Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 307: Qufu has only one sky
"Fuck, you dare to curse my mother, I will beat you to death!"

The young man angrily swung his fists, catching the servant off guard and unable to react, and was hit by thousands of punches.

But the other servants nearby saw this and reacted quickly.

A group of people rushed forward and beat the young man who dared to fight back with punches, kicks and sticks.

"You bastard, you're so rebellious, you actually dare to fight back?"

"Beat him! Beat him to death!"

"..."

The young man had already suffered from hunger for a long time, and his resistance just now was just an outburst of anger.

Now that they have reacted, how can they be a match for the guards of the Confucius Mansion who have been able to eat and drink well and stay strong even in years of disaster?

He was knocked to the ground in a few seconds.

The disaster victims around saw this and were afraid of getting into trouble, so they all hid away.

A piece of open space was squeezed out outside the crowded refugee camp gate.

Several servants surrounded the fallen young man and started beating and kicking him.

At first, the young man could still scream.

However, as time passed, the screams became quieter and quieter until they finally disappeared.

The old woman got up from the ground and let out a cry of pain when she saw her son being beaten to silence.

"My son, my son..."

As she spoke, she was about to rush up to save her son.

The servants were almost done fighting, and seeing this, they immediately retreated.

The old woman threw herself on her son, and looking at his lifeless body covered in blood, she couldn't help but wail.

"There is no justice!"

"Someone was beaten to death in the Yanshenggong Mansion!"

"There is no justice!"

The old woman's wails were extremely shrill, filled with deep despair and sorrow.

The servant whose nose was broken covered his nose which was bleeding and said with gritted teeth.

"Justice? In Qufu, Duke Yansheng is justice. Even the emperor can't control Qufu!"

"You bastard, you dare to hit me?"

"I'm going to feed you and your son to the dogs!"

When the people around saw this, their eyes were filled with numbness.

The experience of the mother and child here may be tragic, but ever since the Yellow River burst its banks, the victims have all suffered.

No matter how tragic this scene is, can it be worse than cannibalism?

The victims have suffered too many human tragedies during this period of time.

Now they are already numb!

They don't care about anything except eating and staying alive.

The old woman got up from the ground, her hair disheveled, and rushed towards several servants like a madman.

"You murderers, return my son's life to me..."

With a loud bang, a stick hit the old woman directly on the head, knocking her to the ground.

The man died instantly!
Seeing this, the middle-aged man dressed as a butler behind the desk in front of the door waved his hand and said.

"Handle it quickly and don't pollute the eyes of the Holy Lord. The Holy Lord is kind-hearted and cannot stand this."

Upon hearing this, several servants changed their previous arrogance and nodded in agreement.

Then he pointed out several people among the refugee crowd and ordered them to drag the two bodies away and dispose of them.

Well, there was no specific instruction to feed the dog.

This is because now is a year of great disaster, and these recently dead bodies are precious resources, large chunks of meat, and the victims will not waste them.

In the eyes of these servants, there is no difference between entering a human's stomach and entering a dog's stomach.

Song Kangnian withdrew his gaze and continued to queue with his son and niece.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in front of the team again.

"This...what does this document of selling one's body mean?"

A literate man pointed at the document of selling one's body in front of him and said with a slightly trembling voice.

The middle-aged man behind the desk frowned unfriendlyly when he heard this.

"If you want to eat the food of the Holy Lord, sign this document first."

"Otherwise, can you peasants like you eat the food of the Holy Lord for free?"

The man heard this and said with a trembling voice.

"But...but, weren't those grains transported here by the Tang Dynasty government for disaster relief?"

This man was knowledgeable. He knew that the Tang Dynasty had already begun to take over the prefectures in Shandong and had sent people to deliver food to the prefectures for disaster relief.

The middle-aged manager sneered disdainfully upon hearing this.

"so what?"

"When the grain enters Qufu, it belongs to the Kong family."

"It's up to you to sign this indenture or not. If you don't, there are plenty of people who will."

"Do you really think that anyone can become a servant of the Yanshenggong Mansion if they want?"

"If it weren't for the disaster in Shandong, the Holy Lord would be kind-hearted and would not want to see the people starve to death. He would have ordered us to collect some slaves while distributing porridge."

"Just because you are just a bunch of peasants, are you worthy enough to enter the Holy Lord's house?"

The man opened his mouth, but hunger finally overwhelmed his self-esteem. He reached for the pen, gritted his teeth and signed his name on the contract.

Then he walked into the refugee camp behind him.

Soon, the refugee groups began to sign indentures one by one.

The same is true for the three members of the Song family.

Although selling oneself into slavery is miserable, it is better than starving.

Of course, the Confucius Mansion didn't accept everyone. For example, those who were old, weak, or looked sick were not even given the chance to sign a contract to sell themselves.

Usually they were sent away directly to prevent them from wasting the Kong family's food.

Song Kangnian signed a contract to sell himself and entered a refugee camp with his son and niece.

The refugee population was filled with messy shacks, sewage was flowing on the ground, garbage was everywhere, and the air was filled with the stench of feces, urine and rotting human bodies.

The entire refugee camp was as dirty as a garbage dump.

But the refugees in the camp didn't care at all.

When people are extremely hungry, they will not care about anything else except eating and drinking.

After entering the refugee camp, Song Kangnian began to queue up with his son and niece to get porridge.

Soon it was the turn of the three members of the Song family. They got some porridge, found a relatively clean corner in the refugee camp, squatted down, and began to slurp the porridge.

The porridge is very watery, but when it enters the stomach, it makes people feel warm and comfortable.

The three members of the Song family couldn't help but smile.

They haven't had a hot meal in a long time.

But at this moment, a steward from the Kong Mansion walked up to the three people from the Song family.

He glanced at the young Song Shi, stroked the goatee on his chin, and spoke.

"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect to find a little beauty among these refugees."

"She looks a little thinner now, but if she takes good care of herself for a while, she can be a maid who warms the young master's bed..."

After saying that, he casually pointed at Song Shi and said.

"Little girl, come with me, I will take you to live a good life..."

Song Kangnian subconsciously protected his niece behind him and asked.

"What...what do you want to do?"

The manager frowned.

"You are such a hassle-free person. I have already signed the indenture, so of course I can do whatever I want."

Song Kangnian still protected his niece behind him, and spoke with an expression full of confusion and struggle.

"But, but the child is still young!"

"My niece is only ten years old this year!"

The manager sneered disdainfully.

"So what? The young master likes this."

"I'm telling you, once the indenture is signed, I belong to the Kong family."

"Don't even mention sending it to warm the young master's bed. Even if it's killed and fed to the dogs, no one would care."

Song Kangnian had read some books and started to argue.

"Even if they are slaves, according to Qing law, they must be compensated if someone dies!"

The Tang Dynasty had only just taken over Shandong for a short time, and Song Kangnian had not yet come to his senses and was still abiding by the laws of the Qing Dynasty.

The manager said this in a very arrogant manner.

"It's the Tang Dynasty now."

"Great Qing Law? Haha."

"Besides, even if it is still the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty laws do not apply to Qufu."

"There is only one heaven in Qufu, and that is the Kong family!"

As he spoke, he signaled several servants behind him to go forward and snatch the person away.

Song Kangnian fought desperately.

But even though he had practiced before, his body was too weak now and he was no match for the servants. He was soon knocked to the ground.

If he had not signed the indenture, he could be considered the property of the Kong family.

Several servants were worried that they would have a hard time explaining to the steward after beating him to death, and they were afraid that Song Kangnian would be beaten to death like the young man outside the refugee camp.

Song Kangnian lay on the ground, his eyes filled with despair, watching his niece being forcibly dragged away, and he was unable to stop it.

Somehow, he suddenly remembered the young man who had been beaten to death outside the refugee camp.

I am now just like the young man back then!
At the beginning, I didn't stand up to help that young man, and now, no one will stand up to help me...

Song Kangnian's heart was filled with sorrow.

……

Yanshenggong Mansion!

Unlike the dirty and messy refugee camp outside Qufu City, the Yanshenggong Mansion is elegant and tidy.

Each building is very exquisite and delicate, and many details are luxurious that ordinary people cannot see.

In the flower hall of the Confucius Mansion, the contemporary Duke Yansheng, Kong Fanhao, is meeting with the magistrate of Qufu County.

A charcoal basin was lit in the flower hall, and the finest silver charcoal was burning little by little.

The flower hall in late autumn feels as warm as spring.

Kong Fanhao was wearing a robe embroidered with brocade and Suzhou embroidery, a square scarf on his head, a pair of lotus silk Buyun boots on his feet, and sat in the first seat with a relaxed look.

His whole demeanor is elegant, and the aura of wealth and prosperity that comes from generations of generations cannot be concealed at all.

"Yun Shen, how is the disaster relief work going recently?"

Kong Fanhao asked the Qufu County Magistrate Kong Yunshen who was standing nearby.

Nowadays, the magistrate of Qufu is basically the private domain of the Kong family, and every magistrate is basically a member of the Kong family.

Although Kong Yunshen was the magistrate of the county and the father of the whole county, he did not dare to be arrogant in front of Kong Fanhao, the Duke of Yansheng, and behaved very respectfully.

"In reply to the Holy Lord, porridge sheds and refugee camps have been set up outside Qufu City, and people are presiding over the distribution of porridge every day."

"Yesterday alone, nearly 300 people ate the porridge provided by the Confucius Mansion and were so grateful to the Holy Lord that they voluntarily sold themselves to the Confucius Mansion as slaves."

Upon hearing this, Kong Fanhao took another sip of tea and nodded slightly.

"Well, not bad, not bad!"

"It seems that these peasants also know how to be grateful. The food that our Kong family gave away was not in vain."

(End of this chapter)