Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1344: Thirst for Land and House
Although the Wuzhong villagers who surrendered at the Linchuan Palace had a stubborn attitude before surrendering, they became very enthusiastic after surrendering. They actively acted as guides, leading the Tang army to wander around the countryside, searching for those local tyrants who had previously followed the Linchuan King.

Those powerful people originally thought that they could hide by quietly returning to their hometowns. The main force of the Tang army would be attracted south by the big target of Prince Linchuan, while they could lurk in the hometown and wait for the right time to act.

If the war in Kuaiji goes smoothly, King Linchuan and Hou An can successfully intercept the Tang army and successfully launch a counterattack when the spring flood comes. Then they can naturally rise up in rebellion and drive the Tang army out of Wuzhong with the advantage of fighting at home.

But if the war in Kuaiji does not progress smoothly, the Qiantang River is easily breached by the Tang army, and the King of Linchuan and others have to continue to fight and evacuate, then they can only stay in their hometown for the time being.

As long as they were submissive enough, the Tang army would not pursue them strictly in order to stabilize the situation in Wuzhong. After all, they had only responded to the call of King Linchuan and had not really fought against the Tang army. It was not too late to turn back, and the Tang army also needed them to establish rule in Wuzhong. If they were more proactive and diligent, they would not only be forgiven and treated leniently, but they might even be appointed to official positions.

However, just as these people were waiting for the situation to develop further with such calculations, the subsequent developments were far beyond their expectations. The Tang army accurately locked onto their respective homes, and then launched an attack without any explanation. When they were caught off guard, their wives, children, and family members, including themselves, became prisoners.

"General, please spare my life! We are all good people in Wuzhong. We have been law-abiding and have lived in seclusion in our hometown. We have never colluded with bandits or plotted to cause chaos in our hometown!"

Some of the captured tyrants cried out for injustice and tried to argue their way out of the crime. However, soon a Tang army sergeant handed them a record which clearly recorded their several times in and out of the Linchuan Palace, their participation in meetings and discussions, and the number of their troops.

It was not a crime for these people to have close contacts with the King of Linchuan. However, when the Southern Chen court had issued a manifesto, the King of Linchuan, Chen Qian, still openly threatened to stop the Tang army from coming south to capture Hou Andu, and now he was fleeing south. The evidence of their collusion with Hou Andu was irrefutable. Since these people had colluded with the King of Linchuan and even cooperated in military operations, they could naturally be arrested and charged.

Although these powerful people were great figures who dominated the countryside and had a large number of disciples, they were still not strong enough to fight against the elite troops of the Tang army. Especially under the leadership of the Wuzhong villagers, the Tang army acted as fast as the wind and as fierce as wolves and tigers in capturing the powerful people in Wuxing.

Originally, these powerful men led their troops to gather in the Linchuan Palace, and none of them dared to fight against the Tang army. But now they are scattered in the countryside and fighting each other, and the exchange of information between them is not smooth. It can be said that when they are together, they are like a basin of sand, and when they are scattered, they are all over the ground.

The Tang army soldiers who stayed in Wuxing took only a few days to basically eliminate the Wuxing tyrants who had gathered in the Linchuan Palace. This was not all the local tyrants in Wuxing, but it ensured that a group of unrest elements who were most hostile to the Tang army and dared to take action were eliminated.

This process was naturally accompanied by killing, but because the Tang army's actions were clear and precise, the impact on ordinary people in Wuzhong was not significant. The main casualties were those powerful people and their subordinates.

Along with these actions, the bandits and robbers active in Wuxing were also eliminated. In some cases, the two overlapped, and it can be said that they killed two birds with one stone.

The smooth progress and remarkable results of the operation were naturally due to the strong support of the surrendered Wuzhong villagers. When these people participated in the relevant operations, they also felt deeply about the strict discipline and strict compliance of the Tang army.

In the past, they had the impression that the Tang army was brutal and cruel, and that once they entered the village, it would be a disaster for the people of Wuzhong. Now it seems that some people did suffer a disaster, but most of the ordinary villagers did not deliberately become enemies of the Tang army, and the Tang army soldiers did not harm them at all.

If we ask ourselves honestly, even those Wuzhong villagers would not be able to maintain such strict discipline when they held swords and guns in their hands. They would always be unable to resist causing harm to the village for their own convenience and greed.

As they spent more time together, they gradually became familiar with each other, and some of the Wuzhong villagers could not help but ask these Tang army soldiers why they were so stubborn and rigid in following military orders.

It should be noted that after breaking through the walls of those powerful manors, when seeing the various properties seized in the manors, the Wuzhong villagers couldn't help but want to steal some of them. When seeing some powerful manors that were not on the target list were built very magnificently, the villagers couldn't help but imagine that if they could break into them, the harvest would be quite rich.

However, these Tang army soldiers rarely kept the spoils for themselves. Even if they inevitably consumed some spoils during the operation, they would record them clearly and collect and hand them over. As for those manors and villages that were not on the target list, no matter how magnificent and wealthy they looked, the Tang army soldiers turned a blind eye to them and did not enter them. Faced with such questions, the Tang army soldiers often laughed and said, "Who doesn't want to make money? The reason why we abide by military regulations is that it is more beneficial to us to abide by the regulations! You can take money and property on the battlefield at will, but how much can you keep for yourself? What's more, we are still on the expedition. Carrying too much property with us is not only inconvenient for us to move and fight, but also attracts the enemy to attack us after entering the battle, and we lose our money and lives on the battlefield..."

The Tang army's reward standard was so generous that it was unimaginable for these Wuzhong villagers. In addition to the basic military merits such as conquering cities, killing and capturing prisoners, all the materials captured on the battlefield would be converted into money and materials and returned to the soldiers in proportion, with the recipients being one battalion as a unit.

In other words, the spoils they captured on the battlefield belonged to all the soldiers in the battalion. Anyone who secretly intercepted and hid them would be damaging the interests of all the soldiers in the battalion. In addition to being inconvenient to move and fight, they would also be despised and scorned by the soldiers in the battalion. These people were close comrades who fought side by side on the battlefield. If they were isolated in the group, they would basically be declared dead.

"The Emperor of Tang treats meritorious men so well, no wonder he can make everyone fight for their lives and defeat powerful enemies! With such kindness to warriors, who in the world can be his enemy?"

After hearing the stories of the Tang army soldiers, all the Wuzhong villagers couldn't help but sigh with envy. Before, they were full of hostility and hatred towards the Tang Kingdom, but now they hate that they are not citizens of the Tang Kingdom. The change of mindset can be said to be very thorough.

"That's not all! Our dynasty practices equal distribution of land, and all farmers have their own property. As long as you are registered as a household, you can enjoy the land and houses. If you can become a meritorious official in various prefectures, you can share the fertile land and good property. If you are lucky enough to survive a few battles and have made contributions, more than ten hectares of fertile land in the countryside will be enough for you to settle down and pass on farming and weaving to your family!"

After hearing the Wu people's sighs and discussions, the Tang army officers and soldiers were even more proud, and they also encouraged them, saying: "You fellow villagers are lucky to have submitted to the king's army so early. As long as you work diligently and accumulate merits, if a military office is established in Wuzhong next year, you will definitely be included in the office, and the houses and properties of the powerful that were confiscated recently will also be given to you first!"

"Is there such a good thing in the world? As long as we work hard, we can get a big house and fertile land in the future?"

After hearing this, the Wuzhong villagers widened their eyes in disbelief.

Although the political power in the Southern Dynasties changed successively, there had never been a large-scale reform of equalizing land. Land, especially fertile land, had always been concentrated in the hands of the powerful. Although Wuzhong was a land of fish and rice, the concentration of land was particularly serious. Therefore, for these country gentlemen, if they could obtain a piece of fertile land to pass on to their family, it would be the ultimate dream of life.

After learning that the Tang Dynasty actually had a very generous decree to grant land for military merit, the passion of these Wuzhong villagers was ignited again, and they wanted to dig three feet into the ground to dig out those tyrants who were hostile to the Tang army. Some even felt that it was not enough to just purge people in the village, so they volunteered to go to the front line to fight.

As it was still a war period, the Tang army did not directly establish any ruling order in Wuxing. After most of the people in the village were purged, Ruoyu Feng dispatched soldiers to guard various places to ensure the smooth flow of logistics routes.

The people's livelihood order here had not yet been rebuilt, so there was naturally no talk of announcing any political reforms, but the content related to granting land for military merit had already spread.

Therefore, more and more people from Wuzhong came to join the Tang army, some even came together with their fathers, sons and brothers. Just outside Wucheng, the capital of Wuxing County where Ruofeng was stationed, there were more than 10,000 such people. There were also people from other places who heard the news later and rushed to Wucheng day and night.

Wuzhong's hometown sentiment was so strong that Ruo Feng was a little distressed. At present, the Tang army was still operating in Jiangdong in the name of the Southern Chen court, and the war had not yet come to an end. It was impossible to abandon the Southern Chen court and directly establish administrative rule in Wuzhong.

Therefore, for now he could only temporarily appease these villagers, and at the same time order the rear to quickly arrange for civil officials to come south, and notify Shi Ning who was fighting on the front line that if they could break through the Qiantang River and capture Kuaiji, then they could immediately announce the government orders and restore order in Wuzhong.

By then, even if the Southern Chen court had any objections, the Tang Dynasty had both the military advantage and actual occupation of the Three Wus, as well as the support of the people, so it could naturally ignore the attitude of the Southern Chen court.

(End of this chapter)