March of the 29th year of Daoguang.

Pingnan County, county government.

The county magistrate Ni Tao and his master are discussing an official document sent by Xunzhou Prefecture. The official document mentions: The God-worshipping Cult is deceiving people in Xunzhou Prefecture. All counties should strictly control it. If any evil intentions are discovered, they should be eliminated immediately.

The master couldn't help but sigh in his heart: It was such a troubled year. There was no rain for several months, there was a severe drought in Guangxi, and the foreign religion thing happened again.

The county magistrate Ni Tao complained to the master: "I regret that I should not have allowed foreign religions to grow. Now there are people who believe in foreign religions everywhere. Even the prefectures have heard that they are restless. I also heard that they always come in groups to pray for foreign religions."

I spent four or five days in the mountains. This was not only an evil plot, but also preparation for rebellion! Originally, I was going to be promoted to Jiangnan next month, and I didn’t want to get into trouble. I left the affairs of the foreign religion to the next county magistrate, but now I don’t know

I just received this official letter. Master, tell me what to do."

The master was accustomed to stroking the three-inch beard on his chin and rolling his eyes. He couldn't think of any good ideas for a while, and he complained secretly: Why didn't you call me when you took the money from foreign teachers? Now if something happens, I'm afraid you should ask me.

Take the blame, we are the host and guest after all, you can't harm me like this!

As a staff member, he had no choice but to answer, so the master had no choice but to say perfunctorily, "Then it will be treated as if the official letter has not been received, and everything will remain as before."

The magistrate shook his head, "No, if the foreign religion wants to rebel in the future, then I will be implicated."

Master, "Why don't you hold a Hongmen Banquet and invite the leaders of the foreign religions to the county government for a gathering? Just tell the magistrate that you thank them for educating the people. Prepare poisonous wine during the banquet and beat them all down?"

The county magistrate shook his head and denied, "Don't tell me whether they dare to come. If we kill them and other parishioners come to ask for their lives, wouldn't there be chaos in Pingnan County, and our lives will be at risk?"

Ah. It's better to arrest some people temporarily and just deal with it for a month."

When the master heard that he was not being asked to be the scapegoat, he immediately cheered up, "Your Majesty, it's better not to do anything to us. Recently, landlords often come to complain about foreign religions and they are always against them. Let them do it. After catching the person,

Immediately put him in jail, stall for time, and negotiate with the foreign religion. By then, your Excellency will have been promoted, and the next magistrate will decide whether to kill or retain him. This way, we can collect money without causing trouble. Isn't it the best of both worlds?"

The county magistrate smiled happily and quickly promised, "I will do as the master said. If things go well, I will need your share of the money, master."

Huazhou Shanren Village, Hu Yihuang’s home.

Li Yunzhong has been worried to death recently, and his plans cannot keep up with the changes. Guangxi and Hunan have begun to suffer from severe drought again. This year's harvest will definitely be gone. The people are not willing to wait at home to die. They are heading towards southern Guangxi, where the drought is less severe and not far away. The refugees

Hearing that he could get food by joining the God-worshiping Cult, he dragged his family to join. Seeing that the food in the holy treasury was getting less and less and could not last for a few days, he quickly stopped recruiting people. Li Yunzhong did not expect that one day he would meet,

None of the believers who come to my door want this kind of thing.

The rebellion is not ready yet, less than a thousand weapons have been made, and more than 3,000 people have been trained as the main force of the uprising. Now they don't have enough to eat, and they can only be made to walk in queue every day.

Hu Yihuang said: "I will go to Badong to persuade my elder brother and ask him for some food."

All the brothers know that the relationship between Hu Yihuang and the Hu family is not good. Hu Yihuang's father is Hu Chen. He has occupied a large number of mountain fields and "handmade" 480,000 kilograms of grain rent. People describe Hu Yihuang as

Chen's income from money lending is: "Every day when I open the door, I get at least one hundred and dozens of taels of silver. Hu Chen also personally built several brick and tile houses, which are inherited by his three young sons. Hu Yihuang

He was less than ten years old at the time. Later, when the family was separated, his elder brother bullied Hu Yihuang because he was young and gave him the least inheritance. Hu Yihuang became angry and went to live in the remote Shanren Village to show that he had no contact with the Hu family.

Zhang Suimou persuaded Hu Yihuang, "It's just a drop in the bucket. I saw a group of refugees on the way here. They surrounded some wealthy households and asked for food. We can also find a way from these landlords' homes. They must have a lot of food."

The discussion has been finalized and we decided to go separate ways.

Hu Yihuang insisted on asking for food from his brother and left first.

Li Yunzhong, Meng Shengsheng, and Zhang Suimou each led some people to coerce the big households to hand over grain.

Zhang Weikun and Lin Daji stayed behind to handle chores.

Li Yunzhong led thirty people and rushed to Anhuai Town in the north of the county. The hungry people on the road heard that they were asking for food from large households, so they all followed. When they arrived in Anhuai Town, the number of people surged to four to five hundred.

A large group of people, led by Li Yunzhong, surrounded the high-profile households in the town house by house. Each house more or less threw a few bags of food from the wall. Only the Zhu family in the town had nothing, and Li Yunzhong threatened them outside.

For a long time, there was no answer.

Inside the Zhu Family Courtyard.

An old man in his sixties, wearing silk clothes and wearing a cane with dragon heads, stood in the room, with several men, women and children standing next to him. The old man was heard shouting angrily, and he hit the ground with his cane with his right hand and said loudly:

"Food does not fall from the sky. Give it to them once and they will be able to rely on it. Don't give even a grain of food to those poor devils." After saying that, he turned to look at a young man in his twenties and asked, "Your brother-in-law"

The county magistrate has already told us when our troops will arrive, and those who lead the trouble will be imprisoned."

The young man replied, "There are too many refugees outside. Can my brother-in-law's group training be of any use?"

The old man closed his eyes and thought for a while, then said to the housekeeper standing outside, "Go and tell the leaders of the refugees outside that I will invite them in to discuss how much food to give. As long as no one instigates the refugees outside, nothing will happen."

At this time, a servant came in and reported: My uncle has led the officers and soldiers to the back door.

Li Yunzhong, who was outside, heard that the courtyard asked him to discuss getting food, and he didn't doubt him. He had done this several times, and he just went in to bargain.

As soon as Li Yunzhong entered the Zhu family's courtyard, he saw that the courtyard was full of officers and soldiers. He thought he was going to suffer. Just as he was about to turn around, a knife was put on his neck and he was tied up.

A middle-aged man in official uniform asked the person next to him, "Is he really the leader of the God-worshipping cult?"

The man looked at Li Yunzhong carefully and confirmed, "It's him."

Li Yunzhong lamented: How come there are leading parties in every era?

It turns out that the man wearing the official attire is Mr. Zhu's son-in-law, Zhang Fugui, who is a bandit. He is nicknamed "Big Head Sheep" and was recruited by the government. He was rewarded with a regimental training job, specializing in bullying the Hakka people for the landlords, officials and gentry. Sometimes he also participated in the extermination meetings with the Green Camp.

The Party revolted. This time, I was just leading troops to rescue my family, but I didn't expect to catch a big fish like Li Yunzhong.

Zhu Fugui thought to himself: The county has just decided to arrest a few leaders of the God-worshipping religion, so he will send them to the county magistrate himself, and there will be a huge reward!

Not wanting to waste time, he asked his subordinates to forcibly disperse the refugees outside the door, and escorted Li Yunzhong towards the county seat. The county government

County magistrate Ni Tao waved away two government officials who wanted to force Li Yunzhong to kneel down. Looking at Li Yunzhong who refused to kneel down, he asked in a gentle voice, "Who are you from and why do you promote foreign religions under my rule?"

Li Yunzhong had been worried for a long time, fearing that he would be chopped up with a knife. He was thinking of a way to escape, when he heard the county magistrate talk about foreign religions, which reminded Li Yunzhong that officials in the Qing Dynasty seemed to be very afraid of foreigners.

With some confidence, I learned Wei Xiaobao's life-saving tricks and laughed hard.

The county magistrate's face gradually became grim. "You are so outrageous. How dare you yell at the court. Someone comes and pulls me down and beats me up thirty times."

"Wait a minute, sir, you are in danger." When Li Yunzhong heard that he was going to be spanked, he remembered that officials were afraid of foreigners, not themselves, so he quickly shouted before anyone else.

"Huh huh... Diao Min, if you can't tell me why I'm in such a big disaster, I'll hit you eighty times again."

"Sir, since you know that I believe in foreign religions, you should understand the support of foreigners behind me. To be honest, foreigners come to meet me every half month and listen to my report. Now you have locked me up.

If the foreign masters cannot find me and cause trouble in the Governor's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi or Yanjing, won't your masters be in catastrophe?" In order to frighten the county magistrate, Li Yunzhong made up random things.

"Humph, the foreigners will go to war over you two devils." The county magistrate asked with lack of confidence. He suddenly remembered that the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi had indeed issued an order that foreigners could freely preach and the local officials could not stop them. If foreigners really want to make trouble...

….

Li Yunzhong suddenly came out with a few words in English, and everyone in the hall was confused.

The master next to the county magistrate suddenly said, "This is what foreigners say."

Li Yunzhong glanced at the master and said, "I didn't expect the master to understand foreign languages. Yes, what I just said is what the foreign masters taught me."

The master nodded to the county magistrate, who whispered, "Even if there are foreigners behind him, if I let him go, wouldn't he be known to be afraid of foreigners?"

In fact, before the Second Opium War, the officials of the Qing Dynasty were not afraid of foreigners, but they did not want to deal with foreigners. The best way to get along with foreigners was to communicate with foreigners. If they did not handle it well, they offended them. Not only did they lose their official positions, but they also offended people like Lin Zexu and others.

They would also be exiled. At that time, one way to deal with foreigners in the officialdom was to turn a blind eye and listen but not hear.

The master thought for a while and said, "Why don't we take him into custody temporarily and let Shangguan handle it in Xunzhou Mansion tomorrow?"

The county magistrate nodded in praise. He guessed that the transfer order had already been sent down from the staff, and he was not afraid of offending his immediate superiors. When the foreigners came to ask for help, he only had to push the prefect over the head and that would be it.

"Come here, put the prisoner in jail and take him to Xunzhou tomorrow to be executed." The county magistrate was determined not to spread rumors that he was afraid of foreigners, so he made the decision on behalf of the prefect. As for the magistrate, he was to be executed.

He doesn't care if it's still 'no beheading'.

Li Yunzhong was frightened by the word "execute". Before he could recover, he was taken to the prison on the right side of the county government office.

Li Yunzhong stupidly asked the jailer at the cell door: "Brother, what does execution mean?"

"Beheading, haha, of course it means beheading." The jailer locked the cell door, pulled the lock, and left.

"No, I just traveled through time and suffered so much, and I have to be beheaded before I can enjoy the blessings?" Li Yunzhong muttered in a low voice, absentmindedly.

"Sir, you were arrested like this." At this time, a man in his fifties next to him looked at Li Yunzhong and asked.

"Are you, eh? Aren't you the two little beggars from Siwang Town?" Li Yunzhong didn't recognize him until he recognized the two thirteen or fourteen-year-old children who were locked up with him. They followed the old beggar all day long.

Qian Duo swayed behind him.

The man replied: "My name is Zeng Shuiyuan. I was appointed company commander in Siwang Town by my husband."

"Yes, it's you, the very strong one." Li Yunzhong saw that his arms were thicker than his thighs, and his bronze muscles seemed to be protruding from his skin.

"My name is Gold," "My name is Silver," the two children said one after the other.

"Vulgar, who gave you this name?" Li Yunzhong said with a smile.

"Grandpa named it." The two children didn't understand how such a nice name could become vulgar.

"You will be laughed at if you say this. Let me think about it. When you grow up, you must be good at literature and martial arts. Your name will be Huang Jinwen, and your name will be Baiyinwu." Li Yunzhong said to the two children.

He also thought that he was going to be beheaded tomorrow, so why did he still think about naming it? He was not afraid of beheading at all. He shook his head, lay down on the ground, and closed his eyes.
Chapter completed!