Chapter 88: The Mutiny

That young thug shouted once, then his reckless nature took over. Ignoring how many people surrounded them, he raised his wooden club and swung it at Li Shuchun's head, shouting as he struck: "You're asking for death! I'll beat you to death, you bastard!" The other thugs also concluded that the stones had been thrown by Li Shuchun's group, and with a shout, they raised their clubs and charged forward.

Li Shuchun saw the club coming straight for his head. Unable to dodge in time, he twisted his body sideways, and the club struck his shoulder with a heavy thud. A piercing pain shot through him. The anger that had been building up for so long was ignited by that blow. He let out a low roar and, before the other's next swing could come, lashed out with a side kick that caught the thug square in the stomach. The fellow stumbled back several steps, his club dropping from his hand to the ground, then collided with one of his companions surging up behind him, and the two tumbled to the ground together.

Li Er'gou's words that had once brought tears to Li Shuchun's eyes suddenly rang through his mind: "When will this bitter life ever end!" He let out a hoarse snarl, pulled a dagger from his bosom, drew it from its sheath, and casually hurled the scabbard at the thug who was scrambling to his feet. Then he bounded forward in a few strides, shouted loudly, and with a swift motion of his arm, drove the dagger into the rising thug's left eye socket. The gleaming blade pierced through his skull, and the thug let out a muffled groan before collapsing dead. Li Shuchun quickly yanked the dagger free, and the corpse slammed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Li Shuchun's chest heaved violently as he gasped for breath. He felt his hot blood surging within him, wishing he could use the still-dripping dagger in his hand to stab a hole through heaven itself. This bitter life had no end—then let it end today!

The scene that unfolded in an instant stunned everyone. No one had expected someone to kill on the spot.

A loud shout from the crowd broke the brief silence: "Kill these bastards!" Li Shuchun could tell it was Zhang Laosan's voice.

Years of pent-up oppression accumulated over generations of poverty, hunger, and ragged clothing were unleashed by that shout. Over a hundred guard station soldiers screamed at the top of their lungs and surged from all directions at the few thugs, punching with fists, kicking with feet, biting with teeth, and ramming with heads. In the blink of an eye, the several living men who had been shouting and provoking moments before were reduced to nothing but pools of mangled flesh on the ground.

Surrounded by the crowd, Li Shuchun looked at the faces around him—each one a mix of excitement tinged with fear, longing, and agitation—and at the pairs of eyes filled with hope. He felt the hot blood already burning inside him boil over completely.

His face flushed crimson. He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, but his voice came out hoarse and harsh: "The officers oppress us and skim our pay! The bastards curse us and beat us! Our families lack clothes and food! There's no way for poor folk to survive in this world! If you've got the guts, follow me, and we'll kill that dog of a eunuch too!"

"Kill that dog of a eunuch!"

"We're throwing caution to the wind today! Worst case, we die!"

"Brother Li, I'll follow you!"

"Kill Chen Hongzu too!"

"Right, kill that dog who drinks soldiers' blood!"

"Let's go, let's go! Everyone, come along!"

"I know where that little bastard is! I'll lead the way!"

Dagger in hand, Li Shuchun strode forward, and the crowd parted to make a path. Once he reached the front, the crowd surged after him in a rush. The young soldier who had volunteered to lead the way walked shoulder to shoulder with Li Shuchun, pointing out directions as they went. Some of the more resourceful ones bent down to pick up iron spades, handy pieces of wood, stones, and other objects from the roadside to use as weapons.

Over a hundred men crowded around Li Shuchun as they marched forward. Guard station soldiers working at various worksites along the way came up to ask what was happening. When they heard that the men of the Central Guard had killed the thugs who had treated them like pigs and dogs and were now going to kill Hou Dingguo, whether they were from the Central Guard or the Imperial Tomb Guard, the bolder ones joined the ranks. The group of just over a hundred quickly swelled to three or four hundred.

The conscripted laborers at the worksites also stopped their work, pointing at the crowd and discussing among themselves. Not understanding what was going on, they were happy to take advantage of the chaos to catch their breath and rest for a while.

Because Longxing Temple was the top priority of this round of repairs, Hou Dingguo spent most of his time there. Strictly speaking, he was diligent and devoted to his duties, which was why he had repeatedly earned praise from his adoptive father.

Only he himself knew the truth: the real reason he frequently toured the worksite was that he loved the feeling of being surrounded by attendants and controlling everything.

Accompanied by over a dozen underlings carrying swords and clubs, wherever he went, whether conscripted laborers or those thieving hereditary military households, everyone cowered and fled at the sight of him. Whenever anything displeased him in the slightest, a single command would send his wolf-like, tiger-fierce attendants forward to throw their weight around.

What Hou Dingguo loved most was seeing the look of those lowly wretches wailing and begging for mercy under his clubs and rods. This feeling of holding the power of life and death over others intoxicated him. Some days, if he hadn't beaten a few wretches, he felt something was missing in his heart.

The matter of having his underlings beat Shopkeeper Xu to death last time had long been cast from his mind. In his eyes, there was only his adoptive father. His adoptive father was sent by the palace, representing the Emperor—the supreme being. As his adopted son, he naturally had to appear before the ants with an air of looking down on all living things. At sixteen, he had long forgotten that he too came from a poor family. It was only when he entered the palace to serve at age ten that everything slowly began to change. As for those difficult years before entering the palace, he subconsciously chose to forget them.

The fact that the owner of the Li Family Trading House had actually abandoned his business and fled made Hou Dingguo furious. It meant he would lose a considerable source of income.

Originally, he had planned to open his mouth wide and scare the other party first. Then the trading house would go around begging for help and finally present him with a sum of silver. He would then graciously accept this windfall, offer a portion to his adoptive father, and casually find some timber to make up the difference.

He never expected that the owner would be so stubborn—preferring to shut down his business entirely rather than spend money to buy peace. When the ten-day deadline arrived, he sent someone to the trading house to press for payment, only to receive the most unexpected news. After making inquiries all around, he learned that the owner had likely fled back to his home in Nanjing. This left him both furious and helpless. The eunuch commanding Nanjing outranked his adoptive father by far too much, and with his meager standing, he couldn't stir up any waves there.

If the Lis are gone, there are still the Zhangs. I don't believe no one else will abandon their family business and flee elsewhere!

Following the same method, Hou Dingguo then targeted several shops of various sizes dealing in timber, stone, raw lacquer, and other goods, extorting each one in turn. The results left him quite satisfied.

After all, not everyone was like Li Shiqun—with connections, courage, and self-respect. The vast majority of merchants were law-abiding ordinary folk who, under Hou Dingguo's tyranny, could only choose to swallow their anger and spend money to ward off disaster.

Young Eunuch Hou had reaped a bountiful harvest during this period. Besides offering a share to Yang Ze, he had also accumulated nearly a thousand taels of illicit wealth for himself. Though far from what he had envisioned, it was still a considerable fortune.

Just as Hou Dingguo was pondering how to expand his income, he never imagined that a deadly disaster was already quietly approaching. The ill-gotten wealth he had schemed so hard to extort would ultimately become nothing more than numbers on someone else's merit ledger. Bitterly she sews year after year, making wedding clothes for others to wear!

Hou Dingguo was sitting in a Dharma hall, sipping tea and idly chatting with several of his underlings while thinking about which trading house might still yield some profit, when he suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. The noise grew louder and louder, seeming to be heading his way.

He set down his teacup and was about to order someone to go check when the door suddenly burst open from outside. A servant stumbled in, panic-stricken. Hou Dingguo scowled and scolded: "Zhao Si, you dog! Have you no manners at all!"

Zhao Si paid no heed to anything else, gasping for breath as he shouted: "Master, run, run! It's a mutiny!"

The moment Hou Dingguo heard this, his face turned deathly pale and his whole body went limp. Forget walking—he couldn't even stand.

Seeing this, Zhao Si hurried forward and called for help. Several servants frantically hoisted Hou Dingguo up, intending to flee through the door. But the moment they stepped outside, they saw a vast, dark crowd of soldiers surging toward them.

These men were used to throwing their weight around like dogs relying on their master's power and bullying the few with the many. The moment they saw several hundred shouting, yelling soldiers closing in, their usual arrogance and courage evaporated into thin air. Forgetting even their own master, they all let go at nearly the same instant, dumping the already-terrified Hou Dingguo onto the ground, and scattered in every direction to flee.

Before they could run more than a few steps, stones and bricks flew at them like rain. These men, along with Hou Dingguo, were all knocked to the ground. Before they could recover their senses, the roaring crowd pounced on them, and clubs, stones, and fists instantly turned them into pools of bloody pulp.

Seeing that matters had escalated beyond any peaceful resolution, Li Shuchun decided to go all the way. He shouted: "To the Imperial Tomb Office! That bastard Chen Hongzu must be with Eunuch Yang! Let's all go together! We'll demand the pay they've skimmed from us! If not, we'll send word to the roving bandits and lure them to attack again!"