In Zhucheng County, the Wenxiangjiao uprising first broke out here, and it was also the first city to be captured by the rebel peasant army.

After the capture of Zhucheng County, a hall master was left with 3,000 people to guard the county seat of Zhucheng, and the Holy Maiden of the Wenxiang Sect and another big leader, "Ma Wangye", led the righteous army to the east and invaded the Laizhou Mansion, and successively captured Jiaonan and Jiaozhou.

After checking the military discipline in Juzhou, Zhang Shize led the troops to set off quickly, and soon attacked the outside of Zhucheng, more than 10,000 Praetorian Guards surrounded Zhucheng, because the march was too fast, the peasant army in Zhucheng did not even have time to escape, and was blocked in the city.

Ji Quanxiu, the owner of Wenxiang Church, who was responsible for guarding the city, hurriedly sent people to Jiaozhou to ask for help, and at the same time forcibly recruited the people of the city to help defend the city.

"Hall Master, I heard that there is a Praetorian Guard army around the emperor outside, and the strong army that defeated Jiannu has been there, we can't beat it, otherwise surrender." Some of his subordinates persuaded him.

"Nonsense, we have as many as 3,000 people, and there are city walls to defend, the official army does not want to attack the city for a month or two, and in less than a month, the prince and the holy woman will lead the army to rescue, the holy woman and the prince of the horse now have 100,000 horses, and it is easy to defeat the official army." Ji Quanxiu said angrily.

"But that's the Praetorian Guard!" His subordinates shouted.

"What kind of Praetorian Guard, it's not that we haven't fought with the official army, when the old sect leader was alive, he took his brothers and the official army to do it, and the combat effectiveness is like that. Now that the momentum of our Wenxiang Sect is far greater than that of the old sect leader, as long as we can defeat the official army, it will not be a problem to sweep Shandong. Ji Quanxiu sneered.

His subordinates did not dare to persuade him again.

Ji Quanxiu is an old thief, when Xu Hongru rebelled, he followed Xu Hongru, after Xu Hongru failed, this goods fled to the rivers and lakes, has been wandering on the rivers and lakes, as a mountain bandit, also made a ringing horse, has never been caught by the official army, and has always scoffed at the combat effectiveness of the official army.

I have seen battles, and I also have some experience in fighting, and it seems that the layout of the city wall defense is similar. The 3,000 peasant army was divided into three waves by Ji Quanxiu, taking turns to defend the city. The walls of the cities were only a few miles away, and it was enough for 3,000 peasant troops to defend them. In Ji Quanxiu's view, with these 3,000 people in his hands, there is no problem in guarding for a month or two, and guarding until the Holy Maiden and Ma Wangye lead the army to kill back, which is the end of the Ming army outside the city.

However, Ji Quanxiu encountered completely different officers and soldiers this time, and his combat effectiveness was completely beyond his imagination.

Zhang Shize led the army to Zhucheng on the second day after the siege began, but instead of a strong attack, it first mobilized a thousand people, and spent an hour to build a platform with the city wall at a place close to the west city wall 200 steps, the top of the platform was ten zhang wide, and then the Franc machine artillery was carried onto the platform, a total of 20 guns.

Twenty Franc cannons, each with nine guns, continuously bombarded the city wall, and in just half an hour, hundreds of shells were fired at the head of the city, and the defenders on the western city wall were killed and wounded and had nowhere to dodge.

These defenders are nothing more than peasants who have just laid down their hoes, and they have taken risks to follow the rebellion for the sake of stuttering, where have they seen such a battle?

Seeing the rumbling of cannons shaking the heavens and the earth, and seeing the flesh and blood of their comrades being smashed by cannonballs, the peasant soldiers on the city wall were frightened and ran down the city road. The leader of the Smelling Fragrance Sect wanted to stop it, but he couldn't stop it at all.

In fact, even these leaders of the Smelling Fragrance Sect were so frightened that they didn't dare to stay in the city anymore.

"The walls are empty, and the thieves have fled!" The soldiers on the lookout from the battery shouted.

When Zhang Shize heard the news, he hurriedly arranged for his subordinates to start attacking the city.

Hundreds of Praetorian Guards rushed to the city wall with ladders, and the ladders successfully climbed the city walls, holding shields and steel knives to climb up, until they climbed the city walls without any attack.

Seeing that his soldiers easily climbed the city wall, Zhang Shize sighed lightly, damn it, he overestimated these thieves too much, and wasted so many shells in vain.

boasted that he could hold it for at least a month, but he didn't even hold it for half a day, and when he received the news of the loss of the west city wall, Ji Quanxiu, the owner of the Wenxiang Church, was stunned, damn, this official army is too strong!

"Hall Master, run away." A subordinate urged.

This time, Ji Quanxiu did not insist anymore, but decided to run away from Shanruliu.

"Hall Master, there are no officers and soldiers outside the east gate." A subordinate reported.

"To the East Gate!" Ji Quanxiu was overjoyed.

rushed out of the east gate with more than 100 henchmen, and after walking for less than a few miles, suddenly the sound of horses' hooves sounded behind him, Ji Quanxiu looked back, and was so shocked that he saw hundreds of cavalry rushing forward.

Ji Quanxiu hit the horse without saying a word and ran away, but only a few of his henchmen and thieves had horses, and they couldn't even run away in the face of the official army horse, so they could only surrender on their knees.

The officers and soldiers on horseback opened fire, and the projectiles shot forward like a scoop, and the thieves who fled on their horses fell off their horses one after another, including Ji Quanxiu.

Easily broke through Zhucheng, Zhang Shize did not stop here, and led the army to Jiaozhou to kill.

As for Zhucheng County, naturally there were officials who came with the army to take over, and the next step would be to rebuild the Zhucheng County Yamen, with these clans and recruited scholars serving as county officials, and also to set up the Inspection Department and the Qingtian Division, one responsible for supervising the officials, and the other responsible for receiving the fields of the gentry and landlords.

Zhucheng County was captured by the Wenxiang Sect thieves, and the gentry and landlords inside and outside the county were either raided and killed by the thieves, or succumbed to the thieves. Needless to say, the landed land owned by the slain gentry landlords naturally belonged to Kiyoda Division. And if you have succumbed to the thieves, you are in the same stream as the thieves, and you should raid your home!

All in all, after the thieves, there were no gentry and landlords in the entire Zhucheng County. The confiscated fields were temporarily placed under the management of the Qingtian Division, and people were recruited to cultivate them. Since there is no decisive battle against the gentry, it is not yet the time to equalize the land, and these fields cannot be distributed to the people for the time being, otherwise the gentry of the world will be terrified.

However, the land rent is very small, only 30% of the yield per mu, which is much less than the field of the tenant landlord gentry, and the landlord's field rent is at least 50%. Moreover, after paying the land rent, there is no need to go out of forced labor, and there are no other harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

If the government has something to do and needs to hire people, it will spend money to hire them, and there will be no more forced conscriptions.

In the following time, the officials of the Zhucheng County Government and the Qingtian Division will be very busy, measuring the fields, counting the number of people, raiding the homes of the landlords and gentry, and also needing to transport the confiscated grain and grass to the front line to supply the needs of the army.

The people of Zhucheng County were very happy that the gentry and landlords who oppressed them were taken down by the government, and the fields they cultivated became official fields, and the land rent was handed over to the Qingtian Division, which seemed to be no difference, but in fact there was a big difference

Because the rent of the land has been reduced to half of the previous year, because there will be no more forced labor in the future!