Ai Yuchu and others came to invite him several times, and Li Zicheng had a good chat with them.
The relationship seems familiar, and I hope they won't resist stubbornly when they come to power in the future.
The peasant army can conquer the world with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but it depends on these gentry to rule the world. There is no solution!
…
On the ninth day of the second lunar month, Mrs. Gaihu and her three children made a fuss at the county government office to demand justice. The magistrate insisted that Gaihu had surrendered to a bandit, and instead he had her in chains for three days.
Where can I go to reason?
The next day, Han Jin'er went to the city for a stroll and was met by Li Zicheng.
Why are you so polite? Oh, that dry firewood made Lao Li fly into the sky.
"No more, no more..." Han Jin'er threw away his helmet and armor and ran away.
Lao Li was very melancholy, holding his waist and went to the pharmacy to buy tonics.
Two days later, Gao Yigong also entered the city. 1 He was killed in a battle with the chieftain in western Hunan in the eighth year of Shunzhi.
He was from Hulu Mountain in the north of the county. He had been following the "bandits" for several months and fought two bloody battles with the army before he gave up. A few days ago, he ran home with a few younger brothers and became the king of the mountain.
He heard what his elder brother Gao Ligong said about the Huama Sword, so he came to "Conglong".
By the way, I would like to promote my own sister, a young widow.
The former brother-in-law was dragged away to push a cart at the wedding banquet. He followed the army into the capital and died on the way. His body was not brought back.
Li Zicheng simply refused to get married and accepted Gao Yigong as his younger brother.
In the next few days, Li Zicheng spent his free time in the iron shop trying to make gun barrels, making movable lead type, etc. He had simulated it countless times, and he was able to do it with ease.
On the 17th, Han Jin'er couldn't bear the loneliness and came here again.
This time she showed off her feminine power and beheaded Li Zicheng from his horse. Old Li surrendered and begged for mercy.
Gao Yigong couldn't bear it and hurriedly summoned Gao Guiying.2
"My sister is very popular. Let her make new clothes for my eldest brother."
Gao Guiying was a very capable woman, and she even knew a few words, but Li Zicheng couldn't accept her. She was a good family, but she couldn't play around, and she wasn't willing to correct herself.
Just keep him as a minion for now.
Li Zicheng was defeated repeatedly against Han Jin'er, and he couldn't stand it anymore.
He made two heart-shaped clove-flavored soaps, a box of cream, and thirty taels of silver, and finally sent the goblin away.
On February 25th, Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang came back one after another.
Tian Jianxiu is still missing.
Li Zicheng didn't want to wait any longer.
Firstly, Tian Jianxiu's family is far away, and secondly, the young man's stance is not firm enough, and he does not have the confidence to conquer the world even when the rebel army is at its strongest. Let him go!
Finally, it was decided to leave Yuan Zongdao to look after the house and communicate news, while the others followed Li Zicheng to Changmao.
Everyone knows that this is a prelude to trouble.
There will be no good fortune or misfortune in the future.
Before leaving, Yuan Zongdi lifted the red cloth on the screen wall of his house, offered incense to the gods of earth and heaven and earth, and prayed for blessings.
Although Li Zicheng didn't believe in that stuff, he bowed three times along with a few others.
When the old man Wang of the iron shop heard that Liu Zongmin had given up his job, he was so angry that he cursed Li Zicheng, thinking that he had been bewitched by him.
Liu Zongmin huddled aside and did not dare to say a word.
Master and disciple are like father and son. Once a teacher, he will always be a father. This is no joke.
Li Zicheng gave the old man another twenty taels of silver and a piece of cloth, and finally promised to support him until he died, and then he blocked his mouth.
…
Changmao Temple is sixty miles west of the city.
There was no west gate in Mizhi, so everyone led donkeys and carried loads out of the north gate to the Wuding River ferry. The water was sparse, so there was no need to take a boat.
The spring breeze makes the wheat green, the peach and apricot buds bloom, and the cypresses and willows compete.
Most farmers don't dare to plant winter wheat because of the bad weather. There may be a cold wave someday, and they are afraid that they won't be able to survive the spring drought. It will probably take more than ten days, after the Qingming Festival, to plant spring wheat.
However, most dry fields without water conservancy still dare not grow wheat, and there are a variety of drought-resistant millet, sorghum, barley, oats, etc.
After crossing the Wuding River to the west, we enter the mountainous area, with mountains connected to mountains and ditches to ditches.
A few miles ahead is Guanzhuang.
Because the Xiaoai family was famous, people knew that the people living in Liuwan were all high-ranking officials, and the people buried in their ancestors' tombs were all officials, so they renamed this place "Guanzhuang".
I want to ask how many rapeseeds there are in Guanzhuangguan? Three buckets and three liters of rapeseed.
Continue walking for more than ten miles and arrive at Aidongzhuang. Li Zicheng's former boss Ai Yingjia lived here.
In addition, the descendants of the Ai family are scattered all over the mountains and ravines of Mizhi, including Aihaowan, Aijiaping, Aijiasi, Aijiamao, Aijiapan, Aixinzhuang, Aihaozui, Aihaomao, Aijiagou...
…
Too many to count.
Can't afford it!
After getting up early in the morning and driving all day, the small team finally climbed up to Changmao Mountain as it was getting dark.
Liu Zongmin took off the grain bag on his shoulder and complained with a heavy breath: "Brother, you think it's a hassle for the brothers to rent two more donkeys."
Li Zicheng smiled and said: "What is this? From now on, I will run ten miles every three days to practice hard."
"I'll take my life." Liu Fangliang immediately collapsed to the ground.
Li Zijing and Li Guo in the cave heard the noise outside, put down their bowls and chopsticks and ran out.
"Second brother, why are you back?"
Li Zijing is the third eldest son of the Li family and the younger brother of Li Zicheng.2
"Second uncle, you are finally back."
Li Guo is the eldest child, only three years younger than Li Zicheng. His father is adopted. 3
Seeing that the rice jar was about to bottom out, Li Guo was thinking of going to the city to find relief.
Li Zicheng kicked him and said, "Go and set the pot on the fire and eat first."
Li Zijing and Li Guo looked at the piles of big and small bags on the ground and drooled three feet long. They agreed and hurriedly ran back to the house to get busy.
At this time, the neighbors who heard the commotion came out to watch the fun.
Li Zicheng politely asked them to eat together, but no one was polite at all. The gentlemen quickly urged their mother-in-law to help.
These people were so hungry that they felt like they could eat a cow.
Li Cheng stepped forward and spoke, "Huang Laiwa, have you seen my family Daliang?"
Li Zicheng said nonchalantly: "It's good! He's eating so well that he's fat and has gained ten pounds. The day before yesterday, I saw him reading and writing, and he said he was going to Beijing to take the top exam."
Li Chenggang smiled for a moment, then turned bitter again, "Don't you dare to talk nonsense? What are you doing to coax the old man?"
This old man is not a good guy either.
In the future, he will become a leader and help the county magistrate dig up Li Zicheng's ancestral grave.
Having said that, can a farmer withstand the pressure of the county magistrate? He is just trying to save a small life. They are all pitiful people.
So Li Zicheng didn't want to embarrass Old Man Li.
Compared to the shit-eater Ai Zhao who proposed the idea of digging graves, he is a polite scum who cannot be treated well. He is also considered a scholar? Even if the ancestral graves of ordinary people are digged up, how do you see the other person's reaction? Not to mention Li Zicheng.
For a tycoon who started a rebellion, it was normal to have Ai Zhao beheaded.
Changmao Town is even more lively than the Chinese New Year tonight, with a bunch of young and old men and women with incredibly beautiful legs.
There used to be fifteen families here, living in twenty-hole cave dwellings. The Li family was considered a "big family" and occupied four cave dwellings. Due to years of famine, there are now only seven families left.
Dozens of people rarely had a full meal amidst the commotion.
Li Zicheng received enough compliments to fill three baskets.
Later, he was embarrassed and gave five pounds of millet and five pounds of sorghum to each family.
At that time, some people knelt down and kowtowed. Kowtowing was nothing. Many honest people who had been honest for eight lifetimes dared to kill people just to have a bite of food. Those who have never suffered from severe hunger would not understand.
That night, lying on the kang, Li Guo began to detail the past six months one by one.
Within a dozen or so miles around, someone's family died, someone sold their daughter, someone fled, and someone's child was lost. In short, it was a bitter word.
Liu Zongmin quarreled: "It's time for you to rebel! I'm so cowardly. I eat meat and drink alcohol to live day by day. I have a big scar on my head, just ask for it!"
Li Zijing was so frightened that he got up and said in panic: "Don't dare to talk nonsense."
Li Guochao was excited: "Donkey day! Let's go grab Ai Tuhao first! His donkeys won't even eat sorghum, and the wheat he hid in the caves is all moldy."
These words made Li Zijing tremble again.
He hurriedly turned to look at Li Qingqiu, "Second brother, I don't dare to listen to the child's misbehavior, or he will be beheaded."
Li Guo snorted, "Uncle, I'm two years older than you, who's asking for my baby?"
Li Zijing slapped him in the face, "I want to beg for food! So big and so small."
Li Guo pulled up the tattered quilt and covered his head, muttering: "Please look like me! No eggs! You deserve to starve to death!"
This young man's father died and his mother remarried when he was young. He grew up completely barbarically, and nothing he said was surprising.
Liu Zongmin on the side laughed secretly.
Li Zijing was about to have another attack, so Li Zicheng kicked him and said, "Sleep peacefully. We'll talk to you tomorrow."
Li Guo and Li Zijing both shut up.
Li Zicheng became the head of the family at the age of sixteen. He was both a father and a mother. It was not easy for him to pull two little monkeys together. They couldn't accept it.
It's quiet at night.
Li Zicheng secretly sighed, these days, honest people like Li Zijing can only end up starving to death.
Because Li Zicheng, who would later learn 500 years later, knew that there would still be a severe drought this year, and the first rain in three years would not fall in northern Shaanxi until May next year.
Don't be happy, it won't rain again the year after tomorrow.
How many ordinary people can hold on to their food reserves?
Take a look at "Bei Chen Da Hung Shu" published by Ma Maocai in the first year of Chongzhen——
"In August and September, people competed to collect and eat the grass from the mountains. The grains are like bran bark, and its taste is bitter and astringent. Eating it can only prolong one's life. After October, when the grass is gone, the bark is peeled off.
As for food, the elm tree is the only bad tree. Mixing the bark of other trees for food can also slow down its death. At the end of the year, when the bark of the trees is gone, they will dig up rocks in the mountains and eat them.
The name of the stone is Qingye. It tastes fishy and greasy. If you eat little, you will feel full. Within a few days, you will suffer from abdominal distension and death.
The most pitiable thing is that there is a dung dump in the west of Ansai City. Every morning, two or three babies are abandoned in it. Some of them cry, some of them howl, some of them call their parents, and some of them eat their dung.
The son who was abandoned in the morning has no life left, and there are still those who have been abandoned.
What's even more surprising is that as soon as the children and the lone travelers left the city, there was no trace. Later, I saw people outside the door cooking a certain bone for fuel and cooking a certain meat for food. I realized that everyone in front of me was eaten by them...
Several pits were dug outside the county town, each pit could accommodate hundreds of people, to cover their remains. When the minister came, more than three pits were full, and there were countless people who could not cover them several miles away. This is true in small counties, but in large counties
It can be known; if it is like this in one place, it can be known in other places.
Nowadays, there are only a few people in the city, and the household registration is depressed. It is no longer what it was in the beginning. What's more, when we are close to death, even if we don't cut taxes (taxes), there are also people who don't respond when they call for them. Lawsuits are bound by the strictness of the law, and they can't do it.
Being lax is a reminder. If there are only one or two people in a household, the one or two people will be forced to pay the compensation of one household's money and food; if there are one or two households in a family, the one or two households will be forced to pay the money and food of one Jia.
Waiting and looking up, it is the same for every mile and county. Then you see that the people here have no regrets and have fled, wandering in different places, and they have no place to live. When the permanent property is lost, the wealth is easy to be exhausted, the dream cuts off the road to the hometown, and the soul disappears into the ravine.
How could he be a thief without being polite?
Fleeing here, fleeing there, fleeing here again...
The people were not willing to eat stones and the dead began to gather together and commit robberies. One or two people who had saved a little money were robbed and everything was plundered. Even the officials could not ban the people.
Those who have caught something are still calm and unafraid, and they say, "Death from hunger is the same as death from robbers. Instead of sitting down and dying of hunger, how can you die for robbers and become a satiated ghost?"
This is why thieves spread all over Qin."
Could the parents and officials in each county know about the tragic situation under their rule? Could the imperial court know about the tragic situation in northern Shaanxi? What measures would they take to deal with it?
There is a fart!
…
What most people understand as a food shortage is that there is no food in a county, a prefecture or even a province, so even if you rebel, you will still starve to death.
wrong!
The actual food shortage is when less than one percent of the total population of wealthy households have enough food to feed everyone for two or three years, while the poor can only starve to death.
No matter how dry the weather is, Ai Tuhao can still plant more than a thousand acres of rice, not to mention irrigating the land.
On the other hand, although Li Zicheng's family has ten acres of land, it is all cultivated on the hillside and depends entirely on the weather. In addition, there is no fertilizer, and the output in normal years cannot match the four acres of paddy fields. In disaster years, it is even worse.
No need to compare.
People are more infuriating than others.
The Ai family is rich enough, but compared with the Ming Dynasty clan, he is just a hair on his legs.
King Ji occupied 7.8 million acres of farmland in Changsha and Shanhua alone; King Shu occupied 70% of the land in Chengdu; King Fu granted 2 million acres of land; King Lu granted 4 million acres of land.
There are also King Zhou, King Tang, King Chong, King Qin, King Jin, King Dai, King Su, King Qing, King Rui, King Zhao, King Hui...
The descendants of Lao Zhu's family are prosperous, and there are now at least 150,000 to 60,000 pigs. How much fertile land do they occupy? "It is unprecedented in the ages." 1,560,000 is more conservative, because many piglets born from common people are defaulted to
Expelled. For example: "...all are concubines, and those who have not asked for fame and fortune...are given special gifts and are allowed to enter the Jade Order."
In addition to land, sects and vassals also withheld local salt taxes, mineral taxes, commercial taxes, and land taxes for their own use.
They couldn't do anything else, so they had to rely on the people's wealth and anointing to support them, and they lived in drunkenness and dreams all day long.
Some piglets with middle and lower titles "have borrowed money before receiving their salary and grain, and as soon as they receive it, it all returns to the creditor. The reason is that it is not for food, wine, and travel, but for gambling."
They were simply raised to waste, just left to eat and wait to die.
Not only the later clan bastards, but many of Zhu Yuanzhang's sons were also bastards. According to his policy towards other civil and military officials, most of his sons were worthy of being skinned. But those treasures were all biological sons, so a few words of reprimand would be enough.
Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty had already predicted the Zhu family's character seven hundred years later: "The wine and meat in the Zhu family stinks, and there are frozen bones on the road."
To compare, Uncle Liu Huang in the late Han Dynasty managed to earn his living by weaving mats and selling shoes.
…
Is famine really an unsolvable problem?
King Hui of Liang during the Warring States Period said: A humble man treats his country with all his heart and ears. If there is trouble in the river, move the people to the east of the river and move the millet to the river. The same goes for the trouble in the east of the river...
Even Mencius was not satisfied with this, saying that he "takes fifty steps to laugh at a hundred steps."
"Dogs eat people's food but don't know how to check it. If someone dies of hunger on the way, they don't know what to do. When a person dies, they say: 'It's not me, it's Sui'. How is it different from stabbing someone to kill and saying, 'It's not me, it's a soldier.'"
'..."
So, don't blame it.
Chao Cuo of the Western Han Dynasty said: If the sage king is above and the people are not cold and hungry, they must not be able to plow and eat, or weave and clothe, which is the way to develop their wealth. Therefore, Yao and Yu had nine years of water and soup.
If there is a seven-year drought and the country is destroyed and barren, it is better to have more livestock and prepare the equipment first.
Therefore, famine is a false proposition.
If there is no "sage king on top" and the court does not provide disaster relief, then it will be up to Li Zicheng to solve the problem.
His method is——
Put the knife on the necks of the local tyrants and evil gentry, and then convince them with "reason". This chapter has been completed!