1785, the 158th year of Chongzhen of the Great Ming, the 50th year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.
March, Yi Hai.
The people of Zhaocun Township were preparing to resist the rebel army from Menglianggu.
Magistrate Zhao had already said that if the Menglianggu rebels could be repelled again, Magistrate Zhao and the other village gentry would once again offer a reward to everyone.
The people of Zhaocun Township were immediately excited.
They could receive a reward if they repelled the Menglianggu rebels one more time?
This was like pie falling from the sky!
Magistrate Zhao had said that the Menglianggu rebels were the most hypocritical. As long as the common people did not hold knives or swords in their hands, the Menglianggu rebels would not do anything to them.
The previous resistances had already proven that what Magistrate Zhao said was correct.
For the sake of their reputation, as long as the Menglianggu rebels did not have knives or guns in their hands, and only held wooden sticks and hoes, they would not kill people. As long as one dared to charge forward with their lives, the Menglianggu rebels would retreat.
Therefore, after receiving the reward, the people of Zhaocun Township prepared to resist the Menglianggu rebels as they usually did.
Unfortunately, when the people of Zhaocun Township walked to the outskirts of Zhaocun Township as usual, still a hundred paces away from the rebel formation, the Menglianggu rebels did not retreat as usual.
When the people of Zhaocun Township took another step forward to test the waters, the rebel army opposite them immediately began the first round of a volly from their flintlock guns. After firing the first round, the first rank of rebel soldiers immediately retreated, and the second rank of rebel soldiers stepped forward to begin the second round of volly.
Fortunately, the flintlock guns in the hands of these rebels were not aimed at the common people, but at the ground beneath their feet. The bang bang bang of the flintlock guns and the plop plop plop of bullets entering the mud made the people of Zhaocun Township involuntarily stop in their tracks.
Just then, a rebel leader among the opposite rebels shouted loudly, "Stop immediately! Anyone who dares to advance further will be killed without mercy!"
The people of Zhaocun Township began to hesitate.
Money was comfortable to spend, but one had to be alive to spend it.
What if these Menglianggu rebels, completely enraged by the previous charges, started slaughtering unarmed civilians like them?
And as these people of Zhaocun Township looked at each other in confusion, they heard the sound of galloping horses from their left, right, and rear.
The more than ten thousand people from Zhaocun Township had been completely surrounded by the Menglianggu army.
The people of Zhaocun Township finally felt afraid.
This was going to cost them their lives.
Over ten thousand people sounded like a large number, but the people of Zhaocun Township were not fools. They had heard of the glorious deeds of the Qing imperial army slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people in cities. They had previously thought that the Menglianggu army would not dare to kill them brutally out of concern for their reputation, but now it seemed…
Would the Menglianggu rebels go on a killing spree?
What if the Menglianggu rebels went on a killing spree, what would they do? What would happen to their families? They had not yet received the other reward promised by Magistrate Zhao.
And as the people of Zhaocun Township hesitated in fear, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "Everyone, keep charging forward! Those rebels, for the sake of their reputation, they definitely won't dare to kill..."
Before the last person could finish speaking, a gunshot rang out, and the speaker fell to the ground with a bullet in his head.
The Menglianggu rebel leader standing in front of the army formation also said in a deep voice, "Anyone who incites the people further will be killed without mercy!"
The people of Zhaocun Township became even more panicked. However, someone in the crowd shouted again, "They're killing! They're killing people! The rebels are killing..."
However, before this person could utter the last syllable of "people," the Menglianggu rebel leader continued to shout, "Everyone, look at whether the person next to you is your neighbor! And look at the two who were killed, those standing next to them, see if they are your neighbors! Or if they are the household guards from those local tyrants and wicked gentry families!"
Upon being reminded, some of the people of Zhaocun Township began to realize something.
It seemed that it was the same in the previous times. They clearly only wanted to stop the Menglianggu rebels from entering the village, but there were always people in the crowd shouting that the Menglianggu rebels did not dare to kill, and urging everyone to charge their formation.
The people of Zhaocun Township became even more hesitant, while the Menglianggu rebel leader continued to shout, "You are now surrounded! As long as you do not move, we will not kill anyone! We are simply inviting everyone to watch a play. After the play, you can all go back, and we will not stop you!"
The people of Zhaocun Township remained bewildered.
They had already surrounded them, yet these rebels were not fighting, not scolding, not killing, but instead inviting the common people to watch a play?
Did something go wrong with these rebels' brains?
Then, these people of Zhaocun Township saw a play called "The Tale of Seeking Relatives."
This play told the story of a poor peasant who owed a large sum of money and could not repay it, so he had to sell his daughter to the mansion of a local gentry as a maid. From then on, the peasant never saw his daughter again. After inquiring everywhere, he learned that the peasant's daughter had already been beaten to death.
When the peasant wanted to report to the county yamen, he found that the county magistrate and the local gentry were colluding, calling black white, and portraying the gentry who harmed the common people as great benefactors. This great benefactor then produced the indenture and claimed that the peasant had come to falsely accuse them and extort money. As a result, the official beat the peasant again and imposed a penalty.
It was only when the righteous army of Menglianggu arrived that justice was served for the poor peasant.
The plot of this play was simple, yet it vividly portrayed how the local gentry and scholars unscrupulously seized wealth, how officials and gentry colluded to oppress the common people, and how they regarded human life as worthless.
The play quickly concluded, and the people of Zhaocun Township felt a mix of emotions.
After all, Zhaocun Township had more than just Magistrate Zhao among its local gentry and scholars; there was also Magistrate Fan of Fanzhuang, Master Yuan of Yuanzhuang, and Master Xu of Xuheizhai. The reputations of these individuals were truly as foul as a stench in the wind compared to Magistrate Zhao.
Not to mention anything else, among the more than ten thousand people present, many had been oppressed by those magistrates and masters, and many of their children had entered the mansions of those magistrates and masters, only to never be seen again.
As the audience below pondered, the Menglianggu rebel leader stood on stage again and shouted, "I can swear to heaven that when our Menglianggu army arrives at a place, we do indeed take down some local tyrants and wicked gentry, but those local tyrants and wicked gentry we take down are the wicked gentry who oppress and harm the common people!"
"We have been in Zhaocun Township for several days, and you should all know that since our arrival, we have not robbed a single commoner, nor taken a single needle or thread from the common people, nor harmed a single commoner!"
"In essence, our Menglianggu army speaks for the common people!"
"Everyone should also think, if the magistrates and masters of your Zhaocun Township have nothing to hide, why are they so afraid of our Menglianggu army?"
"They offer some so-called rewards, asking everyone to charge our flintlock-armed army with wooden sticks and hoes. Why don't they come themselves?"
"That's all. I have finished speaking, and everyone can go back!"
After saying this, the leader actually waved his hand, signaling the rebels who were blocking the path behind the people of Zhaocun Township to clear the way.
However, this made the people of Zhaocun Township even more at a loss.
The rebel leader on stage, seeing that the audience below was pondering and not leaving immediately, immediately shouted again, "Since everyone is unwilling to leave, I will invite a few more people onto the stage to talk about their own experiences."
After saying this, the rebel leader beckoned a rebel and whispered a few words into his ear.
Just as the audience below was curious, the rebel who had just left returned to the stage with a few people.
These people were not the Menglianggu rebels, nor were they some local gentry and scholars who had been taken down by the Menglianggu rebels. Instead, they were ordinary people from Houliu Village, Xing Village, Xu Village, Qianliu, and Zhanglou, villages that had already been taken down by the Menglianggu rebels.
"I am Liu Laosan from Houliu. You may have heard of me. I have two older brothers. My eldest brother was caught by the yamen and beaten for owing rent to the Liu family in our village. He died that night. My second brother's leg was also broken by the doglegs of the Liu family. It was only when the righteous army of Menglianggu arrived that I was able to avenge myself."
"I am Zhang Laowai from Zhanglou. Since I can remember, I followed my father in renting land from Master Zhang's family. I have never eaten a full meal since I was young. It was only when the righteous army of Menglianggu arrived that I had land of my own."
"I am from Qianliu..."
"I am from Xu Village..."
"I am from Xing Village..."
These villages were not far from Zhaocun Township, but they had already been taken down by Zhu Jinsong and his men.
Having these villagers stand on stage was possibly more effective than Menglianggu performing ten grand plays! Their words could outweigh a thousand, ten thousand words from the Menglianggu rebels!
The people of Zhaocun Township were even more confused.
Who was telling the truth?
As Lu Xun once said, once the seed of doubt is sown, it will grow wildly and savagely.
When no one exposed the hypocritical faces of Magistrate Zhao and others to the people of Zhaocun Township, they could still comfort themselves with reasons like "Magistrate Zhao is already very good," "It's good to be alive," and "There's nothing we can do anyway."
However, when someone exposed the hypocrisy of Magistrate Zhao and others, told them that there was another path they could take to live better, and even had people stand up and testify, these people of Zhaocun Township began to doubt.
They doubted whether Magistrate Zhao was using hypocrisy to oppress and harm the common people like the masters in the play, and whether they had been used as pawns by Magistrate Zhao and other gentry.
As the people of Zhaocun Township hesitated, the rebel leader continued, "If you still don't believe it, then this matter is easy to handle. Our Menglianggu righteous army will take everyone back to personally witness us capture those local gentry and interrogate them. Wouldn't the truth and falsehood of this matter be clear?"
"Don't worry, our righteous army will only confiscate the property of those local gentry and interrogate them, without using torture or forcing false confessions. If you know those gentry and believe they do not deserve to die, we will release them. If you think our confiscation of property is wrong, then we will return their property to them."
"However, you cannot charge our Menglianggu army anymore. This is your last warning and your last chance. If anyone attempts to charge the army again, we will deal with them according to the crime of rebellion!"