December 26, 13th year of Chongzhen.

First the shops in Changzhou and Suzhou were closed one after another, most of the commercial production was stopped, and the vigorous boycott and anti-tax movement officially began.

The people of the prefectures and counties were frightened and panicked, and a wave of panic buying was set off, and by the next day when all the shops were closed, the price of rice had doubled to five taels of silver and one stone.

After the strike, some merchants sold grain privately, but the price of the secret sale had risen to ten taels of silver and one stone, and it was still rising.

Under the infection of panic, it is the end of the year, and the prices of various goods such as Buyan tea materials in Changzhou and Suzhou have also soared, and finally there is no market.

Soon, the strike spread to Zhenjiang Mansion, Yangzhou Mansion, Yingtianfu and other southern Zhili prefectures, and panic buying became a trend in various places, only Fengyang Mansion was in a better situation, and the increase was not large.

In just a few days, the market of Nanzhili Zhufu was in a depression, and the people were panicked, not knowing how long the merchant strike would last.

As soon as the strike began, all over Suzhou began to weave in an all-out way, which immediately cut off the livelihood of the number of dry machine workers who gathered in front of the Xuanmiao Temple every day to wait for the weavers to be hired, and similarly, thousands of dyers were suddenly unemployed because of the closure of the dyeing workshops.

On the 28th, there was a huge crowd of demonstrators on the streets of various prefectures, and tens of thousands of scoundrels were organized in an orderly manner, gathering in all cities and streets, shouting anti-tax slogans all the way.

They heard that the parade could earn two cents of silver a day, and all the idle people came, and even the beggars washed their faces and pretended to be workers pouring into the crowd, and they all pretended to be indignant, as if the court had collected tens of thousands of taels of silver from them.

Big-character posters were plastered all over the streets, and local officials who maintained law and order went to maintain order, all of them were beaten and attacked by angry crowds.

The tax collectors were even more unlucky, with large groups of workers and green-skinned scoundrels breaking into their office tax outlets, constantly throwing rubble at them.

On December 29, the day before the New Year, thousands of workers gathered near the Lingmen Gate in the northeast of Suzhou to elect Wu Dayou, an old mechanic supported by merchants, as the leader, and then entered the Xuanmiaoguan Taoist Temple, the seat of the city's silk weaving craftsmen's guild, and held an oath ceremony.

Although Ge Xian, the leader of the workers, was executed as a scapegoat for the merchants, he was revered by the scholar class, and he also wrote the "Tombstone of the Five" to praise their spirit.

Wu Dayou knew that he would definitely be cold if he did this, but he was not afraid at all, and he was ready to die, because the rich businessmen promised to crowdfund 30,000 taels as a pension, so that they could make it hard, and the bigger the trouble, the better.

Not only can future generations have no worries about food and clothing, but also can leave a name in history, Wuda has no regrets and fears.

Immediately after the oath-taking ceremony, Wu Dayou divided the participants into ten teams, each led by the most daring one, with banana fans as the number, and the others followed with sticks in their hands, and began to attack the tax posts in various places.

The eastern part of Suzhou is mostly home to silk weaving workers and machine owners, while the western part of the city is home to many local celebrities and is also home to the local government.

There are about 4,000 officers and soldiers stationed in Suzhou City, as well as 5,000 Tianwu Army, most of which are distributed in the Yamen District of the government in the southwest of the city.

Wu Dayou shouted in front of the tax collection station: "Eliminate harm for the people, kill the tax supervisor!" ”

In the tax yamen of Suzhou, Huang Jianbo, a young eunuch who was ordered to come to collect taxes, became the first victim of the popular uprising, he was not as lucky as Sun Long, the weaving eunuch of the Wanli Dynasty, and was directly beaten to death by the angry crowd.

Wu Dayou took out the silk cloth pinned to his waist and glanced at it, on which was written the name and address of each tax collector who needed to be punished, and immediately led a large group of men to surround the house of the next tax collector and set it on fire.

The tax collector and his family, who had no time to escape, were captured alive and ganged down the street, and were soon beaten to death by an angry crowd.

As the situation worsened, more and more people began to join in the action of punishing the tax commissioners and their minions.

A few businessmen who did not support the strike were taken care of, beaten from the street to the end of the street, and their shops were also smashed.

A tax supervisor is good at disguise, and with his ancestral skills, he finally broke through the siege and came to the prefect's yamen, begging the prefect of Suzhou to send troops to suppress it.

The prefect of Suzhou refused, and said righteously: "The army is used to resist foreign invaders, not to suppress good people!" ”

The young tax collector was furious and said, "They killed the officials of the court, are they still good people?" This is treason! ”

The prefect didn't take this eunuch in his eyes at all, and said with a smile: "This official has also heard of the rebellion of the rogue, and the one who attacks the county government is called a rebellion, and these people did not attack the yamen, how can it be said to be a rebellion?" ”

The tax supervisor felt a chill in his heart, he completely understood that these local officials had long colluded with the gentry and merchants, and now it was useless to say anything himself, so he decided to go to Xicheng to ask the Tianwu army for help.

At this moment, the head catcher of the prefect's yamen hurriedly came to report: "Oh no, my lord, there are thousands of workers outside who have surrounded the prefect's yamen, and they are asking your lord to hand over the hidden tax supervisor!" ”

The tax supervisor looked at the prefect with disdain, and secretly said that now the rebels have surrounded the yamen, which is a rebellion, and it is a rebellion, so see if you have any excuse not to send troops.

The prefect's face turned pale, and after thinking for a moment, he said to the tax supervisor: "There are more and more people who are in rebellion, and it is difficult for many weapons to be committed. ”

As if he had seen a ghost, the tax inspector exclaimed, "What do you mean? ”

The prefect of Suzhou waved his hand and said to the head catcher: "Zhou Zhutou, take this father-in-law to the yamen and punish him with twenty sticks to appease the anger of the people." ”

The tax supervisor's face turned pale, and he pointed at him and said angrily: "Our family is the one who is named by the Holy Lord today to serve the crown prince from outside the inner palace prison, and it is also the Suzhou tax supervisor personally appointed by His Royal Highness the prince, you dare to beat me?" ”

The prefect smiled, glanced at the head catcher that week, and then turned around and went to the back hall.

The tax supervisor screamed and was dragged out by Zhou Zhutou, and before he could use the rod outside the yamen, he was beaten to death by Wu Dayou and his clubs.

After the tax supervision incident, the prefect of Suzhou suddenly "fell ill" and stayed in the prefect's yamen and no longer appeared.

The merchants' strike had already reached the fourth day, and on the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, there was also a commotion because the people everywhere could not buy grain, oil, and salt for several days.

Although the situation in the city of Nanjing is better, but it is also outrageously high, ordinary people simply can't afford to buy New Year's goods for the New Year, and the people are panicked and look at the Forbidden City, hoping that the crown prince who has just returned from inspection can have a way to deal with it.

Zhu Cihong's new policy greatly reduced the pressure on the people's lives and won the support of many people in Jiangnan, who had great expectations for Zhu Cihong, hoping to quell the turmoil as soon as possible.

(End of chapter)