Chapter 13 11 Sell Heroes

There are many such heroes in Chinese history. When they could instigate and intensify the situation, when they could coerce and use the people, they voluntarily gave up their last ray of hope and stood up as the sacrifices made by the people to the ruler. 【Strive for fair taxation】 In the second month of the lunar calendar in the second year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1852), farmers in Yin County, Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province made troubles due to two land policies, and set fire to the yamen of Ningbo and Yin County.The person who took the lead in opposing the tax and land policy was called Zhou Xiangqian, and the person who led the opposition to the salt monopoly land policy was called Zhang Chaoqing➀.

People in Yin County pay taxes, and they have to use paper of different colors to seal the money and put it into the cabinet.Poor and broken households use white seals, while gentry and large households use red seals.The red seal was exempted from the bad rules of extortion by officials, so all the gray income of the small treasury and the officials' government servants was deducted from the small people.When the ordinary people discussed it, they naturally gritted their teeth and resented it, but after decades, no one dared to take the lead in making trouble. Zhou Xiangqian is a student supervisor, and like today's college students, he belongs to the class of candidate cadres.As a member of the Red Seal class, he even said that the land policy was unreasonable, and he was tempted several times, inviting large households to jointly submit a petition to the county government, asking for a one-time collection of grain prices, but the large households refused to sign.

During the first lunar month of this year, some guests came to Zhou Xiangqian's house to drink New Year's wine, and everyone talked about the red and white seals again.The guests urged Zhou Xiangqian to lead the petition, and everyone expressed their strong support.Inspired, Zhou Xiangqian went to the nearby Earth God Temple to ask the gods to see if the matter could be done.The sign said that this matter is auspicious and it will be successful this year.A century and a half later, I can still understand Zhou Xiangqian's mood at that time: the magic sign said that he could succeed, and everyone sincerely supported him. Somewhat handsome.Zhou Xiangqian immediately issued a notice to all townships in the temple, inviting grain collectors to come to the city to petition at the designated time, asking for a leveling of grain prices.

Please level the price of food is a word that is prone to misunderstanding.The difference between canceling the red and white seals is the price of food; canceling all additional demands, and charging money and food according to the officially stipulated amount is also the price of food.At that time, the county magistrate of Yin County was surnamed Feng. He heard that Zhou Xiangqian was leading a gathering in the temple to discuss food matters, so he immediately sent messengers to arrest Zhou Xiangqian in the county for interrogation.Feng Taiye believes that the flat grain price proposed by Zhou Xiangqian is to reduce the grain price, and once the grain price is reduced, the gray income of himself and the officials will be affected.Zhou Xiangqian argued that what they asked for was a red seal and a white seal. The implication was that Mr. Feng did not have to worry, and the interests of the government would not be affected.Mr. Feng couldn't help but imprison Zhou Xiangqian for the crime of gathering crowds.

In the eyes of authoritarian governments of any era, gathering crowds is a felony. The "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" stipulates that the anti-grain gathers a crowd, or strikes forty or fifty people from the examination or the market, and the leader will be executed.To beheaded is to beheaded immediately.Such as coaxing the hall to block the office, beating the officials violently, and beheading the owl to show the leader.To cut off the owl is to cut off the head and hang it on the pole to show the public.As for the people who participated in the disturbance, according to the criminal law, even if they belonged to the co-workers who were threatened, they would have to stick one hundred➁.

After Zhou Xiangqian was imprisoned, the people who pushed him to lead the trouble felt very sorry, and the villagers also hated it. 【Redesignate market share】 Zhou Xiangqian is from Nanxiang, Yin County, and Dongxiang people from Yin County also had a quarrel two months ago, and the leader Zhang Chaoqing was also imprisoned by Mr. Feng. Dongxiang is close to the sea, and the locals buy private salt when they eat salt.Private salt dealers compete fiercely with official franchised salt merchants.In terms of price, salt merchants cannot compete with private salt dealers.For the same salt, there is no tax burden on private salt, but salt merchants have to buy a distribution license from the government at a high price. In terminology, this is called salt importation.If businessmen want to regain the market, they can only rely on the government and use the law to strangle the private salt dealers.The salt merchants then embarked on a political effort to influence legislation and enforcement.

"Laws of the Qing Dynasty.household law.The Salt Law strictly prohibits the sale and purchase of illegal salt. Those who sell illegal salt will be sent to the army for two thousand miles, and those who buy illegal salt will be given a stick of one hundred.But the legislators also understand that it is almost impossible to control the small people on the seashore, so they make an exception: the poor people along the coast, who carry a small amount of illegal salt on their backs in exchange for grain to maintain their livelihoods, are not included in the punishment➂.Dongxiang in Yinxian County belongs to the territory of this kind of private salt dealers who carry their hands on their shoulders, and it is called the land of shoulder guidance.This situation lasted from the founding of the Qing Dynasty to the reign of Qianlong (1736︱95), and all parties lived in peace for more than a hundred years.

During Qianlong's southern tours several times, the salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River spent their money like flowing water, serving the emperor so that he felt comfortable physically and mentally, and the status of the salt merchants rose rapidly.The salt merchants took the opportunity to expand the market. After a series of activities, the central government approved the request of the salt merchants, and the shoulder-to-shoulder land must also buy salt from the salt merchants.Logically speaking, this new policy conflicts with the higher-level "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", and it seems to be a bit of a central-level local policy.However, this kind of phenomenon is not uncommon. From the Confucian theory of governing the country to the imperial decree to the regulations and ministerial plans of the central government, to the notices of the local government, and finally implemented into the actual implementation of bad rules, or translated into modern languages, from the Constitution to the Supreme Court From instructions to laws to central documents to local policies to the unspoken rules that everyone actually follows, the rules at each level inevitably have some conflicts or corruptions compared with the rules at the previous level.This can easily lead to confusion in the direction of public opinion, and Zhou Xiangqian is suspected of being spoiled by the wrong guidance of Confucian classics.It is easy to add confusion to these words, but we will focus on the efforts of salt merchants to influence policies.

With the central document, it is necessary to implement the spirit of the document.By the early years of Daoguang (around 1823), the local government had been fully bribed, and the wishes of the salt merchants became the decisions of the government.It just so happened that the son of a salt merchant got a professional name, and his house teacher went to Ningbo to become an official. With benefits and affection, the law enforcement became unprecedentedly strict.Many arrests were made and extensive investigations were carried out. As long as it was found that anyone whose salt was not bought from a salt shop, he would be punished as eating illegal salt.This not only increases consumer spending, but also cuts off the livelihood of shoulder vendors.As a result, the conflicts increased day by day, and the shoulder sellers and consumers couldn't bear it anymore. Under the active activities of Zhang Chaoqing, they united and demanded that the government uphold justice and restore the original salt industry.The local government sent officials to investigate, and believed that the merchants had indeed occupied the land of shoulder peddlers, and the unemployment problem was serious. If things went on like this, accidents might happen, and it was best to return to the old way.When the results of the investigation were reported to the province, the leaders disagreed, and laughed at the investigators and said: Do you have the ability to change the central government documents?

When the government refuses to modify the policy, the people try to make trouble.About two months before Zhou Xiangqian was imprisoned, the governor of Zhejiang (the top leader of the province) went to Ningbo to recruit pirates. In order to protect the safety of the leaders, Ningbo Prefecture and Yin County first rectified social order and arrested some fugitives and restless elements.At this time, the merchants urged Mr. Feng of Yin County to arrest Zhang Chaoqing, the vanguard of the shoulder-selling movement, and Mr. Feng sent someone to arrest Zhang Chaoqing. After the governor arrived in Ningbo, Dongxiang people went to the city to petition, begging for the release of Zhang Chaoqing.Zhang Chaoqing has an assistant named Yu Nenggui, who is brave and good at fighting.The two of them also have a military adviser named Li Zhiying, who is also a supervisor like Zhou Xiangqian.Li Zhiying is good at planning and has strategies, and the petition in the city was probably organized by these two.The villagers respectfully burned incense and knelt in front of the yamen, begging for Zhang Chaoqing's protection.According to Duan Guangqing, the next county magistrate of Yin County, Mr. Feng had an illusion at the time, thinking that the top provincial leaders were in town and the villagers would not dare to make trouble, so he let the villagers kneel there and ignored them.But Mrs. Feng overlooked a problem: After the Opium War, the prestige of the government in the eyes of the people dropped drastically, and the people looked down on this bullying, shameless and shameless government from the bottom of their hearts.Since the soft begging was ineffective, the villagers turned to hard work, and everyone rushed into the prison to snatch Zhang Chaoqing out.The governor panicked and fired trumpets to mobilize the regular army. As a result, to everyone's surprise, none of the officers and soldiers showed up.

More than five months later, Zhou Xiangqian talked about the matter with Duan Guangqing, the magistrate of the county, and introduced the psychology of the people: officials are not enough to win the hearts of the people, and soldiers are not enough to fear. On February 20th, the second year of Xianfeng, the villagers of Yin County once again flocked into the city, surrounded Ningbo Mansion and Yin County Office, first snatched Zhou Xiangqian out, and then escorted the always stubborn and violent prefect of Ningbo to the stage of Chenghuang Temple, humiliating him. Intimidation, forcing him to issue a notice of flat food prices.The crowd became agitated, and they simply looted the Ningbo government office and set it on fire.Then they looted and burned the Yamen of Yin County, and destroyed the houses where money and food were collected.When the complacency was high, it was hard for the villagers not to have the feeling that Ah Q had joined the revolution, and majesticly snatched away many city residents. 【Civil and military have their own advantages and disadvantages】 It is already the crime of the leader of the lord to bully the hall and block the office, and to beat the officials violently. Burning down the yamen is simply the opposite.Zhejiang Jietai, who is in charge of the province's public security (that is, according to the procurator, the third in command of the province), immediately took command in person and dispatched troops to suppress it.At the same time, Duan Guangqing, a capable member of the provincial committee, was appointed as the county magistrate of Yin County. The people of Yin County also knew that things were getting serious, and they were panicked and worried about the government's revenge.On the second day after Duan Guangqing took office, in response to this worry, he did not bring any armed personnel, and asked an officer to hold a sign of the Zhengtang Duan in Yin County, and took a book servant to pass the message, and went to the countryside to patrol the countryside to calm people's hearts.He asked a few old people from the book servant to ask questions. Duan Guangqing asked: Do you really want a county to reunite? The old people expressed that they did not dare to rebel.They said that they heard from Zhou Xiangqian that there are two titles of red and white seals for finished grain, which is too uneven, and everyone enters the city just to ask for a flat grain price. Duan Guangqing said, "Even the yamen is burned down, so why don't you dare to rebel?"All the old people panicked and asked him what to do.Duan Guangqing resorted to the strategy of differentiation and disintegration, suggesting that they should clean themselves first.Each of them wrote a report stating that the village did not go to the city to cause trouble, and they were willing to pay the money and food as usual.Written like this, even if officers and soldiers come to arrest Zhou Xiangqian in the future, they will not do your business.As a result, all townships in the southeast, northwest and north submitted submissions one after another. In just five days, Duan Guangqing received more than 380 submissions, drawing a clear line with Zhou Xiangqian in writing. The experience of the people is very rich: officers and soldiers are very cruel in suppressing rebellion, soldiers pass by, burn, kill and loot without leaving any chickens or dogs behind.The government does not hide this point, and sometimes it specifically states in the notice that soldiers will gather in the near future, and jade and stone will not be separated.Therefore, when villagers write a report, they are tantamount to making a choice between their lives and their moral responsibilities, and there is no way to have the best of both worlds. Just as Duan Guangqing's differentiation strategy was beginning to bear fruit, thousands of officers and soldiers led by Zhejiang Jianxian and Yunxian arrived in Ningbo.The constitutional and constitutional officials are all provincial civil servants, while the military has deputy generals and generals, who belong to the second and third rank officials, and there are many fourth-rank prefectural-level cadres and seventh-rank county-level cadres. Local officials do not want the army to enter their territory.Corruption in the Qing soldiers was a scourge like locusts, not to mention that the division strategy had paid off, the people were willing to run out of food, and there was only one Zhou Xiangqian left, and Yin County's captors were enough to deal with it.Therefore, both Yin County and Ningbo Mansion opposed the use of troops.But the military has its own interests.First of all, the military does not consider this to be a real counter-insurgency.A group of ordinary people made troubles, mobs, and the army was frightened when they arrived, so there is no risk in this action.Second, in name this is counterinsurgency.Go around, catch a few people, chop off some heads, and the cadres can ask for credit and reward.This is a shortcut to promotion and wealth.Soldiers who rape and plunder will also gain a lot.Therefore, the military insisted on using troops. For several days in a row, the civil and military officials accompanying the army took soldiers to the countryside every day to pick up people, but Zhou Xiangqian had already fled.The military was not satisfied, so they took the initiative to expand the scope of operations and went to Dongxiang to arrest Zhang Chaoqing.On March 25th, a group of officers and soldiers went to Shishan in Dongxiang to arrest people. They did not find Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui, so they robbed a lot of property and burned two houses.The Dongxiang people resented the injustice, and they beat the gongs to gather a crowd to resist the officers and soldiers. Seeing that the situation was not good, the officers and soldiers fled back to the city. Hearing that Dongxiang people gathered together to resist the government army, Nisi decided to send troops to suppress it.At dawn on the 26th day of the third lunar month in the second year of Xianfeng, the officers and soldiers hurriedly boarded more than a hundred emergency civilian boats and headed for Dongxiang. Most of the boatmen were from Dongxiang.Leading the troops are Deputy General Zhang and General Xue, who are equivalent to the current military-level cadres.Until then, the officers and soldiers didn’t seem to be really prepared to fight. Before boarding the boat, they only complained that the local officials were not attentive enough. On the way to Shishantong, Dongxiang, the officers and soldiers burned down houses along the coast, robbed property, and even took away the clothes and quilts of bedridden women. up. Facing thousands of butchers, the people of Dongxiang had no choice but to go all out.The troop carrier crossed a pontoon bridge and came to a temple.The Dongxiang people who were ambushing here fired bombardments. As soon as the cannons rang, the villagers rushed out, and the officers and soldiers were in chaos.Countless officers and soldiers on board were killed by cannonballs, and those who landed were cut down and overturned. The emergency retreated boats retreated to the pontoon bridge, and were killed by villagers intercepted by the bridge.In this battle, more than 200 officers and soldiers died, more than 20 civil and military officials died, and Yu Nenggui killed more than a dozen officers and soldiers by himself.Vice General Zhang was beaten to death and thrown into the river, while Xue Shen was captured alive by villagers.According to Duan Guangqing, who rushed to the negotiation later, dead bodies were lying around by the river, and the river was flowing red. Several county-level officials he knew were lying naked by the river, and there were half-floating and half-sinking corpses in the river. This time, Nie Si Yunxian, who was waiting for the reward, was dumbfounded.The shops in the city closed one after another, and there were rumors in the city that people from Dongxiang were going into the city to capture Bai Si alive.The next day, all the committee members accompanying the army fled without a trace. The chief said that I will wait here, and things are even more unpredictable. He also slipped away with Yun Xian in the middle of the night, leaving the mess to the magistrate to clean up. 【break the ice】 In my opinion, the magistrate's handling of this matter is very clever, and Zhou Xiangqian's performance is even more admirable. But Duan Guangqing, the county magistrate of Yin County, rushed to Dongxiang to negotiate, exchange prisoners of war, clean up the corpses, and after finishing the most necessary things, he let go of the matter.He said that this is a matter for the provincial leaders, and he can't control it.The goal of the Dongxiang people is nothing more than to restore the salt world, to return the thirteen people who were captured by the officers and soldiers, and to live in peace as in the past.They have no ambition to overthrow the government, but they dare not take it lightly.With the support of the villagers, Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui organized a militia team to stand guard and guard against sneak attacks and retaliation by officers and soldiers.The two sides were in a stalemate for no apparent reason, not knowing how it would end. In a blink of an eye, it was April.Since the first month of the first lunar month, people started to fight to level the food price, and then arrested people and started fighting. People were in panic, and the money and food that should have been collected long ago have not yet been collected.The villagers have long written a letter of guarantee, willing to pay money and food, and settle down as soon as possible.The government dared not collect money and food for fear of provoking the people to make trouble.While hesitating, Duan Guangqing received an anonymous letter. The gist of the anonymous letter is: If money and food are not collected, the turmoil will not be considered over.However, Yinxian County has no price for collecting money and food, and you set the price at the same price. The people will naturally cooperate and rush to pay.If the conversion rate between silver and money is set at 2,600 cash per tael of silver, and the difference between red and white seals is eliminated, the people will feel at ease and the government will be able to spend enough.Such an immediate levy, the hearts of the people will be self-determined, and the people will live and work in peace. Those who followed Zhou Xiangqian into the city to make troubles will definitely not want to be his party members anymore, and Zhou Xiangqian will be isolated.Zhou Xiangqian is isolated, can Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui of Dongxiang continue to be troubled for a long time? Duan Guangqing read the anonymous letter and invited the gentry to discuss it.The gentry said that the views in the letter were fair, but they did not know whether the villagers would accept it or not.Duan Guangqing said, with such a price, I'm afraid the big gentry won't agree. Since you say it's fair, the matter is settled.So money and food were levied.Sure enough, everything went well, and the hearts of the people were determined. In 201 BC, not long after Liu Bang pacified the world, he arrested the great hero Han Xin who fought for him.Tied to the back car, Han Xin sighed: As people say, the cunning rabbit dies, and the good dog cooks;The world has been decided, and I will definitely cook it. ➃Han Xin is a great hero after all, and his words, "I'm sure I'll do it," express a sober and profound understanding of reality.Now Yin County has also reached the juncture of the world has been set, and everyone is going to live a normal life.If there is no danger, the common people might as well maintain their respect for the heroes of the past.If the hero can only incur the government's revenge for the people, he becomes a superfluous disaster. Soon after the collection of money and grain, Zhou Xiangqian surrendered to the government.When people in urban and rural areas heard that Zhou Xiangqian had come to surrender, there was a crowd of spectators and a chorus of voices.Zhou Xiangqian sat calmly on the floor in the lobby, waiting for the government to come and get it.But Ningbo Bi Zhifu was still in shock, hearing the commotion outside, he was too frightened to come out to see Zhou Xiangqian.Duan Guangqing was summoned to the scene, held Zhou Xiangqian's hand in full view, and said, "A real man is responsible for everything. You came here today, and you will not affect your fellow countrymen. You really deserve to be a real man!"As he spoke, he glanced at the onlookers, and said loudly: If Zhou Xiangqian hadn't come today, I'm afraid your fortunes would not be quiet.You should all be grateful to Zhou Xiangqian!As soon as these words were said, the crowds of onlookers suddenly became calm and silent. From the overall point of view, this is the last moment to decide Zhou Xiangqian's fate.Put yourself in the shoes of those villagers who watched Zhou Xiangqian jump into the tiger's mouth, they felt ashamed.They secretly hope that Zhou Xiangqian will surrender, so they will not seriously dissuade him.Now that he really came to surrender, it strengthened the guilt in their hearts.At this moment, if the official's attitude is slightly wrong, even if he moves a finger, someone may be unable to hold back and shout loudly, and the sky will turn upside down again. After entering the back hall, Duan Guangqing discussed a solution with Bi Zhifu, thinking that the case could not be handled here.Punish Zhou Xiangqian according to the law, and the people will not accept it; release Zhou Xiangqian, the case is too serious, and he cannot explain it to his superiors.The best solution is to push the case to the top and ask Zhou Xiangqian to surrender to the top.As soon as Zhou Xiangqian left, the onlookers naturally dispersed, and the matter completely subsided.When we got to the province, we also suggested that the case be postponed.Immediately deal with it strictly, and Shi Shantong's party members will not be easy to disband.The discussion has been decided, and Zhou Xiangqian will be sent to the province to surrender on the same day.When they arrived at the company, they really entertained them with wine and meat all day long, showing their respect for Zhou Xiangqian's personality. After a century and a half, I have seen some similar things in books and in real life, and I know that Zhou Xiangqian still has other choices.Needless to say, defecting to the Liberated Areas, the strategy that is more beneficial to the leader of the trouble is to make the matter bigger, and raise the target with every inch, so that it is difficult for the government to make concessions.For Zhou Xiangqian, the most ideal ending is to intensify the conflict between the government and the people, unite with Dongxiang to rise up, lead a team to join the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, and even start a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement by himself.Of course, it is not easy for the middle peasants to get involved, but there are also poor peasants and activists who make trouble. They can be used to form pickets and severely crack down on all opportunistic tendencies that try to compromise with the government.According to the law, Zhou Xiangqian would die anyway, so why not make him happy?There are many such heroes in Chinese history. When they could instigate and intensify the situation, when they could coerce and use the people, they voluntarily gave up their last ray of hope and stood up as the sacrifices made by the people to the ruler.I have sympathy and respect for them. 【The world has been decided, heroes should be cooked】 If Zhou Xiangqian did not surrender himself, we can also speculate on his ending based on what happened to Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui. When Duan Guangqing went to Shishantong to negotiate, he exchanged views with Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui's schemer Li Zhiying in private.Duan Guangqing asked Li Zhiying if she wanted to rebel in the end, and Li Zhiying said that the people resisted the officials out of helplessness.If the government does not question the crime, the people will not take the initiative to attack.Duan Guangqing also told him that if the matter got serious, the government would not be able to completely ignore the crime, but as long as the leader was caught, it could be perfunctory.Duan Guangqing advised Li Zhiying to think about the future for herself as soon as possible.Li Zhiying didn't pick up. After Zhou Xiangqian turned himself in, Duan Guangqing arranged for a private meeting with Li Zhiying through a doctor, and promised to exonerate him in exchange for his cooperation.The choice Li Zhiying faced at this time was: either cooperate with the government, or rebel.Cooperating with the government, to put it simply, is to be a traitor, and it is the choice with the least personal risk.Without cooperation, long-term delay is definitely not the end. It is impossible for Dongxiang to maintain an army strong enough to resist the government for a long time.That would bring things to the point of rebellion.In fact, such a proposition had already appeared at that time. A Juren from a neighboring county suggested that they first take down Ningbo, then Shaoxing, and then occupy Hangzhou, and at the same time send people to get in touch with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Guangxi.This radically revolutionary plan was clearly in the minds of Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui, and Juren's reputation was much higher than that of Li Zhiying, a superintendent, so this Juren almost became Dongxiang's mastermind.The leaders who are currently attempting to rebel are trying to persuade everyone to join them. The so-called raging words are inciting people's hearts.If Li Zhiying chooses this path, not to mention the great risks, the benefits are also very uncertain.After all, the position of the mastermind has already belonged to Juren. Li Zhiying finally chose to cooperate with the government.He suggested that the salt boundary should be drawn immediately.This is probably the easiest way to betray conscience: betraying the leader of the rebels, but gaining practical benefits for the villagers.Duan Guangqing accepted it immediately, prepared hundreds of stone pillars, engraved the words of the land boundary on his shoulders, and announced it to the whole county at the same time.The boundary pillars were quickly placed in place with great fanfare, and the established situation in the world was formed in Dongxiang again. Li Zhiying understood the meaning of this matter, and after defining it, she was bedridden, as if she had suffered a serious illness.When Yu Nenggui went to visit his doctor, Li Zhiying said in tears: "Since the salt boundary has been established and everyone lives in peace, who will join us in resisting the officers and soldiers?"I also want to surrender like Zhou Xiangqian.Only then did Yu Nenggui understand, and scolded: So we fell for the trick of the two thieves Bi and Duan!The Juren from the neighboring county also knew that the situation was over, so he fled back to his hometown that night. In May, Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui still occupy Shishantong, but their followers are decreasing day by day. In the end, there are only a dozen or so people left, and their defense is lax.The time has come. The government continued to implement the policy of differentiation, and issued an announcement to specifically target Zhang and Yu, and not to implicate the rest.The announcement said that if the villagers can capture two criminals and bring them to justice, each will be rewarded with 800 yuan.Converted to grain prices, this amount of money is about NT$600,000. Thirty or forty farmers may not be able to earn this much money after a year of hard work. One can imagine the temptation. One day in June, while Duan Guangqing was sitting in the hall to question the case, there was a sudden commotion in the street. It was rumored that hundreds of people in Dongxiang swarmed into the city armed with weapons.While inquiring, a Dongxiang villager in wet clothes knelt in front of the hall and said that they had brought Zhang Chaoqing here.He said that Zhang Chaoqing sneaked back to the village from Shishan last night, and hundreds of families in the village discussed together, saying that the county had issued a notice to arrest only Zhang and Yu, not to implicate Dongxiang, and there was a heavy reward.Why don't we in Dongxiang bring Zhang Chaoqing to justice to ensure the peace of Dongxiang?So the whole village united and acted together at dawn.Zhang Chaoqing heard the wind, jumped over the back wall and fled into the river, where the villagers caught him again.Now we villagers come together to bring Zhang Chaoqing to justice. 【Calculation of change of heart】 Before finally closing the case, I want to settle the score from the standpoint of the villagers.They have been hiding behind the scenes, but they are the real protagonists. How have their interests and mentality changed? Assume that this white-sealed peasant is a well-to-do middle peasant with five or six people, fifteen or sixteen acres of land, five or six-room courtyards, and a total property of more than one million NT dollars.Purely from an economic point of view, is he willing to take the lead in making trouble? The amount of diding silver collected in various places in the Qing Dynasty varied.Calculated on the basis of one cent and two cents per mu, about two taels of silver should be paid for 16 mu of land.According to the local policy, the white-sealed Xiaomin exchanged 3,200 Wen for one tael of silver, while the red-sealed gentry was converted to 2,200 Wen for one tael of silver according to the market price.If this riot is successful, the middle peasants can enjoy the same conversion rate as the red seal class, and the middle peasant can pay two thousand coins less every year.Converted to food prices, this figure is roughly equivalent to five hundred and twenty NT dollars➅.But if all the red seals are paid, the government's small treasury will be empty, and the officials and servants will have no extra money.This goal is too high to be counted on.The real possible result is that everyone will share the bad rules. Gentlemen should not pay 2,200 yuan, and ordinary people should not pay 3,200 yuan. Wen Zhe.Calculated in this way, the benefit of making trouble is to pay less than 1,200 Wen per year, which is about NT$285.This is roughly equivalent to the living expenses of a middle peasant family for seven or eight days. The money was enough to make him angry and willing to take part in the trouble, but not enough to make him take the lead.If he is a man in his early forties who has been in Chinese society for many years, he will naturally know how difficult it is for the government to talk.Regardless of whether Xiaomin's petition is justified or not, whether it is fair or not, as long as he is not pleasing to the eye, if he says to arrest you, he will arrest you, if he says to kill you, he will kill you, in the end the government will definitely be justified.To take the lead in provoking the government's anger is not to risk one's life but also to play with fire. How can this risk be compensated by one hundred and eighty dollars?If you take all the 100,000 property, you may not be able to pay it off! After this account is settled, we can understand why unspoken rules have prevailed for decades without resistance.Everyone is willing to hitchhike, at most they can only do their best to pull the side cover, and no one is willing to drive the shaft.The driver must be a person who doesn't care about material interests, who is not afraid or ignorant of risks, and who has charisma.Zhou Xiangqian, who was influenced by the spirit of Confucian idealism, just met these conditions.He is a member of the red-sealed class, but he enthusiastically fights for the justice demanded by the white-sealed class.Such a person is rare even in the environment of reading sage books.Therefore, after he was imprisoned, those middle peasants who were willing to make troubles but did not dare to take the lead in making troubles would inevitably feel indignation and the impulse of conscience in addition to fear and rejoicing.After Zhang Chaoqing was imprisoned, the psychology of Dongxiang people should be similar.As long as it is not too dangerous, of course they want to kick the government, and at the same time do something for Zhou Xiangqian and Zhang Chaoqing. So how risky is it?During that time, the air in Jiangnan was full of commotion.In Duan Guangqing's words, it means that people's minds have changed: everyone feels that the world is about to change, and they all look forward to the arrival of some major social change.Hong Xiuquan established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Guangxi, and then marched to the south of the Yangtze River. The whole journey was overwhelming and unstoppable.In addition, although the Opium War has passed for more than ten years, the incompetence of the officers and soldiers is still ridiculed by the whole society.Originally, it was a very dignified thing for officers to take their caps to the streets and ride on horses, but after the war, they lost their dignity.The common people in Ningbo pointed and joked that they would throw their hats and flee for their lives when they met foreigners, and put on their hats to show off when they saw ordinary people.So the officers stopped wearing hats and scolding when they went to the streets.Due to internal and external troubles and financial constraints, the government was forced to reduce horse food, and officers did not even ride horses in the streets.Both the government's superficial prestige and actual deterrence ability have declined, and the courage of the people to make trouble has been encouraged. In short, as long as they are not leaders, the people have the desire and the courage to rob prisons and burn government offices. After the incident escalated, the pattern of interests changed suddenly, and the identity of the villagers changed into mobs.At this time, the first wish of the villagers is not to be retaliated by the government. For this reason, even the demand for equal grain prices can be given up to fight for income. The first is to keep the capital.After keeping this premise, the goal of leveling food prices can be achieved as much as possible.If the government is powerful, it might as well back down. If the government backs down, it should insist.If the government takes calming the situation as its first goal, not only promises not to retaliate, but also meets the requirements of equalizing food prices, Zhou Xiangqian's kindling will be like falling into wet wood.At this time, paying money and food and abandoning Zhou Xiangqian is the best choice in the interests of the villagers. The most difficult thing to understand is to capture Zhang Chaoqing.But let's put ourselves in our shoes and think about it.Two months have passed since piling in the county to define the boundary, and they are still making trouble there. Isn't this causing trouble for the villagers?In the beginning, it was difficult for everyone to say anything, and they were willing to contribute money to maintain their self-defense regiment.But the government has satisfied the requirements of buying and selling illegal salt, and said that it will not implicate the people, so there is no reason for everyone to continue to support them.Look at Zhou Xiangqian, a hero who does things like a hero. In contrast, Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui have to drop their prices.As for the reward, hundreds of households will share 600,000 to 700,000 yuan equally, and each family is only 1000 to 2000 yuan. It is tempting, but not enough to fool conscience.The point is not money.The key point is that once someone proposes to arrest him, everyone in the village will express their opinion at the meeting. If no one opposes it, even if some individuals are unwilling, they dare not oppose it and dare not take part in the action.And the calculation of stakes tells us that fundamentally, the villagers will not oppose such initiatives.The risk calculation of the other party will also tell us that the proponents must not be willing to go it alone, and must call a meeting of the whole village, so as not to face the revenge of Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui alone in case of failure. Analyzing from the beginning to the end, the people are not necessarily heartless groups, and many of their behaviors can be explained in the characteristics of the social system.The institutions of this society create difficult all-or-nothing choices.From the heart, the people were unwilling to make trouble at first, and later they were unwilling to betray their heroes.However, it is difficult to find a normal way to express the initial desire to equalize food prices, and later the sympathy and respect for Zhou Xiangqian and Zhang Chaoqing.If Zhou Xiangqian or Zhang Chaoqing organized a peasant association, or launched a lawsuit, there must be many people willing to pay membership fees and donate money to hire lawyers, just as they would like to maintain a self-defense group.This is both reasonable and cost-effective, and there is not much risk.In a properly designed society, these human and financial resources should help the people to obtain the fairness promised by the law, and they can also make the leaders famous and rich, and encourage them to continue to take the lead in the future.The problem is that the autocratic system does not allow assembly and association, and does not allow everyone to raise funds to protect their own political interests.As a result, a leading negotiating subject that can overcome the free-rider barrier cannot be formed, and at the same time, the power holders can block the sky with one hand, and the people cannot find other peaceful and legal ways to bargain with the government.The major interests cannot be adjusted in time, and the result has to be reflected in the extremes of the two violent directions. 【Return to Taiping】 Zhang Chaoqing has been brought to justice.Duan Guangqing took out 800 oceans and asked the villagers to divide them. He said there were 800 more, so why didn't he arrest Yu Nenggui?The villagers took the money and said happily: "We will go to Shishan to catch him together. The grandfather will walk slowly behind. As long as he doesn't run away, he will be caught."When everyone rushed to Shishantong, Yu Nenggui had heard the news and ran away.The villagers arrested Yu Nenggui's family members and the relatives who sent the letter to let him escape. These people are hidden dangers of leading or initiating revenge. It should not be difficult to understand the behavior of eliminating hidden dangers.Duan Guangqing later said that he had announced that he would not implicate others, and he knew that sending his family members to the province would make them hard to survive, but since the villagers had sent them, he did not dare to let them go, but he did not give money.So the villagers dispersed. A month later, a villager sent a letter saying that Yu Nenggui was hiding in a nunnery on the mountain by the seaside of Fenghua, and that the villagers in Yin County could not go out of the county to arrest him.The government sent more than a dozen soldiers to rush there, and they captured Yu Nenggui, put him in a wooden cage, and sent him to the province.Soon, according to the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", Zhou Xiangqian, Zhang Chaoqing, and Yu Nenggui were beheaded by the provincial government, and their heads were sent back to the county to be hung for public display. Zhou Xiangqian's wife went crazy and ran around in the fields of Nanxiang all day long.People in Dongxiang felt that Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui were doing it for the sake of the villagers at first, so they begged not to hang their heads so that the villagers would not be sad when they witnessed it.The government accepted the suggestion and asked the land protection to bury the three heads. Zhou Xiangqian's wife went crazy and ran around in the fields of Nanxiang all day long.People in Dongxiang felt that Zhang Chaoqing and Yu Nenggui were doing it for the sake of the villagers at first, so they begged not to hang their heads so that the villagers would not be sad when they witnessed it.The government accepted the suggestion and asked the land protection to bury the three heads. Notes: ➀The whole story comes from Duan Guangqing: "Jinghu Self-written Chronicle", the second year of Xianfeng.Zhonghua Book Company, first edition in 1960. ➁Quoted from "History of Chinese Legal System" edited by Zhang Jinfan, Mass Publishing House, 1995, p.457. ➂ Quoted from (US) Buddy and Morris: "The Laws of the Chinese Empire", Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 1995, p. 229. ➃ "Historical Records.Biography of Marquis of Huaiyin". ➄In the Qing Dynasty, the range of Keyin per mu of land in Zhejiang Province ranged from two-thirds and two cents to one quarter and three cents.Add one scoop of rice to one bucket of nine liters of six scoops and seven scoops.See Yuan Liangyi: "Clearing a Whip", Peking University Press, first edition in 1995, pp. 120.Here I calculate the tax rate of seven cents of silver per mu plus three liters of rice. ➅According to Duan Guangqing's "Jinghu Self-written Chronicle" records in the 29th year of Daoguang, the price of rice in Haiyan, Zhejiang Province in normal years is 34 yuan per liter, and in disaster years, the folk rice price is 50 yuan per liter.