Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 28: Uprising against Xi

There is endless suffering in Jinling City, and the people are burdened with corvée and heavy taxes!
The government’s oppression is unjust, let’s rebel today and turn the world upside down!
It’s a rebellion! It’s a rebellion! It’s really a rebellion!!!

The laborers recruited from various villages agreed on a time through the notes in the Lantern Festival. In the middle of the night, they rushed out of the sheds collectively, holding torches for lighting, shouting prepared anti-poem slogans, beating the supervisors to death with shovels and sticks, and then swarmed towards the east of the city.

Unlike the accidental rebellion in Jinhai, this rebellion in Nanjing was a fully prepared and premeditated rebellion in terms of both timing and purpose.

Brand new weapons engraved with the word "Xi" were distributed to the anti-people. An energetic old man stood on a high platform and made the final mobilization in an enthusiastic manner.

"We, the common people, were born and raised in this land. We should have shared the virtue of heaven and earth and lived in peace and happiness. However, the government is tyrannical and treats us like grass, oppressing and enslaving us. We are subject to heavy corvée labor and high taxes. Our families have been torn apart, and our wives and children have been torn apart...

Not begging, not pity, but with bloody courage, I will recover my stolen dignity and restore the Ming Dynasty, today! "

The old man shouted loudly, and the White Lotus Sect members hiding in the crowd below responded:
"Kill, kill the dog officials, steal the gold and silver, steal the women, steal the food!"

The rebels were mobilized in an instant and, under the leadership of the White Lotus Sect, divided into two waves, one to attack the Jinling government office and the other to attack the Jinling armory.

Late at night, war broke out in Nanjing without any preparation.

Officials, nobles, and businessmen all lost their usual composure at this moment and tried their best to escape.

Upon seeing this, the Governor immediately mobilized the army to evacuate his family and money.

The governor is the highest official in the province, and if he acts in this way, other officials will naturally follow suit.

The White Lotus Sect also knew that they would only take advantage of the weak, so they deliberately did not touch these high-ranking officials, but instead started with the small officials and businessmen. It seemed that the two sides had reached some kind of consensus.

There is only one person.

Deputy General of Jinling, Mao Cheng.

This person had just been transferred here and had almost no property in Jinling, so naturally there was no question of transferring any assets.

Because he was young, and had previously watched the entire process of his father quelling the bandits in Jinhai, Mao Cheng felt that he could also emulate his father and earn the credit of quelling the bandits!
After all, judging from the number of people, the number of rebels this time does not seem to be much more than that of the previous riot in Jinhai. As long as he charges, won't the rebels flee in fear?
So when other officials were busy fleeing and transferring their property, Mao Cheng went against the current and led his troops to fight against the rebels, becoming a ray of light among the many officials of Daxi!

Then the light went out.

Mao Cheng led his troops in a charge, but was almost hacked to death.

Unlike the rebels in Jinhai who were armed with wooden sticks and hoes, a large number of the rebels in Nanjing this time were armed with swords and spears made of fine steel.

The quality of these weapons is even better than those in the hands of the government troops.

Mao Cheng rushed forward on his horse, but his horse was hacked to death as soon as he met his opponent.

Without his horse, Mao Cheng fell into a group of rebels and was stabbed more than a dozen times in one second. Fortunately, he was lucky enough not to be hit in the vital parts, and his personal soldiers fought desperately to protect him, and finally Mao Cheng was rescued.

After experiencing a fatal crisis, Mao Cheng no longer dared to fight with the rebels, and ordered his subordinates to withdraw with his last breath.

Nanjing fell.

The gears of fate began to turn completely at this moment.

Fang Yong only found out about this three days later.

That day he was reading a military book in his study.

He was tired of reading Ji Xiao's new book and his progress was getting slower and slower, so he switched to reading Sun Tzu's Art of War.

[Talent: Military Strategy (Normal)]

【Progress: 83/100】

【Effect: Deploy troops and have a proper balance between tension and relaxation. 】

Xueyan knocked on the door and came over with a piece of paper.

"Third Master, our girl has finished reading your poem."

Xueyan imitated Daiyu's tone and said:

"The words are excellent, but they still lack the expression of emotion. They have the form, but not the spirit!"

Fang Yong smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Sister Lin is too strict. I have only been studying for a short time."

Xueyan smiled and blinked, saying, "The girl also said that you learned well! But she didn't let me tell you this. Hehehe!"

Xueyan said this and prepared to leave.

"Don't go yet, give me a shoulder massage."

Xueyan pouted lightly, "Humph, my Third Master always bullies me, and he even ordered me to massage his shoulders?"

Despite this, Xiao Xueyan still walked behind Fang Yong and stood on tiptoe to massage his shoulders.

Fang Yongdao:
"How can I say I am bullying you? I just think Xueyan is cute and we are just teasing each other."

Xueyan's face turned red.

"Third Master, what are you talking about!"

As the two were talking, someone pushed the door open.

"Yongwa!"

Xueyan was startled and quickly ran to the next room and hid. The old man looked at little Xueyan's back, a little dazed.

"What's wrong? What do you want from me?"

Fang Yong asked.

The old man then came to his senses.

"Well, your Aunt Liu is almost recovered now. She said she wanted to thank you and would cook for you a meal. I'd like to ask you when you are free..."

Fang Yong thought for a moment and said, "The day after tomorrow!"

The old man nodded, then still stood there, looking at Fang Yong with a hesitant expression.

"Anything else?"

Fang Yong asked again.

The old man hesitated for a moment and then whispered:
"Yongwazi, you should marry a wife with a big butt so that she can give birth. This one is too skinny and small, and she can't even give birth to a baby!"

Fang Yong: ...

In the afternoon, Xue Dacui came over excitedly, with an expression of uncontrollable joy on his face.

"Third brother, Jinling has rebelled! Jinling has rebelled! The Left Protector of the White Lotus Sect, Feng Tai, has started a rebellion in Jinling, proclaimed himself the King of the South, occupied Jinling, and defeated the government troops! Now he is calling on all heroes in the world to respond, to overthrow the Xi and restore the Ming!"

Fang Yong stood up instantly upon hearing this, with a gleam of light in his eyes.

"Good fight! Gather the gang members and hold a meeting!"

Soon, the entire village was mobilized.

In the Juyi Hall, Fang Yong called all the leaders of the village to come, and those who could not sit down stood outside.

The boss, Wang Lun, looked confused.

"Fang Yong, why did you call everyone here without permission?"

Fang Yong ignored Wang Lun and said directly to the villagers:

"The land of China is sinking, disasters are raging, officials are cruel, and the powerful treat us common people like grass."

"Now the flag of justice in Nanjing is raised high, the government army is defeated, the sword is pointed at the Yellow River, and the whole world is in danger. The Southern King has called on heroes from all over the world to rise up and rebel against Xi. This is the destiny, the time of great opportunity. I want to rise up for justice, follow the will of heaven and the people, and establish meritorious deeds in the future, which will benefit my descendants. Are there any of you who would like to go with me?"

After Fang Yong finished speaking, some of the gang members below were excited, while others were confused.

For ordinary gang members, Fang Yong’s words were too far away from them.

At this time, Gan Ba was the first to stand next to Fang Yong.

"Third brother has such great ambitions, I am willing to lend a helping hand!"

Below, Xue Dacuizi, Ma Laohei, Niu Jin and others followed suit and responded.

The other commanders responded in the same way.

Wang Lun could no longer sit still at this point.

Could it be that Fang Yong wants to seize his position as the boss today?
Wang Lun pointed at Fang Yong in horror and said:
"Fang, Fang Yong, I invited you into the village with good intentions, do you want to harm me?"

Fang Yong looked at Wang Lun and sneered disdainfully.

"How can the boss allow rotten rats to cause trouble?"

This statement comes from "Hui Zi's Visit to Liang".

The simple meaning is to satirize Wang Lun for speculating about others with an ugly mentality. He holds a rotten rat as a treasure, fearing that others will snatch it away. He is simply bringing humiliation upon himself.

Wang Lun was confused by this. Although he claimed to be a scholar, he usually liked to read vernacular novels and plays. In terms of real talent and knowledge, he was probably not as knowledgeable as Xueyan, so he didn't understand what Fang Yong said at all.

"What, what rat?"

Fang Yong didn't want to pay attention to this guy, he was just a clown.

"I have no intention of competing with you for the water stronghold. From now on, I will establish the Huaiyin Army. I will be the general and my second brother will be the deputy general. If any of the brothers in the stronghold are willing to join me, the salary will be doubled, and each person will receive ten taels of silver as a settlement allowance!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole village was in an uproar.

They were not interested in what Fang Yong had said before about the decline of China. Although they longed for titles for wives and children, it was too far away. The only thing that was real was the cash salary before their eyes.

For a time, people from all over the village signed up enthusiastically.

In just half a day, Fang Yong had gathered five thousand men!

By the next day, Fang Yong already had eight thousand men under his command!
Fang Yong handed over 3,000 new recruits out of the 8,000 men to Gan Ba.

Gan Ba was unwilling to go out to fight, so Fang Yong gave him the new recruits to train and was also responsible for guarding the water fort.

Fang Yong led Li Sheng, Xue Dacuizi, Ma Laohei, Niu Jin and others, divided the troops into several groups, and quickly marched to the areas around Hongze.

(End of this chapter)