Chapter 1399: Officials and Bandits

"When Zhao the Rebel marched on the capital, he came along the Grand Canal, didn't he?" Wei Zhongxian was still somewhat puzzled. "I never heard of him sending troops into Guangping Prefecture."

"The master is quite right…" The old man nodded again. "What plundered this old man's home was government troops!"

Looting and pillaging everywhere, creating these refugees all across the land — it was actually government troops?

Qi Wang was instantly stunned.

"How could this be!" Wei Zhongxian was also taken aback.

Guest troops passing through had always harassed the local areas — this he had known all along — but how had it come to such an extreme?

"This old man speaks not a single false word." The old man shook his head. "Earlier, to quell the Zhao Jin rebellion, the court ordered armies from all over to march on the capital to defend the throne and exterminate the rebels. Guangping Prefecture constantly had guest troops passing through, and they looted all along the way… The looting at that stage was still tolerable — though their attitude was brutish, in their hearts they still had some scruples and did not kill or harm anyone. But… but… ever since Zhao Jin crushed the court's grand army, the routed soldiers everywhere have all turned into kings of hell! In bands of a few, or gangs of several dozen, they roam everywhere plundering — who knows how many villages and towns have suffered calamity at their hands! These routed troops swept through like a gale; not a single tile remained on this old man's home…"

As if touching upon a wound too deep, a glint of tears appeared at the corners of the old man's eyes. "This old man had a son — he was killed when the routed troops came to loot…"

Though his tone remained fairly calm, Qi Wang and the others could not help but feel a pang in their hearts. The white-haired burying the black-haired — what desolation that must be.

"Scoundrels! Absolute scoundrels!" Wei Zhongxian was shaking with rage. "What is Wang Zaijin doing! To think he is in charge of the troops — after all this time, he still can't even round up these routed soldiers!"

Though he cursed aloud, in his heart he knew full well how difficult it was to rally routed troops after a great defeat. No matter how diligently Wang Zaijin applied himself, it was probably futile.

"The court's soldiers — everyone is terrified of them now. At the mere sight of them, people hide…" The old man's voice had taken on a sobbing tone as he spoke. "Yet I hear that the soldiers under Zhao Jin's command do not commit the slightest offense and never plunder the local areas."

Wei Zhongxian and the others could no longer find any words.

To be compared against a rebel army was already a disgrace for government troops, but to fall short of even a rebel army's military discipline — that disgrace deepened by several degrees more.

The court's soldiers are meant to protect the land and bring peace to the people, yet these soldiers go everywhere killing and burning, maiming and harming the people. Which side, in the end, is the government, and which side the bandits?

"So, since we can no longer endure staying here, everyone now can only find a way to get to the Xuzhou region…" Perhaps because he had at last found someone to whom he could pour out his heart, the old man, amid the strange deathly silence, continued rambling on. "I hear that the Xuzhou region is still fairly peaceful now, and they're short of hands — recruiting workers everywhere. If I can just make it to Xuzhou territory, though this old man is already decrepit and worn, I reckon I can still scrounge a few bowls of rice to eat… Only, I don't know whether this old man can walk all the way to Xuzhou. Ah well, life and death are fated. So many have died along this road already; this old man can't afford to think too much about it…"

So that was how it was?

This vast, mighty army of refugees was actually going to join Zhao Jin?

"Shameless! As subjects of the Great Ming, how… how can you go join the rebels!" Qi Wang blurted out without thinking, anger showing on his face. "Do the words loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and shame still hold any place in your hearts!"

This furious rebuke deepened the wrinkles on the old man's face by a few more lines.

After a long silence, he finally opened his mouth, trembling.

"The master is a scholar, is he not? Indeed, this old man is deeply ashamed — I have read books yet failed to grasp reason, and now I even mean to run off and join the rebels. But if I don't join the rebels now, must this old man simply wait to starve to death? So long as there is somewhere willing to spare me two mouthfuls of food, how can this old man still care about loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness?" The old man let out a long sigh. "Besides, what has the court and its government troops ever given this old man? This old man has already given his son to the court — can I not even keep this last wretched life of mine…?"

This bleak rhetorical question left Qi Wang speechless for a moment.

It was true — things having reached this point, if he did not go to Xuzhou and stayed in Guangping Prefecture, was there any path to survival?

Even with Qi Wang's loyalty to the Great Ming court, he could not bring himself to say, "Even if you starve to death at home, you must not run off to Xuzhou and join the rebels."

If there were even a sliver of hope, who would choose to become a refugee?

"Old man, you have done nothing wrong. It is the court that has failed you." At that moment, Wei Zhongxian suddenly interjected. "It is the court that has failed you!"

Indeed, this route was not the one Zhao Jin had taken when he previously marched on the capital, so there was not even a pretext for blaming Zhao Jin for bringing calamity upon the region. Now, in the eyes of these refugees, the Great Ming court was merely a savage beast devouring their savings and their lives, while Xuzhou had instead become an ideal haven of peace and tranquility. This absurd, preposterous contrast left one not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Qi Wang hung his head low, but in the end, he still said nothing.

"Alright, old man, be on your way quickly. It will be dark soon — hurry and find a place to rest." At this point, Liu Songping spoke up. "Xuzhou territory is still several hundred li from here. Take great care on the road!"

Qi Wang's heart clenched with pain once more.

Though he knew perfectly well that his third uncle's approach was the right one, emotionally he still found it hard to accept this act of driving Great Ming subjects toward rebel territory.

"Many thanks to you masters for your help. This old man must take his leave now. If this old man is fortunate enough to reach Xuzhou, I shall surely burn incense and offer prayers for you masters!" The old man once again bowed deeply to them in gratitude, then shakily resumed his journey — one he did not know whether he could finish.

Wei Zhongxian said nothing more. He stood there blankly, watching the endless stream of refugees pass by him, heading south, heading toward Xuzhou.

In their eyes, Xuzhou represented a path to survival, represented hope of staying alive. Even though people kept dying along the road, they still had to walk toward it, because they knew that staying behind meant only a dead end.

In these refugees, he saw the hearts of all under heaven, and he saw the final road of the Great Ming dynasty.

So be it, so be it. The court is sustained by the myriad people, yet this sustained court can neither defend the land, nor protect the people, and on top of that ravages the countryside. Such a court, such an officialdom — what right does it have to forbid the common folk from seeking their own path to survival!

After shaking his head and sighing for a moment, Wei Zhongxian and the others resumed walking.

Before long, they discovered that a large crowd of refugees seemed to be jammed up ahead, blocking the road.

Could it be that the authorities were forbidding the refugees from leaving the territory to join the rebels?

When they drew closer, they saw that it was actually a group of sturdy men in bailiff uniforms, armed with weapons, who had set up a checkpoint and were refusing to let the refugees pass.

"To prevent rebel scum from infiltrating, the authorities hereby proclaim this notice!" Several loud-voiced sturdy men kept shouting repeatedly. "Those without travel permits or identification must pay five wen to pass!"

Only then did they understand — the authorities were not trying to stop the refugees from leaving; rather, the clerks of the yamen, in collusion with the underling bailiffs, were working hand in glove to squeeze a toll out of these refugees!

The court had already fallen to such a state, the hearts of all under heaven were on the verge of being utterly corrupted, and yet the local authorities here, far from thinking of winning back the people's hearts, were still scheming to profit from it, to wring one more handful out of these refugees…

"Utterly devoid of conscience!"

"Utterly devoid of conscience!" Watching the scene before him, Qi Wang could not help but curse aloud.

Although this gang of bailiffs was stopping these refugees from going to join Zhao Jin, this manner of doing things was more than he could stomach.

While it stood to reason that Great Ming subjects ought not to join the rebels, Qi Wang was no cold-blooded man. Right now, in the Great Ming, these refugees had no place left to shelter them; he could not simply watch with open eyes as they died with no food and no clothing. If only by going to Zhao Jin could they find a way to live, then it would be better to just let them go.

Right under their gaze, the refugees grew more and more numerous, and soon the road ahead was completely blocked. The refugees behind kept surging forward in an endless stream, yet the road ahead could not move, so it became unbearably crowded, a scene of utter chaos.

Although a toll of five wen in the peaceful times of the past was not a large expense, in the present state of the world, among a crowd of refugees who had left their homes and villages, how many of them could produce the money? So the great majority could not get through and were simply blocked on the road, unable to advance or retreat.

The crowd grew denser and denser, until finally some people were squeezed forward involuntarily, surging toward those bailiffs. And those ferocious, menacing bailiffs had clearly run out of patience as well — they directly rushed forward en masse to drive these refugees away, so that the people coming from behind could come up and pay.

At first they shoved, but because there were simply too many people, they could not push them back, and their patience wore thinner and thinner. Before long, a leading sturdy man, cursing and swearing, picked up a club and swung it heavily at the refugees.

Screams of agony instantly rang out across the fields. As if receiving some command, the other bailiffs also began laying into the refugees.

Their blows were all extremely vicious. How could these refugees, starving and physically frail, possibly withstand them?

Very quickly, a large crowd of people were beaten to the ground by these bailiffs, while the rest were driven fleeing backward, crashing into the people behind them.

Some knelt on the ground, desperately pleading with them; some wailed aloud; some had already collapsed onto the ground, showing no further signs of life. This living hellscape suddenly gave Qi Wang a feeling he could hardly bear to witness.

"Third Uncle, wait here for me!" He turned his head and shouted at Liu Songping, then rushed toward that gang of sturdy men.

"Wang boy!" Liu Songping was at first anxious and reached out to grab Qi Wang, but because his speed was simply too fast, he could not hold him. He watched his nephew's back as he charged forward, and in the end could only sigh and let him do as he would.

In the blink of an eye, Qi Wang had already rushed up before this group of bailiffs.

"Stop!" he shouted loudly.