As everyone knew, the story of Water Margins happened during the Northern Song Dynasty's Huizong period.
In order to build Mount Yujing, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty built a large number of stone pillars in all parts of Jiangnan, causing the people of Jiangnan to suffer. This led to the later Fangla Uprising.
But in the north, the people suffered from the law of land reclamation.
A few years ago, a petty official named Du Gongcai, in order to curry favor with the Great Eunuch Yang Jian, proposed a special decree to ask the common people to inspect the land contracts. At that time, it was called the rice field affairs.
At that time, many people's land was transferred or used to reclaim wasteland. They could not produce the land deed at all, so these lands were treated as public land.
Then, Yang Jian estimated the yield of the land according to the area of the land, stipulated the rent to be paid, and then forced the common people to rent.
However, most of the land that was seized was barren land, abandoned fields, abandoned dikes, abandoned weirs, receding beaches, silted lands, lakes, and so on. The people could not cultivate at all, but the rent that they had to pay could not be reduced at all.
Unknowingly, it brought a heavy burden to the people.
Because of Du Gongcai's suggestion, Yang Jian made a fortune and became one of his achievements.
Duke Du was only a small official, so he was promoted to an observer by Yang Jian, completing the leap from an official to an official.
Later on, treacherous officials like Cai Jing, Gao Qiu, Zhang You, and Li Yan were like sharks that had smelled blood. They all participated in the plowing of the fields and renamed the rice fields to the West City Office. Moreover, their eating habits were even uglier.
For example, C had a piece of good land that was later sold to B, who then sold it to A. The government would ask for the land deed from A and trace it all the way to the source until there was no deed to prove it. Then, this piece of land would be designated as public land.
All in all, they had to do everything they could to take away the land from the people.
For example, in Lushan County in the western part of Jingxi, the land of the entire county was taken as public land.
The crafty sycophants, led by Cai Jing, referred to the good land of the people as barren land and turned it into their own property. The real barren land was rented to the people to cultivate and they collected heavy taxes, causing bankruptcy everywhere.
In history, the expansion of farmland started from Ruzhou in the west of Beijing and gradually spread to Jingdong, Hebei, Huaixi, and Huaibei. Many people could not stand the exploitation and began to resist.
(Jingdong: refers to Jingdong East Road and Jingdong West Road. It is the name of the administrative district in the Northern Song Dynasty, equivalent to the current province. Jingdong is roughly the current Shandong area.）
This time, when the Land Appraisal Law was implemented in Jingdong, the Xu family's thousand acres of fertile land were all used as public land. The family business accumulated by generations was turned into nothing in one day.
Xu Fengwu couldn't take it anymore. He killed the envoy and more than ten officials, then took his parents to Liangshan.
Xu
Fengwu sat in the chief's seat in the Hall of Righteousness. The first person on the left was Grand Duke Xu.
Grand Duke Xu's real name was Xu Yuanzhong. He only had a son, Xu Fengwu, when he was in his thirties. Now, he was already fifty-two years old.
Xu Fengwu wanted to let his father sit at the head of the table, but Grand Duke Xu was unwilling.
Grand Duke Xu had always been a good person and had been a good citizen for his entire life. He was also the chief protector of Shijie Village. Now that he had no choice but to go to Liangshan, it was already difficult for him to accept. How could he sit on the top seat of this bandit den?
Beneath Grand Duke Xu was a 30-year-old man who was eight feet tall. His eyes were bright and his eyebrows were divided into eight. He seemed to have an extraordinary aura.
This burly man was Shi Wengong, the instructor in Zengtou City who defeated Qin Ming in twenty rounds in Water Margins.
It turned out that when Shi Wengong took the martial arts examination in Tokyo, although his martial arts were the best at that time, he had no money and no background. In the end, he actually 'accidentally' failed the examination.
Shi Wengong was disheartened and left Bianliang alone. When he passed by Shijie Village, he happened to meet Xu Fengwu, who had just transmigrated.
Shi Wengong would definitely be ranked in the top few of the Water Margins. Although Xu Fengwu did not plan to use the grass, he would not let go of such an expert so easily.
It was the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Jingkang Rebellion would erupt in a dozen years, and the Jin Kingdom would surround Bianliang City with hundreds of thousands of troops. When the world was in chaos, they would need a few bodyguards.
Therefore, under Xu Fengwu's persuasion, Shi Wengong, who had nowhere else to go, stayed in the Xu Manor. From then on, he taught Xu Fengwu sticks and fists, and trained the vassals of the Xu Manor.
As for Madam Xu and the other women, they had already been arranged to stay in the residence of Liangshan.
On Xu Fengwu's right were Du Qian, Song Wan, and Zhu Gui, the three elders of Liangshan.
Just now, Xu Fengwu, Du Qian, and the other two lit incense and became sworn brothers. They became the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftains rightfully. Shi Wengong took the second seat, and Du Qian and the other two were willing to follow behind.
After everyone sat down, Xu Fengwu cupped his fists at Du Qian and the other two and said,""My three brothers, I've killed the special envoy of the imperial court and the official. I'm afraid the government will come to encircle and annihilate me soon.”
Du Qian replied,"Brother, there are more than 800 lackeys in Liangshan now. Including the families of our brothers, there are about 1,200 people.”
A force of more than 1,000 people would be considered a large stronghold in other places. However, the terrain of Liangshan Lake was steep, and Xu Fengwu felt that this number was a little small.
Zhu Gui also said,"Brother, don't worry. There are 800 miles of water around Liangshan and countless reed marshes. If the soldiers dare to come and surround us, we just need to let our brothers lie in ambush in the reed marshes. They will never return!"”
Wang Lun had been in Liangshan for more than two years. He had built three checkpoints on the mountain in order to resist the government's encirclement.
In fact, the boundless reed marsh outside the Liang Mountain was the real 'first pass' on the Liang Mountain. If one could not pass this reed marsh, they could forget about getting onto the Golden Sand Beach.
Xu Fengwu smiled and said,""With the natural barrier of Liangshan Lake here and the help of all my brothers, I naturally don't have to worry. However, this matter started because of me. I feel very bad in my heart. I can't let my brothers work for nothing, right?”
"Although my Xu family isn't considered a wealthy family, it can be considered a small family property. I plan to take out 20,000 strings of money as a meeting gift for the brothers.”
At this point, Xu Fengwu looked at Grand Duke Xu and asked,""Father, what do you think?”
Grand Duke Xu sighed and said,""The Xu family's property will fall on you sooner or later. Now that you're the master of the stronghold, you can make all the decisions.”
Xu Yuan Zhong was not a stubborn person. The most important thing now was to deal with the encirclement and suppression of the officials.
His son, Xu Fengwu, had angered Wang Lun. Although Du Qian and the others had recommended him to be the chief of the stronghold, the new generation of Liangshan had replaced the old. It was a time when people were unstable.
If spending 20,000 taels of gold and silver could make the people of Liangshan completely submit, Xu Yuanzhong would definitely not have any objections. After all, money was a worldly possession.
When Du Qian and the other two heard Xu Fengwu's words, they could not help but be shocked. Two hundred thousand taels of gold and silver were just as he had said. The Xu family was indeed very rich.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Yiguan money was equivalent to 300 yuan in the future, and 20,000 strings of gold and silver were equivalent to 6,000,000 yuan in the future
. When 1,200 people received 20,000 strings of gold and silver, each person received an average of 16 strings of money. This was the monthly expenditure of a middle-class family in the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Brother is the master of the stronghold," Du Qian quickly said."How can I let Brother spend money?"”
"It's not a big deal. This matter is settled! Brother Du Qian, I'll leave this matter to you. I'll get someone to give you the money later.”
Xu Fengwu said without a doubt. Now that he had just killed Wang Lun, it was time to buy people's hearts.
Although 20,000 yuan was a huge sum of money, Xu Fengwu felt that he had to spend it.
"Yes, sir!" Seeing Xu Fengwu's determination, Du Qian did not say anything else.
Then, Xu Fengwu asked about the situation in the village. He learned that there were more than 3,000 strings of cash on Liangshan and about 1,000 stones of rice. According to the current population of the village, this food could only last for three months.
This was not surprising. Wang Lun had come to Liangshan to find a place to live and live a carefree life. He had no intention of becoming stronger and resisting the imperial court.
Therefore, the main targets of Liang Mountain robbery were merchants passing by. If they robbed a village, it was very likely that the government would come to encircle and suppress them. This was not what Wang Lun wanted.
Moreover, villages like Dongxi Village and Shijie Village were not so easy to attack.
There was naturally no need to say much about Shijie Village. The guardian of Dongxi Village, Chao Gai, was also known as the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King. He also had extraordinary martial arts skills and was secretly involved in the illegal sale of salt. He was one of the big salt tycoons in Jingdong.
Chao Gai had dozens of vassals under him, and he was also very close to Song Jiang, Zhu Tong, Lei Heng, and other officials. He was a giant of the green forest who could control both the black and white.
Even if Liang Mountain wanted to borrow grain, they had to pick those villages with a small population and scale.
All in all, Liangshan Lake under Wang Lun's leadership was not considered very rich, but it was not to the extent that people would starve to death. In addition, the water in the lake was rich in aquatic products, and they could occasionally eat meat.
But now that Xu Fengwu had become the Fort Master, it was naturally impossible to maintain the status quo. Since they had already come to Liangshan, they could only walk down the path until it was dark. Liangshan Marsh had to develop and grow.
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