Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 112 Braised Chicken Wings: My Favorite
As the main force of the Qihuo Army entered Runing, the noise of gunfire gradually disappeared, replaced by the sound of gongs and drums as the Qihuo Army called on neighbors to resume their businesses.

The Qihuo Army claimed that the defeated soldiers had been eliminated and the lives and property of all civilians would be protected.

Out of fear of the "bandit soldiers", some people planned to stay indoors and observe for a few days, and then go out to do business after the situation became completely clear.

The people, who firmly believed in the "pamphlet propaganda" and had long accepted the style of the beggar army, boldly stepped out of their homes to embrace the morning sun.

They had not walked a few steps when they saw the streets full of patrolling beggar soldiers.

The beggars set up a guard post every ten steps and a sentry every twenty steps. When they met shopkeepers and merchants, they would politely hand over money for their straw sandals, indicating that they would not take a single cent from the people.

Unlike the notorious government troops, the common people were not afraid of this group of rebels. Instead, they felt very friendly towards them, as if they were their own family members patrolling the streets with spears, giving people an inexplicable sense of security.

Shops opened for business one after another in each district, and the voices of hawkers calling out for business could gradually be heard on the streets.

A young man, Sun Yan, 24 years old, a successful candidate in the imperial examination, also opened his door and went out to the street, wandering around.

He was generous and magnanimous by nature, often helping the poor and loving to stand up for the weak and uphold justice. He had a good reputation in Runing and the people called him "Master Sun".

After passing the imperial examination, he worked as a minor official for a few years. Seeing through the corruption in the officialdom and unwilling to be involved with those insects, he resigned and returned to his hometown to live a peaceful life.

He has also been paying close attention to the recent rise of the rebel army in southern Henan.

The Beggars' Army started out as chivalrous warriors, gathering hungry people to capture the county town, and then faced the attack of the government troops, risking their lives and then escaping, and defeated the government troops in one fell swoop, completing their transformation.

Then the beggar army captured five cities in ten days, confiscated a large amount of land from the gentry, reorganized military settlements, recruited refugees to resume production, and absorbed surrendered soldiers to strengthen the military strength.

The Qihuo Army did not "abandon the land and move" like the previous rebel armies, but chose to strengthen the city defenses and fight a bloody battle with the government troops.

In order to buy time to strengthen the city's defenses, the generals of the Qihuo Army resolutely sacrificed themselves and gave their heads so that other generals could approach and assassinate the governor.

In the end, the plan succeeded, and several generals died, but it bought precious time for all the brothers to reinforce their forces, and also disrupted the relationship between the civil and military officials in Henan.

What a selfless and sincere heart!
Other generals would let others die first and then climb up by stepping on the flesh and blood of their allies, but the generals of the Beggars' Army led the way and used their own lives to pave a way of survival for their brothers!
Sun Yan was shocked when he heard this and realized that this was the "righteousness" in ancient texts.

Why was the Beggar Army able to rise so quickly? "Exchanging sincerity for sincerity" is probably the biggest reason.

From then on, he no longer called the Beggars "bandits" and truly recognized this volunteer army that was begging for life for the people.

Afterwards, the news that "800 desperate beggars defeated 100,000 government troops" swept across half of Henan Province, followed by a large number of inexplicable newspapers and pamphlets, as well as countless children's songs echoing on the streets.

He particularly appreciated the sentence, "Kill cattle and sheep, prepare wine, open the city gates to welcome beggars, and distribute the land and grain to the beggars when they come."

Most of the common people are illiterate. They do not know the classics of the sages and cannot understand notices, but they can understand colorful comic strips and the rhymes that children say.

As long as the beggar army arrives, the heavy taxes and rents burdening them will be greatly reduced.

The Qihuo Army not only said it, but also did it.

They kept fulfilling the promise they had made, wearing winter clothes sewn by the people, eating grain paid by the people, and wearing straw sandals and cloth shoes woven by women, and fought their way all the way from southern Henan.

The counties along the way surrendered without a fight, and the people all offered food and drink to beg for survival.

Less than two days after the Qihuo Army entered the city, all the dead bodies and bloodstains in Runing City were cleared away, the defeated soldiers who looted and plundered were killed one by one, and order in the city was completely restored.

The beggars had strict discipline and were forbidden to disturb the people. They were given sufficient copper coins for food and were not arrogant when chatting with others.

Sun Yan seemed to see the Yue Family Army of the former Song Dynasty, who would rather freeze to death than demolish houses and starve to death than plunder.

Just when he was thinking about the existence of Yue Family Army, Sun Yan suddenly heard a few people calling their friends on the street, with surprised expressions on their faces as if there was something exciting to watch.

So Sun Yan followed the restless crowd and finally reached the spacious training ground.

Hundreds of men and women with disheveled hair like savages were driven to the center of the parade ground by spears. Some of them had bruised and bloody faces, their luxurious clothes were torn to shreds, and the boots on their feet were only one step away.

Although the robe of one of them was torn and dirty, one could tell at a glance that he was Prince Runing, Prince Chong, from his shape.

I saw a wooden platform built in the middle of the training ground, with several strange-looking torture instruments placed in the middle of the platform, like a tiger-head guillotine with the blade hanging ten feet high.

According to the "Iron Fist Communiqué" spread by the Beggars' Army, the Beggars' Army is going to hold another "public trial"!

Sun Yan immediately glanced around and found a restaurant that was suitable for viewing.

He pushed his way through the crowd, crossed the lobby, and walked up the stairs to the second floor, but he didn't know that someone had already got there first and occupied all the windows with a view.

So he took out a few coins and found a young man to buy the audience seat.

He looked down through the window and saw everything clearly.

The prince's family huddled together. The prince knew that today was a dangerous day, so he held his relatives' hands tightly and sobbed quietly.

The whole family, including the young and old, and the servants gathered together, and the sounds of their soft sobs gradually merged into a stream, forming a cry that was louder than the last.

On the day the city was broken, the prince sent his servants to convey his "sincerity" to the beggars.

When the government troops were defending the city, he donated almost nothing, which led to the low morale of the government troops and their eventual abandonment of the city and escape. Can this be considered a contribution to the beggar army?
However, the tough men of the Qihuo Army did not accept his "twisted logic" at all. All the royal family members and slaves in the palace were expelled and placed on the parade ground.

Thousands of fierce soldiers and common people around him cast scorching glances at him, and the prince felt like a bird in a cage, being watched and teased.

"Ah!" A shrill cry caught Sun Yan's attention. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw another group of newcomers being kicked into the encirclement. Sun Yan took a quick look and knew that they were not from the palace.

The man who came was well-dressed and had bruises all over his face. Sun Yan could vaguely see a few familiar faces and immediately concluded that they were the "local tyrants and evil gentry" that the Beggar Army hated the most.

Sun Yan thought to himself that people like him who had made great achievements and had served as officials should also be considered as the "gentry class" that the beggar army hated.

But why didn't anyone come to catch him?

Could it be that the rumor that the Beggar Army killed all the gentry is false, and they actually only targeted the wealthy families who annexed land and the evil gentry involved in murders, and implemented the ancient Chinese strategy of "suppressing the powerful"?

"Oh oh oh!"

As a burst of cheers erupted from downstairs, the prince's family was brought onto the wooden platform one by one.

When the prince's neck was locked in a wooden lock, he knew his death was near and was so scared that he cried out. He struggled desperately, twisting his lower body everywhere and urinating and defecating.

Thousands of onlookers around could hear his ugly and cowardly cries for mercy.

"Kill!" the leader of the Qihuo Army shouted, and the guillotine blade fell with a crash. The prince's begging for mercy stopped abruptly, and his bleeding head fell into the bamboo basket in front.

The leader of the Beggar Army, who was standing by to supervise the execution, twisted the bloody severed head and showed it to the people around him.

"One of the fake Ming pig demons will be executed today!"

Some fainted from fear of the blood, some jumped for joy, and some felt extremely happy that the insects that harmed the people had been eliminated, and the excited shouts of killing came one after another.

The guillotine's beheading efficiency was extremely high. As long as the leader of the Beggar Army turned the mechanism, the sharp blade would use the potential energy of gravity to cut off the neck cleanly and neatly.

Of course, the beggars didn't kill just for the sake of killing. Every time they executed a group of people, they would arrange for literate people to read out their crimes - land annexation, forcing women into prostitution, forced buying and selling, murder for money, tax evasion, abuse of servants, incest...

Almost every big shot who was brought to the stage was charged with multiple crimes, including one whom Sun Yan had always thought of as a "clean strategist."

When the facts of the crime and the victim appeared, Sun Yan was shocked, as if his three views had been refreshed.

If the Beggars' Army had not held a public trial today, exposing the deeply hidden crimes of these old thieves, he would probably never have known in his entire life that these seemingly righteous thieves were actually so cruel and heartless as to bully their daughters-in-law and torture servants to death!
You bastard! You evil thief!
Sun Yan raised his hand and slapped himself, thinking that he was blind and had misjudged these bastards as the local clean stream.

Good, good, the public trial of the Beggar Army is like a magic mirror, revealing the true colors of all the hungry wolves in human skin!
The people shouted and cheered, and their enthusiastic shouts were like raging waves rippling across the parade grounds.

Even Sun Yan, who had been watching from the sidelines, felt as if a flame was burning in his chest, ready to sweep away all the filth and injustice in the world in one breath.

"Good! Good kill!" Sun Yan couldn't help but praise.

The scholars who were watching the "trial" on the second floor of the restaurant had different opinions from Sun Yan.

Those evil gentry who violate human ethics and kill people should indeed be killed, but purchasing more land, paying less taxes and levying high interest rates are what most landowners would do.

Not a big sin, right?

As for the beggar thieves, the main basis for their trial was that these criminals had killed people.

They just thought it was a false accusation by the treacherous people and that the Beggar Army was taking sides.

They felt that it was enough for the beggars to kill the royal family and annex the money, grain and assets of the princes. After all, the gentry and literati also felt that the princes who were kept like pigs deserved to die.

However, it was not enough for the beggar bandits to eat the princes, they also wanted to plunder the property of the gentry and confiscate their land. On the surface, they were doing justice for the people, but in reality, there were many beggar bandits and they just took advantage of the false accusations of the evil people to make money.

Although the beggars are arrogant now, judging from their brutal abuse of the gentry, they are probably not as powerful as Huang Chao.

Since ancient times, the establishment of a new dynasty has required nothing more than money, food, and talented people.

Money and grain are provided by grain households, and talents are also provided by grain households. The grain households in each dynasty have different names. In this dynasty, they are the gentry and wealthy merchants who pay money and grain and provide talents.

This beggar has not even started his reign yet, but he has already offended the hearts of the gentry. Isn't he afraid of the hatred and confrontation from the gentry all over the world!
Could it be that the beggar thief wants to rely on those illiterate peasants to rule the world in the future?

Scholars admit that the beggars are brave and good at fighting, and are not afraid of death, but their political abilities are childish, just like ignorant and fearless children who vent their emotions and destroy everything.

They neither understand the balance between relaxation and tension, political compromise, nor the principle of uniting the "pillars of society."

You must know that the pillars of the feudal dynasty are the gentry and powerful people who hold money and knowledge. Only by winning them over can you successfully seize the world.

The brutal beggars treated the gentry as their mortal enemies and killed them crazily.

If the beggar army relied on the rich to raise military pay in the early days of its "entrepreneurship", it would be understandable, and one could even argue that it was due to a lack of talent and a lack of understanding of how to govern.

Now that the beggars have already seized a prefecture, it is time to revise the previous brutal policies and appease the gentry and wealthy families.

If the beggars still remain stubborn and unwilling to adapt, and only know how to kill, I am afraid they will be suppressed by the court in a few years. By then, the bandits will regret not treating the gentry well today, but there will be no medicine for regret.

Some scholars were cursing the beggar, saying that his luck was about to run out.

The atmosphere of literary discussion that he was accustomed to in the past now made Sun Yan feel noisy and confused.

He looked at the criminals being beheaded one after another downstairs, and felt that his chaotic mood was cheered up, as if he had found the direction to move forward in the confusing black fog.

(End of this chapter)