Chapter 207: 205: Analyze Concrete Problems Concretely

The Wei clan belongs to a great lineage of Ningdu, originally from Sichuan, who relocated to Fujian during the Southern Song. Today they are divided into two branches, one dwelling in southern Jiangxi, the other in western Fujian.

Judging by ancestral origin, Wei Jiaju could be considered a Sichuan man or a Fujian man. But the Wei clan moved to Ningdu very early, so they can also be counted as Jiangxi locals.

During the Jiajing years, a great disaster struck Ningdu, and the Wei clan donated ten thousand piculs of grain in one stroke to help the County Magistrate relieve the disaster victims — a sign of their formidable wealth. The Jiajing Emperor issued an imperial decree to erect an honorific archway and bestowed caps and sashes; the Wei family seized the chance to build a Decree Gate, and thus they are also called the "Decree Gate Wei."

The Wei clan insists on passing down poetry and ritual through the generations, but it is deeply awkward: in two hundred years, they have not produced even a single juren...

Zhao Han summoned all the high-ranking leaders for a meeting and had Wei Jiaju describe the situation in southern Jiangxi.

Wei Jiaju cupped his hands toward the assembly, repeated what he had said before, and added: "Gentlemen, every place in southern Jiangxi is different. Gan County is actually still fairly normal — there are very few powerful tenants around the prefectural seat of Ganzhou. The farther east and the farther south you go, the more Hakka people there are who came from Fujian and Guangdong."

"So that's how it is," Chen Maosheng nodded. "No wonder we met so little resistance when organizing peasant associations outside Ganzhou city."

Wei Jiaju spoke again: "Even within a single county, conditions vary. I am from Ningdu and know Ningdu County best. In the Upper Three Townships of northern Ningdu, the inhabitants are mostly Jiangxi natives; but in the Lower Three Townships of southern Ningdu, the tenant farmers are all Fujian people, and most of them come from Tingzhou in Fujian. Among these Tingzhou people, the majority hail from Shanghang, and a minority from Liancheng."

The more Zhao Han listened, the more his head ached. Setting aside the matter of Hakka identity, these tenant farmers who came by calling their friends and kin were essentially Fujian peasant laborers who had banded together to seek work in Jiangxi.

What was more frightening was that these peasant laborers had already multiplied for several generations in Jiangxi, yet still had no local household registration and no land of their own!

They must be given household registration, they must be given land — otherwise they would be a source of instability.

Conditions in the southern Jiangxi region were extremely complex. When Wang Shouren was suppressing bandits there, he reported to the court in the twelfth year of the Zhengde reign, stating that the Chongyi area was entirely populated by Guangdong people. There were not only Hakka people but also Yao commoners, all refugees settled there by the Governor in earlier years. These refugees felled trees and opened up wasteland, contributing to the development of southern Jiangxi, but at the same time they came into conflict with the locals, and much of the wasteland they reclaimed was seized by powerful local lineages.

And the sharp population decline in the southern Jiangxi region during the mid-Ming was not solely due to warfare.

Many fled to Huguang because they could not bear landlord oppression. At that time, southern Huguang was vast and sparsely populated, and the court had a special policy allowing refugees to settle, so Jiangxi peasants fled there in droves to open up land, nearly half a county's population migrating to Huguang at a time.

And the special product of Zhao Han's territory, indigo dye — the Great Unity Army's banner is also dyed blue with this dye.

The technique for growing indigo was transmitted bit by bit to the Ji'an prefecture area by Fujian people who had migrated to southern Jiangxi.

Pang Chunlai suddenly asked: "You are a Registrar of Ningdu County — why did you come all the way to Ji'an Prefecture on your own initiative to offer counsel?"

Wei Jiaju said very bluntly: "The Wei clan is the foremost great lineage of Ningdu. My clan uncle, Wei Zhaofeng, was summoned by the Emperor this year to take office, but he declined and did not go — people call him the 'Summoned Gentleman.' Whenever the County Magistrate has administrative business, he invariably consults with my clan uncle. All the saltpeter that Mr. Zhao has purchased was sold by the Wei clan!"

The assembly looked at one another. Well, well — the Wei family turned out to be the saltpeter supplier.

Wei Jiaju spoke again: "At present, Ningdu County has already descended into chaos and will sooner or later be taken by Mr. Zhao. The Wei clan knows full well it will be hard to keep our fields, and likely hard to keep our saltpeter mines as well. We beg that after Mr. Zhao occupies Ningdu, he grant the Wei family a special license to mine and supply saltpeter. Ningdu also has sulfur mines and iron mines, and we likewise beg Mr. Zhao to grant a special license to mine them."

"There are sulfur mines too?" Zhao Han said in surprise.

"There are, and not a few," Wei Jiaju replied.

Damn — with sulfur mines and saltpeter, if they also fired charcoal, they would have all the materials for making gunpowder right there. They could set up a gunpowder manufacturing bureau locally in Ningdu.

After careful thought, Zhao Han said: "So long as the Wei clan wholeheartedly submits, I can grant the Wei clan a special license to operate the saltpeter and sulfur mines. However, the Wei clan may not hold an exclusive monopoly — two more families must be brought in. In this way, the three families will mine jointly, and the Wei clan's mines may be somewhat larger. As for the iron mines, they must be handed over to a fourth family to operate."

"Many thanks for Mr. Zhao's gracious favor!" Wei Jiaju had achieved the purpose of his journey.

Zhao Han asked: "You say Ningdu County has already descended into chaos?"

Wei Jiaju answered: "There is a powerful tenant who has gathered several thousand tenant farmers and is currently besieging the Ningdu county seat."

Li Banghua found this very strange: "Powerful tenants resist the landlords above and bully the tenant farmers below — why would they lead tenant farmers in an uprising?"

Wei Jiaju answered: "Every time powerful tenants stir up tenant farmers to make trouble, it is simply because they want to obtain permanent tenancy rights over more land, and then sublease it to ordinary tenant farmers."

"What benefit is there in this for ordinary tenant farmers?" Chen Maosheng asked.

Wei Jiaju said with some embarrassment: "Because the powerful tenants deceive those above and conceal from those below, the landlords cannot collect much rent, so they think of every way to increase miscellaneous fees. Things like bucket fees, white-water fees, travel fees, winter livestock fees, and so on — the original intent was to make the powerful tenants pay more rent, but the powerful tenants shift these miscellaneous fees onto the tenant farmers. The tenant farmers therefore bitterly resent the landlords and are willing to follow the powerful tenants in uprising, just to abolish these miscellaneous fees."

Good lord, these powerful tenants were truly something — seizing every kind of profit for themselves, while shoving all the harm down onto the lower tenant farmers and letting the landlords above shoulder all the risk.

The more ruthlessly the landlords exploited the tenant farmers, the more the powerful tenants could seize the chance to stir up trouble and fight for more advantages for themselves.

Wei Jiaju spoke again: "This time is different. The Great Ming is clearly on its last legs, and Mr. Zhao advocates dividing the land. Those powerful tenants are flying Mr. Zhao's banner, and I fear they intend to seize the landlords' fields."

"No matter how much land they seize, won't I end up dividing it away from them in the end?" Zhao Han said, puzzled.

Wei Jiaju said: "Those powerful tenants don't even take the Great Ming court seriously — how would they take Mr. Zhao seriously? When Mr. Zhao leads troops there to divide the land, I fear they will also stir up the tenant farmers to riot!"

Zhao Han sneered: "According to what you say, the landlords of Ningdu County are all virtuous and innocent? If they were truly virtuous, they would have been swallowed up by the Fujian people long ago!"

"I dare not... dare not deceive Mr. Zhao," Wei Jiaju hastily knelt and kowtowed. "The landlords themselves also keep tenant-slaves, and they have the aid of the authorities, so in ordinary times they do not fear the powerful tenants."

Damn it all — this was no longer just class conflict; ethnic conflict between natives and settlers was mixed in as well.

The landlords monopolized the means of production and exploited the tenant farmers, while the powerful tenants were a swarm of parasites.

Once land division was forcibly imposed, the landlords and powerful tenants would very likely unite, because in the face of an external threat, their interests aligned. And the powerful tenants and the tenant farmers were all Fujian people who had come from elsewhere — the tenant farmers were extremely easy for the powerful tenants to stir up!

Having Wei Jiaju withdraw for the time being, Zhao Han analyzed for Chen Maosheng: "The principal contradiction in the southern Jiangxi region is the dual oppression of the lower tenant farmers by the landlords and the powerful tenants."

"Right," Chen Maosheng nodded. "Not just in southern Jiangxi — from now on, in every prefecture and county, we must prohibit the layer-by-layer subleasing of land."

Zhao Han said: "Both landlords and powerful tenants profit from the land. If we divide the land, the landlords and powerful tenants will most likely join hands to obstruct it. But we cannot simply kill the powerful tenants outright, because they are often the ringleaders of the tenant farmers. Kill one powerful tenant, and countless tenant farmers may be stirred up to rise against us."

Chen Maosheng said: "We must first explain the land division policy clearly to the tenant farmers, and separate them from the powerful tenants."

"Correct," Zhao Han said. "But in the southern Jiangxi region, many tenant farmers speak Hakka, Fujianese, or Cantonese. How do you explain the land policy clearly to the tenant farmers? They can't understand what we say, so naturally they won't understand the land policy. When the time comes, whatever the powerful tenants say, the lower tenant farmers will believe. I'm afraid that if we push the powerful tenants too hard, they could spread the rumor that we intend to slaughter all the Fujian people."

Chen Maosheng thought carefully and said: "Since there aren't that many people from other provinces in Gan County, we can first carry out land division in Gan County, and use the opportunity to have the propaganda officers and peasant association cadres slowly learn to speak Hakka, Fujianese, and Cantonese."

Zhao Han nodded: "We must learn the languages first. Whatever language the lower tenant farmers speak, you must learn it. You must put down roots directly among the tenant farmers! Be sure to warn the propaganda officers and peasant association cadres: do not divide people into Jiangxi people, Fujian people, Guangdong people — only the toiling masses are our own people!"

"Understood!" Chen Maosheng cupped his hands.

Zhao Han gave further instructions: "We can occupy the various counties of southern Jiangxi first, but apart from Gan County, do not rush to divide the land in the other counties. We can put on a show of compromise for now, let the landlords and powerful tenants keep fighting, and not let the landlords and powerful tenants unite against us. Remember, in whatever place you work from now on, you must adapt to the times and to local conditions — you cannot rigidly copy past experience without change."

Chen Maosheng cupped his hands once more to receive the teaching.

Li Banghua asked: "Those three thousand Fujian troops inside Ganzhou city — if we refuse their request to return home, I fear the common people in the city will suffer."

Zhao Han sneered: "Then agree to it. Not only let them go, but give them travel expenses. The counties of southern Jiangxi are all in chaos — confiscate their weapons and see how they get back to Fujian! I reckon that halfway along the road, they'll start fighting with various local forces over plunder. The more chaos they stir up, the easier it will be for us to divide the local forces."

The complex conflicts of southern Jiangxi are very interesting — not only in the Ming dynasty, but they ran all through the Qing dynasty as well.

According to the Qing-era Ningdu Subprefecture Gazetteer, there was a Field Soldier uprising during the Shunzhi years.

Its origin was native-settler conflict: a Jiangxi landlord surnamed Wen and a Hakka powerful tenant surnamed Huang engaged in a blood feud, and as they fought, it turned into class struggle. The Huang powerful tenant stirred up the lower tenant farmers, demanding the abolition of various oppressive levies and the reduction of land rent, using this to attack the Wen landlord.

Once the slogans were shouted, the situation became unstoppable. All three counties — Shicheng, Ruijin, and Ningdu — erupted, with over ten thousand Hakka tenant farmers forming Field Soldier bands, and native Jiangxi tenant farmers also began to join, until there was a trend of it spreading across the whole of southern Jiangxi.

By the time it developed to this point, there was no longer any distinction between Jiangxi people and Fujian people, nor was it any longer a matter of native-settler conflict — the most fundamental class contradiction had been directly brought to the surface!

The southern Jiangxi region is a super powder keg — it explodes at the slightest touch, and when it explodes, several counties go up at once.

Chen Maosheng personally took a boat to Ganzhou and relayed Zhao Han's order: withdraw the troops several dozen li and let the three thousand Fujian troops go.

A dog can't change its nature of eating shit — these government troops hadn't gone far, and as soon as they reached Yudu County they began looting.

The landlords and tenant farmers who had been fighting each other were forced to band together and jointly drove off the three thousand troops. Then they went right back to fighting, and under the instigation of the powerful tenants, day after day they staged native-settler blood feuds.

The landlords couldn't match the field soldiers, so they asked Fei Ruhe to bring troops into the county seat — this was their usual practice, using the authorities to suppress the tenant farmers.

(End of chapter)