During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a medium-sized family in Fuzi Township, Guizhou County, whose head of the household was named Liu Chengzong. Liu Chengzong was tall and tall, had a brute force, and kept the family's twenty acres of land in good order. In those years, the Qianlong Emperor exempted the whole country from taxes for three years. In the early autumn of this year, Liu Chengzong took out the sickle in the warehouse and prepared to sharpen it and harvest the rice a few days later. But he took out his scythe and looked at it, and the teeth on it had been polished, and he had to buy a new scythe. Just then, he heard someone shouting, "Credit knife!" Credit knives, sickles, wood knives, pig knives, bone chopping knives..."
When Liu Chengzong looked, he saw only a middle-aged man wearing a bucket hat on his head and carrying a basket on his back, and the circle exposed on the mouth of the basket was all crescent-like sickle heads and wood knife heads. Liu Chengzong was very puzzled, he had only heard of selling knives, and he had never heard of credit knives. So he said to the middle-aged man, "Big brother, go into the courtyard and drink water." ”
The middle-aged man did not hesitate and walked into the courtyard. When the middle-aged man finished drinking the water, Liu Chengzong asked: "I just heard the eldest brother talk about the credit knife, it will not be called wrong, right?" ”
The middle-aged man said, "That's right, it's a credit knife." ”
Liu Chengzong asked, "How about a credit method?" ”
The middle-aged man asked, "How much is a pound of rice now?" ”
Liu Chengzong said: "Sanwen copper money one pound." ”
The middle-aged man asked, "How much is that sickle?" ”
Liu Chengzong said, "Thirty copper coins." ”
The middle-aged man said: "In other words, a sickle can be exchanged for ten pounds of rice." Liu Chengzong said good.
The middle-aged man said, "Well, this credit knife is that you and I made a contract, and I will give you the knife on credit now, and I don't want anything." When the rice rises to thirty copper coins and a pound, I will collect the knife money again, and at that time, a knife will be charged at three hundred copper coins. ”
Liu Chengzong laughed: "If the price of rice rises tenfold, won't those of us who cultivate the land all get rich?" My father lived to be seventy-two years old, and through the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Ben dynasties, rice only rose from two pounds to three pounds. I advised the eldest brother not to take the knife on credit, but I was afraid that the eldest brother would live for a lifetime and would not receive the knife money. ”
The middle-aged man laughed and said, "If I don't live to that time, naturally there will be other people to collect the bills." ”
Liu Chengzong saw that the middle-aged man did not listen to the advice, and thought that most of this person had brain problems, so he said that he wanted a credit knife. The middle-aged man said: "The person with the credit knife must be a male, and each male must choose two knives." ”
Liu Chengzong had two sons, and there were three males in the family, so he chose two sickles, two wood knives, a pig killing knife, and a bone chopping knife, and then signed his name on the middle-aged man's account book. After the middle-aged man left, Liu Chengzong saw that each knife was engraved with a small gossip figure. He tried those knives, the steel fire was very good, the blade was sharp, and he never rolled his mouth.
For several days, the middle-aged man was working on credit in the village. Many villagers have taken credit knives, and everyone has laughed at the stupidity of middle-aged people.
After a month, a group of officials from the village came and searched for people from the Heaven and Earth Society door to door, saying that Pang Guangyu, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, had been active in the vicinity. It turned out that not long ago, Pang Guangyu led hundreds of people to attack the county seat of Guizhou under the slogan of "opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty", and insisted on it for half a month, but because no one responded, he was easily suppressed by the Qing army. When Pang Guangyu fled, he took away the ten thousand silver in the county court. The officials searched the village for half a day and did not find Pang Guangyu, and only then did they give up.
Fast forward more than ten years, the emperor changed from Qianlong to Jiaqing, and Liu Chengzong's two sons, Liu Yihu and Liu Erhu, were already in their twenties. Although Liu Chengzong was still very healthy, he felt that the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the past two years were becoming more and more unbearable. More than a decade ago, only 10% of the grain he collected was used to pay taxes, but in the past two years, 60% has been used to pay taxes.
This year, Guizhou was in another drought, and for three consecutive months, there was not a single drop of rain. Liu Chengzong's family still has more than a hundred catties of surplus grain, some families in the village have run out of grain last year, and some villages have starved to death.
On this day, the township chief came with several county servants to collect taxes, and Liu Chengzong greeted him with a smile and said, "Township chief, my family's taxes have all been paid." ”
The township chief "hummed" twice, and the servant next to him said, "Haven't you heard that recently the 'Heaven and Earth Society' rebelled, and the emperor issued a decree that each family should collect one or two pieces of silver 'suppression of bandit taxes'." ”
Liu Chengzong said: "Township chief, the family really has no money. ”
The township chief said, "Without money, isn't it okay to sell grain?" Now one pound of rice is forty yuan, one or two pieces of silver are worth sixteen hundred yuan, and you are enough to sell forty pounds of rice. ”
Liu Chengzong said: "This year is so dry, it seems that there will be no harvest again, and we still have to leave some rations to survive." ”
A servant listened and said to Liu Chengzong, "Do you want to resist taxes?" ”
Liu Chengzong's younger son, Liu Erhu, was young and vigorous, and shouted from the side: "In the year of the great drought, the imperial court did not provide disaster relief, but also collected taxes. I can't eat food, and I still pay what fart tax! ”
Liu Chengzong wanted to stop it, but it was too late, and several servants stepped forward and chained Liu Erhu with chains. The township chief said, "Liu Erhu dared to speak in vain, and had the intention of rebellion, so you should go to the county to lead people." After saying that, they took Liu Erhu away.
Liu Chengzong knew that his son had run into a catastrophe, so he immediately sold the family's grain, collected one or two pieces of silver, and handed it over to the township chief. The township mayor did not collect money, and said to Liu Chengzong: "Liu Erhu dared to resist taxes, and now he has been thrown into prison, but he is afraid that he will have to fight one or two before he can be released." ”
Liu Chengzong asked, "How much does that cost?" ”
The township chief said, "Ten silver." ”
Liu Chengzong listened, as if struck by lightning. When he returned home, he sold the rest of the grain, asked his wife to take off the silver bracelet and the silver hairpin, sold a few acres of land, collected ten pieces of silver, and was preparing to go to the township chief, only to see a young man carrying a cage walking outside the door. The young man asked, "May I ask, are you Liu Chengzong?" ”
Liu Chengzong said yes busily, and the young man said, "My name is Pang Jihao, come to your house to ask for an old account." My father once sold a batch of knives here on credit, saying that when the rice rose from three to thirty, he would come to collect the account, and now that the rice has risen to forty, please give me the eighteen hundred copper coins of the six knives. Having said that, the young man pulled out his ledger.
When Liu Chengzong heard this, his head grew bigger, and he said to Pang Jihao: "There is indeed such a thing, but now that the family is suffering, can you forgive it for a while?" ”
Pang Jihao asked, "If you talk about something, I'll see if I can help you." ”
Liu Chengzong told Pang Jihao about his son Liu Erhu, and Pang Jihao listened and said, "I have come to collect the accounts and listened to the people say that Jiaqing is like a tiger, and the servants below are like mosquitoes and flies. Don't worry, the money is owed first, and after three days, your son's business will be revealed. With that, he resigned and left.
Liu Chengzong believed Pang Jihao's words and waited for three days, but did not see his son, but the messenger led the officers and soldiers to surround their family. Like wolves, the officers and soldiers slammed the door open and grabbed Liu Chengzong's family. Liu Chengzong said to the servant, "I just raised money and I just want to send it to you." ”
The messenger sneered and said, "I didn't expect that you were so bold that you dared to collude with the Heaven and Earth Society to attack the county court and rescue Liu Erhu and other anti-thieves." ”
Liu Chengzong cried out in succession. At this time, an officer and soldier retrieved several knives from Liu's family and said, "Look, these knives are engraved with the mark of the Heaven and Earth Society, and dare to say that you have nothing to do with the Heaven and Earth Society?" ”
Only then did Liu Chengzong understand that the middle-aged man with the credit knife and Pang Jihao were originally members of the Heaven and Earth Society, and now he was unable to argue with it.
Liu Chengzong's family was tied up and sent to the big prison by Wuhua Da, just at this moment, a cannon sounded, and hundreds of people were armed with sickles, kitchen knives, and wood knives... Attacking from both sides of the road, the officers and men collapsed at the touch of a button and scattered and fled.
Liu Erhu ran over and untied the rope for Liu Chengzong and brought him to an old man. Liu Chengzong looked at it, and this old man was the middle-aged man who used the credit knife more than ten years ago- Pang Guangyu.
Originally, Pang Guangyu was the helmsman of the Heaven and Earth Society's Western Hubei Rudder, and more than ten years ago, he led hundreds of people to revolt, and although he captured the county seat of Guizhou, no one responded. Only then did he understand that in the prosperous world of peace and prosperity, the people had no worries about food and clothing, and the people's hearts were toward the Qing court, and it was inevitable that his uprising would fail.
Pang Guangyu bought iron utensils with the stolen silver, beat them into knives, and gave the knives to the peasants on credit, saying that when the grain price rose to tenfold, he would come to collect the money. He is waiting for time, and if the price of grain does not rise, it must be a clear and clear world; if the price of grain rises tenfold in a short period of time, the people will certainly complain and rise up, and those knives with marks are their weapons.
Although the Tiandihui rebellion in western Hubei failed to overthrow the Qing court, it dealt a heavy blow to the Qing court, and the Qing court has since turned from prosperity to decline.