The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

It's okay if I don't have money, but what's the point of deducting money? That's not all. My elder brother was sick and dragged his sick body to work. Because he worked slowly, the supervisor

Qiao Baopi actually went so far as to inflict a penalty for lost wages. My eldest brother had a wife and children to support, so how could he afford to pay Qiao Baopi? As a result, Qiao Baopi, in an effort to assert his authority, beat him to death. Many salt workers can testify that they saw my eldest brother being beaten to death by Qiao Baopi and thrown out of the factory gate.

My family went to the salt well owner to seek justice. He and Qiao Baopi were in cahoots, insisting my eldest brother died of illness and had nothing to do with them. We said we would file a complaint with the government. They beat my father to death and broke my legs. They just wanted to see me live like a dog. These people have sucked our blood dry and are specifically targeting us poor people. Fellow villagers, we can no longer remain silent. As long as these people are around, we will never have a peaceful life."

At this point, the crowd erupted in a commotion, for the Niu family's fate was shared by many families. The salt merchants' greed and the overseers' tyranny and cruelty resonated deeply with the people. These overseers lacked technical expertise and were unproductive; they were practically vampires.

After Niu Erzhuang's start, many people came forward to expose Qiao Tianxi. Finally, the host saw that no one came out. Then he stood up and said: "Fellow villagers, Qiao Tianxi's crimes are obvious to all. Is there anyone who can expose him?"

Have you issued the evidence of Qiao Tianxi's guilt? If not, we will start sentencing Qiao Tianxi. Now, please allow our temporary public trial judge to read out the indictment of Qiao Tianxi.

The trial results. "

At this time, a middle-aged man in a strict judge's uniform walked up to the platform, took out a piece of paper and read: "The prisoner Qiao Tianxi, because of the failure of extortion, caused the cattle to

Dazhuang died, constituting intentional homicide and sentenced to death. Prisoner Qiao Tianxi, extorting money from salt workers, committed the crime of extortion, the amount was extremely huge and the nature was extremely bad, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison... Prisoner Qiao Tianxi, multiple crimes,

Sentenced to death, to be executed immediately."

After the announcement was made, a man with a thick face walked up to the platform, holding a large machete and a bowl of wine. He took a sip, picked up the machete, and sprayed the wine on it.

Chapter 170: Thanks for the tip and more chapters!

Everyone knows this man, he is an executioner in Fushun who is responsible for beheading. In ancient times, being an executioner was not a simple thing.

It is a very popular profession with high income. The patients in the H and E want to eat the blood buns of human beings and need money to bribe these executioners.

So in many places, the profession of executioner is almost a hereditary monopoly.

This time the executioner was also invited by the revolutionary army to help behead people, because the executioner was almost known to the people of Fushun, which could play a propaganda role.

He could only chop off Qiao Tianxi's head to set an example for the revolutionary soldiers. The revolutionary soldiers themselves would then kill the remaining criminals. Initially, Ouyang Jun planned to execute them by shooting, but after a meeting, they decided that beheading was more practical. Having soldiers who had never been on the battlefield do the beheading would not only strengthen the revolutionary soldiers' courage, but also arouse people's hatred through the bloodshed, which would be beneficial for the subsequent work. Furthermore, beheading would not only save ammunition, but also let everyone know that the revolutionary soldiers were brave enough to kill, not soft lambs.

However, Zhang Yinghao had long known that the most feared thing about a public trial was that the masses would lose control and wantonly beat and kill those on trial. This would go against Zhang Yinghao's original intention, so all sentencing and killings were carried out by his own people, and the people participating in the public trial could not execute the criminals.

At this time, the executioner walked to Qiao Tianxi's side and touched his neck. Qiao Tianxi wanted to struggle a few more times, but the executioner raised his knife, shouted, and chopped it down fiercely. Qiao Tianxi's head flew a dozen feet away before rolling to the stage, and blood spurted a dozen feet away.

After this first example, the subsequent public trials went much faster. One by one, the prisoners to be executed were dragged onto the platform and their heads were chopped off.

As heads were chopped off one by one, those sitting in the small building across from the platform felt a shiver in their legs, some even felt a chill on the back of their heads. Most people were pale. After all, many of these prisoners had been chatting and laughing with them just a few days ago, their families wealthy enough to last them several lifetimes, yet in the end, they still couldn't avoid being chopped off. This made them finally realize that sometimes, money isn't everything!

Ouyang Jun looked at these people and said: "As long as you haven't done anything harmful, you don't have to be afraid.

Well, everyone has seen that we killed those who deserved to be killed, so when you go back, please cooperate with the new government. I won't say any more. Excuse me."

Ouyang Jun left the crowd staring at each other in bewilderment and walked down the stairs. He knew the public trial was just the beginning. In this era, the more economically developed a place, the more crime there was. The Forward Party's next task was the key. Furthermore, the public trial wasn't limited to this one place; it was also underway in other places.

When Ouyang Jun passed by a village called Wangjiawei, Wangjiawei was also holding a public trial of a local landlord. The landlord of Wangjiawei, Wang Zhankui, was a ruthless character who completely abandoned the traditional feudal layer of tenderness and exploited the tenant farmers nakedly.

Now the landlord Wang Zhankui was tied to a wooden stake at the entrance of the village like a dead dog. His brothers and accomplices were all

They all knelt beside him. At this moment, the whole village was filled with hatred. The villagers shouted, "Wang Zhankui, your family has come to this day! You never dreamed that retribution would come so quickly, did you?"

At this time, a villager ran up to Wang Zhankui, punched him, and shouted, "Give me back my father, give me back my mother, give me back my brother and sister-in-law, give me back my nephews and nieces."

Ouyang Jun had a memory of this young man. He was the one he had rescued from a prison cell when he led his team to Fushun. He had been beaten to death at the time. Now, watching him beat him, Ouyang Jun felt that even if he died of exhaustion, he would not be able to kill the landlord Wang Zhankui.

At this moment, the villager may have thought of something. He stopped, turned around, and shouted to the villagers below: "Grandpas and grandmas, uncles, aunts, do you all still recognize me? I am Wang Gou'er."

"Oh, it really is a dog. Isn't he dead?"

"Isn't he still alive? He was said to be dead, but the body was never found." "How did he survive?"

While the crowd below was talking, Wang Gou'er continued to shout: "Everyone knows that my family is a native local. Since my grandfather's generation, we have lived in our Wangjiawei. Several generations have been farmers. Our family fell into poverty, and almost all the land was sold to Wang Zhankui's family. We only have one acre of paddy field left, and my family has become his tenant. So my family actually relies on renting a few acres of land from Wang Zhankui to make a living. In addition to paying rent to the government every year, we have to give the remaining 70% of the grain to the landlord Wang Zhankui. Our family has been through wind and rain, and in the end, what we have left is not enough for the whole family to eat. But we can only work so hard, and the whole family can barely avoid starvation.

Everyone knows we've been hit by disasters over the past two years. Last year, our harvest was poor. Seeing we couldn't pay the rent, we went to ask landlord Wang Zhankui to be lenient and give us a year's grace period. My brother wrote an IOU, and the situation was settled. But this year, the drought is severe again, and our whole family is starving. We had no choice but to go to Wang Zhankui's house again, but landlord Wang Zhankui produced last year's IOU and demanded immediate repayment from my brother.

God has mercy on me! My family was starving, so how could I give food back to the landlord? As a result, my family's one acre of paddy field also became Wang Zhankui's, but it was still not enough. At this time, the old beast Wang Zhankui wanted to sell my niece to pay off the debt. My brother definitely refused! So he worked as a laborer for Wang Zhankui's family. Do you know what kind of labor he was?

We carried grain to his family. We saw with our own eyes that their warehouses were overflowing with grain, and their pens were filled with pigs and cattle. Their horses were fed beans at every meal. Just from what we saw, the Wang family couldn't finish it all in three years. And yet, even though we asked them to defer the rent for a year, they refused and took away the last bit of our land.

My eldest brother, desperate, secretly took some horse feed from her house and brought it home to cook for the children. He was discovered and beaten to death. That wasn't enough, but Wang Zhankui, determined to eradicate the entire clan, sent his minions to burn my father and mother alive in their home. I don't know where my sister-in-law, nephews, and nieces have been taken by that bastard Wang Zhankui.

I was not at home at the time, and when I heard about this, I immediately went to the government office to report it. As a result, Wang Zhankui was also imprisoned for colluding with the government and was nearly beaten to death. "Fellow villagers, is this what a human being would do? Wang Zhankui is worse than pigs and dogs."

At this time, someone shouted: "Kill Wang Zhankui, kill him..."

Then someone exposed Wang Zhankui's usury and ruined families. Someone else exposed Wang Zhankui's forced purchase of other people's land...

Many people, overcome with emotion, rushed forward and beat Wang Zhankui. It's unclear whether the bandage around Wang Zhankui's mouth wasn't tied tightly enough, or if it had been loosened by someone beating him. As a result, Wang Zhankui was able to speak, and as soon as he spoke, the entire village fell silent. Ouyang Jun was no longer surprised by this kind of situation.

"Ahh."

When this spit came out, mixed with pain and resentment, some people in the village wanted to turn around and run away, while others lowered their heads instantly, as if this would prevent Wang Zhankui from seeing them.

"If you cultivate my land, you must pay me rent. It is only natural to pay rent for cultivating the land. If you don't want to pay rent, you can choose not to rent my land for cultivation.

This bunch of ungrateful people. When you have no money, don't borrow money from me. It is natural to repay debts. If you don't want to pay it back, don't borrow money from me.

It was only after your brother knelt before me that I agreed to rent you a few acres of land to farm. If it weren't for my mercy, everyone in your family would have starved to death long ago.

And when you were sick, it was I who lent money to your family to save you. Humph, if I hadn't been so merciful back then, Wang Gou'er, your grave would have been covered with grass by now. Now you're relying on a few bandits to back you up and raid my house when it wasn't prepared. Who do you think you are? If you weren't lazy, would you have nothing to eat? You conscienceless things, now you don't want to return my food and money, and you're talking about me here? You're shaking, okay, then I'll do the surgery, right? You're using these things to pressure me? Who do you think you are? You want me to submit? You dogs, you're just dreaming."

Upon hearing this, the villagers were speechless for a moment, some even showing signs of shame. This centuries-old truism, delivered by Wang Zhankui, sounded so righteous and self-assured. Everyone seemed to agree, but some found it odd, and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. If the situation continued like this, not only would the public trial be considered a failure, but even after the land was redistributed, it would still leave a deep thorn in the villagers' hearts.

Ouyang Jun had faced this situation countless times. Each time these landlords and gentry righteously argued their case, Ouyang Jun was even more deeply impressed by Chairman Zhang Yinghao's words. He still remembered Chairman Zhang Yinghao saying, "Comrades, our principles are different from those of the landlord class. Our principle is that whoever cultivates the land eats, and those who do not work do not eat. The landlord class's principle is that debts must be repaid, and the landlord class's principle is that cultivating the land and paying rent is the natural right."

These landlords never care about the lives of us poor people. This is the landlord class's logic. So when we speak to the landlord class, we're not trying to convince them. They're completely steadfast, determined. What's the point of trying to persuade them or argue with them? No matter how much you talk to them, it won't make any difference. Anyone who argues with them is a fool. We need to convince the poor people like us. We simply need to stand with them.

Class struggle is a cruel thing. In today's underdeveloped world of productivity, if ordinary people want to live a good life, we can only say to the landlord class: "In order for more people to survive, you can die." The truth is so cruel.

Sure enough, the host spoke next.

Ouyang Jun heard him say: "Fellow villagers, you all know that this is a disaster year, right?"

"know."

With such neat answers, Ouyang Jun knew that many of them were his own soldiers or related comrades among the masses. Otherwise, relying solely on the villagers

So, if you want to achieve your goal, preparation is the most important thing.

"So, have the taxes on the landlords and the government decreased?" "No, they haven't."

"Is there ever a year when people don't die from taxation by landlords and government officials?" "No, people are forced to death every year."

"Did all the land where people were forced to die end up in the hands of the landlords?" "Yes."

"Do the landlords eat more of this grain, or do we farmers eat more?" "The landlords."

This is the most critical issue. If the person answering this question cannot be justified and thinks that the landlord should eat more, then there is really no hope.

"Does the landowner's property increase every year?" "Yes."

"Wang Zhankui took away two mu of my family's land in exchange for three dou of grain." "Your family also gave three dou of grain, but after we fled, our land became Wang Zhankui's. Where can I seek justice?"

"My family's land was snatched away by Wang Zhankui. I didn't get a cent, and he even beat me up."

"None of the people in Wang Zhankui's family are good people."

"Yeah, look at his brother, how many people has he harmed? He's killed quite a few people in the past two years, right?"

The host's questioning stirred a sense of shared hatred among the villagers. They saw that Wang Zhankui no longer had any fear in him, but only endless anger and indifference.

"Even if the rent is reduced a little that year, will it all be increased the next year?"

"Yes. And more."

Chapter 171: More updates!

"So, fellow villagers, the landlords never care about the lives of us poor people. They never care about killing us for their own good life.

These poor people. Fellow villagers, if you don’t kill the poor, you won’t get rich. This is the landlord class’s logic. The logic of us poor people is that we want to survive and we must live.

"If it's better, then, should the landlord class, who have done such wicked things, be put to death? Folks, should Wang Zhankui, who has done such wicked things, be put to death?"

"Damn it, kill him..."

"Kill, kill, kill him..."

At this time, Wang Zhankui had completely understood that the people in front of him were completely different from them. Their principles were completely different from those of thousands of years.

It's different now. Thinking of this, Wang Zhankui suddenly showed a desperate expression.

At this time, Wang Zhankui's family was also shocked by the anger of these farmers whom they had looked down upon before.

When they collected rent from his house, when they demanded payment from his house, when the desperate peasants knelt at his door, they had all seen the helpless anger of the peasants. But when the peasants shouted out the anger that they had accumulated for thousands of years,

After countless days of anger, when they shouted out their deepest anger, seeing those pairs of angry eyes and those twisted expressions that seemed to want to devour someone, the isolated and helpless Wang family felt doubly terrified.

Ouyang Jun did not read on, because he already knew that Wang Zhankui's only future was death, and then the relevant comrades would tell the villagers.

He quickly returned to the temporary headquarters and began to issue conscription orders. According to previous experience, the best time to recruit soldiers was after each public trial, and the second best time to recruit soldiers was after the land was distributed. After these soldiers were recruited, they could hold a few grievance meetings and

Immediately become a loyal and brave warrior.

"Commander, how many troops should we recruit this time?"

"Haha, how many? Didn't the Chairman say that our soldiers only think that they are too few, not too many. Because our soldiers are both combat teams and work teams.

Propaganda teams, labor teams. So we'll recruit as many as we can, and the Chairman will be happy, provided we can afford to support that many people. But we've got so much silver now, you know how many soldiers we can support with that money? Go for it. But we still need to send someone to report to Comrade Zhang Feng, and we'll see how many soldiers we can recruit in the end."

In reality, Ouyang Jun underestimated Fushun, as it was home to a large number of salt workers, who were effectively prime military recruits. Their children, constantly exposed to the salt industry, were impeccably disciplined. Fushun County, prospering thanks to its salt production, miraculously reached a population of approximately 900,000 during this era, making it Sichuan's most abundant and populous county. Fushun was home to numerous wealthy families, and with more wealthy families came more schools, and more people attended. Fushun County was renowned for its numerous talents, earning it the title of "Hometown of Talents" since the early Qing Dynasty. During the 267 years of the Qing Dynasty, the county produced 237 Juren (Juren) and 37 Jinshi (Jinshi).

Therefore, the quality of the Ouyang Army's conscription far surpassed that of other regions, and the number was also quite high. After all, with the mandatory recruitment of one soldier per village, plus those who volunteered, the Ouyang Army had already recruited 60,000 male soldiers at once, making Ouyang Jun almost laugh.

After Ouyang Jun resolved the issue in Fushun, he left some comrades to carry out land reform in the local area, and took the beautiful lady Zhao Xinrui and the 60,000 new recruits to Luzhou to carry out new recruit training.

Ouyang Jun didn't know it at this point, but Zhang Yinghao was in serious trouble. Not long after Zhang Yinghao captured Chengdu, Zhang Feng easily took Chongqing. This news spread like wildfire throughout Sichuan. Zhang Yinghao optimistically believed that his capture of Chengdu would be similar to his capture of Guang'an, where news would spread more slowly, giving him ample time to respond.

Reality taught Zhang Yinghao a hard lesson. Following his capture of Chengdu and Chongqing, the revolutionary army quickly launched an offensive, sweeping away the Manchu Qing forces, striking down the landlords and gentry, banning the Boxers, the Pao Brothers, and feudal superstitions, and removing checkpoints. This time, the Forward Party and the revolutionary army struck so broad a swath that news spread quickly.

All the forces that had been attacked seemed to have invisibly united, accompanied by news that Zhang Yinghao and other traitors were sharing wives and dividing up the land. Ordinary people, unaware of the situation, were terrified by the reactionary propaganda of sharing wives. In reality, these reactionaries weren't just terrified; they were terrified to death. Anyone with relevant information knew that dividing up the land was a matter of life and death. Now, when all the reactionaries gathered, they would call each other "thugs and traitors," "Hong Yang rebels," "Red bandits," and "mobs."

The topic of discussion throughout Sichuan was how the remnants of the Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuzhen traitors had arrived in Sichuan. A few people were already comparing Zhang Yinghao and his men to the second Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuzhen traitors, or even Wang Mang. Zhang Yinghao didn't really care who the comparison was to, but the deterioration of the situation was beyond his imagination.

Zhang Yinghao's current feeling was completely different: one moment it was a beautiful, full moon, and sunny day, and the next moment it was a gloomy, cold wind, and the howling of ghosts and wolves. If Zhang Yinghao hadn't been in this era for over a year, he would have been dizzy and confused. Seeing this situation, Zhang Yinghao didn't dare to disperse his strength immediately, and immediately clenched the strength in his hands into a fist.

All previously deployed special forces were recalled as a precaution. Not counting those areas not under Zhang Yinghao's control, even in the areas recently conquered, there were eight or nine counterattacks and over ten counter-revolutionary rebellions. This served as a powerful warning to Zhang Yinghao. Although only a few of these counterattacks and rebellions were successful, many of the personnel involved and local civilians were killed.

At this point, Zhang Yinghao couldn't just mindlessly dispatch his limited force to put out fires everywhere, handing over casualties and experience to the landlord militia. Instead, he dispatched small teams of special forces and reconnaissance troops to quickly determine if there was any connection between these counter-revolutionary rebellions and the counter-offensive. Furthermore, they needed to determine the enemy's location and who was leading them. The counter-revolutionaries had to be completely eliminated before he could proceed with his work according to plan.

Zhang Yinghao trusted his soldiers, but he wouldn't rely solely on their reconnaissance. He subsequently mobilized his intelligence network, along with human and material resources, to conduct overt and covert investigations within and outside the base. In reality, these errors were largely due to insufficient cadre staff, the lack of maturity, and inexperience of the relevant personnel, leading to so many mistakes. However, Zhang Yinghao had to bear these losses, and he hoped these lessons would help his comrades grow even faster.

"We should immediately send troops to quickly suppress those counter-revolutionary rebels and avenge our comrades."

"The most hateful are the landlords and evil gentry who are retaliating against us. They are our real enemies. They kill our comrades and the people in the base area without hesitation.

If we catch these people, we will cut them into pieces."

"However, we don't have enough troops now. Our forces are too dispersed. It's easy to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another, running around in circles, and ultimately achieving nothing."

"What are you afraid of? These people are afraid of being killed. Killing them makes them terrified. Only then will they not dare to kill our comrades again. We are too kind to them now.

It is. ”

"All you do is kill, kill, kill. How many people have you killed? Aren't they our own comrades who are killing them?"

"Those counter-revolutionaries must be killed. Why not keep them alive? These people will cause trouble. If we don't kill them, they will only increase in number."

When Zhang Yinghao entered the meeting room, he heard a heated argument. Clearly, many comrades were flustered by the sudden change. Seeing his comrades' agitation, Zhang Yinghao began to speak at the door.

"Killing is still necessary."

Zhang Yinghao's statement set the tone, and the conference room instantly fell silent. Dozens of eyes were fixed on Zhang Yinghao, but he felt no pressure at all. He walked to the chairman's seat, his eyes scanning everyone present.

"I've said before that we have no experience in many things. Have we encountered this situation before? No. Since we haven't encountered it before, we don't understand it. If we don't understand it, how can we understand it? Without investigation, we have no right to speak.

When we encounter problems, we must analyze them realistically. When we make mistakes, we must correct them immediately. No one in the world is perfect. I have summarized that we made three small mistakes:

1: After we captured Chengdu, we quickly divided our forces and attacked from multiple directions without consolidating our base, which greatly dispersed our strength and caused many places to be seized by the counter-revolutionaries, resulting in losses.

Second, our attack was too broad this time. Previously, in Guang'an, we initially targeted only the large landlords, and later swept away other forces. However, in Chengdu, we targeted all reactionary forces at once, without attempting to divide and disintegrate them or win over the middle forces. As a result, we faced an enemy that was too formidable at once.

Third, we underestimated the difficulties. Chengdu's situation is more complex than Shunqing's, with more problems to face and a broader perspective to address. Many comrades haven't adapted yet and feel somewhat constrained by the unfamiliar environment.

I had foreseen the emergence of these situations. I've long said that class struggle is a cruel thing. In today's underdeveloped world, if the landlord class eats a little too much, we poor people will starve to death. If we eat a little more, we must ensure that our poor people can live well, otherwise the landlord class will have no chance of survival. The two cannot coexist.

We say that cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents.

The common people have a way to live, not only cut off the landlord class's financial resources? It is completely an act of killing parents, and even digging up the ancestral graves.

They are fighting to the death, so how can they talk to us with reason? Even if they talk with reason, they are talking about the landlord class's reasoning, and we are talking about the proletariat's reasoning. It is completely irrelevant.