However, the people in the southwest have potatoes and sweet potatoes grown 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 several acres of land, they can pay half of the grain tax. The remaining grain is not enough for a year's food and drink even if they eat sparingly. They can only use the little money they earn every month to buy food.

But the grain tax suddenly increased so much, and there was a food shortage, which naturally caused the market price of grain to increase several times. The little money that people earned every month was not enough to buy food, and people's lives began to become miserable. Some families had very little money and could only eat one meal a day and were so hungry that they felt dizzy.

Even though the southwest had high-yield food such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, other places were 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.

Because it is a new crop and the yield per acre is so high, it must be transported to the capital, arranged by the court, and sent to various states for the people to plant.

After the sweet potatoes and potatoes were delivered to the capital, the empress dowager was very curious about the new food and asked the kitchen to prepare some for her. The taste was really good, so she gave some to ministers and royal relatives as rewards.

The remaining crops will be sold to residents of other states so that they can start growing these crops as well.

The news that the yield of these two crops can be as high as 3,000 kilograms per mu has been known to many people in the state capital. The tax has just been adjusted to half, and now such crops are suddenly available. If they can really be planted, they can still make a living even if they pay only half of the grain next year.

But what other states did not expect was that the price of these crop seeds was raised very high, dozens of times more expensive than ordinary grain seeds. Ordinary people could not afford it. Only landlords, wealthy businessmen and dignitaries could afford it. Ordinary people could not afford it at all.

Moreover, even if half of the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the southwest were sent to Beijing, the empress dowager kept some for herself and gave some as rewards. It was impossible to plant all the remaining land in the remaining prefectures. At most, there was enough land for one or two prefectures.

If we really want to grow these two high-yield crops throughout Dashengchao, it will take at least three to five years.

In the past three to five years, taxes have been so heavy, and I don’t know how ordinary people can survive.

Now ordinary people can't even afford the seeds of these two high-yield grains, and many people feel a little desperate.

When the previous emperor was reborn, they lived in peace and contentment, and the land tax was only 10%. 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 increased to 50%. Now, it has been only more than five years since the new emperor ascended the throne, but their lives are becoming more and more difficult. Will they still be able to survive in the future?

In the southwest, when Governor Zhu found out, his face turned pale. These crops were originally brought back from other countries by Zhou Yan with great effort and money.

Otherwise, according to the yield per acre and the fact that they 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 also plant them. Who knew that the seeds of these two high-yield crops would be sold at such a high price? How can the people afford them?

So when winter came, some people could not bear it anymore and felt they could not make ends meet. 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, and 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 dealt with by the imperial court.

While the ministers were discussing the matter, Emperor Sheng Yuan was dozing off on the dragon chair, yawning constantly and looking very sleepy.

Many ministers felt that those people went to the government to make trouble because they could not make ends meet at home, so it would be better to beat them with a stick and send them back. If they did it again, they would be exiled to the border town to do hard labor, which would serve as a warning to them.

The new emperor, however, paid no attention to what the court officials said. All he wanted to do was go back and have a good meal with his favorite concubine. At this moment, 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 and rebellious 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 all 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 sent to the government office where the rioting people lived, the county magistrate had no choice but to carry it out and go to the prison to tell the people. There were about a hundred of them, and when they heard the news, they burst into tears and cursed 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, and in the end, the 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 would be difficult for just a hundred common people to achieve great things.

However, these people were saved by Imperial Tutor Qi. Imperial Tutor 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 will still have sufficient assets and he will have many people he can use.

These people were used to rescue the civilians and to take their families away as well.

Now that things have come to this, Master 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 bear it and choose to rebel.

Taifu Qi had accepted such a large group of people and now had to make plans for the future. He also sent people to look for His Royal Highness Prince Shu. He still chose to believe Zhang Mingzhu's words. 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 a few hundred black-armored guards, there are also Chen Yi's group of bandits and their families, and the rest are some Liangshan heroes recruited by Pei Weixuan one after another, or some desperate people, and there are also several thousand private soldiers.

These private soldiers were recruited by Pei Weixuan and Huo Jiang.

All the money used to buy Liuli 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 also personally taught these private soldiers, teaching them some battle formations and martial arts.

The island is now full of life, with people everywhere and granaries filled to the brim.

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 from outside and saw Pei Weixuan still training his private soldiers on the playground. He waited for a while beside him. When His Highness had knocked all the soldiers to the ground, he walked over. Pei Weixuan saw him and asked the soldiers to rest on the spot. He came to see Huo Ye. When the two of them walked to the side and there was no one around, Pei Weixuan asked, "How is it?"

He sent Huo Ye and a dozen other people to the capital to gather information.

Now, due to the sudden increase in taxes, things have become chaotic everywhere, so he sent people to the capital to gather information and find out what's going on in the capital.

Huo Ye told Pei Weixuan what happened in the capital, and finally told Pei Weixuan about the matter of Master Qi's daughter. Finally, he said, "Because of Madam Qi's matter, 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 also looking for you. It seems that he is also dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan. Your Highness, do you want to meet Master Qi?"

Pei Weixuan said in a low voice: "Do you know where Master Qi is 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 of the princes. He stood with any of the princes and treated all the princes equally. He only discussed state affairs with his father and had no other thoughts. No matter which prince would eventually become the crown prince, he would do his best to assist him.

Moreover, the Taifu has many students, and these students are spread across the official circles of the capital and other provincial capitals. If they have Taifu Qi, they can indeed help a lot.

Huo Ye asked, "I understand. Your Highness, do you want to go in person?"

Pei Weixuan nodded and said, "I'll go there myself."

However, before meeting Master Qi, Pei Weixuan returned to Xu's house.

He rode back at full speed. When he returned to 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 some hot water and carried the water to the bathroom. He did not let the maids serve him. The maids also knew his habit of not liking others to get close to him, so they left after carrying the water in.

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. He was afraid of disturbing Yu Niang by breaking into her room in the middle of the night without her consent, 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 in the hot water and said to her with a smile, "Madam, the aunt came back last night."

Xu Qinyu was surprised and asked, "Fourth brother is back?"

The maid nodded, and she quickly washed her face and mouth, and went out to see that Fourth Brother was indeed practicing sword in the courtyard. Seeing Fourth Brother, Xu Qinyu ran to 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 I'll disturb Yu Niang's rest."

Xu Qinyu originally thought that her fourth brother's return would not disturb her. She also missed him, but she was too embarrassed to speak up, so she could only change the subject, "Fourth brother, it's already winter, do you still have work 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 be alive. She couldn't help asking, "How long can Fourth Brother stay at home? Fourth Brother hasn't been home for a few months. There are a lot of fresh food in the restaurant. Fourth Brother can go and try it."

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's breakfast now has an additional dish of mixed-grain pancakes with shredded potatoes inside, and many people eat it.

Xu Qinyu also let her fourth brother taste it, and when it was time for dinner, they would naturally eat hot pot.

These things were brought back by Fourth Brother’s caravan after crossing the ocean. Now I want to let Fourth Brother taste what authentic hot pot tastes like.

Both sides are red pots, 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 fragrant. 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 long been curious about the real Yu Niang, he had never intended to ask and just pretended not to know, as long as Yu Niang could stay by his side 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 Master Qi.

No one knew what they talked about, only that 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. Instead, he 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, and when Tutor Qi left, he also took his wife away from the capital. He never planned to take his wife back to the capital in this life, even if his official career ended there.

This winter, there are still many big and small chaos in many places.

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, ask the court for food, and smash the county government.

Some of them did manage to gather a lot of strength, but some were suppressed as soon as they raised the hoe of resistance, and chaos broke out in various places.

When the ministers in the court learned about this, they all knew the cause. If the people were not well fed, it would be natural for chaos to occur. Now there was chaos in many places. The ministers advised Emperor Sheng Yuan to change the tax back. A 50% tax was too harsh for ordinary people, and the grain output was too small. Even if he wanted to collect a 50% tax, he should wait until the two new crops were planted on a large scale, so that the people could barely eat even if they paid half of the grain. Then he could increase the tax.

But the Queen Mother and Emperor Sheng Yuan were not willing to wait for a few years. The treasury was empty and there was no money in it. They were the only ones who suffered. To them, they were the heavens of these people and the most honorable in the world. All the fields of the Great Sheng Dynasty belonged to them. If they wanted to rebel just to pay more taxes, the Queen Mother and Emperor Sheng Yuan were naturally unwilling to do so. They sent soldiers to suppress the people and ordered the soldiers to kill the troublemakers. 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 tenants.

Tenants had to pay rent to the landlord as well as taxes, and the little food they had left was barely enough for a single meal of watery food a day.

This kind of forced suppression made some teams even stronger. A group of people even occupied a county town. The leader among them must be capable. Empress Dowager Fu sent many officers and soldiers but failed to suppress them. Empress Dowager Fu even wanted the officers and soldiers to use fire attack directly, but there were still many innocent people among them. Empress Dowager Fu knew that if too harsh means were used, it would only cause greater dissatisfaction among the people. For a while, she could only stay in a stalemate.

In this way, the year was coming to an end and spring had arrived, 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 tax so heavily. However, before they could regret anything, a big incident happened in the southwest. The southwest was unexpectedly occupied by thousands of private soldiers, and even the military camp guarding the border city of Raozhou was attacked. Raozhou City fell completely, and no one knew what the situation was inside.

All I know is that those private soldiers called themselves the Black Armored 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 Armor Lords are completely different from other small-scale uprisings. They are very formal, understand military tactics and many battle formations, and their leaders' ability to lead troops is even better than that of many generals in the Great Sheng Dynasty's military camps.

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 towns to the southwest to attack the Black Armor Army.

However, he was blocked by the ministers. If the troops in other border cities were mobilized, the surrounding countries would take advantage of the situation and invade, which would be a loss-making situation.

Empress Dowager Fu was so angry that she smashed a cup in the palace and asked the ministers, "So what do you think we should do? Are we going to wait for that damn black-armored army to annex cities one after another, finally attack the capital, kill people in the palace, and change the dynasty in the world?"

Little did he know that this would come true.

It was useless for Empress Dowager Fu to be angry. She could only start to mobilize other troops to attack these black armored troops.

Except for a few border towns with the most troops, the other provincial capitals did not have much troops. Now they could only mobilize troops from other provincial capitals. Unexpectedly, as soon as the troops from other provincial capitals were mobilized, these black-armored soldiers were like cunning foxes, circling around and catching 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 he was a tall man with ordinary looks, but 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, and her fourth brother did not return until the end of the year.

However, in the first month of the new year, my fourth brother came back, but he only stayed for half a day and left in a hurry. He 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 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 from doing anything. She just told him to take good care of himself when he was working outside.

Xu Qinyu had also heard about some uprisings by the people in other places. In fact, even Xu's business was affected. Not only Xu's business, but also some other shops in Raozhou City were affected.

Because everyone knows that the world may be in chaos, naturally people 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's business has been reduced by half, but Xu Qinyu doesn't really care about the business. She just hopes that chaos will not really come.

By the end of the first month of the lunar year, half a month after my fourth brother left, something huge happened in the southwest.

That day, Xu's restaurant had just finished its evening meal and the guests had gone back to the garden to rest. The waiters in the restaurant had also finished their work and went back to their rooms to rest when suddenly a deafening roar was heard in the distance and flames shot up into the sky. Xu's restaurant, which was closest to the military camp, and the nearby villages all heard the deafening sound and saw flames all over the sky from the windows.

Everyone was frightened by the noise and the fire. They woke up, put on their clothes, opened the door and went out to see. They saw that something 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 color. She hurried out and went to a lookout tower at the back, where she saw flames rising from the military camp.

Her heart was pounding. She didn't know what happened in the military camp, but the movement in the military camp must be no small matter. Could it be that the neighboring country attacked? No, if it was a neighboring country, it would not be in this direction, but on the other side. So what happened in the military camp?

Wen and 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 Mrs. Wen and Sister 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?"

Wen was the one who made a prompt decision and said, "Something must have happened in the barracks, and Xu Ji is outside the city. If something really happened, Xu Ji is too close to us, and we can't avoid him. We should call everyone and go into the city first."

Xu Qinyu shook her head. "No, it's curfew time in Raozhou City now. The city gates are not open. It's impossible to go back to the city. Now we can only ask everyone to cheer up and hide in the mountains. If someone attacks, hiding in the mountains will also make it easier to escape to other places. These mountains are connected to each other, and it will be impossible for them to find us in a short time. I will let Lianhua and Huo Ye secretly go to the vicinity of the military camp to find out what happened."