In November of the 26th year of the reign of Wanli, it was winter, and the world was freezing.
Daming. The battlefields everywhere, from east to west, south to north, were all unstable.
In the west, the battle of Hanzhong was raging.
In the east, Xiao Ruxun's expedition to the north was in full swing.
In the south, Zheng Ying led the army and Xie He led the land reform team in the four prefectures of Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Songjiang, and Jiaxing.
In the north, Shen Yicheng racked his brains to ensure his own power.
At this juncture, in Fujian's Fuzhou prefecture, Chen Lin and Li Wenyuan were temporarily idle because of the army's reorganization. They were waiting for Xiao Ruxun's further arrangements.
As soon as they were free, naturally they would go out for a stroll. But right now there was nothing good to see in the whole of Fujian, because everywhere they looked were scenes of the land reform working group rallying the poor peasants and landless refugees to wildly criticize the big landlords and powerful gentry.
They patrolled all the villages and towns around Fuzhou and did not find a single village or town that was stable. One round of criticism was not enough. They needed a second and third round.
From the super-rich who occupied hundreds of thousands of mu, to the middle-rich who occupied tens of thousands of mu, to the small rich who occupied less than ten thousand mu. It seemed to be getting more and more intense.
The gentry who were targeted by the land reform team were completely unable to resist the attacks of the people who had the absolute advantage in numbers. Basically, they did not have a good ending.
Even if they gave up resisting and begged for mercy, they did not have a good ending. Those who were willing to give up their land for a way to live were not forgiven. Even if they handed over all their wealth, they still could not get a way to live. It seemed that as long as they had money and land, they would all die.
Li Wenyuan, who had witnessed all of this, was deeply shocked. He had even personally gone to Liu Xiu, the person in charge of the land reform in Fujian, to ask him if he could restrain the staff. Couldn't the rich families who had already handed over their land in exchange for the survival of their families?
Even the old, weak, women, and children were to be killed?
Liu Xiu very seriously rejected him.
His reason was to eliminate evil completely.
"If we let them go now, it's hard to guarantee that they won't seek revenge in the future. We don't know how much wealth these people have hidden. After the storm blows over, it'll be easy to start a business, and it'll be easy to take revenge. Leaving them alive will always be a scourge, so it's best to kill them all."
When Liu Xiu said these words, his eyes were bloodshot and his face was filled with anger. He was not in a rational state at all. Furthermore, he was an Elementary Scholar with a scholarly reputation.
Chen Lin and Li Wenyuan did not have the authority to interfere with local affairs.
At the beginning of the war, Xiao Ruxun had stipulated that the army was not allowed to interfere with the local administration. After the city was taken and the order was stabilized, they had to leave the city and hand over the local authority to the civilian officials. After the land reform began, they also received orders that the land reform would be fully handled by the working group and the army was not allowed to interfere.
Li Wenyuan wanted to stop Liu Xiu's violent actions, but he didn't know where to start.
Seeing these tragedies, Li Wenyuan really couldn't convince himself, so Li Wenyuan wrote a letter to Xiao Ruxun.
In the letter, he described the atrocious things that the working group of the land reform had done in Fujian with the farmers. He hoped that Xiao Ruxun could restrain those people who were already somewhat out of control and not let more innocent people die because of it.
"Since you said it so bluntly, the general might not be happy."
Chen Lin was a wily old fox, and he was also a surrendered general, so his identity was more sensitive. He was not as close as Li Wenyuan's bodyguard, so he couldn't say what Li Wenyuan could say. However, he was clear about the importance of the matter and the propriety of his words. At the moment when Xiao Ruxun's strength had greatly increased, he felt that it was better for Li Wenyuan not to do this.
Li Wenyuan firmly shook his head.
"The general said that the purpose of the land reform is to let the landless farmers get back their land, not to do these atrocious things. Those people don't even let women and children off. They are simply … simply heartless!"
Chen Lin put down the letter in his hand and sighed.
"But when those gentry and rich families bullied the people and robbed their land, it was also atrocious. Just because you didn't see it, you sympathized with them? Are there any innocent people among these people? "
Li Wenyuan was stunned for a moment, then he shook his head. "I'm also a refugee. I wandered from Huguang to Myanmar. The general gave me food to eat, taught me to read, changed my name, and gave me everything I have today. Although I'm a general now, I won't forget the time when I almost starved to death."
"So, these people are the main culprits who caused you to starve to death. Why do you sympathize with them? Just because you lived a good life for a few years, with clothes to wear, food to eat, meat to eat, and money to earn, have you forgotten the hatred? I don't believe that when you almost starved to death and saw those rich young masters, you didn't hate them. "
Li Wenyuan looked at the white-haired Chen Lin, and his eyes flickered.
Chen Lin smiled and then sighed.
"It's normal for people who are about to starve to death to see those who live in luxury. It's abnormal for them not to hate them. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people shouting to equalize the rich and the poor, and they wouldn't be incited by a few slogans of those who want to carry out the land reform. This is what they have always wanted to do, but they didn't dare to do it before. Now that there is someone to support them, they dare to do it."
Li Wenyuan lowered his head and said quietly, "I hated them, but I never thought of killing their whole family."
Chen Lin glanced at Li Wenyuan, picked up the teacup, and took a sip.
"I've lived for so many years, and I've seen through it. Since ancient times, there has never been a person who doesn't love money. It's because they love money but don't have it that they rebel. But there is only so much money, and not everyone has it, and not everyone has it. There will always be rich and poor. When the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, there will be more and more people who hate the rich.
People who hate the rich are not all the same. Some people are envious when they see the rich, and think that one day they can become like them. For example, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, saw the chariot of Emperor Qin, and said that a real man should be like this, and so is Xiang Yu. He said that he could replace him, and they all did it.
But there are few people like this, and more people don't have the ability to climb up, or maybe they don't have the opportunity. When they feel that they can't be as rich as those rich, they become muddle-headed. They think that I'm so poor that I don't know the next meal, but you all have a good life, and you all deserve to die! "
After listening to what Chen Lin said, Li Wenyuan looked at Chen Lin curiously.
"Everyone loves money. Some people are willing and can fight for a life of wealth, like you, but some people can't. They don't have the guts, they don't have the skills, and they don't have the opportunity. They can only hate. During times of peace, they are suppressed and unable to release their hatred. But once the world is in chaos, they will become extremely irritable, just like now.
Admittedly, if it weren't for the fact that most of these rich people are rich and heartless, desperately squeezing them and doing all kinds of bad things, this kind of hatred would be harder to control. But now, it's obviously too much. They kill for the sake of killing, and set fires for the sake of arson. The refugees and poor peasants don't understand, but those who carried out the land reform have fallen into it themselves. "
Chen Lin shook her head helplessly. "Because people love money, they hate the rich. The poor hate the rich, the rich hate the big rich, the big rich hate the big rich. Everyone hates the rich, and everyone wants to be rich. So there will never be a day of peace in this world …"
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