Zhurou

Chapter 233 Indignation

But the outsiders were not so easy to deal with. One of them had already seen the basket on the side and immediately shouted, "Madam Zou, what is that?"

Madam Zou thought to herself that something was wrong and said hurriedly, "What can we get from going to the mountain to get firewood?"

While stretching out his foot, he was about to kick it away.

However, before her feet could touch the backpack, people from outside rushed in. The last one slammed the door shut, and was immediately caught in a jar.

Madam Zou was already panicking, and she tried to grab the stick in the corner, but was caught by the person opposite her quickly. Then someone came out from nowhere, covered her mouth, and pushed her into the house.

She opened her mouth to scream, but was choked so tightly. She was struggling desperately when she heard someone above her lowered his voice: "Why are you making noises? Are you going to attract the patrol to cause trouble?"

There was something else behind these words, which made Madam Zou stop what she was doing immediately.

Someone nearby had already come over with the backpack, opened the straw lid, lifted the basket, turned it over, and poured out the contents.

With a few crashes, the big stones from the acid-pressing jar, a handful of things wrapped in lotus leaves - which turned out to be a lot of rotten vegetable leaves picked up from somewhere, a few large firewoods, and several large and small pieces of gravel - all fell to the ground at once.

"Ms. Zou, what are you doing with these?"

Madam Zou glared at him and was about to make up a lie to defend herself.

However, the people on the opposite side did not give her a chance to speak. The leader immediately said, "I knew you were going to mess around. You even ran out to ask how to get to Duting Posthouse. What are you doing? You and His Highness share the same land. If you cause trouble here, what will the officials think? What will the outside world say? How can you ruin His Highness's reputation?"

Madam Zou was stunned.

She thought she was being very careful and even went two streets away to ask for directions, but she never expected that she would be discovered.

"Luckily I came early and stopped you. You should stay in the room and don't go anywhere. Also, don't let your children and mother go out. Don't let anyone involve His Highness in this matter..."

"Everyone else is going to Duting Inn, why are you joining in the fun? What a stupid idea!"

"Where is your Xiao Wu? Call him back quickly. Don't stay in the academy for the next two days. Wait until we're done with this!"

A group of people talked at once for a long time before they could make the matter clear.

It turned out that the refugee camp had already had a plan. In the next two days, they would find an opportunity to go to the vicinity of Naduting Posthouse to find the chief and deputy envoys of the Di people. Although they could not kill them, they would give them a severe lesson. In addition, it was heard that the person who negotiated peace with the Di people was a Hanlin scholar, and someone had already found out the location of his residence. This time, they would stop him on his way back home and smash him with rotten vegetable leaves.

Someone had mentioned this idea two days ago. In the end, although the patrol heard the news and came to suppress it, there were still people who tried to persuade him again and again, saying many great principles, which were also sung in some opera scripts, "When two countries are at war, envoys should not be killed." They also said that if the Di people brought up this matter and the peace talks failed, if the patrol soldiers caught them, it would be a serious crime, regardless of whether they had offended an official of the court or a Di envoy. It would be fine if they were caught and put in jail, but their entire family or even the entire village might be implicated.

These words did persuade people to leave at the time, but once they had dispersed and returned to their homes, they could not help but think about it again.

So no one knew who would take the lead in selecting people, and everyone recommended themselves and vyed for the lead. In the end, after much consideration, they voted for a dozen old ladies by throwing stones and counting. They were all in their fifties or sixties, and there were even three or four in their seventies. Although they didn't walk unsteadily, they had white hair, wrinkled faces, and hunched backs, so people would step away from them on the street for fear of hurting them.

Everyone was very proud and pleased to have received such an important task. They were discussing how to proceed and preparing to pack up their things. They also did not forget to ask around if anyone knew the location of Duting Posthouse. While they were still busy, someone suddenly mentioned Madam Zou's name and said that they saw her asking about the location of Duting Posthouse on a certain street the day before and that she probably knew how to get there.

Everyone in the room had lived half their lives, so they naturally thought more than others. Someone immediately asked whether Madam Zou was going to Duting Posthouse to look for the Di envoys.

Ever since the news of the Di envoys wanting the princess to marry a foreigner got out, some places in other places might have felt tempted to use the princess as a payment for the annual tribute and could not say anything to refuse, but the refugees in the tents were already filled with indignation.

Everyone has the most contact with the princess and receives the most help from her. They know that no matter housing, fields, children's literacy schools, or nursing homes and orphanages in refugee sheds, she is always watching and urging them behind the scenes to implement them one by one. So when they hear the word "marriage for peace", especially a marriage for peace with the Di people who already has a wife and children, they are not willing to agree. Some immediately want to surround the Kyoto government office and the palace.

But after all, many people had not lost their reason. They took turns to persuade him, saying that the matter should be considered carefully to avoid any future troubles, and only then did they reluctantly subdue him.

Now that they knew Madam Zou's intention, they were naturally nervous, fearing that Zhao Mingzhi would be implicated because of her careless behavior. They hurried over to question her, but they caught her red-handed.

"If you are caught, what should Your Highness do? Should He help you or not? If outsiders know about this, they will make up stories, which will be a good opportunity for those shameless and heartless people to talk nonsense about. They will inevitably accuse Your Highness of not knowing how to serve the country..."

"Behave yourself. Whatever you do now is stupid and will cause trouble. Just stay in the house!"

After listening to everyone's persuasion for a long time, Madam Zou was not a stubborn person. She naturally knew the seriousness of the situation, but she just couldn't calm down. For a moment, her voice was filled with tears. She said, "I'm not allowed to do this, and I'm not allowed to do that. What should I do? Can I really let them force me? If I don't say a word, those officials don't know what I'm thinking and force Your Highness to marry. Your Highness doesn't know what I mean and thinks that the whole world wants her to go north..."

He added: "Even if it's just me, I should let them know that there is a person who cannot bear to see the princess marry!"

"You are stupid!" said a woman holding firewood on the opposite side, "You are a human being, and we are not!"

"You say that as if you're the only one with a conscience!" Someone immediately followed suit and cursed.

"It will be dark in an hour or so. We will go to Naduting Posthouse at night. When the sun is about to rise and we can't see clearly, we will pour the manure water at the door..."

Madam Zou's eyes widened when she heard this.

She just wanted to use stones to smash the door, use a stick to pick up a tile, and if she happened to meet a Di messenger, she could throw rotten vegetable leaves on his head, which would be a great achievement. However, compared with the manure water, she was too embarrassed to even mention it.

"We won't be caught, will we?!" she couldn't help but ask.

"If they catch me, what can we do about it?" One of them snorted and said nonchalantly, "Others might be afraid of trouble, but I'm already seventy-two years old, who would dare to catch me? If I really go to jail, remember to serve me porridge twice a day - if I die, the government will bury me!"

"When the government interrogates me, I will say that all my family members were kidnapped and killed by the Di people. I am old and my legs are weak. I can't shoot arrows or kill the bandits. Today, I forgot that the Di people were coming, so I just threw a basin of feces on the old man to avenge him. This is not just a bluff!"

"It's the same in everyone's family! My daughter's whole family... I'm the only one left, helpless and alone. If I really meet the Di people, I'll fight to the death, but..." "Before you couldn't defeat us, so you came to kill us. Today you have defeated us, and it's clear that you have won, but you still want to use the princess to ask for peace. There is no such thing in the world!"

"Those officials, who receive salaries every day and live such a good life, have no idea what they do all day long! They actually asked the princess to marry!"

As they talked, they became more and more angry. No one knew who started the quarrel, but they all started walking out. As they walked, they grabbed hoes and sickles from their homes and put them in baskets behind them for use. They even didn't spare the rotten vegetable leaves in Madam Zou's house; they took away the baskets and lids along the way.

When everyone left, they closed Madam Zou's door and specifically told her not to go out.

The group of people set out one after another, each carrying a basket on their back. Some even piled bricks and stones in a bamboo basket and carried it on their backs. After walking for a while, the group was still very aggressive, but when they saw the patrol soldiers in front, they reacted and dispersed, finding a small path to get out.

Most of the people were the elderly, the weak, women and children, and they walked slowly to begin with. After walking for a while, they missed those who were guarding the refugees' tents, and then gathered together again and regrouped into several teams.

It was late afternoon and getting dark, and many people in the refugee sheds were heading home. Seeing this passerby on the other side, they had to ask a few more questions. They were from the same place, and might be relatives or neighbors. Since they were questioning, no matter how vague they were, there would always be a few who were not tight-lipped and revealed something or other.

Hearing that they had to go to Duting Posthouse, they also had to stop the envoys to ask for permission. Who could miss such an important matter? The team was getting bigger and bigger, and everyone had their reasons for not not going.

This one said, "I know a small road to Dutingyi. It has several turns and doesn't attract attention on the main road... How do I get there? Even if I tell you, it's hard to remember. None of you have been there before. What if you take the wrong road? And it's hard to ask for directions. Be careful not to be seen by the patrolmen, who will start to bother you!"

The other said, "I know an old man nearby. They are all poor people. We can find them to help us carry manure. Otherwise, where can you get so much manure? You can't just bring it from home. And we can't rush to look for it. It will attract attention. If we are far away, the stink will spread all over the place. We will stink ourselves instead of the thieves!"

Someone else said, "Aunt, you are already over seventy years old. How can you walk all the way there with such a heavy basket? I'll carry it for you and return it to you when we get there. I'm sure you won't come forward and ask you to break down the door again!"

Everyone pushed for this and that, and the road was so long that they couldn't be stopped. No matter how much they tried to persuade them, it was useless. Finally, someone even said, "It's easier to get things done with more people. When there are more people, it's hard for the patrolmen to catch up with them when they run away! If there are fewer people this time, how can the court know what the 'people's hearts' are? It's better to throw shit in the faces of those officials who can only talk and shout about surrender, so that they can wake up and pour out the water inside, and then they will know how to behave like human beings!"

So they walked from dawn to dusk, and everyone knew to divide into multiple teams, in groups of three or five, and finally arrived outside the Naduting Posthouse at the end of the You hour.

Someone had already used some connections to borrow a small courtyard very close to the house from an acquaintance and watched for half a day.

Because the government office had been prepared, there were especially many patrolmen deployed on this street. If you walked a few more steps, you would be questioned. The group tried several times but could not get close. They were also afraid that if they moved too much, they would be questioned. So they had to retreat to the courtyard temporarily and huddle together to discuss a solution.

Everyone in this place had been up all night, and they were at a loss as to what to do. Suddenly, a man who had climbed to the top of the wall to keep watch shouted, "Someone is coming out of the gate!"

"which one?"

"Who's coming out?"

"Is it the Di people?"

There was half a street between the two sides and it was dark, so it was naturally difficult to see clearly.

The man stretched his head and peeked, and after a long while, he shouted, "The horses are coming out, and there's a man in red clothes, he must be that scholar!"

Everyone suddenly became excited.

"Why not stop his horse first!"

"If you stop his horse, the government will know about it, and we won't be able to throw manure on the Di people!"

"There are patrols everywhere, and it's hard to get close. If we don't stop the horses, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop the official, let alone the Di people. It's better to catch this one than to do nothing, right?"

The man on the wall shouted again, "Wait, there are a few people coming out from behind... they seem to be... Di people! Di people are coming out too!"

The Di envoys were dressed and dressed completely differently from the Jin people. Although their faces could not be seen clearly, the difference was still recognizable.

The crowd was still arguing, and then they all stopped, all of them were nervous.

The man said again: "The Di people came out together with the one wearing red robe! Manure? Where is the manure? Quickly go to the street ahead and block them!"

As he spoke, the man was really anxious. He raised his hand to point in the direction, but he had forgotten that his hands were still holding on to the wall and he almost fell down.

The people below were already in a state of panic.

This one asked: "Put down the bucket of manure and let me carry it!"

The other said, "I will carry it to the front first, and you can come and take it when we get there. It's so far, how can you carry it?"

Those who couldn't grab the bucket cursed: "Bullshit, when I was carrying manure water to water the vegetables, your grandmother was still in her mother's belly!"

Someone else looked around and asked, "Where is the water scoop? Don't go too far, bring it over! The bucket is too heavy, I'm afraid it will be wasted if it is poured into the wrong place!"

While a group of people were talking, the dung bucket that had been hidden in the corner was finally carried forward. Everyone covered their noses, but everyone rushed forward to grab it.

Just as they were delayed for a moment, a commotion and shouting came from the direction of the Duting Posthouse. The man leaning on the wall uttered an "eh" and couldn't help shouting, "A lot of people have come!"

He paused for a moment, and suddenly opened his mouth and let out an "Ah", followed by screams, sounds of blocking, and shouting from the distance.