Li Chongwen's implementation of land donation and land ownership in Renshou Wangzhuang brought a lot of successful experience to Shu Guoping and Liu Hongting, who were sent to Pengshan to stabilize the situation.

The Pengshan Rebellion lasted longer, so it was more thorough than Zhang Xianzhong's Tu Renshou. The caravans left for the new arrivals were almost a blank slate. The townspeople either fled, were killed, or were caught up in banditry. The fate of the officials and gentry was even more tragic, the magistrate ended his life with a hemp rope, most of the officials and gentry were executed in the first few days, and the few who survived did not escape the hellish days of the following half a month. The archives of the county treasury and other important materials that can reflect the politics, economy and people's livelihood of a county have been completely destroyed. For example, the yellow album of household registration and the fish scale atlas of land property rights were taken out by bandits and rioters to be used for heating by fires, and turned into a thick layer of ashes. Even the seal of the county magistrate, which represents the authority of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is gone!

Fortunately, bandits and rebels know a little common sense. Spring is the season when the plague arises, commonly known as "spring plague". Dead people are piled up in the county, villages and towns, and sooner or later a plague will break out. So the bandits and rioters carried the corpses to the river and threw them into the gushing water. The house was not damaged much except for a few fires.

As the sun set, looking at the empty streets of Pengshan City, Shu Guoping sighed secretly.

It turned out that when his family was unhappy, he felt that he was the most miserable person in the world. His original motive for following Zhu Pingjin was nothing more than to take revenge on Zhu Pingjin and realize his ideals and ambitions. But since following Zhu Pingjin to Yazhou and Renshou for a walk, he suddenly discovered:

There are thousands of unfortunate people in this world!

How can one or a few mere military victories solve the problem of freeing people from misfortune?

At this time, he understood and recognized the protection of the country and the people advocated by Zhu Pingjin from a deeper perspective.

Liu Hongting silently followed behind Shu Guoping.

Whenever Shu Guoping fell into contemplation alone, the charm of a mature man who seemed to be absent was even richer and more fascinating. She guessed that what Shu Guoping thought about was nothing more than the army, farmers, land, refugees and so on. But these things are difficult to do, difficult to achieve, not difficult to plan and design. The prince has already formulated a set of land policies in Renshou through Li Chongwen. Although this set of policies cannot be said to be perfect, it has achieved remarkable results after all.

So her understanding of her mission here is: to replicate the model of Renshou.

The two walked silently for a long distance one after the other.

"What is Nong thinking?" Liu Hongting finally mustered up the courage to ask Shu Guoping a question.

"Are you worried that there will be no one to plant and harvest? No, as long as we let out the wind, there will be thousands of people running from Meizhou and Qiongzhou, and then Nong will not have enough land for people to plant.

Are you worried about land measurement and allocation? I have already sent a letter to Brother Chongwen, asking him to send some reinforcements to help. If Gonggong Cao is willing to come. That's for the best. I heard the prince say that Gonggong Cao is an old man in charge of Wang Zhuang.

Are you worried about the expansion of our nickname army? As long as someone comes to farm, someone comes to be a soldier, anyway, it's the same to eat and dress and earn silver! ”

After listening to Liu Hongting's self-questions and answers, Shu Guoping woke up from his solitary contemplation. He slowly shook his head and said:

"Neither. I already know what you just asked. Now I think about why the prince put forward the idea of protecting the country and the people? What does this proposition bring us? In the end, how do we achieve this protection of the country and the people? ”

When Li Chongwen pulled Liu Hongting into the gang, he told her some stories about Zhu Pingjin. She tilted her head and asked Shu Guoping, this idea of protecting the country and the people was not originally put forward by the prince, but was put forward by Mr. Sun when he played the right game, right?

Shu Guoping nodded with a smile and affirmed her well-informed. But Shu Guoping did not agree with Liu Hongting's understanding: "Although Mr. Sun played first, it cannot be considered that Mr. Sun initiated it." It seems to me that when the Son summoned us, he had already had a plan in his heart. Mr. Sun just happened to get to the point! ”

"Then Nong said, how to achieve this protection of the country and the people?"

"Protecting the country and the people is one. To protect the country, you must first secure the people; In order to reassure the people, we must first know why the people are uneasy. First to secure the people, then to protect the country. The security of the people is the protection of the country. ”

Shu Guoping regarded Liu Hongting as the object of his confiding, and analyzed his thoughts to her layer by layer.

"In the past, I thought that the people were restless because there were thieves and Tartars. As long as the rebels are exterminated and the Tartars are defeated, the world will naturally be peaceful, and the people will naturally live and work in peace and contentment. And to defeat the thieves and Tartars, there must be a benevolent, righteous and resolute king, a group of loyal and loyal military generals, and a strong army that dominates the world. After following Shizi for more than a month, I found that the original idea was ridiculously naïve! ”

Talking about the king, Liu Hongting's eyes widened vigilantly. Shu Guoping saw that she had misunderstood, and explained with a smile: "What I want to say is that kings, civil and military forces, and even thieves, must have a common foundation, that is, the people. The Taoist of Qingyang Palace once taught me the Taoism, one life is two, two is three, and three is all things. One, that is, the people. With the people, there are armies, civil and military ministers, and even kings. ”

"The Son of Heaven is the Son of Heaven, and is he born of the people!" Liu Hongting thought that Shu Guoping's idea was a bit deviant, and kindly reminded him.

"The prince once said that the people take food as the sky, and the king takes the people as the sky. The people are the heavens of kings! Without the support of the people, the king, the civil and military ministers, and the army will become thieves; And when the thief has the support of the people, he will be transformed into a king, a minister of civil and military affairs, and an army. Therefore, the people's will is the source of victory! When we lead the army, we must not only look at the king, the ministers, and the army, but also on the people. ”

Liu Hongting listened to Shu Guoping's three sentences and went back to the bank, and burst out laughing:

"That's it! Our nicknames are born of the people. The people are one, and we are two. Right! My General Shu, Nong hasn't made it clear why the people are uneasy! ”

Shu Guoping didn't laugh, on the contrary, he looked extraordinarily serious. He said: "Zi said, those who have a country and a family do not suffer from widowhood but inequality, and do not suffer from poverty but suffer from anxiety. There is no poverty, no widowhood, and no peace! When I read the Analects when I was young, I was just ignorant and ignorant, and I just swallowed dates. Now we know the meaning of the Holy Prophet (Note 1). ”

Of course, Liu Hongting has read the Analects. Not only have I read it, but I can also memorize it backwards. She tilted her head and deliberately asked:

"What's the point?"

"The road is also a trip to the world! If the world is for private purposes, how can the people be safe? ”

"Where in the world is not selfish?"

Liu Hongting glanced at Shu Guoping and retorted: "If Nong has a wife, will Nong share it with others?" Even if it is the prince, it is necessary to calculate the harvest of the palace from time to time, right? ”

"The prince is the king's house, but he is the people. The seizure of Yazhou and Niujiaozhai was not included in the palace at all, and the silver and grain were spent on the Zhuang household soldiers. We seized so many jewels and jades, and he only asked Miss Luo to pick one, and let the rest be put away, saying that he would sell the silver to buy food in the future. The prince of the world admires simplicity and anti-extravagance; Emphasis on hard work, rebuke clear talk; focus on people's livelihood and ignore officials; Heavy first, light back to command......"

"What's so light? Nong finished speaking at once. Liu Hongting pursed her lips and smiled.

"There's one more thing I really have to say. The son of the world is calculated by numbers, and everything must be calculated in his heart! The number of acres of land, the amount of harvest, the amount of taxes, the number of population, the amount of rations, and the number of soldiers are all kept in mind...... Once, I saw Shizi calculating on paper, and I couldn't understand the arithmetic symbols he used. I asked him, and he said he would start a class in the future. Miss Liu, you have met the Lord of the World! ”

"It's our nickname that we met the master." Liu Hongting corrected briskly.

"Yes, it's us! I estimate that if we engage in Brother Chongwen's set in Pengshan, Meizhou, Qiongzhou, and even Jiading, there will soon be a large-scale runaway slaves. Pengshan is not Renshou. It is separated from the provincial capital and Meizhou by Longquan Mountain, and the news is closed and the transportation is inconvenient. Pengshan north to Chengdu, south to Meizhou, Qiongzhou, Jiadingzhou, all of which are a horse and a flat river. The news of the division of the field will be a long time! Mr. Sun is doing his propaganda and helping us shout everywhere. I heard that he arranged a play, and the content was to promote the strategy of the prince. ”

"As for people, the more you come, the better! But if the farmer of Chengdu Wangzhuang escaped, it would really be a family that didn't recognize the family. Nong said, to accept or not to receive? Miss Liu covered her mouth and laughed.

"Whatever, take it first! If the body is strong and the temperament is simple, we can also draw Ding as a soldier and form a team to protect the village. The Son of the World said, "If we occupy a land, we must consolidate it, and we must achieve 'actual control'." In this way, even if the imperial court sends the magistrate, the county magistrate, and the main book in the future, Pengshan County will still be ours! It's just that the gentry and officials in those places will definitely not follow, and they will not only sue the palace for their evil state, but maybe they will also make some reputation! ”

Speaking of this, Shu Guoping sighed: "Hey, the world is for the public, the road is long, how difficult it is!" ”

"I am willing to walk with the general!" Liu Hongting quickly added, her voice so small that she couldn't even hear herself.

As the two spoke, they had already walked half the street and turned towards an archway on the side of the street. There are two big characters engraved on the archway:

"Elevation" (Note 2).

The soldiers of the 1st and 2nd companies on rest were sitting neatly behind the archway. Each of them held a thin bamboo stick in their hands, ready to start today's study.

On the evening of the day when Liao Daheng started to quell the chaos, Zhu Pingjin returned to Chengdu Mansion after a long absence in civilian clothes, with only a few people such as Cheng Xiangfeng, Li Sixian and the palace guards with him.

Entering the south gate of the provincial capital, he saw the palace in his memory again. The tall Duanli Gate is still majestic, and the open Imperial City Dam is still noisy. It's just that passers-by are in a hurry, and the officers and men on patrol are checking everywhere, and the atmosphere is very tense.

Since leaving Chengdu on the 16th of the first lunar month, Zhu Pingjin has been out of the house for more than a month. In more than a month, he has experienced a lot and gained a lot. Protecting the caravan into an army, and establishing a field, all with a lot of hardship. Especially when he came back from Tianquan Tusi, he experienced the night attack on Feixian Pass, the battle of Yahe, the pacification of Yazhou, the sneak attack on Niujiaozhai and the battle of Minjiang, and he was simply killed all the way back from the sea of corpses and blood.

Zhu Pingjin believes that the biggest gain in the past month or so is not the establishment of an army of his own, let alone the amount of silver and grain he has robbed, but the establishment of a new basic operational line of operation of the land system.

This line of operation is not a revolution, but only a primary improvement and rational modification of the original system. It has a strong attraction to the peasants, is relatively fair and reasonable to the landlords, and is basically acceptable to the government. In other words, this new land system has the viability to live in reality.

Zhu Pingjin believes that as long as the land reform is successful, then in order to safeguard the results of the reform, public opinion, theory, and even the military representing vested new interest groups will appear. It's just that this kind of emergence will certainly not be spontaneous, it still needs a strong leadership collective.

Of course, the core of this strong leadership collective is undoubtedly Comrade Zhu Pingjian, an active promoter of reform and a staunch defender of the interests of reform.

Li Sixian had already entered the palace to report, and Zhu Pingjin went straight to the carrier door.

At this time, a little eunuch hurriedly ran to deliver the decree: "The princess is sick, Xuan Shizi will meet you quickly!" ”

Note 1: The title of Confucius is different from one dynasty to another.

In the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Chengzong named Confucius as "the most holy Wenxuan King of Dacheng";

The Jiajing Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty was under the auspices of the famous minister Zhang Xuan, and went to the king's name and the titles of "Dacheng" and "Wenxuan";

In the early years of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, the words of "Dacheng" and "Wenxuan" were recalled, and they were called "Dacheng Most Holy Wenxuan Pioneer";

The Republic of China is the "Holy Ancestor of Dacheng".

Note 2: It means the Temple of Confucius.