DNS - Chapter 6
Chapter 6
A skinny fellow opposite waved a hand to signal.
"That official's carriage just went in!" Fatty said, fully alert. "The show's starting, brothers, get ready!"
Lin Xingyuan: "Just go in like that? There are people everywhere here."
"Not enough people yet," the Fatty said to Lin Xingyuan. "We're not from Shuidong County. After we cause a stir, we'll leave in the chaos, and they won't be able to trace us. Brother, be careful yourself."
Lin Xingyuan: "First, explain it clearly to me. Be careful of what?"
Fatty asked, puzzled, "Didn't Fang Shifei tell you?"
Lin Xingyuan: "He did. Rush in during the chaos and search for the embezzled money."
Fatty said, "Then that's it? Leave the shouting to us. You just watch from the side how ruffians do things. You can also scatter some silver coins while you're at it."
With a gesture from Fatty, the person standing at the street corner shouted loudly, "The granary is giving out rice! Everyone, bring your bowls and come quickly to get rice!"
Then another person also started shouting at the top of their lungs, "The granary is giving out rice! Don't be late!"
Their shouting was skillful, loud and clear, still reaching everyone's ears completely amidst the noisy background of the street.
They ran off into the distance while shouting, spreading the news widely.
Shouts rose one after another, and the crowd was in an uproar. They couldn't care less about anything else, calling friends and companions, and gathered towards the granary.
For a moment, even the common people standing at the granary entrance were confused.
Did they say so? It seems not... So, are they giving it out or not?
When everyone was pushing inwards, no one would voluntarily step back. Especially with news like free rice.
Seeing the crowd starting to become uncontrollably restless, the County Commandant waved his hands and hurriedly shouted, "No! Not yet! We need to inventory the stock first!"
Unfortunately, no one could hear him. The public sentiment was boiling, and everyone was asking, "Are you giving out rice? How much?"
The guards were like facing a formidable enemy, blocking the crowd tightly outside.
The County Commandant said angrily, "No rice! Who is spreading rumors here? Anyone who keeps shouting will be arrested!"
The crowd asked, "Are you giving it out or not?"
The county official simply covered his ears and walked over. He was an old scholar with a naturally quiet voice, and now the noise was so loud he couldn't even hear himself. He spoke intermittently, "We can't give it out now! We have to wait... finished... the county office... will then..."
Just then, someone in the crowd shouted again, "Fang Shifei reported County Magistrate He for corruption to his superiors! The embezzled money is hidden right there in the granary! They're going to taint this rice!"
The County Commandant's finger swept across the crowd, trembling with rage. "Who? Step forward if you dare!"
Lin Xingyuan quickly grabbed his sleeve and said, "Can Fang Shifei's name be mentioned like that?"
Fatty said, "Of course! If we don't say it, how will everyone know it's Fang Shifei's achievement?"
But this achievement is smeared with shit!
"What kind of person is most liked and trusted? First, a scholar. Second, a scholar who worries about the nation and its people. Third, a scholar who worries about the nation and its people and is also upright and reckless!" Fatty waved away Lin Xingyuan's hand and said, "Shouting like this gains him reputation and merit. How important are these things to a scholar? Anyway, Fang Shifei isn't afraid of making enemies, so this reputation is free for the taking!"
After saying that, he darted into the crowd, shouting incessantly, "Why isn't the price of rice falling? Why aren't we getting the court's disaster relief grain? Where did the roads built by corvée labor and the construction projects end up? All in the granary!"
These were all people from the jianghu, their martial arts much higher than the guards. Furthermore, with Chief Administrator Wang visiting today, bloodshed and harming civilians were absolutely forbidden. If the situation escalated, it would be difficult to resolve.
The County Commandant's heart trembled. Just inventorying rice and putting it in storage, and something like this could happen? Someone must be trying to harm him!
He repeatedly instructed and appeased both sides, "Don't use force, speak properly! It's all false, don't listen to those people talking nonsense! They have ulterior motives!"
Fatty rushed to the front of the crowd, swatted away the guard's saber blocking the way with one hand, and pushed the person hard in the chest. The powerful force actually knocked the person directly to the ground.
He was the first to open a gap in the defense line and squeezed in. Several brothers followed closely behind, and soon the granary entrance was in chaos.
Looking at his skills, he was no ordinary person. Blending into the crowd, he definitely had a plan long ago and was waiting to watch the show.
The County Commandant hurriedly said, "Stop him! Stop him immediately!"
That was natural.
What was surprising was that the group of sturdy guards couldn't even catch up to a nimble Fatty. The sturdy Fatty quickly darted behind the door like a fat fish, disappearing from the crowd's sight.
With someone leading the disturbance, the military force here was clearly insufficient. The guards couldn't even stop the restless ordinary people.
County Commandant: "Quick! Transfer all the idle guards from the city gate! Quick!!"
Not long after the Fatty squeezed in, he rushed out again and scattered a handful of small silver coins towards the crowd at the entrance. "Silver! There are mountains of silver and jewels piled up inside!"
The crowd instantly went wild. Regardless of whether it was true or false, they all surged in.
The guards were scattered, and the scene was chaotic for a moment.
However, after the common people went in, they didn't see any piles of silver, and for a moment they were blocked at the entrance, not moving.
Just then, someone opened the door of a storage room and shouted, "There's silver inside! Everyone, open the storage rooms and search!"
The crowd gathered around and found that this time it was true.
To prevent fire, grain storage used small, multi-room warehouses, with walls separating the rooms. Because disaster relief grain was arriving today to be stored, several rooms inside were already open.
Fatty and his group looked for the locked doors, chopped them open directly, and basically without exception, there were some things left inside, more or less.
Some were valuable, others were not.
After the common people surged in, Fatty and others, while the officials were trying to control the scene, blended out of the crowd. He cupped his fist towards Lin Xingyuan, turned, and left.
Subsequently, a large number of guards from the city gate approached here.
The officials first closed the iron gate of the granary, then went to subdue the common people inside the warehouse. A group of people were left to guard the grain carts outside the gate, drawing their sabers to intimidate.
Lin Xingyuan was still stunned throughout the entire process, standing rooted to the spot. He watched the group of common people who were shut outside the gate sitting on the ground, weeping bitterly.
They cried with particular sorrow, no longer thinking about rushing the gate or snatching the grain carts. They just sat there on the ground, not saying a word, holding the people beside them, venting their grievances and despair.
Once the sound of weeping began, it couldn't be stopped. The emotions accumulated over the years instantly burst forth like a dam breaking.
Scene after scene from the drought flashed in their minds. The poor people who starved to death, the wealthy who squandered. They knelt before the county magistrate, holding a bowl of thin gruel with gratitude, sighed mournfully while touching a few copper coins squatting at the rice shop entrance... All were disjointed and meaningless images.
Their lives were so worthless, piled up in that empty granary.
Lin Xingyuan had never seen such a scene of ten thousand people weeping. His Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes felt hot, and Fang Shifei's words from that day echoed in his ears.
Lin Xingyuan had retorted at the time, "Fighting violence with violence, who is superior to whom? If He Ming is wrong, then you are also wrong."
Fang Shifei pointed towards the sky, "In officialdom, who cares if your methods are upright and honest? There's only a difference between useful and useless. You also said you can't talk about sentiment with officials. Besides, was the embezzled silver that was searched out put there by me? Were the crimes I reported fabricated by me? If I had wronged him today, then I would be inciting a rebellion by the mob. But today, everything I said is the truth, so it can only be called having no way out, officials forcing the people to rebel! If I let him fester like a sore, would I be right?"
"Everyone is just trying to make a living, but these officials have cut off all avenues. You also said that the character for 'official' has two mouths, eating from both above and below. I am an ordinary commoner, and He Ming is acting against his will. Appeals are ignored, lawsuits are disregarded, do the poor still have a way out? Next year, the court will start collecting land taxes again. When will Shuidong County see the light of day? Who deserves to stay here and starve to death?" Fang Shifei sneered, "Wang Changdong is a Director in the Ministry of Revenue's Jin Department, and he just happens to be sent to Shuidong County at this time. What does this show? This is providence! Now he is eager to achieve political success so he can be transferred back to the capital. There won't be a more suitable or responsible candidate than him. This part of Jiangnan isn't surnamed Wang, and he has always been decisive in his actions. If he dares to come, someone is bound to be 'unaccustomed to the local conditions' (fall ill or face trouble). If this matter is blown up, and His Majesty issues another decree, he will be the first ray of hope after the harsh winter, the hope for the entire Jiangnan region to recover. This opportunity will be gone if we miss it."
Lin Xingyuan said, "I thought you were a gentleman."
Fang Shifei was silent for a moment, then said, "Then you really misunderstood me. I can't be a gentleman; I was never a good person to begin with."
Lin Xingyuan raised his hand and wiped his face.
He wasn't from Shuidong County and hadn't witnessed the drought back then, so he didn't understand Fang Shifei's feelings.
But if the same choice were placed before him, and he knew he would face the worst possible outcome, would he do it?
Perhaps he would.
...
No.
He would.
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