Chapter 1085: A Wise Sovereign, a Blue Sky, and Welcoming the Roving King

Baoji County, Heshangyuan.

Heshangyuan had no monks, nor was it a plain, but a loess terrace. It was a large stretch of level ground partway up a hillside. Because there was no reliable water source and the soil was not fertile, only drought- and barren-tolerant crops like millet and sweet potatoes could be grown there. It was a barren place. If Sima Yu and these Shun soldiers had come to Heshangyuan seventeen or eighteen years earlier, they would not have needed to disguise themselves as Ming troops at all. They could have openly raised the Roving King's banner and been assured of hearing a chorus of songs welcoming the Roving King.

In those days, the people of Heshangyuan were truly poor! Not only were the people poor, there were also many of them! The three great clans of Zhu, Wang, and Li, nearly two thousand people in all, were crammed onto the little terrace of Heshangyuan. The great majority had no land of their own, and still had to pay a portion of grain to the masters of the three great clans. After paying that grain, they had to pay another portion of official grain to the official masters in Baoji County seat. Besides the clan grain and official grain, most of the farmers of Heshangyuan also carried seal-money debts that they could never repay in a lifetime; the interest alone was enough to crush a person to death.

Heavy rents, heavy interest, and on top of that the extortion and blackmail of officials and all manner of added levies and surcharges drove the farmers of Heshangyuan to the end of their rope. So everyone longed for the Roving King, thought of the Roving King. Later the Roving King really did come, remitting grain and taxes, and no longer requiring rent or interest payments, letting everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

But it was only a single breath.

Because Heshangyuan was barren and populous, a few mu of thin fields were never enough to feed them. Fortunately, the great Qinling Mountains could keep people alive. They gathered mountain goods and game, and under the organization of the three clan masters went into the mountains to cut timber. They could always get something to sell to the merchants in Baoji County seat in exchange for grain, allowing everyone to scrape by.

Though it was bitter, though there was no hope, though sometimes people starved to death, most people could still survive.

But those grinding days came to an end forever with the arrival of the Roving King, Li Zicheng.

Ever since the Roving King entered the pass, no one wanted Qinling mountain goods or timber anymore. The great masters in Xi'an city were all dragged off and tortured for silver, and the newly installed masters had no great demand for a luxurious life. Mutton soup with roujiamo was satisfaction enough; they had no need of mountain furs, medicinal herbs, or fine timber.

After another stretch of time, because Li Zicheng suffered successive defeats at Shanhai Pass and in Shanxi, the three-year tax remission fell through as well, and Baoji County again sent officials to Heshangyuan to requisition grain and conscript soldiers! And they came fully armed. In the past, when the Chongzhen Emperor sent people to demand money and grain, everyone could still stall and refuse to pay. Now that Li Zicheng's people had come, let anyone try refusing!

Even being slow to pay would not do — it meant beheading!

Later still, endless back-and-forth fighting broke out in Guanzhong!

The Shun, the Qing, the Xi, and also a Wu Sangui — all manner of forces took the stage in rapid succession. Whoever came had to conscript soldiers and requisition grain, and after requisitioning they still killed and burned! Especially that old Long Live of the Xi, Zhang Xianzhong — when it came to killing people he was like a demon king. Sometimes there was no reason at all; he killed whenever he felt like it.

And that Wu Sangui was just as much a scoundrel. The Liao and Gan soldiers under him were not much good at fighting, and were mauled terribly by Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons, but when it came to looting they showed not the slightest restraint!

What was even more hateful was that he distributed the land and population below to the Chiliarch stations under his command, letting those Chiliarch stations suck the very marrow from the bones!

And the most hateful thing of all was that these Chiliarch stations under Wu Sangui also seized people to send to the Western Regions to fight and open up wasteland! Refusing to go was not permitted — refusing to go meant beheading. Was there any justice left in the world?

In the end, the people of Shaanxi all came to miss the Ming court. So the court had been good after all!

The court was still relatively reasonable. Even the corrupt officials under the court were better than Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Wu Sangui, and probably better than the eastern barbarians too — the Qing never truly occupied all of Guanzhong, but they fought a back-and-forth war with Li Zicheng there for a time, and they too seized people without restraint and killed without blinking!

Under the repeated torment of these murderous demon kings, the population of Shaanxi plummeted — dead, or fled, in any case no longer in Shaanxi! Heshangyuan, which had originally had two thousand people, was later left with only four or five hundred.

No one knew whether Heaven had opened its eyes, but just when Shaanxi was "about to run out of people," the Ming court really did return! It even sent Zhang Juzheng's great-grandson, Zhang Tongchang, the Jiangling Earl Who Overcomes Hardship, to be Governor of Shaanxi and concurrently Prefect of Xi'an.

That was Zhang the Blue Sky!

He truly was a good official who took no bribes, accepted no graft, and devoted himself wholly to serving the people.

Besides having a Blue Sky, the Ming had actually produced a wise sovereign as well! The reign name Hongxing sounded mighty intimidating the moment one heard it!

It was this Hongxing Emperor who sent the great Blue Sky Zhang to Shaanxi. First came three years of tax exemption, then strict rectification of official conduct, and then a survey of land — all land marked in the fish-scale registers as official fields and military fields was to be reclaimed for the public without exception. Tenant farmers did not have to pay clan grain, and were exempt from rent for three years!

All fields not in the fish-scale registers could be counted as private fields, but they could belong only to the cultivator, with a land contract issued retroactively, and were tax-exempt for three years.

For all land marked in the fish-scale registers as private fields, the landowner had to produce the land contract and at least one tax-payment certificate from before the sixteenth year of Chongzhen; otherwise the land went to the cultivator, also tax-exempt for three years, of course!

In addition, after the three-year tax exemption expired, the poll tax would be merged into the land tax, and officials and gentry would pay grain on the same basis as commoners!

Look, how wise this sovereign was!

If only there had been such a sovereign earlier, how could the Ming have come to this!

Under the leadership of the wise sovereign and the Blue Sky, the common people of Heshangyuan in Baoji County finally began to live good lives!

First of all, there was enough grain to eat!

Heshangyuan was barren, but feeding four or five hundred people was no problem!

Secondly, mountain goods had buyers again.

This court placed more importance on commerce, and Qinling mountain goods were relatively easy to export to Huguang.

Finally, under the leadership of the local Big Beard Wang, the common people of Heshangyuan took up the business of smuggling salt to the Shun state on the other side of the Qinling Mountains!

Of course, Big Beard Wang was not considered a salt smuggler on the Ming side, because he obtained his goods through the Shuofang Garrison Salt Office — the Shuofang Salt Office controlled the Huamachi salt mines and also held the monopoly rights for salt in Shaanxi. It was a tax-contracted salt chief similar to the four salt chiefs of Huai salt, required to pay a contracted tax to the court every year. According to the Chongzhen Salt Law established by the Great Ming, a province's tax-contracted salt chiefs usually numbered only two to four. Moreover, they were not permitted to sell salt outside their province unless they also held a salt chief license in another province. But selling salt south of the Qinling Mountains was not going outside the province (it was not outside the province), it was going abroad!

Moreover, the Ming and the Shun had no diplomatic relations, let alone a Trade Agreement. So selling salt to the Shun side did not violate Ming law.

However, the officials on the Shun side did not like these salt-smuggling villains, and the Liuba garrison troops had more than a few armed clashes with them.

And in order to fight the Liuba garrison troops, Big Household Wang kept a hundred or so desperadoes under him, and spent a great deal of money to buy flintlock pistols from Hankou. He had also purchased the post of village head of Heshangyuan. Because Heshangyuan was right up against the Qinling Mountains and vulnerable to attacks by Shun troops coming down from the mountains, he had also paid out of his own pocket to build a fort for the village. If Shun troops came down under a great banner bearing the character "Roving," with the village fort and a hundred or so men equipped with matchlocks, flintlock pistols, and bows, holding out for ten days to half a month would be no problem at all — the Qinling Mountains could be crossed by men, but absolutely not by cannon.

So after war broke out between the Ming and the Shun, Big Household Wang remained thoroughly confident. He had even pounded his chest and given his absolute guarantee at the Baoji County yamen that he would never let the roving bandits steal Heshangyuan away.

But that guarantee had clearly been given too early. He had never dreamed that the roving bandits would disguise themselves as government troops, and disguise themselves so convincingly that they talked open the gates of the Heshangyuan fort in an instant.

Big Household Wang was caught completely off guard. Not only did he fail to hold the fort, but his entire family, old and young, was taken captive. Only one son escaped.

A man like him naturally came to no good end in the hands of the Shun army. He had been locked up for two or three days, and today a big chieftain of the roving bandits had come over from the Hanzhong area, intending to behead him as a sacrifice to the banner to boost the army's morale.

Big Household Wang, bound hand and foot and gagged, had already been led out to the open ground outside the Heshangyuan fort. The villagers of Heshangyuan were standing along both sides of the road leading to the Qinling Mountains, singing the song welcoming the Roving King in mournful voices.

"Morning we beg for a pint, evening we beg for a peck; of late we poor wretches can hardly survive. Open your gates early and bow to the Roving King, and he will see that great and small all rejoice."

(End of Chapter)