I

  Chapter 144 142 [Theory of Datong Dividing Fields]

   Early morning.

   Several helpers were clearing the snow, and the deputy captain of the personal guard Liu Zhu hurried over.

   "In the general town, some people came to send winter animals, and they all said they didn't want them, but they still refused to leave." Liu Zhu had a sad face when he spoke, but his tone was full of pride.

  Winter animals are a means for landlords to exploit tenants. Taking advantage of the winter solstice festival, tenants are forced to give gifts, and they must be poultry and livestock.

   Now, the military households near Fucheng turned over completely after dividing the fields, and took the initiative to bring gifts and ran to Zhao Han to celebrate the winter solstice.

Zhao Han said: "Go and explain to the people that you are not allowed to give gifts to officials. If you insist on giving them, let them send them to the nursing home. Those who leave the winter animals and leave will also be sent to the nursing home. "

   "Obey!" Liu Zhu trotted away.

  Each town has a nursing home, which is not large in scale and is functioning well. They have jobs throughout the year, such as making cloth shoes for soldiers, sewing some military padded clothes, etc. Many urban homeless people also make shoes and sell them to the General Military Office.

  Fei Rulan held a big cloak in her hand, chased it out and shouted: "Put this on, it's very cold today, don't catch a cold!"

  Zhao Han turned around with a smile, Fei Rulan had already walked up to him, quickly helping Zhao Han put on the cloak.

   This is a double-breasted smock, and Fei Rulan personally sewed a goose feather cloak. After Zhao Han put it on, he felt warm and light, reminiscent of a down jacket.

   Walking to the Yamen in the front yard, Li Banghua has returned from Jishui and is waiting for a meeting.

  As we said before, the number of county exams in the Ming Dynasty was the largest. Tens of thousands of people took the exam in Linchuan County, Jiangxi Province.

  The quality of scholars in Jishui County is higher, but due to the area of ​​cultivated land, there are not as many scholars as in Linchuan County. However, in Jishui (excluding the county seat) with a total of 120,000 people, there are also four to five thousand scholars who have read the Four Books and Five Classics. If you count a few hundred people who are literate, they can directly exceed ten thousand, and even some tenant children can recognize a few words. .

  By the way, land mergers were serious at the end of the Ming Dynasty, resulting in a decrease in the number of scholars in Jiangxi, and the number of Jinshi was also much smaller than before.

  In the middle and early Ming Dynasty, a large number of impoverished children in Jiangxi were admitted to Jinshi. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi from poor families in Jiangxi was very rare.

  After Li Banghua came forward to appeal, countless low-level scholars took refuge, and the number of "talents" has exploded.

  In order to prevent cheating in the distribution of land, scholars from Jishui County were transferred to Anfu County to assist in the distribution of land. The scholars from Anfu County were transferred to Jishui to help divide the fields.

  It is often a missionary officer, who takes a few newly recruited scholars and distributes them to the villages to organize the distribution of fields. In this case, the work of dividing the fields in the two counties was quickly completed, and then the peasant associations of the two counties were formed.

   "General Town!"

  Everyone stood up.

  Zhao Han raised his hand and said, "Let's all sit down and talk about the situation."

Chen Maosheng took the lead in speaking: "Now we have no shortage of scholars, especially children and students who have studied the Four Books and Five Classics. There are so many that there is no job to arrange them. But among them, many people do not believe in the harmony of the world, and they often do things unruly. In my opinion, Bailuzhou Academy should be renamed Datong Academy, and it is dedicated to teaching well-behaved scholars, and assigning duties after graduation!"

  Li Banghua immediately said: "I agree to run a school to teach Datong thought, but Bailuzhou Academy cannot change its name, otherwise it will definitely arouse the resistance of scholars."

   "There is no need to change the name of the academy." Pang Chunlai also said.

   "Then don't change it." Zhao Han laughed.

   But all serious scholars have feelings for Bailuzhou Academy, which is where Wen Tianxiang and many other sages came from.

  Chen Maosheng had no choice but to sit back. He was born as an actor, and his thinking was particularly radical.

Zhao Han thought for a while: "I'm here to be the head of the academy, but I only go to give lectures occasionally. Mr. Li is the deputy head of the academy, and he also goes to visit when he has time. Chen Maosheng is Si Ye (dean of academic affairs), in charge of the specific affairs of the academy .By the way, the magistrate of Wang County has been around the countryside, and he is a little awkward to return to Fucheng, so let him go to the academy as a professor."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

  Everyone let out a burst of laughter.

  The former magistrate of Luling, Wang Tiaoding, was willing to follow the thief, but he was unwilling to follow the thief. He was very uncomfortable.

  However, Wang Tiaoding and Ouyang Zheng co-authored a theoretical article - "Datong Dividing Fields".

  The angle of entry into the discussion is very tricky, which comes from the sentence in "Lao Tzu": The way of heaven is to make up for what is lacking while damaging what is too much; Who can have more than enough to serve the world? There is only Tao.

  What do you mean?

  Landlords keep annexing land, which belongs to the way of human beings and is the necessity of human nature. Zhao Han presided over the division of fields, which belonged to the way of heaven, and he was doing the way for heaven. Those who can serve the world with surplus can be called "the right ones", and Zhao Han and his officials are the right ones.

  This article is so mysteriously written that ordinary people can't understand it at all, but it is very convincing to scholars.

   Those low-level scholars who have benefited are even more admirable for "Datong Dividing Fields". With this article, they completely let go of their psychological burden, and happily ran to divide the land, because the division of the land is done in accordance with the way of heaven.

  The vulgar slogans shouted by Chen Maosheng are aimed at ordinary people.

  Wang Tiaoding and Ouyang Zheng's articles are specifically aimed at scholars in the world.

  Unfortunately, neither of them dared to sign their real names when they wrote the article. A pseudonym Wang Fan, a pseudonym Ou Zhen, sneaking like a thief.

  Wang Diaoding and Ouyang Zheng were both child prodigies. The former was born at the age of eleven, and the latter was born at the age of thirteen. Sure enough, he was knowledgeable. Zhao Han was very satisfied after reading the article, so he personally recommended them and recruited them both into Datonghui.

  As for the "Datong Dividing Fields", all members of the Datong Association must read it, and it is best to be able to recite the entire article.

   After making such a big move, Ouyang Zheng happily became the county magistrate, but Wang Diaoding was unwilling to take up the actual position. Then throw it to the academy to be a professor, let him teach students the thought of Datong, so that he can specialize in theoretical research in the future.

After talking about the academy, Li Banghua said: "There are too many scholars waiting to become officials and do things. I think that the entire Ji'an Mansion can be taken down! At least, Taihe County and half of Wan'an County must be taken down. Arranging defectors to become officials will make our territory a city with mountains and rivers!"

  Zhao Han doesn't want to expand too quickly, but he has received a secret report from Xu Ying that Taihe County and Wan'an County must be included in the territory.

   Only by taking down the two counties in the south can we completely occupy the Central Jiangxi Basin, making the surroundings of our own territory full of mountains.

  Sometimes, we can not only look at internal affairs, but also consider military issues. Li Banghua thinks from the overall situation of the war.

   "Has the rebel army in Longquan County been contacted?" Zhao Han asked.

  Xiao Huan is not only in charge of clean government affairs, but also temporarily in charge of intelligence work in the site. He immediately stood up and said, "I'm about to report this matter, and I've already contacted the Longquan Rebel Army. The leader of the Longquan Rebel Army is Fang Shengchang. His great-grandfather used to be the Deputy Baihu of Longquan, and his family has fallen in his generation. This person has studied for several years. , dropped out of school due to family poverty. Although he captured Longquan County, he was afraid of being encircled by the government, so he was willing to join us."

  Zhao Han smiled and said: "Very good, after taking Taihe and Wan'an counties, immediately send people to take over Longquan County, and connect the southern jurisdictions into one."

  Chen Maosheng couldn't help but said: "General Town, are we expanding too fast? Many scholars are not obedient at all. If they are assigned to various counties as officials, there must be a lot of corrupt officials."

Zhao Han sighed and said: "The tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop. I also want to develop slowly, but the court doesn't give it a chance. The emperor already knows about Jiangxi. The officers and soldiers of Guangdong and Fujian provinces will probably cross next year. Send troops across the border!"

  Everyone turned pale with shock, including Fei Ruhe, who had just returned from Anfu County, couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

  The encirclement and suppression of the three provinces may send tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops. Can we really bear it?

  Only Li Banghua and Pang Chunlai remained relaxed, sitting there laughing.

  Li Banghua said: "There are many rebels in the mountains in western Fujian and southern Jiangxi. The officers and soldiers in Fujian and Guangdong provinces must clear out the rebels there before they dare to attack us from the north."

Pang Chunlai said: "With the nature of the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, it will take at least half a year to unite the two provinces to send troops. If you encounter someone who hinders you, it will take more than a year to deploy troops. The amount of food and grass is enough for them to have a headache. This is The way to take death is that if the Southern Jiangxi Rebel Army has not been wiped out, there will be wars in Fujian and Guangdong."

   "Mr. Pang's words are justified." Li Banghua echoed.

  In Fujian and Guangdong provinces, first of all, there are very few regular armies, and only the navy is barely decent. If you want to come to Jiangxi to suppress the bandits, you have to recruit soldiers for training again, and the province has to raise food and grass by itself.

  Now the north is still fighting, and the imperial court is pressing for food and taxes.

  Officials of the three divisions in Guangdong and Fujian not only have to deal with the taxation of the imperial court, but also provide money and food to recruit soldiers to go out. Where do they get so much money and food? At that time, the exploitation of the people will definitely be stepped up again, which will inevitably arouse countless peasants to rebel.

  After listening to Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua's explanation, everyone felt at ease again, and they were no longer so afraid of the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers.

  Fei Ruhe suddenly said: "When I was in Anfu County, there were volunteers who escaped from Pingxiang and joined the army, and they brought some important military information. When the prefect of Yuanzhou conquered the volunteers in Pingxiang, he had thousands of archers under his command."

   "Really?" Zhao Han was very surprised.

Fei Ruhe said: "I sent someone to Yuanzhou to inquire about the news again, but it was Tian Younian, the prefect of Yuanzhou. He heard that the Tartars were besieging Beijing, so he started recruiting craftsmen to make bows. He recruited more than ten bowmen from the Nanchangwei Weaponry Station. He ordered local craftsmen in Yuanzhou to study. In the autumn of the fourth year of Chongzhen, five hundred pairs of bows and arrows were made, all of which were deported to the capital and presented to the emperor. I heard that he was rewarded by the emperor and allocated money to him to continue making bows."

   "This is a talent." Zhao Han sighed.

Fei Ruhe continued: "Yuanzhouwei has its own weapon shop, and he recruited some craftsmen from Nanchang. Now there are hundreds of bowmakers in Yuanzhou. They can make hundreds of bows and tens of thousands of arrows every year. Some were transported to the capital, and some were kept for his own use. This man has more than 3,000 soldiers under his command, of which 1,000 are archers."

Pang Chunlai suddenly sighed: "It seems that our strong enemy is not Li Maofang and Wang Siren who suppressed the bandits in Duchang, but Tian Younian, the prefect of Yuanzhou. This man has been training for at least a year, and he is not a temporary beggar soldier. No wonder The rebel army in Pingxiang was easily wiped out by him."

   "If the rebel army in Duchang is wiped out," Li Banghua said, "Tian Younian is likely to bring his elite troops and come south with the governor to attack us."

  Yuanzhou is just north of Anfu County. At first glance, it seems to be a very close neighbor, but there are mountains in the middle, so it only needs to defend a few main roads.

  If Tian Younian had been smart, he would not have come over the mountains. He would probably be defeated in an ambush, and he would most likely have to travel by water with Governor Li Maofang.

  Pang Chunlai said: "We can't wait for others to fight. We don't even have a pair of armor. It will be a disadvantage to meet thousands of archers."

   "Then take the initiative!"

  Zhao Han got up and said: "Attack Yuanzhou first, without occupying the city or dividing the fields. It is purely to destroy Tian Younian's elite. It would be even better if we can 'invite' the bow maker back!"

  (end of this chapter)