Chapter 1583 1585 [A centipede insect, dead but not stiff]


    "Be calm and don''t be impatient." Seeing this, Xiang Nan held down his hand that was about to move.


    ?It is useless to beat the tax collector. Even if you beat him to death, there will still be people to collect taxes. Even raising the banner of rebellion and overthrowing the entire court was useless.


    Because the essence of the feudal system is that people eat people. The contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class is irreconcilable. If the old landlord class is overthrown, a new landlord class will emerge. , contradictions will always exist.


    After stopping Jun Bao, Xiang Nan quietly stepped forward, dug into the tax collector''s arms, and took out his money bag.


    Then Xiang Nan picked up a piece of broken silver and smiled at the tax collector, "Sir, please calm down. It''s not worth getting so angry so early in the morning. I paid the tax money for him, so don''t treat him like he did." If you get angry, your health will be bad.”


    “Oh, you are sensible.” The tax collector took the broken silver and said with a satisfied smile, “Forget it, let him go.”


    ?The soldiers just let the hawker go.


    “Your Excellency, you are truly obedient to your advice and love your people like a son. I wish you to be promoted step by step and be promoted to three levels in a row.” Xiang Nan said with a smile.


    The tax collector laughed after hearing the flattery and walked away with his soldiers proudly.


    Xiang Nan helped the peddler up and gave him a piece of broken silver, "Take it for treatment."


    “Thank you, thank you.” The hawker thanked him profusely, expressing his gratitude.


    Xiang Nan waved his hand and left with Junbao immediately.


    “Senior brother, you are really good at it.” Jun Bao said with admiration.


    "It''s nothing." Xiang Nan smiled, "Let''s go eat."


    ??The tax collector had enough five taels of silver in his purse, which was enough for the two brothers to eat and drink for a while.


    …


    After having a hearty breakfast, the two brothers continued shopping.


    It took one day to basically finish sightseeing in Luoyang City.


    After shopping, Xiang Nan had a certain understanding of the current society.


    It can be said that these are troubled times.


    After Emperor Zhengde came to the throne, he indulged in pleasure and neglected government affairs. He even did not go to court for four consecutive years.


    He built a shop in the palace imitating the street market, and used eunuchs and palace maids to pretend to be common people and shopkeepers, while he pretended to be a wealthy businessman and had fun here. Most of the goods in the shops were stolen by eunuchs, guards, and maids, and Emperor Zhengde didn''t take it seriously.


    ??He also built a leopard room in Xiyuan, where he played indulgently with prostitutes and male favorites every day, completely ignoring the government affairs, so that his power was deferred to the eunuchs.


    Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Gu Dayong, Ma Yongcheng, etc. were known as the Eight Tigers. They took advantage of the emperor''s favor and ran rampant to control the government, belittled loyal ministers who opposed them, promoted treacherous ministers who clung to them, and made the government more chaotic.


    ? Among them, Liu Jin was the most powerful, so he acted unscrupulously and extorted hundreds of officials. All officials who entered Beijing had to give money, which was called a meeting gift.


    ?Otherwise, dismissal from office would be a frivolous matter, or even worse, being directly arrested and imprisoned, severely tortured, and accused of a lot of crimes, which would implicate relatives. Some officials were even forced to commit suicide because they had no money to pay bribes. For this reason, Liu Jin was once called the established emperor.


    ?It is precisely because of the darkness of the court and the corruption of officials that the people are in dire straits, so there are rebellions everywhere in the world.


    In the early year of Zhengde, Wang Yuwu of Fuzhou uprising; in the second year of Zhengde, Wang Chenger of Raozhou uprising; in the third year of Zhengde, Luo Guangquan of Ruizhou uprising; in the fifth year of Zhengde, Liu Liu and Liu Qi uprising...


    ?In addition, many indigenous rebellions broke out in Tianfu, Yunnan-Guizhou, Guangxi and other places. Therefore, the entire Ming Dynasty can be said to be in turmoil at this time.


    However, Xiang Nan knows clearly that centipede insects are dead but not stiff.


    ?Although the Ming Dynasty was in troubled times, it was not easy to overthrow it.


    On the one hand, Emperor Zhengde’s father, Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youtang, was a rare wise emperor. He is generous and kind, practices frugality, does not approach women, and is diligent in political affairs.


    He was the only emperor in ancient China who did not have concubines and only had one queen. During his reign, he built water conservancy projects, developed agriculture, prospered the economy, stabilized society, and made people prosperous.


    Therefore, during the Hongzhi period, there were almost no large-scale peasant uprisings in the Ming Dynasty. The population increased by more than 10 million, and the amount of taxation also increased significantly, reaching a new peak.


    So even though Emperor Zhengde was more mischievous, with the solid foundation laid by his father, he would not be able to build it completely for a while.


    On the one hand, although Emperor Zhengde was playful, he was not confused about major matters. He appointed Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang, Wang Shouren (Wang Yangming), Jiao Fang, Wang Hao, Yang Tinghe and other famous ministers to assist in the government affairs.


    ??So even though he abandoned the government and did not go to court for many years, with these ministers taking care of official affairs, the government could still manage to maintain it, and the building was not about to collapse.


    In fact, it took more than a hundred years for the Ming Dynasty to fall after six emperors including Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen.


    ?Furthermore, if it hadn’t been for the Little Ice Age, which happens only once in 500 years, the Ming Dynasty might not have been over.


    Hence, Xiang Nan had no intention of raising an army to rebel and overthrow the Ming Dynasty and become emperor himself.


    On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty still had a hundred years to live, and its fortunes were still there, so it was not yet time to perish. On the other hand, raising an army to rebel was not as easy as imagined.


    To raise an army to rebel, you must first have soldiers, and secondly, have food and fodder. In ancient times, only the poor and desperate would choose to rebel. Most of the poor are malnourished and physically weak, making it difficult for them to meet the needs of the war.


    ?In addition, most poor people are illiterate and cannot enforce orders and strictly abide by disciplines. Not to mention forming a queue, walking together, even the left and right may not be clearly distinguishable.


    That’s why those peasant uprisings may seem huge and may involve tens of thousands of people. In fact, the elites who can go to the battlefield are only a few thousand at most. The rest are mostly vassals, and it may be possible to fight with the wind. Once they are at a disadvantage, they will be defeated immediately, so they are called a rabble.


    And food and grass are also a big problem. If you rely on robbing the rich to give to the poor, robbing the landlords’ granaries to maintain operations. Then there will definitely be desperate resistance from the landlord class.


    Most of them are rich, powerful and capable, and can form a group to resist. Li Zicheng in the late Ming Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the late Qing Dynasty were both defeated by landlord regiments.


    Besides, being an emperor doesn’t bring much benefit.


    Even if he became emperor, with a vast empire and three thousand beauties, he would not be able to take anything with him when he left.


    Hence, Xiang Nan does not expect to be an emperor, he just wants to learn more martial arts.


    …


    After walking around, Xiang Nan and Junbao returned to Foxiao Tower in the evening.


    “How is it? Did you find something to do?” Xiao Donggua asked with concern.


    “Not yet.” Xiang Nan waved his hand and said with a smile.


    ?He took a walk around today and was deeply touched.


    First of all, it is difficult to do legitimate business. Local gangsters, government officials and tax collectors often come to exploit us, and we have to pay taxes and protection fees. After a hard day''s work, we don''t even earn enough money to give them.


    Secondly, the current social unemployment rate is extremely high, and there are no redundant jobs at all. Moreover, even if they want to find work, no one dares to use them. Because in ancient times, you needed a sponsor to find a job. They were two strangers with no name, no surname, no roots, no shop would dare to hire them.


    So if you think about it carefully, it would be easier to go astray and rob the rich and give to the poor.


    (End of this chapter)