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Large-scale civil unrest broke out in Xingzhou. The direct reason was of course that Liu Zimin used excessive force and extreme methods when implementing agricultural reforms. He just blindly forced the people to change their planting habits, but he did not have the patience to explain the reasons in detail to the people. He didn't understand the principle of Xu Xu Tuzhi at all. He just wanted to claim credit from Zhao Junchen after seeing the results immediately, which naturally forced the people to rebel.
But after all, Liu Zimin is a fellow magistrate of Xingzhou and has a high position in Xingzhou. Therefore, when he implements agricultural reforms, he cannot personally implement the decree, let alone go door to door to force the people to destroy All the old crops on the farmland were replanted with corn and sweet potatoes.
If Liu Zimin wanted to implement the administrative decree, he had to rely on two other forces. One was the officials at all levels of government, and the other was the gentry in major counties and townships.
Most of the time, the power of civil servants and the power of the gentry are actually the same thing. The servants of local government offices are basically filled by the children of the local gentry.
According to the intelligence provided by Wu Sangui, it was precisely because of the deliberate efforts of government officials and county and township gentry to add fuel to the flames, add layers of pressure, and incite public anger that the situation in Xingzhou got out of hand.
Although the people who actually oppressed the people were government officials and county and township gentry, they directed all the people's grievances to Liu Zimin, saying that they were only forced by Liu Zimin's orders.
Liu Zimin's rebellious behavior was all because of Zhao Junchen's agricultural reform plan, so all the blame was placed on Liu Zimin and Zhao Junchen.
To this day, in Xingzhou, people will hate Liu Zimin when they hear his name, and they will angrily attack when they hear about agricultural reforms. Public opinion has been completely corrupted.
All in all, Liu Zimin was played hard by the officials and gentry below him, and he was simply played in the palm of his hand.
As for the reason why government officials and county and township gentry chose this approach, the reason is also very simple.
Zhao Junchen's agricultural reform plan had originally harmed their actual interests. In addition, people from the "Zhou Party" were secretly colluding with each other, so they naturally hit it off.
And the most important reason is to seize the opportunity to annex land and raise servants!
After the civil unrest broke out in Xingzhou, a large number of fertile fields were abandoned and the farming season was delayed. A large number of people became refugees and fled their hometowns to avoid the chaos.
As a result, the people all lost their farmland harvests and their source of livelihood. They were also unable to pay land rent and taxes. Naturally, they had to sell their property and maybe sell their children.
At that time, government officials and county and township gentry only had to pay a small price to annex land and raise servants. Although they also lost this year's farmland harvest, they still made a lot of money.
Throughout the ages, similar routines have been performed countless times. Combined with the information provided by Wu Sangui, Zhao Junchen naturally understood it at a glance.
For Zhao Junchen, the top priority now is not to punish the government officials and county and township gentry who contributed to the flames, nor to uncover the "Zhou Party" forces behind the scenes, but to reverse the public opinion in Xingzhou as soon as possible and completely eliminate Xingzhou. The people of the state are hostile to agricultural reforms.
The best way to reverse public opinion and eliminate hatred is to shift the focus and conflicts!
Since the officials and gentry can transfer all the people's grievances to Liu Zimin and Zhao Junchen, then Zhao Junchen will naturally return all these grievances!
It is actually not difficult to do this. It has never been difficult to manipulate people's hearts.
Very few people had seen Liu Zimin with their own eyes, and they had no idea about the details of the agricultural reform plan.
And the people who really started to persecute the people were the government officials and the county and township gentry...
Therefore, Zhao Junchen just needs to let the people understand this.
The great man of later generations also said another wise saying - "Go deep into the grassroots and mobilize the masses"!
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On this day, after entering Anzhou, Zhao Junchen's team only traveled more than 20 miles before they needed to stop their journey again to rest due to the drag of the refugees.
Zhao Junchen is no longer surprised by this situation. You can never expect refugees to travel thousands of miles a day while taking care of their families.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen was not in a hurry. After discovering that the refugees could not hold on, he took the initiative to stop the team, returned to the resting place of the refugees, and soon started chatting with the refugees.
Regarding Zhao Junchen's appearance, the refugees were still frightened at first, but after similar situations happened several times in succession, they no longer made a fuss when they saw Zhao Junchen's friendly and unassuming attitude. Instead, they crowded around Zhao Junchen. , vying to talk to Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen sat casually next to an old man. He first nodded and smiled at the people around him, then smiled at the old man and said: "Mr. Shi, this junior is here to find you again. You haven't finished telling the story last time." Woolen cloth."
Mr. Shi once had a good family background, had experience in reading and literacy, and was well-organized in his speech and actions. Therefore, he had a certain reputation among the refugees, so he was targeted by Zhao Junchen. He has been pestering Mr. Shi for the past two days, asking him to He tells about his life experience.
Mr. Shi was naturally flattered and nodded quickly: "Yes! I haven't finished talking yet! Last time I talked about the old man's family being well off when he was young. Although he was not a landlord or a squire, due to the efforts of his ancestors to open up wasteland, the family of five also farmed their own land near the country. Hundreds of acres of fertile land, and I once studied and learned literacy with the village master...
Who would have thought that something unexpected could happen. Thirty years ago, the Jianzhou Tatars and the Mongolian Tatars joined forces to invade. They bypassed Liaodong Town and Shanhaiguan and started attacking and plundering from Xuanfu Town. At one point, they invaded Ji Although the town defense area has not affected Xingzhou yet, the people of Xingzhou are already panicking...
Just when people were panicking, rumors suddenly spread in the countryside, saying that a small group of Tatars had entered Xingzhou and were burning, killing and looting everywhere. People in nearby villages suffered heavy casualties, which made everyone even more panicked. I keep my heart tight and ready to avoid war at any time..."
Speaking of this, Mr. Shi's expression was filled with resentment, and he added: "Suddenly one day, everyone saw beacon fire and smoke blazing in the distance. As you know, sir, beacon fire and smoke will only be ignited when the enemy is discovered. Look, The presence of beacon fire means that Tatars are nearby. At the same time, all kinds of terrifying rumors are flying all over the sky, scaring people to death...
The old man's parents and family were frightened by the rumors, and immediately packed up their belongings and hid in the county. However, after entering the county, all food and clothing expenses had to be purchased from others, and the price of food and commodities in the county continued to rise. He couldn't afford it. Although the old man's family owned nearly a hundred acres of self-cultivated land, in order to support the old man's education, they had no savings. In desperation, he had to borrow a usurious loan from the squire... Hehe, it's just in the county town. After avoiding it for six or seven days, I owed five taels of silver in high-interest debt!
What's even more irritating is that it was later proven that the fire and smoke seen at that time was simply a false alarm! The Tatars never invaded Xingzhou. At that time, there was only war in Xingzhou, so the old man's family owed a huge debt for no reason!
Logically speaking, given the old man's family situation at the time, he could repay the five taels of silver as long as he had one year's grace. However, after the old man and his family finally returned to the countryside, the squire forced the old man's parents to repay the debt immediately, but in a short time How can I pay back the money? So the squire reported the old man's father to the county government, and the county government also arrested the old man's father without asking any questions. In order to win the lawsuit and rescue the old man's father, the family had no choice but to borrow money again in order to open up the joint..."
Speaking of this, Mr. Shi smiled miserably and concluded: "In just two or three years, the old man's family has been completely exhausted... The nearly 100 acres of self-cultivated land that the family has finally cultivated have all been expropriated. The debt was incurred, the land was completely lost, and the farmer became a farm laborer for other people, and could only live by relying on others..."
After Zhao Junchen heard this, he shook his head and sighed, as if he was feeling sad.
But in fact, there is nothing surprising about Mr. Shi's experience in Zhao Junchen's eyes.
Ever since he heard that Mr. Shi was once born into a family of farmers, but now he has become a farm laborer, Zhao Junchen has roughly guessed Mr. Shi's life experience. The specific reasons were either that his family members were sick and needed medical treatment, or that they were raped by others. Be tricked and suffer persecution.
All in all, there is no room for error. Once you encounter any accident, you will definitely owe debts, and once you owe debts, you will definitely lose everything.
Similar stories have been played out countless times in this land.
After Zhao Junchen sighed and shook his head, he suddenly asked: "Mr. Shi, have you ever thought... that your family's situation has been framed from the beginning?"
"Set up? Frame up?" Mr. Shi's reaction was very interesting. After he was stunned for a moment, he understood Zhao Junchen's hint in an instant. The expression on his dark and rough face was both angry and flustered, but he still kept talking. He shook his head and said: "No, no way...how, how is it possible?"
Obviously, deep down in his heart, Mr. Shi had already vaguely guessed the truth of the matter, but he did not dare to admit the truth at all.
After all, once the truth is admitted, hatred will arise, but Mr. Shi has no ability to take revenge, so he can only hold his hatred in his heart and suffocate himself to death.
Therefore, Mr. Shi would rather believe that all these things are just because of his family's bad luck.
But Zhao Junchen ruthlessly exposed Mr. Shi's self-deception.
"Nine times out of ten, they were framed!" Zhao Junchen analyzed calmly: "My father-in-law, if you think about it carefully, ordinary villagers have no ability to leave the countryside and cannot receive any external news. Why did rumors suddenly spread that the Tatars were burning, killing and looting nearby? Hey! The only people who have the ability to create such rumors are the well-informed Jin gentry, and only the rumors spread by the Jin gentry will quickly trigger a response !
Also, after beacon fires were set off near my hometown, why didn’t the surrounding counties respond with beacon fires? He must have been greeted in advance, so there was no subsequent accountability! Furthermore, why did food prices and commodity prices in the county rise so early? Needless to say, you must have been prepared! Also, the squires were lending money everywhere at that time, so why did they have so much surplus silver? Are you already prepared? Not to mention the secret cooperation between the government and the squires. Not only did they fail to clarify the rumors in time, but they actively assisted the squires in collecting debts everywhere! "
Zhao Junchen pointed out many doubtful points in one go!
People are not always ignorant, but because they do not have more reliable sources of information, they naturally can only blindly believe in the one-sided words of public figures, and they will be manipulated by others.
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But the difference between wise men and fools often stems from the asymmetry of information. People always use "well-informed" to describe wise men, and "ignorant" to describe fools. This is actually what they mean.
Once they lose their information advantage, a wise man may not be able to remain wise. Once they have more reliable information channels, a fool can easily expose the wise man's calculations, and even play with the so-called "wise men". .
But now, Zhao Junchen just wants to tell the people the truth.
In other words, it is to tell part of the truth to the people!
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