Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 299 The people of Xuzhou are filled with regret!

Xuzhou Prefecture.

Pei County.

This is a county to the north of Xuzhou Prefecture. It was also in this county that the mob beat Liu Chuan, the magistrate of Pei County, to death on the spot when they attacked the county government office.

Because of this, when Gao Shun's army broke through Xuzhou Prefecture, the people of Pei County were the most likely to run away because they had something to hide and were afraid of being investigated by the government soldiers.

A large number of Pei County residents, especially young and middle-aged men, fled Xuzhou Prefecture and ran to several prefectures next to Xuzhou.

Previously, in Daijiazui Village of Yangzhou Prefecture, the Xuzhou relatives hidden in the homes of those villagers were all people from Pei County.

At this moment, the entire county town of Pei County was deserted, with few pedestrians on the streets.

It is rare to see people working in the fields in the countryside.

It is now the end of spring, the time for growing seedlings, applying fertilizers and weeding, but so many people have abandoned their land and fled, leaving farm work in tatters.

When it comes to harvest in autumn, it will inevitably lead to a large-scale reduction in production.

If handled carelessly, it may even cause a large-scale reduction in production.

Jiangnan was the land of fish and rice and the granary of the Ming Dynasty. The reduction in production in Jiangnan affected not only the people of Jiangnan, but also the people of the entire Ming Dynasty.

If the harvest in the south of the Yangtze River really fails and the Ming Dynasty is unable to transfer grain to the food-scarce areas in the north, it will cause a great famine across the entire Ming Dynasty.

By then, there will be a scene of refugees and starving people everywhere.

Therefore, the area of ​​Jiangnan is a matter of great importance. If the emperors of all dynasties did not have absolute military power but wanted to consider the overall situation, they could only adopt a policy of appeasement towards the forces in Jiangnan.

After the Manchus entered the Central Plains, they carried out large-scale massacres in the Jiangnan region because they did not have to worry about the lives of the Han people.

In the early days of the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains, the massacre of the people in the south of the Yangtze River led to a great famine across the country, and countless people died in battle or starved to death.

But for the Aisin-Gioro clan, it didn’t matter. After all, the dead were Han Chinese, not Manchus, let alone Bannermen.

Six land distribution teams, totaling 300 soldiers under Gao Shun, entered Pei County.

The six land distribution teams dispersed as planned and went to the farmers in various villages to distribute land.

A group came to Zhaojiaxi Village, Pei County.

There are more than 160 households in this village. It used to be a bustling village with people of all ages.

But now, every household in the village has its doors and windows closed, and there is deathly silence.

Fifty soldiers walked into the village. No voices were heard, only the occasional barking of dogs and crowing of chickens.

The soldiers first came to Zhao Xiaoyang's house at the entrance of the village, and the leader of the group, Lu Hao, knocked on the door.

"Is anyone home?!"

"Open the door! The court is sending warmth!"

Unfortunately, no matter how hard Lu Hao slapped, there was no movement in the room.

But the warmth of the court is not something you can give up just because you don’t want it.

Seeing that he couldn't open the wooden door, Lu Hao simply waved his hand to the soldiers behind him and said, "Knock the door open."

"Yes, my lord."

Immediately, four soldiers took turns to kick and ram the door, and finally succeeded in breaking it open.

After opening the door, Lu Hao walked into the room first and saw a middle-aged woman, a young girl, and two children hugging each other and shivering.

"Sir, please spare my life! Sir, please spare my life!"

"We didn't do anything. The baby is still young. Please don't hurt him."

"Sir, if you want to arrest someone, just arrest me, an old woman, and let my two poor grandchildren go!"

"..."

As soon as they saw Lu Hao and his soldiers, the two peasant women began to scream and cry for mercy.

The two children in their arms didn't know what was going on, but when they heard their mother and grandmother crying, they also started crying loudly.

All of a sudden, the whole room was filled with crying and shouting.

Lu Hao frowned impatiently and shouted in a deep voice: "Stop crying! We are not here to arrest you!"

"Answer my question, is this Zhao Xiaoyang's home?"

Lu Hao's shout scared the two crying people. Looking at Lu Hao's ferocious face, they were so scared that they dared not breathe loudly.

The old woman nodded hesitantly: "Yes, I am his mother."

"What about Zhao Xiaoyang?"

When Zhao Xiaoyang's mother heard that Lu Meng was looking for him, she immediately started to wail again: "Zhao Xiaoyang hasn't come back for five or six days!"

"We really don't know where Zhao Xiaoyang has gone!"

"Sir, please be kind and don't kill us all, please let us go!"

Not only was Zhao Xiaoyang's mother wailing, but Zhao Xiaoyang's young wife was also crying silently.

Lu Meng frowned deeply and asked in confusion: "What do you mean? Who told you that we are going to live with Zhao Xiaoyang?!"

"We are here to divide the land among you."

As Lu Meng spoke, he pulled out a land deed from his arms and placed it in front of the two women: "Is this the land deed you signed with Zhao Dirong?"

Zhao Dirong is the largest landlord in Zhaojiaxi. More than 70% of the people in Zhaojiaxi live by renting the land from Zhao Dirong.

The two women looked at the signed deed in bewilderment and shook their heads: "Sir, we can't read..."

Lu Meng didn't say anything, but handed the deed to the two of them, and at the same time took out a new deed.

"It doesn't matter if you can't read. You just need to understand that from today on, the land you rented from Zhao Dirong now belongs to you."

"From now on, all the food you grow on your land will belong to you. You don't have to hand over a grain to Zhao Dirong anymore."

"No one will threaten you with renting the land anymore. As long as you are willing to plant the land, it will always be yours and no one can take it away!"

The two women became more shocked as they listened. They widened their eyes, looked at Lu Meng in a daze, and took the land deed from Lu Meng's hand with trembling hands.

"Is this... is this true?"

"Do these lands really belong to us?"

"We don't have to pay rent to Mr. Zhao anymore? He won't have any objections, right?"

Holding the brand new title deed, the two women still felt it was not real.

This kind of happiness came too suddenly, so suddenly that they all felt it was a little unreal.

"Of course, this is the order of the current Ming Emperor. No one can disobey it."

"As for Zhao Dirong, he won't have any objections because he has already been killed by us."

Lu Meng said it lightly, but the two women's hearts trembled.

The two women looked at each other, their faces filled with shock and confusion.

Mr. Zhao, who had been dominating Zhaojiaxi for decades, was actually dead?! After Lu Meng finished his explanation, he turned around and wanted to leave, but before leaving, he added: "Let Zhao Xiaoyang come back. We will not arrest him, let alone kill him."

"The land has been left idle for a long time. If we don't cultivate it, the yield will drop in the fall."

After saying that, Lu Meng turned and left.

After hearing Lu Meng's last words, the doubts in the two women's hearts suddenly reached their peak.

They never imagined that the imperial officials and soldiers, whom they once regarded as a scourge and a monster, neither arrested them nor killed them, but actually sent them land.

This kind of thing is completely different from what Mr. Zhao said before!

Zhao Xiaoyang's wife couldn't help but said: "You have killed Mr. Zhao, why don't you kill us? And you gave us land..."

"This... this is different from what Master Zhao said..."

Lu Meng stopped and turned around: "The purpose of our coming here is to follow your majesty's order to fight against the local tyrants and divide the land."

"Our goal from the beginning to the end has been to kill all the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan and return the land they have occupied to the people of Jiangnan, to you."

"What we don't understand is why you are so resistant to our actions and why you want to fight us meaninglessly outside Xuzhou City."

After hearing Lu Meng's words, the two women widened their eyes in shock and murmured in disbelief.

"How is this possible... How could this be... Are you just here to kill the landlord?"

"Then... why did all those fellow villagers die... why did they die..."

After knowing the real purpose of the imperial army, both of them felt deeply regretful and felt it was not worth it for those who died unjustly.

Lu Meng glanced at the two women and finally said, "You have all been deceived. The court is on your side, not those landlords and gentry."

After Lu Meng finished speaking, he left Yang Xiaoyang's room without looking back and went to the next farmer's house.

Only two women were left in the room, crying and laughing.

And such things happened in various places in Xuzhou Prefecture.

After getting their own land and learning the true purpose of the imperial army, the farmers in Xuzhou Prefecture cried bitterly.

They hated the landlords and gentry in their village for deceiving them, and they also hated themselves for being fooled so easily and being used as guns by them, losing their lives in vain.

Especially the relatives of the farmers who were killed in vain by the Xianzhen Camp in the conflict outside the city of Xuzhou cried uncontrollably and were filled with deep regret.

"Dad! Your death is so unjust! You shouldn't have died!"

"My son! You are so stupid! Your death is so worthless!"

"Damn landlords, you have deceived us so badly! The officers and soldiers from the court are the good guys!"

"The Emperor is the best master in the world!"

"..."

The howling cries of grief and humiliation echoed throughout Xuzhou Prefecture.

The people, holding the brand new land deeds in their hands, came to their senses only after they truly felt the benefits brought by the court.

They regretted it, they really regretted it, but it was too late.

The land distribution teams visited every village in Xuzhou Prefecture door to door and distributed the land of Xuzhou Prefecture one by one.

After the land distribution teams arrived, the fields in Xuzhou Prefecture gradually became lively.

They ran around in the fields that had been abandoned for several days, working hard on the farm.

They are working much more enthusiastically than before.

After all, you were farming for others.

But now, they are farming for themselves!
The enthusiasm for work is simply amazing.

In addition, a large number of middle-aged women spontaneously left Xuzhou Prefecture with their luggage and headed for several prefectures adjacent to Xuzhou.

They want to find their sons, sons-in-law, husbands, and fathers who have fled abroad and live a good life with them.

At the same time as such great changes were taking place in Xuzhou, the 20,000 troops led by Xu Chang also began to hunt down local landlords in various counties of Yangzhou.

The total army of 20,000 was divided into 20 teams by Xu Chang, each team had 1,000 people.

They broke up into small groups, went deep into the villages of various counties in Yangzhou, and specifically targeted the landlords in the villages.

However, because Wang Yan and Yang Jizon had not yet had time to survey the land in Yangzhou, they had no information about the landlords in Yangzhou.

This resulted in Xu Chang and his men not having a clear understanding of which landlords to kill.

So Xu Chang decided to go directly to the villages in various places, find the house with the largest area and the best built house, rush in directly and kill all the people inside.

This way, you will never go wrong.

At this moment, a thousand soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp led by Xu Chang were rushing towards Daijiazui, Baoying County, Yangzhou Prefecture.

Daijiazui was peaceful at this time, but most of the people in the village were women, children and the elderly.

Because a few days ago, Dai Qingniu led hundreds of young and strong men from Daijiazui to Yangzhou City to fight in the defense of Yangzhou.

It is worth mentioning that Mr. Dai, the largest landlord in Daijiazui, did not go to Yangzhou City, but stayed in Daijiazui.

Just three days ago, the news that the peasant army in Yangzhou Prefecture had driven away the imperial officers and soldiers reached Daijiazui.

On that day, the people of Daijiazui were all smiling and celebrating their escape from the clutches of the devil.

And the happiest person, of course, is Master Dai.

For several days in a row, Master Dai felt very happy and had a smile on his face all the time. He would even wake himself up with laughter when he was sleeping.

At this time, Master Dai was lying in the backyard of his luxurious mansion, basking in the sun.

On each side were two young and beautiful concubines, massaging his legs and back.

With a cup of the best Biluochun tea at hand, life is so wonderful.

On the vast land around Daijiazui, many villagers are working in the fields. They are exhausted, panting, with backaches and sweat all over their bodies, but they are still reluctant to stop and rest.

Although most of the grain they grew had to be handed over to Master Dai, the remaining grain was enough to ensure that their family would not starve to death.

The villagers of Daijiazui are already very satisfied with this.

Suddenly, the villagers who were working in the fields felt the ground shaking slightly.

At the same time, they heard loud sound of horse hooves coming from afar.

They stood up in confusion and looked into the distance, and suddenly saw a large black shadow appear on the distant horizon.

When they got closer, they realized that there were thousands of fully armed soldiers!
Suddenly, all the people who were still working in the fields dropped their work and ran back to their houses like crazy!

"Help! The army is coming! The army is coming to kill us!"

"Oh my God! Run! Everyone, run! The imperial army is coming!"

"Master Dai! It's bad! The imperial army is coming to attack us. You must think of a solution quickly!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)