The rise of the prince

Chapter 316

The lights in Liu Ji's house were dim, and the night wind was howling outside, rustling the woods around the village, and the ear-piercing sound of cicadas were everywhere.

The small house was lit with lights, surrounded by a group of people, twenty or thirty of them, most of them were elders and women in the village, young and old all went out to fight, and not many came back.

Everyone surrounded Liu Ji, and Liu Ji recounted what King Pingnan said that day in the prisoner-of-war camp. The lights were flickering, and everyone sat on the dirt floor and listened carefully, with different expressions.

After listening, most of the people looked surprised.

"I'm afraid it won't happen, it's too...too mysterious." The old hunter, smoking a pipe, couldn't believe it.

"How can this person be so dark?"

Liu Ji shook his head: "I don't know whether it's true or not. After the court Pingnan King said that day, my mind was always confused, and I didn't dare to ask the magistrate."

"I don't think so. If it takes such trouble, then the prefect's soldiers are here to give us food." Someone said, and everyone nodded slightly.

"Hmph!" At this moment, the village head with the highest seniority in the village snorted, "Worried about trouble? I'm afraid you won't help fight the war if you're afraid of trouble! You don't need to talk about this matter, I already knew about it."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked.

The village head leaned on a walking stick and knocked on the floor: "I knew it a long time ago! The rice given to our village is from Linyang. Linyang is colder than ours. The rice grown is not glutinous enough, the grains are small, and the mouth is rough. The grain in the official storehouse is rice near Suzhou, and that rice is not grain at all.”

When the village chief said this, everyone opened their mouths wide with surprise on their faces.

"Then you didn't tell me earlier!" Liu Ji was surprised.

The village chief shook his head and tapped Liu Ji on the head with his crutches: "Your son has seen the world, but you are not sophisticated enough. I have crossed more bridges than you have walked! Don't you want to see what I am going to do?" explain?

Have you ever seen an official who comes with a knife and a gun to deliver food?

A knife weighs a few kilograms when you carry it on your body, and you have to carry food, so why carry it?I'm just afraid that someone will see it!If I say, the first one in the village will not survive! "

The village chief sternly tapped on the walking stick.

Liu Ji was completely stunned, and sat down on the ground with empty eyes: "I took them out to die?"

The village chief was silent for a while, then shook his head: "It's not your fault, I didn't stop you at the beginning, I sent you out of the village. Someone has to die, someone dies, and only the rest of you can live."

The village chief pointed at everyone sitting with his thin fingers.

Then he stood up tremblingly again, and patted Liu Ji on the shoulder: "It's a long life, and I can understand it. This is the way of the world, and it has nothing to do with you. Some people will die, and some people will live."

The lights were dim, the fire was flickering, the atmosphere in the room was oppressive, and everyone was silent for a long time.

The effect of Li Xingzhou's prisoner-of-war propaganda was quickly manifested. As time went by, public opinion in Ansu Prefecture gradually boiled. Of course, the enemy this time was not the imperial court. Join the siege army.

And from time to time in the city, people escaped over the wall and joined the imperial army.

Li Xingzhou didn't want to use firearms, because Suzhou City is different from Linyang City, Suzhou City can be said to be the most affluent city in the south, if firearms are used, it is just for the sake of having fun and destroying this place.

Furthermore, at the end of May, Yang Hongzhao's army arrived, and the two armies encircled the city. The number of besieging soldiers reached 11 at once.

Yang Hongzhao, on the other hand, was obviously more polite to him when we met again this time.

At the end of May, envoys were sent from the city of Suzhou to say that Ding Yi wanted to see him.

Li Xingzhou didn't want to meet at first, because the victory and defeat had already been decided, so there was no need to meet, but he thought about it again, he was afraid of affecting the morale of the army, so he allowed it.

The next day, at the appointed time at noon, the soldiers of the two sides set up a canopy in Suzhou City and the camp of the imperial army, and then the defenders at the top of the city retreated, and the imperial army retreated two miles.

Li Xingzhou rode on Meixue, wore a black mountain armor, and only brought the dagger that Wei Qingyu gave him, and then walked to the arbor under the eyes of many soldiers. Before leaving, Ji Chunsheng and Qifang repeatedly told him to be careful.

In fact, Li Xingzhou was not afraid. The arbor in the middle was about a kilometer away from the imperial army, and it was also about a kilometer away from the top of the city. With a distance of a kilometer, the defenders at the top of the city had nothing to do, but the cannons of the Shenji Battalion were within range.

Furthermore, he was not afraid of Ding Yi at all. If it was a close combat, he might not be Ji Chunsheng's opponent, but when facing Ding Yi, he had a high probability of winning.

After a while, the gate of Suzhou also opened, and Ding Yi rode out of the city alone.

The two of them will be under the arbor without dismounting from their horses. On horseback, if the other party is cheating, they can quickly leave.

Ding Yi rode over, apparently much thinner, with sunken eye sockets. After entering the shed, the two horses were about five steps apart, and Ding Yi bowed to each other on the horse.

Li Xingzhou returned the salute, and then grabbed Meixue: "Brother Ding, what do you want to see me?" He asked calmly. Now that things have happened, verbal attacks such as rebels and thieves have lost their meaning.

Ding Yi fixedly looked at him with complicated eyes, and said after a long time: "I have a question and I want to ask for advice."

Li Xingzhou nodded.

Ding Yi paused, and continued: "You know why I rebelled?"

Li Xingzhou shook his head.

"When I was young, my grandparents left me a wealth of wealth. I should be happy and proud." Ding Yi's voice was very low, and he was very weak when he spoke.

"Growing up slowly, I don't want to live up to the expectations of my parents. The harder I work, the more I want people to look at me seriously. I read the books of sages, and I also want to be admitted to serve my family and country." His voice rose slightly as he spoke.

"But then I found that no matter how hard I tried, they would say that after being a businessman, I was a lowly person, a dude, protected by my parents, and I was useless, hehehe
King Pingnan, please tell me, if you have worked hard all your life to accumulate wealth and power in Wang Guan's family, will you pass it on to your descendants?Could it be possible to throw them all into the river?What's wrong with that!Why do they say me!Why hate me! "Ding Yi gritted his teeth and said loudly.

Li Xingzhou didn't speak, he knew that Ding Yi hadn't finished speaking.

"That's all!" He hysterically questioned loudly: "We rely on our own efforts to accumulate money for generations, but because we are businessmen, the imperial court can do whatever it wants to us! The imperial court wants to fight a war, and if there is not enough money, it will kill a few big families. Shang; the imperial court wants disaster relief, but there is not enough money, so they copy a few big merchants!
But we merchants have no power to fight back, and let the mermaid be slaughtered, why?

Is this what the imperial court rewards us who pay commercial taxes every year!Like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, it is kept in the pen every day, not knowing when it will be slaughtered, and who will be killed!

Ever since I was a child, I have had enough. The Tian family is so unfair and does not give us a way to survive. Why can't we rebel!

King Pingnan, answer me!As a member of the heavenly family, you answer me! "

The more Ding Yi spoke, the more angry he became, and finally his eyes were red, and the veins on his forehead were bulging, and he was on the verge of madness.

Li Xingzhou nodded: "You are right." Indeed, since ancient times, most dynasties in China have suppressed businessmen for a reason. One is not easy to control; the other is to divert social hatred.

Because under the monarchy, it is impossible for people to be equal.Long-term inequality will naturally lead to public grievances, but how can these public grievances be vented?The best way is naturally to vent to the businessman through a guided transfer.Because businessmen are one of the biggest inequalities in the eyes of the common people. They have more money and live better than most people.

Once these big businessmen are killed, not to mention that they can replenish the national treasury, those living worse than them will naturally be happy, and they will not think about the root cause of inequality.

This is a means of the rulers, and most of the dynasties have it.

As He Shen said in a classic TV series, the common people don't know what is right and what is wrong, as long as the people killed are more powerful than them and live better than them, they will be happy.It's not rough to say, this principle is common all over the world.

This shows that in the era when the people at the bottom lacked thinking, it was unrealistic to pursue those things that were too ethereal.

"You may be right, but look at what you have done since you took power. You suppressed other businesses, extorted money, recruited soldiers, and deceived the people. The two regions of Sulu and Lu were starved to death. You are not even as good as half of the imperial court." Li Xingzhou said indifferently. Dao, he understands that if he rises to such a height, there is no right or wrong, because the contradiction is there, and it cannot be completely resolved.

Li Xingzhou took half a step forward and looked at him with disgust in his eyes: "You have your reasons, you can resist, you can rebel, if that's the case, you are a man, I respect you. But you shouldn't lie to so many people , what you have done makes me despise you."

In 2012, the United Nations selected two sentences as the consensus of mutual respect and efforts of all human beings, and they will be engraved in front of the United Nations Building. One of the sentences is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Don't impose your will on others, this is the greatest respect for people.

This is also the bottom line of life that Confucius believed, and Ding Yi's starting point may be correct, but what disgusted Li Xingzhou most about his actions was that he imposed his will on tens of thousands of innocent people in Suzhou.

In essence, there is no difference between him and the heretic deceiving Universal Immortal, except that the method used by the Universal Immortal is religion, while he uses lies.

Ding Yi was not convinced: "Those who can accomplish things are heroes, what right do you have to look down on me!"

"If it's a moral dispute, it's up to you, but this is not a moral issue, this is the bottom line." Li Xingzhou turned his horse's head and said, "I despise you, I don't need qualifications, we are not the same way, go back and wash your neck, etc. Well, when the city of Suzhou is broken, it will be the day when you, Ding Yi, will die."

He didn't even turn his head after speaking, and turned his horse's head back to the formation.

"Stop! Stop for me, why do you look down on me! Why?" Ding Yi was still yelling hysterically behind him.

Li Xingzhou didn't pay attention to it, there was nothing to talk between them, no matter right or wrong, they didn't agree with each other.

(End of this chapter)