As time slowly approached September, the sky gradually became colder, and the Ming Dynasty gradually emerged from the shadow of the emperor's death and began a normal operation. In the autumn of the first year of Qiyuan, the Ming Dynasty was protected by God. Huguang, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang were ripe, and the joy of harvest was stirred up in the hearts of every farmer, and the land of China was filled with laughter and hope.

The King of Yan in the north was not in a hurry to ascend the throne after Zhu Yunwen passed away. The severe drought in Hebei forced him to dismiss 150,000 troops and maintain his troops at the level of 200,000. In terms of the balance of power, one end of the advantage obviously leaned towards the court. Moral condemnation and financial pressure made the King of Yan difficult to internal and external affairs. He had no choice but to send special envoys to congratulate the new emperor, and at the same time recognized the establishment of the Ming Dynasty's prime ministerial system.

Although he only retained 200,000 troops, the financial resources of Hebei and Shanxi provinces were still unbearable, and the taxes gradually increased. Nominal taxes in various places had reached five taxes and one tax, but this was just nominal. The numerous exploitation of governments in various places made the actual taxes of farmers exceed half, and it did not decrease in the slightest even in the year of disaster. The Ming Dynasty's tax was 15 taxes and one tax. The huge tax gap caused a serious situation under the rule of the King of Yan. A large number of northerners fled south, although the King of Yan used the most severe measures.

He came to restrict people from fleeing south, but the long unprepared borders and the inaction of soldiers made his strict orders a decoration. However, the Southern Dynasties treated northerners divided land, reduced taxes and relief for one year. These three measures immediately came to an end, causing more and more people to be involved in the tide of fleeing south. The people of Shanxi fled to Shaanxi, Henan, and Hebei fled to Shandong, Henan and even Liaodong. One county after another, and villages became unmanned areas. A huge wave of migration gradually formed on the land of Yanzhao, and reached its climax by October.

Yongping Prefecture is the main place where the Luan River flows through. Before entering the sea, the Luan River is divided into two branches, one is called Hulu River and the other is called Dingliu River. The two rivers enter the sea respectively. There is a small county between these two rivers, called Leting County. This is indeed a small county. The sea ban in the early Ming Dynasty caused most fishermen to be farmers who farm, and many people moved to Shuntian Prefecture and Baoding Prefecture, which made the actual population of Leting County only more than 10,000 people, and most of them lived in relatively fertile areas near the county town.

Although Leting County is a small county, the city walls are tall and strong. This is to prevent the invasion of Japanese pirates. Originally, there was a Thousand Household Office here, but with the quelling of the Japanese pirates, the Thousand Household Office was also revoked. There were only fifty or sixty yamen runners in the county maintaining public order.

The magistrate of Leting County was named Yang. He was a juren. He had been a magistrate here for five years. Because Leting County is very close to Shanhaiguan, it has become a severely affected area for fleeing south. This made Yang worry all day long. A month ago, the Yanwang Mansion issued a tax and grain index for Leting County, 14,000 stones. This was formulated according to the yellow book of the 25th year of Hongwu. There were 3,500 households in Leting County, with an average of four stones per household. Calculated by an average of twenty acres of land, one stone of grain per mu, which is five taxes and one stone.

Five or six years have passed since the twenty-five years of Hongwu. The actual situation below has already changed tremendously, but the tax and grain are hard-pressed. It is appropriate to complete it. If it fails, be careful of the head. This makes County Magistrate Yang uneasy to sleep and eat, and loses a full ten kilograms in one month.

That morning, County Magistrate Yang got a minor illness and was half an hour late to get up, but he insisted on going to the front office of the front office of the county yamen. He simply had some breakfast and came to the front hall of the county yamen. When he passed by Master Qian Gu's door, he was stunned. The door was still locked, which means Master Qian Gu did not come to the county yamen today. Today he was preparing to discuss with Master Wang how to complete the tax and grain! What should I do if the person didn't come?

Magistrate Yang came to the lobby with confusion. According to the previous practice, there should be a yamen runner next to the side door. When he saw him coming, he should shout, "The magistrate will be promoted to the hall!" Then the six-room clerks and yamen runners would come out of the room, lined up on both sides of the lobby, and shouted in a low voice. Then the court opened for trial, but today it was a bit strange that the yamen runner next to the side door was gone, and no one called for him to open the hall.

Magistrate Yang's confusion turned into depression. He couldn't let him shout to go to the hall by himself! He walked into the lobby. The lobby was deserted and it was already past the hour of attendance, but there was no one in the lobby. He couldn't help but snorted heavily and quickly came to the yamen runner's room. Sure enough, he found it. Seven or eight yamen runners were bragging and chatting in the room. When they saw the magistrate suddenly coming in, the yamen runners couldn't help but stand up.

"Why are you the few, and the others?" County Magistrate Yang said dissatisfied.

"After my words, Sun Dianli brought more than a dozen brothers to Guancang. I heard that some refugees were robbing grain."

County Magistrate Yang was shocked. The 4,000 stones of grain in the official warehouse was a little tax that he had collected through hard work. Now he hoped that other counties would not pay enough taxes, and the law would not blame the public. If something happened to this taxes, his mind would really not be able to save it.

"You all come with me!"

He had no intention of going to the court again, and led a few yamen run to Guancang in panic. The Guancang was about a hundred steps away from the county yamen. On another street, it consisted of seven or eight houses, all built with large bluestone left over the city wall. It was very strong, and supplemented by iron gates and large locks. If there was no key, ordinary people would not be able to enter the Guancang at all.

County Magistrate Yang ran to Guancang, a hundred steps away from Guancang, but the situation ahead shocked him and the yamen runners. He saw that outside the gate of Guancang, thousands of people were in great momentum. They were carrying their families and many people held baskets and pockets, surrounding Sun Dianli and more than a dozen yamen runners in the middle.

"Where are so many people in our county?" Yang Magistrate Yang's voice trembled.

"Sir, I advise you to run away!"

Suddenly, the voice of Master Qiangu Wang came from behind. As soon as Magistrate Yang turned around, he saw a bag in his hand. It seemed that he had just come out of the yamen. "Magistrate Wang, what's going on! Where are you going?" Magistrate Yang asked sternly.

Master Wang sighed and said, "Magistrate Yang may not know yet. Since the day before yesterday, nearly 10,000 refugees have fled to Shuntian Prefecture, all of whom went to Shanhaiguan. I heard that the official warehouse of Luan County has been looted by them. They came to us again that morning. If they don't leave, even if they are not beaten to death by the refugees, they will be beheaded by the King of Yan. Magistrate Yang will leave quickly! Most of the yamen runners have left."

County Magistrate Yang couldn't help but take two steps back and murmured: "Go! Where can I go?"

"Go to Liaodong! Most of the people in the county have left. What's the point of an official without a citizen?"

Master Wang sighed and turned around and left. Several other yamen runners looked at each other. At this moment, thousands of refugees suddenly burst out with shouts, and their fists were hit by Sun Dianli and other yamen runners like raindrops. The yamen runners were beaten to run around like headless flies. Several people rushed out of the siege and ran towards this side with no life.

"Sir, the refugees are in chaos, run away quickly!"

Several yamen run away. At this time, hundreds of young refugees found a few heavy woods, nearly a hundred people in groups, and began to hit the wall of the official warehouse. With the sound of a roar, the wall of the granary was pierced through a big hole. Dozens of young and strong men rushed in, and a bag of grain was thrown out from it. Golden wheat grains were scattered all over the ground. The refugees stimulated by the grain began to boil. They held sacks and baskets, and their excited eyes showed their desire for food. The blue veins on many people's foreheads burst out and rushed into the granary regardless of everything.

In a corner a hundred steps away, Magistrate Yang witnessed this crazy scene. He sighed and closed his eyes in pain.

More than an hour later, the refugee left Leting County and headed north. Magistrate Yang slowly came to the Guanjian. He walked directly into the warehouse from the door hole. The Guanjian was empty, and the grain and copper coins had been swept away. There were only some wheat grains left in the cracks of the bricks. He sat on the ground weakly and the tax grain was gone. How could he explain to the King of Yan?

It took him a long time to walk towards the county government. As soon as he arrived in front of the county government, a yamen runner came to report in horror, "Sir, someone is coming to Peking!"

Magistrate Yang was so scared that he asked hurriedly: "Where are they?"

"I just came to report that I have already gone to Luan County. The team of people will come tomorrow. I have to prepare half of the tax grain and they will transport it back to Peking."

"Half of the tax grain!"

"Yes, it's seven thousand stones of grain. They said they would give the adults some time and the remaining half would come to pick it up after the Chinese New Year."

Magistrate Yang seemed to be struck by lightning, his eyes straightened. After a while, he suddenly stomped his feet and roared: "You are forcing me!"

He turned around and rushed towards the house like a gust of wind. He shouted from a distance: "Madam, pack up and bring the children!"

There were already a crowd in front of Shanhaiguan. Tens of thousands of refugees fleeing from all over Hebei gathered in front of Shanhaiguan, waiting for inspection to enter the gate. Hundreds of officials sent from all over Liaodong were busy distributing food and street signs to the refugees. Some of them were chatting, some were lying on the salute and taking a nap, while their children were rushing around in groups, leaving behind waves of innocent laughter.

On the city of Shanhaiguan, the Ming Dynasty Prime Minister Li Wei was inspecting the refugees accompanied by the Liaodong governor Lu Ming and more than a dozen other officials. Li Wei took a boat from Liaodong to the sea yesterday afternoon and arrived at Shanhaiguan. He had just inspected the situation in Liaodong normally, but when he heard that the refugees were coming, he temporarily changed his plan and came to Shanhaiguan for inspection.

"Mr. Prime Minister, the refugee tide has started in July this year. There are more people a month than a month. The number of people this month is the largest. In ten days, 120,000 people have entered the customs. We are under great pressure. Many officials have not returned home for several months, and many are still tired and sick."

Li Weizheng nodded and said, "I know, thank you for your hard work. In fact, it's not just you, but also Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi. Everyone is very hard work. I will compensate everyone appropriately, but no matter how hard or tired you are, you will never allow refugees to rob supplies like Dongchang Prefecture."

"I know that everyone has experience. Although there are many refugees, they will never be in chaos."

Li Weizheng's eyes turned to refugees again. Although he knew that the large loss of people would be a heavy blow to the King of Yan and could accelerate the demise of the King of Yan, he did not want such a situation to occur. The hollowing out of Yan and Jin will weaken the border defense in the north of the desert. Li Weizheng is now worried about the threat from the two major Mongol forces of Tatar and Oirat to the Ming Dynasty. Although the north is relatively calm these days, it does not mean that the border troubles will stop. Once the Mongols invade the south again, the weak defense of Jin, Yan is likely to be their breakthrough.

Of course, the most powerful way to deal with the Mongols is to speed up the development of weapons and use sharp firearms to suppress the Mongol cavalry. Thinking of this, Li Wei was secretly making up his mind to speed up the development of weapons.

At this time, Han Tingyan, the commander of Shanhai Guard, ran over and said, "Grandmaster! Brothers have investigated another Yan official, who seems to be a famous magistrate."

He pointed to the carriageway down the city: "It's their family."

Li Wei was looking in the direction of his fingers, and saw a man in more than 30 in front of the carriage explaining something to the officer who was checking. Behind him was a young woman holding a child, and there were two children in the carriage stretching their necks to look around.

Li Wei suddenly became interested and said, "Let's go! Let's take a look."

The Qianhu officials were interrogating the magistrate of Yandi. Suddenly, a large group of officials surrounded Li Wei and came over. He hurried forward to salute, "As the General, the General."

This is the habit of the Liaodong Army. They always like to call Li Weizheng the general. Li Weizheng smiled and waved his hand. He asked the magistrate with an extremely unnatural expression: "What's your name? Which county's magistrate is it?"

The magistrate's cheek twitched. Of course, he knew very well who was the general of Liaodong. He didn't expect to meet Li Xiangguo, who was powerful in the Ming Dynasty, here. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said tremblingly: "Report to the prime minister, his humble position is Yang Chun, who is the magistrate of Leting County, Yongping Prefecture, and brought his family to Liaodong."

"Escape?" Li Weizheng pointed to other refugees and said with a smile: "There are others who are too high to bear the tax, so they escape from their homeland. What are you?"

Yang Chun sighed and said, "The Yan Prince's Mansion issued a tax of 14,000 s. With the Huangcai of the 25th year of Hongwu, our county has already had more than half of the fugitive population, so it is impossible to do it. Not only that, the 4,000 s. The food accumulated by the end of the year was also snatched away by the refugees. If you don't leave your job, you will have to die. You have to flee to Liaodong with the refugees."

"So that's it!" Li Wei was in Liaodong for a long time. He also knew that several magistrates in Yongping Prefecture were good, with good reputations and could be reused. It happened that the Liaoxi Corridor used the people who fled this time to establish four counties. There were still some officials, so he smiled and said, "I wonder if magistrate Yang wants to serve the people or is willing to continue to serve my Ming Dynasty?"

County Magistrate Yang heard what Li Wei said, and he immediately bowed and said, "I am willing to serve the Ming Dynasty."

Li Weizheng smiled slightly and said, "Okay, I appoint you as the county magistrate of Jinxi County. I will take office first, then file with the Ministry of Personnel, and then publish your property in newspapers in Liaodong and the capital according to the official laws of the Ming Dynasty."

County Magistrate Yang was so excited that his tears flowed down. He went north all the way. The thing he was most afraid of was that the court would pursue his experience as an official Yan. But Li Weizheng not only did not pursue him, but also continued to use him. He knelt down on his knees and said with a sob: "I am willing to serve the prime minister."

In the palace of Yan Palace in Beiping, King Yan Zhu Di was discussing the response to the refugee tide with his advisers Han Lu and Lu Siyuan. The pressure of the refugee tide made King Yan Zhu Di have insomnia for several days. The data reported from various places shocked him. In just half a year, the escaped refugees accounted for 40% of the people under his rule. If they were not controlled, he would really become a lonely person.

There is also the deterioration of the financial situation. By the spring of tomorrow, his army of 200,000 may not be able to support it. The severe situation and the double pressure of internal and external affairs have made the once ambitious prince obviously old, his hair is half white, and his uncontrollable indulgence life have also caused his energy and vitality to decline. He is actually in his early forties, but he looks like a fifty-year-old man.

What Zhu Di most hopes most is that his military advisor can come back. For this reason, he specially sent a special envoy to the capital to negotiate with Li Weizheng, hoping to redeem Daoyan, but his request was flatly rejected by Li Weizheng. No one knows where Master Daoyan was locked up? If he knew, Zhu Di would even save the military advisor at all costs. Now only the military advisor can save his crisis.

"Two gentlemen, you have also seen the situation in front of you. I don't want to explain anything more. I hope you can take practical and effective measures to stop the spread of refugee tide."

Han Lu and Lu Siyuan looked at each other and they thought about this matter carefully, especially Han Lu, who once served as the county magistrate, had a deep understanding of the sufferings of the lower class people and the shortcomings of the administration.

Han Lu pondered for a moment and said first: "Your Highness, my subordinates think that the fundamental reason for the refugee tide is taxes, and the people are overwhelmed. If it weren't for this, ordinary people would not leave their hometowns. As for the tax reductions in the Southern Dynasties, those are not the main reasons."

Zhu Di frowned and said, "I think the five taxes and ones are not actually exploited, so why can't the people bear it?"

Han Lu sighed and said, "Your Highness, the five taxes and one are just the nominal taxes set by Your Highness, but in fact, they have to support the yamen runners. The magistrate wants to support the master and the family. Where does this money come from? Can it be done with the magistrate's meager salary? So the people actually bear five taxes, two or even five taxes and three. In addition, this year's Hebei drought, but the tax collection is still implemented according to the amount last year. How can the people bear it? There is only one way to escape."

Zhu Di lowered his head and said helplessly for a while: "But I am worried that if my tax burden is reduced, my army will not be able to support me."

"Your Highness does not have to reduce taxes. Just use thunder means to carry out the storm of administration and crack down on the burdens outside of the five taxes and one, so that the results will be immediate."

Zhu Di sighed in his heart, if he did that, wouldn’t he force all these officials to the Southern Dynasty and have no officials under his command, how could he control the two provinces of Yan and Jin? Moreover, he also thought that the army would store grain, which would reduce the burden on the people, but this would be next year, but it would not solve the urgent problem.

At this time, Lu Siyuan said, "Your Highness may be most worried about the shortage of food and supplies for the 200,000 army. How can you survive next spring, right?"

Zhu Di was excited, but Lu Siyuan was pragmatic. He said it to the point in one sentence. He asked quickly: "I wonder if Mr. Lu has any good suggestions?"

"Your Highness, my suggestion is to compromise with the court and give up the appointment and removal power of officials from Hebei and Shanxi provinces, and at the same time send the prince to the capital as a qualifying..."

Before Lu Siyuan finished speaking, Zhu Di waved his hands repeatedly and said, "How can this be done? Isn't it actually giving up the power of appointing and dismissing officials? "

"Your Highness, please don't be irritated. I'll listen to the words of me." Lu Siyuan smiled slightly and said, "Our purpose is to exchange for the possibility of trade. This year, the south is very mature and the grain price is cheap. We can buy grain from the south to solve the urgent need. As for the appointment and removal power of local officials, as long as our army actually controls the two provinces, we will not be afraid of them being overwhelmed."

Han Lu next to him sneered: "Mr. Lu is naive. Do you think Li Weizheng will give us food to feed the army?"

"It will definitely!" Lu Siyuan said affirmatively: "With the current strength of the court, it will be no problem to attack Hebei, but why didn't he fight? If I guess well, he was worried that the northern Mongols would take the opportunity to go south, so he also wanted to stabilize the situation in Hebei and Shanxi. As long as we show sincerity, I think Li Weizheng will agree."

Han Lu still firmly opposed it. He stood up and knelt down and said, "Your Highness, the prince is the foundation of the vassal state. How can he send it back to the capital as a magistrate? If you want to send it, please send it to Gao Xi."

Speaking of this, Han Lu glared at Lu Siyuan fiercely. This was obviously a despicable means by Lu Siyuan who wanted to kill someone with a knife and wanted to change Gao Xi as the prince. The King of Yan hesitated. Now that he was in danger, he did not want to change the prince easily. He has now discovered that his subordinates, represented by Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng, were divided into two factions. Zhu Neng supported his eldest son Gao Chi, while Qiu Fu supported his second son Gao Xi. They quarreled day by day. If the prince was changed, it would inevitably cause chaos.

He pondered for a moment and then said decisively: "Don't argue anymore. I have made a decision to give up the power of appointing and dismissing officials, but the prince cannot go, so he let his third son Gao Sui enter the capital to serve as a magistrate."

In November of the first year of Qiyuan, the King of Yan sent his special envoy Han Lu to the capital. At this time, Li Weizheng also returned to the capital from Liaodong. After several rounds of negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement. The King of Yan announced in writing that the world would give up his ambition to become emperor. Secondly, officials from Shanxi and Hebei were appointed and removed by the court. The King of Yan was not allowed to interfere. The tax was consistent with the court, and the tax was implemented. The tax collected could be paid to the King of Yan to raise soldiers. The insufficient part was resolved through trade. At the same time, the third son of the King of Yan, Zhu Gaosui, went to the capital for massacre.
Chapter completed!