For the farmers in these villages, if you tell them in a polite way what to say about driving out the Tatars and restoring China, these old farmers may not be able to understand, and they may not be interested in hearing it, but you have to tell them that if you don’t drive away the Tatars, your descendants will

Sundu had to be oppressed by the slave-building court and the Mandarins, and these old farmers can understand.

Zhu Xiaosong said it very straightforwardly, so these old farmers became interested.

The old man who smoked his cigarette pot and asked: "Zhu Langjun, what is the peasant association you are talking about? Let the poor people in our village become officials?"

Zhu Xiaosong snorted and said: "You always say that, which is both right and wrong. This farmers' association, firstly, fully mobilizes our people to fight rent, debt, tax and food together; secondly, it listens to our

The opinions of the common people should be used to do things for us common people, to do good things and to do practical things."

"Those evil gentry have tried every means to occupy our land, and they want us to pay rent to them, which is 50% or 60%. If there is a bad year, they will force us to owe the rent that the donkeys are rolling over.

Say, isn’t this bullying?”

"There is also the government. If it makes the decision for us people and collects taxes and grains in a regular manner, then we have nothing to say. After all, the court maintains soldiers, and there are rivers, bridges and other things that need to be built, so there is no need to collect taxes and grains.

The past, but how did the Tatar government do it?"

"In my hometown of Ningyang County, the taxes for the 94th year of Qianlong's reign will be collected in the 49th year of Qianlong's reign. I heard that some places have already collected taxes more than a hundred years later. Tell me, how can we pay this tax?"

"The Emperor Qian Deaf was exempted all the way to the south, but he exempted him, and the officials who closed the government just changed their names. Tell me, there are obviously governors and censors, how can those officials dare to accept them? Then

Where did the money go?”

"Also, you should have heard about the incident in Henan a few years ago. The people who suffered from the disaster stopped Qian Ting to file a complaint. As a result, he handed the plaintiff over to the defendant for interrogation. He also said that people are like children and officials are like parents.

, There are no bad parents in this world, and children must never be allowed to sue their parents. Come on, isn’t this just nonsense!”

"That's why we want to organize this farmers' association because we want us people to make decisions for ourselves. We can unite to drive away the Tatars and no longer be oppressed by others."

As Zhu Xiaosong was talking, the old men smiled and nodded in response. But after Zhu Xiaosong finished speaking, the old man smoking suddenly asked: "Do you, Mr. Zhu Lang, collect grain? Do you collect taxes?"

Zhu Xiaosong laughed loudly and said sternly: "Collect it! However, not now, nor randomly in the future."

"Back then, Li Zicheng said he wasn't on duty and didn't pay for the food. Everyone had a happy time. But what happened to him later and how he perished? You should have heard about it."

"So, if we say like Li Zicheng that we don't collect grain and don't collect taxes, that's all nonsense. As these elderly people are all old, they should understand that this country needs to raise troops, build roads, build bridges, and build bridges.

Building a school requires money. If we don’t collect money or taxes, where will the money come from?”

"But, we won't collect tax revenue now, and we won't collect it randomly in the future."

"We haven't driven away the Tatars yet. The Tatar government is still collecting taxes and grains. If we collect them again, won't it make it even more difficult for everyone to live? Then what's the point of holding this farmers' association?"

"After we drive away the Tatars, we have no plans to collect taxes or grain from the people."

"To put it bluntly, how poor are these people? Even if they cut off the meat from the legs of egrets or remove the fat from the abdomen of mosquitoes, how much money can they get?"

"We won't accept the presence of so many wealthy businessmen, but we will harm the common people. Aren't we afraid that the common people will unite again and drive us away?"

"Let me leave this message to you today - if one day, Zhu Xiaosong, instead of speaking and doing things for the people, turns around and harms the people, then we will unite and drive us away too!"

"Besides, this farmers' association is made up of ordinary people. If the farmers' association doesn't want to, can we take the money?"

These old men just listened to what Zhu Xiaosong said before.

As the old saying goes, there is no truth in storytelling and singing, and what is said is not as good as what one sings. Zhu Xiaosong’s various promises can now be listened to as opera.

In the eyes of these old men, it is useless no matter how nice you say it - after driving away the Tatars, will you, Zhu Xiaosong, collect taxes? Will you collect grain? If not, what will you eat and drink? If you do, then you will

What's the difference between it and the government? What's the difference if it's with you or without you?

Only the last sentence, that the farmers association could not take the money unless they wanted to, really made these old men a little tempted.

An old man asked: "Listen to Mr. Lang, do you think this farmers' association will continue to be held? After the Tatars are driven away, will it continue? Why won't the government send people here?"

Zhu Xiaosong nodded seriously and said: "Farmers' associations must be held all the time, and the members of the farmers' association must be selected from each village by everyone. The government only supervises the selection process, but cannot directly send people."

"Let's put it this way, if we want to establish a peasant association in Xuzhuang, the people of Xuzhuang must choose it. Whoever is supported by the people of Xuzhuang will be elected. If he is not supported by the people of Xuzhuang, he will not be elected.

, we won’t interfere.”

"After the Tatars are driven away in the future, the rules of the peasant association will have to be elected once every three years. After working for a maximum of six consecutive years, someone will have to be replaced. No one can continue to work in this position."

Another old man asked: "How about joining this farmers' association and getting money and food?"

Zhu Xiaosong nodded and said: "Yes, this farmers' association itself is to talk and do things for everyone. It may delay their own affairs, so there is some money and food subsidies, but the money and food will not be much. It is not much now, and it will not be much in the future."

It can’t be much, don’t expect to make a fortune from this.”

The old man smoking and several other old men looked at each other, took a deep puff of the cigarette pot, then knocked the pot clean, and said in a deep voice: "Then I did it! I have three boys,

I will let the second and third sons go with you!"

"When Emperor Yongzheng was still in power, the common people's lives were better for a few days, and then gradually became difficult. When Emperor Qianlong became the emperor, the common people's lives became even more difficult.

"

"I have five brothers in the Xu family, and three of them are bachelors! They are homeless!"

"As long as life is not so difficult, my three brothers will not be unable to find a wife."

"I have gone through this hard life, and so has my son. I cannot let my grandson go through it again!"

Zhu Xiaosong hummed, grabbed the old man's hand and said, "It will pass. These hard days will definitely pass. By then, every family will have land to plant, food to eat, and new clothes to wear during the New Year."

Mr. Lu Xun said that everything is difficult at the beginning, which means that except for driving, other things may feel difficult at the first time. If it is difficult later, you may get used to it and it will not be difficult anymore.

It's the same with the farmers' association now.

As long as we can make a good start here in Xuzhuang, it will be much easier for those Zhuangzi next to Xuzhuang, and it will become easier the further we go. At most, we just need to spend a few more words to explain what we said in Xuzhuang.

Repeat these words again.

There is nothing that can be done about this. The main problem is the literacy rate. After all, we in Taqing wish that all the people in the world are illiterate, so Zhu Xiaosong has no way to print a large number of articles, newspapers and the like. He can only print them over and over again.

repeated propaganda.

Zhu Xiaosong also never worried that the peasant association/movement would accidentally hurt some gentry who did not bully the people.

During the Qing Dynasty, there were only two kinds of people - the difference between human beings and slaves.

The gentlemen of the Eight Banners of Qizhou are human beings, and the rest are all slaves. However, some of these slaves became officials and made a fortune by pleasing Uncle Man, some have their own land, and some even own their own land.

No, so they were divided into gentry slaves, small yeoman slaves and tenant farmer slaves.

Obviously, except for the gentry slaves who would try their best to maintain the rule of their masters, the remaining small yeoman slaves and tenant farmer slaves would never support the rule of Uncle Mite.

Among them, tenant farmers and slaves will definitely support rebels like Zhu Xiaosong, because they themselves have nothing. They hope that people like Zhu Xiaosong will stand up and bring about earth-shaking changes, and remove the mites who are riding on their heads.

Get out.

Those small self-cultivating slaves, on the other hand, will hesitate and hesitate because they have their own land. They are hesitant and worried. They hope that Zhu Xiaosong can drive Uncle Mite out, but they are also worried that Zhu Xiaosong will bully them like Uncle Mite.

It is precisely because of this that the farmers' association is even more important.

We must unite the small landowners and sharecroppers and fight against Mr. Mite and the gentry slaves who support Mr. Mite.

…

Xu Shitou always feels like he is living in a dream these days.

It was the first time in my life that I left home, I had a full meal with my belly open for the first time in my life, and I wore new clothes that were completely my own for the first time in my life.

Yes, as long as he can remember, Xu Shitou has never worn new clothes. He has always worn second-hand clothes he picked up when he was a child - the clothes that his eldest brother can't wear are given to his second brother, and he gives them to himself when the second brother can't wear them anymore.

When I finally grew up, my family had no money to make clothes for me, so I could only continue to wear the old clothes of my father and brothers.

I heard that those old clothes were worn by my grandfather...

When he thought of his grandfather, Xu Shitou recalled his grandfather kneeling on the field ridge crying bitterly.

No, grandpa was not crying alone on the field ridge, but the whole family was crying. My mother was holding her father's arm and crying, my eldest brother was looking at the field ridge and crying, and my second brother was holding on to himself and crying.

Because my family finally has their own land, and they don’t need to pay rent to the landlord.

With land, you can grow food. With food, you don’t have to go hungry. If you have a lot of food, you may be able to get some money back. With money, you may be able to marry your eldest brother - who has already passed away.

I'm old enough to say goodbye, but because my family has no money, I'm still a bachelor.

I don’t know how my eldest brother is doing now? Are you thinking about these things too?

Xu Shitou was thinking about these messy things in his mind. He put his hands behind his back and maintained a straddling posture. Even though his nose was red from the cold and he was about to cross the river with clear eyes, Xu Shitou still remained motionless.

In a straddle position.

Xu Shitou didn't know what the point of standing, lining up, and folding quilts over and over again in the past few days, but Xu Shitou remembered clearly that when he left home, his grandfather told him to be obedient.

To be obedient means to do whatever the boss above you says, without being able to bargain.

Oh, by the way, now we don’t want to call the little boss, we have to call him the squad leader. I heard that above the squad leader there is the platoon leader, above the platoon leader there is the company commander, and above that there is the big boss - isn’t that still a title for bandits and thieves?

Forget it, I still don't want to talk about the title. After all, you have to be obedient. Obedience means obeying the squad leader's instructions honestly, and the squad leader in front of you is really strict, especially when he scolds people, it can even make people laugh.

People scolded and cried.

Xu Shitou felt that it was enough for him to cry once, and he could not cry a second time because he could not afford to lose that person.

Since the squad leader teaches everyone this, then everyone should do what they should do according to the squad leader's instructions.
Chapter completed!