Chapter 101: 099 Doing Great Things (for the Alliance Leader

Fei Chun's arrival at Wuxing Town eased Zhao Han's shortage of capable personnel.

Although Chen Maosheng could read and write, he was barely adequate at tallying taxes and grain, and his workload left him no time to study arithmetic.

Among the local residents, there were certainly those who could write and calculate, but Zhao Han could not trust them — several had caused trouble during the earlier land surveys.

As a result, tax and grain matters had to be handled by Pang Chunlai on top of his other duties.

The moment Fei Chun arrived, he was given heavy responsibility, appointed head of the Revenue Section of Wuxing Town and concurrently logistics officer for the Volunteer Battalion.

For the time being, he had nothing else to do: he paid the salaries of the town office clerks and, on the side, managed logistics during the Volunteer Battalion's training.

Everything was still in its infancy — departments were lacking, personnel were lacking — and would be gradually improved over time.

Zhao Han spent every day drilling the troops and sent men rowing downstream to gather intelligence on government military movements.

They waited and waited, but nothing happened; not even a shadow of government soldiers was seen.

Luling County had fewer than sixty wards, and Zhao Han had seized two of them in one stroke — yet the County Magistrate had shown no reaction at all?

In the blink of an eye, it was the fifth month, the rice was already heading, and still everything remained calm and undisturbed.

On the contrary, across the river in Huangba Village, and downstream in Maotian Village, Yinkeng Village, and Pingyang Village, as well as north in Shangfang Village and Ganshang Village, the gentry of those settlements were thoroughly alarmed and jittery.

The reason was simple: there were too many people surnamed Huang in Wuxing Town, and since those of the same surname could not intermarry, they often took wives from neighboring villages.

Now, not only had land been distributed, but Zhao Han had also handed out grain. Some of those wives quietly returned to their home villages carrying a few catties of old rice to help their families, and in the process spread word of the changes in Wuxing Town.

Across several villages in the surrounding area, the tenant farmers grew restive, while the landlords walked on thin ice and one after another sent men to the county seat to lodge complaints.

…

"Town chief," Chen Maosheng suddenly came to report, "the quarry across the river has been seized by the Left clan landlord of Huangba Village."

Zhao Han laughed. "He certainly picked his moment."

Chen Maosheng added, "That quarry should be considered public property of this town. Many of the common people hope we will send troops to take it back."

"We'll talk about it after the rice harvest," Zhao Han said, not rejecting the proposal outright.

The opposite bank was a steep hillside, which in fact belonged to the territory of Huangba Village. Only because the Huang clan had been numerous and powerful had they forcibly occupied it over a decade ago, seizing that stretch of forested slope across the river.

Now that the several Huang masters had been finished off, the quarry had sat idle, and Master Left of Huangba Village had thought to reclaim it.

His reasoning was rather peculiar: he regarded Zhao Han as a bandit who had plundered the Huang clan's property and assumed Zhao Han would not dare to cross the river and use force so easily.

Zhao Han truly had no time for it at the moment. The government troops were nowhere to be seen, the busy farming season was approaching, and he could only send the miscellaneous soldiers home for now. He took the opportunity, combining field experience, to draft the charter of the Great Unity Society.

On the side, he adapted "The White-Haired Girl" and had Chen Maosheng take charge of rehearsals, planning a public performance after the rice harvest.

Once he had sent Chen Maosheng away, Zhao Han picked up his brush and began writing the charter.

The opening general chapter quoted the Book of Rites: "When the Great Way was pursued, all under Heaven was held in common… the aged were cared for until their end, the able-bodied found employment, the young were nurtured… the outer doors were left unbolted — this was called the Great Unity."

Considering that members from the lower classes would not understand it, Zhao Han rendered this passage into plain vernacular.

Next came the detailed articles —

First, any child of the Huaxia people who has reached the full age of fifteen.

Fourth…

"Are you willing to join?" Zhao Han handed over the completed charter.

Fei Ruhe read through the entire contents carefully, then scratched his head and said, "Will it all be like Wuxing Town?"

Zhao Han smiled. "What you really want to ask is, if I fight my way to Yanshan County, how I'll deal with the Fei clan, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's exactly it," Fei Ruhe nodded.

Zhao Han had long since thought it through. "Take your family as an example. First, you must divide the household registry. Your family has too many people; Second Uncle and Third Uncle will have to establish their own separate households…"

"Why must we split up the household?" Fei Ruhe interrupted.

Zhao Han answered, "To prevent local clans from growing too powerful to control."

Fei Ruhe said, "Go on."

Zhao Han continued, "Second, your family's shops, paper-making workshops, and tea-firing workshops may all be retained. However, you may not use household slaves as laborers; all indentures of sale must be torn up and replaced with employment contracts. The servants in your household must also be switched to employment contracts. You may sign contracts for three or five years, but five years is the maximum. When the contract expires, it may be renewed, but if the hired worker does not wish to renew, you may not obstruct their departure."

"What if the hired worker wants to leave before the contract is up?" Fei Ruhe asked.

Zhao Han explained, "You may report it to the authorities and demand that the worker pay breach-of-contract compensation. The compensation will be capped and may not exceed what the worker can bear."

Fei Ruhe nodded. "Understood. Continue."

Zhao Han went on, "Third, as for your family's land, calculated by the registered population, each person may retain only two hundred mu. All the rest will be confiscated…"

"You're insane!"

Fei Ruhe shot to his feet, pointing at Zhao Han. "If you do things this way, you'll never win the realm — the gentry and great clans will hate you to death!"

"Hear me out," Zhao Han said with a smile. "If you voluntarily donate the land, then on the remaining land, the land tax will be waived for ten years and halved for the following twenty. Two hundred mu per person is more than enough for your food, clothing, and expenses — not to mention you'll still have the shops, the paper-making workshops, and the tea-firing workshops."

Fei Ruhe's anger subsided slightly, but he shook his head repeatedly. "Brother Han, this really won't work. I don't care — I'm not one for luxury. But what about other gentry sons? Take Fei Ruyi, for example. In Suzhou, he spends money like water; a single exotic garment costs him a hundred taels. If you fight your way to Yanshan County, he'll surely raise a local militia to fight you!"

"Ah, the Great Ming is going to fall — do you realize that?"

Zhao Han sighed. "In Shaanxi and Shanxi, the commoners are in revolt. The court has been suppressing them for years, yet the peasant armies only grow larger. Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Huguang have also seen outbreaks one after another; western Fujian and southern Jiangxi still haven't been pacified. The White Lotus sect in Northern Zhili, Shandong, and Henan is stamped out only to spring up again, impossible to eradicate. Liaodong has been seized by the Tartars, and every year they batter at the passes. The court has no money, so it raises levies and adds taxes. Right now there's only the Liaodong levy, but later they'll probably have to impose a suppression levy. Don't you think we've reached the end days of a dynasty?"

Fei Ruhe fell silent.

Zhao Han went on, "In Jiangxi today, all it will take is one major disaster, and beacons of war will blaze everywhere. Do you know what a peasant uprising looks like? Let me fight for the realm, and I'll still leave each of you two hundred mu of land, still leave you your shops and workshops. If you run into some other peasant rising, they'll likely just strip your family bare!"

Fei Ruhe still said nothing.

Zhao Han continued, "The field soldiers down in southern Jiangxi only make landlords hand over thirty percent of their land and reduce rents and interest on the rest. They're considered unusually restrained. Do you know what kind of hell Shaanxi and Shanxi are?"

Fei Ruhe turned his head and stared out the window, as if unwilling to look at Zhao Han any longer.

Zhao Han said, "In Shaanxi and Shanxi, wherever the peasant armies pass, not a single gentry or great clan is spared. They don't want the land, true — but they wipe out entire households, seize every bit of grain and money, and sweep up all the household slaves, tenants, and commoners to swell their ranks. Like locusts, they roll on, growing larger and larger, devouring one county before moving on to the next prefecture, leaving behind a virtual wasteland wherever they go!"

Fei Ruhe's expression finally changed — perhaps he was imagining his own family facing such a fate.

Zhao Han pointed outside. "I stirred things up in Wuxing Town, and in the surrounding villages, the tenant farmers are all growing restive. Believe me, if I let slip just a hint of a signal, they'd rise up and kill the landlords on their own. Why is that? Do you dare to answer?"

Fei Ruhe had no choice but to steel himself and explain, "This place is not like Yanshan County. Yanshan County is more prosperous; here it's too poor!"

Zhao Han gave a cold laugh. "For the impoverished common folk, the prosperity of Yanshan County only means they can barely scrape by. I've said it before: Yanshan County is just one major disaster away from collapse! Why has it come to this? The gentry have seized too much land, and their exploitation of the tenants has reached its limit!"

Fei Ruhe protested, "Our family has never driven our tenant farmers to death. Even my grandfather cares about his reputation — our land rents are set very low."

"Your family's rents are low? What about the Fei clan head? That old bastard charges sky-high rents!" Zhao Han sneered. "Once the peasants rise up, they won't care whether your family's rents are low or not — they'll loot the entire Fei clan first and ask questions later. Let me ask you something else: how did the Fei clan get its land?"

Fei Ruhe answered, "We earned money in trade and bought it."

"Do you believe that yourself?" Zhao Han mocked. "Two hundred years ago, the Fei clan was confined to a corner of Henglin. Even after building their fortune through trade, they had at most a thousand mu of land. Now, all the Fei branches combined hold at least several hundred thousand mu, don't they? All honestly purchased? Which branch of the Fei clan hasn't practiced usury? Including yours!"

Fei Ruhe had no reply.

Usury is the great killing weapon of the landlord. When a yeoman farmer fell on hard times, he could only borrow at high interest to survive the crisis. Once he borrowed and could not repay, he had to grit his teeth and sell his land — and so the land steadily concentrated in the hands of the great landlords.

Fei Ruhe suddenly challenged him: "Even if every member of the gentry obediently handed their land over to the court, and the court redistributed it to the common people, and even banned all future land sales and transfers — what about a hundred years from now? Two hundred years from now? The realm's population will only grow. Where will more land come from to divide up?"

"Would two hundred years of peace under Heaven be such a bad thing?" Zhao Han said.

Fei Ruhe laughed coldly. "Two hundred years of peace bought by forcibly seizing the gentry's land! What crime have the gentry committed?"

"What crime have the gentry committed?" Zhao Han slammed the table. "Is there a single member of the gentry under Heaven who can speak those words with a clear conscience?"

Fei Ruhe started to speak, then stopped, powerless to refute the question. He had always come across as brash; to say this much today was already far beyond his usual form.

The man was not stupid — he just often lacked a filter, or one might say he was utterly carefree and thick-skinned.

He was just like his father. Fei Yinghuan was equally carefree, though his mind was actually sharp to a frightening degree.

Zhao Han continued, "After we unify the realm, we can open factories and sell goods overseas, earning the money of those foreign barbarian nations. If grain runs short, we'll promote the widespread planting of sweet potatoes and corn. If land truly becomes insufficient to divide, we can also send emigrants overseas. As long as the court does not fall into chaos, there will always be solutions to consider."

"Let me think it over some more," Fei Ruhe said, his mind in turmoil.

"Bang!"

Zhao Han slammed the table. "You keep saying you want to do great things, but when the moment comes, you act like a petty small-timer. What I want is the whole realm — and you can't take your eyes off your own measly patch of land. Do you look like a man who can accomplish great things? Once I conquer Annam in the future, what's so hard about rewarding you with tens of thousands of mu? When the whole realm is yours, are you still afraid of having no land? Even fishing requires bait, and you won't even put bait on your hook — are you trying to be Jiang Taigong?"

Fei Ruhe's mind suddenly cleared. Of course — once the whole realm was theirs, why fear having no land?

Zhao Han pressed on: "To do great things, a man must not begrudge his own life. If you don't even fear death, yet you fear losing your family's land? Fei Ruhe, you are a man meant to do great things — not some shortsighted country moneybags!"

"Crash!"

Fei Ruhe's face flushed scarlet. He kicked his stool over with one foot and slammed the table. "To hell with it — I'll stake everything! I don't want my life, I don't want my money, I don't want my land. All I want is to do great things!"

After all that damned rambling, it was still the three words "do great things" that did the trick.

(End of chapter)