The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 272 What to do?
After receiving a meaningful look from Yue Wenxuan, the thirty-second eunuch felt a little more at ease and thought to himself: He doesn't intend to use us as a sacrifice. Let's cooperate and put on a good show.

He straightened his back, snorted, and said, "You dare to disobey an imperial edict? How dare you?"

Yue Wenxuan said, "I have always been loyal and have never disrespected Your Majesty. It's not that I don't want to accept the imperial edict, but that I cannot accept it."

Thirty-two old man: "Hmph! Why can't I accept it?"

Yue Wenxuan: "Once this imperial edict is received, I fear there will be rivers of blood."

Thirty-two eunuchs: "If the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die. What's wrong with shedding a little blood?"

When he said those words, he felt he was asking for a beating, thinking to himself: If it weren't for the prince giving us a warning, I really wouldn't dare to say such a thing in Shandong.

Sure enough, when he said, "So what if I bleed a little?" the surrounding crowd immediately roared.

A middle-aged man, dark-skinned and resembling a piece of coal, suddenly leaped high into the air and roared, "Damn it! I'm known as Pangolin, and today I'm rebelling against the bastards! Who's coming with me to kill this bastard eunuch?"

It turns out that this is Pangolin, the boss of Chengyang Coal Mine. When Wu Jialiang first came to Jimo to take office, he personally witnessed Pangolin joining the rebel army.

Pangolins have been living a good life these past few years, often roaming around. Today, they happened to be with a group of skilled workers from the mine, preparing to arrange for them to take charge of the newly established coal mine in Weizhou. Little did they expect to hear such shocking news in Jiaoshui County.

As the pangolin roared, a group of dark-skinned people instantly jumped out from behind it. They were all miners, and their common feature was their blackness! Every wrinkle on their skin was filled with coal dust and ash, making them look like charcoal, except for a row of white teeth when they grinned…

The coal miners roared in unison, "We've rebelled!"

"I've rebelled too! I'll kill this bastard!"

"Fuck him!"

Once they took the lead, people from all walks of life, fearless and exuberant, jumped out.

"I'm going to rebel too."

"Damn it, it's bad enough that the imperial court isn't coming to our rescue, but they're even transferring our savior away?"

"Fuck him."

"I'm going to rebel."

Yue Wenxuan raised his hand and made a downward pressing motion.

The people instantly fell silent again...

Yue Wenxuan: "Don't do that. It's not good to do something rash in the heat of the moment. We're not standing here to rebel. We're here to resist the Jin."

The people: "But now..."

Yue Wenxuan: "We can write a letter to the Emperor, pleading with him to allow Xiao Wang and Gong Yishi to stay here and fight against the Jin."

The common people are the easiest to appease. Upon hearing this, they actually thought it made sense: "That's right, let's find a scholar to write a letter, and then ask all the famous scholars to jointly submit it to the emperor... Lord Qi can draft this... The Ma family and the Ji family can also sign it."

They discussed it and actually believed that the plan was feasible.

But those local gentry in the crowd who had actually read books these past few days and had some understanding of the imperial court were secretly thinking: What good is a joint petition? It would be strange if the emperor listened to a bunch of commoners like you! How could the prince be so naive?
No, no, no, Your Highness, this is not naivety. Your Highness is simply loyal to the Song Dynasty. Loyalty is not wrong; the wrong lies in those who betray his loyalty.

In short, since the prince won't agree to an immediate rebellion, we have no choice but to listen to him and submit a joint petition first. Sigh!
The atmosphere in the entire glue city became somewhat oppressive.

The people gathered in twos and threes, chatting quietly. As soon as someone approached, they immediately shut up so that others could not hear what they were saying.

Inside the barracks, many soldiers were whispering amongst themselves. The royal guards were rather timid and didn't want others to hear their conversations. But Gong Er Niangzi's men, the Jimo rebels, were much bolder. Many of them deliberately spoke loudly, saying things like, "I'm a local Jimo soldier! You want me to go to Hunan to suppress bandits? How could I possibly go! Even if I die, I'll stay here and guard my hometown."

"Yes! I'm a soldier from Mizhou, and I don't want to leave here either."

"I'm from Jinan."

"I'm from Changyi."

The main force of Gong Er Niangzi's rebel army was almost entirely composed of Shandong people; who the hell would want to run to Hunan?
That night, in Mizhou City, Qi Chongli, along with a group of Qi clan members, had just returned from patrolling the city, looking utterly exhausted.

After several days of hard work, Qi Chongli finally managed to calm the hearts of the people in Mizhou.

It was already late July, almost August, and the weather was getting hot. It had only been a little over half a month since the giant eel appeared, and Liu Yu had not yet ascended the throne. He would not become emperor until September.

Therefore, Qi Chongli still doesn't know what the giant eel is for, nor does he know why the rebel army dared to attack Weizhou and Mizhou after the giant eel appeared.

He was full of doubts, but this did not diminish his enthusiasm for "doing civil affairs".

The people of Mizhou have suffered for too long. Now that the righteous army has taken control of Mizhou, the people can finally rest and recuperate. No matter how you look at it, it's a good thing. Let's not worry about anything else. Let's focus on improving agriculture and commerce in Mizhou first. If the Jin invaders attack, we'll figure out a solution later.

"Master! The iron mine has been captured!" A member of the Qi family ran in, his face beaming with excitement. "The bandits who were entrenched in the Shiling Village iron mine have been subdued by us."

Qi Chongli was overjoyed: "Very good, immediately arrange for three thousand men to go to the Shiling Village iron mine and dig, dig as hard as they can. With iron, we can make firearms, and with firearms, we won't be afraid of the Jin bandits. By the way, iron alone is not enough. Quickly go to Jiaoshui County and ask them to send a few engineering officials to teach our local craftsmen how to make firearms."

He's having a great time...

A member of the Qi family rushed in, his face ashen, shouting, "Patriarch, Patriarch... Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"

Qi Chongli: "?"

The Qi family member said, "The Emperor... the Emperor's decree has arrived... ordering the Prince and Gong Yishi to go to Jiangnan to receive their rewards, and also to be transferred to Hunan to suppress bandits."

Qi Chongli was completely stunned...

After a long pause, Qi Chongli finally came to his senses and asked anxiously, "What did the Prince say?"

The messenger reported, "The people are indignant, and some are shouting that they want to rebel. The prince has calmed the situation and said that they cannot rebel. He asked everyone to write a petition to the emperor to rescind his order."

"Ah! Yes, yes, yes!" Qi Chongli perked up: "There's also the trick of submitting a joint petition. Quick, prepare the horses! I need to rush to Jiaoshui County immediately to contact all the gentry with brains in the Jiaodong Peninsula and submit a joint petition."

The Qi family member who brought the news looked distressed: "If the Emperor does not agree and insists on going to Hunan with Wang and Gong Yishi, what should we, the Qi family, do?"

(End of this chapter)