vstars Chapter 126 The Reform of Neihuang County Encounters Obstacles
Chapter 126 The Reform of Neihuang County Encounters Obstacles
The summer wind, carrying a wave of heat, swept across the wheat fields, quickly bringing the seemingly endless wheat to maturity. Although the north was still arid, all three counties in Anyang Prefecture achieved a bumper harvest, especially Tangyin County. The drilling equipment and irrigation facilities brought by Li Zhen played a crucial role in this success; in ancient times, without such equipment, one would have been entirely dependent on the weather.
Moreover, the wheat seeds were superior seeds that Li Zhen brought from the modern era. Not only did the stalks not lodging, but the yield was also extremely high, completely overwhelming other seeds of this era. After all, modern wheat seeds have been carefully cultivated by generations of agricultural scientists, and some have even been to space.
There were no weather forecasts in this era. Li Zhen looked up at the clouds in the sky with concern and said to Yue Peng, "Take advantage of the fact that it hasn't rained for the next few days and quickly have people harvest all this wheat. Get all the soldiers in the army to go to the fields to help. Soldiers can't be separated from the people; the army and the people must be one family."
Just as Li Zhen continued to inspect the farmland, a messenger rode swiftly towards them. When the horse was very close, the soldier quickly reined in his horse and jumped down.
"Reporting to Your Excellency the Prefect, this is an urgent letter from Neihuang County. Please review it."
Upon hearing that the news came from Neihuang County, Li Zhen frowned, knowing it must be about land reform. He quickly opened the kraft paper envelope, where Qian Dazhuang's crooked handwriting was displayed on the letter.
The gist of the letter is that some local gentry and wealthy households in Neihuang County are not cooperating with the land reform. They have rallied their armed forces and even colluded with bandits in the mountains to oppose the land reform in Neihuang County. Since Qian Dazhuang only has 1,500 men, and besides defending the county seat, he also needs to send troops out to protect the officials, his forces are somewhat insufficient. This letter is Qian Dazhuang's request for reinforcements.
After reading the letter, Li Zhen looked up and asked Yue Peng, "How many Dragon Tiger Battalion soldiers have we trained?"
The Dragon Tiger Battalion is an elite force composed of Li Zhen using modern firearms. They are equipped not only with automatic rifles and machine guns, but also with a large number of bombs and grenades. To ensure they are armed to the teeth, Li Zhen also provided them with vehicles and other transportation for rapid mobility.
Yue Peng: "Reporting to the chief, we have now trained a force of two thousand people, five hundred of whom are new recruits who joined last month."
Li Zhen: "Alright, let these 500 new recruits go to Neihuang County. It'll be a good opportunity for them to get some experience. Tell the officer in charge of logistics to provide them with wartime ammunition and equipment. With such a big commotion in Neihuang County this time, I reckon there must be outsiders involved."
Although Li Zhen is now the prefect of Anyang, he prefers to work in Tangyin County, while Yue Ying and Lao Sun are in Anyang City to the north. Neihuang County is currently somewhat chaotic, but Li Zhen is confident that Bu Liang and Qian Dazhuang will be able to handle it.
After writing his reply to Qian Dazhuang, Li Zhen called over the messenger from earlier and instructed him to deliver it to Qian Dazhuang without fail. Neihuang County was just the beginning. If Li Zhen couldn't even handle a small county like Neihuang, how could he talk about expanding his influence and conquering new territories?
Today, the gentry and wealthy households in Neihuang County are divided into three factions. One faction, led by Wang Juren, supports reform. They know that they cannot compete with Li Zhen on their own. It would be better to use their capital to exchange for mining rights of various mineral resources. If things go as Li Zhen said, they will get more than the local landlords.
The middle group consisted of two-faced individuals, a bunch of opportunists. On the surface, they cooperated with Li Zhen's land reform by conducting land surveys and population censuses, but they kept delaying handing over their land and land deeds for various reasons. They knew that their assets were simply insufficient to compete with Wang Juren and others for mining rights, so they were waiting for this struggle between Li Zhen and the resistance faction. If one side won, they would immediately change their stance.
The majority of the resistance fighters were old families and powerful local gentry in Neihuang County. They felt that even though Li Zhen had the imperial edict of the Song emperor, it could not shake the assets in their hands. In their eyes, land was the foundation of their families. Li Zhen took away the land that they had acquired over several generations right away, which was really against the way of being an official.
Many of them began to leverage their connections. Since Li Zhen was merely a minor prefect, they wanted to exert pressure on him through higher-ranking officials in the Song Dynasty. In addition, they had gathered over three or four thousand retainers and bandits, and had already clashed with officials who came to conduct a census a few days prior.
The Zhou family is a case in point. There are three large families and several smaller families in the entire Zhou family town. No one dares to side with Li Zhen unless the Zhou family patriarch gives the word.
Old Master Zhou asked his eldest son, "Has there been a reply from Lin'an? We've been sending them benefits for so many years, now it's time for them to put their talents to use."
Zhou Bingwen replied respectfully, "Father, don't worry. This time, I sent the third son with some more valuables. I believe those officials in the Ministry of Personnel will understand. However, this time, it seems that Li Zhen is determined to manipulate us. Yesterday, someone discovered a troop of cavalry scouting outside the town. It looks like they're going to take action against us in the next few days."
Old Master Zhou scoffed, "What's there to fear about a prefect with no real power? Even the powerful Prime Minister Wang back then, what happened to him? He still ended up with the failure of the reform. Son, you must remember, imperial power doesn't extend to the countryside. In Zhoujia Town, we are the true emperors."
The Zhou family steward came running over, sweating profusely: "Master, those bandits have caused trouble again. They just kidnapped a girl from a family in town and killed the man."
Zhou Bingwen roared, "These bastards are truly despicable! Gather the servants, I'm going to take a look."
Old Master Zhou spoke calmly: "What's the rush? They're just a few lowly commoners. But we can't let these people run wild. Old Wu, go and book the Wan Hua Lou in town and send these people there."
After the steward left, Old Master Zhou scolded his eldest son, "Didn't I just tell you that no matter what happens, you must stay calm? You will be the head of the family in the future, so you must always consider the big picture. Son, remember, as long as our Zhou family exists, there will be no Zhou Family Town."
The same scene unfolded in various towns and villages under Neihuang County. These local gentry and powerful families were used to their tyranny, and the common people were also accustomed to it. After all, local officials were transient, while these gentry and powerful families had been stationed there for a long time. So even though many people knew about Li Zhen's land reform policy, they chose to ignore it, because they knew that even if they obtained land from the government today, they would have to return it with interest once the local officials left.
He had long known about this problem. He knew that his lord was not dealing with just one person, but the entire landlord class of the feudal dynasty, and the difficulties and obstacles involved were immense. But since he had decided to follow his lord and make a difference, he had to fully support the policies he had formulated, and find a way even if there were many difficulties.