The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

"Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road, the bones of those frozen to death lie scattered. The world should not be like this, the world should not be like this..."

After a moment of silent contemplation, Xie Chong roared excitedly, "But that's just how the world is, what the hell can we do?"

"My father sold all the family's fertile land to become a tenant farmer for the village head in order to support my studies. To meet my father's expectations, I humbly sought knowledge everywhere and never dared to slack off for decades. I finally passed the imperial examination and entered officialdom, but what was the result?"

"Not only were the official positions that had already been decided snatched away by the four great families, but my brother also lost his life and my sister-in-law was disgraced. I myself was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, and there was nothing I could do but wait to die. My family has worked hard for two generations, and this is the result we got. This is the damn world."

Xie Chong gripped the fence and roared wildly, his emotions running high and he was on the verge of collapse.

Meng Jun patted his shoulder to comfort him, and at the same time sighed, "As a wandering knight, I have traveled all over the country for many years and have seen a lot of the world. After going around, I was surprised to find that the sky in Jiangdong is the darkest and the Jiangdong gentry are the most lawless."

"Although the gentry of the Central Plains also bully the weak, no one dares to make a move in the officialdom because of Cao Cao's control. If Xie Chong's incident had happened in the Central Plains, Cao Cao would have dared to slaughter the entire family of the other party."

A county magistrate is not a minor official and cannot be replaced at will. The same applies to a prospective county magistrate who has not yet taken office; according to later generations, he is already a person with a formal position.

This would have sounded like a fantasy to Cao Cao and Liu Bei, but it actually happened in Jiangdong, which shows how powerful the four major families of Wu Commandery were and how weak Sun Quan's control over Jiangdong was.

Guan Xing said angrily, "The classics teach us to abide by the law, unite and help each other, and be gentle, kind, respectful, frugal and modest, but what has been the result?"

"Xie Chong's future has been stolen, Meng Jun's property has been stolen, Ning Huan's wife has been stolen, and those damned aristocratic families keep using the guise of saints to teach us to do good deeds, while they themselves do evil deeds with a clear conscience. Is this appropriate?"

"Are we just going to keep putting up with this? Even a clay figure has some temper. Why should we ordinary people have to keep being bullied by them?"

Xie Chong's eyes reddened from the shock, but he stared at Guan Xing and calmly asked, "Young General, we've never met before and we're not related, so why are you telling us all this?"

"Young General, just tell us what you want us to do. As long as you can help me kill Zhu Hong, my life is yours."

All the prisoners looked at Guan Xing. No one who could get into this place was a fool, and they didn't believe that Guan Xing would show kindness for no reason without asking for anything in return.

Guan Xing looked Xie Chong straight in the eye and said with a serious expression, "I understand that you want to take revenge on Zhu Hong, but what I want is not just Zhu Hong, but the entire Zhu family, or more precisely, the complete annihilation of the four major families of Wu County."

Xie Chong exclaimed in disbelief, "You have a grudge against the four major families?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "No, at most we're just serving our own masters."

Xie Chong asked in surprise, "Then why go to such extremes?"

He had such a blood feud with Zhu Hong, yet he never thought of implicating the Zhu family. But Guan Xing wanted to wipe out the entire family for no reason.

Isn't that a bit too harsh?

Guan Xing explained, "As I just said, the world shouldn't be like this, so I want to change it."

"The four major families occupy more than 90% of the land in Wu County, enjoy all kinds of rights, and have turned the people of Wu County and even several surrounding counties into their slaves. And then what?"

"The four major families, who control massive resources and enjoy various privileges, have not only failed to serve the country loyally, but have also exploited the people and deceived the court, constantly enriching themselves at the expense of the public. Is this appropriate or reasonable?"

"Is Jiangdong the Jiangdong of the Han Dynasty, or the Jiangdong of those four great families?"

"You've also studied the classics, so you should know what you should and shouldn't know. The imperial court collects almost zero taxes from the four great families every year. Do you know what that means?"

"It means they are constantly undermining the court and sucking its blood. They are like bloodsuckers clinging to the court. Why did the Yellow Turban Rebellion break out? Wasn't it because the aristocratic families annexed too much land, forcing the common people to starve?"

"The aristocratic families drove the people into rebellion, but then they turned around and blamed the emperor, saying that the emperor was incompetent and caused the chaos in the country. How wronged is His Majesty the Emperor?"

"and then?"

"The dynasty has fallen, the Han dynasty is finished, but the aristocratic families have changed masters and continue their extravagant and licentious lives, continuing to exploit the people with impunity and bully poor worms like you with no background."

“It’s not just you, your sons, your grandsons, all your descendants, as soon as they are born, will become slaves of the gentry. The greatest wealth of the gentry is not fertile land or manors, but poor wretch like you.”

Xie Chong stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning, muttering to himself, "The greatest wealth of the gentry is poverty, it's poverty?"

The other prisoners were also shocked by Guan Xing's outrageous remarks. Images of their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and even further back appeared in their minds, all of whom seemed to be pitiful creatures like themselves.

In contrast, the four great families have produced high-ranking officials for generations, enjoying centuries of glory, and barring unforeseen circumstances, they will continue to be glorious without end.

In other words, will their children and grandchildren be just like themselves and their ancestors, forever struggling at the bottom of society?

What's the point of all this fuss? I might as well just die.

Xie Chong finally came to his senses and sighed helplessly, "You're right, but so what? What can it change?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "How will you know it can't be changed if you don't try?"

"It is said that dynasties come and go but aristocratic families remain. No matter how dynasties change, the gentry always exist. The Zhu family of Wu County who harmed you is said to be a descendant of Emperor Zhuanxu. They have been living in power for thousands of years and are still living in a superior position. Why?"

“All the gentry believe that their wealth and status should be passed down from generation to generation, but I am determined to break this ironclad rule. I will seize the land from the local tyrants and distribute the fertile land fairly to every commoner, so that they can all be well-fed and clothed and never suffer from hunger and cold again.”

"I also want to improve Cai Hou paper, promote books and build academies so that everyone can afford to read, and build more clinics so that everyone can afford to see a doctor, so that all the people of my Han Dynasty can have someone to rely on in their youth and someone to care for in their old age, and so that there will be no more bullying and oppression in this world."

Guan Xing's voice was low and deep, yet it seemed to deafen Xie Chong. With a dazed look in his eyes, Xie Chong asked, "This is even greater than the grand aspirations of a sage. Can it be accomplished?"

Guan Xing countered, "Does the ability to do it matter?"

"As long as we do it, the people and history will remember us. Even if we fail, future generations will follow in our footsteps and continue to move forward until we succeed."

"You must have been in a fight before. If you give up fighting back because you're afraid when others bully you, they'll bully you even more. On the contrary, if you fight back with the mentality of mutual destruction, they'll have to think twice before bullying you again."

"By the same token, as long as we dare to resist, the aristocratic families will not dare to act recklessly. The reason why the aristocratic families dare to be so arrogant is essentially because they have been spoiled by good people like you."

Xie Chong remained silent for a long time, then stepped back, knelt down, and solemnly bowed, saying, "The people are not afraid of death, so why threaten them with death? The young general is right. Just do what needs to be done, and there is no need to care about the result. As long as you do it, people will remember you."

"If the young general doesn't mind, I, Xie Chong, will serve you for life, even if it means going through fire and water or dying a thousand deaths."