When Wei Laizi knocked on the door of the Boling County Temple, the county magistrate Hu Pu was in the county office reading the newspaper "Some Issues Regarding Land Distribution in Counties" summarized by the Political Affairs Hall.
Taishan Army's papermaking technology was very advanced. In addition to becoming an important export commodity, it had a very significant impact on the expression and efficiency of administrative affairs.
After paper replaced bamboo slips, it became easier to express words. So naturally, in order to fully express the government affairs of the Zhengshitang to the counties below, a new writing style of official documents began to emerge.
This style is also often called "political writing".
And now what Hu Pu is holding is such a political document, with more than 50,000 words. In the past, this number of words was enough for a book, but now it is just used to summarize some experiences in dividing land.
The above changes are just a small microcosm of Hebei today. As the Taishan Army vigorously develops productivity, Hebei will become more and more unfamiliar, but it will also become more and more vibrant.
Hu Pu is now studying this Di Bao attentively, because it represents the latest attitude and spirit of Zhengshitang towards land allocation.
Even though Hu Pu was only eighteen years old, he was already an old official. He knew that getting things done was one thing, but doing it to the satisfaction of the boss was another.
After receiving this newspaper, Hu Pu put down his official duties for the day and devoted himself to studying behind closed doors.
After reading the newspaper, Hu Pu found that he had indeed gained a lot, and he also understood the lessons learned from other areas in the field.
First, the political hall directly criticized the county magistrate of Shiyi in Changshan State, reprimanding him for delaying the implementation of the land distribution policy.
Hu Pu also knew about this matter.
This Shiyi Ling was a subordinate official who had previously served as an official in Hanoi. He was captured by the Taishan Army when he was ordered to escort military supplies to the Han army on the front line.
Later, he performed well in politics and was transferred to Shiyi, Xinding District, as a chief official.
After understanding the local situation in Shiyi, the Shiyi magistrate wrote back to Zhang Nan, the Prime Minister of Changshan, expressing one idea:
"Our situation in Shiyi is quite special. There are no powerful people in the county, so there is no land to divide."
How is this going?
It turns out that most of Shiyi's counties are within the Taihang Mountains. In good years, some mountain people would come out to sell some mountain products. However, with the chaos in the world, the entire Taihang Mountains have become a paradise for thieves and refugees.
In this context of chaos and decline, most of the local tycoons in Shiyi could not survive. Either they were robbed and reduced to extreme poverty, or they took their clans and moved elsewhere.
Later, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Changshan State increased taxes and labor in order to supply the northern army of the imperial court. Under such circumstances, the common people outside the mountains began to make ends meet and fled into the mountains in groups.
The Shi Yi Ling’s report was:
"The difficulty of Shiyi lies not with local tyrants, but with the peace of the people. If the people are uneasy, what can they do even if they have land?"
In fact, the situation in Shiyi is not an isolated case. This can be regarded as a common situation in Hebei to a considerable extent.
The counties in Youji have been harassed by barbarians all year round, and they also need to bear heavy taxes for border defense in the northern Xinjiang. Life is generally difficult.
After that, the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Hebei broke out for nearly three years, and the oppression by local county guards became even more fierce.
In this environment, only the Boling Cui clan, Zhu Liu Wang, and other right clans with a wealth of more than two thousand dan could stay out of the trouble, and even achieved greater development in the war.
Those bankrupt local tycoons, their land, population, and dock walls were all taken over by these wealthy families.
So this is what Shiyi is encountering now.
The land above is divided into fields for powerful people, but when you look up, you can see that not to mention powerful people, not many people can see them, and they have all gone into the mountains.
As for the remaining ones who are still farming outside the mountains, to put it bluntly, they still support your Taishan Army and believe that your Taishan Army can resume production.
If you go to divide other people's fields at this time, these people will also run away.
Therefore, this Shiyi magistrate wrote to Zhang Nan, who was the Prime Minister of Changshan at the time, and talked about the special situation in Shiyi that "the poor are poor and the rich are not rich".
Finally, he also hoped that Zhang Nan would change the policy of allocating farmland and spend his main energy on mobilizing mountain people to come down the mountain.
There is no doubt that Hu Pu, who is also a local official, believes that Shi Yiling's judgment is more in line with the current situation. However, Hu Pu understands better that dividing land is not a matter of seeking truth from facts, but a matter of attitude.
Sure enough, after the Shiyi Ling sent the above letter to Zhang Nan, the Prime Minister of Changshan, he was reprimanded by Zhang Nan, and his words were also very harsh.
Zhang Nan was a member of the Lao Taishan Army. He came from hardships and immediately fought with Zhang Chong for several years. In addition, he came out of the army to temporarily serve as a local official, so when he saw the letter from Shi Yiling, his reaction was very big.
In his opinion, the Shiyi Order was deliberately obstructing the land distribution policy. What he, Zhang Nan, wanted was to enforce the order and prohibit it, not to tell him anything special.
If you are special, then other counties are also special, so can this land allocation continue?
Zhang Nan can't forget that Dong Fang in the Heji base area talked about compassion in this area, which led to the Heji riots later.
Otherwise, Dong Fang would still be ranked below Yuban?
Therefore, regardless of his inner situation or his own future, Zhang Nan could not tolerate Shi Yiling's behavior.
So he submitted his suggestions and the documents of the Shi Yi Ling to Yecheng and submitted them to the Political Affairs Hall for discussion.
Duman, who was handling political affairs at the time, gave this reply after accepting the above form:
"Shi Yi Ling's petition does reflect the real situation to a certain extent. But in this case, does the land and soil have to be divided? From now on, this is not worth discussing. This is not an economic issue, but an
political issues."
Later, Duman referred to Zhang Chong's previous explanations of the purpose of dividing the fields, and combined with his own understanding of this explanation, wrote a magnificent article "On the Distribution of Fields".
The full text of "Lun Dividing Fields" was attached to Di Bao, and Hu Pu quickly studied it word for word.
The whole article first explains the Taishan Army's land distribution policy in different periods.
In the earliest days of the Taishan area, the most resolute way to divide the land was to confiscate all the land and resolutely eliminate the powerful and powerful people physically.
During this period, the land allocated to the head of Guizhou and Tuoli only had the right to use it, but no ownership. At the same time, private sales of land were prohibited. The tax rate was maintained at a tax rate of thirty to one.
However, this strategy works well in the areas surrounding Mount Tai, but once it is extended to the outside, everyone will be the enemy.
Because of a very simple reason, under this policy, no group will be the beneficiary. Needless to say, powerful and powerful people, even those who are subordinates do not have much support.
Because under the rule of Taishan Army, although they had less taxes, they still had no land.
Therefore, after Zhang Chong led the Taishan Army and began to move out of the mountains, in order to cope with the more complex external environment and unite allies such as the Hu Mu family, the Taishan Army's land distribution policy changed.
Instead of dividing all the land, it was divided into only the land of the powerful, and then distributed to the landless Qianshou and Tuli. At first, these lands were still in the hands of the Taishan Army, but later as the Taishan Army began to operate the Laiwu area, these lands were
All were given to farmers.
Since that time, the Taishan Army has maintained this policy.
Until last year, in order to quickly annex Youji, the Taishan Army confiscated half of Haoqiang's land and retained its lacquer gardens, fruit trees, mulberry trees, bamboo forests and other commercial lands.
This policy lasted for about half a year, and now all the land owned by powerful people has been confiscated and distributed equally to everyone, including powerful people.
After Duman briefly talked about the inheritance of the land distribution policy, he summarized the essence. This is also the most realistic basis for Taishan Army's criticism of moderate land distribution.
Duman said:
"Dividing the fields is not for the sake of dividing the fields. It is a means for the Taishan Army to help thousands of Guizhou leaders stand upright. It is a means for the Taishan Army to penetrate deeply into the countryside. It is to develop and strengthen the Taishan Army and to clean up the remnants of the Han Dynasty.
process."
Most of the above words were said by Zhang Chong in conversations over the years. This time, Du Man summarized them systematically.
From here, Duman very clearly expressed his attitude towards dividing the land, that is, don't be afraid of trouble and don't be afraid of violence.
Of course, allocating land to the Guizhou leaders is the first priority, because keeping thousands of Guizhou leaders fed and warm is the moral pursuit and legal basis of the Taishan Army. But in this process, it stimulates the enthusiasm of the Guizhou leaders, stimulates their sense of resistance to the powerful, and supports the Taishan Army.
is equally important.
Because only in this way can the Taishan Army retain the fruits of these victories, and these Guizhou leaders can truly turn around.
Therefore, the key point of dividing the fields is to divide the fields.
It not only involves land, but also involves the redistribution of power and status at the grassroots level. In the past, it was the powerful who held power in the countryside, but now it is the Taishan Army.
The Taishan Army wants to replace the small favors of the grassroots powerful in the past with the kindness of dividing the land.
In summary, the Taishan Army aims to eliminate the powerful economic foundation and social status through land division, and to firmly unite the Guizhou leaders around them.
Therefore, Duman specially gave three tasks to the following chief officers for this purpose.
One is to establish the Taishan Army's township offices and field protection teams. The other is to promote production. The other is to destroy powerful local landowners.
Each chief official will do these three things, and Yecheng will also look at these three things. Whoever does it well will have merit. If he doesn't do it well, he will go down.
After reading this report, Hu Pu immediately felt a sense of enlightenment.
Only then did he gain a top-level perspective on the land distribution policy and understand why the higher-ups insisted on eliminating the powerful before dividing the land.
At this time, Hu Pu felt a little lucky.
Fortunately, the situation in Boling where he is located is not as complicated as Shiyi. He really has powerful people here, and now he has caught a lot of illegal evidence of this powerful person through the process of continuous investigation.
Just wait for the right time to eradicate Cui.
Thinking of this, he felt a little sympathy for the Shi Yi Ling. He suddenly couldn't remember his name. He quickly turned to his name and unconsciously said:
"Chang Lin? That's a good name."
I just hope that Chang Lin can change in time after being ordered again, otherwise it will be difficult for the two of them to want to be ministers in the same palace.
Just when Hu Pu was about to continue studying, his staff whispered outside the hall:
"Mr. County, there is someone outside who says there is a grievance."
At this time, Hu Pu was so interested in watching that he opened his mouth to be dismissed first, but when the words reached his lips, he stopped again.
He looked at the paperweight given to him by his teacher Tao An when he graduated, and thought of the teacher's teachings to him. Hu Pu finally replied:
"Okay, let's open the case for trial."
Then on the way to the front hall, Hu Pu briefly heard about the case from his staff. After he finished listening, Hu Pu laughed:
"Say the time, and the time will come."
Then he told his staff:
"You don't need to follow me to the front temple for a while. You can go directly to the outside of the city to call General Geng Zhen. He said that the county is going to use weapons."
Knowing that the matter was of great importance, the staff nodded and led a county soldier out of the temple.
Not long after, the Boling County Temple opened the middle gate, and dozens of county soldiers followed Hu Pu on horseback from the middle gate. Among the crowd, Wei Laizi stood out.
Hu Pu dressed up in military uniform and led the county soldiers through the city, which naturally aroused everyone's suspicion.
They had seen the county monarch Yan Ran sitting in court many times, and this was the first time they had seen such a martial artist. They just didn't know which family would suffer such a disaster.
After Hu Pu left the city, he quickly met Geng Hao, the general who had been waiting on the official road. The latter brought all the 500 soldiers, which could be said to be a full force.
After reuniting, Hu Pu first took a look at the armament and morale of the soldiers, and nodded secretly. He smiled and said to Geng Hao:
"I have long heard that General Geng Zhen came from the Marshal's Department of the Right Army. He is indeed a well-trained soldier."
Geng Hao is not self-effacing, and their warriors don't like this. If you can do it, you can do it. If you can't do it, you say yes. If you don't do it when you are asked, you will lose your life.
Therefore, Geng Hao said bluntly:
"Boling is a large county. When the general came out of Boling, the marshal specially allowed me to bring a team down. The general relied on the fifty men of our right army, with the field guards as the backbone, and absorbed the Han army to surrender.
This result can only be achieved by training the troops for three days. Based on General Mo's many years of experience on the battlefield, although our Boling camp cannot defeat the main force of the Han army in the past, it is easy to deal with the powerful tribes with one against two.
"
Hu Pu nodded. With these words, he felt at ease.
So, without further ado, the Boling camp with Geng Hao headed straight for Dunbenbi in the west of the county, where the main hall of the Cui family was located.
Along the way, for the sake of concealment, all the woodcutters and tenant farmers encountered were taken under the army and marched together.
After only walking for about an hour, Hu Pu drove to the outside of Dunbenbi under the guidance of Wei Laizi.
At this time, Cui's tribe on the wall had already seen the smoke and dust from a distance, and kept ringing the alarm bell on the watchtower.
The entire dock wall was in chaos.
Down below, Geng Hao rode up and shouted at the wall:
"The county magistrate is handling the case, so why don't you open the door quickly?"
But whoever looks at the soldiers below dares to believe this sentence. Whoever handles the case should bring a troop of soldiers and horses.
But Geng Hao didn't let the visitor think at all, and immediately cursed:
"If we don't open the wall again, the entire wall will be considered a riot."
At this time, Cui's tribe panicked. They quickly went to the clan leader Cui Si, hoping that he would think of a solution.
What can Cui Si do at this time?
There are not even 500 people on the entire Dunben wall, but there are 500 soldiers outside, and behind them there are 50,000 or 60,000 elite Taishan troops.
What can he do?
Taking one last look at the ancestral temple, Mr. Cui Si burst into tears:
"I regret that I didn't listen to my advice, which brought this great disaster to my family."
After a while, Cui opened the wall. The Boling camp outside the wall filed in and quickly took control of the entire wall.
Then, the soldiers of Boling County went out everywhere and found all the disciples and tenants who could be found nearby. They told these people to have a meeting at Cui's ancestral wall.
Just one:
"Everyone should be fed and warm, and there should be land for the tiller. The Taishan Army is in charge today, and revenge will be taken today."