"Father, why don't you fight with them? There are less than 100 of them, and if we gather servants and tenants, we can gather at least nearly a thousand strong men! Dong Li's eyes widened, full of unwillingness.

In Yanling Town, the emperor did a good job, who stepped on a horse was willing to leave his hometown, and Dong Li, who was a thief in Jiangxi, was even more unhappy.

"Confused! These people are easy to kill, but behind them is the emperor in Zhenjiang, can you beat the army in the hands of the emperor? Dong Dajun was startled and scolded sharply, but if he drank less than two taels, he would not say such brainless words!

"Robbing people's property and land at will, arresting and killing people at will, where is this emperor, this is a lone man and a thief! This will be the death of the country sooner or later! Dong Li muttered in his mouth, and went out unwillingly to pack up his salute.

Dong Dajun sat on the chair weakly, his son was unwilling, how could he be willing?

"I think that the power of the world's interests comes from me, and I take all the benefits of the world to myself, and I attribute all the harms of the world to others, and it is okay to do it; so that the people of the world do not dare to be selfish, dare not be self-interested, and regard my great selfishness as the great public of the world. I never thought so much about Huang Zongxi's "Yuan Jun" before, but now it seems that the emperor is really a great harm to the world! Dong Dajun muttered.

His son Dong Li packed up his salutes and left Yanling Town overnight with several grandsons and went to Nanjing. Dong Dajun didn't close his eyes all night and couldn't sleep.

As soon as it was dawn the next day, he sent out his faithful servants to inquire about the situation.

"Sir, the emperor's people are putting up notices in the town!" The servant hurried back and said.

Dong Dajun's hand trembled: "What does the notice say?" ”

"It seems that the land is to be equalized, and it is said that all the fields in the town will be divided equally among all the people." The servant of the house is worried.

Dong Dajun took a deep breath: "Open the door of the mansion, they will come to the door soon." "Most of the fields in the town are the Dong family, and Juntian is the field of the Dong family!

There is a vacant lot in the town, which is used as a place for social drama gatherings, and there is a big locust tree in the clearing, which is tall and thick and I don't know how many years it has grown. A large crowd of people gathered under the locust tree, looking at the notice posted on the locust tree, and a shabby middle-aged man in a shabby robe was shaking his head and reading the notice to everyone.

“...... The whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister! However, in the current Ming Dynasty, land annexation is serious, the rich have no land, and the poor have no place to stand, and the gap between the rich and the poor can be seen in general. Therefore, Your Majesty decided to take back all the fields and redistribute them to all the people, so that the cultivators would have their land, and the people of the world would no longer have the fear of hunger! Therefore, from now on, the law of Juntian will be implemented!

Folks, this is the emperor who has sent someone to Juntian, and wants to divide all the fields in the town equally among all of us! The shabby middle-aged man said excitedly.

"Do you really want to divide the field to us, how is it possible?" There was a great deal of discussion among the people present, and some of them did not believe. It is unthinkable to give the gentry's fields to the poor.

"It's the emperor who said that he wants Juntian, how can the emperor Chrysostom coax us, it should be true." There are also people who are full of hope. For most people, there is no peace of mind to have their own land.

"Mr. Wang, do you read the other two notices?" People in the crowd shouted hurriedly. There are three notices posted at the same time, one is to Juntian, and the other two are more exciting.

There are also many literate people among the onlookers, after all, the literacy rate in Jiangnan is relatively high, and they have seen the content of the other two notices clearly, but most of the people still don't know what is written on them.

The shabby middle-aged man coughed twice, continued to look at a notice next to him, this time he didn't read it word by word, but quickly read it and said: "This one is about setting up a yamen in Yanling Town, responsible for managing the civil affairs of dozens of villages around Yanling Town. The emperor decided to set up a town yamen under the county, and a total of eight towns were set up under the entire Danyang County, and our Yanling Town is one of them. ”

"Oh." The people whispered, and they were not too surprised, after all, the government must take the lead in dividing the fields, and the yamen of this town should be in charge of the affairs of the fields.

"The third notice says ......" The shabby middle-aged man was stunned for a moment.

"What the hell is it, tell me quickly." Someone urged.

The shabby middle-aged man took a deep breath: "It's about freeing slaves!" From now on, Daming will cancel the slave status, and there will be no more slaves! All slaves and prostitutes can go to the government to re-register their domicile and be registered as a private household, and both men and women can divide their land after being registered as a private household! Your Majesty has said that from now on, everyone is equal, and there will be no more differences in household registration in the Ming Dynasty, and everyone will be a household. ”

"Ahh The people present were shocked, and the shock brought to them by this notice was no worse than that of Juntian.

Human beings are not equal, and this is the innate notion of all human beings. How can your slave be equal to your master? How can ordinary people be equal to the lord, if everyone is equal, wouldn't there be no superiority and humility?

But why can't you be equal, why do you have to kowtow when you see the old man? If there is a choice, who wants to kowtow to someone. Many people had excitement on their faces.

Many of the people present were tenants of the Dong family, and they were all sold into slavery, since their ancestors had been chained to the Dong family's fields for generations, there was no freedom at all. You can't run around, and your children and grandchildren can't be officials in future generations. Now they are told that the emperor has said that from now on they can be incorporated into the people's households, and they will no longer be slaves, how can they not be excited!

Just when the people in the town were reading the notice, Hu Xuan led the team, and the group came to the Dong family's mansion, and saw the door of the mansion open from a distance.

"This Dong Juren is quite acquainted." Zhu Yilang said with a smile.

Hu Xuan smiled and didn't say anything. What if you don't know each other? A mere squire still dares to compete with the emperor!

"In the twenty-third year of Wanli, Dong Dajun has seen all of you." Dong Dajun stood inside the door and said to Hu Xuan and the others.

"Master Dong should know that I am coming, right?" Hu Xuan looked Dong Dajun up and down.

"It's already clear, don't worry, my Dong family will definitely fully cooperate." Dong Dajun's posture was very low.

Hu Xuan nodded with satisfaction: "In this case, please ask Master Dong to take out all the land deeds and land deeds, as well as the deeds of sale of all the people in the mansion, and gather the servants in the mansion in the courtyard." ”

Dong Dajun agreed repeatedly, and everything was done.

Soon, the maids and maids in the house gathered in the courtyard, and there were as many as fifty or sixty. A large stack of land deeds, land deeds and deeds of sale were also brought over.

Hu Xuan ordered people to collect the land deed, but piled up the deed of sale on the ground, and then burned it clean.

"From now on, you will no longer be slaves, you will all go to the town yamen to register and become a household, and then everyone will be allocated the land." Hu Xuanlang said.

The slaves present were suddenly boiling, freedom is the hope of everyone, and no one wants to be a lowly slave.

"Of course, if there are still people who are willing to continue to stay in this mansion, it is okay, but you have to sign an employment contract, and in the future, you will no longer be a slave but a hired laborer, and the master is not allowed to be beaten and abused, if you are beaten and scolded, you can go to the town office, and the yamen will be your master!" Hu Xuan said again. Many of the subordinates were accustomed to the work of waiting for people, and they did not know how to farm at all, nor could they force them to leave.

Hu Xuan's words suddenly made some subordinates sigh out.

"Master Dong, from now on, the fields outside this town will be returned to the public, but you can rest assured that your family will also divide the fields, just like other people. But there is one point, the population of a family cannot exceed ten, and more than that must be separated. After the man gets married, he will also divide the family and pass it away, otherwise he will be fined a lot of money regardless of the field! Hu Xuanzheng said.

"Also, do you want to split up?" Dong Dajun's face changed greatly. The Dong family has a large population, and in addition to his father and son, there are five or six younger brothers and more than ten nephews, all of whom live together. If the family is divided, the Dong family's property must be divided into other children!

"Separation?" Someone in the courtyard shouted, but the voice was full of surprise. In addition to the slaves in the courtyard, the men of the Dong family are also there. Many of the men who came out of the house had no status in the mansion, and they could only receive a small amount of money and food on weekdays, and their lives were not much better than that of civilians. If the family is separated, at least some of the floating wealth in the family can be shared, which is really a great thing!

"Yes, it has to be scored. If you can't tell the difference yourself, the yamen will help you divide the family. However, Your Majesty is benevolent, only your fields will be recovered, and your family's paper workshop and other businesses will still be yours, but the more than ten bamboo mountains that belong to you will be nationalized. Hu Xuan continued.

"Huh? Without the bamboo on the mountain, the paper mill will be without raw materials! Dong Dajun said hurriedly.

"The bamboo on the mountain can still be used by you, but you need to spend money to buy it, but you can rest assured that the price is absolutely fair and will not ask you for more money." Hu Xuan said with a smile, after taking back Zhushan, he could get a lot of silver just by providing raw materials for the paper mill, which was enough for the town yamen to pay for expenses.

"Understood, understood!" Dong Dajun hurriedly said, with joy and sorrow in his heart. I thought that all the industries would be taken away, but I didn't expect to keep the paper business for him. Although the field is important, the most profitable is the paper mill! As long as the paper mill is there, the Dong family will not collapse. Even if Zhushan is taken away, you will have to spend money to buy bamboo in the future, which will increase the cost of papermaking.

The Dong family, the largest squire, is obedient, and the situation in Yanling Town is opened.

Hu Xuan convened a meeting again and announced the establishment of the town yamen. He is the mayor of the town, mainly focusing on the overall work, Zhu Yilang is the deputy mayor, assisting Hu Xuan in handling the work in the town, and is also in charge of criminal law rewards and punishments, Liu Xiangming is the town lieutenant, in charge of the town's armed forces, and will be responsible for managing the township soldiers and arresting thieves in the future. The town yamen also set up various sections, promoted Yan Yingyuan and other well-performing scholars to temporarily act as section chiefs, and other scholars were all section members and responsible for various tasks. Although these scholars have passed the examination, they have not yet been awarded official positions, and after the half-year inspection period has passed, they will be awarded the official positions of nine grades and nine grades according to their performance.

After the establishment of the town yamen, various tasks were carried out one after another. did not directly equalize the field, but first compiled a household register for the people in the town. Yan Yingyuan and the others went to each family in the town to count the population information of each family. The servants of the Dong family and other landlords also took the initiative to go to the yamen and take the initiative to register and make records.

The government has a yellow book of population statistics, but the yellow book is in Dantu County, and the population data on the yellow book is very inaccurate. Now, the statistical population information is much better. The number of people in each family, gender and age, and the property in the family are all registered.

No one dared to hide it, because then the land would be divided according to the registered population, and those who were not in the household register would not be given the land.

In addition to Yanling Town, there are also villages of more than 20 miles around, all of which are under the jurisdiction of Yanling Town, and the population of each village must also be registered, and this work alone will take a while.

At the same time as the population was counted, the work of clearing the fields was also being carried out. The field is divided into upper and lower fields, and the size and position of each field must be measured clearly, and then the field division work can be carried out. All in all, it's a lot of work. Fortunately, it is winter, and it is the slack season, which is just the right time to do such a thing.

At the same time as doing these tasks, the people in the town were also mobilized, and a young and strong man was sent out from each household, and the township soldiers began to be formed, with the town lieutenant Liu Xiangming leading them to train, and the accompanying Praetorian Guard soldiers serving as officers at all levels.

If such a big thing is done in Jiangnan, it is difficult to say how the gentry class will choose, and will there be people who will rebel? There are already hundreds of thousands of anti-thieves in Jiangxi, and maybe someone will raise their arms and shout, and there will also be a large number of anti-thieves in Jiangdong, so we have to be careful. Although Zhu Youzhen had 5,000 Praetorian Guards in his hands, there were also Fujian sailors brought by Li Yanzhi. But if the situation changes abruptly, such as Jiangxi anti-thieves capturing Nanchang and going downstream, the army in their hands is still too small. However, if the young Zhuang under his control are organized into township soldiers, a single Zhenjiang government can organize tens of thousands of township soldiers. These township soldiers were all poor people, who had just divided the land, so they naturally did not want to attack the thieves. There is no need to mobilize, just to keep their own fields is enough for them to burst into great fighting passion.

For example, in this small Yanling Town, in just a few days, more than 1,000 township soldiers were organized. Without weapons, they cut down the bamboo on the mountain and sharpened it into bamboo spears.

Township soldiers are not paid silver, but if they practice, they will be able to manage food, and the township soldiers of more than 1,000 people will be a lot of money just to manage food. After discussing, Hu Xuan ordered someone to call Dong Dajun and announced that he would collect this year's autumn tax. Originally, the gentry did not have to pay land tax, so Dong Dajun's family never paid field tax on 10,000 acres of fertile land. But now it is not possible, everyone is equal, and the gentry have to pay taxes on grain.

Forty percent of the field tax is calculated according to the yield of three stones per mu, and Dong Dajun's family alone has to pay 12,000 stone of rice! Dong Dajun's granary has grain, but there is not so much, only more than 5,000 stones, because after the grain is harvested, it is sold to grain merchants. There was no choice but to trade it in silver.

In addition to Dong Dajun's family, there are several small squires in Yanling Town, who also have to pay land tax. Part of the collected field tax was to be transported to Zhenjiang, and the rest was used as the training of the township soldiers and the rations of the town officials.

In addition to collecting the field tax, it is also necessary to collect bamboo money, and now in winter, it is time for the paper mill to cut the bamboo. As for the commercial tax of the paper mill, it has to wait for the tax department to send someone to collect it, and the town yamen has no right to collect it. But even so, the money from the sale of bamboo alone is enough for the yamen's expenses for a year.

At the same time, in the counties of Zhenjiang Prefecture, dozens of teams like Hu Xuan are equally busy. The entire Zhenjiang Mansion is undergoing earth-shaking changes this winter. And this change quickly spread to all parts of Koto, and immediately set off an uproar.