Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 181: Equal distribution of land and exemption of taxation, Prince Xin? !

"Go back, everyone!" Chongzhen drove the people of Zaoyang County away, and could not help but cursed: "Do you know that following me is like being a thief?"

"We know, but if we follow the master, we can eat our fill. Only when we are full can we be considered human beings. If we can't even get enough food, we are beasts..."

"Master, please let us follow you!"

Chongzhen: "..."

The corners of his mouth twitched, so that when Chongzhen came out of Zaoyang County, there were hundreds of young men following him. These were people who could not make a living.

He never imagined that things would develop to this point.

The old blind man and his apprentice skillfully arranged these people.

Chongzhen looked at them and opened his mouth several times, but he didn't know how to persuade them to go back, so he could only let them follow.

Even if this group of people don't follow me, they will probably follow others to rebel later.

Instead of that, it would be better to let them follow. Thinking of this, my thoughts finally became clear.

He clenched his fists and could only hope that Zhu Changgan would quickly resolve the administrative issues in Southern Zhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions so that these people would have a place to go.

"My Lord, do you think this will work?"

Chongzhen rolled his eyes at the old blind man who came to report. He could handle it so efficiently, so this old guy must be a troublesome person.

At this time, Prince Xiang and Han Qianhu of the Embroidered Uniform Guard also came over, and the emperor's secret order arrived.

The three of them dismissed everyone, and Lao Han told them the emperor's secret order.

"I know what the old saying goes. Brothers fight together, fathers fight together, and sons fight together. In the end, family members are more trustworthy." King Xiang couldn't help but look at the cloudy old eyes. "After so many years, the royal family members are finally trusted..."

Since the Jingnan Campaign of the Ming Dynasty, the princes in various places have completely become pig farmers. Now that they are suddenly trusted, how can Zhu Yiming not be filled with emotion?
Han Qianhu was looking at the prince in front of him. He couldn't imagine why the emperor attached so much importance to this person. Then he thought about how similar this prince was to his majesty.

Could it be...he suddenly thought of a possibility?
Could it be the prince that Your Majesty is keeping outside?
"Gulp!" Old Han couldn't help but swallowing his saliva. He looked at the other person again. The more he looked, the more similar they looked, especially the eyes and the way they walked. They were almost cast in the same mold.

It's him, it's him, it's him...

Han Qianhu no longer doubted him and bowed to Chongzhen, "Sir, from now on, I will follow your orders."

Chongzhen was stunned for a moment and took a deep breath.

have to,
Since I can't get involved in the court, I'll just use it as a training ground and accumulate some business experience.

"Next, I'll have to trouble Captain Han to pay more attention. When we arrive in Beijing in the future, I will report to... Your Majesty." Chongzhen knew that he should express his position at this time.

After hearing Chongzhen's words, Han Qianhu's expression suddenly changed. His whole face turned red, and he said in a loud voice: "I will definitely serve you till my death."

Before leaving Beijing, he lamented his bad luck. When His Majesty was cleaning up the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot, he failed to keep up with the pace, and in the end he could only be sent to a remote post.

But it’s different now!

If he could seize this opportunity, Lao Han felt that his destiny would undergo a tremendous change. Not to mention being promoted to a higher rank, even a promotion to a higher rank would not be impossible!
"Get up quickly." Chongzhen quickly helped Han Qianhu up.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming looked at Captain Han and said, "Old Han, you have changed so much."

Before, he wanted to kill his own son and labeled him a traitor, but why was he so respectful now? This obviously made Zhu Yiming unable to react.

Old Han did not respond. He suppressed his excitement and thought, "You two are still trying to hide it from me? Unfortunately, I already know... I'm going to get on board no matter what."

"In order to conceal our identities, I will also call the prince the Lord along with the others."

"..." Chongzhen's mouth twitched unnaturally for a few times, "Then it's up to you!"

"My Lord, which county shall we go to next?"

"Research some more."

……

In this way, Chongzhen led his men to capture three county towns in succession.

Each time he would only stay for two days, open the granaries to release grain, try corrupt officials, and then leave. If he stayed any longer, there would be a risk of being wiped out by the government army. Even though Zhu Changgan had already issued an order to Sun Chuanting and others, he could not go too far.

However, Chongzhen's troops were growing rapidly and had exceeded 10,000 people.

There were more people, but the harvest of grain and silver was greater.

The number of people increased very quickly like a snowball.

In Baokang County Government Office,

Chongzhen had just finished hearing a few cases and was lying on a chair to take a rest when he heard a sudden noise outside. He stood up and asked, "What's going on?"

Among the bandits, several leaders were carrying baskets of gold, silver and jewelry.

"My Lord, you have to take this money."

"My Lord, if you can't, how can we get it?"

"Yes, my lord, I know you are kind-hearted, but if you don't take this, we will be even less likely to take it."

Chongzhen looked at the treasures and gold glittering in the sunlight, his face turning pale.

"How much is this?"

"My lord, after conversion, it is about 3 taels."

Chongzhen's breathing suddenly became heavy. When he was the emperor, he only had a few thousand taels of silver in the treasury. Now he was a thief, and he had tens of thousands of taels in just one county?

After a few breaths, Chongzhen accepted it.

Just as these bandit leaders said, if they don’t take it themselves, how can the people below them take it?
If the people below don’t take it, how will they eat and spend money?

Aren't they robbing the poor people again?
If I accept this money, whether it is used to enrich the internal treasury or the national treasury, I will be helping my uncle and the Ming Dynasty, right?

Looking at the money in his hand, Chongzhen himself didn't know what his mood was at the moment. Maybe he was feeling both pain and happiness, but more of it was sadness.

The national treasury had been in deficit for years, there was no food or wages, the army was short of food and wages, the soldiers had no fighting spirit, and mutinies occurred in many places in the Ming Dynasty. Faced with the grim situation, as an emperor, he had made efforts to advocate donations of silver to help with military expenses, and he took the lead in fundraising. What was the result?
All the civil and military officials were showing off their wealth, crying poor and crying louder than the other. His father-in-law was even more outrageous. When he heard that the emperor was going to raise funds, he deliberately bought some moldy rice to eat, saying that his family had no money...

Things that he could not get even when he was an emperor in the past, now that he is a thief, it is easy for him to get them.

"You guys go out first, I want to be alone."

Chongzhen's eyes were red, and he began to understand why there were millions of bandits. Now... everything was clear.

Jinyiwei commander Lao Han coughed lightly and drove everyone out.

The prince is still young, so it is normal that he cannot accept it for a while.

As time goes by, nothing becomes impossible.

Just a moment later, Chongzhen came out with red eyes, "Everyone, move, don't delay, go southeast!"

From the capital to the local areas, these officials can be so blatantly corrupt, oppress the people, and squeeze the people's wealth.

Then why shouldn't I dare to kill them?
"kill!"

Wow~
At a command, tens of thousands of bandits rushed forward and headed towards the next county town.

……

After the emperor finished the military parade in the capital, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Northern Zhili, Sichuan and other places, led by Sun Chuanting, Sun Yingyuan as well as the troops from Shandong, Denglai and other places, formed a siege and pressed towards the southeast.

Wherever they passed, the bandits were defeated with one strike.

Sun Chuanting's central army camp,

Cao Bianjiao, Luo Shangwen, Zuo Guangxian, Zu Dabi and others are among them.

These are all mysterious and powerful generals.

Take Cao Bianjiao for example, his uncle is the famous Cao Wenzhao, who was extremely brave. When fighting with Li Zicheng, he did not take off his armor for 27 consecutive days and nights, and attacked Li Zicheng all the way until he had no way to escape.

Luo Shangwen was a lieutenant general under Sun Chuanting and was a brave and combative man.

Zu Dabi, Zu Dashou's younger brother, was extremely brave in battle and was nicknamed "Zu Er the Crazy".

Unlike his brother Zu Dashou, he had been fighting bandits in the mainland after the seventh year of Chongzhen.

"Fatty Zhang, the King of Order? He's seventy miles ahead?"

They received intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard that the bandit leader Fatty Zhang, nicknamed King Qizhi, had four groups of followers with tens of thousands of people under him since the eighth year of Chongzhen. Now, after absorbing the followers under Scorpion Block, that is, Tuo Yangkun, the number of his followers has reached 80,000.

"Governor, I'm willing to fight!" Cao Bianjiao was the first to stand up and speak.

"Governor, leave it to us!"

"Governor..."

Since the last defeat of Scorpion Block, we haven't encountered any decent bandits since. Now, the sudden appearance of such a large-scale banditry has instantly made everyone excited.

At the beginning, when these bandits rose up against the government, they still had sympathy for them. But after the Ji Si Rebellion, a large number of government soldiers also joined the bandits, looting, killing, and robbing... and they also forced the local young and strong people to join the bandits.

People like Zhang Xianzhong would die every time they captured a city.

You can survive natural disasters, but you will die from man-made disasters.

Today, the government troops are determined to kill the bandits again.

"Luo Shangwen, Zuo Guangxian, Zu Dabi, listen to my orders." Sun Chuanting narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, "Your Majesty promised to give me another 60 artillery pieces. I will support you with 120 artillery pieces and will definitely take down this thief."

"Follow the order!"

"Yes, sir!" "Yes, sir..."

The three of them stood up suddenly, only Cao Bianjiao had an ugly expression, "No, Governor, what about me?"

"You have another battle to fight." Sun Chuanting handed him a note, "Yao Tian Dong has 20,000 troops operating in our south. I'll leave it to you."

"Follow the order!"

……

Shen Shi,

Luo Shangwen, Zuo Guangxian and Zu Dabi were the first to come into contact with Fatty Zhang's bandits.

"Boom boom boom..."

With the sound of gunpowder explosion, 20,000 government troops launched a charge towards the bandits.

"Government troops, retreat quickly!"

"quick……"

The Manchu Tartars could not even reach the Jinyiwei and Yebushou scouts, let alone these bandits. The spies they sent out could not detect the movements of the government troops at all.

As a result, they did not realize the enemy until the government troops arrived nearby.

"Meet the enemy, meet the enemy quickly~~" Fatty Zhang kicked the woman he had just robbed to the ground, chopped her neck with a knife, and roared, "Damn it, old soldiers listen to my order, anyone who retreats will be killed!"

But the sound of the government army's horses' hooves was like beating drums, making a huge roar, which made the panic in the hearts of the bandits like a surging river, which was difficult to resist.

How dare I accept the challenge?

When the artillery shells fell, the bandits were immediately defeated.

As a result, just after the test firing of 120 artillery pieces, it was discovered that the bandits had already fled in all directions.

Seeing this, Luo Shangwen, Zuo Guangxian and Zu Dabi could only start the cavalry harvesting mode.

Luo Shangwen and Zu Dabi even mounted their horses and charged forward.

There were continuous howlings, and the bandits had their heads chopped off like grass.

Eighty thousand troops were killed before nightfall.

Among the bandits, the soldiers from the old camp were naturally the focus of Luo Shangwen and Zu Dabi's attention. Fatty Zhang's two thousand soldiers from the old camp were charged back and forth by Zu Dashou.

A bullet pierced the body of an old soldier in the camp and lifted him up.

"Oh ho~"

Coupled with Zu Dabi's shouting and yelling, the bandits were terrified.

……

The strong and pungent smell of blood penetrated into people's lungs and was then exhaled with force.

As the sky darkened, the war was drawing to a close.

The bodies of the bandits piled up like a mountain.

"Have you found the real culprit?" Zuo Guangxian brought his men and captured a few people alive, asking them to identify who was "Fatty Zhang, the King of Order."

But after searching for several rounds, he found nothing, so he came to ask Zu Dabi and Luo Shangwen.

Luo Shangwen shook his head, "I didn't find it."

"Where did this bastard go?" Zu Dabi kicked the head of a bandit away, "Will he get away?"

Fatty Zhang really ran away.

He realized he was no match for his opponent at the first moment, so he exchanged clothes with one of his men, grabbed some mud from the ground and smeared it on his face, then took advantage of the dark sky and hid in a bush.

Luo Shangwen and Zu Dabi were madly attacking the soldiers in the old camp and didn't notice him.

At this moment, Fatty Zhang was hiding in a tree hole several miles away, trembling all over, his internal organs collapsing. He murmured, "Why are the government troops so powerful? Where did they get so many artillery and so many elite troops?"

"More than 50,000 soldiers and horses, but they are so useless... Things have changed. This has completely changed."

Fatty Zhang has been rebelling for many years. He is also one of the Thirteen Families and can be considered a frontline figure in the rebellion. He has 50,000 soldiers and horses, but claims to have 100,000 to the outside world.

He boasted that he knew the Ming court and the government troops better than he knew himself. In the past, his more than 50,000 troops could not only not withstand the attack of the government troops, but at least they could leave calmly.

But now… it’s still the same army as before, but the momentum is completely different.

He was so murderous, as if every move was intended to kill?
This has never happened before.

Fatty Zhang's sense of smell is sharper than ever before. "This time the situation has completely changed... If I had known this would happen, I should have run southeast and not have sent all the old soldiers in."

All the soldiers in the old camp were killed or wounded, which meant that he had no chance of making a comeback.

"The only solution now is to join Li Zicheng."

Among the thirteen rebel kings at the Xingyang Conference, Li Zicheng had the most prominent reputation, and Fatty Zhang also admired him very much. Now he could only gather some people to join the other side.

Outside Shangluo Mountain, several groups of people were welcoming their leader.
After several days of travel, Li Zicheng finally returned to Shangluo Mountain. However, he did not gain nothing, as he gained a talented person.

Li Yan!

Li Yan recommended another person to him, Niu Jinxing.

After all, the wheel of history has its own unique inertia. Li Zicheng had a very pleasant conversation with the two men and invited them to Shangluo Mountain.

"Prince Chuang, the Ming court is strong now. If we want the people to have an impression of us, we must have a strong slogan to divide the bureaucrats, gentry and the poor people."

"Slogan? What slogan?" Li Zicheng raised his head suddenly.

These days, the Ming court's militia and local tax exemption policies were like a bucket of cold water poured on the raging rebellion in various places.

Together with Scorpion Block and several other "rebel forces" were forcefully suppressed.

The fierce attack of the Ming Dynasty's official army made many "rebel kings" confused, and some even fell into the wrong path of compromise.

Li Yan gritted his teeth and said, "Prince Chuang, before I came here, I stayed in a mountain village called Hong Niangzi for a while. Now I heard that she has arrived in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. Her army has grown rapidly, from a few thousand people to tens of thousands. Her experience is worth learning from. To sum it up, it can be summed up in a few words..."

He asked someone to bring him a pen and ink, and then wrote on it: "Equal distribution of land and exemption of grain tax!"

"What does it mean to distribute land equally and exempt grain?" Li Zicheng frowned and asked, "If the land is distributed equally and the grain is exempted, what will our rebel army eat and drink?"

"That's literally what it means."

Li Yan took a deep breath and explained: "This is just a slogan. It forms a sharp contrast with the heavy exploitation of the Ming Dynasty. This is the only way to appease the poor people in exile."

Li Zicheng listened with a frown on his face, but motioned for him to continue.

The "righteous army" is in a difficult situation now. Apart from the fierce offensive of the Ming court, the biggest reason is that the Ming court introduced a tax-free policy. In the past, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan, the three places most severely affected by the disaster, had the largest number of poor people fleeing.

These refugees are their best supplement. As long as there are refugees, they can lead the siege of the city. There are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of them. What does it matter if the Ming court’s army is powerful?

Can they kill hundreds of thousands of people?

Li Yan naturally understood what Li Zicheng wanted to hear, and continued: "In the areas of Huguang, Nanzhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the emperor did not reduce taxes, but increased them a lot, which made the poor farmers more unbearable than before."

"Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan are duty-free, but Huguang, Nanzhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are not, and this is our opportunity."

"Compared with the tax exemption proposed by the Ming court, we have added an equal distribution of land. For example, we have confiscated the land of landlords in Nanyang and Xiangyang and cultivated it.

At the same time, we should recruit poor peasants who have fled to exile, give them cattle and seeds, relieve poverty, raise livestock, and engage in farming. We can also recruit people to cultivate land and collect their grains as food and wages for the rebel army... Peasants have a deep desire for land, and once this slogan is put forward, it will surely be supported by the peasants. "

"If we cause trouble in Huguang, Nanzhili and other places, the people in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan will also be eager for land. Those poor people who have no land to farm will also join us. At that time, the ranks of the rebel army will surely grow rapidly..."

As Li Yan spoke bit by bit, Li Zicheng's eyes gradually became brighter.

"Seconds, wonderful..."

Although Li Zicheng and his men fought in a mobile manner, these measures could not be fully implemented.

However, the effectiveness of these policies can be known just by feeling their power. When poor people hear these slogans, how will they react?

"Come, get some food for the military advisor. After he finishes eating, we will talk in detail." Li Zicheng hurriedly called on his men to get some food for Li Yan and Niu Jinxing.

After the meal, Li Zicheng continued to discuss with Li Yan and Niu Jinxing for a long time.

In addition to the above-mentioned "equal distribution of land and exemption of grain taxes", Li Yan also proposed a ban on the "righteous army" from looting.

"Any soldier who kills civilians without authorization shall pay with his life."

In addition to major policies, Li Yan also expressed his own ideas on economic and food issues.

For example, opening warehouses to help the people and saving the common people.

The large number of disaster victims in Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang and other places will inevitably strengthen the rebel army after obtaining food to survive.

Li Zicheng grabbed Li Yan's hand and said, "I only regret that I met you too late. If I had met you earlier, I wouldn't have ended up like this."

After Li Yan and his men wrote out the outline, Li Zicheng called his small leaders to look at it. Someone said, "Hey, isn't this the same slogan as that of Prince Xin of Zaoyang County?"

"Prince Xin? Who is that?"

Li Zicheng and Li Yan looked at each other at the same time.

……

(End of this chapter)