The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Chapter 1651: Looting and Smashing Again

Under the light of the Night Pearl, Zhou Ziren patted a thick stack of papers on the table beside him and said, "Tonight, we will post this notice all over the streets and alleys without any violence. Let the people of Xiangzhou know that our opposition to Qingguo's shops is not pure anger, nor is it for venting, but to put pressure on Qingguo and merchants. We cannot let Qingguo use our Xiangzhou people's money to threaten Xiangzhou! At the same time, we advise the people of the city to remain calm, not to smash and loot, and to move forward in balance and stability. This is the way for Xiangzhou people!"

The people of the Fuxing Society responded in unison.

"Let's go!"

In the night, hundreds of people were divided into more than 20 teams, each carrying a large number of notices, and began to post them on some streets in Taihefu.

Even if they encountered patrolling yamen runners, they showed their identity as scholars, and those yamen runners could not stop them.

An hour later, everyone returned to the gate of the academy.

At this moment, the east was already slightly bright, and the sun would rise soon.

Under the morning light, more than a hundred vigorous scholars smiled.

"Everyone go home and have a good sleep." Zhou Ziren said.

One hundred people left one after another.

Not long after the one hundred people left, dozens of black-clothed men carrying bags and holding iron bars appeared on Mingyang Street.

Mingyang Street is a famous prosperous street in Taihe Prefecture. The shops on both sides of the street sell exquisite goods from other places. They are completely monopolized by the big business houses in Qing State. Even after Xiangzhou was annexed to Jing State, it did not affect the operation of these big business houses. In the process of smashing and looting a few days ago, only three or five shops on the entire Mingyang Street were affected.

Bang...

A stone smashed a glass window, sounding the first sound in Taihe Prefecture today.

Then, these people split into three groups. One group tore off some of the notices of the Fuxing Society, one group kept smashing the doors and windows of the shops with stones, and some people smashed them with iron bars.

These people shouted while smashing and looting.

"Down with the dogs of Qing!"

"People in Xiangzhou don't buy Qing products!"

"People in Qing get out of Xiangzhou!"

Strangely, these smashing and looting did not cause much damage to the shops on Mingyang Street.

At the same time, a large number of people in black also poured out of Jianghe Street, which is not far from here. Jianghe Street is also a famous commercial street, but unlike Mingyang Street, most of the merchants here are natives of Xiangzhou, and the goods they sell are varied and far less valuable than those on Mingyang Street.

These people in black are more violent in Jianghe Street. They often rush into shops and beat miscellaneous goods with iron bars. If they meet someone in the shop, they will not stop, and beat them desperately, knock them unconscious and run away.

These people shouted the same slogan.

"Those who sell Qing goods should die!"

Yali Academy is one of the most famous large academies in Taihe Prefecture. Those who can study in the academy are either rich or noble. More than a decade ago, only the children of Qing scholars could study here.

While the looting and smashing were going on, a group of people came here with oil bottles and candles, poured kerosene on a building of the academy, set it on fire and ran away, shouting: "Burn the bastards of Qing State!"

On the way of escaping, they deliberately left some notices, which were signed with the three words "Fuxing Society".

Nearly a thousand people were scattered all over Taihe Mansion, smashing, looting and even burning. After only a quarter of an hour, all these people disappeared, and then the yamen runners of Taihe Mansion were dispatched one after another. Finally, the yamen runners who went out reported the situation of Taihe Mansion to Yan Wu, the prefect of Taihe Mansion, who was awakened from his dream.

After listening to the report of the yamen runners, Yan Wu said angrily: "Come here, arrest all members of the Fuxing Society and hand them over to the Taihe County Yamen for trial."

General Secretary Sun on the side hurriedly said: "Sir, this is obviously a method of framing others. I think..."

General Secretary Sun suddenly stopped talking halfway, because Yan Wu looked at him with extremely cold eyes at this moment, and that look seemed to freeze General Secretary Sun's blood. General Secretary Sun was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized it, lowered his head, and said nothing.

"Old Sun, I think you have been too hard these days, go home and rest for half a year." Yan Wu said lightly.

General Secretary Sun suddenly raised his head and looked at Yan Wu with pleading eyes, but Yan Wu no longer looked at him. He saw unprecedented indifference in Yan Wu's eyes.

"I... obey the order!" General Secretary Sun said, and left the prefectural yamen like a walking corpse.

All the yamen runners in Taihe Prefecture were dispatched to arrest all members of the Mingxin Academy Fuxing Society and sent them all to the Taihe County Yamen.

Taihe Prefecture governs nine counties and a prefectural city. Like other county cities, Taihe Prefecture is managed by a magistrate. However, due to the existence of the prefect, magistrates of lower ranks are restricted everywhere. Therefore, there is a saying that "if you do evil in your previous life, you will be a magistrate", which refers to people who serve as magistrates in prefectural cities.

Lu Ming, the magistrate of Taihe Prefecture, sat in the lobby, looking at the dark crowd of scholars outside the lobby door, with a sad face.

"Dog official! Running dog of Qing Kingdom!"

"Traitorous county magistrate, surrendered to the enemy Jinshi!"

"We are scholars, students of the Holy Academy, and disciples of the Holy Academy. What right do you have to arrest us?"

Outside the county government, thousands of people blocked the door. These were relatives, friends, and neighbors of the members of the Restoration Society. Not far away, there were many people watching the excitement.

"The county magistrate killed someone!" The relatives and friends of the students of the Restoration Society began to make trouble.

Lu Ming coughed lightly, slapped the gavel, and said, "Silence!"

The scolding continued.

Lu Ming suppressed the anger in his heart, and his tongue burst into thunder, which spread over a hundred feet nearby.

"Early this morning, I was awakened from my sleep by a yamen officer. I learned that the prefect, Mr. Yan, believed that Guangfu Society students smashed shops and burned down academies. He wanted to arrest all Guangfu Society students in the city and then send them to the county for trial. The prefect had an order, This county has no choice but to take this order. If you have anything to say, let the county ask you one by one. If you continue to speak rudely, don’t blame the county for beating you up for disturbing the court!”

Lu Ming's words were very clear. The students present were calm for a moment, and then started talking about it.

One person whispered: "The prefect Yan Wu is the 'Qingguan', there is no mistake!"

Zhou Ziren said: "The prefect is not important. What is important is those men in black who beat, smash, and burn. They must be the lackeys of the Qing State. Once the people of Taihe regard those people as members of our Fuxing Society, not only Taihe Prefecture, but also I'm afraid there will even be people on the discussion list who will discuss it with us. On that day, when there was vandalism and looting, all the scholars in Shengyuan Continent were laughing and ridiculing us Xiangzhou scholars as idiots... No! I understand, could it be that the people who vandalized and looted last time were not really anti-Qing people? , but a detailed work sent by the Qingguo people? "

"I don't think so. They must be some hooligans who took the opportunity to cause trouble. If it is really the work of the Qing Kingdom, why doesn't the court announce it?"

"Why do those officials want to announce it? Why do they care about us and other common people? In other words, if they don't push the officials into a corner, when will they take the initiative to tell us the truth? What's more, in the eyes of those officials, this It's just a small thing. They have always adhered to the concept of "doing less is better, doing less will make less mistakes, and doing more will make more mistakes". Why bother? What's more, there are many officials in Xiangzhou who laugh at those who oppose the Qing Dynasty! "

"Everyone, please be patient and let's see how Magistrate Lu handles the situation." Zhou Ziren said.

Everyone looked at Lu Ming.

Lu Ming looked at the hundreds of scholars, thought for a long time, and said: "Zhou Ziren, the leader of the society, will stay and let the county slowly review the case. Come and send the rest to prison. You must treat them kindly and do not embarrass these students!"

Lu Ming began to interrogate the case, one person interrogating for one day.

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