Since we want to be a peasant army and distinguish ourselves from those traditional old armies, we naturally have to do something completely different from the past.
So Su Yonglin told his subordinates what they needed to do when helping the old farmers.
Your mouth should be sweet, your face should be smiling, your tone of voice should be polite, and you should not speak in a rude manner with a bad face. You should do your best to make the old farmers feel like a spring breeze.
Help with whatever you can, whether it's plowing the fields, cleaning, carrying goods, or building houses. In short, after training, you can help wherever you can.
"Remember, we are them, they are us, there is no distinction between superior and inferior!"
Su Yonglin made the final summary.
"Here!"
A group of people scattered out to implement Su Yonglin's will and took their soldiers to help the farmers work.
The farmers seemed a little panicked and didn't know why.
They are naturally afraid of troops armed with swords and guns.
Although this is not an official army, but a rebel army.
But in their view, no matter whether they are official soldiers or rebels, anyone with a sword or a gun is not a good person.
The Song Dynasty's culture of advocating culture and suppressing military force severely separated the people and the army, making the already unpopular feudal army's image even more negative. In the eyes of the people, anyone with a sword or gun was no different from a bandit.
If there is a difference, it would probably be that one wears a uniform and the other does not.
What they did was similar, and even those in uniforms were more brutal, because they had the Zhao family behind them and had a righteous name.
But this army is different.
The gold miners don't bully them, give them land, and even come to help them...
Is this really a soldier?
Not some saintly organization?
The farmers were initially apprehensive.
They kept pushing but said no, but the soldiers still asked for it. Some of them took the work away and did it themselves to show their sincerity.
Gradually, the farmers discovered that these rebel soldiers with swords and guns were really working.
He did a pretty good job, quite skillfully, just like he was a farmer before.
And when he was done, he honestly put the things back in their place, said hello, turned around and left, without asking for anything, such as money or food.
When a wealthy family hires workers to do work, they are required to pay some token wages or take care of their meals.
Do they really want nothing to help us?
The farmers were full of surprise.
Are there really soldiers willing to help us with our work?
The inertial thinking brought about by years of customs cannot be reversed in a short while, but Su Yonglin is willing to believe that as long as they work hard and use their actual actions to reflect their sincerity, this misunderstanding can definitely be reversed.
Of course, this army must remain consistent and not deteriorate.
So Su Yonglin himself stepped forward and helped the farmers carry water from the wells to the water tanks of each house. He set an example for all the soldiers by setting an example for him.
The atmosphere of the entire village gradually changed, and the farmers gradually no longer felt surprised and uncomfortable with the soldiers taking the initiative to help with the work.
This is a good beginning.
Later, Zhao Yucheng led his army to join forces with Su Yonglin. He was very surprised to see Su Yonglin leading the army to help farmers in the village.
"Since we want to get the support of farmers, we must really help farmers. Yucheng, if we don't have more helpers, we must get help from the people. If they help us, we will have the confidence to rebel against the Jin people."
Su Yonglin carried two large buckets and walked steadily on the country road. He walked all the way to the yard of an earthen house and poured the water in the buckets into the water tank.
"Old lady, the water tank is full. I put the bucket here. I'm leaving."
A stooped old woman walked out of the low and dilapidated house, with an indescribable smile on her face full of vicissitudes of life.
"Su Lang, are you tired?"
"I'm not tired. I'm young and strong. It's time to work. Why are you tired? The old lady needs to rest more and do less strenuous work in the future. I will arrange for someone to help you."
Su Yonglin smiled and held the old woman's hand, comforted her for a while, and then left with Zhao Yucheng.
"The old lady's husband and three sons all died in the gold thieves' conscription, and she was all alone. The people in the village took pity on her, and every household squeezed out a little ration to help her. It is not easy for her to survive until now. We are the same. We can help. No matter how much you help, you can’t ask her to yell at you every day, but she shouldn’t yell at you every day, that’s not kind.”
Zhao Yucheng followed Su Yonglin, listening to his words with confusion and sadness on his face.
"A woman is so old, her husband's family is gone, her son is gone, and she is alone. How difficult is it to live? It would be better to die happily."
Su Yonglin paused, stopped, and looked back at Zhao Yucheng with an unkind expression.
Zhao Yucheng blinked and faced Su Yonglin's unkind eyes, feeling inexplicably afraid.
"Ziying, what did you just say?"
"I……"
"You say she shouldn't be alive?"
"ah?"
"Can't she live? What's wrong with her living?"
Su Yonglin's voice and expression were both fierce, which startled Zhao Yucheng.
"No, Uncle Yuting, I didn't say that it was wrong for her to live. I meant...right! I meant that she is so old and living is too hard. If she works hard, won't others also work hard?"
"Is this the crux of the matter?"
Su Yonglin looked at Zhao Yucheng with wide eyes: "Because she has worked hard to live, she shouldn't live? When she is old and has worked hard to live, she deserves to die? If one day you are old and others say that you are too tired to live, is it right? If you say you deserve to die, what would you think?"
Zhao Yucheng's eyes widened with a look of shock.
"No, Uncle Yuting, this..."
"Whether a person has a conscience or not depends on how he treats the weak! Isn't a person who is arrogant to the weak and servile to the strong a shameless person? If a person is like this, the country should be like this too. Is it necessary for a country like this to exist where people are arrogant towards the weak and servile towards the strong?”
Su Yonglin pointed to the north: "Isn't the Jin Kingdom, which you and I rose up to resist, just such a shameless country? If one day we destroy the Jin Kingdom and establish a new country that is as despicable and shameless as the Jin Kingdom, then what is the reason for our rebellion? What?!"
Su Yonglin shouted angrily, then threw his hands away angrily.
Zhao Yucheng was stunned and stood there for a long time without reacting.
Su Yonglin's words kept echoing in his mind, making him confused.
He vaguely felt that what Su Yonglin said was right, but he also felt that something was wrong.
what is it?
He looked at Su Yonglin's leaving figure. His mind was as messy as if someone had messed him up. There were so many thoughts in his mind, and he seemed to have thousands of words he wanted to say, but he couldn't say a single word.
