Chapter 81: A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire

"Unite all the exploited and oppressed people." The crowd present began to murmur this sentence silently; the words "exploitation" and "oppression" had been explained to them by Nie Huaishang during their night school classes.

What is exploitation? It refers to those who do not wish to labor using private ownership of the means of production to occupy others' labor or products without compensation.

Just as a tribal chief uses his ownership of the grasslands to occupy the lambs born from their family's ewes without compensation.

And oppression means using power to forcibly make others obey; just as past tribal chiefs used the power in their hands to force them to kneel and kowtow to him, even when the chief beat, scolded, and insulted them at will, they still had to say words of gratitude.

They did not want to do such things, yet he used his power to force them to do things they did not want to do; this is oppression.

And "the people" refers to the vast masses of laborers like them who created everything. These laboring masses dislike exploitation and oppression; what about people in other tribes? Do they perhaps like exploitation and oppression?

Thinking of this, everyone present's eyes lit up; the looks they directed at Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang were filled with admiration. Indeed, no wonder he is the Shaman my lord; he directly pointed out the crux of the problem.

"I believe everyone present has figured out the crux of the problem. This grassland, no, this world, the laboring masses constitute the vast majority. They work hard every single day yet cannot support themselves or their kin, while the exploiters do not labor a day yet still enjoy fine clothes and food, living in luxury and elegance. Do you think this is reasonable?" Guo Jing asked in a deep voice.

"Unreasonable." Everyone said in unison.

"Correct. Precisely because it is unreasonable, they have fabricated many ridiculous reasons to prove their reasonableness. For instance, how noble their bloodlines are, how pure they are. Speaking of which, shouldn't these be evaluations we reserve for dogs and horses? How have they been applied to humans?"

After Guo Jing finished speaking, the entire main camp erupted in laughter.

"Hahaha, that's right. No, wait, that group of fellows is not even as good as dogs and horses. Horses can help us travel, dogs can guard our homes and protect our courtyards, yet that group of fellows relies on us to feed them but still bullies us like this; how can they compare to dogs and horses?"

"Yes, that group of fellows is not even as good as dogs and horses."

"Exactly, Shaman my lord, you have insulted dogs and horses."

"Good, good, good, I am wrong. I should not have insulted dogs and horses like that." After Guo Jing finished joking, he became serious.

"Everyone, you must clearly understand one thing: exploiters and oppressors cannot tolerate us laboring people living good lives, because this is detrimental to their exploitation and oppression. If they do not trample us underfoot, they cannot lie on top of us and suck our blood, just like today."

Guo Jing spoke with weight and force.

"They will unite to strangle us. The Tatar tribes of the present, the other tribes on the grasslands, the Wang Gubu, the Qiyen tribe, the Naiman tribe, the future Great Jin, Western Xia, and the Great Song will all be our enemies. If we wish to achieve victory, we must constantly unite the broad masses during the war and make them stand on our side."

"Everyone, think about why the broad masses would stand on our side." Guo Jing asked everyone present with a smiling face.

"Because we are not fighting to exploit and oppress them, but to fight so that they do not suffer exploitation and oppression." Everyone said in unison.

"Correct. We are all fighting so that the laboring masses no longer suffer exploitation and oppression. I am very happy that you all have realized this point. From today on, we all share an aspiration: to ensure the laboring masses no longer suffer exploitation and oppression. Now, please allow us to address you as Comrades." After Guo Jing finished speaking, he and Nie Huaishang bowed to everyone present.

Everyone immediately bowed back in return. At this moment, everyone felt the respect these two held for the title "Comrade." Thinking of this, everyone present felt proud, for they were comrades of Shaman Nie and Shaman Guo, people who shared the same aspiration.

"Comrades, from today on, we are a force dedicated to liberating the laboring masses. We must always take the liberation of the toiling masses of the world as our duty. We must constantly develop our comrades during our battles against the enemy, causing the enemy to drown in the vast ocean of people's war."

Guo Jing spoke with passionate fervor. At this very moment, he felt a clarity and freshness unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

"Shaman Guo, you told us that the Great Jin, Western Xia, and the Great Song will also be our enemies in the future. Do the Great Jin, the Great Song, and Western Xia have comrades we can develop?" Just then, Ha Ming raised his hand and asked.

"Correct. In the Great Jin, the Emperor of the Great Jin and his Meng'an and Muke unite with the scholar-official and landlord groups to exploit and oppress Han farmers. They work hard farming just like you yet cannot support themselves. They, just like you, have no money for medical treatment due to exploitation and oppression and can only watch their kin die helplessly. They, just like you, are killed simply because a Jurchen person is displeased."

"In Western Xia, farmers suffer triple exploitation and oppression from landlords, nobles, and monks. Throughout their lives, generation after generation, they must serve the king, nobles, and monks. In the Great Song, the Emperor and scholar-officials join hands to exploit and oppress farmers. Their lives are the most extravagant, yet farmers, artisans, and small merchants struggle even to survive."

After listening to Guo Jing's account, everyone present clenched their fists. They originally thought only tribal chiefs were no good, but now they realized that all crows in the world are equally black.

Why are all these people so evil? The Emperor of the Great Jin clearly has so much money yet is still unsatisfied, always launching wars, forcing one poor person to travel thousands of miles to a place to kill another poor person.

That Song Emperor has even more money and more women, yet he does not let farmers have a single mouthful of food, preventing them from marrying and having children.

Thinking of this, they could not wait to grab their horse blades and chop these heartless creatures to death, liberating those poor people who are just like them from exploitation and oppression.

"Comrades, our enemies are very powerful, while our strength is very small, merely five hundred people. But looking around, everywhere are comrades we can develop. Therefore, although we are as small as a single spark, a single spark can start a prairie fire."