In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 554 No turning back

"Brother Yang, you're incredibly bold! You actually dared to think about something like this?"

"Brother Yang, are you out of your mind?"

"This is a capital offense, Brother Yang, please don't mention it again!"

"..."

Because of his intelligence and righteousness, Yang Zheng was highly respected among his fellow villagers, and his friends, including Yang Erlang, were willing to listen to him.

But Yang Erlang and the others never expected that Yang Zheng would actually want to rebel!

In a country like Xia, rebellion is the greatest taboo. Even a plot that is discovered will result in execution. So how could they not be shocked when Yang Zheng was now pulling them into a plot to rebel?

"Does one survive without rebelling?"

Faced with the astonished crowd, Yang Zheng calmly said, "The imperial court is now going to increase taxes by two taels of silver. Yang Erlang, can your family come up with two taels of silver?"

"cannot!"

Yang Erlang blurted out without thinking, "Don't even mention two taels of silver, my family can't even come up with 200 coins."

"what about you?"

Yang Zheng then looked at the others: "Can any of your families come up with two taels of silver?"

"cannot!"

The others also shook their heads; their rice jars were empty, so where would they get two taels of silver?

"If they can't come up with two taels of silver, their whole family will be sent to the army."

Yang Zheng said with a serious expression, "Not only you yourselves, but also your sisters, brothers, and parents will all be conscripted into the army and die on the way."

"..."

Everyone was silent.

Although they were not very knowledgeable, they had heard of the horrors of being conscripted into the army.

It's no exaggeration to say that more than 80% of those who were conscripted died on their way to the army, and the remaining 20% ​​died on the northern battlefield.

"Go to that damned imperial court."

Yang Erlang, who had the most fiery temper, cursed angrily: "This is leaving us no way to survive!"

"This dog has entered the court, this dog has entered the emperor. He lives in his big house, eats fine wine and meat, but doesn't give us any way to survive."

"That emperor in the capital doesn't give us any way to survive!"

"Hmph, why would the emperor care about our lives? He'd rather squeeze every last drop out of us!"

"..."

Yang Zheng's words seemed to ignite the anger in everyone's hearts, and they began to curse the emperor and the court.

Yang Zheng continued, "Being conscripted into the army is death, and so is rebelling. Since death is inevitable, what is there to be afraid of?"

"Brother Yang is right!"

Yang Erlang was the first to respond: "We're going to die whether we pay our taxes or rebel, so we might as well rebel!"

"Yes, we'll rebel against them! Since that damned emperor and court won't let us live, then we'll rebel against them!"

"Damn it! I want to drink and eat meat like those landlords!"

"Rather than starve to death or die on the way to conscription, I'd rather die a glorious death! Brother Yang, I'll follow you!"

"..."

The group of friends remembered how they had been exploited by the imperial court and government officials over the years, and their anger flared up instantly. Their fear of rebellion vanished in an instant, leaving only endless rage.

But at this moment, one of the companions said weakly, "But... rebellion is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family! If our rebellion fails, won't our nine generations of family members all suffer?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Zheng looked at the man and said, "If you don't rebel, do you think your entire clan will survive? Don't you think carefully about which member of your clan is even able to eat their fill right now?"

"..."

The companion fell silent.

It was truly a sad thing that he couldn't find a single relative from his nine generations who could provide him with enough to eat, despite searching his entire memory.

"Brother Yang, don't worry about what Gouzi says, just tell us what we should do?"

Having completely abandoned his fear, Yang Erlang stared intently at Yang Zheng and asked.

"We'll do it like this..."

Yang Zheng led the group to a tree and began to plot the details of their rebellion. They continued until night fell completely before the group dispersed and returned to their homes to rest.

Then, a premeditated rebellion began!

Three days later, when several officials came to Yang Zheng's village to collect taxes, they were not greeted by obsequious and subservient villagers, but by... Yang Zheng and his men, who were well-prepared.

As soon as the officials stepped into the village, Yang Zheng and the other able-bodied men, who were prepared, swarmed forward, surrounded the officials, and beat them to death in the village.

"Hoohoo!"

Yang Erlang, who was killing for the first time, was panting heavily, his pupils trembling violently.

It's inevitable to experience physical discomfort when killing someone for the first time, especially when the victim is a government official.

"Brother Yang."

A wave of fear washed over him, and Yang Erlang said in a trembling voice, "Is there no way back for us?"

"there is none left!"

Yang Zheng glanced at the mangled corpse of the official on the ground, his heart also unsettled, but he forced himself to remain calm and said, "Once the arrow is released, there is no turning back. Since we have decided to rebel, there is no turning back!"

After saying that, Yang Zheng continued without waiting for anyone to speak, "Quickly strip the clothes off the officials, we're going to the county town."

"it is good!"

Although the villagers were not very knowledgeable, they knew that killing the officials was tantamount to rebellion, so they did not hesitate. They stripped the officials of their clothes, which were then put on Yang Zheng and two other young men of similar build, before heading straight for the county town.

After successfully infiltrating the county town, the three disguised themselves as government officials and went straight to the county government office, and then... began a killing spree inside!

There were only a few constables in the county government office, so they were naturally no match for the attack of Yang Zheng and his dozen or so strong young men. Not to mention, before revealing their identities, Yang Zheng and his men went to the county government office's warehouse and each took a weapon that suited them.

With sharp weapons in hand and a large number of men, Yang Zheng and his men easily stormed into the county government office and then slaughtered all the corrupt officials who had committed numerous evils and colluded with landlords!

To this day, Yang Zheng still remembers the incredulous look in the county magistrate's eyes when he stormed into the county government office. The high and mighty magistrate seemed to never have imagined that the lowly people he used to regard as ants would have such courage to storm the county government office!

However, the magistrate was also a man of principle. When he saw that Yang Zheng and his men were already bloodthirsty, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy. Unfortunately, Yang Zheng did not give him a chance to live and ended his life with a single slash!

After breaching the county government office, Yang Zheng did not linger there. Instead, he changed into the magistrate's clothes and disguised himself as the magistrate before heading to the four city gates.

Because there are still city guards there, the city guards at the four city gates total eighty men, and each of them is well-equipped. Once they react, our forces will definitely be unable to resist them.

Therefore, if Yang Zheng wants to control the entire county, he must first get rid of the city guards.