After Yuanfeng's restructuring, most of the transport envoys were merged into one.
Jinghu Road is different. South Road and North Road each retain their own transshipment envoys. The main reason is that taxes from Sichuan and Guangxi must be sent to Jinghu Road for transshipment.
Hunan Transportation Department, all three are good officials.
The transfer envoy is named Zhou Yin. He has been an official for twenty years, but he is still selected. He has not even been promoted to a Beijing official. He was transferred back and forth in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hunan, serving as county magistrate and doing water conservancy projects everywhere. He was finally recommended by others, and his political achievements were praised.
The emperor knew about it and within five years he was promoted from county magistrate to transit envoy.
The deputy transshipment envoy is named Zhang Ju. He is an official and is incorruptible. He is currently writing a letter to impeach Wang Fu, Tong Guan and Cai You.
The transfer judge's name is Huang Shuao, Huang Tingjian's younger brother. He is very old and has been implicated by Huang Tingjian, so he has never been promoted. He has always been upright and honest, and he has suppressed the subordinate officials into obedience.
However, three good officials could not withstand Wang Fu's expropriation of money from his husband.
Because it is a government decree issued by the imperial court, official documents must be forwarded according to procedures. Among the state and county officials below, there are always those who want to gain political performance and be promoted, and there are always those who want to take advantage of the opportunity to make profits.
Ju Ming took a boat all the way to Hengyang and heard loud cries at the dock.
The magistrate of Hengzhou is forcibly recruiting rural soldiers, because Fang Qifu has grown bigger and may bring troops to kill him at any time.
The common people inside and outside the city either sent their young men to serve as soldiers or paid free men.
Moreover, it was a two-time subscription, once to the imperial court to conquer Liao, and once to the magistrate to defend the city.
Ju Ming, accompanied by his followers and students, silently watched the chaotic situation outside the city.
Some poor people sell their sons and daughters in exchange for free money. Several areas are formed outside the city, and the Ya people shuttle between them, picking and choosing like cattle.
With expressionless faces, everyone rehired a boat and took two days' rest before continuing their journey north.
Before arriving at Xiangtan, they encountered officers and soldiers.
Large and small boats transported grain, grass and baggage, and Xiang troops and rural soldiers walked along the river. Not to mention that these soldiers were poorly armored, and even their clothes were in tatters, and they were walking south like zombies.
Ju Ming's ship was surrounded by official ships, and the officers planned to blackmail him severely in the name of searching for spies.
"Where did they come from and where are they going? Do you have any proof?" an officer asked.
Ju Ming didn't answer, so Bai Sheng stood up and showed his cards.
By the way, it is similar to the road guide of the Ming Dynasty.
Senior officials all have waist cards, and they also have a number of followers who can receive salaries. The higher the rank of the official, the higher the level of the followers' waist cards.
Ju Ming's ivory official badges have been taken away, and his entourage badges will naturally have to be handed over as well.
However, Bai Sheng had already been asked to engrave a copy privately, and now he came out with a fake brand to bluff people.
The fake brand has a very high level and is a follower of a court official.
The officer looked at the fake waist badges and saw that Zhu Ming and the students were very impressive. He quickly bowed and apologized: "Excuse me for disturbing you, officers. Go slowly."
When the ship continued sailing, Zhang Bor couldn't help but said: "My lord, it is a serious crime to make official badges privately!"
Ju Ming said, "I can't care less."
Zhang Bor was actually full of doubts and wanted to know what Ju Ming planned to do.
"There are deserters, there are deserters!"
There was a commotion on the shore, but they took advantage of the lull just now and hundreds of soldiers from behind fled en masse.
Zhu Ming led everyone to the bow of the ship. He saw only a few hundred soldiers and horsemen chasing the deserters. More than ten people were hacked to death one after another. The rest knelt down and begged for mercy, and were tied up to see the leader.
The commander of the army.
"Ask the person who led the escape and kill three of them to enforce military law!"
Not long after, three unlucky guys were picked out at random, taken to the edge of the Xiang River and beheaded.
Continue north to Changsha and plan to change ships again.
But there were no ships at all, and they had either been drafted to fight, or were used as canal ships to transport grain. The ships Ju Ming had hired in Hengyang were unwilling to continue their journey, and the boatmen were worried about the safety of their families.
Zhu Ming led everyone on foot, passed Qiaokou Town, and entered the territory of Xiangyin County.
A large amount of land here was abandoned. After careful inquiry, I found out that the Xiangyin County magistrate extorted excessive taxes and had not moved from his official position for five years.
In order to please Cai Jing, this man frantically collected land and farmland. As a result, Cai Jing dismissed him as prime minister, but he was impeached and accused. Now he also wanted to please Wang Fu, doubling the amount of free husband money.
Through.
Naturally, the common people couldn't afford that much, so they attacked the landlords.
Let those landowners who have no backers guarantee the free money of nearby farmers. The landlords have been exploited for several years and have paid countless exorbitant taxes and taxes. Now they are asked to guarantee compensation, and even the landlords and peasants are fleeing in large numbers.
The county magistrate of Xiangyin didn't care about this. He had already bribed the superior officials and went to the capital to give money to Wang Fu's party members. He would soon be promoted and transferred away from here.
Before leaving office, why don't you make a fortune and make back the money you gave away?
The students were all numb. They had seen worse things.
When they went south to join Ju Ming, they passed through Gyeonggi Road and Jingxi Road. Those places had suffered natural disasters for three consecutive years and were exploited by the eunuch Yang Jian. They had to pay both taxes and rent, which was equivalent to paying taxes twice.
However, under Cai Jing's clever manipulation, Tian Fu had already doubled. If Yang Jian did this again, he would actually have to pay several times the tax.
This is just the official tax, exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes are not taken into account.
"Sir, is it really useful to advise the officials?" Chen Dong looked at the abandoned fertile land and became extremely confused.
Other students also looked at Ju Ming.
Ju Ming said categorically: "I will let him listen. If he really doesn't listen, think of another way."
When we came to the outside of Xiangyin City, there were beggars everywhere. Many of them were farmers who had fled from the countryside. They couldn't find any work in the city and had to beg.
It took Ju Ming two days to finally hire a boat, but he could only cross Dongting Lake to Yuezhou.
…
On the west side of Dongting Lake, there is a large lake in Wuling County, Dingzhou, which is connected to Dongting Lake through Yuanshui River.
As the government continued to increase taxes, businessman Zhong Xiang found it difficult to do business. As early as more than ten years ago, he came into contact with Manichaeism in other places, copied the teachings and brought them back to his hometown, and made some modifications himself.
At this moment, hundreds of people gathered at Zhong's house.
"The light is universally pure, always happy, silent, and motionless. He is happy and has no troubles. If there is suffering, there is no point in it... He always feels happy in the light. If there is illness, there is no point in it... If you can live in that country.
After all, there will be no sorrow..."
The believers chanted scriptures and yearned for a bright kingdom without suffering.
This thing is spread all over the south. Zhejiang is called Manichaeism, Fujian is called Mingjiao, Huainan is called Erhuizi, Jiangdong is called Siguo, and Jiangxi is called Vajra Chan. In addition to poor farmers, the followers also include subordinate officials, Xiangjun, scholars, and bandits.
, actor... three religions and nine streams, all-encompassing.
Zhong Xiang led the believers to finish singing the scriptures and began to preach the doctrine: "There are all kinds of laws in this world, and it is not a good law to divide the rich and the poor, the high and the low. If I am allowed to practice the law, I should be equal to the rich and the poor...
"
"Those who join my religion are all brothers and sisters, and they are generally equal. No one who becomes an official should be superior. Whoever accumulates wealth must also help his poor brothers..."
"If all the people in Wuling County join our religion, we will keep their silkworm fields prosperous and their bodies rich..."
"Now the government is asking for money for free husbands. We have complained to the government, and the officials agreed to collect less. The money and food saved in the village commune is definitely not enough. My family is willing to donate 200 yuan to help our brothers and sisters tide over the difficulties.
I will also ask them to help the other squires, so I can’t see the brothers and sisters in the church being deprived of food..."
Hundreds of congregants were so excited that they all knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you, the Great Sage, for your mercy!"
Zhong Xiang smiled and nodded: "You don't need to thank me for standing up. We are all brothers in religion, and we should help each other."
Zhong Xiang has been preaching for more than ten years, and Fang La is also a descendant of Manichaeism in front of him.
There are more than a few hundred of his followers, they have spread all over Wuling County and even opened multiple branches around Dongting Lake.
Many lower-level officials also came to join the church, and he could get official news at any time.
The gentry and merchants all knew about the existence of Zhong Xiang, and even the successive county officials knew about it, but they did not dare to attack Zhong Xiang. Especially after the Fangla Uprising, the county officials were frightened and could only pretend not to see it and pray that he would not be killed during his term.
Internal rebellion.
On the surface, what Zhong Xiang established was just a mutual aid association—a rural community.
Farmers can join the society by paying any amount of money and grain, and mutual aid is practiced in the society. When encountering government exploitation, Prime Minister Zhong is responsible for negotiating, trying to get the officials to take less money, and then uses the society's funds to help members in difficulty tide over the difficulties.
If the funds within the society were insufficient, wealthy members would be asked to donate some, and they would even seek donations from gentry and merchants.
To be continued...