A few days later, Wang Xiaobo, who had been held in the county jail for six days in Qingcheng County, was released. His brother-in-law, Li Shun, ransomed money to redeem Wang Xiaobo.
Wang Xiaobo looked at his brother-in-law and asked in confusion: "It costs a lot of money to redeem me. Where did you get the money?"
Wang Xiaobo had no hope that his family would be able to redeem him. His family was already impoverished, and all they had left was an old house left by his father, which was in dilapidated condition. He was prepared for a long spell in jail. Unexpectedly, he was redeemed by his wife's brother.
My brother-in-law, Li Shun, hesitated for a moment, then said: "My sister sold the old house and borrowed money here and there to get enough money..."
"What? Your sister also sold the old house?" Wang Xiaobo asked anxiously. The old house is the only valuable thing in the family. If the old house is sold, it will really have no place to stand in the future. His wife Li has been bedridden for a long time. If the house is also sold, I really don’t know what will happen in the future. live.
Seeing that his brother-in-law was so distressed and anxious, Li Shun hurriedly said: "There is nothing we can do. This is the only old house in the family where we can exchange some money. My sister said that as long as you are okay, it will be fine."
On the way home, Wang Xiaobo looked ahead with empty eyes, while his wife's brother Li Shun looked at him worriedly. Neither of them spoke.
After arriving at his home, Wang Xiaobo saw his wife Li standing not far from his old house, looking at the two of them. His wife's thin and frail body was already shaking in the wind, and her eyes were filled with tears. tears.
Wang Xiaobo quickly stepped forward and grabbed his wife's arm. He helped her weakly to sit on the bluestone by the roadside.
"It's all my fault that my wife suffered this because of my lack of ability." Wang Xiaobo sighed as he spoke. Looking at the old house not far behind him that had been sold to others, Wang Xiaobo felt extremely sad.
Mrs. Li wiped away her tears and said with a smile: "Husband, there is no need to blame yourself. As long as you can come out, it will be fine. My husband is in jail to support his family. It doesn't matter if the slave family suffers this little crime."
The three of them discussed for a while and decided to find a place to stay with their former tea merchant friends.
Wang Xiaobo's tea merchant friend was named Zhang Yu, and he was a tea merchant like Wang Xiaobo. Zhang Yu is very popular in Qingcheng County and has a wide network of contacts. He has many friends in the world.
Unlike Wang Xiaobo, although Zhang Yu also sold tea, his family still had some fields. After the imperial court set up a "Bo Buying Service" to monopolize the tea business in Shuchuan, Zhang Yu reluctantly gave up selling tea and switched to selling grain.
Seeing Wang Xiaobo and the others coming to seek refuge, the generous and loyal Zhang Yu warmly received the three of them and arranged accommodation and food for them. Wang Xiaobo and others were also very grateful.
During a meal, Wang Xiaobo asked Zhang Yu about the "Bo Buying Service". Zhang Yu sighed and said: "The imperial court set up the "Bo Buying Service" just to hold the management rights of salt, wine and tea in Shuchuan. To put it bluntly, The only thing is to hold the money of Shuchuan in your hands. There are so many places in the world, but the imperial court only set up a "buying service" in Shuchuan, and also collected all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in Shuchuan. Alas! What can we, ordinary people, do?"
"Could it be that the imperial court deceived me into having no one in Sichuan and could take advantage of it at will?" Wang Xiaobo slammed the table angrily.
Seeing this, Zhang Yu sighed and said: "Hey, the taxes in the world are the heaviest in Shu. During the chaos of the Five Dynasties, we in Shu were not affected, and we have always been rich and stable. After the imperial court pacified Later Shu, the wealth and silk in Shu were transferred to large ships. It was shipped to Bianjing, and it lasted ten years, and it has hollowed out the middle of Shu. Now there is a severe drought in western Sichuan, and the victims are everywhere. The court does not care about disaster relief, and is still levying and extorting money. It really doesn't give them a way to survive."
The more Wang Xiaobo listened, the angrier he became. He stood up angrily and said, "We might as well do the opposite. Since the court won't give us a way to survive, then we will find a way to survive ourselves."
Zhang Yu was shocked when he heard this, and said quickly: "Brother Wang, be careful, this is a matter of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan."
Wang Xiaobo calmed down for a while and said categorically: "I have been thinking about this matter for many days. I am now impoverished, my family has no money, I don't even have a place to stand, and I will die anyway, so let's make a big splash. Why are those Officials and landowners can be rich, well-clothed, well-dressed, and wealthy without having to work, but we people have worked hard all our lives, but in the end we don’t even have a place to stand? I want this world to have no distinction between rich and poor, no distinction between high and low, and everyone can have enough food and clothing. warm."
Zhang Yu stood in awe after listening to Wang Xiaobo's impassioned speech, stood up and said: "Brother Wang is penniless but worried about the world. I admire you. Brother, you are a person who can do great things. Since eldest brother has made a decision, then The younger brother is willing to cut himself off and swear to follow the elder brother to the death."
Wang Xiaobo was also moved and quickly stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Good brother, if we work together, we will definitely achieve something great."
After Zhang Yu calmed down, he said to Wang Xiaobo: "Brother is going to cause trouble, have you figured out how to act?"
Wang Xiaobo said: "I still have some prestige among the tea vendors in Qingcheng. Nowadays, everyone is suffering from the "Bo Buying Service". I want to start from this. I believe I can respond to a hundred responses and have a cloud of followers. Moreover, , Now there is a severe drought in western Sichuan, and victims are everywhere, so we can recruit more people to start a rebellion."
A few days later, at the Erlang Zhenjun Temple in Guankou, Wang Xiaobo summoned all the tea vendors and some tea farmers in Qingcheng County. After worshiping Erlang Zhenjun, Wang Xiaobo walked up to the temple and said loudly: "We have worked so hard to grow tea. , tea sellers, all were exploited by the imperial court in the end. Now the imperial court has set up a "buying business", so that we who grow tea have to sell it to them at a low price, and we are not allowed to buy and sell tea. They earn as officials in the imperial court. We have a lot of money, but we are broke and destitute. I hate this inequality of wealth the most. Today, I, Wang Xiaobo, lead you to rise up against this inequality. Now, I will equalize it for you. .”
Everyone in the audience was so excited that they shouted loudly: "Both the rich and the poor, both the rich and the poor..."
In this way, after the slogan "I am sick, the rich and the poor are unequal, but now it is yours", the surrounding poor and disaster victims responded one after another and came to seek refuge; tens of thousands of people gathered in less than ten days.
Looking at the tens of thousands of people in front of him, Wang Xiaobo said to Zhang Yu excitedly: "I didn't expect that so many people would come to join us in such a short period of time. It seems that the Song Dynasty court is really unpopular with the people."
Zhang Yu was excited when he looked at the tens of thousands of people in front of him, but then he frowned and said thoughtfully: "Brother, I need to think quickly about what to do next. Tens of thousands of people means tens of thousands of mouths. We have to find a way to get this food."
Wang Xiaobo smiled when he heard this and said: "Don't worry, dear brother, I have already thought of a countermeasure. Tomorrow we will go to the county seat and ask the county master for food."
Early on the next morning, tens of thousands of rebel troops marched toward Qingcheng County. The magistrate of Qingcheng County, who had already heard the news, had already packed up his belongings and ran away with his family. Seeing that the group of soldiers without a leader, the hundreds of soldiers guarding the city started to attack one after another. The city surrendered, and just like that, Qingcheng County fell.
