1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 70 No, you really want to give it to me?
The confiscation of weapons not only deepened the resentment of the guards who had a long-standing feud with the Wang family towards Wang Dazuo.

Even the few guards and trainees who didn't have such a deep grudge against the Wang family felt displeased.

With a formidable enemy at hand, sending these guards who are responsible for defending the outer courtyard and facing the enemy head-on with wooden sticks to fight back is practically sending them to their deaths.
The group of people at the foot of the mountain the day before yesterday were armed with bullets and arrows and almost stormed into the courtyard; they were no ordinary people.

Even a fool knows that wooden sticks won't stop them.

"The Wang family! They don't value the lives of those of us who aren't surnamed Wang at all!" Li Xiaoshuan became angrier the more he thought about it.

Peng Gang's words hit a nerve. His family was originally a wealthy household in Dachong. If they hadn't been tricked out of their 21 mu of paddy fields by Wang Dazuo, why would he be living as a slave to Wang Dazuo now?

It was clearly the great writer Wang who caused the Li family to fall into this predicament.

Unfortunately, Wang Dazuo considered himself his savior and had the two instructors constantly instill in him the idea of ​​loyalty and righteousness.

"Even within the Wang family, there are distinctions between close and distant relatives."

Wang Dalei, who had quietly slipped out of the inner courtyard under the cover of dusk, said in a cold voice.

"That damned Wang Dazuo! I've been working diligently for him, managing his fields, houses, and mountains, but he's plotting against my future, trying to trap me in Dachong and make me his dog for the rest of my life!"

The guards turned their heads away, ignoring Wang Dalei. Wang Dalei also had the surname Wang and was a member of the Wang family. Who knew if Wang Dalei was sent by Wang Dazuo to monitor them?

Wang Dalei knew that gaining the trust of these guards and cooperating with them wouldn't be easy.

He gritted his teeth, walked to the stone mill, pressed his left hand on the cold stone mill, and took out a dagger with his right hand, cutting and sawing until he cut off the little finger of his left hand.

"Consider this little finger my apology to you all! From this day forward, I am severed from the Wang family by this finger!"

This scene greatly shocked the guards and trainees of the outer courtyard.

With cold sweat beading on his forehead, Wang Dalei put down his dagger, hissing as he breathed heavily to cover the wound on his left hand, and said, "Wang Zuoxin and Wang Dazuo have both lied to you. Wang Zuoxin is no longer the head of the Zijingshan gang. The rumors among the God Society charcoal burners are true. The new head of the Zijingshan gang is Peng Gang, who is highly regarded by County Magistrate Yang."

"This matter was told to the Wang brothers by Liang Yuncheng, a clerk in the county's criminal office. He can take what Director Peng shouted at you during the day as fact."

Upon confirming that Wang Zuoxin was no longer the head of the militia in Guiping County, the guards felt as if a heavy burden had suddenly disappeared from their shoulders, and they felt much lighter.

The burden and worries in my heart are not so big anymore.

"Damn it! Now that the Wang family has lost the tiger skin of the gang leader, and Heaven has sent Lord Yang and Gang Leader Peng to take him away! Why should we be afraid of Wang Dazuo!" Wei Tianli gripped the wooden stick in his hand tightly.

"Even if all we have is a fire poker, we'll fight them to the death!"

Staying at home is certain death, while fighting Wang Dazuo is risky but not necessarily fatal; one might even gain wealth and status.

With this in mind, the guards' thoughts began to stir.

Wu Yuanrong stood up, straightened his long-hunched back, and said, "When a person dies, they fly to the sky. Killing Wang Dazuo will not only avenge us, but we'll also get money and land!"

Wang Dalei waved his hand: "Why bother with fire pokers? I know where they've hidden their knives and guns."

"This is outrageous! Wang Dalei, it's me, the older brother!"

After tossing and turning all night, Wang Dazuo finally opened his eyes again and found that he, along with his two most trusted stewards and his uncles, brothers, nephews and nieces, were all tightly bound with hemp rope.

His two sons, both under nineteen, lay dead in the main room, covered in blood.

"Brother, you're almost beyond five degrees of kinship! You good brother who stole my future!"

"I'll return the student's degree to you! You're also a member of the Wang family, and Peng Gang and those charcoal burners won't let you get away with this! Are you out of your mind!"

“I’m confused? I really am confused. I don’t even know if the child is my own. I can only endure it and have been a coward for half my life. Today I don’t want to endure it anymore.”

In front of Wang Dazuo, Wang Dalei grabbed Wang Dazuo's still-attractive wife and said, panting heavily.

"Wang Dazuo! Don't think I don't know about your shady dealings with my wife. I'm returning this green hat to you today."

"You beast! You beast! Wang Dalei, you beast! She's your sister-in-law!"

Wang Dazuo wished he could devour Wang Dalei alive, but his hands and feet were already tightly bound, leaving him unable to move and only able to rage helplessly.

"Wang Dalei, stop talking nonsense! Aren't you done yet, you son of a bitch?!" Wei Tianli kicked open the door and rushed into the house, carrying Wang Dazuo's daughter, urging him on.

Peng Gang and the others were unaware of the mess happening in Wang Dazuo's yard at that moment, and went to sleep as usual.

As dawn broke, Peng Gang groggily got up and saw the gate of the house halfway up the mountain wide open, with people filing out of the courtyard, some willingly and some unwillingly.

"Damn, they really are turning on their own kind!" Chen Ajiu, who had just witnessed something amazing, admired Peng Gang immensely and said with shame.

“Winning hearts and minds is the best policy. Minister Peng is right. We can’t fight a war with just courage. We have to use our brains. I will listen to you from now on.”

"Let the submarine crew brothers take away their weapons. According to our original agreement, the knives, guns, and cannons belong to the submarine crew, while the muskets belong to me," Peng Gang said, stretching and waking himself up.

Hopefully, there will be a future.

Luo Dagang is a good person, and his submarine force is very capable. Peng Gang has always wanted to win over Luo Dagang's submarine force for cooperation.

Although Luo Dagang's boat army was also considered a "Jintian traitor" by the Qing government, Luo Dagang never believed in the Catholic Church.

Because Luo Dagang was from another province (Jieyang, Guangdong) and had a background as a leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, few people within the Heavenly Kingdom considered him one of their own, their old brothers from Guangxi. He was deliberately suppressed for a long time and was always excluded from the core decision-making level, thus failing to be granted a title or honor for a long time.

Otherwise, given Luo Dagang's military achievements, he would have been more than qualified to be enfeoffed as a king at the same time as Qin Rigang and Hu Yihuang.

"Of course," Chen Ajiu said with a cheerful laugh.

After cleaning up the numerous flaws in Wang Dazuo's two-courtyard mansion, Peng Gang and his men moved in together.

Upon learning what had happened, Peng Gang kept his promise and summoned Wang Dalei, Li Xiaoshuan, and Wei Tianli, the three who had contributed the most and made the greatest contributions, to the main hall and gave them 350 taels of silver to distribute among them.

"That's a full three hundred and fifty taels of silver! No, Master Peng, are you really going to give it to me?" Chen Ajiu stepped forward to dissuade him, "Not killing them and sparing their lives is already an extraordinary act of mercy!"

“A person cannot stand without integrity. Is my reputation not worth a mere three hundred and fifty taels of silver?” Peng Gang would not renege on his debt of three hundred and fifty taels of silver. Besides, the money was not paid by him, but by Wang Dazuo’s hoard of silver.

Su Sanniang pulled Chen Ajiu back and said, "Master Peng swore a solemn oath to Heaven. Are you going to harm him?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ajiu said no more.

Just then, Wang Dalei's disheveled wife rushed in, begging him to take her away for the sake of their marital bond, as she didn't want to go to the woodshed to serve the boatmen.

Wang Dalei pushed her away expressionlessly, coldly replying that when she and Wang Dazuo ended up in bed together, there was no longer any affection between them as husband and wife.

Seeing this, Peng Gang said to Chen Ajiu, "Ajiu, since the women of the Wang family have all been given to you, if you make a move on the other women in the village, don't blame me for turning against you."

The discipline of the Heaven and Earth Society's armed forces was generally poor, and Luo Dagang's boat corps was no exception.

Peng Gang could not control these hot-blooded submariners in the same way he controlled his own people; he could only impose certain restrictions on them to prevent them from harming innocent civilians.

As for the women of the Wang family, they ate fine rice and fish, lived in large courtyards built with the full strength of the imperial court, and enjoyed the meticulous service of servants. When they disregarded the lives of the poor, they should have thought that such a day would come.

"Don't worry, Master Peng, I've already given the orders. We've seen all the other women in Dachong before; they're all dark-skinned and rough-looking. The brothers don't care for them," Chen Ajiu assured him.

After dealing with the trivial matters of accepting the surrender, Peng Gang kept Wang Dalei behind for a private talk.

Regardless of Wang Dalei's reasons for surrendering his brother to the enemy, whether it was to avenge a personal grudge or to save his own life and leave himself a way out,

Keeping him alive is more valuable than killing him outright, so Peng Gang has no immediate plans to kill him.

Wang Dalei has been managing Wang Dazuo's businesses for many years. With him around, all of Wang Dazuo's assets can be inventoried more quickly, including real estate that is difficult to verify.

Guangxi was a land of many disasters during the late Daoguang and early Xianfeng periods.

Food is a crucial strategic resource now and in the future.

Peng Gang had no intention of becoming a landlord, but if he wanted to start a rebellion, it was very important for him to have some stable grain-producing land under his control.

It is not an easy task to properly and fairly return the land that Wang Dazuo and his father had annexed over the decades to its original owners.

With someone like Wang Dalei, who has been managing Wang Dazuo's business for many years, things will be much easier to handle.

　The original chapter was reviewed and could only be edited.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)