Chapter 72 The landlord has no more food left
If the soldiers and horses are not moving, the grain and grass will go first.

To suppress bandits, having soldiers and having food is not enough. You need both soldiers and food, only then can you motivate those soldiers.

Soldiers eat food and fight for pay.

It's only natural!

There are soldiers in Qingfeng Village, but not many.

The local rich people in the countryside have grain, but they are actually not willing to give out much of it.

Only when all parties work together can it be possible to suppress the bandits.

Of course, the previous village chief collected taxes for decades in the name of suppressing bandits, which completely broke the homes of the people around Qingfeng Village, thus leading to the complete development of Sanshan.

The person has taken the money and been promoted, so there is no point in calling him a "dog official".

When it comes to nurturing the enemy, the officials of the Dasong Dynasty are the real experts.

Cao Jie made some careful investigation and indeed found Liu Gao.

Liu Gao was not a local gentry. He passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, but failed in the imperial examinations many times, so he married the daughter of the great Wang family who lived at the foot of Qingfeng Mountain.

Nowadays, buying official positions is prevalent, so the kind-hearted Mr. Wang donated a large sum of money and grain to obtain an official position in Wenzhizhai of Qingfeng Mountain for his son-in-law.

He also wanted to make a fortune like the previous village chief.

Who would have thought that Wu Song would get there first and he would lose both his official position and his wealth.

Xinzhi Village is going to suppress bandits, and gentry from all over the country gather in Qingfeng Village again.

They are actually not willing to suppress the bandits.

There is a folk saying: Bandits pass by like combs, and soldiers pass by like rakes.

When bandits plunder, it's like using a wide-toothed comb to comb through the land. They can't take away all the valuables, so the people can still leave some things behind.

When the officers and soldiers looted, they would use a fine-toothed comb to take away all the valuable items as much as possible, leaving very little for the people.

Whether the suppression of bandits is successful or not, the small landlords will lose money.

After the pleasant exchanges at the last welcoming banquet, the gentry exchanged some pleasantries. Wu Song still sat at the chairman's seat, Hua Rong sat on his left, and the others also took their seats in order.

"My dear neighbors, let me say something unpleasant. General Hua and I are poor officials. The little money allocated by our superiors is not enough to make up for the gaps in our teeth. But we still have to fight the bandits in Qingfeng Mountain to protect the safety of the people.

The military camp has long been living on the bread and butter of the next year, and General Hua and I are both very proud people, and we can't bear to follow the practices of some other military camps, squeezing the villagers and bullying the good, so we have no choice but to ask for food from our neighbors."

Use courtesy before force. Everyone here is a landlord. Every one of them has forced a few poor people to death.

If you kill them all, there might be some innocent people, but if you kill nine out of ten, there will definitely be some that slip through the net.

Wu Song felt justified in exploiting them.

Hua Rong had been the military governor of the village for many years. Although he was not in charge of food and fodder expenses, he had seen pigs run even though he had eaten pork. He cooperated with Wu Song and said:

"The bandits in Qingfeng Mountain must be eliminated at all times. You have to! You don't want to be sitting at home with your wife and children, and then the three cannibals from Qingfeng Mountain come down the mountain, kidnap your wife and daughter, rape them, and then dig out their hearts and livers to make a hangover soup!"

Speaking of the three kings of Qingfeng Mountain, everyone present shuddered.

Erlong Mountain only robs people of their money, while Taohua Mountain is quite reasonable.

This Qingfeng Mountain is truly a devil’s den.

"Master Zhizhai, we are willing to suppress the bandits!"

Mr. Wang’s ancestral tomb is at the foot of Qingfeng Mountain, and his family’s fields are naturally also there. Now that place is inaccessible, and his assets have shrunk by several percent.

If it was about suppressing bandits, he would be the first one willing to do so.

However, people are greedy. If we can suppress the bandits without paying any money or food, and if we can also make some money, wouldn’t that be great?

Everyone was discussing in the hall, and Liu Gao hinted at Wu Song and went to the study room at the back. "Master, I am Liu Gao, the son-in-law of Mr. Wang."

"What do you want? Tell me quickly."

Liu Gao's heart twitched. This position was originally his, but it was given to a boy with no experience!

"Mr. Wang is willing to cooperate with you and provide 800 dan of grain to help suppress the bandits."

"Good! Mr. Wang is concerned about the people and is truly a role model for the gentry."

Liu Gao smiled bitterly and explained, "Sir, bandits have been causing trouble for many years, and the landlords have no surplus grain! If you donate grain to suppress the bandits, each farm will only donate a few dozen stones at most."

"Hmm?" Wu Song was no fool. He knew what Liu Gao meant as soon as he heard it. He said with a fake smile, "Mr. Wang has set a good example. If he can donate enough money and food, I will naturally not treat him unfairly."

"With your words, I know what to do. The first batch of 300 dan will be delivered tomorrow. I think with Mr. Wang setting an example, other gentry will also donate generously. You will have money and food to suppress the bandits."

"Good! The success of suppressing the bandits is due to the contributions of you, the father-in-law and the son-in-law."

Looking at Liu Gao's back, Wu Song sneered and thought to himself: Just as my brother expected, these are all cannibals who don't even spit out bones...

When the news that Liu Gao would donate 800 shi was announced, the hall was in an uproar.

Some people betrayed their class, there was nothing they could do. Some pledged 300 shi, some pledged 200 shi...

They have soldiers, but they can't wipe out Qingfeng Mountain, and they can't find a reason to wipe out your village.

These days, the officials are really forcing the people to rebel!

"Go back and increase the rent to make up for what you lost today."

A group of gentry left Qingfeng Village with bitter faces, until finally, a white-haired old man was reluctant to leave for a long time.

"Father, why don't you go back?"

The old man bowed to Wu Song and said with a sob, "Master, I am the head of the Liu family in Taohua Village."

"It turned out to be Mr. Liu."

"I dare not call you Grandpa... Alas! The chief wants to suppress the bandits, and I, an old man, will do my utmost to help. But...but..."

Liu Taigong beat his chest and stamped his feet, and even knelt down on his knees: "It is said that there is a Prime Minister Cai who is carrying out reforms and has introduced the square field order. The fields of the rich families are getting smaller and smaller, while the fields of the small families are getting larger and larger. The small families can't survive, so they either surrender and become tenants or flee to the mountains.

My Liu family was also seized many acres of land and had several pieces of forest randomly designated as our fertile land, and they were all claimed to be our family's fertile land, and a huge tax was levied on them.

Even the wealthy families in the county government who had no backing had to flee and lose their homes.

My Liu family can't survive anymore!"

The equal taxation of square fields was the core content of Wang Anshi's reform. The original intention was good, which was to prevent hidden fields from evading taxes and increase national tax revenue.

After Cai Jing came to power, he immediately restarted the square field system, which was to put it simply as an inventory of land. In order to achieve political achievements, local officials pointed to barren mountains and said they were dry fields, pointed to riverbanks and said they were paddy fields, and forcibly registered them in the names of ordinary people.

As a result, the whole country was in chaos, and even landlords who were not powerful enough were forced to abandon their properties and flee.

The Liu family from Taohua Village at the foot of Taohua Mountain was a small landlord who was exploited in this way.

As a small landlord, he really has no surplus food at home.

Wu Song is not an unkind and cruel person. His cruelty is only directed at corrupt officials and thieves with evil hearts.

Helping Liu Taigong up, Wu Song said softly, "I am not one of those corrupt officials. If you really have no food, it's okay if you don't donate."

Win over one group and suppress another group, and you can unite if you can.

Wu Song understood!

Liu Taigong burst into tears, covered Wu Song's hand, and choked up, "Sir... live justice!"

(End of this chapter)