Wei Xiaobao's Three Kingdoms Adventure

Chapter 4 Nonsense
Speaking of money and women, Wei Xiaobao's heart ached. Although Wei Xiaobao's money wasn't earned through hard work, he had risked his life to accumulate a fortune of hundreds of thousands of taels. Women, needless to say, were all bought with his life. In the end, all his efforts were in vain. His pretty wife, A Ke, fell for the gigolo Zheng Keshuang, and his entire fortune was inevitably confiscated by Xiao Xuanzi.

The more Wei Xiaobao thought about it, the angrier he became. Seeing the group of soldiers still hesitating, he added fuel to the fire. He walked over to Chen Bai and shouted at the crowd, "Someone told me that the purpose of rebellion is to kill those who robbed us of our money and women. Why do those people have money and women, but we don't? Now we are going to follow General Tian Gong to rob them of their money and women. If you have the courage, come with us. In the future, we will all have endless money and endless happiness. If you don't have the courage, you'd better hide away and be a worthless bastard."

During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, silver was not a hard currency, and the imperially issued five-zhu coins also saw their liquidity decline due to local separatist forces. Grain and cloth, however, became hard currency as barter became popular again. Local gentry engaged in frantic land annexation, and most common people became tenants of the gentry. Even those who served in the military were mostly soldiers in local armed forces, with little connection to the imperial court. The peasantry and soldiers formed a strong dependency relationship with local power, leading most people to identify only with the prefectures and counties, rather than the imperial court. Furthermore, the reigning Emperor Ling of Han, obsessed with wealth and manipulated by eunuchs into increasing taxes, forced the common people to live on poverty. The soldiers also saw little profit, and their loyalty to the Liu Dynasty had long since faded.

Most of Wei Xiaobao's knowledge of this period comes from the storytellers in the teahouse. In order to attract customers, the stories in the teahouse only focus on the deeds of heroes, and only briefly mention the court policies and the background of the times.

Life is about food, sex, and love. Slogans like "Overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming" and "The Yellow Heaven is dead, the Blue Heaven shall reign, the year is Jiazi, and the world is blessed" were merely used by the so-called leaders to win over the people. Ordinary people like Wei Xiaobao, living at the bottom of society, were more concerned with whether they could fill their stomachs and live a good life, whether it was the chaotic late Eastern Han Dynasty or the prosperous Kangxi Dynasty.

If a man of blood were ever to be mentioned in the name of a coward or bastard, it would definitely cross his limit. A step forward would bring him wealth and glory, while a step back would mean a life of ridicule, even if he could survive. At such a time, anyone would be tempted to give it a try.

Wei Xiaobao was not as good at winning people's hearts as Chen Bai was, but his words just caught everyone's attention. In addition, they were easy to understand and had a strong sense of the world, which immediately aroused a response.

Shouts came from the crowds on both sides of the east and west: "We don't want to be cuckolds! We want money and women!"

Chen Bai thought to himself, "This man may be plain-looking, and his words are crude, yet he has such a miraculous effect. The Yellow Turban Army is mostly made up of ignorant commoners. Although they are small in number, they are truly a motley crowd. If I can keep this man by my side, he might be useful in the future."

Then he thought of the group of people in front of him shouting such slogans. If they went to Yecheng in the future, they would inevitably be punished by Zhang Jue. He quickly raised his arms and shouted: "The blue sky is dead, the yellow sky should be established, the year is Jiazi, and the world is prosperous."

Wei Xiaobao also knew that it was inappropriate to use words like money, women, turtles and bastards as slogans, so he naturally followed the Yellow Turban Army's slogans.

Chen Bai shouted slogans while pulling Wei Xiaobao onto the martial arts stage.

The crowd below the stage had now become one, and gradually fell silent as Chen Bai gestured, staring quietly at Chen Bai on the martial arts stage, as if waiting for his order to overthrow the Han Dynasty and seize the world.

Chen Bai cleared his throat and spoke loudly, "The Yellow Turban Rebellion rose up for the people of the world. We are entering the city today to kill Zhang Gang and avenge our elder brother Zhang Ying. Now that our vengeance has been avenged, each team should follow their leader and camp outside the city. Do not disturb the people within. We will depart at dawn tomorrow for Yecheng to rendezvous with General Tiangong."

Wei Xiaobao couldn't help but sigh in his heart. When Li Zicheng captured Beijing, he allowed his officers and soldiers to burn, kill and loot. After the Qing army entered the pass, it left behind the crimes of the Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Jiading. He didn't expect that the Yellow Turban Army hundreds of years ago would be so benevolent.

Thinking of the Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Jiading, Wei Xiaobao felt a wave of distress. If Xiao Xuanzi hadn't arranged for him to plant chestnuts in Yangzhou, how could he have been captured by Master Hong and his men at Lichunyuan, and never come here? Wei Xiaobao naturally knew to go to Yangzhou to repair the Martyrs' Shrine of Shi Kefa, but at this moment, thinking about planting chestnuts was nothing more than blaming Kangxi. Although the Yellow Turban army didn't appear as well-organized as the Eight Banners soldiers, they were still moving in an orderly manner towards the city.

Wei Xiaobao wanted to leave with the team, but was stopped by Chen Bai beside him.

Wei Xiaobao thought to himself: "Could he have discovered my secret? Is my turban not wrapped properly?" Wei Xiaobao subconsciously raised his hand to touch the yellow turban on his head.

Chen Bai said, "Brother, I didn't expect that you are so young yet so knowledgeable."

Wei Xiaobao rolled his eyes and chuckled, "I don't have much experience. I just learned these words from others."

Chen Bai thought to himself, "Anyone who can say such things must be a commoner like him."

If Chen Bai knew that Chen Jinnan made this explanation in order to make Wei Xiaobao understand the purpose of the Tiandihui to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and that Chen Jinnan was a well-known figure in the martial arts world, he probably would not have such an idea.

Despite thinking this, Chen Bai still politely said, "I wonder which great scholar of our time this sage is? I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to meet him."

Wei Xiaobao had no idea what a great scholar meant. When he heard Chen Bai wanted to meet his master, he politely said, "I'll introduce you two when the chance comes." But he chuckled inwardly, "If you can take me to see your General Tiangong, I'll definitely bring my master to visit your grave when I get back. I'm afraid your grave is long gone, since you're not Master Guan. Anyway, I've been listening to books for so many years, and I've never heard your name before."

Chen Bai naturally had no idea what Wei Xiaobao was thinking, so he continued, "I still don't know your name, brother?"

Just as Wei Xiaobao thought of Guan Yu, he heard Chen Bai asking him, and remembered the storyteller in the teahouse who mentioned that people at that time introduced themselves by their surnames, given names, and courtesy names, but he, Wei Xiaobao, didn't even know his own name, let alone his courtesy name.

Seeing Chen Bai bowing and waiting for his reply, Wei Xiaobao remembered how Fang Yi had teased him in the palace, so he said casually, "Brother, your surname is Hu, your given name is Shuo, and your courtesy name is Badao."

(End of this chapter)