Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 177 Ma Ge's Rise to Power

“Immortal, scholars are all weak and feeble. The world is in turmoil. If we cannot compromise and seek peace, they will all be buried in ditches. What good will that do for the world?”
"Endure this temporary humiliation to propagate the ways of the sages and prevent the cessation of ritual and music. If the immortal venerable ones rebuke me for this, this humble subject can only bow my head and await their judgment."

Zhang Tingyu said.

"Your father and Fang Yizhi were cousins, right? And your great-uncle Zhang Bingwen died in battle in Jinan, didn't he?"

Yang Feng smiled.

Zhang Tingyu lowered his head even further.

"Although Fang Yizhi was incompetent, at least he did not kneel down to the Qing demons. Your great-uncle died fighting against the Qing demons. Your grandfather was indeed without official position. Although he was a student of the Imperial Academy, he never served as an official for the Qing demons. But your father not only served as an official for the Qing demons, but also became a Grand Secretary of the Qing demons. So this is the way of the sages that you have been passing down."

You all did indeed endure temporary humiliation and compromise. I believe that when the Qing invaded the south, those who chose to shave their heads and change their clothes did so in order to endure temporary humiliation and compromise.

But is the way of the sages something that we try to preserve by compromising and making concessions?
Is it farmland?

When your grandfather chose to shave his head and change his clothes to become a compliant subject of the Qing dynasty, he must have owned thousands of acres of fertile land, right?

So don't try to glorify yourselves. You know that shaving your heads and changing your clothes to become slaves to a foreign race is a disgrace. You don't even dare to answer my question. You know it's betraying your teachers and ancestors, but for the sake of your family's land and for the chance to become officials and enjoy wealth and glory, you still chose to become slaves to a foreign race. As for being powerless to resist, your great-uncle's sons would rather die among commoners than become slaves to your enemies. You're just trying to comfort yourselves by saying it's to spread the teachings of sages, and that you're using the teachings of sages to educate the foreign race, even though you all know in your hearts that it's actually the foreign race that's enslaving you.

The title "Master" was first used for those who passed the provincial examinations, starting in 2000; the title "Master" was first used for those who passed the imperial examinations, starting in 3000; and the title "Grand Master" was first used for those who held official positions in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, starting in 2500.

Look, their servile attitude is getting worse every year.

If things continue like this, in less than thirty years, we'll be meeting officials and being addressed as "sir" (a respectful title).
At first, you think you're compromising, but after a while you get used to it, and your knees go weak. If you continue like this, you might even start to think that kneeling is the right thing to do.

Those who stand are heretics.

Those who refused to be humiliated resisted and died. What remains are people like you. After you even chose to shave your heads and change your clothes, when Zheng Chenggong came again, you were already used to kneeling at the feet of the Qing devils, not even daring to rise up and resist. Now you've even started making excuses for kneeling. So, in the end, all that's left after the great wave washes away the sand is gold.

Yang Feng said.

"There are so many people in the world, why does the Immortal Venerable single out the gentry for harsh treatment?"

Zhang Tingyu said.

"Because you are the ones who benefit. I am a fair person. Those who benefit are the ones who should bear the responsibility. The poor do not need to bear the responsibility for the downfall of the country, because they have not gained anything. When they paid those exorbitant taxes, they had already fulfilled their duties, while those who reaped the taxes had not fulfilled their duties. Officials who did not protect the people, but instead acted as accomplices to foreign powers, exchanging surrender for the continued exploitation of the people and the continued reaping of their taxes, deserve to die."

Scholars who use their privileges to avoid paying taxes are also considered rent-seekers, because ordinary people should bear the share they are supposed to pay.

Those scholars must also bear responsibility for the downfall of the empire.

Of course, the Zhu family should bear more responsibility, but they have already paid the price; almost all of them, including the emperor and the princes, have been slaughtered.

So let's guess, who else hasn't paid the price they should have paid?
No one can escape the consequences of their past actions.

The Zhu family failed to govern the country well, and they paid the price; the Qing dynasty, which poisoned the world, will also pay the price.

Yang Feng said.

As he spoke, the Imperial Seal of the State appeared in his hand, emitting a white light before slowly rising. To Zhang Tingyu's astonishment, it suddenly flew towards the prison cart, striking one of Dodo's grandsons inside. The grandson stared in terror at the Imperial Seal on his body. Zhang Tingyu and the onlookers watched this scene unfold. The man, propelled by the Imperial Seal, slowly rose and quickly slammed against the prison cart. He let out a painful scream, but he still managed to shatter the cart.

Although he also coughed up a mouthful of blood as he was squeezed by the prison cart and the imperial seal.

Then he was lifted into the sky by the jade seal, struggling in terror and spitting out blood, before hovering in mid-air.

The next moment, his body was subjected to a slow, agonizing torture, with pieces of flesh being torn away...

Zhang Tingyu turned his head tremblingly...

"So, what price should the gentry pay?"

Yang Feng's face, which had become completely demonized in his eyes, instantly filled his field of vision.

……

Of course, Yang Feng did not kill Zhang Tingyu, after all, the latter had come to see him according to the rules, and Yang Feng had allowed him to come.

Zhang Tingyu was eventually led away by his attendants, looking utterly dejected.

Meanwhile, the engineers had already placed the explosives. With a deafening explosion, a section of Yangzhou's city wall collapsed, spanning more than ten meters. Then, the people who were there to welcome the immortal lord rushed forward, quickly clearing away the blasted rammed earth and filling it into the moat, allowing the immortal lord's palace to pass directly through.

The enormous imperial palace slowly drove into Yangzhou.

The thing was still being peeled away in mid-air, and it kept screaming in agony.

Of course, he was just the beginning. Everyone in the prison cart would be treated the same. Although they probably couldn't gather that many executioners in a short time, the standards could be relaxed. Three thousand six hundred cuts required skill, but sixteen hundred cuts shouldn't. For the next month, the Immortal Venerable oversaw Yangzhou, and those he brought were taken to the execution ground one by one. The influx of onlookers from all over made the city a daily carnival. Fortunately, a large amount of grain was still stored, so there was no shortage of food.

Meanwhile, the officials in Jiangnan pretended not to know anything, and officials in various places continued to play the role of loyal subjects of the Qing Dynasty, watching him be executed by slow slicing in Yangzhou as the Qing Dynasty prince and governor.

Meanwhile, officials from various banners continued to suffer one accident after another.

They died of illness, drowned, were killed by bandits, or even accidentally died from snake bites while out.

Poisonous snakes? That's quite normal. It's not strange that they can be bitten to death by Zhoushan snakes, silver ring snakes, or five-step snakes. Even the garrison city of Jingkou is said to be haunted.

After all, most of the Eight Banners troops stationed in Jingkou were killed in Xuzhou, so it's normal that the remaining group of old, weak, women and children couldn't suppress these evil spirits.

Thus, Yang Feng and the officialdom of Jiangnan seemed to be two parallel worlds, each going its own way without interfering with the other.

In fact, the Qing Dynasty was already on the verge of collapse at this time. After all, due to the north-south divide, not only the two rivers region, but also the two Guangdong regions had begun to experience the same strange phenomena.

The Governor-General of Huguang, E Hai, had already led his troops north. Ma Ge had previously instructed him to join forces with Yin Tai to eliminate the demons. However, he was a little late in setting out. Just as he arrived in Xiangyang, Yin Tai fled. So he waited in Xiangyang, but then the demons in Jiangnan became rampant. He was so frightened that he quickly led his troops back to Wuchang.

The Hubei and Hunan regions will surely be rife with supernatural phenomena!
His legion's suppression was somewhat restrained, but not to the point of being too harsh.

But Ma Ge's imperial decree was definitely out of the question.

However, at this moment, Ma Ge in the capital finally shook off the gloom...

Of course, it wasn't because he had mastered supernatural powers, but because the massive army he had mobilized from beyond the Great Wall had arrived. The Mongol coalition, led by Prince Darhan Lobzang Gunbu, numbered 20,000 and was said to number 100,000 iron cavalry. Meanwhile, Ma Ge also dispatched his son, Yinzhen, as the General Who Pacifies Demons, leading 30,000 Eight Banners troops, also known as 100,000, including some Solons. In short, with an army of 200,000, they marched south from the capital to fight the First Army of the Heavenly Army, which was on a northern expedition.

The latter has already arrived in Baoding.

If we don't send troops for a decisive battle soon, they'll be at Lugou Bridge by now.

North of Baoding.

"Two hundred thousand troops against five thousand." Lin Qing, the commander of the First Heavenly Army, couldn't help but exclaim in amazement as he looked at the endless cavalry opposite him.

The scene opposite him was indeed spectacular. Although the number of 200,000 was exaggerated, the sheer number of troops was real. The Qing army had no less than 50,000 horses that had marched south, in addition to a large number of camels. Theoretically, as long as Yang Feng did not appear, they had no chance of losing. The firepower of the heavenly soldiers was indeed fierce, but it was ultimately limited. Even if 50,000 horses charged over, they could still trample 5,000 heavenly soldiers to death.

Ma Ge was also seething with anger and wanted to vent it while Yang Feng was away, especially since the canal transport had been cut off and he didn't have much time left.

If this continues, he really will kill those who have no food.

Besides, he really couldn't see any possibility of losing.

In fact, there was no possibility of defeat; the Heavenly Soldiers' firepower advantage could not make up for the gap.

but……

"Is it about having more people?"

Lin Qing then laughed.

At that moment, seemingly endless flags appeared on the vast plains behind him.

These flags were not uniform in color or style, and the patterns on them were even more varied, but beneath all the flags were densely packed soldiers.

Calling them soldiers is a stretch, as the vast majority wore similarly mismatched clothing, and many of their weapons were clearly farm tools. While bows and arrows and firearms were present, their proportion was low. However, there were a large number of handcarts, averaging one for every two people. These people were grouped into clusters of about a thousand, lacking any real formation; they were simply clusters. At the center of each cluster were horse-drawn or donkey-drawn carts carrying red-clad celestial soldiers, and even divine cannons, which they carried.

But these clusters are so numerous that they can be described as boundless, resembling hedgehogs slowly moving forward on the greening North China Plain.

After all, there are so many spears or spear-like things that it does look like a hedgehog.

They stretch out from the Taihang Mountains in the west, backed by Baoding City, along the Caohe River. In fact, a large part of them originally belonged to Baoding.

At this time, the area east of Baoding was a network of waterways. Therefore, the only strategic passage available for cavalry was west of Baoding, which is why the city was so important. To the east lay a waterway network that stretched all the way to Tianjin. There were indeed a few other routes, such as Yuankou, but these were only possible in winter. During this season, the rivers thawed, and meltwater from the Taihang Mountains rushed in, causing the entire waterway system to expand daily, approaching the level of the Song Dynasty's Great Wall of Water. It became very difficult for large-scale cavalry to pass through.

But now this place is full of people.

Ma Ge claims to have an army of 200,000, but there are actually 400,000 here.

Including Baoding, the entire area to the south that had been corrupted by demons basically had one in five men selected to form an army of 400,000 to support the heavenly soldiers.

Their tactics were simple. As the signal rocket rose beside Lin Qing, all the troops stopped and began to set up defenses on the spot. They dug trenches, used wheelbarrows and door panels to surround the area, built simple breastworks, set up spears and other objects to serve as spears, set up firearms, and had javelin throwers and archers on standby. But the core of this hedgehog formation was the heavenly soldiers assigned to them. The latter climbed onto the high platforms that were built or piled up for them on the spot, and then lay on them waiting for the enemy to enter their firing range.

Their marksmanship is now very advanced; they can accurately pinpoint enemy targets within 150 meters, hit cavalry or their horses within 300 meters, and accurately kill enemy troops in formation within 500 meters.

There are fifty heavenly soldiers in a hedgehog formation.

They are the ones truly responsible for output.

As for the militia, they were essentially their strongholds.

Half a year ago, Commander Lin was just a cart driver. He led his cavalry and galloped along the Caohe River, passing through one hedgehog-like formation after another.

"Did the Immortal Venerable allocate land to you?"

he shouted.

"We broke up!"

The militiamen roared in unison.

"Did you burn your indentures and loan shark receipts too?"

He continued to shout.

"Burn it all, burn the loan sharks and their masters too!"

Immediately, someone from the militia shouted.

Then came a burst of laughter.

"Has the Immortal Venerable abolished all your exorbitant taxes and levies?"

Lin Qing roared.

"They're all gone! All those exorbitant taxes and levies are gone! Now all the grain we harvest is our own. We no longer have to give grain to corrupt officials or those wealthy gentry. My wife and children can finally have enough to eat!"

Then came countless roars.

"Then let's not let the Qing demons destroy anything anymore! Grab your weapons and prepare to fight to the death!"

Lin Qing roared, holding up his rapid-fire spear.

"Fight to the bitter end!"

"Fight to the bitter end!"

……

The roar echoed through the sky.

Meanwhile, the Qing army's vanguard of Mongol cavalry had already crossed the Caohe River.

Lin Qing led his cavalry straight forward. They quickly spread out on the riverbank, and a barrage of muskets aimed at the Mongol cavalry in the river. Without hesitation, they pulled the triggers, and bullets flew continuously towards the enemies who were slowly crossing the river.

The latter's corpses kept falling, and blood spread in the river.

But behind them was an endless horde of cavalry, still pouring into the river.

Lin Qing, having quickly emptied his gun, led his cavalry in an immediate retreat. Meanwhile, the Mongol cavalry, who had left over two hundred corpses in the river, finally reached the riverbank. But as they rushed up the embankment, they were met with an endless expanse of militia. Before they could recover from their shock, the sharpshooters from the two nearest militia porcupine formations opened fire. Precise bullets instantly struck the exposed Mongol cavalrymen perched high on the embankment, and their corpses continued to fall.

However, even more Mongol cavalrymen were still charging across the river. The Heavenly Army's firepower was ultimately unable to stop this number of cavalrymen, and they quickly crossed the riverbank, stepping over the corpses of their comrades.

But then a barrage of bullets rained down.

Cavalrymen fell in droves.

In the center of the militia hedgehog formation not far from them, on a makeshift earthen platform, a cannon was continuously spewing flames...

(End of this chapter)