After finishing some trivial things after the New Year, Zhu Hao brought Wang Fuzhi to discuss land reform.

In addition to the army, land and peasant issues were listed by Zhu Hao as the top priority in the first half of this year. Although the boundaries of the three mansions of Xu Huai are small, they will affect the whole body, and if they are not done well, they will cause big waves, so they should be cautious.

"And the peasants, I think the land reform should be done quickly, what are your ideas?"

"Regarding the matter of land, our Ministry of Government also has a general plan, yes, except for King Lu in Yanzhou, there is no large opposition force, and most of the farmers have been allocated to the ownerless wasteland, these people only need to pay five percent of the tax grain to have the right to cultivate the land, so there is no need to worry about things in the north, mainly Xu Huai Erfu, there is no war here, the land is concentrated, there are many landless farmers, it is not easy to arrange!" Although Wang Fuzhi is young and promising, due to the limitations of his thinking, he is unable to come up with effective reform measures for the time being.

"You see the problem too shallowly, do you have to dwell on the word land?" Zhu Hao reminded.

"What do you mean?"

"Nowadays, the government-run factories and private factories have been in full swing, and a large number of migrant workers are needed. You can publicize it again, encourage people in the south to go to Yanzhou to open up wasteland, there are few people in the south, as long as good policies are given, don't worry about them not coming, this is the second; Third, if you win over some enlightened landlords, implement rent reductions and interest reductions by the landlords, and pay rents and interest on the peasants, the initiative can get the support of the Grand Marshal's Mansion and the New Army in all quarters, and I don't believe that with the great strength of our New Army, there are still people who are willing to work with us. Zhu Hao said disappreliantly.

"Great idea! I immediately went back to study, but these landlords occupied a large amount of land but did not pay a penny, so it was not a way to go on. Wang Fuzhi immediately opened his mind when he heard him, but he remembered a question.

"It's still the old way, the list is announced, the land is taxed according to the actual owner, or is it twenty taxes and one, can they not afford it? If they use the ground that the land is not theirs, then we will take it back and distribute it again, and prohibit the transfer of this part of the tax grain to the tenants. Remember, it's important. It's not the same as before, if anyone dares to make trouble, arrest me! ”

"I'm afraid that they will say one thing and do another, and make things bad behind their backs." Wang Fuzhi was still a little worried.

"This is easy to say, you immediately draw up a charter, set up peasant associations in various places, composed of peasants with high prestige and appeal, first control this part of the people, the peasant associations can negotiate with the landlords on an equal footing, and can also directly report to the Ministry of Government Affairs on matters in various places, don't be afraid, the reform will always touch the interests of some diehards, this kind of pain must be overcome, our principle is to support us to protect, oppose us to eradicate! I estimate that there will be no major war in half a year, and we must concentrate all our efforts to solve this stubborn disease! Zhu Hao said resolutely.

A few days later, the administrative department of the Marshal's Mansion promulgated a series of land reform measures, collectively known as the "Xuhuai Prefecture Land Reform Program," which were very detailed and substantial, protecting the interests of the peasants and the rights and interests of some enlightened landlords to the greatest extent.

The vast majority of the peasants cheered, a small number of enlightened people immediately chose to support it in a clear-cut manner, some of the centrist elements chose to wait and see, and the other part of the landlords, who were accustomed to tax evasion, raised strong opposition, among which the Lu Wang Zhu faction led the strongest opposition.

The Lu Wangfu occupies one-tenth of the entire Yanzhou land and is the largest landlord, and under the leadership of the Zhu Yi faction, the diehard landlords in the north and south have united, on the one hand, they have continuously sent people to the Dashuai's Mansion to persuade and petition, and on the other hand, they have jointly written to the imperial court to win support.

A large number of landless peasants obtained land through reform, and some of the landlords who were waiting to see that the court had not moved for a long time and were forced to choose to cooperate, and there were some people who were not in vain to be turned out of old accounts, imprisoned, and copied homes, under the deterrence, only a few powerful diehards were still desperately persisting.

Zhu Hao had expected this situation, and sent people to the capital very early to make a point, and also sent 500,000 silver to Emperor Chongzhen, saying that it was the extra income of Xuzhou's land reform, and with these rich gifts, the ghost was too lazy to stop it, anyway, Zhu Hao was such a big place, let him toss it. Besides, he also has good intentions, Chongzhen has long looked at these people who don't eat and don't pull the eyes, and now Zhu Hao is better for him, but King Lu is not good-looking.

After waiting for three months, the holy decree of the imperial court finally came belatedly, but he only criticized Zhu Hao a few words painlessly, and comforted King Lu by the way, there was no substantive content!

Only Zhu Yipai still continued to write unrelentingly, and finally Emperor Chongzhen took the trouble and decreed that Zhu Hao was not allowed to touch the land of King Lu to pacify this prince.

If the biggest boss is not making trouble, what are the others still making trouble? There is no army, no government, and people don't look down on them financially, so how can they fight with the marshal's mansion? As a result, some discerning people began to quietly become active, and they were looking for relationships to reconnect with the Marshal's Mansion.

After the vigorous development of the land reform, peasant associations in various places were also established, and at the beginning, the peasant associations were built by Zhu Hao into organizations that were also peasants and soldiers, and village-level peasant associations were set up in each village, and town-level peasant associations were set up in towns, and the peasant associations were responsible for the reform of peasant land and negotiations with the landlords, and were also in charge of militia affairs, and most of the members of the peasant associations in various places were militiamen.

The implementation of the agrarian reform and the establishment of peasant associations have made the peasants' belief in ownership unprecedentedly high, and they have taken up arms to join the militia to defend their hard-won gains. Zhu Hao also allocated huge sums of money to build water conservancy projects in various localities and sent school professionals to various localities to guide farming.

Under the influence of various policies, it is expected that this year's grain output can increase by two to three percent, making it a bumper year in recent decades.

Of course, the landlord class was not unprofitable, and the Marshal's Office sent special working groups to all counties and towns to coordinate the relationship between the peasant associations and the landlords. Landlords are encouraged to set up all kinds of factories, and those who set up factories are exempt from tax for one year and reduced for three years. At the same time, a trade union was established, a large number of advanced landlords were absorbed, and Su Wanqian, a large landowner who owned more than 1,000 hectares of land in Xuzhou, was elected as the first president of the trade union and donated 10,000 stone of grain on the spot. Some landlords even sold their land at a low price and took out cash to set up factories, and this part of the land was purchased by the Marshal's Mansion and distributed to the peasants, who of course had to pay off the grain in their hands in ten years.

According to statistics, by the first half of the 13th year of Chongzhen, the total number of unemployed displaced people in the three prefectures of Xu Huai was seven or eight percent less than in previous years, and the society gradually stabilized.

Through vigorous promotion, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other high-yield grain crops have entered Yanzhou before last year, and last year a bumper harvest was obtained, which solved the problem of famine for countless people.

In terms of officials, against the background of Zhu Hao's vigorous propaganda of old Confucianism and new science, countless older officials with stubborn ideas were stripped of their rights, and a large number of officials who had undergone reform and new-style education and new-type government talents trained by the Ministry of Government Affairs took up their posts.

Anyway, the Ministry of Government Affairs is a department set up by the Marshal's Mansion, so the personnel to be selected by the Ministry of Government Affairs have received the full support of the Marshal's Mansion, and those old officials don't dare to say anything.

The new-style officials are young and energetic, and most of them have a spirit of serving the country and starting a business, so the speed and efficiency of the various decrees of the Grand Marshal's Office have been greatly improved. Zhu Hao's treatment of these officials is also very generous, the treatment of officials in the Ming Dynasty is generally very low, and now the salary has increased significantly, and they are all holding back their strength to contribute to him.

As for those old officials, Zhu Hao also paid a lot of money, and these people got money and the opposition was much smaller.

Since the implementation of the new decree, the money of the Marshal's Mansion has been spent like flowing water, and after calculating the accounts, this year's expenditure is forty percent more than last year! It is mostly used to acquire land, remove taxes, and under Zhu Hao's search and savings in the past few years, the silver deposit in the Dashuai Mansion is still about eight million taels, but this kind of spending method will not last for two or three years, Zhu Hao pondered that it was time to find a way to make a big profit.

In this way, land reform was carried out in full swing in the land of Xuhuai. Some advanced elements and representative pictures have also emerged in various localities.

In Pei County, a small village with only 40 or 50 households, the land reform decree has been in place for a month, and the vast majority of the villagers have been allocated land.

In a family in the east of the village, a seven or eight-year-old boy dressed in tatters asked his mother: "Mother, can we really have steamed buns to eat during the Chinese New Year this year?" ”

"Yes! Dashuai has just given our family ten acres of land, and your father has already gone to the town to do paperwork, and as long as it is autumn, there will be endless nests. Mother said happily.

"But isn't our family planting the land of Old Man Zhang's house, what about Old Man Zhang?"

"Old man Zhang sold the land, it was the marshal who bought the land and distributed it to us, these lands will be ours in the future, your father is also a member of the peasant association, and there is no need to rent the land for old man Zhang anymore."

"Oh, who is this handsome? Why help us? The boy asked, as if he didn't understand.

"He, he is a god sent by God, who is specially here to help our poor, is our savior, you must listen to him when you grow up, and repay him, do you know?" The mother looked at the sky leisurely and said with respect on her face.

"I know my mother, Dashuai is the benefactor of our family, and I will definitely repay him when I grow up." The boy nodded obediently.

Xujia Village, Wangshan Town, is a large village with hundreds of families, and eight or nine out of ten people are surnamed Xu. Xu Maosen, in his thirties, is a good dealer, upright and prestigious, has practiced martial arts, his younger brother Xu Maolin was a company commander in the new army, and was unanimously elected by the whole village a few days ago to become the president of the peasant association.

Xu Maosen himself is a small landlord, his family has more than 200 acres of land, living a well-off life, after the land reform decree was issued, he took the lead in renting most of the land to the landless peasants in the village for cultivation without compensation, and he is also one of the few people who was elected as the president of the peasant association as a landlord.

Someone asked him why he was willing to do this, Xu Maosen said proudly: "My brother participated in the New Army before the Battle of Yanzhou and followed the commander to fight the Manchurian devils, and he also won the third-class merit, that is the hero of Xujia Village, the pride of our old Xu family!" I can't be a brother who can't fall behind, people, I can't just cover that little money to live! ”

Xu Maosen's words reflected the psychology of many enlightened people at that time, most of whom were related to the New Army, the Great Marshal's Mansion, and the Workers' School, and their own consciousness was also high.