Gaotang County, Shilipo.
The autumn weather is clear and the fruits are abundant.
Looking at the farmland, it is as gorgeous as gold.
Bai Yu, dressed only in casual clothes, sat on the edge of a field. Within the field, many strong men bent over the harvest. Unlike Chang'an, Linzi primarily cultivated rice and wheat. They also occasionally planted beans as a rotational crop to cultivate the soil.
"Commander, it's all done."
A young man approached slowly, his face scarred by a knife. He was originally a constable in the Chang'an Inspection Division, named Yelu He. Indeed, his ancestors were members of the Liao royal family. Dafeng and the Liao had fought a decisive battle in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and the Liao had been defeated, capturing many captives. Among them was Prince Yelu, who ultimately stayed in Chang'an, married, and had children.
Yelu He made many contributions during the Northern Expedition and was promoted to the rank of Qian Hu. He was good at raising livestock and was mainly responsible for feeding the war horses in the army.
"Did those old men agree?"
"You have to agree even if you don't want to." Yelu He snorted disdainfully. "They're holding the contract they signed with the King of Qi, claiming that all the farmland in Shilipu belongs to them. Hundreds of households in the village are all farmhands for the Tian family. They're nothing but beasts!"
"good!"
Bai Yu nodded approvingly.
The ancestors of the Gaotang Tian family were also royal family.
However, the Tian family's bloodline is too complicated.
Simply put, the ancestors of the Tian family had long been plotting to usurp the throne of Qi. However, with few descendants, they lacked the manpower to carry out the work. So, they came up with a plan: to take in concubines crazily and then invite many people to their home to play poker.
Regardless of whose child it was, the Tian family would raise them well, regardless of their origin. This wasn't done to satisfy some strange interest, but simply to facilitate matters. Thus, after just three generations, the Tian family effectively sidelined the King of Qi and ultimately usurped the throne.
This also led to the existence of a large number of powerful families with the surname Tian in Qi.
Anyone with the surname Tian is considered superior to others.
They seized land and abused their power for personal gain.
More than 30% of the officials in Qi have the surname Tian!
This is also Tian Zhongxun’s confidence!
After Bai Yu arrived in Gaotang, he began to take action. He first sent people to investigate the situation of the Ma family army. At the same time, he sent people to secretly visit the people in various places and record the corrupt officials who exploited the people. Then, he sent thousands of households to visit them and demanded that farmland be reclaimed and distributed to ordinary people who had no land.
This is what Ning Que told them.
Just six words!
Kill the landlords and divide the land!
As the saying goes, "All land under heaven belongs to the king." Linzi is already Dafeng territory, and Dafeng laws must be enforced. The land deed you hold was signed with the King of Qi, but now the King of Ning refuses to acknowledge it. Since you've paid, go find the King of Qi.
All excess land must be confiscated!
Slaves who do not meet the necessary procedures will be returned to civilian status!
Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy!
This is Ning Que’s royal decree!
As the saying goes, a new emperor appoints new ministers. Ning Que is now the boss of Linzi. Tian Zhongxun thought he could disgust him with this tactic, but it was useless. Ning Que has always been a decent person. If you want to reason with him, you can talk to him properly. But if he wants to play dirty tricks, don't blame him!
Bai Yu looked at Yelu He and raised his hand, saying, "It's the autumn harvest season these days. Divide the farmland first. This is the most important thing. Then assist the county magistrate in organizing the household registration."
"Don't worry, Commander."
Yelu He nodded in agreement, then asked, "Also, when are we going to encircle and suppress the Ma family army? Their headquarters is only thirty miles away, so it won't be difficult to deal with them."
"Don't worry!" Bai Yu shook his head and said seriously, "Have you forgotten the prince's order? We need to suppress the bandits, but we must minimize casualties. When dealing with these bandits, every death is a loss. So, we need to find out the situation first."
"promise!"
Bai Yu was about to stand up to inspect the area when he saw a group of elderly farmers approaching with canes. Some carried clay pots filled with water, while others held clay pots overflowing with wild vegetable porridge.
It looks like there is not much profit.
It's just some wild vegetables sprinkled into the rice porridge.
"Old man, what are you doing?"
"Soldiers, you've all worked so hard." The village chief's eyes were red as he sighed, "In all my life, this is the first time I've seen soldiers working for the people. You've given us land and helped us with the farming, so we should show our gratitude. I hope you won't mind, it's just some wild vegetable porridge."
"This is absolutely unacceptable!" Bai Yu quickly waved his hand and raised his hand in return, saying, "We appreciate your kindness. But our Ning Wang Army has a rule that we must not eat a single grain of food from the people's homes. If the prince finds out about this, we will be punished with military sticks!"
Bai Yu's words were not polite.
But there really is such a rule!
A similar incident occurred during the reign of the old King Ning. A soldier, desperately hungry, secretly ate dried radishes from a neighbor's home. Upon learning of this, the old King Ning personally visited the neighbor's home to apologize and ordered the soldier to be punished with twenty blows of the military stick.
Actually, you can't blame the soldiers...
Because they were doing disaster relief, they didn't have much food. The old King Ning even ordered that every grain of food they brought be given away, which resulted in the soldiers working hard on an empty stomach, and finally this situation occurred because they were starving.
"Hey, it's okay."
"If you don't tell me and I don't tell you, the prince won't know."
"You've been busy all morning, take a break."
The soldiers still did not stop.
Still busy working.
Seeing this, the old village chief hurriedly said, "Commander Bai, give the order immediately. If they starve to death, we can't afford the compensation!"
Bai Yu thought about it and nodded.
Continuing to dwell on this will also affect the mission.
"Everyone."
"exist!"
"Rest for half an hour."
"yes!"
Bai Yu pulled out a silver ingot from his bosom and whispered to Yelu He, "Find a chance to give this silver to the village chief. Many of these people have only just become civilians, and every household is so poor they don't even have a bed. This food is all they worked so hard to save, we can't just eat it for free."
"This...this is ten taels of silver?"
"Commander, this is two months' salary for you!"
Yelu Hedu couldn't help but remind him.
You have to know that Bai Yu was a high-ranking commander, in charge of tens of thousands of people. A military officer of this rank would normally receive a thousand taels of silver as salary per year. This was just his official income; if he had some side hustles, it would be even more. But Bai Yu only received sixty taels per year, and that was after Ning Que's salary increase; it was even lower before!
"Don't worry about it."
Bai Yu smiled and waved his hand.
He doesn't care much about money.
I already have food and drink in the army, so I can’t spend any money.
Yelu He could only sigh softly and prepare.
The old village chief's eyes were red as he looked at the sturdy soldiers. Their backs were sunburned from a day of farm work. Although they didn't speak the same language, they could feel the sincere emotions.
"Old village chief, I have something to ask you."
"Just ask, Commander-in-Chief!"
"Okay." Bai Yu smiled and raised his hand, "How much do you know about the Ma family army?"
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