Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 192 I was moved by the rebels and wanted to be an officer in the rebels!

In these years, war disasters continued, and there were starvation and filth everywhere in and around Jiqing City. The Yuan Dynasty officials had no time to manage it. In order to prevent the spread of the plague and the reduction of the population, the rebels naturally had to manage it.

As a result, many corpses of refugees who had been decomposed by time until they were reduced to skeletons were buried in the soil, abandoned infants and young children were rescued, and the smelly streets took on a new look.

Even refugees with diseases were gathered together and uniformly screened and treated by the government.

The officials responsible for doing these things were all drawn from the army and did not directly use local gentry.

Because Zhang Cheng and Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust the local gentry.

But precisely because the local gentry and old bureaucrats were not used, the execution was pretty good.

Zhang Cheng also directly sent bureaucrats from the industrial system he had trained to take over the government-run factories and workshops that originally belonged to Hu Yuan, instead of using the old local bureaucrats and gentry.

However, the workshop leaders who were responsible for dealing directly with craftsmen during the Yuan Dynasty were directly appointed by Zhang Cheng as basic work-in-charge officers, allowing them to organize and mobilize the craftsmen in government-run factories and workshops to continue production.

The Yuan Dynasty implemented the occupational household registration system, so many craftsmen basically belonged to the same family.

Because after a slavery civilization annexes a country with farming civilization, the integration of civilizations will inevitably lead to the implementation of some backward systems, which will in turn cause the entire civilization to regress.

"That's right, if the rebels come earlier, I might be able to earn enough money to marry my wife in advance."

This means that Zhang Cheng will not be able to cancel the professional household registration system in a short time, and even have to allow the craftsman household system to exist.

Just like in history, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Empire, he had to continue to implement the occupational household registration system, but streamlined the more complex occupational household registration system of the Yuan Dynasty.

If you don't personally participate in the system design, you won't be able to understand the helplessness.

After all, craftsmen who are accustomed to the production and life of a family are naturally more willing to trust the elders of their own clan than to trust a foreign official.

Qiu Dayuan gathered his nephews into the hall of the workshop and said:
"Now it seems that the rebel army is different from the official army. Prime Minister Zhu and Mr. Zhang treat us more as human beings! Instead of letting us just serve and not pay wages, they gave us wages and bonuses."

It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's historical implementation of the occupational household registration system fixed the people in one occupation and reduced the people's freedom in career choices. It was not entirely his fault.

"Uncle Qiu, don't worry. We just hope that the rebel army will really win the world. After all, the rebel army really pays wages. Now, serving in the army will not only work for a living, but also earn some money to give the children more clothes for the winter. clothes!”

This has happened before when the Five Husbands destroyed China and the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty. In history, it will happen again when the Manchu and Qing Dynasties destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Cheng now wants to restore China and make Chinese civilization progress again, but due to the inertia of regression, he cannot quickly leap forward to the level of civilization before the Yuan destroyed China. He must continue to adapt to the institutional remnants of the Yuan Dynasty and improve step by step.

The craftsmen are basically managed by the elders of the same clan, so Zhang Cheng has to rely on the elders of these craftsman clans to directly manage the craftsmen in their clan.

And although the patriarchs of the craftsman families will take part of the wages paid to them by the rebels in the name of supporting public affairs of the clan, such as buying sacrificial fields, building ancestral halls, setting up clan schools, etc., they will still distribute part to the clansmen. , so as not to make the tribesmen dissatisfied with the clan.

The big reason is that the Yuan Dynasty destroyed China, which led to the decline of China's civilization.

"We can't be ungrateful, so we all have to be more active in our work in the future. We can't really let the supervisor above think that the quality of our products is not good. Not only will our performance be deducted, but our Qiu family will also be embarrassed. Do you understand?"

Just like many local farmers are managed by elders of the same clan.

But no matter what, when these craftsman families knew that their rebels would give them wages, they were still very happy and conveyed the news to their clan members in a timely manner.

This improvement may take many years, even generations.

"We understand!"

Now Zhang Cheng himself has realized this helplessness. Therefore, he had to transfer some power to the clan in the technical field instead of directly establishing a labor and social system.

Therefore, the craftsmen at the lowest level can still get part of their wages, and they will feel that the rebel army's capture of Jiqing is different from before, which will also improve their lives.

The craftsmen of the Qiu family all started talking.

Qiu Dayuan just smiled and couldn't help but wipe the tears from his eyes. In his opinion, the most rare thing is that craftsmen like him are finally treated as individuals and the value of their labor is affirmed.

But Sun Yan, Xia Xie and other gentry found that their value was not recognized by the rebels.

Because even though they contributed to the rebel army's capture of Jiqing City, the rebel army did not recruit them as officials and seemed to ignore them!
but.

After Sun Yan, Xia Xie and other gentry saw that the rebel army had strict military discipline and was committed to restoring production order, solving the problem of bones being exposed in the wild and orphans crying in the city, and also cleaning and eliminating the hidden dangers of the spread of epidemics, they had to admit that, The rebels in front of them were not ordinary rebels who only wanted to retaliate and plunder, but were dedicated to conquering the world. They also wanted to serve as officials in the rebel army, and wanted to take advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's rebel army before they completely conquered the world. Because what these gentry actually want to see most is someone willing to restore order and stabilize society.

As landlords who control the means of production, such as land, real estate, and slaves, they can make a lot of profits as long as order is restored.

Therefore, order and stability are very attractive to them.

But now, after seeing the rebels' efforts to restore order, they are naturally elated and want to serve as officials in the rebels and gain greater power, so that they can take advantage of the opportunity to annex more interests.

"This rebel army is truly a benevolent and righteous army. The first thing they did after entering the city was to collect the bones, save orphans and children, and help the common people. Then they paid wages to the craftsmen and showed kindness."

"According to this, the rebel army will definitely win the world!"

Therefore, although Zhang Cheng was not in a hurry to recruit Confucian scholars, the Confucian scholar Xia Xie took the initiative to ask for a meeting with his former friend Yang Xian, and praised the rebels in front of Yang Xian.

Yang Xian said with a smile: "This is just the beginning. Next, we have to divide the fields."

"Divide the fields?"

Xia Xie couldn't help being shocked.

Yang Xian nodded and said while looking at the account books: "Right now, 60% of the entire Jiqing Road is the private land of Hu Yuan princes and ministers in the south of the Yangtze River. These private lands do not pay taxes and pay high land rents, but Zhongshu Sheng This means that these private fields will not be allocated to the names of the governors of Zhongshu Province and continue to exist as private fields. Instead, they will be directly distributed to tenants and landless people after the land is cleared, turning the high land rent into low taxes. The benefits from these fields have changed from mostly going into private treasury to mostly being owned by the people, with a small part going into official treasury.”

After hearing this, Xia Xie stood up and remained silent for a long time.

Finally, Xia Xie couldn't suppress his excitement and said to Yang Xian with a smile:

"Brother Xiwu, what a great strategy your army has! Let the land belong to the people and make the people rich themselves, then the world will be rich!"

Xia Xie asked again: "May I ask who in the province advocated this?"

"Mr. Zhang."

Yang Xian replied with a smile.

Xia Xie pursed his lips and nodded, and said meaningfully: "Mr. Zhang is really a virtuous man, and we are not as good as him! This hometown should always remember his virtues!"

When he mentioned this, Xia Xie finally couldn't help but grit his teeth and bowed to Yang Xian:
"Brother Xiwu, you are not a foolish brother who covets power. In fact, you also have the heart to benefit the villagers and want to be born to bring peace to all generations!"

"And now, I see that the rulers of the rebel army love the people so much, so I intend to join them! But I am suffering from no way out. I also ask Brother Xiwu to introduce my brother to Mr. Zhang. Even if he is a small official in the rebel army, it is enough. I will not disappoint you." The teachings of the saints will also be deeply grateful to my brother for helping me realize my ambition!"

Yang Xian hurriedly helped Xia Xie up: "Brother, please don't do this!"

then.

Yang Xian said: "I have long wanted to recommend my brother to Mr. Zhang, but unfortunately the rebel army now does not use the system of conquest, but the system of examination and selection!"

"If my brother wants to join the rebel army, he only needs to wait until the election order is issued and sign up. At that time, admission and distribution will be considered based on his merits."

After hearing this, Xia Xie realized: "So that's it."

Xia Xie breathed a sigh of relief after knowing that the rebel army did not use them as gentry.

Next, Xia Xie learned from Yang Xian about the rebel officer selection system and the importance of practice in selecting officials. Therefore, after leaving Yang Xian, he thought of going to the market to pick up some practical books, such as introduction Books on water conservancy, calendars, diseases, farming, and textiles.

It's dusk

The sunset illuminated the entire Jiqing City in red.

Because the rebel health workers had cleaned it, Xia Xie saw that the street in Jiqing City where he was had been cleaned spotlessly. The bluestone slabs had returned to their original color, and the stinking ditches on both sides were filled with lime, just like It felt like it had snowed, making the whole street cleaner, and the smell of corpses disappeared.

Although it was getting late, since the rebels did not impose a curfew, there was still an endless stream of people walking on the streets to buy things. The most eye-catching ones were those in blue shorts, going in and out of various shops.

The busiest shop was the lamp oil shop. After all, the rebels were now prohibiting people from using lamps, so many people began to buy candles and lamp oil for lighting.

Seeing this, Xia Xie couldn't help but think of what Yang Xian said about the rebel army's upcoming division of land, and felt that with the income provided by many people, more and more people would be willing to spend, so after choosing some books, he came back to tell his family He ordered:
"Prepare more money to buy some daily necessities! Especially buy more fashionable daily necessities from Huimin Trading Company, such as soap, sickles, and cotton cloth. The property of Hu Yuan's powerful people has now been confiscated and distributed to People, we can also drink some soup."

(End of this chapter)