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 Terrace at the head of the city can observe the river in all directions. The Yugu Terrace on the mountain can observe the entire Ganzhou City.
Liu Anfeng took 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 formerly 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 was either to be transferred to the magistrate's office, 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.
For positions like county magistrate, scholars must be employed. It does not have to be a scholar with a good reputation, but one must be proficient in literature and arithmetic. Household 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. "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 be increased by leaps and bounds. Are there so many officials?"
"Yes," Liu Anfeng explained, "the yamen of each prefecture, county, and town 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 kidnapped, he was studying hard to be a scholar. He was thrown to 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 he left home, his grandmother gave away his 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 at the foot of 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 the terms. In order to surrender smoothly, they did not even loot 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 an agreement. If they could not reach an agreement, those Fujian soldiers would have to wreak havoc on the people of the city before they died.
"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 no longer has any land, 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 a matter of dividing the land?"
Zou Liangyi said: "Father, my son 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 treasury is empty. The poor cannot live, so they fight for their lives. The 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 all this from the rebels?"
"Father, please look at this book." Zou Liangyi handed over a copy of "Datong Collection".
Zou Weilian had heard about this book. Merchant ships coming from the north would be forced to buy a copy as long as they passed through Ji'an Prefecture. However, he had not read it himself and did not allow others to read it. The book was immediately destroyed after searching it.
Today, Zou Weilian finally opened "Datong Collection" seriously. After reading it, he didn't know what to say.
Zou Liangyi said: "Please father present the city and surrender."
"My father cannot take charge of city defense matters," Zou Weilian said to his son. "Go out of the city and ask if these Fujian soldiers can be released back to their hometown. They have been away from home for more than two years and do not 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 who have not stained their hands with the blood of the people can leave."
"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, nor 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 area 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 soldiers. Before he arrived at Nankang County, he heard that Nankang County had been captured by local Tian soldiers. The leader of the Tian soldiers led dozens of subordinates and went 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 start an uprising."
I’m going to conquer the county!”
…
Huichang County.
Hundreds of the remnants of the Tian soldiers who fled into the mountains carried 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 town, the number had grown to thousands.
…
Yudu County.
Chen Ting, the commander-in-chief of Fujian who retreated here, looked at the frightened expressions of the field soldiers outside the city. He quickly ordered: "Speak quickly and 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 was that the tenant farmers in southern Jiangxi were living a miserable life and were naturally inclined to rebel. When news of the defeat of the officers and soldiers came out, they immediately took action.
How miserable 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 chief registrar of Ningdu County, took a boat straight to the outside of Ganzhou City and asked Fei Ruhe to send troops to send him to Ji'an Prefecture.
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, and it is difficult for small tenant farmers to survive. If they are not responsible for the landlords, these wealthy tenants are even more abominable!"
Zhao Han asked curiously: "How did a wealthy tenant become wealthy?"
Wei Jiaju said: "Just take the distance between Ningdu County and the people in the county, sixty-seven out of ten people are from Fujian."
"How come there are sixty-seven people in the prefectures and counties in Jiangxi who 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 had been 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 to 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 the local population has been hidden by landlords. And 60 to 70% of Fujian residents still have their household registration in Fujian and have not registered locally at all.
The first few batches of tenant farmers in Fujian quickly became rich by farming because they banded together to deal with the landlords.
What was the situation at that time?
Landlords have to pay heavy taxes to the government, while tenants only pay normal rent to the landlord. From the output of one acre of land, the tenants' income 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 land.
As a result, they recruited more fellow Fujianese, sublet the land, and became wealthy tenants and tenant owners who reaped the profits.
This formed a three-level relationship: landlord - wealthy tenant - 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 area 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 and tenants fight while they themselves reap the benefits. Many Tianbing uprisings 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 resisting the government, they will fight for water with thousands of people at every turn!"
This narration opened Zhao Han's eyes and he decided to send Chen Maosheng to take charge of the work personally.