As "marine pirates", the Chinese army of course did so under the banner of resisting the imperial court's maritime ban when they invaded the Yangtze River Basin, and openly claimed to be on an equal footing with the imperial court as maritime merchants, completely subverting the ancient tradition of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce". The impact on tradition fermented in Jiangnan and surrounding areas, causing large-scale unrest.
The "slave rebellion" spread explosively after the Chinese army swept across the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Subsequently, the new army rebelled in Zhejiang, a prosperous city in the Ming Dynasty, which also disrupted the social order in northern and eastern Zhejiang, causing the slave rebellion and other unrest to spread to Zhejiang and other places.
In fact, civil unrest caused by the actions of the Chinese Army has already occurred very early. More than ten years ago, Yin Feng led the Chinese company's warships to sweep across the coast of Fujian, causing many "unrest" in counties along the coast of Fujian. "Civil Rebellion", fishermen and tenant farmers took the opportunity to resist taxes and donations. Five or six years ago, after the Chinese army captured Quanzhang and other places in southern Fujian, the so-called "slave rebellion", "tenant rebellion" and "slave rebellion" occurred all over Fujian "The scope of the "tenant rebellion" was not large, after all, there were very few families in Fujian that could afford to raise a large number of slaves, but the "tenant rebellion" spread throughout Fujian, that is, the tenants rebelled against the landlords and demanded reduced rents and interest rates.
After Yin Feng heard about the so-called tenant revolution, he curiously sent someone to find out more and found that the rebellious tenants had become a peasant organization, so he was surprised to recall the "Great Revolution Period" in modern history in another time and space. ”, could it be that there is already an organization like the “Peasant Association” in this era?
He asked Zeng Rui to investigate in person and found that the "tenant rebellion" was entirely caused by the landlords in Fujian. When the landlords in Ninghua, Fujian, collected rent, it was stipulated that twenty liters should be equal to one barrel. In fact, one barrel was calculated according to the Ming Dynasty system of weights and measures. The barrel is 16 liters, and the big barrel goes in and the small barrel comes out. This has been the case for more than a hundred years. Between the entry and exit, the landlord increased the land rent by a quarter, and the farmers were forced to pay winter livestock, beans, etc. The old practice of sending rent to warehouses was implemented. There were many mountains in Fujian but little land. The landlords all showed their talents and wanted to collect as much rent as possible. After the Chinese army captured Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, the soldiers once went to places such as western Fujian and Ninghua, Fujian. Huang Tong, a county citizen, raised a flag to rebel and "connected dozens of townships to form a long pass, and used it to recruit thousands of generals, and each general would form a department. If there was an emergency, it would be passed on to the thousand generals, and the thousand generals would pass it on to the departments, and there would be thousands of people in one day." "Have gathered, all the strong men and women in the village will listen to his instructions." They called themselves "Tian soldiers" and once captured the county seat. They once sent people to actively contact Yin Feng's troops.
Among the "Tian Bing" were a few people who had read a few books, so they issued a lot of half-written notices. Zeng Rui once showed some to Yin Feng.
After reading these announcements, Yin Feng felt a little confused about time and space.
The text in these notices is easy to understand. If described in the political language of a certain era, the general meaning is:
The "field soldiers" spontaneously launched a struggle to reduce rents and interest rates and fight for permanent tenant rights. Peasant leader Huang Tong proposed the abolition of every rent
The so-called "bucket noodles" were used to increase the consumption of grain by one dou, and the exploitative policy of "big barrels in and small barrels out" was abolished. At the same time, farmers demanded a reduction in rent, and the payment of seven or eight dou per stone was stopped. These revolutionary policies were enthusiastically received by the tenants. In response, they want to take back the fruits of their labor, so they will burn all the rent-collecting vats, and determine the upper limit of land rent and rent-collecting weights and measures according to the standards set by the farmers themselves.
Under the influence of tenant farmers' riots in Ninghua and other places, tenant farmers in nearby counties also organized Tian Bing. He Zhiyuan, Shen Shichang, Fan Wenzhen and others in Ruijin County followed the example of Ninghua County and advocated the establishment of Tian Bing. The banners and colors were all written with "Eight". Every village has its share of tenants."
Various popular demands that were suppressed underground by the state machine of the Ming Dynasty were suddenly exposed in front of the window opened by the Chinese Army. However, the Chinese Army was busy expanding overseas, and Yin Feng was not a "revolutionary" and did not want to This era has fundamentally changed the land system. It is impossible to carry out such a revolution in an era before industrialization has begun. Therefore, the Chinese army has not been well connected with these spontaneously rising bottom forces, but it is just that the other party cannot rule in the Ming Dynasty. The district established itself by accepting them, and then shipped them out to sea as immigrants.
After the Jiangnan Campaign began, Yin Feng felt the need to add to the internal obstruction of the Ming Dynasty so that the Ming Dynasty would not always think about targeting "sea pirates". Therefore, he announced that the permanent tenant rights of tenants would be recognized in southern Fujian, Hainan, Jiangnan and other places, and forcibly The rent ratio was stipulated and circuit judges were sent to supervise the rent collection. This touched too many people with immediate interests. However, the spread of tenant revolution in various places made the landlords afraid to move. Otherwise, as long as the Chinese Army Encourage everyone to confiscate their homes and divide their fields, and those mud-legged people who have long been anticipating changes in the weather will immediately pounce on them with hoes and eat them all, including their skin and bones.
Xu Hongji was worried that this would cause chaos in Fujian, but Yin Feng told him: The Chinese Army has announced that it will protect collaborators everywhere. At this time, no matter what, the biggest enemies of Fujian's official and gentry families are the troubled tenant farmers who are ransacking their homes. When choosing between genocide and reducing rents and interest rates while preserving family property, anyone with a clear mind will choose the latter.
Of course, there are many people who are stupid because of their power, but the original backbone of the Chinese army is maritime merchants, landless refugees, fishermen, villagers, etc. Except for the Zeng family and the Han family, they have nothing to do with the local landlords in Fujian. They have no ties and rely on their strength. Without the protection of the Ming Dynasty's state machinery, the homes of some uncooperative Fujian gentry families were confiscated, and many large landowners fell into ruin.
Recently, "slave rebellions" have been happening in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Just when the Chinese army was withdrawing, "slave rebellions" broke out in many places under the anarchy that the Chinese army had withdrawn and the Ming army had not yet taken over. .
Yin Feng had at hand a large number of notices and notices collected by the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Military Intelligence Bureau from Zhenjiang, Jiangyin, Guazhou and other places. Zeng Shan, who was responsible for investigating the local situation, sent a report saying:
"At the beginning of the Jiangnan campaign, the cunning local slaves advocated the theory of Sochi. Because of the Ding Revolution, how could the slave regulations remain as before? In response to the call, everyone went to the main gate and signed a contract. The master held the paper and waited for a while. Later, the house was set on fire, and the owner was bound. Although he was the most friendly and favored, at this time, everyone changed his face to a tiger or a wolf, and the old fists and evil voices were added to each other... There were people who were not used to doing wells and stoves, so they had to do it themselves. Fires were raised, gongs were played in cities, towns, and villages, and crowds were gathered. Thousands of people marched every day making noises. A group of slaves came home, and their masters were in despair. They killed, looted, and burned, and turned their hands on each other. The leader in the city was Yu Boxiang, the slave of the Wang family, responded to the call, claiming that his merits would last forever, and wanted to record his events with a stone... The rebel slaves took advantage of the provocation to demand coupons and burned them in a steady stream. Fireworks covered the sky, and everyone was busy saving their lives."
There were also slaves from Jintan and other places who took the master's family to the Guandi Temple, beat them with sticks, and forced them to hand over the deed of betrayal.
Zeng Shan advocated that the Chinese army send troops to suppress the slave rebellion. The Zeng family originally rebelled because one of their slaves, a son of the family, participated in piracy, which brought disaster to the master's family. The government pursued and confiscated the family, which led to the decline of the Zeng family in Fujian for hundreds of years. Therefore, , everyone in the Zeng family held serious objections to the "slave revolution".
Yin Feng ignored the Zeng family's opinions, but he did not take the initiative to support the slave revolution.
At this time, Yin Feng decided to release the lowly status in his ruling area, including the "slave status" of servants and children born in the family. In fact, this policy of liberating the lowly status has long been implemented in Yinfeng's ruling area: When Yin Feng started his career, the first group of direct descendants were Danhu, the lowest class in the Ming Dynasty. Within the control area of the Chinese Army, Dan people were equal residents like other people of all colors. Even among naval officers, the original Dan people also accounted for a considerable part of the population.
This policy of canceling "low status" was proposed in response to the terms of the latest peace talks of the Ming Dynasty imperial mission. This is a direct interference in the internal affairs of the Jiangnan gentry family. According to Xie Xuecheng, who spoke on behalf of the Jiangnan aristocratic families, this policy The use of the memorial hall is not only an insult to the scholars, it is simply a direct slap in the face of the gentry. The sinister intentions and despicableness of the people who proposed this policy cannot be expressed in human language. .
At the peace talks that resumed three days later, Xie Xuecheng loudly shouted: "The sky does not change and the Tao does not change. The slaves say that the slaves should not rest with the heaven and the earth. It is really foolish of the people. There is heaven and earth, there are monarchs and ministers, fathers and sons, masters and servants." , Heaven and earth do not change, so do kings and ministers, father and son, master and servant. The meaning of master and servant, heaven and earth are both open. If the nose is not located under the eyes, but suddenly located on the forehead, then it is still a human being!"
Although Zeng Yue, Xu Hongji and others on the opposite side could understand what this guy said in a polite way, they were really impatient with this guy's sour remarks on such occasions.
Although Zeng Yue also participated in the imperial examination, he suffered a big change in his family when he was young. He took on the responsibility of reviving the family business very early. Later, he went to sea with Yin Feng, which greatly expanded his horizons. He was quietly around Yin Feng, and he often used it unknowingly. Yin Feng thought about the problem logically. He was very disgusted with the sour scholar in front of him who was ignorant of current affairs. He immediately stood up and said: "Your Excellency said that the heaven and the earth will not change, so the king and ministers, father and son, master and servant will also not change. I would like to ask: Huaiyou Buyi Be a minister, a king, or a slave,"
Xie Xuecheng's face turned red on the spot and he hesitated to speak. He was speechless for a long time.
Most of the people present, whether they were civil servants and military officials from the Ming Dynasty or negotiators from the Chinese army, knew who the "Huaiyou Buyi" was. Zhu Yuanzhang claimed to be the Huaiyou Buyi at that time. When he was young, he worked as a beggar. And he later became the founding monarch of the Ming Dynasty, which directly debunked the argument that "if the heaven and the earth do not change, the king and ministers, father and son, master and servant will also not change".
Xie Xuecheng wanted to argue a few words, but the matter involved the founding king of the Ming Dynasty. As a civil servant with a background in the imperial examination, how could he comment on Zhu Yuanzhang casually? If he accidentally said something wrong, he would become the best handle for political opponents in the court in the future, and he could easily let him get away with it. He could be dismissed from office or lose his head. Therefore, he was speechless.