Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Under the cover of darkness, a rebel force of about five thousand men left the Xingyang area.

Three thousand selected combat soldiers, one thousand civilian laborers, and more than one thousand female military dependents.

In these days, all the livestock and horses that could be collected were gathered into the team.

Take as much food and supplies as you can with you.

In other words, this is the most elite force that Li You could gather.

The soldiers couldn't understand why they had to set off at night, or why they had to bring their wives along.

They went to ask the corporal, only to be met with a cold rebuke.

In reality, only two people in the entire team knew the whole plan.

One was Li You, and the other was Yan Hongxin, the general who commanded the entire army.

Li You didn't ride a horse; he lay on an oxcart, looking up at the stars in the sky.

In ancient times, there was no light pollution, so the outline of the Milky Way could be seen in the clear night sky.

Li You couldn't help but be lost in thought.

What kind of terrifying force brought me, so insignificant as I am, to this world a thousand years ago?

Looking back on his actions after transmigrating, Li You didn't know whether he was right or wrong.

The concept of right and wrong is too absolute.

He thought about it for a while, then stopped thinking about it.

Having a clear mind is best.

Although they are in a hurry and stumbling state now, compared with the Qi King in history who had no ambition, this is a relatively good situation.

Besides overthinking, Li You was also worried about Yan Hongliang and his group.

It remains to be seen whether their "performance" can fool the "audience" who have traveled from afar.

Meanwhile, the vanguard of Li Ji, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, had already left Tongguan and was heading towards Luoyang. After passing Luoyang and traveling another two hundred li to reach Xingyang, they could officially begin suppressing the rebellion.

……

Yan Hongliang, Liang Mengbiao, and Zan Junmo left even earlier, leading their troops eastward.

With neither King Qi nor Yan Hongxin present, Yan Hongliang took on the role of commander-in-chief of the team.

Meanwhile, Wang Erwa, who was dressed as the King of Qi, followed Yan Hongliang.

The death of the double, Wang Erwa, was an indispensable part of the entire plan.

His brother, Wang Sanwa, was taken by Li You and went to the south.

The plan that Yan Hongliang wanted to execute was actually quite crude and could only be barely carried out.

They first led their troops for a while.

They came across a relatively large village on the way, and Yan Hongliang felt that the opportunity had come. He immediately called on everyone, and they rushed over and quickly took control of the village.

When they questioned the head of the landlord family in the village, they learned that they were not a prominent family from Shandong, so they did not take any action against them. Instead, they simply took all the family's valuables and piled them up outside the landlord's gate.

When Liang Mengbiao was distributing the spoils to his subordinates, he got into an argument with Yan Hongliang.

They argued more and more fiercely, and finally got into a physical altercation and started fighting on the spot.

Seeing this, the King of Qi quickly stepped forward to dissuade them and tried to separate the two generals.

But at that moment, Liang Mengbiao and Yan Hongliang's personal guards suddenly drew their weapons and began to fight each other.

The planned infighting suddenly erupted.

Even the King of Qi was dragged into it.

Seeing the fierce fighting above, the soldiers watching below were also getting restless.

"What are you doing?! What are you trying to do?! Are you trying to rebel?!"

Seeing this chaos, Zan Junmo also led his personal guards to the scene and charged into the battle.

It's unclear whether they went to break up the fight or joined in.

And so, several groups of people got mixed up together and started hacking away for a full half hour.

until……

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

"Oh no, my king!"

Yan Hongliang's loud screams finally calmed down this extremely heated internal conflict.

The crowd dispersed.

The King of Qi was lying on the ground, covered in blood, barely breathing.

"Who? Who killed the King? Who was it?!"

Liang Mengbiao held the body of "King Qi" with eyes wide open and extremely agitated.

In terms of acting skills, he is indeed the best among the three brothers.

Yan Hongliang and Zan Junmo knelt on the ground, weeping uncontrollably.

"My king, my king!"

"You're just leaving like this? What are we going to do?"

After another half hour of performance, the three brothers finally stood up, guessing that the news of "King Qi's" death had spread throughout the army.

"Brothers, the dead cannot be brought back to life!"

"King Qi died for us."

"If it weren't for him, many of us would still be penniless right now."

"Please, everyone, have mercy! Dig a hole for the king, find a coffin, and bury him!"

The subordinates discussed Yan Hongliang's proposal extensively.

"General Yan... General Yan, now that the King is gone, what should we do?"

In the dense crowd, one man asked a fatal question.

"Sigh! To be honest, without King Qi, we are nothing."

"After the king is buried, those who are willing to work with us can continue, and those who are unwilling, or who think that rebellion has no future, can go home and honestly farm the land."

"When the autumn harvest comes, if everyone still remembers the kindness of our King Qi and remembers to offer incense to him, we will be eternally grateful!"

Yan Hongliang's tone was mournful and utterly pathetic.

The soldiers below, hearing this, felt their morale collapse instantly, like a flat tire.

"General Yan, shall I... shall I leave?"

"Those who want to leave should leave now, hurry up and go!"

It should be noted that all the still usable personnel in the team have already been selected by Li You.

The rest are just a motley crew with weak wills.

Now that they sensed something was wrong and the future was uncertain, a considerable number of people immediately backed out.

"General Yan, please take care of yourself!"

"General Yan, it's not that I'm heartless, I still have several children to raise!"

"After we get back, we'll find a spot at the village entrance and sculpt a clay statue of our King Qi!"

"General Yan, those wealthy families are too wicked. You must pull yourselves together and keep going!"

"General Yan, if all else fails, you should all hurry home and go back to farming!"

……

Tens of thousands of rebels scattered like birds and beasts, and in the end only three or four hundred remained.

Now it was Yan Hongliang's turn to find it strange.

What are you all standing there for? Get out of here!

"General Yan, I still want to continue serving you!"

"The King of Qi gave us land; this is an immense favor!"

"My entire family of five was killed by that man surnamed Zheng. King Qi avenged me; he's my benefactor!"

"Yes, although King Qi is gone, his kindness must not be forgotten!"

Seeing that only a few hundred "die-hards" remained after the fierce competition, Yan Hongliang was at a loss as to what to do.

Liang Mengbiao had a sudden inspiration and leaned his head closer.

"Second brother, these few hundred people aren't many. Why don't we take them with us? It won't be easy for us when we head south, so it would be good to have some help."

"Biaozi is right. They've gone to such lengths; they're all loyal and righteous men. They're trustworthy!" Zan Junmo leaned in to express his opinion.

"good!"

Three cobblers with their wits combined can outwit one Zhuge Liang.

Yan Hongliang and his two brothers, along with their personal guards and over three hundred righteous men, first set a trap for the "King of Qi".

They also searched the wealthy family's house and found a coffin, then placed the body inside.

They quickly buried it, not even having time to erect a tombstone, and then, in a rush, they fled.

The wealthy family head, who had been robbed, looked at the new grave next to his house and was filled with endless sorrow.

After much thought, the only option was to organize the servants to fill in the mound of earth around the new grave, cover it with straw, and disguise it so that it wouldn't be discovered by others.

……

That evening, a group of about a dozen people of unknown origin sneaked back.

They were not Yan Hongliang and his two brothers, but rather a dozen or so anti-Japanese soldiers who had previously fled.

"Huh? Where is King Qi's tomb?"

"Isn't it right here? Old Hu, you're the expert, hurry up and find it!"

The man called Hu Laosan used the torches lit by his companions to look around.

Finally, focus your attention on the haystack.

After moving the haystack aside, Hu Laosan stepped on it and knew he had found the right spot.

Then, they dug with hoes and soon unearthed the coffin of the "King of Qi".

"Open it now!"

"Huh? Why is there nothing in here?"

"Really? Search again carefully!"

"There's really none, not even a single copper coin!"

"Damn it, what bad luck!"

It turns out that this was a group of anti-military soldiers with tomb raiding skills.

According to the customs of the Tang Dynasty, important figures were buried with many high-quality burial objects.

The imperial court attempted to regulate this extravagant practice, but it was largely ineffective.

The emperor is far away, I'm rich, I can bury whatever I want, what's it to you?

If we don't bury things in the ground, then there won't be any artifacts left in museums in the future.

However, these tomb raiders, who had hoped to make a fortune, did not gain anything.

Unexpectedly, the "King of Qi," who commanded tens of thousands of troops, took nothing with him to the grave after his death.

"Sigh, this coffin is the only thing that's somewhat useful. Why don't we chop it up and take it back?"

"Qi Dazhu, do you have any conscience? If it weren't for Prince Qi, would you have gotten those dozens of acres of land?"

"Hmm...that makes sense..."

Although the rebellion was short-lived, the "King of Qi's" actions of eliminating powerful families and distributing land to the people of Shandong still won their favor.

No matter when or where, anyone who truly cares for the country and its people will always earn the heartfelt respect of the people.

Of course, these people may be labeled in various ways by the authorities and suffer some injustice temporarily.

Centuries later, when scholars unearth these dusty records, they will discover that, oh, so-and-so historical figure was not a treacherous minister, but a great righteous man.

The tomb raiders carefully placed the body of "King Qi" back into the coffin, and then knelt in front of the coffin.

"Your Majesty, we only seek wealth and have no other evil intentions. May you rest in peace."

"Your Majesty, we will remember you!"

"We will never forget Your Majesty's kindness!"

After the prayers, the coffin of "King Qi" was buried again.