Zhu Mo knew his roots lay with the common people. Traveling through Yunnan and Guizhou, he had heard in various provinces about the reforms in Jiangnan, and upon entering Yunnan and Guizhou, although the officialdom remained silent, the talk of reform was rife in the streets and villages. This time, the recruitment of volunteers was directly under the banner of "Great Ming Advisor Zhu Mo," naturally attracting many young men. Before noon, the recruitment platform was already surrounded by five to six thousand people.
Zhu Mo asked You Jujing to preside over the selection in his capacity as governor. All those who were strong, healthy, simple, and brave were to be selected as volunteers, while the idle and dissolute youths were to be rejected.
By the afternoon, after a brief headcount, over three thousand had been registered. You Jujing was delighted and immediately dispatched more men to the countryside.
But Zhu Mo discovered an anomaly.
Apart from their tattered clothes, the young men here all possessed an inexplicable air of dejection. If one were to say they were depressed, they seemed to have plenty of spirit; but if one were to say they were full of vitality, they all carried a self-mocking weariness, as if trapped in some mire from which they could not escape, leading them to a state of "breaking the jar and letting it be."
In the past, he would never have understood the reason, but after experiencing the reforms in Jiangnan, his insight into the world and the human heart had become extremely keen. He immediately saw that these young men must lack hope and prospects. Despite having energy, they had long since become dejected and nihilistic.
After chatting with Li Zhi for a while, the two decided to go down and see for themselves. In the afternoon, they went into the villages and personally visited several hamlets.
Li Zhi lamented:
"Zi Mo, you are right. The hearts of the people here have been corrupted for a long time. To revive them will be incredibly difficult. Even methods like those used in Jiangnan, I fear, will have little effect..."
Zhu Mo nodded, and as if to himself, asked, "Why is this so?"
Li Zhi replied:
"Zi Mo, think about it. If we were in Jiangnan, what would be the situation in these four or five villages we've visited? It would surely be widespread land annexation and people selling themselves into servitude. But here, such ills are absent, yet the people's spirit is equally dejected. It must be due to frequent warfare or the cruelty of corrupt officials, which has devastated the hearts of the people!"
Mmm-hmm,
"That makes sense, it truly makes sense..."
Zhu Mo sighed deeply and said:
"Zhuo Wu, what you said about the people's hearts here being corrupted for a long time, your observation is indeed accurate..."
He did not reveal the reason, because the situation was very peculiar. Unlike Jiangnan, although there was land annexation here, its scale was very small, with no super-rich landowners like those in Jiangnan.
However, a more severe and cruel form of dependence existed here, which was:
Layered land annexation.
A very strange practice.
It wasn't that people were annexing land to avoid taxes, because the annexed lands were very small, almost symbolic, ritualistic attachments. Larger households would annex to gentry, middle households to larger households, and small households to middle households, layer by layer, resulting in everyone being effectively controlled by others, forming an inescapable web.
This situation was very peculiar. Zhu Mo had been thinking about it all the way, but could not figure out how to deal with it. He even felt that even if the war was settled and he personally oversaw reforms here, he would have no idea where to start...
He knew Li Zhi was very talented and casually asked:
"Zhuo Wu, if you were to implement reforms here, what would you do?"
"Me? Haha..."
Li Zhi chuckled and said:
"If I were in charge, I would start by dealing with those clan elders..."
Clan elders?
Zhu Mo blinked, finding it quite interesting, and asked again:
"Why the clan elders?"
Li Zhi said, half-jokingly, "Zi Mo, as we saw just now, those clan elders kept talking about the Way of the Sages. I was very annoyed, but out of respect for your presence, otherwise, I would have left long ago!"
Oh...
It seems to make sense...
Zhu Mo pondered, thinking: If you move against the clan elders, and they have no handle on you, how can you move them? If you move one, they will all gang up on you. Then it will be passed up layer by layer, like a quagmire, and you will have no way to start...
But there was one good thing here: everyone claimed to be from Jiangnan, saying they were brought by Mu Ying and Lan Yu back in the day. Therefore, when people heard of Zhu Mo's arrival, they became very excited. Old, young, women, and children all vied to come out and watch. Upon seeing a youth of eighteen or nineteen years, they naturally marveled.
...
Returning to the city at noon,
Zhu Mo remembered what Duan Kui of Wusha Guard had said about agate and went to the foot of the western mountain. By chance, he discovered a peculiar phenomenon—
Despite the poverty here, the spirit of speculation was extremely prevalent. Almost everyone in the city was hoarding goods, and there were also many merchants from outside who brought much gold and silver, causing local prices to be two to three tenths higher than in Jiangnan, further worsening the people's livelihood.
Another strange matter was—
For the small agate, the court had even dispatched an eunuch to guard Kunming. Although he was not usually in Yongchang, there was a small yamen in the market. He heard from the small merchants that almost every transaction was subject to a tax of around thirty percent, and the tax collection was contracted to a powerful figure. These small merchants dared not offend, and indeed paid it for every transaction...
This was truly a marvel in the business world, and the two lamented over it again.
Returning to his lodging, Zhu Mo, recalling the various strange phenomena in Yongchang Prefecture, said leisurely:
"Zhuo Wu, you know my strategy. Reforms here are still necessary... When Yu Dayou reaches Malacca, and the Franks put pressure on Mang Yinglong, our army will advance, and we will surely reach Ava. Then we will rebuild the Yunnan Provincial Military Commission and let Na Lixuan return to Bianluo, letting him contend with Mang Yinglong and his son... I believe the border regions should be relatively peaceful for some time then... We will reform in Yongchang Prefecture then. You, you still need to think about it, and I will find a suitable person to do it. What do you say?"
Li Zhi nodded:
"Good! You go to war, and I will visit more here to understand the crux of the problem. When You Jujing personally promulgates policies in his capacity as governor, it should bring about some improvement..."
Zhu Mo nodded, suddenly feeling somewhat tired, and lay down fully clothed that night.
...
Concurrently,
In Liu Zhangkuan's mansion, the lights were still brightly lit.
Mu Chaobi had returned from patrolling South Mountain Pass. The fifty thousand troops had already secured the mountain passes, and there was no problem defending against the Lu River chieftains. Now, it was only a matter of supplying grain and recruiting volunteers from various prefectures.
Today, eight thousand men had been selected, and it was estimated that in three days, there would be thirty to forty thousand. With the reinforcement of troops, blocking the two passes of the Nu River and Lancang River, Yongchang Prefecture should be secure.
At this moment,
Mu Chaobi's worried heart finally settled. He took a large gulp of wine and said in a deep voice, "Wende, what did Zhu Mo do today? Was there anything unusual?"
Liu Zhangkuan respectfully replied:
"Reporting, Sir. He went down to the countryside with that subordinate Li Zhi. Our yamen runners followed along... Well, if you say unusual, it's hard to say. He just asked about some fields, taxes, and corvée labor. Those clan elders were also very well-behaved and didn't say anything out of line... The recruitment was also very smooth. The young men of the town all came out to see his matchlock soldiers and followed along to learn to sing that damned military song he composed..."