You have truly caused me great suffering!

Chapter 105 He Rebels Against His Mother
Yancun Village, Qingxi County, Muzhou, Jiangnan.

In the bamboo forest, there was a family with a house that occupied a large area.

The owner of the house employed many people, and a sign hung at the entrance that read: Lacquer Garden

Bamboo and wood lacquer is made from bamboo and wood as raw materials, with natural lacquer used for surface treatment.

Then it is made into bamboo and wood combs.

There weren't many finished products on display in the courtyard. The servants were working with their heads down, and one of them, a tall and imposing man, was painting.

Suddenly, a noisy commotion erupted, and a dozen or so constables and clerks rushed in, immediately starting to move the finished products from the ground without saying a word.

A servant bowed and approached with a smile, asking, "Sir, you already received it yesterday."

Yesterday was yesterday, and today is today.

"How can you say that? Nobody collects taxes every day."

"Hey, we collect them every day, what are you going to do about it?"

In the lacquer garden, several servants were looking at them with hostility, but the clerks were completely unaware and continued carrying things.

All the servants looked at the burly man who was still painting. Seeing that he didn't look up, the servants sighed and could only watch helplessly as he moved the things away again.

After everyone left, a group of servants silently walked up to Fang La.

"Master, the imperial court is untrustworthy! Damn it, they took so much of our silk and lacquer, and now they're asking for it back!" Shi Baohu's eyes widened as he cursed fiercely.

“Exactly! He’s even more ruthless than a thief! Master, how can this go on? The corrupt officials of the past were ruthless, but they still knew to leave some room for us. But since that old thief Zhu Mian came, he’s been squeezing us ten times harder than before. He has no intention of letting us live! How are we going to survive in the future?” Wang Yin said worriedly.

Fang Jie's face was gloomy as he gulped down another mouthful of wine. He had a high alcohol tolerance, but he was clearly drunk now, his eyes bloodshot.

Finally, Wang Yin, who seemed to have the least fiery temper, whispered, "Master, isn't this a rebellion?"

Everyone else immediately stood up and looked at Fang La with anticipation.

Fang Jie grabbed the wine pot, opened his mouth wide, and drank it down. He finished the whole pot of wine and slammed it on the table with a "bang." He then squeezed the tin pot together like mud, and with a piercing sound, the pot was crushed into a ball.

He said with a sneer, "This new magistrate is just trying to curry favor with Zhu Mian; he doesn't treat us like human beings at all."

From the very beginning of the Song Dynasty, it began to exploit the Jiangnan region in order to make up for the financial deficit. As the economic center and core source of wealth for the Song Dynasty, the Jiangzhe region accounted for 17% of the country's cultivated land and a considerable proportion of its population.

Of the total grain shipments from all the routes in Jiangnan, the amount of rice supplied to the capital was particularly high, with the Liangzhe route accounting for the largest share, totaling 41% of the grain shipments.

Starting from the Xining era of Emperor Shenzong, the limits on the amount of grain, silk, and silver offered to the emperor gradually increased, with the increase reaching more than ten times during the Chongning era.

Now that Wang Fu has come to power, the fiscal deficit is even greater, so they can only continue to squeeze more resources from the southeast, especially from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Until the emergence of the "Flower and Stone Tribute," the emperor ordered Zhu Mian to establish the "Responsibility Bureau" in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and to requisition a large number of ships, organizing ten ships into a "Tribute" called the "Flower and Stone Tribute," which was specifically responsible for transporting plants and rare stones collected from the Jiangnan region.

If any commoner had something to admire or play with, they would forcibly requisition it without paying a penny, and any slight disobedience would be punished as "great disrespect."

Fang La's small lacquer garden originally paid its dues once a year, then once a month, and now once every day or two.
The suffering of the people has reached an unbearable level. This once peaceful land of fish and rice, free from external enemies, is now even more miserable than the Northwest, a region plagued by centuries of war.

Fang La finally finished cleaning the last comb. He slowly stood up and looked around.

"Does everyone want to rebel?"

They had long harbored rebellious intentions, but had been accumulating strength and using the guise of preaching to develop a rebellious populace.

Upon hearing this, Shi Bao flew into a rage and slammed his fist on a tree trunk in the yard, shouting, "Using the guise of the royal family to bleed us dry, you scoundrels! If we don't rebel now, they'll drain us dry!"

Li Tianrun's face darkened. He glanced around and said, "That rich man next door, Fang Mu, was also driven to suicide by that dog of a magistrate. That was because he was a coward. We are real men, standing tall and ready to fall, with our leader guiding us. How can we let some worthless magistrate humiliate us like this? If you ask me, whether we rebel sooner or later, we'll rebel anyway, so let's rebel today and fucking rebel!"

Fang La placed the lacquered bamboo baskets on the empty rack to dry, shook his head, and said, "Don't rush, we're not ready yet."

His prestige was so great that, despite everyone having reached their limit of patience, they all fell silent when Fang La spoke.
-
In Qingxi County, Prefect Liu Hong had not yet gone to bed. He had just returned from a dinner invitation from the Prefect and Assistant Prefect.

The thought that those officials were all higher-ranking than her, yet still had to curry favor with her, filled Liu Hong with a sense of pride and indescribable comfort.

Who could blame him when his younger sister was so beautiful? After she was given to Zhu Mian, she became his favored concubine.

He washed himself, changed into a light white robe, sat down in a chair, picked up the freshly brewed tea, happily hummed a line from a children's opera, and asked the steward, "Have all the debt collectors returned today?"

The constables he sent out were actually his own servants. They changed their clothes and openly robbed people from house to house.

Anyone who dares to resist will be beheaded and charged with 'great disrespect'.

The steward hurriedly replied, "Master, they haven't returned yet."

Liu Hong squinted, took a sip of tea from the teapot spout, and said with a smile, "Good, it's good that they haven't come back. Let them wander around outside more. I spent a lot of money to buy this official position. If I don't work harder, when will I ever earn it back?"

He had just finished speaking when the doorman rushed in, shouting, "Master, Fang Youchang from the county has arrived. He says he has something important to tell you."

"Hahaha!" Liu Hong slapped her thigh and said with great joy, "I didn't even look for him, but he came to my door first. Isn't he just walking into a trap?"

"Sizzle," another sip of tea: "Looks like he's trying to avoid trouble by spending money. Dream on! What are you waiting for? Let him in."

A moment later, a middle-aged man in a long robe walked in.

Seeing him enter empty-handed, Liu Hong frowned and asked, "What business do you have with me?"

Fang Youchang bent down and whispered, "Master, I've come to report that Fang La, the propagator of Manichaeism, is planning a rebellion!"

Liu Hong stood up abruptly, looking somewhat timid. He knew Fang La; he had organized a group of people to believe in Manichaeism, and based on the characteristics of these followers—vegetarianism and worship of Mani Buddha—they were known as "vegetarians who worship demons."

I never paid any attention to him before, I never expected him to dare to rebel.

Fang Youjian saw his cowardly appearance and secretly despised him. You bullied the people to death, but you didn't expect them to rebel.
"Guards! Quickly send He Jin to capture Fang La, even if he's dead!"

Fang La's missionary work in Jiangnan was both an advantage and a hidden danger.

The more you preach, the harder it is to hide. There will always be a few believers who want to use exposure to get promoted and make money.

Back then, the Yellow Turbans were forced to start their uprising prematurely after being reported to the authorities.

The county magistrate had clearly not enough constables. After the magistrate issued the order, He Jin immediately rode to the Liangzhe Military Governor's Office to request troops to suppress the rebellion.

Fang La's yamen runners immediately informed him that the wealthy neighbor, Fang Youchang, had informed on them, and the government had sent men to suppress the rebellion. Inside the lacquer garden, the atmosphere was extremely tense. Without further hesitation, Fang La decisively declared, "Gather the followers and prepare for the uprising!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Jie, fueled by alcohol, slammed the bamboo pole in his hand against the wall and roared, "Good! Good! Let's rebel against the bastards!"

Fang La's servants had all changed into their clothes, with long-handled sabers slung across their shoulders, red tassels fluttering, exuding a menacing aura. In front of them stood rows of strong men, all dressed in tight-fitting clothes.

"Master, Fang Youchang has betrayed us. Should we kill him first?"

By this time, darkness had fallen, and torches flickered, illuminating Fang La's face and his dark eyes, which seemed to blaze with two flames: "Traitors who inform on others deserve to be torn to pieces!"

A group of people, eager to get started, headed towards Fang Youchang's estate.

Fang Jie rushed forward and pounded on the door. After someone opened the door, they cautiously asked, "Who is it?"

Fang Jie's face was contorted with murderous intent as he punched the doorkeeper in the stomach. After the doorkeeper fell to the ground, the others pushed the door open and entered.

"Don't let a single one escape!" Shi Bao shouted, stepping on the doorman's throat, making a crisp cracking sound.

Amidst the screams, Fang Youchang, his wives, concubines, children, servants, and other family members—more than forty people in total—were all forced to kneel on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs in the courtyard.

Fang Youchang kept begging for mercy, crawling on his knees to Fang La's side. Just as he was about to speak, Fang Jie, who was next to Fang La, struck him on the back of the neck with a stick, instantly severing his neck bone. His head drooped limply at a strange angle.

More and more people gathered in the village, numbering over a thousand, and it looked like they couldn't fit everyone in.

Fang La walked out of the crowd to the door and stood on the gate wall of the manor in a few steps.

The believers, both inside and outside, all looked toward him.

Fang La, holding a torch, suddenly ripped open his clothes with one hand, revealing his chest covered in whip marks, his voice like tearing silk:
"Fellow villagers! Brothers, we are from the Jiangnan region, a land of plenty. The rain and dew sent down by the heavens cannot sustain the farmers! We have to scrape the soil three times a winter, and sweat drips down to make ointment. The construction bureau squeezes us dry, leaving us with nothing. Meanwhile, that Zhao official of the Great Song Dynasty wants to build a palace, and that scoundrel Zhu Mian is using our bones as a ladder to heaven!"

He gritted his teeth, his eyes blazing with hatred.

A roar of cries and curses erupted from below: "The skinned magistrate just stole ten catties of raw lacquer from my house!"

Fang La clenched his fist and waved it in the air, “Everyone’s blood will never run dry! This year, the tribute of precious stones and flowers passed through, flattening hundreds of acres of rice, and the government is demanding that we compensate for the crime of trampling the imperial timber! I only ask you, those who farm eat chaff, those who weave silk wear coarse clothes, and those who boil lacquer have hands full of festering sores! Is this world fair?”

"Injustice!" A thousand voices cried out in unison, their sound like muffled thunder.

"I'll ask again!" Fang La pointed north, "The Khitan Xia bandits force us to pay millions in tribute every year, while the government feeds the wolves with the blood and sweat of Jiangnan! We suffer defeats at the border, and they seize our sons to make our lives, while our fathers and brothers freeze and starve to death on the grain transport routes! Does this make sense?"

"No way!" Someone in the crowd shouted, banging their iron hoes and wooden sticks on the ground, making a loud thud.

Fang La suddenly roared, "Heaven will make amends! That damned Zhao official stole the throne from orphans and widows, what kind of emperor is he! Taxes are heavier than millstones, and clerks are more ruthless than tigers and leopards! We, the bamboo, wood, lacquer, and paper merchants, have no way to survive! No way to survive!"

"At dawn tomorrow, those who dare to light a fire will follow me to smash the county granary! We will kill Zhu Mian's henchmen as a sacrifice to our blades! The only way to survive is with the woodcutter's knife in our hands!"

After saying that, he pointed to the group of people kneeling on the ground and said, "This Fang Youchang went to inform on us, and now that skinning magistrate wants to kill us all!"

The crowd, already swayed, were easily enraged and raised hoes and sticks, swinging them at the people.
-
October.

Fang La gathered more than a thousand followers in Qiyuan and denounced the heavy taxes and corvée labor of the imperial court and the rampant corruption of officials.

They used the blood and sweat of the people of Jiangnan to curry favor with the "two barbarians in the northwest," that is, to pay annual tribute to the Xia Kingdom in the west and the Liao Kingdom in the north.

Fang La styled himself "Holy Duke" and changed the era name to "Yongle". He established his regime with October of the second year of Xuanhe (1120) as the first month of the first year of Yongle.

In Xikeng, Qingxi County, they annihilated 5,000 government troops who came to suppress the rebellion, beheaded Li Zun and Yan Tan, the military governors of Liangzhe, and then took advantage of the victory to capture Qingxi County.

Magistrate Liu Hong was skinned alive, bled, had his tendons pulled out, and his heart ripped out.

At this time, Chen Shao was in the northwest and instructed Han Shizhong to provoke conflict with the Western Xia. The two sides fought a battle west of the salt lake.

The current situation in Western Xia is even worse than that of the Song Dynasty, as it is embroiled in internal strife. The Xia emperor saw through Chen Shao's scheme at a glance and immediately sent someone to detour to Bianliang to lodge a complaint, expressing his sincere surrender and his refusal to invade again, claiming that this was entirely Chen Shao's doing.

Unaware of this, Chen Shao still used this as a reason to request a postponement of his journey to the capital, but the court refused.

In Youzhou City, the main gate of Chen Shao's Chengxuan Division was wide open, and armored soldiers stood in rows.

He and several newly promoted generals gathered around a bronze furnace, looking at several marks on the map and discussing the next steps in the defense.

Most of these were Han Chinese from the Western Regions who rose through the ranks based on military merit and were extremely loyal to Chen Shao.

In fact, there have always been many Han Chinese in the Western Regions. Since the Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, the prosperity of the trade routes in the Western Regions has led to a large number of Han Chinese migrating to the Western Regions and settling down along this route.

During the reign of Emperor Suzong of Tang, the Tibetan Empire became the absolute ruler of the Western Regions, and millions of Han Chinese in the Western Regions were under their rule and lived a very difficult life.

During the reign of Emperor Wenzong of Tang, an envoy was sent to the Western Regions. The envoy found that the cities and towns of Gansu, Liangzhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou remained unchanged, and countless Han Chinese people lived there. Upon seeing the Tang envoy, they lined the streets, cheered, and wept, asking, "Does the Emperor still remember the people who survived the invasion of the barbarians?"

However, at that time, the Tang Dynasty was plagued by diseases and was no longer able to recover the Western Regions. A few years later, under pressure from the military force of the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Dynasty simply established the Qingshui Alliance with the Tibetan Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty's territory extended to the right of Jingzhou, reaching Tanzheng Gorge; to the left of Longzhou, reaching Qingshui; to the west of Fengzhou, reaching Tonggu; and to the west of Jiannan, reaching Xishan and Dadu River. The Tubo (Tibetan) garrisoned Lan, Wei, Yuan, and Hui, bordering Tao to the west, Chengzhou to the east, and reaching the southwest of the Ximoxie barbarians and Dadu River in Jiannan... From then on, all the prefectures and counties of Wen, Wu, Cheng, Die, Dang, and Min in Longnan were abolished and became part of Tubo territory.

The Han people in these places also became foreigners, and the population of Han people who fell into the Western Regions grew even larger, reaching several million.

Of course, these millions of Han people also completely lost contact with the Central Plains.

When the Song Dynasty was established, the once powerful Tubo Dynasty was destroyed, and the Tubo, Uyghur, Dangxiang and other tribal regimes divided the land and each occupied a part of it.

Until the establishment of the Western Xia, although this small country was far less powerful than the Tibetan Empire at the time, they were skilled at governing.

Furthermore, the Northern Song Dynasty lacked the cohesion of the Tang Dynasty, so the Han people in the Western Regions had little sense of belonging to the Song Dynasty.

On the contrary, Chen Shao, who had regained control, was gradually gaining the support of more and more powerful Han Chinese in the Western Regions because of his policy of rewarding merit and his emphasis on agriculture, animal husbandry and trade routes, which stabilized the local situation.

At that moment, someone came in, whispered something in his ear, and then handed him a piece of paper.

Chen Shao quickly finished reading and nodded secretly. Brother Fang La has rebelled.

This was within his expectations.

The current central government's harsh exploitation of its subordinates has long made it impossible for the people to survive. The fact that only the Jiangnan Circuit rebelled is already quite remarkable.

Chen Shao stood up; the reason he had been looking for had finally arrived.

"Someone, please write a letter for me and deliver it to my cousin."

(End of this chapter)