Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 301 Kill him! Kill him!

"what!!!!"

Hearing the shouts of the soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp outside the door, Dai Xiaoer's wife was so frightened that she screamed, her face full of fear.

Dai Xiaoer was frightened out of his soul by his wife's scream. He turned around and glared at her.

It's all her fault for exposing their location!
Hearing the screams from inside the door, the soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp outside knocked on the door even harder.

"Open the door! If you don't open it, we will break it down!"

Dai Xiaoer covered his woman's mouth and dared not move for a long time. In the end, the soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp broke into the room by force.

"Bang!"

As the shabby wooden door of Dai Xiaoer's house fell, Dai Xiaoer's knees also fell.

Dai Xiaoer knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp at the door and begged for mercy.

"Sir! I won't dare to do that again. I won't dare to do that again!"

"Please have mercy on me, have pity on me, and let me live!"

"I will always remember your kindness and will repay you in my next life by working like a slave!"

"..."

Dai Xiaoer kowtowed repeatedly and cried with tears and snot.

The soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp ignored his pleas and stepped forward to pull the whole family up from the ground: "Now, you all go to the execution ground at the entrance of the village and watch the execution!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to kill Dai Gaoyi."

"As long as you obey us, we will not only not kill you, but also give you warmth."

When Dai Xiaoer first heard the word "execution ground", he was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost became incontinent.

But in the end, he heard the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp assuring him that as long as they were obedient and did as they were told, the Xianzhen Camp would only kill Master Dai and not attack them.

Only then did Dai Xiaoer breathe a sigh of relief, feeling fortunate to have survived a disaster.

Be obedient, they are the best at it.

They listen to everything, no matter who says it, as long as his voice is loud and there are many voices of agreement, they will listen.

As for the officers and soldiers wanting to kill Master Dai, what does that have to do with Dai Xiaoer?
No matter who the officers and soldiers want to kill, as long as they don’t kill Dai Xiaoer’s relatives, it doesn’t matter.

Thinking of this, Dai Xiaoer nodded quickly: "Yes! Yes! Sir, we will go right away, right away!"

Under the watchful eyes of the soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp, Dai Xiaoer and his family, supporting each other, walked out of the room and headed towards the newly set up execution ground at the entrance of the village.

Dai Xiaoer's family consists of six people, including the couple, two sons and a daughter.

The eldest daughter is married, and the eldest son is married and has a daughter.

Among them, the eldest son and the second son were taken to Yangzhou City by Dai Qingniu a few days ago to participate in the defense of Yangzhou Prefecture.

So at this time, there were only the old couple, a daughter-in-law, and a granddaughter left in their family.

The granddaughter was still in her cradle, held in the arms of her daughter-in-law. The three adults held their granddaughter and walked to the execution ground at the entrance of the village.

On the way to the execution ground, Dai Xiaoer discovered that they were not alone.

Along the way, all the villagers, young and old, from Daijiazui to the surrounding villages, were called out and went to the village entrance to watch the execution.

Among these people, there are a few unfamiliar faces.

They still looked a little frightened, but because of the fully armed soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp around them, they did not dare to resist.

He could only look at the surrounding Xianzhen Camp soldiers with evasive eyes while walking towards the village entrance obediently.

These people are the people who fled from the neighboring Xuzhou Prefecture.

Because they have something to hide, they are extra cautious.

When they arrived at the execution ground at the entrance of the village, they focused their attention on Dai Gaoyi, who was kneeling and trembling on the ground.

The villagers of Daijiazui had never seen Master Dai in such an embarrassed state, and they all couldn't help but look at him a few more times.

At this moment, Dai Gaoyi was kneeling on the open ground with his hands tied behind his back. He kept sobbing, tears rolling down his face, and his whole body was shaking like a sieve.

Behind him stood a soldier from the Xianzhen Camp holding a long sword.

He held the knife in his right hand, his arm hanging naturally, with the tip of the knife placed on Dai Gaoyi's neck.

Every time Dai Gaoyi trembled, he could feel the coldness of the blade on his neck, which made his body tremble even more violently.

As time went by, more and more people gathered outside the execution ground, and eventually all the villagers in Daijiazui came to the execution ground at the entrance of the village.

"General Xu Chang, all the villagers of Daijiazui are here."

After hearing his subordinates' report, Xu Chang nodded: "Very good."

When Xu Chang arrived at the execution ground, what he saw was a crowd of people jostling for position.

At a glance, it was estimated that there were more than two thousand people.

Xu Chang glanced at the people around him and said in short: "You should know our identities very well. We are the soldiers sent by the court to suppress the rebellion in Jiangnan."

"Just now, we wiped out Dai Gaoyi's entire clan!"

"There are a total of 266 people in the Dai family. Not a single one was spared. We have killed them all!"

Xu Chang's straightforward words shocked everyone present and caused them to exclaim in surprise.

Even though they had expected this, they still felt boundless fear in their hearts when they heard Xu Chang admit in person that they had slaughtered all of Dai Laoye's family.

At this moment, many people's knees went weak and they wanted to continue kneeling and begging for mercy.

But Xu Chang changed the subject and continued, "But we will only kill Dai Gaoyi and will not implicate any of you."

"Your Majesty personally gave the order for us to enter Jiangnan to quell the rebellion this time."

"Fight local tyrants, divide the fields!"

"Our purpose in entering Jiangnan is to eradicate all the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan and distribute their land to everyone!"

After Xu Chang finished speaking, the surrounding villagers all stared at him in shock and disbelief.

They could understand every word Xu Chang said, but when they put them together, they could not understand the meaning of Xu Chang's words.

Their ancestors have lived on this land for hundreds of years, and have never encountered the situation where the imperial court would distribute land to them.

This warmth, this happiness, came so suddenly that they were completely unable to react.

Dai Xiaoer was the first to come to his senses and asked tentatively, "Sir, are you saying that you didn't intend to kill us?"

Xu Chang said expressionlessly: "Yes, you are His Majesty's subjects, and we have never thought of harming you."

"From the beginning to the end, the only people we wanted to kill were the landlords, gentry, officials and wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan."

"We will kill anyone who has land!"

"We'll kill whoever has the silver!"

"You have nothing, what's the point of us killing you?"

Xu Chang's words immediately broke down Dai Xiaoer's defense.

It turned out that from the very beginning, the officials and soldiers of the imperial court had never thought of becoming enemies with them.

It's all their own wishful thinking and self-righteousness!

Then wouldn’t his two children, whose lives were in danger, have gone to Yangzhou to die in vain?

If anything unexpected happened to them, he would really regret it!
Not worth it, not worth it!
Dai Xiaoer felt extremely regretful, he regretted it so much that his intestines turned green!
Then, his eyes fell on Dai Gaoyi on the execution ground. Seeing Dai Gaoyi in such a miserable state, he no longer had the fear and awe he had before towards Dai Gaoyi.

There is only deep anger and murderous intent.

Because he knew in his heart that all this was caused by Dai Gaoyi.

If Dai Gaoyi had not deceived them, threatened them, and bribed them before, they would never have gone against the court!

They didn't have this idea, nor did they have the courage. All of this was directed and orchestrated by Dai Gaoyi!
All this is Dai Gaoyi’s fault!
Dai Xiaoer's eyes were red, he was shaking with anger, and he was gasping for breath.

He stared at Dai Gaoyi intently, muttering to himself: "Kill him, kill him, kill him..."

At first, his voice was barely audible, then it grew louder and louder, until it was a complete roar.

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"

Dai Xiaoer roared with all his strength, and every roar was venting his anger and rage.

The look in his eyes when he looked at Dai Gaoyi was filled with anger, and he almost wanted to eat his flesh alive!

Dai Xiaoer's roar gradually infected the surrounding villagers. They also looked at Dai Gaoyi with red eyes and full of hatred.

They raised their arms and shouted: "Kill him!"

"kill him!"

"kill him!"

"..."

The experiences of these villagers are not much different from Dai Xiaoer's, so they can empathize with Dai Xiaoer's anger the most.

At this moment, after knowing the whole truth of the matter, their hatred for Dai Gaoyi has become tangible.

People are like this, they will help whoever wins.

Whoever they help will win more thoroughly!
Under the premise that Dai Gaoyi was doomed, none of them would mind stepping forward and stepping on him.

Dai Gaoyi, who was kneeling on the ground, began to tremble even more violently after hearing the deafening slogans of "Kill him!"

The fear in his heart was beyond words.

He also regretted it, but his regret now was meaningless.

Xu Chang saw that the time was ripe, and he had already seduced out all the hatred that the villagers of Daijiazui had for Dai Gaoyi.

So he looked at the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp behind Dai Gaoyi and nodded slightly to him.

After receiving Xu Chang's order, the soldiers of Xianzhen Camp raised their long swords high...

Cut it off with one knife!

Blood splatters!

Amidst the splattering blood, Dai Gaoyi's head rolled to the ground. After spinning a few times, his face faced the villagers in front of him.

The expression on Dai Gaoyi's head was still terrified, but there was no life in his eyes anymore.

His headless body fell down weakly, and blood flowed all over the ground.

The villagers present first took a half step back in horror, then rushed forward, vying to see Dai Gaoyi's body.

"Dead, dead, Master Dai is dead!!!"

"Good death! Good death! This scourge should have died long ago!"

"Dai Gaoyi, you deceived us so badly! You will not die well! After you die, you will go to the eighteen levels of hell and will never be reincarnated!"

"..."

Even though Dai Gaoyi is dead, the villagers of Daijiazui have not stopped cursing him.

Xu Chang looked around and waited for a while, letting the villagers vent their emotions, then he clapped his hands and signaled everyone to be quiet.

As Xu Chang clapped his hands, even though Xu Chang did not give any orders, the people around him still stopped spontaneously, looked at Xu Chang respectfully, and waited for his orders.

These villagers have discovered that Xu Chang is the commander of these imperial officers and soldiers.

Here, Xu Chang has the greatest power and can easily decide a person's life or death.

The villagers who knew how to read people's expressions naturally did not dare to disobey Xu Chang's wishes.

After everything around him quieted down, Xu Chang gave orders to the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp behind him.

"Bring it up."

"Yes, my lord!"

Soon, the old housekeeper of Dai Gaoyi's family was brought up by the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp.

Along with it, there was also a thick stack of land deeds.

Xu Chang casually picked up the top deed, took a look at it and said, "Dai Xiaoer? Who is Dai Xiaoer?"

When Dai Xiaoer's name was suddenly called by Xu Chang, his heart contracted and he felt scared instinctively.

However, reason still made him raise his hand bravely and step forward: "Sir, I am Dai Xiaoer, I am Dai Xiaoer."

Xu Chang glanced at him and said calmly, "Come here."

"Yes, sir."

Dai Xiaoer hurriedly ran to Xu Chang and looked at him with a flattering smile.

Xu Chang held out the deed in his hand to him and asked, "Is this the deed you signed?"

"I rented six mu of land in Dai Gaoyi and paid ten shi of grain per year."

Ten shi of grain, this rent is simply sucking the marrow out of the bones, desperately squeezing out the fruits of labor of Dai Xiaoer's family.

As mentioned before, during the Ming Dynasty, the grain yield per mu was less than 500 kilograms.

In places like Jiangnan where the land is fertile and there is plenty of rainfall, when the harvest is good, you can yield about 460 to 470 kilograms per acre.

Six acres of land can produce less than 2,800 kilograms, or less than 18 stone, of grain a year at most.

The rent of grain alone was ten shi of grain.

Just looking at the rent, it is enough to see how cruel the landlords in the south of the Yangtze River are.

Dai Xiaoer looked at the contents of the deed and smiled awkwardly: "Official, I... I can't read..."

Illiteracy was the main reason why the imperial court had difficulty governing the local areas.

It is precisely because of this that these landlords and gentry are able to deceive the contemporary villagers.

At this moment, a boy of eight or nine years old walked out of the crowd, came to Dai Xiaoer, and bowed respectfully to Xu Chang.

"Sir, my name is Dai Jiran. I have been through the Mental Education Program and can recognize a few words. Let me see."

Xu Chang did not say anything. After Dai Jiran looked at the deed, he said to Dai Xiaoer, "Second uncle, this is your deed, and it has your signature on it."

After hearing this, Dai Xiaoer smiled awkwardly and said, "Sir, it's mine. It's mine."

Xu Chang nodded and handed this deed and a new one to him at the same time.

"Okay, now these six acres of land are yours."

"From now on, you don't have to pay a single grain of grain from the harvest of these six acres of land to the landlord."

(End of this chapter)