Chapter 839: Uprising

"Is His Highness Yan Wang in Jinling?"

The morning sun began to rise, casting a layer of golden radiance over the earth.

The commoners lined up to get porridge that looked like clear water, then sat in small groups of two or three.

In a corner far from the soldiers of the powerful clans, He Dong, Pang San, and a dozen or so commoners sat together.

They were all commoners who followed He Dong, serving as the backbone for this uprising.

"That's right, this operation was planned by His Highness long ago, specifically to rescue everyone from the hands of the powerful clans and return home," Pang San said.

Upon hearing this, the commoners looked at one another, their expressions excited, "His Highness Yan Wang truly loves the people as his own children. If we can go back this time, we will be able to live the lives of the people in Jiangbei."

During this time, He Dong had long since told them about life in Jiangbei.

Coupled with the fact that the soldiers of the powerful clans returning from Jiangbei said the same things as He Dong, they no longer had any doubts.

In fact, the commoners of Jiangnan rarely cared whether the world belonged to the Imperial Court or the powerful clans.

Because in their minds, whoever was Emperor, they still had to pay grain and taxes.

Therefore, they had always thought of Jiangbei in the same way.

But they did not expect that the situation in Jiangbei was already vastly different from theirs.

Land distribution, a ten-percent tax rate, the children of commoners could enter public schools to study, and they could even take the official examination to become officials.

All these things seemed like a dream to them.

Yet the fact was, this kind of life existed just across the river in Jiangbei, under the rule of Yan Wang.

And Yan Wang also represented the orthodoxy of Great Song, the Imperial Clan.

"This is certain; the destruction of the powerful clans is only a matter of time. In the future, it will be a world without powerful clans or rich clans," Pang San said, a glimmer seemingly in his eyes.

The scenes of his family being bullied by a rich clan were still vivid in his mind.

He would never forget.

It was precisely because Yan Wang wanted to lead them to create a world without powerful clans and without rich clans that he had entrusted his life to Yan Wang, following the Prince's Personal Army to fight north and south.

"Without powerful clans and rich clans, wouldn't that mean only us?" a commoner asked with longing.

Pang San laughed, "That's right, only us. From now on, the children of our farming families can go into business, can serve as officials, can serve as generals, and can also enter the College to build steamships in the future."

"If one day that happens, we would die without regrets," the commoners said with infinite yearning.

Pang San said, "There is no need to wait for 'one day'; it is now. This time, join our uprising and kill our way back to harvest the rice; it would be a pity for it to rot in the fields."

"If you put it that way, we wish we could sprout wings and fly back right now," the commoners smiled knowingly.

After chatting for a while, the commoners thought of something and handed the porridge in their bowls to Pang San and the soldiers, "You drink it; you need to be full to have the strength to fight."

Pang San waved his hand, instead taking a bag out of his own backpack and pulling out some roasted flour.

This time, because they were carrying packs as a disguise, they had brought quite a bit of roasted flour, and by the time they reached Changcheng, this roasted flour had not yet been finished.

Seeing this, the soldiers beside Pang San also took out their roasted flour one after another, grabbing handfuls to sprinkle into the commoners' bowls.

Instantly,

the clear porridge in the commoners' bowls turned into thick flour porridge.

"Commander Pang, this won't do," the commoners exclaimed, and some of the men even had tears in their eyes.

The soldiers of the powerful clans and rich clans would only seize their belongings; when had any soldiers ever given their own rations to them?

This naturally moved them deeply.

"You are the ones who should be full; we are not hungry, and after the uprising, we will have grain to eat." Having said that, Pang San swept his gaze over Changcheng.

The powerful clans and rich clans had certainly carried away a great deal of wealth and grain when they fled.

They would not bring these things out to share with the commoners, but would only hoard them inside the city.

With this uprising, they would seize everything in Changcheng and take it back.

The commoners followed Pang San's gaze and nodded heavily.

After eating breakfast, the backbone of the uprising went back to organize the able-bodied men under their command.

The commoners did their utmost to shield the soldiers of the Third Army, often surrounding them in groups of several people to prevent the soldiers of the powerful clans from noticing anything unusual.

Another day passed.

After lunch that day, Pang San summoned the colonels, dutous, and other officers under his command to assign them their attack missions.

"At present, there are about fifty thousand soldiers in Changcheng; thirty thousand are inside the city, and twenty thousand are stationed outside the four walls, so about five thousand on each side. Dealing with them is very simple," Pang San said.

In the battle at Zhongling Pass, they had gained a deeper understanding of the Qin-style Rifle.

Even if it were five thousand against fifty thousand, they were not afraid in the slightest, and even had the confidence to win.

"Moreover, they have not yet realized our existence, so in an hour, we can catch them off guard," Pang San continued, "And as soon as the uprising begins, the commoners will rise up and lend us a hand, so the advantage this time lies with us."

He paused, looked at the colonels under his command, and continued, "Now, I need a battalion to suddenly seize the East Gate when the uprising begins to prevent them from closing the gates and turning this into a siege battle. Who will go?"

"This subordinate is willing to go!" a colonel said, beating others to it.

Pang San nodded, "Then it is entrusted to you."

Immediately, he gave instructions to the other colonels, and afterwards, he conferred with the backbone of the uprising for a while to finalize the steps for the uprising.

It was already the sixth month, and the sun in the sky had become scorching, draining people of their energy; even the soldiers of the powerful clans were listless.

An hour passed before they knew it. During this hour, the five hundred soldiers of the Prince's Personal Army responsible for the East Gate had gathered one after another in front of the East Gate.

However, they were still not gathered together, but were dispersed, mixing in with the commoners in groups of two or three.

From time to time, the colonel secretly took a watch from his pocket to check the time. Seeing that the time had come, he gave a look to the officers under his command.

The officers then reminded the soldiers under their command one after another.

At this moment, under the cover of the commoners, the soldiers untied the Qin-style Rifles from their backs and tore off the wrapped cloth, and one Qin-style Rifle after another appeared in the soldiers' hands.

"Bang!"

At this very moment, the colonel loaded a bullet and fired a shot into the sky.

Upon receiving the signal, the soldiers instantly scrambled up from the ground, aiming their muzzles at the Wangfu Army on the city walls and inside the gate passage.

"Bang, bang, bang..." A burst of gunfire rang out, and the powerful clan soldiers on the city walls and in the gate passage fell into pools of blood before they could even react.

"Kill!" Having dealt with the powerful clan soldiers at the city gate, the Colonel led his soldiers to charge into the city.

Afterwards, they climbed the stairs to the city walls, continuously shooting at any powerful clan soldiers they could see.

This burst of gunfire was as if spring thunder had awakened the earth.

Many of the commoners who had been obediently crouching down stood up.

They looked toward the powerful clan soldiers with hateful gazes, and someone shouted, "His Highness Yan Wang's army has come to save us! Those who want to go home to harvest rice, follow me; everyone, revolt!"

The sound of gunfire also alarmed the powerful clan soldiers.

Yet before they could figure out what was happening, they saw the commoners rushing toward them.

Before their Flintlocks could even be raised, the commoners tackled them and snatched away their muskets.

Outside the entire Changcheng, it had become completely chaotic.

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