Whether it was serving as a medical corpsman for female soldiers, or Zhang Mingwei, a noble prince of the imperial court, entering a military camp with a plague, these things were definitely very shocking for that era.
Therefore, even Li Zicheng's nephew Li Guo was very shocked after hearing what Li Laiheng said.
To be honest, if he hadn't watched Li Laiheng grow up and knew Li Laiheng very well, he would have blurted out that this was a lie.
After Li Laiheng finished speaking, he stared into Li Guo's eyes and asked very sincerely: "Father, why are we fighting? The previous court is no longer the current court. Do you know, when I heard those few One hundred thousand imperial officers and soldiers were shouting in unison, fighting for peace in the world. I... I really feel ashamed. It is we who are causing chaos in the world! If we don't rebel, will the world still be in chaos? This Look at the village, will it still be in ruins?"
Li Guo opened his mouth, obviously wanting to speak, but no words came out.
"Father, are we fighting for the general's ambition, just because he wants to be the emperor and cause chaos in the world? So many people have to die..."
This time, before Li Laiheng could finish his words, he was interrupted by Li Guo: "Don't talk nonsense. The emperor is fatuous and incompetent. The treacherous ministers in the court are in power. He regards the people as pigs and dogs. The general rose up and will overthrow..."
"Father, can you continue to say this now?" Li Laiheng seemed a little angry, interrupted Li Guo, and said loudly, "You are deceiving yourself!"
With a "pop" sound, Li Guo slapped Li Laiheng. Afterwards, both of them were a little stunned and looked at each other in surprise.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The guards around them all looked at the two of them in shock and said nothing.
Suddenly, Li Laiheng turned around and left.
"Where are you going?" Li Guo looked at his back and asked loudly.
Li Laiheng ignored him and strode away as usual.
When Li Guo saw it, he immediately shouted sharply: "Stop!"
This time, Li Laiheng stopped, but did not turn around. He just turned his back to Li Guo: "Father, it turns out that what you said before was all lies to me!"
After hearing this, Li Guo sighed suddenly, approached Li Laiheng, came in front of him, and said to him: "Can you guarantee that the court will really get better, instead of coaxing you because the court has nothing to do? of?"
Li Laiheng was stunned for a moment and did not answer immediately.
"Is it because of our presence that the court will become better?" Li Guo said to him again when he saw it.
Hearing this, Li Laiheng came back to his senses and immediately shook his head and said: "I don't care so much, I just want to know, what can I do now, what should I do, and what is worth doing?"
After all, Li Laiheng's previous faith was shaken, and now he is a little confused.
In response to his words, Li Guo opened his mouth, and after a while he said, "Let's take another look. Wait until you really see clearly before talking, okay?"
Seeing his sincere face, Li Laiheng finally nodded and replied: "Yes!"
This was his answer, and then he turned around and walked back into the house.
However, Li Guo did not follow him. Instead, he stood there and thought for a while. When he saw Li Laiheng turning around and looking at him with a little doubt, Li Guo finally said to him: "You watch here, I'll go take a look. Don’t be fooled!”
It seems that he still wants to prove from another angle that the imperial court is still the same imperial court.
After hearing this, Li Laiheng naturally understood what he meant and nodded immediately, but did not speak. He knew in his heart that what he saw was not a lie.
………………
Zhang Mingwei on the other side of Kaifeng City certainly didn't know that changes had taken place within the bandits. At this time, he was furious: "Look at how many local squires have attached their fields to the name of King Zhou. You came here to evade taxes, but now you still have the nerve to plead for mercy?"
No one thought that the imperial court would take back the land of King Zhou, which had never happened before. Then Zhang Mingwei immediately froze all the government's land and accounting books, so no one had time to do anything.
In this way, those fields attached to the name of King Zhou really became the fields of King Zhou, which suddenly caused the local gentry to lose blood.
This number is indeed shocking. Not only Zhang Mingwei was angry, but Princess Kunxing next to him was also full of anger.
Not only that, Zhang Mingwei was seen patting another file on the case table and shouting angrily: "There are so many hidden households, taking shelter in the names of local gentry to evade court taxes!"
Together with the fields under the name of King Zhou, it was discovered that there were many tenants, all of whom were hidden and were not found in the court records.
"The Duke Mingjian, these are all things that happened in the past. I really don't know about this!" The magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture and other local officials all knelt there and replied with a sad face.
They may not be unaware of these things, but no one wants to offend the local gentry. Anyway, this matter was actually common in the Ming Dynasty, and it did not harm their interests, so they naturally turned a blind eye.
Now that something happened, all the local squires entrusted them to plead for mercy, and gave them a lot of money as a meeting gift. But they didn't expect that Duke Xingguo would be furious about this, and he obviously wanted to completely reveal this unspoken rule.
With the current power of Duke Xingguo, who had just won a great victory and gained great fame, threats were definitely useless, the only thing left was to beg for mercy and shirk responsibility.
They were right. Zhang Mingwei had actually known about such a situation in the local area for a long time, so he asked Wang Erbiao to detain those files as soon as possible, and began to rectify the local area just before the enfeoffment of King Zhou.
At this time, he had plenty of troops anyway, so after reprimanding the local officials, he asked them to perform meritorious service and help him deal with the next matter.
When Li Guo came over in disguise to inquire about the news, he saw groups of imperial officers and soldiers dispatched to capture the local squires and measure the land.
After asking about it, he found out the whole story and was speechless for a long time.
The chaos in the world was superficially caused by bandits and rebels everywhere, but at its root, it was actually the serious result of land annexation.
The specific manifestation is that those who should pay taxes do not pay, and those who cannot afford to pay taxes pay more. In the end, the court cannot collect taxes at all, and the peasants who keep their peace are forced to flee. Even if there are no fleeers, there is only a slight natural disaster, and they can only flee. One way.
If the question of why he fought shocked Li Laiheng, then the fact that the imperial court was liquidating those local gentry also shocked Li Guo.
The imperial court was really determined to fundamentally change the Ming Dynasty!
Later, he also saw what Li Laiheng said.
In the past few days, there have been significantly fewer people quarantined. Li Guo saw with his own eyes that the camp where he was originally was getting smaller, and groups of people came out to be reorganized by the imperial army. In the meantime, female soldiers, health soldiers with circles on their arms, could be seen coming in and out from time to time.
He tried to find out, could the man who entered the army camp be the Duke pretending to be the king? As a result, thanks to seeing that he was strong and the people around him were also in good shape, he was not beaten. It was just a look of contempt that he could not forget for a long time.
In addition, the main force of the imperial army was still stationed outside Kaifeng City, but they were training and did not go south to pursue the general.
Li Guo could see that grain was being shipped to Kaifeng from all over the country. The Zhou king's fields, including of course those belonging to the local gentry, were all transformed into military camps, and people who were reorganized from the original rebel army were responsible for planting.
I heard that some people have set up some kind of engineering corps, which seems to be the kind of corps that specializes in building water conservancy, paving roads and building bridges. Many people are saying that this is the imperial military system that was learned from the pre-Song Dynasty.
"What about the original tenants? How did they arrange it?" Li Guo still didn't understand, so he asked others.
These things are not secrets, and a kind-hearted person answered him: "Those hermit households were all incorporated into the army and became soldiers like bandits. Those who did not have military pay were just responsible for food. As for other tenants, they were still Those who have fields will not be affected.”
When he heard this, Li Guo was a little confused: "Isn't it possible? There are so many tenants, how can they still farm?"
"How many tenants are there who are law-abiding and lawful these days?" an insider said with emotion. "They were either killed by bandits or joined the bandits. Only those who took refuge in the local gentry would escape the disaster and continue. Working for the local gentry."
At this point, many people lamented: "In these days, with wars and wars every year, and ten houses empty, how many tenants can there be who are law-abiding and law-abiding?"
"Actually, don't talk about farming. You can take a look. Let's not talk about other places. In the Central Plains, apart from some big cities, can you see villages where people live and work in peace and contentment? Zhuangzi?"
"Yes, the bandits who killed a thousand swords, and the former imperial officers and soldiers... But now everything is better. With Duke Xingguo, the bandits will be destroyed, and then the world will be at peace!"
"..."
When Li Guo heard this, he said a little unconvinced: "What about the imperial officers and soldiers? They also have bad military discipline. You have seen that many villages are actually caused by them, right?"
Hearing this, everyone else laughed. An old man smiled and said to Li Guo: "Xingguo Gong composed a song called Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention, and asked every officer and soldier in the imperial court to sing it. Anyone who dares to violate military discipline will be severely punished. "
"Yes, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court under Duke Xingguo, even those who were born as thieves, are all kind-hearted now!"
"..."
Li Guo was silent for a while after listening to their words.
