I

Ganzhou, Yugutai.

Fei Ruhe moved a chair and sat there, observing the city with a telescope when he had nothing to do. He liked this newly captured little thing very much.

The eight-mirror platform at the top of the city allows you to observe the river in all directions. From Yugu Terrace on the mountain, you can observe the entire Ganzhou City.

Liu Anfeng brought several officials to the stage to pay homage and said, "I have seen Zhao Bingyuan!"

"Hey, Old Liu is here," Fei Ruhe put down his telescope and greeted him warmly, "The town actually asked you to be the prefect of Ganzhou?"

Liu Anfeng handed over his hand and said: "It all depends on the cultivation of the main town."

Liu Anfeng was previously the magistrate of Luling County, and his position in Zhao Han's territory was somewhat similar to that of Jing Zhaoyin. The promotion of this position is either to be sent out to serve as the prefect, or directly to the General Military Mansion.

Liu Anfeng could barely be considered a veteran, a poor scholar who served during the Yongyang Town period.

When you reach the position of county magistrate, you must use scholars. It is not necessary to be a scholar with a good reputation, but to be proficient in literature and arithmetic. House slaves and actors who have read can also be used.

There was a domestic slave named Xiao Gui who had been promoted to the magistrate of Longquan County.

Fei Ruhe asked: "What territories will we conquer this time?"

"In addition to Ganzhou City, the four counties of Nankang, Shangyou, Yudu, and Xingguo must be captured," Liu Anfeng conveyed the order from the General Military Office, saying, "Nankang is the south gate of Ganzhou Prefecture, and Shangyou is the gate of Ganzhou Prefecture. The west gate is the east gate of Ganzhou Prefecture. Only by occupying these three counties can we guard the throat. As for Xingguo, after taking this county, we can connect several counties in the south into one."

Fei Ruhe said: "Add in the Gan County of Ganzhou City, the land of five counties will increase by leaps and bounds. Are there so many officials?"

"Yes," Liu Anfeng explained, "Each prefecture, county, and town yamen will transfer some assistant officers and officials, and the vacant positions will be filled by officials."

"Okay," Fei Ruhe asked again, "How many of Zou Weilian's family members have you brought?"

Liu Anfeng said: "His mother is old and cannot travel far, so she only brought her eldest son Zou Liangyi. Zou Liangyi has joined us and is coming to Ganzhou this time to serve as a civil servant in Gan County."

Fei Ruhe said with a headache: "Then let him persuade us to surrender as soon as possible. This Ganzhou city is really difficult to fight."

Zou Liangyi was only seventeen years old. Before he was taken away, he was studying hard to become a scholar. He was thrown into Bailuzhou Academy. After studying for more than half a year, he already recognized the concept of Datong in his heart, but he was a little reluctant to part with his own property.

But no matter how reluctant he was to let go, he had no choice but to let go now because his whole family had been captured by the rebels.

Moreover, when she left home, her grandmother gave away her property to others, and Zou Liangyi has now become a "landless class".

Anyway, the family has no farmland, so why not work with Mr. Zhao?

"I am the son of Governor Zou, let me up quickly!" Zou Liangyi shouted while standing under the city.

The officers and soldiers guarding the city immediately carried him into the city.

In fact, these Fujian soldiers also wanted to surrender, but they had not yet negotiated terms. In order to surrender smoothly, they didn't even plunder the city, they just wanted to leave a good impression on Zhao Han.

At this moment, Zou Weilian was playing chess with Liu Huan, the prefect of Ganzhou.

They all knew that Ganzhou would be lost, so they did not offer the city immediately because all the city gates were in the hands of Fujian soldiers.

Zou Weilian and Liu Huan were responsible for negotiating with the enemy and surrendering if they could reach agreement. If they can't reach an agreement, those Fujian soldiers will have to wreak havoc on the people of the city before they die.

"Father, the child is here!" Zou Liangyi said with his hands in hand.

Zou Weilian stared at the chessboard, put down a piece for a long time, and asked: "Are you a thief?"

"I agree," Zou Liangyi said, "The family members were taken away by soldiers sent by Mr. Zhao. When they left, my grandmother had given all the land to relatives, slaves and tenants. Father, our family has no land anymore, so we have to divide it among ourselves." It’s not in our name.”

Zou Weilian finally raised his head, glared at his son and said, "Being a thief and betraying the emperor, is this a matter of dividing the land?"

Zou Liangyi said: "Father, the child has already understood Mr. Zhao's knowledge. The world's commonwealth is really a matter of dividing the land. Nowadays, the gentry are tyrannically annexing the land, leaving the tillers with no land, and it is difficult for the court to collect taxes. The poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. The richer and richer, but the national treasury is empty. The poor cannot live, so they will fight for their lives. The national treasury is empty and cannot be suppressed, and the Ming Dynasty will overturn sooner or later."

Liu Huan, the prefect of Ganzhou, said with a smile: "Brother Dehui, a tiger father has no dog sons. It is rare for your son to have such insight."

Zou Weilian finally showed surprise and asked, "Did you learn this statement from the rebels?"

"Father, please look at this book." Zou Liangyi handed over a copy of "Datong Collection".

Zou Weilian had already read this book, and Fei Yinghuan brought it from Ji'an Mansion.

Today, Zou Weilian once again opened "Datong Collection" and didn't know what to say after reading it.

Zou Liangyi said: "Please father present the city and surrender."

"It is not up to my father to decide on city defense matters," Zou Weilian said to his son. "Go out of the city and ask if you can let these Fujian soldiers go back to their hometown. They have been away from home for more than two years. They don't want to stay in Jiangxi. They just want to return to their hometown and be with them." Family reunion. If agreed, withdraw thirty miles to the north, and these Fujian soldiers will abandon the city and leave."

Zou Liangyi said: "Those whose hands are not stained with the blood of the people can leave by themselves."

"How can a soldier not be stained with blood?" Zou Weilian said amusedly.

Zou Liangyi explained: "Everyone is fighting for his own master, so we can't be harsh. Being stained with the blood of the people means that no robbery has been done."

Zou Weilian sighed: "Then you go back and send a message, saying that the three thousand Fujian soldiers guarding the city only robbed people in western Fujian. After entering Jiangxi, they have been restrained by me. Some time ago, the plundering out of the city had nothing to do with them. This All three thousand people were left to defend the city. If we can't reach an agreement, the city will be completely destroyed."

Zou Liangyi could not make the decision on this matter, and neither could Fei Ruhe, so they could only send a ship back to ask Zhao Han for instructions.

Taking advantage of this time, Fei Ruhe divided his troops to attack Nankang County.

That place already belongs to the territory of Nan'an Prefecture, but it must be captured to ensure the military security of Ganzhou Prefecture.

Lieutenant General Zhou Dezhen set out with three thousand troops. Before he arrived at Nankang County, he heard that Nankang County had been captured by local field soldiers. The leader of Tian Bing led dozens of subordinates and came several miles out of the city to greet him. He knelt down and kowtowed: "General, please make the decision for us!"

…

Ningdu County.

Thousands of tenants elected tenant chiefs and organized them into three thousand field soldiers. They shouted in Hakka: "General Zhao (Fei Ruhe) of Luling has defeated the officers and soldiers in Ganzhou. Now is a good time for us to take action. Then I’m going to conquer the county!”

…

Huichang County.

Hundreds of Tian Bing's remnants fled into the mountains under the banner of "doing justice for heaven."

After coming out of the mountains, countless tenants joined along the way, and by the time they reached the county seat, the number had grown to thousands.

…

Yudu (Yudu) County.

Chen Ting, the commander-in-chief of Fujian who retreated here, looked at the horrified expressions of the field soldiers outside the city. He quickly ordered: "Quickly shout, say that I am from Fujian. Fujian people will not fight Fujian people. If they want to occupy the county seat, I can Get out of here and leave a way for me to leave!"

Yes, most of the tenant farmers who rebelled in southern Jiangxi were originally from Fujian.

…

Shicheng County.

Xingguo County.

Ruijin County.

Tianbing uprisings broke out one after another.

These news came one after another, and Fei Ruhe was dumbfounded. He murmured to himself: "Is it possible that I have achieved such great fame and only won one victory in Ganzhou City, causing seven counties to rebel at the same time?"

Of course it's impossible!

The real reason is that the tenant farmers in southern Jiangxi lived a miserable life, and they naturally liked to rebel. When news of the defeat of the officers and soldiers came out, they immediately took action.

How bad is it?

During the small court period of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Zhou Zhifan, the commander-in-chief of Tingzhou, and Liu Yili, the magistrate of Ruijin, secretly supported the rebellion of the tenant farmers and landlords. These officials could not stand it anymore!

Moreover, the rebellion situation here is extremely complicated, involving the interests of the government, landlords, tenants, and tenant farmers.

Wei Jiaju, the head of Ningdu County, took a boat straight to the outside of Ganzhou City and asked Fei Ruhe to send troops to Ji'an Mansion.

After meeting Zhao Han, this person said straight to the point: "Mr. Zhao wants to conquer southern Gansu. He should know the real situation here. Don't think that the tenants are all miserable people."

Zhao Han smiled and asked: "Are there still rich people among the tenants?"

"There are indeed wealthy tenants," Wei Jiaju said. "The banditry in southern Jiangxi has been suppressed repeatedly, making it difficult for small tenant farmers to survive. It is not only the landlords who are responsible, but these wealthy tenants are even more abominable!"

Zhao Han asked curiously: "How did a wealthy tenant become wealthy?"

Wei Jiaju said: "Take Ningdu County as an example. Sixty-seven out of ten people in the county are Fujianese."

"How come sixty-seven people from the prefectures and counties in Jiangxi are Fujianese?" Zhao Han felt even more strange.

Wei Jiaju explained in detail: "At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were many Fujian people working as tenants in Ningdu. During the Hongzhi, Zhengde, and Jiajing years, Ningdu County was plagued by bandits. After the bandits were suppressed in the three dynasties, the local people either died or fled, but one out of ten survived. Second, the Fujian people (mostly Hakkas) called their friends and took the opportunity to come over and farm the land. They were extremely united, and the landlords relied on them for farming. In this way, they became mainly guests, and the tenants could suppress the landlords."

During the Hongwu period, the population of Ningdu County exceeded 150,000.

During the Wanli period, the population of Ningdu County was less than 20,000.

This is not real data, but a large number of local people who have been hidden by landowners. As for the Fujianese who account for 60 to 70%, their household registration is still in Fujian and they have not registered locally at all.

The first few batches of Fujian tenants quickly became rich by farming because they banded together to deal with the landlords.

What was the situation at that time?

Landlords had to pay heavy taxes to the government, while tenants only paid normal rent to the landlord. From the output of one acre of land, the income of the tenants is three to four times that of the landlord!

After two or three generations of farming, some tenants who had made a fortune began to no longer want to work on their own fields.

As a result, they recruited more fellow Fujianese, sublet the land, and became wealthy tenants and tenant owners who reaped the benefits.

This resulted in a three-level relationship: landlord - landlord - tenant.

Even after making money, many wealthy tenants returned to Fujian to buy houses and land while still working as tenants in Jiangxi.

The lower-class tenants in the southern Jiangxi region are oppressed by both landlords and wealthy tenants!

In order to protect their own interests, wealthy tenants often provoke conflicts between tenants and landlords. They let landlords fight with their tenants while reaping the benefits themselves. Many uprisings by land soldiers were also planned by wealthy tenants.

Wei Jiaju said: "Mr. Zhao, I have read "Datong Collection". If we divide the land in the southern Jiangxi area, we will not only attack the landlords, but also suppress the wealthy tenants. Moreover, both the wealthy tenants and the tenants are Fujianese, mostly Hakka. . Beware of powerful tenants inciting tenants, let alone confronting the government, they will fight for water with thousands of people at every turn!"

This narrative opened Zhao Han's eyes and he decided to send Chen Maosheng to take charge of the work personally.

(It’s gone today, will be updated tomorrow.)