People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 631 Looking for Death
Some things are always frustrating. Although Xuanxia is people-oriented, the people as a group are also two sides of the same coin. The power of the masses is the most powerful force in the world. Once someone can lead this force, the torrent of the people will be enough to destroy everything, and Xuanxia was established on this basis.

However, the same people can also be a mob, who cannot distinguish right from wrong and between friends and enemies because of various foolish ideas.

Therefore, Xuan Xia spent ten years to make them wake up. Even though the imperial court knew that many of them would continue to suffer oppression from the Liangzhou nobles during these ten years, it never interfered.

These people have never seen the light and are accustomed to darkness. They are willing to be slaves and servants and can endure hardships. If the government takes the initiative to intervene, they will foolishly succumb to the powerful and stand in opposition to the government. This is not what the Xuanxia court wants to see.

Fortunately, ten years later, under the government's governance, these people who were accustomed to darkness saw the light, and things began to change.

There are two worlds existing simultaneously in Liangzhou today. One is the powerful local forces that maintain the old pattern. These powerful families control countless fields and populations. No matter whether they are Qiang, Hu or Han people, they must suffer direct persecution from them. Everything is just like in the Han Dynasty.

The other is a world governed by the government. The people of this world are the large number of self-cultivating farmers in Liangzhou who have no direct dependence on the powerful families.

Although these self-cultivating farmers were not directly dependent on the powerful families, they still had to rely on the powerful families to survive and reproduce in the local area. They were not very welcoming to the Xuanxia government.

After all, if you have to choose sides between the government and the powerful, offending the government may not result in any harm, but offending the powerful will definitely lead to death.

It was not until the government entered Liangzhou that, under the strong protection of Xuanxia's new legal order, the living conditions of these self-cultivating farmers began to undergo earth-shaking changes, regardless of whether they continued to farm or went to work in factories.

In this world governed by the Xuanxia government, laws and order are above all else. Even powerful local gentry and factory owners must obey the order and give these free people the proper protection.

For the first time in history, the government no longer sided with the nobles and powerful families, but with the ordinary people.

This fundamental change completely created a completely new social order in Liangzhou. The strange situation of coexisting with the old order appeared in Liangzhou for ten years. People in these two worlds saw each other's situation clearly, and the world began to diverge.

Once the people find that the government is completely on their side, and once the tenants and slaves who are dependent on the powerful families are no longer willing to continue to be oppressed by them, then the time has come for the court to take action.

The same thing done at different times will have completely different results. Ten years of preparation and waiting have finally brought us the opportunity now.

While Zhao Yun went to Beijing to report on his work, he was also following the instructions of the central government on this matter.

Xu Chen summoned many important officials of the court to discuss the matter and formulated a plan for the liberation of Liangzhou. The person who executor of this plan was naturally Zhao Yun, the governor of Liangzhou.

If nothing unexpected happens, after this work, it will be time for Zhao Yun to enter the core of the imperial court.

Zhao Yun, who had understood the central spirit, did not stay for too long. About half a month later, he returned to Liangzhou. The last place among the Thirteen States of Xuanxia waiting for complete liberation would also come to an end.

Liangzhou is located in the northwest. It has always been an important passage leading to the Western Regions, but it has never been prosperous.

This place is half pastoral and half agricultural, the ethnic groups are mixed, and there are frequent unrest. The people's living conditions are actually difficult to stabilize. It was not until the Xuanxia government began to take over Liangzhou that the appearance of this place finally underwent a major change.

Under the government's policy guidance, merchants from other places began to enter Gansu to develop industries.

Not only does this area have a wide variety of metal mineral deposits, a semi-pastoral and semi-agricultural structure, and a natural environment suitable for cotton planting, it also has a good foundation for the cotton and wool textile industry. Based on such conditions, many factories have been opened, the people have more livelihoods, and their living conditions have improved greatly in ten years.

In addition, black oil fields have been discovered in Gansu in recent years. Although many people do not know the specific uses of this resource, the imperial court attaches great importance to it. The prime minister even specially appointed personnel from the Institute of Engineering to conduct applied research on it.

With industrial development, there is very little land that is truly barren. There are always resources that can be utilized. Even a poor place like Liangzhou can develop a lot of wealth, and the people living on this land will naturally benefit from it.

The tangible improvement in people's livelihood is enough for the people of Liangzhou to break down all resistance to the Xuanxia court. Only those who are controlled by the powerful are still living in the old world that should have disappeared long ago.

In the countryside of Liangzhou, the earth has lost all its vitality under the scorching heat. At this time, even the most heat-resistant insects begin to hibernate quietly in the shadows between leaves and grass. However, a temporary rest that even tiny insects can get is a luxury for many people.

Industrial development brought dividends to the free people of Liangzhou, but for those who were tightly bound by the powerful families, it turned out to be a disaster, which meant that the powerful families could not only exploit them on the fields, but also in the factories, and the latter was more terrible than the former to some extent. Although farming was hard, at least there were busy and leisure time, but in the factory, if the factory owner was crazy enough, he could use people like sleepless machines, and even in this hot weather, the workers had to bite the bullet and work in the high temperature of the brick kiln.

There was a thud and a person fell straight to the ground, which immediately caused exclamations from the people around him.

Soon, a man who looked like a thug came over, patted the face of the unconscious man, felt the extremely hot temperature on his body to confirm that it was not a pretense, and then snorted in dissatisfaction.

"What a piece of crap, he can't hold on for so long. Come, carry him to a cool place to rest."

The thug stood up, waved his hand and had the unconscious worker carried away. Then he glanced at the others and said in a bad tone, "What are you looking at? If you don't accomplish today's mission, all of you will have your dinner reduced by half. Hurry up and get to work!"

The workers looked at each other but did not move. It was not because they did not want to move, but because they could not move.

Under the scorching sun, the whole earth seemed to have turned into a steamer. In such an open-air environment, they had to endure the high-temperature brick kiln next to them. Even breathing made them feel hot in their throats and noses. The sweat on their bodies kept drying up and getting wet again, and there were even salt stains on their clothes.

If I continue like this, the next person to faint from the heat might be me. And once you faint from the heat, it won't be possible to recover by simply taking a rest. If you're not careful, you may die.

Although they were not very knowledgeable, they knew how powerful they were and could sense that something was wrong.

"Master, we can't do this anymore. If we continue, we will all die of heat!" A middle-aged man couldn't stand it anymore, so he stepped forward and started to discuss with a bitter face.

The thug's face darkened when he saw this: "You guys were happy when I paid you, but now you're complaining when it's time to work. How can this be justified? If you don't want to work, then you want to be beaten, right?"

At this time, a young man could not help but get angry, and he directly said back: "Can the three or five cents we earn be called wages? They are working in factories, and their working hours are regulated, and their wages are ten times ours or more. What's the point of our wages? We can just give up earning them!"

"you!"

The thugs immediately locked onto the young man, murderous intent flashed in their eyes. This kind of troublemaker must be eliminated, otherwise others will definitely be influenced and instigated by him.

As expected, as soon as the young man said this, the workers' eyes began to flicker, obviously because the young man hit the nail on the head.

"Compared with them, how can you compare?" Although the thugs wanted to kill, they would not do it on the spot. There would be many ways to deal with them in the future. The important thing now was to suppress these workers: "You are servants of the family. The master pays you out of pity. Even if he doesn't pay you, it is only natural. Do you think the government will make decisions for you?"

At this point, the thug glanced fiercely at the crowd. These people included Qiang people and Han people, but at this moment, they all had only one identity, that is, slave labor: "I tell you, you are servants of the family, your lives belong to the master of the family, and even the government can't control you!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd suddenly quieted down. This was a reality that made them despair.

What are servants? They are private property. As someone else's property, they can only be controlled by others. Even if they are wronged, they can only swallow it.

Seeing this, the thugs sneered: "No matter how nice it sounds to say that everyone is equal, it has nothing to do with you. Outside, it is the court that rules the world, but in this small piece of land, the head of the family is the king!"

At this moment, everyone was even more silent. They seemed to have accepted their fate and continued to work silently.

Only the young man remained motionless. His gnashing teeth were filled with anger, but more of it was a feeling of frustration and unwillingness. Then, he let out a roar.

"Why? The imperial court has been fighting against local tyrants in other places, but they have chosen not to save us in Liangzhou. No, I want to go to the government office and ask them in person. Aren't we ordinary people?"

This shout was like a thunderclap in everyone's ears. The workers who had just accepted their fate began to feel their chests rise and fall involuntarily, and an impulse quickly spread among the crowd.

The thug's face changed drastically. To him, these words were tantamount to rebellion. This was a rebellion against the head of the family!
"You're looking for death. Come on, hit me!"

(End of this chapter)