starlight.

The group of dozens of people were clearly very familiar with the village. After crossing the bridge, they headed straight for the Zhou family's villa, which was not far south of the bridge!
P.S.: That's all for today. I'll try to update earlier from now on, even if it means staying up all night to write the next day's chapter. I can't let my loyal readers stay up all night anymore. Thank you!
(End of this chapter)