On the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, it was dusk in Chuiliu Village, Qingshan Township, Ninghai Prefecture.
Because the first meeting of the Village Farmers' Association was to be held tonight, many families had dinner early. The air filled with smoke was filled with a fresh atmosphere that was different from the past, and there was also a hint of tension. People who had eaten early had nothing to do. When they met each other when they went out, they all said hello with a smile: "Have you eaten? There is a farmers' meeting today after dark!"
Everyone walked to the threshing floor at the entrance of the village. It was empty and there was no one around. At this time, two people who were working together came forward, carrying a dilapidated Eight Immortals table and placed it on the empty field. Someone asked: "When will the meeting be held?"
The two people put down the table and said with a smile: "Don't worry, it's not dark yet. Look, someone has just come back from the fields. They have to wait for them to eat, right?"
People really had nowhere to go, so they gathered on the threshing floor in groups of three or five, smoking and chatting. Children from various families were making noise around them. Some children were so naughty that they were caught and copied by adults. Hit him with a big slap on his butt.
After having dinner, Zhang Shirong came out of home and happened to meet his former part-time worker Gu Laowu. He seemed to be looking for him specially. When he saw him coming out, he immediately came over and asked: "Shirong, do you have our share in the black head meeting today?" ?」
"Fifth uncle, you really want to make me happy, but I don't know if you have a share in it? Isn't it true that the ten acres of land in the Ke family are cultivated by themselves? Everyone who directly cultivates the land has a share!"
The people passing by laughed when they heard this. I couldn't tell whether this Gu Laowu was here or not. He was so breathtaking.
It was approaching dark, and the threshing floor that had been requisitioned by the work team for the meeting was already full of people inside and outside. Because of the hot weather, many people sat directly on the floor without anything under their buttocks. Although the previous notice of the Beihai Navy stated that only direct agricultural operators could join, in fact many long-term workers came, and several gentry landowners also sent housekeepers.
A blackboard was hung on a wooden frame at one end of the threshing floor. On the ground around it, villagers sat in groups, and only a humming sound could be heard. The moon hangs in the western sky like half an egg shell, and the stars are also very bright. The mugwort leaves burned to ward off mosquitoes are curled up by the thick smoke blown by the breeze, and many people are choked and coughing.
Except for those who presided over the meeting and tinkered with the emergency lights, the members of the work team stood guard outside. However, these people did not wear camouflage green military uniforms, but wore the same coarse cotton jackets and trousers as ordinary people. They looked half-new and not old, and were still patched in many places. If we really want to talk about the differences between them and the villagers in Chuiliu Village, firstly, there are no pigtails on their heads, they all have short hair; and there are shoes on their feet.
With a "swish" sound, the two emergency lights located in the corner of the threshing floor came on. The noise was even louder now, and many people came over to take a look. Although some people have seen this thing several times, it always causes a fuss every time it is used, just like stars falling from the sky to the earth.
"It's so bright, just like broad daylight!"
"Lao Liu, tell me this cover is made of crystal glass, right? Why is it so translucent?"
"Ouch! Why is this shell yellow? Only the emperor can use this color!"
"His third uncle, there are no such rules in Beihai Town!"
When the time came for the meeting, a muscular man in his twenties climbed up on the old Eight Immortals table, put his hands together into a mouthpiece, and loudly announced that the meeting was about to begin.
"Dear fellow villagers! The mobilization meeting of the Chuiliu Village Peasants' Association begins now. Captain Li is invited to speak."
As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped off the table. Then, a short man with a square face, about thirty years old, stood up from the crowd and walked over. He was wearing a faded homespun jacket, with a white short-sleeved jacket underneath, a pair of cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles on his feet, and a short pipe pot with a copper tip in his hand.
"Today, today's meeting is just to talk about the farmers' association. Some people may ask, what is a farmers' meeting? Do you understand?"
A person below said loudly: "What don't you understand? Isn't it just to take out the land from the rich man's family and distribute it to the farmers, so that the farmers can have land to grow, and the poor can have enough to eat."
"Meng Chanzi, stop talking nonsense!"
"I'm not talking nonsense. Isn't that what the notice said before?"
"That's nonsense! Do you know how to read?!"
Captain Li smiled and did not interrupt their words. He looked at the villagers below from near to far; some looked at him with a smile, some had hope in their eyes, and some had timid eyes. At the edge of the crowd farthest away from him, Widow Dong from the village stood alone in the half-darkness with her two naked children. She was holding one by one hand. The child's face was covered with eye excrement, snot, and stains. Got a lot of flies.
"We are holding a farmers' meeting this time. Why are we holding a farmers' meeting? In a word, let the tillers have land! It means that those who want to farm will have land, and those who don't work will not have it..."
"What are the benefits of joining? I asked you! There are many benefits, let me tell you, Suan Suan..."
"Someone asked the farmers' association who has the final say? Of course everyone has the final say! The work team is the one who supports Xie and makes the decision!"
"What should the landlord do if he doesn't sell the land? Good question! Haha, I have been here in Chuiliu Village for more than a day or two. Take the Bai family as an example. The work team knows exactly how much land their family has. They clearly remember it on the land account. in vain!"
Even though Li Erkui may be the work captain of Chuiliu Village, eight years ago he was still an illiterate poor peasant. A severe drought in Henan plunged his family of four into despair. They had no choice but to leave their hometown to beg for food. Later, they were bought by Xu Dayong outside Kaifeng for twelve ounces of money. He originally thought that his family would work as slaves, but when they arrived in Beihai Town, they had a different way of life.
Although he had been a soldier in the Northern Navy for several years and became a platoon leader, there was no refined vocabulary in his words, and it was really hard for him to say it. In order to hold this mobilization meeting, Li Erkui spent two days collecting the questions that the villagers were most concerned about, and racked his brains to condense the answers into a short sentence or two, which made everyone present listen with interest. Bursts of laughter broke out, they liked this kind of nonsense the most.
Although these farmers are illiterate, they like to be recognized. They have their own accounts of land, harvests, burdens, rations, etc., and they are very good at calculating. They know everything about how to do things appropriately.
When the villagers present learned that as long as they became members of the farmers' association and went to the credit department in the village to borrow money with their membership cards, they would only be charged 2% interest for three months, they all opened their mouths in surprise, as if they had heard a strange story. After they closed their mouths, they started talking in various directions...
While the meeting on the threshing floor was going on, in a large courtyard with green bricks and black tiles at the east end of the village, the head of the Bai family, Bai Guangde, sat on the kang and sighed. The main housekeeper, Bai Yushi, sat beside him and sobbed softly. Wiping tears with a handkerchief.
"Cry, cry, you are trying to die! I am not dead yet. Wait until you die before you cry!"
"The land is gone! I still have the thirty acres of land I brought as my dowry! How will I live in the future?"
Bai Guangde slapped the table and cursed: "How are you going to survive? I'm so hungry that I won't die!"
The woman's cry was quieter, but she was still sobbing. The eldest son Bai Yingzhong, who was standing nearby, said angrily: "It took three generations of our family to work hard to earn 500 acres of land. If we don't steal or rob, he Zhao Why should the prince take half of it? And the Laoshizi Peasant Association, just because our family has leased all the land, they won’t let us join! Why?! And why should the rent be reduced? I’m looking for someone After asking, even if the Zhu family is emperor, 50% of the rent is the minimum!"
"The world is broken and people's hearts are broken! It's so bad!" Bai Guangde looked heartbroken, turned around and cupped his hands toward the north and said, "Your Majesty! Take a look at the world!"
After sighing, he knocked a little red fire from the cigarette pot on the edge of the kang, and then put another bag of cigarettes under Bai Yingzhong's service. When it was lit, he smoked vigorously for a long time, and then said: "No, I have to go to Liu Xiucai's place tomorrow to ask. What they are doing is too bullying!"
"Dad, Mr. Liu went to Beihai Town to take the imperial examination and hasn't come back yet."
"Ouch! How could I have forgotten this! Then... you go ask Zhongquan to hitch the mule cart when the rooster crows tomorrow morning. We will go to the village and ask your uncle for an idea." After Bai Guangde gave his instructions, he seemed to have remembered something and asked, "Zhongquan didn't go to the Laoshizi meeting, did he?"
"I didn't go. He's still cutting fodder in the yard." After Bai Yingzhong finished speaking, he added: "Dad, you
Do not worry. He, Zhang Zhongquan, is a guy who can't be beaten with three kicks, and besides, our family doesn't treat him badly. "
"Alas! There are not many honest people left! Don't let Zhongquan follow the bad example of those people."
The Bai family and his son didn't know that Zhang Zhongquan actually wanted to attend the meeting at first, but after chatting with his brother Zhang Zhongshou in the afternoon, he gave up the idea. At this time, while feeding the animals, he was thinking about what his elder brother said in the afternoon.
"I told Xie that it is always better to be less prominent. You have to leave a way out for everything. Being poor is destined to be poorer in the previous life. If Xie joins the society, if the court fights back, it will be chaos. Everyone in the party must be executed! When there was religious chaos in Linqing, I saw it with my own eyes. I dragged it directly outside the city gate and stabbed it with a click. The master is right, the real dragon emperor is in Beijing, as long as the emperor does not fall, we Don’t cause trouble.”
The mobilization meeting in Chuiliu Village lasted for more than an hour. At the last count, more than 70% of the farmers were willing to join the farmers' association, and 30% were in a wait-and-see state. This result already made Li Erkui very satisfied.
After the meeting, he convened a meeting with members of the work team and decided to strike while the iron was hot. Tomorrow he would separately go to the 30% of households to ask what their confusion was, and try to get all poor and middle peasants in Chuiliu Village to join the farmers' association. As for himself, he is going to "visit" Bai Guangde, the largest landowner in the village, tomorrow to discuss the matter of paid land resumption.
Unexpectedly, when he went to Bai's house the next morning and asked, he found out that Bai Guangde and his son had gone out early in the morning, and the housekeeper couldn't tell when he would come back. Although the start of the mission was unfavorable, Li Erkui did not feel discouraged. He said to himself that if a monk can escape, he cannot escape from the temple. As long as the farmers' association is established, the land will be sold even if it is not sold!
On the other side, Bai Guangde and his son set off on the road in a mule cart at dawn, and it was already afternoon when they arrived at Shangzhuang Village.
Shangzhuang Village is located in the east of Muping City. It has been the largest village in Ninghai Prefecture since the Ming Dynasty, and more than 80% of the people there have the surname Yu. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yu family of Shangzhuang had hundreds of people who were admitted to Jinshi, Juren, and Shengyuan, making them a well-known family. The most famous among them was the Yu Qishan family, which produced four Jinshi.
The Yu Family Courtyard is an old house with a history of more than 300 years. It has three front and back entrances and east and west spans. It is all built with large and thick blue bricks. Although it has been exposed to wind, rain and sun for hundreds of years, the masonry is still strong because of careful maintenance. The courtyard is covered with green bricks, with tile-roofed houses, halls and wooden buildings. The wall is very thick, with patches of green moldy moss growing on it. An old vine clings to the quince tree. Its leaves are thick and lush, covering half of the yard in shade and coolness. On the contrary, the quince tree is half-dead.
Even though the Bai family was a big landowner in Chuiliu Village, they were completely incomparable to the Yu family. The father and son waited for a while before hearing a cough from behind the screen, knowing that Mr. Yu had come out.
Yu Qishan is over fifty this year, with half-white hair and beard. Although he is very thin, his eyes are full of energy. After this man won the imperial examination fifteen years ago, he worked as an aide to Yu Yijian, the governor of Shandong Province. Unexpectedly, the "Cathay Corruption Case" occurred in the 47th year of Qianlong's reign, and Yu Yijian was also killed. It took a lot of effort for him to escape, and from then on he gave up officialdom.
When he learned about the purpose of Bai Guangde and his son's visit, Yu Qishan, who was also angry at the work team, complained and even asked the housekeeper to show them a couplet he wrote yesterday.
The Yu clan in Shangzhuang Village has a huge power. Due to the mountains and the lack of land, and land annexation, almost 60% of the villagers are tenant farmers and live in very poverty. The problem is that Yu Qishan is the clan leader and can use clan laws to punish clan members, so although he is full of hope for the Peasants' Association, no one dares to take the lead.
The working team stationed in the village was well aware of this situation. In order to break the deadlock and put pressure on Yu Qishan, they applied for equipment from the Ninghai Prefecture Military Control Commission, and then set up two loudspeakers in the village, three in the morning, noon and one in the evening. During this period, they either publicized the benefits of farmers' associations, or publicized policies and punishment regulations on rent and interest reductions, which made everyone angry.
After four or five consecutive days of broadcasting, the poor households finally understood that everything was backed by the Military Control Commission and Prince Zhao, and they gradually became more courageous. So when the mobilization meeting was held, half of the households in Shangzhuang Village joined the farmers' association. This made Yu Juren crazy. You must know that his family has more than 2,000 acres of land. If this is taken away and divided, no one in the village will listen to him anymore.
The housekeeper is very fast
When he came back, Bai Yingzhong took it and opened it. The first couplet read, "The agricultural movement is booming. Rice, rice, millet, millet, and wheat are all scattered on the ground." The second couplet reads, "The venue is vast, with horses, cattle, sheep, and chickens." "Dogs and pigs, look up and the house is full of beasts"; the horizontal comment is "Binjian Kapuppet".
Bai Guangde only attended private school for a few years and had little knowledge, but his son Bai Yingzhong was a student. Although it was donated, he still had some ink. After seeing the couplet, he exclaimed repeatedly and admired Juren's literary talent.
Bai Guangde pointed at Hengpi in confusion and said, "Brother, please forgive me for my lack of talent and lack of knowledge. What does this mean?"
In terms of people's opinions, you have the nerve to say that you are "short of talent and have little knowledge," but you are just a idiot. If your father hadn't been a civil servant, he wouldn't have promised you his concubine's daughter. He then looked at his nephew and said with a smile, "Ying Zhong, can you explain it to your father?"
Bai Yingzhong knew that his uncle was testing him, so he said to his father with a happy face: "Father, please see, the first two characters of my uncle's couplet together are the word "peasant association". The upper and lower couplets mean that the peasant association is* **,brute. "
Bai Guangde suddenly understood, stretched out his thumb and said, "Well done!"
"As for the horizontal batch, it is even more wonderful. You see, the four words "binjiankapuppet" can be broken down into "civil and military, small and large, upper and lower, human and ghost". My uncle is reprimanding the peasant association for being neither civil nor military. Neither small nor big, neither up nor down, neither human nor ghost. "
"Okay, okay!" Bai Guangde thought to himself that this couplet is really good. Scholars even hide their curses, and they are full of knowledge. But after getting excited, he still asked the most concerning question: "Brother, what do you think we should do next?"
"Humph, they are destroying their own foundation. The tail has been hidden for half a year, and it is finally exposed!" Yu Juren said angrily: "It has been said since ancient times that officials do not compete with the people for benefits, and those who receive the greater cannot take the lesser. This is The principles of heaven are also the ancient ways!"
Bai Guangde was confused when he heard this. He was about to turn to his son to listen to the explanation when he heard his uncle continue: "You and your son, please relax. To tell you the truth, let alone Ninghai Prefecture, Wendeng, Rongcheng, Haizhou The gentry in Yang and other places are filled with righteous indignation. If they do this, the gentry from all over the country will attack in groups!"
"what do you mean?"
"Hmph, let them be arrogant for a few days, and we will see the result in ten days!"
