In the dense forest on the sloping hills outside Qingping County, several scouts stepped over withered grass where the snow had not yet melted, hurrying toward the army concealed among the pines.

“General! A troop of imperial soldiers is heading toward Qingping County!”

The young officer from Chongzhou, who was stationed there awaiting orders, was overjoyed. “Are they flying the Wei banner?”

The scout replied, “No Wei banner seen — they’re flying the Jizhou flag.”

The young officer’s expression grew uncertain. He asked again, “Who leads them?”

“An old general and a young commander.”

The young officer muttered, “Could it be that Wei Xuan and He Jingyuan have come together?”

One of his men asked, “General, shall we still ambush those rebels surrounding Qingping County?”

The young officer shook his head. “The troops from Jizhou are already here. Have our men continue leading the rebels to make trouble — better yet, drive them into the county. That way, no matter who has come from Jizhou, this army will have no choice but to engage the rebels.”

Once the rebellious county folk entered the city, the heavier the civilian casualties, the greater the guilt that could be pinned upon the Wei faction.

Their heir’s original plan had been to intercept the military grain shipments bound for Qingping County. With Wei Xuan’s temper, he would surely fly into a rage and personally lead his troops to seize the grain. When he encountered the furious rebels, both sides, like two barrels of gunpowder meeting a spark, would inevitably explode into battle.

If word spread that the court’s forced grain requisition had driven a county to rebellion — and that the army had massacred unarmed civilians — it would surely cause a great uproar.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

The situation at the city gate now could hardly be called optimistic.

Qingping County was but a small town, its defenses never taken seriously. Even its rammed-earth walls were ridiculously low; aside from a bare gate tower, there was neither barbican, nor arrow tower, nor horse-face wall.

Having received advance word, Head Constable Wang led his subordinates to close the gate, hastily gathering a few bows and arrows to mount on the lookout slits above it. But the line still looked pitifully thin, there weren’t even enough heads to fill the wall.

Letting a group of constables guard a city gate was absurd in itself.

But Qingping County had no stationed troops. For decades, apart from bandits, it had never seen the flames of war.

Below the gate tower, the gathered farmers formed a black mass. Each held a hoe or rake, their faces stripped of former simplicity — now fierce and feral, as if they wished to tear apart the constables standing above.

Not to mention the young constables on the wall, even Head Constable Wang felt waves of dread in his heart. If these thousands of farmers truly forced their way in, what could this small gate tower possibly hold back?

At this moment, Wang could only hope that Jizhou had caught wind of the situation and would quickly dispatch troops to their aid.

He remembered what Fan Changyu had relayed, and stood at the lookout persuading the people below with gentle words: “Fellow villagers, what are you doing? Don’t be muddled in the moment and commit so grave a crime as to have your nine generations executed!”

Most of the farmers who had come this far still feared the bows and arrows on the tower and did not dare press forward; although they were many in number, none wished to be the first to go to their death.

Everyone knew what the charge of rebellion meant; each person understood it in their heart, and hearing such admonitions from others was a different matter.

Most of them had plowed the fields their whole lives and had never left Qingping County; they only knew that the greatest power under heaven was the official — the emperor — and that the highest official in Qingping County was the county magistrate.

Offend the county magistrate, and you would be beaten and thrown into a great prison; offend the emperor, and your nine generations of kin would all be sent to the execution block.

Ordinarily, even seeing these constables would fill them with terror. Now when Head Constable Wang spoke thus, their hearts inevitably sank.

The man leading them, seeing this, hardened his gaze and cursed up at Head Constable Wang on the wall: “When you dog-officials swagger and flaunt your power, we peasants are the lowly scum you call around to bark orders at. We’ve been driven to the brink with no way to live — now you call us ‘fellow villagers’? Pah! I won’t bear the name of your county magistrate’s lackey as a fellow villager! Execute nine generations? We don’t even have seed grain left; we don’t need the emperor to execute our nine generations — we’ll starve to death first! If it’s to die one way or another, better to storm the city, grab travel funds, and go join the Chongzhou rebel prince — at least that leaves a chance to live!”

Those farmers who had been wavering at first, on hearing his words, hardened their expressions and cried out in unison: “The government gives us no way to live! We’ll make our own way!”

The leader raised his farming tool: “Let the dog county magistrate come out and die!”

The farmers behind him echoed: “Let the dog county magistrate come out and die!”

Seeing the situation slipping out of control, Head Constable Wang hastened to say, “Fellow villagers, calm down. The seed grain… will be returned to everyone. Everyone go back to your own homes; the government will not pursue this matter of rebellion further.”

The leader sneered: “See, before we rebelled, these dog-officials didn’t treat our lives as anything; even when people were beaten to death they still took the grain. Now we rebel, and they promise to return the grain! The suffering and hardships we’ve endured all these years are only because we’re easy to bully!”

His words stirred even more anger among the farmers.

Riding the momentum, the leader shouted, “We cannot retreat! If we retreat, these dog-officials will swagger again! Which rich household in this city doesn’t look down on us? Whenever we go to market, those people treat us as if we were filthy things! Storm the city! Slay the dog-officials, seize the gold and silver, and take back the humiliation we suffered!”

He gave a glance to a few men behind him; they understood and began to shout as well:

“Exactly! We weren’t born lowly, we just didn’t have the luck to be reborn as those city folk!”

“Fellow villagers, don’t be fooled by the county magistrate’s lackeys! If they trick us into going home, we’ll end up like Ma Family Village!”

“We’re already at this point with our fields, why retreat now? I’d rather die and be a gallant ghost! I’ve heard the women in the city are so tender you can squeeze water from them! Their skin is white as dough; you bachelors who’ve never had a wife, don’t you want to spend a night as a city gentleman’s bridegroom?”

With the Ma Family Village atrocity fresh in everyone’s minds, no one dared to retreat. The prospect of entering the city offered so many temptations; the farmers’ eyes were reddening, they panted in the mud and shouted: “Storm the city!”

It was only when Head Constable Wang came to the gate that he learned the reasons behind these peasants’ rebellion: first, that the county yamen’s officials and soldiers sent to requisition grain had been brutal and overbearing, treating the farmers as less than human; second, that those from Ma Family Village had gone to Jizhou to make the matter public and, on the way, had been slaughtered, their entire village wiped out.

He no longer even held the post of head constable now; when he said the seed grain would be returned, his tone had lacked force. Seeing these rebellious farmers’ faces distorted like beasts, he pleaded earnestly, “Fellow villagers, don’t be muddled, don’t be muddled! How large is Qingping County? If you rebel here, do you really think you can escape to Chongzhou? Even if you can, can your wives, children, and elderly mothers escape with you?”

Those shouting the loudest were the rural fellows with neither aged parents above nor young children below.

Wang’s words landed; the rioting farmers showed varied expressions.

Some who had simply been driven to desperation and only followed along to make trouble now demanded, “You said you’d return the seed grain to us, is that for real?”

Wang, who truly wasn’t sure whether the authorities would return the grain, hesitated a moment, then ground his teeth and said, “Of course it’s true!”

Those who had relatives in Ma Family Village spat in hatred, “Hand over the dog-officials and soldiers who slaughtered the whole Ma Family Village to be killed, or this won’t end!”

Wang hurriedly said, “The Ma Family Village atrocity will certainly be strictly investigated by the government, we’ll give the fellow villagers an explanation.”

Seeing that Head Constable Wang’s words had split the rebellious force, the leader exchanged a look with his comrades.

The man who had been shouting the loudest kept jeering, “Strictly investigate? How will you investigate if not by you dog-officials’ own say-so! If you turn around and claim mountain bandits did it, then what can we do?”

This was indeed possible; the crowd, which had calmed somewhat, began to stir again.

“Right! Hand over those dog-bastard officials and soldiers now!”

A group of them began to press toward the city gate.

Wang shouted, “Do not advance further! Whoever comes up will be shot!”

The constables at his side drew their bowstrings full, but the hands that nocked arrows trembled slightly.

The crowd below cursed more fiercely: “This Wang is the yamen’s head constable, the ones who killed Ma Family Village might well be his men; how could he possibly hand them over!”

Stoked by these taunts, the rebels’ hatred of Head Constable Wang deepened.

Just as Wang was at his wits’ end, an unusual sound came from behind him.