This village is too big and has an organized opposition to the land redemption. It cannot achieve its goal through careful and considerate persuasion like the previous villages.
So they can only use other means.
They all woke up before dawn. Now is the time of day when people are most relaxed. Bai Shan and the others got up and left quietly avoiding the people who were staring at them.
When the two village chiefs came over as promised, Mr. Tang was the only one left.
They were slightly stunned, and just as they were about to ask, Tang He had already stood up and said, "Let's go back quickly. I haven't bathed in three or four days."
The two lieutenants followed hesitantly and found a chance to speak after walking far away, "Master Tang, where are the other two adults and the officials?"
Tang He waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "They are going to the next village."
He glanced at them and sneered: "You have enough troubles in Qizhou. These fields belong to the imperial court. You bought them at a low price. Now your majesty buys them back at the original price. It has been a bargain for you over the years."
Now, what else is there to be dissatisfied with?"
The faces of the village chiefs changed slightly, and before they had time to speak, Tang He curled his lips again and said, "But if Shangguan hadn't told me about this hard work, I wouldn't be happy to come here and do a thankless job. Now the court is worried about it.
These tenant farmers have become the object of the mob, so as long as you can appease the tenant farmers, it is not impossible for the authorities to turn a blind eye and let them go."
The hearts of the two elders flew up for nine days and then fell back down. They almost couldn't bear the ups and downs.
At this time, Bai Shan and the others had already walked around to the end of the village and hid directly in the woods.
Ren Yushi reached out to hold down the big black mosquito on the back of his hand, his face was very dark, "It looked like a war."
Bai Shandao: "Looking at yesterday's posture and fighting, it's almost the same. In this whole village, there are only eighty-nine households with their own land, and the largest field is twelve acres, and the least is only two acres. The rest are basically
Tenants who rely on tenancy are also in this situation, which led to the situation like yesterday."
Ren Yushi thought for a while and then said: "When we enter the village later, Master Bai will have to persuade the villagers. Your words will make people feel more friendly."
Bai Shan nodded, but he did not leave immediately. Instead, he said: "Last night, Master Ren didn't say what to do with these tenants in the future."
Ren Yushi glanced at him and said, "Master Tang has asked you to act with caution, so Master Bai just obeys."
Bai Shan raised his eyebrows slightly, knowing it in his heart.
Senior Brother Tang asked him to make his own decision, but didn't you have your censor here?
Later, he made a promise to appease the people. If you don't fulfill it, won't he be the one who gets scolded?
What's the point of going back and arresting him for not following the rules and impeaching him?
After receiving Censor Ren's promise, Bai Shan led the people out and decided to follow his own wishes.
The officers and soldiers came back again, starting from the end of the village where they were least paying attention, calling people out from door to door, and leading them all to the center of the village.
They only gathered people from the end of the village and gave up after gathering eighty or ninety households. The rest came after hearing the noise.
When the more active people at the head of the village arrived with wooden sticks and hoes, Bai Shan and Ren Yushi were standing on a high platform temporarily set up with several tables.
He nodded to the Forbidden Army on the side, and the Forbidden Army pulled out his knife, struck it on the wooden pile beside him, and shouted loudly: "Your Excellency, if you have something to say, please be quiet——"
The noisy crowd quieted down, and Bai Shan looked at them and said, "Do you know that just because of your attack on the imperial official yesterday, you can be defined as a mob, and you can be killed as rebels without mercy?"
Everyone panicked, "But you have also seen that we don't have as many people here today as we did yesterday. Do you know why?"
"Why, why?"
"Because your chief went to the city to plead guilty on your behalf," Bai Shan opened his eyes and lied: "What happened yesterday was not your chief's intention. He also said that you were afraid that your land would be bought back by the yamen and you would have no land to cultivate.
, Master Tang takes pity on you, and remembers that you are the first offender, so I decided to forgive you."
"But there are some things I think I can't do without making it clear to you." Bai Shan said: "Do you know that this piece of land was originally official land?"
Of course, everyone knows this. Even if they didn’t know it before, they all know it now. This matter has caused such a big fuss recently. People say that the yamen is unethical in its work. In the past few years, they were short of money, so they sold the land to
Their boss.
As a result, now that they are not short of money, they regret it and want to buy the land back.
They have been cultivating the fields for so many years, and they have all planted them this year. Now that they want to take the fields back, the officials will force them to death.
As soon as the thought of this matter occurred, everyone's emotions were stirred up again.
Bai Shan said loudly: "These official fields were all sold at low prices by the former governor of Qizhou in collusion with local wealthy families and aristocratic families. The land price is less than one-third of the market price!"
Everyone remained silent, and Bai Shan continued: "And these fields should have been yours!"
As soon as this sentence came out, everyone couldn't help but start making noises.
Bai Shan raised his hand slightly and said: "According to the laws of the Jin Dynasty, every adult can be allocated twenty acres of Yongye field. How many adults in your village were allocated fields last year? How many adults were allocated the fields the year before last?"
, but we were allotted fields again?”
"These official lands are meant to be distributed to men who have grown up, but because these official lands have been sold, the registered official fields in your villages and towns are sparse. When it is your turn to divide the land into adults, you will find that there is no land to divide!
"
Everyone couldn't help but whisper, "It seems to be true. Last year, the third son of the Zhuzhu family didn't get a share of land when he became a Ding, and he hasn't got a share in the past few years."
"The official said it nicely. If you take back this land, it's not certain whether it will be divided or not. Moreover, how many households in our village can there be in Chengding who have not divided the land? What will happen to the others?"
"Yes, we don't have any land, no land to plant, and we starve to death in a year."
"Can so much land be divided?" Bai Shan said: "Of course not. The remaining land still needs people to cultivate it, and you just changed from tenant farmers of other people to tenant farmers of the imperial court. And I can make the decision.
The rent collected by the imperial court and you will never exceed 40%."
Ren Yushi couldn't help turning his head to look at him and started to wink at him, "Don't talk nonsense, it's not more than 40%, then it's 40% at most. If the new governor of Qizhou knows this, why don't he tear Bai Shan to pieces?"
Bai Shan continued: "And the imperial court has already issued a decree, and the announcement has been posted on the city wall. It has already been stated that the harvest of the leased fields this year still belongs to you. The imperial court will redeem the fields this year and will not take over the fields until the end of the autumn harvest. I don't know that you
Where did you hear the rumors that are destroying young crops? Do you know that destroying young crops is also a serious crime?"
After Bai Shan finished speaking, he winked at Yushi Ren, who stepped forward and told them sternly what crime it was to destroy young crops and what crime it was to attack official officials, and then pointed at the few people below who were still quietly making noise:
"Master Bai will not argue with you, but you are not someone you can bully casually. Arrest these leaders. I suspect that they are related to the rumors that have been circulating recently!"