In another time and space, there was a popular saying that "the Ming Dynasty actually perished during the Wanli period."
There are many reasons for saying this, such as the inaction of government affairs and the Battle of Sarhu, but what really drained the empire's vitality, caused the emperor and his subjects to become alienated and the country to become a complete mess was undoubtedly the protracted rebellion of the mining supervisors and tax collectors.
Normal people could not understand why Wanli was so impatient to extort money from the people through mining and taxation. People at that time described him as "approving as soon as possible and acting quickly" in such matters, which was in stark contrast to his laziness in delaying state affairs.
Those mining supervisors and tax collectors relied on the fact that they were imperial envoys and did not take the imperial envoys seriously at all. They even treated the county officials as slaves and ordered them around at will. Naturally, a crazy looting situation was formed with "a group of tigers coming out, roaring at everyone, making plans at every inch, and setting traps at every level"!
They controlled almost all the mines and customs in the country, and extorted money by contracting mines and taxes, increasing taxes, and abusing taxes. They set up many checkpoints along rivers, roads, and bridges to collect taxes. The numerous taxes made it unprofitable for businesses, factories stopped production one after another, and the economy almost stagnated.
Since there was no more tax to be collected, they dug up graves everywhere, openly robbed with weapons, and punished those who resisted for defying the emperor's order. The rich were forced to pay bribes to avoid the disaster; most of the middle class families were destroyed. Ordinary people could not escape either. The eunuchs' lackeys broke into their homes and raped their wives and daughters. Many people hanged themselves.
With the support of the emperor, the mining supervisors and tax collectors wantonly and madly killed the people, causing severe disasters to society, and ultimately made the Ming Dynasty pay a heavy price.
For example, Gao Huai caused chaos in Liao.
Gao Huai was originally a street rogue. After he was castrated and entered the palace, he saw that the position of mine tax collector was a good opportunity to make a fortune, so he bribed the powerful eunuchs in the palace and got the position of mine tax collector in Liaodong.
At that time, there were no mines to be mined in Liaodong. But Gao Mining Supervisor was not interested in mining, but in exploiting the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong.
After he arrived in Liaodong, local ruffians and scoundrels flocked to him, either openly plundering or extorting money, draining people's property, and seducing their wives. The people of Liaodong were in dire straits.
Gao Huai and his gang arrested all the soldiers and civilians who dared to resist, young and old, and took them to Tianwang Temple to torture them. Some were tied up with their feet and hung in a well, called "hanging head in a well"; some were hung upside down on a tree, called "feet facing the sky"; some were tied around the waist and hung on a pillar, called "waist-tied Lu Gong belt"; some were placed on an iron sheet with a raging fire underneath, called "burning and warming the kang". Over ten years, more than ten thousand people were tortured to death.
The Liaodong army and civilians could not bear the oppression and repeatedly rebelled, but Gao Huai suppressed them all. It was not until the 36th year of Wanli that the Liaodong army rebelled and the Liaodong officers and soldiers "swore to eat Huai meat" that he was frightened and fled back to the interior.
Gao Huai, a criminal of such heinous crimes, actually occupied Liaodong for twelve years, relying on the indiscriminate protection of the incompetent Wanli. The soldiers and civilians were desperate and could only flee to Jiannu. People at that time said, "Four to five out of ten young and strong men died in Jianzhou." Not only did it greatly enhance the strength of the Jurchens, but it also caused the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, which once swept across the border, to lose its soldiers and withdraw from the stage of history.
Gao Huai's rebellion in Liao was not an isolated case... There was also Ma Tang and Chen Zeng who killed Shandong, Sun Long ravaged Suzhou, Chen Feng extorted Huguang, Sun Chao plundered Shanxi, Pan Xiang squeezed Jiangxi, and Yang Rong caused chaos in Yunnan... This catastrophe that spread to the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty lasted until the end of the Wanli period!
So the Ming dynasty was not conquered by the Jiannu at all, but was handed to them by the emperor and his subjects, who had no choice but to eat it...
But where there is oppression there is resistance. All walks of life across the country, including scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, hated the atrocities of the mining supervisors and tax collectors, and they rose up in resistance one after another!
In the 27th year of Wanli, a "civil uprising" broke out in Linqing, Shandong Province, against the atrocities of the tax collector Ma Tang. More than 10,000 people set fire to the tax collector's office and killed 27 of Ma Tang's followers!
In the 28th and 29th years, Wuchang experienced a series of "civil uprisings" against the tax collector Chen Feng. 60,000 merchants surrounded Chen Feng's office, tied up 16 of his followers, and threw them into the river, forcing Wanli to withdraw Chen Feng!
In the 29th year of the Wanli reign, Ge Xian of Suzhou led the masses in a famous riot that was written into textbooks of later generations. They drowned Sun Long's followers in the river, burned the tax collector's office, and demanded that taxation be stopped. Under the power of the masses, Sun Long was frightened and fled to Hangzhou...
Throughout the second half of the Wanli period, the struggle against mining supervisors and tax collectors spread throughout the country and lasted for a long time, forming a wave of struggle against excessive taxes and the destruction of industry and commerce!
It was only because there was no revolutionary guiding ideology and no mature leadership that these spontaneous citizen movements could not be sustained, let alone sublimated. After the rioting people drove away the eunuchs, killed a few lackeys, and vented their anger, they took the initiative to end the massive civil uprisings and mutinies without the need for the court to suppress them.
For example, Ge Xian, after driving Sun Long away, turned himself in to protect the masses, and walked into the prison with his head held high... It makes people admire him, but also sigh.
But this time, Zhao Hao has been deeply engaged in education in Southeast China for more than 20 years, and the Three Antis Education has been carried out for many years. He also has the leadership of the group. He believes that after the civil uprising this time, things will be different!
However, reality is not a stand-alone game. There will always be people who have different ideas and the ability to change the direction of the wheel of history.
Zhao Hao wanted to make the people suffer, so that they would wake up in pain. But Hai Rui said no, what is the guilt of the people? You should think of another way...
"Mr. Hai, Mr. Hai, you are forcing me to use my ultimate move..." Zhao Hao looked up at the beautiful teak ceiling and sighed helplessly. But think about it, haven't the people suffered enough over the years? Maybe I am really a bit mechanical and dogmatic.
After calming down, he fell into deep thought.
It was not until the pipe in his hand went out that Zhao Haofang sorted out his thoughts and pressed a button on the coffee table next to him.
The four people waiting outside saw the light at the door of the suite come on and hurried in.
~~
After the four of them sat down, Zhao Hao lit his pipe again and said in a deep voice:
"I have made up my mind. From now on, the entire group will enter the first level combat readiness state!"
"Yes!" The four of them hurriedly stood up and responded loudly.
This is the second time that Jiangnan Group has entered level one combat readiness, but the scale is no longer comparable to that of twenty years ago!
During that war mobilization, Jiangnan Group only had a few companies and dozens of small boats.
The scale of this war mobilization is more than a hundred times larger? !
The last goal was just to drive the Portuguese out of Ming Dynasty.
This time, we are going to smash the old world to pieces and rebuild a new one!
Now, there is no need to hide anything anymore, we should be open and honest!
"I have decided that the Royal Coast Guard will be officially renamed the People's Navy!" Then, Zhao Hao said in a decisive tone what Jin Ke and others had been waiting for day and night.
"Yes!" The voices of the Big Three were so loud that they almost blew the roof off.
"The People's Army is renamed the People's Army! The navy and the army are collectively called the People's Army!"
"yes!"
"At the same time, in view of the extreme threat to the group's security, the serious harm suffered by the people of various provinces, and the fate of the country and the nation has reached the most dangerous moment, I issue a general mobilization order to the group and the people's soldiers! From now on, the group and the people's soldiers will enter a state of hostility with the Zhu Ming royal family. All previous agreements will immediately become invalid and all contacts will be immediately severed."
"Order the group to immediately take over the political power of the areas under actual control such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiaodong, and Tangshan, and manage them in a first-level combat readiness state! Control all waterways and transportation; uniformly manage food and other necessities of life, implement a rationing system, and stop all commercial transactions! And conduct population registration and recall retired armed personnel!"
"Order all soldiers and reserve forces to return to their units after their leave. Order all militia and workers' guards to be fully armed to defend the lives and property of the group and fellow villagers!"
"No matter north or south, young or old, everyone has the responsibility to defend their land and fight the enemy with all their might!"
Zhao Hao seemed like a different person. He no longer showed the pain and struggle he had shown before, and he gave out orders one after another in a sonorous and powerful voice.
Chang Kaiche was fully focused and took notes quickly, fearing that he would miss a single word.
The three giants stretched their necks, waiting for no orders.
"That's basically it. Do you have anything else to add?" Zhao Hao asked.
"Commander-in-Chief, where is our Coast Guard...Navy?" Jin Ke asked carefully.
"Transport the People's Army's First and Second Armies to the designated location as scheduled." Zhao Hao said in a deep voice.
"What else?" Zhu Jue asked again.
"What does land warfare have to do with the navy?" Zhao Hao said, puffing out a puff of smoke.
"We are dragons on the sea and tigers on land!" said Ma Yinglong.
"If you are a dragon, coil up for me. If you are a tiger, lie down for me! Did I raise you to cause trouble on the shore?" Zhao Hao glared, extinguishing the dream of the Big Three to play the leading role. "Save your energy for the fight against Japan!"
"It's not even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth..." Ma Yinglong muttered softly.
"Get out!" Zhao Hao waved his hand unhappily.
"Yes." The three giants had no choice but to turn right, walk in unison, and be the last one to close the door.
Zhao Hao then handed a piece of manuscript paper to Chang Kaiche and said, "I have a song here. Send it to Jiangnan Daily for publication as a eulogy and manifesto for Mr. Hai."
"Yes." Chang Kaiche quickly took it with both hands.
~~
The front-page headline of the Jiangnan Daily published the next day contained sixteen shocking blood-red characters!
'The murder of Lord Hai is an injustice that will last forever! The tyrant is unjust and must pay with his life!'
The remaining pages were devoted to a song called “Uprising Song”:
'Rise up, you slaves who are starving and cold! Rise up, you suffering people of the land of China!
My blood is boiling, let's fight the final battle!
The old world has beaten him to a pulp. Slaves, rise up!
Don't say we are worthless, we want to be the masters of the world!'
'There has never been a savior, and we don't rely on gods or emperors.
To create our own happiness, it all depends on ourselves!
We must take back the fruits of our labor and let our thoughts break free from their cages.
Hurry up and make the fire burn red, strike while the iron is hot to succeed!'
"……"
P.S. Some people say Zhao Hao is a capitalist, that's not right. He is clearly not following the capitalist path... Let's not discuss this kind of question anymore, stop it, stop it, read some books.