Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 157 A Demonic Star Appears, Chaos Erupts in the Qing Dynasty

Ah, that familiar feeling!

Having passed through the spatial rift, Yang Feng found himself standing in a poor village that was so impoverished it brought tears to one's eyes.

It should be the northern plains.

The temperature should be early winter.

So all I could see was gray.

Gray sky, gray trees, gray thatched huts...

The roofs made of wheat straw rotted away over time, turning gray. The only green was the patchy wheat fields on the ground, where newly sprouted wheat seedlings sparsely clung to the ground still covered with withered grass. But it wasn't all wheat fields; much more lay fallow. Two harvests a year required chemical fertilizers, and in reality, most of the north only had three harvests every two years; otherwise, the soil's fertility would be quickly depleted.

In this gray expanse, a group of men with ashen faces, barely clothed, some even wrapped in tattered cotton wadding, and all around 1.6 meters tall, were staring at him in terror.

Of course, more importantly, they all had a small braid at the back of their heads.

Very small.

A small patch of black hair was left on her head, then gathered into a thin braid that swayed behind her like withered grass on the ground.

"So why are you all looking at me like that?"

Yang Feng said with some doubt.

A middle-aged man opposite him raised his finger tremblingly and pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

Yang Feng lowered his head.

"Uh, it was just an accident."

He looked at a blue robe that had been split vertically.

This clearly educated gentleman was unlucky enough to be right at the spatial rift, so the moment the rift was split open, he was also cleaved in two, now lying on the ground like Gao Yanei in a certain movie, only unable to speak. Yang Feng then turned around and looked at the trembling servants, pageboys, sedan chair bearers, and more than twenty other people behind him. They were all standing there, shaking all over, and the pageboy had clearly wet himself.

"Quickly, kill this wicked man!"

One of them, clearly the butler, pointed at Yang Feng and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Then he turned around and ran away.

But the others were clearly just as clear-headed as he was, so as he turned to run away, the sedan chair bearers abandoned the sedan chair without hesitation and ran away much faster than him, followed by the servants who scattered in all directions.

The pageboy didn't run away, but he was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground and couldn't get up.

Yang Feng instantly appeared behind the steward, grabbing him by the neck and retreating at lightning speed. The steward, leaning backward while his legs continued to run forward, was suddenly pulled into the air and slammed heavily to the ground the instant Yang Feng stopped, the impact even producing a sound like a frog croaking. However, the servants and sedan chair bearers took the opportunity to run away at breakneck speed. Yang Feng casually tossed the steward to the ground and then walked across the barren plain under the trembling gaze of the people. This was clearly the Yellow River basin; the ground even showed layers of loess left after the Yellow River floods. The steward had spoken with a Henan accent, so this must be a small village in Henan.

Central Plains.

He just kept walking into a wheat field.

“Come over here, a few strong young men, and start digging down from here.”

He said.

The people behind continued to tremble.

"If you don't come, you'll end up like him."

Yang Feng pointed to the scholar who had been granted the degree, which was now divided into two pieces.

The middle-aged man jolted awake and instantly sobered up.

"Quickly, serve Elder Immortal."

he shouted.

The able-bodied men hurried home, grabbed their farm tools, and, trembling, walked past two groups of scholars, a steward coughing up blood, and a pageboy lying on the ground, covered in mud and wailing. They reached Yang Feng and began digging furiously in front of him. Since Yang Feng hadn't specified a stop, they had no choice but to keep digging, and the pit grew larger and larger until they even reached water. But Yang Feng didn't tell them to stop, so they continued digging. The workload increased continuously, and the remaining men, including the women, had to join in. Finally, after more than an hour of digging, a funnel-shaped pit, five or six meters deep, appeared before Yang Feng.

"Stop."

Yang Feng said.

The people quickly stopped.

Yang Feng, however, had already taken out his jade axe and then made a feinting chop in the air.

However, no spatial rift appeared.

The jade axe flew out of his hand, instantly returning to its original size, and stuck on the edge of the pit, trembling and emitting a buzzing sound like a kneeling subject. At the same time, the Fangtian Halberd appeared automatically, also stuck on the edge of the pit, trembling and emitting a buzzing sound, followed by the giant bow, and even the Crimson Sky Sword.

This is the might of the First Emperor!

Even before it was unearthed, it had already made these divine artifacts bow down in submission.

Even Yang Feng could sense that his own soul energy was somewhat abnormal, so a faint radiance flowed around him.

The people were so frightened that they all knelt down.

Yang Feng ignored them and landed in the pit the next moment.

He sensed the energy of the Imperial Seal of the State, and his right hand suddenly plunged into the soil. Driven by his soul energy, the soil automatically parted, and his hand grasped a small stone. He then pulled it out, and a jade seal, which was only about eleven or twelve centimeters square, appeared before him. On it were five dragons, and below were eight Qin seal characters: "Having received the mandate from Heaven, may your life be long and prosperous." One corner was patched with a small piece of gold.

So this thing has always been buried in the Central Plains, buried in the soil deposited by the Yellow River floods time and time again.

All those that were found after the disappearance were fake.

He held up the Imperial Seal of the State, facing the newly risen sunlight...

"The soldiers are here!"

A terrified scream suddenly rang out from above.

He immediately flew out of the crater.

If he lived in a normal era, he wouldn't need any magical artifacts at all.

After plundering the abilities of those aristocratic families and the Five Barbarian tribes, he was now essentially a master of both magic and martial arts, proficient in various supernatural techniques. His soul energy had even reached the point of materialization. With his wings spread, he hovered directly above the large pit, holding the Imperial Seal of the State in his hands, watching the dozens of Qing soldiers rushing towards him in disarray. These soldiers were clearly not even from the Green Standard Army; they were probably soldiers from some nearby patrol station, wearing uniforms and carrying spears and shields. The leader, on horseback, wearing the robes of a ninth-rank official, was urging them to hurry up.

Then everyone was dumbfounded when they saw Yang Feng fly out of the crater.

The rider stared in disbelief.

Then his expression even turned somewhat sad, and he looked at a servant who had followed him with a somewhat resentful gaze.

With golden wings unfurled behind him and holding the Imperial Seal of the State in one hand, Yang Feng stared at them in mid-air, an awkward silence falling. Suddenly, the four divine artifacts flew up from the ground and instantly returned to their positions. Yang Feng then transformed into a figure holding the Imperial Seal of the State in one hand, carrying the Fangtian Halberd in the other, with the Chixiao Sword hanging at his waist, a giant bow on his back, and a jade axe shrunk to the size of an ornament on the other side of his waist.

"Run!"

A soldier suddenly screamed.

Then he turned and ran away without hesitation.

Immediately afterwards, everyone turned and ran away.

"You bastard, get out of my way!"

The ninth-rank official on horseback screamed anxiously as he turned around.

But the next moment a sword appeared at his neck.

He turned his head shakily, forcing a fawning smile, and looked at Yang Feng behind him.

"Don't be afraid, you are not worthy to die by this sword."

Yang Feng said very kindly.

After saying that, he put away the Crimson Sky Sword.

This is the Emperor's sword; to kill such lowly creatures would be an insult.

"My lord, I'm just doing my job!"

The ninth-rank official dismounted, wailing, and immediately prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowing and howling.

"Where is this?" Yang Feng asked.

"Your Majesty, this is Lanyang territory. I am the patrol inspector of Zhaopi Village. A servant of the Chen family ran to say that a demon had killed Chen, a scholar. His family is a prominent local family, and his in-law is the prefect. I dared not neglect him, so I brought my men here. I did not mean to offend Your Majesty. Please spare my life, Your Majesty!"

The ninth-rank official howled, his head bleeding from the banging.

Therefore, the Imperial Seal of the State should have been washed into the Yellow River in Luoyang, where it is said to have been last lost, and then buried deep in this land downstream during one of the Yellow River's breaches.

"Reign title".

Yang Feng said.

"Your Excellency, it is now the fiftieth year of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty."

The ninth-rank official quickly replied.

"It was during Ma-ge's time."

Yang Feng couldn't help but laugh.

When the ninth-rank official saw him smile, he quickly smiled too.

But the next moment, a golden light flashed before his eyes, and then his vision swept past Yang Feng, turning into the sky above him...

Yang Feng then put away the energy sword formed from his soul energy, and looked at the people behind him. The people of his so-called prosperous Qing Dynasty, whose average height was not even as tall as that of the Homo erectus at Zhoukoudian, were draped in tattered cotton quilts or even burlap sacks, shivering as they looked at him. Their bare feet, wearing straw sandals, were stepping on the wheat field in early winter. Their bodies, long hungry, were skin and bones, but their bellies were bulging out conspicuously.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat meat!"

Yang Feng said.

"My divine lord, we are all law-abiding citizens! Please, my divine lord, spare our lives!"

The middle-aged man lay on the ground, crying and shouting.

Of course he knows how to eat meat.

This is blatant murder of officials and rebellion.

Then everyone else knelt down and begged.

Yang Feng smiled.

The next moment, he pointed his sword, and dark clouds gathered in the sky instantly. Then, lightning ripped through the sky, accompanied by thunder. The thatched houses struck by the lightning immediately burst into flames. Then, a series of lightning bolts struck, and all the thatched houses were engulfed in flames. The people were terrified. They knelt there, watching blankly as their houses turned into raging fire.

"Are you willing to eat meat now?"

Yang Feng said.

The middle-aged man turned his head back with a pained expression.

"This humble subject is willing to follow the divine master."

He said.

Then he looked at the others.

"Get up, all of you! The immortals have given us a life of wealth and glory, so we should follow them from now on. Otherwise, if the patrol officer or Master Chen dies here, the court will be furious and send troops to kill us all. We can't stay here and wait to die. Let's all follow the immortals and eat meat!"

he shouted.

The others accepted reality while crying.

Yang Feng turned to look at the horse that the patrolman had ridden, and with a surge of energy in his hand, he instantly severed the horse's head.

"Eat the meat first!"

He said.

After the middle-aged man's mindset changed, he suddenly let loose. With excited eyes, he looked at the dead horse still twitching on the ground and immediately called for people to rush over. Once he took the lead, everyone let loose. Men, women, and children all rushed towards the dead horse, using hoes, shovels, and even the inspector's sword, quickly dividing up the dead horse like African villagers dismantling an airplane.

Those who had cut the horse meat all ran to their burning houses and roasted it over the fire.

They even eat it before it's fully cooked.

They estimate that they will only eat meat a handful of times in their entire lives.

Otherwise, how could the average height in the Ming Dynasty be over 1.65 meters, while in the Qing Dynasty it suddenly dropped to just over 1.6 meters? It's all due to continuous malnutrition, generation after generation starving, which has become a genetic memory.

Don't eat too much at once and choke!

Yang Feng shouted.

Of course, he was completely overthinking it.

The horse was only slightly larger than a donkey. After deducting the fodder inside its belly, the remaining meat, including bones and internal organs, weighed only about 200 jin (100 kg). Meanwhile, the villagers, including men, women, and children, numbered over 300. Each person received less than a jin (0.5 kg), and soon even the bones were smashed and the horse's hide was burned and eaten.

But the effect was obvious; the villagers who ate the meat all became more energetic.

"Are you all full?"

Yang Feng asked.

"Your Excellency, I only ate a piece that was less than the size of my fist, which is only half full."

The middle-aged man said, clearly still wanting more.

Others echoed.

"Then follow me and let's eat more meat. I'll take you to Kaifeng to eat meat."

Yang Feng said.

"Eat meat!"

"Eat meat!"

……

Then came a burst of excited shouts.

Yang Feng led them southwest with satisfaction.

The inspector came from Zhaopi Village, but he came from the east, meaning this place is west of Zhaopi Village. However, the servant went to find the inspector instead of going to Lanyang County, which means Zhaopi Village is closer. So this place is on the south bank of the Yellow River, between Zhaopi Village and Kaifeng, with Kaifeng slightly to the south of the west.

Zhaopi Village was located across the river from Tongwaxiang, although the Yellow River is now the river.

Therefore, this place is only about 50 li (approximately 25 kilometers) from Kaifeng as the crow flies.

You can walk there before it gets dark.

And so this hastily assembled group began its march toward Kaifeng. The villagers, having just eaten meat, supported the old and carried the young, along with various farm tools. Those who didn't even have tools simply picked up sticks. The middle-aged man even found a piece of cloth to use as a flag and carried it on a bamboo pole. This man named Yang Er was the only one in their small village who had ever been to Kaifeng, even though they lived less than sixty li away.

Not far away.

but……

You have to pay taxes to enter the city!

Whether or not the imperial court had such a system was something they couldn't know for sure, but the rules for officials were that taxes had to be paid before entering the city.

Moreover, they only go into the city to buy things. They are so poor that they can't even afford to wear clothes. How can they afford to buy things?
As for the scholar who was there today, he was actually entrusted by the magistrate of Lanyang County to explain the new magistrate's virtuous policies to the people. The previous magistrate had been commended by the court and promoted for collecting 70% of the tax as a tax surcharge, so the new magistrate decided to raise it to 80%. Such matters naturally required winning over the local gentry, who didn't pay taxes but controlled the area. Therefore, the scholar Chen was asked to inform the villagers in each village that they would be required to pay 80% of the tax surcharge.

An additional eight qian of fire loss is levied on top of the tax of one tael of silver.

Speaking of silver ore, it's all about the fire ore.

The standard set by Hai Rui back then was two points, which is forty times higher now.

Moreover, it's not just the increased fire consumption that's happening; the new magistrate also has to pay the miscellaneous levies, such as the "arrival fee" for his sedan chair.

As a result, when Scholar Chen gathered the villagers to give a speech, he unfortunately found himself standing on a spatial rift.

It was immediately split into two pieces.

(End of this chapter)