The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 132 The Unscrupulous Officials and Gentry of Shaanxi
In Shanxi, Jiang Han temporarily stabilized his position with a narrow victory, but the situation was completely different in Shaanxi, just across the river.

With the various rebel leaders being recruited, their troops will be disbanded and sent back to their hometowns.

Chen Ping was one of them.

He was from Yichuan. In his early years, he couldn't survive due to a severe drought, so he joined Wang Zuogua in a rebellion.

However, Wang Zuo later surrendered to the emperor, but was beheaded by Hong Chengchou, and his troops were also massacred.

Chen Ping and a dozen fellow villagers escaped death by accident, and after many twists and turns, they sought refuge with the powerful Shen Yi Kui.

He thought that following General Shen would give him a way to survive, but his good fortune didn't last long, and soon after, Shen Yikui was recruited into the government.

Chen Ping had no choice but to lay down his weapons along with the rest of the troops.

To be honest, he was a hundred times unwilling to surrender.

Having learned from Wang Zuogua's example, he didn't believe a word of the government's promises.

But General Shen told everyone that this time was different, as the one in charge of the pacification was Governor-General Yang of the Three Border Regions.

This is the highest-ranking official of the imperial court in Shaanxi. He will definitely keep his word and won't go back on his word like those local petty officials.

Chen Ping, who came from a peasant background, had no idea how important the "Governor-General of the Three Borders" really was.

He only understood the words "the highest-ranking official in Shaanxi".

In his simple understanding, the Governor-General of the Three Borders was probably the local tyrant of Shaanxi.

Surely such a high-ranking official wouldn't lie to these common folk?

With this naive idea in mind, Chen Ping ultimately did not run away, but chose to surrender on the spot.

Many people share the same thoughts as Chen Ping.

They always felt that the emperor was good, and the high-ranking officials in the court were good too; it was only those damned corrupt officials below who had messed things up, forcing them to the brink of extinction.

Now that the highest-ranking official in Shaanxi has personally stepped forward to appease them, there should be hope for the future, right?
But Chen Ping's nightmare began the moment he laid down his weapon.

At the pacification point in Qingyang Prefecture, Chen Ping obediently handed over his waist knife and received a small wooden plaque inscribed with the words "Release without punishment" from the yamen officials.

In addition to the pardon, there was also three coins of silver for settling down.

Then, he and more than 30 fellow villagers from Yichuan were told that they could return to their hometown on their own.

Returning to your hometown on your own?

Chen Ping could hardly believe his ears.

The straight-line distance from Qingyang Prefecture to Yichuan County is seven or eight hundred li, not to mention that one has to cross mountains and valleys in between.

Chen Ping held the three taels of silver in his hand, feeling utterly disheartened.

This amount of money wouldn't even buy two bushels of unpolished rice in northern Shaanxi, where grain prices were soaring!

With only the meager rations they had, how long would it take for these thirty-odd people to make it back to Yichuan?
"Brother, what should we do?"

A younger man asked with a long face.

Chen Ping sighed and said helplessly:

"What can we do? Let's just take it one step at a time!"

Now that things have come to this, and the knife has already been handed over, what else can we do but grit our teeth and head home?

The road home is a road of despair.

As far as the eye can see, all that remains is yellow earth. Continuous droughts and wars have already ravaged this land of northern Shaanxi beyond recognition.

The land was bare, with hardly any wild grass to be seen. The tree bark and grass roots had long been eaten away by the starving people.

This group of people was like a bunch of lost souls in a wasteland, moving forward aimlessly.

To conserve food, they could only eat porridge once a day.

When the water bladder was empty, they would dig a hole in a dry riverbed, hoping to seep out some muddy water.

And so, this group of people saved every penny and gradually made their way from Qingyang Prefecture to Luochuan.

Once we pass Luochuan, it will be a few more days before we can return home.

Maybe there's hope if we go back?
However, they encountered trouble at a ferry crossing just over ten miles from Luochuan.

A man dressed in a silk short jacket, who looked like a manager, led a dozen or so thugs armed with knives, guns, and clubs, blocking their way.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ping knew the visitors were up to no good and quickly told his fellow villagers to take a detour.

Before they could take two steps, the manager had already surrounded them with his men.

"stop!"

The foreman glared with his triangular eyes and shouted sternly, "What are you all doing here?"

"Where do we come from, and where are we going?"

Chen Ping's heart tightened, but he still stepped forward, cupped his hands, and smiled:

"My lord, we are from Qingyang Prefecture and are on our way back to our hometown of Yichuan."

The manager sized them up and down, then sneered:
“They’re from Qingyang Prefecture; that’s a den of thieves.”

"You must be bandits!"

Having said that, he suddenly waved his hand and shouted to the thugs behind him:

"Fuck me!"

"These bandits are trying to infiltrate our Luochuan territory! Kill them! There will be a reward for killing them!"

These thugs, who had been itching for a fight, rushed forward with strange cries upon hearing this.

"Wait!"

Chen Ping was both shocked and furious, and quickly pulled out a small wooden plaque from his pocket.

"I have an official pardon issued by the government; I am a law-abiding citizen pardoned by the imperial court!"

"What right do you have to kill us at will?!"

However, the manager didn't even look at the wooden plaque in his hand, but just crossed his arms and sneered:

"A pardon? Never heard of that!"

"My master said that no bandits coming from the west are allowed to enter Luochuan territory!"

"Otherwise, kill without mercy!"

It turned out that ever since the news of Yang He's plan to disperse the bandits spread, the local officials and gentry in Luochuan had become restless.

They were terrified of being robbed by bandits and feared that these bandits who had been sent back to their hometowns might become accomplices and lead the enemy into their home in the future.

As a result, these officials and gentry spontaneously organized themselves.

They dispatched their servants, stewards, or even hired thugs to set up roadblocks at various key transportation routes.

They tried to stop these disbanded bandits, and even directly ordered them to be killed without mercy!

Although Chen Ping and his group numbered more than thirty, they had been trekking for a long time and were already dizzy from hunger, not to mention that they were unarmed.

Faced with more than a dozen thugs wielding knives, guns, and clubs, he had no chance to fight back.

The sticks came crashing down on them, and screams and wails filled the air.

Those thugs were extremely ruthless, leaving no survivors. Even after knocking someone to the ground, they would continue to kick and smash them.

"Run! Run!"

Seeing that he couldn't hold them off any longer, Chen Ping grabbed two fellow villagers beside him and rushed out with all his might.

The others realized what was happening and scrambled to escape.

They ran for several miles before the sounds of their pursuers gradually faded away.

Chen Ping counted the number of people; originally there were thirty-two fellow villagers, but now only twenty-eight remained.

Four people fell forever beside that ferry crossing, beaten to death.

Several others were beaten until their heads bled and their injuries were quite serious.

Still shaken, the group dared not continue on the official road.

They knew there must be similar checkpoints along the official road.

Therefore, Chen Ping had no choice but to choose the more difficult mountain paths, hiding during the day and traveling at night.

After wandering in the wilderness for seven or eight days, they finally returned to their long-cherished hometown, Nanyaogou in Yichuan County.

By the time we arrived at the village entrance, it was already evening.

The whole village was deathly still, with only a few houses still lit by faint fires.

Nanyaogou was not a large place to begin with. When there was a famine, most of the able-bodied men who could not survive followed Chen Ping to rebel.

The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled who remained have either starved to death or died of illness in recent years, leaving less than half the original population in the village.

Chen Ping and his group were exhausted. They found a dilapidated, uninhabited cave dwelling, squeezed together, and decided to make do for the night and deal with things the next day.

However, Chen Ping never expected that someone had been watching them from the shadows.

(End of this chapter)