I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 79 Zhang Jiao: Don’t use fan-made works like Fang La to jeopardize my original IP
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

The timeline goes back to early August, about ten days before the rebellion.

Western Zhejiang, Muzhou, Qingxi County, and Bangyuandong.

Fang La, who had secretly regarded himself as the "Holy Duke", summoned all his trusted subordinates and was carrying out the final pre-war mobilization.

As a member of the Manichaeism, Fang La had been relying on his followers to organize his forces and secretly accumulate weapons for the past two years. However, until this moment, he was not actually considered a leading figure in the Manichaeism in China.

But it didn't matter. The organization of Manichaeism during the Northern Song Dynasty was very loose, and the believers in different places were often independent of each other and managed their own affairs. Each branch of the sect was responsible for as many followers and followers as it could develop.

As long as he took the lead in rebelling and making a fuss, the Manichaeans in other states would naturally respect him and obey his orders.

This is a loose structure where whoever fires the first shot and gains a foothold will be the king.

This is quite different from Zhang Jue and others in previous generations. Zhang Jue built his own original faith and had already established a hierarchy and unified command before launching his army.

Fang La simply borrowed a set of existing foreign beliefs to create fan fiction, using the ready-made shell in order to grow rapidly.

The benefit of fan fiction is that it can leverage the traffic of existing IPs and reduce the public's cognitive cost. The names you use are well-known and people will feel involved, which will of course help to quickly attract traffic.

The downside is well known: fan fiction isn't protected by copyright and is in fact inherently infringing. If he can create second-hand works, so can everyone else. Without the monopoly of interpretation rights, his status in the industry certainly can't compare to Zhang Jiao's.

Furthermore, in early history books, to emphasize Fang La's progressive nature, his identity was often blurred, with him being described as a "lacquer garden worker," suggesting he was a poor farmer or tenant farmer. However, the original text clearly states that he "owned a lacquer garden," meaning he was a cash crop plantation owner and considered a local tyrant.

This is also quite fitting for the individuals targeted by the Hua Shi Gang extortion scheme. The most direct victims of the Hua Shi Gang were the various estate owners, especially Fang La, whose plantations grew lacquer trees. Paint, a crucial building material, was vulnerable to the expropriation of construction materials. With this business model, it's no wonder he became the biggest victim of Zhu Yuanzhang's harsh rule.

Fang La originally didn't care much about the world outside the mountains, but recently, he often heard some news inadvertently. For example, more than half a month ago, he heard news from Suzhou:
A Suzhou magistrate named Zhao Zicheng was so outrageous that he actually petitioned the emperor to abolish the Huashi Gang and the Yingfeng Bureau. His reasoning was quite compelling: they had invented a new stone that could replace Taihu and Lingbi stones for the emperor's gardens, eliminating the need for tribute stones. Therefore, it was better to abolish the Huashi Gang to avoid wasting time and money.

Fang La didn't know that the news he heard was actually spread intentionally by Zhao Zicheng's people. It was Li Jun who had recently infiltrated the Muzhou area who told him.

The spy sent by Fang La to gather information was somehow spotted by Li Jun who was well prepared. Li Jun kindly provided him with extremely detailed information. The spy from Fang La thought he had met a good brother in the martial arts world and that his mission was going too smoothly.

Therefore, in the news Fang La received, the efficacy of the "cement" invented by Zhao Zicheng was exaggerated to be miraculous, and it was boasted to be much more powerful than real cement and have a much wider range of applications.

Fang La's spy even got a bag of cement sample that could be used directly after adding water, and demonstrated it in front of Fang La. Even Fang La praised the spy, praising him for being so capable, and even such a confidential thing could be obtained by bribing local officials in Suzhou.

"The Zhao thieves have such a magical item, maybe they can really get the Flower and Stone Gang. We have made so many preparations and spent so much money. If we don't rebel now, we will have no chance.

I heard that the young Zhao thief is the distant nephew of the old Zhao thief. How can the gift of this nephew not be valued? This Zhu Zhen might really be overthrown. No, we can't wait! When you go back, make preparations as soon as possible, and we will raise an army immediately!

After a comprehensive assessment, Fang La finally decided to launch an uprising as soon as possible.

This decision was indeed opposed by many core confidants at the time.

His brother Fang Fei, sister Fang Baihua, and son Fang Tianding, who were present at the meeting, almost all expressed a deep sense of unease.

"Brother! We haven't made all the preparations yet! First of all, the preparation of weapons and armor has not been completed as planned, and it will take at least one or two months." The second brother Fang Fei was the first to point out the biggest difficulty at the moment.

"Yes, big brother, second brother is right, and we have never raised food and wages. At the beginning, we thought about waiting until the autumn harvest, when the autumn grain was completely stored in the warehouse, and there was no time to escort the grain to be transported, so we took advantage of that critical moment to directly attack a place and seize the official grain to support the soldiers.

It's only August, and the autumn harvest hasn't even begun. If we send troops now, the people will scatter, delaying the farming season, and leaving the grain to rot in the fields. Who will we turn to for the grain? If we rely on our own soldiers to collect the grain, the harvest alone will take a long time, which will certainly slow down our advance."

Sister Fang Baihua obviously knew more about military knowledge, so she couldn't help but remind him and pointed out a key difficulty.

Historically, Fang La delayed his rebellion until October, when the autumn crops had been harvested, dried, and ready for storage. This would not affect the harvest, and it would also coincide with the early winter farming off-season, when the people had nothing to do. This was a perfect opportunity to recruit people and rapidly expand the army.

Fang La knew all these difficulties, but he had other problems. He had to choose the lesser of two evils and had no choice but to go to Liangshan:
"That's not how it works. If Zhao Zicheng succeeds and Zhu Jie is deposed by the emperor, how can we maintain our legitimate rights and interests in rebellion? I've made up my mind. Even if it takes a while, even if we can't get the autumn grain directly from the warehouse, with the summer grain harvest, we can get through the initial hardships of the expedition. Time is of the essence. We must launch the rebellion within ten days!"

The first batch of original non-Fang La's subordinates, including Fang Qifo, Chen Kutong, Zheng Mowang, Qiu Rixin, Guan Sunzhong and others, also had their own plans and suggestions, or advice, or to find out the shortcomings and fill them. Fang La dealt with them one by one, and finally agreed to raise troops simultaneously in Muzhou and Wuzhou on the Mid-Autumn Night of August 15.

... "Kill Zhu Jie! Abolish the Flower and Stone Gang! Dismantle the corrupt merchants! Share the wealth!"

Because it was a long-planned rebellion, Fang La's rebellion in Muzhou went very smoothly. On the night of the rebellion, he sent thousands of trusted men to sneak into Qingxi County before the city gates were closed at night, breaking up the rebellion into small groups.

The weapons, armor, and other items used in the rebellion were all broken down into small pieces and secretly transported into the city in advance, just to avoid the inspections at the city gates. Moreover, because it was Fang La's lair, he also infiltrated some of the local garrison and secretly bought equipment from the garrison's treasury.

After nightfall, the guards and officials relaxed their vigilance and had no awareness of any kind. After all, there had been a continuous state of peace before, so who would sleep with their eyes open?

Fang La's first attack was very successful. Although he started his rebellion nearly two months in advance and his preparations were not as thorough as in original history, he still captured Qingxi County in just one night.

After killing several civil servants and military officers, the ordinary soldiers and militia almost immediately surrendered to Fang La in an organized manner, changed their flags on the spot, and became an army of volunteers.

At the same time, Fang La sent his younger brother Fang Fei, younger sister Fang Baihua, and generals Fang Qifo and Zheng Mowang to raise troops almost simultaneously in Lanxi and Pujiang counties of Wuzhou, adjacent to Muzhou in the south.

Those two places were also infiltrated by the Manichaeans that Fang La had painstakingly developed, so the operations were similar to those in Qingxi County.

Lanxi County was captured in one day, and the local tyrant Zhu Yan took the initiative to assist Fang Baihua in capturing the city.

Only a few righteous men and powerful men who refused to join the rebels took refuge in a fortress deep in the mountains. Lanxi County was said to be a place where descendants of the Zhuge clan lived in seclusion. Since ancient times, they had been unwilling to get involved in popular rebellions and adhered to their ancestral teachings to refrain from politics. When they encountered rebels, they would mark out their own territory and defend it. Fang La's men would capture the big ones and let the small ones go, too lazy to compete with these reclusive people.

The terrain in Pujiang County was not as rugged and dangerous as that in Lanxi County. It was closer to the semi-plain area where Wuzhou and Hangzhou met. So after Fang Fei stole the county seat, the entire county quickly surrendered to him.

Fang La took control of three counties in the first two days, quickly raised his flag, and while the government in the distance had not yet reacted, he continued to advance rapidly and connected the three counties into one.

Between Qingxi County, Pujiang County and Lanxi County, there are Tonglu and Jiande counties under the control of the government. However, because they are surrounded by Fang La's occupied area, they have become trapped.

Fang La officially urged the rebels to attack the city. The defenders of the two places were in a panic. In just a few days, they could not even defend the city. Fang La attacked and broke the city with a fair and open attack. The decline of Jiangnan's military equipment was evident.

By the time the news of Fang La's rebellion reached Suzhou, Zhenjiang and other places, Fang La had already captured Tonglu and Jiande.

It would take another three to five days for the official Song Dynasty messenger to quickly deliver the urgent report to Bian Jing. During these three to five days, Fang La had already occupied the entire territory of Muzhou and Wuzhou.

At the same time, the first group of local armed forces that originated from Manichaeism and were not originally subordinate to Fang La finally rose up spontaneously and nominally responded to Fang La, including Lu Shinang of Taizhou and Chen Shisi of Quzhou.

So when the emperor learned about Fang La's rebellion, Fang La actually already had two prefectures, Muzhou and Wuzhou, under his complete control.

In addition, there were two provincial capitals that were responding to him and had at least one or two county towns captured, namely Quzhou and Taizhou.

In addition, Shezhou, which is adjacent to Fang La’s hometown, is also being attacked by Fang La’s army. If the government army cannot rescue it in time, Shezhou may not last more than ten days or half a month.

What's even worse is that Emperor Zhao Ji may not have realized it immediately - when he saw the news of the civil uprising in the south of the Yangtze River, he only saw that there was a thief in the county of "Muzhou Qingxi County". He could not immediately assess how serious the situation was, so he failed to issue an order to dismiss Zhu Zhen and abolish the Hua Shi Gang on the first day.

Even Zhao Ji failed to give the order on the first day to Tong Guan, who was gathering in Tokyo and originally planned to launch a northern expedition against Yanyun of the Liao Kingdom this year, to immediately turn his attention to Jiangdong to wipe out the Fang La.

He also asked officials from Liangzhe Road to review the situation and made arrangements on his own to stop the bandits and clarify the situation.

It was not until the next five or six days that urgent reports came almost every day, with a county lost today and a state lost tomorrow, and the enemy's strength rapidly weakened, that Zhao Ji began to panic.

Therefore, by the time he finally determined that the rebel situation was serious and that he should abandon Zhu Zhen to appease the people, it was already seven or eight days after the first news of Fang La's rebellion reached Tokyo.

At this time, Zhao Ji heard that two states had been lost. In fact, Fang La and his followers had almost expanded their sphere of influence to three whole states, plus some counties in two other states.

Zhao Ji quickly issued two decrees. The first one ordered Tong Guan to lead his troops south to quell the rebellion immediately, and the other one was to completely dismiss Zhu Zhen from his official position.

By the time this decree was sent to Jiangnan, Fang La had already occupied the entire territory of the five states and was ready to free up his hands to attack Hangzhou from Tonglu County through Fuchun County and down the Qiantang River.

(End of this chapter)