Steward Liu frowned and said, "According to your words, we should find an opportunity to report this to the officials now, and also inform Mr. Qian, Mr. Li, and Mr. Zhang, right?"
After both his sons nodded in agreement, Steward Liu continued, "Although the Master trusts me, this matter concerns the life and death of the entire Liu family. Even if the Master trusts me, he probably has other contingency plans."
"If we are discovered when reporting to the officials, or when we inform Mr. Qian and the others, I fear that nothing will happen to the Master, but our family will face annihilation first."
After thinking for a moment, Steward Liu instructed his two sons, "You two should each gather the family servants from the manor, but you can only pick those who are close to you, like Man Cang and Fu Gui. Those like Lian Xi must absolutely not be used."
Steward Liu's second son was startled and asked, "I know about those like Man Cang and Fu Gui; they have always been close to us and would not betray us. But Lian Xi's family situation has always been poor. Now that there's an opportunity to turn things around, would he still betray us?"
Steward Liu chuckled and said, "If he was the one who instigated this matter today, he would naturally be the first to report to the officials. But since we instigated this matter today, how much benefit can he gain by reporting to the officials with us? If he tells the Master about this, how much reward can he get?"
Speaking of this, Steward Liu said earnestly, "You two must remember not to underestimate the Master. Although the Master is reluctant to spend money on research and development in the workshops, he has never been stingy when it comes to winning people's hearts."
"Similarly, you cannot trust people like Lian Xi too much. This kind of person speaks differently to different people, and serves whoever benefits them. If there's an advantage, he'd sell his own mother, let alone betray us."
"Moreover, relying solely on those few family servants who are close to you will likely be insufficient. You will have to act according to the situation. I will go see the Master first and try to get him to let us go for now."
However, after Steward Liu's eldest son nodded in agreement, the second son chuckled and said to Steward Liu and his elder brother, "Father and elder brother, you are being too cautious. Why don't you think about the current Emperor? How did His Majesty raise his army before Yu Huang Mountain?"
Steward Liu's face darkened, and he reprimanded, "Although His Majesty rose from humble beginnings, he is a true dragon descended from heaven. What, do you want to compete with His Majesty?"
Steward Liu's second son chuckled and said, "What you said, even if I ate more bear bile and leopard gall, I wouldn't have such treasonous thoughts."
"What I mean is, I've read His Majesty's writings in the library before, and also some records of His Majesty's initial rise to power. Cross-referencing them, I found that His Majesty had already written down methods to deal with the current situation in his articles."
Steward Liu frowned, "Methods to deal with the current situation? To put it bluntly, what we father and sons are doing now is rebellion. It's just that His Majesty was rebelling against the Great Qing back then, while we father and sons are rebelling against the Liu family. Can His Majesty teach people how to rebel in his articles? Isn't that the root of chaos in the country!"
The second son shook his head and said, "Whether you believe it or not, His Majesty has written the methods of rebellion in his articles. As far as I know, the prefectural schools in the city, and more than forty universities in the Great Ming, are specifically teaching people how to rebel."
"Nonsense," Steward Liu frowned in disbelief, "It's utter nonsense. If everyone learned the methods of rebellion, the world would have been in chaos long ago, and it wouldn't be so stable!"
The second son replied, "That's not necessarily true. I heard from students in the library that when their teachers teach these subjects, they tell them why the common people in all dynasties rebelled, and why their rebellions failed. If it were them, how would they do it?"
"However, those teachers also said that as long as all the common people in the world knew what rebellion was, then probably no one would follow those ambitious people to rebel."
"It's a pity that our generation all studied in private schools on the manor. By the time the Great Ming established county schools, prefectural schools, and universities, we were already past the age for formal schooling and had no chance to learn these things."
"However, my elder brother's child is only a little over one year old now. When he gets older, he will probably have to go to community schools. After he reaches the county school, he might learn this knowledge."
Hearing this, Steward Liu's heart suddenly stirred, and he looked at his two sons and said, "You two go to Man Cang's house first. His child is currently studying in the county school. Whether he has learned these things will be clear with a single question!"
After both his sons bowed and agreed, Steward Liu continued to the second son, "You just laughed at my elder brother and me for overthinking things. Did you mean to emulate His Majesty's actions when he raised his army?"
The second son nodded and said, "His Majesty killed Scholar Liu first, and then recruited Miao Liu and some young men from the nearby manors. Within just a day or two, he gathered over a hundred young men."
"I think that, of course, we cannot directly kill Master Liu. But we can gather the dissatisfied young men in the village and join forces with them to tie up Master Liu and hand him over to the authorities. Wouldn't that settle the matter?"
"If you think this method is not reliable enough, then when my elder brother and I go to gather the brothers later, we can secretly go to the Farmers' Association and the prefectural yamen to leak this matter."
"As for us, we will temporarily go to Master Liu to gather people. After my elder brother finishes his business, we will lead the brothers who are dissatisfied with Master Liu directly to the authorities."
"As for what you said about appeasing Master Liu and acting according to the situation, it's not necessary at all. Don't you know, Father, that the court allows us to tie up Master Liu and bring him to the Farmers' Association, and requires the Farmers' Association to thoroughly investigate Master Liu's background?"
"If others don't know, how can you, Father, not know? Since we have already decided to abandon the darkness and embrace the light, what are you still hesitating about?"
Steward Liu was somewhat moved, but out of the principle of caution being the mother of safety, Steward Liu still added, "You two should go to Man Cang's house first. If Man Cang's child has indeed learned those things, it means the court is not deceiving us. Then, whether you go to the Farmers' Association or directly to the authorities will be up to you."
"But if the officials clearly have not taught those things, yet pretend to be benevolent and righteous to deceive the people, it means that the officials are no different from Master Liu. We cannot rely too much on the officials, and it is better to make long-term plans."
The second son chuckled and stopped arguing with Steward Liu. Instead, he grabbed his elder brother and left their home, heading directly to Liu Man Cang's house.
Upon arriving at Liu Man Cang's house, Steward Liu's second son went straight to the point and asked Liu Man Cang, "Where is your little rascal? A few days ago, I read some books in the library and heard that the county school also teaches students how to rebel, so I came to ask."
Liu Man Cang nodded and said, "The county school does teach it, but the county school does not directly tell them how to rebel. Instead, it tells them the reasons for rebellion in various dynasties, and the examples of why those rebel armies or rebels failed."
Hearing Liu Man Cang say this, Steward Liu's eldest son was immediately confused.
Are the things the second son said true? Do county schools, prefectural schools, and universities really teach people how to rebel?
As for Liu Man Cang's statement that the schools did not teach them how to rebel hands-on, but only analyzed the causes and reasons for success or failure, Steward Liu's eldest son did not care at all. Compared to the reasons why people rebel or why their rebellions failed, teaching people how to rebel hands-on became less important.
After thinking for a moment, Steward Liu's eldest son spoke, "Brother Man Cang, you cannot fool me about this. To put it bluntly, my survival depends on this."
Liu Man Cang looked at Steward Liu's two sons with a bewildered expression and said, "Why would I fool you? Did someone invite me for a drink? Or did someone give me money?"
"To be honest, what I know is from my little rascal showing off after returning from school. If you want me to tell you how to rebel, I probably wouldn't be able to explain it clearly."
Speaking of this, Liu Man Cang looked at Steward Liu's eldest son with curiosity and asked, "You just said your survival depends on this. What's going on? Are you two brothers gambling your lives?"
Steward Liu's second son spat and said, "Gambling what! Let's go inside and talk. This matter is quite serious today."
After entering the house, Steward Liu's second son directly explained everything that he and his elder brother had discussed with Steward Liu. Then he looked at Liu Man Cang and said, "Brother Man Cang, if you join us, then we will go find Fu Gui now. If you are unwilling to join us, you can pretend not to know about this matter."
"Of course, if you want to get more benefits, you can also go to Master Liu after we brothers leave and report us two. I believe Master Liu will not be stingy with such a reward?"
After Steward Liu's second son finished speaking, Liu Man Cang's face turned red, and he cursed, "What kind of dog shit are you spouting! What kind of person do you think I, Liu Man Cang, am?"
Seeing Liu Man Cang angry, Steward Liu's eldest son immediately smoothed things over and said, "Second brother has always been like this, Brother Man Cang, you know that. Don't take it to heart?"
Liu Man Cang then snorted indignantly and said, "Actually, my little rascal studies in the county school, and when he returns, he often tells me about what he reads, and occasionally mentions our Liu family manor."
"That little rascal said that the Liu family was not prominent at the end of Emperor Chongzhen's reign, and only suddenly rose to prominence after the Jurchen entered the pass. He suspects they might have colluded with the Jurchen."
"He also said that the opium dens previously run by the Liu family were harmful to people's lives. The Great Ming Law now stipulates that anyone who dares to open an opium den or deal with the substance of longevity will be executed by dismemberment, which is almost as serious a crime as collecting the living and dismembering the dead."
"..."
After roughly recounting what his child had said, Liu Man Cang said resentfully, "In the past, I couldn't understand why we worked the land with our faces to the loess and our backs to the sky, yet could never live a good life."
"Now I understand, it's because someone doesn't want us to live a good life!"
"What kind of 'family servants' are they talking about? My little rascal said that the Great Ming Law has long stipulated that the keeping of slaves is not allowed. Only people like Master Liu would always talk about 'family servants.' This is completely treating people as less than human!"
Speaking of this, Liu Man Cang stood up and said in a low voice, "Let's go, we'll go find Liu Fu Gui together. His child just entered the county school last year, and he probably understands these principles too."
Steward Liu's two sons immediately stopped Liu Man Cang. What a joke, with this guy's current eagerness to devour people, wouldn't he be discovered as abnormal as soon as he stepped out of the door?
After Liu Man Cang calmed down, the three of them went to find Liu Fu Gui.
As Liu Man Cang had said, Liu Fu Gui himself had long been dissatisfied with Master Liu. Now that someone wanted to cause trouble for Master Liu, Liu Fu Gui eagerly offered suggestions: "The blacksmith Er Tiejiang, the old cripple Li, and Da Lao Hei on the manor are similar to us. They have also complained frequently. We can call them all!"
"This way, we will find a few more people later. Eldest brother and second brother, you two should have your father make arrangements for reception. When we go to the Liu family, we will directly tie up Master Liu and bring him to the Farmers' Association. Anyway, the Great Ming does not allow the keeping of private guards or retainers, so Master Liu does not have many people he can mobilize!"
"By the way, if our township's Farmers' Association does not hold a public trial immediately, we will directly tie up Master Liu and take him to the prefectural yamen. We must not give Master Liu any chance to turn the tables!"
As it turned out, the old saying of the ancestors about guarding against thieves day and night was very true. With Steward Liu acting as an inside informant and opening the door, the process of Steward Liu's two sons leading a group of so-called "family servants" to meet Master Liu was very smooth, and the process of tying up Master Liu was naturally even smoother.
And when a group of people tied up Master Liu and brought him to the township Farmers' Association, the leader of the township Farmers' Association almost burst into laughter.
Who were they bringing?
Master Liu!
When the Great Ming had just recovered Songjiang Prefecture, the township Farmers' Association, county Farmers' Association, and even the prefectural Farmers' Association wanted to deal with Master Liu. However, Master Liu hid too deeply and had a good reputation in his daily life. Even when the Farmers' Association wanted to deal with him, the common people would protect him. Now, Master Liu was actually tied up and brought to them by the common people!