Chapter 29 Why Does Your Xu Family Have 400,000 Mu of Land?
Chapter 29 Why does your Xu family have 400,000 acres of land?
The night wind can't dissipate the heat in the air, and people who are steamed by the heat really can't sleep.
When staying at Yingtianfu Palace, Li Yunze can turn on the air conditioner.
But you can't do this when you're encamped in the army.
It's not that it can't be done, but it will affect the morale of the military.
The army in the feudal era was basically illiterate. They did not understand ideals or responsibilities. When military discipline was poor, they were more bandits than bandits.
In ancient times, generals ate and slept with their sergeants in the army, not because they couldn't enjoy better things, but because they knew that these reckless men were not worried about scarcity but about inequality.
Li Yunze understood this, so in order to maintain military morale, he could only carry it.
At most, use a small battery-powered fan in the tent.
The moon blowing from the fan was still hot, and the heat was unbearable in the back, so I simply left the tent and wandered outside for a while to cool off.
Looking at Cao Bianjiao who was following behind and guarding him, Li Yunze smiled slightly, "The Cao Qing family doesn't need to be like this. Just rest early."
"I bear the responsibility of being the long-lived guardian, and I dare not leave even half a step."
"I understand your devotion to duty." Li Yunze nodded in approval, "Then come and walk with me."
The reason why he was so kind to Cao Bianjiao was not entirely because he was loyal. During the battle against the Tartars, Guan Ning's army moved in front of the formation, but he died fighting to the death for his country.
A very important point is that the sergeants in the feudal era only knew how to obey orders. Step by step, the so-called military power eventually fell into the hands of each military leader.
When the emperor wanted to control the army, he actually wanted to control the military chiefs who truly had military power.
Even Li Yunze can't make any change on this point.
The only thing is to select good enough military leaders and win them over.
"Have you ever given out rewards and subsidies in the military?"
"Long live the war, this month's supplies have been distributed to the soldiers. Everyone in the army is grateful to His Majesty."
To win over the army in the feudal era, a very important point is to provide enough benefits.
The same soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty were defeated at the first touch during the Ming Dynasty and suffered repeated defeats.
But he turned around and joined the Tartars, and his combat effectiveness immediately became astonishing.
The reason is not that complicated. It is not that the Tartars have great luck, but that the soldiers of the Ming army did not live as well as dogs during the Ming Dynasty, but after taking refuge with the Tartars, they were all well fed.
It’s not that there is a generational difference in military technology. What determines victory or defeat is still whether the soldiers dare to fight and are willing to fight to the death.
This is often referred to as morale.
Li Yunze, who understood this very well, had provided travel subsidies to Long Xiang's army since he went to Jiangnan, which was double military pay plus additional material rewards. One payment was given every month and was never in arrears.
It is precisely because of this that no matter who he attacks after he goes to Jiangnan, he will always be unfavorable, and Long Xiang's army is also willing to die.
It was because he won over Cao Cao and Cao Cao and fed Long Xiang's army.
Do you really think that with the emperor's righteousness, you can destroy whoever you want?
If the benefits are not in place, who will do the work for you?
While they were chatting, a large ball of fire gradually appeared under the night in the distance.
Faintly, you can even hear screams and wails blowing in the evening wind.
"Don't be nervous." Li Yunze comforted the nervous Cao Bianjiao, "Send someone to take a look."
Among the dozens of cavalry troops, the scouting horses were not collected all night, so they immediately left the camp and ran straight towards the light of the fire.
More than a quarter of an hour later, a fast horse galloped to report.
"It's a group of Taoist priests who are besieging the temple!"
As soon as these words came out, Li Yunze suddenly realized.
In the various temples in the south of the Yangtze River, there are thieves who have money and land.
In fact, in many dynasties in history, Buddhism has always been extremely wealthy, even so wealthy that it has carried out large-scale three-armed Buddhist temples several times.
Li Yunze is no exception here.
It's just that he borrowed the help of the Taoist sect to provide righteous support on the surface, and secretly provided weapons, armor, information, materials, and silver.
"That's it." Li Yunze nodded and said, "I told you all to come back and rest. It's just a discussion and debate between people outside the party. We don't need to interfere."
If you don't collect it at night, you will be stupid.
Swords, guns, swords and halberds were all used, and there were even Taoist priests wearing iron armor who went around cutting off bald heads.
Even the Shanmen Temple was burned down, and they were just discussing and debating?
Cao Bianjiao glared at him, and Ye Bushuai, who came to his senses, immediately accepted the order, got on his horse and called his companions back.
"Okay, let's go and rest."
Li Yunze, who looked relaxed, turned back to his tent with his hands behind his back.
When Taoism encountered this rare opportunity, temples all over the south of the Yangtze River were in bad luck.
Early the next morning, the sky was bright.
After having breakfast, the charioteer continued his journey.
When passing by the temple with only ruins and black smoke left, Li Yunze seemed to be blind and couldn't see anything, so he rode directly past.
If there is anything I want to say, it is deserved!
Although vassal kings from various places had arrived at Yingtian Mansion one after another, he did not rush back directly, but rushed to Songjiang Mansion first.
The Xu family's boat in Songjiang that was intercepted at Chaoguan in Wuqing should have been put to rest by now.
And this is a good reason to attack the big landowners who control a lot of land.
The blood pact case involved many large landowners in the south of the Yangtze River, and millions of acres of land were confiscated.
But for Li Yunze, this is not enough. He needs more fields to appease the landless people.
The Ming Dynasty in this era was really weird to the extreme. Ninety percent of the people in the world did not have their own land. Most people became tenants of big landowners and clan nobles.
The remaining people who own land have to bear the horrific tax squeeze.
Under such circumstances, it is only natural that bandits will appear everywhere.
Before going north to solve the problem between the frontier troops and the Tartars, he must resolve these conflicts in the rear, or at least suppress them temporarily.
We must not have the kind of situation in history where the Tartars came to fight when the rogue bandits could no longer hold them back. When the Tartars were attacked, the rogue bandits reappeared.
Many novels say that the Tartars were able to conquer the world because they had great luck.
In Li Yunze's view, there is no such thing as great luck, it's just that Ming himself is too bad.
When competing against each other, what you do is worse than your opponent's.
The seat of Songjiang Prefecture is in Huating County, and one family that cannot be ignored when visiting Huating County is the Huating Xu family.
More than 70% of the fields in Huating County are concentrated in the hands of the Xu family, and the Xu family is also called Xu Huating.
Counting the fields in other places, the total number of acres owned by the Xu family is an astonishing over 400,000 acres!
Just one family owns so much land that does not pay taxes, and there are countless Xu families all over the world.
The army stopped and set up camp outside Huating County, and Li Yunze led a group of royal guards, accompanying eunuchs and a group of Longxiang troops into the city.
The tax collectors at the city gate were very discerning when they saw the coming person. When they saw the coming person, those with horses and armor didn't dare to stop him. They hid like quails.
When you encounter a tough guy, you can't even find a place to reason with him if you hit him to death.
After entering the city, Li Yunze dismounted and led the horse forward.
Today happens to be a market day, and the streets are full of people coming from all over the country to go to the market.
It's not okay to knock over other people's stalls or trample other people's food while galloping.
He was ruthless to the landlords, gentry and nobles, but he would never bully the common people.
The people of Ming Dynasty have already suffered enough.
The people on the street look good, and there are many local specialties.
The land south of the Yangtze River is truly a treasure trove of natural resources, and it can maintain a certain standard of living despite years of severe drought.
In comparison, Shaanxi is really hell.
When he was thinking about the progress at Sun Chuanting's place and what it meant to come here without sending a memorial for several months, Li Yunze was awakened by the noise in front of him.
A few young men in luxurious clothes and a group of hypocritical servants are causing trouble everywhere.
When I see someone selling fruits, I go up and pick them up and eat them.
He didn't pay or said anything, and even after finishing the meal, he said it wasn't delicious, so he just kicked his stall down.
Anyone who was slightly dissatisfied would be pounced upon and beaten violently by the servants.
When they saw whose eldest daughter or daughter-in-law was prettier, they would gather around and tease her in various ways.
Or simply because someone doesn't like someone, or simply to vent the evil in his heart, he beats people up and makes them do whatever they want.
Everyone on the street obviously knew the identity of the visitor, so they all retreated to avoid him.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Li Yunze also smiled, "This is the legendary Hengxing Township, where men bully men and women are bullied."
Huating is the seat of Songjiang Prefecture. Today is a market day, and there are government officials on the street.
But instead of stepping forward to stop the troublemaking street gangs, these government officials smiled broadly to please them.
The story behind this naturally goes without saying.
When a group of street gangsters came to Li Yunze and others, they looked at the many soldiers in front of them. They had never seen any street gangsters in the market and said so brazenly, "Are you from the Zhenhai Guard or the Jinshan Guard? The young master of the Xu family of Huating is here. Is he still here?"
Get away quickly!"
Songjiang Prefecture also has guard posts, Zhenhai Guard to the north and Jinshan Guard to the south.
There is even a Qingcun Fort in the Qingcun Salt Fields not far outside the city.
Of course, like all the guards in the Ming Dynasty, they have no combat effectiveness at all.
Naturally, Li Yunze would not talk to the street kid, so he turned around and told Luo Yangxing to "break their limbs."
Street gangsters are the most disgusting, and there is no need to show any mercy to them.
"According to the decree."
Luo Yangxing, who had not had time to be won over by the Donglin Party as one of his own, was extremely loyal to Li Yunze at this time.
After saluting, he immediately rushed over with the royal guards and took action himself.
Amidst the shrill screams, someone finally saw Jin Yiwei's clothes clearly.
"Is it Jin Yiwei?!"
"Why are you running?" Li Yunze said to the government servants who were quietly leaning against the wall and trying to sneak away, "Come here."
The government officials were numb, but they dared not be disrespectful.
Although Li Yunze did not wear a large banner or a dragon robe.
But with guards and soldiers around him, he must be a big shot.
They didn't know what to call them, so they just kept saluting.
"Get up. Drag these bastards and lead the way to Xu's house. Xu Huating's Xu's house." Li Yunze is used to seeing how the Ming Dynasty messed up. He is really not angry now. There is no need to be angry for these guys. It will hurt him so much.
It's yourself.
There is a saying in the history book, "The slaves of the Xu family in Huating were violent and violent, and one of them got sick, just like sitting on water or fire."
This is definitely not unofficial history, it is telling the truth.
In the Xu family's large and exquisite home, Xu Bengao, the contemporary head of the Xu family, was entertaining guests.
"Shao Zongbo (the official title of the Minister of Rites, the Da Zongbo by the Minister of Rites)." The handsome Xu Bengao picked up the wine glass with a smile, "Drink from this cup."
Zhou Daodeng over there smiled and nodded, picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.
“Good wine.”
Behind Zhou Daodeng, a maid with picturesque features and a charming appearance stepped forward to fill his bowl.
Even Xu Yuangao, who was used to seeing beauties, frequently looked at her curiously and asked, "Where did Young Uncle find such stunning beauty?"
"This maid's name is Yang Ai. She is bright, intelligent, and knowledgeable in reciting poems and composing poems." Zhou Daodeng stroked his beard and boasted, "She is especially fond of Xin Jiaxuan, which is really rare."
While the two were chatting and joking, they saw a servant of the Xu Mansion stumble in.
Xu Yuangao's face darkened. If he had no tutor, wouldn't he lose face in front of the distinguished guests?
Before he could ask, the servant over there was already crying and shouting, "Master, something bad has happened! Some officers and soldiers broke into the house!"
"What?!"
Xu Yuangao shouted, "Where did the officers and soldiers come from who were so bold?"
"Who do you think is bold?"
Li Yunze, wearing armor, strode in.
He looked at Xu Yuangao with lightning eyes, "Are you the head of the Xu family? I came here today just to ask you, how come your Xu family has 400,000 acres of land!"