The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 431 Could it be the royal soil?
In August of the first year of the Wuding reign, all shops and properties in Linqing County were nationalized by the Great Qi. More than 2,500 merchants, brokers, and agents were executed for crimes such as treason, disrespect, tax evasion, and competing with the people for profits. Those who committed the most heinous crimes had their entire families exterminated.

The vacant shops and businesses were taken over by Qi’s civil officials and directly managed by Da Qi. Emperor Wu Ding issued many decrees that no private property would be allowed in the empire.

The confiscation of the wealth of wealthy merchants and their agents was only the first step. The seizure of farmland, factories, mines, mountains, forests, and lakes in various parts of Linqing was also being carried out simultaneously.

Under the iron-blooded policy, countless gentry and powerful people lost their heads.

After this battle, all industries in Linqing declined and its prosperity was gone. Emperor Wuding comforted himself by saying that this was the pain that had to be experienced in the process of reform and the price that had to be borne.

On August 21, an imperial decree was issued to execute all the officials in Linqing Prefecture and County who had colluded with the Ming thieves.

A total of 230 yamen runners and clerks from three shifts in Qiu County, Guantao County, and Linqing Prefecture were beheaded on charges of treason and corruption.

Including: intention to rebel, collusion with Ming traitors, laziness, indolence, embezzlement, favoritism and corruption, holding officials hostage, etc.

After the massacre, only one-tenth or twelve-tenth of the original number of officials remained in the prefectures and counties. Government affairs piled up and no one cared about them. The prefectures and counties were in chaos, and the people wanted change.

Emperor Wuding had no manpower available, so he had to recruit local scholars and students, and use threats, bribes, and coercion to handle affairs in order to maintain grassroots rule and prevent it from collapsing.

After all this turmoil, the rule of Da Qi in Linqing has become precarious.

However, Emperor Wu Ding refused to compromise and continued to abolish private property, ban landlords, imprison mine owners, and slaughter gentry...

Da Qi began to rapidly descend into polarity, and the future and destiny of the empire became uncertain.

The only thing that is certain is that more and more people want Emperor Wu Ding to die.

In the folk, Liu Zhaosun is called the tyrant of all time. Even tyrants such as Xia Jie, Shang Zhou and Yang Guang are nothing compared to him.

Between August and September, rumors spread around Linqing, and the prophecy that the emperor was cruel and inhumane, and that he was being punished by heaven, became popular in the city.

On August 28th, a fire broke out at the west gate of Linqing for no apparent reason, and rumors soon spread:
"If you do not think about the truth, the evil fire will burn the palace." This is a prophecy that Linqing Money House will also be destroyed by fire.

North of Linqing City stood two catalpa trees, three or four feet tall. On the night of August 29th, it was said that one of them suddenly grew wildly, reaching a height of 13 feet in one night. Furthermore, its trunk resembled a human, complete with a head, eyes, hair, and a beard. This led to a rumor that "as the king's virtue declines and his subjects are about to rise, a tree will give rise to a human."

On the first day of September, a local scholar named Fan Jin saw a meteor fall to the ground and said:
"The appearance of a comet indicates famine and war; a ruler who advances without virtue will achieve success.

There are also sayings like “When birds build their nests on trees without reason, war will break out”; “When ghosts cry at night, a country will perish”; “When the dead start walking again, crops will fail and war will break out”.

The list goes on and on.

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Emperor Wuding was furious and ordered a thorough investigation into the source of the rumors. Zhang Dong quickly arrested a group of scholars who were suspected of fabricating prophecies.

The pacification troops found various props of witchcraft in the residences of these people. Emperor Wu Ding then ordered the execution of all 72 people involved in the case and the burning of all kinds of compiled prophecy books found in the search.

It is known in history as the burning of books and burying of demons.

As the tyranny of Qi continued, assassination attempts occurred one after another, and more than a dozen assassination attempts against the emperor took place in August.

The identities of the assassins were varied, including remnants of the gentry, failed scholars, remaining servants of merchants, and assassins of the Southern Ming Dynasty... However, none of these eighteen assassination attempts were successful. The assassins basically didn't even touch Emperor Wu Ding before they were killed by Zhang Dong and his guards.

On the sixth day of September, all 36 assassins were executed by slow slicing. As a result of their involvement, more than a thousand people were beheaded in Linqing City.

On the sixth day of September, Aotouji was crowded with people. Emperor Wuding wanted to let everyone in the world know what the consequences would be if they were enemies of the emperor and the Great Qi.

As the pacification soldiers raised their swords and chopped off people, blood flowed like a river at the canal dock, and the severed heads were thrown into the muddy river...
Ma Shiying and his companions, who had rushed back from Nanzhili, witnessed the carnage on the Linqing Canal. Gazing at the dense massacre of heads floating on the river, they gaped in silence. The Emperor Wuding before them was a completely different person from the Liu Zhaosun they had known.

~~~~~
Like hitting a groundhog, the emperor's iron fist smashed down any opposition force. After two months of bloody suppression, all the hostile forces in Linqingzhou were wiped out.

The canal city, which originally had a population of 500,000, experienced a series of disasters such as wars, rebellions, and suppression in the first year of Wuding. Merchants were killed or fled, and most of the population was displaced. By September of the first year of Wuding, the remaining population in the city was less than 200,000.

On the ninth day of the ninth month of the first year of Wuding, after a long and bloody preliminary preparation, the "Land System of the Qi Dynasty" (hereinafter referred to as the Land System) was officially promulgated in the presence of 200,000 surviving people in Linqing.

This day is destined to go down in history, as Emperor Wuding established the prototype of the violent Qi totalitarian rule in the form of law.

The contents of the Land System mainly include:
(1) The Emperor of the Great Qi was the only legitimate emperor in the world and enjoyed undisputed sovereignty and control over the world’s territory, wealth, and population.

(2) All land and wealth under heaven belong to the Emperor of Great Qi. The Emperor of Great Qi, in his generosity, bestows his gifts of land and wealth upon the people of Qi, who enjoy the right to use them. Under the rule of Great Qi, all land is cultivated by all people; all land is cultivated by all, all food is eaten by all, all clothing is worn by all, and all money is used by all.

(3) The Great Qi had its own methods for recruiting, recommending, promoting, demoting, rewarding, and punishing officials at all levels. Every household of 50 residents had a "representative" responsible for managing production, distribution, education, justice, and local military affairs. A system of collective responsibility was implemented, encouraging citizens to report on each other.

(4) All surplus grain and money must be turned over to the national treasury. All agricultural and sideline harvests, except for food rations, must be turned over to the national treasury. Anyone who keeps any of the surplus grain or money in the treasury will be put to death.

(5) Abolition of feudal marriage.

The original text of "The Land System of the Qi Dynasty" is as follows (excerpt):

From the North Pole in the north to England in the west, from Japan in the east to Australia in the south, all are part of the Great Qi territory. Our Emperor is the only true Son of Heaven under heaven. The Emperor of Great Qi has been appointed by Heaven, and shall live long and prosper. All other emperors and monarchs are false emperors and rebels. Their lands and peoples shall be seized and made the property of Great Qi.

Land under heaven shall be distributed according to population, regardless of gender, based on the number of people in the family: those with more will receive more, and those with fewer will receive less. We must ensure that all people under heaven share the emperor's great grace, sharing the land to cultivate, the food to eat, the clothes to wear, and the money to use, ensuring that there is no inequality and that no one is left without food and clothing.

Every household in the land was to raise eight hens and two sows (pigs), without missing a season. Each year at the harvest, two representatives, led by a captain, would gather enough food for each household and turn over all the rest to the national treasury. The same rule also applied to surplus crops, including wheat, beans, ramie, cloth, chickens, dogs, and other items, as well as silver and money.

All the people in the world are one big family and belong to the emperor. No one in the world should be selfish, and everything should be put into the national treasury, so that our emperor can use it. The world will be equal and everyone will have enough food and clothing.

An imperial examination was held annually to fill vacancies in various government offices. If the recommended candidate was the right one, the recommender would be rewarded; if the recommended candidate was the wrong one, the recommender would be punished. Among the soldiers, if they found any who obeyed orders and worked hard on the farm, two representatives would list their deeds, record their names, and recommend them to the squad leader. The squad leader would then verify the candidate with the garrison commander. If they were found to be qualified, they would further investigate the candidate and recommend him to the army commander, and so on. Anyone who recommended someone inappropriately would be demoted to farming.

The country advocates martial arts. Every household with three or more people will send one person to serve as a soldier. The rest, such as widows, orphans, the disabled or the sick, are exempt from service and are all supported by the national treasury.

Admire this!

The eighth day of the ninth month of the first year of Wuding.

(End of this chapter)