After Li Xiao's wedding, he only stayed at home for three days before leaving Dengzhou and going to Jinan. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Now that Shandong has just taken over, Li Xiao has a lot of things to do, and he really doesn't have more time to spend at home with his wives and concubines and children. And the newlywed wife Zhu Yujiao is still young, and it is impossible for her to be close to her own skin, so there is no special regret about such a separation.

Since Chongzhen handed over Shandong to Li Xiao for governance, the imperial court has removed all officials from all over Shandong and reassigned them to other places. The local garrisons such as Ni Chong, Yao Wenchang, and Chen Hongfan were also transferred to other provinces so that Li Xiao could take over smoothly.

Of course, there are also some older officials whose term of office is about to expire, and they are ordered by the imperial court to send them to the office in advance, so as to reduce the number of officials to be arranged.

Like Yan Jizu, the former governor of Shandong, because he was older, he went home after attending Li Xiao's wedding.

However, Li Xiao took pity on his talent and repeatedly persuaded him to stay, but Yan Jizu missed his hometown in Fujian, and his health was not as good as before, so he rejected Li Xiao's kindness and returned south.

After Li Xiao came to Jinan, he issued a series of edicts.

1. First of all, he appointed his personal staff officer Jiang Yueguang as the governor of Shandong Province to oversee the political, economic, and people's livelihood affairs of Shandong Province.

2. Secondly, he changed all the prefectures and counties in Shandong, like Dengzhou, from the original three-division system of governors to various government departments such as the Department of Civil Affairs, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Industry, and the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. The capital of Shandong is set in Jinan.

3. Then, all kinds of guards in Shandong, as well as the remnants of the Ming Dynasty garrisons, were all eliminated, and the generals of those guards were given certain economic compensation according to the number of years, and their original official military fields were retained for their family support. The elite soldiers in the guard were selected as auxiliary soldiers of the Tang Army, and after brainwashing education and military training, they were assigned to various military towns. As for the old, weak, and disabled, they are all paid severance pay, and land is allocated in the vicinity, and they become ordinary farmers to settle down.

4. Finally, the villages and towns in Shandong, as in Dengzhou, should be registered, and if it is found that the amount of land of the landlords and gentry in various places exceeds the amount originally registered by the government, it will be forcibly recovered.

Moreover, Li Xiao also stipulated that the number of fields under each landlord should not exceed 1,000 mu at most. If there is more than that amount of land, the government will take action and force the acquisition at the market price, so as to discourage land acquisition. From then on, these landlords and squires also had to pay grain in spring and autumn according to the amount of two buckets of wheat per mu of land, just like those ordinary peasants.

This move was a measure that Li Xiao finally decided to take after drawing on the land redemption policy of modern Taiwan. The reason why he did not adopt the ruthless and ruthless land reform methods of the modern mainland was because of his careful consideration.

Li Xiao believes that if the opportunity of land reform is used to finally destroy the gentry group, it will lead to serious damage to the morality and human ethics at the grassroots level of the township. Just like in the rural areas of modern China, once the government loses its strong control over villages and towns, these villages and towns will quickly appear to be flooded with underworld forces, and this is a matter that must be carefully considered.

(Like in the later Huaxia Kingdom, there was an unspoken rule that everyone knew, that is, the so-called village and town cadres were basically either bought or typed.) These people are rampant in the local area, eating both black and white, and have become the existence of earth overlords. ）

Therefore, Li Xiao decided to keep this gentry group, so as to alleviate social contradictions, and use the squire group educated in poetry and books to curb the development of rural underworld forces, so as to leave a buffer between the government and the villagers at the bottom. This measure was finally decided by Li Xiao after careful consideration.

Of course, there is another important reason for this.

That is, Li Xiao now only occupies one place in Shandong, and his influence is still limited. If the land reform method is too resolute and ruthless, for the other provinces in the country, I am afraid that it will be born, and these gentry groups who occupy a large amount of social resources in the Ming Dynasty society will be completely forced to the opposite side of themselves, thus artificially creating a powerful enemy for themselves, which is something that Li Xiao, who is still in the expansion stage, never wants to see.

Then, all the unclaimed land, as well as the fields forcibly recovered from the landlords, were then granted by Li Xiao to the local landless poor and tenants, as well as to various displaced people from other provinces to Shandong.

After the promulgation of Li Xiao's policies, they were basically quite smooth, but there were also a few incidents of non-cooperation and even resistance in various localities.

For example, Aoshanwei and Lingshanwei, who are located in Laizhou Prefecture, are linked to oppose Li Xiao's arrangement, reject Li Xiao's plan to dismantle, and want to continue to exist as independent kingdoms.

As a result, Li Xiaozi did not hesitate to send troops to suppress it, and finally executed the two guard commanders and dozens of generals and officials below, and all the surrendered soldiers were forced to enter Tielong City and other places for hard labor.

With the ferocious and fierce act of killing chickens and scaring monkeys, even if other guards were unwilling, they could only obediently accept the adaptation and retrenchment. After all, the consequences of making fun of one's own head are too terrible.

Some landlords and gentry who were unwilling to cooperate with the inventory of land, or concealed the amount of land, were severely suppressed by Li Xiao.

For these tough and uncooperative guys, Li Xiao, who has a strong army, has no politeness to them, they will be arrested when they should be arrested, and they will be killed when they should be killed, and then the whole family will be exiled to Nanyang, and all the land will be confiscated.

Li Xiao's iron fist and ruthlessness frightened the local tyrants and squires all over Shandong, and finally honestly cooperated with the government's investigation, and let the government successfully redeem the excess land, regardless of any resistance.

In the end, after the completion of Li Xiao's land reform in Shandong, tens of millions of acres of land were inventoried and redeemed throughout the province, and in addition to the existing people and poor people in the province, at least four or five million displaced people from other provinces could also be resettled.

At the time of the land reform, Li Xiao was still engaged in construction in the whole territory of Shandong, and basically every state capital and county seat were connected by wide and straight cement roads, which made the traffic and transportation of the whole Shandong more convenient, and also made Li Xiao's control of Shandong more handy.

At a time when Li Xiao's land reform in Shandong was being vigorously carried out throughout the province, good news also came from Nanyang.

That is, from the beginning of the year to the present, after nearly half a year, the entire island of New Guinea, the largest island in the Pacific Ocean and the second largest in the world, was finally completely recovered by the Tang army.

Fighting in such an extremely hot and humid place was actually a major test for the Tang army. Although the Tang army eventually occupied the entire island, its own losses were also very huge.

In the letters sent by Li Dingguo, Cao Bianjiao and others to Li Xiao's flying pigeons, there were detailed records of the pacification campaign in New Guinea, and Li Xiao was very impressed.

After victoriously capturing the entire island of New Guinea, the second battalion of Pingnan Town returned to the Kailima area on the east coast of New Guinea Island to rest, at this time, Qin Gongming, who had been promoted to deputy chief, wrote a letter to his aunt Qin Liangyu in a bamboo hut and on a bright moonlit night, telling the specific story of the battle.

"Aunt, my nephew, since I came to Nanyang New Guinea in March, was assigned to the second battalion of Pingnan Town, and became the chief of the outpost, and managed more than 1,500 soldiers, of which more than 1,000 were crossbowmen and more than 500 were shield soldiers. After landing in the Kailima area in the southeastern part of the island of New Guinea, the entire battalion was broken into pieces and marched inland to the island of New Guinea in the form of sentry posts. ”

"Our outpost marched from Kairima on the coast to the Lake Mori area in central New Guinea. After the whole army had prepared its food and ordnance, it was led by local guides and marched all the way to the depths. ”

"Auntie, on this island of New Guinea, the climate is extremely hot, and the blazing sun can make people burn alive, and the weather here is also very humid, and there are several heavy rains every day. Moreover, this island is basically still in a very primitive state, and the island is full of dense rainforests, full of rancid and sweet forest smell. On the island of New Guinea, there are basically no roads. In these endless rainforests, there are many poisonous snakes, crocodiles, leopards and other fierce beasts, such a harsh climate and geographical environment, compared with the hometown of Sichuan, it is really a sky, an underground. ”

"It's just that this place, although the conditions are bad, but there are many rivers and fertile land, if it can be developed, it is a very good settlement place for the residents of my Ming Kingdom. Therefore, this is also an important reason why Master Li has repeatedly emphasized to us generals that we must completely take this island of New Guinea. ”

"Auntie, since our army set out from the Kailima area, we have been attacking the local natives along the way, and for these villages, we have adhered to the plan formulated by Lord Li before the war. That is, if the whole village surrenders to our army at once, our army can save the lives of the natives of the whole village, and at the same time let them provide some food as a sign of surrender to our army. ”

"If they don't know each other and dare to resist, then our army will decide on the next step of punishment depending on the intensity of the resistance. If there is a slight resistance and little damage to our army, it is to slaughter the men and keep the women, giving them a chance to mend their ways. Rather, if they resist strongly and inflict some casualties on our troops, then our troops will not be polite to them, and will kill every natives in their villages, and then burn down their villages before they can continue to advance. ”

"While advancing along the Prali River, our army began in a place of Ponya and encountered an unprecedented people, the headhunters and cannibals. This people is very ferocious, both men and women oppose our army, often attack our army in rivers or valleys, etc., shoot and kill our lone soldiers, and cut off the heads of these slain soldiers, make drinking utensils and sacrificial items, and then eat all the corpses of our soldiers and soldiers. ”

"This ugly and ferocious nation, our army hates them very much, and General Li Dingguo, the mayor of Pingnan Town, specially ordered that whenever the headhunters and cannibals are found, they must all be killed, and the whole village must be left behind, and the entire nation must be wiped out. When General Li gave this order, the officers and men of the whole army were also very excited. Therefore, every time we find traces of headhunters and cannibals, our army will definitely chase them all out, kill them all and completely, and completely raze the entire village to the ground. ”

"In such a bloody battle, because these natives have a geographical advantage, our army has suffered a lot of losses. Fortunately, our army has extremely powerful and rain-proof crossbows, and our army still has a considerable numerical advantage, so that these cunning and murderous natives were eventually shot by poisonous crossbows. After discovering their village, our army first surrounded the village, killed all the natives in the village, and then robbed all the food, and burned the village with another fire. ”

"In the past few months, as our army's troops and horses have continued to advance victoriously, the prestige on the island has become more and more prominent, more and more indigenous tribes have surrendered directly, and our army's advance has become faster and faster. Finally, more than ten days ago, the natives in various places either died or surrendered, and there was no more left. Our troops finally victoriously occupied the entire island of New Guinea. And my nephew, I, was also promoted to the deputy chief of the B Battalion B General of Pingnan Town because of the accumulation of various military achievements. ”

According to General Li Dingguo, in order to capture the island of New Guinea, our soldiers in Pingnan Town paid a total of more than 2,000 soldiers for their sacrifices, and more than 1,000 people were disabled and discharged. In fact, these sacrificed soldiers died on the battlefield, but they were still a minority, and most of them were infected with various tropical diseases on the island, and were bitten to death and bite by poisonous snakes and beasts, resulting in death or injury. ”

"However, it is still very worthwhile to pay so many sacrifices to firmly occupy the entire island of New Guinea and make it a new land under the rule of our Tang Army. As the military supervisor said, this island of New Guinea is so fertile that at least tens of millions of acres of fertile land can be developed, and more than 3 million Chinese immigrants can be arranged, but it is absolutely not a problem. ”

"Auntie, according to Lord Li's arrangement, our whole army will rest on the island of New Guinea for a month, and after the new soldiers and equipment are replenished, we will continue to march south to attack the Australian continent, which is said to be wider and richer. According to General Li Dingguo, when the entire Australian continent is conquered, Napingnanzhen's conquest in Nanyang will come to an end for the time being, and then every effort will be made to protect these newly conquered large areas of land, protect the immigrants from the Chinese country, and let them live smoothly on these lands. ”

"Auntie, the longer I stay in Nanyang, the more accustomed I become to living here. I was thinking that living in Nanyang, far away from strife and peaceful, is actually a very good thing. After I settled down in Australia, I was staying in Australia, finding a Han Chinese immigrant woman as a wife here, and then starting a family here and living a stable life. We heard that the environment in Australia is not as hot and uncomfortable as the island of New Guinea, but it is very similar to the mainland of China, which makes me fascinated. ”

"Moreover, if I am discharged from the army, I will get sixty acres of land in Australia, as well as a large sum of money for settling. If I can make new achievements in Australia in the future, my little nephew will be able to get more rewards such as land and silver money in the future, and then my little nephew will be able to live a better life in Australia than in his hometown. Of course, I hope that after the death of my parents, my aunt, as my closest relative in the world, will be considerate of my little nephew's arrangement. ”

"Okay, no further ado, I bought a few big coconuts and sent them to my aunt for you to try. Please take care of your body, aunt, and say hello to my cousin and brother on my behalf, and my little nephew Qin Gongming will bow down. ”

Qin Gongming, who had finished writing the letter, let out a long sigh, then packed the letter, took the five or six coconuts that had been tied very firmly, stepped on the bright moonlight, and went to the postman's barracks in the barracks.