All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 87 Jiangnan Affairs

Jinling City was the most prosperous place in the Ming Dynasty.

It is slightly less important than the capital, but in terms of prosperity, wealth and bustle, this is the most prosperous place in the world.

In restaurants and teahouses across the city, in places of entertainment and even on the Qinhuai River, high-spirited scholars were loudly discussing Chen Ran who had crossed the river.

In front of all the beautiful women, the young man was full of vigor and shouted loudly, "The monster from Jizhen has landed in Zhenjiang Prefecture!"

"We must destroy this evil ghost who eats people without leaving any bones, and protect our own land and property!"

There was thunderous applause and cheers all around.

The next day, the latest news came that Chen Ran’s army had arrived in Dantu.

"The ruthless butcher is approaching Maoshan!"

The young man was furious. "Let's go and ask the court to mobilize the army to destroy this butcher!"

Everyone cheered, responded in unison, and ran to the government office to ask for orders.

On the third day, updated news arrived that Chen Ran's troops were approaching Jurong.

"The traitor has arrived in Jurong!" The young man drew out his sword and waved it, "We must stop him from moving forward!"

Shouts and applause echoed from all around, but the intensity was not as strong as before.

On the fourth day, on the largest flower boat on the Qinhuai River, the young man said in a hoarse voice, "Chen Ran has already arrived in Tangshan! We can't let him get any closer to Jinling City!"

The sword he used to show off was gone. The pretty girls who were watching him smiled and clapped their hands in a professional manner, but no one spoke in agreement.

On the fifth day, the young man sat depressedly in his chair, drinking one glass after another.

A girl came forward to serve, "Sir, where is the Grand Commander?"

The young man sighed, picked up the wine glass and drank it all. "We have arrived in Jiangning."

"Ah?" the girl exclaimed softly, "Doesn't that mean we are already outside the city? Can we hold it?"

"Guard?" The young master looked strange and dry. "Those who can run have run away. The rest are busy cleaning the streets and the palace. Who will guard the city? Will you go?"

"Sir, you are joking." The girl covered her mouth with a handkerchief and chuckled, "With my body, I can't withstand the attack of the commander-in-chief. I'm afraid I will go to paradise in an instant."

On the sixth day, the young man appeared again in the largest flower boat on the Qinhuai River.

He was full of energy, wearing a hastily made mandarin duck battle robe, waving his sword in his hand and shouting, "His Royal Highness the Regent has arrived in his loyal Jinling City! Everyone, cheer, drink for the Regent~~~ Today I'm treating~~~"

Amid the cheers, a girl curiously asked, "Sir, why are you so happy that the Regent has entered the city? You weren't like this a few days ago."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

The young master sternly rebuked, "The Regent is destined by heaven, and we will live a good life under the Regent."

After that, he lowered his voice and explained with a hint of excitement, "I just found out today that my father had already followed the Duke of Wei to become the regent! Who knows, my family may become a founding hero in the future!"

"Congratulations, sir. Congratulations, sir." The beautiful girl's eyes sparkled, and she immediately sat in his arms and poured him wine. "Sir, I will serve you wine~~~"

Chen Ran was unaware of these stories about the Qinhuai River.

He had already arrived at the imperial palace in the city.

This is the Jinling Imperial Palace that Zhu Yuanzhang spent countless manpower and resources to build by "moving three mountains and filling them with swallows and sparrows."

Considering the productivity of that era, this was an extremely huge project that cost a lot of money.

"What a shame." Looking at the palace in front of him, Chen Ran shook his head repeatedly, "They actually built two palaces. What a waste."

The group of Jinling civil and military nobles who followed behind him all echoed his words, accusing the Ming royal family of excessive waste, without ever thinking that they were Ming officials.

"Everyone."

Turning around, Chen Ran glanced at the people who surrendered. "You have made contributions by surrendering, but this governor is clear about rewards and punishments. Merits will be remembered, but mistakes must be investigated."

"Go and find someone from the East Factory to explain yourself, and hand over the ill-gotten gains. This governor will make arrangements for you as appropriate."

All the surrendered people looked at Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei. They all followed his advice and stayed instead of running away.

"What the Grand Commander said is very true." Xu Hongji immediately stepped forward and said, "I second the proposal. I will go home and collect all the ill-gotten gains. I will donate all the ill-gotten gains to the court and wait for the Grand Commander's decision!"

The rest of the civil and military nobles all looked very unhappy.

It is very difficult to accept the idea of ​​handing over one's property psychologically.

Looking at everyone's ugly faces, Chen Ran didn't care at all.

In history, when facing the Qing army, Jinling simply surrendered and handed over all their property to the Qing army.

Now that it’s your turn to ask for it, do you dare not hand it over?

Could it be that you think that this governor is easier to bully than the Qing army?

"Who escaped before entering the city?"

"Reply to the Grand Commander." Xu Hongji handed over a list, "Most of them are from the Donglin Party, and there are also..."

"Yeah." Looking at the thick list in his hand, Chen Ran took the pen handed to him by Wu Xiang and circled a few names.

"Ma Shiying and others can just recover their ill-gotten gains and be allowed to return home."

"The remaining people, especially those like Ruan Dacheng, must return with their heads."

He handed the list to Wu Xiang and said, "Arrange the troops to march out. Don't let anyone go."

"Leader!"

Chen Ran not only wanted the lives of the gentry, but also their property and their land.

There is no doubt that this touches upon the fundamental interests of the gentry.

Those gentry who escaped when Li Zicheng swept across the south of the Yangtze River encouraged the people to resist.

The existence of gentry is not what one imagines, with dozens of people in their family, hundreds of people in their clan, plus hundreds of slaves, tenants and so on.

In fact, the gentry had great prestige in their hometowns and often owned tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres of land. The network of relationships in the court was intricate, and a post in the local area could get the government to do things, controlling the lives of tens of thousands or even more people in the local area.

They took out money and food to launch the movement, and the scale and momentum were extremely large.

When dealing with Li Zicheng before, the gentry did not give their all.

Because Li Zicheng was a bandit, he would rob and leave as he passed by. If he couldn't take down a manor or fortress, he wouldn't stay there for too long.

There is indeed a loss, but it can be made up later.

But Chen Ran is different. He wants to cut off the foundation of the gentry by cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron.

This requires desperate efforts.

Large numbers of troops were sent out to sweep across the south of the Yangtze River.

Huang Degong, deputy general of the Ningyuan Left Army, was ordered to go to Huaining to hunt down Ruan Dacheng.

Arriving all the way in Huaining, the Ruan family's fortress and manor were already deserted, with only a few elderly, weak, women and children left in the fields.

Upon inquiry, it was learned that after Ruan Dacheng escaped, he instigated his clansmen to take the common people with him and bring their property and food into the county town, intending to defend it to the death.

By the time Huang Degong arrived at the county town, the city gates had already been closed and the city walls were filled with men guarding the city.

The subordinates stepped forward and said, "General, let's attack the city."

"No hurry." Huang Degong remembered the instructions given by the Grand Commander before he set out, and immediately called out, "Call all those speed training students over."

The term "speed training" does not sound very nice, and it is indeed a term that refers to talents who are trained quickly, in a hasty manner.

But hundreds of years later, there was also a school that trained many batches of fast-track students. That school was called "Huangpu"!
A group of speed-trained students came forward, discussed with Huang Degong, and quickly took action.

The next day, people from many villages and towns outside the city gathered at the foot of the city.

They shouted to the men on the top of the city wall, "The court is going to distribute land. If you don't go home, you won't get any."

"Er Gouzi~~~"

"Third child~~~"

"Huang Daniu~~~"

"Wu Youde~~~"

"Fang Dasha~~~"

"."

The people shouted names one by one, calling on the court to distribute land and houses, causing a commotion on the city walls.

"Be quiet, don't talk in private!" Ruan Dacheng and his male relatives waved their weapons and shouted loudly, "That's all a lie, don't believe it! Today everyone will eat white rice, and everyone will receive one tael of silver!"

After eating white rice and receiving one or two taels of silver, the young men's restless emotions gradually calmed down.

Of course, what you eat is not white rice, but old rice.

Ruan Dacheng's relatives exchanged rice with people from the county government for money.

Of the one tael of silver I received, I only got five cents.

Leaders at all levels embezzled half of the money and put it into their own pockets.

These are all traditional operations of the Ming Dynasty. Even the young men who were temporarily conscripted were treated as regular soldiers.

The next day, when the young men went up to the top of the city again, they saw a large group of people measuring the land outside the city.

They watched helplessly as their fellow villagers and familiar neighbors happily received their share of fertile land, and government officials issued them land deeds and registered them in the Yellow Book and Fish Scale Book on the spot.

"That's Niu Laizi from Niujia Village. Did he get a share of the land, too?"

A group of young men gathered together and looked at Niu Laizi, a famous lazy man in the village outside the city. They saw him happily registering in the yellow book and the fish scale book, and watching him use cloth strips and wooden stakes to enclose a piece of land that originally belonged to Mr. Huang's family in the city. All the young men became excited.

The students who had been given land gathered outside the city and shouted, "There are only three days left. If you don't go home, there will be no land left~~~"

"No chaos, no talking!"

Ruan Dacheng shouted at the top of his lungs, brandishing his weapon and shouting at the men not to look outside the city, not to talk to each other,
He even killed a few strong men as a deterrent.

But it's all useless.

The desire of the people of Middle-earth for land cannot be stopped by any weapons.

That night, almost all the young men in charge of night watch secretly climbed down the city wall using ropes.

The next morning, they happily appeared outside the city, shouting to their comrades from yesterday, "The court has really distributed the land, and the good land is almost all distributed. If you don't come out, you won't even be able to get the inferior land~~~"

The morale of the troops in the county was completely disrupted.

On this day, Ruan Dacheng brought his male relatives and killed dozens of strong men.

By the evening, he returned to his house exhausted.

He ignored the beautiful concubine who was serving him diligently, ate something quickly and lay down to rest.

In the middle of the night, he was awakened by hurried shouting outside the door.

He hurriedly got dressed and stood up, then came out and asked, "What's going on?!"

"Master, this is bad." The butler shouted in panic, "Those peasants opened the city gate!"

"What?!" Ruan Dacheng felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. "How is this possible? Didn't I ask Wang'er to keep watch?"

He had no son, so the person he could use the most was his son-in-law Cao Taiwang.

I had noticed that the army was unstable, so I asked my son-in-law to keep watch.
"Master~" the housekeeper cried with a sad face, "Master was killed by those mud legs, and the government troops have entered the city~~~"

Ruan Dacheng, with his eyes turned black, convulsed, and fell to the ground, shaking all over.

Shouts of killing were heard everywhere, and Huang Degong personally led his troops into the city.

The young men who were originally guarding the city now all defected and led the government troops to the homes of wealthy gentry, clerks and constables!
PS: Thank you to the book friend Sanqi Bule Ershiyi for the 1000-point reward support. I am very grateful. Thank you~~~
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(End of this chapter)