Bury the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 55 The Deformed Peasant Association

Zhu Erdan didn't know about the argument between Agui and Mingxing, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

In contrast, Zhu Erdan was more concerned about the issue of the Laizhou peasant association.

There is something wrong with the Laizhou peasant association.

Starting from Yizhou to the boundary of Linqu County, there are hundreds of villages, large and small, and hundreds of large and small peasant associations. One is not to organize the young and strong in the village to help transport the guns and food. After the rapid march all the way, Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui, the two chief officers who led the troops, not only did not lose weight, but were fed by the people to gain two catties.

After entering the border of Laizhou, Zhu Erdan clearly felt the difference between the Laizhou Farmers' Association and Yizhou and Linqu Farmers' Associations.

The peasant association here also organizes young and strong to help transport guns and grain, and also provides food, but I have never seen the phenomenon of frantic feeding like Linyi Prefecture and Linqu, and even the faces of those young and strong It was also full of reluctance, completely different from the young men in Yizhou and Linqu who helped transport grain and guns.

This is very wrong.

If this happens in one or two villages, it can barely be explained. If it happens in many villages, then Zhu Erdan can't figure out what the reason is.

To say that the common people are afraid of rebellious soldiers, this reason is pure nonsense. After all, their own military discipline is there. They neither rob the common people of their property nor eat their food for free. No one enters the people's homes, what's so scary about it?

If you say that the people in Laizhou are all devoted to me, it is even more nonsense. The lives of the people in Laizhou seem to be a little better than those in Yizhou, but they are just a little better. If you want to say that the people Because of this, I have my heart towards the Qing court, and I guess Qian Deaf and the old dog will not believe it.

Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui gnawed at the pancakes in their hands while carefully thinking about these abnormal situations.

My eldest brother once said that even two villages that are close to each other may not have exactly the same situation. For specific problems, we must make a specific analysis. Without field investigation, we cannot make a decision based on our brains. .

But before Zhu Erdan could figure it out, Geng Rui suddenly said, "Have you noticed that the five villages we passed by before, people from the peasant association, and those young people who helped us transport food and guns Zhuang, something seems wrong?"

Zhu Erdan nodded: "I've noticed something is wrong a long time ago, but I haven't figured out what's wrong until now. Normally speaking, even if the farmers' association in Laizhou doesn't welcome us like the farmers' association in Linqu, it shouldn't be the same as the farmers' association in Linqu. A Zhuangzi like that obviously doesn’t welcome us.”

Geng Rui hummed and said, "I noticed something, I don't know if you have noticed it."

Speaking of this, Geng Rui closed his eyes directly, and said while recalling the situation of the previous five Zhuangzi: "Before this, whether it was the farmers' association in Linqu or our Yizhou farmers' association, the members of the farmers' association were all Mixing with the young and strong to help us transport food and artillery, the clothes they wear are no different from those worn by the young and strong, they are all the same dirty and old."

"However, the members of the five farmer's associations in Zhuangzi have no intention of helping those young and strong people from the beginning to the end. Also, although the clothes they wear are similar to those worn by those young and strong, they are obviously more beautiful than those of those young and strong. Young people wear much cleaner clothes and look more like new."

"This is very wrong. It is said that the people in the peasant association are the same as those young and strong people who are suffering from digging in the ground, especially when they are helping us transport grain and guns. clothes, no one will wear clean clothes, let alone new ones."

"In addition to these two things that are wrong, there is another thing. The peasant associations of these Zhuangzi have no intention of letting us go to the Zhuangzi at all. It makes me feel like they want us to get out of here."

Being reminded by Geng Rui, Zhu Erdan immediately recalled it.

In the villages passing by in Yizhou and Linqu, the people in the village are not afraid of Meng Lianggu's army at all. Apart from the farmers' association and the young and strong people who will help transport food and guns, there are always some half-grown children who want to join them. Look at what the Hongyi Cannon looks like, and some big girls and young wives are also peeking from a distance.

After arriving in Laizhou, only the people from the peasant association and the young and strong helped to transport the grain and guns. I have never seen a half-grown child, and the figures of those big girls and daughters-in-law disappeared. They really responded to everyone. The saying of closing doors.

The more Zhu Erdan thought about it, the more something was wrong, Dang even put away the pancakes in his hand, and cursed angrily: "What the hell, he hunts geese every day, but now he is bitten by the geese! Fortunately, they said that they had beaten the evil gentry and local tyrants!" When we are here, we still praise them!"

Seeing that Zhu Erdan was about to get angry, Geng Rui hurriedly grabbed Zhu Erdan and said, "Don't worry! Think about what the boss said before, we have to figure out what's going on here first. "

It is not difficult to figure out why the Laizhou Farmers Association is so different from the Yizhou and Linqu Farmers Associations. Soon, Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui knew the truth about it——

Laizhou is farther away from Yizhou than Qingzhou to the south of Linqu. Although the peasant associations have been spread early, the peasant associations that spread to Laizhou are the ones with Laizhou characteristics, and the peasant associations in Yizhou It's not the same thing at all.

The reason is that sweet potatoes, a drought-tolerant crop, were first planted in Jiaozhou, a subsidiary of Laizhou, and gradually spread to the entire Laizhou. In addition, Laizhou is surrounded by the sea on both sides, and the living conditions of the people in Yizhou are lower than those in Yizhou. It is much stronger, and the gentry clan here is also more powerful.

This has led to the fact that there are peasant associations here in Laizhou, but the peasant associations in many places are dominated by the gentry. They fight against food and donations in the name of the poor people, but their oppression of the poor people has never stopped.

In other words, the peasant associations in many places in Laizhou have become a fence between the government and the poor. People in Laizhou say how corrupt the government is and how stubborn the people are. A life that was barely passable before became unbearable.

Even the people in Laizhou are disgusted with the word peasant association, and they don't welcome Zhu Erdan's arrival.

Just like the peasant association that helped Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui transport grain and guns before, it was actually a peasant association organized by the local tyrants and evil gentry, forcing the young and strong in the village to help transport grain and guns.

It’s just that Xiao He is successful, and Xiao He is also defeated. The local tyrants and evil gentry in the village and their lackeys are used to running rampant in the local area. It is extremely rare to be able to organize people to help transport food and guns, so how could it be possible to do it yourself? Hard work?

As a result, Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui discovered the abnormality.

There are two paths before Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui.

One is to kill the carbine and kill those local tyrants and evil gentry village by village, and follow the previous practice in Yizhou Prefecture to establish a real peasant association.

The other is to let go of those peasant associations for the time being, and fight all the way to Ye County, and then all the way to Penglai, completely eliminate the Yamen set up by the Qing court in Denglai, and bring the entire Laizhou and Dengzhou into Meng Lianggu's sphere of influence , and then slowly clean up those local tyrants and evil gentry.

After convening a group of leaders, big and small, to discuss it, Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui finally decided to fight back and wipe out those local tyrants and evil gentry.

Although doing so will delay the time to take down the entire Denglai, it will allow him to have a solid rear. Even if Agui and Mingxing want to send troops to suppress them, they will have enough confidence to deal with it.

The most important thing is that as long as you take the lead in destroying the local tyrants and evil gentry in the first few villages, the surrounding villages will follow suit. When the entire Laizhou is taken down later, Meng Lianggu will already have a foundation here in Laizhou, so he won’t be like my Taqing Like the county gentlemen, they were kept in the dark by the peasant associations organized by the local tyrants and evil gentry.

After Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui finished their discussion, they immediately led people back to Xiaohuzhuang, which is east of Luoquanzhuang.

As soon as he arrived at Xiaohuzhuang, Zhu Erdan directly ordered people to surround the whole Xiaohuzhuang, and sent people to take the gong to the village to beat it, so that all the people in the village would gather at the threshing ground. Take someone straight to Mr. Hu's house in Xiaohuzhuang——Although Geng Rui doesn't know where Mr. Hu's house is, he can't go wrong if he runs to the best yard in the village to find it!

At this time, in Mr. Hu’s house, several servants were beating a man violently, and housekeeper Hu was taunting the beaten man with a sneer on his face: "Hu San, Hu San, I didn't say you, you said you were good!" Isn’t it good to share those few acres of land? The master is kind-hearted and has reduced the rent to [-]% for you. What do you think about the master? Ah? Do you have to ask the master to distribute the land to you? Tell you, you are dreaming !"

"My master told you a long time ago, it doesn't matter whether the world belongs to the Qing Dynasty or those rebels, this peasant association must always belong to the master."

"Don't look at the rebels who can't afford to provoke those rebels, but those rebels come today and leave tomorrow. What they want is a peasant association and someone who can help them transport food and guns. Do you think they have time? Care about the life and death of you poor ghosts?"

"You don't even think about it. What are they trying to conquer the world? What are they trying to do? They want to sit on the dragon chair! What is it about equalizing the land and making decisions for the common people? Just listen to these nonsense. Seriously? You still want to go to those rebels to sue the master?"

Speaking of this, Housekeeper Hu became furious, and pointed to several servants and ordered: "Beat me hard! When the beating is over, hang him up to show the public. I want to see, who will fight in the future?" Dare to make life difficult for our master!"

The beaten man, let alone resisting at this moment, didn't even have the strength to howl. He could only protect his head and neck with his hands, and let the servants beat him crazily.

Seeing that the beaten man was almost out of breath, there was a burst of gongs outside the courtyard wall of Mr. Hu's house, followed by the resounding shout of the "rebel" soldiers: "Meng Lianggu!" The rebels are back! All the villagers are going to the threshing ground!"

The servants who were beating people stopped as if they had been immobilized suddenly, and Steward Hu's originally arrogant and domineering face became extremely gloomy, but the man who was being beaten suddenly regained his strength , spat out bloodshot saliva with a bah sound, and cursed: "Hit! Hit again! The one who is in charge of our house is here, you continue to hit!"

Butler Hu suddenly came back to his senses, glared at the man angrily, and shouted at the servants: "Hurry up and hide him, I'll deal with those rebels first!"

Before the words were finished, the door of Mr. Hu's house was slammed open, and Geng Rui unceremoniously led people into Mr. Hu's house, holding a grenade in his hand, and shouted: "Don't move! Everyone knelt down on the spot! Put your head in your hands!"

From entering the village to Mr. Hu's house, the news I heard along the way almost didn't kill Geng Rui from anger——

There is indeed a peasant association in Xiaohu Village, but this peasant association was set up by Mr. Hu, relying on his family's wealth and land, and gathered a bunch of rascals.

When Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui led people past Xiaohu Village before, Mr. Hu first forced the young and strong men in the village to transport guns and grain for Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui, and then swallowed the money Zhu Erdan gave to buy grain, and then took several people in the village. All the men who wanted to form a real peasant association were caught in the Hu family's compound!
(End of this chapter)