Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 790
The Chinese people relocate heavily, and they will not leave their hometown unless it is absolutely necessary. If they want to develop outward, first, there must be an internal push to push people outside, and second, there must be an external pull to pull people outside.

These two forces, one is the pressure of being difficult to survive inside, forcing people to find a new way out, and the other is the drive to live or even live better outside, which is driven by interests.

In this way, under the pull of these two forces, a sustained and long-term force can be formed to transform the country from introversion to extroversion.

Relying on the imperial court to force people to relocate, although there is a temporary effect, but without these two forces, the follow-up will be weak.

At the end of September, the disaster in Nanzhi further expanded. Wang Yan led a team of cavalry and galloped across the field.

On both sides of the road, some are waist-high weeds, and some are neatly harvested rice piles, but generally speaking, most of the fields are piled with piles of straw.

Suddenly Wang Yan reined in the horse, and the entire cavalry team stopped behind him, and the road was full of people's voices and horses neighing for a while.

Wang Yan's war horse turned around in a circle before he calmed down. He looked at the surrounding fields with a gloomy expression on his face.

"Your Highness, calm down!" Seeing this, Wang Fuzhi urged his horse to come to Wang Yan's side.

Wang Yan's cheeks bulged, but he didn't say a word. After a while, he waved his whip and continued to beat the horse at a gallop. Seeing this, the cavalry behind him had to follow quickly.

A group of people galloped along a small river for about 20 miles, and came to a town.

At this time, a lot of people gathered under the archway outside the town, with mixed voices. Wang Yan originally planned to gallop past, but now he slowed down the speed of the horse.

The people under the archway are clearly divided into two groups, one is the villagers wearing gray bunts, the other is uniformly wearing black cloth clothes, they seem to be servants of some big family.

At this time, a loud noise came from under the archway, and it was a strong man's fierce shout, "One mu and three stones, there is not a single grain of rice. My master also came down to help the court with the order of the king of Chu. One mu That's all, if you don't sell it, you gangsters will starve to death."

In front of the archway, an old man was lying on the ground, holding his crying granddaughter in one hand, and holding on to the yellowed land deed in the other. scold.

"In previous years, there was a catastrophe, and this field had to be exchanged for [-] shi of rice. Now I only need [-] shi, which is much cheaper. How can you sell it for [-] shi? How will we live next year!" the old man cried.

The villagers on the side also complained, but the ferocious man did not back down, and scolded with staring eyes: "You gangsters, can this year be the same as in previous years? The imperial court has fought for more than half a year. It has been delayed, and the whole Nanzhi is short of food. In the past, one tael of silver and two shi of rice have risen to one shi and two taels of rice. My master paid three shi, which is already a great kindness."

"You gangsters, why don't you know how to be grateful?" The villain glanced at everyone, and said viciously: "The food has arrived today, and you have to sell it if you sell it, or you have to sell it if you don't sell it." The villain said With a wave of his hand, "Go and collect all their land deeds."

A group of servants immediately prepared to step forward, and the villagers immediately became angry, "Aren't you robbing? I'm going to report to the authorities!"

"Huh!" The evil slave snorted coldly, "Report to the official, we are here to provide disaster relief under the order of the King of Chu, you see which government dares to take care of it! Grab it for me, and beat anyone who refuses to accept it!"

Immediately, a group of evil slaves brandished short sticks and stepped forward to beat them. The villagers screamed and the scene was chaotic.

The villain stood behind with his arms folded, looking at his subordinates with a look of pride on his face, but at this moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew behind him, and the net towel on his head was blown away, creating a burning sensation. The pain comes from the back of the head boat.

On the top of the villain's bald head, there was a bright red mark drawn by the horsewhip. He was about to get angry when he saw a group of cavalry rushing over him, waving the horsewhip, and began to beat the servants who were wielding short sticks.

These servants who were so majestic just now were immediately whipped and ran away, crying for their father and mother.

Wang Yan heard shouts from a long distance away. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, an acre of good land in the south of the Yangtze River could be sold for 30 taels, forty shi for rice, and [-] shi for a disaster year.

At this time, the situation is much worse, but no matter what, I have to change twenty shi.This group of evil gentry actually suppressed three stones per acre, and said that it was in his name, Wang Yan was immediately furious.

The villain was whipped, and his head hurt. When he saw Qiu Ba suddenly appearing in front of him, he was furious, "Whose arrangement are you, dare to beat me, do you know whose family we are from?"

Wang Yan's face was gloomy and he didn't speak. Wang Fuzhi next to him rushed forward and asked, "I really want to know, whose family are you from?"

The villain was taken aback for a moment, seeing that the other party seemed very tough, and then looking at the elite cavalry around him, he felt a little guilty, rolled his eyes, and suddenly said with a smile: "My lord, there may be some misunderstanding, we are also responding to the imperial court to provide disaster relief. of."

Wang Fuzhi stared, "I ask you, who do you belong to?"

Both Wang Yan and Wang Fuzhi were wearing casual clothes. The villain didn't know their identities, so he laughed along with him, but he didn't expect that Wang Fuzhi would not answer, but continued to yell at him, and the villain became a little angry.

"We are from the Xie family in Ningbo, how about it?" the villain retorted.

"Thank you Sanbin?" Wang Fuzhi frowned.

Seeing this, the villain was quite satisfied.

Xie Sanbin is Qian Qianyi's student, but he and Qian Qianyi have already had a falling out. He was a scholar of Lu Jian Guo Xing Dynasty, and later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. He also helped the Qing court kill Hua Xia and others. In eastern Zhejiang, he returned to normalcy and became a well-known evil gentry in Ningbo.

Hearing this, Wang Yan rode his horse forward, pointed at the villain with a whip, and said, "You are ordered by the king of Chu to provide disaster relief with three stones and one mu?"

This time the three parties recruited Zhezhi, and in order to snatch the fruits, they were a little hungry. Many officials of the Qing court with bad deeds were absorbed into the bureaucratic ranks of the Ming Dynasty.

Xie Sanbin was one of them, and he even got the title of Zhejiang Inspector.

Seeing Wang Yan and others, the villain seemed to relax after hearing the name of his lord, and immediately sneered, "The king of Chu ordered the gentry to buy land for disaster relief. We are officially responding to the imperial court's order."

Wang Yan's heart burst into flames. The food shortage in the south of the Yangtze River did exist this time. After all, the war lasted for more than half a year, but it did not reach the point where the whole south of the Yangtze River was famined.

Except for Chizhou, Ningguo, Taiping, and Su Song, who fought for a little longer, and Hong Chengchou's transfer of young men, which had an impact on production, other places should still be able to get by. They were all gone, and even prefectures and counties that had not fought wars began to lack food, and the price of food in Nanjing City skyrocketed, which aroused Wang Yan's suspicion.

Wang Yan inspected around and saw that most of the fields had already been harvested, so he realized that someone was going to hoard them, raise the price of grain, and then annex the land in the disaster-stricken county.

Wang Yan had already acquiesced in the annexation of the land by the big gentry, but these people were too aggressive. Not only did they lower the price to three stones per mu, but they even played the banner of him and the court. This has exceeded Wang Yan's bottom line.

"Tie them all to Ben Fan, and throw them all to the Yamen of Yingtian Mansion, and punish them for using the name of the court and slandering Ben Fan!"

The villain originally thought that if the other party knew his master's name, he would subdue him consciously. He was complacent, but when he heard Wang Yan's hateful words, his legs immediately scrambled.

(End of this chapter)