Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 659 The Art of Dividing Land and Cultivating Farmland: Alas, Why So Late?

"Prefect Gao, Second Master Luo, you've finally arrived! Alas, I've spent so much time trying to win over some local soldiers, but the actual political affairs still need to be handled by the two of you!"

Sure enough, when Bi met Gao Chang and his friend Luo Huaiyan again, he did not talk about his achievements, but instead started complaining.

Gao Chang had initially thought Luo Huaiyan was incredibly insightful and was about to offer some flattery when he saw Luo Huaiyan frowning: "Brother Bi, is something wrong?"

Bi Zaiyu sighed, first pouring a cup of tea for Gao Chang and Luo Huaiyan before saying, "Spring plowing is troublesome. The soldiers all want to go home to farm. If we can't resolve this quickly within half a month, or find more wealth to reward them, I won't be able to keep the soldiers in check."

Luo Huaiyan touched his forehead with his finger: "This is a problem."

In agrarian societies, spring plowing was of paramount importance, and everything else had to give way to it.

Gao Chang spread his hands and said, "Moreover, a group of Kong clan members also have to migrate out, and thousands of refugees have moved in. All of this must be completed before the end of spring plowing, otherwise people will starve to death next year."

Bi Zaiyu nodded: "That's it, that's it. I'm worried that the Kong clan is just trying to delay things. Since the eldest son values ​​spring planting and doesn't want people in Shandong to starve to death again, they'll just take advantage of that."

If we can delay them for two months, then we won't be able to let them leave. In the lean spring season, if people starve to death, it would truly be a disservice to the eldest son's kindness.”

Luo Huaiyan narrowed his eyes upon hearing this: "Tell me, is the Kong family afraid of dead people?"

Bi Zaiyu sneered, "Luo Erlang, we've been hanging around the eldest young master for a long time, don't we know? These wealthy and powerful families don't treat people like human beings. What do a dozen or so deaths mean to Kong Zheng and his men?"

Luo Huaiyan shook his head and said with a smile, "Brother Bi, that's not what I meant. In powerful families like this, the head of the household naturally won't worry about the deaths or injuries of his subordinates, but isn't the head of the household afraid that he himself might be the one to die?"

Bi Zaiyu remained silent for a moment before saying, "Luo Erlang, what you say makes sense. I was blinded by a single leaf."

Gao Chang finally realized what was happening. Looking at the two young men, one scholar and one warrior, he sighed inwardly, "Truly, the younger generation surpasses the older."

At the same time, Kong Shu, who had noticed Gao Chang's group long ago, also sighed, realizing that he had indeed underestimated that little guy.

He originally thought that although Bi Zaiyu had a hundred armored cavalry, he would not be able to make a breakthrough because he was unfamiliar with the area.

If they could delay for some time, Kong Shu could use the spring plowing as a pretext to ask Liu Huai to postpone the division of the family property.

The situation in Shandong changes every day. Liu Huai is currently enjoying great success, but isn't Geng Jiedu also enjoying a prosperous future? Once war breaks out, death and annihilation of his army will be just around the corner.

If this drags on for another year, things might change again.

Kong Su was different from his elder brother Kong Zheng. Kong Zheng was too old and had no son. He just wanted to live a peaceful life and didn't want to cause any trouble.

Historically, it was this year that Kong Zheng passed on the title of Duke Yansheng to Kong Shu.

But Kong Shu didn't want his vast fortune to be ruined in his hands, so he had to find a way to save himself no matter what.

But who would have thought that Bi Zaiyu would use the suppression of bandits as a starting point to easily gain control of the largest military force in the county.

These five hundred local soldiers are hardly enough on the battlefield in this chaotic world, but when it comes to maintaining order in the county, these local soldiers might be more effective than the Flying Tiger Army, which has the same number of soldiers.

As a result, Kong Shu's plan has already fallen through halfway.

He ultimately dared not confront the Han army directly, so he could only secretly order his collateral relatives and tenant farmers to carefully inspect the land, emphasizing that no negligence was allowed.

The day after Luo Huaiyan and the others arrived, Bi Zaiyu gathered the five hundred local soldiers together for a grievance meeting.

With ample officials and documents, the grievance meeting proceeded exceptionally smoothly. Within just a few hours, Luo Huaiyan had already identified three wealthy households as his targets.

Quite coincidentally, all three families were surnamed Kong. The case file was clearly written, and the witnesses and physical evidence were all there. Bi Zaiyu directly led the local militia to the homes of the three families to arrest them and confiscate their property. By the afternoon, they had arrested all the heads of these three households.

On the morning of the third day, Bi Zaiyu held another public trial at the West Market in Qufu County.

Although this trial did not cause as much of a sensation as the previous trial of the bandits, it still attracted quite a few onlookers.

When the deeds of these three men were announced one by one, the people dared not say anything due to the tyranny of the Confucius family.

When these three families were actually raided and taken away to Jinan Prefecture for execution, undercurrents began to stir in Qufu County.

Shandong has been in chaos for so many years, to this extent. How could wealthy and powerful families possibly have gotten rich through hard work?

Especially with Kong concurrently serving as the magistrate of Qufu County, he became even more unscrupulous in his actions. He committed far too many illegal acts, and in the past, no one wanted to or dared to interfere. But now, it seemed that Qufu finally had a just and upright official, so wouldn't it be possible to settle scores and grievances?

Meanwhile, another piece of news caused a stir in Qufu.

After the land of the three wealthy families was measured and the occupied land was returned, Gao Chang ordered that land be distributed starting with the local soldiers.

Now, public opinion can no longer be suppressed.

On the sixth day after Luo Huaiyan and his group arrived, another petition was presented to Gao Chang. After Luo Huaiyan reviewed it carefully again, Bi Zaiyu, without saying a word, led his soldiers to seize five more wealthy households.

This was no small matter. One of the families was the Sun family of Qufu, who had a long-standing marriage alliance with the Kong family and were influential figures in both the legitimate and underworld circles. Naturally, such people wouldn't surrender easily; they closed the gates of their manor and began armed resistance.

Bi Zaiyu set the reward, with Flying Tiger Army soldiers providing support from the rear, and then ordered the local troops to attack.

After a bloody afternoon, half of the Sun family members were killed, and the head of the Sun family was dragged out and executed in public.

After Bi Zaiyu distributed the wealth from the estate to the local soldiers, Gao Chang and Luo Huaiyan did not stay overnight and immediately began to distribute land to the servants and villagers of Sunjiazhuang according to the official land register.

The Sun family's servants, who were initially still in shock, actually calmed down when they looked at the land deed in their hands. They only knew to shout slogans with the soldiers: "Thank you for the kindness of Lord Wei! Thank you for the kindness of Lord Liu!"

On the eighth day, after swiftly and decisively clearing out the eight wealthy households, the people of Qufu were completely convinced that a just and upright official had finally arrived in Qufu. The large drum, which was used as a grievance drum, never stopped from beginning to end, and petitions flew in like snowflakes.

Luo Huaiyan flipped through the petitions and said with a smile to Gao Chang, "Prefect Gao, how many of these people do you think are truly innocent?"

Gao Chang, who had already rummaged through the pile of papers, shook his head and said, "There shouldn't be too many."

Luo Huaiyan shook a piece of paper in his hand: "I glanced at it. Forty percent of them are genuine grievances, twenty percent are trivial matters that are hard to resolve, and the remaining forty percent are probably false accusations made after seeing the talk of dividing land and fields."

Gao Chang frowned: "Do the people of Qufu County have such audacity?"

Luo Huaiyan spread his hands: "Prefect Gao, I also studied and farmed with my father, how could I not know what these farmers are like? They are honest yet cunning, simple yet treacherous, both commoners and thieves. If they can bite, they will bite."

At this point, Luo Huaiyan sighed, "When the granaries are full, people know etiquette. In the end, it's because the world is bad. The world has forced them into a situation where they either fight or die. Can we blame them? Is it wrong to want to live?"

Gao Chang found Luo Huaiyan's precocious demeanor somewhat amusing. However, he immediately realized that this must be Luo Huaiyan's recitation of Liu Huai's words, which he had simply expressed in response to the occasion.

"Luo Erlang, shall we wait now?"

"Wait! Why not wait? I refuse to believe the Confucius family can hold out any longer!"

No sooner had Luo Huaiyan’s confident words fallen than a soldier outside the door reported: “Prefect Gao, Staff Officer Luo, a man who calls himself Kong Shu requests an audience.”

(End of this chapter)