On the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, at dusk, Huiliu Village, Qingshan Township, Ninghaizhou.

Because the first meeting of the village farmers' association was to be held tonight, many families ate dinner early. The air with smoke was filled with a fresh atmosphere that was different from the past, and there was a hint of tension. When people who had eaten early had nothing to do, they would greet them with a smile when they went out and met: "Have you eaten? It's dark today and we're going to hold a farmer's association!"

Everyone walked to the threshing farm at the entrance of the village, which was empty and there was no one. At this time, two people who were working correctly came, carrying a shabby Eight Immortals table and put it on the empty field. Someone asked, "When will the meeting be held?"

The two of them put down the table and smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's not dark yet. Look, someone just came back from the field and had to wait for someone to have a meal, right?"

People really had nowhere to go, so they gathered in groups of three and five in the threshing grounds to smoke and chat, and children from each family were chattering around. Some children were so cute that they were caught by adults, and they picked up a big slap and slapped them on their butts and slapped them.

After dinner, Zhang Shirong came out of his house and happened to meet Gu Laowu, the owner who used to work as a short-term worker. The other party seemed to come to find him specifically. When he saw that he came out, he immediately came over and asked, "Shirong, will we have a black head now?"

"Uncle Fifth, you really know how to find me happy. Is there a share? I don't know if you have any share? I didn't plant the ten acres of land in your family myself, and you can have share in those who directly farm!"

People passing by were laughing when they heard this. It would be hard to figure out whether Gu Laowu was here or not. It was really a big cry.

As it was getting dark, the threshing yard that was requisitioned by the work team for meetings was already full of people. Because the weather was hot, many people had no pads under their butts and sat directly on the ground. Although the notice from the North Navy said that it was only agricultural operators who could join, in fact, many long-term workers came, and several gentry landlords also sent housekeepers.

A blackboard was hung on one end of the threshing ground with wooden shelves. On the ground around, villagers sat in groups, and only a buzzing sound could be heard. The moon hung in the west sky like half an egg shell, and the stars were also very bright. The wormwood and mugwort leaves burned to suck mosquitoes were curled by the thick smoke from the breeze, and many people were choked and coughed.

Except for those who presided over the meeting and those who tinkered with emergency lights, the others stood guard on the periphery. However, these people did not wear camouflage green military uniforms, but were wearing short coats and trousers like ordinary people. They looked half-new and not old, and there were patches in many places. If you really want to tell me what is the difference between them and the villagers in Huillu Village, one is that they have no braids on their heads and all have buzz cuts; and the other is the shoes on their feet.

With a "swish", the two emergency lights set in the corner of the threshing ground suddenly turned on, and the noise became even louder now. Many people came over to look at it. Although some people have seen this thing several times, they always make a fuss every time they use it, just like the stars in the sky falling to the earth.

"It's really bright, just like the daytime!"

"Lao Liu, do you say that this cover is made of crystal glass? Why is it so translucent?"

"Oh! Why is this shell yellow? Only the emperor can use this color!"

"His third uncle, Beihai Town has no such rules!"

When it was time to hold a meeting, a strong man in his twenties turned over and climbed up the worn-out Eight Immortals table, put his hands together into a coughing horn and put them around his mouth, and announced the meeting loudly.

"Dear fellow villagers! The mobilization meeting of the farmers' association in Huiliu Village begins now. Captain Li is invited to speak."

As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped off the table. Then, a square-faced man who was not tall and about thirty years old got up from the crowd and walked over. He was wearing a short, colored cloth jacket with a white short-sleeved jacket inside, with a pair of thousand-layer cloth shoes on his feet, and a short-public cigarette pot with a copper mouth in his hand.

"Today, today, this meeting is about talking about the farmers' association. Some people will ask in their hearts, what is the farmers' association? Do you understand?"

One of the people below shouted: "What do you don't know? Isn't it just to take out the land of the rich man's family and share it with farmers, so that the farmer can have land to plant and let the poor eat a full meal."

"Meng Yizi, don't talk nonsense!"

"I'm not talking nonsense. Didn't that be said in the previous announcement?"

"Breaking nonsense! Are you aware of your words?!"

Captain Li smiled and did not interrupt them. He looked at the villagers below from near to far; some looked at themselves with a smile, some were full of hope, and some were timid. In the outer edge of the crowd farthest away from him, Widow Dong from the village stood alone between the half-light and the half-dark, holding one in one hand, the child's face was covered with booze and nose, and there were many flies.

"We are running a farmer's association this time, why do we need a farmer's association? In a word, ploughing people have their own fields! That is to say, if those who want to farm have land, it is not a problem to support a family. If you are lazy, you can only starve him to death."

"What are the benefits of entering? You're asking! There are so many benefits, let me tell you, do it..."

"Someone asked who has the final say in the Farmers Association? Of course, everyone has the final say in the Fellowship! The work team is here to support you!"

"What should I do if the landlord doesn't sell the land? You're so kind! Haha, I've been in Huiliu Village for a long time. Take the Bai family as an example. The work team knows how much land his family has, and remembers it clearly on the land tent!"

Although Li Erkui was the team leader of Chuiliu Village, he was still a poor farmer who could not read a word eight years ago. A severe drought in Henan made his family of four fall into despair and could only leave his hometown to flee to flee to eat. Later, Xu Dayong spent twelve money outside Kaifeng City to buy it. He thought his family would be slaves, but he did not expect that when he arrived in Beihai Town, he changed his lifestyle.

Although he had been a soldier in the North Navy for several years and became a platoon leader, his words were not very literary, and he could not speak. In order to hold this mobilization meeting, Li Erkui spent two days collecting the most concerned questions of the villagers, and racked his brains to condense the answers into a short sentence or two, which made everyone present listen with relish and burst out laughter from time to time. They liked these words that were not stupid the most.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Although these farmers are ignorant of their big words, they like to be affirmed. They have their own accounts in their minds about farming, harvest, burden, food, etc., and are very good at calculating. They can do everything appropriately.

When the villagers present learned that as long as they became members of the Farmers' Association and went to the credit department of the village to borrow money with their membership certificates, they only collected two percent of the interest in three months. They all opened their mouths in surprise, as if they had heard a strange story. After they closed their mouths, they started talking...

When the meeting on the threshing ground was held, in a blue brick and black tiles courtyard at the east end of the village, Bai Guangde, the head of the Bai family, sat on the kang and sighed. Bai Yu, the main house sitting beside him, sobbed in a low voice, and wiped his tears from time to time.

"Cry, cry, you're so dying! I'm not dead yet. I'll cry when I die!"

"The land is gone! There is also the thirty acres of land dowry I brought in! How can I live in the future!"

Bai Guangde slapped the table and cursed: "How can I survive? I can't starve to death!"

The woman's crying was a little less, but she was still sobbing. Bai Yingzhong, the eldest son standing beside him, said angrily: "Our family has used three generations of people. We have worked hard to earn 500 acres of land, and we don't steal or rob him. Why should he take half of it? And the Laoshizi Farmers Association, because our family has rented out all the land, and they don't let us join! Why?! There is also tenant rent, why should we reduce it? I have asked someone to ask, even if the Zhu family was the emperor in the previous Ming Dynasty, the rent of 50% was at least!"

"The world is so heartless! It's so bad!" Bai Guangde looked heartbroken and turned around and bowed his hands towards the north, saying, "Master! Look at this world!"

After sighing, he knocked a little red fire from the cigarette pot on the edge of the kang, and then put a bag of cigarettes under the servitude of Bai Yingzhong. When the cigarette burned, he sucked for a while, and then said, "No, I have to go to Liu Xiucai's place tomorrow. They are too bullying for this!"

"Dad, Mr. Liu hasn't come back yet to attend the imperial examination in Beihai Town."

"Oh! Why did I forget this! Then...you go and let Zhongquan catch a mule cart tomorrow morning. Let us go to the village and get an idea for your uncle." After Bai Guangde gave the order, he asked as if he remembered something, "Zhongquan didn't go to the mercy, right?"

"I didn't go. He was still cutting grass in the yard." Bai Yingzhong added after saying that, "Dad, don't worry. He, Zhang Zhongquan, is just a guy who can't beat him up. Besides, our family didn't treat him badly."

"Oh! There are not many honest people anymore! Don't let Zhongquan learn bad things from those people."

The father and son of the Bai family didn't know that Zhang Zhongquan wanted to go to a meeting at first, but after chatting with his brother Zhang Zhongshou in the afternoon, he gave up on this idea. At this time, while feeding the animals, he recalled what the elder brother said in his mind.

"I told you that it's always good to be a little bit short of your career, and you have to leave a way out for everything. Being poor is a little bit poor, which is destined in your previous life. If you join the court, if the court fights back, it will be a riot and will be killed! When Linqing was in chaos, I saw it with my own eyes and dragged it directly outside the city gate. It was a knife. The master is right. The true dragon emperor is in Beijing. As long as the emperor does not fall, we will not cause trouble."

The mobilization meeting in Chuiliu Village lasted for more than an hour. After the last count, more than 70% of farmers were willing to join the Farmers Association and 30% were in a wait-and-see state. This result had already made Li Erkui very satisfied.

After the meeting, he convened a meeting of the work team and decided to strike while the iron was hot. Tomorrow, he would go to the 30% of the families to find out their confusion, and try to get all the poor and middle-aged peasants in Huillu Village to join the peasant association. As for himself, he would go to "visit" Bai Guangde, the largest landlord in the village, tomorrow and talk about paid land acquisition.

Unexpectedly, when he went to Bai's house the next morning, he found out that Bai Guangde and his son had gone out early in the morning, and the housekeeper could not say when they would come back. Although it was not good to go to the army, Li Erkui was not discouraged. He thought that he could run away and the monk could not run away from the temple. As long as the farmer's association was erected, the land would have to be sold if it was not sold!

On the other side, Bai Guangde and his son rode on the road in a mule cart at dawn. It was already afternoon when they arrived in Shangzhuang Village.

Shangzhuang Village is located in the eastern part of Mouping City. It has been the largest village in Ninghaizhou since the Ming Dynasty. More than 80% of the families have surnamed Yu. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, hundreds of people passed the imperial examinations, juren, and students, and are definitely prominent families. The most famous of them is Yu Qishan, who has produced four Jinshis.

The Yu Family Courtyard is an old house with a history of more than 300 years. It has three places in front and back, and has east and west yards. It is all built with large and thick blue bricks. Although it has been raining for hundreds of years, the bricks and stones are still strong because of the careful maintenance. The yard is covered with blue bricks, tiled houses, halls, and wooden buildings. The walls and hills are very thick, with green mold moss growing on it. An old vine climbs on the safflower tree. The leaves are dense and thick, and they grow very lushly, covering half of the yard with dark and cool shade. Instead, the safflower tree is entangled and half-dead.

Although the Bai family is a big landlord in Huliu Village, they are completely incomparable to the Yu family. After waiting for a meal, the father and son heard a cough coming from behind the screen, and knew that Master Yu had come out.

Yu Qishan is fifty years old this year, with a half-white hair and beard. Although he is very thin, his eyes are very energetic. After he was a juren fifteen years ago, he served as an aide to Shandong governor Yu Yijian. Unexpectedly, in the 47th year of Qianlong, the "Catholic Pacific Corruption Case" happened, and Yu Yijian also ended up with him. He took great effort to get out of the way and then lost his mind in the officialdom.

When Yu Qishan, who was also angry with the work team, even asked the housekeeper to show the couplet he wrote yesterday to the two of them.

The Yu clan surnamed in Shangzhuang Village is very powerful. Due to the large number of mountains and few lands and land annexation, almost 60% of the villagers are tenants and live very poor. The problem is that Yu Qishan is the clan leader and can use the patriarchal law to punish clan members. Therefore, although he is full of hope for the peasant association, no one dares to be the first to be a leader.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! The village work team is well aware of this situation. In order to break the deadlock and put pressure on Yu Qishan, they applied for equipment from the Ninghaizhou Military Control Commission. Then they set up two high-pitched speakers in the village, which were divided into three periods: morning, noon and evening. They either promoted the benefits of the farmers' association, or promoted the policies and punishment regulations for rent reduction and interest reduction, which made Yu Ju very popular.

After four or five consecutive days of broadcast, the poor households finally understood that everything was supported by the Military Control Commission and Prince Zhao, and their courage gradually became stronger. So after the mobilization meeting was held, half of the families in Shangzhuang Village joined the Farmers Association. This made Yu Juren crazy. You must know that his family had more than 2,000 acres of land, and it was collected and distributed, and no one in the village would listen to him again.

The housekeeper came back soon. Bai Yingzhong took it and opened it. He saw that the first couplet was "The farming movement was prosperous, rice, millet, beans, wheat, millet, sorghum, and mixed seeds on the ground"; the second couplet was "The venue was vast, horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs, and pigs, and animals were full of raising their eyes"; the horizontal couplet was "Binjian Kapu".

Bai Guangde only studied in a private school for a few years and had no knowledge, but his son Bai Yingzhong was a student. Although he had donated it, he was a little bit ink. After seeing the couplet, he kept shouting and admired the literary talent of the juren.

Bai Guangde pointed at the horizontal script in confusion and said, "Brother, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, what does this mean?"

Yu Juren thought to himself that you were embarrassed to say "Talent is a little unfamiliar" and it was almost the same for a fool. If your father hadn't been a Juren, he would never have promised you his illegitimate daughter. He then looked at his nephew and smiled and said, "Ying Zhong, can you explain it to your father?"

Bai Yingzhong knew that his uncle was examining him, so he said to his father with joy: "Father, please see, the first two words of my uncle's couplet are combined into the word "Farmers' Association". The upper and lower couplets mean that the Farmers' association is a hybrid or an animal."

Bai Guangde suddenly realized, stretched out his thumb and said, "Good scolding!"

"As for the horizontal draft, it is even more wonderful. You see, the four words "Binjian Kapu" are separated, namely "civilized and military, small, upper and lower, human and ghost". My uncle is scolding the peasant association for being neither civil nor military, neither small nor big, neither upper nor lower, neither human nor ghost."

"Okay, okay!" Bai Guangde thought that this couplet was so good. The scholars even hid cursing, and there was knowledge everywhere. But after being excited, he still asked the most concerned question: "Brother, what do you think we should do next?"

"Hmph, they are destroying their foundation. The tail has been hidden for half a year and finally revealed!" Yu Juren said with anger: "Since ancient times, officials do not compete with the people for profit, and those who receive the big ones cannot make small ones. This is the principle of heaven and the way of the ancients!"

Bai Guangde was confused when he heard this. He was about to turn his head to look at his son and explain, but his elder brother-in-law continued: "You father and son, please relax. Let me tell you the truth, let alone Ninghaizhou, the gentry in Wendeng, Rongcheng, Haiyang and other places were all indignant about this. If they did this, gentry from all over the country would attack him in groups!"

"What do you mean?"
Chapter completed!