There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 206 What people want

Wuchang Prefecture City.

Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan, dressed in Qing Dynasty official robes, were each accompanied by several attendants as they strolled through the streets and alleys. In the front row were Han soldiers sent by Chen Xinghuai to guide and protect them.

The two imperial envoys did not ride in sedan chairs today because Chen Xinghuai did not make special arrangements for them. They did have the money to hire sedan chair bearers, but the bearers refused to do business with them when they saw their official robes and hats.

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"Fellow villagers, make way! This is an imperial envoy sent by the puppet Qing dynasty to seek peace with our great Han!"

The Han soldiers leading the way casually banged their gongs, trying to persuade the crowds who had gathered on both sides of the street, laughing and watching the spectacle.

"This is simply unreasonable!"

Ji Xiaolan walked beside Liu Yong, his face full of dissatisfaction, and said, "The Han traitors said they allowed us to come out and see for ourselves, but now they deliberately make such a big show of it, forcing us to parade through the streets and make a fool of ourselves. This is a contempt for the might of our Great Qing!"

Liu Yong remained calm: "The Han traitors are rebels, so it's normal for them to despise our Great Qing. Doesn't our Great Qing also contemptuously call the Han traitors thieves thieves?"

As the party that initiated the peace negotiations, it was almost impossible for them not to be humiliated. Otherwise, how could this task have fallen to the two of them? It would have been eagerly taken by the Manchu ministers in the court long ago.

After enduring this humiliation and being paraded through the streets for half a day, Liu Yong could no longer bear it. It had gone too far. The gazes of the onlookers on both sides of the street were like watching a monkey show, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Liu Yong even overheard a grandfather and grandson watching and discussing his braid as if no one else was around.

"Grandpa, why does that old man still have a braid like a girl?"

"Child! That's called a 'money-tail braid,' something only Tartars wore?"

"What are Tartars?"

"Tartars... um, Tartars seem to be... oh right, wild boar skin!"

"Grandpa, you're lying to me again. Wild boar skin is clearly a pig's tail, not a rat's tail."

"Yes, yes, Grandpa got it wrong, it's a pig's tail."

"..."

The grandfather and grandson spoke loudly, showing no intention of hiding their conversation, and the surrounding people joined in the commotion.

"The little kid is right, it is a pig's tail!"

"Pig tail: Pig tail!"

There were so many people jeering that even if Liu Yong wanted to pretend he hadn't heard them, he couldn't. He also couldn't directly reprimand the laughing crowd, so he simply stopped and followed the direction to find the grandfather and grandson.

"Grandpa, the pig's tail is coming! The pig's tail is coming!"

"Doggy, let's go, let's get far away from these pig tails."

As soon as the grandson noticed Liu Yong approaching, the grandfather turned to leave, carrying his grandson.

Liu Yong quickly raised his hand to stop him, saying, "Please wait a moment, sir!"

His tone was very amiable, and his face was filled with a warm smile, as if he didn't take the mockery he had just received to heart.

"Let's go!"

The old man ignored Liu Yong and tried to squeeze out of the crowd.

Liu Yong's smile faltered, but he quickly recovered and pulled out a coin from his sleeve: "Wait a moment, sir. I'll just ask you a few questions, and this coin is yours."

If you had money, you should have said so earlier!
The old man returned immediately, put down his grandson, took the silver and wiped it several times to make sure it was genuine, before asking, "What do you, you corrupt official, want to ask?"

"..."

"Old men, don't you know that you are now joining the rebels in rebelling against the imperial court?"

As soon as Liu Yong asked the question, the old man's face immediately darkened. He said, "What rebel? The Prince of Han is our poor people's beacon of justice. He stood up for us poor people, distributed land to us, exempted us from corvée labor and taxes, and freed my eldest son from slavery so he could return to our ancestral hall. I've heard that the Prince of Han will become emperor in the future. As for what rebel he is, this old man doesn't understand!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Xiaolan couldn't help but step forward and rebuke, "Our bodies, hair, and skin are given to us by our parents. How can you ignorant commoners cut your hair like this and face your ancestors?"

The old man remained silent, but a scholar who was watching suddenly put away his folding fan and sneered, "So this corrupt official does know that our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents! Then you should understand that this 'money-tail braid' is a despicable custom brought by the pseudo-Qing Tartars who stole the sacred artifacts of our Central Plains China. Our true ancestors would never have left behind such filthy things."

Ji Xiaolan's face flushed red from the rebuke. Seeing the disdainful looks from the surrounding people, he immediately demanded, "Where are you from, you heretic?"

The scholar was equally unyielding and introduced himself: "Xu family of Wuchang. You corrupt official, don't try to intimidate me. My family has lived in Wuchang for generations. I was just about to report to the Wuchang government office today, and Governor Chen has already accepted my self-recommendation."

Well! No wonder he's so confident; he's another scholar who turned thief.

Ji Xiaolan immediately fell silent.

Liu Yong then asked the old man, "Old man, even if this Han traitor treats you very well, rebellion is still rebellion. When the Han traitor is defeated, all of you who followed him will be implicated and executed." The old man looked indifferent and said, "So what! If the King of Han hadn't come, I'm afraid I would have been forced to my death by you corrupt officials long ago."

Liu Yong frowned, not asking any further questions, and turned to the scholar beside him who had "righteously spoken out" and angrily confronted Ji Xiaolan: "May I ask your name? I am Liu Yong, and this is Lord Ji Xiaolan!"

"Xu Mu from Wuchang." Xu Mu simply cupped his hands in greeting.

Liu Yong was not annoyed and asked, "It's one thing for ignorant men and women, but since you have read the classics, don't you know that in prosperous times, those who rebel against the court always meet a dead end?"

Xu Mu chuckled and didn't answer. He pointed at the Han soldiers who were leading the way by banging gongs, and they cooperated by banging their gongs once.

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"Folks, disperse! This is an imperial envoy from the pseudo-Qing dynasty seeking peace with our great Han. Make way for him."

"..."

The room fell silent instantly, because no one spoke.

The crowd was still laughing, which contrasted sharply with the silence of Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan.

In the evening, we returned to the post station.

This post station was originally located in Wuchang City. Chen Xinghuai didn't even bother to renovate it; he simply changed the signboard and started using it.

Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan spent the entire night without sleep.

After patrolling the streets during the day and asking the people several questions, they have come to realize that this attempt at appeasement and peace talks is most likely to fail.

Although they had originally planned not to agree to any demands made by the Han traitors, the current situation was clearly beyond their expectations.

The people under the rule of the Han traitors were too united. The Han traitors were too good at bewitching and buying the hearts of the people. It was one thing for the common people to support the Han traitors after they received the benefits of land distribution, but even the scholars began to support the Han traitors.

It should be noted that Wuchang had only been occupied by the Han rebels for less than a few months. Almost all the people along the way had the same buzz cut. The scholar Xu Mu was dressed somewhat normally, in proper Hanfu. Most of the other people on the road were wearing a mix of plain clothes and Manchu clothing, which looked very incongruous.

The whole process of cutting off queues and changing clothes hasn't even been completed yet, so why are they so supportive of the Han traitors? Is it just because the Han traitors gave them land and reduced taxes?
The common people might be like that, but the landlord class, represented by the scholars, was clearly not. Recalling the conversation with Xu Mu during the day, the other party's contemptuous and sneerful eyes clearly showed that he truly believed that the traitors of Han could succeed.

The next day.

While Ji Xiaolan was catching up on sleep at the post station, Liu Yong found Chen Xinghuai and asked if he could go to Wuchang Township to take a look.

Chen Xinghuai did not refuse. These were originally telegrams sent from Jingzhou instructing him to arrange for the other party to visit and listen to more local affairs.

Nie Yu watched TV series featuring Ji Xiaolan and Liu Luoguo since he was a child, and he has a very deep impression of these two characters.

Even though I later learned that these two were completely different from the characters in the TV series, I still couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if they saw the lives of ordinary people in the Han Dynasty and compared them to those under the rule of the puppet Qing Dynasty.

What will they think?
Anyway, there's no need to worry about them learning anything. If the pseudo-Qing dynasty can actually learn to distribute land to the people and enable them to survive, then Nie Yu feels that if he's going to be wiped out, then so be it!

It’s worth it!

Chen Xinghuai specially arranged for a town mayor who came to the prefectural city to report on his work, and asked him to take Liu Yong to the countryside to experience it for himself.

This time, at least they didn't have to walk; they rode back in a farmer's oxcart.

Huguang doesn't have many warhorses. All the horses were captured from the puppet Qing dynasty. After accounting for those that died from acclimatization issues, there are only a few thousand horses at most, and they have all been sterilized.

The Han army's horse breeding farm has been built, but there are only one or two horses at present, which were captured from high-ranking officials such as Governor-General E Hui.

Unfortunately, the online store isn't omnipotent; it can't even sell live animals. He discovered this when he was trying to develop hybrid rice.

They bought some rice seeds, found a test field, and had farmers take good care of it, even using modern fertilizers. But after a year, weeds grew one after another, and they couldn't even see any rice seedlings.

Liu Yong followed the town mayor, first taking a carriage from the prefectural city back to the town, and then spending a day with him in the countryside.

Liu Yong originally thought that these town mayors were not as powerful as county magistrates, but they should at least be considered as powerful as county magistrates. There were only a few directly administered towns around Wuchang, so they could be considered as one-tenth of the power of county magistrates.

However, after the officials went to the countryside, Liu Yong realized he was completely wrong; these town officials were genuinely committed to their duties!
Liu Yong witnessed firsthand how a local official in charge of land distribution couldn't control a dispute among the people. Even the farmers' association got involved in a brawl caused by the land distribution and water extraction. Then, this town official rolled up his sleeves and ran as fast as he could, stepping on the muddy ridges of the fields, not caring whether his clothes were dirty or not, and ran to loudly break up the fight and dissuade the people.

After finally managing to mediate the dispute, they then led the other party to remeasure and divide the land piece by piece, running along the field ridges for more than an hour, losing one of their shoes in the process, before finally managing to resolve the conflict.

Liu Yong was too old to go down with them, and just stood there dumbfounded outside, with no one to greet this "dog official" from the pseudo-Qing dynasty.

They stayed until noon, when Liu Yong followed the other party back to town for lunch. The meal wasn't exactly simple, but it was also rather bland, unlike what an official should eat.

Liu Yong couldn't help but ask, "You are so dedicated to serving the people, and your meals are so simple and frugal. How can you be content to be just a small town mayor?"

The town mayor, holding a steamed bun, chuckled and said, "Hehe, there are plenty of town mayors here who are just like me. I'm only considered mediocre in my work. Besides, we're all doing this for the people. Many of them are struggling to survive. It's already quite good that we can at least have steamed buns to eat."

Liu Yong murmured absentmindedly, "Yes! People's lives are full of hardship!"

(End of this chapter)