Yingchuan County is surrounded by endless fertile fields, fertile fields and large populations, since ancient times is a place rich in grain, but here is also the treasure land favored by the royal family and magnates, after nearly one or two hundred years of occupation, Yingchuan County's homesteaders and small landlords have basically been wiped out, tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land have been divided by the large and small royal magnates.

Large and small manors are all over the territory of Yingchuan County, some of these manors have walls, and some are too large to have no walls.

On the north bank of Yingshui, there is an endless fertile field, covering an area of 2,000 hectares, here is the manor of Wang Huangfu Mustard of Xingyang County, and it is also the largest manor in the whole Yingchuan County.

Huangfu Mustard is the grandson of King Ying, King Yingwang is the uncle of Emperor Jin'an, known for his crazy occupation of land decades ago, Huangfu Mustard inherited tens of thousands of hectares of land in Jinzhou and Yuzhou from his grandfather and father, and after his forty years of continuous enclosure, he became the first big landowner second only to the emperor, but politically, Huangfu Mustard was not smart, he first supported Huangfu Heng, after Huangfu Heng failed, he turned to support Huangfu Heng to ascend the throne, and was named King Ying, Hussar General, But then he, like other officials who supported Huang Fuxi, fled when the Chu army captured Yanshi.

Huangfu Jia also wanted to surrender to Huangfu Wujin again, but he didn't dare, his grandfather and father were staunch supporters of Emperor Yong'an, giving Emperor Yong'an's army millions of stone grain and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver support, and he was the first prince to recognize Emperor Yong'an.

Huangfu mustard hated and feared Huangfu Wujin, he wanted to flee to Yongjing, but he couldn't rest assured of his belongings, he was raided by Zhang Jinjie and lost tens of thousands of taels of silver, so he transferred all his belongings to the manor in Yingchuan County.

At this time, he hid in his manor, although the manor of Huangfu Mustard was very large, but it did not hinder his effective management, he raised 1,000 Zhuang Ding in Yuzhou and Jinzhou to take care of his property, when the Yongzhou army attacked Jinzhou, he withdrew 1,000 Zhuang Ding of Jinzhou to Yingchuan County, and concentrated 2,000 Zhuang Ding to protect the life and property of him and his family.

Next to a big village called Yang Zhaozhuang on the north bank of Yingshui, there is a castle covering an area of about 100 acres, surrounded by a wall three zhang high, the wall is about one zhang wide, can allow Zhuang Ding to patrol and defend on it, and attract Yingshui, forming a moat with a width of two zhang around the wall.

There are hundreds of huge granaries in the castle, each granary can store 20,000 stone grain, in the middle of these granaries, is a castle built by the Huangfu Mustard family, covering an area of 20 acres, five zhang high, all of them are built with huge square bluestone, which is extremely solid.

This castle was built by Huangfu Jie's grandfather, King Ying, and his father demolished and rebuilt it to form the fort it is today.

At this time, Huang Fu Jiao, dozens of his wives and concubines, and hundreds of children and grandchildren were hiding in this fortified fort, and all his possessions were hidden in the basement of the fort, and more than 2,000 family members were distributed on the high walls around him, using strong bows and crossbows to deal with possible harassment.

Huangfu Jia did not think that Huangfu Wujin would confiscate the royal family's property, he was just worried that the defeated Qi army stragglers would come to rob his family property, and he was also worried that the war of the Yongzhou army attacking Luojing would have an impact on him.

His castle had a million stone of grain, enough for him to cope with for a year.

At this time, in the castle of Huangfu Mustard, Wang Jinxian, the county magistrate of Yingchuan County, was bitterly persuading him to cooperate with the county's investigation.

Wang Jinxian had already received a letter from Xuchang County about the Ministry of Households' request for Yuzhou counties to count the acres of land within their jurisdiction, and he had also heard the news that the imperial court had set up a land inventory department, and two of his right-hand men had also been transferred to participate in the land inventory, so he knew that the imperial court was going to take action against the land encroachment in Yuzhou.

From his personal point of view, he raised 10,000 hands in favor, and the encroachment of the emperor's relatives on the land also seriously affected their political achievements, first of all, it was difficult to complete the tax, the imperial court did not recognize the tax evasion of the royal family, and still delegated it to the county according to the normal tax amount every year, but he couldn't complete it at all, although the court also knew the reason, he would not lose his office, but he had no chance to be promoted to the knighthood and so on.

Wang Jinxian was admitted to the Jinshi ten years ago, but he has been in Yingchuan County for seven years, and some of the fellow Jinshi in high school with him have already made him a waiter, but he is still a small county order, in the final analysis, it is because he can't complete the taxes issued by the household department every year, how can he be promoted, it is useless to build bridges and roads, and paying taxes has always been the first task of local officials.

For this reason, he also hated these ointment moths, since the imperial court wants to clean up the land, he is resolutely supportive, today he came to the castle, is to investigate the specific number of acres owned by Huangfu Mustard in Yingchuan County.

"Prince, this is an order from the imperial court, to the local government to clean up the land and property, Yingchuan County is the largest manor of the prince, please cooperate with the county government, we only count the land deeds, there is no other intention."

Huangfu Kee, who was as fat as a pig, closed his eyes slightly, and ignored this small county order at all, if he didn't want to know about the situation in the imperial court, he wouldn't even see it.

Wang Jinxian's mouth was dry, but Huangfu Shao was unmoved, helpless, Wang Jinxian had to say: "In this case, I will report the number of 2,000 hectares, does the prince think this number is appropriate?" ”

"Sixty hectares!"

Huangfu Jie said coldly: "You only need to report sixty hectares is enough, I only have so much land." ”

Wang Jinxian couldn't wait to smash the pen in his face, being shameless and shameless to this extent, he knew that he would have to talk about it again.

"Alright! I understand what the prince means, so the official will leave. ”

"Don't send it!"

Huangfu Jiao snorted, squinted at Wang Jinxian leaving, and immediately said to the eldest son beside him: "Tell the sons and daughters to be vigilant these days, and they must also change shifts at night." ”

His eldest son, Huangfu Xin, said worriedly: "Father, could it be that Huangfu Wujin is going to settle old debts?" ”

"How do I know!"

Huangfu Jiao shouted impatiently: "Now just protect the family property, don't ask anything else, wait for Yongzhou to call, everything will be fine." ”

Huang Fu Jiao's heart was suddenly extremely irritable, he picked up the teacup and threw it at the eldest son, "Don't go and do something yet!" ”

The teacup fell to the ground and shattered, Huangfu Xin saw that his father was angry, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly retreated to arrange Zhuang Ding to be on duty, Huangfu Mustard leaned heavily on the soft couch, and his heart was in a mess, on the one hand, he wanted to flee to Yongjing immediately, but on the other hand, the millions of family properties in the manor dragged his legs, and the depression in his heart almost made him crazy.

．．．．．．．． The county commander Wang Jinxian left the castle angrily, and rode back to the county with a few retinues, Yingchuan County is about forty miles away from here, he has to walk for at least half a day, it is already afternoon, back to the county, the sky must have been dark.

Wang Jinxian walked on the official road, and had just walked less than ten miles, when several horseback riders ran in front of him, and Wang Jinxian recognized one of them as his subordinates who had been transferred to participate in the land inventory.

"Master Zhang, why are you here?"

His subordinates stepped forward and whispered a few words in his ear, Wang Jinxian was shocked, has the regent also arrived? He hurriedly followed his subordinates and ran forward, and after walking a short distance, he saw thousands of soldiers standing densely next to a forest in front of him, and on the two big rocks in the middle, there was one person sitting respectively, it was Huangfu Wujin and Su Hanzhen.

Wang Jinxian had seen Huangfu Wujin once when the Chu army attacked Xuchang County last time, and he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "See Your Highness!" ”

"Wang Xianling, we meet again."

Huangfu Wujin smiled slightly, and introduced Su Hanzhen next to him, "Wang County Order, this is the new Su Shilang of the Household Department, the former assassin of Donghai County, he is fully responsible for the land inventory in Yuzhou." ”

"It turned out to be Master Su."

Wang Jinxian was pleasantly surprised, he knew that Su Hanzhen was Su Xun's second son, and he had become the head of the household department, he must seize this opportunity to talk to him about why Yingchuan County could not complete the household indicators, so he hurriedly saluted: "Xiaguan Wang Jinxian is a twenty-year jinshi of Zhenye and a protégé of Su Ge Lao. ”

Su Hanzhen smiled, his father has too many protégés, everyone has to make friends, where can he take care of it.

"This time, His Royal Highness and I went south to solve the problem of the forcible occupation of land by the king of Xingyang County, let me ask you, is there any information about his land in the county?"

Wang Jinxian was happy and sad, happy that the imperial court was finally going to do it, and he was worried that there was really no information in the county, so he didn't dare to hide it, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "The county was originally retained, but it was transferred by the imperial court twenty years ago, and it was never returned, and now the county doesn't know anything. ”

"You just arrived and met Huangfu Mustard?" Huangfu Wujin suddenly asked on the side.

"Back to His Highness, I have seen him, his whole family is in the castle, and there are thousands of Zhuang Ding guarding the castle, and they are heavily guarded."

Huangfu Wujin nodded, this is within his information, many imperial relatives have built high walls in their manors, privately raised Zhuang Ding, and the weapons used are the same as the army, but he is not here to negotiate today, he is fighting tigers.

Huangfu Wujin said to Su Hanzhen: "Lord Su, you and Wang Xian Ling will go back to the county seat first, and I will deal with this castle, and tomorrow morning, you will take your men down to deal with the land!" ”

Su Hanzhen knew that Huangfu Wujin was going to make a move, so he had no choice but to agree, and first returned to the county seat with Wang County's order, Huangfu Wujin saw them go away, and immediately ordered, "Go to the castle!" ”

．．．．．．．． At dusk, the two thousand Zhuang Ding on the castle began to stir a little, and they found that an army was starting towards the castle, the army was not large, only three or four thousand people, but it was fully armed and murderous, which made these Zhuang Ding feel terrified.

Training Zhuang Ding is to urge rent and food and deal with sporadic bandits, in front of the unarmed ordinary people, these Zhuang Ding are all fierce and vicious, but in the face of a real army, Zhuang Ding began to be afraid, cowering, everyone is thinking about how to protect themselves.

At this time, a cavalryman galloped up, and shot a letter into the high wall with an arrow, and a Zhuang Ding picked it up and hurriedly handed it to the eldest son of Huangfu Mustard, who was patrolling the city wall, Huangfu Xin, opened it with trembling hands, and there was only one sentence in it, 'Surrender within a quarter of an hour, otherwise the whole door will be beheaded!' 'The payment is the emperor's no promotion.

Huangfu Wujin actually came in person, he only felt that his legs were weak, and he stumbled into the castle and ran, just when he arrived at the door, he happened to meet his father Huangfu Mustard coming out.

"What's wrong, so alarmed?" Huang Fu Ji asked dissatisfiedly.

"Father, disaster is coming!"

Huangfu Xin fell to his knees softly and handed the letter to his father, Huangfu Yao took the letter and opened it, and he suddenly began to tremble, "This.... Is God going to destroy me? ”

"Father, surrender! It's important to save your life! ”

Huang Fu Ji looked back at the castle, there were millions of his property in the castle, and he looked at the granary, where he had millions of stored grain, did he have to lose all this? He really couldn't make up his mind.

At this moment, only to hear a series of loud bangs, the city wall finally collapsed, dusty, shook the Huangfu Mustard father and son's legs weakened, the heart was about to jump out, they hugged their heads together and lay on the ground, trembling with fright, Zhuang Ding around screamed and shouted, they dropped their weapons and raised their hands to surrender, disaster is coming, no one is really willing to die for Huangfu Mustard.

In the middle of the sound, Huangfu Mustard and his son slowly raised their heads, only to see that the two big iron doors were blown out of shape, and the high wall next to it collapsed for a section, about five or six zhang wide, and a group of Zhuang Ding raised their hands and ran out from this collapsed wall to surrender.

Through the big hole, Huang Fu Jiao saw that there were dense troops a hundred steps away in the distance, and there were several large black iron pipes, Huang Fu Jiao suddenly collapsed to the ground, and he still had a trace of luck, and ordered Zhuang Ding to resist, but ..... He was completely desperate, and said to several domestic servants, "Hurry.... Tie me up. ”

In the distance, Huangfu Wujin looked at the crowds of Zhuang Ding who raised their hands to come out and surrender, he snorted coldly, these dogs who were fighting for the tiger were worse than he imagined.

At this time, the gate opened, Huang Fu Jia and his dozen sons were tied up, and walked out, Huang Fu Jia shouted from afar: "His Royal Highness King Liang, the old minister is useful, and the old minister is willing to serve His Royal Highness on the throne!" ”

Huangfu Wujin couldn't help but smile dumbly, he waved his hand, "Enter the castle and give me a thorough search!" ”

Three thousand soldiers rushed towards the castle.

．．．．．．．．． Early the next morning, Su Hanzhen took more than 60 inventory officials to the castle, began to check the land deeds, went to the fields to confirm the acres, and spent three days to thoroughly inventory the 2,000 hectares of land of Huangfu Mustard, and at the same time announced to the tenant farmers that the land they had rented had been returned to the imperial court, and the land would be redistributed in the future, and they could continue to rent and pay land rent and field tax according to the rent rate stipulated by the imperial court.

The official land rent stipulated by the Daning Dynasty was 1 out of 10, and the land tax was 1 out of 15, which was less than half of the land rent of Huangfu Mustard, and it was reduced or even completely exempted in disaster years, and the rent could be offset by participating in the construction of water conservancy and roads in winter.

The reduction in taxes and the hope of regaining land made the farmers cheer and pay their land for the year.

As the land of Wang Huangfu Mustard in Xingyang County was first confiscated, Yingchuan County began a comprehensive inventory, which gradually spread to other counties in Xuchang County.

Su Hanzhen was quite numerous, and he asked for the surname to mobilize the peasants to participate in the land measurement and clearing, and his vital interests made the peasants enthusiastic, and tens of thousands of peasants participated in the land clearance movement, and gradually, a huge land clearance movement was set off on the land of Yuzhou.

But this movement angered most of the imperial relatives in Yongjing.

．．．．．．．．．

(To be continued)