Daming pirates

After thinking about it for a while, Chongzhen felt that what Yu Xiaotian did seemed to make sense, and that it could control the excessive power of local officials, so he nodded and praised it for the first time.

As Yu Xiaotian came to power and entered the autumn, Chongzhen began to see some better news from the briefings. In order to harm the refugee army in the Central Plains area due to the establishment of slaves, the Yu family army entered Beijing, and the imperial court deployed Hong Chengchou and a large number of

The Shaanxi soldiers were able to take a breather after entering the defense, and they began to recover again.

However, as Yu Xiaotian came to power, rearranged officials and arranged for Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to return to various provinces in the Central Plains to supervise and suppress the refugee army, it became clear that the refugee army was having a difficult time.

With the implementation of various new policies, the burden on the common people has been greatly reduced. In many places where there was a lot of trouble, the imperial court directly issued an order to exempt those local people from various tax burdens that they had owed for many years, and all the grain taxes for that year were also exempted.

, striving to attract people who have left home to return to their hometowns to resume farming.

As for many places that had been hit by disasters for many years, they also issued a decree to waive all arrears of tax burdens, and promised to re-measure the land and significantly reduce the various increases from the previous court.

This allowed the common people to see hope and no longer worry about not being able to pay the royal rations. Therefore, the common people gradually began to feel at ease and were unwilling to easily join the refugee army and cause trouble.

The refugee army gradually began to lose blood. After hearing the various policies announced by the court to benefit the people, many of the rebels no longer wanted to follow the bandit leaders, so they began to desert in large numbers and surrendered to the government.

, and then return to their hometown to become their farmers again.

As a result, quite a few refugee armies could no longer be as arrogant as before, and after the elites of the Yu family army also invested in suppressing them, various refugee armies lost consecutive battles, and their scope of activities began to be greatly squeezed, with waves of refugees constantly coming.

The army was wiped out by forceful attacks in various places. The bandit leaders either surrendered and were arrested or killed. Within a few months, more than ten groups of migrant soldiers were wiped out by Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting and others.

At the end of the twelfth year, Luo Rucai and Zhang Xianzhong were appointed leaders, leaving only the largest group of Li Zicheng's troops, which was driven to the Qingyang Prefecture and Hepingliang Prefecture areas.

At the same time, Yu Xiaotian invested a large amount of funds confiscated from various places into relieving the victims. He ordered the local governments to vigorously rescue the victims and restore the victims to return to their land for farming. In conjunction with the implementation of the New Deal, containment

With the momentum of land annexation, the people saw hope and gradually returned to their homeland to resume farming.

During this period, Yu Xiaotian ordered the Jin Yiwei to conduct secret inspections and conduct surveillance. He actually caught a large number of officials with long hands. These guys were used to being greedy. How could they not handle such a large amount of relief money and food now?

They stretched out their hands to get money, so everyone rolled up their arms and sleeves to get ready to make a big fortune.

Yu Xiaotian was waiting for them to do this. Zheng was worried that he couldn't find an excuse to kill these guys. This time they reached out to make money. It can be said that they played into Yu Xiaotian's hands.

Yu Xiaotian worked a two-pronged approach, and while providing disaster relief, he caught the dirty hands of quite a few officials. This time he was not going to be polite. To deal with these corrupt officials, he just went on a killing spree.

In some counties, everyone from the magistrate to the lower-level officials were arrested, and there were no official officials left.

Yu Xiaotian didn't care about this. The most indispensable thing in the world was people who wanted to be officials. He ordered a decree to be drafted to select a large number of students who had wanted to be officials but had no chance and sent them directly to various places to fill vacancies. As for those who controlled local affairs

The small family officials also use newcomers to fill the vacancies, not afraid that they will muddy the previous waters. At worst, they can close the bad debts in the previous place and open new ones. In short, they can ensure that there is someone in charge of local affairs.

Although there are many disadvantages in doing this, it is better than following the old system and continuing to let the local officialdom rot. In the history of the Ming Dynasty, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, only Zhu Chongba did this, and even the ruthless Zhu Di did not do it.

Xiaotian is so cruel.

Yu Xiaotian also tried every means to raise grain, and promoted the planting of improved varieties of rice and wheat in various places in the north, so that the common people could have grain seeds. He also mobilized a large amount of grain from the south to be transported northward and put it into relief for the victims, so that the common people could at least

If we can have food first and survive until the summer harvest of the next year, as long as the north reaches the summer harvest of the 13th year of Chongzhen, the chaos can basically be controlled.

Chongzhen saw from the briefing that so many refugee armies had been wiped out, and he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed secretly. He had been emperor for more than ten years, but the number of refugee armies was being suppressed more and more, and the Central Plains was becoming more and more chaotic. However, Yu Xiaotian had been in power for half a year.

In a short time, the refugee army was wiped out in large numbers. Henan began to gradually regain its calm. The refugee army in Huguang was gradually wiped out. Now only Shaanxi is left. The refugee army has not yet been completely controlled. The rest of the provinces have gradually recovered.

calm.

Although he thought that it was not a good thing that Yu Xiaotian was so easy to kill because he might make the place unavailable for officials, but the facts told him that his worries were not realized. Yu Xiaotian made an exception and hired a large number of new people.

Officials flooded into the places where the officialdom had been purged, and quickly stabilized the situation in those places.

After a large amount of disaster relief money and food were invested in the local areas, the people enjoyed the treatment of the people of the Ming Dynasty for the first time. Although the relief was not much, it allowed them to barely survive. As long as they had food to eat, the vast majority of the people would

He was unwilling to rebel and fight against the imperial officers and soldiers with his head raised.

In addition, during this period, Yu Xiaotian ordered the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the new Jinyiwei to strongly intervene in the relief activities, and actually arrested and killed a large number of officials who followed the old habit and tried to enrich their own pockets from the money and food provided to relieve the victims. This made the common people for the first time

They actually received the money and food distributed to them, which gave them real benefits.

In order to encourage farming and restore local agricultural production, Yu Xiaotian also ordered the local government to supervise the re-cultivation of the land by the people who had received grain seeds. Once someone was found to be lazy and unwilling to work hard to re-cultivate their land, the grain seeds distributed to them would be used.

If they eat them, their land will be confiscated, they will be imprisoned, and they will be sent to hard labor camps in other places to work as coolies, and they will be asked to repair rivers and roads. This trick is cruel enough, and it has really eliminated some lazy people.

A large amount of free labor was also obtained.

In short, after Yu Xiaotian took over the power, the situation in the north of the Ming Dynasty quickly began to calm down. At this point, Chongzhen had to admit that Yu Xiaotian did a hundred times better than him, and Yu Xiaotian's skills were much more vicious than him, and he had

An army of tigers and wolves that he can command at will. This army is extremely loyal to him. Wherever Yu Xiaotian's sword points, they will rush to kill. Any force that tries to block Yu Xiaotian's progress will be completely crushed by them.

broken.

Chongzhen asked himself that although he was the leader of a country, he had never had such an army loyal to him, and he did not have the ability to build such a powerful army.

The biggest difference between Yu Xiaotian and him is not that he has such a ferocious army of tigers and wolves at his disposal, but that Yu Xiaotian does not seek fame and will use any means, soft or hard, to achieve his goals.

He could make everything. During this time, Cao Huachun, Wang Dehua, Wang Chengen and other caring eunuchs who were out of the palace also brought back some gossip to Chongzhen.

There are rumors that in the past six months, many officials in various parts of the Ming Dynasty were actually opposed to Xiaotian's implementation of the New Deal. Moreover, officials in many places colluded with local powerful forces and tried to use force to resist Xiaotian's New Deal. However,

Many of them were assassinated inexplicably before they were ready.

Moreover, many assassinations can be directly pointed at Yu Xiaotian. There are assassins hundreds of meters away who use guns and guns to kill with one shot. They kill the assassination target at once, often leaving no chance for them.

Even a deputy general in Jiangxi clamored to support the governor of Jiangxi in launching an army to attack Yu Xiaotian. As a result, his whole family, old and young, were killed at home one night, and even the house was set on fire. In the end, there was no evidence of guilt at all.

He stayed, but his troops were immediately taken over by Yu Xiaotian and disarmed on the spot.

The governor of Jiangxi himself was soon assassinated. The moment he got off the sedan when he was out on business, a dozen assassins shot him on the roof of a house not far away and shot him randomly with guns.

After being beaten to death, officials from all over Jiangxi Province quickly expressed their willingness to implement Yu Xiaotian's new policy.

It is said that there were assassinations like this all over the Ming Dynasty. There were not even ten thousand cases, but at least several thousand cases. Although everyone knew that it was done secretly by Yu Xiaotian's men, they also took advantage of him.

There was no other way, so those who tried to confront Yu Xiaotian in the Ming Dynasty were all frightened, and they didn't even dare to go out, and they sat at home in fear.

After hearing this, Chongzhen felt chilled, and gained a deeper understanding of Xiaotian. This guy really had no scruples in achieving his goals, no matter what means he used, as long as he achieved the goal he wanted.

At the end of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the sea ban had just been opened for less than half a year. At the end of the year, Yu Xiaotian made statistics on the tariffs received by the four open commercial ports. It only took half a year. They were located in Songjiang Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture,

The four municipal shipping departments of Quanzhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture collected customs duties of 3.7 million taels of silver for the Ming Dynasty, and these tariffs were directly transferred to the vassal treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs, which was almost as much as the national tax for a year in the early Ming Dynasty.

.

In this way, the financial difficulties that Ming Dynasty had been struggling with were solved. Yu Xiaotian continued his efforts and opened up Dagukou in Tianjin, Fushan Institute in Shandong, and Wenzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang, and each added a municipal shipping department.

, and placed the Municipal Shipping Department under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the imperial court.

Zhou Fangzuo, the newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was extremely happy. In the past, whoever was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had a bigger problem. During the Ming Dynasty, people were asking for money everywhere, but the Ministry of Revenue never had enough money. Now, with the introduction of the sea ban,

After that, the Shipping Department alone earned so much money for the Ministry of Accounts, and the Ministry of Accounts finally no longer had to worry about the daily lack of money.

Of course, no one would mind having too much money. Yu Xiaotian has a strong ability to make money, but he spends money faster than anyone else. This guy is generous with his money. Often, as soon as the Ministry of Revenue receives some money and food, he will immediately resell it to him.

Spent it out.

At the beginning of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Yu Xiaotian announced a new policy, which was to increase the current salary of Ming officials by two to four times from high to low on the original basis. Those with low official positions would have the largest salary increase, while those with high official positions would have the largest increase.

The salary range is slightly lower, but it is still much higher than before.

In addition, for some personnel who needed to be supported by officials themselves in the past, such as some government servants who were not responsible for the development of salary by the imperial court, now Yu Xiaotian ordered the imperial court to set personnel quotas for various regions, and their salaries were also borne by the imperial court.

In this way, local officials are relieved of an extremely heavy burden, and they no longer need to pay out of their own pockets to support the people who have to run errands for them.

Since the Ming Dynasty, the official salary of the Ming Dynasty has not improved. At the beginning of the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated a policy of frugality to support the administration, which kept the salary of Ming officials at a very low level.

Ming officials want to live a decent life, but they can't do it with just this meager salary. In addition to supporting a large family and paying normal expenses, they also have to support some people who run errands for them.

The office workers, those who run errands for them, also need to pay out of their own pockets to support them.

So they have to find ways to get money from other places. Otherwise, not only will they not be able to live a decent life as officials, but they will also go bankrupt.

This was also the case after Zhu Yuanzhang established the country. Although he adopted extremely strict management of the officials and even introduced the method of peeling daylilies and killed many officials, he still could not completely control the entire Ming Dynasty.

The corruption among officials, and the low salary is undoubtedly a very important reason. It is impossible for officials to make a decent living and feed many people without getting a generous salary. It is impossible to find a way to make money.

matter.

Now, in response to this bad government, Yu Xiaotian has greatly increased the salaries of officials, and has also brought some people outside the system who previously needed to be supported by officials out of their own pockets into the system, and will be given salaries by the state so that they can live decently.

Life.

But relying on this alone, it is absolutely impossible to raise a high salary and maintain integrity. This is also the original intention of Yu Xiaotian to reorganize the Jinyiwei and place them under the Metropolitan Procuratorate to monitor local officials in various places.

At this time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the New Jinyiwei under its jurisdiction actually became a supervisory department, responsible for supervising the daily work of officials and investigating and punishing those who were corrupt and violated the law.

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