Four Centuries of Blood and Tears in Xiangxiang

《Four Centuries of Blood and Tears in Xiangxiang》 takes the Hongwu Xiangxiang grain tax case as its root, based on local gazetteers and genealogical records, without fabricating core historical events. At the end of the Yuan dynasty, warfare raged everywhere. The local gentry Yi Hua, to protect the entire county, raised grain to temporarily avoid the chaos of war. Yang Congzheng, a surrendered general of Chen Han, was ordered to audit the grain. With a single memorial, he fixed the wartime temporary tribute rice as Xiangxiang's permanent heavy tax, and the unjust case was thus forged. From the early Ming to the Qianlong era, for over four hundred years, the scholars and common people of Xiangxiang campaigned generation after generation to plead their case. Village elders went to the prefecture, examination candidates knocked at the capital's gates, and clan members guarding the registers secretly hid the case files in mountain caves. They were repeatedly suppressed and displaced in succession. The abnormally heavy taxes squeezed the countryside; fields went barren and the people fled. The long suffering tempered the Hunan spirit; the resilience of this land is hidden in the unceasing resistance passed down through generations. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Four Centuries of Blood and Tears in Xiangxiang — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠