People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 94: Should good people be pointed at with guns?

A great victory for the Yellow Turbans also meant that half of Yuyang County had changed. Unless the Han court recovered the homeland again, the people in charge of at least Yuyang, Pinggu, Guangping and Luxian would completely become the Yellow Turbans.

The Yellow Turbans did not relax their local governance as their territory expanded, but instead became more rigorous.

With the organizational construction in the previous three months, the Yellow Turbans were able to carry out more refined management of the local areas. For example, after this war, the Yellow Turbans began to implement the civil registration system in all areas under their jurisdiction.

From now on, all the people under the rule of the Yellow Turbans would be classified into different types of citizenship. For example, Hu Tao, who was released back to Guangping after the war, faced such a choice.

Should I choose to settle down as a soldier or as a craftsman?

"Listen up, folks. In every village of the Yellow Turbans, we must recruit 20 military households. The military households must send young and strong men to serve as Yellow Turban reserve soldiers. On weekdays, they must be organized by the village sergeant. They must do a small drill every five days and a big drill every ten days. If there is a war, of course they must go with the army!"

In a small village under Guangping, the Yellow Turban squad leader who was assigned here was promoting the Yellow Turban’s policies to the villagers.

Not only Hu Tao in the crowd listened attentively to these contents, but other villagers also stared with wide eyes.

They felt quite refreshed that they had gone from being Han subjects to being governed by the Yellow Turbans.

As ordinary people, they don’t care whether it is the Yellow Turbans or the Han Dynasty. They care more about who can make their lives better.

When the Yellow Turbans came, what they did immediately captured the hearts of the poor masses. In the agricultural era, dividing the land was always the simplest, direct and effective way to win over the people.

When the land was distributed to them and when the Yellow Turbans promised to abolish all exorbitant taxes, it was hard for the common people not to support it.

Especially the Yellow Turbans' guards, who would come to the village from time to time to preach their ideas to the folks, causing the villagers to regard the Han court and the aristocratic families as enemies, and they were completely united against the Yellow Turbans.

However, now that they have heard about the Yellow Turbans' policy on military households, most villagers are still hesitant.

After all, being a soldier and fighting in a war means deaths. In the past, when serving in the Han Dynasty, what everyone feared most was military service. Although the Yellow Turbans were a righteous army and were really good to the people, they might not be willing to take the initiative to become military households.

Hu Tao, who was standing by, felt mixed emotions. In the past, the government conscripted soldiers without any discussion, and each family only had to pay exemption money or hand over someone. Even if a family member died on the battlefield, who would dare to say a word?
Now the Yellow Turbans were distributing land and exempting miscellaneous taxes, and establishing military households on a voluntary basis. The villagers began to take such a lenient attitude.

Perhaps because he had undergone a thorough ideological transformation in the Yellow Turban Army, Hu Tao suddenly felt a little disgusted.

Why do we swallow our anger when facing bad people, but become calculative towards good people?

"I'll sign up and my family will be a military household!"

When everyone was silent, Hu Tao felt angry and stood up.

At this time he felt someone pulling his clothes from behind. He knew it was the woman holding the baby, but he still did not waver and just looked at the village headman calmly.

The squad leader glanced at him, smiled and nodded: "Wait a minute, let me finish what I want to say."

After saying this, the sergeant continued with what he had just said.

"Of course, since the military households have contributed a lot during normal times and will go to the battlefields during wartime, the Yellow Turbans will certainly not treat them unfairly. We also have preferential policies for military households. First, anyone who registers as a military household can enjoy tax reduction benefits. For example, farmers are charged 20% of the grain tax, while military households are only charged 10%!
Secondly, the young and strong soldiers who went to the battlefield did not fight in vain. During the war, the Yellow Turbans would pay every soldier. If they were injured or killed in the battle, the Yellow Turbans would also give them multiple times the compensation!

Thirdly, our Yellow Turban Army has a smooth promotion path. As long as the soldiers fight bravely and accumulate military merits, and then seriously study our religious doctrines and ideas, they can take the assessment and become official Yellow Turbans.

As long as we become Yellow Turbans, even if we are peasants, we will have the opportunity to serve in the army or become officials in the local areas!"

When these words were spoken, the expressions of the villagers changed immediately.

So there is such treatment. You should have told us earlier. It made everyone hesitate and feel embarrassed. People would think we don’t support the Yellow Turbans’ cause.

I have to say that these contents are still quite attractive to the people.

After all, military households only miss a few days of work every month, and even if there is a war, it will take a long time for them to come back. But tax cuts are real things, and they can also get salaries when they fight in the battlefield. For these two reasons, at least it is a sure profit.

Moreover, if you make meritorious contributions on the battlefield, you may have the opportunity to become an official. Even a peasant may be able to show off his power. Who wouldn't want that?

After all, being an official is something that ordinary people in the Han Dynasty definitely don't have.

The effect was immediate. As soon as the sergeant finished speaking, the faces of the hesitant villagers changed immediately and they all came forward to sign up. At this time, only twenty military households were recruited, which was not enough.

Fortunately, the Yellow Turbans did not select military households casually. It also depended on the specific family composition. Those with only one child, unmarried children, or those without children would not be selected. So after a selection, many families were screened out.

But even so, twenty households were still not enough for the people to share.

In fact, the people are still very supportive of the Yellow Turbans. Simple dedication may make them hesitate, but as long as they are given relatively reasonable rewards, they will be very enthusiastic about the Yellow Turbans' policies.

They could see clearly that the Han court would never tolerate a policy like the Yellow Turbans'. If they did not support it, who else would they support?

At this moment, some people were not selected and were a little unhappy. They looked around and suddenly saw Hu Tao, who registered first. Their eyes immediately lit up, and then they pointed at Hu Tao and shouted.

"Why are you joining in the fun of enlisting in the military? You, a carpenter, should just sign up to be a craftsman instead of trying to take our place!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked over at once. After seeing Hu Tao, they suddenly came to their senses.

Especially those who wanted to apply for military service but were not accepted, suddenly saw a ray of hope. If Hu Tao could be kicked out, wouldn't a vacancy be created?

Then they all started shouting as well.

This made Hu Tao so angry that her face turned red. These guys acted like turtles when there was no benefit, but now that the righteous army has given good policies, they immediately come to loot. This is too ugly.

He was about to refute, but the sergeant looked at him, smiled and spoke first.

"So you are a craftsman, then you can indeed be registered as a craftsman. The craftsman registration is no worse than the military registration. Our leader attaches great importance to craftsmen. I suggest that you should think about it carefully!"

(End of this chapter)