The phenomenon of land grabbing in Linxi Village is not uncommon in the whole of Jinhua Province, and it is quite mild among them. For example, Jinhua City, as well as Yiwu County, are not just as simple as confrontation, and there have even been large-scale armed brawls and even bloodshed.

And the local people of Jinhua also perfectly carried forward the precedent of the group fight that alarmed Qi Jiguang and even shocked the Ming Dynasty, and carried out an unremitting struggle with the officials and officers who went to the countryside to expropriate land.

For the time being, it is also fortunate that because the Zhejiang Ming army under Chen Wen is mainly composed of people from Jinhua Mansion, many people on both sides can still get close to each other, and the degree of brawl is far less fierce than that of the year, plus the dominant Ming army has maintained the necessary restraint under the military order, and it is still just beginning. For many reasons, there has been no death lawsuit for the time being, and it is difficult to say in the future.

On the other hand, because he had never been a pro-people official, it took Cao Conglong half a month to barely sort out the civil affairs of Jinhua Mansion. With this process and the frequent occurrence of land disputes, a series of new policies in Jinhua Mansion immediately came into his eyes.

"There has been no such case in the emperor's more than 200 years, and the noble lord is changing the ancestral system without permission. For the sake of the authority of the imperial court, and also for the sake of the nobleman's posthumous affairs, this matter must not be done, and it should be canceled immediately! ”

Cao Conglong's unauthorized change of the ancestral system is not a loan, but an improved version of the health system. In Cao Conglong's view, the loan was just Chen Wen colluding with Sun Yu to collect money, and there was no possibility of repayment, and it could even be said that if he didn't repay it, it might be a good thing. However, the improved version of the health system will inevitably lead to the collapse of the emperor's household registration classification system, which he cannot tolerate in public or private.

"What kind of authority Zhang Jiangling had back then, he was raided within a few days of his death, and his palace rank was cut off, and he was forced to take away the seal book and four generations of edicts given during his lifetime. Showing the world for the crime, even the family members were not spared. Besides, Zhang Jiangling is still a civil official, and the noble lord is a military general, and it is even more fearful for people to hold military power, if he does not change his course in time. I'm afraid that it is not even possible to restore the official position on the same day. ”

"Besides, the nobleman established the guard to requisition the wasteland, and now the land competition is boiling, and he is uneasy how to send troops to restore the old land?"

Since ancient times, the reform of the law will inevitably touch vested interest groups, and even if the reform of the law is successful, the presiding officer will rarely be able to retreat, and Zhang Juzheng's reform in the Ming Dynasty is an example.

Cao Conglong's words for his sake made Chen Wen quite emotional. He is not ignorant of what he said, but the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty is no longer enough to support the prosperity of the dynasty.

At least in Chen Wen's view, if he wants to turn the tables, the first thing is reform, from the beginning of his training of the original Nantang battalion on Dalan Mountain, he has tried his best to avoid the bad habits of the feudal army from bringing the seedlings of the new army to the ground. Facts have also proved that the semi-feudal army trained through the modern military system is not something that ordinary feudal troops can contend with, and there is a big difference between the two in terms of military morale, morale, discipline, and faith.

And now. By improving the guard system, he was able to further strengthen the army. In addition, the armed forces will begin to change to a newer form and continue to carry on the process of military modernization. But if Cao Conglong's words change course, then not only will the process be curbed, but everything he has done before will gradually disappear in the wave of doubts.

Moreover, the recent uproar is not just as simple as the expropriation of wasteland, and the expropriation of large loans has not been popular. And the aftermath of the big loan in other industries to the good, after all, those can directly earn silver, early recovery can force more market share, some businessmen in Jinhua Mansion in the case of seeing business opportunities are very eager, but also directly or indirectly driven, persecuted some gentry.

As for the problem, it is the land that has problems. This problem is now completely intertwined with the expropriation of wasteland, and it is difficult to sort it out, and Chen Wen can guess who is behind it. Moreover, a few days ago, another problem that he did not expect - fugitive slaves.

The cause of the incident was that a man who had recently become a soldier in the Dongyang County garrison camp, and his family's land was also within the scope of the big loan for the aftermath, and his parents did not have any money in their hands, so they borrowed money from a local gentry, and the gentry deceived his parents into being illiterate, so he colluded with relevant people to deceive usury IOUs. And when he got the qualification of a soldier and returned home, he found out about it, so he went to the door to make trouble, but he was taught a lesson by the cunning man who was raised by the gentry.

This is not the point, the point is that after this person returned to the camp, he told the matter, and the robes of the same team were all indignant, so they took advantage of the rest to find the gentleman to ask for an explanation. Who knew that one of the guests at the gentleman's house was surprised to find that one of the soldiers who came was a house slave who had disappeared last year, and the matter broke out. Even in the days that followed, garrisons in various places continued to report that wealthy gentry and wealthy families took the deeds of sale and demanded that the army return their respective fugitive slaves.

Slave storage was extremely normal in Chinese society in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, as early as the Song Dynasty, the phenomenon of slave storage had begun to be curbed, and even disliked, but after the death of the Song Dynasty, the nomadic ruling structure of the tyrannical Yuan itself re-infused this evil custom into China, and the Ming Dynasty was affected by this aspect.

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the turmoil of the displaced people and rogues in the north led to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's rule in the north.

Chen Wen had seen at forums before that there were many poor people such as tenant farmers, domestic slaves, and vegetable maids in the Jiangnan rebellion in the late Ming Dynasty, such as the Suzhou Oolong Society, the Changzhou Nose Cutting Class, the Xudu Rebellion in which Wu Dengke had participated, and the "Tianmeng Kingdom" uprising, which was probably written along the same line of thought as the "Tianwan Kingdom" at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Even the largest anti-Qing forces in the Taihu Lake area, the barefoot Baitou Army led by Zhang San, were also famous for fighting against the bureaucratic landlord class while resisting the Qing Dynasty.

Back to the present, Chen Wen, the first big man to make a fuss, still has some impressions, that is, when he attacked Dongyang County, he once used the identity of "mountain carving" to lure his family to ask for help from the Qing army Feng Jia, and the fugitive slave is said to have been originally called Feng Qi, and after restoring his surname, he changed his name to Zhang Yida, who once participated in the battle of Xiaoshun Town, and is now a firearms soldier of the Dongyang County garrison.

In fact, as far as Chen Wen knows, there may be far more similar situations than they have erupted. At least in his impression, there were many runaway slaves among the soldiers who followed him on Dalan Mountain, but as long as these people had not been killed, they had already become officers, and they had official positions in the imperial court.

"Your lord loves soldiers like sons, and these officials know it. But those fugitive slaves all have deeds of sale, and they are other people's private property, and the nobles will only chill the people of Jinhua by shielding the fugitive slaves. ”

"Chilling? Fu Jun's words are wrong, and the chilling people are only the gentry and rich households, and ordinary people who will still have slaves at home. Moreover, taking people as animals is a bad habit, and it has been abolished in the Song Dynasty, and my emperor Ming is a remnant of the old system of the Mengyuan Dynasty because of this. At least when Ben Shuai was enlightened, he had never seen a saint teach us to keep slaves. On the contrary, he praised the fact that Lu paid for the redemption of the countrymen who were slaves in other countries. ”

has read the sage book for many years, how could he not know the Spring and Autumn story in Chen Wen's mouth. It's just that Chen Wen snatched the white for a while, Cao Conglong's heart was quite displeased, this military general has sharp teeth, clever tongue, his mind is far more complex than ordinary military generals, and his knowledge is even more extensive, even some civil officials in the Lu Jian Dynasty are not as good as him. It's not that easy to convince.

"Linhai Bo, since ancient times, the monarch and the scholar have shared the world. Not with the people in the world. As long as they get the support of the gentry and wealthy households, those people will support Wang Shi, but if they lose the hearts of the gentry and wealthy households, it will be extremely difficult. ”

In Cao Conglong's view, Chen Wen is already a nobleman, and he can barely be equated with a scholar. And he also believes. Chen Wen can understand the truth, after all, the gentry and wealthy households have an absolute advantage in the means of production, and the right to speak is also in their hands, and only by getting their support can they have the opportunity to prosper the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that this set of theories is like bullshit in Chen Wen's eyes. It's not just about his modern identity, but also about the republic that organized the poor people into a staggering burst of power. More importantly, Cao Conglong's so-called way of winning support is clearly harming his interests.

Handing over those fugitive slave-born soldiers to the gentry will definitely lead to a great loss of morale in the army, after all, no one wants to follow a cowardly marshal to do this head-to-. As soon as the military morale is lost, the current good situation will no longer exist, and his best fate can only be as a vassal of civilian officials, then everything will inevitably return to its original shape.

Once he thought of this, everything Cao Conglong said before was no longer the taste of just now, thinking back to the series of interactions that began with the confession, the image of Cao Conglong in Chen Wen's eyes was the pincer that tried to put him, the "tiger" who was out of the control of the civilian clique, back into the cage, and Cao Conglong's words that seemed to be for his sake were like rotten meat hanging on the pliers, which only made him feel disgusting.

Cao Conglong did not come here without such intentions, after all, in their eyes, Chen Wen was still a military general of Wang Yi and Wang Jiang as the two civil officials and military supervisors, rather than a partner in the Tiantai Mountain period. With Chen Wen in their hands, he could fight against the forces of the lords led by Zhang Mingzhen, the Marquis of Dingxi. This will not only enable the Lu Jianguo clique to get out of the current predicament, but also enable the civilian clique to regain its dominant position, which can be described as a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.

However, in the era of the information explosion in which Chen Wen once lived, the complexity of people's hearts had long been a popular knowledge. If it were a long-time veteran like Shen Chenquan, a cabinet scholar, it was very likely that he would have concealed Chen Wen, but someone like Cao Conglong, who had neither been a pro-people official nor had fought in the officialdom for many years, would not have been able to obtain such a high position at this age and qualifications in the current situation, it would have been far from as easy as they thought.

After all, this official position is easy to obtain, but his ability does not increase with the growth of his official position, and some inappropriate words will completely waste all his previous efforts.

It's just that at the moment, Chen Wen doesn't plan to make the relationship too stiff, and the Ming army's civil and military discord ultimately benefited the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"What's the best way to raise the army?"

Without seeing the trace of vigilance flashing in Chen Wen's eyes, Cao Conglong heard Chen Wen say so, so he continued to speak with the original intention of sacrificing Chen Wen's interests to win the hearts and minds of Lu Jianguo: "If this is the case, let the official come forward to persuade those who suffer from military merit, and those who have military merits will be compensated with some money, and those who have no military merits will be returned, what does your lord think?" ”

It seems to be a good way to compromise, but it hasn't changed at all, and Chen Wen doesn't plan to swallow this poisonous apple. And so. I saw him shake his head, and then said to Cao Conglong: "Fu Army, if you enter my camp, you are the soldiers under my command, if you can't even protect your own soldiers, why let them die on the battlefield?" ”

"Ben Shuai knows. The Fu army came here to instigate the commander to lead the army to attack Taizhou. Then I have a word, and I hope that Fu Jun will consider one or two. ”

Chen Wen suddenly jumped from the fugitive slave to the purpose of his trip, which made Cao Conglong feel quite uncomfortable, but since he mentioned this matter, he also wanted to hear Chen Wen's plan, after all, when he mentioned this matter at the first meeting, it was a no-end ending, and the two sides failed to have an effective negotiation.

"I want to hear about it."

"Ben Shuai said before that Jinhua was attacked from both sides by Hangzhou and Quzhou Tatars, and it was difficult to enter Taizhou eastward under such circumstances."

Seeing Cao Conglong's face sank. Chen Wen sneered in his heart, but his face remained the same. "However, since Fu Jun mentioned the situation of His Royal Highness the Prison State, this marshal can't ignore it as a minister. It's better to go to Quzhou in two months after the army training is completed, and then enter Taizhou eastward after the threat from the direction of Quzhou is lifted, how about it? ”

"This ......"

The sudden good news directly caught Cao Conglong off guard, and at the moment he didn't know that Lu Jianguo's situation was even worse than before, under Zheng Chenggong's exclusion. The generals under the command of Lu Jianguo were already in good hands, and they began to throw themselves into the arms of Zheng Chenggong. If it weren't for Cao Conglong's persuasion of Chen Wen to attack Taizhou, it would have been supported. I'm afraid that even Lu Jianguo has already begun to think about going to the prison country.

It's just that he is thousands of miles away, and he can only have a rough prediction of these, and the fact that Zheng Cai once served Lu Jianguo as orthodoxy also affected the results of his assessment of the possible existence of the Zheng family's attitude, and it would not be impossible if he could really send troops in a few months.

It's just that before Cao Conglong could bargain, Chen Wen took the lead and said: "Don't be in a hurry to decide first, there are still two conditions for this commander." Please listen and think again. ”

Condition?

Hearing this, Cao Conglong's anger in his heart was even worse. The king is the minister, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife. This martial artist is a condition when he opens his mouth, and he has no scruples about even the minimum three outlines and five constants. It can be said that it is incorruptible and shameful to a certain extent. But if he is asked to criticize Chen Wen bluntly, Cao Conglong will not do it for the time being, after all, Chen Wen has the right to act cheaply, and the military power in hand naturally has the initiative, and he has to hold back his anger and signal Chen Wen to continue.

"First, loans, guards, and fugitive slaves are the same as before, please Fu Jun to appease the gentry and the common people on your behalf......"

This condition is not difficult, it is his duty to pacify the place with the official position of governor, and Chen Wen's intention is also very simple, that is, he does not want to continue to consume with these gentry, and train the army to recover the lost territory with peace of mind.

Seeing Cao Conglong nodding in agreement, Chen Wen said the next condition. "Second, after the capture of Taizhou, the commander can give Xihou and his subordinates some grain and straw for them to attack other places, while the rest of the generals will obey the orders of the commander and accept the adaptation. To put it bluntly, the commander has been in the army for less than two years, and the number of beheadings is probably more than that of all the generals combined, and it is possible to recover the two capitals only if the commander has full authority to deal with military affairs. Otherwise, it is better to lead the army and go alone, saving someone from stabbing a knife in the back, as in Siming Mountain. ”

As soon as Chen Wen said it, it directly made Cao Conglong's brain shut down for a moment. When he regained his reaction, the anger in his heart was hot, in his eyes, Chen Wen clearly wanted to be a powerful minister like Zheng Zhilong, and at that time, wouldn't it be the front door to drive the wolf and the back door to the tiger. However, remembering Chen Wen's previous words that let Dingxi Hou go alone, it pulled him back a little from the edge of the rampage.

"Dare to be a nobleman, do you plan to let the Marquis of Dingxi land?"

"Exactly."

"Why?"

Knowing that Cao Conglong must have this question, Chen Wen said bluntly: "Can Fu Jun guarantee that Dingxi Hou will not assassinate Ben Shuai like he assassinated Su Lubo and Ping Xibo?" ”

In later generations, Zhang Mingzhen was a national hero who fought against the oppression of the Manchu people, but in the current era, this person attacked and killed Huang Binqing and Wang Chaoxian successively, but he was not a trustworthy ally. After all, Yin Jian is not far away, in the world after Xia. It is human nature to be afraid of being harmed, and when he got this answer, Cao Conglong believed Chen Wen's previous words for seven or eight points.

In his eyes, Chen Wen was previously squeezed out by the generals in Siming Mountain, not only because he couldn't trust the generals under Lu Jianguo, but also because he wanted to replace Zhang Mingzhen as a powerful minister above 10,000 people under Lu Jianguo. Only in this way can we regain the lost territory with peace of mind and obtain the most important piece of the political map after the rise of the Ming Dynasty.

Logically speaking, Cao Conglong would never have agreed to such harsh conditions, he did not have such a right not to say, and that would create an even more difficult opponent for the civilian clique. But the current situation is compelling, and Chen Wen must lead the army to capture Taizhou. As for the fact that after taking Taizhou, under the inevitable resistance of Lu Jianguo, the civil official group and the nobles, it is strange that Chen Wen can get his wish.

The two of them, each with their own ghosts, quickly finalized the details, and Cao Conglong was afraid that Chen Wen would not believe it, so he said that he needed to get Lu Jianguo's permission. Chen Wen reciprocated by saying that if he could succeed, he would write to Lu Jian Guobao to promote Cao Conglong into the cabinet, so as to better cooperate in the future, and the civil and military work together to complete the great cause of the Ming Dynasty.

After Cao Conglong wrote a recital in front of Chen Wen, the two began to discuss military affairs, Chen Wen was blunt about the planned route of attacking Quzhou, and Cao Conglong said that from tomorrow onwards, he would start to transport grain and grass in batches to prevent the Qing army from finding out the specific time of the Ming army's expedition.

It wasn't until the next morning that the two of them, who had been talking until late at night, said goodbye to each other under the first rays of morning light. Cao Conglong has already made all the calculations, and there will naturally be a way for Chen Wen to swallow this dumb loss. And at this moment, looking at the back of Cao Conglong rushing back to Fucheng and gradually moving away, Chen Wen's face was full of coldness, and he saw that he summoned Zhang Jun and gave instructions.

"Send someone to keep an eye on this guy, and record who he has come into contact with in the next two months, what he has done, and what he has said."

If something unexpected happens, these things come in handy! (To be continued.) )