Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Liangshan then began to reform its organization from top to bottom.

Pei Xuan, Du Qian, and Song Wan have been so busy for days that they haven't had a moment to rest.

While assisting the military officer in selecting soldiers, they also had to register the remaining Liangshan people and separate them into artisan households and civilian households.

Regarding the division of household registration into military households, artisan households, and civilian households,

Zhao Yuan also privately visited ordinary people on Liangshan Mountain and found that the Hebei disaster victims who came up the mountain this time were the most supportive of this policy.

On the contrary, the original inhabitants of Liangshan had many complaints.

Zhao Yuan walked around below and soon understood the reason.

After this household registration reform,

In addition to the fact that the soldiers in each town were provided with food by the mountain stronghold,

The remaining people who wanted food would have to work hard for Liangshan to earn money to buy it themselves.

Even if the farmers who cultivated the land received grain, it was considered a loan, though without interest.

When they harvest the fertile land they have cultivated in the future, they will have to repay them with all the grain.

The disaster victims from Hebei supported this reform because...

Besides the military households selected as soldiers and the artisan households with skills who could receive 060 in wages, there was also a regulation that allowed ordinary people to be allocated land!

According to Liangshan's regulations, each household could be allocated ten to twenty mu of land.

After the land they were allocated was cultivated into farmland, they were exempt from paying grain taxes for the first two years.

Starting from the third year, they only needed to pay a fixed amount of grain based on the quality of the land.

Apart from this, there were no other exorbitant taxes or levies, nor any forced labor.

On the contrary, when Liangshan needed to hire laborers, they would pay them wages.

Whether it was being allocated their own land, receiving a modest amount of grain tax, or being exempt from other exorbitant taxes and levies, they could also work and receive wages.

All of this made the Hebei famine victims who had joined the Liangshan bandits feel as if they were in a dream.

Many of them originally thought that Liangshan was a den of ruthless thieves.

Once you join Liangshan, the slightest mistake will result in being tortured and killed by the leaders.

If it weren't for the flood and the lack of relief from the imperial court,

When people really can't survive, why would these ordinary people be willing to join the Liangshan bandits?

The refugees outside Nasu Castle are the best example.

They were originally lured to Yunzhou by Liangshan with their grain offerings.

When Yunzhou also began distributing grain and providing relief, these disaster victims immediately abandoned Liangshan and stayed in Xucheng.

These Hebei refugees, who have now taken refuge on Liangshan Mountain, are finding that life there offers far more hope than before.

These ordinary people wouldn't have any other thoughts.

Naturally, everyone was overjoyed.

This is also why they support this reform.

The original inhabitants of Liangshan, though they didn't receive wages before, were provided with food and lodging by the stronghold.

Many of them were just loafers; even if they weren't selected as regular soldiers, they could still get by in the stronghold every day and wouldn't starve.

Now that things have changed like this, these people's good days are naturally over.

Among them, those who were quite diligent, even if they couldn't be selected as regular soldiers, would try to become apprentices to artisans, and after learning the skills, become artisans themselves, or simply wait to be allocated land like ordinary households.

But there are also those who are truly lazy to the core. These people not only refuse to work, but also frequently take the opportunity to cause trouble in the mountain village.

They thought they were old men from the mountain stronghold, not soldiers, and therefore didn't need to abide by military law and regulations, so Zhao Yuan couldn't do anything about them.

But they forgot that Liangshan after the reform was no longer the same as before.

Pei Xuan, as the head of the Ministry of Justice, had been waiting for this opportunity to make an example of someone and establish the authority of the Ministry of Justice!

The original law enforcement team under Lu Zhishen has been entirely transferred to the Ministry of Justice.

They were responsible for both the military regulations and discipline of the Liangshan soldiers and the punishment of the Liangshan people.

Enforcement was dispatched and quickly arrested all the troublemakers.

Pei Xuan delivered the verdict directly in public.

The three ringleaders were all beheaded and their heads displayed in public.

After the others were flogged, the word "bica" was tattooed on their faces, and they were all punished with hard labor, specifically doing the dirtiest and most tiring work on Liangshan Mountain!

After a period of rectification, the discipline on Liangshan Mountain improved considerably.

The restructuring also proceeded smoothly!

Ten days passed like this.

The initial stages of the reform have been completed, and Pei Xuan and his two companions have also sorted and registered the household records of the people of Liangshan.

Soldiers in each city also began to organize and train.

Meanwhile, there was still no movement from Yuncheng.

Zhao Yuan initially thought that Huang An might be planning a feint while secretly advancing.

While pretending to be enjoying themselves in Yuncheng, they secretly plotted to launch a surprise attack on Liangshan.

So the soldiers were ordered to be on guard every day, and scouts spotted fast boats arriving one after another on the lake at Liangshan Marsh.

But still, not a single soldier from Jeju Island was seen.

Suspicious, Zhao Yuan sent Shi Qian to Yuncheng to gather intelligence.

But Shi Qian hadn't returned yet.

Some villagers from Xixi Village actually went up Liangshan Mountain to complain.

"What did you say?"

Zhao Yuan asked with a strange expression, "Did Huang An lead his troops into your village to seize the land?"

The villagers from Xixi Village who went up the mountain were the same ones who came down the mountain with Zhao Yuan's troops the night before.

Li Dazhuang was the first to sue Li Baozheng's eldest son for attempting to rape his wife, which ultimately led to her suicide by jumping into a well due to unbearable humiliation.

"After the chieftain visited our village last time, before he left, he told us to elect our own elders and divide all of Li Baozheng's land among ourselves,"

Li Dazhuang tearfully recounted, "A few days ago, after the second day of the second lunar month, the villagers couldn't wait to start cultivating their fields, thinking that without Li Baozheng's exploitation this year, they would surely have a good harvest!"

"Who knew that just two days after the seeds were sown, Huang An from Jeju Prefecture would arrive with his troops!"

“He gathered all of us villagers, who were originally tenants of Li Baozheng’s family, together and said that the land that the village chief had told us to divide up was all invalid. The government not only did not recognize it, but also transferred all three thousand mu of land belonging to Li Baozheng’s family to Huang An’s name!”

"And we, who were originally tenants of Li Baozheng's family, will also have to sign new contracts with Huang An and become his tenants from now on!"

"If that were all, it would be fine, but Huang An also searched every house and confiscated all the grain, livestock, and copper coins that the chieftain had given us before the New Year!"

“We refused, so Huang An said that these were stolen goods, and anyone who hid them was an accomplice to the thieves. Then he found two families who had hidden grain and copper coins, and beheaded them all. Their heads are still hanging at the entrance of Xixi Village!”

"Some villagers were dissatisfied and went to the Yuncheng County government office to file a complaint, but they were driven out with sticks by the yamen runners before they could even enter the office!"

At this point, Li Dazhuang was already in tears.

His expression was filled with deep-seated hatred!

"Chief, I've come here today to ask you to come down the mountain again and uphold justice for the villagers of Xixi Village!"

Chapter 140 Wu Yong Offers a Plan to Shift the Blame Eastward

The arrival of Huang An's troops in Xixi Village has already caused immense suffering for the villagers.

The situation in Dongxi Village, which is nearby, is not much better.

Previously in Yuncheng, Huang An had accused Chao Gai of being the local headman, yet he had first stood by and watched Xixi Village be robbed, and then, when the Yuncheng constables were attacked by Liangshan troops, Chao Gai not only failed to lead anyone to their aid but also immediately fled. Huang An then demanded that the Yuncheng county government punish Chao Gai.

Although Chao Gai was indignant, he could only swallow his anger.

After seeking Song Jiang's help, they offered Huang An four or five thousand strings of cash, and the matter was finally settled.

He had originally thought that the matter should end there.

But not long after,

Instead of suppressing Liangshan, Huang An immediately led his troops to Xixi Village after learning about the land issue there.

Huang An himself stirred up trouble in Xixi Village, making it impossible for the village to have any peace.

How much better could his soldiers be?

Those with a conscience would at most steal some food.

Those who were already scoundrels and ruffians began to enter the houses and harass and insult the villagers' families.

Huang An not only did not stop this, but instead criticized the villagers of Xixi Village.

They had all previously worked for Liangshan, so they were all considered thieves.

He spared the lives of these villagers, which was already a great act of mercy.

The suffering the villagers are experiencing now is entirely of their own making!

Dongxi Village and Xixi Village are separated only by a stream.

Xixi Village was ravaged, and Dongxi Village naturally suffered as a result.

Soldiers would frequently come to cause trouble.

Chao Gai could only spend money to avoid disaster each time!

Today it's five or six strings of cash, tomorrow it'll be ten or more!

But nobody's money comes from nothing.

Chao Gai was able to amass such a fortune entirely through his private business dealings.

This is a life-or-death situation if you get caught!

Now that Huang An has arrived, private businesses can no longer operate.

Not only did I lose no income every day, but I also kept losing money. No one could stand that!

That day, Chao Gai finally lost his patience and summoned Wu Yong, wanting to see what plan he had to get rid of Huang An.

"Master, Huang An has clearly set his sights on the three thousand acres of fertile land in Xixi Village. Judging from his appearance, he will definitely stay in Xixi Village for a while and refuse to leave!"

Wu Yong pondered and said, "He is, after all, a militia commander of a prefecture. If we want him to leave Xixi Village, either the Jizhou Prefecture has issued an order, or there is something else in another place that will attract him and make him leave on his own!"

"What do you mean, sir?"

Upon hearing this, Chao Gai knew that Wu Yong must have another bad idea... He quickly cupped his hands and asked for advice.

"In my humble opinion, there is only one way now, and that is to shift the blame eastward!"

Wu Yong, with an air of complete confidence, slowly spoke.

"Isn't Huang An greedy for money? Liangshan took no less than ten thousand strings of cash from Li Baozheng's house before, not to mention the tens of thousands of bushels of grain!"

"Grain prices in Hebei have skyrocketed this year. A dou (a unit of dry measure) of grain has risen from seventy or eighty wen (a unit of currency) to three or four hundred wen, a five or six-fold increase!"

"Those 10,000 shi of grain, if sold in Hebei, would be worth at least 30,000 to 40,000 guan!"

"Adding to the savings from Liangshan before, the total amount of money obtained is about seventy or eighty thousand strings of cash!"

"Master, do you think Huang An won't be tempted after hearing all this?"

"But......"

Chao Gai looked troubled: "This plan is good, but I'm afraid that once Liangshan finds out that we're diverting trouble, they'll come to Dongxi Village to take revenge!"

"Last time, the troops of Yuncheng suffered a crushing defeat at their hands. If Liangshan were to approach Dongxi Village, the villagers and servants alone would definitely not be able to stop them!"

"The owner of the village!"

Wu Yong chuckled and said, "The Liangshan Mountain has at most a little over a thousand people. How many soldiers are as capable of fighting as last time? A hundred or two hundred at most!"

"And how many soldiers did Huang An bring this time? More than a thousand! Even if the soldiers from Jizhou are not the best, five against one should be able to win!"

“But I heard that a few days ago, Liangshan used grain as bait to recruit many disaster victims from Hebei to come up the mountain. Now their army and population are probably much stronger than before the New Year!” Chao Gai was still somewhat hesitant.