People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 329 Talking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrives

Not hungry, but very poor.

This is basically the current situation in most poverty-stricken areas in the Song Dynasty.

But it's much better than before.

If it had been ten years ago, when there was a drought in the mountains, the elderly in the family would probably starve to death.

Nowadays, at least taxes are low, and there are tax exemptions and disaster relief grains in case of disasters. In addition, sweet potatoes and potatoes do not use as much agricultural water as rice. They can survive by occasionally watering them, but they can barely survive.

But that's basically it. To say that life is happy and perfect is definitely unrealistic. In case of illness, there is still a risk of family destruction and death.

Therefore, the development of the Song Dynasty still has a long way to go.

After the summer taxes were paid, in June, new slogans were painted on the walls of villages everywhere.

"Resolutely eradicate the evil forces and give them nowhere to hide."

Blood spattered and the head fell to the ground, and the local people watching applauded. Soon the execution was over, the crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed, and the mourning family members came over to collect the body.

"Crack down on gangsters and eliminate evil, promote the right path, and safeguard fairness and justice in the Song Dynasty!"

But it's different now.

The squad leader smiled and said: "That's probably it. Xiao Zhou, Xiao Lin, San Lang, you guys are strangers. Come along and have a look. Don't alert the enemy."

The underworld in Changsha County has become somewhat rampant in recent years. There are seven or eight gangs with more than 100 members. Three of them have more than 200 members. They commit crimes, commit crimes, abduct, rape and rob.

"The people who ran away are back. They are organizing the funeral arrangements for their leader and seeing him off at the funeral."

"Yes."

As a twelve or thirteen-year-old child, Zhou Wu was definitely not capable of cultivating the fields by himself.

Recently, the imperial court has been tightening its crackdown on gangsters and evil. On weekdays, these gangsters in Changsha County who bully the market have suffered a lot. More than 200 people have been arrested, and the others have scattered. Today, more than 30 members of the society will be executed.

At this moment, a team leader from the Yamen suddenly stopped Zhou Wu and several other young officials and told them to hide nearby.

Zhou Wu was one of the people who received special care from the government. Not only did he receive a monthly subsidy of more than 100 yuan, but he also received some rice and grain supplies.

The squad leader pointed in the outer direction.

Then he carried the coffin and marched toward the city.

There are usually arrogant and domineering gang bosses, gangsters who have committed murders, and ordinary gang members who have committed many crimes, such as rape, robbery, violence, etc., and are punished for several crimes.

A few people in the group hid in the woods near the execution site. Someone wondered: "What's wrong, squad leader?"

It's just that in the past, if the government wanted to arrest someone, they needed evidence, and evil gangs protected each other. And many cases don’t even have a reporter, because the victims are afraid of them and don’t dare to report the crime at all.

After the crowd dispersed, more than 20 or 30 young men came over to help the family collect the bodies.

In a severe crackdown, there is no need for evidence. People are arrested first and interrogated separately. If they are not honest, they will use a big memory recovery technique. So many people can always open their mouths.

The government was also preparing to clean up the scene and leave.

But fortunately, Tanzhou had good officials at the time. The county magistrate of Changsha County was named Chen Xiliang, and Zhao Jun, the magistrate of the Constitutional Yuan, happened to be inspecting the place and encountered this sudden disaster.

"If you are oppressed by evil forces, don't be afraid and report it to the government bravely."

Various rural slogans appeared in villages all over the Song Dynasty, and a large number of street gangsters, societies and gangs were all wiped out.

However, these arrests are also on the government's daily blacklist. They are reported to the Criminal Division. The Yushitai, Criminal Division and the local Supervisory Yuan have reviewed and verified them. If there is no objection, they will be executed.

Therefore, although the policy of cracking down on gangsters and eradicating evil was determined at the beginning of the year, it still took more than half a year to determine which gangsters were, arrest them, and then bring them to the Criminal Division for review.

"Look."

The government helped him lease the land and collected a small amount of land rent every year. I also helped him get some sweet potatoes and potato seeds so that he could grow his own vegetables.

Under normal circumstances, a twelve or thirteen-year-old orphan like him, who has no father, no mother, and no relatives, would only have to starve to death.

In Gyeonggi Road, more than 3,000 evil gangs were arrested in the first half of the year alone. A total of more than 50,000 to 60,000 people were arrested across the country, and more than 2,000 were sentenced to death.

The magistrate personally directed and saved many people from floods and fires, and later intercepted taxes to provide disaster relief, and compensated and rescued families affected by the disaster.

Therefore, Tanzhou, as the administrative seat of Jinghu South Road, once had very poor public security. Especially in the past few years of post-disaster reconstruction and rapid economic development, it has caused headaches for local officials.

In mid-June, in Changsha County, Jinghu South Road, Zhou Wu stood on a hillside, silently looking at the execution ground below.

The imperial court was quite gentle in this crackdown on gangsters. It did not cut across the board and beheaded criminals as long as they were gangsters. Instead, they were judged based on their guilt, and the death penalty also had to be decided by the Benluti Criminal Division.

Following the shout of the Changsha County Magistrate, the executioner immediately raised the big knife in his hand and chopped it down, causing blood to sputter out.

This is like pulling out a carrot to bring out the mud. When someone opens their mouth, more people will naturally open their mouth, and evil deeds will naturally be quickly exposed to the public.

But basically, as long as the investigation by the Criminal Division is completed, it will cut the knot quickly and not give these evil elements a chance to live.

Zhou Wu had a flexible mind and immediately thought of this.

"It's noon, execution!"

Although life was not easy, there were some people in the village who helped me a little, so I was able to grow up without any worries. Now twenty years old, he entered the government office to replace an old government official who had no children and often took care of him.

The next thing will be much easier to handle. We will continue to arrest people, but unfortunately many of them fled after hearing the news.

He was an orphan eight years ago. A flood destroyed everything in his family, leaving only a few acres of farmland and a few leftover vegetable plots. He was almost on the verge of life and death.

Nowadays, all of them have lost their previous aura. In front of the surrounding crowd, their faces are ashen, their legs are weak, and some are even scared to the point of peeing.

The ones who were clicked responded, and then pretended to be passers-by and followed.

Soon they followed the group of people into the city. As the squad leader expected, after the black bosses were carried into the city, many people quickly appeared from nowhere and swaggered through the city. Heading towards Boss Hei's house.

Changsha City has also been expanded now. Because Zhao Jun dredged the Ling Canal, Guangzhou and Hunan are connected with dense traffic, shipping is smooth, and the economy has developed, causing all kinds of monsters and monsters to gather.

Some of these gangsters control the operation of the docks, some open casinos, some engage in brothel business, and some are even beggars and scumbags.

They seek violence through illegal means and manage it from top to bottom, so that their power is rampant.

If it weren't for the severe crackdown by the court this time, not to mention these people, even the protective umbrella behind them would be uprooted. I'm afraid they don't know how long they will continue to be entrenched in Changsha and become a cancer that harms the local area.

At this moment, Zhou Wu and others followed the coffin-carrying team, all the way from Nancheng to the East City. The East City was expanded and had no city walls. It was probably in the Yuhua District of Changsha in later generations.

There is a huge manor house at the foot of the hill outside the east city. It is the residence of one of the gang bosses, and a large number of gang members are coming here.

Zhou Wu and others mingled among them. Anyway, there were so many people that everyone might not know each other, so they managed to sneak in smoothly.

At this time, the mourning hall was arranged inside and outside the house, and people from all walks of life gathered together. There were probably one or two hundred people in total.

The black boss's family held a banquet in a grand manner.

Among them, the eldest son stood in front of the funeral and said to the hundreds of people in the small square-like courtyard outside the house: "Everyone, as you all know, my father unfortunately passed away. I am deeply saddened to hear this sad news."

"However, we formed the association to help each other and move forward hand in hand. As the saying goes, a dragon cannot survive without a head. Even if my father leaves, the association cannot disband."

"So we will take advantage of today's opportunity to discuss the new leader of the group. What suggestions do you have?"

He looked around.

Someone said: "Tuanzi is the eldest son and should inherit the family business."

"Hmph, our Red Stick Saburo has contributed to the society and shed blood. Now that the leader is dead, he should be the leader."

"You Red Stick Saburo are great, can't we Red Stick be good? I think we should let Red Stick do it."

"In my opinion, it is natural for Tuanzi to inherit the family business."

"Who said that."

The scene suddenly became chaotic, with various factions vying for power.

The evil forces in the Song Dynasty were quite large.

Because the trend of association was prevalent at that time, many underworlds also formed so-called associations.

The red sticks and white paper fans used by later underworld thugs were also available at that time. "Historical Materials" records that there are various names in them.

There are red poles, blue poles, yellow poles, palm swords, palm whips, palm sticks, regiment leaders, armor heads, top cards, heads and so on.

As a result, a small underworld team was created, and various small forces emerged to compete for power and profit. It was quite imaginative to what would be seen in later Hong Kong movies.

Seeing this incredible scene, Zhou Wu couldn't help but sigh to his companions: "What a talent."

Then they took advantage of the chaos and sent someone out to report the news. About two-quarters of an hour later, the Xiang army stationed outside the city invaded the city and surrounded the manor, killing all the underworld members who came to the party.

Since then, Changsha's public security has improved rapidly, and the streets are no longer what they used to be, with many less troublesome gang members.

Situations like this are happening all over the Song Dynasty.

By the end of the sixth year of Qingli, the entire Song Dynasty had a population of less than 100 million. The evil forces alone had arrested more than 130,000 people and sentenced nearly 10,000 to death. The effect was remarkable.

Although this achievement cannot be compared with the severe crackdowns of later generations, it can be regarded as a fruitful harvest.

And it’s not this year either. Zhao Jun believes that the work of cracking down on gangsters and evil will be a long-term task, and he will not be satisfied with just this one time.

In early October, it was the beginning of winter in Bianliang, Tokyo, and the weather was getting colder and colder. It started to rain in the city, and the heavy raindrops hit the windowsill, making a crackling sound.

Under the rain, the entire Bianliang seemed to be full of moisture, the fog gradually rose, and the mist was hazy.

In the Constitutional Courthouse, the Police Department, Yushitai and Imperial City Department sent their respective documents over in the morning, and Zhao Jun sat at the stove table and read through them.

"More than 13,000 people have been arrested on Liangzhe Road this year. They have all been verified and are correct."

"The local government has confiscated the properties of these evil forces, and now the road station has reported it. What do you think should be done?"

"Of course it should be turned over to the national treasury."

"I don't think it's appropriate. If you want to turn it over to the national treasury, you can't pay it all. It's better to keep part of it in the local area."

"Are you so trusting of the people below? Aren't you afraid of being raped?"

"The court is watching, who dares."

Several prime ministers discussed.

This time the crackdown on gangs and evil has achieved good results. With so many people arrested, a large amount of property has also been confiscated.

And there are quite a few of them, because those evil forces relied on violence to monopolize their fortunes, so they often engaged in the most profitable businesses at the time, so naturally their wealth was quite rich.

Now that the government has confiscated it, various statistics have been compiled, and more than 2 million guan of property has been confiscated along the two Zhejiang roads alone. It is estimated that there may be 10 to 20 million guan in the entire Song Dynasty, which is a huge wealth.

Many prime ministers believed that it should be turned over to the national treasury.

Just when everyone said this, they all looked at Zhao Jun involuntarily.

It's up to him to make the decision.

Hearing everyone's argument, Zhao Jun put down the official document and said with a smile: "Take it from the people and use it for the people. Since these evil forces have obtained it by plundering the people's fat and anointing, they should keep it in the local area for local development."

"Well"

He pondered for a while and then said: "The land, houses and other fixed properties will be auctioned by the local government, and the cash will be used for local finance. Give the local government instructions to include the places where many criminals were arrested this time or the officials who had a harder time handling the case. For performance appraisal, this money will be used as a bonus.”

Doing so may also lead to many places lining their own pockets. For example, even if they are not involved in handling the case, they will be included in the scope of rewards. But this kind of thing is unavoidable, and we can't just cancel it because it has chilled the hearts of so many police officers who are serious about handling the case, so we still have to get the rewards we deserve.

What's more, the money awarded to them will eventually flow to the market and promote local economic development. It is much better than being held in the hands of those evil forces, constantly blackmailing and oppressing the local people, and accumulating wealth in the fish and meat village.

"Then let's do it."

When everyone saw how he handled it, they had no objections.

"By the way, it's time to pay the autumn tax again. The Liangzhe Road side sent another official document yesterday, and the landlords and gentry over there are still making trouble."

Yan Shu suddenly remembered something that everyone had almost forgotten.

Because the landowners and gentry did not resort to violent means, they just went through the streets to express their protest.

Moreover, the time for trouble is still very fixed. It only gets louder when summer taxes and autumn taxes are paid. Normally, there is very little movement, so everyone almost forgets about it.

Fan Zhongyan looked at Zhao Jun and said with a smile: "Hanlong, it seems that you also made mistakes in your predictions. When you left those people alone, you hoped that they would make things worse so that you would have an excuse to kill them. But they actually Don’t give me an excuse.”

“I don’t think it was a miscalculation, but it happened to hit the target of cracking down on gangs and evil.”

Zhao Jun scratched his head and said: "If I were one of those landlords, I would probably be worried if I saw that the court was hunting down evil forces everywhere. If things got bigger at this time, and the court would kill them as well, wouldn't it be in vain? ?”

"That's right, these landlords are not like those evil forces. They are all heirs of farming and education, and they have many relatives who are officials. It is easier for them to get the influence of the court than those evil forces."

Wang Zeng also agrees with this statement.

"What should we do about this?"

Lu Yijian said: "This group of people only protested and did not make trouble. There is no good excuse to deal with it. You can't kill people just because of this matter."

"Forehead"

Zhao Jun was also in trouble for a while.

Now there is a stalemate.

The landowners were unwilling to accept the court's plan.

The court let them go, but they did not make the matter a big deal and kept it within a certain range, so that the court had no excuse to kill them.

The two sides are in a confrontation stage.

The only good news is that the court compulsorily imposed taxes. The landowners could not twist their arms and thighs, and they did not dare not pay the taxes they should pay, lest they give the court an excuse.

But when it’s time to protest, we should continue to protest. The main focus is on the situation of paying tax certificates and protesting against them.

In fact, it would be fine if the protests had no impact, but every protest makes the streets panic, so it won't be a problem if this continues.

Zhao Jun thought for a while and suddenly asked: "Is there any news about the ships going out to sea?"

"not yet."

Next to him, Li Di said: "Jiangzhe Road has been paying attention to this matter, and there has been no news of the ocean-going fleet from the naval bases of Song Island and Tsushima Island."

"It's been almost two years. Normally, if it's just a round trip from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to South America, it's more than 20,000 kilometers. Even if it's only 200 kilometers a day, it should only take half a year at most."

Zhao Jun pondered and said: "Even if they need to bring a lot of things, or have to wait for some seasons to harvest local crops, they shouldn't go that long."

"Maybe something happened."

Song Shou said: "Maybe it's a storm, maybe it's ice, maybe there's an enemy there, who knows for sure?"

"Ugh."

Zhao Jun shook his head.

The fleet actually set off at the beginning of last year. When I dealt with General Xungui earlier, I hoped that they would also participate, so I actively prepared.

Unexpectedly, the nobles were ignorant and ended up causing so much trouble that so many people died.

It has been one year and eight months since the beginning of last year, almost two years. Although it took more than four years the first time, it should be faster with experience. This fleet is like a tortoise crawling. ?
But just when Zhao Jun lamented the slow speed of the fleet, an official suddenly came in from outside and said: "Report, there is an urgent message on the two Zhejiang roads."

"Oh? What happened?"

Everyone immediately looked over. Could it be that the landlords on Liangzhe Road made the matter worse?

The official said: "The ocean-going fleet is back."

"Oh, where are you?"

"We have arrived at Tsushima Island and will return to Tongzhou soon."

"it is good!"

In an instant.

Zhao Jun's originally worried heart suddenly relaxed.

He turned his head to look at the crowd and said with a smile: "It seems that Cao Cao and Cao Cao have arrived. It seems that the landlords on Liangzhe Road have something to do."

In addition to tricking them into going to sea or doing business, you can also hollow out their subordinates.

The fleet came back with rubber. Rubber planting requires a growth cycle, but Zhao Jun told the fleet before departure to bring back a batch of finished rubber.

In this way, a batch of steam engines can be built first, and then the railway can be built.

Important people in railway construction and major infrastructure construction.

After all the people under the landlords were robbed by the government, they would probably not only protest against sharing the land, but also cry without tears when looking at the uncultivated land.

At that time, it is no longer they who have the final say on whether to sell the land, but the court!
(End of this chapter)