Chapter 150 The late emperor was ruthless, and Emperor Wu of Zhou was even more ruthless

Author: Zhou Liangliang

Chapter 150 The late emperor was ruthless, and Emperor Wu of Zhou was even more ruthless

The auspicious day selected by Taishi Ling is five days later. At that time, Emperor Wu of Zhou will take the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty and his sons to the fields outside the capital to plant rice.

Every year during the spring plowing period, Emperor Wu of Zhou would take his ministers and sons to the fields to plant rice seedlings. This was an activity initiated by Emperor Wu of Zhou himself to let the people know that the court attached great importance to spring plowing.

Although this was a bit pretentious, the people were naturally very moved when they saw that the emperor attached so much importance to spring plowing.

Spring plowing is related to the year's grain harvest. Farmers are very concerned about spring plowing every year. Now that the emperor cares about spring plowing, the people will naturally treat spring plowing more seriously.

In addition to this aspect, the imperial court also showed its emphasis on spring plowing in other aspects. For example, if the grain seeds at home do not produce good seedlings, you can "borrow" good seedlings from the local government office. If the grain seeds at home are gone, or

If it breaks, you can also "borrow it on credit" from the local government office. When the grain is harvested, you can just pay back the loan.

This "credit loan" was established by the late emperor. When the Great Zhou Dynasty was first established, not only the grain, but also the grain seeds were almost eaten in many places. Many grain seeds were even destroyed.

In the ten or twenty years before the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there were either natural disasters or man-made disasters, plus wars every year, so food was very scarce. At that time, people were so hungry that they almost died, and they could only eat grain as seeds.

In the first year after the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the late emperor ordered the yamen in various places to report how much surplus grain was in the local granaries and how many grain seeds there were. The quantity reported at that time was shockingly small.

In order to allow the common people to have seeds to plant, the late emperor was very forceful and asked wealthy families to donate grain seeds. Of course, these people were unwilling to donate. Whether the people had grain to plant, whether they had food to eat, and whether they would starve to death had nothing to do with them.

The Xie family was the first to take the initiative to donate grain seeds. Logically speaking, if the Xie family donated, other aristocratic families should also donate. However, these aristocratic families wanted to obtain benefits from the imperial court by donating grain seeds, so they hesitated to donate.

The imperial court naturally ignored the idea of ​​these aristocratic families wanting to exchange benefits. Without benefits, the aristocratic families were naturally unwilling to donate. The late emperor directly ordered them to be arrested and imprisoned, and asked their families to use grain seeds to redeem their people. If they did not give grain seeds,

Then keep it closed.

When they were imprisoned, they were not given food to let them deeply experience the feeling of hunger. If within the specified period, no one in their family used grain seeds to redeem their lives, then they would only have one fate - death.

At first, these people thought that the late emperor was just trying to scare them and did not dare to kill them. But in the end, the late emperor really killed them, and even took them to Caishikou and killed them in front of the people all over the world.

At that time, many people were killed, and they were all heads of wealthy families.

The late Emperor first treated the family with courtesy and then treated them with force. He first politely asked these aristocratic families to donate seeds. If they didn't agree, then he would have no choice but to be tough.

Before the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the late Emperor led his troops to fight countless battles, large and small, and was a man who came out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. Furthermore, he had seen all kinds of people on the battlefield. These powerful families wanted to

Even if you play tricks in front of him, it depends on whether he will pay attention to you or not.

The late emperor was a decisive man who killed without any mercy. When the Zhou Dynasty was first established, those wealthy families saw that the late emperor was from a grassroots background, so they thought he was easy to manipulate and control, but in the end they were the ones who were manipulated and punished.

Because of the donation of grain seeds, the late emperor killed many people from aristocratic families, which naturally angered them. Just when they wanted to take revenge on the late emperor, the late emperor directly sent troops to suppress them.

Although these aristocratic families are very powerful and have their own tribes, their tribes cannot compare with those of the court soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles.

The late emperor sent people to kill most of the families who were unwilling to donate grain seeds. The families who were killed were afraid. They believed that if they didn't donate grain seeds obediently, the late emperor would confiscate their homes and exterminate them.

In order to avoid the disaster of annihilation, they did not dare to hesitate anymore and donated grain seeds obediently. From then on, when the court asked them to donate things or let them do other things, they did not dare to take Qiao again.

Until now, every year, aristocratic families take the initiative to donate some good grain seeds. In fact, after Emperor Wu of Zhou ascended the throne, the court and local yamen had a lot of grain seeds. Emperor Wu of Zhou did not force wealthy families to donate grain seeds like the late emperor did

, but these aristocratic families are very obedient and take the initiative to donate.

Compared with the late emperor, the wealthy families in the capital were more afraid of Emperor Wu of Zhou.

Even though Emperor Zhou Wu always looked smiling, he changed his face whenever he wanted to, without giving them a chance to react. By the time they reacted, disaster was already imminent.

Before the late emperor engaged in trouble, he would first show courtesy and then attack with troops. However, Emperor Wu of Zhou was not the same. He first fought with soldiers and then with courtesy. The first emperor was ruthless, and Emperor Wu of Zhou was even more ruthless. The most frightening thing is that Emperor Wu of Zhou was also very smart. If a wealthy family wanted to

Trying to be clever in front of him is tantamount to playing tricks on your own.

Unable to play tricks and tricks, and unable to defeat them hard-on, the powerful families had no choice but to be obedient in front of Emperor Wu of Zhou. Fortunately, Emperor Wu of Zhou did not suppress them all the time. As long as they did not go too far, Emperor Wu of Zhou would usually turn a blind eye.

Close one eye.

Back then, when the late emperor and his son founded the Great Zhou Dynasty, the powerful families in the capital saw that they were farmers and thought they were easy to manipulate, so they decided to let them be their puppets. Even the Xie family thought so.

After they saw the methods of the late emperor and Emperor Wu of Zhou, they no longer dared to underestimate the late emperor and the others, nor did they dare to show off their power in front of them or threaten them by relying on their status as a noble family.

What made the wealthy families in the capital completely fear Emperor Zhou Wu was the year when the late empress died of illness. Emperor Wu of Zhou ordered the killing of many eunuchs, maids, and concubines.

These people were all spies planted in the palace by powerful families, but they were all pulled out at that time.

In addition to a purge in the palace, there was also a purge in the officialdom, and many officials were eliminated. These officials were either beheaded, exiled, or imprisoned. These officials were all members of well-known families, or they were carefully

cultivated.

Emperor Wu of Zhou directly went to court in the morning and told these powerful families with a smile not to act clever in front of him, not to mention petty tricks in front of him, and not to arrange some good or bad people under his nose. When he was in a good mood

, you don’t have to care about it. But when you are in a bad mood, don’t blame him for being cruel.

During the morning court that day, many people were so frightened that their faces turned pale and their legs were weak. When the morning court was over, many people were so frightened that they collapsed on the ground and could not stand up for a long time.

After this incident, the wealthy family did not dare to test Emperor Zhou Wu's bottom line again, because the consequences of testing were not something they could bear.

Over the years, the powerful families gradually figured out where Emperor Wu of Zhou's bottom line was, so they did not dare to make any big things happen again.

In addition to grain seeds, the late emperor also forced wealthy families to donate land.

These aristocratic families had already occupied a lot of fields. Taking advantage of the chaos in the previous dynasty, they occupied a lot of fields again, leaving the people with no land to farm.

The late emperor forcefully took back a lot of fields from them and distributed them to the common people. The late emperor and Emperor Wu of Zhou also encouraged the people to open up wasteland. The land that was opened up belonged to the people who opened the wasteland and would not be taken away by the government.

In addition to this, the local government will also reward the pioneers with some things, such as grain, seeds, and three years of tax exemption. By the way, the biggest advantage is that they can settle down.

Because of the war, many refugees appeared in various places. These refugees were running around and had no fixed place to live.

When the Great Zhou Dynasty was first established, there were not many people in the capital. In the former dynasty, at its peak, the capital had a population of more than one million. However, in the early days of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the capital had a population of only two to three hundred thousand, and only the former dynasty was at its peak.

one-fifth of the population during the period.

In order to increase the population in various places, the late emperor formulated a policy. As long as the refugees cultivated fields and lived there for one year, they could settle down there.

Because of this policy, the refugees no longer moved around, but stayed in the local area and actively cultivated fields. This not only increased the local population, but also added a lot of arable land.

So far, Dazhou has cultivated five to six million hectares of cultivated land. At first glance, this number sounds like a lot, but it is actually not much. According to the total population of Dazhou, it is not that everyone has cultivated land.

degree.

In fact, during the most prosperous period of the previous dynasty, more than 7 million hectares of cultivated land were reclaimed. However, due to wars and natural disasters, many of the cultivated lands were destroyed. Most of these destroyed cultivated lands were completely useless.

The wasteland can no longer be restored to cultivated land.

In the early days of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there were only two to three million hectares of arable land that could grow food. After more than ten years of hard work, the arable land in the Great Zhou Dynasty tripled to five to six million hectares. In addition, the population in various places also doubled

doubled the growth. However, it was still far from the goal that Emperor Wu of Zhou wanted.

Emperor Wu of Zhou and Xiang He decided to rest and recuperate for another five years. By then, the cultivated land and population would have doubled again. This is why Xiang He told Shen Hu and others before that they could not attack Shu in the next five years.

The next five years are very important for the Great Zhou Dynasty. As long as the population, cultivated land, and food reach the goals set by Emperor Wu of Zhou and others in these five years, then there is no problem in recovering the Shu land. Also

, there is no big problem in resisting the Huns.

Having said that, of course the late emperor encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland, and he himself took the lead, leading Emperor Wu of Zhou and his soldiers to reclaim several acres of land.

The land that Emperor Wu of Zhou plowed and transplanted every spring was cultivated by his father and his son.

Of course, Emperor Wu of Zhou also asked the prince and the king to cultivate a piece of land of their own.

Emperor Wu of Zhou stipulated that all princes who came of age must cultivate a field of their own within a year. If the fields they cultivated produced more grain, they would be rewarded.

The fields he and the late emperor cultivated were quite fertile and produced quite a lot of grain every year.

Whenever he had time, Emperor Wu of Zhou would come to these fields to check the situation. If there were a lot of weeds growing in the fields, he would go to the fields to weed them personally. If there were insects, he would also go to the fields to weed them personally. When it was time to harvest, he would also go to the fields to weed them.

Go to the fields and cut rice yourself.

When the late emperor was still alive, he often said that they were farmers and they could not forget their roots, let alone how to farm. Even if they became emperor, they could not forget these things, because this is the root of their Zhao family. If the Zhao family loses

If you win the country, you can go back and continue to work as a farmer to support yourself.

Emperor Wu of Zhou often helped his family with farm work when he was a child, and he was a master at farm work from an early age. Naturally, he also required his sons to be able to do farm work from an early age.

Except for the youngest son Zhao Yao, none of the princes did farm work in the fields. The other princes did it every year, and they all did well. If they did not do well, Emperor Wu of Zhou would beat them mercilessly.

The third prince and the others were almost beaten to death by Emperor Wu of Zhou because they did not do farm work properly in the fields. Also, if they dared to complain about being tired and complaining while doing farm work in the fields, Emperor Wu of Zhou would also beat them.

The emperor and the princes all farmed and worked, so naturally the ministers also had to do it. Although Emperor Wu of Zhou did not force the ministers to learn from them, the ministers did not dare not learn to do it.

They are definitely not as good at farming as farmers, but they can at least know how to farm. In addition, they can deeply understand the difficulties of farmers and understand that every grain of food is hard-earned.

The most down-to-earth emperor.

Today is April Fool's Day, have any of you guys been deceived?
Chapter completed!