On December 15, the eighth year of Shenwu, the north was still cold, but the snow water had already bloomed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places. In another half a month it was the Spring Festival, and the entire south of the Yangtze River was in a joyful atmosphere.

Zhu Hongsan was much stronger than his beggar ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang in several southern provinces. After occupying Nanjing, Zhu Hongsan issued an order to reduce the taxes of Susong's two prefectures to a reasonable level, so this year ordinary people in Jiangsu Province had two spare money in their hands.

In Tongli Town, ten miles outside Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, there is a large farmhouse where the Zhang family, the landlord of Wujiang County, lives here. The owner is Zhang Qingfang.

Zhang Qingfang was born into the Zhang family in Nanzhili, but Zhang Qingfang was 17 or 8 generations apart from Zhang Yaofang, a contemporary Zhang family leader, and could only be regarded as a side house of the Zhang family. But this is not simple. The Zhang family was definitely one of the best families in the south in the late Ming Dynasty. Zhang Yaofang's father Zhang Rulin was a Jinshi in the 23rd year of Wanli, and Zhang Yaofang's grandfather Zhu Geng was also the chief minister of the cabinet in the late Wanli period. In addition, the history of the Zhang family was traced back to Zhang Zhao during the Three Kingdoms period, and he had a high official in the Zhang family in the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. This profound family background and support from the officialdom made the Zhang family a big family in the entire Nanzhili.

At the same time, Zhang Yaofang also had an amazing son, Zhang Dai, who was recognized as one of the most awesome writers in the late Ming Dynasty. There was also Zhang Yaofang's younger brother Zhang Lianfang. His two daughters married Zhu Yihai, the King of Lu who was exiled to eastern Zhejiang at that time. However, in the end, the two women fell into the hands of Zhu Hongsan, and one of them gave birth to a child for Zhu Hongsan. At the same time, the Zhang family stood on the front line during the anti-Qing Dynasty, and Zhang Yaofang basically destroyed the family and supported the Zhejiang Eastern Rebel Army. Political correctness and the Zhang family tree were deeply rooted, so after Zhu Hongsan occupied Nanjing, in order to win people's hearts and rewarded him in accordance with his merits, Zhang Yaofang directly gave him the title of assistant minister and served as the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing. His son Zhang Dai was also given a Jinshi by Zhu Hongsan, but Zhang Dai was used to being idle and did not become an official.

With such family background as endorsement, Zhang Qingfang was even more dominant in Wujiang County. Even the newly appointed magistrates in the local area had to visit the Zhang family to avoid some things being unable to advance after taking office. Zhang Qingfang also used the power of the Zhang family to generalize land annexation in Wujiang County. In addition to thousands of acres of paddy fields, there were thousands of mulberry fields, and thousands of acres of Taihu water area also owned by Zhang Qingfang.

Zhang Qingfang had such a family background and was frowning at home at this time because it was very simple. The task force sent by the province to Wujiang. The task of the task force was very simple, which was to figure out how much paddy fields, mulberry fields there were in the local area, and how much tax they had to pay every year.

Zhu Hongsan's new policy has been implemented in Suzhou Prefecture for two years, but it has been very effective. The reason is very simple. Local officials did not cooperate. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the world was in chaos. Because Nanzhili had not suffered much impact, the local gentry still retained considerable power. The local officials here were more or less bribed by the gentry, so they naturally disobeyed the new policy of the court.

In the past, because Zhu Hongsan was all in the north, he had no time to take care of the affairs of Southern Zhili. But now it is different. Zhu Hongsan has unified China, so he naturally has to focus his main attention on the taxation place in Southern China, the two Susong prefectures. In the past two years, the new policy of the two Susong prefectures was slowly implemented, and Zhu Hongsan was very unhappy. In March of the eighth year of Shenwu, he found a reason to imprison the former Suzhou prefect and then sent Pan Zide to be the new Suzhou prefect.

Pan Zide was a Jinshi in Chongzhen for the tenth year and was the classmate of the chief assistant Ma Mingyuan. When he arrived in Suzhou, he naturally made every effort to implement the emperor's new policy. In less than a year, the land survey work in the early stage of the new policy had almost been completed, and only a few remote towns had not been done. In order to leave a good impression in front of the emperor, the prefect Pan planned to complete all the survey work under Suzhou before the New Year. Therefore, in November, he strictly ordered the six counties and one state to rule, and all the work must be completed before the end of the year.

As a big landlord in Wujiang County, Zhang Qingfang had already received a call from a friend in the prefect's office, asking him to make plans early. This time is different from last time. It seems that the prefect is going to be serious, and they dare not shelter Zhang Qingfang.

Zhang Qingfang was also very anxious when she received the news. It was true that he was an outside member of the Zhang family, but he didn't have the courage to go against the imperial power. Today, he received the news that the work team would come to their house to measure tomorrow, so he quickly called his own division to make an idea.

Zhang Qingfang's master was originally a poor scholar, but he had no way out to join Zhang Qingfang. He usually wrote calculations for him and came up with some bad ideas. Today, Master Liang heard the master call him and hurried to the master's study in the front yard.

After hearing the master's family talk about the incident, Master Liang had no idea and twisted his beard and didn't say anything. This made Mr. Zhang Qingfang and Mr. Zhang. He hired this master for ten taels of silver a month. Now, what else do you want to lose your chain at a critical moment?

"Brother Liang, what should I do, you say something!"

Taking money and eliminating disasters, Master Liang had no choice but to say: "Master, the prefect gave a dead order this time. I heard that the Qian family in Changshu obediently accepted the measurement according to the law, so we can't stand it!"

Zhang Qingfang heard Master Liang say this and said angrily: "What is Qian Qianyi? He is just a nouveau riche. How can a guy who relies on his daughter to be compared with our Zhang family!"

After hearing this, Master Liang curled his lips in his heart, saying, "If you scold Qian Qianyi for relying on his daughter to take power, then what will your Zhang family rely on to take power? Qian Qianyi's daughter is a concubine at least. The two children of your Zhang family don't even have formal identities, they are just emperor's playthings. But Master Liang thought so in his heart, and he dared not say it. After all, he wants to eat Zhang Qingfang's food now.

"Owner, half a month ago, news came from Dongshan that Mr. Huang did not cooperate with the work team to measure. The magistrate found out that he had colluded with the Qing Dynasty and sent military rations to the Qing Dynasty. The whole family was arrested by the Jinyiwei. I heard that the male was sent to Luzon to start a mine, and the female family was sold to the Nanjing Jiaofangsi. It was so miserable!"

After hearing what Master Liang said, Zhang Qingfang was trembling all over, and he also heard about this. Not only Dongshan, but several towns under Wujiang County had landlords who more or less resisted the new policy. None of these people were spared. They were all charged with various crimes by the Jinyiwei, and they were all sentenced to prison. The worst one was directly sentenced to a prison sentence.

Nanzhili was different from eastern Zhejiang. This place had no good impression of Zhu Yuanzhang. When the Qing Dynasty first occupied Nanjing, they did not object very much. The Qing Dynasty also reduced their taxes far higher than other places to normal, so the gentry in Nanzhili did not dislike the Qing Dynasty. As for the later resistance of Nanzhili was because the Qing Dynasty wanted to shave his head. In order to preserve his Han family's clothes, fierce resistance broke out in various parts of Nanzhili. However, as the Qing Dynasty transferred Hong Chengchou over, under Hong Chengchou's soft and hard skills, the resistance in various parts of Nanzhili gradually weakened, and the landlords in various places began to have more or less contact with the Qing regime, which was completely different from the eastern part of Zhejiang, which fought from beginning to end.

Therefore, these landlords in Nanzhili all have small braids in the hands of the Jinyiwei, and it is impossible to say that they are not afraid.

But not resisting means that his own interests are lost. Zhang Qingfang knew that measuring land is the first step now, and taxes will be collected according to the measured number. The most recent national land survey was measured when Zhang Juzheng implemented the reform in the ninth year of Wanli. However, it has been more than 80 years since Zhang Qingfang's land has expanded more than ten times over the years, which makes him paying taxes according to the real number really painful!

"Brother Liang, see if there is any way to let me escape this disaster?" Zhang Qingfang really didn't want to get the money, so she had to let Master Liang come up with an idea.

After all, Master Liang took the money and thought for a long time and said, "Master, there is no way, it's just that the Zhang family in Shaoxing needs to come forward!"

Hearing that he had an idea, Zhang Qingfang's eyes lit up and he asked quickly: "Brother Liang, please say, if my elder brother needs to come forward, I will beg him!"

"The boss, as the saying goes, "Don't blame the masses. Tomorrow, the work team will come to measure the land, and we can incite tenants to cause trouble, but it is estimated that the master will be taken down by the work team. At this time, Mr. Zhang from Shaoxing will come forward! At that time, Mr. Zhang will contact the gentry in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and another Suzhou change will make the emperor's new policy come back in vain!"

Zhang Qingfang cursed in his heart when he heard Master Liang say this. What a good idea for your mother. Isn’t this a good idea for me to fill the hole? But Zhang Qingfang thought about it and never had any good ideas to solve the urgent problem, so he had to agree to Master Liang’s idea. Zhang Qingfang wrote to Zhang Lianfang, the second master of the Zhang family who was far away in Shaoxing. Master Liang went to buy tenants and prepare for tomorrow’s work.

The next day, as soon as the gate of Wujiang County opened, the provincial team sent by the province was preparing to leave the city and go to Tongli Town, ten miles outside the city. Now there is only one town left in Wujiang County that has not been cleared yet.

A total of eighteen people came from the provincial work team, which was supervised the grain road, supervised the road, and divided the road. After four yamen, the yamen of the Ministry of Justice sent a fifth-rank senator to be responsible, and there were three Jinyiwei yamen to form the Jiangsu Province Qingzhangtianmu work team. They have been in Suzhou for a full year, and today is the last stop.

The work team led the leadership of the fifth-rank senator Yang Zongjian. He stood at the gate of the city and said to Wang Zhang, the magistrate of Wujiang County who was coming to see him off: "Please go back, Lord Wang, this Tongli Town should be our last stop. In five days, we will return to Nanjing directly after the purse is finished. We will not go back to Wujiang and say goodbye to Lord Wang!"

Wang Zhang was a Jinshi in the third year of Shenwu. He was a talent selected by Zhu Hongsan as the emperor for the first time. He was naturally a student of Ma Mingyuan.
Chapter completed!