Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 114 Cultivate oneself, manage one’s family, govern the country and bring peace to the world

Sun Yan stood up and saluted respectfully to the generals around him, with a look of determination and calmness on his face, as if he was prepared to die.

"What you said makes sense, but I refuse."

"Why? The Beggars' Army wants to conquer the world. Even if they don't use the gentry, they'll need the lower-class scholars, right? Internal affairs, storage, paperwork, finances, criminal law, transportation, education... How can we manage all these complicated matters without people who understand them?"

“The millions of poor people in this world are our helpers.”

"The people of the world are indeed the pillars of the nation, and I understand that the generals can gather a hundred thousand hungry people and sweep across the Central Plains in an instant. But after conquering the world, one must ultimately rule it. How can one circulate official documents if one cannot read a single word?"

"The beggars marched and fought during the day, confiscating the property of corrupt gentry, and taught by lamplight at night, teaching the unsophisticated to read and write. We previously established literacy classes in southern Henan. Now that we've taken over a prefecture, it's time to formally establish an academy and enroll children."

"The Marshals are also proficient in writing?"

Sun Yan widened his eyes in disbelief. In his impression, military officers were all rough and uncouth, and few of them could read or write.

"Come on, brothers, give him the whole job!"

An Lushan raised his head proudly, as if he had won a high-star operator without spending any money and was showing off in the group. Immediately, someone came into the signing room and took out pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

"The calligraphy class I learned from the tabloid is finally coming in handy."

Several players took up their pens and started writing on paper in front of Sun Yan. The calligraphy skills of several of them directly shattered Sun Yan's stereotype of warriors.

The literary skills outlined with brush and ink cannot be achieved without years of accumulation, and each person's handwriting style is different.

Some even showed off their skills by painting a traditional freehand landscape painting or sketching a portrait of Sun Yan with charcoal.

When Sun Yan saw the two paintings, which included both Chinese and Western styles, he suddenly felt that the generals were more talented than he had imagined, and even better than some bookish scholars.

It is said that a scholar may fail to succeed in a rebellion even after three years. Sun Yan thinks that the marshals are the scholars who succeeded in the rebellion!
What's more, the content that one of the generals copied out was Chen Shou's "Longzhong Strategy".

Sun Yan's face flushed, and he felt two balls of heat gathering on his cheeks. He thought to himself, were the generals writing the Longzhong Plan to mock him for coming to offer advice and comparing himself to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang?

"As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover. Today, after meeting you all, I realized that there are people who are better than you. I feel ashamed. I just spoke nonsense, and you can let it go with the wind."

Sun Yan paused and asked a question that had been bothering him for a long time.

"I know that you, the generals, are both talented in civil and military affairs. I am not good at teaching you how to employ people, but I have a question that I don't understand. I sincerely hope that you can help me."

"what is the problem?"

"Why do the marshals hate the officials and the wealthy so much? Rumor has it that the marshal was bullied by the powerful when he was young..."

"Where did this Gouzi literature come from? The rumors have spread to us!" a player yelled.

"There's no reason to kill the rich. I just want to kill them. I love to kill them, and I must kill them!"

"The gentry and powerful are not only undermining the grassroots, but also taking advantage of others. I can't get rid of the hatred in my heart unless I kill them all!"

The players expressed their hatred in a flurry, changing their previous elegant writing and painting postures to become ferocious and crazy battle maniacs, with only killing and killing talking about them.

Sun Yan served tea and drank water with an embarrassed look on his face. He looked so frightened that he looked like a newbie who accidentally walked into a gathering of big guys. He didn't dare to say a word.

It was An Lushan who spoke up to ease his embarrassment—

"Because the feudal lords and gentry annexed the land, too many farmers who should have owned land became hungry people and refugees. When the hungry people encountered the outlaws' call, they would rise up in rebellion.

It's like this plate of cakes is divided among five people, just enough for one each, but if one person takes the whole plate, the other four will have no cakes to eat.

What we need to do is kill this person, distribute the four cakes, and keep only one cake for ourselves. This way, everyone will have one, no one will complain, and we will have the funds to keep the government running..."

Suppress the powerful and distribute land equally?
Sun Yan thought that this had existed in ancient times, but how could officials ensure fairness and ensure that they would not give themselves more cakes and pastries than they deserved?

"If a landowner owns a large amount of land through generations of accumulation, and is honest and dutiful in his daily life, hiring farmers and renting out their property, and has never broken any laws, would he also be among those whom you generals should execute?"

“The wealth accumulated by an honest man is limited. Through diligent work of one generation and some shrewd management, it is already a great effort to accumulate dozens or even hundreds of acres of land.

Even if it is accumulated over three generations, it is only two or three hundred acres of land. Once the family is divided, the land will also be divided. We regard these people as good family members and will not only not suppress them, but will make use of them.

But which of those gentry didn't own thousands or tens of thousands of acres of land? And the gentlemen who had served as high-ranking officials in the government had more than a hundred thousand acres of land at home, and the royal relatives and princes had more than a million acres!
If they tell you that there is no land annexation, no robbery of the people, and no collusion between officials and gentry, and that the wealth was accumulated honestly, would you believe it?

They had great wealth, but they did not spend money to protect the country and the people, nor did they spend money to help the victims of disasters. They watched the government collapse and the court be destroyed. They would surrender to whoever was stronger, and when the new dynasty came, they would turn themselves into obedient citizens and continue to maintain their rich and luxurious life, eating and drinking well.

The slaves in their families are still suffering, and the tenants in their farms are still being exploited. What is the difference between the new dynasty established in this way and the old one?

We must kill all these local tyrants and evil gentry and give the poor people, who have suffered humiliation for generations, a new way of life." The words "a new way of life" pierced Sun Yan's heart like an arrow. He suddenly felt as if his life of more than twenty years had been shrouded in a fog.

"Cultivate oneself, manage the family, govern the country and bring peace to the world" is the ultimate dream of Confucian scholars. He took the imperial examination, became a scholar, passed the examination, and became an official, following the path taken by his predecessors.

However, corruption and malpractices were rampant in the officialdom, and he could not move forward if he did not want to be involved in the corruption.

Not to mention benefiting the people and satisfying his own ideals of governing the country, just the battle of wits with corrupt officials took up most of his energy.

He worked tirelessly for several years as an official, but he could only make some minor "improvements". When he left office, all his policies would be overturned by successors, and in the end all his efforts would be in vain.

When the Beggars' Army emerged and wreaked havoc in Henan, he realized that it was not just the officials who traveled thousands of miles for wealth who were corrupt, but the entire world was corrupt.

It's like all the main beams are rotten, and only some minor repairs can't save the house from collapse. So we might as well tear down the whole house, rebuild the foundation on the ruins, and erect the main beams again to build a new, bigger and more stable house.

Even if this house is destroyed by time one day, that will be the responsibility of the next generation, each generation will do its own thing...

Sun Yan found that he had an epiphany.

He, who had previously only been able to grope his way forward in the fog, finally saw the world clearly, and the Beggar Army was his answer!

He also wants to beg for life for all the people, for the whole world!

Regardless of whether the Beggar Army accepts him or not, he will follow the Beggar Army to the end!

"I have learned my lesson. I know I cannot match you, the generals, in terms of military strategy, talent, and literary talent, but I am willing to dedicate all my life's learning and thoughts to the great aspirations of the Beggars' Army!"

After Sun Yan finished speaking, he was about to kneel down and offer his "great gift".

"Hey, this kind of thing doesn't work in my beggar army." An Lushan's big hand clamped Sun Yan's arm and pulled him up.

"Would you, my dear commanders, be willing to accept me, a pedantic intellectual..." Sun Yan no longer had the confidence he had when he first entered the room. Instead, he felt shy and timid as if he had seen through the big boss.

"We are not demons who kill people indiscriminately. We are willing to accept intelligent people who are willing to listen to our reasoning and can accept it."

"So I am also a member of the beggar army!" Sun Yan smiled happily.

"Of course, but I don't know whether you want to pursue a career in literature or martial arts." said An Lushan.

"No matter civil or military, we will obey the commander-in-chief's orders!"

"Then take up civilian work. Recently, more than 200 new recruits have arrived in the Beggar Army. Although more than 100 of them are civilians, it is far from enough to fill the newly occupied counties.

"My Western Theater Command is seeing a sharp decline in its appeal."

"Fuck the Northern War Zone! All the people have been snatched away by the volunteer soldiers who want to kill the Tartars! We, the Beggars Army, will also publicize it and snatch up new people!"

Western Theater Command? Newcomers? Tartars? Volunteers?

Sun Yan thought to himself, hadn't the Beggar Army just confiscated a large amount of money, grain and land? How could it be possible that it was only enough to recruit two hundred new soldiers?

Another general added, "We can't assign you a prefectural or county magistrate post right away. At most, we'll assign you a position as a village head in a few villages. Starting from the grassroots is the custom of our Beggars' Army."

"I understand that according to ancient rules, prime ministers must rise from the provincial capitals, and brave generals must rise from the ranks. I will use all my knowledge to serve the Beggars' Army!"

"Okay, okay! It's nice to talk to a reasonable and intelligent person, but let's be frank. If you engage in corruption and abuse public resources for personal gain while you're in the countryside, we won't forgive you!"

"Students must obey the law!"

"Take back all your money and land deeds. We hired you because of your experience and ideological awareness, not the money you contributed. We also don't want other gentry to see this and think that beggars can buy official positions. Do you understand?"

"clear."

"Also, I have a task for you. When you return, keep a diary of your experiences as an official. Then, based on your impression of how beggar officers and clerks should behave, write a basic code of conduct, explaining what officials should and should not do."

"Student..." Sun Yan looked at the generals' gazes and immediately changed his address, "I will definitely do my best!"

The news that Sun Yan had "successfully found a job" caused an uproar in the area around Runing, and Qihuojun did not even ask for all his wealth.

Could it be that the Qihuo Army wanted to become bigger and stronger and form a stable separatist regime, so they were "respecting the wise and humble" to send a friendly signal to the surrounding wealthy families?
Some encouraged gentry and wealthy families followed suit, pulling carts of land deeds and gold and silver to the government office, requesting a meeting with the commander of the Beggar Army for a discussion.

They also have many good ideas for governing the country and pacifying the world, and they urgently need a stage to display their ambitions.

(End of this chapter)