Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Good people are forced to become thieves, which is worthy of sympathy.

Then the bandits raided merchants and robbed wealthy households, which is understandable.

However, he worked as a pawn for the Taoist priests, occupied the land to build temple fields, beat, expelled, and oppressed the common people, turned himself into a landlord, and even raped the women of the people to become wives and concubines. This nature has changed, from victim to perpetrator.

The entire Zhaozhuang and the good fields on the banks of the Hu River were occupied by the Li family.

The remaining land was divided up by thieves. The better houses in the village were also taken over by thieves, and the pretty women in the village were also taken as wives and concubines by thieves.

Tao Kai's life was very prosperous. He had a wife and four concubines, and more than 300 acres of dry land.

Business travelers passing by the Hu River had to pay him protection fees, otherwise they would be robbed. His next target is Zhuxun Village in the northeast. There are not many big households there who can occupy the fields.

What the government dare not take care of has the support of a Taoist priest!

As long as he doesn't provoke the Li family in the west, no one in Juancheng County will dare to touch him.

Tao Kai even planned to rebuild the village school. When the robbers' sons were six or seven years old, they would send them to the village school to study, and they might become officials in the future. Even if you can't pass the Jinshi exam, you can still ask Taoist priests to help you and send a few of them to the county government as subordinate officials.

"Brother, someone from Zhuxi Village is coming to join us!"

"Bring him here."

The person who came was a gangster from the village, whom the villagers called Zhao Er.

Tao Kai sat on the top chair and asked, "Why do you want to join the gang?"

Zhao Er replied: "My old father left more than twenty acres of land. Although I am not very useful, my brother is very diligent. My brother died of illness this year, leaving only orphans and widowers in the family. My second uncle and several cousins , Shengsheng occupied my family’s land. I couldn’t get angry, so I came to join Brother Tao.”

"Want to get your own land back?" Tao Kai asked.

Zhao Er said: "I also want the land of my second uncle's house. He is in the first grade of junior high school, so I will be in the fifteenth grade. My cousin-in-law is beautiful, and I want to ask for it to be my wife."

"You have such a vicious heart that you even care about your cousin-in-law," Tao Kai said with a smile, "All the benefits are yours? What can our brothers get?"

Zhao Er said: "I will help Brother Tao to bring Zhuxi Village over. I know who has any grudges in the village, and they can also join the gang."

Forcibly occupying a village can easily cause trouble. If there are a large number of moles, things will be much easier to handle. Moreover, if more villagers join the gang, Tao Kai's hard power will be enhanced and a gang will dominate the countryside.

If a wealthy householder in the village volunteered to contribute, Tao Kai would accept it and would even let him be the leader of the gang. On the opposite side, everyone works together to feed the common people; on the other side, they unite to fight against the harsh government.

Tao Kai called a few capable men and asked them to go back with Zhao Er and take back the land of Zhao Er's family first. This has a demonstration effect. When Zhao Er becomes prestige, people in the village will naturally envy him, and people who actively contribute will appear.

This is a world where the weak eat the strong, especially JD.com!

"Brother, a man is coming on horseback!" His subordinates came to report.

Tao Kai asked: "How many have come?"

The subordinate replied: "Just one person, riding a horse."

Tao Kai immediately let down his guard: "Follow me to greet you."

It was Bai Sheng who came, riding alone outside the village.

Tao Kai led a dozen of his men and hurried forward to greet him, greeting him respectfully: "What are your orders, Master Chai?"

Bai Sheng rode on the horse and said with his nostrils pointing to the sky: "The governor is going to inspect the embankment. When passing by here, you guys should entertain me well and bring out good wine and meat!"

"Definitely, definitely." Tao Kai smiled apologetically.

Bai Sheng said: "I have to go to the village ahead, so prepare quickly!"

After saying that, Bai Sheng rode through the village.

Tao Kai looked angry and spat: "Dog officer!"

The subordinate reminded: "Brother, is there any fraud? I heard that this Zhizhou is very young and he arrested many monsters in Huhe Town a few days ago. He also arrested many big businessmen in Lei Ze. No way. Are you here to catch us?"

Tao Kai shook his head: "Both demons and big families are rich, and the dog officials can make a profit by catching them. We have only been here for more than half a year. In addition to grabbing a lot of land and food, we have not saved much money. We are all poor. Ghost, the dog officer doesn't like him. Go kill ten sheep, get a few jars of wine, prepare twenty guan of money, and send the dog officer away."

In the afternoon, Ju Ming led dozens of archers to the outside of Zhaozhuang Village.

Tao Kai had been waiting for a long time. When he saw the dog officer Ju Ming, he no longer felt any resentment in his heart, but felt extremely envious. How wonderful it is to be an official, with people cheering for you and offering wine, meat and wealth wherever you go.

"The common people pay homage to the prefect!" Tao Kai immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

"Kill the thief!"

Without saying a word, Ju Ming took off his mace and rushed over, smashing Tao's head with the mace.

The remaining thieves fled in fear, and Deng Chun and others pursued them with archers. The thieves greeted the reward governor, so naturally they could not bring weapons, so they had to flee for their lives when faced with the archers.

Bai Sheng was asked to come and act before, purely because he was afraid that the thieves would escape after hearing the news, and it would be too time-consuming to hunt them down.

Trapping is much simpler, just stick your head in front of you and let Ju Ming smash it.

Deng Chun, Li Bao, and Zhang Bor all pursued him on horseback, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. The three men were galloping, and more than a dozen thieves were unarmed and could only flee in all directions. One of them was cut down as they tried to escape.

The other thieves in the village started running away when they heard the noise. He is so stupid that he actually wants to run away with his wife, children and belongings.

The battle here is over, and Bai Sheng also rides back.

Leaving more than a dozen archers behind to let Bai Sheng search the thieves' house, Zhu Ming led the men straight to Huang Tingguan.

They still plan to trap and not attack by force at all.

This time, Yang Pu was sent out and stood in front of the Taoist temple and shouted: "The governor has arrived, the abbot comes out to greet him!"

The abbot of Huang Tingguan was called Li Gongzuo. As a registered disciple of Wang Laozhi and a Taoist official, he never thought that the government would dare to take action.

Li Gong made a Taoist appearance, and was surrounded by more than a dozen Taoist priests. He walked up to Ju Ming and made a Taoist bow: "Meet the prefect!"

Ju Ming stood on his horse and said in a cold tone: "Someone has exposed you for hiding demon scriptures and secretly spreading demon magic. Is this possible?"

Li Gongzuo laughed when he heard this: "Prefect Rong Zhen, Pindao is a Taoist official appointed by the imperial court. How could he spread evil magic? Someone must have made a false accusation."

"Maybe you are innocent, but what about the Taoist priests under you?" Ju Ming asked.

Li Gongzuo said: "I dare to use this Taoist robe to guarantee that there is absolutely no demon in Huangtingguan."

Ju Ming said: "Gather all the Taoist priests in Huangting Temple, and I will give them a lecture in person. Those who are not in the temple will also be called back, immediately!"

Li Gongzuo had no choice but to summon Taoist priests.

These Taoist priests all have families. They come to Huangtingguan to work every day and go home to live with their wives at night. There are also rotating holidays, and those who live in the Taoist temple at night are on night shift. (Quanzhen Taoism has not yet emerged, and Taoist priests can marry and have children.)

Counting the handymen in the Taoist temple, more than a hundred Taoist priests gathered one after another.

There are even rural landowners who take the initiative to donate their land as temple fields and become practitioners by wearing Taoist robes to resist the government's exorbitant taxes.

It was already dark at this time and all the pilgrims had left. Zhu Ming ordered: "Deng Chun, lead someone to search you. Zhang Boring, lead someone to search the Taoist temple!"

Naturally nothing can be found in a body search, but there must be something "hidden" in the Taoist temple.

Not long after, Zhang Bor came out holding a torch: "Sir, we found several demon scriptures!"

"Take them all away!" Zhu Ming was furious.

Li Gongzuo was horrified and shouted: "Prefect, wait a minute, someone must have framed it. I have never seen the demon scripture, how could it be hidden in the temple?"

Zhu Ming asked: "Even if the Demonic Scripture is framed, but you colluded with thieves and bandits, occupied the land of the surrounding good people, and resisted the government and refused to pay taxes, is this also framed by others? Stop making excuses and go to the state court to confess your crime!" "

For a time, the cries were loud, the Taoist priests were in tears, and they no longer looked like practitioners.

Zhu Ming was arresting thieves and raiding Taoist temples. In addition to establishing his authority, he also wanted to get more money and food.

Here in Juancheng, there are many disciples and old officials of the Li family. The subordinate officials colluded and deliberately did not collect enough autumn grain this year, in order to force Zhu Ming to compromise. It was impossible for Ju Ming to conjure money out of thin air, so he had to make some extra money to make up for the shortfall in autumn grain.

As for the recovered land, we have to find a way to distribute it to tenants, and return it to the original owners if they are still there.

It must not be turned into official land, otherwise the harm will be even greater.

Guantian was also called Guanzhuang. Officials were dispatched as village supervisors, and extortionate taxes and extortion could force all the tenants to flee.

In view of this situation, the imperial court also changed its strategy and contracted all official land to large landowners, and then asked the large landowners to recruit tenants for farming. This policy existed in the late Northern Song Dynasty and became extremely common in the Southern Song Dynasty. But letting big landowners serve as subcontractors is only a little better than direct management by officials, and it only prevents large-scale exodus of tenants.

For the tenants who were allocated land in Huhe Town, as well as the tenants who were allocated land here, Ju Ming would promise to be tax-free within three years.

However, in practice, only official taxes and extra money can be exempted, and officials will collect exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in various ways.

Ju Ming could only do this, at least to ensure that the tenants who obtained the land would not go bankrupt within three years after becoming the principal owners.

Three years later, he will definitely no longer be in Puzhou, and the people will just wish themselves well.

Staying at the Taoist temple that night, the archers were all excited after receiving the reward, and returned to the city the next day with a large amount of money.

Bai Sheng, Zhang Boring and Shi Yuangong stayed and were responsible for distributing the confiscated land to the tenants, whoever was cultivating it. All land deeds will be given, and handling fees will be waived for land transfer. This requires the cooperation of the Juancheng County Magistrate, and Zhu Ming has to go to the county government in person.

Yao Guangshu understood what happened and had no reaction.

Wang Laozhi had offended Cai Jing a long time ago. Those Taoist priests in Huang Tingguan were all Wang Laozhi's disciples and they all deserved to suffer.

Land deeds were handed out one by one, and specifically stated that they would be tax-free for three years. The farmers in Huhe Town also went through the procedures for reissue.

All the Zhang family's land occupied by the Taoist temple will be returned.

For a time, the reputation of the prefect spread throughout the county, and scholars in Puzhou rushed to write articles praising him.

Zhu Shengfei looked at the notice posted at the door of the state government office and murmured to himself: "Such capable officials will become famous ministers in the future."

The content of the notice is very simple, ordering the magistrates and county magistrates of the four counties in Puzhou to start an inventory of Taoist temples and temples in their respective jurisdictions. If there is a monster, catch it immediately and clean up the temple grounds. Illegal temple land must be returned to the landowner. Legal temple land must be taxed, and past tax arrears must be paid!

Ju Ming had already set an example himself, and the county officials knew what to do. Not only could they please the magistrate, but they could also take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune.

This was the breakthrough. Only after establishing authority would people listen to the decrees issued by Ju Ming, and only then would all the Taoist temples cooperate honestly. Otherwise, the county officials would be perfunctory.