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Chapter 0022 quell the riot

"What? Thousands of chaotic people rushed into the county town to cause chaos?"

Li Weiguo jumped up immediately after hearing this. After asking carefully, he realized that it was not a rebellion, but a tenant farmers carrying hoes into the city to find the "crows" to argue.

"Old Crow", as the name suggests, is not a pitch-black old crow, but a nickname given to the landlords by the locals in Chongming, implicitly mocking them for exploiting tenants and eating people without spitting bones.

Chongming County just encountered a severe tide and flooding. In addition, the storm and storm, the embankments along the river were broken, the fields were flooded, trees and houses were scraped down, and farmers were displaced, suffering from miserable suffering. Chongming County was surrounded by rivers and was hit by wind, rain and tides, and the disaster was severe. Some of the surviving crops were moldy and rotten, and the rice sprouted, and the harvest was only 10% of the year. After the disaster, the landlords ignored the life and death of the tenant farmers and still wanted to "not reduce the waste and not delay the ripening" and ordered the tenant farmers to pay 500 kilograms of rice every thousand steps of the field. The tenant farmers could not bear it anymore, so they jointly petitioned Yan Kuan to reduce the rent. Yan Kuan followed the prosecution and comforted the tenant farmers. After even fearing that they would not handle the handover procedures with the new county magistrate Li Weiguo, they fled, leaving a bunch of messes.

The landlords continued to put pressure on the tenants and even used private armed forces to force the tenants to pay the rent, causing many injuries. Last night, a tenant farmer family raised a fire, which finally aroused public anger.

Thousands of tenant farmers entered the city and beat the seven major landlords of Chongming County, including Xiao, Su, Zhou, Zan, Yan, Lu, and Huang, who cruelly exploited the tenant farmers. The tenant farmers first went to Dadongmen to beat the bully landlord Huang's family, then the Su family at the North Gate, the Zhou family at Chaoyangmen, the Zan family at the South Gate, and the Yan family and the Lu family, and then rushed to the Xiao family at the Central Street.

"What is the relationship between the Xiao family in Zhongjie and the chief clerk Xiao Yang?" Li Weiguo asked suddenly.

The clerk replied accordingly: "When you come back to the Lord, the Xiao family on Zhongjie is the original family of Master Xiao. After hearing the news, Master Xiao has led three squads of yamen runners to the scene. Please send troops quickly to help."

Li Weiguo sneered and asked me to send troops to rescue Xiao Yang's family? What a joke? I wish those rioters could cause trouble for Xiao Yang. It would be better to steal all the ill-gotten wealth from his family and burn it clean, so that Xiao Yang was so angry that he vomited half a liter of blood before he could relieve his anger.

Besides, this matter is very strange. Thousands of chaotic people entered the county town without warning. Are the county soldiers guarding the city gate blind? They didn't report to him, the county magistrate. One of them is. Thousands of chaotic people have smashed and robbed the six major landlords including Su, Zhou, Zan, Yan, Lu, and Huang, almost walked around the county town. It took several hours just to walk. Now that the chaotic people have arrived at the Xiao family, there are clerks coming to report. The conspiracy in it is obvious.

It must be that the chief clerk of Xiao deliberately let the thousands of tenant farmers into the city, acquiesced to attack the major landlord families, and at the same time deliberately concealed Li Weiguo and planned to conspire to deal with Li Weiguo. However, the situation was out of control in the end. Seeing that the government did not stop, the tenant clerks became more and more bold and crazy. After smashing and looting several houses, they directly attacked the largest landlord Xiao family, which forced Xiao Yang to take people to the Xiao family for emergency treatment. At the same time, they ordered people to come and tell Li Weiguo that he would send troops to suppress the enemy.

The county government office has military camps, but in peacetime there are only a few dozen people. After the police, there are only a few people left at the yamen to stand guard.

It is still okay to rely on these people to show off their power and threaten the people. Once they encounter civil unrest, especially those with thousands of people, they will not have much effect.

The clerk obviously received Xiao Yang's instructions and wanted to ask Li Weiguo to bring his hundred guards to rescue, but how could Li Weiguo do what he wished?

"The order is forbidden to leave the county government office. Now that the people in the chaos are in great danger, we should give priority to defending the county government office and immediately close the gate of the county government office. Everyone is ready for battle. Once the people in the chaos dare to attack the county government office, they should repel it with all their might!"

Li Weiguo deliberately refused to save him when he saw him die. The clerk was in a hurry and had no choice but to take advantage of no one's attention. He hurriedly reported to Xiao Yang when he left the yamen when no one noticed.

But Xiao Yang's heart was already regretful at this moment. He originally planned to instigate the tenant farmers to attack the four major landlord families, Su, Zhou, Zan and Yan. On the one hand, in order to eliminate the four hostile competing families for the Xiao family, the other hand used the thousands of tenant farmers to cause trouble to create a riot to blame Li Weiguo for his unpredictable crime. Even if Li Weiguo could not be punished, at least he could divert Li Weiguo's energy so that he had no time to continue to check the county government's accounts.

This book was another perfect plan that Xiao Yang thought was seamless, but what he never expected was that he did not estimate the changes in the mentality of the "discreet people". After these tenants experienced the four major landlords who were trembling and smashed and looted Su, Zhou, Zan and Yan, they saw that the government did not intervene, and their greed became bolder. They also swelled. They not only continued to smash and loot the Lu and Huang families, but even rushed to the largest landlord Xiao families, and smashed and looted.

It was a scale of thousands of people. In just half a stick of incense, the entire Xiao family compound was smashed into pieces. The valuable calligraphy and paintings, ancient bottles, gold and silver jewelry, cash and softness, even food, oil, rice, flour, clothes, shoes, quilts, etc. were all looted. By the time Xiao Yang led his men to arrive, it was too late. Dozens of officials were scared to the point of being weak in their legs in front of thousands of angry tenants, and they didn't dare to catch people. They watched the thousands of tenants snatch them after they snatched them.

Xiao Yang's father and brothers were beaten to the point of bruising and swollen, and his mother, sister and daughter-in-law were also humiliated by countless vicious hands, and the servants and the hospital guards were seriously injured and unconscious.

Seeing all this, Xiao Yang was so angry that he stamped his feet and wanted to cry without tears.

Especially when he heard the clerk who rushed over to say that Li Weiguo refused to send troops to rescue him, Xiao Yang immediately spit out an old blood and fainted from anger.

However, it was said that Li Weiguo refused to send troops to the Xiao family to rescue him, and there was his own reason. After all, thousands of tenant farmers were angry and the public was in a state of anger. If Li Weiguo brought a hundred guards over at this time, there would be only one result. If Li Weiguo could not come to Taiwan, the tenant farmers would point the finger at Li Weiguo and ask Li Weiguo to give an explanation.

In fact, Li Weiguo knew very well that under the feudal ownership, it was natural for landlords to collect rent from tenants, and the government generally had no right to interfere. In this way, Li Weiguo would be in a dilemma, and it was basically impossible for landlords to reduce rent and interest, especially Xiao Yang, the biggest landlord, would definitely take the lead in opposing it. If he offended these big landlords, don't expect taxes and grain collection in Chongming County. The court blamed Li Weiguo and could not afford to take advantage of it. But if the rent and interest were not reduced, then the thousands of angry tenants would definitely vent the fire on Li Weiguo's head. The result was unimaginable and would cause riots. Even if Li Weiguo had 100 guards, he would probably not be able to stop thousands of hoes and sickles from smashing down, and his life would be in danger.

Therefore, Li Weiguo chose to remain calm. On the one hand, Xiao Yang was defeated and killed himself. He sat down and watched the homes of the landlords be smashed and robbed, so that they knew that the people would become bandits if they were forced to do so. Only by reducing rent and interest to let the people survive, they could continue to collect rent. On the other hand, it also made the thousands of tenant farmers vent their anger. Only after they smashed and robbed these landlords can they relieve their anger and not be so irritable. At the same time, they broke the law after all, so it would be much easier for Li Weiguo to tell them about the national law.

As Li Weiguo estimated, after thousands of tenant farmers smashed and robbed these big landlords, most of them no longer had the anger they had when they first entered the city, but became afraid and worried that the government would ask for punishment. So soon some of them left the team one after another, left the county town and returned to their villages and towns and hid, leaving the vast team of thousands of people who finally arrived at the gate of the county government.

Li Weiguo was somewhat sure of dealing with the tenant farmers who were less than a thousand people. He ordered all county officials to strictly guard the county government with weapons, so that one hundred guards could occupy the favorable terrain. Once the situation was out of control, they would suppress the riot by force.

However, Li Weiguo did not dare to be careless. He was a smart man and would not only use brute force to deal with timid and fearful people. He only needed to capture the bold and responsible persons among them. In terms of military tactics, he called capturing the king first.

At this time, a large number of people came to the other side. They were the big landlords who were smashed and looted by the tenants. At this moment, under the leadership of Xiao Yang, they rushed to the county government office in tears. They were wronged to Li Weiguo and asked Li Weiguo to severely punish the perpetrators and compensate them for their losses.

These landlords were caught off guard by the tenants. In fact, each big landlord has raised dozens or hundreds of servants who guard the house. Now they have united and gathered the slaves of each family, holding various equipment, and there are even thousands of people.

Li Weiguo frowned. When the two sides met together, if they were not handled properly, it would cause a big riot.

"The bold and unruly people dared to gather people to cause trouble, smash and loot the rich people in the city, and now they gather at the county government office. What do you want to do? Can't you rebel?" Zhang Xiaoliu was secretly instructed by Li Weiguo and stood up and asked sternly, attacking Li Weiguo for his pioneering, and testing the attitudes of these tenants.

Sure enough, the word "rebellion" immediately scared all the tenants. This was a serious crime. The family was raided and the people were suddenly in panic.

The big landlords on the other side showed joy, thinking that the county magistrate was ready to attack these poor people.

"Fan Zhongying, a grass gangster, met the county magistrate, and asked the Lord to calm down. We were just dissatisfied with the landlords and powerful people who want to increase their rent and land and impose minor punishments on them. Our tenants are all farmers who are merely farmer, because this year's flood season has been hit, and there is no grain in the fields. We have no food left. However, those landlords and powerful people are crazy not only not reducing rent and interest rate, but also increasing rent and hiking interest rates. The food they destroyed by the flood actually needs us to make up for? This is to force us to death. Where is the law of nature? We jointly petitioned the adults, and we hope that the adults will clearly learn and leave a way out for us." In front of the crowd, an old man who looked a little majestic said, and the others all drank, looking like a leader.

Zhang Xiaoliu handed over a thick petition handed over by Fan Zhongying to Li Weiguo. Li Weiguo took a rough look and asked the government to come forward to ask these big landlords to reduce rent and interest rates. His words were sincere and his feelings were pitiful. Finally, he signed it, which turned out to be a joint signature of tens of thousands of people.

Li Weiguo frowned. These landlords and wealthy people are really abominable. It is okay to make an appointment to exploit tenants every year. After all, this is a basic phenomenon in feudal society. However, this year, the tenants have no income and they have to raise rents and interest rates. It is really abominable.

Li Weiguo rolled his eyes, quickly weighed the pros and cons, and made the best choice. He said: "My fellow villagers, this year, our county has suffered a flood and there is no harvest in your fields. I understand this and I sympathize with you. It's a pity that the previous county magistrate was too irresponsible. He promised you to reduce rent and interest but secretly resigned from his official position. I have not known it for several days since I took office, and I almost fell into an unjust situation."

"It turns out that the former county magistrate secretly resigned and ran away. No wonder we have not been waiting for news these days. We thought that the adults and the crows were birds of a feather, but they misunderstood the adults. I am really sorry, and I deserve to die." The man standing next to Fan Zhongying said suddenly, reminding everyone in one sentence.

Li Weiguo nodded, and he poured dirty water on the previous county magistrate first, so that he could establish a good image in front of the people. He sighed and continued with a heavy expression: "Do you know? I have never thought about food or food these days, and I sighed every night. I have been thinking about how to help everyone overcome difficulties. However, the court's food and salary for disaster relief was limited, and the county's more than 200,000 people were affected, and it was simply a drop in the bucket and could not solve the problem."

When everyone heard this, they suddenly felt nervous and became nervous.

Li Weiguo smiled and said, "Don't panic, listen to my official's words. Although the food and salary for disaster relief cannot solve the fundamental problem, as the parents of Chongming County, how can I watch you suffer and ignore it? So I decided to use work instead of relief. I will arrange a job for everyone. After working hard, everyone will get a wage, so they can support their family and even repay the land rent and land tax quickly. What do you think, are you willing?"

For the victims, having a good meal is a luxury, let alone a job that can get a salary.

Fan Zhongying and others were immediately overjoyed, and the tenants behind couldn't wait to shout for willingness, for fear that Li Weiguo would go back on his word.

This labor-for-relief was also a solution that Li Weiguo suddenly came up with, because his Asian investment bank had a capital of 3 million pounds. In addition to lending, this money will be used to invest in factories, requiring a large amount of labor. The current tenant farmers have very low requirements and can provide cheap labor, killing two birds with one stone.

"My dear Lord, I am dedicated to our victims. You are a good official, please wait for me!" Fan Zhongying took the lead in kneeling down and kowtowed to Li Weiguo. The nearly a thousand tenants behind him were originally working people without scheming. They were easily moved by Li Weiguo's words, and they all knelt down and thanked for this kindness.

"Groupe, please come up quickly. How can I, Li Weiguo, accept such a great gift from you? I cannot help you!" Li Weiguo hurriedly helped Fan Zhongying and others up. No matter how thick-skinned he was, he could not resist blushing in the face of this situation, because he did have the intention to win people's hearts.

The tenants stood up one after another, and they all showed their joy.

"What a trick to win people's hearts! I really underestimated you before!" Xiao Yang cursed in his heart, and had to admit that Li Weiguo was a powerful character. He underestimated the enemy too much before, so he said unwillingly: "Sir, do you care about these unruly people going to the city to smash and loot the rich people?"

These words are the voices of the landlords. At this time, Xiao, Su, Zhou, Zan, Yan, Lu, Huang and other people were gritting their teeth, hoping to immediately kill the tenant farmers to relieve their hatred.

"This county will decide!" Li Weiguo snorted coldly in anger. He had already learned that Xiao Yang's family had been smashed and robbed. At this moment, he was very happy to see Xiao Yang's expression as his father died.

Li Weiguo paused and soon became serious. As the head of a county, he was sincere in protecting the people, but he did not allow anyone to violate the law and discipline, because that was no different from slapping him in the face. In particular, there was a Xiao Yang who was staring at him fiercely, which was not allowed to be careful.

He said solemnly: "My fellow villagers, you have suffered natural disasters. I sympathize with you and spare no effort to help you. However, you gathered together to cause trouble and smashed and robbed many major households in the county town. This violated the laws of the court. I love the people as my sons, so naturally I have to uphold justice for all the families who have been harmed by you."

Xiao, Su, Zhou, Zan, Yan, Lu, Huang and other people breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Li Weiguo's words, and felt much better.

"Of course, we cannot shame the adults for being kind and righteous to us. We are the leaders who take responsibility for this matter. I hope that the adults will not accumulate others." Fan Zhongying took the initiative to stand up to take responsibility, and soon more than a dozen people stood up.

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "Since you take the initiative to take responsibility, it is best! The person who came, took Fan Zhongying and others down, took him to prison and wait for the detention, and ordered other people involved in today's smashing and looting incident to quickly return the property they gained to the owners of each family. No mistakes must be made, otherwise the official will severely punish him."

Li Weiguo quickly made a verdict, which appeased the refugees and gave face to all major families. No matter which side, he received a reasonable explanation, quelling the riot.

"Thank you, Lord Li!" Whether it is tenant refugees or wealthy people, they have to thank Li Weiguo at this moment.

Only Xiao Yang's face was extremely gloomy. This sudden riot was originally a trap that Xiao Yang deliberately arranged for Li Weiguo at the beginning, but the ultimate beneficiary was Li Weiguo. On the other hand, Xiao Yang got nothing, but instead implicated his family and was looted by the mob.

"I hate it!" Xiao Yang returned to the messy home and whistled to the sky.

"Ah puff!" A mouthful of old blood spurted out again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter completed!
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