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

Chapter 93 Now, are you still unwilling to tell the truth?
Wang Jun looked at his eldest brother Wang Yuan, who was completely unaware of the impending disaster and still acted like the head of the family, and his second brother Wang Qing, who was dumber than a pig.

Suddenly I felt so tired, angry and anxious.

Wang Jun suppressed his anger and said, "Brother, the Wang family is facing a life-or-death situation now!"

"If Zhang Hairuo is arrested by the Western Factory, then our illegal occupation of farmland must have been exposed."

"Now we can only return the land and grain as soon as possible, and try to return the land to save our lives like we did in the 16th year of Chenghua."

"And this time we can't just pretend to return the land, we must actually return the land to the people!"

Wang Qing hummed in a low voice: "You say it's easy to return the land. It was not easy for us to get these lands. You say to return them and you return them. It's really like a brother selling his brother's land without any regret."

Wang Yuan also felt sorry for the fields: "Third brother, are you making a fuss about nothing?"

"At worst, we can just transfer the land to a few more servants."

"As long as we do a good job on the surface and show His Majesty a positive attitude, I believe His Majesty will not take it too seriously."

"If it doesn't work, we can write to my sister and ask her to mediate."

"After all, we are relatives of the emperor. There are not many relatives of the emperor who are as law-abiding as us."

Wang Jun was so angry that he couldn't suppress his rage, which kept rising.

"Don't let my sister come forward to plead for mercy!"

"Is the present the same as the past? Can Your Majesty compare with the late emperor?"

"If the harem interferes with state affairs, His Majesty will only become more furious!"

"The late emperor was benevolent and did not pursue the matter of occupying the land."

"But if we continue to imitate what happened in the 16th year of Chenghua, our Wang family will be dead without a burial place!"

"Your Majesty's two uncles, Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu, were both executed by your Majesty, and their entire clans were exterminated. What about us?"

"Brother! We can't hesitate any longer. Give the order to withdraw the fields!"

What Wang Jun was talking about was the event in the 16th year of Chenghua, when the late emperor granted Wang Yuan 2,700 acres of fertile land in Jinghai County and exempted him from taxes forever.

Wang Yuan then ordered his servants to occupy farmland everywhere, and finally seized more than 220,000 acres of fertile land.

Because Wang Yuan was the younger brother of Queen Wang at the time, no one in the Censorate or the six ministries dared to impeach him.

When Zhang Zhenshu, then Minister of Revenue, revealed the matter to the late emperor, the late emperor was furious and ordered Wang Yuan to return the land immediately. He also issued an edict prohibiting any external relatives from occupying farmland privately.

However, Wang Yuan pretended to obey the order but secretly disobeyed it and registered all the occupied land under the name of his servant Liu Zong, claiming that he had returned all the farmland.

From then on, Wang Yuan and his family became law-abiding royal relatives.

In Jinghai County, there was also a new landowner, Liu Zongyuan.

He owns 220,000 acres of fertile land, and this number is still increasing, now exceeding 300,000 acres.

Wang Yuan is greedy and Wang Qing is stupid.

Only Wang Jun understood the current situation in the court, so he tried his best to persuade his two brothers to return the land and save their lives.

But Wang Yuan was still hesitant: "Third brother, what you said makes sense. The current emperor is cruel and has no regard for family affection. In order to save his life, he should give up the land."

"Then we don't have to give up everything, right?" Wang Qing felt uncomfortable. "In my opinion, we should just give up 50,000 mu to show our attitude."

"No, 50,000 acres is a bit too little."

Wang Yuan shook his head: "How about this, we will return half of it, 150,000 acres to nearby farmers."

"The rest will still be registered under the name of the house slave."

"This time we will find fifteen people, each with 10,000 acres in their name. This way, it won't be too conspicuous."

Wang Jun saw that his two brothers were still so stubborn and were still thinking about the two pieces of land even when they were about to die.

He could not help but feel grief-stricken and shouted in anger, "Brother! Think twice!"

Wang Yuan frowned impatiently and slammed the table.

"Okay, I've made up my mind."

"Don't try to persuade me, Third Brother. Just do as I say!"

"You guys!"

Wang Jun was so angry and heartbroken that his eyes suddenly rolled back and he fainted from anger.

……

At this time, the team that was surveying the land had already completed the survey of the entire Jinghai County.

The entire Jinghai County has a total of 2.2 million mu of land, of which 1.3 million mu is available for sowing, and 730,000 mu can be called fertile land.

Among these 730,000 acres of fertile land, 310,000 acres are under Liu Zong's name.

That is Wang Yuan, Earl of Ruian, and the Wang family’s land.

Duliu Village is a very small village in Jinghai County.

"Uncle, this piece of land was under your name ten years ago. How come it has become Liu Zong's land now?"

"And this old man, this piece of land should be yours, how come it has become Liu Zong's land?"

"..."

Qin Lu was holding a hand-drawn map and asked the farmers in front of him.

Even in such cold weather, the farmers don't have much clothing.

Fortunately, there was firewood burning in the house, so we didn't feel extremely cold.

The farmers saw that Qin Lu was wearing official uniform and therefore did not dare to offend him.

But they didn't dare to answer Qin Lu honestly, and could only whisper: "A few years ago, my child was sick and needed a lot of money for treatment, so I sold the land to Mr. Liu."

"Me too, my wife is sick."

"And me, my old lady is sick."

"..."

Qin Lu knew that the farmers were afraid and did not dare to tell the truth. "I am Qin Lu, the second in command of the West Factory. Do you know the West Factory?"

All the farmers shook their heads, but Qin Lu didn't care.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know about the West Factory. You just need to know that our West Factory specializes in killing officials."

"We, the Western Factory, will kill any official who dares to oppress the people."

"Your Majesty has issued a special decree, ordering us to survey the land throughout the country and return the land occupied by officials, nobles, gentry and landlords to the farmers."

"So if your land has been seized by someone, report the whole thing immediately and the West Factory will take care of it for you!"

Everyone looked at each other, feeling a little hesitant.

Of course it is good to have someone to make decisions for them.

But words are not enough. If they really speak out about their grievances, these people will not be able to stand up for them.

After these people leave, it will still be these people who continue to suffer.

Qin Lu knew their worries and did not explain anything further. He just snapped his fingers towards the door.

"Bring people here."

"Yes, Second Gear."

The Western Factory guards outside the door obeyed the order and escorted the shivering Zhang Hai into the house.

Zhang Hai had a miserable face, disheveled hair, a dull expression, and multiple wounds on his body.

Moreover, in such a cold winter, the clothes he wore were no more than those worn by the farmers, and he had sores on his hands, feet, and ears due to frostbite.

Pus and blood were mixed on the frostbite, and he looked extremely miserable. How could he look like the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture at all?
"Do you know him?"

Qin Lu pointed at Zhang Hai and asked the farmers.

The farmers all shook their heads: "I don't know him."

It's no wonder. How could these low-level farmers be qualified to know a local leader like the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture?

"It doesn't matter if you don't know. He is the highest-ranking official here. He is being sought by our West Factory for bribery."

"I just want to tell you that the most senior officials here have been captured by our West Factory."

"You don't need to worry about anything. Tell us your grievances and we at the West Factory will definitely solve them for you!"

The farmers looked hesitant. Some wanted to speak but kept their mouths shut.

Because those who oppressed them were not officials, but royal relatives.

The Western Factory dared to arrest officials of the Ming Dynasty, but would it dare to arrest the relatives of the Ming Emperor?

Seeing that they were still hesitating, Qin Lu waved his hand to the Western Factory guards and said, "Change one."

"Yes."

After the Western Factory guards took Zhang Hai out, they soon brought in a fat man.

This man looked almost as miserable as Zhang Hai, with wounds all over his body and dried blood on it.

He was wearing even fewer clothes than Zhang Hai, and was so cold outside that his lips turned blue and his whole body was trembling.

But when the local farmers saw this man, they were so scared that they immediately stood up and were about to kneel down to him.

"I meet Master Liu!"

"Stand up, don't kneel!"

Qin Lu shouted loudly, scaring the farmers so much that they trembled and quickly stood up again.

"The Master Liu you are talking about is nothing more than a prisoner of the Western Factory."

"All the great forces, great backgrounds, and great officials that you think of are like pigs and dogs in front of the Ming Emperor."

"We are sent by His Majesty the Emperor to help you get your land back."

"Now, are you still not willing to tell me the truth?!"

"This this……"

Some farmers were still hesitating, while others had already knelt in front of Qin Lu, loudly protesting their injustice.

"Sir, my land was seized by the master of the Wang family in the 16th year of Chenghua!"

"Their servants first came up and beat me up, then threatened that if I didn't give up the land, they would beat me and my son to death and make my daughter work as a maid for Master Wang."

"I can't do anything. They say Mr. Wang is a relative of the emperor. Even if they beat our whole family to death, no one would dare to do anything."

"In the end, they took away all my 23 acres of land for 500 coins!"

"Twenty-three acres of land, and only five hundred coins for it. Even robbers don't do that!"

"They took my land and rented it to me, asking me to pay 20 shi of grain per year as rent."

"Twenty-three mu of land, if the crops are healthy and not damaged, can only produce 27 or 28 dan of grain a year."

"After paying the rent, we only have seven or eight shi of grain a year. How can our family survive?"

The man cried bitterly and was extremely sad.

While crying, he kowtowed to Qin Lu.

Wang Yuan’s tyranny has long oppressed the people here. The appearance of Qin Lu is like a ray of light that pierces the darkness.

Moreover, this person has demonstrated the ability to break through this dark curtain.

At least the fact that Qin Lu arrested Liu Zong, who worked for the Wang family, has already shown the attitude of the Western Factory.

In that case, we might as well trust the Western Factory once and take a gamble.

If I win the bet, my life will be much better from now on.

He lost the bet, and he couldn't live like this anymore. He was going to die anyway, so he might as well give it a try!

Success or failure depends on this one move!

(End of this chapter)