In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 755 Worried

The executioner, of course, would not allow the onlookers to take away the parts of Zhu Changhe and the others. After giving a signal with his eyes, the centurion in charge of maintaining order at the execution ground immediately understood and led his troops forward to maintain order at the scene.

Faced with fully armed soldiers, the people naturally dared not act rashly and all moved away from the execution platform.

Then, the executioner ordered the bodies on the platform to be cleared away, and then another group of prisoners were brought in.

These prisoners were all wealthy landowners and powerful families in the prefectural city. They had a history of bullying men and women and seizing land from ordinary people. The Yang family army, which had always despised landlords and powerful families, would naturally not let them go.

The people in the audience also deeply resented these people.

"Isn't that Master Lu? Great! Master Lu is about to be beheaded!"

"And Master Wang, Master Wang is going to be beheaded too!"

"This is truly gratifying! These despicable landlords are finally going to be beheaded!"

"..."

Amid the cheers of the people, one by one, the heads of landlords and powerful figures who used to be high and mighty and bully the common people fell to the ground. Red blood flowed on the execution platform, gathering into small streams, looking ferocious and terrifying.

…………

…………

In this way, the Yang family army not only beheaded officials and landlords to vent the people's anger, but also distributed grain and land to the people to gain their favor, while also cracking down on crimes in the city.

With these three measures implemented simultaneously, the prefectural city gradually stabilized. The policy of providing each person with half a catty of grain per day, while not allowing the people of the prefectural city to live a life of plenty, at least ensured that no one starved to death anymore.

In short, the situation is very promising.

However, Yang Zheng did not feel relieved at all; instead, he looked worried.

Five days have passed since Yang's army entered Qingzhou Prefecture. Now, the problem of food shortage has once again confronted Yang Zheng.

The city has a permanent population of 500,000. However, not all of these 500,000 people can receive food from the Yang Family Army. The Yang Family Army will not distribute food to wealthy families. Only the city's residents who are truly starving can receive food from the Yang Family Army.

Even so, excluding those who still had surplus food at home, the number of people the Yang family army had to distribute food to every day still exceeded 300,000!

With 300,000 people, each consuming half a jin (250 grams), that's 150,000 jin (75,000 grams) of grain a day—an astronomical figure. After five days, the grain brought by the Yang family army, plus the grain obtained from raiding wealthy households in the city, is almost gone…

Some in the army even suggested stopping the policy of distributing food to the people in the city, but Yang Zheng rejected the suggestion almost without thinking.

Yang Zheng had experienced hunger himself and knew what it felt like. He couldn't bear to stop distributing grain and watch the people in the city starve to death!

But if we don't stop distributing grain, where will the grain come from?

This is the biggest problem Yang Zheng is facing right now. Although he sent letters to Zheng Qing and Chen Dao asking for their help, Yang Zheng knows in his heart that Taicang County is just a county after all. The grain and fodder that were previously used to support the Yang family army have almost emptied the grain reserves of Taicang County.

Under these circumstances, even if Taicang County still had surplus grain, it wouldn't be much, and it simply wouldn't be enough to support the consumption of such a large prefecture...

"It's difficult!"

Yang Zheng, who was dealing with government affairs, put down his calligraphy brush, looking overwhelmed with worry.

He used to think that being an official was an easy thing, that he could just leave everything to his advisor and enjoy himself.

It wasn't until he started the rebellion and took charge of government affairs that he realized being an official, especially a good one, was by no means an easy task.

The sheer volume of daily government affairs is enough to drive anyone crazy, not to mention that he also has to worry about feeding the people under his jurisdiction.

"Go and summon all the commanders of ten thousand."

Yang Zheng turned to his personal guards and gave them an order.

The guards quickly obeyed and left. Not long after, Zhou Yingjie and two other commanders of ten thousand arrived in haste.

"Yang Shuai".

After exchanging greetings, Zhou Yingjie and the other two took their seats.

Zhou Yingjie, who was rather impatient, asked, "Commander Yang, what brings you here?"

"I have a task for you."

Yang Zheng said, "Erlang has already turned south to Qingming County. There are still several counties in Taiqing County that are putting up a stubborn resistance. I order you to immediately lead your troops to take down these counties that are putting up a stubborn resistance."

"I will obey Commander Yang's orders."

The three men's eyes lit up, and they all clasped their hands in greeting to accept the order.

They were not afraid of fighting, nor were the soldiers in the army.

They were only afraid of not having any battles to fight, because fighting meant an opportunity to make a name for themselves, which was something that everyone in the Yang family army, from top to bottom, was happy to see.

"Don't worry."

Seeing the three men's eagerness, Yang Zheng continued, "For this expedition, conquering cities and seizing territories is not the key. The most important thing is to deal with the landlords and powerful families in each county. I will give each of you five thousand soldiers and ask you to take down the remaining few stubbornly resisting counties as soon as possible. After that, clean up the landlords and powerful families who have committed many evils in the entire Taiqing County. Leave no one alive, confiscate their property and behead them!"

The grain and fodder seized after the confiscation should be transported back to the prefectural city as soon as possible to alleviate the city's food shortage crisis.

This was a solution that came to him after much thought. Yang Zheng, who had often seized land from landlords and distributed it to the wealthy in Liangzhou, knew very well that while the common people in Qingzhou might not have surplus grain, the landlords and powerful families certainly did.

After all... in the Xia Kingdom, the people who owned the most arable land were never the common people, but the landlords and powerful families who owned vast tracts of land.

As long as their homes are ransacked and the grain in their warehouses is taken out, the food shortage in the prefectural city will definitely be alleviated.

Are the three of you confident that you can accomplish this?

After a pause, Yang Zheng looked at the three commanders and asked.

"Don't worry, Commander Yang, we will do our best."

The three answered in unison.

"it is good!"

Yang Zheng nodded.

So, on the second day, Zhou Yingjie and the other two commanders of the Qingzhou Army set off from the prefectural city and headed in various directions. They first captured the last few counties that were still putting up a stubborn resistance, and then began to systematically eliminate the landlords and powerful families in each county.

Bloodshed began to occur in Taiqing County. Almost all the landlords who had committed numerous evil deeds could not escape the slaughter of Yang Family Army. Every single one of their core clansmen became a victim of Yang Family Army's blades, and the money and grain accumulated in their homes naturally belonged to Yang Family Army.

Whenever they finished eliminating the landlords in a place, Zhou Yingjie and his two companions would send troops to transport the captured grain and fodder back to the prefectural city.

With the delivery of these provisions, the food shortage in the prefectural city was greatly alleviated, allowing Yang Zheng's policy of distributing grain to continue. This also made the people in the city more grateful to the Yang family army and more supportive of Yang Zheng's rule in the prefectural city.

Ordinary people never care who the ruler is; they only care about whether they are doing well or not. When Zhu Changhe ruled the prefectural city, they were starving and some of their relatives even starved to death.

After Yang Zheng entered the city, their hunger was alleviated, and they were allocated land that could be cultivated, so they were naturally more willing to support Yang Zheng.