Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 93: Now, are you still unwilling to tell the truth?

Wang Jun looked at his eldest brother, Wang Yuan, who was completely unaware of the impending disaster and still putting on the airs of the family head, and his second brother, Wang Qing, whose brain was dumber than a pig's.

Suddenly, he felt so tired, and his heart was filled with anger and anxiety.

Wang Jun forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart: "Brother, the Wang family has reached a moment of life and death!"

"If Zhang Hai is caught by the West Factory, then our private occupation of farmland must have been exposed."

"Now we can only quickly return the land and grain, and strive to save our lives by returning the land, just like in the sixteenth year of Chenghua."

"Moreover, this time we can't just pretend to return the land, we must actually return the land to the people!"

Wang Qing hummed in a low voice: "Returning the land is easy for you to say, these lands were not easy for us to obtain, you say return it and we return it, you really don't feel bad for your brother selling his family's land."

Wang Yuan also felt pain in his heart for these lands: "Third brother, are you making too much of a fuss?"

"At worst, we can transfer the land to a few more family slaves."

"As long as we do a good job on the surface and give His Majesty a positive response, presumably His Majesty will not be too serious."

"If it really doesn't work, we can write a letter to our sister and ask her to come forward and mediate."

"After all, we are the relatives of the emperor, and there are not many of us who are so law-abiding."

Wang Jun was exasperated, and the anger could not be suppressed, rising rapidly.

"Absolutely do not let our sister come forward to intercede!"

"Can today be compared with the past? Can His Majesty be compared with the late Emperor?"

"The empress interfering in politics will only make His Majesty even more furious!"

"The late Emperor was benevolent and did not pursue the matter of occupying land."

"But if we still imitate the events of the sixteenth year of Chenghua, our Wang family will have no place to be buried!"

"His Majesty's two uncles, Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu, were both executed by His Majesty with the punishment of slow slicing and their three clans were exterminated, let alone us?"

"Brother! There can be no more hesitation, quickly order the return of the land!"

The matter of the sixteenth year of Chenghua that Wang Jun mentioned was that the late Emperor granted Wang Yuan 2,700 mu of good farmland in Jinghai County, and permanently exempted him from taxes.

After that, Wang Yuan instructed his family slaves to seize farmland everywhere, and finally forcibly seized more than 220,000 mu of good farmland.

Because Wang Yuan was the younger brother of the then Empress Wang, none of the censors of the Censorate and the Six Ministries dared to impeach him.

After Zhang Zhen's uncle, the then Minister of Revenue, exposed this matter in front of the late Emperor, the late Emperor was furious and ordered Wang Yuan to immediately return the land and issued an edict prohibiting any relatives of the emperor from privately occupying farmland.

But at that time, Wang Yuan pretended to comply, and hung all the encroached land in the name of his family slave Liu Zong, claiming that he had returned all the farmland.

From then on, Wang Yuan's Wang family became a law-abiding imperial relative.

And Jinghai County also had an extra landlord, Liu Zong, the rich man Liu.

He owned a huge 220,000 mu of good farmland, and this number is still increasing, and has now exceeded 300,000 mu.

Wang Yuan is greedy, and Wang Qing is stupid.

Only Wang Jun understood the current situation in the court, so he desperately wanted to persuade his two brothers to return the land and save their lives.

But Wang Yuan was still hesitant: "What the third brother said is reasonable, the current Emperor is tyrannical and does not care about family affection at all. In order to save our lives, we should return the land."

"But we don't have to return all of it, right?" Wang Qing felt very uncomfortable: "In my opinion, we should just return 50,000 mu to show our attitude."

"That's not appropriate, 50,000 mu is a bit too little."

Wang Yuan shook his head: "How about this, let's return half of it, 150,000 mu to the nearby farmers."

"The remaining land will still be in the name of the family slaves."

"This time we will find fifteen people, each with 10,000 mu under their name, so that it won't be too conspicuous."

Seeing that his two brothers were still so stubborn, and still thinking about those broken fields when death was imminent.

He couldn't help but feel sad, and shouted with grief and indignation: "Brother! Think twice!"

Wang Yuan frowned impatiently and slammed the table.

"Alright, I've made up my mind."

"Third brother, don't persuade me anymore, just do as I say!"

"You!"

Wang Jun was so anxious that he lost his mind, and suddenly his eyes rolled back and he fainted from anger.

… …

At this time, the team clearing the fields had already surveyed the entire Jinghai County.

The entire Jinghai County has a total of 2.2 million mu of land, of which 1.3 million mu are available for planting, and a total of 730,000 mu can be called good farmland.

And among these 730,000 mu of good farmland, 310,000 mu of land are in the name of Liu Zong.

That is, the property of Earl of Ruian, Wang Yuan, the Wang family.

Duliu Village is a very small village in Jinghai County.

"Old man, this piece of land was still in your name ten years ago, how did it become Liu Zong's land now?"

"And this old man, this piece of land should be yours, how did it all become Liu Zong's land?"

"… …"

Qin Lu was holding a hand-drawn map and asked the farmers in front of him.

Even in such cold weather, the farmers were not wearing much clothing.

Fortunately, there was firewood burning in the house, so they didn't feel too cold.

The farmers saw that Qin Lu was wearing official uniform, so they dared not offend him.

But they dared not answer Qin Lu's words honestly, and could only stammer: "A few years ago, my child was sick and needed a lot of money for treatment, so I sold the land to the rich man Liu."

"Me too, my wife was sick."

"And me, my old mother was sick."

"… …"

Qin Lu knew that the farmers were afraid and dared not tell the truth.

"I am Qin Lu, the second leader of the West Factory. Do you know the West Factory?"

The farmers shook their heads in unison, Qin Lu didn't care.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know the West Factory, you only need to know that our West Factory specializes in killing officials."

"Which official dares to bully the people, our West Factory will kill that official."

"The current Emperor has specially issued an edict ordering us to clear the fields all over the world and return the land occupied by officials, nobles, gentry and landlords to the farmers."

"So if your land has been forcibly seized, immediately report the details, and the West Factory will make the decision for you!"

Everyone looked at each other, feeling a little hesitant.

Of course, it would be good if someone could make the decision for them.

But words are not proof, if they really tell their grievances, and these people do not have the ability to make the decision for them.

Then after these people leave, it is still these people who will continue to suffer.

Qin Lu knew their worries and did not explain anything more, but snapped his fingers at the door.

"Bring the person over."

"Yes, Second Leader."

The West Factory agents outside the door obeyed the order and escorted Zhang Hai, who was shivering from the cold, into the room.

Zhang Hai's face was miserable, his hair was disheveled, his expression was dull, and he had many wounds on his body.

And in such a cold winter, the clothes on his body were not more than what the farmers were wearing, and his hands, feet, and ears were all frostbitten.

Pus and blood flowed from the frostbite, and his appearance was extremely miserable. Where was there any appearance of the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture?

"Do you know him?"

Qin Lu pointed at Zhang Hai and asked the farmers.

The farmers shook their heads in unison: "I don't know him."

It's no wonder, how can these bottom-level farmers be qualified to know the local head of Shuntian Prefecture?

"It doesn't matter if you don't know him, he is the biggest official here, and now he has been arrested by our West Factory for bribery."

"I just want to tell you that the biggest official here has already been taken down by our West Factory."

"You don't need to have any worries, tell us your grievances, and our West Factory will definitely solve them for you!"

The farmers looked hesitant, some wanted to speak, but they were tight-lipped.

Because it was not the officials who were oppressing them, but the imperial relatives.

The West Factory dares to arrest officials of the Ming Dynasty, but does the West Factory dare to arrest the relatives of the Ming Dynasty emperor?

Seeing that they were still hesitant, Qin Lu waved his hand to the West Factory agent again: "Change another one."

"Yes."

After the West Factory agent took Zhang Hai out, he quickly pushed in a fat man.

This man's appearance was similar to Zhang Hai's, with wounds all over his body and dried blood stains on his body.

The clothes on his body were even less than Zhang Hai's, and his lips were blue from the cold outside, and he was trembling all over.

But when the local farmers saw this person, they were so frightened that they stood up and were about to kneel to him.

"The little ones have seen Master Liu!"

"Stand up, don't kneel!"

Qin Lu shouted sternly, scaring the farmers and making them tremble, and they quickly stood up again.

"The Master Liu in your mouth is just a prisoner of the West Factory."

"Everything you think is a big force, a big background, a big official, is like a pig in front of the Ming Dynasty emperor."

"And we are sent by His Majesty the Emperor to help you get back your land."

"Now, are you still unwilling to tell me the truth?!"

"This… This…"

Some farmers were still hesitating, and some farmers had already knelt in front of Qin Lu, crying out their grievances.

"Sir, my land was forcibly occupied by Master Wang's family in the sixteenth year of Chenghua!"

"Their family slaves first came up and beat me up, and then threatened that if I didn't offer the land, they would beat me and my son to death, and let my daughter be a maid for Master Wang."

"I have no choice, they said that Master Wang is a relative of the Emperor, and even if they beat our whole family to death, no one would dare to care."

"They finally robbed my family's twenty-three mu of land for a price of five hundred wen!"

"Twenty-three mu of land, only five hundred wen, even robbers don't do this!"

"They took my land and then rented it back to me, asking me to pay twenty shi of grain as rent every year."

"Twenty-three mu of land, if the crops in the field are not sick or disaster-stricken, can only produce twenty-seven or eight shi of grain a year."

"After paying the rent, there are only seven or eight shi of grain left in a year, how can our whole family survive!"

The man cried with tears streaming down his face, extremely sad.

While crying, he kowtowed to Qin Lu.

Wang Yuan's tyranny has long oppressed the people here, and Qin Lu's appearance is like a ray of light, piercing through the darkness.

And this person has also shown the strength to tear through this darkness.

At least Qin Lu's capture of Liu Zong, who worked for the Wang family, has already shown the attitude of the West Factory.

In that case, why not trust the West Factory once and take a gamble.

If you win the bet, life will be much better in the future.

If you lose the bet, anyway, he can't live like this anymore, it's just a death anyway, why not risk it!

Success or failure depends on this one move!