Chapter 669: Yuan Chao (1)

"These five hundred sons are the elite divisions of this king in the Xiayi army and the forbidden army that day, all of them are brave and good at fighting, and they have made immortal contributions to the Tang Dynasty!" Kong Sheng laughed, slowly turned to face Yang Qi and the others with complicated expressions, and said loudly: "In the past, this king was in Suiyang, and there were only more than 100 people who raised troops to quell the rebels. Subsequently, the king of Xia Yi trained troops, passed through Henan, conquered the south and the north, exterminated more than 100,000 rebels, and the rebels who died under the halberd painted by the king Fangtian were like carp crossing the river, which could not be counted. ”

"This king led his army north, attacked the city all the way, and recovered the eastern capital Luoyang. This Wang Tunjun Luoyang, Henan is peaceful. His Majesty returned to the dynasty from Lingwu, and this king was ordered to enter Beijing, and was awarded the title of Chang'an Hou, the general of Shence, and the leader of Shenlongwei. Kong Sheng's voice gradually became indifferent like a blade: "Go and carry, the 100,000-strong army of Hui is approaching the border of Lingwu and me." Kong was ordered by His Majesty to lead a forbidden army of 5,000 to escort the princess of Ningguo to the west. Outside Lingwu City, the 5,000 cavalry under the command of this king defeated the 20,000 army led by the Hui State Xianggu Lu, and raised the prestige of our Tang Army. Immediately, the king bombarded Helan Fort, captured the Hui Khan Mo Yansi, and the leaders of the Hui tribes returned to Chang'an......"

There was a hint of indifferent smile on the corner of Kong Sheng's mouth: "Kong, the king of Jiangning County, is not a sycophant and a horse, but a little bit of accumulation of military exploits. This king has always adhered to the public heart, obeyed the law, and died for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty for thousands of years. The so-called those who follow me prosper and those who disobey me die, if anyone does not have a long eye, and has to fight against this king and the law of the Tang Dynasty, then you might as well wait and see, and look at the iron-fisted methods of this king! ”

"Where righteousness goes, although tens of millions of people go to me!" Kong Sheng slowly walked towards the door of the City God Temple, and his mount was quietly tied to a tree at the door.

Kong Sheng walked to a stone lion at the entrance of the temple, squatted down slightly, hugged the stone lion, the luck dantian, the internal breath flowed, and the true qi reached the eight veins of the limbs, he burst into a shout, and the stone lion was pulled up in situ in the eyes of everyone, and was lifted above his head by Kong Sheng little by little.

A trace of horror flashed in the eyes of Yang Qi and the others. Although everyone in Jiangnan knows that Kong Sheng is born with brute strength, this stone lion weighs at least hundreds of catties, but it was easily lifted high by Kong Sheng, which is difficult to describe with brute force.

Kong Sheng held the stone lion high with both hands, turned around, his face did not change and his heart did not beat, he stood condescendingly on the steps of the mountain gate of the City God's Temple, looking as powerful and tall as a god, and his voice was even more cold and calm: "It's still the same sentence, this king does things, he would rather be broken than broken, and those who disobey orders will be like this!" ”

As soon as the words fell, Kong Sheng roared angrily, his hands suddenly pushed forward, and the stone lion in his hand roared towards the mountain gate in front of him.

The five hundred cavalry burst out into thunderous cheers, and the people around them, whether it was the people who were privately ambushed by the Eight Great Families, or the local officials such as Yang Qi, were all pale and frightened.

Kong Sheng swept over and landed on top of the chasing wind. Kong Sheng patted Chasing Feng's head and said softly: "Old friend, let's go!" ”

Chasing the wind and hissing in the sky, with a drag on his body, it was easy to break free from the tie of the reins, and then the four hooves made the wind, carrying Kong Sheng away.

After the public trial.

With the cooperation of the Jiangnan Disposal Envoy and the Jiangning County Shouyamen, Shenlongwei began to take over the land from the Eight Great Families, registered it in the new register, and then distributed it to the bitter master. But this is really a hard work, although the eight families do not dare to resist in name and verbally, but the passive resistance in the secret is indispensable, according to the current pace of advancement, it will take at least half a year to complete the return of the land.

Kong Sheng knew that he couldn't be too anxious. At the public trial meeting, although the eight major families and the local families in Jiangnan were deterred to a certain extent, after all, the fundamental interests of the wealthy families were at stake, and they would spare no effort to resist. I don't dare to resist openly, but the small actions behind the scenes are always unavoidable.

For two days in a row, the heads of the Jiangnan family, including local officials, rushed to the county king's mansion to pay homage to Kong Sheng, because Kong Sheng was closed, they simply tied up into a group, came in groups, blocked the door of the county king's mansion and asked Kong Sheng to stop acting. Many people even threatened to go to the capital to sue the emperor.

Therefore, on the one hand, the implementation of Shenlongwei is slow, and on the other hand, the overall rejection and hostility of the wealthy families in Jiangnan County are boiling in the sky, and the voices of opposition are higher and higher, and the resistance and resistance are far greater than Kong Sheng's expectations.

Outside the Jiangning County Palace, the local tyrants and gentry and even the bureaucratic representatives who came to see Kong Sheng were boiling, but there was calm in the county palace. Kong Sheng quietly assisted in his study, with a light of tea and a small plate of fruit on the bookcase in front of him. Kong Sheng's eyes looked at his nose and nose, and the folding fan in his hand shook gently.

Yuan Chao stood quietly, his expression slightly complicated.

He came to Jiangning to check the movement, and second, to avenge his relatives and fight a lawsuit. In his view, Kong Sheng, the king of Jiangning County, said that his so-called action of claiming the occupied land from the gentry and the gentry for the people was nothing more than a bluff and had a personal political purpose, and it was impossible to move it seriously.

As a grassroots official born and raised in Jiangnan, no one knows better than Yuan Chao that land annexation has become more and more intense to a certain extent, and land is related to the fundamental interests of the wealthy families in Jiangnan.

But in the past two days, the actions of Jiangning Junwang and Shenlongwei have been really advanced, and there is no trick. This made Yuan Chao suddenly realize that perhaps the world-famous king of Jiangning County really stood on the position of people's livelihood.

After the public trial the day before yesterday, he was retained by the people of the county king's mansion, saying that the king of Kong wanted to see him. But Kong Sheng has not met with him until today.

Kong Sheng's eyes opened, and his clear and deep gaze was projected on Yuan Chao, which made Yuan Chao a little uneasy. In fact, he didn't know how he could attract the attention of a dignified and first-class county king, and how could Kong Sheng, as a dignitary in the court, get to the name of a Taizhou official?

Kong Sheng suddenly smiled lightly and said, "Yuan Chao, this king left you for two purposes. ”

Kong Sheng knew that in the face of a figure like Yuan Chao with a certain sense of justice and political ambitions, there was no need to hide it, and it was best to go straight to the front. The reason why he left Yuan Chao was not only because he hoped to eliminate the storm of Yuan Chao's uprising that caused turmoil in Jiangnan in the future, but also because he wanted to use Yuan Chao for his own use.

Yuan Chao was able to launch a great uprising that swept the entire south of the Yangtze River, which shows that this person is not very human. At the very least, leadership and organizational convening skills should be quite strong. More importantly, this person gathered refugees and displaced people because of the land issue, which shows that he is very familiar with the chronic disease of land annexation in Jiangnan, and Kong Sheng believes that it is most suitable to use this person to assist him in completing land reform.

"First, this king knows that you know very well about the encroachment of the wealthy families in Jiangnan on the land of the people, and he hates the disease, so this king wants to listen to your truth; Second, the wind of land annexation by the wealthy families in Jiangnan has intensified, and the land in the hands of the people has been wantonly occupied, and the vast majority of the land in the thirteen states in the south of the Yangtze River is concentrated in the hands of the gentry, which not only leads to the displacement of the people and has no land to cultivate and no livelihood, but also leads to the government having no land to grant. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Juntian system has existed in name only, and the gentry and wealthy families monopolized the land and withheld the imperial court taxes, and the people were miserable. This king is well aware of the harm, so he has made a painful determination to get rid of this malpractice. ”

Kong Sheng's voice was slight, but firm.

A trace of excitement and wonder flashed in Yuan Chao's eyes. What made him excited was that Kong Sheng was in charge of the supreme authority in Jiangnan, and if Kong Sheng really wanted to get rid of the malpractice of land annexation, it would definitely be a great blessing for the people of Jiangnan. It's just that what makes him strange is that Kong Sheng, as a dignitary, would take the initiative to attack the fundamental interests of his own elite?

Yuan Chao settled down, and said tentatively: "The king of the county, the villain grew up in the south of the Yangtze River, and when he was older, he worked as a servant in Taizhou, and he knew the harm of the gentry encroaching on the land. Although according to the law of the Tang Dynasty, Koufentian died of old age and became an official, but there were very few Koufentian who actually returned to the government, and most of them were taken captive by the local gentry. Taking Taizhou, where the villain is located, as an example, by last year, the number of public fields registered in the Yamen of Taizhou has been less than one hectare. ”

"Although the imperial court's order to equalize land restricted the sale of land and the occupation of land was excessive, the people who were granted land did not have enough land, and the burden of servitude was heavy, and in the slightest natural disaster*, they were forced to sell their land and flee into bankruptcy. Or become a tenant slave of the gentry and wealthy families everywhere. Yuan Chao carefully observed the change in Kong Sheng's expression, and paused for a moment before he added: "Just the Yixing Zhou family and the Wuxing Shen family, which are known as the two heroes of Jiangnan, have almost occupied thirty percent of the land in Jiangnan, and at least tens of thousands of Ding have become tenants of the Zhou family or the Shen family, renting land from the Zhou family and the Shen family, paying high rents and bearing taxes to the imperial court for the two families. ”

"At least more than half of the four counties of Taizhou Prefecture are farms of the Yixing Zhou family...... Yuan Chao said this, and said with a slight hesitation: "The villain is reckless, and some things don't know whether to say or not." ”

Kong Sheng couldn't help laughing: "This king came to you to listen to the truth, but it doesn't hurt for you to talk about it." Rightly or wrongly, we communicate privately, and it doesn't matter. ”

Yuan Chao stared at Kong Sheng deeply, and said word by word: "The gentry and wealthy families occupy land in the local area, and the people are attached to slaves, and there is no personal freedom at all. Although the local tyrants and inferior gentry are not officials, their power is above the government. ”