Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 162 Who harmed your family?
"Monk, what's your name?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was still in a daze. He was not a general leading troops, so why did he come up with the idea of ​​severely punishing the two soldiers? At this moment, Lu Jin's question suddenly brought him back to his senses. When he looked up again, he saw that Lu Jin had dismounted and was looking into Huangjue Temple.

He then said, "My name is Zhu Chongba."

Lu Jin raised his eyebrows and asked knowingly, "Zhu Chongba? How can it be a common name? It is said that monks have no home. Don't you have a Buddhist name?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Chongba immediately explained, "I don't have a certificate of ordination. I was only fifteen years old when I entered the temple to become a monk. The abbot only accepted me as a monk and didn't give me a Buddhist name."

Lu Jin nodded and strode into the temple. There were a few monks in the temple. When they saw Lu Jin in armor, with a long sword hanging from his waist and a group of soldiers following him, their faces suddenly changed. They hurriedly looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who was following Lu Jin, asking him what was going on with their eyes. But Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't figure out Lu Jin's intention. Maybe he just came in to take a look?
Arriving at the door of the main hall, Lu Jin looked at the clay Buddha statue inside with disdain. He glanced at the furnishings of the temple and the monks who were following cautiously behind him. Lu Jin suddenly said to Zhu Chongba.

"Zhu Chongba, do you know who I hate the most in my life?"

Seeing Lu Jin's unfriendly look, Zhu Chongba suddenly felt enlightened and blurted out, "Monk?"

Lu Jin glanced at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

Upon hearing this, the other monks in the temple all turned pale and became even more terrified.

Zhu Chongba seemed to understand what Lu Jin meant, "Because I don't like monks either."

"Oh? Why?"

Zhu Chongba immediately said, "Because monks do not work, but want people to support them with incense and offerings, I think this is not good."

Lu Jin nodded his head, quite in agreement. "Yes, look at you, a strong man in his twenties, with good arms and legs, healthy limbs, a nimble tongue, and a decent brain. For such a good man, why don't you go work on the farm, get married, have children, and be filial to your parents?"

Zhu Chongba took a deep breath and said, "Didn't you just read the letter about becoming a monk? If we have a family, why would we live in a temple?"

Lu Jin nodded and asked, "What about your family?"

Zhu Chongba cursed in his heart, this guy must be sick, why does he like to expose other people's scars.

However, looking at the soldiers around him and his frightened and anxious senior brothers, he still spoke.

"In the fourth year of Zhizheng, there was a great disaster in Huaixi. That year, floods, droughts, locusts and plagues came to Haozhou one after another. My father, my mother, my eldest brother, and the eldest son of my eldest brother's family all starved to death. My eldest sister had already married, and only my second brother and I were left in the family.

"I hugged my second brother and cried bitterly, but after crying, I still had to find a way to survive. My second brother went to another place to be a son-in-law. I was really hungry and had nowhere to go. So I was introduced to this temple to be a boy. Although I didn't have enough food, at least I was able to keep my life."

Hearing this, Lu Jin said, "You have quite a few family members. They were all doing well before the disaster, right? What does your father do for a living?"

"Ten and cultivate the Liu family's land." Zhu Yuanzhang was not angry at this moment. He just thought that this rebel leader came to understand the people's sentiments, so he simply started chatting with Lu Jin.

Lu Jin asked again, "You are renting other people's land, but don't you have your own land?"

Zhu Chongba glanced up at the sky, as if lost in memory, and then said, "Since I was born, my family has no land, but I heard from my father that when my grandfather was still alive, our family had land."

Lu Jin frowned upon hearing this, pretending to be puzzled and asked, "Since your ancestors had land, and there were no major disasters in Haozhou before the fourth year of Zhizheng, why did your family end up in this situation now?"

Zhu Chongba frowned. Yes, since the family had land, if there was no major disaster, the self-cultivating farmers' ability to withstand pressure was actually very strong. But why did the family fall into decline in the first place? He was not quite sure. He only heard his parents say that it seemed to be because of taxes.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Lu Jin glanced at him and then deliberately guided him further.

"I guess it must be the harsh policies of the Yuan court. If we count the harsh policies of the Yuan court, the most harmful ones are the various household registrations. Your family must have been ruined because of this. Do you know what household registration your ancestors had?"

Zhu Chongba really knew this. After Lu Jin reminded him, he immediately recalled, "I heard from my father that my family used to be a gold digger."

Lu Jin nodded, "That's right. Think about it, your ancestors were gold diggers, and they had to hand over gold to the Tartar emperor every year, but there is no gold sand here, so your grandfather had to farm first, and then sell the grain to exchange for gold to pay taxes. Under such a harsh rule, it would be strange if your family didn't fall apart. Do you think I'm right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. Although he didn't understand what inflation was, he knew that the treasure notes depreciated very quickly, while the prices of gold and silver remained very high. His family was designated as a gold digger. There was no gold sand here, but they had to keep paying gold to the Tartar emperor. It would be strange if their family didn't go bankrupt.

Seeing that he just nodded but didn't say anything, Lu Jin suddenly became curious.

"Don't you hate the Tartars? They took control of the Central Plains, persecuted us Han people, and implemented tyranny without any sympathy for the people. Not to mention the household registration, even raising cattle and horses requires fodder, and farmers have to find ways to treat their cattle and horses when they are sick.

"But this Tartar emperor only cared about his own enjoyment and internal strife. When disaster struck the Jianghuai region, the imperial court not only did not send people to provide relief or reduce taxes, but also took the opportunity to lend money at high interest rates and make a fortune. Is this what a monarch should do?
"If the Tartar emperor in the capital, those Seljuq officials who lent money at high interest, and those corrupt officials who were in office for nothing had done something humane, such as controlling the flood earlier and providing your family with some food relief during the years of famine, your family would not have starved to death.

"Even so, are you willing to be a submissive citizen and not dare to avenge your parents?"

Zhu Chongba glanced at Lu Jin after hearing this and thought to himself, "So you are here to stir up trouble. It's easy to say, but you just want me to serve as a soldier for you." He thought for a moment before asking, "You want me to join the army?"

However, Lu Jin's reaction was beyond his expectations. He just shook his head and said, "Haozhou has been recruiting soldiers for several days, but you have never joined the army. You yourself have never thought about seeking justice for your dead parents and brothers. Why should I force you, a monk, to kill people?"

Zhu Chongba was stunned for a moment, and asked in confusion, "Since the Marshal doesn't want us to join the army, why did you do that just now?"

"Why should I tell you so much?" Lu Jin glanced at him and pointed in the direction of the notice outside the temple gate.

“The Tartar emperor can ignore the lives of his people, but I am different. Now Haozhou is under my rule. Knowing that the enemy is coming, will I watch the people being captured by the Tartars and used to fill the ditches?

"I think you monks from Huangjue Temple should not stay here. You are all healthy and strong, but you are wasting food here. If the Yuan army comes to capture you, they may force you to go up to the city to consume the gold juice and boiling oil.

"Instead of being forced to die a miserable death, it is better to earn your own living. I will give you two places to go. You can either farm and pay taxes or go to work. How about that?" This time, before Zhu Chongba could reply, several monks nearby stepped forward and asked, "Can you really farm and work? Where to go?"

Lu Jin turned his head and glanced over there, then said, "Going to Luzhou or Dingyuan is fine."

Several monks were also afraid of death. They were also worried that they would be caught and forced to attack the city first, just as Lu Jin said. These monks were all miserable people to begin with, so they naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to farm and work.

Someone immediately asked, "Excuse me, Marshal, if we go to farm, will we rent the land for others or..."

The monk wanted to ask whether the land could be divided, but he was embarrassed, thinking that it would be too much to ask for land directly. This general was not a Bodhisattva in the temple, so how could he grant all wishes? Even if he was a real Bodhisattva, he might not be able to make every wish come true.

Lu Jin understood what he meant and said, "You want to ask whether we should divide the land? We can divide the land. If you are a civilian household, you can open up wasteland by yourself. Each person can have 10 mu. If 10 mu is not enough, you can also rent the land of our soldiers.

"If you are willing to join the Internal Guard, each person can get 20 acres, and if you join the Holy Martial Army, each person can directly get 50 acres. What do you choose?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned when he heard this. In the letter that Tang He had just sent him, it was said that he could help him join the Inner Guard Army. But what the letter said was not clear, and he still didn't know what the difference was between the Inner Guard Army and the Shengwu Army.

So he immediately asked, "General, what is the difference between the Internal Guard Army and the Holy Martial Army?"

Lu Jin turned around again, looked at Zhu Chongba and smiled, then explained, "The Inner Guards are local garrison troops. They usually only train in the village and will go to the county for training during the slack season. If the government summons them, they will help the government to catch thieves and collect taxes. In wartime, they only need to guard the city or escort food and grass. If they are called out of the county to fight, they will have another salary. If they go out of the prefecture, out of the province, or out of the country, they will have another salary.

"As for the Shengwu Army, it is a field army. You have to go wherever you are ordered to go. There is no room for bargaining."

As soon as these words came out, several monks nearby looked at each other and shouted, "I am willing to be the inner guard, please take me in, Marshal."

"I want to be a member of the Internal Guard too. I only need 20 acres of land."

Several monks expressed their desire to be internal guards. In their opinion, only civilians could have ten acres of land. If they were alone, ten acres would be enough for their livelihood. However, if they wanted to marry and have children in the future, ten acres of land would not be of much use. If they rented the land out to others, they would be easily controlled by the landlord.

The Internal Guards are excellent. Although they only have 20 acres of land, they can rent other people's land if the land is not enough. With the identity of an Internal Guard, they usually run errands for the government. Even if they rent other people's land, they will not be easily bullied. Moreover, they do not have to go far to fight, they only need to guard the city in the county. The chances of survival are much greater.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was different. He was alone now. He probably couldn't finish cultivating even ten acres, let alone twenty acres. Not to mention renting land from other people, he had no family to help him with the farming.

If you choose the Internal Guard Army just to get an extra ten acres of land, you might as well just join the Shengwu Army. Anyway, you have to fight in any soldier, and fighting means fighting hard. So why not risk your life in exchange for an extra thirty acres of land? You definitely cannot cultivate fifty acres of land by yourself, so you might as well just be a soldier and fight, and hire people to farm the fields.

What's more, now that war is imminent and he has nowhere to go, maybe this time he can turn a disaster into a blessing, get dozens of acres of land, make some military achievements, and become a small official in the future, so that his family can continue to pass on the incense. If he does not agree, I am afraid that his family will really be extinct.

So he said, "If we join the Shengwu Army, can we really get fifty acres of land?"

Lu Jin was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly wanted to join the army again. He had been quite resistant just now.

Lu Jin nodded, "Of course I will give you fifty acres. If I don't keep my word, how can I command the whole army?"

"Then we will be the Holy Warrior Army, but where will this land be allocated to me?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "The Shengwu Army is already full, and there is no plan to expand it for now. You are a day late, but the Imperial Guards and the Shengwu Army have the same treatment. They are my personal army. If you are willing to join the army, you have to go to Luzhou with me. Where do you want to divide your land? Luzhou? Dingyuan? Or Haozhou?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about the new army on the official road and feared that it might be the personal army of the marshal.

Lu Jin's suggestion made him suffer from decision-making difficulty. He wanted to get the land in Haozhou, where his parents' land was. If he could stay here, maybe he could find some relatives in the future. But Lu Jin's troops were not here. If he wanted to join the army, he had to go to Luzhou. But if he went to Luzhou, he was afraid that he would never find his relatives again.

Zhu Chongba hesitated for a moment, but still asked tentatively.

"General, if I go to Luzhou with you to serve as a soldier and the land is also allocated in Luzhou, will we be able to return to Haozhou in the future? Our parents' graves are still here, and we have some relatives in the north. If we can't come back, we are afraid they won't be able to find us."

Lu Jin thought for a moment and asked, "What other relatives do you have?"

Zhu Chongba hesitated for a moment. In fact, he didn't know which relatives were still alive, but he just wanted to keep them in mind. However, he still said, "I have an older sister who married to Xuyi. Her brother-in-law's family name is Li. I also have a second brother. Maybe my eldest sister-in-law's family is still alive."

Lu Jin was stunned when he heard this. The brother-in-law with the surname Li, could this be Li Wenzhong's family? Then the nephew of his eldest sister-in-law might be the newly appointed Grand Commander Zhu Wenzhen. Although this guy's political EQ is not very good, he is still good at fighting.

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "If you know where they are, you can write a letter and ask someone to deliver it. As for whether they will come back, that's hard to say. Maybe when the world is at peace in the future, I can let you go home and see for yourself."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded when he heard this, and understood what Lu Jin meant. If he could conquer the world, there would be no war and the world would be at peace, then he could naturally go home. But if he failed to conquer the world, he would probably die in the war, so what was the point of looking for relatives then?

He thought about it and said, "I want to write them a letter."

"Okay." Lu Jin agreed without hesitation.

Not only can you win people's hearts, but you may also be able to recruit two generals. Why not do such a good thing?
"Thank you, Marshal." Zhu Yuanzhang immediately bowed to express his gratitude.

Seeing Zhu Chongba willing to join the army, Lu Jin asked curiously, "Since your parents' graves are here, why do you want to go to Luzhou to divide the land?"

Since Zhu Chongba had already made the decision, he no longer hesitated and explained immediately, "This place is close to the Huai River, and there are many floods. Luzhou is close to the Fei River and Chaohu Lake, and floods and droughts are caused by people. There are rarely major disasters there. Besides, didn't the commander say that there will be a war here? Even if the land is divided, now that there are no people, I am afraid no one will rent our land.

"As for my parents' graves, they didn't even have a coffin when they were buried. If I make merit and get a reward in the future, I will definitely buy a coffin and move my parents' graves to bury them again."

(End of this chapter)