Seeing that Tian Feng was deep in thought, Li Pengfei smiled faintly, and did not pursue the previous question, but calculated an account with him: "In this dynasty, a peasant family of five people consumes about 150 stone of grain every year, plus the cost of salt and clothing, the minimum living expenses for the whole year are about 240 stone. If a family's income does not meet the minimum cost of living they need, they will inevitably fall into a situation of hunger and cold, let alone maintain their crops for the coming year. ”

Tian Feng nodded, although he was born in the scholar clan, he still knew something about these.

Li Pengfei also said: "At present, a large mu of land can produce about 3 stone of millet per year, and a small mu can produce about 2 stone of millet per year, that is to say, a family of five cultivating 100 mu of land can harvest about 200 stone of grain a year. However, in fact, the land occupied by many ordinary families in this dynasty is less than 100 mu, generally only a few dozen mu or even a few mu, and there is only more than 100 stone or less income a year. ”

After a pause, Li Pengfei asked Tian Feng again: "Do you know what the income of the emperor's relatives, princes, nobles, and bureaucrats in this dynasty is in a year?" ”

Tian Feng nodded, after all, he was a servant of the imperial history in Luoyang, the capital division, and he was a subordinate official of the imperial history, with a rank of six hundred stones, so he still had some understanding of the income of officials.

Li Pengfei did not wait for Tian Feng to answer, and said to himself: "The income of the emperor's relatives and nobles mainly comes from the rent and tax of each person's fief. The more fiefdoms, the more populous the population, the more taxes, and some lieges have an annual tax income of more than 10,000,000 stones. As for the income of the princes and kings, it is even more amazing, and hundreds of millions of stones abound. The officials set their rank by grain, the rank of the three princes is ten thousand stones, the nine qingzhong is two thousand stones, the county guard is two thousand stones, the ten thousand county orders are one thousand stones, and the subordinate officials of the nine kings, such as the servant Yushi served by Mr. Yuan Hao before, as well as the local county officials, are all 600 stones, and the county officials and county lieutenants below are 400 stones. Most of the land occupied by the nobles and powerful reached hundreds of hectares, or even more than a thousand hectares, and their income was far higher than that of the officials. ”

And that's just what everyone knows, and what you don't know is even more innumerable. Compared with the highest income of the poor people, the smallest gap between a small county and them is four or five times. Li Pengfei's voice was high-pitched, "Why is this happening?" Land. The land was robbed by the rich and powerful. They have large houses in the city and countless fields in the township. They had thousands of slaves and slaves. After losing their land, most of the common people became dependent on the rich. In addition to paying high rent and servitude, they are also their slaves, and now there is no such statement, the Great Han Kingdom is not allowed to have slaves, but what is the difference between them and the slaves of the Hu people? If the family wants them to die, will they still live? ”

"Since Emperor He of this dynasty, the emperors have ascended the throne at a young age, and their relatives and eunuchs have taken turns to control the government, and the dynasty has become increasingly corrupt. State and county positions sometimes rotate several times a month. After the officials arrived, they gathered and collected, expropriated, and extorted. Since Emperor An, the imperial court has been using troops against the Qiang people for a long time, and the military salary has been as high as 4 million. If it is a disaster year, it will be even more miserable. There was no harvest in the fields, and a large number of ordinary people had no income, so they had to go into exile, resulting in the tragic situation of starvation all over the wilderness, and even the dead in Luoyang, the capital division, were sleeping on the road. ”

"But what about the gentry? They live a life of luxury and luxury, drunken and gold-obsessed without work. ”

"Because the state's finances were depleted, it often cut down on the salaries of the officials and borrowed from the princely taxes to meet the urgent needs of the state. During the period of the first emperor, he also openly sold his official beard and gathered a lot of money. When today's son is even more intensified, there are thousands of colorful girls in his harem, and the daily cost of food and clothing is hundreds of gold, so he desperately loots money and does everything. He announced the price of selling officials, 2,000 stone 20 million, 400 stone 4 million. Even different objects can have different bargains. ”

"Since it is possible to buy officials with money, embezzlement has become a legal act, and as soon as officials take office, they try to loot as much as possible. In order to sell more officials, the imperial court often changed officials, and even a local official changed several people within a month. In order to scrape money, the Son of Heaven also stipulated that when the county paid various tax contributions to Dasi Nong and Shaofu, it must first draw a cent and pay it into the palace, which is called guide money. He also built a golden hall in the West Garden, and sent Sinong gold silk to fill it as his private collection. He also deposited the money in Xiaohuangmen and Zhongchang, each with tens of millions. The imperial capital is like this, let alone other princely ministers? ”

"Rebellion? This is all official coercion and rebellion. In these decades, have there been fewer rebels? During the reign of Emperor An, Zhang Bolu of Qingzhou led the rebels of the exiles, affecting the nine coastal counties. Zhang Ying, a native of Guangling, led more than 10,000 people to rise up when Emperor Shun, and they persisted in Xuzhou and Yangzhou for more than ten years. More than ten years ago, Gongsun Ju of Taishan County gathered the displaced people to rebel and fought in Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou for several years. In the south and northwest, there were also cases of the people of the Great Han Kingdom and the Hu barbarians joining forces to rebel. There was a popular folk ballad: the little people are like leeks, cut and reborn; The head is like a chicken, cutting and singing. The officials don't have to be fearful, and the people don't have to be light! Everyone has no way to live, so they have to rebel. ”

"I don't want to see the common people rebel, and I hate the common people for rebelling, but if they don't rebel, they will die, and if they rebel, they will die, in contrast, it is better to rebel. After the rebellion, you can kill corrupt officials, you can kill the head of the family bully, you can burn down the rich man's house, you can divide the rich man's property, everyone can temporarily eat your stomach, and you can enjoy life before you die. ”

Tian Feng was stunned and asked, "Don't they want to come in the future?" ”

"In the future? Who of these people has a future? I can't live now, who wants to live in the future? There is no future, and there will never be. So they kill, burn, rob, and destroy everything that can be destroyed. Because there is no future, only today. ”

Tian Feng asked puzzledly, "Then ...... The Son of Heaven, the princes and nobles, why don't the ministers change it? ”

"Change? How to change? These are the benefits they get. People are selfish, do they want to deprive themselves of these benefits? It's like your Tian family, I'm afraid that whoever proposes to change it will also be opposed, right? Li Pengfei sneered, "This is the world surnamed Liu, and any word that the Son of Heaven says is the king's law." The common people are untouchables, and they should be killed. ”

Tian Feng looked at Li Pengfei's angry face, dumbfounded, and didn't dare to say a word again. Tian Feng felt that the General Li in front of him seemed to be the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, and he was about to rise up. Subconsciously, he felt that this should not be what a two-thousand-stone official who had just been given the title of general by the Son of Heaven and was also a state pastor should say.

But Tian Feng also knew that what Li Yi said was definitely a heart-wrenching statement. Take their Tian family as an example, if anyone proposes to change the treatment of the scholars in the imperial court, he Tian Feng may support it, but the rest of the Tian family will definitely oppose it.

But Li Yi's words shocked him too much, the so-called deafening should be like this, right?

Tian Feng seemed to suddenly open his eyes in the dark night, and slowly saw everything around him clearly.

He has been a scholar since he can remember, and when he grew up, he received the education of the scholar clan, and he felt that everything now is natural. But I never thought that those riotous yellow turbans were born slaves, untouchables, and should be killed if they were obedient and should be killed?