Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 217 Method
When the fate of this land is in your hands, what will you do with it?
Yan Sanqin was stunned. His mind was full of how to defeat the Qing court, and he had never seriously thought about this question. He had been working in the fields all his life, making a living. How could he think about such a grand question?
"Maybe... it's for equality!" Zhao Jiushu, who was standing by, suddenly spoke up, with a hint of longing in his tone: "Everyone has land to farm, and everyone has food to eat!"

Equal distribution of land and exemption of taxes are the most basic demands of almost every peasant uprising.

From Li Zicheng's "equalizing the rich and the poor, and exempting land from taxes" in the late Ming Dynasty, to the "killing the rich to help the poor, and dividing the land equally" proposed by Li Wencheng and Lin Qing, leaders of the Tianli Sect during the Jiaqing period, to the "Heavenly Kingdom's Land System" promulgated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

These slogans and policies all express the farmers' desire for land, abolish private land ownership, divide the land equally, and allow everyone to support themselves with their own hands.

Zhao Jiushu had studied for a few years, and he knew that the root cause of the turmoil in the world was that many people could not even afford to eat. Working hard all year round, but still having to live in debt, who could endure such a life?

"Then how can we ensure that everyone has land to farm and food to eat?" Shi Fei continued to ask, his eyes sharp.

"Kill the rich and help the poor, and divide the land equally!" Zhao Jiushu blurted out in a firm and simple tone. This answer is simple and direct, but it speaks out the voice of countless farmers.

Why can those powerful people own thousands or tens of thousands of acres of land, while they only have a few acres of small land?
Why!

Shi Fei nodded, and then asked: "But now those powerful and wealthy people are very powerful, and they are backed by foreigners and the old gods. How can you rebel to achieve your goal of killing the rich and helping the poor?"

"I..." Zhao Jiushu was speechless for a moment and stood there in a daze.

He was just an ordinary person who was starving and desperate, and he had never thought about such a far-reaching problem. His anger and unwillingness were more out of instinct than careful consideration.

At this time, Yan Sanqin suddenly spoke up, his tone frankly: "I only have one miserable life, and everyone in the world who can't survive also has a miserable life! It's just a fight of life!"

His eyes flashed with determination: "After all, there are more bad guys like us in this world. As long as we fight them hard, we will definitely win!"

Shi Fei asked: "What if there are foreigners among the enemies?"

"Foreigners are also human beings. If they stand in our way, we will kill them too!" Yan Sanqin has figured it out. He has no way out.

In this world, only by killing can we create a peaceful and prosperous world!

"What if the enemy still has a 'god'?" Shi Fei said.

He knew that the Old Ones were behind the foreigners.

Yan Sanqin's skinny body erupted with a roar: "What a Gou Ba Shen, if you don't let me live, I'll chop him up anyway!"

After hearing Yan Sanqin's words, the others were infected by his spirit and shouted:
"Our suffering is caused by those gods! We must kill them!"

"So what if they are gods? I only trust the knife in my hand!"

From ancient times to the present, if they are not allowed to live, they will kill anyone!
Not even God!

Upon hearing this, Shi Fei couldn't help but look up to Yan Sanqin. He didn't expect that this skinny man actually had some heroic spirit.

"Yes! Kill them!" The young man who had said he would help Shi Fei also shouted loudly, his young face full of determination.

Shi Fei patted the young man on the head and said to everyone, "A rebellion must have a plan and a goal. Let me tell you a story from decades ago." Decades ago, Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui and others used religion as a bond to rise up in Jintian, Guangxi, which quickly swept across the south and established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Their flags read "Peace in the World" and their slogan was "Kill the Demons and Eliminate the Evil", which attracted countless people who were oppressed by the Qing government.

The rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was like a violent storm. In just a few years, it occupied half of the country and even threatened the ruling core of the Qing Dynasty.

However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was only a flash in the pan. The contradiction between divine power and imperial power became its core problem.

Hong Xiuquan was more like a religious leader in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, similar to the Pope, focusing on the spread of ideas and beliefs, while the power of military and internal affairs was firmly in the hands of Yang Xiuqing.

During the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the two men worked in perfect harmony, one focusing on religious beliefs and the other on military affairs, supporting each other and jointly promoting this massive uprising.

However, as their power expanded, the conflict between the two gradually intensified, eventually leading to the decline of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

After Yang Xiuqing's death, Hong Xiuquan found it difficult to fully control the situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The internal power struggle intensified, eventually leading to serious civil unrest.

The Qing government took the opportunity to counterattack, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom quickly collapsed amid internal and external difficulties, and its former glory turned into nothing.

Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had many limitations of a peasant uprising, it was not as foolish as the world imagined.

At the height of its power, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promulgated the "New Treatise on Aids to Government" which stunned Western missionaries: it established imperial examinations for women, allowing them to participate in politics; it promoted a system of public property, with "all the land to be cultivated and all the food to be eaten"; it also issued clear orders to ban opium and abolish slavery.

In Nanjing, scholars wearing tortoise-shell glasses used self-ringing clocks to tell time and sketched out a blueprint for a utopia on the “Land System of the Celestial Empire” printed in lead movable type. Thousands of miles away in the Forbidden City, military ministers were still copying “Yiwu Zhe” in cinnabar.

Hong Xiuquan was also a religious genius. Through in-depth research on the Bible, he discovered the "loopholes" in it, and based on this, he constructed a unique religious system, which became the spiritual pillar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Shi Fei continued, "The world has suffered from the Qing Dynasty for a long time. The rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was more due to the ruthless exploitation of the Qing court, which makes people want to rebel against it!"

"But if you don't have good planning and ambitious goals, you will end up being nothing more than a flash in the pan like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Not only will you not have your deep sea blood feud fulfilled, but you will also be laughed at by your enemies."

"So, for now, we must survive, accumulate strength, make plans, and implement them step by step to achieve our goals!"

Zhao Jiushu was immersed in the story of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of "sharing the fields and eating the meals together" and could not extricate himself.

Yan Sanqin had understood Shi Fei's meaning. Rebellion also requires methods and planning! A rebellion without a plan, even if it was like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom taking over the southern provinces, would eventually be like a flash in the pan and extinguished in the blink of an eye!

He said, "I understand! Eat first, farm, and then survive, and then chop off the heads of those people in the Qing court!"

"There are also foreigners and their gods!" Zhao Jiushu also reacted.

Yan Sanqin clapped his hands and said with great pride: "Kill people! Kill gods! Kill the motherfuckers! Overthrow this world! Then build a world where everyone can have enough food to eat!"

(End of this chapter)