Chapter 301 All the SameZhou Jiaxing was facing two patrolmen. They were both wearing yellow Taoist robes and straw sandals, and had dark and reddish skin. The two people opposite also looked at Zhou Jiaxing curiously. They already knew that the people in Xuzhou across the street were not from the same underworld as before, but people from Yangzhou. "Have you eaten?" Zhou Jiaxing was holding a glass can, which contained... pickles. It is already October now and the north is gradually getting colder. After bean sprouts and eggplants are gone, the only vegetables left are winter melon and cabbage. What's more, they came from Yanzhou and Jizhou in the north, and they had to eat dry food every day. Who could stand it? So seeing pickled cucumbers still made their eyes light up. Canned food from Yangzhou is also a best-seller among them. Unfortunately, it’s not sweet canned fruit. However, they still had military discipline. Although they saw it, the two of them were still very reserved. One of them, Ren Zhonghuang, said, "Are you trying to bribe us?"
"Hey~" Zhou Jiaxing said very experiencedly: "What do you mean by bribery? We all work for our superiors. If our superiors beat us up and bleed, won't it be hard for us, the people below, right?" "I just saw that you two brothers looked friendly, so I wanted to use these pickles to exchange for some dry food with you." He added. "Oh?" Another Huang Tian Daoist named Li Weiye said with great interest after hearing what Zhou Jiaxing said, "Come on, come on, let's exchange!" So the three of them came closer, and Zhou Jiaxing exchanged a can of pickles for a few pieces of dry food for the two of them. The two men felt it was a great deal and they really got a great bargain! Their dry food consisted of a few steamed buns that had been left out for a day and were very dry and hard, and very difficult to swallow. But Zhou Jiaxing had his own way. He took out a small can of pickles, broke the steamed bun in half, and put the pickles in the middle of the bun. After that, Zhou Jiaxing began to eat it with gusto. The pickled cucumber was salty and sour, and paired with the dry steamed buns, it also gave the dry buns flavor and made them less dry. His way of eating was imitated by Huang Tiandao and his two companions. The same food, the same way of eating, suddenly brought the three people closer together. Zhou Jiaxing finally asked his own question: "I heard that you Huang Tiandao also divide the land equally like us in Yangzhou?" For people like them, land is a good topic. Huang Tiandao wanted to establish a prosperous Huangtian era with peace and prosperity, and fairness and selflessness. He had many propositions and methods, one of which was "equal distribution of land." "Yes! We have all been allocated land." Ren Zhonghuang nodded and said, "Now we are giving it to our family to plant!" "Then I guess you are the same as us, no one bullies you!" Zhou Jiaxing said again. "This..." Ren Zhonghuang ate the steamed bun without saying anything. "Hey! To be honest." Li Weiye sighed and said, "The two of us were forced to patrol here." "We are all soldiers. Who wants to come here? It's dangerous and unpleasant." If no one was bullying them, why would the two of them come to patrol this dangerous place? "Ah? I heard that your Taoist Sun wants to establish a fair and selfless Huangtian Shengshi?" Zhou Jiaxing said, "You are not fair among yourselves, how can you be fair to the outside world?"
"We Taoist soldiers have different backgrounds!" Li Weiye was more talkative. He said, "Some of us brought our own soldiers and servants with us. After we arrived, we could lead a team right away." "Some of them are Master Qu's relatives and friends. Once they join Huang Tiandao, they become Master Qu's personal soldiers." "Some even donated all their property to Master Sun. Such people cannot start as soldiers with us, right?" Li Weiye said. After listening to Li Weiye's words, Zhou Jiaxing understood that the backgrounds of the people in Huang Tiandao were too complicated, and there was no unified thought for reform, so it was easy for friction to occur. How could the son of a warrior hold the same position as the son of a poor farmer? Even with the development of Yangzhou in these years, there are still some old stubborn people who hold such ideas, let alone Huang Tiandao? Zhou Jiaxing saw clearly that Huang Tian Dao used religion to unite everyone, but there were no major internal problems. Because religion itself was oppressive, how could it establish a fair and selfless Huang Tian Sheng Shi? "In our place, officers and soldiers are equal and receive the same salary!" said Zhou Jiaxing. "Is this true?" Ren Zhonghuang said with wide eyes while chewing a steamed bun. How can officers and soldiers be equal? He couldn't imagine it. "Of course it's true. Superiors don't beat subordinates, and everyone shares the joys and sorrows!" Zhou Jiaxing said again. "Even a warrior?" Ren Zhonghuang asked again. "Even a warrior!" Zhou Jiaxing nodded. Yangzhou has a system that has been in place for a long time, which prevents high-level warriors from beating low-level warriors. It is a serious crime for high-level warriors to injure ordinary people! Once discovered, the offender will be severely punished, or even beheaded! "We in Yangzhou also value production and education. Warriors cannot demonstrate their value through force, but through production." Zhou Jiaxing said: "Just talking about fighting is not enough in our place." "No wonder you have some strange and useful things in Yangzhou!" said Li Weiye. Li Weiye is different from Ren Zhonghuang. Ren Zhonghuang has been farming for half his life, but Li Weiye has wandered around before and has much more experience than Ren Zhonghuang. He said with emotion: "I originally thought that Yangzhou was similar to our Huangtian Dao, but now it seems that they are not quite the same." They had also heard of Yangzhou standing up for the poor and publicly trying warriors. And more than once! "It's all the same, actually." Zhou Jiaxing said, "We are all ordinary people. We all want to have a stable life and a fair environment so that we can live our lives in peace." "It's easy as you say, but it's not that easy!" said Ren Zhonghuang. Stability, fairness and peace, these three simple wishes are indeed difficult for them to achieve. "Anyway, when the fight starts, you two brothers should stay away. The fight between real warriors is very scary! Run as far as you can!" Zhou Jiaxing advised. "I'm afraid it won't work..." Ren Zhonghuang said, "I need to chant some sutras for the generals..." Before he could say anything, Li Weiye stepped on his foot. Only then did he remember that the people opposite him were from Yangzhou, not brothers from the same tent. You can't tell this kind of thing to outsiders! It was also because Zhou Jiaxing was too friendly that he forgot that this was someone he just met. "It's okay! I didn't hear anything. What happened today is known to God, the earth, you and me!" Zhou Jiaxing eased the embarrassment.
"Yes, yes! Let's just pretend we never encountered it!" Li Weiye said quickly. Having said this, the three of them dispersed. The two men from Huang Tiandao continued their patrol, while Zhou Jiaxing went back to organize the information he had collected. They were going in two directions, but they were both the same. Ren Zhonghuang and Li Weiye are aliases provided by book friends.
(End of this chapter)