However, the people in the southwest have potatoes and sweet potatoes planted this year, but the people in other states do not have these crops. One acre of land can produce 400 kilograms of grain, which is considered good. Even if a family has a few acres of land, they can pay half of the grain tax. The remaining grain is not enough for a year's food even if they eat it sparingly. They can only use the little money they earn hard every month to buy grain.
But the grain tax suddenly increased so much, and the food shortage naturally caused the market price of food to increase several times. The little money earned every month was not enough to buy food, and the people's lives began to become miserable. Some families had little money and could only eat one meal a day, and they were so hungry that they felt dizzy and dizzy.
Even though the southwest has high-yield crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, other places are still suffering.
After these grains were handed over, some were sent to various military camps, some were sent to the imperial granary as reserve grain, and some were sent to the capital.
After a month, the potatoes and sweet potatoes that were to be handed over from the southwest were finally delivered to the capital city one after another.
Because it is a new crop and the yield per mu is so high, it must be transported to the capital, arranged by the court, and sent to various provincial capitals for the people to plant.
After these sweet potatoes were sent to the capital, the empress dowager was very curious about these new foods and asked the imperial kitchen to prepare some for her to eat. The taste was really good, so she gave some as rewards to ministers and royal relatives.
The remaining crops will be sold to people in other states so that they can also start to grow these crops.
The news that the yield of these two crops per mu can reach 3,000 kilograms has been known to many people in the state capital. The tax has just been adjusted by half, and now such crops are suddenly available. If they can really be planted, even if they pay only half of the grain next year, they will still have a way to survive.
But what other state cities did not expect was that the prices of these crop seeds were raised very high, dozens of times more expensive than ordinary grain seeds. Ordinary people could not afford them. Only landlords, wealthy businessmen and dignitaries could afford them. Ordinary people could not afford them at all.
Moreover, even if half of the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the southwest were sent to Beijing, the empress dowager kept them for herself and gave some away as rewards. It was impossible to plant the remaining land in the remaining prefectures with the remaining ones. At most, it was enough for planting land in one or two prefectures.
If we really want to grow these two high-yield crops throughout the Dasheng Dynasty, it will take at least three to five years.
And in the past three to five years, the taxes have been so heavy, I don’t know how ordinary people can endure it.
Now ordinary people can't even afford the seeds of these two high-yield crops, and many people feel a little desperate.
Before the previous emperor came to power, they lived in peace and contentment, with the land tax only at 10%. But when the new emperor ascended the throne, the land tax was raised twice in a row. The first time it increased to 20%, then to 30%, and now it has directly reached 50%. Now, it has been only a little over five years since the new emperor ascended the throne, but their lives have become increasingly difficult. Will they still be able to survive in the future?
In the southwest, when Governor Zhu learned about this, his face turned pale. These crops were originally brought back from other countries by Zhou Yan at the cost of a lot of effort and money.
Otherwise, based on this per-acre yield, and the fact that these are new crops, the price of seeds would definitely not be low. For the sake of the people, people are willing to sell the seeds of these crops to the people in the southwest at the price of other seeds. Now that the people in the southwest have harvested the first crop, they thought they could slowly let the people in other states plant it as well. Who knew that the seeds of these two high-yield crops would be sold at such a high price? How could the people afford it?
So when winter came, some people could not bear it anymore and felt that they could not survive. In addition, they could not buy seeds, so a small wave of unrest broke out. Some people robbed the yamen, but no one was hurt. Most of these people were just unarmed civilians. Even if they ran into the yamen, they only had hoes and sticks from their homes, and were quickly subdued by the yamen runners.
The county magistrate didn't know what to do, so he locked everyone up in the dungeon and wrote a report to the court.
This kind of small-scale riot should be decided by the imperial court.
While the ministers were discussing this matter below, Emperor Sheng Yuan was dozing off on the dragon throne and yawning constantly, looking very sleepy.
Many ministers felt that the people went to the government office to make trouble because they could not make ends meet at home. It would be better to beat them with a stick and send them back. If it happened again, they would be exiled to the border town to do hard labor, which would serve as a warning to them.
The new emperor paid no attention to what the court officials said. All he wanted in his mind was to go back and stay with his favorite concubine to eat Xiaoyao Powder. Now he could not bear it any longer. He yawned and blinked hard, and felt a little restless.
Emperor Sheng Yuan couldn't sit still any longer, so he stood up and said, "Let's adjourn the court today."
The ministers were stunned. "But Your Majesty, what should we do with those violent people?"
Emperor Sheng Yuan said impatiently: "Since they dared to cause trouble and steal things in the government office, they should all be beheaded to serve as a warning to others. Otherwise, won't they attack the capital next time? They want to seize the throne." After that, Emperor Sheng Yuan waved his sleeves and left, and the remaining ministers looked at him.
When the oral order was delivered to the yamen where the rioting people were, the county magistrate had no choice but to carry out the order and go to the prison to tell these people. There were about a hundred of these people. After hearing the news, they burst into tears and insulted Emperor Sheng Yuan for his incompetence and tyranny.
However, before the day of execution, something happened in the yamen. The jailer who was guarding the prison was knocked unconscious. In the end, the group of rioting people were rescued by someone unknown, and even their families were taken away and disappeared.
After the matter was reported to the court, Emperor Sheng Yuan did not take it too seriously. He thought that it was difficult for a few hundred common people to achieve great things.
However, these people were saved by Taifu Qi. Taifu Qi was originally hesitant about whether to rebel against the court. He was wavering in his heart until he learned that these people were going to be directly executed by Emperor Sheng Yuan, and he really couldn't bear it.
The Qi family has been a family for two hundred years. Even if they retire and return to their hometown, they still have sufficient assets and many people they can use.
These people were used to rescue the civilians and take their families away as well.
Now that things have come to this, Taifu Qi knows that it is impossible to stay out of it.
The lives of the people will become increasingly difficult, and sooner or later more people will be unable to hold on and choose to rebel.
After accepting such a group of people, Taifu Qi had to make plans for the future. He also sent people to look for His Royal Highness Prince Shu. He still chose to believe what Zhang Mingzhu said. If he had Prince Shu and the imperial edict, everything would be easy.
…
On a huge island hundreds of kilometers away.
Now on the island, in addition to hundreds of black-armored guards, there are also Chen Yi's group of bandits and their families, the rest are some Liangshan heroes recruited by Pei Weixuan one after another, or some desperate people, and there are also thousands of private soldiers.
These private soldiers were recruited by Pei Weixuan and Huo Jiang.
All the money used to buy the glass was used to recruit these private soldiers.
However, Pei Weixuan had never revealed his true face in front of these private soldiers and had always been in disguise. At this moment, he looked like an ordinary man.
He personally taught these private soldiers, teaching them some battle formations and martial arts.
The island is now full of vitality, with people everywhere and the granaries are full.
At this moment, Pei Weixuan was training these private soldiers, asking them to come over in groups of ten to fight with him.
Huo Ye had just returned to the island and saw Pei Weixuan still training his private soldiers in the playground. He waited for a while, waiting for His Highness to knock everyone to the ground before he walked over. Pei Weixuan saw him and asked the soldiers to rest where they were. Huo Ye came over to see Huo Ye. When they walked to a place where no one was around, Pei Weixuan asked, "How is it?"
He sent Huo Ye and a dozen other people to the capital to gather information.
Now, because of the sudden increase in taxes, things have become chaotic everywhere, so he sent people to the capital to inquire about the news and find out some of the developments in the capital.
Huo Ye told Pei Weixuan what had happened since entering the capital, and finally told him about the matter of Master Qi's daughter. Finally, he said, "Because of Madam Qi's incident, Master Qi was extremely disappointed with the court and has retired to his hometown. Moreover, he rescued a group of people who went to the government office to make trouble a few days ago. Now he is looking for you. It seems that he is also dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan. Your Highness, would you like to meet Master Qi?"
Pei Weixuan whispered, "Do you know where Grand Tutor Qi is right now? I want to go see him."
He knew the character of the Grand Tutor. The Grand Tutor had been upright and honest all his life. When his elder brother was alive, the Grand Tutor had never favored any prince. He sided with any prince and treated all princes equally. He only discussed state affairs with his father and had no ulterior motives. No matter which prince would eventually become the crown prince, he would do his best to assist him.
Moreover, the Grand Tutor has many students, and these students are spread across the official circles of the capital and other provincial capitals. If there is a Grand Tutor Qi, he can indeed help a lot.
Huo Ye said, "I understand. Your Highness, do you want to go there in person?"
Pei Weixuan nodded and said, "I'll go there myself."
However, before going to see Master Qi, Pei Weixuan went back to Xu Ji.
He rode back at full speed. When he arrived at Xu's house, it was already night and Yu Niang had gone to bed. It was winter now and the weather was cold, but there were a few maids guarding the house. When they knew he was back, they helped to boil water and carry it to the bathroom. He did not let the maids serve him. The maids also knew his habits and did not like others to get close to him. After carrying the water in, they left.
After Pei Weixuan washed up, he stood in front of Yu Niang's door for a while, but finally did not go in. Although Yu Niang was willing to be with him, they had not really gotten married. Without Yu Niang's consent, he was afraid of disturbing her by breaking into her room in the middle of the night, so he stood in front of Yu Niang's door for a while and then went back to his room.
It was not until the next morning that Xu Qinyu found out that her fourth brother had returned the previous night.
She first called the maid to bring in some water. The maid brought the hot water into the room and said to her with a smile, "Madam, my son-in-law came back last night."
Xu Qinyu asked in surprise, "Fourth brother is back?"
The maid nodded, and she quickly washed her face and rinsed her mouth. She went out and saw that Fourth Brother was indeed practicing sword in the courtyard. Seeing Fourth Brother, Xu Qinyu ran into the courtyard with her skirt lifted up and asked with a smile: "Fourth Brother, you came back last night? Why didn't you wake me up?"
Pei Weixuan said gently, "I'm afraid of disturbing Yu Niang's rest."
Xu Qinyu had hoped that Fourth Brother's return wouldn't disturb her, as she missed him, but she felt a little embarrassed to speak up, so she could only change the subject, "Fourth Brother, it's already winter, do you still have work to do this year?"
Pei Weixuan couldn't bear to say it out loud when he saw her expectant look.
Xu Qinyu knew that Fourth Brother must still have work to do. She couldn't help but ask, "How long can Fourth Brother stay at home? He hasn't been home for a few months. There are a lot of new foods at the restaurant. Fourth Brother can go and try them."
Pei Weixuan went over and hugged Yu Niang, leaned over and gently touched her forehead and said, "You can only stay at home for one day. You have to leave tomorrow."
Since Fourth Brother could only stay at home for one day, Xu Qinyu did not go to the restaurant to work today. She planned to accompany Fourth Brother for a day. She had a simple breakfast, but it was all the new breakfast dishes made with potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Xu Ji now has a new breakfast dish of multi-grain pancakes with shredded potatoes, which is popular among the people.
Xu Qinyu also let her fourth brother try it, and when it was time for dinner, they would naturally eat hot pot.
These things were brought back by Fourth Brother’s caravan across the ocean. Now I want to let Fourth Brother taste what authentic hot pot tastes like.
There are red pots on both sides, but one is a tomato pot and the other is a spicy pot.
After eating, Pei Weixuan also said to Yu Niang: "The tomato hotpot base is sweet and sour and appetizing, and the spicy hotpot base is spicy and fresh. They are both delicious. Yu Niang has great cooking skills."
The former Yu Niang was also a cook, but I don’t know what she looked like before?
Even though Pei Weixuan had been curious about the real Yu Niang for a long time, he never intended to ask. He just pretended not to know, as long as Yu Niang could stay with him for the rest of her life.
After accompanying Yu Niang for dinner, Pei Weixuan left. He rode at full speed for two days before arriving at the destination and meeting Tutor Qi.
No one knew what they talked about, but they talked for a whole day. The next day, Pei Weixuan took Master Qi's family, as well as the common people, back with him. However, Master Qi did not go into the island with Pei Weixuan, but stayed in a small village outside the island, which was dozens of miles away from the island, to help Pei Weixuan deal with some other matters.
Qi Zhiqing did not return to her hometown with her parents, but followed her husband to a small town to gain experience.
After this incident, Qi Zhiqing's husband did not stay in the Hanlin Academy, but asked the emperor to go to other small counties for training. The emperor agreed. When Qi Taifu left, he also took his wife away from the capital. In this life, he never planned to take his wife back to the capital, even if his official career ended there.
This winter, many places have experienced many disturbances, big and small.
The weather was too cold, there was not enough food, and there was no hope. The people had no expectations, so naturally someone would lead them to rebel, asking the court for food and smashing up the county government office.
Some of them managed to gather a lot of strength, but some were suppressed as soon as they raised their hoes in resistance, and there was chaos everywhere.
In the court, when the ministers learned about this, they all knew the reason for it. If the people were not well fed, it would naturally be easy for them to cause chaos. Now there was some chaos in many places. The ministers advised Emperor Sheng Yuan to change the tax back. A 50% tax was too difficult for ordinary people, and the grain output was too small. Even if they wanted to collect a 50% tax, they should wait until the two new crops were planted on a large scale. Even if the people paid half of the grain, they could barely eat their fill. Only then could they increase the tax.
But the Empress Dowager and Emperor Shengyuan were not willing to wait for several years. The national treasury was empty and there was no money in the treasury. They were the only ones who suffered. To them, they were the gods of these people and the most noble in the world. All the land in the Great Sheng Dynasty belonged to them. If they rebelled just for paying more taxes, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Shengyuan would not do that. They sent soldiers to suppress the people and ordered them to kill the troublemakers directly. Many people died under the suppression of the soldiers, and the situation became even more chaotic...
In fact, most of these small rebel groups were tenant farmers.
Tenants had to pay rent to the landlord and taxes, and the little food they had left was barely enough for a single meal.
Such forced suppression made some groups grow stronger. One group of people even occupied a county town. The leader of the group must be quite capable. Empress Dowager Fu sent many officers and soldiers but failed to suppress the group. Empress Dowager Fu even wanted the officers and soldiers to use fire attack directly, but there were still many innocent people in the group. Empress Dowager Fu knew that if she used too harsh means, it would only cause greater dissatisfaction among the people. For a while, she could only maintain a stalemate like this.
In this way, the New Year came to an end and spring came, but the town had not yet been captured.
There were chaos in other places again. For a while, Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan felt a little regretful that they should not have adjusted the taxes so heavily. However, before they could regret it, a big incident happened in the southwest. The southwest was occupied by thousands of private soldiers, and even the military camp guarding the border city of Raozhou was captured. Raozhou City fell completely, and no one knew what the situation was like inside.
All I know is that those private soldiers called themselves the Black Armor Army, and I know nothing else.
The Empress Dowager and Emperor Sheng Yuan were not only panicked, but also a little confused. They really didn't know how a military camp with tens of thousands of soldiers could be captured by a few thousand private soldiers.
It seems that those Black Armored Lords are completely different from other small-scale uprisings. They are very formal, understand military tactics and many formations, and the leader's ability to lead troops is even better than that of many generals in the military camps of the Great Sheng Dynasty.
The capture of Raozhou City meant that the Dasheng Dynasty lost a city, but this city was just the beginning.
Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan didn't even know who was behind the Hei family army.
Empress Dowager Fu even wanted to send soldiers guarding other border cities to the southwest to attack the Black Armor Army.
However, he was stopped by the ministers. If the troops from other border towns were mobilized, the neighboring countries would take advantage of the situation, which would also be a loss.
Empress Dowager Fu was so angry that she threw a cup in the palace and asked the ministers, "So what do you think we should do? Are we going to wait for those damned black-armored soldiers to annex city after city, finally attack the capital, storm the imperial palace, and bring about the end of the dynasty?"
Little did he know that this would come true.
No matter how angry Empress Dowager Fu was, it was useless. She could only start mobilizing other troops to attack these black-armored soldiers.
Except for a few border cities with the most troops, the other provincial cities did not have many troops. Now they could only mobilize troops from other provincial cities. Unexpectedly, as soon as the troops from other provincial cities were mobilized, these black-armored soldiers were like cunning foxes, who went around from behind and caught the governors of the two cities off guard.
In just two months, by the end of spring, the southwest had lost two state capitals in succession, and almost the entire southwest was about to fall into the hands of the Black Armor Army.
Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan didn't even know who the leader of these black-armored troops was. They only knew that the leader was a tall man with ordinary looks, but he was extremely powerful in martial arts and almost no one could get close to him.
…
Xu Qinyu saw her fourth brother once at the beginning of winter, but her fourth brother did not come back until the end of the year.
However, in the first month of the year after the New Year, my fourth brother came back, but he only stayed for half a day and then left in a hurry. My fourth brother said that the world was starting to get chaotic and he had several jobs to do, so he might not have time to go home for a year or two. He came back today specifically to see his family and to reassure them that he would be more careful when he was away.
Xu Qinyu knew that her fourth brother had come back to see her. She also knew that the world was a bit chaotic, so she did not try to dissuade her fourth brother. She just asked him to take care of himself when he was doing business outside.
Xu Qinyu had also heard about some uprisings among the people in other places. In fact, even Xu Ji's business was affected. Not only Xu Ji, but also some other shops in Raozhou City were in a similar situation.
Because everyone knows that the world may be in chaos, naturally they are not as willing to spend money as before. Everyone is worried about what the world will be like in the future, so it is better to save more money.
Xu Ji's business has dropped by half, but Xu Qinyu doesn't really care about the business. She just hopes that troubled times won't really come.
By the end of the first month of the lunar year, half a month after my fourth brother left, a huge event happened in the southwest.
That day, Xu Ji had just finished its evening meal and the guests had returned to the garden to rest. The waiters in the restaurant had also finished their work and returned to their rooms to rest. Suddenly, a deafening roar was heard in the distance, and flames shot up into the sky. Xu Ji, which was closest to the military camp, and the nearby villages all heard the deafening sound and saw flames in the sky from their windows.
Everyone was frightened by the sound and the fire. They woke up, put on their clothes, opened the door and went out to see. They saw that something had happened in the military camp and countless roars came from there.
Xu Qinyu was ready to go to bed, but when she heard the noise, her face changed. She hurried out and went to a lookout tower at the back, where she saw flames rising from the military camp.
Her heart skipped a beat. She wondered what had happened in the military camp, but the commotion in the camp was definitely no small matter. Could it be that a neighboring country was attacking? No, if it was a neighboring country, it wouldn't be in this direction, but on the other side. So what exactly happened in the military camp?
Wen and the others were also awakened.
Except for Wen and Ning Jie'er who came to look for her, Zhu stayed in the room with her two children and did not let them come out.
When Wen and Ning saw the flames rising into the sky in the distance, they were both frightened and their faces turned pale.
Ning Jie'er murmured, "What happened in the military camp?"
It was Wen who made a quick decision: "Something must have happened in the barracks, and Xu Ji is outside the city. If something really happened, Xu Ji is too close to avoid us. We should gather everyone and go into the city first."
Xu Qinyu shook her head. "No, it's curfew in Raozhou City now, and the city gates are closed. Going back is impossible. Right now, we can only get everyone to gather their strength and hide in the mountains. If someone attacks, hiding in the mountains will make it easier to escape to other areas. These mountains are connected to each other, so it won't be easy for them to find us. I'll have Lianhua, Huo Ye, and the others secretly go to the military camp to investigate and see what's going on."
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