Chapter 191: Spring Plowing

In Fengyang Prefecture, drainage canals had been dredged everywhere, many large waterwheels had been built, and irrigation wells had been dug. Though the expenditure of manpower and resources was enormous, fortunately there was no longer much of a problem with drawing water for irrigation in the various localities.

Under the organization of Yang Tinglin, the newly appointed Prefect of Fengyang, the prefecture held a grand spring plowing ceremony.

On the banks of the Huai River, drums thundered, firecrackers burst in unison, and all manner of music and song could be heard everywhere.

Before a makeshift altar erected on the spot, Zhu Cilang led the officials of the various prefectures and counties of Fengyang in burning incense and offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, praying for a bountiful harvest of the five grains in the new year.

After the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth were complete, Zhu Cilang, imitating the Yongzheng Emperor from television dramas of later generations, personally took hold of the plow and walked a furrow through the field, drawing rounds of praise and cheers from the watching officials and military farming households.

Yang Tinglin also delivered an important speech, urging the various farming households to work hard so that they might have a good harvest when summer came.

After going through the motions for a while longer according to procedure, the spring plowing ceremony finally came to an official end.

The military farmland soldiers then stopped their drills and began helping their families with the work. They were the pillars of the farming households, and this kind of heavy labor could not be done without them.

During the spring plowing season, intense cultivation began across Fengyang Prefecture. Many localities had already completed their plowing before spring plowing even arrived; only the newly reclaimed land of the Eight Guards and One Station was the latest, so they mustered all their strength and worked hard to catch up.

Besides one ox per farming household, along with some farm tools and seeds, each household could also receive two dan of grain every month, with the distribution continuing until autumn sowing, to provide for the households' daily needs.

Every farming household was excited. The government distributing land, giving oxen, and handing out grain — this was something they could not even dream of. Heaven had truly opened its eyes!

Most of these farming households were tenant farmers who owned no land of their own. They normally tilled the land of landlords and paid rent, and year after year the grain they grew was not even enough to cover the rent.

When they first saw the government's notice, many people did not quite believe it. They merely signed up their household's men as soldiers with a try-it-and-see attitude — even if they did not get land distributed, at least the men with big appetites would have a place to eat, lightening the family's burden considerably.

Unexpectedly, this bold attempt brought these farming households a tremendous and surprising windfall. Through word of mouth among these households, the common folk of the surrounding prefectures who heard about it were all stirred with longing.

Only two dou of rent per mu of land, and all other taxes waived — with such a good deal, who would still be willing to till a landlord's land and suffer exploitation!

Within the month after spring plowing began, the flow of people into Fengyang Prefecture surged dramatically. In particular, in front of the prefectural office in Fengyang city, crowds of people pressed together every day, hoping that Prefect Yang would distribute a plot of land to them.

The common folk originally wanted to go before the imperial city to find the Crown Prince, but they could not even get past the outer wall surrounding it. Every day, several thousand tall and imposing soldiers patrolled around the wall in rotating shifts around the clock, and ordinary people simply could not get in.

More and more common folk flooded into Fengyang Prefecture. Yang Tinglin, at a loss, went to the imperial city to find the Crown Prince and discuss how to handle the matter.

Zhu Cilang laughed lightly and said, "Is this already too difficult for you, Minister Yang? Doesn't Fengyang Prefecture still have some inferior-grade land? Organize the people to go reclaim wasteland, that's all."

Yang Tinglin said, "Your Highness, that bit of land is nowhere near enough. The common folk coming from the surrounding prefectures are far too many — several hundred thousand people, all waiting for land to be distributed!"

Zhu Cilang said, "Continue recruiting military farming soldiers. Register them first, and distribute the land after a while. Fengyang Prefecture still has several million mu of inferior-grade land that has not been reclaimed. We can turn it into civilian military farmland and distribute it to those households that did not become military farming soldiers — forty mu per household. Use the inferior-grade land of Fengyang Prefecture first, and also distribute all that land which was confiscated for not being planted with crops!"

Yang Tinglin asked in confusion, "Then the military farming soldiers we recruit — whose land will they be distributed?"

Zhu Cilang smiled and said, "Naturally, the land of the other surrounding prefectures!"

The guard station system across the realm had collapsed, with over seventy percent of the land seized by guard station officers. Would it not be a waste not to take that land back? As for the remaining land held by hereditary military households, Zhu Cilang had no intention of touching it — that was rightfully theirs to begin with.

The land taken back would then be redistributed. Whether military farming or civilian farming, there was only the right of use, not the right of transaction — that is, it could not be sold, only used by oneself, and it had to be planted with grain.

Zhu Cilang planned to gradually nationalize land ownership. The only way to avoid land annexation was to nationalize the land and prohibit its sale, with distribution and regulation handled by the court.

Although this was extremely difficult, it had to be done. Land annexation was a major factor in the downfall of a dynasty. If one left it alone and did not set about solving it, that would only be plugging one's ears while stealing a bell.

Zhu Cilang sighed and said: Take things slowly. Collect however much can be collected. In the coming years, natural disasters would be even more severe and affect an even wider area. To survive them, grain output had to be increased.

Under the small-peasant economy of feudal society, a natural disaster that cut or wiped out the grain harvest could kill people within a single year — not to mention the seven or eight consecutive years of drought at the end of the Ming, or even the droughts lasting over a decade in some parts of Shaanxi.

The disaster relief system of feudal dynasties was mainly divided into three stages: pre-disaster prevention, mid-disaster relief, and post-disaster aid. Pre-disaster prevention meant building water conservancy works. In fact, the main measure was for the official granaries of the various local governments to stockpile grain in advance, then open the granaries to distribute grain relief when disaster struck.

At this time in the late Ming, many places had suffered several years of continuous natural disasters. There was not even a single rat in the granaries of the various local governments — where was there grain for disaster relief? Officials could only watch helplessly as the people starved to death, or gathered in crowds to rebel and rob the great households.

After Yang Tinglin left the imperial city and returned to the prefectural office, he immediately posted notices everywhere recruiting reserve military farming soldiers. However, this time the quota was limited to one hundred thousand people, and they would still have to wait a while before land was distributed.

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In the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Chongzhen Emperor was reading several memorials that Zhu Cilang had sent one after another.

The first concerned the matter of the Eight Guards and One Station of Fengyang. What Zhu Cilang had written was not extensive, but the evidence attached was extremely thorough.

Chongzhen was very displeased that Zhu Cilang had executed so many civil and military officials in Fengyang. He thought to himself, this unfilial son is truly too audacious — he had only been in Fengyang a few days and had already stirred up such a huge affair, killing over a thousand people. How dare he?

The ministers of the Grand Secretariat were also shaken. This little slaughtering star was truly remarkable — he had killed several dozen corrupt officials in Suzhou, and before a few days had passed, he had killed several hundred more in Fengyang. Fortunately, they had sent him away back then.

Chongzhen very much wanted to issue an edict reprimanding him, but when he saw the goods and materials Zhu Cilang had confiscated from the households in Suzhou and Fengyang, he suddenly flew into a rage and said, "These corrupt officials are truly the moths of the nation! A mere fifth-rank prefectural magistrate actually had a personal fortune of a million — richer than me! They deserve to die!"

Before Chongzhen's anger had fully subsided, he then saw the news of the Yongwei Camp's great victory at Mengcheng, and only then did his heart feel considerably more at ease.

Yet he was still displeased. This unfilial son had confiscated so much money and grain, and he had not even sent some to him? He had only reported it — not a single tael of silver had come his way!

Chongzhen thought to himself, "You could at least send some over to tide me over. What kind of behavior is this!"

A few days later, impeachment memorials from the various Censors of Jiangnan flooded the dragon desk in the Wenhua Hall like falling snow. Their contents were nearly identical — all impeaching Zhu Cilang, this Governor-General of Five Provinces. Several hundred officials from the various provinces of Jiangnan even jointly submitted a memorial requesting that the Son of Heaven issue an edict ordering the Crown Prince to return to the capital.

Chongzhen thought to himself, Return to the capital? Return to force me to abdicate?

After the several Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat had read them, they too thought, Return to the capital? Return to kill people?

Chongzhen pondered back and forth in the Wenhua Hall and decided to issue an imperial edict to be sent to Fengyang. The gist of the edict was: the court is short of money — collect the taxes that South Zhili has owed for many years as quickly as possible.

After the Grand Secretariat gave its approval, along with the imperial edict, a brand-new imperial sword of authority was also sent to Fengyang.

Xue Guoguan and the other Grand Secretariat ministers of the eunuch faction secretly rejoiced. Jiangnan was the stronghold of the Donglin Faction — go ahead and kill as much as you like. All we can do is silently support you from behind.