1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

Encouraged by this rare friendly attitude, the man carefully glanced at the several armed soldiers behind Chen Kang and asked:

"I...I want to ask, this...this...land...land use rights, what does that mean? If the land is distributed to us, then it's just distributed to us, right?"

"Oh, this land use right means that you can continue to cultivate this land and use this land, but the ownership of this land does not belong to you. You can't sell it for money."

“Ownership…what does that mean?”

The other farmers who were lining up to prepare their plots also pricked up their ears. They actually had the same doubts, but they were not as bold as this man to ask.

There's so much new stuff these days that it's hard for people to understand. "Oh, ownership is..."

After Chen Biao's patient explanation, Hanzi and the others finally understood the difference between "ownership" and "right to use," but they were even more confused:

"So... aren't we the tenant farmers of that... that... store?"

(In ancient times, there were actually similar concepts called "property rights" and "tenant rights," but most people were unaware of them, so many farmers were tricked when buying land.)

"That's not right. The Xie family's land now all belongs to the state, so you are not His Highness's tenants..."

"Oh...that's...the state's tenant farmers..." "Not really..."

"What is that?" "Hmm..."

Chen Kang hadn't quite grasped the system yet, so he could only reluctantly reply, "Anyway, remember this: the land will always be yours to farm. As long as you don't violate His Highness's orders or the laws of the country, you'll be able to farm it until you die, or you voluntarily give it up."

"That's just tenant farming, not land division..."

Everything the man said before was fine, but the two sentences he muttered caused dissatisfaction among others. Someone immediately stood up and spoke out:

"How can you be so ignorant? When have you ever seen a tenant farmer who only pays 15% rent? If you keep talking too much, His Highness will not give you any land!"

Yes, Fujiwara no Kanezane ordered that all newly allocated lands would only be rented at 15% for the first five years, and only 30% annually thereafter.

Many people probably know that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the centuries-old "sealed border" policy was lifted, allowing Han people to enter the Northeast, the so-called "Manchuria Dragon's Birthplace";

Because the land in Northeast China was fertile, farmers who could no longer survive due to the oppression of warlords, landlords and bureaucrats in Shandong and Henan fled here to "break through the Guandong region". Indeed, many people relied on their hard work and dedication to rise from poverty to become landlords.

Does that mean that landlords in Northeast China are kinder? Click here!

The answer is that when they became landlords, what they showed was no different in essence from landlords elsewhere in China.

"Living rent" (a fixed percentage regardless of the harvest) or "fixed rent" (a fixed amount regardless of the harvest) of more than 50%;

The landlord's rent collection methods were no different from those elsewhere: large scales for rent, small scales for rent, large measures for rent, small measures for rent; rent collection was divided into multiple times, with a first limit, a second limit, and a third limit;

The first rent is collected according to the original amount, the second rent is increased by 10%, and the third rent is increased by another 10%. Before the spring plowing, the landlords send people to collect the spring rent.

After the three limits, an additional 10% will be levied. If the tenant still fails to pay the rent, the rented land will be taken back...

In addition, the Northeast has another characteristic:

Due to the chaotic political situation and the large number of bandits, some landlords hired bandits (or were bandits themselves) to prevent the peasants from escaping, forcing them to stay and even collecting protection money.

You said the Northeast is vast and sparsely populated, so we can open up wasteland elsewhere?

Haha, do you believe it or not? If you go out one day, your whole family will die on the road the next day.

If it were that easy to reclaim wasteland, all of China's land would have been fertile long ago. Therefore, the landlords in Northeast China were not only no more docile than those in other places, but on the contrary, in some ways they were even more cruel and brutal (otherwise they wouldn't be able to survive in this place where beards are everywhere).

Therefore, Fujiwara no Kanezane's decision to "fix the rent at 15% or 30% and not charge any other fees" was very conscientious!

Therefore, requirements such as "only the right to use but not the ownership", "must register to join a collective farm or cooperative later", and "must obey the orders of the State-owned Assets Bureau" are simply not worth mentioning.

After all, didn’t they have any land before? Didn’t they have to rent land from the landlords and obey their orders?

It makes no difference.

236 The Counterattack of the Landlords, Traitors and Reactionaries

Under the "accusations" of the crowd, the man blushed and apologized. After receiving the "forgiveness" of Brigade Commander Wang, he received the sign and followed the staff and soldiers of the National Highway Bureau to confirm the acreage of the land.

Chen Kang continued his "land division" and was shocked while working.

Surprisingly...there isn't even a single mistake!! Even the land planning map is correct!

This "land plan" was created by the tall, rather stern-looking maid who had always served Fujiwara no Kanezane in just one night.

The plan clearly states where each piece of land is, how big it is, how it should be divided, and where to start measuring.

But this is hard to believe.

Because, logically speaking, the maid, like them, was coming into contact with the Xie family and its assets for the first time!

So, how powerful a skill does one need to be able to complete the inventory and planning of all the Xie family's land and even come up with a plan in such a short time?

After much thought, Chen Kui still couldn't figure it out, so he had to attribute it to "already planned" and "had done it before". Otherwise, how could it make sense?

If Chen Kang knew that the supercomputer could scan and verify the booklet and land in a few milliseconds, and then calculate the divided area and plan dozens of options for selection according to the requirements in the same time, he would not think so.

Because of this kind of external help, the land division plan itself is not something to worry about;

On the contrary, there was another thing that was worthy of worry and confusion, which was... "Brigade Commander Wang, why does it feel like there aren't many people coming to participate in the land distribution..."

Mark, who had come with the alchemist to "inspect the work," did a quick count and discovered that the number of registered and queued people was less than one-fifth of the total number of attendees that day. He immediately became puzzled.

"Is it because they haven't had time to register yet, or is there some other reason?"

"Uh... they're definitely not very enthusiastic... Many people who said they would register haven't shown up yet... Director Zhao has gone down to conduct research and should be back soon..."

The corners of Mark's mouth twitched.

Isn't that a bit too positive?

As the director of the National Highway Bureau, which is responsible for the planning, construction, and maintenance of roads throughout Northeast China, it is understandable that he would get involved in the "land division" issue;

However, even going down to investigate in person "why the farmers did not actively participate in the land distribution" was a bit "overstepping the line".

Could it be that he is "establishing a persona"?

Oh... You are getting closer and closer to becoming the chairman... Okay, okay, I am confident in your work.

Just as Mark and Chen Kui were playing the game of "superiors and subordinates are like one family", the rapid and chaotic sound of horse hooves suddenly rang out;

When they turned around, they saw a soldier from the 386th Brigade running towards them with blood all over his head. Before he even got to them, he rolled to the ground, crying out:

"Commander, something bad has happened! Something's happened to Director Zhao!"

“Hu…Hu…Hu…Hu…”

Zhao Ziqi finally rolled over and successfully crawled into the corner of the wall, avoiding the bullet. He wiped the blood from his forehead with his sleeve and gasped violently.

After his breathing calmed down a bit, he carefully turned his head and looked through a small hole in the wall to carefully observe the gang of criminals chasing him.

Or rather, bandits.

No one knew where this gang of bandits came from.

When they saw farmers working on the land and workers measuring the land, they immediately opened fire without hesitation.

"Investigation" is being conducted at a farmer's home who did not participate in the "land distribution registration" work.

Zhao Ziqi, who was in charge of Shi Kai, naturally immediately led the guards sent by Chen Kui to fight against them and protect the people, while at the same time quickly sending troops to seek help;

The 386th Brigade had only a dozen or so talented people, and of course they were outnumbered. They fled all the way to a separate courtyard of the Xie family and confronted them against the wall.

"Listen up, everyone in there! I'll count to three, and then get out here and surrender!"

At a safe distance of several hundred meters, the leading bandit rode on his horse, tugging at the reins as he walked back and forth, shouting threats:

"If they don't come out when the time comes, I'll kill them all!"

As he said this, he threw two wounded and captured soldiers of the 386th Brigade to the ground and ordered his men to punch and kick them, while firing several shots into the air as a warning.

Seeing the soldier who had been protecting him being tortured, Zhao Ziqi was furious. He couldn't help but think of what had just happened and had a deeper understanding of the cruelty of the landlord class.

"Why don't you participate in the land distribution?" "I don't dare to share."

“Why not?”

"The Xie family is ruthless. If we dare to take anything from them, our whole family will be killed. That's why we don't dare to go."

"But we have His Majesty... We have the 386th Brigade and Manchukuo! If all else fails, His Majesty has said he will see to it. What do you have to be afraid of?"

"Young man, you don't understand. Who is His Highness? He's a noble from Japan, just like the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. How can he care about such a trivial matter?"

"...He will definitely take care of it."

"Even if he can manage it, can he manage it for a while, can he manage it forever? If he doesn't have time to manage it, the Xie family won't dare to deal with him, and won't dare to deal with us? They won't dare to do it openly, and they won't dare to do it secretly?"

"Young man, don't underestimate these people, they are all ruthless!"

It seemed as if the old man had the skill of "his words come true". Not long after he finished speaking, the sound of gunfire and horse hooves of the Xie family bandits really could be heard outside, and they soon rushed near them.

The old man refused to leave. When the bandits rushed in front of him, he raised his hands and knelt down obediently, shouting something like "Thank you, Second Boss, I didn't touch your things." Then he was beheaded by a knife.

Afterwards, his family members were killed along with him and the house was burned down.

The old man was very wise in survival, but he never understood until his death that the "Homecoming Corps" didn't care whether you took their things or not. They only cared about whether they could establish their authority and intimidate these peasants!

The best way to establish authority is to kill people!

As for who was killed, does it matter?

Seeing the bandits torturing their fellow countrymen, the other soldiers of the 386th Brigade were so angry that their eyes were about to spit fire. Some of them wanted to rush out, but were stopped by Zhao Ziqi:

"Don't go! Hold on! There is a way!"

"But...."

"No buts!"

As he spoke, Zhao Ziqi shouted at the gangsters across the wall:

"Everyone outside, listen up! Our people are on their way! If you know what's good for you, surrender now! You might as well avoid the death penalty!!"

The bandits outside were silent for a while, and suddenly a voice with a hint of sadness in its laughter rang out:

"Death penalty? We are already guilty of death! Comrades, don't you agree?"

"Yeah! Second in command! I don't know how many virgin girls I've played with!"

"Second boss! Let's stop the fucking nonsense! Kill these traitorous dogs! Let's join the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces!"

"That's right! I've never seen the Japanese do things this way!"

"..."

After the noisy noises, Second Chief Xie waved his hand to stop his men and stared at the wall of the Xie family's courtyard with a face full of resentment:

"You killed my entire family! You took my property! Even my land was divided up by you peasants! You're still afraid of threats? What a joke!"

When he said this, Xie Erdang completely ignored the fact that when his family first arrived in the Northeast, the land they owned was only one twentieth of what it is today.

As for where the land came from...

Then we have to ask the bones of the Zhang family buried in the back mountain. "Come out and surrender quickly! I will give you a quick death!"

Having said that, Xie Erdang did not dare to let his men launch an attack until the last moment.

He was in charge of building the Xie Family Villa, and he knew very well how strong the walls were and how easy it was to defend and how difficult it was to attack.

Although there are only a few people on the other side, it is not particularly difficult to attack, but there will definitely be casualties;

These men are all desperate criminals. Who would be willing to die so easily in such a place?

"Desperate" and "fear of death" are not contradictory.

Staring angrily at the arrogant bandit leader, Zhao Ziqi whispered to the three remaining guards:

"Can you hit the target at this distance?" "This..."

The soldiers estimated the distance and shook their heads:

"It's probably about half a mile. The instructor might be able to hit it, but we probably can't." "Instructor?"

"Well, the Japanese instructor is a sergeant from the 4th Division.

As our squad leader."

Speaking of this, even in the desperate situation, the soldiers couldn't help but show admiration in their eyes:

"That's amazing! Within 100 meters, they just raise their gun and shoot without even aiming! And that Japanese woman Your Highness placed next to the Empress is even more amazing! She doesn't even need to aim within 200 meters! She said she'd shoot in the left eye, not the right!"

Zhao Ziqi, who had little experience with military work, was startled and asked quickly, "Does anyone here have the ability to do this?"

"No... The brigade commander can't do it..."