The conversation between Zhao Junchen, Mr. Shi and a group of refugees seemed to have caused quite a stir.
But in fact, due to objective conditions, among the thousands of refugees in Xingzhou, only two to three hundred people stood nearby and listened to the conversation.
So after Zhao Junchen made his promise, he quickly left the refugee center and waited patiently for the repercussions of the conversation to gradually ferment.
Without any surprise, this conversation quickly spread to all the refugees and quickly triggered a strong response.
In this era, even if the common people at the bottom have not suffered from the plunder and plunder of the landlords and gentry, they must have suffered from the bullying and oppression of the landlords and gentry. They all have hidden hatred in their hearts, but they usually dare not express this hatred at all.
But now, Zhao Junchen not only made some refugees see the benefits of being enemies of the Jin gentry, but also successfully ignited the hatred in their hearts.
Humans are group animals and are always easily affected by group emotions and live in an information cocoon.
As a result, the refugees soon only had this matter in their minds. After exchanges and discussions with each other, they became more and more convinced of Zhao Junchen's statement.
After all, the refugees are all from the lower class. Under class conflicts, their stance is naturally hostile to the gentry class. Therefore, even if Zhao Junchen's various statements are deliberately exaggerated and misleading, they are still willing to believe them.
Some refugees still own dozens of acres of land in their hometowns. After listening to Zhao Junchen's rhetoric, they are naturally worried that their family property will be taken away by the gentry landlords;
Some of the refugees, like Mr. Shi, once belonged to self-cultivating farmers, but due to various natural and man-made disasters, their family property was taken away by the gentry in their hometown. After hearing that Zhao Junchen was willing to take back the property for them, he was even more excited;
There are also some refugees who have no interest entanglements with the wealthy gentry families, but considering the humiliation and oppression they suffer in daily life, they are of course happy to see the gentry landlords encounter bad luck at this time.
What's more, Zhao Junchen is a big shot, and big shots don't lie.
Zhao Junchen said that all the sufferings suffered by the people were all due to the oppression and frame-up of the gentry and landlords, so it must not be false;
Zhao Junchen said again that he was willing to stand up for justice for the people and make enemies of the Jin gentry in Xingzhou, so the refugees naturally had the confidence and courage;
Zhao Junchen also said that he is willing to protect the people's existing family properties and to regain the land they have lost for the people, so those refugees who still own a small amount of self-cultivated land, and those who once owned self-cultivated land
The refugees will support Zhao Junchen without hesitation.
Never underestimate the obsession of farmers in this era with their own farmland!
In this way, during the rest of the trip, refugee representatives continued to rush to see Zhao Junchen, complain to Zhao Junchen, report their grievances, and report various evil deeds of the Jin gentry in their hometown, hoping that Zhao Junchen could also uphold justice for them.
In just one day, Zhao Junchen had collected a large amount of evidence of the Xingzhou Jin gentry's evil deeds.
Zhao Junchen repeatedly warned the refugees that they would not act without authorization after returning to their hometown in Xingzhou. Instead, they would first collect doubts, contact more villagers, and then make representations to the government through formal channels.
At the same time, although refugee representatives continued to come to Zhao Junchen to redress their grievances, what was surprising was that the speed of action of Zhao Junchen's team actually accelerated a lot.
Obviously, because of Zhao Junchen's statement and promise, the refugees either wanted to take back their family property, or wanted to keep their family property, or they just wanted to see the Jin gentry's misfortune with their own eyes. Everyone was eager to return to their hometown, bursting out
Amazing motivation.
*
Due to the accelerated travel speed, Zhao Junchen arrived in Xingzhou ahead of schedule after more than a day.
The more than a thousand refugees traveling with Zhao Junchen all came from various villages and towns in the eastern part of Xingzhou, so after Zhao Junchen led his team to Xingzhou, they were not far from the refugees' respective hometowns.
[A novel app that has been running stably for many years, comparable to the old book-chasing tool, and a source-changing app used by old bookworms,]
Therefore, Zhao Junchen immediately began to make arrangements for the refugees to return home, and also dispatched 300 imperial guards from under his command to accompany the refugees back home. In name, they were for escort and surveillance, but in fact they wanted to provide
The refugees were supportive and emboldened.
After such operations, the size of Zhao Junchen's team was greatly reduced, with only more than two hundred people left. The speed of the journey was further accelerated, and they continued to rush towards the location of Xingzhou Fucheng.
After nearly two hours of travel, Zhao Junchen finally arrived near Xingzhou Fucheng Station before it got dark.
Then, Zhao Junchen saw from a distance that a large welcoming team had been waiting for him in front for a long time.
The leader of this welcoming team was a short, stocky old man wearing a general's robe, with a black face and no beard. This old man was unattractive in appearance, but Zhao Junchen could feel from a distance that this man was moving his hands and feet.
The powerful aura gives people an undeniable sense of oppression.
Obviously, this old man is Zhang Su, a former member of the East Palace of Emperor Deqing who is as famous as Liang Fuchen and the commander-in-chief of Jizhen.
Zhang Su was followed by more than twenty civil and military officials and representatives of the gentry, among whom Zhao Junchen also saw the figures of Xu Qingyan and Liu Zimin.
Considering Zhang Su's qualifications, status, and style, Zhao Junchen naturally did not dare to neglect him and hurriedly greeted him.
As the teams of both sides quickly closed the distance, Zhang Su rushed to Zhao Junchen at the lead, and said in a calm voice, "Zhang Su, the commander-in-chief of Ji Town, has met Zhao Junchen!"
Zhang Su suffered a stroke due to cold many years ago, leaving behind the sequelae of facial paralysis. There was almost no change in his expression, so Zhao Junchen could not infer Zhang Su's thoughts and stance based on his expression changes.
Zhao Junchen also kept his expression calm, smiled and returned the greeting: "General Zhang, I haven't seen you for a long time. Is everything okay?"
Zhang Su's voice was still calm, and he said slowly: "Everything is fine, I! In recent years, military affairs have been busy, and your Majesty is worried that I will be embarrassed when I meet Zhou Shoufu, so I have never agreed to my return to Beijing to resume my duties, so I
The last time I met Zhao Gechen was three years ago, right? I remember that Zhao Gechen was just a Minister of Household Affairs at that time, which made people secretly marvel at his youth. But I didn't expect that when we met again, you were already a man.
A cabinet minister!"
It stands to reason that as the commander-in-chief of Jizhen, Zhang Su's status is far inferior to that of Zhao Junchen. However, this man has always regarded himself as an old friend of Emperor Deqing's East Palace, and he usually doesn't pay attention to anyone, so he and Zhao Junchen are in the same position.
After meeting him, he also acted in an old-fashioned manner, relying on his old age and showing off his old age, as if he was on an equal footing with Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen knew Zhang Su's temperament and did not show any dissatisfaction, but wanted to respond with a few words of humility.
However, before Zhao Junchen could speak, Zhang Su suddenly changed the topic and said: "However, I and Liang Fuchen, the second assistant to the cabinet and the governor of the three sides, are also from the East Palace. They have a good relationship with each other and have always maintained a good relationship.
Correspondence via correspondence…
Liang Cifu and Zhao Gechen defeated the Mongolian coalition forces in Shaanxi-Gansu and worked together to regain the old land of Hetao. They were extremely impressed by Zhao Gechen, so I heard many things about Zhao Gechen through Liang Cifu's letters. Liang Cifu spoke highly of Zhao Gechen.
, I am simply full of praise...
Hehe! I haven't seen him for a few years, but I didn't expect Zhao Gechen's mental improvement to be so significant, his methods to be so superb, and his courage to be even more shocking! He is simply better than Zhou Shoufu back then!
"
As he spoke, Zhang Su's face was still paralyzed and his expression showed no change, but Zhao Junchen could clearly feel the coldness in his eyes.
Obviously, because Liang Fuchen had an excellent relationship with Zhang Su, Liang Fuchen told Zhang Su many confidential things through correspondence.
And some of these secrets must be extremely detrimental to Zhao Junchen.
For example, Liang Fuchen suspected that Zhao Junchen had arranged for someone to pretend to be a horse bandit to kidnap and imprison him!
If he were an ordinary person, Liang Fuchen would be concerned about his own image and reputation, so he would naturally not expose the scandal. However, Liang Fuchen and Zhang Su were old friends who had known each other for decades, so they were naturally not afraid of embarrassment and would not deliberately hide it.
At this time, Zhang Su was openly praising Zhao Junchen for his rapid growth and superb methods, but in fact he meant it with a hidden threat to avenge Liang Fuchen.
Especially when Zhang Su compared Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing together, this threat became even more obvious.
You know, Zhang Su immediately sent assassins to assassinate Zhou Shangjing because Emperor Deqing casually complained that Zhou Shangjing was in trouble. If Emperor Deqing hadn't stopped him in time, Zhou Shangjing might have died a long time ago, and Zhang Su
Comparing Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing with each other, it is obvious that Zhao Junchen is also regarded as a threat.
After understanding Zhang Su's threat, Zhao Junchen's heart sank immediately.
Within the Jizhen defense area, Zhang Su has the most power. Moreover, this person is decisive in his actions and is deeply influenced by the Holy Scriptures. Once he becomes an opponent, he will definitely be a strong enemy.
Zhao Junchen has just entered Xingzhou and has already received strong hostility from Zhang Su before he can carry out his plan. This is definitely not a good thing!
Zhao Junchen couldn't help but feel anxious, constantly deducing the changes in the situation, but found that if he could not win Zhang Su's support to a certain extent, it would be impossible to control the situation in Xingzhou no matter what.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen must find a way to resolve Zhang Su's hostility as soon as possible.
It is not easy to quickly resolve the hostility in Zhang Su's heart, but it is not impossible to find.
The biggest characteristic of Zhang Su is not his decisiveness and arrogance, but his foolish loyalty to Emperor Deqing!
Therefore, Zhao Junchen only needed to make Zhang Su understand that what he was doing was beneficial to Emperor Deqing, and he would still have a chance to win Zhang Su's cooperation and support.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen already had a countermeasure in mind.
Zhao Junchen could be seen without changing his expression. After a few words of modesty, his expression suddenly turned cold and he raised his voice: "Where is Liu Zimin, our colleague from Xingzhou?"
As Zhao Junchen asked aloud, Liu Zimin, who was hiding in the team, immediately trembled and his expression changed drastically. After hesitating for a moment, he finally gritted his teeth and made up his mind, trotted all the way to Zhao Junchen, bowed and lowered his head and said:
"Your Majesty, Liu Zimin, pays homage to Minister Zhao!"
Liu Zimin knew that he had completely messed up the new agricultural policy in Xingzhou, and he also knew how much trouble he had caused Zhao Junchen, and he also knew what a huge turmoil he had caused in the temple, so he did not dare to do so at this time.
He raised his head and looked at Zhao Junchen.
In fact, after hearing Zhao Junchen suddenly summon Liu Zimin, all the civil and military officials present looked gloating, waiting for Zhao Junchen to reprimand Liu Zimin loudly. It could also be seen that Liu Zimin was in high spirits.
How bad is the popularity among state officials?
But Zhao Junchen's subsequent statement made Liu Zimin, Zhang Su, and all the civil and military officials present stunned and shocked!
…
PS: I have something to do at night, so I may not have time to type, so I stayed up late to write a chapter and publish it in advance to ensure that the recent continuous update record of the bug will not be interrupted.
If I can finish things in advance tonight, I will do double updates.