Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 159 Out of the fortress
Early the next morning, Xue Siming waited outside Qianhu House with carefully selected soldiers.He brought more than 50 people, a total of more than 100, all of them were dressed in strong clothes, equipped with horizontal knives and strong bows, and they were all the most powerful soldiers of Wuyang Guard.Yang Menglong came out to meet, frowned and asked: "Why are there so many people? Didn't it mean that you can choose fifty people?"

Qi Hu who came with him said: "Don't blame the general. I asked Xue Baihu to choose more people. From Nanyang to Yulin, the journey is long. I don't know how many poor mountains and rivers I have to pass along the way. Loo, how can we cope without bringing more people!"

Yang Menglong smiled bitterly: "It's safe to bring more people, but I'm worried about the food and accommodation along the way...Forget it, since we're here, let's go on the road together."

At this time, Cheng Ji came over, first he bowed his hands to say hello to Xue Siming, Qi Hu and others, and then asked: "Master Yang, are you ready to go?"

Yang Menglong said: "Let's go, let's go!"

Cheng Ji said: "Okay, let's go!" He sent someone to pass the order, and suddenly, Wuyangwei, which was still immersed in the silence of the morning, became noisy, with the bumping of wheels on the ground, the neighing of mules and horses, and the shouting of coachmen. , The footsteps of the bodyguards, the sound was full of noise, and it was very lively.Cheng Ji's convoy was in the lead, and Yang Menglong's convoy was behind. Nearly [-] carts lined up in a long line, so vast that it was almost impossible to see the end. The military households and civilian husbands of Wuyangwei ran out to watch the excitement. Everyone in the carriage opened their mouths wide in surprise, almost speechless.Yang Menglong was quite proud in his heart, this scene was so spectacular, it was like going out with an army!He said to Qi Hu: "During the time I'm away, Wuyangwei will be counting on the old man!"

Qi Hu said: "Of course the old man will take good care of this stall for the adults, but as the commander of the first guard, it is not a long-term solution for the adults to leave for too long..."

Yang Menglong said: "Well, well, if everything goes well, I will be back in at most three months, in time to harvest potatoes with everyone." Then he ran back to say goodbye to Xiao Yufang and the others, An Ning was tearful holding his hand. He was reluctant to let go of the hem of his clothes, Qi Polu and Xiaojun sulked with puffy faces—it was so disrespectful not to take them there!Xiao Yufang asked someone to carry the big box full of things she carefully prepared for Yang Menglong into the car, and she gave Yang Menglong a gentle hug, and said softly: "Be careful on the road, go early and return early!"

Yang Menglong said: "Don't worry, I will be back soon!"

Liu Ziyan sighed, and said: "Sister Xiao has prepared everything for you, I don't even know what to give you..." He took out two beautifully decorated books and handed them over: " Take it with you, read a few pages when you are bored on the road, and pass the time."

Yang Menglong took it over and took a look, good guy, one is "The Peony Pavilion" and the other is "The Story of Nanke". Just reading the titles of the books makes his head ache. I don't have so much American time to think about those things in the book. Love love love!But he still took it, and said with a smile: "Thank you, with these two books, my journey will not be so boring. Teach well, and I will pay you when I come back."

Liu Ziyan froze for a moment, and then showed a look of dumbfounding, the sorrow of parting was washed away by this bastard with a word.Before she could react, Yang Menglong had already rushed out with the wind on his feet, yelling all the way: "Let's go, let's hurry up, get the goods to the border and sell them and go home early..." Liu Ziyan and Xiao Yu Fang followed out, and the guy couldn't even find a shadow, only a cloud of smoke and dust remained.The two beauties looked at each other, dumbfounded.

The convoy set off in this way, taking the road from Nanyang to Luoyang via Pingdingshan, and crossing Sanmenxia into Yuncheng.But after entering Shaanxi, the situation is not the same. The mountains and plains in Shaanxi are undulating, separated by Guanshan, and the terrain is extremely complicated. Let alone people, it is very hard for mules and horses to walk.Yang Menglong also saw that the land in Shaanxi was cracked, the seedlings were scorched, and countless refugees were unkempt and skinny wandering in this land, frantically looking for anything to eat, and some people fell to their deaths on the side of the road from time to time.In some counties, human trafficking markets have been openly opened. Many children with numb faces were stuck with a grass bone and stood on the side of the street. Rich families circled around them, picking and choosing, just like picking animals.Many refugees followed the convoy with green eyes. When everyone was camping at night, they circled around the camp to see if they could find a chance to steal something. The incomparable horizontal knife can't scare them, they're crazy hungry, they're all crazy hungry!With a heavy heart, Yang Menglong asked Cheng Ji: "How did this happen? I accidentally thought I was in hell!"

Cheng Ji sighed: "Isn't it caused by natural disasters? Shaanxi is short of water. God is short-sighted. For several years, there has been a severe drought every year, no rain, and the crops are withered. Naturally, the people are displaced and starved. It's all over the place!"

Yang Menglong shook his head: "No! Although it hasn't rained much, I saw that many rivers are not without water, but the water level has dropped a little, which is enough to water the crops!"

Xue Siming smiled bitterly: "It's true that there is water in the river, but the water level is so low that there is no way to divert the water out of the canal, so we can only watch it flow away. Except for the rich, who has the ability to carry water on their shoulders and water dozens of rivers? Acres of land? Drought every year, year after year loss of harvest, but the tax is getting heavier and heavier, and the common people can’t live, so they have to flee famine.”

Yang Menglong said: "They can build dams to stop the river, and they can build water trucks to lift the water up..."

This time Cheng Ji and Xue Siming smiled wryly at the same time: "How can a group of ordinary people have such financial resources!"

Yang Menglong shouted: "They don't have it, but the government should have it, right? The country gentry should have it? Something has to be done, or we'll all be ruined together!"

Xue Siming snorted angrily: "Government? Those bastards will do nothing but search! As for the squires, they wish the common people would starve to death and then seize the fields! Anyway, they have a lot of food in stock, even if it doesn't rain for three to five years, they won't starve to death them!"

Now Yang Menglong was completely speechless.

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, natural disasters were indeed very frequent. Droughts, floods, locust plagues and hailstorms came in turn, making the common people miserable. But from the perspective of modern people, most of those natural disasters are children peeing, which is not enough to see.For example, the so-called drought is nothing more than less rain, or it has not rained for several months, but there is still water in the river. As long as a pump is pumped suddenly, the crops will be watered again?There is also water in the ground, just dig a few wells down. In other words, the natural disasters in the Little Ice Age sound scary, but in modern times, they are not even a fart. You must know that the United States has also encountered major disasters for several years in a row. Drought, but especially in California, even the groundwater has been pumped out, and everyone dances and dances. Although there are complaints about the shortage of water, I never thought that I would starve to death!Compared with the severe drought in California, the Little Ice River is not enough to see. However, it directly led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Why?Yang Menglong couldn't figure it out.

In fact, the natural disasters in the Ming Dynasty are completely different from the modern ones, but the ability to resist natural disasters in ancient times is also different from the modern ones.The first is seeds. Most of the seeds that ancient farmers sowed were their own seeds. After generations, they have long since degenerated. They are neither resistant to drought nor waterlogging, and their yields are frighteningly low.The second is water conservancy projects. Modern water conservancy projects are well developed, and canals built with cement have almost spread to villages. When there is a drought, water pumps are used to pump water from the river, which can also be used for irrigation. But it was not possible in ancient times. There was no such technology in ancient times. If there is no rain for a month, the water level of the river will drop, and it will be impossible to divert water out of the canal, and the peasants will starve. In the end, the court's finances collapsed and the officials did nothing.Since Zhu Di, the Ming Dynasty's taxes have been declining steadily, and even the emperor feels that money is quite tight. Wanli is better. First of all, Zhang Juzheng left him a large surplus of money and food. He himself is a shameless person who wants money. The role, pays close attention to taxes, and can provide money and food for disaster relief. Zhu Youxiao is also so-so, and reuses the eunuchs. A piece of meat went back, but it was over in the Chongzhen Dynasty.This kid believed in the Donglin Party, and the business tax, tea tax, salt tax, mine tax, all taxes were relaxed, and no one was sent to supervise, in order to show full trust in the honest gentlemen of the Donglin Party, you can figure out how to handle the tax Well, if you like it, you can pay it, if you don't, forget it.The result can be imagined: the salt tax paid by Jiangnan in a year is only a few dozen taels of silver!Salt tax and tea tax have always been an important source of income for every dynasty. Salt merchants and tea merchants no longer pay taxes. Where does the money come from?People have to pay for it.Now the joke is getting bigger, the merchants are so rich, and the farmers are exhausted all year round, even if they don't eat or drink, the output of the land is not enough to pay taxes!To give a simple example: if an acre of wheat produces two stones, and an adult needs four hundred catties of wheat a year to feed himself, then he has to grow two acres of wheat; Then he has to plant four acres of wheat; if the officials give him more feed and collect five buckets more—this is simply the custom, how much land will he have to plant to eat?Eight acres!If he has a wife and children to raise, a wife and a few children will eat more than him, not less than him. If he doesn't plant more than twenty acres of land, he will definitely not be able to eat enough. Imagine how hard it is to cultivate so much land without cattle and metal tools.Note, this is just a full meal!Aside from food, there are many things that a person needs to spend money on. Oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, firewood, tea, rice, everything costs money. Buying a few sets of clothes, a quilt, and two hoes also costs money. Where does the money come from?It can only be obtained from the output of the land. In other words, it is impossible to achieve the level of food and clothing without planting [-] acres of land.What's more terrible is that it is not possible to harvest two stones of wheat per mu every year. It is not uncommon to harvest a little more than one stone or even a few buckets of wheat per mu. In such years, how much land does he have to plant to eat? Have a full meal?The answer is that no matter how much land you plant, you will not be able to eat enough, because the harvest is not enough to pay the rent!The Little Ice Age at the end of the Ming Dynasty only became colder and the rainfall decreased. It was not as serious as "the rivers stopped flowing for thousands of miles in the red land", but it easily pushed the Ming Dynasty to its end. Here, man-made disasters are more important than natural disasters. The court's exorbitant taxes The greed of local officials and gentry, and the burning, killing and looting of bandits and rebels are far more terrifying than the natural disasters of the Little Ice Age!
Yang Menglong still can't figure this out for a moment, he is still too young and has too little experience, by the time he figured it out, it would be a few years later.

In this way, the convoy continued to move forward under the green eyes of the hungry people. Many grass bandits and refugees tried to block the road and rob them. They were immediately taught by more than 100 soldiers of Wuyang Guard to be human with horizontal knives. They slashed straight to the ground They cried for their father and mother, but they didn't even get a single hair. On the contrary, Wu Yangwei snatched away all their belongings.There are also quite a few refugees who are young and strong and brave enough to run over, looking for a job, picking up luggage, driving carts and feeding horses, let them do whatever they want, they don't want money, they just want to have a full meal.Cheng Ji hired a lot of peasants with ridiculously low salaries, and asked them to help transport the grain, and they only had two meals a day, so there were still people rushing to do it.Yang Menglong secretly sighed, manpower is really worthless these days, if such cheap labor could be found in the modern age, the business owners would burst into laughter!
(End of this chapter)