Dashun Yongchang

On the muddy ground near the canal, Li Zicheng saw more than a dozen craftsmen working around a boat. At a glance, there were at least 20 boats under construction in front of him.But he quickly frowned and asked Shen Tingyang beside him: "Why are those craftsmen repairing ships in the water? Can't they be dragged to the shore?"

Shen Tingyang glanced at the direction Li Zicheng was pointing at, and replied casually: "Oh, those ships are only minor repairs. It is too laborious to tow them to the shore. According to the rules, the tank boats undergo major repairs every three years and minor repairs every year. But because now Some ships use too many old boards, and some ships need to be repaired every seven or eight months.”

Li Zicheng thought for a while, and asked with some uncertainty: "These craftsmen who enter the water, do they have rotation or other safeguard measures?"

Shen Tingyang glanced at Li Zicheng in surprise, and then replied seriously: "Of course not, even when the shipbuilding exceeds the ship's price, they have to use their own money to make up for it."

Li Zicheng asked after being silent for a long time: "Then how much is their working food silver?"

Shen Tingyang thought for a while and said: "It varies from 4 buckets of rice per month to 2 stones per month, depending on the work and skills they are responsible for. Although the craftsmen in the shipyard are rotated every 2 years and serve 1 months in each shift, some of them have excellent craftsmanship. The craftsmen will still be permanently retained, and their working food silver will be higher."

Li Zicheng glanced at the environment around him, and then said to the bamboo shed where the wood was piled up on the side: "Go and invite two craftsmen over here, I want to talk to them. Well, don't come with you shipyard stewards, go get busy." It's your own business."

Watching Li Zicheng leave the crowd and lead Chen De and other guards to the wooden shed, the stewards of the shipyard looked at Xi Benzhen in a moment of bewilderment and said, "Director Xi, do you really want those craftsmen to talk to His Majesty?" What? What if they collide with His Majesty?"

Xi Benzhen looked at Shen Tingyang who was walking towards the craftsman, and replied peacefully: "Your Majesty is the emperor on horseback, how could he be bumped by several craftsmen. Didn't your majesty make it very clear just now? Let you do your own thing, you You won't take His Majesty's words as wind on your ears, will you?"

After looking at each other for a while, the officials and stewards of these shipyards could only salute Xi Benzhen and leave.Xi Benzhen then ordered to the servant behind him: "Go get some drinks and melons and fruits, don't make it too grand, just like entertaining guests at home..."

Li Zicheng asked the guards to lift a few logs that had not been untied and put them on the open space, and then sat down as a simple long bench.After a while, Shen Tingyang came over with more than 20 craftsmen. Seeing Li Zicheng and the guards behind him, the craftsmen stood timidly outside the wooden shed and did not dare to come in. They just knelt on the ground outside the shed. He saluted Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng accepted their salute first, and then let them get up and come in to talk.However, although the craftsmen entered the wooden shed, they still dare not sit down in front of Li Zicheng.Li Zicheng smiled and said: "I have no other intentions, just chatting with you. You are standing there, and I am tired of talking with my head up. Everyone, please sit down and talk."

A craftsman with gray hair took a look at Li Zicheng, and finally took the lead and sat on the ground. These craftsmen sat cross-legged on the ground one by one. After all, they did not dare to sit on the wood like Li Zicheng did, so they would sit on an equal footing with Li Zicheng .

Chapter 142 Qingjiang Shipyard II

Li Zicheng glanced at the group of craftsmen who didn't even dare to lift their heads, knowing that it would be difficult to discuss the issue of the shipyard with them for a while, so he asked kindly to the old craftsman who sat down first, "What's your name, old man?"

The old craftsman hurriedly fell on the ground and replied in fear: "Don't dare, the emperor will just call the little gold carpenter."

A certain person wanted to get up but finally managed to hold his own, and said in a calm manner, "Oh, it's the gold carpenter. I wonder how many people are there in the gold carpenter's family?"

The carpenter Jin who was lying on the ground seemed to speak a little more smoothly, and began to answer Li Zicheng's questions fluently.And Li Zicheng also asked some trivial matters about his parents, such as where is Jin Carpenter's hometown, how many fields the family has, and whether the annual food is enough to eat and so on.

Listening to Li Zicheng's questions about small things in life, the craftsmen who were called in for questioning gradually settled down emotionally. The officials they met on weekdays were not easy to talk about, and the military management method adopted by the shipyard , It also makes these service craftsmen more oppressed than other official workshops. The rich craftsmen have long been exempted from their shifts by paying the exemption silver. Almost all the craftsmen who come here are unable to escape, and the stewards treat them even more. Unscrupulous.

Most of the craftsmen in the shipyard come from the counties and states south of Huai'an. They don't know much about the peasant army in the north. They only listen to the scholars and stewards say how cruel these mobs are. All turned into dust, and even those common people suffered misfortune. The bandit army took the wives and daughters of the common people abducted for lust, making it difficult to reunite the flesh and blood.

To be honest, before the appearance of the peasant army, the life of the people in the south was still peaceful, but after the peasant riots in the north, the court continued to increase taxes, which greatly affected the life of the people in the south.The turmoil in the north caused the south to lose a stable market, so it became more and more difficult for the artisans in the south to maintain their livelihoods.

Although the southern people did not see the slander of the peasant army with their own eyes, the southern people really attributed the decline of Ming Dynasty to the northern peasant army.As those scholars said, if these northern mobs hadn't risen to rebel, the imperial court would not only have pacified Liaodong Jianshou long ago, but also wouldn't need to add extra salaries and salaries. Army's fault.

Except for those refugees who are at odds with the gentry and the court, as long as they can make a living, the common people are afraid of the peasant army going south, especially those craftsmen who work hard every day to support their families. The jobs of subsistence are gone.

Therefore, when Lu Zhenfei organized the people of Huai'an to form a militia, the most positive responses were not the peasants in the countryside, but the artisans in the handicraft workshops and the salt ladles on the wharf. The peasants could escape home. If you don't work, you will starve to death.

For the arrival of the Dashun Army, the craftsmen of Qingjiang Shipyard were actually afraid and alienated, because they didn't know how the Shun Army would treat them.They also don't know what the shipyard will become.However, during the few days when Shunjun took over the shipyard, he didn't make any big moves, so everyone can continue to bear it.

No matter how disciplined Shun's army is, it is always better than Liu Zeqing's army. These days, Liu Zeqing's army has completely destroyed the last trace of loyalty of the people of Huai'an to the imperial court.It also changed their thinking from defending Huai'an to prevent the bandit army from going south. The Shun army should hurry up and go south. No matter who comes, it will not be worse than Liu Zeqing's army.

Of course, this expectation is out of dislike of Liu Zeqing's army, and it does not mean that the people of Huai'an really accepted the Shun army.Therefore, when they saw Li Zicheng, the craftsmen of these shipyards were afraid, for fear that they would be beaten and punished if they could not answer.

However, during Li Zicheng's short chat with his parents, the craftsmen gradually lost their fear and began to confide their sufferings to the Emperor Dashun.It seems that they hope to get Li Zicheng's sympathy through this way of complaining, so as to relieve some of their burden.

And Li Zicheng seemed to be really moved by the suffering of the craftsmen. After the conversation came to an end, he greeted the craftsmen to drink and eat melons and fruits, and said to them: "The craftsman registration system in Ming Dynasty is indeed unreasonable. I couldn't bear to hear it.

This system that does not conform to the development of the times must be abolished, but I am still busy fighting wars, and I don't have the energy to consider how to abolish it.After all, we need to ensure the normal operation of social production before we can consider replacing one of the components.Just like you repair a ship, you can’t dismantle it immediately because a damaged old plank appears on the sea. You have to drive the ship to the port before replacing it, otherwise the ship will sink into the sea, right? "

Although the craftsmen could understand Li Zicheng's analogy, they still showed disappointment in their eyes. After all, they were thinking that the kind Emperor Dashun could rescue them ashore, instead of saying a few words after listening. Words of sympathy.

However, Li Zicheng quickly said: "However, the ship can be repaired after returning to the port, but some emergency measures must be taken when it is at sea, otherwise the ship will not be able to return to the port.

Therefore, I will think of a way, how to improve your living conditions under the existing system.Of course, this also needs your help.I wonder if you would like to think of a way together with me? "

A group of craftsmen are a little dumbfounded. What can they think of a problem that even the emperor can't solve?However, under Li Zicheng's gaze, Carpenter Jin could only bite the bullet and say: "Little people are stupid, they can only rely on the emperor's mercy, and I really don't know what to do."

Li Zicheng said relaxedly: "I can't say that. After all, I am not you, so how can I know what you want. Only when you make a request first, can I consider it.

How about this, Carpenter Jin, work harder, take them to various factories and ask those craftsmen what they want to change the most now, and what they themselves want the most, I will ask Chen De to contact you, you Hand over the collected questions to him, and Chen De will naturally hand over your requests to me, so that I will know what to do first.What do you think? "

The gold carpenter and other craftsmen hesitated before agreeing, after all, this task did not seem to be a difficult task.Li Zicheng then got up and said, "You can take a rest, the melons, fruits and drinks here, you can help me distribute them to other craftsmen..."

Seeing Li Zicheng looked down at the number of melons and fruits on the ground, Xi Benzhen immediately said: "These are all local melons and fruits, and Yinzi can also be prepared by yourself, and it doesn't cost much. I will go to count the quantity, and then give it to everyone. The factory craftsmen will also send a copy."

Li Zicheng nodded approvingly to Xi Benzhen, then turned and walked towards the yamen in the factory.Sitting again in the lobby of the yamen, the stewards of the shipyard were summoned again.

Li Zicheng sat there silently, and the sound of clothes rubbing against each other could be heard in the quiet lobby. After all, the officials and stewards who can stand here can look at people. Li Zicheng, who came back from inspection, looked a little dark. , who would touch his bad luck at this time?

Li Zicheng finally got out of his distracted state. He glanced at the officials and stewards in the hall, and suddenly told a story, "...I remember that when I was young, I was farming at home, and my neighbor raised a cow. This cow is very precious. Once the cow at home was sick, he got up in the middle of the night to find a doctor. But also once his wife was sick, but he wanted to let his wife carry it. Do you know why my neighbors Is it so thick and thin?"

The officials and stewards in the hall glanced at each other for a while, not knowing how to answer the question of Emperor Yongchang.At this time, a steward standing at the end of the line stood up and replied to Li Zicheng: "Return to your majesty, because cattle are more important to farmers than people. Without cattle, the fields cannot be plowed, and if the fields cannot be plowed, the rent and tax cannot be paid. Rent and tax will ruin the family. And when the wife dies, there is only one less person to eat. Therefore, your majesty's neighbors are not favoring cattle and despising people, but giving up the small and protecting the big."

Li Zicheng took a look at the steward, and then continued: "This shipyard can do without you and I, but without the craftsmen, it is really over. I don't expect you to treat the craftsmen like family members, but at least you should learn from me. Neighbors, at least treat them as cattle at home, not pigs raised in a pigsty. Even if you raise pigs, you should feed them, instead of saving the pig feed to cover the pigsty.

The craftsmen did their best, but in the end they couldn't even eat enough, didn't have enough clothes to cover their bodies, and they had to subsidize money to fill the shortfall of the shipyard?They worked continuously underwater for more than ten days. Some people even had maggots growing on their waists. Now they can only lie at home and wait to die?Some craftsmen have served in the shipyard all year round, but the whole family still lives in the shack. Is this reasonable? "

The officials and stewards in the hall watched each other with their eyes, nose and heart, and kept silent.The faces of Shen Tingyang and Xi Benzhen next to him were solemn, and when Li Zicheng paused, Xi Benzhen finally went out to plead guilty to Li Zicheng: "It is because I didn't think carefully and failed to find out the living conditions of the craftsmen in the factory in time, and I am willing to accept the crime. "

Seeing someone stand up, these officials and stewards quickly followed Xi Benzhen to plead guilty.Seeing these neat and skillful movements, Li Zicheng was speechless for a while.However, he still suppressed his emotions and said: "I said this not to hold you responsible, but to solve the problem.

Let me go back today, you first settle the lives of the craftsmen in the factory.Those who are in arrears of money and food will first make up part of it, the sick will be treated, and the craftsman's house that needs to be repaired will be repaired.

Check the problems in the shipyard yourself, list the problems to be corrected, and then hand them over to me.If I give you a chance, you should also give yourselves a chance, don't make mistakes..."

After sending Li Zicheng away with Xi Benzhen, Shen Tingyang suddenly said to him: "His Majesty Yongchang seems to be a person who can do things."

Chapter 143

When Li Zicheng returned to the feudal mansion, the sky was almost dark.There were also fewer pedestrians on the street. Obviously, everyone went home for dinner.To be honest, although Huai'an is a city, in some people's eyes, it is really not much different from the countryside, because the people in the city still live according to the schedule of the village.

Although there is smoke in the city, and the light at dusk renders the whole city into an oil painting, which looks very stylish, but someone feels that if he appreciates it outside of this oil painting at this time, he will be in a happy mood. The words in the painting can't tell what kind of mood it is.

Just like this, he controlled the horse and walked slowly to the gate of the feudal mansion, and then dismounted and entered the mansion. The scenery along the way was a little blurred.When I returned to the back house, I saw Chen Yuanyuan waiting for me standing outside the brightly lit hall. Of course, the brightly lit hall is the standard of this era. In someone's opinion, a 60-watt incandescent lamp is much brighter than this.

Someone's finally in a better mood though, and the dim lighting can still look pretty warm at times, especially when someone's waiting for you.Chen Yuanyuan asked someone to fetch water, and personally helped Li Zicheng to wash up, and then asked him gently: "Your Majesty is hungry, I will send you food."

Li Zicheng held her hand, leaned against his cheek and said, "Wait a while, I don't feel hungry yet."

Chen Yuanyuan seemed to sense that Li Zicheng was in a low mood, so she couldn't help asking tentatively, "Your Majesty is in a bad mood?"

Feeling the smoothness and warmth on his face, Li Zicheng calmed down a little, and then he replied casually: "It's not that I'm in a bad mood, but I feel that the burden on my body seems to be getting heavier. I understand why Emperor Chongzhen would rather hang himself than hang himself." Refusing to escape from the capital, living is sometimes more difficult than dying."

Chen Yuanyuan suddenly squatted down and leaned her forehead against Li Zicheng's. This intimacy made someone a little stunned. Although the two had a physical relationship, Chen Yuanyuan always acted passively in front of him. For the first time, she took the initiative to get close to herself.

At this time, Chen Yuanyuan said quietly to him: "Your Majesty cannot be a fierce emperor, I am afraid in my heart."

Li Zicheng thought about it calmly, indeed, being Chongzhen's family member is really not a good thing.He then stretched out his hand to embrace Chen Yuanyuan into his arms, patted her on the back lightly, and comforted her: "I just said that I understood Emperor Lie's mood, and didn't say that I want to learn from him. Don't think too much..."

When the two were hugging each other, the maids serving in the room quietly retreated and stayed tenderly for a while.Li Zicheng felt that he had escaped from his depressed mood, so he whispered in Chen Yuanyuan's ear: "I feel hungry, why don't you pass the word and go down for dinner."

Chen Yuanyuan, who was leaning against Li Zicheng's arms, nodded, then got up and straightened her clothes, and then went out to give some instructions to the maid.When she walked back to the room again, she found that Li Zicheng was pouring tea for herself. Chen Yuanyuan walked gently behind Li Zicheng, pinched his shoulders for him, and asked cautiously: "What's wrong with your majesty when you go out today?" Is something wrong?"

Li Zicheng thought for a while and said: "It's not a bad thing, but I suddenly remembered something. Someone once said: The Chinese people have stood up. I didn't think it was such a great achievement at the time.

But I really felt today that it is very difficult to get people to stand up, but it is very easy to get them to kneel.Looking at these common people, I feel that they really have no reason to defend this country, because they only have obligations to this country and do not enjoy any rights. "

Chen Yuanyuan couldn't understand Li Zicheng's words, but she still tried her best to explain: "Your Majesty, you have only just ascended the throne not long ago. This is a problem left over from the previous dynasty. You don't need to burden yourself with these."

Li Zicheng leaned back, looked at the completely dark courtyard outside the door, and said with a long sigh: "If you don't bear the burden, the people will not follow me. The northern slaves sharpen their swords and prepare to go south. The gentry in the south are still thinking of using slaves to destroy our Dashun, and the common people have been made insensitive by the Ming court, and have lost hope in life. This is really a terrible era."

Chen Yuanyuan thought for a while, and whispered into Li Zicheng's ear, "I don't know what other people think, but hasn't Your Majesty brought hope to me and many people? I think that as long as Your Majesty keeps going, the people will still be the same after all." Will follow."

Li Zicheng pondered for a long time, until the maid brought the food, he nodded and said: "I hope so. Forget it, don't mention these things, let's eat..."

The next morning, when Chen Yuanyuan woke up, she found that Li Zicheng had woken up earlier today.She asked her personal maid to come in to help her change clothes, and asked her, "When did Your Majesty get up today? Where did he go?"

The maid Xiangyun combed Chen Yuanyuan's hair and replied, "I got up about half an hour ago. Your Majesty said that today he is going to inspect the barracks to see the situation of the reorganized army. After eating a bowl of noodles and two fried dough sticks, he went out."

While looking at herself in the bronze mirror, Chen Yuanyuan said casually: "Let's get ready, I'm going to visit Du Xiucai at Du Guangshao's mansion today. Also, let's find out what made His Majesty unhappy at the shipyard yesterday. It's about..."

The military camp of the Shun Army was placed in the new city. Originally, the Grand Canal entered the Yellow River from between the new and old cities of Huai’an. , Hexia, and Qingjiangpu are all bustling, but this new city has become deserted.

However, the new city has a wide area, which is good for housing troops.The Shun army brought a total of more than 7000 horses to the south this time, and the 3000 men from Jin Shenghuan's department was 8000.After Zhang Nai took Liu Zeqing and Huai'an officers and soldiers, there were 2000 people left after adjustments and abolishments, excluding more than [-] people from Liu Konghe and Wang Zuntan's troops who were sent south.

As a result, the Shun Army's strength in Huai'an at this time has reached 1.5.Li Zicheng came to inspect the barracks. Zhang Nai accompanied him to inspect the various armies, and reported to him: "I have checked carefully. Although there are many people in Liu Zeqing's army, most of them are not suitable for the battlefield. These people have been raised by Liu Zeqing. .

Except for a few servants around the generals, the other soldiers are either scoundrels in the city, or porters caught on the way when they fled south. The army has no training and no fighting spirit. Forcibly bringing them to the battlefield will only lead to chaos. The position of our army.

So I dismissed the porters who were forcibly brought here, but those scoundrels were more troublesome. If they were released, they might affect the public order, and if they were not released, they would have to be kept for nothing.These people are good at fighting in private, let them go to fight in formation, it is estimated that they will run away if they don't fight.

In order to make up for the shortage of soldiers after the abolition, Chen added some officers and soldiers and regiments from the city, and then dismantled two regiments and mixed them with these troops, and finally compiled 10 infantry regiments.

Next is Huang Fei's 4 soldiers. In addition to the 4 navy troops, there are less than 5000 soldiers, including more than 4000 in Dongjiang Town and more than [-] in Laizhou Army.There has been news from the Denglai Army that they are willing to accept our reorganization, and now there is only one last step left, to convince the officers and soldiers of Dongjiang Town led by Huang Fei.

However, I think that in addition to the navy army, it would be good if the Denglai army can reorganize 5 or 6 regiments.In this way, before the arrival of September, our infantry strength in Huai'an was about 9-18 regiments in size. "

Li Zicheng looked at the soldiers lined up in the barracks who were familiar with the flags and slogans of the Shun Army, and asked Zhang Nai, "Is there enough ordnance?"

Zhang Nai happily replied: "More than enough, not to mention the ordnance kept by Huai'an Mansion, we only used less than half of the ordnance that Liu Zeqing begged for from the Southern Capital."

Li Zicheng nodded and said: "In this case, we will train another 10 regiments of reserve troops, mainly from the Cao army and Yanding, and then use them to supplement the armies north of Xuzhou. As for now, we can go south In the future, we will maintain the law and order in Huai'an."

Zhang Nai replied with a little excitement: "Are you really going to go south? When are we going?"

Li Zicheng thought for a while and said: "Zuo Guangxian's road is about to reach Tianchang, and Yangzhou is on the way down. Although Gao Jie's department and Huang Degong's department are facing each other, no one can guarantee that Gao Jie will not jump the wall in a hurry to attack Yangzhou. Therefore, it is time for us went south.

Of course, before going south, there are still a few things to deal with, one is the issue of the Denglai Army, the other is the issue of money and food in Huai'an Mansion, and the other is the feedback from Yangzhou.Therefore, I have to wait a little longer, but it will not exceed the beginning of September. It is too late to go south and the north will change again. "

Hearing the word "northern", Zhang Nai immediately calmed down a lot. It is true that the biggest threat to the Shun army is the Jiannu in the north and those who surrendered to the frontier army.As for the south, Liu Zeqing's incompetence and the chaos in the southern capital really make it hard for people to look up to them.

Li Zicheng went on to say: "I am going to build another academy for non-commissioned officers in Huai'an. You can ask each army to select some outstanding people. When Guo Sheng goes south, the academy for non-commissioned officers will be opened."

Zhang Nai thought for a while and said, "Is the academy for non-commissioned officers opened in Xincheng? There are places for garrisons and ready-made houses here."

Li Zicheng nodded and said: "Yes. You can take me to see, those places are suitable for setting up schools."

On the other side, in Du Guangshao's Garden in Huzui, Du Guangshao who was receiving Chen Yuanyuan was very hospitable even though he didn't know the reason for his visit.And Chen Yuanyuan strolled around this garden, and couldn't help but gave a lot of words of praise.

Just when Du Guangshao was wondering whether the other party really came to see his garden, Chen Yuanyuan suddenly asked him, "I heard that Du Yuanwai has a son and a daughter?"

Although Du Guangshao didn't know Chen Yuanyuan's intentions, when he heard the other party mention his daughter, he still said with a guilty conscience: "Yes, but they are still young and don't know how to treat others, and they are afraid that they will offend the distinguished guests, so they are all in their yard now. "

Chen Yuanyuan smiled and said, "I've heard that Fu Fan is very fond of the daughter of a foreigner. I wonder if you can let me meet Ling Ai?"

Du Guangshao hesitated for a moment, but he still asked for his daughter to be brought here.Chen Yuanyuan stared at the naive girl who already showed the appearance of a beauty embryo, and couldn't help asking with great pity: "What's your name?"

For the graceful Chen Yuanyuan, the girl also had a good impression of her. She bowed to Chen Yuanyuan and said generously: "When my mother was pregnant with me, she dreamed of a rainbow, so she named it Hongying."

Chen Yuanyuan asked the girl a few words, and liked each other's cuteness very much, so she took off the jade bracelet from her hand and gave it to her.When bidding farewell to Du Guangshao, Chen Yuanyuan suddenly said to Du Guangshao: "I am planning to recruit a few girls to study and work with me. Yuanwailang can ask me a few questions if you have time."

Before Du Guangshao could answer, Chen Yuanyuan had already turned and left.Looking at Chen Yuanyuan who boarded the carriage, Du Guangshao seemed to understand the purpose of the other party's visit today.

Chapter 144 Huxin Temple

After inspecting the military camp, Li Zicheng asked Lu Zhenfei to invite a local gentry to visit the Huxin Temple tomorrow afternoon, saying that he wanted to see this famous temple in Huai'an.Although the history of Huxin Temple built on Huxin Island of Guanjia Lake began at the end of Tang Dynasty, it was actually famous in the Wanli period.

Guanjia Lake is located five miles northwest of Huai'an City. It looks like a gourd. It is said that when Shi Naian lived in the west gate of Shanyang City and wrote the Water Margin, he used this lake as a model to describe the water pool in Liangshan.The Yellow River seized the Huaihe River, and the mouth of the ancient city was silted up. In order to reduce the burden of transshipment, the imperial court abandoned the old canal on the east side of the old city and built a new canal on the west side of the old city, so that the tank ships from the south can directly enter the Guanjia Lake from the south of the city, and A long embankment was built in the east of the lake to facilitate boat trackers and pedestrians to walk on horseback.

On the north side of Guanjia Lake is Xujia Lake, and the Qingjiang Gate was built. From this, a new river parallel to the Yellow River was dug westward, that is, Qingjiangpu, which is more than 20 miles long.

The long embankment in Guanjia Lake traverses for more than ten miles from north to south, about four times as long as the Su Causeway of West Lake. At a glance, it looks like a long rainbow. There are many bamboo and lotus leaves in the lake.

When Li Zicheng stood at the Huxin Temple in the northwest of the lake and looked at the lake, he couldn't help but say, "It's said that this is the West Lake in Huai'an. It really has a taste of the West Lake, but it's closer to the world of mortals."

Zen Master Nan'an, who was standing beside Li Zicheng, immediately answered, "Although the world of mortals is close, people's hearts are far away."

Li Zicheng turned his head to look at Nan'an, and said with a smile: "Master is also a wonderful person. Anyway, what should be seen is almost done, why don't you all go have a cup of tea together."

Zen Master Nan'an hurriedly led the way, and soon brought Li Zicheng to a secluded courtyard. A few ancient trees that could only be embraced by several people covered most of the sky in the courtyard, and even the sunlight became softer here.

However, Nan'an brought Li Zicheng here not because the place is quiet enough, but because the place is big enough to accommodate the gentry and salt merchants who came to visit with Li Zicheng today.There are more than 3 people here this time, and almost all the celebrities and rich people in Huai'an City have arrived.

Li Zicheng glanced at the people sitting in the courtyard, but he was not in a hurry to talk about today's topic. Instead, he stopped Nan'an, who was about to retreat, and said to him: "Master, wait a moment, I heard about it a few days ago." Speaking of a case, why don't Master stay and listen."

Although Nan'an felt a little surprised, she still stood aside.Li Zicheng nodded to Li Laiheng who was on the side, and soon several farmers in ordinary clothes were brought up.

Li Zicheng said casually to these farmers: "You all talk about your identities, and then talk about what wronged you have suffered."

Faced with so many dignitaries, these farmers, old and young, knelt on the ground and were speechless for a moment. Finally, under the watchful eyes of Li Laiheng, a dark-skinned middle-aged man said first: "Caomin Li San is from Songjiazhuang in the west. What the Caomin wants to sue is that the Huxin Temple occupies a third of the Caomin's land..."

As these farmers spoke one by one, Nan'an finally understood that these people are all farmers who are adjacent to the temple fields of Huxin Temple, but their land has been gradually occupied by Huxin Temple over the years.The way Huxin Temple invaded these fields was either to occupy their land on the grounds of building roads, or the tenants of the temple fields moved the field boundaries, and the temple supported the tenants and other means.

After a long period of time, the occupied land was as much as [-] to [-] mu.Farmers adjacent to the temple fields had to sell their fields cheaply to the temple and then rent them back, in order not to be harassed by the temple, but this also caused a new round of encroachment by the temple on the fields that were not adjacent to the temple. .

These farmers are not all the owners of the land occupied by the temple, but the ones with the most resentment, which is why they dare to stand up and accuse Huxin Temple in public.As a poetic monk who made good friends with the gentry, Nan'an actually didn't pay much attention to the common affairs in these temples. He was invited by the Huai'an gentry to preside over it. Naturally, he would not count the land. He can easily get dozens or even hundreds of taels of donations from these great benefactors, so why should he ruin his reputation for such a small amount of land.