Chapter 2613 - 2586: Surprise Attack

This village is too large and is organized in its opposition to the land redemption, so we cannot achieve our goal through careful and considerate persuasion like with the previous villages.

Therefore, they have no choice but to use other methods.

Before dawn, they all woke up; now is the time when people are most relaxed during the day. Bai Shan and the others got up, avoided those watching them, and quietly left.

When the two Chiefs arrived as agreed, only Lord Tang and a few others were left.

They were slightly taken aback and were about to inquire when Tang He stood up and said, "Let’s go, let’s hurry back. I haven’t bathed for three or four days."

The two Chiefs hesitated and followed, not finding a chance to speak until they had walked a long way, "Lord Tang, where are the other two lords and the officials?"

Tang He waved his hand indifferently and said, "They went to the next village."

He glanced at them and sneered, "Your troubles in Qizhou are really numerous. These lands originally belonged to the court. You all bought them at a low price, and now His Majesty is buying them back at the original price. Over the years, it’s already been favorable to you, what more do you want?"

The Chiefs’ expressions changed slightly, and before they could speak, Tang He added, "But I wouldn’t be willing to do this thankless hard work if it weren’t for my superiors assigning it to me. Now, what the court worries about is these tenant farmers turning into rebels, so as long as you can pacify the tenant farmers, it’s not impossible for the higher-ups to turn a blind eye and let it go."

The hearts of the two Chiefs soared to the ninth heaven and then fell back, nearly unable to bear the ups and downs.

Meanwhile, Bai Shan and the others had already circled to the end of the village and were hiding in the woods.

Censor Ren pressed down on the large black mosquito on the back of his hand, his face dark, "It’s like we’re going to war."

Bai Shan said, "Looking at yesterday’s situation, it’s not much different from going to war. In this entire village, only eighty-nine households own land, with the largest holding twelve acres and the smallest only two acres. The rest are mainly tenant farmers reliant on leaseholds, which is exactly why yesterday’s situation occurred."

Censor Ren thought for a moment and said, "When we enter the village later, we should have Lord Bai persuade the villagers. Your words seem more amiable."

Bai Shan nodded but didn’t immediately move. Instead, he said, "Last night, Lord Ren didn’t say how these tenant farmers would be dealt with in the future."

Censor Ren glanced at him, "Lord Tang has already instructed you to act according to the situation, so just follow along, Lord Bai."

Bai Shan slightly raised his eyebrows, understanding the situation.

Senior Brother Tang asked him to make his own decisions, but aren’t you censors here?

Later, if he makes promises to calm the people’s hearts and you don’t fulfill them, wouldn’t the anger be directed at him?

And then, charging him with not following the rules and impeaching him, how does that make sense?

Having received Censor Ren’s promise, Bai Shan led the people out, deciding to follow his own intentions.

The officers and soldiers left and returned, starting from the unnoticed end of the village, rounding up people house by house and bringing them to the center of the village.

They gathered only from the village end, assembling about eighty to ninety households, and then stopped, the rest coming when they heard the commotion.

When the more active people from the village head arrived with wooden sticks and hoes, Bai Shan and Censor Ren were standing on a temporary high platform set up with a few tables.

He nodded to the nearby imperial soldiers, who drew their swords and hacked at a wooden stake beside them, shouting loudly, "The official has something to say, be quiet—"

The noisy crowd quieted down, and Bai Shan then addressed them, "Do you know that just based on yesterday’s attack on court officials, you can already be classified as rebels, as insurgents, and can be killed without mercy?"

The crowd grew restless, "But as you can see, there are fewer of us today than yesterday. Do you know why?"

"Why, why?"

"Because your Chiefs went to the city on your behalf to plead guilty," Bai Shan blatantly lied: "Yesterday’s event was not the intention of your Chiefs. They also said you were fearful of losing your land when it is redeemed by the authorities. Lord Tang sympathizes with you and remembers it’s your first offense, so he has decided to forgive you."

"However, there are some things that I believe must be made clear to you," Bai Shan said. "Do you know this area of land was originally all government land?"

Everyone naturally knew this. Even if they didn’t know before, they all knew by now. Recently, this matter had stirred quite a commotion, with talks of the authorities acting without integrity, having sold the land to their landlords when funds were short years ago.

Yet now, when funds are no longer an issue, they regretted it and wanted to forcefully buy the land back.

They had been farming the land for so many years, and this year they had already planted. Taking the land back now would leave them with no means to survive.

Just thinking about this stirred everyone’s emotions once more.

Bai Shan loudly said, "These lands were all sold at one-third of the market price by the former prefect of Qizhou who colluded with local powerful families!"

The crowd did not respond, so Bai Shan continued, "And these lands rightfully should have been distributed among you!"

With this statement, the crowd stirred up.

Bai Shan slightly raised his hand and said, "According to the Jin Law, every adult male is entitled to twenty acres of Yongye Fields. How many came of age in your village last year and received their land? How many came of age the year before and received their land?"

"These government lands should have been allocated to the adult males, and because these lands were sold, your registered villages and towns found there was no land to distribute when it came time for your adults to receive their share!"

The crowd couldn’t help but whisper among themselves, "It seems true, last year the youngest son of the Zhuzi family came of age but didn’t receive any land, it hasn’t been distributed for years."

"The officials’ words sound nice, but there’s no guarantee you’ll actually distribute the land once recovered, and how many households in our village have undivided adult males? What about everyone else?"

"Yes, without lands to distribute or cultivate, we’ll starve to death within a year."

"Can so much land really be distributed?" Bai Shan replied, "Of course not. The remaining land still needs cultivating, and you would just be transitioning from tenant farmers under others to tenant farmers under the court. However, I can assure you that the rent collected by the court will not exceed forty percent."

Censor Ren couldn’t help but turn his head and signal him with his eyes, don’t make big promises. Not exceeding forty percent means the highest is forty percent. If the new Qizhou prefect knew, wouldn’t he tear Bai Shan apart?

Bai Shan continued, "The court has long issued an edict, the announcement is pasted on the city walls, clearly stating that this year’s harvest from tenant lands is still yours. The court will only take over the lands after this year’s autumn harvest. I don’t know where you heard the rumors that the young crops would be destroyed, but destroying young crops is also a serious crime?"

After Bai Shan finished, he signaled to Censor Ren, who then sternly explained to them what the crime of destroying young crops was and what the crime of attacking officials was. Then he pointed to a few people below who were still secretly inciting others and said, "Lord Bai is not holding you accountable, but it does not mean you can humiliate us. Take these ringleaders into custody. I suspect they’re related to the recent rumors spreading around here!"