People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 107 Bless this leader

Time always flies by in peaceful times. Half a month later, Yuyang City, which had been peaceful for a long time, began to become tense because of the gathering of the Yellow Turban Army. Everyone knew that war would come before the autumn harvest.

After the last battle, the people of the four counties under the rule of the Yellow Turbans all shared the same hatred for the Yellow Turbans.

This was not only because the Yellow Turbans distributed land to them and exempted them from miscellaneous taxes, but was also related to the people's hatred of the former powerful families.

If the Yellow Turbans had not come, perhaps they could have tolerated the noble masters riding on their heads, but after the Yellow Turbans came, it was difficult for them to go back to live that kind of life.

The Yellow Turbans' guards went to every village under their rule and told the people that the hateful tyrants were coming to attack them again and to oppress the common people.

He said that the Yellow Turbans would try their best to keep the war out, and the people only needed to stay calm and do the autumn harvest.

But the enemy is vicious and cunning, and the people must be prepared for the enemy to burn, kill and loot. Every village must conduct joint defense drills and know how to protect their lives and property in times of danger.

The guards' propaganda made all the people in Yuyang nervous, and every village started joint defense drills during the slack season.

When the Yellow Turbans set out on their expedition, no one knew how many people came to see them off spontaneously. Not even their family members were among them, but in their eyes, everyone here was their family.

An old woman trembled as she came to the side of the team and grabbed a young soldier. "My son, I know you are always timid, but when you go into battle, you must not be afraid of death. You must kill more people and avenge your elder brother. Do you understand?"

The young soldier's eyes immediately turned red, and he responded timidly, "Mom, I know, I'm not afraid!"

The old woman felt distressed and reluctant, but she wiped her tears and continued, "If the righteous army had not only selected one person from each military household, I would have sent your second and third brothers here together. Since you insist on coming, you can't abandon my family. Even if you die on the battlefield, you can't be a deserter!"

The young soldier nodded quickly, his eyes suddenly becoming firm. Without any words being said, this look could make the old mother understand.

The horn of departure sounded, and the young soldier stood up straight, then smiled at his old mother.

"Mom, don't worry, I will definitely come home with merit!"

The old woman's eyes were red, and she just nodded silently, then took a step back to watch her son go to the battle.

The army gathered in the city, and then under the leadership of Wang Dang, they slowly marched towards the city gate. However, every soldier would subconsciously turn their heads and look at one place when passing by the government office. That was a huge stone sculpture outside the Yuyang government office.

This was the second thing Xu Chen did after recruiting craftsmen, besides building a papermaking workshop.

He arranged all the carving work to complete this sculpture.

From the transportation of the boulder to the completion of the final carving, it took more than two months to complete the work.

What was finally presented to the world was a sculpture of a farmer, except that this farmer was sharpening the hoe in his hand into a spear.

On the tall base below, there are several large characters carved.

Most of the soldiers were illiterate, but they already knew what these words meant.

The Duke will live forever and be immortal!

Whenever they saw this stone carving and the words, the hearts of all the soldiers were filled with warmth, for they knew that it was the glory of their group.

If they die in battle in the future, their souls will have a home and they will be able to enjoy the incense forever and become immortals.

They also know what they are fighting for: to protect their homes, for their grand ideals, and for the people of the world.

Such a war is great, and such a sacrifice is also great.

At the king's command, the soldiers sang passionate songs in unison and rushed towards the distant battlefield under the gaze of many people.

After seeing her youngest son off, the old woman felt empty inside.

She walked to the bottom of the monument unknowingly, and then accurately found a name among the large stone slabs next to it. She knew that it was the name of her son. She had no idea how many times she had seen it here.

But as she watched, she couldn't help but shed tears, and prayed in her heart that the eldest son would take good care of the youngest son in heaven.

After seeing this, she couldn't move her feet and stood there for a long time, refusing to leave. Finally, she simply sat down next to the stone slab, as if this would allow her to be closer to her eldest son. Even if she was just talking to herself here, she would be satisfied.

It was not until dusk that a young man quietly stood beside her. The old woman subconsciously raised her head. Although she did not know the other person, she could tell from his short hair that he was a Yellow Turban, which softened the old woman's eyes.

The old woman laughed and said, "Young man, are you here to pay your respects as well?"

The young man was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, everyone here is my comrade-in-arms." The old woman nodded, then her expression became a little sad: "Yes, everyone is a comrade-in-arms, it's good this way, when I'm gone, I don't have to worry about my eldest son having no one to mourn him."

The young man also sat down next to the old woman.

In fact, people could be seen coming to the monument to pay their respects at all times, but the old woman stayed there for too long, which is why the young people noticed her.

Of course he knew why the old woman was like that. After all, every name here meant a life.

But the old woman's behavior made him feel uncomfortable. This discomfort was mostly due to guilt. The people whose names were engraved on her names were the ones who followed him down this path.

"Your son is a hero. He has become an immortal now. Just like what is written here, he will be immortal forever."

"Yeah, that's great."

"He died with us Yellow Turbans. If you feel bad, you can scold me."

The young man sighed, but as soon as he said this, the old woman's expression suddenly became unhappy.

She glared at the young man, then snorted and started to teach him a lesson.

"You kid is a Yellow Turban, how come you are not as knowledgeable as a woman like me? The Yellow Turbans are a volunteer army helping us poor people. Helping the volunteer army is helping ourselves. How can you blame the Yellow Turbans?
My son is gone, and I only hate those powerful people. They are the bad guys, they are the murderers. If it weren't for the Great Heavenly Master who brought the Yellow Turbans to defeat them, my family would have no idea what life would be like now!
Now they want to continue to bully us. Not to mention that my eldest son is gone, even my youngest son is gone. All my sons are gone. Even with my old bones, I will go up and fight them to the death!"

The young man was stunned for a long time, opened his mouth, and didn't know what to say. The more the old woman was like this, the more uncomfortable he felt.

Fortunately, after the old woman said this, her expression softened.

"You don't have any bad intentions, you're just young and ignorant. Since you are a Yellow Turban, you must remember to follow the Great Heavenly Master and do your job well. Lead us poor people to rise up and kill all the tyrants in the world. Only then can we really live a good life. Do you understand?"

The young man was a little amused and helpless for a moment, but finally nodded silently.

The old woman sighed, took a last reluctant look at the name on the stone tablet, then hunched over and slowly walked away from the place.

At dusk, the young man was the only one left sitting there alone.

He stood up and looked up at the sculpture. He felt extremely heavy-hearted. He didn't know how many more stone slabs he would have to add here in the end.

After a while, an equally young Yellow Turban came up to him and said, "Master, it's getting dark, let's go back to the office."

Hearing this, he nodded and just prayed for himself in his heart.

The heroes on this stone tablet, please bless this leader to succeed in his career.
"Take good care of this place and make sure the incense is not cut off. If the people want to pay their respects and mourn, do not stop them." After taking a final look at the monument, Xu Chen said this and turned to go into the government office.

When the Yellow Turbans went to war, the common people in the rear could not sit idle.

Not more than ten days after Wang Dang led his army to the expedition, the village chiefs and platoon leaders under the Yellow Turbans began to organize the people to carry out the autumn harvest.

The time of harvest is the most satisfying and reassuring, especially when the fruits of the harvest belong to you after you pay the grain tax. You don't have to sell your labor to the master of the family, nor do you have to worry about the exorbitant taxes from the court. You can live a down-to-earth and peaceful life.

All the work went very smoothly. Even when the people went to pay their taxes, they had smiles on their faces. There was no need for the officials to go door to door to urge collection. The people just delivered their taxes on their own initiative.

The harvest of the past six months was finally no longer divided up by the government and the powerful, but was stored in the homes of the common people.

The Yellow Turbans' granaries were also rapidly filling up with continued taxation, which also indicated that the Yellow Turbans had finally gotten rid of the dilemma of relying on the rich for survival and now truly had the economic foundation for sustainable governance.

Of course, the income from grain taxes alone could not meet the needs of the Yellow Turbans. Xu Chen, the helmsman, also began to plan new sources of income.

Moreover, although Wang Dang's going out to fight this time was a response to the encirclement and suppression, it might also be an opportunity to expand the territory.

All of you are eyeing our Yellow Turbans' food, but don't you know that we, the Yellow Turbans, are also eyeing your property?

Getting rid of the dilemma of only being able to prey on the wealthy only meant that the Yellow Turbans had another more stable source of income, but it did not mean that they had to give up preying on the wealthy.

Robbing and confiscating the hard-earned gains of the rich is a way to quickly accumulate wealth, and no one can resist this temptation.

And just as Xu Chen thought, during the prosperous autumn harvest in the Yellow Turban base, the 4,000-strong army led by Wang Dang was indeed like a wild dog that had broken free from its reins, bringing devastating disaster to the rural tyrants in the surrounding counties.

(End of this chapter)