The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 427 Zan Jiu
Emperor Qianwu personally led an expedition to the southwest this time.

The purpose was certainly not just to deal with a few ethnic minorities who didn't even have firearms.

This is not.

The scouts sent to Guangdu County in Sichuan to investigate the enemy's situation finally finished collecting all the necessary intelligence after more than a month.

The object of their elaborate efforts was none other than the leader of the refugees who had emerged three years prior, King Jiu.

The first words spoken by the squad leader of the scout team were:

"Your Majesty, that's definitely a fat sheep!"

To describe this person as a fat sheep is to underestimate him.

To know.

Before the peasant uprising, the Han population in Bashu Province exceeded three million.

Three years of anarchy.

This man was a local tyrant who held real power over fourteen prefectures and eighty-two counties in Sichuan and Chongqing.

Upon hearing that the sheep was very fat, the generals became anxious: "Tell me in detail!"

Urged on by the other officers, the scout squad leader recounted the events one by one:

"The Ninth King's surname is Zan. He is 28 years old and ranks ninth in his family. Zan is a common surname in the ancient Shu Kingdom, known for its bravery and fierceness. In the army of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, soldiers with the surname Zan were often used as the vanguard."

By this generation, the number of people with the surname Zan had exceeded 30,000, distributed across the three counties of Baxing, Guangdu, and Jiachuan. Men with the surname Zan were mostly martial, and they had opened martial arts schools in all three counties, with numerous disciples.

Zan Jiu spent his entire childhood in a martial arts school. After reaching adulthood, he relied on his unparalleled martial arts skills to defeat all opponents in the three counties. He led a group of Zan family members to open several gambling dens and brothels in the three counties of Baxing, Guangdu, and Jiachuan.

Three years ago, the world was in chaos, and this man rebelled under the banner of "equal treatment for the noble and the lowly, and equal distribution of wealth." The Zan clan members and martial arts students from the three counties responded one after another.

Within six months of their rebellion, they successfully seized fourteen prefectures and eighty-two counties under the jurisdiction of the Bashu Provincial Administration Commission. In each territory they conquered, they would kill all the officials and then open the granaries to distribute grain.

In no time, the name of the Ninth King resounded throughout the entire Sichuan region.

After gaining control of the situation, this person issued three decrees to all the gentry, wealthy merchants, and landlords in Sichuan and Chongqing.

One of them was a 'Treasure Offering Order'.

The decree stipulated that all gentry and wealthy merchants in Sichuan and Chongqing must offer 500 taels of gold, 5,000 taels of silver, and a quantity of antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and jewelry. Those who refused would be punished for "disobeying orders," and their entire family would be executed.
One is the 'land restriction order'.

The regulations stipulated that landlords in Sichuan and Chongqing with more than 100 mu of land must contribute 500 shi of fine rice, and any land exceeding 100 mu would be confiscated without compensation! Those who disobeyed would be punished for "disobeying orders," and their entire family would be executed.
The final decree was to declare that all the salt wells in Rongzhou, Sichuan, would be merged into its ownership!
Didn't the eunuch emperor assign all three provincial administrations in the southwest to the Miao king? Zan Jiu didn't dare to confront the Miao king directly, so he selected nine courtesans from brothels and went to visit them with generous gifts.

Perhaps Zan Jiu's generous gifts were enough to move the Miao King, or perhaps the three provincial administrations in the southwest were too vast, and having someone like Zan Jiu in charge of Sichuan would make things easier; thus, a tacit understanding developed between the Miao King and Zan Jiu.

The generals swallowed hard, their minds filled with images of gold and silver jewels.

Then they were all secretly calculating in their hearts, wondering how much of the spoils His Majesty would give them after dealing with this fat sheep.

Gan Minglan: "."

This Zan Jiu is no ordinary leader of the refugees.

They have enough elite fighting forces to cover three counties!

With a solemn expression, Zhao Muyun shared the financial and tax data he had seen in Shangdu with everyone.

"In the last ten years of the previous dynasty, the average annual revenue of the Bashu Provincial Administration Commission was about two million taels of silver, of which salt tax revenue accounted for half! Just do the math, that's a huge sum of money over three years!!" Everyone continued to hold their chins with both hands, afraid that if they opened their mouths, they would spill their saliva.

The scout squad leader thought about what they had seen over the past twenty days.

Then he thought of his master, Emperor Qianwu, his life in the border town for the past thirty years, and the current shabby state of the Shangdu Imperial Palace.

For a moment I hesitated, unsure whether I should continue.

Emperor Qianwu remained unfazed. "It's alright. I also want to know just how fat this sheep is!"

"Your Majesty, in addition to salt, Zan Jiu also controls three iron mines in Sichuan and Chongqing, as well as most of the tea gardens, money shops, gambling dens, brothels and other businesses."

Do you know who received the land donated by the landlords under the Equal Land Distribution Edict?

The Zan family! The Zan families in Baxing, Guangdu, and Jiachuan counties each received dozens of acres of land! Tea gardens were also concentrated in the hands of people from these three counties.

In addition, Zan Jiu and his relatives owned properties and shops throughout the fourteen prefectures and eighty-two counties of Sichuan and Chongqing.

The newly built Zan Family Compound in his hometown of Guangdu County required 100,000 craftsmen and took two years to complete.

Covering an area of ​​over 70 mu, with walls about 3 zhang high, it looks like a castle from the outside. Inside the castle, there are 60 halls of various sizes, 90 courtyards, 50 flower gardens, 23 gates, 56 storerooms, and 666 living quarters.

The generals and his men: We're numb.

"My goodness! The national treasury accumulated by generations of the ancient Shu Kingdom is not even as much as this kid's private wealth!"

"Shouldn't the Equal-Field System be about distributing the surplus land of landlords to the displaced people? Taking it from the landlords and distributing it to our own people! Wouldn't that make the Zan family the most powerful clan in Sichuan?"

"A commoner's house is bigger than the imperial palace in the capital! How many concubines does he plan to take? Even if he takes a hundred, he still won't be able to fill all 616 rooms within ten years!!!"

Jealousy makes people unrecognizable!
"I have never heard of any ancient family that could concentrate the wealth of a provincial administration office for three years into one family."

"With so much money under your pillow every night, aren't you worried about being murdered for your money?"

The leader of the scout squad grinned and raised an eyebrow:

"Generals, you may not know this, but Zan Jiu is extremely afraid of his life. The Zan family compound where he currently resides has over a thousand private soldiers with muskets!"

His lifestyle, including food, clothing, and daily necessities, was on par with royalty. He had over a hundred servants attending to him personally! According to my own observation, when he used the toilet, there were at least ten guards outside the latrine, and two beautiful maids serving him inside!

A general who had made outstanding contributions in the southwestern battlefield and was quickly promoted from a centurion to a guerrilla general expressed his incomprehension of this kind of toilet service.

He blinked and asked the scout captain:
"Does that fellow expect a beautiful maid to sing for him? Or perhaps she'll hand him a toilet stick after he's finished defecating?"

Emperor Qianwu: "."

Gan Minglan: "."

other people:"."

This stumped everyone.

He scratched his head and said:

"Oh, you all don't know? Well, when we catch that rebel leader, we'll have his beautiful maids serve us all when we go to the toilet."

Everyone: "Thanks for the invitation!"

(End of this chapter)