I

Xu Xiake was invited into the General Army Mansion, and while eating cakes, he said: "In the beginning, only the king of sweeping the land, Yubu, came from Jiangxi to Liuyang and Chaling counties in Huguang. His name is Wang Hui, and he is brave and good at fighting. Therefore, the bandits who rushed into Liuyang did not cause any trouble."

"I know that." Zhao Han was still very concerned about the border situation between the two provinces.

Xu Xiake also said: "The county magistrate of Chaling came to office this spring, and everyone heard it. It is rumored that in order to buy an official, he borrowed thousands of taels of silver in Beijing debts (usury), and immediately exploited the people after he took office. When the remnant of the sweeping king arrived, the people of Chaling responded one after another. , The county seat was captured in ten months. Then, You County was captured, with 20,000 bandits. The bandits from Yongning County escaped into Ling County (Yanling). After capturing the county seat, the bandits from Zunchaling dominated. Hengshan, the latter attacked Anren, they all broke the city and grew stronger."

"They can make a fuss." Zhao Han sighed.

The thieves who were beaten up in Jiangxi escaped into southern Hunan and quickly occupied five counties.

Xu Xiake went on to say: "After capturing Anren, the bandits from the South Route gathered tens of thousands of troops, crossed the gorge, and attacked Leiyang by surprise. The bandits from the North Route sent troops from Mount Heng, and the bandits from the South Route sent troops from Leiyang, and attacked Hengyang from the north to the south. The prefect of Hengzhou abandoned the city and fled. , King Gui also fled away with his clan."

Zhao Han asked, "What's the name of the thief leader?"

Xu Xiake said: "The number one thief from the north is 'Ruyunlong', and the number one thief from the south is 'Little Overlord'. After the capture of Hengyang, the two of them shared the spoils unevenly, and they fought in Hengyang. The little overlord was defeated and returned to Leiyang. , went south to capture Yongxing. The leaders under the command of Yunlong were also at odds, and there was a thief leader who stood on his own, named "Chu Overlord". The Chu Overlord led his troops to leave and captured Qiyang. Dissatisfied with the first, he led his troops to attack Shaoyang, and called him 'Ma Wangye'."

Good guy, this is endless internal strife, divided into four groups of rebels.

"Shaoyang has also been defeated?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Xiake shook his head: "The magistrate of Baoqing sticks to Shaoyang and orders the counties to recruit soldiers to fight against the thieves. There is a hero named Liao Sheng in the Liao family of the giant family in Longhui. Everyone fled in a hurry and hid in the mountains to become bandits, and I was trapped in Shaoyang City at that time."

"What about the first thief entering Yunlong?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Xiake said: "Liao Sheng led 5,000 troops straight to Hengyang, and Ruyunlong led 30,000 thieves to meet them. Liao Sheng was brave and defeated them in one battle, and Ruyunlong was defeated. When I left, Liao Sheng was besieging Hengyang City. Entering the cloud dragon sticks to the city and dare not go out to fight."

Good guy, this Liao Sheng is fierce enough.

First it was three thousand against ten thousand, and then five thousand against thirty thousand, and they were all won in one battle.

Xu Xiake said: "Although Liao Sheng defeated the rebels twice, they also caused the rebels to flee in all directions. Now there are bandits everywhere in the mountains. As long as I go into the mountains, I will definitely be robbed, and I will be robbed even if I walk by water, so I have to go around to the south. , intending to cross the mountains and go straight to Guangxi. Unexpectedly, there was chaos in the south, the Miao people (actually the Yao nationality) rebelled, and the little bully ravaged Jingnan, so I had to return to the north and flee all the way back to Jiangxi."

"Who is this Liao Sheng?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Xiake said: "I only know that the Liao family is a giant family in Longhui, with fields connected to rice fields, and half of the county is owned by it."

"That's how powerful the place is." Zhao Han said.

If Zhao Han had seriously studied the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he would definitely know about Liao Sheng.

Historically, after the Qing soldiers captured Shaoyang, Liao Sheng scattered all his wealth and set up an army. He actually recruited tens of thousands of brave men from the village, and fought with Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo successively. It wasn't until King Gui fled to Burma that Liao Sheng knew it would be difficult to regain his sight, so he disbanded the army and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion.

When Zhao Han was chatting with Xu Xiake, Liao Sheng had already taken back Hengyang, and showed the head of the thief into Yunlongxiao's head.

In addition, Liao Sheng took the initiative to conquer the Overlord of Chu, and the Overlord of Chu fled to the south, defeating 60,000 bandit troops. Although they are all mobs, Liao Sheng's subordinates are also brave, and their strength has always been only a few thousand.

It's a pity that such a fierce person comes from a giant family, and he will probably be an enemy in the future, because Zhao Han is going to divide the land.

Zhao Han donated a few taels of silver, arranged for Xu Xiake to rest, and immediately invited Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua to discuss matters.

After hearing Zhao Han's story, Pang Chunlai said: "There is nothing to worry about this person. As long as you defeat him once, you will immediately go to his hometown to divide the land. He can't even recruit a villager."

"Indeed." Zhao Han couldn't help laughing.

The soldiers under Liao Sheng's command were willing to fight with him because they were afraid that the rebels would wreak havoc.

And Zhao Han ran to divide the land, and as long as he won one victory, he could use the land administration to divide and disintegrate the villagers, so that Liao Sheng had money and food but could not recruit troops to fight.

Li Banghua said: "Actually, if troops are sent from Jiangxi, it will be easier to fight in Huguang, and it will definitely be like a broken bamboo."

"Why do you say that?" Zhao Han asked.

Li Banghua said: "Jiangxi fills Huguang. There are many Jiangxi people in Huguang. They can understand Jiangxi dialect. There is no language barrier for mission groups and farmers' associations."

The filling of Huguang in Jiangxi began in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang and lasted for more than two hundred years in the Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the government organized Jiangxi people to migrate to Huguang.

Then Jiangxi's taxes were too heavy, and a large number of people in central Jiangxi fled to Huguang to reclaim wasteland.

Qiu Jun, a cabinet minister in the mid-Ming Dynasty, even said: "Most of the people in Jiangxi moved to Huguang."

According to the research of later generations, in the entire Ming Dynasty, 78.5% of the immigrants in Hunan came from Jiangxi, of which Ji'an Prefecture accounted for more than half. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Jiangxi nationality accounted for 690,000 of the millions of refugees in Hubei.

As a result, in some parts of Huguang, Jiangxi dialect became popular for a while, and it tended to replace the local dialect of Huguang.

Moreover, the people of Jiangxi also brought "litigation style" to Huguang, and they like to litigate at every turn, which made the magistrates of Huguang very headache.

After thinking carefully, Zhao Han said: "We must send troops ahead of time. Bandits and bandits are everywhere in Guangdong and southern Hunan. If they are allowed to wreak havoc, how many people and wealth will be lost."

Pang Chunlai said with a smile: "If the troops are dispatched ahead of schedule, Si Cai (Fei Chun) may have a headache."

"Send troops to Hunan and Guangdong after the summer harvest next year, and occupy the entire territory of Jiangxi this winter," Zhao Han said, "The number of regular troops has increased to 16,000!"

Before, there were only 8,000 regular soldiers, and farmers and soldiers were often used to fight.

But leaving Jiangxi to fight across the province and always treating farmers and soldiers is too unethical.

"The soldiers are doubled, and the money and food are not enough." Li Banghua reminded.

Now there are three main financial expenditures, one is official salaries, town officials are too expensive; the other is military expenditures, including the continuous production of military equipment; the third is disaster relief expenditures. Tax relief as appropriate.

As for education expenditure, it is not yet ranked.

Pang Chunlai also said: "This year's catastrophe, we cannot raise taxes."

Zhao Han said with a smile: "Issuing bonds, borrowing money and food from the people, with an annual interest of two cents, and repaying within five years."

"Can this work?" Li Banghua was a little puzzled.

Pang Chunlai also couldn't figure it out, because the Ming court and the government directly collected taxes when they needed money and food, so why would they need to borrow money and food from the people?

"Try it." Zhao Han said.

A month later, officials at all levels began to take action, and the peasant associations also did propaganda in the countryside.

The reason is that this year's catastrophe, although under Zhao Han's rule, the disaster was relatively light, but the government's territory was severely damaged. Mr. Zhao did not want the people to suffer, so he allocated money and food for relief, which resulted in insufficient money and food. Now we borrow money and food from the common people, with an annual interest of two cents and repayment in five years.

When the news came out, the people talked about it, and they all thought it was very strange.

I have only seen the government exploit the people, but I have never seen the government borrow money from the people.

It's just strange, no one, including those gentry, thinks that Zhao Han will renege on his debt.

For a long time, the prestige established by Zhao Han has played a role. On the other hand, the people will also think, if Zhao Han really wants to renege on his debts, why not just raise taxes? Or directly apportion miscellaneous taxes, and borrowing money and grain without repaying it is purely superfluous.

Local officials in the Ming Dynasty suppressed thieves by apportioning miscellaneous taxes directly.

Wu Chengcheng.

Here, together with Jingdezhen, Zhangshu Town and Hekou Town, are known as the four famous towns in Jiangxi.

It is said to be a famous town, but it is actually a big tax town, and Wucheng Town is still a battleground for military strategists.

Since Zhao Han is developing in Nanchang Prefecture, he naturally wants to occupy Wucheng Town. One is to increase taxes, and the other is to control Poyang Lake.

A few Jinyiwei spies, dressed in ordinary clothes, went ashore to rest in Wucheng Town.

They were sent by Chongzhen. In addition to investigating the movements of Zhao thieves, they also had to collect Zhao thieves' policies. Chongzhen felt that if Zhao thief can develop and grow, he must have some advantages, and maybe he can learn a few tricks.

These Jinyiwei spies, after arriving in Wucheng Town, selected an inn, and immediately dispersed to inquire about the news.

A spy came to the outside of the town and saw a large number of people, either in small boats or on shoulders, sending food to the warehouse outside the town.

The spy stepped forward and asked, "Are you paying for food?"

The people said as they walked: "The grain has been paid early. This year, due to the disaster, the land tax has been reduced by 35%. We have a small reduction here. I heard that some villages in the mountains have been devastated by the drought. Instead of paying grain, the government Also poured out relief food."

"Then what are you doing?" The spy was even more puzzled.

The people laughed and said: "The government is reducing taxes and providing disaster relief. The money and food are not enough, so I have to borrow from the people and return two cents of interest."

"Aren't you afraid of the government's repudiation?" the spy asked confusedly.

"The emperor will renege on his debts, Mr. Zhao will not." The common people said.

The secret agent was shocked: "The government you are talking about is Mr. Zhao?"

The people laughed and said, "Apart from Mr. Zhao, which other government is there in Nanchang? Mr. Zhao is kind-hearted, and he doesn't want to see the people suffer. The disaster relief has run out of food. We people must help."

The spy immediately went back to town and told his friends what had happened.

The next day, they continued to go south, and soon found the same situation. People everywhere offered to lend grain to the "government".

However, there are very few gentry, especially grain merchants, who will not lend a grain of grain.

Because of the severe drought in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, they took the opportunity to stock up and plan to transport them there next spring. They don't sell it now because the price of food is still below the highest point. They let the people in the south of the Yangtze River starve to death, and the price of food will inevitably rise again next spring.

Instead of lending grain to Zhao Han, the grain merchants went to the countryside to buy grain at a high price, so that they could earn a lot of money next year.

Some people who were greedy for money did not lend grain to Zhao Han, and took the opportunity to sell the surplus grain to grain merchants at a high price.

Of course, as long as Zhao Han doesn't come forward to attack, the grain merchants will not oppose Zhao Han. Because Zhao Han has brought stability, especially this year's disaster relief, Jiangxi has kept its grain income, and they can buy more grain to transport to the southern provinces.

Businessmen like social stability, and they really support Zhao Han.

Very strange phenomenon.