Chapter 1432: Dividing the Land
After more than a month of fighting, Mu Tianbo and Mu Jiansheng finally captured the entire Yunnan Province.
The sound is so loud, like thunder.
The surrounding Qing troops were so frightened that they dared not move and could only hide in the county town. They lived in constant fear, fearing that the Ming army would come and kill them at the next moment.
They didn't understand. They had already occupied the entire Central Plains and the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming had been executed, but why did the Ming army become so fierce, as if a new group of people had been replaced ?
They don’t understand, and the people of Yunnan Province don’t understand even more.
But they knew that the current Ming army was different from before.
Not only did he not harm the people, he also took the initiative to help them redress grievances and punish local tyrants and evil gentry.
As ordinary people, they don’t understand many big principles. They will follow whoever treats them well.
Now, the Ming army is obviously better than the Qing army, so they naturally hope to restore the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty.
As for the Qing army? What a bunch of bullshit Qing monsters, get out of the Central Plains right away.
The people originally thought that this was the end, but unexpectedly, there was a bigger surprise waiting for them.
Wang Shuisheng was originally an honest farmer. His family relied on the savings of several generations and had a few acres of land to barely make ends meet.
As a result, one year the harvest was poor, so he went to the rich man Wang to borrow three dou of millet. It was agreed that he would return four and a half dou at the autumn harvest of the following year. However, when he returned it the following year, the amount became 14 dou.
Wang Shui was too angry to argue, and ended up being beaten by the servants of the rich man Wang. He had to lie in bed for three or four days before coming out of the ground.
It would have been bad enough if he had just been beaten, but Mr. Wang also filed a lawsuit in the hall.
The county magistrate also accepted the bribe and sentenced Wang Shuisheng to break into the house with the intention of assassinating the rich man Wang. He confiscated all of Wang Shuisheng's land and property and compensated the rich man Wang. At the same time, he required Wang Shuisheng to work as a long-term laborer in the rich man Wang's house to pay off his debts.
If it weren't for his family, Wang Shuisheng would have wanted to commit suicide.
One day, he was working in the fields when he suddenly saw a few children running towards him: "Uncle Shuisheng, why are you still working here? Come on, Mr. Wang has been arrested, and everyone is at the entrance of the village telling their grievances. Go quickly, maybe you can get your fields back."
"Is this true?" Wang Shuisheng couldn't believe it.
That rich man Wang has connections everywhere and has a close relationship with the county magistrate. How could he be caught?
"It's right at the entrance of the village. You'll know when you see it."
Several children pulled Wang Shuisheng to the entrance of the village.
As expected, the rich man Wang was escorted by a group of people in dark blue clothes and stood at the entrance of the village. A group of villagers who had been bullied by the rich man Wang were telling them about how they had been bullied.
Wang Shuisheng thought he had seen it wrong and rubbed his eyes hard.
That’s right, the person being held captive was the wealthy Mr. Wang.
“Is this a manifestation of the gods and Buddhas?”
Wang Shuisheng almost fell to his knees.
What happened next was more like a dream. Wang Shuisheng not only got back the land that should have belonged to him, but also got a piece of land from the rich man Wang's family.
Not only did he get it, but everyone in the village got it.
In addition to getting the land, the blue-clad grenadiers also told them the good news, that is, all corvée labor, land tax and field tax would be exempted from now on, and would be replaced by grain tax.
Only when they sell grain will they collect taxes according to the commodity, and they enjoy tax benefits compared to other commodities.
If they only eat it themselves and don't sell it, they don't have to pay a penny.
However, there is a condition, that is, they only have the right to use the land, not the ownership, and cannot buy and sell the land privately. Violators will be severely punished.
There will also be severe penalties for abandoning land at will.
If you are unable to or do not want to farm, you can apply to the village to hand over the land and have it distributed to other people for farming.
If the imperial court needed to, it could unconditionally confiscate their land, but would give corresponding compensation.
The reason why Han Yu left this rule was not only to avoid land annexation, but also because he planned to build roads and railways in the future.
Roads and railways are the blood vessels of a country. As long as roads and railways are connected, the effectiveness of its rule can be extended to every corner of the empire along the transportation network.
When building this thing, it is inevitable to pass through the fields. With this decree, it will be more convenient to expropriate land in the future.
It will not be like our neighboring countries, where a railway cannot be built after decades of delays.
When Wang Shuisheng and his friends first heard that the ownership of the land was not in their hands, they felt a little uneasy.
I always feel like something is missing and I don't feel at ease.
However, the benefits Han Yu gave were indeed real.
Just being exempted from labor was enough to make them excited. In the past, during the slack season, they had to do two months of labor service for the government. Not only did they not receive a penny, they also had to bring their own dry food.
You don't have to go, but you have to pay.
Now, all is free.
Moreover, not only was it exempted, but from then on, the court would not only pay workers, but also provide them with meals, and according to the standards, they would have meat every day.
They can use these two months to do odd jobs to supplement their family income.
Although the Qing Dynasty said that it would never increase taxes, the land tax was still not reduced at all. Although the land was nominally owned by the people, as long as they cultivated the land, they had to pay money to the court every year.
But, with Han Yu, all that is free.
As long as the grain is not sold, no tax will be paid.
The tax on grain sales is based on the amount sold, which is much lower than before.
Apart from the fact that it cannot be bought and sold at will, it seems more suitable than owning the land.
Therefore, after some internal consideration, Wang Shuisheng and others accepted these decrees.
In order to protect the interests he has gained, Wang Shuisheng sincerely hopes that Han Yu and the Ming Dynasty court can continue to rule here and never leave.
As for the Qing court, get as far away as possible.
After learning about the treatment of the Grenadiers, some families directly brought out their excess labor force, hoping to send them to the Grenadiers.
This treatment is much better than the hard work of farming.
If it weren't for the possibility of losing their lives, many elderly farmers would even want to hand over their land and join the army with their entire families.
This gave Han Yu an additional tens of thousands of soldiers.
After some screening, Han Yu expanded the Grenadiers to ten legions.
Each legion has 10,000 men, for a total of 100,000 troops.
In addition, two cavalry corps, three logistics corps, and militias in various towns were formed.
All in all, Han Yu now had 120,000 soldiers.
Remember, these are combat soldiers.
In ancient times, it was said that there were hundreds of thousands of troops, but they included farmers who transported supplies, and the proportion of actual combat soldiers was not too large.
Watching my team grow like a snowball.
Han Yu was full of confidence. He felt that he had hope of completing his mission in this world.
Now, he has established a firm foothold in Yunnan Province. The next step is to move out and sweep across the south of the Yangtze River.
