I

Jishui, Wujiatang.

Although the Liu family has been divided into two households, this is only reflected in the household registration book. They still live together in the ancestral mansion.

Many of the domestic helpers were sent home during the day.

At the third watch, Liu Tongsheng went out in the dark, followed by 26 people including children!

No matter men or women, they all left with their delicate clothes.

Liu Tongsheng is forty-nine years old, but his body is still relatively strong.

Historically, when he passed the examination and passed the examination, Chongzhen asked him his age and replied that he was fifty-one. Chongzhen praised: "You look like a young man!"

Liu Tongsheng himself carried more than thirty kilograms of silver, and his brothers and nephews also carried silver.

A family of more than 20 people came to the river in the dark. Liu Tongsheng fell down on the way.

Boats had been prepared by the river for a long time. For fear of falling into the water, they could only light lanterns when boarding. Driving from the small river into Tongjiang River, and then from Tongjiang River into Ganjiang River, at dawn, we had already left the boundary of Jishui County.

After dividing the fields, their family still had more than 400 acres of land, but they don’t want it now!

Their family still has more than 2,000 stones of food, so they don’t want it anymore!

There is even some money at home, but I can’t afford it, so I don’t want it anymore!

They gave up everything and fled Jishui with their whole family, just because they saw no hope and felt that living in Zhao Han's territory was miserable.

Liu Tongsheng in history, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had just invaded Jiangxi and was still far away from Jishui County. He abandoned the land, moved his family to Fujian, and then donated his property to recruit soldiers to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

He can also be regarded as an anti-Qing patriot.

Zhao Han forcibly divided the land, and Liu Tong was promoted to the Bao family. He could choose to endure it for the time being, but there were some things he couldn't tolerate.

First, slaves are not allowed. Even though we can have servants, they are not as convenient as before. Moreover, child labor is not allowed, and there are no servants under the age of twelve.

Second, concubines are not allowed. This law was not enforced, and the government would only stop it when the concubine reported it to the official.

Although he strictly followed the "Da Ming Law", Liu Tongsheng felt very unhappy. If everything was done according to the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", the life of the gentry would be impossible.

The "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" not only prohibited common people from keeping slaves, but also prohibited landlords from using tenants to carry sedan chairs.

If the first two items can be tolerated, then what Liu Tongsheng cannot tolerate the most is Zhao Han's extreme disrespect for talents!

Liu Tongsheng was not only good at eight parts, but he was also proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. He even studied military books and arithmetic.

But after defecting to Zhao Han, Liu Tongsheng was given only two choices.

One is to work as an ordinary civilian in the General Military Mansion, and the other is to go to the countryside to assist the farmers' association in allocating land.

Liu Tongsheng first chose to work as a civil servant, but after a few days he became impatient because that was the job of a civil servant. He was a dignified man, but he was actually thrown into being a sword and pen official, and he was the most ordinary sword and pen official.

Then, Liu Tongsheng applied to go to the countryside to allocate farmland, but this time he only persisted for one day.

He thought he was going to direct the distribution of fields, but when he got to the fields, he actually had to go to the fields to measure them himself. This is no longer the job of civil servants, but of civil servants.

What is a soap official?

He is a lowly servant, just like a lowly official, and his children and grandchildren cannot take part in the imperial examination!

Liu Tongsheng felt extremely humiliated in his two jobs.

One of his Juren friends, in order to cling to the rebels, actively participated in dividing the land, and was promoted to the mayor of the town in an unusual way.

But who the hell is a mayor?

There are eight towns in Luling County and seven towns in Jishui County. So the mayor of Jishui County is equivalent to one-seventh of a county magistrate?

He is not worthy of being promoted to such a rural official position!

What's even more outrageous is that the friend who was a judge is now being arrested and awaiting trial just because he slept with a prostitute.

Liu Tongsheng's younger brother married his concubine's daughter to an official of the General Military Mansion, hoping to gain the care of the General Military Mansion.

However, all the officials of the General Military Mansion who were married to the rich families were demoted and transferred by Zhao Han, leaving no room for the gentry at all.

Liu Tongsheng was deeply disgusted by such perverse actions.

He would rather run away without land or food and only take money, than live under Zhao Han's rule.

Liu Tongsheng stood on the bow of the boat and looked at the beautiful spring scenery on both sides of the strait. He felt so relaxed, like a free bird that had escaped from its cage.

As for the farmers in ragged clothes working hard in the fields, they have automatically become an embellishment in the beautiful scenery.

…

General Military Mansion.

Xiao Huan came in and reported: "In the main town, more than a dozen gentry families have fled with their families. We cannot send people to monitor them all day long."

"Why surveillance?"

Zhao Han smiled and said: "Let them go and confiscate the land, houses, money and food left behind. Do I still need a few of their gentry?"

Li Banghua was speechless. The gentry was indeed alienated, and many of his efforts were in vain.

Zhao Han was extremely relaxed and said with a smile: "Mr. Li, they didn't escape because of the Zou family, right?"

"No," Li Banghua said, "it was because the married officials of the General Military Mansion were demoted and the scholars were asked to start from low-level officials, so they left in despair."

Zhao Han sighed: "How have I ever mistreated someone who was really willing to do something? Just say that Wang Yuanlu, who worked hard when dividing the land, was promoted to mayor. He was promoted countless times faster than ordinary scholars. I even I had thought about it, and once I captured Taihe County, I would promote this person to be the magistrate of Taihe County, so as to set an example for the children of the gentry. Who would have thought that this person could not stand up to the wall, but he got drunk and raped a female missionary!"

Li Banghua shook his head and said, "You think the mayor is an official, but they think the mayor is a official."

"If they don't even want to take charge of a town, how dare I let them take charge of a county?" Zhao Han said with a smile, "Anyway, there are countless gentry at the bottom, and I have no shortage of scholars. The gentry can run away if they want."

Li Banghua didn't want to discuss this topic. Just like Zhao Han said, there are countless scholars at the bottom of Jiangxi, and there is really no shortage of scholars!

For every son of a gentry who ran away, ten poor scholars would step forward, and how many poor scholars were waiting to become officials.

Can a scholar or scholar from a wealthy family look down upon the position of mayor?

But let a poor scholar be the mayor, not to mention how happy he is, but his work enthusiasm will be different.

Suddenly, Li Banghua figured it out completely.

The farmers at the bottom are the foundation, and the poor gentry are the backbone. It seems that the gentry really has nothing to do with it.

"When will we send troops to Anfu County?" Li Banghua asked.

"Don't worry," Zhao Han said, "At least we have to wait until the spring plowing is over, and we can't delay the farming season."

Li Banghua said: "The main town has brought back thousands of people from Yuanzhou and has been waiting for resettlement."

Zhao Han shook his head and said: "Those people don't divide their fields, they are all craftsmen, and they don't know how to farm at all. You choose the most honest gentry family, plus your nephew's family, and I will give each of you a kaolin mine. Of course, Mines have to be bought with money, and those kiln-burning workers will settle near the mines and will support their families by working in the kilns. Remember, don’t treat the craftsmen harshly, I will send people to form a union.”

"My nephew's family doesn't need to be mined. I can just choose two other gentry families." Li Banghua did not want to cause criticism.

This can also be regarded as winning over a few obedient gentry so that they can open factories and make money.

As for the bow makers, Tian Younian is already planning to build a weapons workshop, which must be managed by the government.

Li Banghua suddenly said: "Let me go to training, I really don't want to engage in government affairs anymore."

This one is also very tired.

Zhao Han smiled and said: "That's okay, but it's not training troops, but building a military and political framework. How many regular soldiers (off-the-job soldiers), how many peasant soldiers, how to recruit, how to train, how to pay, how to transport grain and grass, how to manufacture and order ordnance The equipment... these are all handed over to Mr. Li, and I will transfer Tian Younian to be Mr. Li's deputy."

Zhao Han's army has always been unsystematic, or the military system is incomplete. Li Banghua is definitely qualified for this job.

As for Li Banghua himself, he was trying to avoid suspicion by voluntarily leaving the government system and working in the military affairs, so as not to be regarded as the leader of the Jishui faction.

After seeing off Li Banghua, Fei Chun came happily and said: "The grain merchants have finally released grain, thanks to the gentry who escaped."

"Good job!" Zhao Han praised.

Those bastard grain merchants, working together with the gentry to hoard grain, want to make a fortune by raising grain prices in the spring.

As a result, the grain store under the supervision of Fei Chun continued to release grain to equalize the price, and released half of the reserved grain. At this time, more than a dozen families of gentry suddenly ran away, leaving a lot of food confiscated. They also ransacked Zou's house and Qingyuan Temple, and also obtained a lot of food.

The government's grain reserves are sufficient, so grain merchants have no choice but to admit defeat and sell rice at a fair price.

Fei Chun suddenly said: "By the way, I saw Fei Yu outside."

Fei Yu was Fei Yuanjian's book boy, and the dozens of taels of manuscript fees for "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" were brought by Fei Yu from the bookseller.

Zhao Han said: "He has been practicing for a year and was transferred to be the government secretary (secretary)."

"That's a good relationship," Fei Chun said with a smile. "When I was selling ten-month magazines, Fei Yu and I were the most diligent. He is really good at getting things done."

Forming cliques is a given, and Zhao Han cannot avoid it.

Fei Yuanjian is now the chief registrar of Luling County, and Liu Ziren is the chief registrar of Jishui County, responsible for managing the affairs of the entire county government.

Fei Chun asked: "That case...when will it be tried?"

"In half a month, I will come to the trial in person. If you want to observe, you can come." Zhao Han said.

…

April of the eighth year of Chongzhen.

The military salary budget of the Ming Dynasty was 7.86 million shi, and each province had 6.8 million shi, leaving 1 million shi short of military expenditure.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, ordered Deng Qi, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, to guard Fancheng. The generals demanded payment and killed two of Deng Qi's servants. The dignified Sichuan general was so frightened that he climbed over the wall and fled. Fires broke out in many places in the city. Deng Qi got into the fire alley and could not get out, and was burned alive.

Shen Youlong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Zou Weilian, the governor of Fujian, successively sent troops to the north.

They did not come to Jiangxi immediately, but first wiped out the bandits at the junction of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi. The rebels and bandits had been making trouble for several years.

In particular, the rebels in western Fujian plundered many counties and immediately entered the mountains as soon as they encountered officers and soldiers.

Faced with the encirclement and suppression by Guangzhou and Fujian provinces, the rebel bandits on the borders of the three provinces united and elected He Zhiyuan from Ruijin as their leader. More than 30,000 peasant troops began to fight guerrillas in the mountains with the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi and the governors of Fujian.

Want to go north to conquer Zhao Han?

Please deal with the rebels at the borders of the three provinces first!

Before the trial date came, Xiao Huan hurried over to report: "The main town, Pingxiang County, Yichun County, Fenyi County, and Yongxin County have all rebelled!"

"When did it happen?" Zhao Han asked.

Xiao Huan replied: "The main town led troops to leave Yuanzhou Prefecture, and the tenants in Yichun County rebelled. Fenyi County and Pingxiang County also followed suit. It spread southward to Yongxin County and then to Taihe County. Our A total of six counties around the territory rebelled."

"Let them kill the landlord slowly, and then I will finish it off." Zhao Han is now becoming more and more cold-blooded and sinister.

It is not unusual for the counties in central Jiangxi to rebel.

The influence brought by Zhao Han was only to advance the uprising and make it larger in scale.

Historically, after Jie Xuelong left Jiangxi, people in Anfu, Yongxin, Luling, and Pingxiang counties rose up one after another. The main sources of the rebels were tenants, servants, and domestic slaves.

The reason for the uprising was that the people could not survive, and the imperial court suddenly increased the training salary, which happened to be a year of great disaster.

In a sense, Zhao Han saved the life of the big landowner who took the initiative to donate his land.

Without Zhao Han, these landowners would not only lose their family property, but they would also be killed by the rebellious people and shed blood.

Is forcibly taking away a landlord's property an unreasonable act of banditry?

Haha, Zhao Han is already very reasonable. The peasant army that has lost its mind is truly unreasonable. They can only speak with sickles and hoes!

In April of this year, the gentry in Zhao Han's territory were trembling with fear from the news coming from the surrounding area.

As a result, Zhao Han seems to have become kind-hearted. After all, this man only wants land, not money, food or life.

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