The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 426 Xiaoyanshan

On the 15th day of the seventh month of the first year of Wuding, southwest of the capital, Xiaoyan Mountain.

The air was thick with fog. Looking around, the charming scenery of the northern mountains was looming in the clouds, as if a huge veil had fallen from the sky.

Amidst the hazy and misty clouds, a woman of about twenty years old came from the mountain stream carrying a bamboo basket with several washed clothes in it.

She was holding a bamboo basket in one hand and holding a dark and thin child in the other. The child was about four or five years old and walked a little unsteadily.

Two people, one big and one small, walked through the blooming lilac flowers in the valley and headed towards the thatched house in the distant foothills.

The mountain breeze blew by, and a wisp of floral fragrance was refreshing. The wind ruffled the woman's hair. She raised her head and looked to the northeast, staring at the direction of the capital for a while. There were still faint traces of tears on her otherworldly face.

"Sister Yang, let's go quickly. I'm hungry."

It was not until the dark and thin child pulled the woman's hand that she came to her senses, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, took out a piece of candy from her coarse cloth skirt, hesitated for a moment, and then handed the candy over.

"Here, Shuanzhu, have some. It's from Qifangzhai in the capital. There used to be a sister named Jin who loved this candy the most."

Before she finished speaking, Shuanzhu took the cake and swallowed it in one gulp without even saying thank you.

The beautiful woman chuckled and pointed at the child's forehead and said, "He's a starving ghost, and he eats just like her daughter..."

Shuanzhu wolfed down his meal and pointed at the thatched cottage at the foot of the mountain, shouting, "Mom is back! Mom is back!"

A wisp of smoke rose in the distance, and Shuanzhu ran towards the thatched hut like a happy little deer, skipping and jumping.

"Don't fall."

She glanced at the vast Yanshan Mountains and quickened her pace, following the child in front of her who was in a hurry to go home.

~~~~~
A bamboo hat was hung in the thatched hut. Shuanzi's mother had prepared food. In addition to farm delicacies such as bamboo shoots and wild vegetables, there was also a dish of meat. A few pieces of meat as thin as cicada wings were placed on a coarse porcelain plate.

The woman swallowed her saliva and just put down the bamboo basket when a plump woman came out from the kitchen at the back. She was wearing a bright red silk skirt, without any rouge or lead powder. Her chest was half open, revealing her pink gauze waist. When she saw her, she quickly called out:
"There's news! Today I went to the Shibalipu market, and several peddlers from Shandong said that the Kaiyuan soldiers in Linqing killed a hundred thousand Ming bandits, chopping off tens of thousands of heads and piling them up in the West Gate Wengcheng. Many people saw with their own eyes that there was a red-haired general over ten feet tall, holding a stick that looked like Sun Wukong's golden hoop, and fighting from Guangji Gate to Weiwu Gate. He single-handedly killed more than three thousand Ming soldiers, and he killed three of the four generals in Jiangbei. They all said that this man was the True Martial God, sent by heaven to help our Great Qi's savior. Queen, Great Qi is saved!"

"More than three thousand people were killed..." she muttered to herself.

"Any news about the Emperor?"

Shuanzi's mother was talking with saliva flying in her eyes. When she heard the girl's question, her bright eyes suddenly became dim, but she soon smiled again and comforted the girl:

"Don't worry, Queen. The plague and drought in Northern Zhili are over. It even rained a few days ago. Next year will definitely be a good year with a bright future ahead. More and more people are going to the market in Shibalipu. If you go out again in a few days, you will definitely be able to find out news about the Emperor. Let's eat first... Shuanzhu, the master hasn't even started eating yet, you!"

Shuanzi's mother raised her chopsticks and hit her son on the head. Shuanzi grabbed a piece of meat with his hand and ran away.

The two women smiled at each other. Shuanzi's mother kept picking up food for her. She turned around and glanced at her son's mischievous and clever appearance, then put down her chopsticks and said,

"Shuanzi's father passed away early. If it weren't for Emperor Wuding taking him in, my mother and I would have starved to death in Shanhaiguan. Even if it costs my life, I will protect you and bring you back to Linqing safely. There are many veterans of the First and Second Armies over there. They all came from the capital. Maybe they know the whereabouts of the emperor. The emperor has always been doing good things. He is a lucky man and will be fine. I even dreamed about it last night..."

She chewed the coarse old rice in the bowl with big mouthfuls. The delicacies from land and sea that she and her husband had tasted in Kaiyuan and the capital in the past had become a distant memory.

"Go to Linqing and keep looking. You will definitely find him."

Yang Qing'er said to herself silently in her heart, without hearing clearly what Shuanzi's mother said next.

This loyal Chamber of Commerce owner, after the explosion that changed the fate of Da Qi two months ago, braved all dangers and brought his son across the bandit-ravaged capital, escorting Yang Qing'er all the way here, spending the most difficult two months in this quiet valley...
After Yang Qing'er finished her meal, she looked up at the endless Yanshan Mountains in front of her. She was in a good mood and felt that even the mountains were brighter.

~~~~~
August 14th.

Linqing Prefecture City.

It was almost the end of August and tomorrow was the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, the city of Linqing, which was more prosperous than the capital, suddenly seemed to be struck by a plague.

The scene of numerous masts on the canal disappeared, and the canal boats that used to sail up and down the Chaoguan Pass to sell salt also suddenly disappeared.

Compared to the river, the scene in the city was even more desolate. The North-South Street, which was piled with grain and goods and bustling with people a few days ago, now had to close down one after another as if under curfew. The shops along the street were tightly shut, and no matter how hard the customers banged on the doors, there was no response.

North of the city, on Zhifa Street, once a bustling brocade of flowers and willows, its 72 harem-stringed buildings were now deserted, with few horses or saddlers in front of their doors. Not to mention the delicate calls of the Yangzhou lean horses soliciting customers, even the idlers who used to flock here in groups of three or five for entertainment had suddenly disappeared. Only the Baoan Hall in the west of the city remained open today, standing out as a stark contrast.

Not only that, the Baoan Hall clerk took out the secret medicines in the bottom of the medicine box early in the morning, such as thousand-year-old Korean ginseng, King Kong powder, Chang Ting Dan...
Dai'an stood at the door of the store and shouted at the pedestrians on the street:

"Come! Come! Come, take a walk and have a look. The goods are genuine and the prices are fair. The Dongfang official is selling at a loss. If you buy ginseng, you will get a free diamond powder. If you buy Ganoderma lucidum, you will get a long-lasting pill. It's very good. Anyone who uses it will know..."

Several pedestrians were attracted by the promotion, grabbed a deer whip and bargained with the waiter...

Suddenly, a burst of rapid bamboo whistles broke the silence on the street.

Teams of Qi soldiers, fully armored and armed with sharp blades, blocked the intersections on both sides of Yanzhi Street and began kicking doors one by one along the street without saying a word. Some pacification soldiers came quickly with battering rams, looking as if they were facing a great enemy. When the pedestrians on the street saw this, they screamed and ran away in all directions.

A kind-looking instructor came out and shouted to the running people:
"According to the Emperor's order, we are investigating the unscrupulous merchants in Linqing. All those who are not involved must get out of the way!"

The instructor said this and retreated behind a tall card player.

Next came a pacification soldier holding a musket and a sword on his waist. He looked like a captain. He went straight to a silk shop next to Bao'an Hall and shouted at the Dongji plaque on the door:

"Check the tax items and open the door!"

After shouting a few times, there was no response from inside the house, so the captain immediately moved away. A group of pacification soldiers rushed up from behind, carrying a battering ram stained with human blood, and started banging on the door without saying a word.

There was a loud bang.

The door was kicked open from the outside and a burst of cursing came from inside the room.

"Fuck you! You Liaodong thieves, how dare you rob us!"

Three servants with ferocious faces rushed out from inside, shouting and charging towards the pacification soldiers on the street, slashing wildly with their Japanese swords.

boom! boom! boom!
Before the three men could even get out of the door, their bodies were riddled with bullets from dense flintlock muskets, and they fell into a pool of blood with a groan.

The captain who made the announcement waved his hand, and immediately two more pacification soldiers came up, brandishing their spears and stabbing the servant lying on the ground several times until the body became motionless.

The people around had never seen such a scene before, and they were so frightened that they cried out in terror. Several customers who had just bought deer penis actually wet their pants, which showed that they did have some kidney deficiency.

The kind-looking instructor smiled and squeezed out from behind the long card player. He bowed slightly to the crowd and explained to the frightened people with a smile:
"Everyone, don't panic. The owner of Dongji Silk colluded with the Ming thieves the day before yesterday and plotted to assassinate Emperor Wuding. He deserves death. The emperor said that as long as we do business honestly, there will be no problem at all."

As he spoke, he walked to the door of the nearby Baoan Hall with a smile and tried to grab the ginseng on the stall. As soon as his hand touched it, it broke into pieces. He glanced at the sign that said "Thousand-year-old Korean ginseng", frowned slightly, and then laughed:
"For example, this great man from the East not only sells genuine goods at fair prices and is honest to everyone, but he is also loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Da Qi needs such merchants."

……

That day, the pacification troops confiscated vast quantities of gold, silver, jewelry, silk, and satin from the shops of the 72 trading companies. Bags of grain were also carried out from the shop cellars. The pacification troops and training officers from each battalion accompanied the soldiers into the shops and cellars. Civil officials and imperial guards supervised the process, recording each piece of confiscated goods and silver.

~~~~
Over eighty merchants who had direct ties with the Ming army were escorted by the pacification soldiers to the Aotouji Wharf. Emperor Wuding was already waiting on the riverbank. The pacification soldiers asked the merchants to kneel, and Zhang Dong stepped forward and said:

"Natural disasters continue, the Great Qi is in ruins, and the people are turning to the bandits, all because of hunger! The people are hungry because they have no food to eat! No land to farm! No money to buy food! You, the eighty-one families of Linqing, have encroached on official land, concealed taxes! You have hoarded goods and sold private salt! You have colluded with officials! You have enriched yourself at the expense of the public! You, in collusion with the merchants of Shanxi, have driven up the price of grain in Northern Zhili to five taels of silver per dan. You all deserve to be killed!"

"The Emperor is merciful and will spare your lives! First, pay off all the commercial and land rents owed to the former Ming Dynasty, starting from the 15th year of the Jiajing reign! 3,000 taels of silver per year, a total of 100,000 taels per family! Pay immediately!"

After Zhang Dong finished speaking, he suddenly drew out a sharp sword, pointed it at the eighty-one merchants kneeling in front of him, and said murderously:

"This is the Imperial Sword bestowed upon the Emperor by the former Ming Dynasty. Back then, our Emperor used it to kill Nurhaci and behead Zu Dashou... If you can't pay the taxes you owe, I'll use this Imperial Sword to chop off your heads!"

When the merchants heard this, someone immediately shouted:

"You use the swords of the previous dynasty to kill people from this dynasty, and use the taxes of the previous dynasty to extort good citizens like us. How can this be justified? We want to see the emperor! We want to see the emperor and reason with him!"

Zhang Dong chuckled, took two steps forward, and kicked the man who was shouting, then raised his sword and slashed, the man's head falling to the ground:

"That's not a reason!"

(End of this chapter)