However, the people in the southwest have the potatoes and sweet potatoes grown this year, but the people in other prefectures do not have these crops. It is not bad to have four hundred catties of grain grown from one mu of land. Even if the family has a few mu of land, You can pay half of the food tax, and the remaining food is not enough to eat and drink for a year even if you save it. You can only use the little money you earn hard every month to buy food.

However, the food tax has suddenly increased so much, and the shortage of food has naturally caused the price of food in the market to increase several times. The little bit of chewing that finally earned every month is not enough to buy food. The life of the people began to be miserable. There was no money at home, and he ate only one meal a day, so hungry that he felt dizzy.

Even though there is a high-yield food such as potatoes and sweet potatoes in the southwest, other places are still miserable.

After the grain was handed over, some of it was sent to various military camps, and some of it was sent to the imperial court's grain depot as a reserve, and some of it was sent to the capital.

The potatoes and sweet potatoes that were to be handed over in the southwest were finally delivered to the capital one after another after a month.

Because it is a new crop, and the yield per mu is so high, it must be transported to the capital, and arranged by the imperial court, it will be sent to the cities of various states for the common people to plant.

After these sweet potatoes were sent to the capital, the queen mother was also very curious about these new foods, and asked the imperial dining room to make some to eat. The taste was really good, so she gave some to the ministers and relatives of the emperor.

The rest are intended to be sold to the people of other states, so that the people of other states can start to grow these crops slowly.

The news that the yield per mu of these two crops can be as high as 3,000 catties has been known to many people in the prefectural city. The tax has just been adjusted to half, and now there are such crops. If they can be planted, they will pay half of the tax next year. There is still food, and there is still a way to survive.

But what other prefectures did not expect was that the prices of these crop seeds were so high that they were dozens of times more expensive than ordinary grain seeds. Where ordinary people could afford them, only landlords, rich businessmen and dignitaries could buy them. Ordinary people simply cannot afford it.

Moreover, even if half of the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the Southwest were sent to Beijing, the queen mother kept them and rewarded some of them. It is impossible to plant the rest of the land in the rest of the state first, at most it is enough for one or two. The land in a state city is used for planting.

It will take at least three to five years before these two high-yield crops can be planted throughout the Dasheng Dynasty.

And in the past three to five years, the tax has been so heavy, and don't know how ordinary people can survive.

Now ordinary people can't even afford these two high-yield grain seeds, and many people feel a little desperate.

In the past, when the first emperor was reborn, they were happy to live in peace, and the land tax was only 10%. After the new emperor ascended the throne, the land tax was raised twice in a row. The first time it rose to 20%, then to 30%, and now it has directly reached 50%. , but in just over five years, their life has become more and more difficult. Will there be a job in the future?

On the southwest side, the prefect Zhu's face turned livid when he found out that these crops were brought back by Zhou Yan from other countries with a lot of effort and money.

Otherwise, according to the yield per mu and the new crops, the price of seeds will definitely not be low. For the sake of the people, they are willing to sell the seeds of these crops to the people in the southwest at the price of other seeds. Now the people in the southwest are harvesting the first crop , I thought that people in other states could slowly plant them, but who knew that these two high-yield grain seeds were fired at such a price, how could the people afford them?

So when it was winter, some people couldn't bear it, and felt that they couldn't live on. In addition, they didn't buy seeds, and there was a small wave of turmoil. Some people went to rob the Yamen, but they didn't hurt anyone. Some of them were just unarmed ordinary people. Even if they ran to the yamen, they only took hoes and some random sticks from home, and they were quickly subdued by the yamen servants.

The county magistrate didn't know what to do, so he locked everyone in the dungeon first, wrote a note and reported it to the court.

This kind of small-scale riot should have been decided by the imperial court.

The ministers were discussing the matter below, and Emperor Sheng Yuan sat on the dragon chair and dozed off, yawning all the time, looking very sleepy.

Many ministers felt that those common people went to the yamen to make troubles because they couldn't live well at home, so they might as well beat the board and release them. If there is another time, they will be exiled to the border towns to do coolies, which can be regarded as a wake-up call for them.

The new emperor didn't notice what the courtiers said at all, he just wanted to go back and stay with his favorite concubine for a meal, and now he couldn't bear it, he yawned and blinked hard, and he was a little restless .

Emperor Sheng Yuan couldn't sit still, got up and said: "Let's leave the court today."

The ministers were stunned, "But your majesty, what should those violent people do?"

Emperor Sheng Yuan said impatiently: "Since everyone dares to go to the Yamen to make trouble and grab things, it is natural that they all beheaded and beheaded as a warning to others, otherwise they will all attack the capital next time? They want to snatch the throne." After finishing speaking , Emperor Sheng Yuan shook his sleeves and left, and the remaining ministers faced each other.

When the ordinance was delivered to the yamen where the rioting people were, the magistrate of the county had no choice but to follow the ordinance. He also went to the cell and told the people that there were about a hundred of them. After learning about it, they cried bitterly and insulted Emperor Sheng Yuan. Faint.

But before the day of execution, something happened to the yamen. The yamen guarding the cell in the yamen was stunned. In the end, the rioting people were rescued by someone, and even their family members were taken away and disappeared.

After it was reported to the imperial court, Emperor Sheng Yuan didn't take it too seriously, but with a hundred or so people, it is difficult to become a master.

But these people were rescued by Taifu Qi, and Taifu Qi was hesitant to resist the imperial court, he wavered in his heart, until he knew that these people would be directly executed by Emperor Sheng Yuan, he really couldn't bear it.

The Qi family's two-hundred-year-old family, even if they retire and return home, they still have a lot of wealth, and he has many people who can be used for it.

Use these people to save these people, and take away all the family members.

Now that he has come to this point, Taifu Qi knows in his heart that it is impossible to stay out of the matter.

People's lives will become more and more difficult, and sooner or later more people will be unable to hold on and choose to resist.

Taifu Qi has accepted such a group of people, and now he has to make plans for the future. He also sent someone to find His Royal Highness Shu Wang. He still chooses to believe Zhang Mingzhu's words. If there is Shu Wang and the edict, everything will be easy. .

...

On a huge island hundreds of kilometers away.

Now on the island, apart from hundreds of black-armored guards, Chen Yi's water bandit and his family members, the rest are some Liangshan heroes successively recruited by Pei Weixuanlu, or some desperate people, and a few others Thousands of private soldiers.

These private soldiers were recruited by Pei Weixuan and Huo Jiang.

All the money used to buy Liuli was to recruit these private soldiers.

However, Pei Weixuan has never shown his true face in front of these private soldiers, and has always been disguised. At this moment, his face is just that of an ordinary man.

These private soldiers have also been taught by him personally, teaching them some battle formations and martial arts.

The island is also full of life right now, people are everywhere, and the granary is full.

At this moment, Pei Weixuan was training these private soldiers, and asked ten of them to come over and fight with him.

Huo Ye had just returned to the island from the outside, and saw Pei Weixuan was still practicing private soldiers on the playground, so he waited for a while, and waited for His Highness to knock everyone down before he walked over, Pei Weixuan saw him , let the soldiers rest where they were, he came to see Huo Ye, when the two of them walked to the side, Pei Weixuan asked: "How?"

He sent Huo Ye and a dozen other people to the capital to find out the news.

Now because of the sudden increase in taxes, there is a bit of chaos everywhere, so he sent people to the capital to inquire about the news, wanting to know some trends in the capital.

Huo Ye told Pei Weixuan what happened when he came to the capital, and finally told Pei Weixuan about Qi Taifu's daughter, and finally said: "Because of Mrs. Qi's matter, Qi Taifu is very disappointed with the court. Retired and returned home, and his old man rescued a wave of people who went to the yamen to make trouble in the yamen a few days ago, and now he is also looking for you, it seems that he is also dissatisfied with the Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan, Your Highness, do you want to go see Taifu Qi?"

Pei Weixuan said secretly: "Do you know where Taifu Qi is at the moment? I'll go see his old man."

He knows the character of Lord Tai Tuo, and Tai Tuo has always been upright. In the past, when the eldest brother was alive, Tai Tuo never favored any prince, stood for any prince, and treated all princes equally. He only talked with his father. There is no two minds in government affairs. No matter which prince can finally establish a crown prince, he will do his best to assist him.

Moreover, Taifu has many students, and these students are all over the officialdom in the capital and other prefectures. If there is Taifu Qi, it can indeed help a lot.

Huo Ye said: "Understood, do you want to go in person, Your Highness?"

Pei Weixuan nodded, "I'll go there myself."

But before going to see Taifu Qi, Pei Weixuan went back to Xu Ji.

He hurried back, and when he returned to Xu Ji's mansion, it was already night, and Yuniang had already rested, and it was already winter, and the weather was cold, but there were a few maids in the mansion guarding him, knowing that he When he came back, he helped to boil hot water and carried the water to clean the room. He didn't let the little maids wait on him. The little maids also knew his habits and didn't like others to get close to him. After carrying the water in, he withdrew.

After Pei Weixuan washed, he stood in front of Yuniang's door for a while, but finally did not go in. Although Yuniang was willing to be with him, the two were not really married. Without Yuniang's consent, they broke into Yuniang's house in the middle of the night In the room, he was afraid of offending her, so he stood in front of Yuniang's door for a while, and then he went back to the room.

Xu Qinyu didn't know that her fourth brother came back last night until she woke up the next morning.

She first called the little maid to bring in water, and the little maid brought hot water into the room, and said to her with a smile, "My lady, my uncle came back last night."

Xu Qinyu was pleasantly surprised: "Fourth brother is back?"

The little maid nodded, and she quickly washed her face and rinsed her mouth, and went out to see the fourth brother practicing swords in the courtyard. Seeing the fourth brother, Xu Qinyu trotted into the courtyard with the corner of her skirt, and asked with a smile: "Fourth brother Brother, you came back last night? Why didn't you wake me up?"

Pei Weixuan said softly, "I'm afraid it will disturb Yuniang's rest."

Xu Qinyu originally thought that the fourth brother's return would not disturb her, and she also missed her, but she was a little embarrassed to speak up, so she could only change the subject, "Fourth brother, it's already winter, is there any work this year? "

Seeing her full of expectation, Pei Weixuan couldn't bear to say it.

Xu Qinyu knew that the fourth brother must still be alive, so she couldn't help asking: "Then how long can the fourth brother stay at home? The fourth brother hasn't come back for several months, and there are a lot of fresh food in the restaurant. You can try it."

Pei Weixuan went over to hug Yuniang, leaned over and lightly touched her forehead and said: "I can only stay at home for one day, and I will leave tomorrow."

Since the fourth brother can only stay at home for one day, Xu Qinyu will not go to the restaurant to work today, and intends to accompany the fourth brother for a day, and have a simple meal during the morning meal, but they are all newly released morning meals, made of potatoes and sweet potatoes. of.

Now Xu Ji's Chaoshi has an extra multi-grain pancake, with potato shreds inside, and many people eat it.

Xu Qinyu also asked the fourth brother to taste it, and when it was time for dinner, he would naturally eat hot pot.

These things were brought back by the fourth brother's caravan across the ocean, and now want to give the fourth brother a taste of authentic hot pot.

There are red pots on both sides, but a tomato pot and a spicy pot.

After Pei Weixuan ate, he also said to Yuniang: "The bottom of the tomato pot is sweet and sour, and the bottom of the spicy pot is spicy and delicious. They are both delicious. Yu Niang is good at cooking."

The former Yuniang was also a cook, but don't know what the former Yuniang looked like?

Even though Pei Weixuan was curious about the real Yu Niang, he never planned to ask, just pretended not to know, as long as Yu Niang could stay by his side for the rest of his life.

After eating evening food with Yuniang, Pei Weixuan left. He rushed to the place two days later and met Taifu Qi.

No one knew what they talked about, but they chatted for a whole day, and the next day, Pei Weixuan took Qi Taifu's family and those people back with Pei Weixuan, but Qi Taifu did not go with Pei Weixuan After entering the island, he stayed in a small village outside the island, which was dozens of miles away from the island, helping Pei Weixuan with other matters.

Qi Zhiqing did not go back to her hometown with her parents, but followed her husband to a small town to practice.

When this incident happened, Qi Zhiqing's husband did not stay in the Imperial Academy, but asked the emperor to go to other small county towns for experience, and the emperor agreed. When Qi Taifu left, he also took his wife to leave the capital. He didn't plan to take his wife back to the capital again, even if his official career ended here.

This winter, there are still many disturbances, large and small, in many places.

It is too cold, there is not enough food, there is no hope in sight, and the people have no hope. Naturally, someone will lead them to rebel, ask the court for food, and smash the county government.

Some of them gathered a lot of strength, and some were suppressed as soon as they raised the hoe of resistance, and there was a bit of chaos everywhere.

In the imperial court, when the ministers learned about this incident, they all knew what caused it. If the common people did not have enough to eat, they would naturally be prone to chaos. Going back, 50% of the tax is too difficult for ordinary people, and the food production is too small. Even if they want to collect 50% of the tax, they should wait until the two new crops are planted on a large scale. If you can barely eat enough, you will have to increase taxes at that time.

But how could the Empress Dowager and Emperor Sheng Yuan be willing to wait for these few years, the treasury is empty, there is no money in the treasury, and they are the only ones suffering. The fields belong to them. If it is just to pay more taxes, they will rebel. Naturally, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Sheng Yuan are unwilling to send officers and soldiers to suppress the common people, and let the officers and soldiers directly kill the troubled common people. Many common people They all died under the suppression of the officers and soldiers, and they became more and more chaotic...

In fact, most of these small uprising teams are tenants.

The tenants not only have to rent to the landlord, but also have to pay this tax. The remaining grain is not enough to drink a thin meal a day.

This kind of forced suppression, on the contrary, made some teams grow stronger. A group of people even occupied a county seat. The leaders inside should have some skills. Let the officers and soldiers attack directly with fire, but there are still many innocent people inside. The Empress Dowager Fu knew that if she used too harsh methods, she might cause even greater dissatisfaction among the people.

In this way, the end of the year came, and spring began again, and the town had not yet been captured.

Chaos broke out in other places, and for a while, Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan also regretted that they should not have adjusted the tax so heavily, but before they could regret something, a big incident happened in the Southwest, and the Southwest was smuggled by thousands of people. The soldiers captured it, and even the barracks guarding the border town of Raozhou City were captured. Raozhou City was completely fallen, and it was never known what was going on inside.

I only know that those private soldiers call themselves the Black Armor Ar, but don't know anything else about it.

The Empress Dowager and Emperor Sheng Yuan were not only panicked, but also a little confused. They really didn't know how the military camp with tens of thousands of soldiers was captured by thousands of private soldiers.

It seems that those Heijia Lords are completely different from other small uprisings. They are very formal, understand the art of war and many formations, and the leader's way of leading troops is even better than many generals in the Dasheng Dynasty's barracks.

The capture of Raozhou City meant that the Dasheng Dynasty lost a city, but this city was only the beginning.

And Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan didn't even know who was behind the Heijia Army.

Empress Dowager Fu even wanted to send soldiers guarding other border cities to the southwest to attack the Heijia Army.

However, it was blocked by the ministers. If the troops of other border cities were moved, the surrounding countries would take advantage of it to enter, which would also be worth the loss.

Empress Dowager Fu was so angry that she threw the cup in the palace and asked the ministers, "Then what do you think we should do? Is it possible to wait for Lao Shizi's Heijia army to annex the cities, and finally attack the capital and enter the palace, Let the world change its dynasties?"

But don't know that this is also a prophecy.

Queen Fu's anger is useless, and she can only start to mobilize other troops to attack these Heijia troops.

Except for a few border cities that have the most troops, other prefectures do not have many troops. Now they can only be mobilized from other prefectures. Unexpectedly, when the troops of other prefectures have just been mobilized, these black armored troops are like cunning foxes. , After going around, the prefects of the two cities were caught off guard.

In just two months, at the end of the spring, the southwest lost two state cities one after another, and almost the entire southwest would fall into the hands of the Heijia Army.

Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan didn't even know who the leaders of these Black Armored Forces were. They only knew that the leader was a tall, ordinary-looking man with extremely strong martial arts skills, and almost no one could approach him.

...

Xu Qinyu met the fourth brother since the beginning of the winter, and the fourth brother did not return until the end of the year.

But in the first month of the new year, the fourth brother came back, but he left in a hurry after only half a day. The fourth brother came back and said that the world has started to become chaotic, and there are still a few more trips to work, and he may not have time to go home for a year and a half. He came back to see his family specially today to reassure them that he would be more careful when he was out.

Knowing that the fourth brother came back, Xu Qinyu must still have a look at her. She also knew that the world was a little messy.

Xu Qinyu has also heard about some people's uprisings in other places. In fact, Xu Ji's business has also been affected, not only Xu Ji, but also some other shops in Raozhou City.

Because everyone knows that the world may be in chaos, naturally it is not as willing to spend money as before, and they are all worried about what the world will do in the future, so it is better to save more money.

Xu Ji's business had dropped by half, but Xu Qinyu didn't really care about business, she just hoped that Mo Yao would really come in troubled times.

When the first month ended, and after the fourth brother left for half a month, a big thing happened on the southwest side.

That day, Xu Ji had just eaten the evening meal, the guests all went back to the garden to rest, and the guys in the restaurant also went back to their rooms to rest, when suddenly there was a deafening roar in the distance, and the fire was soaring into the sky, next to the barracks. Xu Ji and the nearby villages all heard the deafening sound, and they saw the fire from the window.

Everyone was frightened by the sound and the fire, woke up, put on their clothes, opened the door and went out to see, only to see that something had happened at the military camp, and countless roars came from there.

Xu Qinyu was about to go to sleep, but when she heard the sound, her expression changed, she went out quickly, went to a lookout pavilion at the back, and saw the fire blazing from the barracks.

Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know what was going on at the barracks, but this movement in the barracks was definitely not a trivial matter. Could it be that a neighboring country attacked it? No, if it is a neighboring country, it will not be this position, but the other side, so what happened in the military camp?

Wen Shi and the others were also awakened by shock.

Except for Wen and Ning Jie'er who came to look for her, Zhu stayed in the room with the two children and did not let the children come out.

When Wen Shi and Ning Jie'er saw the flames soaring into the sky in the distance, they were also quite frightened, and their faces turned pale.

Ning Jie'er murmured, "What happened over there in the military camp?"

It was Wen Shi who made a decisive decision: "There must be something wrong in the barracks, and Xu Ji is outside the city. If there is an accident, Xu Ji is too close to avoid it, so I should call everyone and go into the city. ."

Xu Qinyu shook his head, "No, Raozhou City is currently under curfew, and the city gates are not opened, so it is impossible to return to the city. Now everyone can only cheer up and go to the mountains to hide first. If someone attacks, Hiding in the mountains is also convenient for escaping to other places. This mountain is connected to the mountain. It is impossible to find us for a while. I will let Lianhua and Huo Ye secretly go to the military camp to find out what happened. ."