Chapter 2 The Spark of Fire
The rice clouds do not rain or yellow, and the buckwheat flowers are empty and frost are early.
It has been divided into hunger and has been able to overcome the surplus years, and it is even more likely to be a long time for the leap year.
The cold winter of the twelfth lunar month of the eleventh year of Zhaohong seems to be much longer than in previous years. This is true for Xu Buling, who is rushing around. For the people of Jiangnan Road, it is even more luxurious to spend a day.
The "New Year's Eve" that symbolized family reunion in the past also showed its original meaning at this time - those who owe rent and those who are in debt must pay off their debts on the last day of the year. The New Year is like passing the customs, so it is called "New Year's Eve".
It is true that Jiangnan is richest in the world, but the rich people can never be the people who face the loess and the sky. In autumn, there was no harvest in Muzhou, Xiuzhou and other places, and the houses and farmlands of the people were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people were affected, and they turned into refugees who had no money to guard their bags and were thundering in their stomachs.
Originally, the court should have vigorously provided disaster relief and exempted taxes, but last year, Shu was severely drought, and the court had already exempted Shu from annual taxes, and taxes were severely damaged. If Jiangnan was exempted from annual taxes, what should we use to support nearly one million troops on the long-term front?
The court ignored the situation and asked the King of Wu to find a way out of his own pocket. The King of Wu paid out of his own pocket and lobbled the wealthy families to make up for the tax deficit for the court, but how can he make up for it if he opened his mouth hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Perhaps the King of Wu was exhausted and forced the wealthy families to open a warehouse can help hundreds of thousands of people survive this winter, but why did the King of Wu fight against his own vitality and take this crime to the court without being in the culprit of Song Siming?
Just because his surname is Song, he wants to give your cousin who is the emperor?
Obviously it is impossible, the world is not his King of Wu!
Song Ji summoned the Seven Princess to the Capital, and tried to reduce the vassal states to attack Xu Buling, which made the King of Wu feel the knife hanging on his neck.
It is impossible to cut off the power of the Seven Kings to stop just one. As long as you lift this knife, Song Ji would definitely try every means to reduce the power of the Seven Kings to a level that can be controlled during his reign.
Song Ji's plan for King Su ended in failure and may be temporarily stopped, but many vassal kings have seen Song Ji's ambitions, so how could Song Ji stabilize the situation and find a chance to attack again?
The court built passes, raised cavalry, and accumulated heavy troops, sucked all the blood of the people in Jiangnan and Shu. The taxes of the court increased year by year, and the families with land at home were gradually unbearable. They had long been complaining. Now, a major disaster has caused all the disadvantages accumulated in previous years, and they all broke out in just a few months.
As the extremely cold weather that has not been seen for many years rages the south of the Yangtze River, refugees who have been scattered thousands of miles are homeless and hunger and cold. When the refugees' despair reaches its peak, only a small handful of flames can burn the entire Jiangnan.
The right time and place are there, and only one person is left. After the King of Wu obtained the jade seal, the person who ignited the fire naturally appeared.
In the evening of the end of the twelfth lunar month, outside Zhang Youchang's mansion in Wannian Township, Qingxi County, Muzhou, the light of torches illuminated the wilderness that was windy and snowy.
The refugees gathered from surrounding townships stood in the wind and snow like walking corpses, dressed in rags, pale faces and thin skin, and could not see the end at first sight.
Qingxi County produces bamboo paper, and is famous in the north and south of Dayue. It is a very common thing in the study of wealthy families, but I don’t know how much blood and sweat of barefoot people are hidden behind this simple Qingxi bamboo paper.
Because of the abundant production of bamboo paper, Qingxi County has always been a key place for government officials to take advantage of, and it was already overwhelmed in the past. In autumn, Qingxi County suffered heavy disasters, with workshops and houses being destroyed, and most of the people who could not hide were killed or injured, and they are still homeless today. The court, which paid annual tributes every year, did not send half a piece of life-saving food. At this time, Zhang Youchang was still levied from door to door to door to serve.
If you have no home and no people, why pay the poll tax?
The local people would not know that Li Zheng was forced to collect taxes by his superiors with a knife. They only saw Zhang Youchang's ugly face of having a good time, taking the roster and taking the yamen runners to collect cash and grain from house to house.
The people either starve and freeze in the deep mountains and forests, protecting the last bit of food in their hands, or fleeing, becoming beggars and refugees. But Gen is in Qingxi County, where can they escape? When the officials of Daqi were in charge of this place a hundred years ago, their ancestors did not escape. Why do they want to escape now?
The resentment that has been accumulated over the years and the despair of the day have reached its peak in the hearts of the people of Qingxi County. Today, someone vented this anger that dared not speak for them - Sun Gan is back! Kill Zhang Youchang!
Sun Gan was born in Qingxi County. He was quite famous when he was young and was also a person who went out of Qingxi County. Most of the people in Qingxi County have heard of Sun Gan's name, and many people have seen him when he was young. Later, he heard that Sun Gan committed a murder case. In order to avoid the arrest of the court, he ran to the Hongshan Lake area and became a bandit and became a mountain king.
In autumn, floods occurred, and many desperate people in Qingxi County even went to Hongshan Lake to join, and Hongshan Shui Village also took them away.
Sun Gan skinned and tied up meat tickets to extort wealthy businessmen. He was obviously an unforgivable evil person, but for the fellow villagers in Qingxi County, how evil can the imperial court be more evil?
At least when they were desperate when they were hungry and cold, it was Sun Gan who gave them a bite of food, not the court.
Today, Sun Gan came back and did something that the local people wanted to do but dared not - they killed Zhang Youchang's family and hung it on the gate.
The ugly face that had once been robbed was now dripping blood and appeared in front of nearly a thousand people.
The tall and thin Sun Gan held a bloody knife in his hand, and behind him were nearly a hundred men with murderous intent. The elite water villages who escaped from Hongshan Lake were all standing outside the Zhang family mansion, wearing yellow turbans, and erecting a big flag.
Sun Gan stood on the high platform, holding a head in his hand, and shouted:
"The emperor calls us 'people'. Have you ever seen fathers who forced to ask for money and food when their son was about to starve to death and freeze to death? Pay money every year and every year, all of which are our blood and sweat. What did the emperor do when he took our blood and sweat? He gave them all the wealthy and noble gentry, and gave them rich clothes and food, and talked about poetry and songs...
...We are even living a luxury now, but no one has ever looked at us. We only have a handful of rice. If we only have a handful of rice, our son will not die, and our parents will not die. We used to pay so much money and food. When our parents, wives and children were about to starve, what did those officials do? They were still eating, drinking, having fun in the city, and even blocking the city gates to prevent us from entering, and even letting us pick up the leftovers...
...Why can they sit at home without working? Why do we have to shed blood and sweat for them to eat, drink and enjoy? They all have only one head and two hands. Why are their lives more precious than us? Princes and generals are born to fail? Old General Xu was just a butcher and more humble than us. He could break up the territory and become a prince. Why should we be angry here? Even if we can't survive, we still have to wait here to die honestly?...
... My Sun Gan killed people, set fire, and did everything evil. He is not a good person, but my Sun Gan was born in Qingxi County. I will not be sorry for my fellow villagers. You gave me a bite of rice and a bowl of water, and I can repay you now. Zhang Youchang, I will kill you for you. The court doesn’t care about you. If you don’t have food or clothes, we will go to the city to rob, and go to the wealthy family to rob. Those are ours, they are robbers, they are forcing us..."
Passionate and passionate, and a few words hit the pain points of everyone below the audience.
The hungry and cold people could no longer help but feel wronged in their hearts, and their emotions were gradually infected, and they cried loudly.
What does peace in the world have to do with them who are already desperate?
The court is in danger, they only need a handful of rice. If the court doesn’t give it, then give it a fire!
Burn all the stars!
Chapter completed!