Chapter 226 The wind and rain are as dark as the rooster crows

“Resisting land reclamation, the people rioted!?”

Yin Shidan sent his officials away, then he asked An Jiuyu for confirmation with a look of surprise.

An Jiuyu, the Imperial Censor of Shandong Province, came in a hurry, and was extremely worried at the moment: “We arrived at the Yanzhou government office and were about to inquire about the case of the prefect Zhou Youguang, but this morning we heard the bad news!”

Yin Shidan listened and still couldn’t believe it.

Jining is right next to Yanzhou. In order to avoid suspicion, he did not specifically inquire about Du Tian’s movements, but even if he inadvertently saw some information from the official documents that passed through his own office, he could still get a glimpse of it.

Everything was calm a few days ago, but I didn’t expect such a big chaos to arise in just a few days!
To put it bluntly, wasn’t it just to help him suppress the situation that Shen Li replaced all the prefecture and county officials with people from the central government?
How could it develop to this point despite being so cautious?!

But after all, he was a senior official from the cabinet, so Yin Shidan did not lose his composure.

He personally handed over a cup of herbal tea and calmly comforted the inspector: “Tell me slowly.”

An Jiuyu didn’t have time to be polite, he took the cold tea and poured it into his mouth: “I’ll make it short.”

“Shen Li moved into the Qufu County government office a few days ago, but he did not immediately do the land survey. Instead, he visited Duke Yansheng first.”

Yin Shidan nodded silently in his heart.

Even though He Xinyin’s words were full of nonsense and he misled the people, it was still a personal act.

An important official like Shen Li, who represented the central government, had to at least be polite to the Kong family on the surface – after all, he was a first-rank Duke Yansheng in person, and taking the initiative to visit them was a mature and prudent move.

An Jiuyu swallowed the cold tea and took a breath. “After Shen Li left the Confucius Mansion, he started the land survey and verification in Qufu.”

He didn’t say how the talks went.

After all, outsiders have no idea how the talks between the two sides went.

“Immediately, rumors began to spread inside and outside Qufu County. One rumor was that Shen Li came here to collect all the unpaid land taxes since he had hidden the field.”

“Although the tax on the hidden households will not be collected for the time being, it is like a sword hanging over your head. When the court is short of money, it will definitely dig up the old accounts and make people pay the principal and interest.”

“Some even say that this land measurement is nothing more than a tax increase. The wool comes from the sheep, and in the end it will be borne by the county residents.”

“For a while, people were in a state of panic and rumors were spreading everywhere.”

“That’s all the matter ended here. Shen Li immediately posted a notice to curb the rumors.”

An Jiuyu gritted his teeth.

“But then the local wealthy families in Qufu contacted local thugs Tang Hua, Xu Cheng and twelve other families to coerce the people, saying that due to the land survey and household clearance, the land taxes of the clan property, charity estates, temple property, and school land belonging to the local people increased sharply, and they even proposed to increase the land tax and city gate tax by 60% of the silver.”

“So, yesterday evening, the entire Qufu County went on strike! They crowded in front of the county government office, demanding an explanation!”

Yin Shidan looked solemn.

Going on strike is not as simple as not working.

Blocking major traffic arteries, violently smashing public facilities, obstructing all production activities of others… Only these actions qualify as being called a strike.

This has angered the public!

The fields in the Central Plains and other places are completely different from the 200,000 acres of land that Xu Jie obtained through donations in just over ten years. After two hundred years of intercourse, the former no longer belongs to a single person.

Most of them are in the form of family property, temple property, official land, school land, etc., and belong to a certain clan or organization.

When the imperial court collected taxes, it could only collect taxes from these agents, which was called “bao na”.

For example, the wealthy families and thugs mentioned by An Jiuyu are the actual taxpayers who bear the taxation task.

The former, as respectable country gentlemen, often did not even actually own the land – it was nominally collectively owned – and were only responsible for collecting the farmers’ crops, transporting them to the county to pay taxes and sell them.

The latter, as idlers with gang backgrounds, served as clerks and servants – without pay and without food – and were responsible for collecting taxes, city management taxes, and even various head taxes for the banknote customs and tax bureaus.

Because of the land measurement, the interests of these taxpayers are often directly harmed.

It’s so easy to encourage people to go on strike!
It’s no wonder that An Jiuyu gnashed his teeth. This kind of thing would be nothing more than the dust of eight words “When the land survey was just started, the people stopped doing business” in the history books. But for the officials of Shandong Province, it was a mountain that could crush their official careers.

Yin Shidan stroked the scar on his face. This was his standard action when he was thinking deeply: “Shen Li didn’t come forward to appease the people?”

This is completely different from the salt merchants in Nanzhili who blocked the doors and shouted. The majority of people who have gone to the point of striking and marching are genuine common people who have been misled. If they can be appeased a little, they may be able to be driven away.

Hearing this question, An Jiuyu trembled all over and was furious: “With Shen Guide’s personality, how could he not come out to appease him?”

“However, as soon as Shen Lifu showed up yesterday evening, some people immediately started to cry loudly, and the grief spread. Then someone secretly took the lead and attacked the government office first!”

“Some idle people even took the opportunity to throw stones into the county government office and set it on fire.”

“Although Shen Li retreated again and again and ordered the imperial guards to restrain themselves and not draw their swords, the county yamen guarded the periphery and had the most intense conflict with the people. Many officers unfortunately lost their lives. Seeing this, his colleagues could not hold back and accidentally killed several people!”

Yin Shidan certainly didn’t understand.

Things have developed to this point. If he said that there was no one secretly plotting, it would be an insult to his decades of ups and downs in the officialdom.

During the Longqing period, Hai Rui was surveying farmland in Nanzhili and also encountered civil unrest, forcing him to retire.

During the Jiajing period, Gui E fell from power and all land surveys were stopped. There were many reasons for this, including this kind of thing.

Even further back, during the Zhengde reign, there were attempts to open up the sea, and in the southeastern region, people were also seething with resentment, looting, and burning.

This is not something that anyone can prevent in advance.

Even the direction of the situation depends on the determination of all parties and the balance of power.

“Then what?” Yin Shidan asked.

This is obviously just the beginning.

An Jiuyu looked grim: “Then?”

“After the people were killed and dispersed by the county officials, they gathered outside the temple again and elected a farmer named Ge Cheng as their leader. They held a ceremony to swear an oath to the gods and swore an oath of allegiance.”

“At night, they swarmed out, avoiding the county government office where the Jinyiwei were stationed, and arrested tax officials, land survey officials, and accountants inside and outside the city. After they succeeded, they swaggered out of the city under the noses of the soldiers guarding the city.”

“Then Ge found a Taoist temple, publicly tried the officials, and encouraged the angry people to take turns throwing stones at the officials.”

“Thousands of people threw stones and crushed several officials to death!”

“After the official died, Ge Ze shouted from a high place – today’s matter is to eliminate harm for the court. If you take advantage of it, who in the world can persuade you. Those who obey my orders will follow me, otherwise leave!”

Today’s event is to eliminate the evil for the court. If someone wants to take advantage of the opportunity to seek personal gain, who in the world will be convinced of our actions? Those who are willing to obey my orders can stay, and those who are unwilling can leave now.

When Yin Shidan heard this, he was shocked!
Oath of blood alliance, formulation of rules, restraint of tribes, selection of core members, this is not the behavior of a self-employed farmer at all!

An Jiuyu’s expression became more and more ugly: “After he set some rules, the crowd responded and gathered thousands of people.”

“After that, the Ge bandits divided them into six teams, each led by one person holding a banana fan as a signal, and the others followed behind holding sticks.”

“Early this morning, the county government office was broken into!”

Yin Shidan’s face turned pale with horror, and he stood up suddenly: “Break up the county government office!? Where’s Shen Li?”

At that time, a Jieshi Zhong died in Huguang, and the situation eventually escalated to the point where three kings were killed and all the governors and provincial governors were dismissed.

If Shen Li had an accident in Shandong now, I couldn’t even imagine what the consequences would be!

An Jiuyu had been paying attention to Yin Shidan’s expression. Seeing that he was finally moved after several attempts, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was worth it for him to keep him in suspense.

He pondered for a moment and slowly explained: “Shen Li is fine. He made a prompt decision and directly summoned the imperial guards into the city.”

“I’m afraid that they will have to suppress the civil unrest by force.”

When Yin Shidan heard that Shen Li was fine, he calmed down his shocked expression and nodded repeatedly: “It’s time to suppress it, it’s time to suppress it.”

It seemed that because of the failure of his Qi-nourishing skill, Yin Shidan was at least concerned about the purpose of the inspector’s visit: “Such a big event happened in Qufu, why didn’t Inspector An rush to the scene immediately, but went to Jining?”

An Jiuyu shook his head, his expression solemn: “Not only Qufu County, judging from the official documents sent to the government office this morning, the neighboring Zou County, Ningyang County, Sishui County, and even the more distant Teng County, Cao County, and Dingtao County have all responded to a certain extent.”

“Some people went on strike, some marched, and some gathered to show their support. The counties in Yanzhou were in chaos!”

“Qufu has its own Shen Li to clean up the mess, but the other counties must also be on guard.”

“I have sent someone to inform the provincial government in Jinan, but the situation is urgent and I am afraid there is no time to wait for Governor Yu to come.”

“However, the newly appointed Yanzhou prefect Li Deyou and I do not have the authority to dispatch the Yanzhou guards and Teng County’s garrison to suppress the situation…”

After hearing this, Yin Shidan at least had a basic understanding of the current situation and An Jiuyu’s intention.

He paced slowly in the hall and finished what An Jiuyu said: “So, you want me to personally dispatch the salt soldiers from the Salt Administration Office to help you get out of trouble and calm the situation?”

Neither the Inspector General nor the Prefect of Yanzhou had the authority to dispatch garrisons – even if Emperor Shen Li had the order, he could not be granted this authority.

The Sansi Yamen is far away in Jinan, and the situation will become more critical if we wait one more day.

At present, in the territory of Yanzhou, An Jiuyu can only come to Yin Shidan for help.

An Jiuyu paused for a moment, then clasped his fists sincerely and said, “Governor Yin, what are you talking about? Yanzhou is about to have a civil uprising, and you and I, the provincial and ministerial officials, will be the first to bear the brunt of it. How can you help me take advantage of the situation?!”

Of course he knew that even if there was a civil uprising, it would have nothing to do with the Salt Administration.

But when he mentioned the provincial and ministerial officials, he was referring not only to the two people in the hall, but also to the Governor Yu Youding who was far away in Jinan. As Governor Yu who had completely inherited Yin Shidan’s political resources, he was undoubtedly the second person responsible in this matter. If anyone was trying to fish in troubled waters, it was to do so for political reasons.

Yin Shidan glanced at An Jiuyu and remained unmoved: “When you are in your position, you should plan your policies.”

The refusal that came out of his mouth showed Yin Shidan’s firm attitude.

An Jiuyu didn’t expect that Governor Yin would be so determined, and he urged him again: “Governor Yin! Mr. Tangchuan! You are different from an official like me!”

“Shandong is Mr. Tangchuan’s hometown, and the people of Shandong are also Mr. Tangchuan’s brothers and sisters. Could Mr. Tangchuan bear to watch the villains sweeping in, deceiving and deceiving the people, and then being brutally killed!?”

An Jiuyu called out the respectful title, clearly playing the hometown sentiment card, and his sincere and moving tone permeated the court.

However, what followed was Yin Shidan’s silence.

Yin Shidan had already turned around, and the expression on his face could not be seen clearly.

After a long time.

Yin Shidan’s calm voice sounded again: “Precisely because I am from Shandong, I cannot intervene in this matter.”

If the emperor really trusted him, then when Wang Xilie, with whom he had many conflicts, died in Shandong, the emperor would not have sent a letter to comfort him.

If he really showed up and easily suppressed the uprising, what would the emperor think?
Or if the situation worsens after he shows up, what role will the emperor wonder about?
It can be said that it is not pleasing in any way.

Not to mention the villagers.

Any forceful suppression would immediately be criticized in the county and prefectural annals for hundreds of years.

If he were to try to smooth things over, there would surely be endless numbers of people who, under the guise of being his students and servants, would hint to the outside world that he was intentionally being permissive.

With the emperor above him and his hometown below him, he was sandwiched in the middle, like a rootless duckweed. If he was not careful, he would be blown away by the rain and wind.

If he hadn’t been so cautious and deliberately drew a line in the sand, how could he have been unaware of what happened in Qufu?
As soon as Yin Shidan said this.

An Jiuyu realized that it was impossible for him to persuade Mr. Tangchuan.

He sighed, bowed and said goodbye: “Governor Yin has been a perfect man since he entered the government, so he will not make any mistakes. It is me who has had wild ideas and wasted the Governor’s time.”

This remark was full of sarcasm, mocking Yin Shidan for being smooth and sophisticated and not caring about the suffering of the people.

Obviously, as a touring censor, he was quite dissatisfied with Yin Shidan’s actions.

After saying that, An Jiuyu was about to push the door and leave.

“and many more.”

An Jiuyu paused and looked back at Yin Shidan.

Yin Shidan still looked calm: “The Salt Administration Office will redeem the second batch of salt tickets this year, starting from Yanzhou, the capital of Jining.”

“The salt soldiers are transporting salt permits across the border, and the inspectors can drive them a little.”

An Jiuyu was stunned for a moment, then he was overjoyed. Yin Shidan refused to show up, but asked to borrow his soldiers, obviously wanting to throw the responsibility on himself.

But being willing to work is naturally better than just watching from the sidelines.

An Jiuyu hurriedly thanked him: “Mr. Tangchuan is so righteous!”

Yin Shidan did not respond.

He waved his hand, and an official came out from the side, holding an official document in his hand. He walked forward in small steps and presented it to An Jiuyu.

Seeing that all the official documents were ready, An Jiuyu looked at Yin Shidan deeply.

What an old fox!
When things got to this point, he didn’t say much. He grabbed the document, turned around and left.

Yin Shidan looked at An Jiuyu’s leaving back, and worry gradually appeared on his brows.

“Write two letters for me. One to Yu Youding, saying that I am worried about the situation and have lent salt soldiers to An Jiuyu. The other letter to Yin Gao, saying that the inspector came to your house and recruited salt soldiers.”

“Master, the eldest son sent me a letter this morning…”

“From now on, don’t tell me what he is doing or who he is associating with. Whatever happens to him has nothing to do with me.”

“Yes Yes.”

“You go to Laizhou and tell the second son not to ask about the land measurement and household clearance. This time, whether it is the redemption of salt tickets, the move to establish trust, or the opening of Laizhou trade, it is a serious matter. Tell him to do his job in Laizhou well and don’t let your majesty down.”

The confidant retreated timidly.

Yin Shidan stood quietly in the court, looking out the window as if in a trance.

The continuous clouds turned into different shapes, sometimes like a surging stream of people, sometimes like a ferocious dragon. When a gust of wind blew, they mixed into a ball and floated away.

…The clouds of Jining Prefecture moved from west to east and stopped right above the city of Yanzhou.

The clouds blocked the sun, and a large shadow was cast on Prince Lu’s Palace.

The Prince of Lu’s imperial city was the only palace second only to the two capitals and was also called the Imperial Palace for a long time.

There are more than 800 palaces, halls, rooms, towers, terraces, pavilions and terraces. The outer imperial city has red walls and green tiles, carved beams and painted buildings. It is backed by Jiulong Mountain, bordered by Wohu Mountain in the east and Yuhuang Mountain in the west, and covers an area of ​​more than 1,000 acres.

Even the moat was replicated and called the Jinshui River.

Such a majestic Wang family was destined to control the six prefectures, fifteen states and eighty-nine counties of Shandong.

Prince Zhu Shoufan of Ziyang stood on the city wall of the royal city, looking at the palace soldiers and imperial guards patrolling outside the city gate, his face becoming increasingly ugly.

He waved away his attendants and looked at the woman beside him: “This is the third time that Li Deyou has come to the palace to take someone away. If we find out that this matter is related to the Lu Palace, you and I will both be wiped out. Princess, at this time, are you still unwilling to tell me the truth?”

Princess Ziyang pursed her lips upon hearing this, her expression showing helplessness.

She met Prince Ziyang’s gaze and said, “Your Highness, I swear to God, I just heard about this today. My father would never dare to cause trouble in our name.”

This has been said many times, but King Ziyang simply doesn’t believe it.

In April of the fifth year of Wanli, she married into the Prince of Lu’s Mansion as the daughter of Kong and became the second wife of Prince Ziyang. After that, the two sides treated each other with respect and equality.

It was the first time she felt so helpless.

Prince Ziyang continued to ask, “Princess, you and I have been married for three years. You should know who to lean on.”

“Now, some of the stewards and servants of the palace have been dragged into this civil uprising. Even if Li Deyou, the prefect, is not qualified, Shen Li will not let us go afterward.”

“Let my father-in-law, the county magistrate, stop!”

“Princess, if you want to resist the court, you Kong family can go by yourselves. Please let me go, okay?”

At the end, Prince Ziyang’s tone was already a little sad.

Obviously, King Ziyang was greatly frightened by the fate of the Chu vassal.

Princess Ziyang bit her lip, looking extremely helpless: “Your Majesty, my father is a law-abiding person…”

The voice just fell.

“enough!”

Prince Ziyang finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

He pressed the princess’ shoulders and angrily said, “What do you mean by obeying the law?”

“Resisting land measurement and attacking government offices, is this something that only the common people can do?”

“If something like this happened in Qufu, who else could it be except your Kong family? Not only does the king think so, the court would think so too!”

“Let’s take a step back and say that the county government killed and injured the red people and intensified the situation. Could it be that he, the magistrate of Qufu, did not secretly instigate this?”

“All of this is fine, why bother dragging Prince Lu’s Mansion into this?!”

By the end of her speech, Princess Ziyang’s expression was no longer as firm.

Could it be that her father really used her name to drive the palace stewards and servants to drag the Prince Lu’s Palace into the vortex of civil unrest?

Seeing the princess’ confusion and doubt, Prince Ziyang knew that he really couldn’t get anything out of her.

He sighed in disappointment: “Take the princess down to have a good rest.”

Before the matter is over, these daughters of the Kong family must be placed under house arrest – whether for protection or out of caution.

When the steward brought the princess down from the tower, Prince Ziyang came up and said, “Father, in my opinion, it is not necessarily that mother is secretly trying to get people in the palace to help her family.”

“There are quite a few of these stewards and servants who secretly embezzled the royal family’s assets. As for their motives, I’m afraid they don’t need anyone to instruct them, just a little encouragement…”

Prince Ziyang waved his hand to interrupt the following words.

He looked at the eagle-eyed Tiqi riders under the city wall and sighed, “I’m afraid this is the case!”

Looking at his son’s confused expression, he couldn’t help but sigh again.

If even the Zhu family’s managers and servants spontaneously participated in the uprising because of the land measurement, then once the fire is started, I’m afraid it will not be limited to Shandong!

How can we stop it then?!

Will it burn down the entire Ming Dynasty?

No matter what, the royal family all have the surname Zhu. He would rather believe that this was a huge conspiracy brewed by the Kong family that would be destroyed as soon as it was put out, than to accept that the situation had developed to this point spontaneously.

Zhu Shoufan shook his head: “I will go to the government office and meet Li Deyou in person.”

After saying that, he pushed his son away and slowly walked down the city wall.

All alone, like a solitary cloud.

……

The wind blew from west to east, from Yanzhou Prefecture to Qufu County.

The white clouds were also burned red along the way because of the evening.

In the twenty-three alleys below, green bamboo torches were lit up like stars, and all kinds of shouts and yells could be heard, but no one knew who was coming from.

Tongues of fire licked across various government offices, and the burning paint burst into blue-green flames, contrasting with the evening clouds.

The tightly closed door was slammed open.

A leader holding a banana fan rode past on his horse, followed by hundreds of red people holding sticks, swarming in.

The only sounds outside the house were crying, cursing, and the dull sound of flesh colliding.

In less than a moment, all the sounds ceased and a group of people hurried away.

Only flames shot up into the sky, burning the blood on the ground and the torn fish scale atlas covering the corpse.

The thugs had folders on their waists, on which were written the names and addresses of every official who needed to be punished.

The red peasants and tenants organizedly surrounded the residences of these officials, beating, killing, and setting fire to them.

If they were officials of a slightly higher rank, they would be caught and tied up on the street and beaten to death by the angry crowd.

Among them was a stranger who was familiar with writing and was responsible for writing the notices and posting them everywhere. The general idea was that this was a demonstration only to punish the inspector and his minions, and there was no intention of rebellion.

Ge Cheng’s six battalions moved around in Qufu City without being stopped by any government troops defending the city.

at the same time.

The imperial guards from the Field Patrol Office were gathering on the other side and distributing muskets.

Corpses, blood, riots, suppression… Throughout the entire Qufu County, there were flashes of swords and sabers everywhere, and confrontations and attacks were about to break out.

Despite this chaos, the Confucius Mansion, which had remained peaceful, had already lost its composure.

“It’s not me. My dear great-nephew, you know me. If I wanted to frame you, I could just throw out the evidence of your crime when I followed Shen Li to patrol the fields.”

Qufu County Magistrate Kong Hongsheng took off his official hat, let down his disheveled hair, and looked a little depressed.

Duke Yansheng Kong Shangxian stared at his great-grand uncle.

After a moment, he nodded dejectedly: “It’s not me either.”

“I am the first person to be implicated in this incident. I am not stupid enough to be the first to take action.”

The two looked at each other, with unspeakable bitterness in their eyes.

Yanshenggong Kong Shangxian spat in disgrace: “I surrendered to Shen Li that day and privately ordered people to back off.”

“I have even prepared the ‘Kongfu Queli Archives – Household Fields’ for Shen Li to check when he measures the land for the sacrifice, just to get rid of this guy as soon as possible.”

“Who knew it would come to this!”

Qufu County Magistrate Kong Hongsheng shook his head: “It’s useless. The Kong family has been framed now. If something like this happens in Qufu, it will be us!”

“Let’s think about how to deal with this.”

Kong Shangxian’s expression was uncertain.

What his great-grand uncle said was right. Not to mention outsiders, even he himself suspected that he had arranged everything while sleepwalking – apart from him, the Duke of Yansheng, and the two members of the Kong family who were the magistrate of Qufu in front of him, how could there be any outsider who could achieve this in Qufu?

The two of them stared at each other, feeling a sense of dejection and powerlessness rising in their hearts involuntarily.

“I’ll go back and explain to Shen Li and see if I can get rid of the Kong Mansion.”

“I’ll go contact Ge Cheng. If Shen Li insists on making things difficult for us, I’m afraid we’ll just have to go along with it.”

The two exchanged opinions again, then hurriedly separated and went about their own business.

Dark clouds obscured the bright moon.

A light rain began to fall.

……

The raindrops only fell for a short while and soon stopped.

In terms of the amount of water, it only wets the official road.

A horse-drawn carriage slowly drove out of Qufu Post Station.

Under the moonlight, a figure lifted the curtain and got into the carriage: “The fire is almost out, let’s go back to Wuxi first to avoid getting burned.”

The groom drove the car.

The two people talked calmly in the car.

“If you were in the Warring States Period, you would be a master of strategy, especially Brother Gao, who is a direct descendant of Guiguzi!”

The tone was full of admiration, almost flattering.

“It’s just taking advantage of the situation. I can’t say it’s that great.”

The voice that answered sounded very young, probably around eighteen or nineteen years old.

“Over the years, there have been at least 800 high-ranking officials who have confronted the Central Government head-on, and all of them ended up in a miserable state. On the contrary, Brother Gao has made such a big splash, yet he has kept his achievements and fame to himself, and he has shown his extraordinary wisdom by taking advantage of the situation!”

“That’s wrong. Xu Jie, King Wugang, Shi Maohua, Zhao Jin and others are much smarter than me, Gao. They just don’t have as many cards as I do now.”

The young man who called himself Gao explained seriously, whether he was being modest or speaking from the heart, “The Salt Administration case involved limited people at the time, and Xu Jie could not tie up many people on the boat. He had no choice but to resort to trickery and use the leverage of his colleagues to force the emperor to submit.”

“Shi Maohua controlled the Ministry of War, but the emperor gradually weakened him over the past eight years.”

“Zhao Jin raised the banner of morality against Zhang Juzheng, but the highest authority of etiquette and law is the emperor himself.”

“What now?”

“The land survey and household clearing have drawn everyone into this vortex; it involves the actual interests of everyone, and cannot be compared to empty things like etiquette and law; even in terms of time, the contradictions that have been annexed for 200 years have erupted in one day, and there is no chance for the emperor to survey a field every day.”

“The world is a powder keg that is about to explode at any time. This is not just my fault.”

The young man’s voice was rational and cold, and he seemed not to be an ordinary person.

No wonder some people admire him so much: “Even in this situation, Brother Gao is still the best in the world. The great sage of the Central Plains, Mr. Longjiang, and the great man Fushan who failed to live up to the expectations of the world are all in disgrace. In my opinion, even the emperor is far inferior to him!”

The carriage moved slowly southward.

Gao Erge’s voice sounded again: “That’s even more wrong.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The emperor still sees it very clearly.”

“emperor?”

“Look, this is the newspaper published by the Ministry of Public Administration at the beginning of last year. The special commentator is a scholar from the Hanlin Academy. He should be the emperor.”

“Let me see.”

“He said……”

“From the perspective of grassroots political elites, they will take advantage of the grassroots organizational mechanisms created by the state to gain a favorable position for themselves in counties and townships.”

“If this kind of self-interested behavior develops to the extreme, it will alienate the elite status that bears the power and responsibility of county and township governance into the realization of their own power desires, and in turn exclude state power and corresponding obligations.”

“Furthermore, when the state’s control and demands exceed their own desires, or when the superior’s orders are inconsistent with their own interests, they will take various measures to resist.”

“Since the power of grassroots political elites comes entirely from state authorization, they cannot openly confront it and can only use some non-violent and covert methods, the so-called weapons of the weak, to resist.”

“…”

“After the land is surveyed and the households are cleared today, the weapons of the weak will surely be seen more often.”

After the young man finished reading, there was a silence in the carriage.

After waiting for a long time, the voice sounded again.

“I don’t know if I’m really so sure about this.”

“Then you and I will have to wait and see.”

(End of this chapter)