On the fourth day of October, Ji Si day, everything was not suitable.
Because it was not a good day for offering incense, the Yue'ewang Temple in Jingzhongfang looked very deserted.
In a small room in the backyard of the temple, four people were sitting together.
The cards of the Department of Public Opinion were put away after being shown, and they began to discuss in low voices.
"Let's start tomorrow night. We will open the Wangze Gate and welcome the King's troops into the city."
"It will take at least half an hour from the time we are discovered by the defenders at the top of the city until the king's army enters the city. Can we hold on?"
"How many people are there in the garrison?"
"On that section of the city wall alone, there are 2,000 Wuchang troops and 3,000 militiamen, as well as troops from the city who came to support them."
"..."
At the end of the conversation, one of the four, a middle-aged man wearing official robes and a short beard, said loudly, "We can't do anything secretly with just a few of us. We might as well make a big fuss and incite the soldiers and people in the city to rebel against the Song Dynasty."
Gou Shancai was a little surprised. He raised his head and glanced at the middle-aged man who was speaking. He hesitated but said nothing.
He didn't know much about the three people sitting there, and he only recognized them as the Ezhou prison officials named Zhuang Xuyang.
Zhuang Xuyang was placed in Ezhou City by the Public Opinion Department six years ago. At the beginning, he was just a gate officer and Wuchang Sicang. In the past six years, he gradually became a prison guard.
"OK?"
"The Song Dynasty has been implementing public land laws and planning laws recently." Zhuang Xuyang said: "It is said that this planning law seems to be aimed at the military generals' corruption and rectification of military affairs, but in fact it has become a means for Jia Sidao and his party to exclude dissidents."
"Yes." Another young man in the seat replied through gritted teeth, with hatred in his tone.
Gou Shancai didn't recognize this person. He only knew that everyone who could appear here today had some stories.
He guessed that the other party might have had a brother who had been in the Song army and was killed for plotting.
Zhuang Xuyang added: "Just say that in Ezhou City, Yin Zhizhou was impeached and dismissed from office because of the conspiracy law, and was later forced to death. His family members were detained, and his family property was not used to pay for military supplies..."
"Yin Zhizhou is dead?" Gou Shancai asked in surprise.
Wuchang County is adjacent to Ezhou City, and he worked in Wuchang County Government. In his early years, he had met Yin Yingfei, the former magistrate of the state, and respected him quite a lot.
Last year, Yin Yingfei resigned from office and returned to his hometown. Everyone in Ezhou knew this, but the follow-up news was unknown. It was only today that Gou Shancai learned from Zhuang Xuyang that he had gone to the extent of killing people and ransacking their homes.
"Not only Yin Zhizhou, but also Cao Shiying, the deputy commander of the Jingnan Army, and Li He, the commander of the Hanyang Army, were all forced to death by Lu Wende because they were the old troops of Gao Da. His subordinates have long been dissatisfied."
When Zhuang Xuyang said this, he named the other two people and said, "You and I will contact these generals separately..."
Gou Shancai sat aside without saying a word, feeling that compared to them, his status and connections in Ezhou City were really poor. He was the worst among the four spies from the Public Opinion Department today.
Just as he was distracted, Zhuang Xuyang suddenly turned his head and said something to him.
"Is it okay if you come to incite the people?"
Gou Shancai was stunned for a moment. Thinking of his usual behavior of preying on the common people and bullying the weak, he felt very unsure.
Zhuang Xuyang's eyes were firm, and he added: "What you have to do is very simple. Just gather more than a thousand people to surround the general consulate so that Lu Wenfu cannot respond in time that night."
"good."
Gou Shancai felt the determination to "overcome all difficulties" in the eyes of the person in front of him, and he couldn't help but become confident and nodded in agreement.
After the four people discussed it, they left the side room.
The person guarding the courtyard is the old man who is responsible for taking care of the Temple of King Yue'e. He is cleaning the courtyard.
"Old temple man," Zhuang Xuyang said, "I want to take out the items that were sent here."
"Okay, come with me..."
Gou Shancai looked around cautiously and saw that there was no one else in the entire Yue'ewang Temple, so he followed them to the main hall with peace of mind.
This is a place they come to occasionally and they are quite familiar with it.
In front of the main hall is a patio courtyard, a corridor paved with bluestones, and verandahs on both sides, where Niu Gao and Zhang Chun are worshipped.
Entering the main hall, you can see a horizontal plaque reading "Serve the Country with Loyalty" hanging under the eaves. A painted sculpture of Grandpa Yue is sitting in the middle, wearing a python robe and golden armor on his arms, looking heroic.
Yue Fei was not qualified to wear a python robe during his lifetime. After his death, he was granted the title of King of E, which is why this statue was created.
Staying here, Gou Shancai couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
He can't be said to be a good person. He has done a lot of evil things over the years. Obviously, he can't be said to be "loyal to the country."
But when he raised his eyes and looked directly at the majestic eyes carved on the Yue Fei sculpture in front of him, he unexpectedly found that he was not guilty.
Turning around again, I saw many tributes hanging on the wall on the right, among which were four large characters with dragons and phoenixes dancing in them.
"Recover the rivers and mountains."
Gou Shancai then kowtowed.
The old man who led the four people over slowly bent down, knocked on the floor tiles under the statue, and muttered in a low voice.
"Thank you, Grandpa Yue, for watching over me."
Not long after, he opened the bluestone tiles, took out a box, opened it, and saw gold, silver and jewelry inside.
Zhuang Xuyang stepped forward to take it, divided the gold and silver inside into four parts, wrapped it in a parcel, and handed one part to Gou Shancai.
"To incite civil unrest, you still have to spend money to bribe some people."
"clear."
~~
This afternoon, in a dilapidated house in Caoshi Lane in the south of the city, a thin man was kneeling in front of a thin coffin in the house in a daze.
Ezhou is a prosperous city with a prosperous population. There is almost no open space inside or outside the city, so there are few burial places. In recent years, poor families often cannot afford to bury their family members, so they have to be cremated and throw their bones into the river.
It was a matter of life and death, and this thin man couldn't even handle his mother's funeral. He looked in pain...
Suddenly, there was a "bang" sound, and the door of the room was kicked open, and a cold-faced subordinate walked away holding a knife.
The thin man turned around to look, cursed "A dog kills a man" and turned his head away.
He was still kneeling in front of the coffin, but his fists were clenched tightly.
Gou Shancai walked into the house, took a few steps, and suddenly asked, "Your wife was robbed and your mother was beaten to death?"
He had followed the magistrate's order to deal with this matter two days ago.
The address given by the magistrate was within the city, but the Tang army happened to be attacking Ezhou that day, so he deliberately found an excuse to go to Wangzemen to deliver the news to Zhuang Xuyang.
When the war was going on, no one cared about this trivial matter. It was not until today that there was going to be chaos in the city that he thought of this suffering master.
The thin man did not answer, but glared at Gou Shancai angrily.
The Wuchang magistrate and his lackeys were unwilling to make decisions for the people, so he had nothing to say.
Gou Shancai waited for a while, squatted down, and asked in a low voice: "Are you rebelling?"
"It's a dog-killing talent. If you want to catch me, I'll catch you. You don't need to give me any reputation as a rebel. Bah, I can't rebel."
"I'm asking you." Gou Shancai asked word by word: "How about this bullshit Zhao Song who rebelled against me?"
"..."
"I'm serious, I plan to kill Lu Wenfu and join the Tang army. What are you doing with me?"
There was another moment of silence, and the two looked at each other. The thin man gritted his teeth and said, "Fuck it!"
He was not a smart person, and he simply believed in Gou Shancai without thinking too much.
"Okay, if you know anyone who is willing to rebel, find them all."
"Yes, I know more than twenty people who were forced to die by your Wuchang County government."
Gou Shancai picked up a bundle of copper coins and threw it over, then he remembered to ask, "What's your name?"
"Surplus wealth."
Gou Shancai was stunned for a moment. He thought of what he had heard before: "This time the host's family has a surplus of wealth." Then he realized that it was this family that had a surplus of wealth.
These days, there are still a few ordinary people who can make a fortune.
"Take this money and bury your mother. Use the rest to buy people who are willing to rebel against us. The more the better, but you need to find someone you can trust and don't let the news slip."
"You haven't told us what we are going to do."
"Can I tell you now? Tomorrow evening, I will take my people to the Sanshengong Temple and wait for me."
"good……"
Without saying a word, Yu Cai accepted the baggage containing the money without even looking at it. He accepted it without hesitation.
He doesn't look like an ordinary citizen, but has a bit of a heroic spirit.
Because this is a man who has lost everything and is no longer afraid of death.
"Whoever dares to leak the secret will be doomed. Don't forget that the Tang army is surrounding the city and will be able to break in soon..."
Gou Shancai didn't seem to expect that the agreement would be settled so quickly. He touched his neck, left the last threat, stood up and left.
What I thought was impossible to do actually turned out to be very simple.
Gou Shancai has oppressed many people in Wuchang County Government in recent years.
For example, the public land law was implemented from Zhejiang and Zhejiang to Jinghu in recent years. Its original intention was to redeem the excessive fields of the wealthy gentry's families, but in fact it became a way for the wealthy gentry to collude with officials to seize the common people's fields. It was called a buyback, but it was actually a robbery. Only in the hands of Gou Shancai
As a result, many families were forced to lose their homes and families.
All day and night, he went all over the city looking for these victims and invited them to rebel against Zhao Song.
These people were like ants living in the dark corners of Ezhou City. One looked for two, two looked for four, and finally slowly gathered.
"Tomorrow evening, all you have to do is wait on the street near the Consul General's Office. If there is a disturbance, just follow the people and shout..."
~~
The fifth day of October, evening.
Gou Shancai walked quickly through Ezhou Taipingfang, hid in a corner, and glanced in the direction of Sanshengong Temple. He saw Yu Cai and a few ragged people sneaking around, squatting in the cypress forest and waiting.
"Ahem!"
Gou Shancai coughed twice, called Yu Cai over, and asked, "Are they all trustworthy?"
"Determined to rebel." Yu Cai didn't say much, and his tone sounded very determined.
"Everyone follow me."
Gou Shancai led them towards the Wuchang County Government Office. When they were still half an alley away from the County Government Office, he asked Yu Cai and others to wait.
Yu Cai was a little worried and asked, "Why did you bring us here?"
Gou Shancai said nothing, raised his finger and walked away alone.
He walked into the Wuchang County Prison holding the knife...