"How dare he! How dare he!"
Qian Sheng paced back and forth in the room, his face a mixture of rage and fear. His hollow roars explained what it meant to be all bluster and no substance. "He's playing with fire! Doesn't he fear that Jiangnan will fall into chaos because of this!"
The other few people in the room also had grim expressions, their faces as unsightly as if they had eaten three pounds of rotten dog feces.
One of them said, "As things stand, I'm afraid there's no place for us to stay in the Central Plains anymore. Master Qian, you assured us with absolute certainty that there would be no problems. Now..."
Another person advised, "It's useless to say these things now. The most important thing is to quickly think of a way to resolve this matter."
The previous speaker angrily growled, "How can it be resolved! With the current situation, can Master Qian resolve it? Or can I, Li Jingzu, resolve it? Or can you few resolve it?"
Then another person said in a deep voice, "Let's stop arguing for now. After all, we are all in the same boat. If we capsize, none of us will come out well."
Hmph!
Alas!
For a moment, the room was filled with a chorus of cold snorts and sighs.
After a good while, the last person who spoke said again, "As things stand, we have no other choice."
Li Jingzu's expression changed, and he whispered, "Are you planning to rebel?"
Before the man could answer, Li Jingzu continued, "I admit your Master Zhang's status in the Jiangnan gentry, and I admit that you and Master Qian indeed have some abilities. However, do you think that just the few of us can fight against those imperial hounds?"
The person called Master Zhang's expression changed, and then he let out a cold snort, "Are we just going to wait to die like this? Look, look, what has the world become?"
"Since it's just us in this room, this old man might as well tell you all clearly—back in the Great Qing era, how many of us honestly paid taxes?"
"Back then, I earned thirty or fifty thousand taels a year and didn't pay a single copper in taxes. Look at now, last year I paid a full ten thousand taels in taxes! Ten thousand taels! I earned less than twenty thousand taels a year, and I paid ten thousand taels just in taxes! After deducting the wages for those poor wretches and the cost of raw materials, after working hard for a whole year, I was left with a mere three thousand taels!"
"Furthermore, in the Great Qing era, our servants and maids were at our mercy, whether to live or die. Look at now, the laborers in the workshops are all walking with their tails held high. Relying on the government and the guilds to support them, they are only willing to work for four hours a day, four hours!"
"Damn it, what I could have done with ten poor wretches now requires thirty, or even forty!"
Master Zhang suddenly became more and more angry as he spoke, "I want to ask, why?"
"If he treated everyone the same, it would be fine. But why does the imperial court not levy taxes on those common folk, but instead tax us, the local gentry and scholars! What right does he have!"
"And he talks about not sharing the world with scholars and officials, but sharing the world with all people? It's sheer nonsense! Are those common folk not people of the world, and we scholars and gentry not people of the world? Are scholars and officials not people of the world?"
At this point, Master Zhang gritted his teeth and said, "That Zhu brat is good at manipulating people's hearts—although those Jian夷 are not good things either, compared to that Zhu brat... Humph!"
As Master Zhang's words fell, a strange silence suddenly descended upon the room.
As Master Zhang said, although everyone was bullied during the Great Qing era, there were still more common folk below them for them to bully.
Now, in the Great Ming, although they could still bully the barbarians who came from overseas, they could no longer bully the common folk who had Ming household registration.
Who could tolerate this disparity?
After a long period of silence, Li Jingzu finally spoke, "Then, according to Brother Zhang's opinion, what should we do about this matter?"
Master Zhang did not answer Li Jingzu's question directly. Instead, he turned his gaze to Master Qian, who had been pacing back and forth earlier, "What do you think, Brother Qian?"
Master Qian thought to himself, "I'm looking with my eyes, with my backside, with my heels—but what's the use of how I look?"
Just as his Li Jingzu said, who among them could fight against those imperial hounds?
Based on me, Master Qian? Or you, Master Zhang, or him, Li Jingzu? Or the other few masters in the room?
Don't be ridiculous. We couldn't even fight the Qing imperial hounds, so how could we fight the Ming imperial court hounds?
Master Qian became increasingly angry as he thought about it, and finally could not help but let out a cold snort, "The situation is clear now. Either we continue to endure like this, showing the magnanimity of letting others spit on us and still smiling, or we fight. Either our families and children go to the yellow springs together, or we strive for wealth and honor."
Master Zhang snorted, "Endure? How can we endure? That Zhu brat has completely ruined our reputations. Now, outside our mansions, aren't they all filled with rotten cabbage leaves? If we endure, we will truly become turtles!"
With Master Zhang's gesture, the other masters could no longer hold back.
Especially Master Qian, his face was filled with frost, "Rotten cabbage leaves? If it were just some rotten cabbage leaves, that would be fine—my ancestral grave has been dug up!"
"I sent people to report to the government, but the government only told me to wait for news, and those yamen runners and constables didn't investigate at all! Damn it, the government's attitude towards me is not as good as towards those common folk, only slightly better than when barbarians report to the government!"
When Master Qian mentioned his ancestral grave, the masters in the room immediately became spirited.
Who was Master Qian?
Back then, Master Qian was a very famous figure in Jiangnan. After all, he was the descendant of the renowned Grand Scholar Qian Qianyi, known as "Too cold water." Although many in the Jiangnan Confucian circles disdained Master Qian's character, they still had to give him face.
Therefore, Master Qian had always taken good care of the grave of Grand Scholar Qian Qianyi, always saying that his ancestor was Grand Scholar Qian—according to Master Qian, was Grand Scholar Qian's grave dug up?
Tsk tsk, if his grave had been dug up, it would have been a great pleasure to him.
It would be best to scatter his bones all over the ground!
But before these masters could rejoice for long, their respective stewards rushed to Master Qian's residence and began to cry out to their masters: "Master, our ancestral graves have also been dug up!"
"Master, Old Master is truly tragic, his bones are scattered everywhere!"
"Master, Old Master's corpse has been gnawed by wild dogs!"
"..."
If the common people cannot find a target, then no matter how great their anger, there is nowhere to vent it. But once the common people find a target for their anger...
Perhaps no one could withstand this anger.
Why else were there fist masters? Why else was there the Great Black African?
It was precisely to divert this anger elsewhere, to let the anger of the common people be vented in other directions.
And now, those articles that summoned the souls for the Qian Old Dog's family have stirred up the anger of the common people, and Zhu Jinsong, the Great Ming Emperor, at a suitable time, announced the intentions and identities of these people—it is conceivable that the anger of the common people was directed entirely at these people.
The news of one ancestral grave after another being dug up made the masters in the room want to die.
Damn it, because the few of us summoned the souls for that Qian Old Dog's family, our ancestral graves were dug up?
After looking at each other, Master Zhang suddenly stood up, his eyes red, and ordered all the stewards to leave the room. Then he roared in a low voice, "No more enduring! Digging up ancestral graves is an unforgivable offense!"
"I will now report to the government and ask them to send people to investigate who did this! After the government investigates, I will surely flay those bastards alive!"
Master Li also stood up and said in a deep voice, "Brother Zhang is right. We really cannot endure any longer. If we endure any longer, I am afraid that everyone in the world will think that we are easy to bully!"
The other masters also agreed: "That's right, we should report to the government and investigate clearly!"
"If the government does not act, we will uphold the Great Edict of the First Emperor, bind those corrupt officials, and go to the capital to lodge a complaint!"
While the masters were clamoring to report to the government and, if the government did not act, to go to the capital to lodge a complaint, Master Qian suddenly felt relieved.
Well, if only my Qian family's ancestral grave had been dug up, then only I, Master Qian, would have felt miserable. Now that your ancestral graves have also been dug up, it means we are all miserable together.
It's good.
Master Qian, while secretly rejoicing that someone was suffering with him, wiped away tears that were not there and said with a trembling voice, "My brothers, please take comfort. I, Qian, will accompany you to the government!"
Master Zhang nodded gratefully and said, "Good, with Brother Qian willing to go, our chances of reporting to the government are even greater!"
Li Jingzu, however, stopped Master Qian and Master Zhang and others, saying, "Let's not rush to report to the government yet."
After Li Jingzu's words fell, Master Qian and Master Zhang and others glared at Li Jingzu.
Master Zhang angrily said, "Brother Li, you just said that we cannot endure anymore, but why are you stopping us now? Don't forget, the grave of Lord Li Sancai, Li Da, has also been dug up. Does Brother Li still intend to endure?"
Li Jingli said with a dark face, "I naturally do not intend to endure any longer. However, with just the few of us reporting to the government like this, Brother Zhang, do you think the government will care about us? If the government cared, what was the result of Master Qian's previous report?"
Master Qian also said with a dark face, "Then what does Brother Li mean?"
Li Jingzu said, "First, let's summon our respective clansmen. After all, the digging up of ancestral graves is a major event for the entire clan, not just for our families."
"After our clansmen have gathered, we will then report to the government."
"If the government sends people to investigate, that's fine. If the government still procrastinates as before, we can take advantage of the fact that all the old and young of our clan are present, and directly bind that dog official and go to the capital to lodge a complaint!"
However, after Li Jingli finished speaking, the other masters suddenly became a little timid.
If it came to gathering clansmen to cause trouble at the government office, these masters were not timid at all, after all, gathering clansmen to pressure the government was a traditional skill.
But to actually bind government officials and take them to the capital to lodge a complaint...
These masters were a little scared.
Binding government officials might be easy, going to the capital might be easy, and even lodging a complaint might not be difficult.
The difficult part was that we had just been summoning souls for that Qian Old Dog's family, and then we ran to complain to the Great Ming Emperor...
After thinking about it, Master Zhang could not help but cough and say, "Let's first summon the clansmen to report to the government. If the government does not act, we do not need to think about going to the capital to lodge a complaint anymore. After all, officials protect each other. Even if we complain to the capital, what good will it do?"
Li Jingzu's heart suddenly tightened, and he asked, "Then what does Brother Zhang mean?"
Master Zhang let out a cold laugh and said, "After all, our clansmen are all here. If we attack the government office, it will be a crime of rebellion. Then..."
Master Qian looked at Li Jingzu, then at Master Zhang and the other local gentry and scholars. Finally, he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, saying, "Then we will do as Brother Zhang suggests!"
After the masters had decided, they soon left Master Qian's residence one by one to go back and gather their respective clansmen.
But no one expected that after the other masters had left, Master Qian suddenly called his steward and instructed, "Immediately send someone to tell my wife to pack up the gold and silver. Just bring the gold, silver, deeds, house deeds, and household registration books—things that are easy to carry. After packing, we will leave immediately."
Master Qian's steward looked at Master Qian with a bewildered expression and asked, "Master? Our ancestral grave..."
Master Qian directly kicked the steward and scolded, "Hurry up and go! Ancestral grave? What time is it now? How can we still care about ancestral graves? These scoundrels have gone mad. They are looking for death, but we cannot accompany them!"
After the steward hurried towards the backyard, Master Qian's legs went weak, and he slumped onto the chair.
Among the masters present today, Master Qian was the most ruthless in cursing Zhu Jinsong, the Great Ming Emperor, the most active in fabricating black materials about past Ming emperors, and the most enthusiastic in summoning souls for the Qian Old Dog's family.
However, Master Qian had never thought of rebelling. Even after learning that his ancestral grave had been dug up and the bones of his ancestors were scattered everywhere, Master Qian had never thought of rebelling.
Moreover, Master Qian, who was very much like Grand Scholar Qian Qianyi, knew very well that if the local wealthy landlords like them wanted to rebel, their only end would be the annihilation of their nine generations of kin. How many days had it been since the Great Qing fell?