Chapter 25: Slaughter the cow, filter the wine, and plan an uprising
Chapter 25: Slaughter the cow, filter the wine, and plan an uprising
In the southeastern region, the people of Hua Shi Gang are living in dire straits.
Can these people still endure it?
The vast majority of the people have no choice but to feel resentful.
Only,
In Qixian Village, She County, Muzhou, there was a wealthy local man named Fang La, also known as Fang Shisan. His family had a lacquer garden, and he had slaves and maidservants, and his life was quite comfortable.
However, since the imperial court set up the Zaozuo Bureau and the Yingfeng Bureau in the southeast region, Fang La's good days no longer exist.
Of course, in the area where Fang La is located, the Bureau of Art and Design is in charge of purchasing famous flowers, fine trees, and rare stones.
The lower-level officials of the Zaozao Bureau often came to Fangla's lacquer garden to enjoy the autumn breeze. They cruelly squeezed the output of Fangla's lacquer garden, causing Fangla to almost go bankrupt.
Naturally, he was very resentful in his heart. However, the bureau was running errands for Zhao Guan's family. Who dared not accept their extortion? That would be the death penalty for disobeying the holy will.
Therefore, Fang La could only hold back the anger in his heart and did not dare to vent it.
In the name of recruiting workers from Qiyuan, he secretly recruited more than a hundred young warriors from nearby villages at no expense, and was ready to take action.
And this year, Zhu Meng, who is in charge of the Southeast Flower and Stone Program, asked the officials of the Production Bureau under his control to intensify the search for exotic flowers and stones in the Southeast...
The grassroots officials of the Zaozhao Bureau are intruding everywhere, just like groups of bandits wearing official uniforms, leaving the people in the southeast really without a way to survive...
Fang La, who had always been ambitious, felt that the time had come and he could no longer hold back.
He believed that he was also a dignified seven-foot man. In such troubled times, he should be like the great ancestor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty, recruiting strong men from the countryside, carrying a three-foot long sword, killing the white snake to start a rebellion, and win a brand new world...
…
Yesterday, that is, the eighth day of October in the second year of Xuanhe, during the day, the sun hung high in the sky in She County, Muzhou, and gradually darkened, and a Tengu solar eclipse occurred—that is, a solar eclipse. p>
Many local people also saw this celestial phenomenon.
However, Fang La, who had always been ambitious and reserved, of course also saw the celestial phenomenon of the Tengu eclipsing the sun, and he felt that this was God's blessing for him.
After a night of planning, Fang La and his family, especially his sister, who has always been a strong man among women, are very supportive of his uprising...
Today, in the open space of Qixian Village, Qixian Village, Muzhou County, more than 2,000 miles away from Bianliang City in Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty, Fang La gathered more than a hundred strong men who had long been friends with each other in private, slaughtered cattle, filtered wine, and had a party.
Drink, plan an uprising...
After three rounds of wine and five dishes of food, Fang La ordered his servants to fill the large bowls of more than a hundred strong men at the table with wine.
Fang La, who was in his forties, could not hide his excitement and surging mood either under the influence of alcohol or not. His face was red, he raised his wine bowl, stood up and said loudly:
"We have lived in Tuhe Village, She County, Muzhou. Our village is rich in bamboo and lacquer trees.
However, after the imperial court sent officials from the Production Bureau to our Tuhe Village to collect exotic flowers, beautiful bamboos, and lacquer trees,
Those officials who are very literate feel that the name of Tuhe Village is not beautiful.
Afraid that the officials would dislike the ungentlemanly name of the origin of the beautiful bamboo and lacquer trees brought to the capital, they forced our Tuhoe Village to use the allusion of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" on the grounds that there was a bamboo forest.
It was renamed from ‘Tuhe Village’ to ‘Qixian Village’!”
The heroes nodded, they all knew this.
Fang La changed the subject and loudly said:
"However, after our village was renamed Seven Sages Village, we have not seen a sage sent by the imperial court to our village.
On the contrary, it is the corrupt officials from the Production Bureau who often come to exploit our Seven Sages Village!
You all had a family, a field, and an industry before!
Today, you have been repeatedly exploited by the government, and most of you have no home, no land, and no job, right?
In fact, some of your family members died of illness because they had no money to seek medical treatment, and they died of starvation because they had no food to cook, right?"
More than a hundred warriors sighed, and some warriors even cried bitterly...
What Fang La said is the local reality.
Fang La's sensational words aroused the sympathy of the heroes and stung the already wounded hearts of more than a hundred heroes.
Although not all of these more than a hundred warriors were homeless, most of them had their families bankrupted by the imperial court's exorbitant taxes and imposition of Huashi Gang.
Many family members of strong men, as Fang La said, died of illness because they were exploited by the court and had no money to seek medical treatment. There were also quite a few families who starved to death because they had no food to cook.
Fang La looked around at the hundreds of strong men at the table with his piercing eyes, and said loudly:
"Now, you can only rely on Fang Mou's lacquer garden to have enough food and clothing for the time being!
Otherwise..."
Suddenly, Fang La was mid-sentence, unable to conceal his inner excitement and resentment. His face burst into tears, his voice trembled, and he said:
"The taxes and labor imposed by the imperial court are so heavy, and the officials also loot and extort, and the farming and mulberry fields are not good enough. The only thing we depend on for survival is this lacquer garden.
Otherwise!
Yesterday, officials from the Zaozuo Bureau came to my lacquer garden and ordered: After three days, all my lacquer gardens will be confiscated for free..."
"Ah?!" More than a hundred warriors were amazed...
Fang La continued: "Today, I will kill all four cattle in the house, prepare all the wine in the house, and get drunk with the strong men before resting.
Tomorrow, all the lacquer gardens that we rely on for our livelihood will be expropriated by the ‘Zuozao Bureau’ without compensation.
Alas!
I can’t afford to support strong men like you!”
"Ah?!" More than a hundred people were in an uproar: "If Mr. Fang abandons us, we will have no way to survive!"
Some of the brave warriors shouted loudly:
"The imperial court was so vicious and brutal! They even confiscated Fang Gong's lacquer garden for free!"
"Aren't you leaving a way for us people to survive?"
As soon as there was a leader, more than a hundred strong men in the banquet room discussed angrily at their own wine table:
"Last year, I was drafted as a laborer and went to Beijing with Hua Shigang's ship. I heard that what Zhao Guan's family has been doing in these years is: building palaces, worshiping ghosts and gods, singing and dancing with women all day long, hunting dogs and horses, writing and painting..." p>
"The imperial court collected exotic flowers and stones in our southeast in order to build Genyue for the officials to enjoy and enjoy. It really made our people miserable!"
"Not only that! I also heard that the imperial court bribes the Xia Kingdom in the west and the Liao Kingdom in the north with millions of dollars every year!
These are the fat and blood and sweat of our people in the southeast!"
"Yes! Now, the Fang Gong Lacquer Garden where we depended on has been forcibly taken away by the government. Where will our livelihood be in the future? Please make it clear, Fang Gong!"
After one of the strong men took the lead and shouted for Fang La to find a way out, the other hundreds of strong men also felt that it made sense. They also shouted in unison:
"Please make it clear, Mr. Fang!"
After Fang La watched the hundreds of strong men at the table getting angry, he felt that the time had come and it was time to say what he wanted to say most.
……………
[ps]: The biography of Tong Guan (with the biography of Fan La) in "History of Song Dynasty" records that Fang La was a native of Qingxi County, Muzhou. He lived in Tuhe Village, Qingxi County for generations. However, some historical materials also say that he was a member of Muzhou.
A native of Qixian Village, Qingxi County, Prefecture.
In this book, if you choose the right one, Tuhe Village is the old name, and Qixian Village is the changed name.
This book draws on the historical data about Fang La recorded in "History of the Song Dynasty" as follows:
"There is a lacquer garden in La, and the Zao Zao Bureau has repeatedly taken it, but La has resented it but did not dare to express it."
"At that time, Wuzhong was troubled by Zhu Meng's flowers and stones, and people were complaining about it. Because the people couldn't bear it, they gathered poor and idle people."
"In October of the second year of Xuanhe, Laqi broke into chaos and called himself Shenggong..."
[PS again]: The research is quite tiring. Dear readers, do you have monthly tickets and rewards?