Water Margin people

Chapter 1534: Emancipation of Serfs

"General, you can't do this!"

Finally, someone couldn't bear it anymore. Slaves were the foundation of their livelihood on the plateau, and their wealth and glory came from the exploitation of slaves.

Everyone kneeling on the ground looked at the man who stood up and spoke. They hoped that this would be the clarion call for their resistance.

Wu Lin didn't waste any words with the man. He swung the spear in his hand and cut off half of the man's head. Brains and blood were scattered all over the ground.

This scene frightened everyone so much that they were stunned. They didn't expect these people to suddenly attack without even a word. This did not give them any chance to speak at all.

"I am reading out His Majesty's will, which is the unquestionable authority of God!"

Wu Jie looked at everyone and said in a cold voice that he was reading out the imperial edict, representing the State of Qi and the emperor. This was not a discussion and no one was allowed to question it.

No one dared to say a word. The body of the dead man was right in front of them. Whoever spoke would suffer the same fate.

All the slaves in Qingtang City were brought to the streets, their chains were opened, their slave contracts were burned, and the Qi soldiers chanted the emperor's grace, allowing these poor people to believe in Qi and Emperor Sun Lei. As long as they surrendered sincerely, they would be free.

The slaves with dull eyes listened to everything in disbelief. They did not speak Chinese, so the soldiers spoke the local dialect of the plateau.

After a long period of silence, there was finally movement and cries of pain. Over the past few hundred years, officials, temples, and nobles had divided up the entire plateau. They were enslaved and lived a life worse than that of animals.

Officials, temples, and nobles not only exploited their labor income, but also exploited their bodies and lives. As long as those people took a fancy to them, everything they had would be taken away.

“I didn’t expect there are still slaves now!”

Wu Lin walked to Wu Jie with a somewhat grim expression. He had heard about the serfdom system on the plateau a long time ago, but he thought it was just enslaving the people. But now he saw with his own eyes that this was not slavery at all, it was simply outrageous and cruel abuse. They could peel off the skin of a young girl or take off the skull of a man if they liked. They did not care about human life so much.

"There are many dark places, but your majesty's light will illuminate everything! Drive away all the evil spirits of this time!"

Wu Jie spoke with a mysterious look on his face. His voice was so loud that many of the freed slaves heard his words.

"Lord of Light,"

The people who had been crying for a long time finally came to their senses. They knelt down in front of the imperial edict hanging high up. They called the Emperor of Central Plains the King of Light and thanked him for bringing them light.

Liu Qi ordered the warehouses of Qingtang City to be opened and the food inside was distributed to the slaves. This action made the slaves very grateful as they had never had a full meal in their lives.

Smoke rose from cooking fires in Qingtang City, and the slaves were eating the best meal they had ever had.

Outside the city, Qi Huai'en hurriedly came with a large army. He had retreated in defeat. When he saw that Qingtang City had been broken, he was overjoyed and immediately led his men into Qingtang City.

But when he saw slaves eating in the streets, he felt something was wrong. On the plateau, slaves were worse than animals and were not qualified to eat normal meals. It was good enough to have a few handfuls of coarse food.

"Hey, you lost again?"

Liu Qi looked at Qi Huai'en and said coldly in a very impolite tone that Qi Huai'en had been defeated in many battles and had completely lost the face of the State of Qi.

"General, what's going on? Are the slaves causing trouble? I'll bring some people to suppress it right away!"

Qi Huai'en spoke immediately.

"Look carefully before you speak!"

Liu Qi slapped Qi Huai'en on the head and turned his head to face the notice posted on the city wall.

“This…how can this be possible!”

Qi Huai'en was shocked that Qi State was going to liberate the serfs on the plateau and abolish this system.

"Do you have any opinion?"

Liu Qi looked at Qi Huai'en coldly. If Qi Huai'en dared to say anything unpleasant, he would immediately twist this guy's head off.

"no!"

Qi Huai'en had been in the plateau for so long that he knew from the style of the notice that this was not a private notice. It was issued in the name of the emperor, and there was a seal of the imperial seal on it. "This... this was actually issued by the emperor!"

Qi Huai'en had a lot of thoughts in his mind in an instant, but he couldn't figure them out at all.

"How could the emperor have issued a notice here? Was it prepared in advance? Did the emperor already know that this day would come?"

Qi Huai'en thought with a dull look in his eyes.

"Report, General, the enemy is thirty miles away!"

A soldier came to report.

"You are such a waste!"

Liu Qi looked at Qi Huai'en and said, this guy is really good at causing trouble instead of helping others, he even led the enemy.

"General, I really can't help it!"

Qi Huai'en said embarrassedly that he really couldn't win. He could still deal with the Yalong Jue'a royal family alone, but he would be helpless if the Lhasa royal family joined the battle.

When the serfs who were eating heard that other royal families were coming, they were stunned for a moment, but looking at the food in the bowls in their hands, their faces were full of determination. Having just gained light, they swore to die rather than return to the endless dark hell.

"General, we will follow you to kill the enemy!"

The serfs were ready to help kill the enemy with bricks and sticks; they were not afraid of death.

"Haha, eat your fill first, and then follow my army out of the city!"

Liu Qi said with a big laugh.

After a hearty meal, there was a commotion outside Qingtang City, and almost everyone left the city. The liberated serfs wanted to defend their own light, and nobles like Fujiri hoped that the two royal families could defeat the enemy and restore their rule over the plateau.

The Qi army lined up in the front, each of them dressed neatly in armor and with a solemn expression.

Wu Lin was fully armed and stood at the front of the team like a golden-armored god of war. Around him were brothers who had followed him from his hometown.

"Be more alert!"

Wu Jie looked at Wu Lin and said with a smile.

"Brother, I'm not energetic enough!"

Wu Lin smiled and said that for this battle, he had specially obtained gold powder from the warehouse and wiped his armor.

"This battle concerns the dignity of Qi State, we must fight beautifully!"

Wu Jie reminded that how powerful Qi State could be on the plateau and whether it could win the support of the people on the plateau depended on this battle.

"Brother, don't worry, we will definitely fight beautifully. I will stick those people's heads on the flagpole."

Wu Lin said with a smile.

"I'll be there with you, nothing will happen!"

Liu Qi also said with a smile.

"But, are you really not going to participate in this battle?"

Liu Qi looked at Wu Jie again and asked, but Wu Jie actually said that he would not lead the troops and would just watch from the rear.

"Charging and killing is not my forte, you guys just go ahead and remember to kill ruthlessly to shock everyone!"

Wu Jie nodded. He didn't care about military merit. All he wanted was to complete the mission perfectly.