Steel Dynasty - Chapter 86

[Chapter 86 Propaganda Offensive]

Zhu Wuliu is fifteen years old and lives in Zhujia Village, Taiping County, Qingzhou.

For as long as he can remember, his father has been a tenant of the Wang family, a wealthy family in Qingzhou, and 70% of the annual harvest is given to the Wang family.

He has two older brothers, one named Zhu Yier and the other named Zhu Sansi. They both herd cattle for the Wang family. When he was nine years old, he was not allowed to go like his brothers because he only had one black steamed bun every day.

Zhu Wuliu didn’t like black steamed buns because they were steamed from wheat bran mixed with moldy wheat and were difficult to swallow.

But he had to eat. The 30% of food left at home was not enough for his family of seven, because he also had a younger sister.

Zhu Wuliu of several families were hungry every day. Only during the holidays would their parents be willing to sell their wheat in exchange for a few kilograms of white flour steamed pancakes and steamed buns.

In his memory, these were his happiest moments.

However, this year was different from previous years. The father who originally rented the Wang family’s farmland suddenly called all three brothers home, and the whole family of seven went to reclaim wasteland on both sides of the river outside the village.

According to what my parents said, His Royal Highness the King of Qi issued an order to farm the land. From now on, the acres of the farmland belong to that family and will be inherited from generation to generation.

Later, Li Zheng from the village came to his home again and asked his family to join the production team.

He remembered that his parents were extremely happy because all the people near the farmland reclaimed by his family were divided into a production team. Cattle were quickly brought from the county, and farm tools were distributed to various production teams.

After spring begins, people in the village will be able to cultivate the fields together, and the government will not levy any taxes for the next three years.

According to the farming law, the number of acres he can cultivate is 30 acres, but he can’t do it alone.

However, his parents said that when this year’s harvest is sold, they will prepare a betrothal gift for him and find a wife, so that they can farm together. Zhu Wuliu blushed at the thought. What is it like to be a woman?

He was watching the spinning torsion overturning the car in the field. At this time, his second brother Zhu Sansi ran over and said to him: “On May 6, His Highness’s newsboy came to Qingzhou City. Li Zheng asked everyone in the village to go to the east end of the village. “The threshing floor.”

“What is a newsboy?” Zhu Wuliu asked doubtfully.

“You don’t care what the newsboy is, just go back.”

Zhu Sansi took Zhu Wuliu and went to the threshing floor. By this time, almost everyone in the village had arrived.

In the middle of the threshing floor, an old man was holding something like a notice. In the middle of Zhujia Village, the highly respected Zhu Ziyou was standing behind the old man, accompanying him very carefully.

This person was Fan Zeng, who was going to the countryside for the first time. He took the newspaper and asked Zhu Ziyou: “Are all the people in the village here?”

“Zhu Wuliu is here too. They are all here.” Zhu Ziyou said.

Fan Zeng nodded. In Dayu State, no matter whether it is a prefecture, county or village, the people gather together. The village is surrounded by an earthen wall. This is to prevent wolves, tigers and leopards. It is precisely because of this that the people are together and it is easy to gather.

He said at this time: “First of all, let me tell you what a newsboy is…”

Then Fan Zeng popularized the concept of newspapers. This was one of the tasks assigned by the King of Qi, to popularize newspapers and make them official and authoritative information.

After some explanations, the people understood almost everything. At this time, Fan Zeng began to read, and the content was naturally what was in the newspaper.

This is the first edition of the newspaper in the Chongqing Kingdom. It writes about the important things that happened in Qingzhou.

The first of these is to clarify the number of acres of land allocated to each person in the farming order to prevent wealthy families from occupying too much.

The second article is about recruitment information. It encourages young and middle-aged people to join the army. It also makes it clear that joining the army will get additional acres of land and a certain monthly salary. At the end of the year, the government will subsidize food and meat for those who join the army.

The third article is to restore the horse administration and encourage animal husbandry. The fourth article is to encourage commercial trade and handicrafts to correct the low status of merchants and craftsmen. Wanderers can enter the city to work, and after three years they can obtain local household registration and enjoy all the conveniences of the fiefdom.

Because the newspaper space is limited, these are the policies for the time being. The rest are several major cases in the fiefdom, one is the Cangzhou incident and the other is the Dengzhou incident.

“Bah, the Wang family and the Qin family are really not the same thing.” After reading the newspaper, a commoner cursed.

“No, especially the Wang family. They killed seventy-two members of the family for personal gain. They really deserve to be stabbed a thousand times.” Someone else said.

“This local wealthy family is a scourge. We work hard and give them 70% of our annual harvest. They occupy so much of our land.”

“…”

When I read about the new policy, the people all cheered. But when it comes to the local wealthy families, the common people are gnashing their teeth in hatred.

Fan Zeng was carefully observing the reactions of the people. After returning home in the evening, he still needed to report the specific situation to Prince Qi’s Mansion.

Zhu Wuliu was also listening, especially when Captain Dao Lu wielded his sword to kill the two evildoers of Cangzhou, and the Qingzhou army captured the governor of Dengzhou. This made his blood boil. He vaguely felt that His Highness the King of Qi was for the people.

“His Royal Highness King Qi cares about the people. He is a rare wise king. Many of his policies are for the sake of the people. Everyone should be grateful to King Qi for his good governance.” Fan Zeng said.

He is not only as simple as reading the newspaper, but also establishes the image of King Qi and the government in the hearts of the people, so that the people can trust him and the government.

After Fan Zeng’s words came out, the people began to whisper, and many people nodded secretly. The people’s eyes were sharp and they could distinguish good from evil.

It’s just that they still lack orderly guidance, and now Xiao Ming is using the name of the newspaper to carry out propaganda in order to cheer up the people in the future and make the people stand on his side.

But this is not easy, because the local wealthy families are deeply rooted, and Fan Zeng can still see the fear in the eyes of the people when they talk about the wealthy families.

After venting their anger, they still succumbed to the shadow of the wealthy family.

Fan Zeng secretly took note of the people’s reactions and handed the newspaper to Zhu Ziyou. He had to go to the next village, so he took a short rest and left again.

Newspapers are a very new thing for the people. After Fan Zeng left, the people also dispersed, but they still talked excitedly about the news in the newspapers on the way.

While Zhu Ziyou was looking at the leaving villagers, his expression gradually became gloomy.

He glanced at the newspaper and said, “This matter must be known to the outside world. This newspaper has ruined the Wang family quite a lot.”

While Zhu Ziwen was thinking, Xiao Ming was thinking about his current opponents.

Through the feedback from several counties recently, he found that he had overlooked an important point on the issue of who is the real opponent, that is, the village leaders who are vassal to the local wealthy family. Although they do not belong to the wealthy family, they still rely on the wealthy family to obtain the golden clothes. Jade food.

(End of chapter)