Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

When Ju Ming returned to Yangzhou, he stayed directly at Min's house without alerting the officials.

He brought Min Zishun's home letter. After hearing the news, Min Wenwei immediately went down the mountain and quickly came to his brother's house. He often claimed to be Ju Ming's teacher, but at this moment he was extremely respectful: "Min Wenwei of Yangzhou Academy, pay your respects to Governor Zhu!"

"Master, why are you so polite? Sit down and talk." Zhu Ming pretended to help him.

After Min Wenwei sat down, he was still flattering: "Prefect Zhu is extremely talented. At the first glance, I was sure that the prefect must be a prime minister!"

After chatting with this man for a long time, Zhu Ming asked: "Huang Qianshan is in Yangzhou City?"

Min Wenweiping dismissed his servants, leaving only his brothers behind, and whispered: "I've always been there. The people who built the plank road were in trouble. Although he brought troops to suppress the thieves and said he would personally take charge, in fact he didn't even dare to leave the city. He really led the army. It was the magistrate of Yangzhou who put an end to the rebellion. He was not good at suppressing bandits, but he was very good at conquering and plundering people!"

"I heard that he had a quarrel with Gao Yunpan a while ago." Min Zishun's father said.

Ju Ming asked: "How does Gao Yun judge this person?"

Min Wenwei said: "Although Gao Yunpan also took advantage of the bandit suppression to amass money, he still had some sense of restraint after all. Huang Qianshan, however, completely ignored the life and death of the people and ordered the three counties of Yangzhou to levy additional miscellaneous taxes. They had already been increased once when building the plank road, and when the chaos was calmed down Another increase, and now we have to increase taxes!”

Ju Ming asked again: "How much will the taxes be raised on the rich, and how much will the taxes on the poor be raised?"

Min Wenwei said: "The taxes are levied according to the grain tax, tea tax, gold tax, wine tax, and vinegar tax. Every time the tax is levied, it is the same as the regular tax."

Well, Huang Qianshan is not targeting the lower class civilians. When it comes to exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, he treats all people equally. Even the merchants in the city were forcibly recruited several times.

If this continues, it is likely that the four major families in Yangzhou will want to rebel.

"The Xiang army has not been dispatched?" Zhu Ming asked again.

Min Wenwei said: "If we send out the Xiang army, we have to alert the court. How dare the Lizhou Road officials? The soldiers who put down the rebellion were all rural soldiers and archers recruited temporarily. These soldiers are now in quite miserable condition. They were taken away after the rebellion was put down. Build plank roads. Moreover, food and salary are often deducted. If this continues, thousands of rural soldiers and archers will rebel in just one or two months!"

"How is the plank road repaired?" Zhu Ming asked.

"The repairs are almost completed, but Huang Qianshan refuses to leave, and seems to want to add another tax before the New Year." Min Wenwei said.

Ju Ming was surprised: "Is he crazy?"

Min Wenwei said: "He is just crazy. He is addicted to collecting taxes. Otherwise, why would Magistrate Gao Yun have quarreled with him? Magistrate Gao Yun has been in charge of the taxes on Lizhou Road these years. He knows that if he continues to levy taxes, there will be another stir. Civil uprising."

Huang Qianshan was a member of Wang Fu's party and could barely be considered a member of Zheng's party, but he had little relationship with Zheng Juzhong.

As the saying goes, my party members are not my party members.

Zhu Ming was too lazy to go to court to impeach this person. Firstly, it would offend Zheng Juzhong and Wang Fu, and secondly, there was no need to impeach him. This kind of corrupt official and treacherous minister had better be promoted quickly and step on the accelerator for the Song Dynasty court.

Although he is not impeached, he will still have to suffer.

Ju Ming said: "You don't need to be accustomed to this kind of person. Contact the people inside and outside the city to surround the place where he is temporarily staying. It is best to kill a few of his followers."

"This... I'm afraid this is not good." Min Wenwei was a little scared.

Zhu Ming said: "Don't worry, I will be responsible for ending the matter. Huang Qianshan dare not even leave the city, so he must be very timid. To deal with this kind of person, the weaker you are, the more he will push forward. If you become tougher, he will be scared off. . He suppressed the civil unrest and concealed it. If civil unrest broke out again, how could he dare to report it to the court? It would be impossible to settle accounts after the fall. The person in charge of collecting taxes was Gao Yunpan. What could he do as a punishment envoy? He repaired the plank road and did not demobilize. The soldier just doesn’t want to give up his rights. Once the soldiers are disbanded, he will have no chance to levy excessive amounts of money.”

The Zheng family's house was in the city, and Ju Ming didn't want to show up for the time being, so he stayed with the Min family in the countryside.

Min Wenwei convened the brothers in the clan to discuss, and everyone felt that it was time to show off his muscles. So they went to discuss with several other families, and even contacted merchants inside and outside the city. The Li family also went to contact the village soldiers and archers.

With such a large-scale conspiracy, news quickly leaked out and ordinary people wanted to join in.

Lizhou Road Transportation Judge Gao Jingshan heard the commotion and was so frightened that he quickly rode back to the city and went straight to Huang Qianshan's temporary residence: "Huang Xiansi, you have done such a big thing. Everyone inside and outside the city is going to make noise and cause chaos."

Huang Qianshan lived in the Jinghu Guild Hall. He knew that extortionate taxation was so hateful that he didn't even dare to step out of the Guild Hall. After hearing this, Huang Qianshan actually remained calm and said with a smile: "The high judge came to scaremonger again. Thousands of rural soldiers and archers were stationed in Huangjin Gorge. Which unruly citizen dared to cause trouble after eating a bear's heart and a leopard?"

Gao Jingshan was furious and shouted directly: "Once civil unrest is stirred up, those rural soldiers and archers will probably be at the forefront!"

Huang Qianshan said doubtfully: "I don't treat them lightly, what are these Qiuba messes about?"

Gao Jingshan said: "You asked the magistrate to lead the army, but you asked the agricultural deputy envoy to control the money and food. Can the military officials trust it? The military pay has been withheld a long time ago, and now there are all resentful soldiers in the Golden Gorge!"

The Tixing envoy often also serves as the agricultural envoy, and there is also a deputy agricultural envoy below, who is also affiliated with the Tidian Punishment and Prison Department. The deputy envoys for promoting agriculture were originally civil servants. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, they were replaced by military ministers. In fact, they had little power and could only participate in military and field affairs along border roads.

Huang Qianshan took advantage of the transfer envoy to be demoted and frantically usurped local power. He had no confidants to use, so he actually asked a military minister to help him take charge of military rations.

Wu Chen advised the deputy agricultural envoy, he usually doesn’t have much money, why don’t he take the opportunity to make more money?

Of course Huang Qianshan knew about the deductions, but he didn't know the extent of the deductions. At this moment, he finally panicked and asked, "Soldiers really want to cause chaos?"

Gao Jingshan said: "They worked hard to repair the plank road, and more than ten people fell to death, but their food and salary were deducted. Do you think they feel good? If Hu Zhizhou and I hadn't pressured them and transferred some money and food from the state government, they would have been there sooner. Just rebel!"

Huang Qianshan thought about it and said, "Now that the plank road has been repaired, let's dismiss the soldiers."

Gao Jingshan asked back: "Can you be demobilized just as your Excellency said? They still haven't received their food and wages. Even if they don't make up the arrears, they still have to pay for their return home!"

Huang Qianshan said: "I will give you 200 guan of money and 500 shi of food."

Gao Jingshan was so angry that he roared: "Each person can only get a few tens of cents and more than ten kilograms of food. Are you sending beggars away?"

"Then... give me five hundred guan in money and one thousand dan in food." Huang Qianshan's heart was bleeding.

Gao Jingshan walked away with a puff of his sleeves and said: "I don't care anymore, I'm going back to Xingyuan Mansion now!"

Huang Qianshan thought about it alone and thought that he could add more to get rid of those Qiu Ba. He summoned his personal followers: "Go and call Hu Zhizhou and Zhong Quannong. Tell them that I want to distribute grain and send the soldiers away."

The Golden Gorge side has exploded.

Thousands of local soldiers and archers were already ready to move. Once they were incited, hundreds of people started making noises in an instant.

They surrounded the magistrate and the deputy envoy to encourage farmers, roaring for back pay. After hearing the news, more soldiers arrived, and soon thousands of people gathered.

Hu Zhizhou tried to persuade, but Zhong Qunong tried to intimidate him.

This guy is a polished military attache who borrowed several horse-riding troops from Lizhou. He asked the Xiang army to rush forward, and he held a knife and shouted: "You still dare to rebel? Go back to the camp honestly, and you can go home in a few days!"

"If we don't go home, we want food and wages!"

"Even if we don't give you food and salary, we have to work hard to build the plank road, and we still have to make up for the wages!"

"That's it, make up for the wages!"

"We also need wages, and we also need food and wages!"

"..."

The soldiers were making a lot of noise, and several soldiers on horseback retreated in fright. However, Zhong Qunong rode forward and drew his sword to threaten: "Whoever makes more noise will be beheaded and punished!"

"Kill this bird official!"

The soldiers were completely angry and rushed forward in a swarm.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhong Quannong immediately fled on horseback. Several Xiang troops ran faster.

Hu Zhizhou was dumbfounded for a moment. The real owner had run away. He was the scapegoat and would most likely be beaten to death on the spot.

Hu Zhizhou was so anxious that he raised his arms and shouted: "Follow me to get money and food, come on!"

Several of Zhizhou's personal followers also shouted.

The paying soldiers who had already rushed over subconsciously followed Zhizhou and Qinsu, and rushed towards the barracks granary.

There is not much food here, it is daily food, and on average it only weighs more than 20 kilograms per person. During the looting, many people ran away with bags of grain on their shoulders, and their hands and feet were so slow that they didn't even catch a hair.

Taking advantage of the looting of food, Hu Zhizhou also fled with his followers.

The soldiers who were making trouble for their pay were still not satisfied, and they were heading towards the city in a fierce and violent manner.

There has been chaos in Zhoucheng for a long time. People inside and outside the city, and even shopkeepers, have surrounded the Jinghu Guild Hall. They wanted to be more civilized and just gathered people to shout, asking Huang Qianshan not to impose any more taxes.

When the paying soldiers arrived outside the city, Ju Ming suddenly rushed out on horseback with Li Bao and others.

Bai Sheng shouted: "Tanhua Lang is here, Tanhua Lang is here!"

While shouting, the elders of several major families also brought people over to shout.

After actually making these soldiers quiet down, a temporary officer of the rural soldiers said: "Mr. Zhu, we respect you and Mr. Yuan Zhang for their benevolence and righteousness. Don't block our way today."

Ju Ming said: "If you kill an official, it will be difficult to deal with. You all have wives, children, and children at home. If you can trust me, follow my orders and work, and I promise to help you get back the wages you owe."

The soldiers who made the payment didn't say anything anymore. They somewhat believed in Ju Ming, but they were worried about something unexpected happening, and they didn't dare to really rebel.

Zhu Ming got off his horse, took off the sword from his waist, and threw it to Bai Sheng. Then, he walked up to thousands of soldiers with his bare hands and said: "You guys will crowd me into the city. If I cheat, just beat me to death with sticks. How about that?"

This approach is full of sincerity.

The officers said one after another: "We believe in Mr. Zhu, so we will follow Mr. Zhu into the city."

Thousands of soldiers surrounded Ju Ming and went straight to Jinghu Guild Hall.

The people who were surrounding the guild hall to resist the tax heard that Ju Ming was coming, and they all made way.

Ju Ming said to the soldiers and civilians around him: "Fathers and fellow citizens, if you can trust me, I will go in and speak for you right now."

"Xiangong Zhu, let us make the decision!" An old man suddenly knelt down. This was the entrustment arranged by the Zheng family.

"Please Xianggong Zhu make the decision for us!"

The people around him also knelt down, like a contagious virus. More and more people knelt down, and even the outermost paying soldiers knelt down.

Ju Ming straightened his clothes and strode into the guild hall under the gaze of the people.