After listening to what the people said, Zhu Yunwen was at his wit's end. He knew that things were not as simple as he had imagined. As soon as one problem was solved, new problems would continue to emerge.

The land reform policy was indeed not easy to implement. At first, the court officials disagreed, and later some powerful local families did not cooperate.

Later, they came up with some countermeasures and devised some schemes to use other people's population to acquire more land for themselves. Then, they encountered local landlords who forcibly rented the land allocated to ordinary people at low prices.

From the imperial court to the local level, from those in power to the landlords at the bottom, problems kept arising, all for the same purpose: self-interest.

Zhu Yunwen knew this road would be difficult and he understood that there would be many obstacles, but he really did not expect that once he arrived in this place, the landlords would simply not bother with any other methods and would directly use the most direct means to intimidate and threaten the people.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Yunwen knew that all his so-called schemes and coping strategies would be futile.

Zhu Yunwen had his domineering manner towards the officials in the imperial court, and he had his schemes against the powerful families.

As for the local landlords, they used the most barbaric methods, so Zhu Yunwen naturally had to repay them in kind.

A tough stance must be taken to achieve the desired effect, so Zhu Yunwen had already decided to kill him.

He had already figured it out: to deal with those local landlords, he had to use strong measures to deter them.

So he said to the people:

“I understand about this matter, and you don’t need to worry too much. Since the imperial court is going to implement land reform and carry out the land distribution order to the people, it must be for the sake of the people. It will certainly not allow those landlords to oppress you anymore, otherwise, wouldn’t the imperial court’s policy have been implemented in vain?”

Hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, the people were somewhat excited. Although they didn't know what official position Zhu Yunwen held, it was better to have someone in charge than to be ignored.

Thinking of this, the old man said to Zhu Yunwen:

"It's good that the imperial court is willing to take care of us and solve our problems. But those landlords always find ways to exploit us."

"I'm afraid that even if we resolve this matter today, they will come up with other methods to continue seizing our land."

Zhu Yunwen sighed helplessly and said:

"We are indeed helpless against these landlords. But please rest assured, the imperial court will do its utmost to protect the interests of the common people and do its best to prevent those landlords from oppressing and exploiting you."

Upon hearing this, the people were extremely grateful to Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Yunwen then continued to ask:

Where is that landlord you're talking about?

A villager stepped forward and said, "It's not far ahead in Liujiazhuang. Master Liu has a large estate there. He used to own hundreds of acres of land, almost half of the land in our Liujiazhuang was under his control."

Although the land redistribution order has been implemented, he has used some forceful means to forcibly rent land from some ordinary people at low prices.

He probably already has another hundred or two acres of land, and he continues to pressure ordinary people to rent their land to Master Liu at low prices.

Zhu Yunwen took a deep breath and then said:

"I understand. Just you wait and see. In less than two days, I will make this Mr. Liu pay the price."

After Zhu Yunwen finished speaking, he did not linger and turned to leave with his Jinyiwei guards and Zhao Qingzhu, heading towards Jingzhou Prefecture, which was not far away.

He intends to use the power of the local government to launch a strong and effective crackdown on this matter.

Zhao Qingzhu said to Zhu Yuntong:

"Without experiencing life in the countryside, one cannot know how helpless and miserable the common people are, despite the government's strong support for their livelihoods."

Despite various policies implemented to protect their interests, they were still led by the nose by those nobles and landowners. The bitterness they endured was truly indescribable to outsiders.

Zhu Yunwen sighed and said:

"This is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Right now, I just want all the people in the world to own their own land, and it's already so difficult to implement. I can't imagine how complicated it will be to implement so many other policies in the future..."

In Zhu Yunwen's mind, distributing land to the people was only the first step in governing the country.

The first step in governing the country is to ensure that people have enough to eat and wear in times of peace, and to guarantee the livelihood of the lower classes.

But even this first step is so difficult.

Later, Zhu Yunwen obtained various grain seeds brought back from overseas by Ma Sanbao and wanted to promote their cultivation on a large scale among the people. However, he was likely to encounter considerable resistance.

The reason is simple: in ancient times, grain has always been a treasure trove for many merchants to amass wealth.

It was precisely because of the food shortage that these merchants were able to sell the grain they had stockpiled at a good price.

The saying goes that scarcity drives up prices. Some merchants don't care whether people will starve to death; they only care about how many people starve to death. As long as enough people starve to death, they can sell their grain at a higher price.

Although they had enough food to feed the entire world, they still needed to create an atmosphere of tension, ideally with occasional food shortages in certain areas.

This is how they can profit. To put it nicely, it's called making money without conscience; to put it bluntly, it's called profiting from national disaster and eating human blood buns.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen knew that if he brought back the potato and sweet potato seeds, it would inevitably affect the interests of many people who controlled the grain.

They didn't want the people to be well-fed. If Zhu Yunwen's potatoes and sweet potatoes satisfied the people's demand for food, then the grain in the hands of these merchants would become worthless.

A land reform policy faced immense difficulties because it affected the interests of some people, making its implementation fraught with unimaginable obstacles at every step.

If a policy of large-scale sweet potato cultivation is implemented in the future, it will certainly not be much easier.

Moreover, Zhu Yunwen had even more plans for the future.

However, these are merely matters of people's livelihood; there are also national plans to come.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen rubbed his forehead and said to Zhao Qingzhu beside him:

"Now that I've reached this position, the responsibilities on my shoulders are even greater. This is just the beginning; the road ahead is long and arduous, and I must take it one step at a time and face each challenge one by one."

Zhao Qingzhu said, "I will go with you."