When he was in the Jingnan army, Li Zhu also vaguely heard about the emperor's Juntian in Jiangdong, but he didn't know it clearly, and the officials in the Jingnan Army told them that it was not Juntian, but robbing the people's wealth! That is, the emperor came to Jiangnan with the Praetorian Guard he built, frantically grabbing land, silver, and women, and hundreds of people in Jiangnan were forced to die by the emperor, and many people took risks to rebel, but they were brutally suppressed by the emperor sent the Praetorian Guard.

"Those Praetorian Guards are a group of monsters who only know how to kill people and set fires, they are crazy, if they are allowed to kill in Jiangxi, all of us will not be able to keep our fields and property, and your wives and daughters will be robbed to the north as slaves!" The officials of the Jingnan Army told Li Zhu about them.

Li Zhu and other soldiers of the Jingnan Army are ordinary people who have no knowledge, many of them have never been out of their homes for ten miles in their lives before the rebellion, where do they know what is going on outside, they are naturally easily fooled, and they simply treat the Praetorian Guards as if they were ghosts, snakes, and gods.

Now that he heard the Praetorian Guard's official talk about Juntian, Li Zhu couldn't help but lift his spirits and wanted to figure out what was going on. Although these Janissaries were vicious, they were not bad to the prisoners, unlike those of the officials of the Jingnan Army.

"I have a vast territory of thousands of miles, and some of them are cultivated fields, which is enough to feed hundreds of millions of people. However, most of the fields were forcibly annexed by the gentry and landlords, so that hundreds of people had no land to plant, so they could only rent the fields of the gentry and landlords to live, endure the exploitation of sixty or even seventy percent of the land rent, and also have to pay taxes and forced labor, often working hard for a year, not only did not get grain, but owed the landlords grain. The gentry and landlords even took advantage of the disaster year to lend usury, and the interest on the donkey rolling, forcing the people to sell their sons and daughters and not be able to pay it off, and even their ancestors could not pay it off for generations......"

The officer spoke of the miserable situation of the peasant people being oppressed by the gentry and landlords, and the captives resonated with them, because these things really happened to them. Most of these captives were like Li Zhu, who were originally honest people, but were forced to live by the gentry and landlords, so they took risks and rebelled. Listening to the officer's story of the tragedy, and thinking about the hardships they had experienced before, some of the captives actually cried.

"His Majesty the Emperor had heard of the tragic situation of the people when he was still a believer, and he was very sympathetic but had no choice. After the death of the first emperor, His Majesty inherited the throne, and at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he personally went to northern Shaanxi for disaster relief, dealt with corrupt officials and corrupt officials in northern Shaanxi, cracked down on inferior gentry and landlords, confiscated the fields of greedy gentry and landlords, and distributed them to the displaced people free of charge. Up to now, five years have passed, and the common people in northern Shaanxi have their own fields, and they do not have to bear heavy land rent and labor, and every family can have enough to eat, and even in disaster years, no one has starved to death.

His Majesty has always wanted to divide the land throughout the country, confiscate all the fields of the gentry and landlords, and distribute all the fields to the people free of charge, so that the people of the world can have enough to eat and live a good life. However, the court was full of the gentry's comrades, and the officials everywhere were all in league with the gentry, and His Majesty encountered great resistance, and almost all the officials opposed the Juntian.

But thinking of the miserable life of hundreds of people, His Majesty made up his mind that no matter how great the resistance is, it must be completed, and all the people must live a good life.

Therefore, His Majesty led the Praetorian Guard to Jiangnan, first in the four prefectures of Jiangdong, and then spread to the whole country. However, the matter of Juntian violated the interests of all the gentry officials, who did not want to see their fields distributed to the poor people, and they wanted to continue to ride on the heads of the common people. So the gentry and officials colluded in a vain attempt to overthrow His Majesty, so they supported His Majesty's cousin, Zhu Yousong, the son of King Fu, as the prisoner of the country, and rebelled in Jiangxi.

Brothers, you are also from ordinary people, you must have been bullied by the gentry and landlords before, Your Majesty led the troops to Jiangnan to be your master, in order to let you live a good life! The officer spoke with emotion, and all the words reached the hearts of the captives. Including Li Zhu, many captives felt very ashamed, the emperor was obviously here to help everyone, but everyone followed those officials and gentry to rebel against the emperor.

"Brothers, you should all wake up, don't be deceived by those gentry and landlords anymore, don't be confused about good and bad. Brother I am Zhenjiang Yaojiawu people, my family originally had ten acres of good paddy fields, the grain planted was enough to feed the family after the imperial grain, plus I and my father went to work in the workshop during the slack time, and my daughter-in-law also reeled silk and weaved cloth, and could earn a lot of silver money every year, and the life was delicious. However, just three years ago, there was a great drought in Jiangdong, but the gentry controlled the confluence of irrigation, and did not allow my family to irrigate, and the ten acres of rice were almost lost, not to mention that even the imperial grain was not enough to pay. There was no way, we could only borrow money from the Xu Ju family in our hometown to buy grain.

In the beginning, we thought that we could go to the workshop and work in half a year to repay the borrowed money. However, when I arrived at the workshop, I was told that the salary was halved, and I worked hard for half a year, and the money I earned was not enough to pay off the interest. When the deadline came, Xu Juren sent the housekeeper slave to force the debt and robbed my family of land.

Without the land, the family could not survive at all, so they could only rent the land. I still planted my family's original field, but I had to pay as much as 60% of the rent. After a year of hard farming, most of the grain was taken away by Xu Juren, even if the wages earned by the work, it was not enough for the family to eat. My five-year-old sister starved to death last winter......"

A peasant soldier who was guarding them stood up and told the captives about their oppression by the gentry.

"Just this winter, His Majesty led troops to Zhenjiang and sent people to distribute land to us, and the land of Xu Juren and other landlords was taken away and distributed equally to the villagers in nearby villages. My family of eight people, each divided two acres of land, the family has more fields than before, my father said, plant rice in the spring, no longer have to worry about hunger. ”

The words of the peasant soldier made the captives feel distant, and they were full of yearning for the situation of dividing the land.

"It would be great if His Majesty the Emperor arrived in Ganzhou, and we could also divide the fields." One of the captives said suddenly.

"Yes, if you divide the field and have your own field, as long as you are willing to work hard, why do you have to worry about hunger?" One of the captives beside Li Zhu also said.

Several peasant soldiers guarding them stepped forward one after another and told them about the situation of their family's division of land and the difficult life of their family before, so that the captives felt the same and were full of yearning for the life of dividing the land. But thinking that his hometown is far away in Jiangxi, and he is still under the control of the thieves, it is impossible to divide the field, and he is still a prisoner, so he has no hope at all, so he is very depressed.

At night, many of the captives could not sleep for a long time, talking about what happened during the day, and their words were full of envy for the people of Jiangdong.

"I want to join the Praetorian Guard!" One of the captives said suddenly.

"I want to join too, but do people want us?" Another captive said.

"Are they lying to us, is there such a good thing?" There were also captives who became suspicious.

"the!" Li Zhu suddenly scolded, "We are just a group of captives, and we were just lowly mountain people before, with no money and no power, what is there to cheat?" ”

"yes." The captives nodded. There is nothing to deceive yourself.

They were held in the camp for one day, and on the second day the captives were taken to an empty square in the inner city, in front of which there was a stage, and in which there were already a large number of people. The captives were ordered to sit on the side of the stage, and then they watched a "good show".

Several people were escorted to the stage, and according to the Praetorian Guard officials on the stage, most of the men dressed in satin were gentry or landlords, and one of them seemed to be a hereditary commander. These people all have one thing in common, they are all extremely bad. Robbing the fields, robbing the people's daughters, killing people's lives, and doing a lot of bad things.

On the stage, the officers of the Praetorian Guard tried them, and one by one the people who had been bullied by them stepped onto the stage and complained to the people in the audience about the evil deeds of these people. The tragic past, the tearful narration, heard the righteous indignation of the people in the audience.

"Kill them!"

"Throw them into the river!"

The people in the audience scolded one after another, and countless rotten vegetable leaves were thrown on the stage, smashing on these "old men" who had committed many crimes, and the once majestic "old men" knelt on the stage and trembled, and some of their pants were wet.

"Kill them!" Several of the captives also raised their arms and shouted, venting their anger in their hearts.

After watching the "big play", the captives were taken back to the prisoner camp, and after lunch, they were called together again, and then the officer in charge of guarding them told them that they would be released from the city.

"After investigation, it was found that the crimes you committed were not serious, and they were only deceived by the anti-thief leaders to follow the war. You were all ordinary people, and it was not your fault. Therefore, Your Majesty has a decree to let you go back! The officer guarding them said.

"I don't want to go back, can you let me stay, I'm willing to join you and help you fight!" A captive shouted.

"I don't want to go back either." Li Zhu and the other captives also shouted.

Although they got along for a short time, Li Zhu and other captives actually recognized with these Praetorian Guards and were reluctant to go back.

"Your family is in Jiangxi, if you stay, I'm afraid the thieves will be bad for your family. Your Majesty is benevolent, and I can't bear to separate you from your family, so let's go back first, but don't worry, it won't be long before the Praetorian Guards will definitely hit Jiangxi, and then you will all be divided into fields. The officer laughed.

Since he said so, Li Zhu and the other captives had no choice, after all, they were prisoners, and there was no way to force the family to keep them.

So they were sent out of Chaoyangmen again, and were arrested for two days, not only unscathed, but also ate and slept well, and even when they left, they were each given two taels of silver as "travel expenses", which made Li Zhu and other captives full of emotion.

"What a teacher of benevolence and righteousness!" While walking, looking at the city gate behind him, Li Zhu sighed with emotion.

"The emperor is a good emperor, and the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard are also good people." The other captives also said.

"In the future, we will force us to fight with the Praetorian Guard, remember to fight the Janissaries, and never kill or injure the Praetorian Guards." Li Zhu admonished everyone.

"Don't worry, if the Praetorian Guards come, I will be the first to throw away my weapons and surrender." The subordinates laughed.

Along Chaoyangmen Street, the streets were full of traces of battle, Li Zhu found that in one day, the Praetorian Guards had captured eight barricades, advanced the battle line to the stone bridge of the Qinhuai River, and were confronting the Jingnan army thieves across the stone bridge.

"We are our own people, don't let it go."

"Don't let go of the arrows, I'm the second dog of the Shanzi Battalion."

The captives trembled up the stone bridge, shouting to the thieves on the opposite side as they went.

Perhaps they heard their Jiangxi tone and knew that it was their own people, but the thieves on the other side of the stone bridge did not release their arrows and let them cross the stone bridge.

"Haven't you been caught, why did you come back?" Niu Zhanshan, the anti-thief general in charge of the battle front around Chaoyangmen, heard this and ordered someone to bring Li Zhu and others to him and interrogate them personally.

On the way back, the captives had already discussed the words, and Li Zhu answered on behalf of everyone.

"The general doesn't know, now the inner city is very short of food, I heard that there is a food shortage in Jiangdong, Henan and Shandong controlled by the emperor are also everywhere there are man-made rebellions, food from other places can not be transported, it is said that the food in the inner city of Nanjing can not be eaten for long, except for the army, most of the people are hungry. After they arrested us, they felt that it was not worth keeping us, and the emperor refused to let us be killed, saying that it was ominous to kill the prisoners, so they let us go. ”

"Is that all?" Niu Zhanshan stared at a pair of big eyes, half-believing Li Zhu's words.

"That's it." Li Zhu said calmly.

"Search them and interrogate them separately!" Niu Zhanshan pointed at everyone and said sharply.

The captured subordinates were easily put back, so that Niu Zhanshan had to doubt the enemy's intentions.

Naturally, they couldn't ask anything about the good words in advance, not to mention that before they were released, the Praetorian Guards did not ask for anything from them, and did not try to rebel against them.

Repeatedly pressed, to everyone's confessions, seeing that nothing was asked, and no abnormalities were found, Niu Zhanshan could only give up, but confiscated the "travel fee" given by the Praetorian Guards before the release, and let Li Zhu and others return to the camp.

The silver issued by the Praetorian Guards was snatched away by their own generals, and Li Zhu and the others were naturally so angry that they scolded the eighteenth generation of Niu Zhanshan's ancestors behind their backs.

After entering the new barricade fort, the other thieves who were together would naturally ask them about what was going on after they were captured. Li Zhu and the others recounted to their companions what happened after they were captured, and told them about Juntian in the areas controlled by the Janissaries such as northern Shaanxi, Shandong, Jiangdong, etc., about the generous salaries and benefits of the soldiers on the other side, and about the public trial meeting they had seen. Hearing this, these fellow thieves were dumbfounded.

Slowly, many thieves knew about Emperor Juntian, and their hearts were full of yearning. They are all fantasizing about how good it would be if the emperor arrived in his hometown, and if he could carry out Juntian in his hometown.