Women's clothing in the Ming Dynasty

Li Chengfeng was originally looking for the little emperor arrogantly and with the mood of winning, but when he got to the door, he began to hesitate.After all, since the Longevity Day, the two haven't seen each other very much, so what are they going to talk about...

After wandering outside the door for a long time, Li Chengfeng didn't react until Huang Jin called him.

"Hey! My real person, the emperor has been waiting for you inside for a long time, why don't you go in!"

"Ah? The emperor knows I'm coming." Li Chengfeng said a little embarrassedly.

"As soon as you arrived, the emperor saw it. The slave said he would invite you, but the emperor still refused to let you go. It was because the wind was strong outside, and he was afraid that you would catch a cold, so he ordered the slave to come out." Huang Jin wondered, I don't know what charade these two are playing.

Following Huang Jin into the hall, he saw Zhu Houcong sitting upright on the dragon chair, looking at him nervously.Seeing that he was nervous, Li Chengfeng panicked even more. He saluted reluctantly, and looked at the little emperor face to face after getting up.

"You..." The two spoke at the same time.

Zhu Houcong's face was reddish, and he coughed uncomfortably: "You speak first, you speak first..."

Li Chengfeng also paused for a while, trying not to think about these messy things, organized his words for a while, and said: "Pindao heard about Mr. Zhang's memorial in Yuan En Palace, and I remember talking about it with the emperor. Didn’t it be agreed at the time that we count the population first, and we’ll talk about the rest later?”

At the beginning, Zhu Houcong was excited, but the more he heard it, the darker his face became, and he said angrily, "You came here just to tell me this?"

Li Chengfeng, who was still eloquent, was taken aback for a moment, "Yes." Otherwise?

Suppressing his anger, Zhu Houcong said coldly: "The people from the cabinet are the ones looking for you. Needless to say, I have made up my mind. The road to reform is imperative!"

"Reforms are not something that can be completed overnight. Although there is no war in the country, there are still Mongolias in the north. The tax exemption for scholars has lasted for thousands of years. Your Majesty wants to change, it is as difficult as going to heaven." Li Chengfeng Continue to persuade each other hard.

But this time the little emperor didn't seem to listen to him anymore: "It's because of the difficulty that I want to do it! When I was in the feudal land, I saw too many aristocratic families cheating and hiding. It’s just a drop in the bucket, but I still racked my brains to resist the tax. In normal times, I might choose to take it slowly, but now it’s different.” Zhu Houcong looked frantic: “It’s hard to wait until the treasury is full, and the courtiers are also organized by me. Mo, isn't this a good opportunity to choose one in a million! I want people to know that I am sitting on this throne with dignity!"

Li Chengfeng groaned in his heart, and it seemed that he, a butterfly flapping its wings, changed the course of history.Originally, at this time, Emperor Jiajing, who had just ascended the throne, was still facing the problem of giving great gifts. The country's finances were stretched, and even if he wanted to do something, he was at a loss.Now that he has the confidence, his personality that likes to gamble, paranoid and unwilling to admit defeat is revealed.

Li Chengfeng then put on the table Yang Yiqing's question of the ownership of tens of millions of students in the future, and signaled to the little emperor that you can solve the problem if you want, but the chain effect that will arise after that must also be solved together.

"They still have the guts to want to make trouble!" Zhu Houcong said bitterly, randomly took out a memorial from the table and handed it to Li Chengfeng, "You can read it for yourself."

Li Chengfeng opened it, and saw a very simple case of family division. When the two brothers separated, each of them had six hectares of Susukida, but one of them was Juren, who bought more than a dozen farmlands in just a few years. , In the end, with forty or fifty hectares of land under his body, he became a big local family.

"According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, there is only one hectare of tax-free land for a first-rank official. How did he become a huge rich man in a few years?" Zhu Houcong sneered.

Looking at the memorial, Li Chengfeng was also speechless for a while.This is just the tip of the iceberg in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, and the Juren is only a higher level than the grassroots civil servants. Every three years in the whole country, there will be tens of thousands of Juren.These scholars gathered together to suck the blood of the common people.

Zhu Houcong said gloomyly: "Didn't they support the reform of the imperial clan at that time? They said that the royal relatives and relatives are the moths of the country, and they should have collected taxes from these people a long time ago. Now my old Zhu family has paid the money first, so it should be They're bleeding!"

"However, what should we do with the public discussion?" Li Chengfeng was still worried.

"What should I do?" The little emperor said indifferently: "At the time of the great ceremony, there were so many hard bones in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, so they were softened. The people of the world are all virtuous. Didn't you also teach me that power comes from the barrel of a gun? '?"

...Although that is the case, it is not such a thing.What Li Chengfeng was most worried about had happened. Sure enough, a person's character is hard to change.Just like in history, the little emperor tasted the benefits of power and force, and began to use it unscrupulously to solve problems.

"Can't there be another way? Maybe the amount of tax-free land can be reduced, or simply collect a small amount of tax from people with fame?"

Zhu Houcong shook his head: "The tax-free land set by the Tai and Zu back then, the number is clearly displayed there, and everyone knows it, but do they abide by it? As long as there is an opening, someone will definitely get into it. , Only by taking strong medicine can it be solved."

Li Chengfeng was silent. He was a technician himself, and he had never been very sensitive to politics, let alone arguing with Emperor Jiajing, who was well versed in this. He was quickly rendered speechless.

Seeing that he was powerless to recover, Li Chengfeng left tiredly.But who would have thought that the little emperor panicked when he saw that he was about to leave.

"You...do you have anything else to say to me?"

Li Chengfeng's mind was full of question marks, he had already said what he needed to say, could it be that he changed his mind again?

Seeing that he didn't speak, Zhu Houcong broke his heart and went all out: "Do you remember what I told you that day in Xiangyuan, or... do you understand what I mean?"

Then he took out a cloth bag from his pocket, opened it carefully, and inside was the handkerchief and the patchwork mirror. "This is what you used to save me when you were kidnapped by the gangsters. It was also the first time we got through a difficult time together. Afterwards, we experienced many things together. I have always stayed by my side."

Zhu Houcong took a deep breath and stared at the female crown opposite: "Jinghua, I am pleased with you."

Li Chengfeng: "..." It's over, the thing he was most worried about happened.Even though he had been mentally prepared for a long time, he couldn't help but sigh at this time.Should he face it or have to face it, he could only bite the bullet and say: "Your Majesty, the poor..."

"You don't need to reply first." Zhu Houcong stopped nervously: "I can wait until you think it through."

After finishing speaking, he rushed out without waiting for Li Chengfeng's reaction.

...This seems to be your palace, your majesty, why are you running?Li Chengfeng complained in his heart, but he still breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he was not ready to explode the horse, and he was not sure what the result would be.

Neither of the two thought that this would be the last time they had a conversation in this capacity.

……

South Zhili, Wuxi, the capital of Changzhou.

This is a small academy, there are not many students in it, only 30 to [-] people, most of them are young talents in the surrounding area, and some of them have not yet achieved fame.Jiangnan has a strong style of study, and such academies are everywhere.

Gu Kanghui is one of the students of this academy, more than that, he can be called the top student of the academy.He was selected as a scholar at the age of 14. Although he failed the provincial examination later, he is only [-] this year, so he can be called young and promising.

Sitting in the classroom worriedly, listening to the teacher's lecture every now and then, but his eyes kept looking out.The master noticed that he was absent-minded, and just about to speak, he sighed considering the situation in this son's family.That's all, at this moment they are all grasshoppers on the same rope, pretend not to see, let him go.

After finally getting out of class, Gu Kanghui hurried home. As soon as he arrived at the door of the house, he saw a group of yamen servants gathering at the door.

"Dare to ask the official, what's going on?" Gu Kanghui hurried forward, he has a reputation, and the yamen servants should take care of it when they see it.

When one of them saw Gu Kanghui, he smiled and said: "Finally, someone who can understand has come, and the higher-ups ordered a population count. Gu Xiucai, there are too many hidden households in your family. It's just your parents. It is very difficult for those of us who are on errands to stop it from being investigated."

The so-called hidden households refer to people hiding to avoid rent and tax and corvee.Gu Kanghui's family is quite special. The family has been farmers for several generations. There are dozens of acres of land, and the mother is not a local.Two years ago, my mother's natal family was in trouble, and several of them came to seek refuge. Gu's father was in average health, and Gu Kanghui was the eldest son, with two younger brothers who were studying. He really didn't care about taking care of the fields, so he took them in.

A few years ago, he passed the examination of a scholar, and the state stipulated that the family of a scholar could be exempted from the corvee service of two males, so the whole family did not go to the military service at all.

Like the Gu family, there are many others in Ming Dynasty, all belong to the people and do not raise officials, they are scholars who rule the world, and no one has so many relatives.

But it's different now, the central government issued a death order, and it also took special care of the densely populated Jiangnan area. Countless pairs of eyes were fixed here, and no one dared to be perfunctory.

But there are so many hidden households in the family, and the annual tax is a large amount of income, plus corvee and the like, how can they afford it.But no matter how you say it, the people in the government are still stern and selfless, and they have done everything that should be done.

After they left, Gu Kanghui superficially comforted his family, but actually felt sad.On the second day, he didn't even go to the school, but went to Changzhou Mansion to inquire about the news.

Naturally, he found nothing. Just as he was about to go home in dejection, he was stopped by someone from behind.

"Brother Gu, Brother Gu! It's really you." The one who stopped him was a young man who looked young and handsome, which made people feel good about him.

Gu Kanghui recognized at a glance that this was Chen Qiao, a former classmate from the academy, who only studied in the academy for a few months before leaving under the pretext of traveling.

It was natural to be pleasantly surprised to meet an old acquaintance, but Gu Kanghui didn't have much patience for greetings, and he wanted to leave after chatting for a few words.Chen Qiao looked at Gu Kanghui, and sighed helplessly: "Brother Gu must have come here to inquire, too. What a pity, this imperial decree tortured us half to death. Will there be more terrible things after hearing about it?"

"Oh? What else?" Gu Kanghui's ears perked up.

Chen Qiao said: "I heard that the emperor intends to abolish the duty-free land for scholars from now on, and everyone in the world will serve together."

"!!" Gu Kanghui was shocked, "How is that possible? Who did you listen to!"

"To tell the truth, Brother Gu, there is someone in the family who works in the imperial court. There is a lot of discussion in the capital now. From the incident where he beat Yang Shen Yang at Zuo Shun's door today, it can be seen that he may not have a good impression of scholars. He trusts Jin Yiwei more. And the eunuchs in the inner court, I'm afraid we will have a hard time in the future." Chen Qiao sighed inadvertently, and every sentence pierced Gu Kanghui's heart.

"It's unreasonable! It's so deceiving!" Gu Kanghui protested: "If this is the case, then what's the point of reading this book! I'm going to find my classmates, and we must collectively oppose this matter!" After finishing speaking, he became angry Hurry to leave.

Looking at his back, Chen Qiao fell into a sneer, and said softly to the servant beside him, "Go back and tell the master that the net has been cast and the fish has been hooked. It's about time."

The boy took the order, turned around and threw himself into the sea of ​​people.

In April of the third year of Jiajing, Gu Kanghui, a student from Wuxi, took the lead in resisting state atrocities on the grounds of being "elegant" and demanding the restoration of respect for scholars in the past, setting off a mighty demonstration movement.

Soon it spread to the whole of the south of the Yangtze River, and finally there was even a phenomenon of students stopping the exam.

The author has something to say: Gu Kanghui is an original character, and most of the subsequent plots are mostly made up by me, which has nothing to do with official history. This is also the stronghold of the Donglin Party, and gatherings are very popular here.

There is no sunrise, it is too stuck here, I will drop ORZ tomorrow