Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 207 0202 [A mess]

The Red Dragon Temple is just the headquarters of the Huohaier Sect. Several surrounding villages have their secret missionary sites, and all of them are located in the homes of wealthy households.

It is said that they are wealthy households, but they are actually small and medium-sized landlords.

Faced with heavy donations from the imperial court, only large landlords in Shandong can survive, while small and medium landlords have extremely poor resistance to risks, and if they are not careful, their families will be ruined.

These small and medium-sized landlords inevitably feel precarious, and are easily attracted by the theory of the demon sect.They join the demon sect, firstly, they can gain spiritual comfort, secondly, they can use the demon sect to fight against the tyranny of the government, and thirdly, they can use the demon sect to seek financial benefits.

Shi Yuangong wrote down all the strongholds and contacts and handed them to Zhu Ming, and confessed: "There are also two missionary dens in Puzhou City. Anding Town in Fan County is He Shen... He Yaoren's big disciple. They are preaching. After gaining a firm foothold in Anding Town, they plan to develop in Zhukou Town, Yunzhou, and finally set up a branch altar in Yanggu County."

Zhu Ming ordered: "Bai Sheng and Zhang Tong, each of you take 25 people to raid the dens of the demon cult in the nearby villages. Deng Chun and Li Bao, each of you take 20 people to wipe out the dens in Puzhou City. Transfer it to the state court for trial, and then go to Anding Town to arrest people without stopping!"

"Yes!"

The four of them took orders to go, and although it was getting dark, they still acted immediately regardless of fatigue.

The archers and Baojia soldiers did not object to this, because Zhizhou promised a reward.

Zhu Ming took the rest of the people and waited in the Red Dragon Temple, sorting out the seized demon books and money.There is not much money and food in Guannei, and it has already been secretly transferred. He Shenxian built a mansion in another village, and all the money and food he collected are placed there, and there are a lot of wives, concubines and children.

Shi Yuangong said in a low voice: "If the prefect takes Jingdong Road as the foundation, he should first occupy Yunzhou and Jezhou, build a navy in Liangshanbo, and cut off the water transportation of Guangji River. As long as the navy has a firm foundation, along the Sifang River, In the north you can go to Qizhou, in the south you can go to Xuzhou, in the east you can go to Yanzhou, in the west you can go straight to Tokyo!"

Zhu Ming sneered: "Do you think that you are a genius in heaven, that you are the reincarnation of Zhuge Kongming?"

"Don't dare," Shi Yuangong couldn't wait to show himself, and continued to force him, "As long as you occupy Yan and Xu, you can build soldiers. Then you can occupy Qing, Deng, and Lai, and you will have enough military resources. Yan, Xu The five prefectures of Xu, Qing, Deng, and Lai will surely recruit hundreds of thousands of soldiers!"

Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Xiangzhou were the three major iron smelting bases in the Northern Song Dynasty, two of which were in Shandong.Xuzhou, Yunzhou, and Qingzhou were the main weapon suppliers in the Northern Song Dynasty.

It goes without saying that Qingzhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou produce salt.

In addition, Dengzhou and Laizhou are also rich in gold. During the Yuanfeng period, the gold output once reached 89.5% of the country's total output.

The more developed the smelting and mining industry, the easier it is to recruit high-quality soldiers, because the relevant practitioners live in hardship, and at the same time have extremely high discipline and collective consciousness!

Zhu Ming glared at this guy: "If you dare to say a word of rebellion again, you will be handed over to the state court for justice! What is Ben Shou's background? The third person in the palace examination, Tan Hualang, a court official Zhizhou under the age of 20, was kicked by a donkey for a while To rebel?"

Shi Yuangong was startled, yes, how could such a person rebel?

But Ju Ming's previous performance was like a wolf with ambition.

Shi Yuangong has been confused, he can't guess what Zhu Ming really thinks, and he is worried about his fate.What if Zhu Ming ran out of use and just threw it to chop off his head?
Let's put it this way, even if Shi Yuangong immediately went to Tokyo to sue Zhu Ming for treason at Cai Jing, Cai Jing would drive him out.Even a fool would not believe that Tanhualang, a young man who was successful in his youth, rebelled against him, and it was even difficult to become an excuse for political attacks.

Zhu Ming frightened this person, and then comforted him: "Remember, you were bewitched by the demon surnamed He, and joined the demon sect in a daze. After joining the sect, you saw the true colors of the demon sect, and secretly reported its illegal activities. Catch those monsters. You have done your crimes and performed meritorious deeds, so you can be exempted from punishment."

"I remember." Shi Yuangong was ecstatic when he heard the words, he was finally able to save his life.

Zhu Ming also said: "The abbot of Huang Ting Guan is the elder brother of the abbot of Chilong Temple. You often see them interacting secretly."

Shi Yuangong said: "The eunuch knows clearly, it is true."

That night, Bai Sheng and Zhang Tong destroyed several missionary dens one after another and sealed He Shenxian's mansion.

There were even two dens. When they went to arrest people, they happened to be teaching the Fa at night and detained more than 100 believers on the spot.

"Except for the leader, the rest of the believers will be released," Zhu Ming said to Shi Yuangong, "Go and tell those believers that Huo Haier and Chilong Zhenjun are all made up, so they don't believe it anymore. If next time If caught again, he will be assassinated and exiled for three thousand miles."

"Yes!" Shi Yuangong immediately went to publicize the law.

Counting the seized materials, the value of gold, silver and copper coins is more than ten thousand.It's not a lot, and a lot of money has been spent mainly to build Taoist temples and mansions-the mansions of the demon can be auctioned off.

There are also more than a thousand stones of grain, most of which are donated by ordinary believers, and some of them are rented.

There are also some cloths of various colors.

Then, they went to search the homes of wealthy religious believers. Most of those wealthy households were small bosses, and they copied thousands of coins in various ways. (These small and medium landlords are really poor!)
Zhu Ming rewarded each archer with a consistent amount of money, and if they made meritorious deeds in the arrest and search, they would be rewarded with an additional consistent amount of money.

The bounty was issued immediately, and morale was instantly boosted.Because there is no danger in coming out this time, but it is a bit harder to catch people overnight, so it is too cost-effective to receive the reward money.

I can't wait to follow the prefect to do a few more votes!
After Shi Yuangong finished his propaganda, Zhu Ming called him over and asked, "Are you familiar with the nearby villages?"

Shi Yuangong said: "Very familiar."

Zhu Ming said: "The land occupied by the Yaodao is distributed to the farming tenants. You go to register and make a book, and I will take it back to the county government to change the household registration."

Shi Yuangong reminded: "The prefect's kindness, I am afraid those tenants will not appreciate it."

"Why don't you give them land?" Zhu Ming asked.

Shi Yuangong said: "If you have land under your name, you are the main household. If the main household is poor, it will go bankrupt within a year or two. It is better to be a customer and rely on others."

Zhu Ming was silent when he heard the words.

Those tenants not only have no permanent property, but are very likely to owe usury to the landlord.Even if there is no debt, once you become the main household, the taxes and duties will increase, and if you encounter a slight accident, you will be declared bankrupt in minutes.

Not everything will be all right by dividing the land, and taxes and duties must be reduced and low-interest loans provided for them, otherwise it will be difficult for the tenants who have just been allocated land to survive.

After much deliberation, there was no good solution, and Zhu Ming could only sigh, "Sell the seized property to local wealthy households at a low price."

Shi Yuangong said: "Local rich households, most of them are the leaders of demon sects, they have already been captured by the eunuch."

"Then we should distribute the land to the tenants and give each household eight buckets of grain. If they go bankrupt next year, they will find a buyer to sell the land themselves!" Ju Ming was quite depressed.

"Yes." Shi Yuangong couldn't think of a better way.

This is determined by the general environment. The burden on farmers in Shandong is too heavy, and even Zhizhou cannot reverse the situation.

The matter of dividing the land was delayed for several days, and Zhu Ming finally returned to Zhoucheng with the demon, money, food, and cloth.

After transferring all the monsters to the state court, Huang Yaoshi said with emotion: "Working with the prefect, there is really no half a day of leisure. The previous prisoner has not finished the trial, and this time many more have been arrested. If this continues, the state prison will be overcrowded. gone."

Zhu Ming pointed to Shi Yuangong: "This man is a scholar from Puzhou, who entered the demon sect by mistake, and is very familiar with those demon ways. He secretly reported and exposed, but he will not be punished. When the case is tried, he can also be asked to help. It will be much easier."

Huang Guinian glanced at Shi Yuangong, and Shi Yuangong hurriedly bowed to please him.

All the money, food and cloth seized this time went to the public treasury of the state government, and Zhu Ming himself did not take a cent.

Seeing the income from the empty public treasury, Tian Ruyong, the general judge, burst out with a smile, and went to Zhu Ming in private and said, "According to the usual practice, the Zhizhou and the state judges can use the money from the public treasury. Why don't you and I split up a few thousand guan first? The money under it is enough for the office.”

Zhu Ming said: "The officials of the two yamen in the prefecture and county are mostly former officials of the Li family, and the Cai party is behind them. This year's autumn grain may not be collected in full. How can this money be enough? If you are ashamed, You can take the five hundred guan first."

"Five hundred guan...that's fine, it's better than nothing." Tian Ruyong actually went to get the money.

Zhu Ming's face turned black with anger, what's the matter?If he seized the money seized by Yaodao by himself, this guy really has the face to dare to reach out.

If he hadn't joined forces with Tian Ruyong to deal with the Cai party and the Li family, Zhu Ming would have turned his face immediately.

Withdrawing five hundred guan, Tian Ruyong sent someone to carry it home, and ran to Zhu Ming again: "Maybe there are still monsters who haven't been caught yet, so I can send archers to arrest them."

Tian Ruyong's meaning was very clear, taking the opportunity to blackmail the big family, and whoever didn't pay the money obediently would frame him as harboring a demon.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Of course there are monsters, I will do it in two days."

Zhu Ming also wants to frame him, but the target is not the big family, but the Taoist priests of Huang Tingguan.

Tian Ruyong got the wrong idea, excitedly said: "I will lead people to arrest with the prefect!"

"Okay, please cooperate with the Supreme Court when the time comes." Zhu Ming smiled and dragged Tian Ruyong into the water, and went to arrest those Taoist priests together, and offended Wang Laozhi together.

Zhu Ming's move to exterminate the demon sect was beyond everyone's expectations.

Yao Guangshu called the archers involved in the operation: "Aren't you going to Lei Ze County to suppress the bandits?"

Archer said: "It's going to Lei Ze County. I met a demon on the way, so I changed it to exterminate the demon sect."

"After eradicating the demon sect, why not continue to suppress the bandits?" Yao Guangshu asked.

Archer said, "I don't know either."

Yao Guangshu's brain ached when he sent the archers away, and he couldn't figure out what Zhu Ming was going to do.

As far away as Lei Ze County, horse bandit Xu Er has been waiting for many days.

He sent minions to scout for information, and even selected the location for the ambush.He waited and waited, but when he heard the news that Zhizhou exterminated the demons, he didn't go to Lei Ze County at all.

As for the Taoist priests of Huang Tingguan, they did not respond to Ju Ming's actions.

Because they are serious Taoist priests and have nothing to do with the demon sect, they just secretly recruit thieves and take the opportunity to occupy the surrounding land.

In fact, Zhu Ming also has a headache. Shandong is too complicated, with officials, nobles, Taoists, monsters, thieves... There is a lot of mess, and it is difficult to straighten out the mess. Hanzhong is simpler and purer.

(Thanks to the leader of Aiaifengzhong Yufan for the reward, O(∩_∩)O~~)

(End of this chapter)