Chapter 140: 138: Three Counties Seized

"Zhao, you rebel — may you die a wretched death!"

"Mr. Zhao, spare my life!"

The day after Zhao Han entered the city, several more gentry were dragged out.

They had all been lulled by Zhao Han — his fine show of humbly courting worthy men did not mean he would let murderers go.

While taking in the soldiers, he had questioned them along the way.

Clansmen generally would not denounce their own, and nearly all had some schooling; even among the common village braves there were many young students. From a certain angle, they were one body.

The household slaves, however, had no such psychological burden. Those with a trace of old loyalty exposed other families' masters; those without it directly gave up their own. They had heard that Zhao Han himself came from a household-slave background and that he was going to distribute land to them — in that instant, they felt Zhao Han was one of their own.

"Regional Commander..." Yang Zhong hesitated, on the verge of speaking. He had stayed by Zhao Han's side for the time being.

Zhao Han smiled. "Speak."

Yang Zhong steeled himself and remonstrated: "Brother Changdu — Zhou Ruixu — did not kill anyone with his own hands either. He is a jinshi, after all. Why not spare his life and let him serve the Regional Commander?"

Zhao Han looked at Xiao Huan. "Explain it to him."

Xiao Huan tucked his hands into his sleeves and smiled. "Brother Dalu, the Regional Commander always keeps his word. He said he would exterminate the chief culprits, and exterminate them he shall. Zhou Ruixu may not have killed with his own hands, but he led troops across the river in a night raid. He is the chief culprit among chief culprits! Surely you do not wish to make the Regional Commander go back on his word?"

"Ah..."

Yang Zhong had nothing to say. He was merely grieving for a fellow creature — they were all scholars, after all.

To have won over so many gentry at one stroke, eight of them juren — this naturally delighted Zhao Han. Yet these gentry harbored unfathomable designs, and Zhao Han preferred those village braves.

The village braves were mostly sons of respectable families, and their literacy rate exceeded fifty percent!

Among Jiangxi's small landlords and freeholding peasants, one could not say every family studied, but more than half certainly did. Some, due to family poverty, had only two or three years of basic schooling, but they still recognized at least several hundred characters.

Last year, when he defeated Xie Xuelong, Zhao Han had captured several hundred village braves and already reaped a wave of dividends from them.

After receiving tangible benefits, many of those village braves had transformed into grassroots cadres and had become a vital foundation of Zhao Han's rule.

"Regional Commander, a report from Mr. Li." Secretary Liu Fang delivered a dispatch.

Zhao Han read it carefully, then handed it to Xiao Huan.

Xiao Huan finished reading and smiled. "We can proceed according to this plan. The Regional Commander will surely win all hearts!"

In Zhao Han's original territory, the land was relatively barren and the location rather remote. Thus, the literacy rate and landholding rate of respectable families there fell far short of those in eastern Luling County and Jishui County.

Li Banghua had not taken part in the land distribution in Luling County, but after obtaining the fish-scale registers, he had already formed a plan in his mind. Now, Li Banghua was overseeing land distribution in Jishui and had quickly submitted a report of comprehensive data to Zhao Han.

Among freeholding peasants and small landlords, those who could afford to send their sons to study mostly held more than three mu of land per capita.

Under the previous land-distribution standard, although reducing levies and taxes would benefit respectable families, it was nowhere near as immediately apparent as giving them more land. Li Banghua proposed raising the per-capita land distribution to four mu. This would make respectable families swing completely to Zhao Han's side, since the majority of them would also gain land for free.

Of course, at this stage there was not that much arable land to distribute, but they could dangle the prospect before tenant farmers, freeholding peasants, and small landlords, and make it up to them once their territory expanded in the future.

Furthermore, both Luling and Jishui counties had more mountains than fields. They could call on the common people to reclaim the hillsides for planting crops like sweet potatoes. This would both train and consolidate the peasant associations and increase the arable land under their rule. Those who received hillside plots would simply be given extra land, and newly reclaimed hillsides could be tax-exempt for five years.

Zhao Han greatly admired Li Banghua's proposal. If they distributed four mu per capita, they would surely win the loyalty of freeholding peasants and small landlords, giving Zhao Han countless literate men under his command. A pity, though — Jiangxi's arable land was simply too scarce. Take Jishui County: only one-tenth of its land could be cultivated; the rest was either mountain or water!

After careful thought, Zhao Han made two decisions:

First, for all commoners within his jurisdiction, per-capita land distribution would increase to three mu. The existing land of small and large landlords would be capped at twenty mu per capita; those not exceeding twenty mu would not be confiscated. This essentially meant distributing nearly all the land, leaving official holdings negligible.

Second, let the peasant associations organize the common people to reclaim wasteland — on one hand to train the associations, on the other to increase arable land. As for soil erosion on the hillsides, that could be set aside for now.

Zhao Han's decisions were swiftly transmitted, and throughout his domain, the masses rejoiced.

Not only the former tenant farmers and freeholding peasants, but even some small landlords now pledged loyalty to Zhao Han with all their hearts. Those small landlords might have had several dozen or even a hundred mu of land to a household, but their families were large too. Some held less than three mu per capita; once the family divided its property, they were really just freeholding peasants. Jiangxi had so little arable land that a family with a few dozen mu already counted as small landlords.

Li Banghua himself had once been a small landlord. After the family divided its property, he was left with just over ten mu and still had to support both father and son in their studies. He kept having to sell off land, until when his grandmother died, they could not even afford a coffin.

Zhao Han also wrote a letter and had his secretary copy it out in multiple versions to deliver to Li Banghua, Pang Chunlai, Huang Shunfu, Ouyang Zheng, Fei Chun, and others.

The subject was the urban drifters. He wanted them all to consider: should the drifters be sent back to the countryside to receive land? And if not, how should the drifters be treated?

The truth was, there was no more land left to distribute.

Anfu County.

Fei Ruhe led his troops, disguised as merchant boats, straight toward the county seat.

Last year, bandits from Luling had come once, and then the rebels had come once to borrow grain. Now Anfu County was facing bandit trouble for the third time.

Anfu County Magistrate Guo Qiao had also raised over a hundred militiamen and was making a show of defending the city walls.

He had no way to conscript more troops. The gentry in every village and town were busy raising their own walls to protect themselves. Unable to get private donations to recruit soldiers, Magistrate Guo had to pay out of his own pocket to raise just over a hundred militiamen — the expense in coin and grain already pained him deeply.

And so, a dubious operation began.

Guo Qiao ordered his soldiers to guard each city gate and, under the pretext of checking for spies, to carefully inspect everyone entering the city. Even woodcutters coming in to sell firewood had to pay a few cash as an entry tax. The point was to earn back the silver spent on recruiting troops!

That night, Fei Ruhe took twenty-odd soldiers, disembarked early, and proceeded on foot toward the county seat.

Some pushed small carts, some carried firewood on shoulder poles, some bore goods on carrying poles — they took roundabout routes and entered the city from different directions.

"What's your business?" the gate guard on duty asked.

Fei Ruhe was dressed as a scholar, with several servant boys behind him. Fanning himself with a folded fan, he said, "I am Liu He, a Confucian scholar of Jishui, here to call upon a fellow student. What, do you dare search me?"

The gate guard immediately fawned, "If the young master would allow me to explain: the County Magistrate has ordered that we must strictly check for spies."

"It's just silver you want, isn't it?" Fei Ruhe sneered. "Give him a few pieces — treat it as alms for a beggar."

Huang Shun tossed a grain of broken silver, deliberately throwing it off-target. The gate guard failed to catch it and hastily bent down to pick it up.

Fei Ruhe laughed heartily. "Just like a dog. Let's go — into the city!"

And so the fellow swaggered right into the city. The gate guards dared not stop him, instead squabbling over dividing the silver.

Once inside the city, Fei Ruhe secretly assembled his troops — only twenty or thirty men — and had them all wait near the north gate.

They waited until dusk, when the city gates were about to close.

On the merchant boats at the north city docks, Li Zheng suddenly led five hundred soldiers ashore.

"The rebels are here!"

The gate guards panicked and fled back into the city in terror.

"Kill!"

This time Fei Ruhe did not use a saber, but a scholar's sword he always carried at his side. The soldiers around him mostly wielded clubs, for they had to evade searches and could not bring weapons in.

Fei Ruhe led from the front. Without waiting for the government troops to assemble, he cut down two men in quick succession, sending the soldiers inside the gate scattering in terror.

Anfu County seat had no barbican; seizing the gate was effortless.

By the time the county Constable led troops to the rescue, Fei Ruhe had already finished forming his battle array. He himself held a scholar's sword, and the men around him all had clubs, but the tight discipline of that formation so frightened the government troops that they dared not press the attack.

In the blink of an eye, Li Zheng arrived with five hundred soldiers, followed by Zuo Xiaoliang, the civil personnel, and the propaganda corps.

The Constable froze for a moment, then suddenly dropped to his knees and shouted, "We respectfully welcome the General into the city!"

"We respectfully welcome the General into the city!"

The government troops knelt and shouted one after another. As long as the rebels did not slaughter indiscriminately, they had no wish to fight to the death.

Zuo Xiaoliang demanded sternly, "What office do you now hold?"

The Constable answered, "Anfu County Constable Peng Zhengqiu, of the Fengtian Peng lineage."

So he was a descendant of Peng Shi, the Zhuangyuan of the Zhengtong reign — a scion of a renowned family, and very likely a xiucai himself.

Zuo Xiaoliang said, "Take your men and maintain order in the city. If any fire breaks out anywhere, if any disturbance occurs anywhere, you alone shall answer for it! Do well, and there will be rewards."

Peng Zhengqiu was somewhat bewildered. Shouldn't troops who had just turned bandit have their weapons confiscated and be placed under guard? How could they still trust him to lead soldiers?

"This humble officer obeys!"

Peng Zhengqiu suddenly bristled with energy and sternly ordered his subordinates, "None of you are permitted to take advantage and loot. Follow me to keep the peace in the city!"

As for the soldiers Fei Ruhe had brought, they split into several squads to occupy the city gates, while the rest all charged toward the county yamen.

When they stormed the county yamen, the clerks surrendered one after another. Some runner-clerks even took the initiative to tie up County Magistrate Guo Qiao and deliver him, hoping to curry favor.

At the county school south of the city, a crowd of xiucai seized weapons and surged toward the county yamen, shouting that they would slay the rebels and serve the nation.

After running two streets, the xiucai still charging onward numbered only a scant dozen or so.

By the time they reached the county yamen, only a few remained.

Facing the wolf-like, tiger-fierce rebels, the few xiucai looked at one another in dismay. Suddenly, one dropped to his knees and shouted, "We have come specially to congratulate the General on capturing the city!"

Fei Ruhe did not know whether to laugh or cry. He mocked them, "You gentlemen possess considerable quick wit. Come, then, and help me with my affairs."

"We are willing to serve the General," the xiucai said, their faces full of fawning.

When he was still two or three paces from Fei Ruhe, one xiucai suddenly drew his sword: "Vile rebel, die!"

Fei Ruhe did not even need to act. The soldiers at his side had already thrust their spears, and three spear-shafts pierced into the man's body.

Fei Ruhe sneered, "Anyone else? Come all at once, then."

"We dare not, we dare not!" The xiucai knelt in terror.

And so, Zhao Han took Anfu County, fully occupying the three counties of Luling, Jishui, and Anfu.

Huang Shunfu was appointed Luling County Magistrate, Ouyang Zheng was appointed Jishui County Magistrate, and Zuo Xiaoliang was appointed Anfu County Magistrate.

There was no Prefect for the time being; all three counties were administered directly by the Regional Commandant's headquarters. Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Fei Chun, and others all served as senior civil officials in the Regional Commandant's headquarters.

To the north, Governor Li Maofang and Military Defense Assistant Commissioner Wang Siren were still toiling away at suppressing bandits, having already surrounded Duchang County seat for half a month.

(End of chapter)