"Eat his mother, live with his mother, if there is not enough food, there will be a King of the West. Kill the Tatars, divide the fields, and everyone will have a happy time."
The Nth version of the ballad that once sung throughout most of China and almost took the world by storm finally resounded through the official road outside the west gate of Lizhou on the third day after the Lizhou Uprising.
The people who sang this ballad were six to seven hundred men who spoke with Shaanxi accents and marched into Lizhou City in neat formations.
Each of them wears an old white pointed felt hat often worn by farmers in Shaanxi Province. They also wear iron armor or cloth-covered iron armor and an old-looking blue cloth-covered sheepskin robe. There is a war belt around their waists. The belt is tightened, a bow is slung across his back, a sword and a quiver with ten or twenty sharp arrows with carved feathers hanging on his waist. Each person also carries a long weapon, either a spear or a simple sword.
If you observe carefully, you will find that most of these Shaanxi soldiers who appeared out of nowhere are elderly. More than half of them have gray beards and their faces are full of vicissitudes of life. You can tell at a glance that they are veterans who have been through battles.
Looking at this group of veterans who sang and walked as if they were expressing the depression in their hearts that had been suppressed for many years, those who had experienced the chaotic times of the late Ming Dynasty and were still standing on the official road outside Lizhou City to "greet the heavenly soldiers" were all excited A very similar feeling arose - this is not King Yingxi, this is clearly King Yingchuang!
These old men from Shaanxi who are blowing their beards and staring at them must be the old soldiers who followed Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, to conquer the world!
But where did they come from? Could it be that the rumor that Li Zicheng faked his death and escaped in Jiugong Mountain and lived in seclusion in the Huguang Mountains waiting for an opportunity to rise again is true?
Mr. Huang is an old man who has experienced that era. When Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, he was an official in Beijing. Together with his father and a group of Ming officials who wanted to serve the new master so that they could continue to take bribes and pervert the law, Kneeling outside Zhengyang Gate to welcome King Chuang into the inner city of Beijing!
Later, both Mrs. Huang and Mrs. Huang got what they wanted. After handing over a sum of "dirty silver", they became officials of the Dashun Dynasty - at that time, "Lao Huang" and "Lao Lao Huang" were both officials of the "Qingshui Yamen". , one was a censor, and the other was a Hanlin, so the amount of "dirty silver" allocated to them was not high, and the Huang family was a wealthy man in Xinhui, so they really didn't need these two sums of money, so they handed it over happily. Liu Zongmin, who was in charge of recovering stolen goods, saw that these two dirty officials were quite conscious and they were good dirty officials, so he recommended them to Li Zicheng and let them become Li Zicheng's "Thieves Hanlin".
Originally, this "thief Hanlin" was also a promising official, and he had a good chance of joining the ministry and enclosing the territory, but it was a pity that the Dashun Dynasty fell short of "success". So Mr. Huang and his father later knelt down to welcome the regent, and became officials of the Qing Dynasty again.
However, the Qing Dynasty did not treat them very well, and kept letting them languish in the positions of fourth- and fifth-rank junior officials in the capital. The six yamen did it all over, and none of them were promoted or demoted.
If it weren't for their family's strong background, they would have been unable to become a Beijing official long ago.
So sometimes when Mr. Huang was thinking about life alone, he actually felt that if the Dashun continued to go smoothly, it would actually be good. He might become a minister or a governor.
Of course, this rebellious thought can only be hidden in the bottom of my heart.
Unexpectedly, Dashun seems to be going smoothly again today!
When Old Man Huang was in a trance, he suddenly saw a face that he would never forget in his life - bulging cheekbones, full heaven, high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, thick eyebrows, one-eyed dragon! Although he was much older and his beard and eyebrows were all white, Old Man Huang could still recognize at a glance the old man who was riding on a tall gray-haired horse and walking at the front of the team. He was also dressed as a soldier from the old Dashun camp. He was clearly the same old man. Emperor Yongchang Li Zicheng!
Seeing Li Zicheng, Mr. Huang's calves trembled, and he knelt down in front of Li Zicheng who was riding his horse, and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty"
When he knelt down, Li Laishun and Huang Zhisheng, who were standing next to him, were stunned.
Among them, Li Laishun knew what was going on. The old corrupt official named Huang must have recognized Li Zicheng. This old corrupt official must have surrendered to Dashun!
But Huang Zhisheng doesn’t know what happened? When Li Zicheng established the Dashun Dynasty, he was still a little baby. So when I saw the old man kneeling, I still asked here.
"Lao Dou, why are you kneeling down? Could it be that the one-eyed old man is His Highness the King of the West? Impossible, the King of the West is not a one-eyed dragon."
Mr. Huang turned around and glared at his son, "You bastard, that's not the King of the West, that's the King of Chuang! I don't know who I'm surrendering to. How did you become a second minister?"
"What? Chuang, King Chuang?" Huang Zhisheng was shocked, "Isn't King Chuang dead?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone slapped him on the back of his bare head, and then he heard Li Laishun's Shaanxi accent: "What are you talking about, you corrupt official? Grandpa Ehuang is alive and well, and he still wants to lead us to revive Dashun." !”
Sure enough, I surrendered by mistake!
Huang Zhisheng couldn't believe his ears. It was unheard of for someone to surrender with a wrong bet.
"Here, what should I do?" He was so confused that he actually asked such a question.
"What else can we do? Of course we have to kneel down to welcome King Chuang!" After all, Mr. Huang is experienced in surrendering. If this thing goes wrong, then we can only make the mistake!
I think he surrendered by mistake when he was the third minister. He originally thought that Wu Sangui would support Zhu Cixiang, the crown prince of Emperor Chongzhen, to ascend the throne, but unexpectedly he ushered in Dorgon.
But no one dared to say afterwards that they had surrendered and voted by mistake.
Li Laishun also shouted loudly: "Dirty official, the old corrupt official of the Yi family is right, kneel down quickly to welcome King Chuang!"
Huang Zhisheng was very afraid of this Li Laishun. He was almost hacked to death by Li Laishun and his men three days ago - he had already felt the hatred of the other party! If he hadn't surrendered quickly enough, he would have been completely cold by now!
Thinking of this, he quickly knelt down in front of Emperor Yongchang who was coming on horseback, and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, Huang Zhisheng, the queen of the imperial court, welcomes King Chuang!"
His shout shocked everyone around him, including Li Zicheng himself.
Li Zicheng has no intention of launching the banner of Dashun now, and he has no intention of "resurrecting". His goal is too big, and his strength is too small. If he is "resurrected", he may be attacked by the Wu and Qing families. , there is no chance of survival and development at all.
Therefore, Li Zicheng's plan was to continue to pretend to be dead, and at the same time support Li Laishun and Liu Yihu to come forward and develop his own power under the banner of Wu Sangui. If possible, he would seize the Xiangyang Mansion. If not, he would jump to the Dabie Mountains to open up a base.
As long as they have a solid base, they can wait for opportunities in the future. If the old Wu family splits after Wu Sangui's death, then Li Laishun and Liu Yihu will have the opportunity to break away from the Wu family and fight for the world under the banner of Dashun.
If the old Wu family remains stable after Wu Sangui's death and eventually dominates the world, then Li Laishun and Liu Yihu can only be regarded as the founding heroes of the new dynasty. As long as they have the territory of one mansion and two mansions, each person will still have a prince.
In this way, the old soldiers who have followed Li Zicheng for many years can also have a good home, and it will be good to be a rich man with children and grandchildren.
But now he has been recognized by someone, and that person seems to be the magistrate of Lizhou, and he claims to be the successor of Dashun. What should we do?
The scene suddenly became a little awkward. Even the group of old soldiers who were advancing while singing "Welcome the King of the West" stopped and stopped singing. They all looked at Li Zicheng, wanting to see what the Yongchang Emperor meant?
Are you going to change the lyrics?
But Li Zicheng was Li Zicheng after all, and he was still an old and strong Li Zicheng. After a brief moment of embarrassment, he laughed, then took off his felt hat, revealing his bald head, and then said to the ground "Welcome to the King of Chuang" Mr. Huang and Huang Zhisheng, who shouted "long live", said: "You have recognized the wrong person. He is not Emperor Yongchang. There has been no Emperor Yongchang in the world for a long time. He is just the great monk Fengtianyu from Jiashan Temple! But he is indeed the emperor." Born in Chuangying, he also followed Emperor Yongchang and knew his wishes.
In fact, Emperor Yongchang’s wish was not to be an emperor, but to find a way for the poor peasants in the world who had little land and little land to make a living. The only way to equalize the land for them was to allow all the poor peasants in the world to have their own land. Only when everyone in the world is happy can the country achieve long-term peace and stability. And among the heroes in the world, whoever is a comrade of Emperor Yongchang, we will join with him to rebel against the Qing court of the Tatars! "
As he spoke, he raised his whip again, first pointed at Liu Yihu beside him, and then pointed at Li Laishun, and said with a smile: "Yihu, Laishun, tell me who is the same as us now."
"King of the West!" Liu Yihu immediately understood what Li Zicheng was thinking, "His Royal Highness the King of the West is our comrade. His Highness the King of the West has even made us the commander-in-chief!"
Li Laishun also said loudly: "Yes, the King of the West also appointed him as the general soldier, and also appointed the master as the national advisor!"
Li Zicheng laughed loudly and said to Mr. Huang and Huang Zhisheng: "Get up quickly. You did not surrender by mistake!"
Is there really no mistake in surrendering?
Old Mrs. Huang and Huang Zhisheng actually understood in their hearts, but now they could only accompany Li Zicheng to perform. They got up in embarrassment. Old Mrs. Huang had to swallow his own words and said with a smile: "I admit my mistake. I am so old." Confused!"
Li Zicheng smiled and waved his hand: "As you get older, it's normal to be an old fool!"
He turned his attention to Huang Zhisheng again, "You are Huang Zhizhou, right?"
"The lower official is none other than Huang Zhisheng."
Li Zicheng said: "The King of the West wants to allocate land to the poor farmers here in Lizhou, do you agree or disagree?"
"Agree! I agree!" How dare Huang Zhisheng speak out against it?
"I agree too!" Mr. Huang said in agreement without hesitation.
Li Zicheng smiled and said: "Okay, since you all agree, let's start processing it immediately. Do you all know how much land there is in Lizhou, how many landowners there are, and how many households there are?"
"I know. Basically I know."
Of course Huang Zhisheng didn't dare to say he didn't know.
And even if he said he didn't know, it wouldn't stop Li Zicheng from dividing the land in Lizhou. Because Li Zicheng himself has been an eminent monk in Lizhou for twenty years, he still doesn't know how many big landowners there are in Lizhou?
In recent years, among the local tyrants and evil gentry in Lizhou, who has not been blessed by the kind-hearted monks from Jiashan Temple?
Li Zicheng then opened his throat again and announced loudly: "Fathers and fellow villagers in Lizhou, the purpose of the Western King's equalization of land is to drive away the Tartars and bring peace to the world! Therefore, if someone in the family joins the army, he will be able to share a larger share of land than others, and he will be able to equalize the land. If you join the army as a soldier, you can get military pay. In the future, if you achieve military merit, you can be allocated more land, and you can also become an official. If you want to be allocated more land, want to be an official and be a hero, come and become a soldier! Who wants to be a soldier? Conquer the world, divide more fields, and become a high official?"
"I think!"
"National Master, I want it too!"
"I want to be a high official, and I want to divide more fields!"
Someone immediately stood up. And the first wave of people to stand up were the subordinates of General Chen Shen. They were originally bitter green soldiers. Now they have changed their masters and continue to serve as soldiers. I won’t say whether there will be high-ranking officials in the future. , but it is real that we can allocate more fields immediately.
Lizhou suffered less during the chaos in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, so the population was relatively large and the land was relatively concentrated. Those who would work as Green Camp soldiers, of course, did not have land.
But with land, life will have a head start!
Li Zicheng looked at these sallow-looking green soldiers, as if he had seen the Ming army who had taken refuge in him (he himself had served in the Ming army). At that time, he wanted to give them land, but now he might still be the emperor!
"Okay!" Thinking of this, Li Zicheng nodded, "Follow Egan, we will allocate the fields immediately, and allocate more fields!"
"To bring peace to the world, it's just about equalizing the world! To bring peace to the world, we should start from one county, one township, and one village. We should start from clearing the fields and checking household registration. We will soon have the land of three counties at our disposal. Don't think that the territory is small. As long as it can be managed well, it will be our Hanoi County, our Jiqing Road. In terms of population, trade, and land, the three counties of Xiangshan, Xinhui, and Xinning are far ahead of Hanoi County and no less than Jiqing. Road."
In the late first month of the eleventh year of Kangxi, when Li Zicheng began to divide the fields in Lizhou, Wang Zhongxiao, who had moved his "headquarters" from Zhaoqing to Macau, began to enter a workaholic state of serving the people wholeheartedly.
His "headquarters" is not only the Guangdong Customs Road, but also includes affiliated organizations such as Jingwu School, Reform School, Tiandihui General Helm, Reform Society, etc.
Among these "organizations", the Jingwu School, the Reform School, and the Reform Society were all originally attached to the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi. They have to rely on the funding of the Governor's Yamen of Guangdong and Guangxi to maintain.
After Wang Zhongxiao captured Hao'ao St. Paul's Castle, he already had the financial resources to support these schools and societies.
First of all, with the establishment of the sea trade center of Hao'ao, Wang Zhongxiao could restrain the Guangdong Customs Road, the money-collecting yamen - there was already a group of white people here in Hao'ao who collected taxes for the Portuguese Governor's Palace. Pi or mixed-race tax officials are all proficient in customs business, so just keep them on.
Secondly, in addition to being a trade center, Hao'ao is also a religious and financial center. In fact, trade, religion, and finance are complementary to each other, because trade has a large turnover, religion has a large amount of "alms income" and tithe income, and finance has a large amount of "alms income" and tithe income. The industry just serves these "flows" and income.
As a result, when Wang Zhongxiao arrived, all the gold, silver and credit certificates stored in the treasury of the Governor's Palace and the Bishop's Palace of Macau were returned to the Guangdong Customs Road. Wang Zhongxiao even recruited the managers of the Treasury of the Governor-General's Palace and the Treasury of the Bishop's Palace and directly set up a "Nanyang Overseas Chinese Bank"!
In addition to taking care of the affairs of Luoguan Road and the bank, Wang Zhongxiao ran between Jingwu School and Reform School, busy meeting with the students and explaining revolutionary principles to the backbones of the two schools who had joined the Tiandihui.
The revolutionary principles he talked about were either from the great principles of later generations like Ma Dabeard, or from the principles of Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi. Huang Zongxi's principles of "original monarch", "original minister" and "original law" are actually against the autocratic monarchy - if you want to rebel, of course you have to oppose the monarch Kangxi! Otherwise, what kind of rebellion would you create?
But Wang Fuzhi's truth is more practical, it is just three words - equalize the world! In fact, it is to equalize the land and distribute the land to the people so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment. The reason is not complicated, but it is not easy to do it.
First of all, if you want to "unify the world", you must have a stable territory. There is no way to unify the world when you are a rogue bandit.
In fact, the principle of equalizing the world does not need to be proposed by a great scholar like Wang Fuzhi. Li Zicheng understands it! But he spent most of his time as a rogue, and after finally establishing a stable base, he was eager to compete for the world and neglected the construction of the base. Therefore, he was only exempted from taxes for a short period of time, but did not implement equalization of land. Therefore, Li Zicheng did not create a large grassroots group that could share his fate. Once a military defeat occurs, there is no way to continuously draw strength from the grassroots to compete with the enemy for a long time.
Secondly, if we want to "equalize the world", we must have an effective cadre group. If we want to equalize land, we must first check the land and household registration. Without effective officials, or if the officials simply collude with the landlords and gentry, this work cannot be done.
In order to accomplish this in feudal society, "foreign monks must be able to chant sutras", and a large number of external officials must be implemented. Since ancient times, it has been easy to share other people's land, but it is difficult to divide one's own land!
A certain central group in the mainland couldn't even reduce rents and interest rates, so it went to a small island and still killed Tian Jun in three strokes!
Wang Zhongxiao, who had known this for a long time, had a group of key people from Zhili and Zhejiang under his command, and the students recruited by Jingwu Hall and Reform School in Guangdong and Guangxi were mainly from Zhaoqing and Wuzhou. Going to Xiangshan, Xinning, and Xinhui below Guangfu to equalize the fields can also be regarded as equalizing the fields of others.
Third, for the equalization of land system to be carried out smoothly, it is best to have enough population and wasteland. Only some people have the demand for equalization of land, and the presence of wasteland can make the resistance to the equalization movement less strong at the beginning.
Coincidentally, the coastal areas of Guangdong have a lot of people and a lot of wasteland. It is simply the best place to carry out land equalization!
If Wang Zhongxiao didn't give him a good fuck, he would be sorry for D's many years of education in his previous life!
(End of chapter)
