The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

After reading it, Wang Jiang drew his sword and slammed it to the ground.

"Wow, what great luck! We've found so many unwanted plots of land, and such good fertile land at that!"

The people in charge at each location were completely dumbfounded!

Wasn't the agreement to hand over the land according to the report? How come they've suddenly dug up even the hidden land?

"Insolence! How dare you, a mere lowly official, slander a noble family's hidden land? This land is the ancestral property passed down through generations of my Cui family. When did it become ownerless land?"

Relying on the fact that the Cui family was a first-class aristocratic family in Jizhou, he raised his voice very high:

"Summon your prefect! Or else I'll go to the prefectural government and confront Yang Gongli!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was pinned to the ground by soldiers and locked up on charges of "resisting taxes."

Wang Jiang pointed his finger at Cui Zhong's nose:

"The fields that your Cui family has passed down for generations? Didn't your Cui family hand over those few acres of land a long time ago?"

These are all unclaimed fields! They belong to the Han Dynasty, and they are the Han Dynasty's grain!

What right do you have to stand on the land of my Great Han and try to steal my Great Han's grain!

If they continue to shout, they will be punished for disobeying an imperial decree, and their land and people will be taken away together!

The remaining people turned pale and hurriedly sent people to the county to find the head of the family, the prefect, and Yang Biao to reason with him!

Wang Jiang directly led his troops to collect the grain!

Throughout Ji Province and Qing Province, large numbers of Han troops went to seize these unwanted fertile fields!

Zhang Fei, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Ma Teng, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, Fan Chou, Guo Si, Xu Rong, Qian Zhao, and so on!

One or two generals, with thousands of soldiers, were in charge of a prefecture!

After collecting the unwanted grain, they also found unwanted horses, armor, bows and arrows, people, and so on!

All the soldiers couldn't help but sigh in admiration, "These aristocratic families are truly wealthy!"

Among them, generals from the Liangzhou faction, such as Guo Si, were particularly successful in carrying out these tasks!

This is exactly what they used to do! They robbed people like this when they were under Dong Zhuo's command!

After Guo Si and his men finished inspecting the granaries of a large clan in Bohai, looking at the mountain of grain stacks, he clicked his tongue and said to Zhang Ji beside him:

"Back when we were in Chang'an, we followed Grand Tutor Dong and robbed these same aristocratic families, but we didn't have as much grain as we have today."

Look at the grain stored up by these aristocratic families in Jizhou. The grain they produce in a year is enough to feed... well, in short, enough to feed tens of thousands of troops for half a year!

It turns out that in previous years when Yuan Shao was at war, they all kept their troops hidden, waiting for the price to rise!

Zhang Ji laughed and said, "How can that be the same? Back then, we were robbing people, but now we are being ordered to survey these unwanted fields, which is perfectly legitimate!"

"Tell me, we're experts at this job, much easier than fighting a war!"

The soldiers below, while carrying grain, sighed with emotion:

"My goodness, these aristocratic families really know how to hide their wealth! They've collected so much grain this time!!"

……

When the grain was looted, the officials immediately went to find the heads of the various families. However, when the heads of the families arrived in the county town, they learned that Yang Biao had already left the day after the land survey was completed! It was said that he had already returned to Luoyang!

Looking for Ju Shou? Ju Shou was leading his men on an inspection tour of various counties to check on the administration of officials, but they couldn't even find a trace of him.

The prefects of each prefecture were all newly appointed by the central government. They were not easily persuaded and only recognized the land registers of the Ministry of Revenue, not the personal connections of the established families.

In short: Pay grain according to the register, or else be dealt with according to the law!

As for Tian Ce of the Ministry of Revenue, he was almost entirely discovered by Yang Biao, who led other powerful families from various regions to cooperate with Wang Jiang in the investigation!

As a top-tier family, he could guess where other families hid their things!

They can even rank them from the most popular to the least popular!

When the heads of the powerful families found out, they were dumbfounded!

When Yang Biao came to Jizhou before, he attended banquets and drank every day, discussing scholarship, children's schooling, and business dealings, without saying a single harsh word.

They also assumed that the Yang family of Hongnong was part of the aristocratic circle and knew the "rules," and that Liu Bei and Li Chang would also follow the rules and turn a blind eye!

So, all that smiling and welcoming at the beginning was to find out their true intentions; then they came with their troops to settle accounts with interest?

When the news spread, the powerful families of Jizhou and Qingzhou were thrown into complete chaos!

On this day, in a secluded manor in Qinghe County, the heads of more than a dozen prominent families gathered together, each with a livid face.

"This is outrageous! This is outrageous!"

"We've been tricked by that old scoundrel Yang Biao!!"

"If we, from Ji Province and Qing Province, deliver our grain, do you think he can escape from Guanzhong?"

"What happened to those branch families that were sent there? Didn't someone become a prefect and someone else enter the central government? Why didn't you inform them?"

A patriarch surnamed Zhao slammed his hand on the table, his beard trembling.

"Back when Yuan Shikai was in power, we hardly had to pay a single acre of grain! Only during difficult times would we pay a symbolic amount!"

They can also acquire large amounts of land!

Now that Liu Bei has arrived, not only must we hand over the land, but we must also account for the hidden land! Except for the few acres reported, everything must be surrendered!!

Why doesn't he just rob it!

"Liu Bei is just robbing them!!"

"They even specially led troops to garrison various counties in advance!!"

"Exactly! Even Emperor Guangwu never treated us like this back then!"

"That old scoundrel Yang Biao, he's been hiding things, first fooling us, then turning around and clearing out the land – he's setting a trap for us!"

The crowd started talking all at once, and the more they talked, the angrier they became.

They have dominated the region for over a century. When have they ever suffered such humiliation?

"Gentlemen, this can't go on."

A middle-aged scholar-like man spoke:

"If Liu Bei is unrighteous, then he shouldn't blame us for being unjust. In my opinion, it would be better to... secretly contact the descendants of our former master."

Although the second prince is in Luoyang, the eldest and third princes, whom the King of Wei trusts, are still in Ye City!

"Let's find a way to rescue them. This time, let's gather more food and supplies, and if we raise our voices, the old troops of Jizhou will surely respond!"

"Then we can serve them as our masters; it's better than suffering under Liu Bei's wrath!"

"Yes, back then, even handing over 10% of the grain would have been acceptable!"

"Alas, if we had only handed over 30% of our grain quota these past two years, the King of Wei wouldn't have suffered such a defeat!"

"And there's Yuan Highway to the south!" another chimed in.

"He is, after all, a member of the Yuan family, and has already declared himself emperor. Let's secretly send him a message, asking him to lead his troops north and attack from both the north and south."

With Liu Bei attacked from both sides, he will inevitably retreat to Guanzhong. At that time, Ji Province will once again be ours!

"The most important people are the villagers," the elderly man at the head of the group said ominously.

"The tenants and villagers in each village only recognize us, the landowners. How could they know anything about this Prince Jin?"

When we get back, we'll spread rumors that Liu Bei is going to seize grain, take all the grain to fight, and that the people will starve to death. We'll also incite the tenant farmers to resist the grain tax and cause trouble.

Doesn't Liu Bei pride himself on being benevolent? Let's see if he dares to send troops to suppress the people!

If he dares to lay a hand on us, his reputation for benevolence will be completely ruined! If he doesn't dare, then we won't be able to collect taxes! Our land will still be ours!

"Excellent! This plan is brilliant!"

"Let's do it!"

Everyone clapped their hands in agreement, their eyes lighting up.

They've been operating in Jizhou for a century; their roots are deep!

Liu Bei wants to take a bite out of their territory? Not so easy!

Even Yuan Shao had to appease them back then, so what was Liu Bei compared to them?

If pushed too far, Ji Province and Qing Province could descend into chaos once again!

"Secrets are successful, while leaks lead to ruin! This time, we absolutely cannot let outsiders know!"

"That's natural!"

"May I be struck by lightning if this is leaked!"

All the noble families swore an oath!

The day.

Dozens of letters of complaint have appeared on Ju Shou and Wang Jiang's desks.