Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Gao Shun nodded, understanding in his heart, and immediately gave the order.

“Army, listen up! Continue the advance!”

With Gao Shun's command, the 120,000-strong army waved their whips and continued their march towards Xuzhou Prefecture.

As they crossed the border between the two provinces, the commander of the Luzhou garrison had already ordered his subordinates: “Quick! Quickly move the chevaux de frise!”

The garrison soldiers stationed on both sides of the road immediately moved the chevaux de frise off the road as quickly as possible.

Then, they stood on both sides of the road, watching with awe as the 120,000-strong army galloped past them, heading towards Xuzhou Prefecture.

At the same time, those commoners in Xuzhou Prefecture who had participated in the civil unrest were being coaxed and gathered together by the Four Great Families.

These commoners were basically all long-term workers or tenant farmers of the Four Great Families of Xuzhou Prefecture.

Their personal property was highly dependent on the Four Great Families.

To put it bluntly, whether these commoners in Xuzhou Prefecture could eat their fill, stay warm, or have a house to live in this year all depended on the faces of these Four Great Families.

Just like the commoners of Puxian County before, the locals' awe and obedience to these Four Great Families far surpassed that of the distant and unseen Emperor of the Great Ming.

Therefore, the Four Great Families were able to effortlessly organize such a large-scale, reckless, and extremely foolish militia.

The militia of Xuzhou Prefecture also numbered thirty to forty thousand, all of whom were arranged by the Four Great Families outside the county seat of Xuzhou Prefecture.

Although they were just a rabble, the gathering of tens of thousands of people was still very intimidating.

The heads of the Four Great Families, along with Tang Fang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, hurriedly arrived at the militia's gathering camp under the guidance of the Sun family's old steward.

“Master Wang, next year's rent… will the rent really be reduced by half?”

“Master Li, I will definitely pay back the fifty catties of rice I owed before. Can you return my granddaughter to me? She is only fifteen years old and doesn't know how to take care of people. I'm afraid she will anger you, Master!”

“…”

As the group walked along, the militiamen gathered around cast flattering or pleading expressions at them.

These commoners were ragged and tattered, some even barely covered.

In their hands, some held hoes, some held sickles, and some simply held simple wooden sticks as weapons.

Some also held dark yellow, coarse-flour buns, eating with beaming smiles.

Their attire formed a sharp contrast with the richly dressed heads of the Four Great Families.

But even so, these commoners were still grateful to the Four Great Families.

The reason was none other than that the Four Great Families had previously promised them that as long as they participated in the civil unrest, they would receive generous rewards.

And during the riots, there would be enough food to eat, and they would definitely be able to eat their fill every day.

Even the toughest coarse-flour buns could make them happy, because even the commoners in Jiangnan could not eat their fill every day.

The commoners were busy fawning over the Four Great Families, but the group turned a deaf ear and quickly arrived at a simple tent.

Inside the tent, twenty or thirty strong men were sitting, their brows furrowed as they talked about something.

They sighed non-stop, their faces sad, and their expressions full of despair.

As soon as they saw the heads of the Four Great Families arrive in person, they quickly stood up and greeted them respectfully.

“Four Clan Leaders, you have arrived.”

These men showed great respect to the heads of the Four Great Families, with a hint of familiarity in their respect.

This showed that their relationship with the Four Great Families was extraordinary.

Among these people, some were small landlords in Xuzhou Prefecture, and some were rich peasants in Xuzhou Prefecture, belonging to the middle class of Xuzhou Prefecture.

They contributed the most to this civil unrest, and they personally facilitated the incident of attacking the Puxian County government office.

They were also the first to receive the news that 100,000 Black Riders were heading south to Jiangnan.

“Has His Majesty really sent troops to attack Jiangnan?”

“How many people did they send in total?”

“When will the army arrive?”

“What should we do?”

As soon as they met, the heads of the Four Great Families asked several questions that they were most concerned about.

The leading small landlord, named Zhao Ju, was also the leader among these people.

He replied with a wry smile: “It's true. From the capital to Jiangnan, people have seen a large number of cavalry heading south along the way.”

“That number, that scale… at least 100,000 cavalry or more…”

“And… and the army is now approaching the border of Jiangnan. If nothing unexpected happens, the imperial army will arrive in Xuzhou Prefecture in about an hour.”

After Zhao Ju finished speaking with a pale face, all the strength in his body seemed to have been drained, and he was panting heavily due to nervousness and fear.

“How could this be? How could this be?”

The heads of the Four Great Families felt completely overwhelmed with despair, and the only trace of luck in their hearts had also vanished.

Their original self-entertaining fantasies disappeared, and the blow of reality made them unable to bear it, becoming disoriented and blindly believing in the person who had previously painted a beautiful blueprint for them.

“Minister Tang, Minister Tang, didn't you say that His Majesty would never send troops south?!”

“Now that His Majesty has really sent troops, what should we do?!”

“Minister Tang, say something! Minister Tang!”

The heads of the four great families looked behind them, only to see that Tang Fang, who had been strategizing and full of vigor just now, was now pale, sweating profusely, and unable to say a word.

Tang Fang's eyes were dull, he didn't say a word, and after staring at the heads of the four great families for a while, he suddenly used all his strength to run out quickly!

“Minister Tang! Why are you running?!”

“Minister Tang, don't run!”

“Tang Fang, stop right there!”

“……”

The heads of the four great families were shocked and subconsciously ran after him!

Gathering the people to make trouble was all instigated by Tang Fang alone, they couldn't let Tang Fang, the instigator, run away!

Unfortunately, Tang Fang was faster. He randomly found a horse in front of the barracks and urged the horse to head towards Nanjing.

“Giddy up! Giddy up! Faster, faster!”

Tang Fang kept waving his whip, his mind was blank, and he only had one thought in his mind.

That was to get to Nanjing as soon as possible and stay away from the dangerous place of Xuzhou Prefecture.

And immediately report the matter of His Majesty sending troops to attack Jiangnan to Zhang Peng, the Minister of War in Nanjing!

“Stop him, stop him for me!”

The Zhou family head roared desperately, but unfortunately, all of this happened too quickly.

The people outside the camp hadn't reacted yet, and didn't know why the attitude of the four great family heads towards Tang Fang had changed so much in such a short period of time.

But they had to obey the orders of the four great family heads, so they had to rush to chase and block him, and the encirclement was full of loopholes.

In this way, Tang Fang actually found an opportunity in the crowd's hasty and chaotic pursuit, shook off the people chasing behind him, and ran away.

“Patriarch Zhou, what should we do now?”

Seeing Tang Fang running out of sight, the Li family head asked worriedly, with a look of grief and despair.

Their four great families have been operating in Xuzhou Prefecture for generations, and their roots are here, even if they want to run, they can't run away.

“What to do, what to do?”

The Zhou family head muttered to himself, his expression on the verge of collapse.

In the face of absolute military crushing, all strategies are futile.

Now, the only thing the heads of the four great families can count on is that Zhu You樘 can care about his reputation.

They bet that these southern troops would not dare to commit such heinous incidents as massacring civilians!

“Return to the city, return to the city immediately!”

“Let these troublemakers block the city gate of Xuzhou!”

“I don't believe that these armies dare to violate the great taboo of the world and openly massacre the people!”

“As long as we persist for a while, and when things get serious, Nanjing will definitely have a way to save us.”

“Definitely… definitely…”

The Zhou family head muttered to himself, saying things that he didn't even believe, comforting himself.

But they have reached the end of their rope, they can only hold on for a while, and the heads of the other three families have no choice but to believe.

“Okay, then I will go and mobilize those troublemakers!”

After the Li family head finished speaking, he immediately came to the center of the camp, and asked Zhao Ju and the group of small landlords and rich peasants to gather the lowest-level farmhands and tenant farmers together.

Facing the swarming crowd of tens of thousands of people, the Li family head's heart finally stabilized a little.

“Folks, we have heard your voices just now!”

“We guarantee that our previous promises will definitely count!”

“Starting from next year… No! Starting from now, the land rent for all of you will be halved… by 10%!”

“In addition, our four great families will also take out 50,000 mu of land for everyone to rent!”

“We guarantee that every elder in Xuzhou will be able to plant the fields of our four great families!”

The Li family head shouted loudly, and the people of Xuzhou Prefecture were so excited that they cheered and wept with joy.

To be exploited by the four great families for their labor was a great joy they could only dream of!

“We have heard everyone's needs. Chen Erniu, your granddaughter can be taken back from my mansion today!”

“Zhou Damao, you can rent three more mu of Sun's land next year…”

Before the Li family head could finish speaking, there was a burst of screams all around.

Every Xuzhou people's face was filled with ecstatic smiles.

At this moment, the Li family head suddenly changed the subject: “But before that, there is one more thing that needs everyone's help!”

Immediately, there was a chorus of agreement all around.

“Patriarch Li, don't worry, we will do our best to help no matter what it is!”

“That's right, we will never be able to repay Patriarch Li's great kindness in this life, just tell us what you want, even if it costs us our lives, we must help the four patriarchs achieve it!”

“Patriarch Li, please give your orders as soon as possible. The affairs of the four great families are the affairs of our Xuzhou people, and we will definitely not shirk our responsibilities!”

“……”

Listening to the shouts of the people around him, and looking at so many people supporting them.

The Li family head and the other three family heads looked at each other, nodded secretly, and their originally flustered mood gradually calmed down.

Even, a trace of a smile appeared on the corners of their mouths.