Kai Fu Han

Chapter 117 Occupying Penglai 11
"Mr. Zhou is fine, he is on board the Zizhou." Zhao Liang replied.

The ship going south this time was supposed to come back around the [-]th, but it was ten days late. Liu Xinqi had expected that it might be delayed by something happened on the way, but he didn't expect that misfortunes never come singly, and there were both natural and man-made disasters.

Now there is an explanation for the unexplained increase in martial arts points fourteen days ago.

"First arrange for the crew to disembark and rest, and leave the unloading matter to me." Liu Xinqi said.

"Okay, but let me explain it to you. There is still something gained this time."

One of the four pirate ships escaped, and three were captured by Zhao Liang. They were all lucky ships with more than two thousand stones. They went out with twelve ships, big and small, and came back with fourteen ships.

After a simple handover between the two, Liu Xinqi then began to organize manpower to unload the ship, and sent relics and pensions to the families of the sacrificed crew members overnight.

This time when we went south, the people who died fighting pirates still had ashes, clothes and other relics. The crew members on the ship that sank into the sea during the typhoon only had a set of spare clothes and a suicide note placed on the flagship Dengzhou as relics. It's pitiful.

The blood pension for the families of the crew members who died or died is the same as the last time, which is still ten taels of silver. However, the pension policy will follow in time and the family members will not lose their income.

Liu Xinqi spent the next two days dealing with the follow-up affairs of the southbound fleet, holding another collective funeral, reorganizing the first fleet, etc.

After the reorganization was completed, the people of the first fleet were allowed to continue to rest, and there was no rush to send the fleet south again.

First, because Liujiabao has now occupied Penglai County and recently raided the homes of many gentry and landlords, there is no shortage of food.

Second, because they were about to face an attack by the Jin Kingdom Navy, the first fleet remaining in Dengzhou was also a new force.

On May 27, Liu Xinqi finally had time to sit down and talk with Zhou Xinyuan.

"We arrived in Hangzhou at the end of April. We heard from Xin Kuan (who was arranged to be in charge of the Hangzhou stronghold in Chapter 78) that Emperor Jingyan had fled to Yangzhou and temporarily stopped in Yangzhou. Although he did not come to Hangzhou, it also caused everything on the market in Hangzhou to be destroyed. Big price increase.”

"Thankfully, before Emperor Jingyan fled to Yangzhou, Xinkuan saw that the situation was not right and bought [-] shi of grain and saved it. Otherwise, this trip south would have been in vain. In Hangzhou at the end of April, three cents per pound I can’t even buy whole grains.”

...

Liu Xinqi was reading the letter Liu Xinkuan sent him while listening to Zhou Xinyuan report on his experience of going south. Zhou Xinyuan kept talking for two quarters of an hour before he basically finished.

"So, the pirate stronghold was not raided?" Liu Xinqi asked, and then, without waiting for an answer, he continued: "Next time you go south, remember to check it out and see if you can gain anything."

"Time is tight. It's already ten days late. I don't dare to delay any more on the road." Zhou Xinyuan explained.

"These are all trivial matters. After listening to you say so much, I feel that Emperor Jing Yan only wants to escape. How can we get the support of the Southern Song Dynasty court?" Liu Xinqi was a little frustrated and could not contact the stable Zhao court. It seems that he was "the one who shaved his head - a hot head" when he showed his favor to Zhao Guo in Dengzhou.

"I explained something to Xinkuan and left a letter, asking him to find a way to deliver it to the officials of the court to see if he could get in touch with the senior official in charge." Zhou Xinyuan replied: "But I didn't expect you to come here. The development is so fast that Penglai has already been taken over, so the content of the letter is lagging behind a bit."

"The teacher didn't know something, but the situation forced him to do it." Liu Xinqi said: "In the next few days, there will be more lively ones, just watch."

……

On May 400, more than half of the naval officers and soldiers on the three fleets were mobilized and disembarked, reaching a total of [-] people.Liu Xingang's team who was far away in Laizhou were transferred back to help.

Clan soldiers, officers and soldiers, and government officials also all gathered to prepare for possible resistance from the landlord class.

June [-]st, in front of the notice board. "Announcement No. [-] of the first year of Jingyan's reign in the Xinghan Alliance!"

The content of this announcement was the "Agrarian Law of the Xinghan League". Because the content was too shocking, the noise of the people watching in front of the announcement was drowned out.

In front of the four gates was the same as last time, a table was set up, long tables and benches were placed, reception staff were arranged, guarded by hundreds of officers and soldiers, and several stacks of printed paper were placed on the table.

There are leaflets for the "Digest of Land Law", general land lease agreements, land sale agreements, oath texts, etc. Liu Zhimu printed thousands of copies of these and is still printing them to prepare for shortages.

After the first three announcements, many people were saved from the fire in the third time.By now, Xinghan League's credibility has obviously been fully established. No one thought that Xinghan League's No. [-] announcement was a joke before the announcement.

Compared with Announcement No. [-], which did not have the first person to come forward for help until the next day, the stakes of Announcement No. [-] are too wide, covering almost everyone.

As soon as the content of the notice was read, someone immediately came to the help desk and asked:

"Swearing to join the Xinghan League, do you really only need to pay [-]% of the land rent?"

"Yes, you only need to pay [-]% of the land rent to the landlord, and we will help you and the landlord re-sign the land lease agreement." the receptionist replied.

"No more taxes?" the man asked again.

"Taxes are paid by the landowners and cannot be transferred to tenant farmers. But if the land is yours, you still have to pay taxes, but you only need to pay [-]%. There will not be any taxes, labor and rest increases, etc. group."

"What if the landlord doesn't rent the land to me?" The man calmed down and finally thought of this possibility.

"The government previously raided dozens of rebellious gentry houses and confiscated tens of thousands of acres of farmland. You can rent public land, which also only costs 20% of the land rent. And after [-] years of farming, the land will be yours. You only need to pay the rent at that time. [-]% tax.”

"I swear! I swear to join the Xinghan Alliance!" The man gritted his teeth and struggled for a while, then finally calmed down and said fiercely.

"Okay, follow me and read the content on this piece of paper, and then sign it. You are a member of the Xinghan League. We will immediately send people to your village to re-sign the land lease agreement with the landlord. Starting from this year's summer grain harvest, You only need to pay [-]% of the land rent.”

"I swear!..."

"I swear!..."

……

At Youshi (18:[-]) on June [-]st, I went to the government office of Dengzhou.

Officials from Dengzhou and Penglai counties, as well as various stewards from Liujiabao, all sat together.

"At the end of the day, there were not many landowners who voluntarily changed their land lease agreements. They only signed more than 4000 acres of land in total. Most of them would rather leave the land empty without rent than sign an agreement with a [-]% land rent." Luo Chenghui reported.

"How much public land is left?" Liu Xinqi asked.

"Although 5000 acres were confiscated before, these lands are already rented and farmed by tenants. There is not much free uncultivated land. Today, more than 3000 acres have been rented out, and the remaining [-] acres are probably not enough for tomorrow. What you need." Luo Cheng replied.

(End of this chapter)