Outside the city of Qufu, there are still huge crowds of people even at dusk. Recently, rumors have spread that under the instigation of an organized and premeditated plan, people from as far away as ten miles away and from surrounding counties have swarmed in to surround the city of Qufu, just to beg for help. "justice".
That is, food.
In the late Ming Dynasty, Shandong could not be said to bear the brunt of various natural disasters and military disasters, but it never missed any of them. Drought, locust plague, plague, and military disasters were all indispensable.
Therefore, the people in Shandong are really poor and miserable, and they can only take risks to make a living. This is also the main reason why there are so many thieves in Shandong.
Because of this, as long as someone stirs up trouble, they will immediately start trouble without hesitation. Therefore, throughout the history of Shandong's rebellion, there are many riots, the White Lotus Sect, the Cao Gang...
Nowadays, suddenly there is a wave of evil spirits: Confucius is rich and unkind, his virtue is not worthy of his place, he owns thousands of hectares of fertile land but ignores the life and death of the people, and requires the opening of warehouses for disaster relief, rent reduction and exemption...
As a result, in just a few days, people from all over the city surrounded the city of Qufu. Some came to cause trouble, some came to force the Confucius government to open warehouses for disaster relief, reduce rents, and some just came. Join in the fun and hope to land well.
But the Kong Mansion was not a vegetarian. Seeing that things were getting worse and worse, they immediately sealed off the city as a precaution and organized the city's officers and soldiers as well as the family's servants to maintain stability in the city.
But this angered the people outside the city, and they continued to siege the city and cursed for several days.
This gave the Kong Mansion and Qufu Yamen a headache, and they didn't know how to solve it for a while. After all, the other party didn't raise the flag to rebel, and you couldn't send troops to suppress it. If you were not careful, you could force them to rebel.
After much deliberation, I could only send people to negotiate with the outside world, but the other party put forward three points very strongly. First, open a warehouse to release grain, and second, exempt the land rent for three years.
First, three years of tax exemption.
The Confucius government decisively refused. It was okay to open a warehouse to provide disaster relief. They could just deal with it in a casual way. As for the second point, it was a good idea. Once it started, it would be fine in the future. We couldn't let them get used to it.
As for the third point of tax exemption, that is a matter for the imperial court. How can it be decided by us?
The negotiations immediately reached a deadlock.
As a result, they could not come out, but outside the city, the people's anger became more and more indignant, showing signs of losing control.
But at this moment, dozens of iron cavalry, straddling swords and bows, arrived outside Qufu City with murderous intent, which immediately aroused suspicion. Could it be that officers and soldiers came to suppress it?
It's impossible, there are only a few people here.
"Who are you?" The people were not afraid of the large number of people and directly stopped Chang Yu and his party to question them.
"People from Prince Lu's Mansion in Yanzhou want to go into the city to help you coordinate with the Kong Mansion. Please get out of the way," Kuang Ren said sternly on his horse, holding the handle of the knife in his hand.
From Prince Lu’s Mansion? The crowd started talking about it
Could it be that King Lu was in that carriage?
King Lu is the king of Yanzhou Prefecture. Although he had a bad reputation earlier, he is still a vassal king of the imperial court. The people are more or less afraid of him, but there are still some people who are not afraid of trouble: "Help us coordinate? Humph, snake I'm afraid the rat nest is going to discuss how to deal with us."
Kuang Ren sneered: "Some of you have to say something responsibly. If you keep messing around like this, you won't be able to solve the problem. It will only make things worse. The prince can't bear to wait for you to suffer before he comes to mediate. Don't know what is good and what is good. Could it be that you are really serious?" If you want to rebel, you can't do it."
Pooh! The man shouted: "What you say is so nice, you can't bear the suffering of us? Then show some sincerity, don't say useless things, and don't scare us. If you really force us to have no way to survive, that's it." So what if we rebel, we can’t just starve to death in vain.”
"Zhou Cao, who is so arrogant?" Chang Yu cursed in his heart, but the voice sounded a bit familiar, so he opened the car curtain and took a look, "Zhou Cao", the bearded man, looked familiar.
Hold the grass, isn’t this Li Muxian!
That's right, it was Li Muxian, the arrogant man who was leading the noise. He was now transformed into the Immortal Master's eldest disciple and the big boss among the troublemakers.
Damn, this guy was really born in a good time. Chang Yu couldn't help but smile and said to Zhu Yihai: "At this time, the prince has come forward to say a few words." However, facing such a big scene, Zhu Yihai was a little scared.
Outside the car, Kuang Ren had already seen clearly that the man was Li Muxian, and he still sang a double act with him: "Rebellion? Hahaha, there are people who rebel every few years in our Shandong territory. What's the result? Li Zicheng dozens Everyone can be killed and run away in embarrassment, but you guys can hold on for a few days."
The crowd started to make a noise and shouted and cursed one after another.
Kuang Ren had seen the big scene, and was not afraid at all and continued: "Again, the prince is really here to seek benefit for you. Don't be ignorant of good people's hearts. If you are sincere, you can go and inquire about it. The day before yesterday, the Royal Palace of Lu and the rich gentry of Yanzhou donated food for disaster relief, and at the same time exempted and exempted daily rent. How dare you say that the prince is insincere?"
The crowd's anger subsided and began to discuss again.
"If you still can't believe this, then the prince will turn around immediately and go back. You can clean up the rest of the mess yourself and see if the Kong Mansion surrenders, or if you really want to rebel and attack the city. By the way, I have a message for you. There is something in Jining right now. There are tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, and they can reach Qufu in one day by riding fast."
The people were in an uproar and kept whispering.
"Your Majesty, it's your turn." Chang Yu chuckled. Zhu Yihai coughed twice, straightened his appearance and got out of the car.
"I can guarantee that the Kong Mansion will give you an explanation, but the premise is that no disturbance will be caused before I come out. The tens of thousands of troops in Jining are by no means alarmist. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to inquire."
Zhu Yihai stood on the shaft of the car and looked at the crowds of people around him and said seriously, but suddenly he felt a little excited in his heart. It felt so good to be in the spotlight. If the matter is really settled this time, there is no doubt that Zhu Yihai's image and prestige will be affected. Run up and down.
Wow, is that person King Lu? He is so young.
I wonder if what he said is true...
We have people from Yanzhou here, just ask someone to find out.
He shouldn't tell lies, otherwise he will break the trust of the people. Who will recognize him as the prince in the future...
The crowd started talking, staring at Zhu Yihai, and sometimes looking at Li Muchian. After all, he was now the backbone and the talker.
"Since the prince said so, we will believe you once, but we have to give you a time limit. If you don't come out in a month, we can't just wait here. Also, no matter whether the tens of thousands of troops in Jining are real or fake , but it really forces us to have no way of survival, and we can only die."
"Yes, the fish is dead and the net is broken..." Everyone agreed, feeling that this man was worthy of being the eldest disciple of the Immortal Master. He was so courageous and responsible.
Um... When Zhu Yihai was really hesitant about how to respond, he heard the little eunuch Che whispering: "Tomorrow at noon."
"Tomorrow at noon, I will give you the accurate letter!" Zhu Yihai said loudly, but he was worried: Can it really be done in one night?
