My life skills in Daming Liver

Last year, Yi Sunchen led the refugees in Liangshan Bo to open up wasteland, and Kinoshita Tokichiro led people to hunt in the mountains. Finally, he was able to feed nearly a thousand refugees in Liangshan.

However, as Liangshan's reputation became more and more famous, the refugees who could not survive in the counties near Liangshan ran to Liangshan. Now there are 3,000 refugees in the mountain, and this mountain can no longer support so many people. .

Li Sunchen also sent people down the mountain to inquire why so many refugees emerged in Shandong. After inquiring, he realized that it was the mining supervisors and eunuchs sent by Longqing who were responsible.

After Zhang Juzheng came to power, he immediately abolished mine supervisors in various places, but the impact of these mine supervisors was irreversible.

Due to the exploitation of these Jiao eunuchs, a large number of homesteaders went bankrupt, which intensified the land annexation in Shandong.

The problems caused by mergers are not simply a matter of wealth concentration, but will trigger a series of problems.

The bankruptcy of the yeoman farmers forced them to sell their land.

Those who can escape the exploitation of mine supervisors must be the local large households, and these large households take advantage of the situation to purchase land.

These large households often have ways to evade taxes, making it increasingly difficult for the government to collect taxes from these large households.

Although the imperial court did not give Li Chengliang financial rights, the taxes from Shandong were transferred locally to the new army in the three towns, and it was also the earliest food that could be eaten, so Li Chengliang attached great importance to it.

After he took office in Shandong, he issued a death order to all the yamen. This year's talent tax must not be less than a penny, otherwise he would directly dismiss these officials.

If large households cannot harvest grain, they will have no choice but to squeeze small and medium-sized landowners and farmers, which will further lead to more farmers going bankrupt.

Another negative consequence of land annexation is the shrinkage of food production and labor force.

Homesteaders still take care of their own crops. Although they have land, if they don't cultivate it intensively, they will go bankrupt due to a natural disaster or man-made disaster, so their land yield per mu is relatively high.

As for the big landowners, they are the rentier class lying on the land, and it is impossible for them to cultivate the land themselves.

Large landowners would lease their land to tenant farmers for cultivation, and extract land rents that were far higher than the government tax rate.

As for ordinary tenants, if they cultivate one or two acres of land as intensively as the owner-cultivators, they will never be able to survive after paying the government's land tax and the landowner's land rent.

In order to survive, these sharecroppers could only cultivate more land. For example, one person had to cultivate ten acres of land to make a living.

In the long run, a balance was maintained between landowners and tenant farmers.

If the rent was too high and the tenants starved to death, the tenants would flee.

If the land rent is too low and the landowner is dissatisfied, the landowner will increase the rent.

Although this balance is fragile, it maintains basic order.

Eunuch Jiao's excessive taxation and the large number of refugees caused by the strong walls and clearing of the country completely broke this balance.

In order to survive, the newly entered refugees will be willing to accept a higher proportion of land rent, rent more land, and "engage" the old tenants who have struggled with the landlords to reach a state of equilibrium.

The result of this is that those tenants who are involved in contracted land are unable to cultivate intensively, their grain output has further declined, and they have to work hard to make ends meet.

It seems that large households have increased their land rent, but in fact their grain production efficiency has declined, and in fact they have received less grain.

The government cannot collect taxes, and there are a lot of security problems caused by the refugees, so it needs to consume more food internally to maintain stability.

These tenants, who had been squeezed out of their leased land by the refugees, and the increasing number of refugees had no choice but to go to the mountains and start rebellions in order to survive.

But at this time, the big business owners were cheering for the influx of cheap labor and celebrating the increased land rent, but they did not expect that disaster was just around the corner.

Land annexation is like a downward spiral. Once it starts, it can no longer be braked. It rushes toward the bottom of the abyss, leading everyone into the abyss together.

When a new order is established, this process will be repeated, becoming a periodic curse that hangs over all dynasties.

Yi Sun-shin felt very heavy because he saw the problems in North Korea from the land annexation in Shandong. Nowadays, the land in North Korea continues to gather among the big families, which is exactly the same as what happened in Shandong during the Ming Dynasty.

Even the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, and there was still a buffer space. North Korea was originally a small country with few people, and there was not much land suitable for farming. Now these lands are concentrated in the hands of big landowners.

The chaotic struggle in the North Korean court is actually not just a struggle for power, but a small country with little land, and it is really impossible to support so many rentiers.

Even Yi Sun-shin, whose ancestors had been officials, has fallen to the point where he can only afford to study with financial support. This shows how serious North Korea's annexation is.

Thanks to the fierce fighting among North Korea's top leaders over the years, the dead landlords were able to cough up some of their profits, thus maintaining North Korea's current half-death situation.

But now Yi Sunchen has no time to think about the problems of his motherland. Thousands of people in Liangshan are about to starve to death.

When did things get out of hand?

Obviously, his original plan was to recruit some refugees and cultivate some food in the mountains as rations for the journey north. As long as he went to Dagu, he could take a boat back to the southeast.

How come the Liangshan bandits have grown into a bandit gang of 3,000 people, and a recruit from the southeast has suddenly turned into a leader worrying about the food and drink of 3,000 people?

"The boss!"

Kinoshita Tokichiro burst in in a hurry. This guy, who has recently been the second in charge, is addicted. He yells all day long that he wants to rush down the mountain to snatch his mother, which gives Yi Sunsin a very headache.

Liangshan is not far from Jeju City where Li Chengliang has stationed troops. If recruits from Li Chengliang's three towns are attracted, how will the three thousand refugees in this mountainous area deal with it?

During this period of time, he finally managed to survive the winter by continuously blackmailing the officials around Liangshan. However, seeing more and more refugees coming to the mountains in the spring, Yi Sun-shin could not ignore these refugees.

Kinoshita Tokichiro walked up to Yi Sun-shin and said, "Master, let's just go down the mountain and snatch his mother's property!"

Yi Sunchen rubbed his temples. He had already reached Liangshan. Going down the mountain to rob was indeed the best way.

But as a group of Liangshan heroes, the best weapons they have are fifteen muskets, and the rest are the supplies sent by Huncheng County from the last attack on Liangshan.

In addition to Yi Sunchen, Kinoshita Tokichiro, and the thirteen ordinary soldiers in their company, the only person who can lead the troops on Liangshan is Ruan Yong, the leader of the Huncheng County government officials who was forced to go to Liangshan and become a bandit.

Yi Sun-shin stood up. Now the food on Liangshan Mountain has been eaten up. If we don't go down the mountain to rob now, it will be even more difficult to rob when everyone is too hungry to eat.

After making his decision, Yi Sun-shin said:

"Call the brothers to have a meeting in the Juyi Hall!"

When everyone gathered in Juyi Hall, Yi Sun-shin said to everyone:

"The Ming Dynasty is innocent, so more and more brothers are going up the mountain. Now if we want to go down the mountain, we still need to raise a banner."

Kinoshita Tokichiro, whose pseudonym was Mu Xia, immediately said:

"Master, isn't this banner ready-made? In front of the Juyi Hall, we owe a banner of 'do justice for heaven'!"

Everyone nodded. "Water Margin" is widely circulated, and this slogan is indeed catchy.

Yi Sunchen nodded and said: "Then let's raise the banner of Dao for Heaven. I still need to make three chapters when we get down from the mountain!"

"Only rob corrupt officials and evil gentry, not innocent people!"

"Do not disturb the people and harm the people, do not harm nature or harm justice."

"Don't betray our brothers, we Liangshan heroes will live and die together!"

Everyone stood up one after another and swore an oath with Yi Sun-shin. Then someone brought drinks, and everyone in the Juyi Hall made a blood alliance.

Kinoshita Tokichiro brought a piece of white cloth, and Yi Sun-shin personally wrote the four words "Practice the Way for Heaven."

Kinoshita Tokichiro took this flag and climbed up the bamboo pole erected in front of the Juyi Hall like a flying monkey. He hung the flag on the top of the bamboo pole, and all the heroes shouted.

Li Sunchen also knew that the military spirit was easy to use, so he led everyone to fight out from Liangshan. The first target was naturally Huncheng County.

The person responsible for leading the way is Ruan Yong, the former Huncheng County Yamen leader who has been forced to become a Liangshan hero.

The last time Huncheng County attacked Liangshan, Ruan Yong fought bravely and won the support of the government officials, so he was detained on Liangshan by Li Sunchen's design.

Unexpectedly, when Ruan Yong was in Huncheng County, he offended many people in the county because of his upright behavior, especially Lieutenant Youxian, who was captured with him. He had not dealt with Ruan Yong before, and Lieutenant Youxian was put down in Liangshan. After that, Ruan Yong was falsely accused of collaborating with the enemy, and he secretly defected to Liangshan long ago.

Ruan Yong's wife was beautiful, and she had been coveted by Lieutenant You for a long time. After returning to Huncheng County, Lieutenant You directly arrested Ruan Yong's wife and put her in prison.

Ruan Yong's wife committed suicide in prison for the sake of her chastity. County Lieutenant You led people to raid Ruan Yong's home and imprisoned all Ruan Yong's relatives and friends in the county government.

Ruan Yong cried a lot after receiving the news, and then asked to see Yi Sunchen and asked to join Liangshan.

Among the leaders of Liangshan, Ruan Yong was the only one who actively requested to go down the mountain and attack the county.

This time Li Sunchen asked Ruan Yong to be the vanguard and gave all the weapons captured last time to Ruan Yong.

Ruan Yong was familiar with the layout of Huncheng County. He sneaked into the county disguised as a businessman, touched the city gate at night, and then opened the city gate.

The Liangshan heroes who were ambushing outside the city immediately rushed into Huncheng County. Yi Sunchen led everyone to attack the arsenal of Huncheng County.

Ruan Yong led his men to rush to You Xianwei's house and kicked open the You family's magnificent mansion.

Lieutenant Youxian had just married his new concubine, and he was woken up just after falling asleep. Then he saw Ruan Yong with blood on his face.

Just as he was about to beg for mercy, Ruan Yong stabbed him in the chest.

Ruan Yong killed his enemy and before he could mourn his deceased wife, he led his men to kill the county government. By daybreak, Huncheng County had fallen into the hands of Liangshan heroes.

Yi Sunchen went to court, and Ruan Yong testified against the corrupt officials and evil gentry in Huncheng County. Yi Sunchen quickly conducted a trial and hung all these people on the wall of Huncheng County.

Yi Sun-shin opened the treasure houses of these corrupt officials and evil gentry, distributed part of the grain and treasures to the tenants, and used the rest as military rations.

After Yi Sunchen finished doing this, he did not stop in Huncheng County, but continued to attack nearby Dong'a County.

The situation in Dong'a County is similar to that in Huncheng County. Li Shunchen did not expect that the situation in Shandong would reach such a point. He just used the banner of "doing justice for heaven" and encountered almost no decent enemies when he attacked Dong'a County. He resisted and quickly took control of Dong'a County.

However, after taking control of two counties, the Liangshan heroes still encountered stubborn resistance from the landlords' regiment training armed forces.

Because of the front line, there were a lot of weapons on the territory of Shandong. These landowners were also afraid of the new southeastern army coming and recruited the physically strong people among the refugees. Some large households even had "housekeepers" who specialized in off-the-job training.

These big landowners living outside the city would help each other and form associations to protect each other. After Yi Sun-shin raised the banner of justice for heaven, these landowners who were rich and unkind became even more frightened and immediately mobilized to form a group to regain the county.

Although Yi Sunchen and other Liangshan heroes were able to grab weapons, these refugees were not well trained after all, and Li Chengliang's three-town new army was stationed in Jeju City not far from Liangshan. Yi Sunchen was also afraid of attracting regular troops from the Ming court to suppress them.

After grabbing enough food, Yi Sunchen simply gave up on the two counties and led his troops to Liangshan again.

When Li Chengliang in Jeju City received the news, the county towns of Huncheng County and Dong'a County had been recaptured by local regiments, but the county towns were looted, and the properties of these corrupt officials and gentry in the city were robbed.

Two county towns were forced, two county offices were massacred, and the prefectures and counties near Liangshan were also greatly frightened. They wrote to the court one after another, requesting that regular troops be sent to suppress the Liangshan bandits.

As the New Army Minister in charge of military and political affairs in Shandong, Li Chengliang looked down upon this group of Liangshan bandits who occupied the mountains and became kings. However, he also understood the situation in Shandong. If the Liangshan bandits were really used to raise their banners, the whole of Shandong would be in trouble. A group of thieves have joined together and there is no peace.

Li Chengliang called his adopted son Li Rushe.

After Li Chengliang took control of the new army of the Ming Dynasty, he immediately promoted his adopted sons.

Li Ruzhen was also promoted to the leader of the Fifth Association of the First Town. He commanded the Jurchen Association of a thousand people. As the name suggests, these were all Jurchen troops.

"There is a group of bandits on Liangshan Mountain. You lead the Fifth Association to destroy them and bring the head of the bandit leader to Jeju City."

"As you command!"

Li Ruzhen had just been promoted to president, and it was time to think about making meritorious deeds.

He would definitely not dare to fight against the New Army in the Southeast, but wiping out a group of bandits who dominate the mountains is not something that can be easily captured.

Li Ruzhen understood that Li Chengliang was promoting him, and cherished this opportunity. He issued a military order to Li Chengliang and said:

"Commander, my subordinates will break through Liangshan within ten days, and I will bring the head of the bandit leader to report to you!"