Chapter 519: We Must Unite and Eradicate These Bone‑Gnawing Alien Tribes!

These words were like a fire, instantly igniting the emotions of the common folk present.

A buzzing murmur rose from the crowd, and many clenched their grain sacks, their faces showing resonant anger.

The helplessness and pain felt when buying grain earlier were now all stirred up.

Shen Junli cleared his hoarse throat, thrust his arm up abruptly, gesturing wildly, his tone highly inciting: "Do you all know who has driven the grain price to this state?"

Who is making us common folk unable to survive?

It is those insatiably greedy nobles in the Court!

It is the alien tribes riding over us, wielding power!

His voice suddenly rose, each word ringing: "They, in pursuit of endless extravagance, have forcefully bought land, snatching our fields clean!"

They hoard grain, raise prices on the spot, squeezing our blood‑sweat money for huge profit!

They have taken our homes, enslaved our bodies, and now they still plunder the grain we need to live!

"They are jackals! Demons from hell!" Shen Junli's eyes flashed with fierce hatred, his voice full of blood‑stained tears, "They are the mortal enemies of us Han sons!"

"Well said!" someone in the crowd couldn't help shouting, instantly drawing a wave of agreement.

Seeing this, Shen Junli's emotions grew even fuller; he lifted the wooden megaphone and shouted forcefully at the crowd: "We can no longer stay silent now!"

Silence only lets us be slaughtered!

Now we must resist!

We must unite and eliminate these bone‑gnawing alien tribes!

Drive them completely out of this land and reclaim the homes and grain that belong to us!

The middle‑aged Han man's grip on his grain sack tightened further.

Each of Shen Junli's words was like a red‑hot branding iron, scorching the hearts burdened with countless grievances.

When he heard the shout "reclaim our homes and grain".

His blood surged to his head, a raging fire seemed to blaze in his chest, and he could no longer hold back; he sprang onto his toes, opened his throat and roared: "Exactly right! So very right!"

The voice was coarse yet resonant.

Carrying the plainness and resolve typical of a farmer, it stood out sharply amid the noisy crowd.

After that shout, he felt the oppressive stench in his chest dissipate, and his eyes grew warm.

These days, to buy grain, they pawned the only blanket left at home; the wife and children were gaunt from hunger.

The exploitation by those noble aliens had already pushed people to the limit.

"That's exactly why!" an elderly man beside them, leaning on a cane, trembled with anger, his voice quivering as he agreed, "Grain prices soar without end, the authorities ignore it, the nobles exploit, and at this rate we'll become starving corpses by the roadside sooner or later!"

"Exactly!" a woman cradling a child wiped her tears, her voice trembling, "My child hasn't had a full meal in three days, yet those officials feast on delicacies every time—on what grounds?"

The chorus of agreement rose and fell in the crowd, rolling like continuous thunder.

The previously suppressed atmosphere was completely ignited.

At that moment, the embroidered‑clad envoy Li Kailan, who had been mingling in the crowd, shoved forward two steps, his eyes blood‑red, veins bulging on his forehead, and shouted hoarsely: "If we keep swallowing our anger and endure oppression, we'll either freeze to death or starve to death!"

"Damn it, it's all death either way!"

"Then it's better to become a gluttonous corpse!"

Those words struck like a thunderclap, shattering the last hesitation in the people's hearts.

Indeed, either way it's death, so why not fight for once?

The crowd's chatter instantly grew more restless, and many showed a ferocious, reckless look.

Zhan Yuncheng, seeing this, had a flash of brilliance in his eyes, deliberately raised his voice, his tone highly inciting, beating like a drum on everyone's hearts: "Exactly! Since we can't escape death, why not gamble a chance!"

He then thrust his hand upward, pointing to the nearby Blue Bricks house bearing the "Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Fenggu Grain Shop" sign, "The grain shop opened by Court nobles is right over there!"

"There's plenty of grain inside; seize it from those bastards!"

"Grab!" a young man responded first, fists clenched, his face flushed with blood‑heat, "Why can they hoard and profit while we starve?"

"Right! Let's seize the grain!" more and more people shouted along.

The long‑built anger, despair, and survival instinct intertwined, completely breaking through the rational defenses.

The middle‑aged Han man gritted his teeth, flung his grain sack to the ground; the sack burst, scattering the few Millet grains, yet he paid no mind, eyes reddened as he shouted, "Forward! If we act, we must act as gluttonous corpses!"

Everyone's emotions ignited instantly.

"Forward! Grab the grain!"

"Charge!"

The shouts thundered, and the commoners could no longer hold back, discarding their belongings and surging like a tide toward the Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Fenggu Grain Shop.

The grain shop's heavy wooden doors were just knocked ajar, and a few clerks hadn't even recovered.

One clerk, accustomed to seeing villagers buying grain meekly, didn't take the surging crowd seriously.

He planted his hands on his hips, craned his neck in front of the grain piles, glancing sideways at the incoming people with contempt, and barked, "What are you doing!"

"If you want grain, line up!"

"If you rush forward recklessly, I won't sell you any grain!"

Two clerks behind him, seeing this, mustered courage and echoed, "Exactly! Everyone, stop right now!"

"How dare you run amok in the Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Thus we have Place: Fenggu Grain Shop; you don't even weigh your own worth!"

The middle‑aged Han man at the front halted, his exhilaration instantly dampened by the arrogant rebuke, turning a few shades bitter.

He stared at the hands‑on‑hips clerk, a cold snort curling at his mouth: "Heh!"

The clerk, spurred by the cold laugh, felt his anger flare, stepped forward, his chest nearly colliding with the middle‑aged man, and sneered, "There's no grain waiting to be starved…"

Bang!

Before the words finished, the middle‑aged man, his fury and resentment gathered, channeled into his fist and hammered the clerk's left cheek.

The blow was swift and brutal, bearing the raw strength of a lifelong farmer; the clerk let out a wretched "Ah!"

He was knocked off balance by the blow.

He collided with a grain sack behind him, and a gush of nosebleed spurted out, streaming down his mouth corner.

The surrounding townsfolk were stunned at first, then erupted in deafening cheers.

The middle‑aged man spat a mouthful of bloodied saliva, his eyes fierce as a wolf, and cursed, "You scrawny calf! A dog that leans on its master's power, still daring to flaunt its might!"

"Well struck! That was so satisfying!" someone in the crowd shouted, "When I just bought grain, that dog thing was already acting weird, I've been fed up with it to the extreme!"

Seeing the worker clutch his nose and trying to stare him down, the middle‑aged man raised his fist for another heavy blow, striking his cheekbone.

Ah!

The worker let out another mournful scream, a few of his teeth loosened, his body went limp, collapsing on the ground, his whole body convulsing in pain.

He covered his swollen, distorted face, both shocked and angry, and muttered incomprehensibly, "You've gone mad, haven't you!"

"Do you know who I am?!"

"Do you know whose shop this is?!"

"I don't want this dog's life anymore…."

"Still dare to be defiant!" The middle‑aged man lifted his leg and kicked him.

Several nearby townsfolk, driven to desperation, reddened their eyes and surged forward, punching and kicking the worker on the ground, their curses and screams blending together.

The other workers, seeing this, dared not linger.

The courage they had just mustered vanished in an instant.

His face turned as pale as paper, lips trembling, watching the out‑of‑control scene, feeling a prickling on his scalp.

A slightly plump worker was the first to react, turning and sprinting toward the shop's backyard.

The middle‑aged man looked down from his height at the worker wailing on the ground, his gaze cold as winter ice, and, facing his threat, curled his lip in disdain and retorted coldly, "Don't know! Don't want to know!"

"All I know is that even the Heavenly King himself can't stop it today!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he snapped his head around, thrusting his rough finger toward the mountain of grain sacks deep inside the shop, and shouted loudly at the boiling crowd, "The wheat and barley are inside!"

"Grab it quickly!"

Someone in the crowd let out a sharp cry, as if igniting the last fuse.

The townsfolk could no longer restrain themselves, greedy and urgent light flashing in their eyes, surging toward the grain piles like starving tigers on prey.

The passage, which had been somewhat crowded, was instantly cleared.

Someone trampled the scattered grain sacks and rushed forward.

Someone knocked over the wooden rack blocking the way, and a clamor of collisions rang through the shop.

A weather‑worn old farmer rushed to the grain pile, gazing at the mountain of wheat and barley, his clouded eyes full of shock and anger, he brushed his hand over the plump grains and exclaimed, "So much food!"

Then he spat fiercely, gritted his teeth and cursed, "What a heartless thing, hoarding so much grain yet telling us it's scarce, then hiking the price!"

"Stop the nonsense, grab more and take it back!" a young man beside shouted, shoveling wheat into a sack without looking back, "With this grain, we won't starve this winter; our parents, wives, and children will have full meals!"

Those words struck everyone's hearts, and the townsfolk moved swiftly.

The worker on the ground stared at the madness, eyes wide with panic; despite his swollen face and slurred speech, he still struggled to roar, "Stop! Halt!"

"Who gave you the nerve?!"

"This is …"

Before the word "rebellion" could be spoken, a burly man carrying a grain sack happened to pass by, saw him still shouting, and kicked him squarely in the chest.

Ah!

The worker let out a mournful scream, rolled to the side, dared not speak again, and curled up in the corner clutching his belly, moaning in pain.

The wheat and barley piles in the shop visibly shrank.

The once‑mountainous grain sacks were torn to pieces, golden grains scattered on the ground, yet they could not hold back the swarming crowd.

The people who surged in crowded around the outer edge of the grain pile; when they reached out, only scattered grains remained, mostly empty, hollow sacks.

A man in coarse hemp trousers broke into a sweat, his hands groping the grain pile haphazardly, only pulling out a handful of broken wheat; he suddenly straightened, stamped at the empty pile and shouted, "It's gone! How did it disappear! I haven't taken much yet!"

His shout instantly triggered a chain reaction, and several nearby townsfolk who also got little joined in.

A woman clutched a thin layer of wheat in her pocket, eyes reddened, "Me too! I only grabbed a little, is it enough to fill a child's teeth gap? If only I'd rushed in earlier!"

"Exactly! Those ahead are emptying the grain, and we who arrive later can only drink the northwest wind!" a tall skinny man said, his face full of resentment, kicking an empty sack hard, producing a dull thud.

The complaints inside the shop grew louder.

The townsfolk who failed to secure enough grain wore faces of burning anger; the joy of the raid instantly turned to disappointment.

Amid the restless atmosphere, Li Kainan, lurking behind the crowd, seized the moment, cleared his throat, and abruptly shouted loudly, "Aren't the mansions of the nobles in the city full of surplus grain?!"

"Their manor's granaries are piled higher than this shop, endless delicacies they never finish, caring not a whit about our lives!"

Those words struck like a thunderclap, instantly cleaving the townsfolk's thoughts.

The crowd was first stunned, then suddenly enlightened, their disappointment turning into resolve.

A middle‑aged woman gritted her teeth, "Exactly! We've already committed a great crime by looting the shop; the authorities won't spare us, so why not go all the way—"

"That makes sense! Either way we die, so let's seize enough!" someone in the crowd immediately responded, reigniting the fervor.

Zhan Yuncheng saw this, stepped forward two paces, and loudly, provocatively echoed, "Exactly! Raiding a noble's grain shop is looting, raiding the noble's house itself is also looting!"

"Better to go straight to the point!"

Every word hit the townsfolk's sore spot; the blood‑thirsty crowd already had no retreat, their worries completely erased.

"Go! To those noble mansions!" the first complaining man in coarse hemp trousers raised his fist, shouting loudly, "For our families, seize the food that lets us survive!"

"Go! Charge!" the townsfolk answered in unison, their cries shaking the heavens.

They no longer lingered for the leftover grain, turning en masse like a tide toward the shop's exit.

Someone even snatched up a wooden ladle and a shoulder pole from the shop, using them as weapons.

The dense foliage of the old locust tree at the street corner cast a shade; Shen Junli, having shed his disguise, watched the chaos with interest and couldn't help whispering, "A great affair is accomplished!"

"We can return to Chang'an to report back....."

At the same time.

Under the diligent incitement and agitation of the embroidered‑clad envoys, Yecheng, Luoyang, Qingzhou City and the like all experienced the same events......

"The Founding Emperor is incompetent and indifferent to civil affairs, governing contrary to the Way. The standard coinage system is already broken, counterfeit money floods the four seas; meanwhile, within the country the nobles are greedy and insatiable, spotting profit gaps, they flock to money shops, borrowing at low interest.

After obtaining money, they compete to buy rich provisions, stockpile grain, wheat, cloth and other necessities, waiting for the right moment to inflate prices, buying low and selling high, extracting every ounce of the common people's wealth.

Within less than half a year, prices surged; a dou of wheat reached eight hundred coins, a dou of millet five hundred coins. The wealth amassed by the nobles filled box after box, burlap sacks could not bear it, all while they sat on huge profits, singing merrily, ignoring the lives of the people.

Thus the common folk were displaced, begging for food on the roads; middle‑class households were also stripped clean, their families ruined.

The people could no longer endure, and rose in rebellion. First they attacked the nobles' grain stores, destroying their shops and looting their stockpiles; then they swarmed the nobles' mansions, burning halls and seizing goods. Within the Qi State, in Jinyang, Yecheng, Luoyang and other strategic locations, beacon fires rose everywhere, chaos multiplied. The populace could not survive, grievances filled the air, reaching heaven and earth.

It is because the Founding Emperor lost virtue and acted improperly, causing law and order to collapse; the nobles, relying on power, were greedy and violent without limit, stripping the people of their marrow. With conflict above and below, the people had nowhere to turn, and disorder was born.

—《Qi History》·Founding Emperor Annals】