December 26, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.

There was a turmoil in various prefectures in South Zhili. First, shops in Changzhou Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture were closed one after another, and most of the commercial production stopped. A vigorous strike to resist taxes officially began.

People in various states and counties were frightened and panicked, and started a panic buying trend. By the next day, before all shops were closed, the price of rice had doubled, soaring to five taels of silver per stone.

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

Amid the contagion of panic and at the end of the new year, the prices of various goods in Changzhou and Suzhou, such as cloth, salt and tea materials, also skyrocketed. In the end, there was no market at all.

Soon, the strike spread to Zhenjiang Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture and other prefectures in southern Zhili Province. Panic buying became common everywhere. Only Fengyang Prefecture was in a better situation, with a small increase.

In just a few days, the markets in various prefectures in southern Zhili were in a state of depression, and the people were panicked, not knowing how long the merchants' strike would last.

After the strike began, machine shops across Suzhou Prefecture began a comprehensive strike against weaving. This immediately cut off the livelihood of the countless machine makers who gathered in front of Xuanmiao Temple every day to wait for the weavers to hire. Similarly, thousands of dyers also closed their dyehouses.

And suddenly became unemployed.

Starting from the 28th, huge crowds of demonstrators appeared on the streets of various prefectures. Tens of thousands of gangsters were organized in an orderly manner and gathered in various streets in various cities, chanting anti-tax slogans.

They heard that they could earn two cents a day during the parade, so all the idlers came. Even the beggars washed their faces and pretended to be workers and rushed into the crowd. They all pretended to be filled with righteous indignation, as if the imperial court had accepted them.

A tax of ten thousand taels of silver.

Big-character posters were plastered all over the streets, and local police officers who went to maintain order were beaten and attacked by the angry crowd.

Those officials in charge of taxation were even more unlucky. Large groups of workers and gangsters broke into their office tax offices and attacked them by throwing rubbles.

On December 29, the day before the New Year, thousands of workers gathered near Lingmen in the northeast of Suzhou City to elect Wu Dayouwei, an old machine-maker supported by businessmen, as their leader, and then entered Xuanmiao, the seat of the silk weaving craftsmen's guild in the city.

In Guandaoyuan, a ceremony to swear an oath to the gods was held.

The anti-tax movement in Suzhou during the Wanli period also started here and achieved great results. Although the worker leader Ge Xian was executed as a scapegoat for businessmen, he was highly praised by the scholar-bureaucrats and wrote "Five People"

Tombstone praises their spirit.

Wu Dayou knew that he would definitely be embarrassed if he did this, but he was not afraid at all and was ready to die because the wealthy businessmen agreed to raise thirty thousand taels as a pension so that he could make a living. 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. Does Wuhan University have any regrets or fears?

After the oath-taking ceremony, Wu Dayou immediately divided the participants into ten teams. Each team was led by the boldest person and held a banana fan as a sign. The others followed him holding a noose and began to attack tax stations in various places.

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The east part of Suzhou is mostly a settlement area for silk weaving workers and machine operators, while the west part of the city is dotted with the residences of many local celebrities and is also the seat of local government offices.

There are about 4,000 officers and soldiers stationed in Suzhou City, as well as 5,000 Tianwu troops, most of whom are located in the Guanfu Yamen District in the southwest of the city. Wu Dayou did not dare to conflict with the Tianwu Army head-on, and its action route perfectly avoided the Tianwu Army in the west of the city.

station.

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

At the tax yamen in Suzhou, Huang Jianbo, a young eunuch who was ordered to collect taxes, became the first victim of the civil uprising. He was not as lucky as Sun Long, the weaving eunuch of the Wanli Dynasty, and was beaten to death by the angry crowd with sticks.

Wu Dayou took out the silk cloth fastened to his waist and took a look at it. The name and address of each tax official who needed to be punished was written on it. After reading it, he immediately led a large group of troops to surround the next tax official's house and set it on fire.

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The tax collector and his family who had no time to escape were captured alive and thrown on the street, where they were quickly beaten to death by the angry crowd.

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

Several businessmen who did not support the strike were given special attention, beaten from the street to the end of the street, and their shops were destroyed.

A tax supervisor who was good at disguise used his ancestral skills to break through the encirclement and came to the magistrate's office, begging the Suzhou magistrate to send troops to suppress it.

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

The young tax supervisor was furious and said: "They killed the imperial officials, are they still good people? This is treason!"

The prefect did not take the eunuch seriously at all, and laughed and said: "I have heard about the rebellion of the bandits. Those who attack the county government office are called rebellion. These people did not attack the government office. How can we say it is rebellion?

"

The tax supervisor felt a chill in his heart. He fully understood that these local officials had long been colluding with the gentry and businessmen. Now it was useless to say anything. He decided to go to Xicheng to seek help from the Tianwu Army.

At this moment, the headman from the prefecture's Yamen hurriedly came to report: "Oh no, sir, there are thousands of workers outside surrounding the prefecture's Yamen, and they are asking you to hand over the hidden tax inspector!"

The tax inspector looked at the prefect with disdain, secretly thinking that the rebels had surrounded the Yamen, and it was considered a rebellion. Let's see what excuse you have for not sending 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 in the civil uprising, and it is difficult to attack with all the weapons. If we send troops to suppress it, we will be forced to put out the fire without pay. I have no choice but to aggrieve my father-in-law."

Got it!"

The tax inspector exclaimed as if he had seen a ghost: "What do you mean?"

The Suzhou magistrate waved his hand and said to the arrester: "Captain Zhou, take this father-in-law outside the Yamen and beat him with twenty sticks to appease the public's anger."

The tax supervisor's face was livid, he pointed at him and said angrily: "Our family was named by the current emperor to be released from the inner palace prison to serve the crown prince. We are also the Suzhou tax supervisor personally appointed by His Highness the prince. You dare to hit me?"

The magistrate chuckled, winked at the head catcher Zhou, then turned around and left for the back hall.

The tax supervisor screamed and was dragged out by Zhou Baotou. As soon as he arrived outside the Yamen, he was beaten to death by Wu Dayou and others before he was beaten with a stick.

After the tax inspector incident, the Suzhou prefect suddenly became "sick" and stayed in the prefect's yamen and stopped showing up.

The merchants' strike was on its fourth day, and on New Year's Eve, because people everywhere had been unable to buy grain, oil, and salt for several days, there was a wave of commotion.

Although the situation in Nanjing is better, prices are still ridiculously high. Ordinary people cannot afford New Year goods at all. In panic, the people turned their attention to the Forbidden City, hoping that the crown prince who had just returned from his inspection could find a solution.
Chapter completed!