On February 15th, Li Zhi arrived in Kaifeng, Henan.
After being canonized as queen, Li Zhi stopped briefly in Tianjin and then rushed to Henan to see the situation in Henan.
This time, Li Zhi did not conquer Li Zicheng himself, but asked Li Xing and Li Laosi to lead the troops on the front line. Therefore, what Li Zhi knew about the situation in Henan was only the reports from the front line generals and Han Jinxin's intelligence. Although these reports covered
A major event in Henan, but there is a lack of details from first-hand information.
For Li Zhi to manage Henan, those details that could not be reflected in the documents were very important. So after finishing his work in Tianjin, Li Zhi rushed to Kaifeng as soon as possible.
The depression in Kaifeng City did not surprise Li Zhi. Kaifeng City was originally a consumer city, which means that the main economy in the city was supported by the consumption of the clan, bureaucrats and gentry here. These powerful people sucked blood from the entire Henan, and then
The money attracted was spent in Kaifeng, hiring servants, handymen, actors, and maids to support the business of restaurants, gourmet bars, and brothels.
After the bloodbath of the invading army, all the gentry and clan members in Kaifeng City were slaughtered. Without the consumption of these people, Kaifeng City would inevitably become a dead city.
However, as Li Zhi's Henan bureaucrats gradually settle in, Kaifeng City will once again become the political center of Henan. At that time, the office workers of various yamen will have an impact on Kaifeng's economy. Even if it is impossible to restore the prosperity of this Central Plains city, it will also allow various industries to
People from all walks of life have food to eat.
So Li Zhi was not surprised when he was riding in the shabby streets of Kaifeng City.
What surprised Li Zhi was the rural areas of Henan.
After Li Zhi stayed in Kaifeng for a long time, he left the city with a simple guard of honor and personal guards, and walked all the way in the countryside of Henan. It was February, and the winter wheat in the fields was at its greenest. In the fields in Siyeli
There is a lot of wheat planted, and it looks like striped decorations here and there on the earth.
However, the choice of those fields was a bit strange. Li Zhi looked at the soil conditions in a wheat field that was not growing well, and found that the land in the wheat field being cultivated was very shallow and barren. Then he picked up some soil from an abandoned field and rubbed it.
, found that the soil in the deserted field was quite rich, and frowned.
Li Zhi looked at the wheat fields and asked, "Why are these fertile fields abandoned, while wheat is grown in the barren fields?"
Li Laosi replied: "My boss, Li Zicheng exempted the land from taxes in Henan and distributed the land to the common people who followed the Chuang army to kill the gentry. Therefore, some farmers who joined the Chuang army as hungry soldiers were given a large amount of fertile land."
"After so many years of war, Henan's population is only 30 to 40 percent of its original size. In the past, Henan's gentry occupied a large amount of land. After these lands were allocated to Li Zicheng's hungry soldiers, some of the hungry soldiers' families could not farm at all. So these people only
The most fertile and best irrigated land was chosen for planting, while the less fertile land was left uncultivated."
Li Zhi nodded and asked: "Then why are wheat that does not grow well growing on those barren lands?"
Li Xing rushed to answer: "Brother, they are from the common people who have not taken refuge with the thieves. Although most of the people in Henan eventually joined the thieves, there are still some honest farmers who are afraid of the government's retaliation and drag their families south.
They fled and escaped the intruders. After the intruders withdrew from Henan in September, these farmers came back to farm."
"Because these people were not thieves, they were not assigned to the land of the gentry. They still owned the original few acres of thin fields. Therefore, although a large number of middle fields and even fertile fields were abandoned, the most timid farmers still cultivated the worst fields.
.”
Li Zhi frowned after listening to the words of the two division commanders.
Li Xing spread his hands and said: "Brother, the so-called equalization of land among thieves is actually empty talk. In the final analysis, it depends on whoever follows him to kill and rob the gentry, whoever will get more land."
Li Zhi asked: "Why don't the people who were allocated fertile fields rent their abandoned fertile fields to the poor households?"
Li Laosi took a breath and said: "My boss, what surprised our Tianjin soldiers the most was the chaos in the rural areas of Henan. The people who used to be the most active and wealthy people who followed the invasion army did not surrender to the thieves because of fear.
The poor are jealous and dare not rent the fertile and middle fields under their own names to the poor for farming."
"The murders of thieves are very bloody. They don't even investigate which gentry is good and which are bad. As long as they are rich, they rush in and wash away the blood. Now the wealth of the entire Henan has been rearranged by the thieves, and the ethos and rules of the entire society have changed.
changed."
"Since their fields are snatched from rich households, farmers all feel that whoever gets rich in the future should be robbed, and landlords deserve to be killed. So even if they own hundreds of acres of land, no one
Those who dare to rent their own land to others and eat the land rent would rather leave it uncultivated than become a wealthy household who eats the land rent, which ultimately leads to a large amount of good land being left uncultivated."
Li Zhi was a little surprised when he heard what Li Laosi said.
Unexpectedly, Henan experienced a burglary and became so chaotic.
In the rural areas of Henan, all the original order was broken due to this bloody robbery by the intruders. When the bad order was broken, the good order was also shattered. Since there is no order, only robbery is left.
In one word, the entire society will be in a state of extreme inefficiency. In this case, it is not surprising that good land is abandoned.
Order is the cornerstone for maintaining the operation of a group, an organization, and even a society. Li Zicheng's thieves looted everywhere and destroyed order everywhere. In the end, they were vulnerable to hundreds of thousands of people. In the original history, Li Zicheng even had hundreds of thousands of people.
Ten thousand people occupied the entire north, but they fell apart under the attack of the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the Chuang army had more men and stronger horses than the Qing army, but they lost the war again and again. The reason was that the soldiers of the Chuang army were disorderly.
Li Zhi pondered for a moment and said, "Go to the village and have a look."
Li Zhi left the field and walked to a nearby village with the guard of honor.
It was already dinner time, and smoke was curling over a nearby village. Apparently last year, the people did not need to pay land rent and land taxes, and were much richer than before. At least every household had food to eat.
Li Zhi got closer and closer, and when he reached the front of the village, he found that the village gate was closed. Some male villagers stood on the wall of the village with their heads shrinking, looking at Li Zhi and his party outside the village with hostility.
Li Zhi stood at the entrance of the village. He didn't expect that he would be rejected here, and he was a little unhappy.
Li Xing touched his head and said: "Brother, please don't be unhappy. This is the current situation in Henan's rural areas. The intruders spread rumors that brother, you want to confiscate the fields stolen by the people and turn them all into public fields to collect rent."
, this rumor is still circulating among the people."
"The common people all say that 'Li Zhi is here to collect the fields and pay taxes.' They usually regard our Tiger Army as enemy invaders and won't let us enter the village easily." 8)
