Chapter 86

For a honest man, killing someone for the first time often brings fear, even vomiting or dizziness.

But for someone who had just been sold into slavery, whose wife was sold to a brothel, killing the very man who sold his wife to a brothel—

That feeling would not be fear, but the sweet satisfaction of vengeance; thus, these ruffians met a grim end.

Three hundred villagers stabbed each ruffian multiple times with their spears before finally stopping.

Li Papi, who witnessed the hooligans’ horrific state, was so terrified that he lost control of his bowels and bladder; he felt his own fate would be even worse.

But the villagers were in no hurry to deal with him—after all, these three hundred came from several villages; they would first capture all the landlords from the other villages before taking action, and only then would true justice be served.

When they charged forward with spears in hand, determined to die rather than let these men live, they realized how hollow and weak those who had long oppressed them truly were.

These bodyguards, who had boasted of martial prowess, lacked even the courage to fight back against this band of peasants; they fled outright. No wonder the landlords had fed them well and treated them kindly—none of them proved useful when it truly mattered.

After capturing these landlords, Zhang Chu’an immediately launched a struggle session, ordering them dragged onto a raised platform for the villagers to denounce them.

Under the leadership of several villagers, the entire assembly erupted in fury; shouts of abuse and accusations never ceased. Everyone had some grievance against them—only fear of their status had kept them from seeking revenge before.

Now that these men were bound to the platform, their deaths imminent, there was nothing left to fear.

After denouncing these landlords, Zhang Chu’an mercifully gave them the same death as the ruffians.

After killing these men, the three hundred villagers who had carried red-tasseled spears to avenge their grievances felt unprecedented relief; at that moment, they believed even being beheaded would be worth it.

At that moment, Zhang Chu’an stepped forward and shouted loudly:

“Enough! Fellow villagers, now that we’ve overthrown the landlords and usurers, our next step is to establish here a government ruled by the people—no corrupt officials, no Jins, no dog emperor to exploit us. What do you say?”

“Good!” everyone shouted in unison.

Over the past two months, Zhang Chu’an and Zhang Xiaofan’s actions had deeply moved them; such men would never deceive or exploit them.

“The first thing our government must do is seize the landlords’ property and distribute land according to household size. If your family has a man enlisted in our army, our government will assign a labor team to till your fields for you.” As Zhang Chu’an spoke, the crowd erupted in cheers.

Zhang Chu’an turned to look at the troops he had just assembled and asked: “Will you stay? Will you fight to defend the government ruled by your own hands? Will you fight to defend the regime that serves your families? Will you join the cause of serving the broad masses of the people?”

“We will!” everyone answered without hesitation.

Of course they were willing to stay—after all, they all had deep affection for their homeland; staying meant they could care for their families.

But would it be safe enough to stay?

Someone in the crowd quickly raised a question: “Master Zhang, we’ve openly rebelled here—won’t the authorities send troops to crush us?”

“Don’t fear,” Zhang Chu’an reassured them. “Today you’ve seen it yourselves: those who oppressed you were nothing but paper tigers—roaring and snarling, but crumbling at the first touch of water. The county’s soldiers are no better; they lack even the courage to fight you to the death.” Then he shifted tone:

“Of course, while these soldiers lack the courage to fight to the death, they still have plenty of courage to bully the weak and fear the strong. So for the time being, we must train hard, treat our enemies with utmost seriousness, and only then can we defend our self-governed land and minimize our casualties.”

After speaking, Zhang Chu’an sighed. Even street brawls cost lives—how much more so the brutal class war? He suddenly recalled what Yuan Lang had told him in the special forces world: “I admire an old soldier who, though he exhausted every effort, never dared speak of victory. He only wished his men would die fewer on the battlefield. He said that was the soldier’s humanity.”

Now it was his turn to live this truth—could they endure this trial and fundamentally change this world?

Zhang Chu’an didn’t know. He only knew he must do every task before him: distribute land, establish a judicial system, organize production, and gradually improve the villagers’ living standards.

Only then could the newly formed Red Guard understand that they were defending their own interests—no amount of ideological education could match the power of seeing their own families’ lives improve.

Of course, he must also constantly monitor the county magistrate’s movements—after all, they had burned the post station and killed the landlords; the magistrate would surely send troops to crush them, or else he could not answer to his superiors.

Soon, Zhang Xiaofan in the county town informed him of the magistrate’s actions: due to the burned post station, the magistrate had posted wanted notices for escaped slaves—but not a single bodyguard who had fled from the landlords had reported it.

Zhang Chu’an was startled, but quickly understood: as a bodyguard, abandoning your master and fleeing was one thing—but if you reported it, you’d ruin your own reputation; once your reputation was destroyed, you could never earn a living in that trade again.

This situation was truly beyond his expectations—he had carefully studied the local terrain and planned an ambush along the expected route of attack.

Yet they didn’t even know they had raised the banner of rebellion—this level of grassroots control was abysmal.

Before coming here to open night school, he had investigated the county’s military deployment: there were three Police Inspectors.

Each Inspector commanded over a hundred men, totaling three hundred soldiers—that was the entire force of the county magistrate.

Three hundred Inspector troops against three hundred guerrillas—even if the guerrillas were fearless, even if he and Zhang Xiaofan were highly skilled—these three hundred guerrillas would still suffer heavy casualties.

But if they waited until the next tax collector came to collect taxes to even learn of their rebellion, the next tax collection would be three months away—three months! That was enough time to build a party organization and establish branches at the company level.

By then, this force would be a disciplined army with faith—he could issue them Type 56 semi-automatic rifles.

Three hundred Type 56 semi-automatic rifles against cavalry? The outcome would still be uncertain. But against infantry? As far as he knew, the Jin were desperately short of horses; they had to buy warhorses from Western Xia. Such elite cavalry units could never be assigned to Inspector troops.

Honestly, shouldn’t the magistrate have given them less time? If they gave him this much time, and he used his knowledge of the terrain to ambush them—wasn’t that a bit unfair?