Chapter 115: Self-appointed as the General Manager of Yangzhou
At noon the next day, three notices appeared on each of the four gate walls of Jiangdu City.
The first one is a notice to reassure people.
Inform everyone what happened last night so that everyone does not need to panic. Now the Beimen Army governs Jiangdu, and anyone who is harassed by soldiers can go to the General Manager's Office to file a complaint.
The second one is a pension notice.
All households in the west of the city that were plundered by the Ximen Army can go to the General Manager's Office to register. As long as they are verified to be correct, the General Manager's Office will issue food to help these households tide over the difficulties.
The third one is a call to action against the Yuan Dynasty.
The memorandum listed various crimes of the Yuan Dynasty that exploited the people. Zhang Yangquan, a member of Qianhu Household in Beimen, decided to take charge of Yangzhou and raise his troops to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty so that the people of the world could live a prosperous and healthy life!
The three notices caused an uproar in the city.
The common people had a very good impression of the Beimen Army and deeply hated Polo Buhua and the Mongolian oppression, so they all clapped and applauded.
The wealthy gentry were invited by Shen Qianqian and Bian Ying early in the morning. Everyone gathered together to breathe, and their uneasiness was relieved a lot.
However, not all wealthy households were invited, and the Cai family did not receive the invitation.
Cai Yuanwai felt regretful and angry about this.
Regret is that he was on the wrong team, and anger is that Shen Qianqian took the opportunity to retaliate against him. Shen Qianqian is very popular now, and the Cai family will definitely have a hard time in Jiangdu in the future.
Around 4 o'clock in the morning, Cai Heng went out to inquire about the news and returned. Cai Heng asked hurriedly: "How is your sister?"
Cai Heng was quite calm, and slowly walked to the chair and sat down, saying: "The palace has been breached, and both the younger sister and the King of Zhennan have been sent to the prison of the General Manager's Mansion."
Member Cai asked: "Can I be rescued?"
Cai Heng shook his head: "All the former officials of the General Manager's Office have been suspended. Only Sun Hong is retained. He has always been at odds with our family, so I'm afraid he won't help."
Cai Yuanwai leaned back and sighed: "This is called an emperor and a courtier. The network of relationships we have worked so hard to build in Jiangdu for so long has disappeared in an instant."
Cai Heng was silent for a while and said: "My child thinks that his father does not need to be too pessimistic."
Cai Yuanwai knew that his son had seen things thoroughly, so he cheered up and said, "What should I say?"
"My father is only worried about Shen Qianqian suppressing our family. However, as far as I know, when Zhang Yangquan was governing the north of the city, he never helped the Shen family or the Bian family to oppress others!"
Cai Yuanwai was moved in his heart and said: "Yes, I almost ignored this matter."
Cai Heng added: "As for rescuing the little sister from prison, there is no chance. I predict that the imperial court will soon send a large army to attack Jiangdu. If we can help defend the city and perform meritorious service, we will have a chance to speak in front of Zhang Yangquan."
Cai Yuanwai frowned and said: "You want our entire clan to take refuge in Zhang Yangquan?"
Cai Heng said seriously: "Father, we have no choice but to take this road! If the imperial court takes Jiangdu, it will definitely massacre the city, and they will not listen to our explanation!"
Cai Yuanwai was horrified and said: "Yes, yes, if they did what they did, Xuzhou would be massacred by them!"
Cai Hengdao: "When it comes to the foundation in Jiangdu, no one can compare with us, let alone Shen Qianqian. I believe Zhang Yangquan will be useful to us!"
A strange light flashed in Cai Yuanwai's eyes, and he said proudly: "That's natural. No matter what he wants to do in Jiangdu, as long as our family fully cooperates, we will teach him to get twice the result with half the effort!"
In the next few days, everyone in the general manager's house was busy.
Although Zhang Yangquan takes the title of General Manager of Yangzhou, the General Manager's Office has dozens of yamen under its jurisdiction.
There are privy branches, Tongzhi Yamen, Prison Department, Agriculture Department, Salt Envoy Department, Weaving and Dyeing Department, Artisan Department, Baobao Department, Land Office, etc.
If you want to fight with peace of mind in the future, you must sort out your logistics management.
He appointed Guo Niansheng as the deputy general manager of Yangzhou, taking charge of all internal affairs of the general manager's office, and asked Sun Hong to continue to serve as Tongzhi and serve as Guo Niansheng's deputy.
Sun Hong was reluctant at first, but after seeing Zhang Yangquan's sincere tone, he agreed.
Taigong He made another suggestion to him, which was to build a recruitment hall and hire many famous talents and scholars in Jiangdu to select suitable people to serve in the General Manager's Office.
Zhang Yangquan deeply believed this, and in order to show his respect for talents, he ordered the Zhennan Prince's Mansion to be changed into a recruitment hall.
Qinji Restaurant, Qinji Cloth Shop and Qinji Porcelain Shop are also preserved. The restaurant and porcelain shop are still managed by Yang Ying and Shu Ting, while the Cloth Shop is replaced by Mrs. Xu.
However, the name and signboard have been changed to Yangzhou Restaurant, Yangzhou Dabuzhuang and Yangzhou Porcelain Shop, all of which are public properties.
These three industries mainly provide jobs for the residents of Longtan Village.
Now that Longtan Village has taken over Jiangdu, the residents of the village have many choices. Those who stay in the village can divide the farmland, or work in several workshops in the village, and they all get paid.
People who want to leave the village can either enter the village or the city.
Guo Niansheng divided thousands of villages in Jiangdu into Jiabao towns, with every ten households having one Bao, ten households having one Jiabao, and ten households having one Jiabao, and ten households having one Jiabao.
Village residents who enter the village can serve as chiefs or town mayors. Village residents who enter the city are allocated houses and can work in restaurants, porcelain shops and cloth shops, or seek their own development.
In terms of military affairs, Zhang Yangquan established the Jiangdu Army, appointed himself Grand Marshal, and appointed Qin Lingjun as the chief instructor. He was nominally only responsible for training soldiers, but actually took charge of all military affairs.
A horse farm was also built to the north of Jidang Mountain, with Qin Lingsi as the owner and responsible for all horse affairs.
Apart from the appointment of officials, the division of land is the most important thing.
It is now May, and the zhantian rice in the fields on the outskirts of the city is almost ripe. After conquering Jiangdu, Zhang Yangquan wants to let the people of Jiangdu plant high-yielding "Green Silver Zhan"!
Putting aside rice production, if we want to increase people's enthusiasm for farming, it is essential to distribute the fields to each household.
According to the records of the General Administration's account books, there are more than 8,000 hectares of fertile land in Jiangdu, half of which is official land and belongs to the noble officials of the DPRK and Central Government.
Naturally, all these fields were confiscated. The remaining half belonged to the wealthy families in the city.
Every dynasty is on the verge of extinction, usually because the people's fields are occupied, reducing social productivity, and they can no longer survive before rebelling.
As long as people have land in their hands, there will basically be no chaos in the world.
However, the common people are a vulnerable group and cannot defend their fields at all.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
In order to prevent this situation, Zhang Yangquan decided to adopt the later method of borrowing land, borrowing one penny for a hundred years.
In this way, the land belongs to the public, and households have no right to sell the land. No matter how cleverly the aristocratic families plunder, they cannot annex the people's land.
In this way, the people will always have a way out.
However, if you want to implement this kind of land law, you must first take the land into public ownership.
Forcibly confiscating other people's land always doesn't sound good, so Zhang Yangquan had no choice but to have people release the news about the land division, hoping that these people would become more conscious and hand it over on their own initiative.
As soon as the news of the farm division was released, the Cai family was the first to go to the General Manager's Office and donate all of their 20,000 acres of farmland, even faster than Shen Qianqian and Bian Ying.
With them taking the lead, other wealthy households and aristocratic families are also very cooperative.
After all, these are troubled times, and knives do not recognize people. The Red Scarf Army is under the banner of destroying the rich and benefiting the poor, so the wealthy and aristocratic families are very understanding.
However, not everyone cooperates, and some of the declining aristocrats are very angry about this.
They are not engaged in production and live solely by releasing their fields and collecting rent. Once the fields are harvested, they will no longer be able to make a living.
These people gathered together to keep warm and spread various rumors to the outside world in an attempt to hinder this matter.
After the Cai family found out, they turned around and reported these people.
Guo Niansheng personally invited these people to drink tea.
These people didn't dare to force themselves any further, so each family offered some food and money as a sign of goodwill.
Then, they euphemistically expressed that they had heard some rumors recently, saying that the General Manager's Office was going to confiscate every property. Everyone felt uneasy, and even the timid ones wanted to move away from Jiangdu!
These people originally wanted to use this method to threaten the General Manager's Office, but Guo Niansheng did not accept this trick at all, and even said that if they wanted to leave, he would personally give them a lift.
These people had no choice but to sell their fields quietly.
Logically speaking, no one would be willing to buy the land at this time, but the result was beyond everyone’s expectations. Someone actually bought it, and it was the Cai family!
If anyone sells their land, they will immediately buy it and then donate it to the governor's office.
As a result, not to mention Zhang Yangquan, even Qin Lingjun, Guo Niansheng and others have a better impression of the Cai family.