Chapter 1433 Divide the Fields

After more than a month of fighting, Mu Tianbo and Mu Jiansheng finally captured the entire Yunnan Province.

The sound was as loud as thunder.

The surrounding Qing troops were so frightened that they did not dare to move. They only dared to huddle in the county town. They were in fear all day long, for fear that the Ming army would come to kill them at the next moment.

They didn't understand why the Ming army became so fierce as if they had changed a wave of people, even though they had occupied the entire Central Plains and Emperor Yongli of Nanming had been executed.

They don’t understand, and the people of Yunnan Province don’t understand either.

But they know that the current Ming army is different from the past.

Not only did he do no harm to the common people, he also took the initiative to help them redress their unjust cases and help them punish the local tyrants and evil gentry.

As ordinary people, they don't understand many big principles. They will follow whoever treats them well.

Now, the Ming army is obviously better than the Qing army, so they will naturally hope to restore the Ming Dynasty's orthodoxy.

As for the Qing army? What bullshit Qingyao, get out of the Central Plains immediately.

Those people originally thought that this was the end, but they didn't expect that there was an even bigger surprise waiting for them.

Wang Shuisheng was originally a diligent farmer. His family relied on their savings over several lifetimes and a few acres of thin farmland to survive.

As a result, one year the harvest was not good, so he went to the rich man Wang's house to borrow 3 bushels of millet, and agreed that he would pay back 4 and a half bushels of grain during the next autumn harvest. However, when he returned the money the next year, it had become 14 bushels.

Wang Shui was so angry that he couldn't argue with him, so he was beaten up by the servants of the rich man Wang's family, and he lay on the bed for three or four days before he came down.

It didn't matter if he just got beaten, Rich Man Wang even filed a complaint in the lobby.

The county magistrate also took advantage of the situation and sentenced Wang Shuisheng to enter the house to commit murder with the intention of assassinating the rich man. He confiscated all Wang Shuisheng's property and compensated the rich man Wang. At the same time, he also asked Wang Shuisheng to work long-term for the rich man Wang's family to pay off his debts.

If it weren't for the whole family, Wang Shuisheng would have wanted to commit suicide.

On this day, he was working in the fields when he suddenly saw several children running over: "Uncle Shuisheng, why are you still plowing here? Come on, the rich man Wang has been arrested. Everyone is complaining about their grievances in the village. Go quickly and say Maybe you can get your fields back."

"Really?" Wang Shuisheng couldn't believe it.

That rich man Wang has great hands and eyes, and has a close relationship with the county magistrate. Can this man be caught?

"It's right at the entrance of the village. You'll know when you take a look."

Several children dragged Wang Shuisheng to the entrance of the village.

Sure enough, the rich man Wang was being escorted by a group of people wearing dark blue clothes. Standing at the entrance of the village, a group of villagers who had been bullied by the rich man were telling how they had been bullied.

Wang Shuisheng thought he had seen it wrong and rubbed his eyes vigorously.

That's right, the person being held captive was the rich man Wang.

"Is this a manifestation of gods and Buddhas?"

Wang Shuisheng almost knelt down.

What happened next was more like a dream. Not only did Wang Shuisheng get back the land that should have belonged to him, he also got a piece of land from the rich man Wang's family.

Not only did he get it himself, but everyone in the village got it.

In addition to getting the land, the grenadiers in blue also told them good news, that is, all corvees will be exempted from now on, as well as land taxes and land taxes, and will be replaced by grain taxes.

Only when they sell food will they collect taxes according to the commodities, and they also have tax advantages compared to other commodities.

If they only eat it themselves and not sell it, they don’t have to pay a penny.

However, there is a condition for these, that is, they only have the right to use the land, not ownership, and cannot buy or sell land privately. Violators will be severely fined.

If you abandon it at will, you will be severely punished.

If you are unable or do not want to farm, you can apply to the village to hand over the land and assign it to other people for farming.

If the court needs it, it can expropriate their land unconditionally, but will provide corresponding compensation.

The reason why Han Yu left such a path was, in addition to avoiding land annexation, mainly because he planned to build roads and railways in the future.

Roads and railways are the blood vessels of a country. As long as the roads and railways are connected together, the effectiveness of his rule can be extended to every corner of the empire along the transportation network.

When building this thing, you will inevitably have to pass through fields. With this law, land acquisition will be more convenient in the future.

It will not be like neighboring countries where a railway cannot be built despite decades of wrangling.

When Wang Shuisheng and the others first heard that the ownership of the land was not in their hands, they felt a little unsure.

I always feel like something is missing and I feel unsteady.

However, the benefits provided by Han Yu were indeed real.

Just being exempted from hard labor is enough for them to be excited. In the past, during the slack season, they had to work for the government for two months, without paying a penny, and they had to bring their own dry food.

It’s okay if you don’t want to go, but you have to pay.

Now, it's all free.

Moreover, not only were they exempted, but from now on the imperial court would not only pay wages, but also take care of meals. According to the standard, there would be meat every day.

They can use these two months to do odd jobs to subsidize their families.

Although the Qing Dynasty said it would never increase taxes, the land tax was very high. Although the land was nominally owned by itself, as long as it was cultivated, it had to pay the court every year.

However, in Han Yu's case, it's all exempted.

As long as the food is not sold, there is no need to pay a penny of tax.

When selling grain, the tax is charged according to the amount sold, which is much lower than before.

In addition to not being able to buy and sell at will, it seems more appropriate than owning the land.

Therefore, after some inner weighing, Wang Shuisheng and the others accepted these decrees.

In order to protect the benefits he gained, Wang Shuisheng sincerely hoped that Han Yu and the Ming Dynasty could rule here forever and never leave.

As for the Qing court, roll back as far as you can.

After learning about the treatment of the Grenadier Regiment, some families directly took out their excess labor force, hoping to send it to the Grenadier Regiment.

This treatment is much better than the hard work of farming.

If it weren't for the possibility of losing their lives, many elderly farmers would even want to hand over their fields and their entire families to join the army.

This suddenly gave Han Yu hundreds of thousands more soldiers.

After some screening, Han Yu expanded the Grenadier Corps to ten legions.

Each legion had 10,000 men, making a total of 100,000 troops.

In addition, two cavalry corps, three logistics corps, and militia groups in various towns were also formed.

After careful planning, Han Yu now had 120,000 soldiers.

Remember, these are soldiers.

In ancient times, it was said that there were hundreds of thousands of troops, but they included farmers transporting baggage. The proportion of real soldiers was not too many.

Watching your team grow like a snowball.

Han Yu was full of confidence. He felt that there was hope of completing his mission in this world.

Now that he has established a firm foothold in Dian Province, the next step is to go out and sweep Jiangnan.