Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 25, Mobilizing People's Hearts

Fang Yong was dressed in tight clothes and surrounded by hundreds of fierce bandits.

The villagers' eyes flashed with satisfaction when they saw Mr. Fang and others who were tied up, but when they looked at Fang Yong, they couldn't help but feel afraid.

People didn't dare to make a sound. Who knew if Yong Wazi, who had joined the bandits, would have a drastic change in his temperament? At least everyone just saw that the Fang mansion's housekeeper was shot to death by a single arrow.

Fang Yong stood on the stage, looking at the villagers who were trembling like sieves below, without a single ripple in his heart.

If Fang Yong had just traveled through time, he would feel very sympathetic towards them and would choose to do his best to help these people with all his might.

But now, Fang Yong understood one thing, that is, helping the people requires some methods of guidance.

Helping them directly is often counterproductive.

"Mr. Jia."

Fang Yong greeted.

Jia Yucun came out from behind and took out a silk book that he had prepared long ago from his arms.

Jia Yucun read to the crowd:

There was a tyrant named Fang Jingui in Fangjiazhuang who was tyrannical towards the people in the village.

They exploited good farmland to expand their own territory, exploited the common people to enrich themselves, let their slaves run wild, bribed officials, imposed heavy taxes and levies, and distributed them arbitrarily; they enslaved the villagers and seized wealth by trickery.

As a result, the common people had no rice to cook and the villagers had no money to save.

The roads were littered with starving people, and the fields were covered with bones. Every family had to cook with broken bones, and sold their children; the local families reveled every night, living a life of drunkenness and debauchery...

Jia Yucun kept talking, and the people in the audience felt the same way, their eyes already reddened.

Because what Jia Yucun read were all real things that happened to them without any exaggeration.

The winter in Huaizhou area was not considered cold, but because of the heavy taxes this year, all of Mr. Fang's land was shared by them. Every household had to pawn their bedding for money, and there was not a single grain of food in the rice jar. People could only hug each other for warmth at night, and there were even people who froze to death or starved to death.

Fang Yong watched quietly at the side, thinking that he was worthy of being a Jinshi, as he wrote very well, in a way that was simple, easy to understand, catchy, and elegant.

By the time Jia Yucun finished reading the entire manifesto, the emotions of the people below had been completely aroused.

"It's all because of Mr. Fang, otherwise my Ni'er wouldn't have starved to death!"

"My son Huzi was too hungry to eat, so he followed me to dig up grass roots, and was taken away by a wild wolf in the forest. It was all Fang Laocai's fault!"

"Revenge, kill Fang Laocai!"

"kill him!"

Fang Yong stepped forward and put his hands together, signaling the villagers to be quiet.

After a while, the villagers quieted down.

"Fellow villagers, I am Fang Yong, and I grew up in Fangjia Village. You all know me. I came here not to rob fellow villagers, but to seek revenge! To avenge myself, and also to avenge my fellow villagers!"

Fang Yong waved his hand and signaled for someone to bring Master Fang up.

Master Fang was dragged over by his men.

Fang Yong stepped on Master Fang's head and said loudly:

"Fang Jingui wanted to take all the land in Fangjia Village for himself. He colluded with officials, persecuted villagers, and plundered their money. I, Fang Yong, was one of those who were persecuted. I had no choice but to become a bandit. So I came here this time to seek revenge on Fang Jingui! And also to avenge my fellow villagers!"

Fang Yong explained to the villagers all the evil things that Master Fang had done over the years.

It’s not that Fang Yong likes to talk nonsense, but for the sake of people’s hearts and to establish the justice of his actions.

He wanted to tell the folks in the surrounding area that he, Fang Yong, did not come to rob the Fang family because of their wealth, but came for revenge, to avenge his fellow villagers!
"it is good!"

"Yongwazi said it well!"

The villagers cheered.

The first person who cheered just now was actually the one that Fang Yong asked Li Ni to arrange for him, and each person was paid half a bucket of rice.

After all, sometimes ignorant villagers need proper guidance.

Of course, it’s not enough to just talk, you also need to do it!

Fang Yong waved his hand and his men took out all the IOUs and loan notes that they had found in Mr. Fang's house.

"These IOUs were signed by Fang Jingui who persecuted the villagers. I, Fang Yong, will stand up for the villagers and burn all of them!"

In fact, some people actually borrowed food from Mr. Fang, and it was not fair to burn it all.

But what Fang Yong wanted at this time was not fairness, but people's hearts.

Piles of heavy IOUs were thrown into the brazier under everyone's gaze, and the bursting flames echoed the cheers of the villagers.

Fang Yong once again signaled to the villagers to be quiet and listen to him.

This time, the villagers fell silent instantly.

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor. Some people deserve to be killed, and some don't. Those who came to the Fang family for the banquet this time have no grudges against us, and we will never implicate you!"

As he spoke, Fang Yong signaled his men to bring out those who had nothing to do with the Fang family.

These people came from all over the place, from wealthy families around. To put it bluntly, they were birds of a feather like Master Fang, except that they did not persecute Fangjiazhuang, but other villages instead.

Do they deserve to die?
Damn!

Not to say that all of them should go to hell, at least 80% of them should die! But Fang Yong would never kill them.

If Fang Yong kills these people, he will not gain much benefit. Instead, he will become notorious and become a bandit who kills innocent people indiscriminately in the eyes of all the big families, which will provoke their collective resistance.

Fang Yong doesn't want to make everyone in the world his enemy, he doesn't have that ability yet.

His only real enemy was the imperial court. To be more precise, the imperial court could also be won over. His only real enemy was the emperor.

We must eliminate the main enemy first, and then deal with other things.

"This matter has nothing to do with you, let him go!"

At Fang Yong's command, all these people were untied and released.

"Thank you, my good man. You are a man who can distinguish right from wrong and have done great deeds."

These people thanked Fang Yong, and then quickly fled one by one.

Fang Yong knew clearly that these people were just thanking him on the surface, but they were not really grateful to him in their hearts.

But it doesn’t matter. As long as they know now that I won’t easily take action against the big guys, Fang Yong can achieve his goal by letting these people relax their vigilance.

As for the future, Fang Yong has plenty of ways to deal with them.

Next is the Fang family.

All members of the Fang family were brought up, including five big dogs.

Fang Qingshan glared at Fang Yong, his body struggling constantly. If his mouth had not been blocked, he would probably have said a string of harsh words.

"cut!"

The knife fell without hesitation.

Heads flew up one after another. Fang Qingshan's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe that he was dead like this until his death.

He Fangqingshan is a young talent. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 18 and ranked fifth in Huaizhou Academy. He will take part in the provincial examination next year. He is about to show his talent. Why, why...

The skulls and blood scattered all over the ground dampened the enthusiasm of the villagers, and they looked at Fang Yong with fear in their eyes again.

Fang Yong was not surprised at all.

Fang Yong took out a stack of land deeds and said majestically:

"This is Fang Jingui occupying everyone's land. We, Fang Yong, will redistribute the land to everyone. Some of the land is good, while others is bad. You can draw lots to distribute it. Whether it is good or bad depends entirely on luck!"

The people cheered again. At this moment, Fang Yong's reputation reached its peak in everyone's hearts.

Soon, under the chairmanship of Fang Yong, everyone finished drawing lots.

Fang Yong personally handed the land deeds back to these people.

Those who drew the fertile fields were very happy, while those who drew the inferior fields were very upset.

There was a man who got a piece of inferior land and he was very disappointed, because there were six people in his family, a father, a woman, and three children. The two acres of inferior land he got was not enough to support his family.

If it was before, he would definitely not dare to say anything, but now, perhaps because of Fang Yong's kindness, the man bravely said to Fang Yong:

"Yongwa...Uncle Yong, the land I won is not enough to support my family. Can you let me change it?"

When the man said this, everyone below looked over at once.

Those who drew inferior fields were very excited, while those who drew fertile or good fields were extremely nervous.

Fang Yong seemed to have anticipated this situation, and said calmly:

"I know your difficulties, but there is only so much land in total. If I agree to it, others may not be happy about it. What do you think I should do?"

The man lowered his head in disappointment, "This, I..."

Fang Yong patted the other person's shoulder and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, I have already thought of a solution. If you have difficulties in life, you can come to me and join me in the water stronghold. As long as you are willing to come, it means you think highly of me, Fang Yong. I will give each household a resettlement allowance of that amount of silver according to the number of people, and a monthly food allowance of 500 yuan. If you are willing, go and find Mr. Jia to sign up!"

After Fang Yong finished speaking, the scene fell into an eerie silence.

There was no so-called mass response. The villagers talked to each other and then lowered their heads in guilt.

How could the people easily surrender to the bandits when they have their own land?
In the end, only a few people chose to join, all of them because their families had too many people.

Fang Yong was not annoyed when he saw this. Instead, he smiled and put the silver into the hands of those people in front of everyone.

This scene made many people excited, but in the end, most people remained silent.

Ma Laohei was getting very anxious in the back, but Fang Yong kept smiling, as if he didn't care about the people's choice at all.

Finally, before leaving, Fang Yong did not forget to stew meat soup for the whole village.

"Grandpa didn't lie to me, the meat is really soft and sticky!"

On the way back, Ma Laohei said in annoyance:

"What a bunch of ungrateful people! We shouldn't have given them the land!"

Fang Yong smiled but said nothing.

Jia Yucun pointed out:
“They can’t defend that land!”

(End of this chapter)