Zhu Yuanzhang Returns from Modern Times

Chapter 267 Land ownership belongs to the state, but the right to use it belongs to the people.
Under the cover of night, soldiers moved and headed straight for Qingyun Temple.

Commander Feng Liang led his troops forward.

Having arrived in Jiangxi, he couldn't hold back any longer.

After all, they came with a mission, and since no clear orders had been given before, they hadn't taken any action.

Even when the people pushed and shoved them from behind, obstructing the land survey, they remained restrained and did not retaliate.

But inside, he was already seething with anger and burning with determination.

Now, I can finally vent my anger.

Do your job properly.

There are strict orders from above not to treat these people roughly.

However, they would show absolutely no mercy to these Taoist priests.

I've already made it very clear before: if anything goes wrong, we'll take action against the Taoist priest.

As it turned out, these Taoist priests were really not honest; they had such audacity to do such a thing.

There's no room for politeness here.
It's time to make an example of them, to let the people here know what they can and cannot do.

Let them open their eyes wider and stop acting recklessly and unaware of their own limitations.

Moreover, it was quite wise of the higher-ups to order the direct attack on these Taoist priests.

Through secret observation, it was confirmed that the sudden change in the people was indeed the work of these Taoist priests.

"who?"

When they arrived at the mountain and approached Qingyun Temple, a Taoist priest guarding outside the temple noticed the commotion and couldn't help but shout out in reprimand.

But he only said that one sentence, and the next moment, the bowstring twanged, and an arrow pierced through his chest.

The Taoist priest fell to the ground and fell silent.

"The one who will kill you."

Feng Liang said in a low voice.

"Act immediately, leave no one alive!"

With that, he waved his hand forcefully, and the numerous soldiers immediately sped up their march.

They quickly stormed the mountain gate, went to the Taoist temple, and headed towards their sleeping quarters.

By this time, many Taoist priests had already gone to sleep.

These past few days have kept many of them extremely busy.

Many people put in a lot of effort, traveling to various villages and towns to tell the people about the bad policies of the government and doing all sorts of things. It was still very tiring.

Now that their words have begun to bear fruit, the people have indeed come to believe them and are resisting the imperial court.

They breathed a sigh of relief.

I can finally get some rest now.

After resting, he continued to preach to the people, explaining what was right and what was wrong.

Let them remain steadfast in their beliefs and fight against the imperial court, refusing to fall for its evil schemes.

In this situation, the door was opened, knives were slashed downwards, guns were thrust downwards, and screams of agony rang out one after another.

Many people lost their lives while still dreaming.

Some people were awakened and immediately got up to escape, but it was too late.

He was immediately hacked to death.

Many people are particularly bewildered and extremely surprised when they are dying.

The imperial court actually dared to do this?
Didn't the sect leader say that this is just the court talking tough, and that they don't dare to actually take action against us?
How did it suddenly become like this?
This thing... he's completely wrong.

Headmaster, why are you being so unreliable? Why are you starting to lie too?

Many people regret their actions when they are dying.

Unfortunately, what good is regret now?

It's too late; there's no going back.

……

Before the statues of the Three Pure Ones, a Taoist priest surnamed Liu from Qingyun Temple lit three sticks of incense.

He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his mouth moving slightly, but it was impossible to hear what he was saying.

However, the source of this knowledge must be a Taoist scripture.

Hearing a sudden noise outside, his heart skipped a beat.

Even his seated body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

They... they actually came?!

In fact, he had already made some mental preparations when he sent people to do this.

They felt that the other party was very likely to retaliate.

But when it actually happened, I couldn't help but tremble a little.

After all, knowing it is one thing, but when the moment actually arrives, how can he remain calm?
After all, he also harbored a lot of wishful thinking when he made this choice.

It seems highly likely that the imperial court is bluffing and not actually intending to confront them head-on.

But now, listening to the noises coming from the night outside, his wishful thinking was shattered.

There was no longer any chance of escape.

The imperial court... the imperial court is actually serious!

Zhu Yuanzhang actually did that!

Was he not afraid that the Taoist patriarch would bring retribution upon him, and that he would suffer misfortune?
How dare you be so disrespectful to them?
Disrespectful to the Dao Ancestor!
"Senior brother! Senior brother!"

"Headmaster!"

The tightly closed temple doors were suddenly pushed open, and a barefoot, disheveled Taoist priest rushed in, looking extremely flustered.

"Master! It's terrible, Master! The government... the government officials are here!"

"What...what should we do, Master?"

At this point, they were no longer as steadfast in their beliefs, unafraid of the court's power, and instigating the people to resist the land reclamation, as they had been before.

The Taoist priest surnamed Liu opened his eyes in apparent pain.

How to do?
He didn't know what to do either!

The other party didn't even give any prior warning, and was extremely despicable and shameless, choosing to strike in the middle of the night.

What can he do in this situation?
May lightning strike down from the road and kill all these people.

He really wanted to do that if it were possible.
Unfortunately, the Dao Ancestor ignored their prayers.

"Run! Don't stay here!"

He did not stand up from the cushion, and said wearily.

"Master, what about you? Aren't you leaving?"

"I'm not leaving, I'm not leaving! You guys go ahead, I'll stay."

This is our Qingyun Temple. I'm not going anywhere; I'll stay here and guard it..."

Hearing what the Taoist priest surnamed Liu said, the other Taoist priests were anxious, but they had no other choice.

After hesitating for a moment, he turned and ran away.

I want to leave as soon as possible.

But how could they possibly leave?
The imperial army came prepared this time, aiming to set an example by first eliminating this peculiar obstacle.

The troops have already stormed in; how can we let them escape?

Even if they did manage to escape, it wouldn't work, because troops had already been stationed outside to surround them.

Those who manage to escape from Qingyun Temple will fall into this encirclement.

Amidst the chaos and turmoil, the unrest grew increasingly intense and approached him.

This Taoist Liu reached into his robes and pulled out a porcelain bottle.

His hands trembled violently as he pried the pills open and poured them out.

Holding it in both hands, he struggled to stuff the seemingly heavy pill into his mouth and swallowed it forcefully.

He sat cross-legged, his lips moving slightly as he resumed his previous posture. However, sweat began to appear on his forehead.

With a bang, the palace door was kicked open forcefully.

Feng Liang led his men and rushed into the area.

"Why don't you run?"

He looked down at the Taoist priest surnamed Liu, his voice filled with murderous intent.

The Taoist priest surnamed Liu continued to sit, maintaining the same posture, chanting Taoist scriptures.

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

"Chop him up!"

Upon hearing this, the Taoist priest, who was covered in cold sweat, suddenly opened his eyes again.

"I...I've already taken poison. Let me die here..."

"With what you've done, you think you can just die?"

What a beautiful thought!
"Do it now, kill him!"

Feng Liang remained unmoved and issued the order directly.

Upon hearing this, the Taoist priest surnamed Liu's eyes widened suddenly.

Clearly, no one expected Feng Liang to do this!

He had already admitted defeat, he had already taken poison, and he had already pleaded with these soldiers for mercy, so why was he still being treated like this?
"Who dares to be disrespectful before the Dao Ancestor?!"

"What is there to be afraid of? The Dao Ancestor did not teach you to seize land, incite the people to resist the imperial court, or be rich but heartless."

They themselves are no good. How many filthy acts of male thievery and female prostitution have they committed in front of the Dao Ancestor?
Now they're here trying to summon the Dao Ancestor's power, using him to scare people.

If the obstacles on the path are a divine manifestation, the first thing it should do is to strike you all dead!

Chop his head off!

Feng Liang gave the order, and a cold glint flashed. The Taoist priest surnamed Liu's eyes widened.

He wanted to say something more, to argue, but he couldn't utter a word.
Blood gushed out, and his head rolled to the ground with a thud.

"Want to end your own life and leave a complete corpse? You're dreaming!"
The Dao Ancestor will not protect you for what you have done.

The Dao Ancestor was already furious with what you've done; he died of anger long ago.

As he spoke, he looked up at the statue and said, "They are just taking advantage of the fact that you can't speak and can't express yourself."

So they use your name to swindle and cheat, and do all sorts of evil deeds.

Today, I'll clean house for you!

You don't need to thank me too much.

The statue remained motionless and silent.

"Look, they all tacitly agreed."

Feng Liang spoke to the soldiers beside him...

……

In less than half an hour, all those who caused trouble at Qingyun Temple were wiped out...

The next day, a steady stream of grain, money, cloth, and other goods were transported down.

Putting aside everything else, the amount of various grains alone reached an astonishing 12,000 shi!
As for money, jewelry, and precious spices, they were equally astonishing.

Not only that, they also obtained some records, detailing the underhanded methods they used when renting land to the people below.

For example, a good daughter should cultivate good fields.

At the same time, it also uncovered many cases among some Taoist priests, such as those who privately set up torture chambers and disregarded human life...

……

The fire raged, and the stench of burning corpses filled the air as the flames rose.

The person in charge of surveying the fields gathered the many people together again.

Once concrete evidence of their crimes was obtained and the extent of their misdeeds was known, the propaganda campaign regarding the land survey and acreage policy would have a more targeted and specific objective.

For example, clearly tell them that the ownership of these illegally obtained fields discovered during the land survey belongs to the government, and these fields cannot be bought or sold.

No one has the right to buy or sell.

However, the right to cultivate the land can be given to those landless people.

In the future, if we pay taxes according to the normal rate, we will only have to pay a maximum of 30%.

He emphasized that the imperial court distributed land using methods such as drawing lots.

We must do our utmost to make things fair.

There is no such thing as a family being allocated good land only if they have a good daughter or a good wife.

When such propaganda came out, countless people were heartbroken.

I wonder how many people secretly rejoiced, and also cried.

Their miserable and humiliating days are finally coming to an end!

From now on, we will no longer be forced to do humiliating things for the sake of land...

After a lot of the evidence that was found was made public, many people's original faith collapsed at once.

It turns out that many people are not human, but beasts in human skin!
Qingyun Temple is such a den of iniquity!

The powerful Qingyun Temple was swiftly and decisively destroyed by the imperial court, without their interference and sabotage behind the scenes.

The imperial court also conducted extensive publicity, which made the land survey process exceptionally smooth.

No one tried to stop it.

They adopted a tough stance and said things that were unpleasant to hear.

Similar incidents have occurred not only at Qingyun Temple.

This has happened in many places in Jiangxi.

In a short period of time, as many as eleven Taoist temples were destroyed!
After this happened, many people who were originally very uncomfortable, thinking that Zhang Tianshi was useless and did not care about their interests at all, and only blindly obeyed the court, were suddenly shocked.

They realized their previous mistakes.

My thinking underwent a complete transformation.

Some people even began to thank Zhang Tianshi.

It turns out that what the Celestial Master said earlier was not nonsense, but the truth.

It wasn't that the Celestial Master wouldn't stand up for them; it was simply that the imperial court was far too ruthless.

Some Taoist temples that had originally intended to obstruct the land survey suddenly became docile after seeing these examples.

Quickly dismiss this unreliable idea.

I dare not do anything reckless again.

Compared to the destruction of mountains and the felling of temples, which resulted in the loss of many lives, the loss of some benefits due to the imperial court's land survey seemed insignificant.

It's not that it's unacceptable.

In addition, the court's tough measures made many people exceptionally obedient.

Not only did they no longer oppose the imperial court's land survey, but they also followed the example of Longhu Mountain, just as Zhang Tianshi had previously suggested, with many Taoist priests taking to the streets.

They were to spread the word about the benefits of the imperial court's land survey to the people around them.

They were instructed to cooperate with the imperial court in surveying and registering the land.

And issue a warning to prevent anyone from causing trouble on this matter.

To prevent trouble, many Taoist priests stopped living in their temples altogether.

They spend all day and night in the village.

Keep an eye on everyone to prevent anyone from taking the opportunity to cause trouble, which could lead to the imperial court turning against them.

In a short period of time, significant progress was made in the land survey.

……

In Yingtian City, a unique and unprecedented awards ceremony, destined to spark countless discussions and potentially even make history if things go well, was held as scheduled…

(End of this chapter)