"Alas! Instead, I heard many incomprehensible sayings, saying that the poisonous general was bad, the fire burned the mountains, and the lives were devastated, so we were punished by God, and we people were implicated by that poisonous general... Alas, we are poor people, and we just want to take care of ourselves.
As a family, everyone has their own opinions on the matters of the big shots, how can we tell the difference? Just keep your head down and go your own way..."
The people are the easiest to be fooled. This is an unbreakable truth throughout the ages. When dynasties change since ancient times, the leaders may tell a few rumors and incite a few words, but the people who cannot survive happily obey, so they gather into troops and attack the city and plunder the village, one after another.
A dynasty is basically overthrown in this way.
The old man's words reflect the mentality of most refugees.
Their vision cannot see the long term, such as "poisonous generals" and "ultimate divine punishment". These things are not of interest to them at all, or in other words, these things are too far away from them, and they cannot afford to interfere with them.
Interest blended.
What are the things that the people care about most? Two words, "clothing" and "food". No matter what era, the people will recognize whoever gives the people clothes to wear and food to eat. How can there be a fight between you big shots?
It's not important. What's important is that we have food to eat and clothing to wear. That's enough.
Obviously Wang Junlin's enemies also realized this, so some aristocratic families, nobles, and landowners in Yongzhou said that as long as the court dealt with Wang Junlin's scourge, they would selflessly give out their own food to the victims.
Apparently he wanted to use this method to make the people share the same hatred with them and force the court to kill Wang Junlin.
This is what Wang Junlin is most worried about at this moment. Due to natural disasters, the court can no longer satisfy the people in time with "clothing" and "food". As a result, people with good intentions will first mislead with rumors, then seduce with food, and finally
Destroy Wang Junlin's reputation, and then instigate a few words among these refugees to cause some civil unrest, forcing the court to kill Wang Junlin to quell public anger and the Yongzhou rebellion. After all, due to natural disasters, the people's most basic needs have been
There is no guarantee. For the people, this means they have no way of living. Since they have no way of living, as long as someone gives them food, what else do they dare not do?
Wang Junlin saw that the old man's complexion was extremely poor, so he waved his hand and ordered people to bring dry food to the family until the family was completely full. When the old man's face finally regained some rosy luster, and his energy and confidence were full, Wang Junlin
Not in a hurry, he squatted in front of the old man and chatted with him for a long time. After chatting for a long time about insignificant household matters, Wang Junlin saw that the old man's complexion had returned to rosy and healthy, and then Wang Junlin got to the point.
"Old man, who do you think spread these rumors?" Wang Junlin smiled gently.
The old man shook his head: "Where can I find out the rumors? They are spread from one to ten and then to a hundred. In the end, everyone knows it. We just listen to it and no one will find out. In the end, what we farmers care about is our stomachs and rumors."
These false things cannot fill your stomach."
"So, do many people believe these rumors?"
The old man hesitated for a moment and said: "I'm afraid there are many people who believe it. The folks have complained a lot along the way, and the snow disaster this year is indeed very evil. The most important thing is that as long as the imperial court kills the poisonous general,
The landowners and aristocrats would use their own food to provide relief to everyone. Whether they believed it or not, they all said that the poisonous general burned the mountain, and the killing was too heavy, which led to the devastation of life, so he was punished by God, and the villagers suffered.
…”
The old man paused, looked at Wang Junlin, and said nonchalantly: "Isn't this old man saying too much? Dare I ask this strong man, but he is a spy of the imperial court?"
Wang Junlin didn't know how to answer the old man's question, and he probably wouldn't be able to find out the truth if he asked again. After all, this family was just an ordinary refugee, and they didn't know much about the rumors, so he ordered someone to get a big bag of grain and hand it to the old man. family, and then continue to Jincheng.
A group of people entered the city, and under the leadership of Shen Guang, settled down in a secret house and locked up Su Meier. Shen Guang was ordered to mobilize people to arrest those who maliciously slandered Wang Junlin. Wang Junlin took Xu Meier with him. Jingzong came to the state capital without any guards.
But Wang Junlin did not enter the yamen. Instead, he handed a jade pendant to Xu Jingzong, who had been dressed up in disguise. After giving Xu Jingzong a few words of advice, he disappeared and Xu Jingzong took a long breath and suppressed his nervousness. With that in mind, he ran straight to the corner gate in the north of the courtyard, dismounted his horse ten steps away from the corner gate, held the reins and walked slowly over.
Before he arrived at the door, a servant came to greet him. Xu Jingzong took out the jade plaque from his luggage, handed it to the servant, and said loudly: "This is the residence of Lord Governor Wang. Please let me know. Wang Jiasanlang, a junior member of the Taiyuan clan, came to pay homage to the elder!"
"This is the back house of the Governor. Please wait, I will send a message for you right now." Wang Tong was from the Wang family in Taiyuan. When the servant heard that he was from the Taiyuan clan, he did not dare to neglect and quickly took the jade plaque. , bowed to the ground.
Xu Jingzong stretched out his hand to support each other, and when the other party stood up, he stuffed a small string of copper coins into his sleeve. The servant was used to greeting and seeing off guests, and he knew from the sudden increase in weight in his sleeve that this was what he was doing. The young master gave me a large gift, thanked him, and ran in anxiously.
A moment later, footsteps sounded again in the yard. When the door opened, it was the same servant who came out. He saluted first, then took out a square towel to wipe his sweat, and said breathlessly: "My master is going to the steward's house. I went to discuss official matters with General Yang Hushi, the general of the lieutenant, and he has not returned yet, but I have reported this to my eldest son, who invited the two distinguished guests to the front door, where he will greet his old friend!"
When Xu Jingzong heard that Wang Tong went to see Yang Hushi, his pupils shrank, and when he looked at the Governor's Mansion, he felt like a den of tigers and wolves. But when he thought that Wang Junlin was watching in secret, he suppressed the nervousness in his heart, thanked him, and left. The horse's reins were thrown to the servant and he walked to the front door. The servant looked at each other and waited until Xu Jingzong's figure was far away before leading the horse into the courtyard.
The Sui Dynasty inherited the Han system, and government yamen always faced south. If the position was high enough to bring family members to the office, the official's wife, children, and children were usually placed in the back house of the yamen. For official business, guests would always go to the front door, and only personal relationships were good. Only friends or younger members of the family entered through the back door. Hundreds of years later, greed and sycophancy became popular, and the term "back door" came from this. This is a topic for later, so we won't mention it for now.
The guest who alerted the host and went to the front door to greet him was a distinguished guest at home. Therefore, although Xu Jingzong asked to see him as a junior, his host arranged to greet him at the front door.
PS: The fourth update is here, and there is also a fifth update, don’t miss it————