As early as the 20th of October, Jiang Dahai, who had received Xiao Ruxun's secret order, had told Chai Guozhu, who had just defected, about Xiao Ruxun's order.
He wanted Chai Guozhu to send thirty thousand soldiers of Ji Town south to Zhejiang and join forces with the Zhennan Army's General Zheng Ying. Together, they would sweep through Southern Zhili and Zhejiang, and cooperate with the land reform led by Xie He. They planned to turn Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, which were the most powerful among the rich and powerful, into the most reliable base of the Zhennan Army, aside from Burma.
The stronger the enemy was, the purer the land would be. As long as they killed all the enemies, the land would become their most reliable base.
Xiao Ruxun had made up his mind to take over the two provinces, which had the richest economy and the densest population, as well as the largest number of Daming gentry, and turn them into his new base.
And this required the participation of Chai Guozhu's army.
As he had just joined the Zhennan Army, it was still unknown whether Chai Guozhu would be willing to hand over the army. This was also a test given by Xiao Ruxun to Chai Guozhu, and also a test given by the Zhennan Army's rebel suppression camp to Chai Guozhu.
The result proved that Chai Guozhu was a qualified rebel suppression warrior. Without hesitation, he handed over the military power to Jiang Dahai, and even said that he could give up his personal guards, to show his sincerity in joining the Zhennan Army's rebel suppression camp.
Jiang Dahai was very satisfied. He encouraged Chai Guozhu and told him that Xiao Ruxun would put him in an important position when he came. Then, without any hesitation, he selected thirty thousand soldiers of Ji Town south to Zhejiang, and mixed them with many old officers of the Zhennan Army.
In the end, they were not the old officers of the Zhennan Army, so they could not be completely trusted. Therefore, they needed to send the old officers of the Zhennan Army to be the basic officers, controlling this army from the root, and slowly assimilating them into the qualified rebel suppression warriors of the Zhennan Army.
This was Xiao Ruxun's basic thinking. Fortunately, Chai Guozhu was very tactful and knew what he should do at the moment.
Thirty thousand troops set out from Nanjing and entered Zhejiang via Yingtian Prefecture and Guangde Prefecture. At the same time, with the help of Xie He's land reform working group, Zheng Ying no longer had any worries. He dispatched his troops to capture Shaoxing Prefecture, Jinhua Prefecture, and Taizhou Prefecture. The land reform working group immediately moved in and turned the world upside down.
For a period of time, Zheng Ying even felt that his speed of conquering cities and territories could not keep up with the speed of these crazy land reform teams. He had no choice but to speed up the pace of conquering cities and territories. At the same time, the number of farmers who wished to join the Zhennan Army had also increased. In a short period of time, Zheng Ying's army had expanded to 20,000 people.
With sufficient provisions and armors, it was only a matter of time before the whole of Zhejiang was conquered.
Soon after, five or six groups of land reform working group members arrived in Zhejiang to assist Xie He in the land reform. Xie He did not stand on ceremony and immediately arranged for them to be stationed in the places. One village at a time, they overthrew the rule of the rich and powerful families. At the same time, he arranged for the army to prevent the farmers from causing too much damage to the safety of the towns.
Xie He was already very familiar with this move. He was now the overall person in charge of the land reform work in this area. Not only did he arrange for the land reform working group members sent by Xiao Ruxun to carry out land reform everywhere, he also paid attention to the local young scholars who were oppressed by the rich and powerful families, and then encouraged them to join the land reform working group.
We are also scholars, and they are also scholars. Why should we be oppressed by them to the point where we can't even afford to eat? At the same time, is there a difference between scholars and nobility? If this is the case, then what is the difference between us and those farmers? Have all the knowledge of the sages gone to the dogs' bellies?
Join General Xiao. Other than General Xiao, no one will make decisions for you. They will only oppress you, oppress me, and make us forever their vassals. So, join us, overthrow them, and make our own decisions. Isn't that great?
Xie He had already successfully encouraged more than a dozen poor scholars to join the land reform working group, and let them experience the thrill of power while leading the peasants to riot. From then on, they were unable to extricate themselves. They were tied to this high-speed chariot, and the general situation of Zhejiang was irreversible.
At the beginning of November, Zheng Ying led the army to take over Yanzhou and Qianzhou. With the help of Li Wenyuan, he also took over Chuzhou and Wenzhou. More than half of Zhejiang was under his control. He successfully opened up the road between Zhejiang and the occupied areas of Fujian, and then began an even more intense land reform movement.
While the land reform movement in southern Zhejiang was majestic, the land reform in central Zhejiang had already come to an end. The social order gradually stabilized, and the farmers' association carried out the autumn harvest according to the instructions of the land reform working group. After the autumn harvest was completed, Xie He began to arrange for land distribution.
According to Xiao Ruxun's arrangements, Xie He would first destroy all the old land deeds, then distribute the land according to the newly divided area and the contribution of the farmers. After that, he would issue new land deeds. He also stipulated that the land that was issued could not be bought or sold, and could only be owned by himself.
Then, he optimized the functions of the farmers' association, turning the farmers into agricultural production organizations and self-defense organizations. He let the farmers organize their own self-defense forces to protect themselves and their land. During the slack season, they would train, and during the busy season, the farmers' association would become an organization that would replace the landlords in managing the villages.
Of course, it was impossible to get a group of illiterate farmers together. Therefore, the leadership of the farmers' association was in the hands of the Land Reform Working Group. Each county had a member of the Land Reform Working Group, who were responsible for guiding and managing the farmers' association and what they should and should not do. Land distribution was the first test of this model.
Although this was only a temporary model, it still had to be done properly, or else there would be trouble.
Naturally, there was no lack of friction and quarrels when it came to land distribution. Everyone wanted the best, not the worst. From the very beginning, everyone had agreed to distribute the land according to certain rules. The more you contributed to the Zhennan Army, the better and more land you would get, and the less you would get.
Therefore, for a period of time, there was a wave of people joining the army. The families of the soldiers were taken care of by the farmers' association, and were given better land, while the farmers who did not contribute were naturally marginalized. Without good land, they had no right to speak, and they regretted it so much that their intestines turned green.
While the land distribution was carried out in an orderly manner, Xie He set her sights on the Hangzhou prefecture, Huzhou prefecture, and Jiaxing prefecture in the north. As the saying goes, Suzhou and Hangzhou are full of people. Although it was an exaggeration, it was not that exaggerated. Suzhou and Hangzhou's fertile land and suitable climate were also one of the reasons why their grain production was so high.
Of course, with such good land and good climate, how could the gentry and tyrants not value such good land and climate?
This was the place where the most powerful gentry and tyrants of Daming lived. For example, Songjiang prefecture was the backyard of the former Prime Minister Xu Jie's family.
The private ownership of more than 200,000 mu of land made Xu Jie's family extremely rich. Back then, when Xu Jie's family caused trouble, it was Zhang Juzheng who settled it for the sake of his reputation in the past. Because of this, Xu Jie's reputation was ruined.
The land here was like the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period. All the big families divided up the land here, and there were almost no independent farmers. Even if there were, they were at the level of middle and small vassals, not independent.
Compared to the big sea merchants in Fujian, the area between Zhejiang and Southern Zhili was the most prosperous in Jiangnan. It was also the most densely populated area with the most scholars. It was because of this that the Southeast merchants finally won over the Jin merchants and dominated the central government of Daming.
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