I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 61: The Temporary Suspension of Bandit Suppression, Land Tax, and the Occupation of Villages
"Lord Ma, I wonder if those bandits have made any moves lately?"

After a long silence, Zheng Wanchun finally broke the silence and asked about the bandits.

"They haven't made any moves; they've been staying obediently on Bird and Mouse Mountain."

Ma Wenchang shook his head, his expression softening somewhat.

Fortunately, those bandits didn't cause him any trouble at this time.

"Since that's the case, then why don't we..."

Upon hearing that the bandits were safe and sound, Zheng Wanchun's eyes flickered slightly, and he tried to speak.

Hearing the profound meaning in the song, Ma Wenchang's expression shifted slightly, a sorrowful look appearing on his face as he sighed:
"Alas, this is the only way for now! It's just a pity that people's lives are so difficult."

The timing just isn't right, so we can only let the people suffer for now.
"I believe the people will understand us and the difficulties the court faces."

Thus, this bandit suppression operation was temporarily put on hold.

Overall, the bandits were quite peaceful; they didn't frequently come down the mountain to plunder, nor did they seem to intend to attack the county town.

If they are like the rebels led by Wang Er of Baishui, then even if they don't want to send troops, they will have no choice but to do so.

And so, another ten days or so passed quickly, and September arrived.

In the past few days, the dynasty has successively condensed the projection of the Heavenly Rank. In addition to Li Yu's special combat troops, more than 200 people have merged with the Heavenly Rank.

On average, Wang Dahu and his men each had twenty to thirty extraordinary soldiers under their command.

On September 5th, Wang Chao summoned Wang Dahu and others to the council hall for a meeting.

"According to reports, the Tianqi Emperor has passed away, and Prince Xin, Zhu Youjian, has succeeded him. The current emperor is Chongzhen."

With his very first words, Wang Chao dropped a bombshell.

"Wow!"

The crowd was stunned at first, then erupted in an uproar.

"Chief, is the situation true?"

"Ok!"

Wang Chao nodded and took a liking to Li Hei, the head of the Military Intelligence Division, who was standing to the side.

"The situation is true!"

Li Hei said it with absolute certainty, but did not offer any further explanation.

"This information was gathered by intelligence agents from the Military Intelligence Bureau at the Weiyuan County government office; it cannot be false."

Wang Chao offered an explanation to the crowd.

"Then it seems it's true."

"Heh heh, I heard that the Tianqi Emperor didn't reign for many years, did he?"

"Yes, it's the seventh year of the Tianqi reign now, which means the Tianqi Emperor reigned for about seven years."

"Hey, that's really short-lived."

Immediately, everyone started discussing it.

For most people, the death of the Ming emperor was a cause for celebration.

There was nothing they could do; they were living a difficult life under the Ming Dynasty.

Especially now, they are heading down the path of rebellion.

"Chief, what should we do next?"

After everyone gradually stopped discussing, Wang Sanshun asked Wang Chao a question.

"Yes, that's the main reason I called you here."
"At this point, the Ming Dynasty court probably has no interest in dealing with us bandits."

"Does the leader mean to attack Weiyuan County?"

Wang Sanshun asked hesitantly.

"."

In an instant, Wang Dahu and the others widened their eyes and looked at Wang Chao with excitement.

Could it be that the time has come for them to start a rebellion?

Seeing everyone's expressions, Wang Chao couldn't help but laugh and cry. Weren't they in a bit too much of a hurry?

"Have you forgotten what I said before?"

"This"

The crowd looked at each other, puzzled. After all that the leader had said, who knew what he was talking about now?
Wang Sanshun frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly his eyes flashed.

"The leader means to delay declaring oneself king and instead stockpile grain."

"Well, that's right.

Our current policy is to delay declaring ourselves king, stockpile grain, and try not to attract the attention of the imperial court, so as to avoid a large-scale military campaign against us.

If we attack the county seat now, regardless of what those imperial officials think, they will send troops to suppress us, the ones who dared to be the first to act.
"Haven't you seen Wang Er in Baishui County being constantly besieged by government troops?"

"Oh~!"

After hearing Wang Chao's explanation, everyone nodded in understanding, but at the same time, they couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"What does the leader mean?"

"After the previous two failed encirclement campaigns, I think Weiyuan County probably can't send out any more troops."
In that case, those vast tracts of land outside the county towns are at our disposal.

"Does the leader mean we should occupy the villages outside the county seat?"

"Yes, that's roughly the idea."

However, it also depends on the specific circumstances. If things become unworkable, we can certainly withdraw our plans.

After hearing Wang Chao's explanation, Wang Dahu's eyes lit up again.

Although this is not an attack on the county seat, occupying the vast countryside outside the county seat is also an expansion outward, isn't it?

"Our main target this time is those local rich landlords."

This time, we will confiscate all the ill-gotten gains and ill-gotten profits they have plundered from the people and put them under public ownership.
In addition, make proper arrangements for the villagers, distribute money, grain, and land, and pay attention to military discipline to avoid disturbing the people.

The dynasty was relatively at ease with those extraordinary soldiers, because they had merged with the Heavenly and Earthly Realms and knew about the dynasty's deified identity.

Therefore, they have a blind, fanatical trust in the dynasty, and this blind, fanatical trust will not fade away, at least in the short term.

They would carry out any order from the dynasty to the best of their ability.

It was virtually impossible for them to violate the military discipline established by the dynasty.

But it’s hard to say about others.

Even if they are also from peasant backgrounds, it cannot be guaranteed that they will treat the people well.

"Don't worry, Chief."

When the time comes, we will have core combat soldiers supervise discipline, and we will certainly not allow anyone to violate military discipline.

Otherwise, they will be court-martialed.

The so-called core combat soldiers are actually extraordinary soldiers. For Wang Dahu and others, soldiers who have integrated the attributes of a celestial being are their core members, the true main force of the army, and they often refer to them as core combat soldiers.

"Okay! That puts my mind at ease."

Wang Chao nodded; he still had great confidence in those extraordinary soldiers.

"only."

Suddenly, Wang Dahu hesitated before speaking.

"We're all on the same side now, so feel free to speak your mind."

Seeing Wang Dahu's hesitant expression, Wang Chao couldn't help but laugh and say something.

"Yes, I heard from someone that although we distributed land to the villagers..."

However, they are all hesitant to plant it.

"Oh, is it because of the weather?"

Wang Chao looked up at the sky.

This kind of weather is indeed not suitable for planting.

It seems his prayer for rain should evolve soon.

However, it's already August, and it seems that even if we plant the crops, it will be too late to harvest them.

It seems that this year, we can only rely on stored grain and purchasing from abroad.

It would be great if we had sweet potatoes or potatoes.

If we plant sweet potatoes now, we should still be able to harvest one season.

Potatoes, on the other hand, can be harvested in just three months.

Weiyuan County was later known as the "Potato Capital".

Without thinking, Wang Chao thought to himself that he should have someone pay attention to this matter.

Sweet potatoes and potatoes should have already been introduced to the Ming Dynasty, but they haven't spread widely yet.

It seems that it is grown in Guangdong.

It seems he'll have to send someone there in the future.

Just as Wang Chao was deep in thought, Wang Dahu's words brought him back to his senses.

"Chief, that's not the case."

"Oh? What's the reason?"

The dynasty asked in surprise.

"Chief, we have distributed the land."

However, in the eyes of the common people, we were just a band of mountain bandits. They dared to take our grain and money, but they dared not take our land.
To them, those were the lands of the village head, the lands of those wealthy landowners.

They were afraid that there were still family members in their household, and if they went to the county government to file a complaint, not only would the government take back their land and property, but they would also face lawsuits and might even lose their lives.

Upon hearing this, Wang Chao fell silent.

He was being somewhat presumptuous.

They were only thinking about seizing land from the wealthy and distributing it to the rich, but they didn't take into account the actual situation today.

After a period of contemplation, Wang Chao finally spoke slowly.

"In that case, all those fields and lands will belong to us from now on."

Then we let the people rent our land, and they just need to pay the rent when the time comes.

If something really happens, it won't concern ordinary people.
As for the rent, let's say it's 30% of the harvest per acre.

This rent is actually quite high compared to the taxes levied in the Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, land tax was roughly one to ten percent, which was considered relatively low.

However, if you add in all the other taxes, a family can barely survive after a year of hard work.

If something unexpected happens, the destruction of the family and the loss of loved ones are imminent.

The rent collected by the dynasty reached 30% of each acre of land, which seemed like a lot.

But that's all he accepts.

Taking a medium-sized field as an example, it can yield about one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain.

One shi is roughly equivalent to 120 jin.

In other words, a typical field can yield about 130 to 140 catties.

Thirty percent is about forty jin, while the tenants will have a surplus of eighty or ninety, or even a hundred jin of grain.

If the whole family pitches in, planting about thirty acres should be a breeze, right?
This is equivalent to having a surplus of more than 3,000 jin of grain, enough for a family to live on for a year, with more than enough to spare.

If it's two seasons, the harvest will be even greater.

Of course, this calculation cannot be applied to specific situations.

However, compared to the various exorbitant taxes levied by the imperial court and the landlords' 50% grain tax, his actions were truly the epitome of conscience.

Moreover, that landlord's 50% is just the bare minimum; he always finds a way to make you pay more.

Most importantly, the dynasty collected land tax, not the poll tax of the Ming Dynasty.

If you do other work and don't own land, you don't need to pay land tax.

Unlike the taxes in the Ming Dynasty, which were levied per capita, regardless of whether you owned land, taxes had to be paid.

After listening to Wang Chao's words, Wang Sanshun, Wang Dahu, and the others thought about it carefully and also felt that it was indeed feasible.

Since most farmers dared not accept the land and property distributed to them, they took it all for themselves and then made the farmers rent it out.

Even if something happens, those landlords and government officials will look for Wang Chao and his group, not ordinary farmers.

Next, everyone quickly mobilized, with the core combat soldiers as the main force, leading other regular troops to various villages under the jurisdiction of Weiyuan County.

They faced a dynasty army that had been training for one or two months, had experienced several major battles, and was led by extraordinary soldiers.

The servants and guards of those wealthy landlords and their families were naturally powerless to resist and were almost overthrown in an instant.

As time went on, most of the villages in Weiyuan County were occupied by Wang Chao and his forces.

Even those who survived, the landlords and wealthy men, all fled to the county town.

However, if they were just escaping with their families, the dynasty and its people would not bother with them and would not deliberately pursue them.

However, if they bring a large amount of family wealth.

Well, I'm sorry, they absolutely cannot outrun the Dynasty army, which possesses superhuman speed and agility.

They were all caught up and killed by the dynasty's troops, and their gold, silver, grain, and other supplies were completely confiscated and turned over to the public.

Thank you all for your support! (˙˙)

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(End of this chapter)