Chapter 118: Me or Him?

Zou County.

In the main hall of what used to be the county government office, Yang Xin stood with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing a deliberately calm and aloof expression. Outside the door, a dozen or so followers of the Incense-Smelling Sect whom he had knocked down were helping each other up. Two minutes earlier, he had suddenly jumped down from the roof and, with his bare hands alone, taken them all down.

Of course, he could come and go from Zoucheng as he pleased.

For a small county town like this, its walls were practically nothing—a running start and he was basically over it. He had slipped in at night and, relying on his gift for languages, blended in among the sect’s followers. From there, it was just a matter of finding out where Xu Hongru lived, waiting for this so-called “Reviving and Prosperous Emperor” to hold court, and then giving them a surprise from above. After all, he knew very well they wouldn’t welcome a visit from him. Another envoy might have been let in, but who would dare let someone like him in? Xu Hongru was probably afraid he would charge straight at him!

A sudden ambush was necessary.

“Is this how you receive guests?” Yang Xin said.

On the dais of the main hall, Xu Hongru, clad in an ochre yellow robe, watched him silently. His armed loyalists and several leaders stood guard around him, tense and alert.

“You are not a guest!” Xu Hongru said.

His seat on the dais was slightly elevated, and before him stood a dense wall of people. Around Yang Xin, countless armed sect members also stood, weapons at the ready. More and more followers kept rushing into the compound, packing the courtyard outside the hall tightly.

Not only were countless bows and crossbows aimed at Yang Xin, but even more than a dozen Bird Guns were pointed at his back.

“At least bring a chair, then!” Yang Xin said.

Xu Hongru gestured to the side.

A follower immediately brought over a grand armchair and placed it beside Yang Xin. Yang Xin, who had once again donned his cotton-padded overcoat—or rather, his cotton-and-iron composite armor—showed no awareness of being heavily surrounded. Amid the hundreds of arrows and guns aimed at him, he calmly sat down. Then he took a small paper roll from his pocket, placed it in his mouth, and pulled out a tinder lighter. Blowing on it to ignite a flame, he held it to the paper roll, then took a deep, theatrical breath—two plumes of white smoke instantly shot out from his nose.

Homemade.

Tobacco was available in Jining city.

It was a luxury item that had spread from the south. Although scarce, it could already be purchased.

The Incense-Smelling Sect followers stared in astonishment.

Yang Xin held the cigarette between two fingers, exhaled a puff of smoke, and looked at Xu Hongru.

“Why did you rebel?” he said, tapping off some ash.

“Tell the truth. Don’t spout nonsense about Maitreya descending to build some earthly paradise. I know this world better than you do—both the mortal realm and the heavenly realms. The Incense-Smelling Sect is just something Wang Sen made up to amass wealth. The Wang family of Shifokou is rich enough to rival a country, but they haven’t used that wealth to benefit the people. Instead, they’ve spent it currying favor with high officials and nobles!

“And the Wang family still hasn’t rebelled to this day.

“Whether it’s Wang Haoyi or that so-called ‘Third Crown Prince’ Wang Haoxian of yours, they’re both living peacefully as wealthy gentlemen. Wang Haoxian is even a minor official in Zunhua! The Yu Hongzhi you’ve been waiting for hasn’t made a move either. Out of all the Incense-Smelling Sect followers across the Great Ming, only you have rebelled. And now you’re trapped by the imperial army in two small cities. Shen Zhi in Tengxian has already been defeated by the Zhejiang Army. Three thousand Zhejiang troops defeated his twenty thousand, taking two thousand heads. The Zhejiang Army lost only twenty men. He is also trapped in Tengxian now.”

He continued without pause.

This was true. Shen Zhi’s forces in Tengxian had looked down on Qi Jin’s three thousand Zhejiang troops, thinking they could swallow this small, seemingly reckless army in one bite. Instead, they left two thousand corpses under the cannon fire from the chariot fort and fled in panic back to Tengxian. The Zhejiang Army lost only twenty men, with another fifty or so wounded, some seriously.

Although the Zhejiang Army relied heavily on firearms, before their gunpowder ran out, practically no one could breach their chariot fort. Not these ragtag peasants, and not even the Jiannu could do it. During the Battle of Hun River, even with the traitors’ cannons, the Zhejiang Army’s complete annihilation only happened because the Liaodong Army stood by and watched. They fought alone for too long, their gunpowder exhausted, unable to maintain their firepower.

The Incense-Smelling Sect followers exchanged uncertain glances.

Clearly, this news took them by surprise.

Wang Haoxian held a very special place in their hearts. The Incense-Smelling Sect was essentially a mixture of beliefs built around Pure Land Buddhism, but they didn’t preach about a paradise after death. Instead, they believed a person descended as Maitreya would lead them to establish an earthly paradise. And this Maitreya-descended person was none other than the Wang family’s Wang Haoxian. So even though Xu Hongru was actually one of Wang Sen’s main disciples, after Wang Sen’s death, due to disagreements with Wang Haoxian, he started preaching separately. After raising the rebellion, he still honored Wang Haoxian as the Third Crown Prince.

This person was considered the spiritual leader of the Incense-Smelling Sect.

In fact, that entire theoretical system about an earthly paradise was also concocted by Wang Haoxian.

The sect followers had imagined that by now, the Wang family—who had supposedly agreed to act together—would have certainly risen up. Similarly, Yu Hongzhi in Jingzhou would have certainly rebelled as well. They held on, expecting this Third Crown Prince to sweep across the land with his identity as the descended Maitreya.

“You lie!” a leader angrily shouted.

Yang Xin’s left hand suddenly shot out. A meteor hammer flew through the air. Before the sect followers could even react, that leader’s head exploded…

“Are you worth lying to?” Yang Xin said scornfully.

Angry roars erupted all around. Gunshots immediately rang out from behind. Bullets from the Matchlock Guns splintered the backrest of his chair. But Yang Xin, having planted his feet in a horse stance and focusing his energy, remained unmoved. Even a bullet that struck his head directly was blocked by the cotton-and-iron composite hood and the silk armor inside…

It only knocked the ash from his cigarette.

“Stop!” Xu Hongru shouted.

The followers immediately ceased their attack.

Xu Hongru looked at Yang Xin with a complicated expression…

“The rich have ten thousand acres of fertile land, while the poor don’t have a single inch to call their own. Those with money pay no taxes, while the poor bear all the exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes. In good years, they still can’t eat their fill or keep warm. In famine years, they can only eat roots and tree bark. Along the Grand Canal, wealthy families feast on a hundred sheep at a single banquet, while outside the canal, in the villages, poor people starve to death, entire families at a time. With such injustice in this world, why shouldn’t we rebel?

“What the Third Crown Prince is doing has nothing to do with me.

“But I, Xu Hongru, want to lead my brothers to establish an earthly paradise.

“A world with no distinction between rich and poor, high and low; a world free from hunger and cold, where everyone has plenty of food and clothing.

“I’m over fifty now. I’ve traveled all through Shandong, Henan, and Southern Zhili. I’ve also spent many years in the Capital City. I see the Great Ming Dynasty very clearly too. This court is already finished, rotten from top to bottom. Every official is corrupt, from the emperor down to the lowliest clerk. Not one of them cares whether the common people live or die. All they want is for the common people to obediently serve as their oxen and horses, to work themselves to death or starve without complaint, so that they can continue to live in luxury in the Capital City, in their various mansions.

“I just thought, why should I feed these hungry wolves?

“We have two million followers. Zhu Yuanzhang back then was just a beggar. Why can’t I be like him?

“Are kings and nobles born with special blood?!”

He said.

“Kill all those corrupt officials!”

“Kill all the landlords!”

…

The followers roared in agreement.

“Everything you say is right. I don’t like this court either!”

“I admit the Great Ming Dynasty is rotten through. I too would love to smash the heads of those corrupt officials, local tyrants, and evil gentry. But after smashing them, then what? Do you know what to do next?”

Yang Xin said.

“We’ll smash their heads first, then we’ll see!” Xu Hongru said.

Yang Xin smiled.

“Actually, you have no idea what to do. I doubt you’ve even thought about what to do. You just want to use these followers to realize your ‘Are kings and nobles born with special blood?’ You just want to be Zhu Yuanzhang. You see the injustice in the world; maybe you’ve thought about changing it. But more than that, you want to exploit this injustice. So what will change even if you eventually succeed? You’ve already proclaimed yourself emperor. You’ve appointed chancellors, grand generals, and the like. If you succeed, you can be Zhu Yuanzhang, and they can be the Xu family, the Liu family—hereditary nobles. So what would change for these low-level followers?

“Nothing would change!

“Your descendants would still prey on the common people, just like the Prince of Lu. Their descendants would still grow fat and lazy, just like those nobles in the Capital City.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn’t change anything.

Neither can you!

In fact, you’d only make this country worse. Your war would turn countless cities into ruins, countless commoners into dry bones—including these followers behind you. How many would survive in the end? They would all die. Their wives, children, and elders would also die in the chaos of war. If you could really make this country better, I would support you too. But you would only turn this country into a sea of blood.

And benefit the foreign tribes watching from outside.

Zhu Yuanzhang at least drove out the foreign tribes, so we wouldn’t have to be lowly slaves anymore.

But you wouldn’t change anything. Instead, you’d push our descendants back under the feet of foreign tribes.”

He said.

Having finished, he suddenly turned to face forward, looking directly at the bows, crossbows, and guns ahead.

“But I’m different. I will lead you to truly have plenty of food and clothing!”

He said to the Incense-Smelling Sect followers crowded in the courtyard behind him.

“I know how to govern a country. I know how to prevent the emergence of corrupt officials as much as possible. I won’t allow the gentry/local elite to exist either. I will make sure everyone has their own land. There will be no more landlords. I will make the very name ‘landlord’ disappear completely. There will be no more exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes. Besides the land tax, you won’t need to pay anything else. I will also give you new seeds—seeds that yield thousands of jin per mu. I will give you new fertilizers too—fertilizers that can increase each mu’s yield by at least thirty percent. I will give you good medicine to kill pests—medicine you can sprinkle on the fields that kills insects. I will also build new machines that can draw water continuously from rivers and from underground for irrigation.

I won’t make you grand, empty promises.

But I will give you the most concrete things.

The new seed is called sweet potato. It’s right in the cellar of Xu Guangqi’s house in Tianjin.

The new fertilizer is called guano. It just needs to be dug up from an island, but it can be used as soon as it’s brought back.

I also know where to find the good pest-killing medicine.

Building the new machines will take a little time.

But fortunately, I know more than just these things. For example, I know new fishing methods that can increase the catch several times over. I know new smelting techniques that can produce more iron and steel, and so on. In short, I know countless ways to change your lives, to give you plenty of food and clothing.

And it won’t require you to die.

So tell me, do you want me or him?”