Chapter 302: The army is demoralized, and Yangzhou is captured! (Part )

Dai Xiaoer widened his eyes, reached out his hand tremblingly, and took his land deed.

In an instant, his tears fell and he opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But in the end he said nothing, just knelt down in front of Xu Chang and kowtowed several times.

“Oh, you are the Lord of Heaven! You are truly the Lord of Heaven!”

“Your kindness is so great that I can’t repay you even if I work like a slave!”

“God of Heaven, please accept my humble obeisance!”

Dai Xiaoer kowtowed while tears kept streaming down his face. These were tears of joy.

Dai Xiaoer was so moved that he burst into tears, but Xu Chang didn’t take Dai Xiaoer’s action seriously at all.

Without even looking at Dai Xiaoer, he took out the second deed and started calling out names.

The villager whose name was called trembled with excitement, and ran quickly to Xu Chang in two steps.

Like Dai Xiaoer, this villager also got the land allocated to him as he wished.

“I have land! I have land! I finally have land!”

This villager was as ecstatic as Dai Xiaoer and cried for joy.

The experiences of these two people inspired the people around them, and their eyes became more enthusiastic when they looked at Xu Chang.

Because of the large number of people, in addition to Xu Chang, there were also a large number of soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp, who also distributed the land deeds of Daijiazui.

In this way, whenever the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp read out the name of a villager, there would be a burst of cheers.

“Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir!”

“Master, you are like our second parents!”

“Long live the official, long live the emperor!”

“…”

Looking at the villagers in Daijiazui around, each of them received their own land.

The people of Xuzhou Prefecture who fled here from Xuzhou Prefecture were extremely anxious.

They didn’t know whether they would have a share in this great opportunity of allocating land.

People are like this, they always want more and more.

At first, they just thought that it would be good enough if they could save their lives.

But now, seeing that others have obtained land, they also began to itch in their hearts and wanted to get a piece of the pie.

These villagers who came from Xuzhou Prefecture waited until the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp distributed the land of Daijiazui, but they still did not get their own land.

The loss and regret in their eyes were clearly visible to the naked eye.

But just when they were in despair, Xu Chang continued, “I know that among you, there are some people who have escaped from Xuzhou Prefecture.”

“Go back. We have also distributed the land of Xuzhou Prefecture to your family members.”

Xu Chang’s words instantly made their eyes brighten.

They were so excited that they didn’t want to stay here any longer. They said goodbye to their relatives and friends and started their journey home immediately.

After finishing their work at Daijiazui, Xu Chang and the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp did not stay long, but set off immediately for the next village.

……

The news of the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp distributing land in Xuzhou, with the instigation of the Western Factory, soon spread to several neighboring prefectures.

Upon hearing this news, the people of Jiangnan were extremely anxious.

They have lived for half of their lives and have never heard that the imperial court would do such a good thing that benefits the country and the people.

Kill the landlords first, and then distribute their land to ordinary people like them.

In other words, as soon as the imperial officers and soldiers arrive, the tens of thousands of acres of land owned by the landlords in their village will become theirs?
Any common people who have figured out the relationship between the two will look at the landlord of their village with a bloodthirsty look in their eyes.

The slogan of killing landlords and dividing the land was deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

At the same time, all the landlords in Jiangnan were in a panic.

Because of these simple six words, their local status was greatly threatened.

They racked their brains anxiously, thinking about how to stabilize the current situation.

But all they can think of are old methods such as coercion and inducement, which only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

Few landlords understood that the fundamental reason why they were targeted by the imperial court was the vast land in their hands.

Even though some landlords understood the situation, few were willing to give up their land.

Compared with landlords and gentry in other places, the wealthy businessmen and officials in Yangzhou City were even more panicked at this moment.

Because Xu Chang and others slaughtered rural landlords in Yangzhou, more and more Yangzhou people were allocated the land that originally belonged to the landlords.

What’s even more terrible is that after these people got the land, their first reaction was to come to Yangzhou City and ask their fathers, husbands, and sons to go home and farm.

At this moment, the peasant army around Yangzhou City began to lose troops rapidly.

At the same time, the morale of the army began to weaken.

The people who were originally determined to fight to the end also reacted.

It turned out that their enemies were not the officers and soldiers sent by the imperial court at all.

Rather, they are the people they come into contact with most often and the people they trust the most.

At this moment, outside the city of Yangzhou, the crowds were surging and the noise was deafening.

A large group of people from various villages in Yangzhou Prefecture surrounded the two people and shouted excitedly.

In the middle of the crowd was Dai Xiaoer, who had come all the way from Daijiazui to look for his two children.

After Dai Xiaoer first arrived outside the city of Yangzhou, he soon met a fellow villager from Daijiazui. Under the guidance of the fellow villager, Dai Xiaoer quickly found his child.

“Dad! Why are you here?!”

Dai Xiaoer’s second son, Dai Zhongwei, rushed over and held Dai Xiaoer’s arm after seeing Dai Xiaoer.

Dai Xiaoer looked Dai Zhongwei up and down, and only felt relieved after he found that Dai Zhongwei was safe and sound and had no injuries.

He showed a happy smile and said to Dai Zhongwei with a cheerful face: “Zhongwei, go and call your brother, let’s go home quickly!”

“A few days ago, the imperial court’s soldiers came to our Daijiazui. Now every household has been allocated land. Our family has been allocated six acres of land in total!”

Hearing Dai Xiaoer’s words, Dai Zhongwei widened his eyes in shock and said in surprise: “Dad! Our family really got some land?! You are not lying to me, are you?”

“Are those rumors true? Those officers and soldiers of the imperial court really only killed the landlords and distributed their land to us peasants!”

Dai Zhongwei’s tone was filled with unconcealed excitement, he unconsciously raised his voice and screamed in surprise.

Dai Zhongwei’s voice attracted the peasant army around them.

There was already a rumor circulating in the army that officers and soldiers were killing landlords and dividing up their land.

When they saw the person involved, they swarmed over and asked Dai Xiaoer questions.

“My fellow countryman, is everything you said true?! Did you really get the land?! Did you get the land that belongs to you?!”

“Fellow villagers, what about the landlords in your village? Were they really all killed?!” “Second uncle, what about our family? Did we get any land?!”

“…”

There were so many people and they all talked a lot. They surrounded Dai Xiaoer in the crowd and asked him all kinds of questions like a star surrounding the moon.

Dai Xiaoer had never been treated like this before, and he responded to the peasant soldiers around him with a smile.

“My fellow villagers, it is true. The imperial court has really distributed land to us.”

“The landlords were really killed. Our biggest landlord, Dai Gaoyi, had his entire family exterminated. It was a tragic death!”

“That’s right, little bad boy, your family has also been allocated land, a full four acres, enough for you two to farm. Why don’t you pack up your things and come home with us to farm!”

“…”

Dai Xiaoer’s words made the people around him very excited.

Everyone’s face was filled with excited smiles, and they were both excited and nervous.

They urgently hoped that the imperial officials and soldiers would quickly rush to their hometown, kill all the landlords there, and then take the landlords’ land and distribute it to them.

As for whether this landlord is a good person in his daily life, whether he is considerate and caring towards them, whether he is accumulating virtues and doing more good deeds… none of this matters anymore.

Even though the landlords in their village were usually very kind to them, they were still faced with the huge benefits of owning their own land.

They only hope that these landlords can die as soon as possible so that they can take the land back from their hands!

“What are you still standing there for? Go call your brother, pack up your things, the three of us are going home right away!”

Dai Xiaoer kept urging Dai Zhongwei to quickly call Dai Dawei, pack his luggage, and go home immediately.

“Hurry up, you two brothers, go home with your father and farm the land. Your father can’t farm these six acres of land by himself!”

But after hearing this, Dai Zhongwei did not move for a long time. The smile on his face faded and a hint of sadness appeared in his eyes.

Dai Xiaoer sensed something was wrong, his expression became serious, and he pinched Dai Zhongwei’s arm, repeatedly asking, “What’s wrong with you? Why do you look like that?”

“Did something happen to your brother?”

“What happened to him? Was he injured, or had his arms or legs broken? Or…”

Dai Zhongwei’s eyes sparkled with tears: “Dad, my brother is dead! On the first day, he was beaten to death by the imperial soldiers!”

“The body was trampled by horses’ hooves, not even a complete body was left.”

“what?!”

Dai Xiaoer opened his eyes wide and suddenly burst into tears.

“Damn landlord! Damn Dai Gaoyi, even if you die a hundred times it won’t be enough!”

“Damn you landlords! You deceived us and made us fight with the imperial soldiers. You made us die in vain!”

“You all deserve to die! You all deserve to die!”

“…”

After Dai Xiaoer received the six acres of land from Xu Changfa, he regarded the imperial court, the officers and soldiers, and the emperor as his second parents.

The reborn parents cannot make any mistakes. No matter how wrong they are, it is all the landlord’s fault.

Dai Xiaoer now knows very well that his enemies are the landlords, the gentry, the wealthy businessmen, and the local officials in Jiangnan.

So this time, Dai Xiaoer did not scold the wrong people, his gun was directly pointed at the landlords and gentry.

Dai Xiaoer’s words reminded the surrounding peasant soldiers and brought them back to their senses from their excitement.

Yes, since the officials and soldiers of the imperial court came to help them and distribute land to them, then why did they fight so hard with the officials and soldiers before?

At this moment, the surrounding peasant soldiers all reacted.

Hatred of the landlords and gentry gradually occupied their hearts.

After Dai Xiaoer finished crying, he wiped his tears, took Dai Xiaoer’s hand and said, “Let’s go home!”

“It’s just hard for Xiaofen. She’s still so young and has a child.”

Dai Zhongwei quickly said: “Dad, don’t worry, I will take good care of my sister-in-law in the future.”

“She’s my brother’s child, and I will raise her like my own.”

How could Dai Xiaoer not understand the meaning of Dai Zhongwei’s words?

But he just looked at Dai Zhongwei’s face and then nodded.

In fact, it was not uncommon for a younger uncle to marry a widowed sister-in-law in feudal society.

In some poor families, even two or three brothers can only marry one wife together and live a polyandrous life.

Whether it is monogamy with multiple concubines or polyandry, they are decisions that the people in feudal society have to make in order to adapt to their own economic conditions.

This has nothing to do with morality or the rule of law; it has to do with the most fundamental aspects of life and the most basic living conditions.

Just as Dai Xiaoer and Dai Zhongwei were about to leave, the man called Little Bad Dog shouted, “Second Uncle, wait for us. We will go back with you too!”

“Yes, let’s go back together!”

Together with the little bad dog were a group of fellow villagers from Daijiazui.

After learning that land was distributed in their hometown, they no longer wanted to stay there and work for the landlords and gentry in Yangzhou.

“Okay, let’s go home together!”

Dai Xiaoer nodded with tears in his eyes.

But just as they were about to leave, the rich farmer Dai Qingniu stood up and shouted at them: “What do you want to do?!”

“Leaving the army without permission is a capital crime. Go back immediately, or don’t blame me for being rude!”

Dai Qingniu is the leader of Daijiazui and has been very active these days.

At this moment, he had been promoted to a general flag, in charge of dozens of garrison soldiers.

Rich peasants like Dai Qingniu were actually disgusted by the act of distributing land to imperial officials and soldiers.

Because they already had land, it was impossible for the court to give them more land.

They did not get any benefits, but the people who were originally inferior to them are now on an equal footing with them. How can they bear this?

So at this moment, Dai Qingniu was still obsessed with maintaining the interests of the old landlords.

Dai Qingniu still bossed the people of Daijiazui around as he did before.

But at this moment, every family in Daijiazui has land and has become the master of their own destiny. How could they still care about Dai Qingniu?

So they ignored Dai Qingniu and walked straight past him.

Dai Qingniu was ignored by the villagers of Daijiazui, which made him feel that his prestige was challenged and he was so angry that he trembled all over.

“Assholes, you are looking for death!”

“Someone, bring them all back to me!”

At Dai Qingniu’s command, those garrison soldiers really rushed towards the villagers of Daijiazui!

(End of this chapter)