Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 347 Private Visit on Weibo
In October, Cen Danchu was so quiet that he wanted to make a move. He went out of Guangzhou City in disguise. Cen Danchu dressed up as a gentleman, two guards dressed up as servants, his adopted son Wang Hua dressed up as a scholar, and Mrs. Mo Yufen dressed up as a handsome personal servant. There was also a man in his twenties named Qu Dajun, who dressed up as a guest.

Qu Dajun was from Panyu County, a suburb of Guangzhou Prefecture. His courtesy name was Wengshan, his other courtesy name was Jiezi, and his pseudonym was Laipu. He studied under Chen Bangyan, one of the Three Loyalists of Lingnan. When Shang Kexi invaded Guangdong, Qu Dazhuang shaved his head and became a monk, and named his residence "Si'an" to show his refusal to surrender.

Cen Danchu was appointed as the general of the aid and suppression team and came to Guangdong. Qu Dajun came to join him and joined the secretariat as a proofreader. He was about the same age as Danchu and the two had a close personal relationship. However, Qu Dajun was not a person who could hold power in an official capacity. He was content to assist Danchu and regarded himself as a scholar.

Historically, Qu Dajun was determined to resist the Qing Dynasty. He was a famous scholar and poet in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He was known as the "Three Great Masters of Lingnan" together with Chen Gongyin and Liang Peilan, and was called the "Xu Xiake of Guangdong". What is particularly admired by later generations is that he ignored the Qing court's ban, collected the deeds of anti-Qing patriots, wrote "Records of Martyrs in the Four Dynasties of the Imperial Ming Dynasty", and devoted himself to compiling "Guangdong Collection", "Guangdong Literature Selection", and "Guangdong New Language". Most of his works were banned by the Qing Dynasty.

The autumn weather in the suburbs is refreshing, and the fragrance of rice is refreshing. It is the autumn harvest season, and the tenants are harvesting rice in the fields. It can be seen that they are in a happy mood and sing folk songs from time to time.

"Jie Zi, what are the fellow villagers singing?" Dan Chu asked with great interest.

Qu Dajun listened attentively and then said, "My Lord... uh, my Lord, that person is singing a Hakka folk song, the lyrics of which are 'The new house is square, with an upper hall and a lower hall. It has three rooms and three suites, and I ask my sister if she likes the corridor or not'.

"This is a love song. It's about a young man who built a big house and asked his younger sister if she liked the corridor outside the house. 'Lang' is the same as 'corridor', which sounds like 'lang' in 'langjun'. It uses objects to describe love, and is meant to test the younger sister's feelings."

Everyone laughed. Madam Mo said, "From the sound of his voice, it seems to be that of a middle-aged man. Who is he singing for?"

Qu Dajun replied: "Hakka women do not bind their feet and work in the fields like men. This middle-aged man may be singing for his wife."

Danchu asked, "I heard that Hakka people usually live in remote areas. This place is close to the provincial capital, how come there are Hakka people here?"

"Boss, you don't know. Hakka people originally lived in the mountains to avoid conflicts with the natives. Since Emperor Chengzu, the household registration system has gradually been relaxed, and many Hakka people have begun to flock to the provincial capital.

"This place is called Mude. There are commercial ports along the river. The population is huge, comparable to that of prefectures and counties in the interior. Many Hakkas also moved here. Fearing being bullied by the natives, they simply became slaves in the mansions of powerful people, renting their land and gaining their protection."

The problem of land annexation was extremely serious in the Ming Dynasty. One of the reasons was the heavy taxes. The royal family proliferated without limit, and the princes occupied the land. The burden on farmers was extremely heavy. Farmers with land either abandoned their land and fled, or took their land with them to become slaves in the houses of powerful people, or signed false contracts with gentry to register the land in the name of the gentry to avoid taxes and labor service.

The Red Army implemented the system of tenants paying taxes without changing land relations. It collected taxes directly from tenants, bypassing the landowners. While maintaining rural stability, it dealt a devastating blow to traditional malpractices such as "fraudulent payments" and "flying taxes", thus ensuring fiscal and tax revenue.

According to the order of the South Vietnam Kingdom, Guangdong will implement the tenant-tax system throughout the province starting from this autumn harvest. Today, when I walked to Mude, I saw people harvesting rice in the fields. I might as well go and take a look.

Danchu made up his mind and led the group to a pavilion not far away. There was an old man in his fifties selling tea.

"How many cups of tea would you like, gentlemen? Would you like some peanuts and melon seeds?"

"No need for tea, just three bags of melon seeds and three bags of peanuts." Qu Dajun made the decision.

The pavilion was a common building in ancient times. It was built on the side of the road for passers-by to enjoy the cool and rest. During the war years, this pavilion has become quite dilapidated, with damaged railings and the thatched roof needing to be replaced.

The guards first led the horses to the side of the road to eat grass, and then took two chairs from the horses for Cen Danchu and Qu Dajun to sit on.

Qu Dajun didn't dare to accept it, so he gave it to Mo Yufen and Wang Hua. The two of them also didn't accept it, so Danchu said, "Mr. Qu, please sit down."

The old man had a broken bench, and he said, "Sir, if you don't mind, you can sit on this bench."

The bench was greasy and no one wanted to sit on it.

"How many of you are from Guangzhou?"

Qu Dajun replied, "Yes, our boss is going to Conghua County on official business." The old man looked at Cen Danchu, chuckled, and said, "Your Excellency has a wealthy face. Anyone who can afford six horses is either a general of the Red Army or a high-ranking official in the government."

He spoke in Hakka dialect. Danchu couldn't hear it clearly, but could barely understand the general meaning.

Qu Dajun drank some water from the water bag he brought with him, ate a few melon seeds, and said with a smile, "You have a sharp eye. You really got it right."

"Ouch," the old man was terrified. He quickly straightened his clothes and was about to kneel down.

"Old man, get up quickly," Danchu quickly helped him up and said, "The Red Army advocates equality, and we can't kneel down now."

"Equality?" The old man smiled bitterly and hesitated to speak.

Qu Dajun asked, "Uncle, please feel free to tell me what you want to say. Maybe our boss can help you."

The old man mustered up his courage and said, "We common people don't care about equality or inequality. As long as there is peace and we have food to eat all year round, we are satisfied. The king ordered the tenants to pay taxes and left 50% of the harvest for us. We are very excited to hear this. But the only thing we are afraid of is... "

"What are you afraid of? Just tell me, old man." Danchu's heart sank, thinking that the tenants had encountered resistance in Guangzhou in paying taxes.

"I am old and it is inconvenient for me to go to the fields to harvest rice, so I sell tea here to make a few cents. There are six people in my family and we rent thirteen acres of land. This land is very troublesome..."

The land that the old man rented originally belonged to Tang Wang Zhu Youlang, the younger brother of Emperor Longwu. Emperor Longwu had no children and was killed in Tingzhou. Zhu Youlang fled to Guangzhou and cited the principle of "brother succeeds brother" to proclaim himself emperor and named himself "Shaowu".

Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang had already claimed the title of Regent in Guangxi, and was supported by Lingnan leaders such as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi Ding Kuichu and Governor of Guangxi Qu Shisi. Zhu Youlang established a new court in Guangzhou, which was opposed by many officials. For this reason, Zhu Youlang launched a large-scale prison and confiscated a lot of the opposition's land and used it as an imperial farm.

The land near Mude was just designated as the imperial farm. Less than two months after Zhu Youlang proclaimed himself emperor, Li Chengdong attacked Guangzhou and seized the imperial farm and used it as Dongxun's land. In the fourth year of the Yongli reign, the Qing army captured Guangzhou and the land was again designated as Shang Kexi's.

"The government said that they would take this piece of land back to the Nanyue state. We are worried that the government will give this piece of land to the Red Army's families. Then, we won't even have the right to farm it. There are also rumors that the government will return the land to the King of Tang..."

After all the talk, the old man still has no land, and he is worried. If the land can be distributed to each household, the old man's worries will be solved once and for all. However, for the time being, it is not feasible to distribute the land to each household.

As for the land of the Ming Dynasty princes, the Red Army would naturally not return it. Dialectically speaking, the war broke the original land relations, broke the old interest structure, and also deprived the Ming Dynasty princes of their parasitic privileges.

Lingnan was full of miasma, and was considered a daunting place by the Ming Dynasty royal family. During the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court only appointed one Jingjiang King in Guangxi and one Huai King in Guangdong, but Huai King was afraid of the climate in Guangdong and soon moved to Shangrao, Jiangxi.

The Prince of Jingjiang once wrote to Danchu, asking him to return his land in Guilin. A member of the Tang vassal clan also wrote to him, asking for Zhu Youlang's land in Guangzhou. Danchu ignored them.

Danchu smiled and said, "Don't worry, old man. In your situation, you can continue to rent and farm the land. The government has nationalized the land and will not return it to the King of Tang. You can continue to rent and farm it."

"You say so, but you don't have any evidence, so you always feel uneasy."

No proof? Then make one. Danchu suddenly had an idea and said, "Don't worry, soon the government will issue you a land tenancy certificate with the official seal. With the official seal, won't you feel at ease?"

The old man then smiled and said, "If you can really do this, we will be relieved. From now on, we can farm peacefully and pay taxes honestly."

(End of this chapter)