Chapter 297: Rebellion
Editor: Atlas Studios
Qi Haoran was a little dejected because Shu Wanniang said that Mu Yangling had never had a proper birthday celebration before. He’d wanted to give her a proper birthday present when she turned 12.
Qi Haoran had volunteered to take on this heavy responsibility. He had already planned to hold it in the Qi Residence of Hanzhong Prefecture and invite a few acquaintances over to play. The most important thing was to let Mu Shi take some time off to attend his daughter’s birthday banquet.
Qi Haoran had even prepared a huge gift for her, but now that he was going to Tongchuan to quell the rebellion, it was impossible for him to participate.
He went to look for Mu Yangling in frustration to tell her the bad news.
However, Mu Yangling’s thoughts were focused elsewhere. When she heard that Qi Haoran had become the first general to lead the army to quell the rebellion, her first thought was that Qi Haoran was going to go down in history. Yes, the kind that would be reviled by later generations—feudal rulers suppressing peasant uprisings!
Her second thought was, if Qi Haoran killed the commoners, would he accumulate bad karma?
Hence, Mu Yangling advised him seriously. Her general meaning was that he could go ahead and quell the rebellion, but those were all pitiful people. If he could let them off, he should try and let them off. The key was that he should not kill the old, weak, women, and children.
Qi Haoran rolled his eyes and said, “Am I such a cruel person?” As he spoke, his expression darkened. “But if they participate in the rebellion and kill and rob, I definitely won’t let them off.”
“They’re just ordinary people. Why would they kill and rob?”
“Why not?” Qi Haoran was very unhappy with Mu Yangling’s arbitrariness. He said, “Many rich families in Tongchuan have been robbed, and many of their families have been killed. Among them, a few families have a good reputation in the countryside and often do good deeds.”
What Qi Haoran didn’t tell Mu Yangling was that almost none of the men from those families survived. All the women had been raped and committed suicide.
If Qi Haoran was a little resistant to quelling the rebellion in the beginning, he wanted to hurry to Tongchuan now.
Mu Yangling couldn’t refute for a moment. After a while, she said, “There are good and bad people everywhere. There are naturally scumbags among the farmers, but you can’t deny that there are many good people among them.”
“Do good people rebel?”
“If one is forced to the extreme, even a Saint can’t help but rebel. Haoran, if you have to watch your relatives starve to death in front of you, unless you’re a heartless and cold-blooded person, no matter how magnanimous you are, that magnanimity would be ground into hatred.”
Qi Haoran was silent. Thinking about how there were more or less people rebelling everywhere, he was momentarily at a loss.
Mu Yangling patted his shoulder and said, “It’s fine as long as you have a clear conscience. Haoran, when you go to quell the rebellion, you just have to kill the leaders and the few evildoers. If no one encourages them anymore, they’ll disperse. Let the old, weak, women, and children live.”
Qi Haoran agreed, but when he arrived at Tongchuan, he realized that the situation was more complicated than he had imagined. The rebels were not all in cahoots.
Tongchuan’s rebel team was roughly divided into three factions. The first faction had the largest number of people, reaching more than 40,000. Qi Haoran, who had only brought 20,000 men over, was originally a little nervous. However, when he heard their composition, he instantly became less nervous.
Of the more than 40,000 rebels, only 10,000 were young and strong. The remaining 30,000 were actually all old, weak, women, and children. The youngest was merely three or four years old, and the oldest was in their sixties. Their modus operandi was to rush in to rob grain warehouses before speedily leaving. Though they would definitely not leave a single grain of rice behind, they would only hurt people and not kill them.
According to the statistics, among their many operations, the most seriously injured person from the Imperial Court only had a fractured leg. Qi Haoran did not even ask about the specific situation. The scout who came to report told him what had happened vividly.
This group of people seemed to be helped by the heavens. It was as if they had descended from the sky, for the Imperial Court’s army had never been able to figure out their whereabouts. When they sent troops to guard this grain warehouse in this county, they bypassed several counties and went straight to the last county. By the time the Imperial Court’s army and bailiffs rushed over, they were long gone. Only the hundred-odd guards in the grain warehouse were tied up and thrown into the grain warehouse.
The one who suffered the most serious injuries was because he had been tied up for too long. When he stood up, he lost his balance and fell, accidentally breaking his bones.
“Little General, don’t you think the heavens are helping them? They’ve robbed a total of three granaries, but the magistrate of Tongchuan can’t even find their shadow,” the scout said excitedly.
Qi Haoran glared at him and said, “What’s so difficult about that? Tongchuan has countless forked paths to begin with. Coupled with the dense forest and so many elders among the 40,000 people, who knows how many passageways the Imperial Court doesn’t know about? As for those people from the government office.” Qi Haoran gritted his teeth and said, “Considering they don’t hide their actions, others will easily know which grain warehouse they’re guarding after asking around.”
“However, what I admire is that the leader can actually control 40,000 people. When he rushed into the grain warehouse, he didn’t injure a single person. There was no infighting when they moved the grains.” It had to be known that there were all kinds of people among the 40,000 people—the old, weak, sick, young, strong, and women and children. Such a mixed group was most prone to conflict and casualties. It was a feat that the leader could actually control them.
Since this faction had never killed anyone, Qi Haoran did not intend to kill them. He decided to deal with the other two factions first.
The other two factions were almost all composed of young and strong men. One faction was like what Qi Haoran had told Mu Yangling—they robbed the rich and killed everyone. The leader was Feng Yu, a 28-year-old from Tongchuan County. There were more than 2,400 people in total. Not only did this person rob the rich, but he also didn’t let go of the villages he passed by. Some villages were even massacred. His methods were so cruel that even the Hu people Qi Haoran had interacted with in the past two years couldn’t compare to him.
Hence, Qi Haoran’s first target was him. He would not let go of anyone who participated in murder and rape.
The third faction was much more normal. It was a classic rebellion.
The leader was called Jiang Zhong, and he was from Jiangyou, Tongchuan Prefecture. Almost from the moment the first faction robbed the county office and granary, he brought 400 people to take advantage of the situation and occupied the county. Then, he took in the original bailiffs and the young men in the city, gathering 1,700 people in total. Before the Imperial Court could react, he occupied another county. His modus operandi was to attack cities. This kid was very talented in rebellion. As soon as he conquered the county, he opened the small spare granary in the county office. Then, he comforted the people and forced the rich families in the county to take out rations and silver to reward his army. Fortunately, other than the casualties during the siege, this person had not killed anyone randomly.
According to the estimation of the damage, Qi Haoran put this faction in second place. He planned to snatch back the county office that had been occupied by Jiang Zhong after dealing with Feng Yu.
However, the magistrate didn’t think so. He felt that Jiang Zhong was the most dangerous, followed by the elusive 40,000 people, and finally, Feng Yu.
Never one to submit to a civil official, Qi Haoran told him directly that he was the one who was fighting this battle, so he had to listen to him.
Speechless, the magistrate of Tongchuan pointed at Qi Haoran and was so angry that he could not speak.