The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Of course, cooking is the first thing that needs to be taught to these students. People from rural areas have been doing these things since they were young, so they can do it. It is also a good choice to start training cooks now. In this way, the day passed quickly with some bumps and bruises.

At the evening meeting, Zhang Yinghao's first words were: "This landlord family can't stay here anymore."

Hearing Zhang Yinghao say this, everyone was a little stunned. What was going on? Why couldn't they stay?

Bao Shilin knew exactly what was going on and said directly, "You can't stay."

Zhang Yinghao didn't beat around the bush and continued, "Otherwise, our people will have no place to live, and the food will soon run out. Besides, we have no money. Let's discuss what to do." After that, Zhang Yinghao shut up.

In fact, no one expected so many people to join in, or they did not expect the natural disaster to cause such great harm to the people, so everyone fell silent.

It was Wang Daniu who spoke up again: "Of course we'll just go in and confiscate their land and property. None of these landlords are good people. They must have a lot of grain in their warehouses."

"That won't work. The nearby landowners will oppose us."

"Then we'll take them down one by one."

......

Everyone started talking at once, and the discussion was about to go off topic. Zhang Yinghao then said, "I've just listened to what everyone has to say. Is there anything else you want to say?"

It was only when Zhang Yinghao suddenly had to take action that he realized his own serious lack of strength. While these people might have had the fervor to rebel, they had only followed him out of desperation. Asking them to rebel now might not be a problem, but asking them to contribute to construction would be completely clueless.

So what we need now is to reform and educate these people on a large scale, otherwise we will not be able to gain a foothold. If we want to reform and educate our own people, we must have our own territory. Do we have to become bandits like Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion? Then what is the point of traveling through time?

Moreover, Zhang Yinghao felt that he was on the wrong track. Talent was the most important thing in any era. The Zhou Dynasty had Jiang Ziya, the Qin Dynasty had Shang Yang, the Han Dynasty had Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Han Xin, the Tang Dynasty had the 24 heroes in the Lingyan Pavilion, and the Ming Dynasty had Liu Bowen. In every dynasty, whoever had talent would rule the country. Due to some minor adjustments in history, he didn't know where to find talent, but he could cultivate it himself. With more than a hundred years of experience, couldn't he cultivate a few decent talents?

Zhang Yinghao suddenly remembered a saying: "Communists are like seeds, taking root and sprouting wherever they go."

They were able to take root and flourish because they cared about the people and were committed to building, not destroying. So, what I had to do now was to explain the principles of revolution and the revolutionary methods I knew to my comrades. And I was too weak right now, so I had to protect myself.

Chapter 10: Planning and scouting for action

3665 words

The most valuable thing for a person is to find the path he wants to take! — Quotes from Zhang Yinghao

Zhang Yinghao thought of the Boxer Rebellion. Imperialist powers were carving up spheres of influence in China, foreign missionaries were wreaking havoc, and natural disasters were ravaging China, sparking fierce popular resistance. The Hundred Days' Reform had just been suppressed, and peasants and the urban lower classes had launched a massive anti-invasion struggle. At the end of the 19th century, the Boxer Rebellion erupted.

The ultimate result was the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China. The Qing Dynasty, in collusion with imperialism, suppressed the Boxer Rebellion and signed the Boxer Protocol, reducing China to a semi-colony under the joint rule of the great powers. Thinking about the course and outcome of the Boxer Rebellion, Zhang Yinghao couldn't remain calm. Without industrialization, everything is empty talk. Without territory, industrialization is impossible, and without talent, there is no way to build industry.

Zhang Yinghao had no idea that Sichuan would soon be flooded with people involved in the Boxer Rebellion, nor did he know that Sichuan would soon be plagued by a large number of natural disasters. However, this ignorance did not hinder Zhang Yinghao's advantage as a time traveler, as he had a good understanding of the general trends of future developments. Didn't a saying come about in the 21st century? If you stand at the right spot, even a pig can fly.

Zhang Yinghao is no longer simply standing on the cusp of the trend; he's standing on a rocket. As long as Zhang Yinghao himself doesn't encounter any problems, the rocket will ignite and soar into the sky.

The people of Sichuan are currently suffering the most from feudal oppression, but with the opening of Chongqing as a port, the new oppression of imperialism will come from behind and become the people's new oppressor. It is absolutely impossible for the people under this double oppression not to rise up in resistance. In addition, the natural disasters during the Qingming Festival are particularly severe. As long as we seize the opportunity, we should be able to achieve great development soon.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yinghao suddenly came to his senses, looked towards the north, and felt melancholy when he thought of the big show that had just ended in the north.

After the occupation of Beijing, German Field Marshal Waldersee, commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, granted his soldiers three days of open looting, and the armies of other countries continued to loot for many days. China's precious cultural relics suffered an unprecedented catastrophe.

Zhang Yinghao felt an inexplicable pain. Falling behind meant being beaten. Previously, when he read historical accounts of this, he'd only felt shame, humiliation, helplessness, and incomprehension. But now, if all this wealth were his own, he could immediately establish his own power. Zhang Yinghao felt true pain and anger at his own weakness. It was a feeling you couldn't grasp without firsthand experience.

Now Zhang Yinghao is also powerless, and Zhang Yinghao guesses that in the near future he may have to cooperate and trade with these bandits, and he must continue to be a grandson.

The most important thing is that there is too little talent here. Development requires the reliance of foreign powers, and the current talent pool is simply insufficient to support rapid growth. Zhang Yinghao now realizes that his subordinates are not up to the task. Comparing himself to Zhang Feng and his team, Zhang Yinghao feels they lack a lot, primarily in vision, experience, and culture. However, with a few more experiences, they should be able to grow quickly, and Zhang Yinghao remains confident in this.

And now that everything has begun, Zhang Yinghao can't take a step back, he can only move forward. Thinking of the more than 200 students now, Zhang Yinghao also found it a bit incredible that so many people could be recruited so easily, forcing Zhang Yinghao to discuss and take action now to obtain the necessary supplies.

Zhang Yinghao saw that no one was talking and realized that these people's level was just that. In fact, it was Zhang Yinghao's own fault for not explaining the principles of revolution to them earlier. So the most important task now was to study. Zhang Yinghao was not a superman, and many tasks had to be delegated to others. Now, if he wanted to study peacefully, he needed food and money. So Zhang Yinghao had already decided to take down the landlord Zhang.

After thinking this through, Zhang Yinghao said, "If everyone has nothing else to say, then I'll say this: we can't let the news of our attack on Landlord Zhang leak out. We can't let other landlords know for the time being, and we can't let the officials in the state capital know about it. If the news doesn't get out when we take it down, then we'll announce that we've bought Landlord Zhang's property and land in the name of Zhang Feng. If guns are used, we'll say it's bandits entering the village."

Everyone, you've all seen that Landlord Zhang's land is mostly good. Despite this drought, the harvest has only decreased, not completely disappeared. Hoarding is a landlord's instinct, so Landlord Zhang must have plenty of food. When I visited the villagers today, I heard that while we were still training in the mountains, Landlord Zhang forced two families to sell their children over rent collection. For us, eliminating this bully is not enough to appease public anger. However, we can't openly overthrow Landlord Zhang right now because our forces are still weak. We must protect ourselves now."

Seeing Bao Shilin, they all nodded in agreement.

Zhang Yinghao added, "We now all have a common goal and a common aspiration. From now on, we can address each other as comrades. For example, if we were to call Li Erniu, we could call him Comrade Li Erniu, Comrade Erniu, or Comrade Li. It means we share the same aspiration."

After saying that, Zhang Yinghao wrote the word "comrade" on a piece of paper with a pen and asked the others to read it. Then Zhang Yinghao said in a louder voice: "Comrades, tomorrow Comrade Zhang Feng and I will go to the home of the landlord Zhang to buy food and tell him that we will leave here the day after tomorrow. By the way, we will take a look at the layout of his home and the location of his warehouse. Everyone should sharpen their weapons tomorrow. I have already told you how to make black powder. You should make me a few large gunpowder bags during the day tomorrow to be prepared for any eventuality. We should avoid shooting if we can, and try to resolve the battle silently tomorrow night. We will discuss how to act after we come back from work tomorrow. Everyone is a little tired today, so go to bed early. I will go see how our soldiers are sleeping now. Okay, let's adjourn."

After saying that, Zhang Yinghao walked out.

The next day, after breakfast, Zhang Yinghao took Zhang Feng to the home of Landlord Zhang. It was Zhang Yinghao's first time to have such close contact with a landlord of this era, and he was quite curious. Of course, Zhang Yinghao only watched from the corner of his eye, not shaking his head to look around.

Seeing the landlord Zhang's house, the first word that came to Zhang Yinghao's mind was "local tyrant". A wall surrounded the landlord Zhang's house. When Zhang Yinghao saw the landlord Zhang, he saw an elderly man with a moderate physique, which surprised Zhang Yinghao. After all, the novels he read before all described people with pointed chins, fat bodies or fierce faces. How could this landlord not have a deformed figure? However, Zhang Yinghao immediately realized that people's living standards are generally low nowadays. Even if you are rich, you can't have whatever you want to eat like in the 21st century. You will get tired of eating meat.

Perhaps the food standards of small landowners today are comparable to those of the poor in the 21st century, while those of large landowners are at best comparable to those in a public canteen. In other words, small landowners and rich peasants might only eat meat once a week or more, while large landowners could only get a little meat every day, not counting special meals.

"Mr. Zhang, hello. This is the young master from Chongqing. I'm here to recruit some people to Chongqing. I wanted to come and bother you a long time ago, but I've been busy these past two days and haven't been able to come in person. I hope you can forgive me."

After listening to my introduction, Zhang Feng said, "Hello, Uncle Zhang."

"Haha, you're welcome. Come on, serve the tea."

Zhang Yinghao and the landlord Zhang family hadn't clashed yet, so their conversation was quite cordial. This, in turn, gave Zhang Yinghao a taste of what it meant to be scheming with a hidden dagger. He had clearly already decided to kill the landlord's family that night, yet he was still chatting and laughing with them. It was a very pleasant meeting.

During the conversation, Zhang Yinghao also learned that the landlord was celebrating his sixtieth birthday the day after tomorrow, considered a long life in that era, and that a banquet was planned, with all the male members of the family now at home. Zhang Yinghao was overjoyed and happily wished the landlord longevity and happiness. Zhang Yinghao's joy was not feigned, as this unexpected surprise guaranteed that no one would slip through the net this time.

Finally, Zhang Yinghao stated his intention to buy some grain. Landlord Zhang immediately agreed to sell it to him at market price. Zhang Yinghao said, "We don't need much. With so many people, just four or five pounds of grain per person will be enough. A thousand pounds will be enough. We'll take them away tomorrow."

Actually, Zhang Yinghao still wanted to buy more now, which was fine. It was just like temporarily putting the money at Zhang Landlord's house and coming back to take it back in the evening. However, there was not enough money, and Zhang Yinghao was helpless!

Zhang Feng, the landlord, heard that Zhang Yinghao and his men were leaving tomorrow, and he wanted to keep Zhang Feng to be alone with him and wait until after his birthday before returning to Chongqing. Zhang Feng was also smart and agreed after pretending to think for a while.

Zhang Yinghao secretly laughed in his heart, watching Zhang the landlord speak like an elder, but in his heart he was saying: "You haven't even celebrated your 60th birthday. You are the first sacrifice of the landlord class since I, Zhang Yinghao, came into this world."

Thinking of the word "sacrifice," Zhang Yinghao suddenly recalled a passage from the Tao Te Ching: "Heaven and earth are unkind, treating all things as straw dogs." Sages are unkind, treating the common people as straw dogs. Was he himself unkind, treating the landlord as a straw dog? Sacrificing the landlord's interests for his own benefit was the only solution Zhang Yinghao could think of. He would never allow the landlord to join his team.

After finishing the conversation with Landlord Zhang, they began to weigh the grain. Taking advantage of the free time while moving the grain, Zhang Yinghao took the opportunity to go to the toilet and walked around, silently looking at the layout of the rooms and the distribution of people inside.

After finishing all the work at hand in the evening, Zhang Yinghao called a meeting of more than 3 people. He first explained the situation clearly, and then emphasized: "We don't know how many guns are in the home of the landlord Zhang, but we have taken out three guns before. So if a gunfight breaks out inside, everyone must not stand and fight back, you must rush in and fight hard. The longer the delay, the less benefit we will get.

Also, we've said it twice before, when we were fighting bandits and the Qing army: all of us share in the spoils. We're told that all the spoils should be turned over to the public, and that anyone who needs them should use them, and report to Bao Shilin. It's the same this time. And what I hate most is the violation of women, the physical assault on them. We're all not young anymore, so if you want a concubine, talk to my mom, or if you're interested in one, find a matchmaker.

A real man should have his own principles and know what to do and what not to do. Otherwise, I won't talk about any affection with you guys, do you hear me? "

Everyone was shocked after hearing this and immediately replied, "Yes, I heard it."

"Okay, now open up. Ouyang Jun, you two take care of these students. Everyone else, grab your stuff and follow me. We'll go explore some more areas to familiarize ourselves with the environment."

In fact, Zhang Yinghao himself had no experience in how to do it. For him, it was just about going in and killing people, which was what he just said. In this kind of surprise attack situation, Zhang Yinghao felt that if he couldn't win under such an advantageous situation, then it would be his fate.

Zhang Yinghao's current plan is that the team has just been established, and he needs to take the lead. He has no experience but to take action twice to gain it. He will lead them to summarize the experience and lessons. In the future, it will depend on them to lead the team. Whether they can grow depends entirely on their own understanding. After all, the master leads the way, but the practice depends on oneself.

Chapter 11: Killing the Landlord at Night and Teaching

3744 words

Between life and death, you have to risk everything. It's just one life at most, no big deal! — Quotes from Zhang Yinghao

The ancestors of the landlord Zhang were also native farmers, but after his grandfather and his brothers were conscripted into the army, they participated in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion and the subsequent Nian Rebellion. When the brothers returned, only one person was left. These armies burned, killed and looted along the way, so the ancestors of the landlord Zhang returned with money to buy land, hired some people to act as thugs, and had several children. They obtained this large piece of land through both fair and foul means. Now the landlord Zhang's family must be strong in both military and military power. A wall was built outside the Zhang family's house, and people within the five generations of mourning lived inside.

Zhang Yinghao's family had pawned their land to the landlord Zhang Da. Since Chongqing was forced to open up to trade, Sichuan was severely impacted by the imperialist economy, so the landlord Zhang Da had to increase the exploitation of the tenant farmers in order to maintain their previous life.

At this time, the head of the Zhang family was discussing with his two sons the young master Zhang and Zhang Yinghao who had come to the village. When Zhang Yinghao was buying grain, he invited the Zhang family to Chongqing, but the Zhang family refused.

The eldest son of the Zhang family said, "Dad, how come this young master that this brat brought here seems to be a subordinate? I observed that the young master here is actually working there, and he does whatever this brat tells him to do. This brat seems to have become a different person after being away for a few months. What is their conspiracy in recruiting so many people from us?"

Landlord Zhang was much more knowledgeable than his two sons. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Some of the people this Gou Wa brought back must have killed people. And although their training methods are different from the ones your grandfather used to train us, they are definitely the same way of training the army. They are tricking people into joining the army.

"But this is a good thing. Now those poor peasants have nothing to eat. If these guys leave, they can hold on for a while longer and won't come to eat our big family. But we can give out more money this year. We need to expand our land next year, and these poor peasants can just work for us. What do they need the land for? But for now, we still have to be vigilant. Boss, go back and take the dog to the door." After saying this, the whole family laughed.

Zhang Yinghao and his team waited until midnight, when all the lights were out and everyone was probably asleep. Then Zhang Yinghao said, "One last check on the equipment."

Everyone began to quietly check their equipment. After they finished, Zhang Yinghao leaned against the wall and said, "Come on, let's work together, stepping on each other's shoulders and climbing over the wall."

Two of them worked together to climb over the wall from behind Zhang's house, and the last one ran to the front to keep watch.

Zhang Yinghao whispered to everyone, "Work in pairs. Remember to fight silently." Then he took the lead and ran towards the houses. He silently said to himself, "It's better to cry together than to cry all the way."

After running for a while, he suddenly remembered something: the rooms all had latches, so how could he resolve the fight silently? Just as Zhang Yinghao was about to stop, he heard a dog barking from the front door. Zhang Yinghao really wanted to yell, "Holy shit!"

Suddenly, Zhang Yinghao heard the sound of a door opening. He couldn't think of anything else now, as he suddenly jumped out from the wall and stabbed the person in front of him with his long bayonet.

Zhang Yinghao felt that he was surprisingly calm. Although it was the middle of the night, he could see the fear and distortion on the face of the person who was stabbed.

Zhang Yinghao charged and killed his way through the entire village, then stood still, silently occupying a vacant lot near the front door, blocking anyone who attempted to leave. An unknown amount of time passed before Zhang Feng reported that all the men inside had been killed, and Li Erzhu had been beaten to death from behind with a hoe. What would become of the remaining women and children?

Zhang Yinghao looked at Zhang Feng silently for a while and said, "We are now bandits, and this is a personal vendetta. If our territory expands in the future, we won't have to worry about so much. We are very weak now and have no way to assimilate these personal vendettas. But since they are still alive, the women and children can't do anything evil. We can't kill them again, but we can't let them go either. Tomorrow, you take 20 people to our previous camp and station them there. They can sew and mend clothes for our soldiers. We need to hide our strength now. Sending some people out can hide our strength and also respond to emergencies."

Zhang Yinghao pointed outside and said, "Look, we made such a big fuss, but no one was seen. They were all minding their own business. What kind of world is this? I plan to establish a farmers' association to organize these farmers. Oh, it's giving me a headache just thinking about all the things. I'll write you an outline for setting up a farmers' association. You can think about it later. If you don't understand, come and ask me. Now let's go dig a grave and bury the deceased. We can't hold a funeral for Comrade Li Erzhu right now, so find him a separate coffin and bury him. We can deal with the rest later."

After Zhang Yinghao and his men left behind Bao Shilin and more than ten others to hand over the supplies from the landlord Zhang's house, they asked Ouyang Jun to take two people to stand guard on the road from Guang'an Prefecture City to Zhangjiagou. If someone reported a crime, someone might come to check. If someone came to check the situation, they should come back and report immediately, and then ambush and eat them.

Zhang Yinghao had a good idea. The current Green Camp patrol was completely useless. Even if someone came to intervene, it wouldn't be many. The others returned to the village for training, while Zhang Feng quietly took his tools and led 20 people up the mountain. For the past two days, they'd only learned Stand at Attention, Stand at Ease, and Squat. Now that he had money and food, Zhang Yinghao felt more confident.

During the day, Zhang Yinghao announced that the landlord Zhang's house had been attacked by bandits. He then ordered a group of men armed with guns to stand guard at the door of Zhang's house, blocking all roads leading out, and forbidding anyone from leaving the village. The sight of guns immediately intimidated everyone. That day, the villagers were buzzing with discussion. Since they couldn't leave the village, they stayed indoors, coping with the devastation. It wasn't clear if they were afraid of the bandits or what.

Classes were about to begin in the morning. Zhang Yinghao, coming from a modern background, naturally understood the importance of education, and more importantly, the importance of educational content. Zhang Yinghao said, "Classmates, I'm not going to waste any more time. I'm your chief instructor, Zhang Yinghao. You can call me Instructor Zhang from now on. Today, I'll teach you the meanings of three words. This is your third day here, and some of you your fourth. Do you know why you came to me? You're all young. Could your parents have been so willing to leave you to me and take you to the big city?"

After waiting for a while, Zhang Yinghao said, "I don't think so. Maybe some of you are from Guang'an City, and you have nowhere to go. Why is it like this? Look at the weather. It's unbearable. Everyone knows that people die every day in Guang'an City, right? Some people who have fled here have started eating human flesh. Do you know why this is happening?"

It's because everyone's not united. Have you ever been bullied before? Yes, I think so, a lot. Now that I've organized you, who dares to bully us? So the first word I want to teach you is unity.

Then Zhang Yinghao wrote the word "Unity" on the wooden door behind him. Zhang Yinghao really didn't know how to make a blackboard. When Zhang Yinghao thought of the blackboard, he racked his brains and said, "Only after traveling through time do you know how difficult everything is."

Everyone, repeat with me: "Unity..."

"Unity."

......

"The second word is science. What is science? Let's use a few examples. When we squat down to take a shit (laughter), the shit falls down instead of flying up. The reason why it falls down instead of flying up is scientific. Who knows why the shit doesn't fly up but falls to the ground? Raise your hand if you know the reason!"

Zhang Yinghao waited for a while, and seeing that no one raised their hands, he continued, "So you don't understand science yet. Look, water always flows from higher places to lower places, and never from the foot of the mountain to the top. This is actually the same principle. For example, people who understand more about farming science can grow more food, and people who understand pig farming science can raise more fat pigs and eat more meat. Also, why do we need to lay a foundation to build a solid house? This is the scientific principle, and it must be this way and not any other way. If you don't understand, you will understand it after you have more exposure. Now, study science with me..."

"science."

......

Zhang Yinghao and the other students had almost finished learning, so he said, "What's the third phrase? It means that when you come here, you can't eat for free. We don't support young masters here, and we certainly don't support old masters. In other words, you have to work here, you have to labor, and only when you work can you eat. Have you all started to get used to it these past two days? If you don't work here, you won't get any food. I can't support those who want to be young masters (laughter). Everyone understands this principle, right? Do you understand?"

Sparse answers: "I understand"

Zhang Yinghao asked loudly again: "Do you understand?"

This time they all said "I understand" in unison.

Zhang Yinghao then wrote these two words on the door panel and repeated the three words over and over again.

Zhang Yinghao said, "When we teach you in the future, you will definitely have questions for the teacher, oh, sir. When you have questions, just raise your hands."

As he spoke, Zhang Yinghao raised his hand to demonstrate.

Then he said, "Everyone raise your hands, yes, raise your hands, raise them high. Put your good hands down."

After everyone put their hands down, Zhang Yinghao said, "Raise your hands. Okay, have you learned it?"

The students all said, “I got it!”

Zhang Yinghao then asked them to put their hands down.

Zhang Yinghao knew that now was the time to set the rules for this group of students, and there was no room for sloppiness. This was directly related to the future growth and morale of the team.

Zhang Yinghao then said, "We'll start working in the next two days. Before we leave, we need to repair the water supply ditch in Zhangjiagou and extend it further. This way, everyone's family can grow rice paddies in the future. This is also a good thing we are doing here. Of course, you won't be the only ones doing the work. Your current task is to study hard."

"Okay, let's get started. What I'm going to give you is an alphabet I created. I call it Yinghao Pinyin..."

Then he wrote "b", "p", "m" on the wooden board...

Then he began teaching each letter one by one. These things were all rote memorization, with no room for tricks. Zhang Yinghao taught very carefully, and the students studied very seriously.

At the end of the lecture, Zhang Yinghao even adapted the hit song "Unity is Strength" and taught it to the audience. The passionate melody and powerful power of the song are sure to create another hit song in the future.

Another busy day passed, and in the evening, it was time for another meeting. Zhang Yinghao presided over the meeting and said, "Comrades, we fought a battle last night and won. But our good comrade Li Erzhu died. I am deeply saddened. In the future, more of us may die."

Zhang Yinghao glanced around and continued, "I want to give you an explanation: that is, we are not fighting against the landlord Zhang so that we can live a good life, but so that the people of Zhangjiagou can live a good life, and so that our future generations can have a meal and not be bullied. We will divide the land of the landlord Zhang among these villagers. We will not give up this place after we have established our foothold. Even if some of us have to leave for work, this will be our own territory. Whenever you come here, you will have a meal.

Of course, if any of you want to farm and divide the land here, I agree. I'm here to make it clear that if any of you want to farm, each of you will be given at least three acres of irrigated land. If you marry a cousin, you will be given six acres. Is there anyone who wants to farm? If so, please raise your hand.

Everyone looked at Zhang Yinghao, and no one raised their hand.

Chapter 12: Killing and Looting the Gold Belt