Could the opera troupe still perform at night?
It wasn't just Yang Da Niu; the entire populace of Xiao Yang Village combined wouldn't dare believe their ears.
If not for the fact that he was still breathing, if not for the solid ground beneath his feet, Yang Da Niu would have thought he had arrived in paradise.
Here, there was no fear of oppression from the government, nor endless, insurmountable taxes and levies.
Here, there was an army willing to eat less themselves so that the common folk like them could eat better, an army protecting them.
Even though they were all outsiders.
But whether Yang Da Niu and the people of Xiao Yang Village believed it or not, the facts were laid bare before them.
Elderly people and children were taken back to their homes by the villagers of Xiao Xu Village. Young, single men without dependents were led to the makeshift shelters by members of the Xiao Xu Village Farmers' Association.
Yang Da Niu also got to see the opera troupe perform.
Unlike the opera he remembered, with its unintelligible咿咿呀呀 sounds, the two plays performed in Xiao Xu Village that night were understandable even to Yang Da Niu, who couldn't recognize a single character.
The first play was about the flood in Xiayi, Henan, during Qianlong's twenty-second year. It primarily depicted how the snub-nosed, short, and cunning Qianlong, a seventy-year-old dog, disregarded the lives of the common people, or rather, disregarded the lives of the Han Chinese.
Yang Da Niu had heard others talk about the disaster in Xiayi, and the villagers of Xiao Yang Village had also heard about it.
After all, Qianlong, that old dog, had famously uttered the words, "It is impermissible to dismiss the governor and the magistrate simply because there is an imperial decree, and then to indulgently favor those who commit mischief and stir up trouble, thereby fostering a climate of defiance."
Even Tule Bing'a, who was dispatched by Qianlong to Uliyasutai, was actually sent to Uliyasutai to manage military provisions. In his third year, he was assigned to assist the Minister of Affairs in Kuqa, Na Shitong, and in his fifth year, he became the Governor of Guizhou.
As for the second play, it made Yang Da Niu want to grab a knife and start slashing.
"Father left home to evade debts for seven whole days, and he hadn't returned by New Year's Eve."
"The snow had blocked the mountains for over ten days, and there was no rice or firewood at home. We couldn't even afford a meal!"
"An arm cannot overcome a thigh."
"Selling the daughter to the master of the house to settle the debt, with both parties agreeing, no regrets whatsoever."
Yang Da Niu understood, and most people present could also understand, because they saw their own reflections in Yang Bailao.
Yang Da Niu's family had not experienced having to flee to avoid debts, but they had experienced days with no rice or firewood, unable to afford a meal.
Or rather, the impoverished common people of my Great Qing dynasty had all experienced it.
After all, my Great Qing dynasty had occupied the Central Plains for over a hundred years, and in all those years, they had done nothing good, nor had they ever cared about the lives of the common people.
Even Yongzheng, the Fourth Master, who was praised by his bondservants as a wise ruler and longed for by countless women who donned Qing attire, also did not care about the lives of the Han Chinese.
Even the so-called "officials and gentry alike paying grain" and "demonetization of silver into public treasury" were solely for the sake of his imperial throne.
Did you not see that "officials and gentry alike paying grain" referred to Han officials and gentry, not Manchu officials and gentry? "Demonetization of silver into public treasury" meant that the surcharges entered the national treasury, not that the surcharges were borne by the government.
In "officials and gentry alike paying grain," my Great Qing Manchu officials and gentry were exempt from paying grain. In "demonetization of silver into public treasury," local governments did not stop extorting the people; it was merely a change in name.
These petty tricks might fool some naive netizens who didn't read books, but for the people of Xiao Xu Village and Xiao Yang Village sitting below the stage, the people on stage were not just acting; they were bringing their past suffering to life on stage!
Yang Da Niu clenched his teeth, his large fists tightening.
In a daze, Yang Da Niu felt as if he had become Yang Bailao on stage. No matter how he begged or pleaded, the young master refused to give him a way out.
"Damn your ancestors!"
Yang Da Niu finally couldn't bear it any longer and charged towards the stage with a clenched fist!
With Yang Da Niu leading the charge, several more people from Xiao Xu Village and Xiao Yang Village rushed out.
Fight!
Since the gentry and officials were unwilling to give them a way out, they would fight until they were willing!
Or, they would all die together!
Fortunately, at the very front of the stage were the members of the Xiao Xu Village Farmers' Association Guard. According to the directives transmitted from the county yamen, members of the Farmers' Association Guard had to sit at the very front when the opera troupe performed in various locations, to prevent foolish people like Yang Da Niu from getting carried away.
Because such incidents had happened more than once or twice, and almost every performance would have a fool like Yang Da Niu lose his head. The actors playing the young master had been beaten more than once or twice, and the Farmers' Association Guards in various places had already learned from experience.
Yes, such things happened frequently. The actors on stage even watched Yang Da Niu and the others stand up, watched them charge towards the stage, and then watched them being subdued by the members of the Farmers' Association Guard.
The performance had to continue.
"It's acting! It's just a play! Not real!"
The men from the Farmers' Association Guard held down Yang Da Niu and the other strong young men, and sternly rebuked them, "It's useless to hit the actors! If you have real ability, you can join the army later and fight those local tyrants and gentry!"
"Keep watching! Da Chun went to join the righteous army and will soon lead our righteous army to take charge for Yang Bailao! Xi'er is also fine! Xi'er eventually married Da Chun!"
The men of the Farmers' Association Guard were also very exasperated.
If you want to sit down honestly and watch a play, this play makes people angry, and you yourself wish you could rush onto the stage and beat up the young master.
The key is that just being angry is not enough; they also have to stop foolish people like Yang Da Niu. If these fools rush onto the stage, they won't be able to watch "Judging the Chair" tomorrow.
Therefore, in order to watch "Judging the Chair" tomorrow, the men of the Farmers' Association Guard had to hold back Yang Da Niu and the others, and even resort to spoiling the plot for them.
Having been spoiled, Yang Da Niu and the others finally calmed down.
Yang Da Niu did not resent the men of the Farmers' Association Guard for spoiling the plot for him; instead, he was grateful.
Yang Da Niu also figured it out. Just as in the play, a righteous army returned to take charge for Yang Bailao and Xi'er, so too in my Great Qing dynasty, a great leader had taken charge for the poor common people!
From this moment on, Yang Da Niu secretly made up his mind.
The great leader had taken charge for the poor common people, and these common people were not ungrateful. Since he said he wanted to build roads, they would build roads; since he said he wanted to build bridges, they would build bridges and dams.
Let's do it; it's just a matter of strength.
... Valley
The refugees who fled from Zhili to Shandong were not just rough men like Yang Da Niu; many young women and young wives also fled with their parents or husbands.
Fortunately, this journey to Shandong was much easier than the original "Chuang Guandong."
Thanks to the "turtle-like and enemy-deterring" tactics of that old dog Qianlong, the true intention of both the Tatar soldiers and the Tatar government was simply to drive the people of Zhili into Shandong. Therefore, as long as the people were on their way to Shandong, they were too lazy to cause further trouble.
Or rather, the Tatar soldiers were also frightened by Zhu Jinsong, fearing that if they pushed these refugees heading to Shandong too hard, another Zhili version of Zhu Jinsong might emerge.
Only sixteen-year-old He Xiuniang was pulling her eight-year-old brother, fleeing to Shandong with the villagers of He Ge Zhuang.
When she first received her identity certificate, the black soot on He Xiuniang's face had not yet been wiped off.
It was precisely this layer upon layer of black soot on her face that allowed He Xiuniang, a sixteen-year-old girl, to safely reach Shandong with her eight-year-old brother.
However, after receiving her identity certificate, a few female soldiers in uniform wanted to take He Xiuniang to take a bath, but He Xiuniang objected.
Where was this?
This was a military camp.
In He Xiuniang's understanding, as a sixteen-year-old girl, if she wasn't ugly or dirty, how could she be considered good?
However, the matter of bathing was not something a sixteen-year-old girl like He Xiuniang could resist; she didn't have the courage to resist.
Or rather, before things reached the worst point, He Xiuniang still held onto a glimmer of hope in her heart.
After bathing and changing into the clothes brought by those female soldiers, He Xiuniang still felt a bit awkward.
But those female soldiers were not awkward; instead, they surrounded the first to finish bathing, He Xiuniang, like female hooligans.
"Look at her face, it's really tender."
"It's so tender you could squeeze water out of it."
"We can't compare."
"When we get back, we'll find a Han man and have a daughter like this."
He Xiuniang was a bit confused.
Outside the pass?
Find a husband?
Aren't they from Shandong? Aren't they Han women?
A female soldier noticed that He Xiuniang's face was full of question marks and said with a smile, "We are from the Solun tribe outside the pass, accompanying our Gege as part of her dowry. We were sent by our young master to maintain order. You don't need to be afraid of us. We are not Jiannu; we will be like you Han people from now on."
Another female soldier chimed in, "Also, you don't need to be afraid of those soldiers outside. Even though they look strong and burly, some of them might have killed several Tatars and earned military merits, but they are very timid. If you smile at them, they blush!"
Then another female soldier chuckled and said, "Isn't that true? Look at them, as soon as they see a young girl, they are more shy than the girl! That one from the First Army, First Division, who likes to sneak glances at me during meals, when I go to talk to him, he can't even speak. It's so infuriating."
"And who was it, that Li Ergou, yes, that's him, the commander of the first battalion. I saw him with my own eyes last time; he fled in panic after being teased by so-and-so's third sister-in-law. I heard he used to be a bailiff for the Tatars, and he used to sneak into widows' houses, but now he's become like this!"
The topic quickly veered off course.
At first, they were discussing how beautiful He Xiuniang was, then it turned into discussing how shy the soldiers of Menglianggu, who killed like flies on the battlefield, were in their daily lives, and then it turned into how to abduct one back.
These women from the Solun tribe who accompanied the dowry from outside the pass were not old, mostly around seventeen or eighteen years old, but the topics they discussed always made He Xiuniang blush.
When the conversation gradually drifted to who their children would look like to be more beautiful, these female soldiers suddenly realized that the conversation had gone ten thousand miles off track.
Then these female soldiers gathered around He Xiuniang and chattered again.
"Can you do embroidery?"
"What a question to ask! Women from within the pass are clever and skillful. Do you think they are as clumsy as you?"
"Let me tell you, you should find a workshop that hires embroiderers or spinners. Your monthly wages won't be less than those men."
"By the way, I heard you have a younger brother, right?"
"How old is he? If he's sixteen, I'll wait for him for two years!"
"Eight years old? That's too young, I can't wait. You should let him go to school and study properly."
"Hey, what age did our young master say children must go to school?"
"Of the appropriate age! Children under ten years old must go to school, regardless of whether they are boys or girls. It seems that for those over ten, there will be separate classes or schools for boys and girls?"
"Anyway, you don't need to worry about your brother. As soon as your household registration is finalized, you can arrange for your brother to go to school."
"Why would you need money? No money needed. Our young master said that the taxes collected from the common people must be used for the common people."
"How are you so stupid? That's called 'taking from the people and using it for the people'!"
"I wonder how things are in our Solun tribe?"
"When will the young master lead the troops to attack?"
The conversation continued to derail.
But as these female soldiers chattered and derailed, He Xiuniang also generally understood some things.
First, she didn't have to worry about the "great lords" in this military camp. Those "soldiers" were completely different from the "soldiers" she imagined.
Second, she might be able to work in a workshop and earn a wage sufficient to support herself and her brother.
Third, her brother could go to school, and it wouldn't cost anything.
After analyzing these three points, He Xiuniang felt as if she had arrived in paradise.
Paradise, should it be like this?