You won’t know if you don’t ask, but you will be shocked if you ask. The standards for monsters in the Ming Dynasty are really... quite loose. In the Ming Dynasty, during the era of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the imperial officials were skinned at every turn, and the common people had no way to lead the city. [Temporary Residence Permit]

When he was sentenced, Liu Baiyu was an out-and-out monster.

However, since Xuanzong, the control of the Ming Dynasty government has gradually loosened. In the Jiajing era, not only did he himself believe in Taoism, but after he became the emperor, all his officials must respect Taoism. Those who respect Taoism will be promoted and make money, and those who dare to give advice and advice will be treated lightly.

If you reduce your position to serve the people, you will be imprisoned in the shackles, or in severe cases, you will be beaten to death on the spot.

During the Jiajing Emperor's reign, Taoist priests Shao Yuanjie, Tao Zhongwen and other officials were promoted to ministers of the Ministry of Rites. Tao Zhongwen also held the posts of young master, young master, and young master. The result of the emperor's leadership in liberalizing feudalism was that social public opinion lost control. To put it nicely, it was called a hundred schools of thought contending.

, to put it harshly, it’s called a group of demons dancing around...

Of course, that's all. There were many monarchs who worshiped Buddhism and believed in Taoism throughout the ages. Except for a few lunatics who were so obsessed with belief that they didn't care about themselves. In fact, the harm was just that. But the Ming Dynasty did have some Ming Dynasty characteristics.

In the era of Ming Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang, in view of the arrogance of lamas in the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties - even if he beat the princess, he vigorously suppressed Buddhism, Taoism and other formal religions, causing Buddhism, Taoism and other formal religions to decouple from the bottom of the people, resulting in the White Lotus Sect and other

The rebellious professional households occupied the bottom of society, causing turmoil one after another.

The most typical one is the peasant uprising that took place in Shandong during the Zhu Di period and was led by Tang Sai'er (female). During the uprising, Tang Sai'er once called herself "Buddha's Mother". Zhu Di believed that Tang Sai'er was related to Buddhism.

Buddhism, especially nuns, has carried out a lot of tangible and intangible suppression, and even directly arrested...

Liu Baiyu couldn't complain about this. Liu Baiyu didn't believe that the monks would be happy if someone claimed to be Tathagata's mother! Maybe Zhu Di had other intentions, and as a military strongman, he could also suppress the formation, but when the Ming Dynasty

In the middle and later stages, when the government's control power declines, the problem will become bigger...

Take the Wenxiang Sect as an example. This is a cult inherited by the family. In the second year of Qi tomorrow (1622), Xu Hongru, a disciple of the Wang family, started an uprising in Shandong, which shocked the whole country. As a result, only Wang Haoxian was killed, and the foundation of the Wenxiang Sect is still there.

, it was still rioting in the Qing Dynasty. What made Liu Baiyu especially speechless was that the leaflets launched by Xu Hongru to launch the uprising were still publicly printed...

Therefore, even if Liu Baiyu says in the street that he is the reincarnation of a god, it will only be regarded as performance art. After all, the emperor can easily get rid of it, so it is not strange to have a cosplay of an obsessed scholar...

Of course, if you are an ordinary commoner, you will have to admit the crime of being a monster by a squire and petty official, but obviously this crime can be found at will, and it has nothing to do with the standards of monsters in the Ming Dynasty.

But after asking Liu Baiyu a few more questions, he felt that Zhang Tianhong was a bit too careless - he said it was very powerful, why were the refugees accumulating more and more, and being exploited by the monsters? It seemed like there was another chaos in the Wenxiang Sect. In fact,

It's just a few black-hearted religious swindlers trying to make money.

These black-hearted religious swindlers claim to be the reincarnation of the Yellow-browed Old Buddha and his disciples, gather refugees, and go to major landowners to "eat the big ones" and rob them if they don't give them to them.

"Do justice for heaven", of course, if there is no great

Hu Kechi also engaged in transactions with some special businessmen, selling beautiful women and children among the refugees in exchange for funds. If the relatives of these trafficked people dared to question, they would be charged with a crime and the whole family would disappear.

This is really impressive!

Isn't this just a small-scale "Li Zicheng" under the cloak of religion? Liu Baiyu felt bad, but this kind of refugee group should be the public enemy of the gentry and the government!

"The government and the gentry don't care?"

"Huh, aren't you just one of the snakes and rats!?" As a representative of the landlord class, Zhang Tianhong was so angry at these morons who had no regard for class interests that he told everything he knew behind the scenes...

History is really complicated. In fact, the so-called peasant rebels and the landlords are not necessarily at odds with each other. If you use your brain a little, you will find that Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others were beaten several times and only escaped with their lives.

In just a few years, we have tens of thousands of troops again. Without the support of big businessmen, is it reliable to rely only on seizures? In the late Ming Dynasty, how many big businessmen were not big landowners? It is similar to modern times, how many big entrepreneurs were not?

Real estate investment?

This is especially true for this small-scale "Li Zicheng" under the cloak of religion. Some big landowners support them behind the scenes to attack small landowners, forcing small landowners to sell at low prices or even give away land. And the change of land ownership is even more...

It is inseparable from the intervention of officials within the yamen...

Of course, this may also lead to playing tricks. If the scale is really large and a few black-hearted religious swindlers cannot suppress it, or even change powerful leaders, the sweeping refugee storm may not only bring down a few of them, but also

Even Zhang Tianhong, a landowner from a neighboring county, suffered the same fate as Zhang Tianhong, who took risks for no reason and gained nothing. How could Zhang Tianhong not scold him!

I finally understand why Zeng Guofan, the butcher, has been praised. Compared with these landowners who played with fire in the late Ming Dynasty, Zeng Shao was really a good and disciplined person! He knew that the lower limit was exceeded in the late Ming Dynasty. The lower limit was so low, but it was

Liu Baiyu was left speechless.

Generally speaking, only capitalists will take high risks for the sake of high profits. However, in the society of the late Ming Dynasty, there was no trace of industry and commerce in many places. However, loan sharking capital with great disadvantages was flourishing, which led to the conservative landlords to also take up the game.

The old-fashioned Zhang Tianhong is not familiar with high-risk activities, so he naturally feels that everything is unpleasant and the people's hearts are not the same.

"But it's not necessarily a bad thing that neighboring counties only care about money. Second brother, I spent thirty taels of silver to buy your reputation as a scholar! If it were Mr. Fang from this county, I would have a good relationship with him.

, he won’t do it!” Speaking of Fang Fuzi, who was almost pedantic in his insistence, Zhang Tianhong also smiled bitterly and shook his head. He didn’t know whether it was admiration or helplessness, maybe a combination of both.

"Master Fang must have a good reputation, right?" Liu Baiyu asked tentatively.

"The reputation is pretty good, and it is well-known throughout Shandong. But in this age, what's the use of being famous and having a flat belly? Besides, which Donglin Party is really famous is not supported by money! In this age of materialism,

, no one has believed in the teachings of saints for a long time! He just can’t think about it!”

"Brother, don't talk about the teachings of saints. How much of Confucius' own reputation was created by the money of the businessman Zigong, one of his most proud disciples?"

"This!" Zhang Tianhong was shocked by Liu Baiyu's words. He was not a Founder, but he had also been in business for many years. Even though he was a Jinshi and no longer wanted to be an official, he still regarded himself as a Confucian scholar. Liu Baiyu
Chapter completed!