Chapter 322

"Holy Duke, look who I have caught?"

A short while later, at the gate of Hangzhou, just as Fang La was preparing to enter this city that had changed its surname from Zhao to Fang,

Pang Wanchun, in full military attire, excitedly brought several people wearing Great Song official uniforms to report the good news to Fang La.

One did not need to guess the identity of these people: they were former Great Song officials,

Officials who remained in the south after Great Gan destroyed Great Song.

To tell the truth, after Great Song was destroyed, they did not collapse and still maintained a certain order,

Even if this order was extremely biased toward themselves, it made Zhang Jie, who received the information, somewhat surprised.

This is probably a true portrayal of how life finds a way for itself.

"Yo, isn't this the Pacification Commissioner Chancellor Chen Jian and the Inspection Commissioner Zhao Yue!"

Seeing the two officials at the front, Fang La could not help but mockingly shout.

At this moment, where did these officials have the demeanor of the big shots who used to point fingers?

Each one was disheveled and in a sorry state, and many did not even know where they had lost their official hats.

There were a few timid ones who were already sweating like rain, their legs trembling,

And if it weren't for the soldiers supporting them, they would have collapsed to the ground long ago.

"Today, unfortunately, I have fallen into your hands, you thief. No need for more words, kill or slice me as you please!"

Hangzhou Pacification Commissioner Chancellor Chen Jian knew that there was likely no hope for today,

So he tidied his messy hair and prepared to close his eyes and wait for death.

Most of the other officials were the same, unwilling to say another word to Fang La.

It was not that they were all unafraid of death or loyal subjects of Great Song,

Willing to live and die with Hangzhou, but that this Fang La's methods were too cruel.

Every Great Song official who fell into his hands had no good end; they were either beheaded or hanged.

Even if a few survived, they were stripped of all their family wealth,

Drafted into the army, and used as slaves, coolies, and consumables.

This was the reason they desperately recruited soldiers to resist.

Otherwise, most of them probably wouldn't mind being a "hero who knows the times."

The flag on the city wall changes, after all. Although Great Song had been peaceful for a hundred years,

They hadn't eaten pork, but surely they had seen pigs run?

There are many cases in history books where officials of the previous dynasty changed their robes and transformed into powerful figures of the new dynasty.

To be honest, whether the emperor above is surnamed Zhao, or surnamed Zhang, or even surnamed Fang,

As long as they can keep everything they have now and the privileges that scholars should have had since the Sage, they wouldn't mind at all.

It's a pity that neither Fang La in the south nor Great Gan in the north were very friendly to these scholars.

The only Great Song that could represent these scholars, let them play extremely happily inside,

And even boldly shout "Only those who have their names called outside the Donghua Gate are good men!"

"The Emperor and the scholar-officials share the world!", and truly achieved "punishment does not extend to scholar-officials," was too incompetent.

Before Fang La in the south could exert his strength, he was beaten black and blue by the combination punches of Great Gan, which was still Liang Shan in the north,

Even the two emperors, Huizong and Qinzong, were captured personally, and other imperial princes,

Princes, and other members of the imperial clan were wiped out, dead beyond dead,

Leaving them unable to find anyone to carry the banner of Zhao Song, so they could only muddle through one day at a time.

For a time, they also felt some regret in their hearts. If they had known that Fang La would come so quickly,

They shouldn't have openly or secretly resisted Great Gan in the north.

Although the policies of the Gan Emperor such as "returning fire-loss to the public," "gentry and commoners paying taxes together,"

And "taxing land instead of people" were digging at the foundations of these officials and gentry,

Causing their interests to be greatly damaged, at least the Gan Emperor only wanted money and not their lives.

The thief Fang La before them really wanted both their money and their lives!

If Zhang Jie knew the thoughts of these officials and gentry, he would have to complain: people are always compromising.

If someone said for no reason that they wanted to open a window in a house with no windows on four sides to let in some air,

Others who had never seen it before would inevitably oppose it with reasons like ancestral laws or no precedent.

But if they said from the beginning that they wanted to tear off the roof directly,

Then they would start to ponder the rationality of opening a window...

"Hehe, do you really think you are loyal subjects of Great Song,

Pure officials, diligent and loving to the people, upright and clean?

This collusion between officials and merchants, seeking private gain through power, forced buying and selling, forming cliques for private interests, extortion,

And various tax increases in the name of the imperial court, which one of these have you not done?"

Seeing Chancellor Chen Jian and the others with an awe-inspiring and calm appearance, Fang La sneered,

And without giving them any face, he directly exposed their true colors.

"Hmph!"

Pang Wanchun, Zheng Biao, Fang Jie, and other Ming Sect generals also glared at Chancellor Chen Jian and the other officials.

Great Song, well, it should be called the previous dynasty now. Anyway, whether it was the rise of their Holy Duke State or the sweeping of everything by Great Gan in the north,

Great Song had already been swept into the trash heap, with no possibility of getting back up.

During the time of Song Huizong Zhao Ji, he was addicted to pleasure, politics were corrupt, and treacherous officials like Cai Jing and Tongguan controlled the government,

Extorting people's wealth on a large scale through pretexts like the "Flower and Stone Project,"

Causing the people in their Jiangzhe region to suffer heavy taxes and live in misery.

These local officials used the "Flower and Stone Project" in the name of offering exotic flowers and strange stones,

Forcibly occupying people's fields and exploiting farmers, causing many families to go bankrupt.

While Great Song in the north was being invaded by Great Gan and had no time to look elsewhere,

The Holy Duke stood high and shouted, and suddenly responders gathered, calling up tens of thousands of righteous troops.

If one could live happily, who would want to hang their head on their waist and risk their life to rebel?

It was nothing more than officials forcing the people to rebel!

"Thief, talk nonsense!"

The officials whose true colors were exposed had ashen faces.

The so-called lies do not hurt people; the truth is the sharp knife.

Fang La's words directly broke their defenses.

It's just that they were merely a group of rioters and lowly people,

What qualifications did they have to judge them, officials of the imperial examination path?

Who knew the hardship of their ten years of bitter study?

Having finally reached the shore, what was wrong with enjoying it?

Why couldn't these lowly people and mud-legged ones just crawl at their feet,

Offer their sons and sell their daughters, and support them?

If you have the ability, you should also enter. The Great Song imperial examination was very fair,

From the ministers in the Privy Council who governed the world,

Down to the seventh-rank county magistrate who governed a county, which one was not a scholar of the imperial examination path?

And among these scholars, there were many from humble or even farming backgrounds!

Never had there been a moment like now that made them miss the Great Song imperial court so much.

If the Emperor were still there, if the hundreds of thousands of imperial guards in Bianjing were still there,

Rioters and thieves like Fang La would all have their nine clans executed,

And suffer the fate of being sliced to death, dead beyond dead!