I

Page 121

Xiao Puyun said: "My dear brother, I organized a 'Homecoming Association' in Nanchang, and the members are all scholars from Luling, Jishui, and Anfu counties. We will gather at Puxian Temple tomorrow. Come with us. We should work together to cut off Zhao thief!"

Xu Ying became more and more guilty, so she bit the bullet and agreed.

The next day, Xu Ying came to Puxian Temple and found that there were more than 30 people present.Among them, there is one Juren, thirteen scholars, and the rest are Tongsheng.

Xu Ying only dared to say that her home is in Tianhe Town, which belongs to Fei Yinggong's territory, and the remote location should not meet the "Tongcun".

"Tianhe Town was also taken by Zhao Thieves?"

A scholar suddenly spoke, but it was Master Huang's son Huang Shunli.The guy cupped his hands and said, "After Huang Shunli and Zhao's rebellion, the first one to kill was my father."

Xu Ying broke out in a cold sweat, and responded with a sigh: "Hey, Tianhe Town is next to Huangjia Town. Although it is located in the mountains, how can it be spared?"

"This thief Zhao is really hateful. I only sigh that the money and food have not been brought out, otherwise I will recruit soldiers to kill him!" Another scholar beat his chest and stamped his feet.

Xiao Puyun said: "Brother Jiewu, Brother Yin, has now defected to Governor Li. A few days ago, I went to Duchang County. The time of the Duchang rebels is numbered. We only need to wait for the Duchang rebels to be wiped out." , Governor Li and Wang Bingbei will definitely go south to conquer the Zhao bandits!"

"How does Chen Yushi react?" a scholar asked.

Xiao Puyun said: "Master Xun Press has sent out a memorial. He said that he must report the situation of the bandits truthfully. If His Majesty knows about this matter and that Jiangxi has fallen to several counties, he will definitely send soldiers from Guangdong and Fujian to encircle and suppress them!"

This is for sure, if there is only Zhao Han, maybe the other provinces will not be disturbed.

However, Nanjiang, Nanfeng, Qianshan, and Longquan all rebelled, and the uprising army can be said to be blooming everywhere, so they must rely on guest soldiers from other provinces.

"Great!" Everyone was delighted.

Guest soldiers from other provinces will definitely burn, kill and loot when they come to Jiangxi, but it's none of these scholars' business?

They all belonged to the diehards, and their family's land, money and food were robbed, and it didn't matter to them how cruelly the soldiers slaughtered the people.

This "Homecoming Meeting" is very interesting. We meet once every two weeks to exchange the latest news. It is simply a natural information station.

Everyone eats vegetarian food in Puxian Temple, recites poems in the afternoon, and disperses in the evening.

Xu Ying was about to leave when Huang Shunli suddenly caught up: "My brother Zhong Cong, I am in Huangjia Town and you are in Tianhe Town. Our hometowns are very close. Now we are all suffering and came to Nanchang. With such a fate, we must get closer in the future." .”

"It should be like this." Xu Ying said along the other side.

The two left the temple together, Huang Shunli asked: "Your brother is also surnamed Huang, so we shouldn't be of the same clan, right?"

Xu Ying replied: "My ancestors moved from Fucheng, and the genealogy has not been brought out. This is really not good."

"Where does my brother live?" Huang Shunli asked again.

Xu Ying replied, "Outside Jinxian Gate, half a mile away from the city gate."

Huang Shunli said: "It's very remote there, two or three miles to the south, there are graveyards everywhere."

"I didn't bring much money, so I could only live in a poor place." Xu Ying said.

"Oh, I'm not like this," Huang Shunli sighed, "When I ran away from Fucheng for my brother, I brought my slaves with me. As soon as I got to the pier, the servants colluded with my concubines and eloped. All these years, I have only one heir, and he died of illness before arriving in Nanchang, and now only my wife will never leave."

Xu Ying comforted: "My brother's condolences."

Huang Shunli wiped away his tears and said: "To be honest, I've almost run out of rice these days, and money is really tight. I don't know... I don't know my brother..."

Xu Ying smiled and said, "That's easy to say, just follow me home to get the money."

Huang Shunli was already poor. In Ji'an, because he didn't have enough money to shop in a brothel, he was detained by a bustard to force him to redeem his debts.Now there is no support from the family, and all the concubines, maids, and servants around him have disappeared, leaving only one regular wife who is still suffering.

After this guy came to Nanchang, he had to find people everywhere to borrow money. All the members of the "Home Returning Association" were borrowed, and now everyone avoids him.

Seeing Huang Shunli chasing Xu Ying away, the other scholars would smile heartily, gloating that someone would take advantage of him.

When we returned to the small courtyard we rented, it was already dark.

Huang Shunli followed happily, and bumped into Huang Daliang who had already returned from the store.

"Third...Third young master!" Huang Daliang exclaimed in shock.

Huang Shunli didn't have much impression of Huang Daliang, and said in a daze, "You are..."

Xu Ying felt that she was going to reveal her secrets, so she gestured immediately. Xiao Zhizhong slashed down from behind with one knife, and then hacked Huang Shunli to death with another two knife.

Xu Ying ordered: "Pull off all the valuable things on him, and throw the body into the streets in the middle of the night."

Back in the room, Xu Ying's heart was pounding.After changing my mood for a while, I took out the cipherbook and wrote a letter, which read: "On the patrol, the emperor knows about it, or a joint provincial encirclement and suppression. Time is running out for the Duchang Rebel Army."

The next morning, Xu Ying saw many people surrounding Huang Shunli's body not far from her house.

Some officials even came and asked about the situation.

Xu Ying rushed forward and cried loudly: "Brother, you died so badly, I shouldn't have lent you money, and let you be targeted by gangsters!"

"You know him?" the officer asked.

Xu Ying wiped her tears and said, "I want the messenger to know that my elder brother and I are both scholars in Luling County. We checked the genealogy yesterday, and we are actually brothers of the same clan. The hateful Luling thief Zhao killed my elder brother's family and me. , we had no choice but to flee to Nanchang for refuge. It didn't happen...it didn't happen, my brother was in short supply, so I borrowed him five taels of silver, and he was very happy when he went out. Wuwu... Brother, you died unjustly!"

Members of the Home Returning Association have also received news one after another, and they have no sympathy for Huang Shunli.

It's true that this guy borrows money everywhere, and it's already made people hate him, but he can be a little cleaner after he dies.

In order to show her benevolence and righteousness, Xu Ying borrowed Huang Shunli's wife to take care of her.

The woman's surname is Liu, she is only 21 years old, and she is beautiful and dignified.She was married from a neighboring village, and she didn't live in Huangjia Town for a few days, so she moved to Fucheng with her husband.

Even Huang Daliang and the others have only met twice from a distance, so they are not afraid of being recognized if they show their secrets.

Knowing that Xu Ying took Huang Shunli's widow to take care of her, some scholars felt that Xu Ying valued love and righteousness, and some scholars secretly ridiculed and envied her—that little widow is so beautiful.

In any case, Xu Ying became famous in the "Homecoming Association", and he was bound to be invited to various gatherings.

Chapter 142 [Theory of Datong Field Division]

early morning.

Several helpers were clearing the snow, and Liu Zhu, the deputy captain of the personal guard, hurried over.

"In Zongzhen, some people came to send winter animals, and they all said they didn't want them, but they still refused to leave." Liu Zhu said with a sad face, but his tone was full of pride.

Winter animals are a means for landlords to exploit tenants. Taking advantage of the winter solstice festival, tenants are forced to give gifts, and they must be poultry and livestock.

Now, the military households near Fucheng turned over completely after dividing the fields, and took the initiative to bring gifts to celebrate the winter solstice for Zhao Han.

Zhao Han said: "Go and explain to the people that you are not allowed to give gifts to officials. If you insist on giving them, let them send them to the nursing home. Those who leave the winter animals and leave will also be sent to the nursing home. "

"Obey!" Liu Zhu trotted away.

Every town has a nursing home, the scale is not large, and the operation is not bad.They have jobs throughout the year, such as making cloth shoes for soldiers, sewing some military padded clothes, etc. Many urban homeless people also make shoes and sell them to the General Military Office.

Fei Rulan held a cloak in her hand, chased it out and shouted: "Put this on, it's very cold today, don't catch a cold!"

Zhao Han turned around with a smile, Fei Rulan had already walked up to him, quickly helping Zhao Han put on the cloak.

This is a double-breasted smock, and Fei Rulan personally sewed a goose feather cloak.After Zhao Han put it on, he felt warm and light, reminiscent of a down jacket.

Walking to the Yamen in the front yard, Li Banghua has returned from Jishui and is waiting for a meeting.

As we said before, in the Ming Dynasty, Linchuan County, Jiangxi Province had the largest number of people in the county exam. Tens of thousands of people took the exam, and all of them were schoolchildren and children who did not pass the exam.

The quality of scholars in Jishui County is higher, but due to the area of ​​cultivated land, there are not as many scholars as in Linchuan County.However, in Jishui (excluding the county seat) with a total of 12 people, there are also four to five thousand scholars who have read the Four Books and Five Classics. If you count a few hundred people who can read, they can directly exceed ten thousand, and even some tenant children can read a few words.

By the way, serious land annexation at the end of the Ming Dynasty led to a decrease in the number of scholars in Jiangxi, and the number of Jinshi was also much smaller than before.

In the middle and early Ming Dynasty, a large number of impoverished children in Jiangxi were admitted to Jinshi.By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi from poor families in Jiangxi was very rare.

After Li Banghua came forward to appeal, countless low-level scholars took refuge, and the number of "talents" has exploded.

In order to prevent cheating in the division of land, scholars from Jishui County were transferred to Anfu County to assist in the division of land.The scholars from Anfu County were transferred to Jishui to help divide the fields.

It is often a missionary officer who takes a few newly recruited scholars to each village to organize the distribution of land.In this case, the work of dividing the fields in the two counties was quickly completed, and then the peasant associations of the two counties were formed.

"Total town!"

Everyone stood up.

Zhao Han raised his hand and said, "Let's all sit down and talk about the situation."

Chen Maosheng took the lead in speaking: "Now we have no shortage of scholars, especially children and students who have studied the Four Books and Five Classics. There are so many that there is no job to arrange them. But among them, many people do not believe in the harmony of the world, and they often do things unruly. In my opinion, Bailuzhou Academy should be renamed Datong Academy, and it is dedicated to teaching well-behaved scholars, and assigning duties after graduation!"

Li Banghua immediately said: "I agree to run a school to teach Datong thought, but Bailuzhou Academy cannot change its name, otherwise it will definitely arouse the resistance of scholars."

"There is no need to change the name of the academy." Pang Chunlai also said.

"Then don't change it." Zhao Han said with a smile.

But all serious scholars have feelings for Bailuzhou Academy, which is where Wen Tianxiang and many other sages came from.

Chen Maosheng had no choice but to sit back. He was born as an actor, and his thinking was particularly radical.

Zhao Han thought for a while: "I'm here to be the head of the academy, but I only go to give lectures occasionally. Mr. Li is the deputy head of the academy, and he also goes to visit when he has time. Chen Maosheng is Si Ye (dean of academic affairs), in charge of the specific affairs of the academy .By the way, the magistrate of Wang County has been around the countryside, and he is a little awkward to return to Fucheng, so let him go to the academy as a professor."

"Hahahaha!"

Everyone let out a burst of laughter.

The former magistrate of Luling, Wang Tiaoding, was willing to follow the thief, but he was unwilling to follow the thief. He was very uncomfortable.

However, Wang Diaoding and Ouyang Zheng jointly wrote a theoretical article - "On the Dividing of Land in Datong".

The angle of entry into the discussion is very tricky, which comes from the sentence in "Lao Tzu": The way of heaven is to make up for what is not enough; the way of man is to make up for what is not enough.Who can have more than enough to serve the world?There is only Tao.

What do you mean?

The continuous annexation of land by landlords belongs to the way of human beings and is the necessity of human nature.Zhao Han presided over the division of fields, which belonged to the way of heaven, and he was doing the way for heaven.Those who can serve the world with surplus can be called "the right ones", and Zhao Han and his officials are the right ones.

This article is so mysteriously written that ordinary people can't understand it at all, but it is very convincing to scholars.

Those low-level scholars who have benefited are even more admirable for "Datong Dividing Fields".With this article, they completely let go of their psychological burden, and happily ran to divide the land, because the division of the land is done in accordance with the way of heaven.

The vulgar slogans chanted by Chen Maosheng are aimed at ordinary people.

The articles by Wang Diaoding and Ouyang Zheng are specifically aimed at scholars in the world.

It's a pity that neither of them dared to sign their real names when they wrote the article.A pseudonym Wang Fan, a pseudonym Ou Zhen, sneaking like a thief.

Both Wang Diaoding and Ouyang Zheng were born child prodigies, the former was born at the age of 11, and the latter was born at the age of 13.Sure enough, he was knowledgeable. Zhao Han was very satisfied after reading the article, so he personally recommended them and recruited them both into Datonghui.

As for the "Datong Dividing Fields", all members of the Datong Association must read it, and it is best to be able to recite the entire article.

After making such a big move, Ouyang Zheng was happy to be the county magistrate, but Wang Diaoding was unwilling to take up the actual position.Then throw it to the academy to be a professor, let him teach students the thought of Datong, so that he can specialize in theoretical research in the future.

After talking about the academy, Li Banghua said: "There are too many scholars waiting to become officials and do things. I think that the entire Ji'an Mansion can be taken down! At least, Taihe County and half of Wan'an County must be taken down. Arranging defectors to become officials will make our territory a city with mountains and rivers!"

Zhao Han didn't want to expand too quickly, but he had already received a secret report from Xu Ying that Taihe County and Wan'an County must be included in the territory.

Only by taking down the two counties in the south can we completely occupy the Jiangxi Basin, making the surroundings of our own territory full of mountains.

Sometimes, we can't just look at internal affairs, but also consider military issues. Li Banghua thinks from the overall situation of the war.

"Has the volunteer army in Longquan County been contacted?" Zhao Han asked.

Xiao Huan is not only in charge of clean government affairs, but also temporarily in charge of intelligence work in the site.He immediately stood up and said, "I'm about to report this matter, and I've already contacted the Longquan Rebel Army. The leader of the Longquan Rebel Army is Fang Shengchang. His great-grandfather used to be the Deputy Baihu of Longquan, and his family has fallen in his generation. This person has studied for several years. , dropped out of school due to family poverty. Although he captured Longquan County, he was afraid of being encircled by the government, so he was willing to join us."

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Very good. When Taihe and Wan'an counties are captured, immediately send people to take over Longquan County, and connect the southern jurisdictions into one."

Chen Maosheng couldn't help but said: "General Town, are we expanding too fast? Many scholars are not obedient at all. If they are assigned to various counties as officials, there must be a lot of corrupt officials."

Zhao Han sighed and said: "The tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop. I also want to develop slowly, but the court doesn't give me the chance. The emperor already knows about Jiangxi. Send troops across the border!"

Everyone turned pale with shock, including Fei Ruhe, who had just returned from Anfu County, couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

The encirclement and suppression of the three provinces may send tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops. Can we really bear it?

Only Li Banghua and Pang Chunlai were still relaxed, laughing as they sat there.

Li Banghua said: "In western Fujian and southern Jiangxi, there are many rebels in the mountains. The officers and soldiers of Fujian and Guangdong provinces have to eliminate the rebels there before they dare to go north and attack us."

Pang Chunlai said: "With the temperament of the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, it will take at least half a year to unite the two provinces to send troops. If you encounter someone who hinders you, it will take more than a year to deploy troops. The amount of food and grass is enough for them. This is why The way to take death is that if the Southern Jiangxi Rebel Army has not been wiped out, there will be wars in Fujian and Guangdong."

"Mr. Pang's words are justified." Li Banghua echoed.

In Fujian and Guangdong provinces, first of all, there are very few regular armies, and only the navy is barely decent.If you want to come to Jiangxi to suppress the bandits, you have to recruit soldiers for training again, and the province has to raise food and grass by itself.

Now the north is still fighting, and the imperial court is pressing for food and taxes.

The officials of the three departments in Guangdong and Fujian not only have to deal with the taxation of the court, but also provide money and food to recruit soldiers to go out. Where do they get so much money and food?At that time, the exploitation of the people will definitely be stepped up again, which will inevitably arouse countless peasants to rebel.

After hearing Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua's explanation, everyone felt at ease again, and they were no longer so afraid of the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers.

Fei Ruhe suddenly said: "When I was in Anfu County, there were volunteers who escaped from Pingxiang and joined the army, and they brought some important military information. When the prefect of Yuanzhou conquered the volunteers in Pingxiang, there were thousands of archers under his command."

"Really?" Zhao Han was very surprised.

Fei Ruhe said: "I sent someone to Yuanzhou to inquire about the news, but it was Tian Younian, the prefect of Yuanzhou. He heard that the Tartars were besieging Beijing, so he started recruiting craftsmen to make bows. He recruited more than ten bowmen from the Nanchangwei Weaponry Station. He ordered local craftsmen in Yuanzhou to study. In the autumn of the fourth year of Chongzhen, five hundred pairs of bows and arrows were made, all of which were deported to the capital and presented to the emperor. I heard that he was rewarded by the emperor and allocated money to him to continue making bows."