"I didn't mean this." Pan Yuanyu immediately bowed, his expression a little nervous. He knew he was talking too much, but he really couldn't help it just now.

He was born into a wealthy family in the capital. Although his life had ups and downs, no matter how difficult it was, he would not be ragged and not bullied. He had never seen thousands of refugees begging for food together, nor could he see anyone who could be so "loved" by the poor people.

So it is inevitable that there is a turmoil in my heart.

As the master of the Pure Land Buddhism, Qiao Shenghu naturally deserves to die, but he also did the work of accumulating virtue and doing good deeds, which made Pan Yuanyu a little conflicted.

Zhou An looked at Pan Yuanyu with a squinting eyes, then slowly moved away his eyes, looked in the direction of Qiaojiabao, and said, "Do you think if Qiao Shenghu was not the master of the Pure Land Buddhism, he was a good person? Is he really a good person?"

In the distance, in front of Qiaojiabao, Qiao Shenghu had already entered the porridge shed, picked up the spoon himself, and served the porridge for the victims.

"This... the little one can't say it..." Pan Yuanyu said. It was not that he couldn't say it, but he didn't dare to say it.

"Do you think the Qiao family owns 40% of the fields in Sankou County. How did these fields come into the hands of the Qiao family?" Zhou An asked indifferently.

"I don't know..." Pan Yuanyu didn't answer again. He really didn't know this time.

"You don't know, that young master will tell you." Zhou An looked at the direction of Qiaojiabao and said, "In the disaster year, there is a shortage of grain, and there is no surplus grain in the local granaries. At this moment, including the Qiao family, local gentry and landlords will store grain at the same time. They have enough food, but they do not sell it, and they work together to raise the price of grain, causing the price of grain to soar. The grain that could be bought with one ounce of silver may not be able to be bought in the disaster year."

"What should I do if the local people cannot afford to eat food? In order to live, they can only sell houses and land, or even children. They sell all the land in their homes to gentry and landlords in exchange for food that can only survive the disaster. After that, the landlords and gentry will re-leas the large area of ​​land that was exchanged for a small amount of grain to the people who sold the land. The farmer people who originally had land lost their land and became tenants of the gentry and landlords. Most of the grain produced in the land every year must be handed over to the landlords' homes."

"In this way, day after day, year after year, as long as the disaster year is caught, a large number of landed farmers will sell the land. The landlords' homes have more and more landed people. To this day... More than 90% of the land in the entire Sankou County is in the hands of a few gentry and landlords. Do you think they are good people?"

Pan Yuanyu was shocked.

Can you still play like this?!

That's it!

What Zhou An told him was just the most basic principle of land annexation. Of course, the methods and tricks of gentry landlords are not only like this, but generally speaking, this is the model. Whether it is food shortage or salt shortage, it can increase the assets of gentry landlords, which will make the poorer the poorer and the richer the richer.

Not to mention Donggan, who has been in the country for more than 300 years, even in Zhou An's previous life, in the past dynasties, feudal dynasties in the middle and late periods, there would be extremely serious land annexation problems. A very small number of people in the entire country controlled most of the land. In the farming era, farmers had no land and could not survive, so there was a peasant uprising.

Pan Yuanyu didn't recover for a long time. He was really surprised. He was unheard of these things when he was working in the capital. Of course, this situation would not happen if he was working in the capital. That was at the feet of the emperor. If he had a food shortage in the capital, then this country would probably be out of salvation.

In fact, the current land annexation situation in Donggan is not as serious as that. Not to mention the prosperous Zhongzhou, just Liangzhou is also a prosperous place.

In Liangzhou, Sankou County is also a remote and poor place, so this is the case. If you look at other places, such as the surrounding areas of Shangshui County, or the hinterland of Liangzhou, although there are land annexation, the proportion will not be as exaggerated as Sankou County.

The poorer the place is, the more the ordinary people need spiritual sustenance. They can’t live a happy life. There is no way, they can only find spiritual comfort and security through the "gods". This is also the basis for the Pure Land Buddhism to preach the entire Donggan.

"Don't talk about the problem of the fields, do you know why the Qiao family does good deeds?" Zhou An asked again.

"It's not for... preaching..." Pan Yuanyu replied uncertainly.

"Preaching has been happening in recent years. Before Qiao Shenghu returns, the Qiao family is still doing good deeds. Why is it for?" Zhou Andao.

"This... for the sake of good reputation?" Pan Yuanyu's tone was still uncertain.

"They are afraid!" Zhou An said directly, "In every disaster year, they have to harm farmers and take their land, but they are also afraid of chaos among the people. Thousands of refugees gather together. When they are at the end of their journey, they will become bandits, kill big farmers and rob food, just to eat more and to survive..."

"You just look at these people outside Qiaojiabao. If the Qiao family did not give porridge, how many people would cause trouble among these people now? Even if it was just a few people, what if it took a long time? If the Qiao family did not have good reputation and they did not do good porridge, these poor people would starve to death first, and some would take risks because of this. They all knew that there was endless food in Qiaojiabao. As long as someone was a little tempted, then these people who were still grateful to the Qiao family now would face the Qiao family and they would defeat Qiaojiabao..."

Zhou An saw through things and said clearly.

Pan Yuanyu was speechless after hearing this.

*******

The porridge ritual started in the afternoon and continued until the night. There were 5,000 people who came to Qiao’s house to drink porridge.

It was late at night that the last group of talents dispersed, but they did not go too far, because the Qiao family will continue to hold a porridge ritual tomorrow. Poor people can continue to drink porridge, as long as they bow to the statue of the Holy Mother.

One thing worth mentioning is that the sect preached by Qiaojiabao is not the Pure Land Buddhism, but the Qinglian Sect. The Holy Mother who was worshipped is the Blue Lotus Mother... But in fact, it is still the Pure Land Buddhism, which has just changed its name, because the imperial court has been extremely severely attacking the Pure Land Buddhism. In many states in the hinterland of Donggan, although the Pure Land Buddhism can still preach in remote and poor places, it no longer dares to use the name of the Pure Land Buddhism.

In fact, it is all the same thing. Pure Land Buddhism has never used the same name. They not only have to be guarded against the attacks of the court, but also the pursuit of the people in the martial arts world.

Late at night, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse.

Deep in the dark forest, Zhou An stood beside the tree wrapped in a cloak, gnawing on the cold and hard food. There were seven or eight people gathered around him, all of whom were eating silently. After eating this meal, it was time to act.

The others have been sent out by Zhou An, either spying on Qiaojiabao or setting up whistles around to whistle and whistle.

Squeak! Squeak! Huh!

A figure quickly approached, walking on the snow, and as he approached, he accelerated and flew over.

"Young Master, there is something wrong." The one who came back was an old eunuch named Song Chun.

"Hmm?" Zhou An looked at Song Chun.

"Then, in the forest in the south, there is a group of people from the martial arts world. They seem to be trying to attack Qiaojiabao," Song Chun said quickly.

"A man from Jianghu?" Zhou An immediately frowned, "How many people?"

"There are more than a hundred people." Song Chunlian said, "The subordinates approached and eavesdropped on their ears. They knew that Qiaojiabao was the branch of the Pure Land Sect, saying that they wanted to eradicate the Demon Sect..."

“Where’s the way?”

"I can't tell, they've all dressed up, but it sounds like they should belong to the same gang."
Chapter completed!