Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 7 Forced to eat royal food

Under Zhu Jingan's speech, the farmers who had been coerced into rebelling barely regained some morale.

They began to regain confidence in the great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty.

After eating this hearty meal, the Ming army carried a large amount of luggage and supplies and began to move eastward along the Qianjiang River towards Jintian Town.

Wherever the army passed, all large and small ships along the river were requisitioned.

Of course, what sounds like expropriation is actually robbery.

There were even many boatmen who were kidnapped by the Ming army along with their boats.

Well, starting from today, these boatmen can eat the imperial food of the Ming Dynasty and no longer have to worry about their livelihood.

Although they were reluctant, it didn't matter.

With these ships helping to transport various supplies and food, the Ming army's advance speed obviously became much faster.

The team marched eastward along the Qianjiang River.

Zhu Jingan was riding on a short horse, looking at the mighty marching team with complicated eyes.

This time, there were about 600 villagers who were kidnapped by Zhu Guochang on a pirate ship and forced to join the rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if the cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty really succeeds in the future, I am afraid that not many of the 600 people will be left.

One will succeed and all will die, but that's it!
……

Wuxuan County, county government!

Although autumn has already entered, it is already getting late.

But the weather was still unbearably hot, and the big sun in the sky was scorching.

The yamen servant at the county yamen gate was so sweaty that he had sweat all over his face.

Ma Yong wiped the sweat from his face with a brown handkerchief stained by sweat. The government servant's face was full of irritation.

"It's the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it's still so damn hot?"

“The weather this year is fucking crazy!”

"Tonight I have to go to the brothel to find a girl, and then I'll do a good job of getting rid of the heat. Xiao Liu, do you want to come with me?"

Liu Can, who was on the side, heard this and refused.

"Brother Ma, go ahead. I won't go. The government hasn't paid wages this month. We really have no money."

"The most miserable thing in this county government office is those of us who are strong in the office, but the brothers in the fast class are so cool. Every time we go on official business, we can make a lot of money."

"Regardless of the difficult weather conditions this year, as long as the court does not reduce taxes, they will definitely be able to have enough to eat. Unlike us, guarding the gate of the yamen, trying to make some money is more difficult than reaching the sky."

"It's fine if we can't make money, but the biggest problem is that the monthly salary in the yamen cannot be paid on time. If we don't pay the salary on time, my mother's family will be in trouble."

The locust drought in Guangxi this year has been so severe that government officials have also been greatly affected.

When locusts and droughts pass through, they don’t care whose crops are in the fields.

Not to mention they are just a group of government servants, even if it is the land of the emperor and I, locust plagues, droughts, and disasters will still be a disaster.

The fields owned by many government officials also failed to harvest.

In addition, the yamen is still in arrears with monthly salary.

Although the life of these government officials is more comfortable than that of ordinary people, it is still not as good as in ordinary times. It is still difficult after all.

Ma Yong didn't answer when he heard this, but just changed the topic.

"Calculating the time, those brothers who went to the countryside with Master Guo today to collect grain should also return to the city, right?"

"It's almost dark now, why is there no movement?"

"Can't something happen?"

Normally at this time every day, people who go out to collect grain should come back, but there has been no movement until now. Ma Yong suspected that something had happened.

Liu Can on the side also spoke after hearing this.

"It's hard to say for sure. I heard that in your county next door, there have been several rebellions involving grain and tax resistance and the killing of officials because of the grain requisition."

"It's not peaceful in Guangxi these days!" Ma Yong rolled his eyes, wiped his sweat again, and said angrily.

"Say a few words less. If something happens, don't let others listen to what you say. Be careful."

Ma Yong didn't want to talk to Liu Can because he always talked out of his mind.

No matter how many times I remind him, he still has no memory.

If you have to talk to him again, you might end up trapping yourself in it one day!
Liu Can scratched his head and said nothing more.

At this moment, Ma Yong suddenly felt as if the ground was shaking, and the rumble of horse hooves could be heard.

A fast horse rushed towards the county government office. Judging from the costume of the knight on the horse, he was a servant of the county government office.

The yamen servant rode outside the county yamen on horseback, got off his horse, sweated profusely, and spoke while breathing heavily.

"Quick! Go and inform the county magistrate, something serious...is going to go wrong."

"Zhujiazhuang, thirty miles east of the city, rebelled against grain and taxes and killed officials..."

After hearing this, Ma Yong and Liu Can looked at each other and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

Liu Can couldn't help but want to give himself a mouth.

Someone really rebelled?

I am really a crow’s mouth!

……

There was a commotion inside and outside the county government office, and soon the county magistrate received the news.

"Reverse? What happened?"

"I don't think Zhu Guochang is a very honest person? How dare he rebel?"

The magistrate of Wuxuan County is named Fang Kunzheng, a native of Northern Zhili, and a new Jinshi who passed the imperial examination the year before last.

As we all know, in the Qing Dynasty, in order to make money, it has become commonplace to sell officials, so that the number of candidate officials is overflowing.

If there are more officials on the waiting list, the real shortage will be worth more.

After all, there are only so many shortcomings in the world, a carrot and a hole.

It is also necessary to eliminate the official positions reserved for bannermen, which will give even fewer opportunities to the Han people.

Often, if the people in front do not move, the alternate officials will not be able to take up their posts.

It is common for new scholars to wait several years or more than ten years to get official positions if they do not give money to the civil service after passing the imperial examination.

Fang Kunzheng was naturally unable to avoid being a vulgar person, so he stuffed money into the official department, and thus found a real vacancy for a county magistrate.

In the past two years, in order to get back his official capital, he had been searching up and down Wuxuan County.

It is an exaggeration to say that the sky is three feet high, but it is true that the earth is three feet flat.

He caused complaints all over Wuxuan County.

In this process, big business owners like Zhu Guochang will naturally be blackmailed.

Before that, Zhu Guochang had always been very honest when faced with the blackmail from the county magistrate. He would give money whenever he asked and never dared to disobey him.

Therefore, after hearing that Zhu Guochang had rebelled, the first reaction of Fang Kunzheng, the county magistrate, was disbelief.

The yamen servant who reported the news knelt on the ground, his head and face covered with sweat, and continued.

"Returning to the county grandpa, everything the little man said is true, and there is absolutely no lie."

"According to the reports, after Zhu Guochang killed Lord Zhao and the officers who went to collect grain, he led a group of rebels eastward along the river, and robbed many ships along the way."

“The villages and towns along the way can all testify to this!”

"I hope you will learn from me!"

Fang Kun sat back on the big chair in the county government hall with a frown, and sweat began to form on his shiny forehead.

Because he knew that he was in big trouble now.

(End of this chapter)