weaving

Chapter 1437 lingering fears
Five li south of Xiangong Temple is Jinzhai Village, and two li southeast is Jinkui Li Village. From there, six or seven li south is Zhuxian Town, an important supply depot for the rebel army.

Jinzhai is a small village with only about 500 permanent residents, which is less than 100 households. Villages like this are common in the Central Plains.

The saying "a view stretches for two or three miles, with only four or five houses in the village" perfectly describes the landscape of Henan, a land in the Central Plains.

Every two or three miles there is a small settlement of thirty to fifty households. Every seven or eight miles or more than ten miles there are some large villages, often with two or three hundred households and a population of more than a thousand, and some even have more than two thousand people.

In those river bends or along the official roads, large market towns would form. These places were not only densely populated, but also attracted merchants from far and wide due to the benefits of river transport and official roads. Their prosperity could even surpass that of some remote county towns.

For example, the town of Zhuxian, which was occupied by the rebel bandits, was like this!
The villages of all sizes on the Henan Plain are scattered like stars in the sky, arranged in a staggered yet orderly manner across this central land. This layout not only preserves the wisdom of traditional agricultural civilization in terms of settlement, but also embodies the ecological concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

Jinzhai is a small village on this land. Although it is dilapidated, there are still elderly and weak people who are unwilling or unable to escape and hold on to this ruined village.

When the rebel army passed through their territory earlier, they were also filled with fear and anxiety for a long time, but either they were reluctant to leave their homes or they were too tired to run, so they all stayed behind.

But to their surprise, the rebel army did not harm them at all. On the contrary, they distributed money to the people who stayed behind, one household at a time. Although it was not much, it was enough to shock them.

What they witnessed today completely changed their worldview and shattered all their preconceived notions!

Over the years, the people of the Central Plains have witnessed countless bandit raids and the comings and goings of anti-bandit armies...

But they deeply understood the principle that "thieves come like combs, soldiers come like fine brushes, and officials come like shavings!"

But why have these thieves and soldiers suddenly changed their ways?

The bandits were deeply shocked when they passed through the villages and, instead of looting, they distributed money.

But the soldiers who came today were even more unusual. Although they did not search and plunder each household, they did count the number of people in each household and then distributed grain and firewood according to the number of people in each household.

That wasn't all. The military commanders also set up a soup kitchen at the entrances of the village at both the north and south ends, distributing soup twice a day, morning and evening. For the people who had been suffering from hunger for a long time, this was like a delicacy.

Compared to the way the rebels distributed money, the way the Brave Army distributed grain and porridge was more practical and more likely to touch the hearts of these poor people!
After all, in such a chaotic time of war, even if you have money, where can you buy grain?
Even if we could find a place to buy grain, what would the price of grain be at this time? With the little bit of silver given by the rebels, how much grain could we buy?
The Yongyi Army, however, took a different approach. They chose the simplest and most direct method, distributing grain and porridge at the same time.

When it comes to winning people's hearts—you have to look to me, "Earl of Yongning"!

Jinzhai only has about 30 households and a little over 100 people left, and they are mostly the elderly, weak and young. Even if they are given plenty of food, how much grain can they eat? Besides, it's just a daily ration of grain and porridge.

This shows that the face of this matter is more important than the substance; the most important thing is to win the hearts and minds of the people and achieve the best result with the least cost!

This will earn the officers and soldiers, the Ming Dynasty, and the Yongyi Army a good reputation for loving and protecting the people, and completely change the image of the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers in the minds of the people in Henan, especially around Kaifeng.

Only in this way can we gain the genuine support of the people, quickly stabilize the situation in Kaifeng after defeating the rebel army, organize the people to resume production, and consolidate the hard-won gains of the battle.

Today in Henan, the slogan of "no taxes" espoused by the rebel leader Li Zicheng has deeply resonated with the people and has won the sincere support of many local residents—this is an indisputable fact.

Although the imperial court did not fully approve of this, the Earl of Yongning in Kaifeng was well aware that if some effective changes were not made, even if the rebel army was defeated today, it was hard to guarantee that they would not rise from the ashes and launch another counterattack.

Therefore, distributing grain and porridge were practical actions, while a series of new policy slogans such as "re-measuring land," "military settlement on wasteland," "three-year tax exemption," and "rent and interest reduction" gradually spread in Kaifeng Prefecture as the Yongyi Army moved around. The reason for shouting these new policy slogans was actually to win the hearts and minds of the people from the rebel leader Li Zicheng, to gain the genuine support of the people of Henan for the Yongyi Army, and to lay the foundation for the Yongyi Army to be stationed in Henan for a long time.

In order to make the people believe these slogans, distributing grain and porridge played the most direct role!

…………

"Guodong, do you know how much I've been holding back these past few months?" Chen Zheng held Zhang Guodong's hand tightly and spoke to him very enthusiastically.

"Stop with the nonsense. I'll just ask you one question: how many thieves' heads have you chopped off in the past few months?" Zhang Guodong asked seriously, not looking like he was joking.

"Don't mention it."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zheng's mood immediately soured: "You really know how to bring up the sore spot."

"They only managed a few exchanges at first, but then these bandits seemed to have learned their lesson and stopped launching direct attacks. They just fired cannons from a distance every day."

Chen Zheng finally complained, "Ugh, this is fucking unsatisfying!"

"That's right... if I had known it would be this frustrating, I wouldn't have come along."

Zhang Guodong looked at Yang Shijie, who was complaining along with Chen Zheng, and laughed, "Second brother-in-law, weren't you eager to come to the temple?"

"what!"

Yang Shijie's eyes widened: "I rushed here, but who would have thought the thief would be such a coward."

"Hahaha……"

As they talked, they couldn't help but burst into knowing laughter.

Xu Yousi, the chief of Mangshan Village and commander-in-chief of the local militia, said with a smile, "The battle at Xiangong Temple, although not extremely fierce, was still very dangerous."

He glanced at Chen Zheng before continuing, "The thought of being surrounded by over 100,000 bandits still gives me lingering fear!"

Yang Shijie glanced at him and said, "It's not that serious. Even the bandit is nothing special. He was hit on the head a couple of times and then wilted like a frostbitten eggplant."

"Second Young Master, do you dare say that you weren't afraid at all when you were besieged?" Xu Yousi asked with a smile.

Yang Shijie gave a slightly embarrassed smile and quickly covered up, saying, "Afraid? What am I afraid of? I wish the thieves would attack relentlessly every day so I could kill more thief leaders and report my achievements!"

"Hahaha……"

Seeing this, Zhang Guodong quickly changed the subject, saying, "Alright, have you guys earned some merit today?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Shijie immediately became excited and shouted, "General Guodong, tell me quickly... where should we attack?"