In Hongwu, we started as rebels

Chapter 627 A gentleman associates with others but not with any particular faction.

Three days later, the persistent heavy snow finally began to subside.

In front of an earthen wall on the north side of the city, Yang Shiqi was finally able to take off his big hat and catch his breath.

Even so, the weather remained cold.
With each breath, the heat dissipated rapidly like white mist.

Seeing his actions, Xie Jin, who was wearing gloves and carrying a wooden bucket, slightly pursed his lips.

"As for it?"

Yang Shiqi looked at Xie Jin.
Previously, when he had contact with this talented man, he felt that the man was somewhat aloof.

But after working together for three days...
He discovered that Xie Jin was merely arrogant because of his talent, and his character was not problematic.

However, Xie Jin's inappropriate remarks still left him somewhat helpless.

In General Liu's words, Xie Jin had very low emotional intelligence and spoke with a barbed tongue, yet he was completely unaware of it.

"Wearing a hat while working makes my head feel stuffy."

But it's cold if I take off my hat, and now that the snow has finally lessened a bit, I need to get some fresh air.

As Yang Shiqi spoke, he picked up a small brush.

He dipped the rice paste into a wooden bucket and skillfully brushed it onto the wall.

He laid the brush flat and moved it at a steady pace.
If there isn't enough paste, just flip it over and continue.
The speed should be neither too fast nor too slow. If it's too fast, the paste won't be applied evenly; if it's too slow, the paste will easily clump together.

After applying two coats of paste, he pulled out a large red paper from behind his back.

After spreading it out, cover the area where the paste has been applied, and then rub it firmly with your hand.

Moisture marks immediately appeared on the red paper.

And just like that, a promotional slogan was posted.

"It's pasted crookedly."

Xie Jin then said something inappropriate.

Yang Shiqi ignored him, took a few steps back, and examined the object carefully.

Although it's a little crooked, it's not a big problem as long as the writing on it is clear.

The slogan reads prominently.

"Grow sweet potatoes if you want to eat your fill."

"If you want to eat well, raise pigs."

Yang Shiqi read it twice, but still felt the slogan was not concise enough, so he looked at Xie Jin.

"Brother Dashen, do you have a simpler slogan?"

I always felt that these grassland people probably couldn't understand it.

Xie Jin looked at the red banner with black lettering in front of him with some surprise, and pursed his lips.

"If it gets any simpler, we can only write 'planting sweet potatoes' and 'raising pigs'."

However, I wrote a nursery rhyme yesterday that can be sung by children in the city, and it will be more effective than posting slogans.

After all, not everyone can read.

"What nursery rhyme?"

Xie Jin sniffed, took off three layers of gloves, and took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over.

Yang Shiqi opened it and looked down from the top.

“In the Ming Dynasty, the people of Daning had a wonderful saying about their livelihood.”

If you want to fill your stomach, plant sweet potatoes; the sweet potato seedlings take root firmly in the soil.

The leaves are green, the vines are dancing, and the underground tubers are quietly swelling.

Steaming, boiling, and roasting—the aroma fills the air, and a full stomach gives you the energy to go on your journey.

To eat well, raise pigs well, and make sure the pigs in the pigsty are fat and plump.

Eating coarse food and humming a little tune, I'm plump and healthy, truly a life of abundance.

Braised pork belly, its aroma fills the house, bringing a sense of contentment and ease to life.

Sweet potato growers and pig farmers, life in Daning is as sweet as butter.

"This is indeed well written, but it's a bit complicated."

The nursery rhymes I heard in my hometown and in Hubei and Hunan provinces were all three or four lines long and easy to remember.

Yang Shiqi gave his evaluation, frowning as he looked at the paper.

"Isn't that simple enough? You can remember it at a glance." Xie Jin's eyes showed surprise again.

Yang Shiqi handed the paper back, somewhat helplessly.

“Brother Dashen, you are a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), one of the top scholars in the Ming Dynasty, so you will naturally find it simple.”

But almost none of the children in Daning could read.

How could anyone possibly remember such a complicated nursery rhyme? It needs to be simpler.

Xie Jin's expression shifted several times; he was pleased to be praised.
But he genuinely felt that nursery rhymes were simple enough.

After hesitating for a long time, he reluctantly nodded.

"I understand, I'll think about it when I get back."

"Well, Brother Dashen, let's go to the next place."

Put up all the slogans as soon as possible.

If it works in Daning City, we'll have to go to other cities.

Xie Jin was taken aback. "We're going somewhere else?"

"Of course, the Commandery is not limited to just Da Ning; people from all over need to be educated."

However, the prerequisite for education is ensuring that the people have enough to eat.

Xie Jin pursed his lips, clearly disagreeing with the statement, and said:
"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening." Even if one is hungry, one can still accept education.

Among the wise men of ancient times, there were many who came from impoverished families, ate little, yet studied diligently without ceasing.

Che Yin's study of fireflies and Sun Kang's study of snow are examples of this.

Therefore, how can the transmission of knowledge be hindered simply because someone hasn't had enough to eat?

Being well-fed is important, but it is by no means a prerequisite for education.

Yang Shiqi was somewhat unaccustomed to Xie Jin's refined and literary remarks.

He stood in front, carrying a basket on his back, and looked back at Xie Jin with a helpless expression.

Why don't all ordinary people read books?

The imperial court established schools throughout the country, but very few people actually attended them.

“The common people are ignorant and regard the words of sages as dung.”

"They need to farm; in the spring, they need to plow the land, turn the soil, select seeds, and sow them."

In summer, weeding, pruning, and removing side shoots are necessary.
In autumn, the crops need to be harvested, dried, and stored.
In winter, we need to clear weeds and stubble, remove pests, and make fertilizer.

"I'm busy every single month of the year, where would I find the time to read and write?"

Yang Shiqi shook his head helplessly and continued:

"Even a ten-year-old child can be a great help in the fields."

With farm work piling up, who has the time or inclination to study?

Furthermore, scholars who had passed the imperial examinations were everywhere; they could become officials without paying taxes.
Even the most ignorant people know that studying and passing the imperial examinations is a good thing.

But why not be more eager to read books?

Brother Dashen, it costs money to learn to read and write.

The common people only have grain in their homes, not even enough to eat, so where would they get the money?

After saying that, Yang Shiqi carried the basket on his back and walked to the next place where slogans were posted.

Xie Jin stood there, his brows furrowed.

He looked around and saw several teenagers not far away.

He was carefully picking through a pile of grass that he didn't know what kind of grass it was.

Xie Jin walked over as if possessed.

The children were dressed in tattered clothes that didn't fit properly, as if they had been altered from adult clothes.

Their palms and little faces were red from the cold.

He merely glanced at Xie Jin's arrival and then ignored him.

Xie Jin looked at the pile of weeds, where some small black spheres were hidden.

He thought it was some kind of fruit, so he asked:

Do you pick and choose what to eat?

"Sheep dung doesn't taste good; it's only good for burning."

A boy of about ten glanced at Xie Jin, found him strange, and moved to a different spot.

Sheep dung?

Xie Jin's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the black beans hidden among the weeds. He took a sniff and a strong smell of urine hit him.

He unconsciously took a step back, finding it hard to believe.

Why collect sheep dung?

"Start a fire."

The children answered all at once.

"Why don't you go chop firewood?" Xie Jin pressed.

The children all looked up at him, as if he were an idiot.

"The snow is too heavy outside. If we chop firewood and carry it back, we'll freeze to death outside."

"Brother Dashen, I'm leaving."

At that moment, Yang Shiqi's shouts came from afar.

Xie Jin left as if fleeing a disaster, his eyes darting around, lost in thought.

It wasn't until the afternoon that the two of them managed to get close to the city gate.

People come and go here, mostly taking advantage of the snow stopping to check on the crops outside the city or to visit family and friends in the villages outside the city.

The two even saw a group of steppe people returning with two white wolves that had been shot dead by arrows, and could hear them muttering:
"What a pity, the arrow damaged the fur, otherwise it could have fetched a good price." "Something is better than nothing, don't think too much about it, just aim better next time."

"But shooting into the eyes is too difficult."

"Practice more, that's how we all got here."

Listening to their conversation, Yang Shiqi said:
A good snow wolf pelt can sell for a lot of money.

One sheet can buy enough food for a family for the whole winter.

But if there are holes in it, the price will be greatly reduced, and it might only last a few days.

Xie Jin nodded; he knew about this.

"My teacher, Mr. Xinyun, has a whole tiger skin that was transported back from Liaodong."

I heard from others that it cost a full thousand taels of silver.

I used to sleep on it when I was little; it was so warm.

Yang Shiqi paused in his act of applying paste, and looked at Xie Jin.

"Is this Mr. Ouyang Heng? The sixteenth-generation descendant of Ouyang Xiu?"

Xie Jin nodded:
"It's him, my elder brother's father-in-law."

Yang Shiqi took a deep breath, a look of realization flashing in his eyes.
The Ouyang clan is a large clan in Jiangxi with a history spanning thousands of years.

With his high prestige in Ji'an Prefecture and immense wealth, it's no wonder Xie Jin was always arrogant.

Yang Shiqi sighed deeply and said in a deep voice.

“When I was a child, I visited the Ouyang Temple. My mother hoped that I could absorb some of his literary talent.”

"Are you also from Jiangxi?"

Xie Jin looked at him with some surprise, his eyes wide.

"A native of Taihe County, Ji'an Prefecture."

"So we're from the same hometown!" Xie Jin exclaimed with delight.
"Brother Shiqi, why didn't you say so before?"

Yang Shiqi sighed.

"Although I am from Jiangxi, after my father passed away,

I spent most of my time in Huguang, then drifted to Yingtian, and now I'm in Daning.

It doesn't matter anymore where I'm from.

A sense of desolation inexplicably arose between the two of them.

Despite their vastly different experiences, they ended up on the same path.

Xie Jin looked at the brush in his hand and the bucket of paste he was carrying, and once again sighed at the impermanence of life.

"It doesn't matter. Where a person is born is where their roots are."

"We are from the same hometown, so we should look out for each other in the future." Xie Jin's attitude improved considerably.

Yang Shiqi pursed his lips and said in a deep voice.

As the saying goes, a gentleman associates with others but does not form cliques.

We are from the same hometown, but we cannot use that relationship to engage in favoritism or corruption.

Xie Jin looked Yang Shiqi up and down, then suddenly laughed:

"We're from the same hometown, and maybe our ancestors were even friends."

Why not help each other out?

Seeing that Yang Shiqi was about to say something, Xie Jin said directly:

"Lord Lu's trusted confidants are all from Qingzhou, and most of the main generals in the army also come from there."

Yang Shiqi shut his mouth, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes, and sighed heavily:
"That being said, I still feel that this is not quite right."

“Brother Shiqi, people are less fortunate when they leave their hometown.”

If we, the wanderers far from home, don't support each other, won't we be bullied?

Yang Shiqi thought this made sense.

But not knowing how to refute it, he could only vigorously brush on the paste.

"Hurry up and finish pasting it before sunset."

"It's going to be very windy tonight; I'll have to check again tomorrow morning to see if anything was blown away."

Upon hearing this, the light in Xie Jin's eyes dimmed rapidly, and he lost his spirit.

"We are all rare scholars."
How did we end up putting up slogans in this freezing weather? I can't even explain it to anyone."

At this moment, the earth began to tremble slightly, and the newly pasted paper began to shake gently.

The two froze, looking around blankly.

Soon, they discovered the source of the tremor.

The sudden, loud sound of horses' hooves rang out from outside the tall city gate.

The sound of horses' hooves was somewhat muffled, as if they were treading on snow.

Even so, there was still a sense of impending doom.

Yang Shiqi hurriedly ran to the city gate and looked out.

On the snow at the edge of the field of vision,

A team of several thousand people sped through the heavy snow.

The swirling snow resembled a thick white fog, rolling like a white dragon.

An astonishing aura surged within Yang Shiqi.

His eyes widened, and he held his breath for a moment.

Xie Jin, who came along with them, was also staring blankly ahead.

Cavalry, true cavalry!

This was the first time the two had ever seen thousands of cavalry charge without any hesitation.

The feeling was like the earth shaking and mountains crumbling, or like Mount Tai pressing down on you.

Their pupils dilated extremely, their minds went blank for a moment, and they were unable to think.

Until the cavalry began to slow down outside the city,
The two slowly came to their senses, only to find their lips were dry.

"This is a cavalry charge? I feel like I'm about to die."

Xie Jin opened his mouth blankly.

Yang Shiqi, who had served in the military for several months, was relatively calmer.

But he nodded slightly.
"I also have this feeling."

As the cavalry came to a stop outside the city, a loud shout rang out.

"The commander of the Three Guards of Duoyan has arrived with his troops. Please open the city gates!"

"Verify identity!"

Shouts also came from the city wall.

Squads of soldiers rushed to the vicinity of the city gate, preparing to open the main gate.

"The Three Guards of Duoyan?"

Yang Shiqi looked at the cavalry with some surprise.

These cavalrymen were actually the Three Guards of Doyan?
The Doyan Three Guards, whose elite troops were wiped out by the vanguard scouts!
His pupils dilated violently; he was utterly shocked.
Thinking of those seemingly silly and honest military colleagues in the barracks.

The sheer force of the three guards' charge nearly shattered his spirit.

What kind of momentum would the soldiers of the vanguard scout unit, who are usually inconspicuous, have when they charge into battle?
Yang Shiqi couldn't imagine it, and for a moment he couldn't believe it.

He heard from people in the army that...
The elite soldiers of the Doyan Three Guards were no match for them; killing them was as easy as killing chickens.

He used to think so too.

They seemed like a bunch of disorganized soldiers who couldn't even form a proper military formation.

But what I saw with my own eyes today
Yang Shiqi realized he was wrong, terribly wrong.

Lord Lu and General Liu, who were buried in piles of documents all day long, were far more terrifying than he had imagined.

Xie Jin, standing to the side, wore the same expression.
He stared blankly at the more than a thousand cavalrymen in front of him.

In that moment, he felt that all his years of reading and learning had been utterly useless.

With just one simple charge, someone swung a knife...

They could cut off his head, and all his efforts in the first half of his life would be in vain.

He turned around and looked behind him; that was the direction of the Beiping Military Command's office.
More than a thousand soldiers from the vanguard scout unit were stationed there.

He found it hard to believe that the three guards of Duoyan before him were actually their defeated opponents.

Before long, several cavalrymen dressed in black armor galloped out of the city, rushed straight out of the city, picked up megaphones and shouted loudly to the more than a thousand people in front of them.

"Commander Azashili of Taining Guard, and Deputy Commander Tabing Temur."

The commanders of the Duoyan Guard, Tuoluhuchaer, and the commanders of the Fuyu Guard, Haisanandaxi, entered the city.
The rest of the troops went to the main camp outside the north gate to rest!

Among the group, the late Yuan Liao King Azashili looked old.

He looked at Marshal Toruhuchar, who was at the very front of the column, and said:
"Let's go into town. It's freezing cold here. Let's go warm up."

When he said this, some of the soldiers present looked at each other, a hint of doubt in their eyes.

Beside him, Commander Tap and Timur, their breathing slightly rapid, said:
"Your Majesty, why not let the soldiers enter the city together? It's too cold in the outer camps."

Azashiri did not answer.

Tuoluhuchaer sneered.
He glanced at his empty right hand, a hint of gloom flashing in his eyes.

"The Ming Dynasty won't let us into the city, so are we supposed to force our way in?"

Huining Wang Haisanan looked at the two of them and laughed:
"Let's go. Complaining here won't do any good. Lord Zhou is not someone to be trifled with."

King Azashili of Liao nodded in deep agreement.

"That's right, but even if Lord Zhou is difficult to talk to, he's still much better than that Lu Yunyi."

This time, we can't afford to make things difficult.

As soon as he said this, Tuoluhuchaer felt a dull pain in his arm and finally let out a cold snort.

"Let's go into the city!"

(End of this chapter)