Chapter 206

A time of calamity and famine.

The poor weep, the rich rejoice.

For over a thousand years, whenever natural disaster or man-made calamity struck, those with power and wealth would kill the poor.

The most direct, most typical method was to let grain prices soar.

"You can sleep on the streets, you can go without clothes, but you cannot go without eating!"

Precisely because of this, the grain stores in Bianliang City fell into a frenzy of revelry.

Five thousand cash per dou~

One string of cash is only seven hundred seventy cash; five thousand cash is six and a half strings.

Common folk inside Bianliang City, working themselves to death for a day, might not even earn a hundred cash.

"What you're selling isn't grain!"

Outside a grain store, a grain-buying commoner angrily accused, "What you're selling is clearly gold!"

A shop assistant with a leisurely expression, waving the rag in his hand, nostrils pointed to the sky, had only one sentence.

"Buy it or don't~~~"

"Don't buy, then go home and starve."

"Don't make a racket here."

They say money makes you the master; now, having grain makes you the master.

Not buying is fine, go home and keep starving.

The commoners gathered outside the grain store were naturally furious.

But it was only fury.

Not to mention the yamen runners guarding outside, just the burly, fierce-looking guards inside the store, crossing their arms and glaring, were enough to calm any hothead.

With no choice, the crowd could only try to scrape together money.

Now it's pawning property; later it will be selling property and houses, selling sons and daughters, selling themselves.

For over a thousand years, whenever natural disaster or man-made calamity descended, common folk were always like this.

Watching the crowd's locked brows, the shop assistant gloated.

"Don't linger any longer, go home and think about whether to sell a son first or a daughter first."

"If you really can't bear it, just slash your own leg and have a good meal~"

The shop assistants, guards, and yamen runners all roared with laughter.

That appearance, looking at it, was no different from chained dogs barking.

"So fond of eating white meat~"

"Then let's cut yours first!"

The crowd looked toward the voice, only to see an iron-armored man, leading a vast, mighty throng, filling the streets as they came.

The first to react were a few yamen runners.

They merely glanced once, then immediately turned and ran, not looking back.

The dark mass numbered not just hundreds, but thousands.

The yamen runners' judgment was flawless; leaving first was best.

The guards no longer had their previous arrogance, flusteredly greeting the shop assistants to hurry and close the doors.

The newcomers bore bloodstains, weapons gripped in their hands.

These were not people to be provoked.

Lin Dao stomped and waved his hand, and Taixue students, leading the grain-starved commoners, charged into the grain store.

Shop assistants shrieked miserably, guards howled in agony.

In a short while, the people inside the grain store were dragged out.

Stepping forward a few paces, Lin Dao looked down from above at a guard with a bruised, swollen face: "Heard tell that here, it's five thousand cash per dou?"

The guard groaned and whimpered in pain, lying on the ground without answering.

Lin Dao raised his handgun.

Bang!

Taking another step, he came before a shop assistant: "Heard say that here, it's five thousand cash per dou?"

The shop assistant turned his head, looking at the guard beside him whose head had burst open, red and yellow matter splashing; his tongue knotted: "Y-yes~ yes~"

"Who gave you the courage to sell at such a sky-high price?"

The shop assistant didn't dare answer; he didn't even know what to say.

The shopkeeper, similarly beaten black and blue beside him, shouted loudly: "The grain belongs to our store; we sell it for however much we want, what business is it of yours?"

Lin Dao turned and walked over: "Shopkeeper?"

"Yes~~~"

"Where did your family's grain come from?"

Facing the questioning, the shopkeeper's eyes darted: "Naturally it was purchased by us."

"Nonsense!" Chen Dong ran out from the grain store, holding several booklets of account books in his hands.

"Immortal Master, please look!"

He opened a booklet, displaying it to Lin Dao: "Written clearly on this, it's grain transported from the Changping Granary under the Changping Squad of the Xiangfu County Tiju!"

As these words fell, the surroundings instantly erupted in an uproar.

The Changping Granary is an institution used to stabilize grain prices.

When grain is abundant, it purchases grain for storage at the price of the tax grain collected by the official government.

In disaster years, it was sold to the common people at low prices to maintain their livelihood needs.

This system was certainly good, able to effectively resist the harms brought by calamity and famine.

But—

No matter how good a system, it still needs people to execute it.

Since Zhao Ji ascended the throne, from the imperial court down to the localities, corrupt officials and venal clerks were everywhere, or else they were useless wastes with only mouths.

Those who could embezzle embezzled; those who couldn't embezzle also embezzled.

The Changping Granary, naturally, would not be spared.

The common people were enraged; the Changping Granary was full of life-saving grain, yet it was actually taken by treacherous merchants and sold at the sky-high price of five thousand cash per dou!

Truly deserved to die!

"Beat him to death!"

Someone unknown shouted a line, and the enraged commoners instantly raised a clamor to beat the shopkeeper to death.

"Wait!"

Lin Dao shouted loudly, deterring the crowd's emotions.

"The questioning isn't finished yet!"

He questioned again, "Tell everyone, how did the Changping Granary's grain end up in your family's grain store?"

The shopkeeper, frightened into trembling, his teeth chattering, nevertheless bit down and refused to utter a word.

Lin Dao took down the Ram's Horn Hammer hanging at his waist.

A hammer fell on the shopkeeper's knee.

Under the acute pain, the shopkeeper's scream tore through the long sky.

The hammer in his hand turned a circle; Lin Dao asked again, "Speak!"

The shopkeeper only cared about crying out; how could he still respond?

Lin Dao swung the hammer again, smashing it onto his other knee.

Amidst crisp shattering sounds, the shopkeeper howled in agony until he fainted from pain.

"Immortal Master!"

On this side, Chen Dong flipped through the booklet ledger in his hand, "It's written on this."

"Seventh day of the ninth month, Sixth Year of Xuanhe, Xiangfu County Changping Granary, delivered grain: nine hundred seventeen shi."

"Third day of the eleventh month, Seventh Year of Xuanhe, Zhongmu County Warehouse Ping Granary, delivered grain: four hundred fifty-five shi."

"Fifth day of the fifth month, First Year of Jingkang, Yangwu County Changping Granary, delivered grain: one thousand three hundred ninety-two shi."

Chen Dong shouted loudly, "The grain this grain store sells is all Changping Granary grain!"

The surroundings were in an even greater uproar.

Lin Dao stepped forward, took the ledger from Chen Dong's hand.

He strode and leapt up onto the cabinet where grain was placed.

His gaze swept over the crowded masses on the street, "See it?"

"This is what the Great Coward Imperial Court does, this is what the Great Coward Officialdom does!"

"They take the tax grain you hand over, steal the grain that originally belongs to the common people, and then sell it to you at the price of five thousand cash per dou!"

"Such an imperial court, such an officialdom!"

Lin Dao calmed his breath, "Are you still willing to continue listening to them, paying taxes to them?"

"Not willing~~~"

The real environment enhanced the effect of Lin Dao's speech.

Igniting the rage in the common people's hearts was far easier than he had imagined.

After all, the imperial court's bizarre operations led to the Jin besieging the city; at home people were nearly starving to death.

Under such an external environment, anger had long since turned into fuel; a spark could set it ablaze.

"Zhongmu County, Yangwu County are outside the city; let's set them aside for now."

Lin Dao shook the ledger in his hand, "Xiangfu County is right inside the city."

"Go bring the County Office people here, ask them why the grain went from the Changping Granary to this grain store!"

"Oh~~~"

The thoroughly incited commoners, harboring full hearts of rage, followed Lin Dao and the Taixue Students, heading straight for the Xiangfu County Yamen.

Lin Dao left Chen Dong behind, leading a batch of men holding weapons to guard the grain store, and by the way disposed of those shopkeepers, clerks, and guards.

As for the grain in the grain store, it still couldn't be distributed for the time being.

No matter what, they had to wait until the commoners made a big enough commotion before bringing it out.

Along the way, many commoners heard the movement; after inquiring, they joined in one after another.

By the time they reached the Xiangfu County Yamen, there were already tens of thousands, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The County Magistrate deserved his bad luck.

For the past several days he had been hiding; today he actually came to the Yamen to discuss with the Chief Clerk, County Lieutenant, Constable Chief, and the various Clerks of the offices about dividing up the various supplies in the Yamen.

Just as they were speaking, they heard crackling sounds outside, a chaos.

The County Magistrate flew into a great rage, "Who is setting off firecrackers in the Yamen?"

The next moment, several Yamen Runners on duty smashed through the door and tumbled in like rolling gourds.

Close behind them came a large batch of enraged commoners.

The Constable Chief was the first to rise, instinctively wanting to scold.

But he took a heavy kick to the solar plexus and was sent flying out.

Inside the house was utter chaos—beating and cursing, smashing tables and overturning stools, extremely lively.

Lin Dao never bothered to mention anything about grain at all.

He simply urged the common people to rush inside and vent their anger.

Anyway, in this era, every official in Bianliang City would be executed by firing squad; not one of them was qualified to cry injustice.

By the time the common people came out, there was no one left inside who could still breathe.

"Where is the Bastille Prison in Bianliang City?"

Lin Dao, outside the County Office, greeted the crowd of commoners: "Come on, let's go distribute grain!"

The grain stored in the Grain Store was not nearly as much as imagined.

Distributed at one dou per person, after the distribution was finished, most commoners still left empty-handed.

Seeing the commoners' anger grow even fiercer, Lin Dao picked up the trumpet.

"The Imperial Court colludes with grain merchants, swallowing grain to sell at high prices—this is meant to starve the commoners to death!"

"The grain sold by the Grain Store is all the Tax Grain you paid!"

"Now we should take it back, bring it home to save our wives and children!"

"Everyone go—take every Grain Store in all of Bianliang City!"

Countless commoners raised their arms and shouted.

"Oh~~~"

The commotion grew larger and larger, and more and more commoners who heard the news joined in.

Almost within a single day, every Grain Store in all of Bianliang City was completely looted clean by the angry commoners.

Even the Imperial Court's granaries were not spared.

Especially when many granaries were opened, they were either completely empty, or mostly Rotten Grain, even the kind that was Inedible Grain.

This further ignited the commoners' anger.

"Immortal."

On Zhou Bridge, Chen Dong said worriedly, "There are many Grain Stores in the city, but not every family is necessarily colluding with the Official to steal and sell grain."

Lin Dao glanced at him: "This is Bianliang City."

Chen Dong and the Taixue Students around him did not understand.

"Which family that can open a Grain Store in Bianliang City doesn't have Background Connections?"

Everyone suddenly Realized.

Bianliang City is where Wealth gathers under heaven.

Doing business here, especially a big business like grain, cannot be carried on without Background Connections.

Behind them are either court officials, or Meritorious Nobles and Military Aristocracy, and even Imperial Relatives are not few.

Shops passed down in one's own family—perhaps there were some a hundred years ago, but now there absolutely are none!

Where does these people's grain come from?

One need not ask to know!

"Go!"

"Mobilize as many commoners as possible, bring the commoners to sweep the Grain Stores clean."

"Then use the Grain Stores to guide, expand the scope."

Lin Dao signaled the Taixue Students: "First dig out the Corrupt Flesh; reshaping the Court depends on you."

A few simple words of encouragement, and the Taixue Students were instantly full of energy.

They scattered in all directions, each finding a place to bring the commoners to loot the Grain Stores.

Lin Dao, who had successfully lit the Flame, rode the Electric Bicycle back to Jinqian Alley.

Wanting to be a Revolutionary Base Area, of course everything before must be Smashed Everything.

The Grain Stores are just the beginning.

End of Chapter