[Comprehensive History] Clothes are all over the world

At the end of July, for most of the southern cities, the summer heat is still there, and there are even autumn tigers raging, but for the soldiers stationed on the Liaodong Peninsula, it has come to the time when the autumn wind is blowing and the drums are beating.

The Liaodong Metropolitan Command and Envoy Division is currently the guard post at the forefront of the Ming Dynasty's defense line, and Hongwu's veteran generals Ma Yun and Ye Wang are in charge of the military here.

As officers and soldiers of the guards fighting on the front line of the border, when they sensed the arrival of autumn, everyone tensed up. When patrolling, they wished they had four eyes, and were always on guard against the Northern Yuan forces that might go south to loot.

Autumn is the harvest season in the south, but for the north, it is the beginning of the season of withered vegetation and poor harvests. From the cool days of autumn, livestock will start to lose weight easily due to the lack of forage.

Insufficient forage also means the end of the lactation period of the livestock, and for herdsmen who rely on dairy products as their staple food, the day when the livestock stop milking is the beginning of their consumption of the grain they have stored in the past.

However, the life characteristics of the nomads doomed them not to store too much food.At this time, there is no other way but to hurry up and drive the cattle to the wintering ground.

If the winter comes early, the huge economic loss will be overwhelming. Driven by survival, the herdsmen who usually look at the honesty will immediately use the tribe and relatives as a group to bring up the knife for cutting animal skins. , embarked on the road of plunder.

All men are killed, women can be used as reproductive tools, children are the reserve power for the future, cattle and sheep are personal assets, and robbery is the best way to solve the current predicament.

Every winter, small tribes and families disappear into the snow. They are either swallowed or joined in the robbery.

When the looters gather to a certain scale because of their interests, they will inevitably attack the farming peoples in the south. This is the evil relationship between nomads and farming peoples that has lasted for thousands of years.

But for today's Ming Dynasty, they are different from those frontier soldiers who have a headache when they see winter in the past. The officers and soldiers of the guards here very much welcome these northern loaches to go south.

The current situation is that the nomads are hiding from the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. It is no less difficult to find these small groups of cavalry on the prairie than to find lice on an elephant.

The officers and soldiers of the guard station wished that these live targets would come over soon so that they could dig out the opponent's lair.

Just when the Liaodong Guards were readying their horses and soldiers at any time, the local commander received the order from Yingtian Mansion.

Ye Wang and the others thought it was the same as in previous years, telling them to prepare military affairs carefully, but they never expected to see this news.

Daming intends to reopen the mutual market, and this time, coal and minerals are added to the items traded.

Ye Wang couldn't help frowning, and tilted his head a little confused, at this time?Trading coal and minerals?No matter how you look at this news, it doesn't seem to be true. Could it be that the group of nerds in the Imperial Academy are finally so stupid that they even copied the imperial edict by mistake?

Since when did coal exist on the prairie?

In his impression, there is nothing good about the grassland in the north except for pastures that can graze for half a year. In the eyes of Ming people who regard farmland as their important asset, it is polite to say that they are poor.

As for coal, as far as he knew, most of the nomads in the north burned cow dung for warmth, except for some aristocrats who could obtain charcoal fires for heating during plundering.

If there were really coal mines in the area, it wouldn't be like this, would it?

"It's because they can't dig it out." Ma Yun muttered, and he put the paperwork from his superiors on the table. No matter what he thought, he didn't like it: "The superiors also sent a stack of drawings, I looked at the superiors and said It's for digging,...what, do we want us to build things to help them dig? Or teach them digging skills?"

"I don't know the key! And at this time, who has time to do this." Ye Wang also frowned, "Besides, let's teach? If we dare to teach, do they dare to learn? Also, what should we do?" Go? Carrying a knife over there?"

This is too unfriendly, it is full of meaning to make trouble at first glance, but if you don't carry a knife, it will become a gift to the Yuan army.

"It doesn't have to be like this." Wei Fu, who was the commander of the Jinzhou Guard at the time, used to be the commander of the Yuanzhou Guard in Jiangxi Province.

He pondered for a moment, and then made a suggestion: "This subordinate once heard a saying that a wife is worse than a concubine, and a concubine is worse than stealing. Presumably news is also a truth. You may not believe it if you give it to him openly, but you stole it yourself." , I will definitely believe it eighty to ninety percent."

This is rough to say, but when you think about it carefully, it is indeed the truth.

Ye Wang and Ma Yun looked at each other, and suddenly became a little interested: "You are always smart, tell me, you mean to let them steal this blueprint by themselves?"

"Back to Zongrong, yes," Wei Fu nodded, and added: "This is a strategy that kills two birds with one stone. On the one hand, we can send things out, and on the other hand, we happen to be able to see if there are any dishonest people in the city. "

As soon as he said this, the scene suddenly fell into silence.

The main enemy of the Liaodong command and envoy stationed here is the Kaiyuan king Nahachu, the greatest strength of the Canyuan court after the Yuanliang king.

Since Emperor Yuan Shun fled north, Nahachu and his 20 army had become the biggest and most recent threat to Daming. In the eighth year of Hongwu, the two sides who had been at loggerheads fought for a long time, and Nahachu ended in a disastrous defeat.

But the most troublesome thing about the nomads is not that they can't beat them, but that this group of people is too shameless to escape.

These Mongolians don't ride like horses at all, but oiled shoes one by one. Once they show a little bit of weakness, they just walk away, without dignity at all.

As the defenders, the Ming army was mostly infantry, and their reaction speed was indeed not as fast as them when chasing.In addition, the defensive troops should also prevent the opponent from making a feint, and be more cautious. Every time they are slipped away by these bastards, it is difficult to kill the grass.

This was the case when Naha came out. At that time, the two sides faced each other, and the battle was so dark that the sun and the moon were dark. The two commanders were even more jealous. Hachu hacked at each other, only to find that Nahachu had slipped away quietly with his own bodyguard.

There is no God's perspective on the battlefield, and the cavalry unit has a horse bonus, which obscures the field of vision. The Ming army broke through the defense and escaped without paying attention.

However, in that battle, Naha did not gain the slightest benefit. He was discovered by the Ming army when he escaped. In order to stop the pursuing army, the elite cavalry units brought by Naha were basically lost. It was almost reduced to a bachelor, and there were only a few scattered guards around him.

Ye Wang, Ma Yun and the others could only spit, and raised their middle fingers at the man's back, cursing him that he would not get any good fruit when he went back, and resentfully retreated.

This tragic war brought eight years of peace to Ming Dynasty.

Now that eight years have passed, according to the vitality and growth cycle of the nomads, they will reach their new round of peak strength.

Therefore, from the day of the summer harvest, the officers and soldiers of the entire guard station have been on a 12-point vigilance. Those who should feed the horses should feed the horses, and those who should sharpen their guns are all sharpening their knives and waiting to make military achievements.

They are like this, and it is estimated that Naha is about the same, and the easiest way for nomads to attack well-defended border towns with city defenses is through internal response.

Previously, Ye Wang and Ma Yun had screened the city many times, just in case, frankly speaking, spies have been the norm in wars since ancient times, but for those who are stabbed in the back, even if they are prepared Actually being stabbed in the back is not a pleasant feeling.

But now when I hear this method...

Ouch!Use the other party's spies to send away the things they want to spread, and if it goes well, you can follow the vines and catch a few spies. If this is really feasible, it will be very beautiful to think about it!

One day in early August, where the headquarters of the Liaodong Commander Division was located, a shocking incident occurred in Liaozhongwei, the general headquarters of the entire Liaodong region.

The commander unexpectedly encountered a thief at his home, and the thief actually stole countless important documents, including the blueprint of the city defense weapon that was just sent from Ying Tianfu.

For a moment, the whole guard was silent, and no one dared to face the anger of the two commanders.

The officers and soldiers of the guard station hurriedly walked up and down the guard station several times, asking them one by one like passing through a sieve, but they caught a few suspicious people, but they failed to catch the culprit, so naturally they couldn't find them. drawing.

Because of this incident, Emperor Hongwu specially sent Jin Yiwei to understand the situation. After learning what happened, Emperor Hongwu punished him without saying a word. The work was handed over to the more professional Jin Yiwei.

The hearts and minds hiding in the city immediately raised their throats, but fortunately, there seemed to be some unexpected incident at Yingtian Mansion, Jin Yiwei who came to handle business was urgently recalled, and this matter was resolved with a lot of thunder and rain. .

It's a pity that the treasure blueprint that was said to be designed by Ying Tianfu's Donggong Workshop could never be found again, because of this incident, the faces of the two officials were gloomy for several days.

On August [-]th, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a person collecting night incense quietly disappeared from the Liaozhong Guard Station. At the same time, a blueprint was passed to Naha Chuan.

When the dark tide was surging at the border, the capital of Ming Dynasty, Yingtian Mansion, was also full of turbulent waves.

On the day when the moon was full and people were full, Yu Shi Yu Min and Ding Ting jointly sued Guo Huan, the minister of the household department, for using his power to collude with Li Yu, the political envoy of Beiping Cheng, and Zhao Quande, the procurator of criminal punishment, and others for corruption.

The officials of the Daming Household Department, who were about to go on vacation, refused to hold back with a bewildered look on their faces. All the servants and below were quarantined for inspection, and Guo Huan was directly sent to the prison for investigation.

At the same time, people from the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Etiquette, the Ministry of Punishment and even the Ministry of War were taken away one after another. The Jin Yiwei who carried the imperial edict left Beijing on horseback, rushed to the twelve chief secretaries across the country like scattered flowers, and brought all their principals into Yingtian Mansion.

Amidst the atmosphere of murder, the Kongyin case and the Guo Huan case, which are well-known in the history of corruption in later generations, kicked off.

In fact, after investigation, Guo Huan's criminal methods were extremely simple and crude. To put it bluntly, he took advantage of the weakness of human nature.

The current tax system of the Ming Dynasty still uses the whole system of the Yuan Dynasty in operation, that is, the local government and the central government check the tax twice.

The tasks that the officials of the Ming Dynasty under the rule of Emperor Hongwu could not complete were naturally impossible to complete in the corrupt Yuan Dynasty.

Therefore, the matter of bringing blank account books has become "since ancient times" since the Yuan Dynasty, and in the Ming Dynasty, officials in various provinces also inherited this old tradition with acquiescence.

As the household department, which should be the supervision and inspection department, under the intentional connivance of the servant of the household department, he turned a blind eye to this obviously illegal behavior.

This is of course not because they are kind and considerate enough, but because there are too many profits in this move.

How much to pay, how much to receive, and how much to check are all from the Ministry of Households. Is it difficult to corrupt the law from it?

Moreover, this kind of ink corruption is still a high-level practice that is silent and leaves no trace afterwards. After all, these numbers are indeed the last ones that enter the warehouse of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and they are also recognized by officials in various provinces.

However, although this method of corruption is safe, the amount is really limited.

After all, the officials of the provinces are not fools. They sent [-] shi of grain, and if you said they only received [-] shi, they would accept it. If you said that I only received [-] shi, the other party would definitely jump.

The taxation of a place is also the criterion for the promotion of officials. No one will be so lenient that he will give up his official career for the sake of laziness. Isn't that putting the cart before the horse.

Therefore, Guo Huan, who had fed up his appetite and desire with the empty-printed ledger, started again, and this time he directly chose to revise the ledger.

Today's account books use the ordinary counting method, that is, "one, two, three, four." One day, Guo Huan discovered that such a number would be another number after adding a few strokes and rounding it, so he walked on Opened the way to modify the account book.

It is far easier to change the number of the account book than to change the empty printed account book, and the amount is larger. As long as one number is changed in the hundreds or even thousands, the difference will be hundreds of thousands of miles.

However, since these account books have arrived at him, it means that the tax and food have been checked and accepted, and have been put into a special warehouse.In order to transport these grains away, Guo Huan was so cunning that he pulled down all the servants of the Ministry of War, and in order to avoid worries, he pulled down the Ministry of Punishment.

The people from the Ministry of Industry need to adjust the grain to build the project, but accidentally found that the grain storage in the warehouse is insufficient, it doesn't matter, five hundred stones can make people shut up.

In this way, more and more people were involved in the case, and the amount of corruption was also increasing. Guo Huan became more and more courageous. hole.

After being caught, the little servant who single-handedly created the first embezzlement case in Ming Dynasty did not make an excuse. During the process of being escorted, his face was calm and indifferent, as if he had expected this day, and he confessed to the crime and the whereabouts of the stolen money. It is very cooperative to give the account book, and the psychological quality is excellent.

In this case, Emperor Hongwu said that he no longer trusted the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. He directly sent three groups of people to take charge of the trial.

"What do you think he's trying to do?" An official was puzzled by the thick inspection records: "He's greedy for so much money and doesn't use it, and his family continues to live a hard life with him, what is he doing all this for? Just looking for a stimulus?"

"Who knows, if you know what he thinks, you have to live in it too."

If it weren't for Guo Huan's low-key and simple life, and he really didn't have the pompous gesture of getting rich overnight, he wouldn't have been able to hide for so long, and he would have been caught by the censors with bright eyes long ago.

Guo Huan is not only first-class in counterfeiting skills, but also in how to digest stolen money.Grain is bulky, unlike the paper money of later generations, which can be hidden anywhere. It is obvious that a large amount of new grain suddenly appears in any market, which will attract attention, so he went to find a natural ally to help him solve this problem.

——Jiangdong Rich Household.

Most of the grain embezzled by him was sold to the grain households in Jiangdong. Due to historical problems, even though the Hongwu Dynasty had repeatedly reduced taxes, Jiangdong’s farmers’ land tax was still the highest in the country. The tax burden set by Emperor Hongwu was stuck. The throats of all Jiangdong people forced them to barely breathe, but they couldn't breathe heavily.

Under such a high tax rate, in order to save themselves, the local people tried every means to buy food from other places with cheap food prices to pay taxes and fees, and then save this part of the land to grow cash crops to continue to make money, and Guo Huan’s dirty grain happened to be It precisely matches the needs of rich households in Jiangdong.

Wealthy households bought cheap rice from him, and some of them didn’t even need to be transported over. Just change the package and seal it. It’s only natural for the rich households to take the new rice and pay taxes again. It will definitely not arouse suspicion. In and out with the right hand, making a lot of money.

It is definitely not an exaggeration to call him the most speculative person in the thirteenth century.

As a result, Guo Huan was arrested. In addition to the officials involved in the Manchu Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu's attention was drawn to the rich households in Jiangdong.

These people bought a lot of stolen food at a low price. As the owner of the stolen food, he naturally wanted to ask these people to return it to the original owner.

What?Those used to pay taxes?

Emperor Hongwu shook his finger, don't be kidding, the tax amount is what you should pay, and we didn't overcharge you, on the contrary, you are taking advantage of me now.

Is it so easy to take advantage of me?Must not, can you pay?If you can't hand it over, you will go to the border guards.

Thanks to Guo Huan's account book, none of these wealthy Jiangdong households who had taken advantage of it could escape the pursuit.

But the problem is that no one can pay off the stolen money accumulated over the years. If it is not cleared, it can only be compensated with land stores and even commodity discounts. Half of ten percent of the land returned to Emperor Hongwu.

Emperor Hongwu, who was still furious a few days ago and raised his eyebrows, suddenly felt the joy of cutting leeks.

But at the same time, he also had a faint sense of crisis.

Jiangdong's land annexation has become as terrifying as it is now?

The author has something to say:

Many people have guessed the Kongyin case before, but it is actually the Kongyin case + Guo Huan case. In history, these two cases are said to be separate, but no one in the history books can explain how Guo Huan got such a large sum of money. Yes, so I combined the two cases.

He was really greedy for most of the national treasury ==, so greedy that Zhu Yuanzhang did not dare to announce the real figures to the outside world, thinking that the common people would not believe what he said.

The point is, this is not paper money. It should not be a big problem to build a house to hide thousands of paper money. Those are heavy rice!How it was transported and moved is a mystery.