Aunt Chen is back from the world of cultivation

The two decrees had the greatest impact on the three prefectures under Zheng Yuannai and the military households in the Nando Garrison Camp.

They were not recruited soldiers but hereditary military households.

When they were assembled at the parade ground and heard the two decrees, they were in disbelief at first. But after confirming again and again that they were true, these military households, who had experienced countless hardships and tortures and had become somewhat numb, burst into tears.

I can finally get rid of this damn military household identity!

From now on, they can live like normal people.

No need to serve in the army until death, no need for your descendants to bear the mark of military household which is more miserable than slavery!

As long as they turn thirty-five, they will be free!

Moreover, the God will give them dozens of taels of silver as housing allowance so that they can return home and live and work in peace and contentment.

Even when they get old, they will be given old-age allowance.

This suddenly gave their originally hopeless lives infinite hope.

At this moment, they finally understood why General Zheng, who loved his soldiers like his own sons, would follow the Divine Master so wholeheartedly.

Because only the God cares about the lives of poor people like them.

And in the heart of God, their lives are still very precious.

Not only were they given good food and clothing, but their lives, whether alive or dead, could be exchanged for a lot of money for their families.

A gentleman will die for his confidant. Even if such a lord is just a mortal, it is worth it for people to sacrifice their lives for him!

What's more, she is a powerful god!

The two decrees made the military households' loyalty to Chen Qingzhu reach its peak.

*

Two months later

Anqing Naval Camp

The sun rose to the middle of the sky. Tang Tiezhu, a soldier from the navy camp, had just finished his morning training and was rushing to the kitchen with his comrades, holding bowls and chopsticks, full of energy, talking and laughing as they ran.

"Wow, it smells so good! I can smell the meat from so far away!"

"It's braised pork with dried cowpeas. I'm going to have an extra bowl of rice later!"

"Who says it's not true? That soup can even be used to soak a bowl of rice!"

Everyone ran outside the kitchen, and there were already quite a few people queuing up to get food.

However, the people in the kitchen were very efficient and soon it was Tang Tiezhu's turn.

He extended his bowl and soon got the meat dish for lunch. It was just as the comrade with a keen nose had said, it was braised pork with dried cowpea.

The brown dried cowpeas were soaked in oil soup, each of them exuding a shiny oily sheen. What was even more tempting was that there were more than a dozen thumb-sized pieces of braised pork in brown sauce in the bowl.

Tang Tiezhu swallowed his saliva, quickly grabbed a large bowl of brown rice, found an open space and sat down to enjoy his meal.

The rice exudes a refreshing rice aroma, and every bite is particularly solid.

The dried cowpeas are very chewy, and the braised pork is full of oil, glutinous and chewy.

Tang Tiezhu quickly finished a bowl of rice, went to get another bowl, wiped up all the soup, then he leaned back, touching his bulging belly with a satisfied look on his face and let out a happy sigh.

"This day is like a fairy tale!"

His words resonated with many soldiers:

"It's like being a god. I can eat three meals a day, every meal has oil and gas, every meal is enough to fill me up. I can also eat meat every three days, and the military pay is also paid in full!"

"Yes, apart from anything else, just the daily meals make us feel that being a soldier is really worthwhile!"

"The best thing Duke Dingguo did was to lead everyone to join the Divine Lord!"

"That's right. Now everyone who comes here has to say that we have found a good place by joining the Divine Master!"

It turned out that the navy of Anqing Prefecture was a battalion under the command of Duke Dingguo.

More than a month ago, Duke Dingguo issued an order that the imperial court, which disregarded the lives of the common people, was not worthy of the loyalty of soldiers of common origin like them, and that he should lead everyone to join the service of the God of Du'e, who loved the people like his own children.

At the same time, a series of benefits for those who join the God's army were announced.

Of course, they only found out about this later.

They, the lieutenant general of Anqing Prefecture, deceived their superiors and subordinates, and did not tell them the various benefits that would be gained after they surrendered to the Divine Lord. They also withheld the full amount of military pay that the Divine Lord had paid.

However, not long after, General Zheng Baizhan led two thousand elite soldiers to inspect their Anqing naval camp.

After summoning all the soldiers, he saw that they all looked pale and thin, so he randomly called a soldier to ask if he knew about the God's new decree and if he had received full military pay.

The answer is of course no.

The lieutenant general said that there was a misunderstanding and he wanted to explain it to General Zheng in private.

General Zheng flatly refused.

The lieutenant general's face immediately turned ugly, and he said that General Zheng was refusing to accept the toast and wanted to have General Zheng arrested.

Unexpectedly, General Zheng suddenly rushed towards the lieutenant general, twisted his arm with one hand, and put a knife on his neck with the other hand.

The speed was so fast that an afterimage was left. The elite guards around the lieutenant general had no time to react at all.

Moreover, the lieutenant general was obviously a strong man as big as General Zheng, but he was completely unable to struggle in his hands.

Such power and speed made everyone secretly tremble with fear.

Soon, the two thousand elite soldiers brought by General Zheng took control of the entire situation.

General Zheng had the lieutenant general tied up and executed on the spot for violating the decree of the gods and embezzling military pay.

Only then did they realize how powerful and compassionate the God of Du'e was.

She can release thunder with her bare hands to kill corrupt officials and make them suffer eternal damnation.

She can also grant mortals divine powers like General Zheng and speed as fast as the wind, making them invincible.

More importantly, the God not only gave them an extra month's full military pay, but also stipulated that all their treatment would be the same as that of the Songhu garrison:

That day was the first time that Tang Tiezhu had a full meal and received full military pay since he grew up.

General Zheng also said that the God of Du'e would not tolerate officials who oppressed soldiers and civilians.

All the powerful people in Nandu who had committed murders had been sentenced to death by being struck by lightning.

The same is true in the military.

All the generals who had bullied the soldiers and withheld their pay in the past were beheaded, and General Zheng was replaced with the people he brought with him.

After replacing the new generals, everyone actually lived the good life promised by the God.

Although the daily training is very strict and tiring, he can eat well every day and get full salary on time. Tang Tiezhu doesn't think it's hard at all. Instead, he works harder.

Because he was looking forward to training his skills well so he could go to the battlefield.

According to the new decree of the God, as long as you fight bravely on the battlefield, you will have no worries about not being promoted and making money.

If you get injured or die, you will definitely receive full compensation.

If you can live safely until the age of 35 and retire, you can get retirement compensation, and when you are old, you can also get retirement benefits based on your current merits!

There are many naval soldiers like Tang Tiezhu.

In addition to the 10,000 naval forces stationed in Yangzhou, Duke Dingguo also had four camps in Huizhou, Ningguo Prefecture, Anqing, and Jiujiang, each with 5,000 soldiers stationed there to patrol the banks of the Yangtze River and its more prosperous tributaries.

Within two months, Zheng Baizhan personally visited four major camps to carry out reorganization.

Not only did he completely control all the troops in the four camps, he also implemented all of Chen Qingzhu's new policies for the Hui army and publicized the magical powers of the God of Du'e.

This made the 30,000 newly surrendered naval troops immediately forget the imperial court and become loyal to their new master, Lord Du'e.

(I’m too sleepy, I’ll make up another chapter tomorrow.)

With sufficient military force as a guarantee, the foundation for dividing the land has been laid.

During this period, Chen Qingzhu's newly established team of civil and military officials were also busy. They cooperated with each other and not only worked out a complete process, but also replaced all the prefects and county magistrates in various places.

In addition, many literate male and female officials were recruited in Nando, Yangzhou, Songhu and other places to serve as the personnel to implement the land distribution policy, and the cabinet sent officials to the local areas to provide them with centralized training.

The process of recruiting officials went smoothly.

Because this is the only way for common people to become officials without taking the imperial examination.

In the Jiangnan region, where literature flourished, there were quite a few people who could read and do math, but many of them could not get on the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination.

Many accountants and failed scholars are like this.

The posted notice also stated that there was no restriction on the background of civil servants, and those who became civil servants would be able to take part in the imperial examinations in the future.

His previous experience in practical work will serve as an added bonus in the imperial examinations and an important reference when he is appointed to an official position.

This regulation gave hope to many brave scholars who had been stuck in the imperial examinations for many years, and they all jumped in to take part.

In addition, merchants who have always been good at speculation also saw hope and sent their sons and daughters to work as officials.

After all, merchants are not qualified to take the imperial examinations, but as long as they become officials, they can break this shackles.

Whether you pass the exam or not, it is still a hope.

If a family has many sons, they can just push an unappreciated son to the position.

Since he had few sons and was afraid that his family would be implicated in future purges by the imperial court, he pushed his more capable daughter to take over.

After all, the government office under the jurisdiction of the God said that there is no restriction on gender.

I heard that the Goddess is a female fairy, and there are many high-ranking officials in the Southern Capital Court who are female officials. So, if my daughter behaves well, she will also have the hope of making a name for herself and changing her family's status in the future.

After making sure that all preparations were in place, Chen Qingzhu issued an order to recover the tax evasion debts owed by the large landlords:

"All households that actually own more than ten mu of land per capita must pay all the taxes owed or evaded in previous years within fifteen days.

If the tax is not paid within half a month or the tax is not paid truthfully, all property will be confiscated and the whole family will be sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion.

This decree undoubtedly caused a huge uproar.

The gentry, landlords and powerful people in all prefectures and counties had never imagined that after the legendary all-powerful God Du'e came to power, the fire would actually burn them.

They originally thought that no matter who controlled Jiangnan, their lives would be the same.

As long as they gave generous gifts to the new prefects and county magistrates and maintained good relationships with them, they could enjoy wealth and glory as before and continue to exercise tyranny in the land they were familiar with.

Who could have thought that the Lord Du'e was so greedy that he wanted to collect taxes from them over the years.

Over the years, anyone who could find a backer in the government has ever paid taxes according to the land they actually owned.

They will never pay taxes if the problem can be solved by giving gifts.

The amount of taxes owed from generation to generation has already reached an incalculable amount.

To pay all of it now would be a devastating loss for many families.

Moreover, once the money is paid this time, it will have to be paid every year thereafter, which will cause endless harm.

Therefore, after learning of this decree, the vast majority of gentry, landlords and powerful people did not think about how much tax they owed, nor where to get the money to pay the tax.

Instead, the most prestigious people in the area organized all families who owned more than 500 acres of land to gather together to discuss countermeasures.

In the end, the result of everyone's discussion was to resist taxation together and no one would pay.

They didn't believe that the new regime of the God would have the time and energy to go through every household to check the accounts of the past hundreds of years.

The law does not hold everyone responsible, so is it really possible to raid all of their homes?

When that time really comes, they are not idols made of clay. Every family will organize some people to resist and make sure that the county magistrate appointed by the god will never return!

The more daring ones even secretly colluded with each other and prepared to cooperate with the Wei court to overthrow this ungrateful divine regime.

Of course, there was also a very small number of people who, after hearing the rumor that Lord Du'e would strike those powerful and evil people in Nandu to death, honestly went around raising money, or accepted the consequences and gave up their own land to pay the taxes of previous years.

Such people will undoubtedly be isolated and ridiculed by the rest of the people.

He felt that they were cowardly and useless, and were traitors among the gentry and landlords. He would never have anything to do with his family again.

It was already early spring in February.

Spring has returned to the southern capital, and the rivers in the north have thawed.

Therefore, it took only seven or eight days for this decree from the Southern Capital to be transmitted from the Zhongdu Fengyang to the imperial desk of Emperor Yong'an in the capital.

After reading the news from Fengyang, Emperor Yong'an raised the corners of his lips and couldn't help laughing out loud.

Wang Zhong, who was serving in the imperial study, was secretly puzzled.

It has been a long time since His Majesty laughed so happily since the Lord Du'e sent down thunder in the palace.

I don’t know what good thing happened.

Before he could think of a suitable remark to interject and flatter the dragon, Emperor Yong'an said it himself.

"Humph, this evil demon Du'e is so greedy that he is simply digging his own grave!"

"You have stolen my treasury and seized dozens of dignitaries in the Southern Capital, but you are still not satisfied. You even want all the gentry in Jiangnan to pay the taxes they owe you for hundreds of years!"

"It will be extremely difficult for these local tyrants to pay taxes honestly in the future, not to mention the taxes owed in previous years. It has taken the Wei Dynasty hundreds of years to accomplish this, but she wants to do it as soon as she gains control of a few prefectures. Just wait, those local tyrants will overthrow her makeshift team!"

"No matter how capable she is, I don't believe she can take care of countless villages. When the time comes, those local tyrants will cause chaos everywhere. Let's see how she ends up! I'm waiting for her to be despised by the gentry and the people, and to be kicked out of Jiangnan in disgrace!"

Thinking of such a scene, Emperor Yong'an felt refreshed.

Ever since the evil demon Du'e occupied Nandu and Zheng Yuannai announced that he would lead the three prefectures of Songhu to submit to the God Du'e, he has always had a deep sense of powerlessness.

With the powerful weapon Du'e Evil Demon in hand, he didn't dare to easily mobilize troops against Nandu.

After all, her abilities are so great that if we send the army from Zhongdu Fengyang to attack, I am afraid that countless generals will die at her hands.

By then, the army will be leaderless and will be easily devoured by her.

Therefore, he could only watch her use the food and money she had robbed from him to buy off the hearts of the soldiers and directly subdue the 30,000 navy in the hands of Duke Dingguo.

At that time, he was so angry that he gnashed his teeth every night and couldn't sleep.

He knew that the military salaries were being withheld and the soldiers were not living very well.