Late Han Dynasty: Did the Yellow Emperor truly descend?

Chapter 96 Soldiers Outside the City

He paused, then asked again.

Do you have oxen for plowing?

Zhang Gou'er shook his head.

"No. I used to work for the Zhou family, using their oxen. One ox had to plow several families' land, and when I couldn't get a turn, I had to pull the plow myself. But I heard that the county government is going to rent oxen to the people, so I've already registered and am just waiting to get my turn."

Li Sheng nodded and then asked the others. Some had been allocated cattle, some were still waiting, and some had large families and lots of land, so their lives were much better than before.

"Does anyone have any other difficulties?"

The soldiers looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No, no, the general has given us land and cattle, so what difficulties are there?"

Li Sheng's expression turned serious.

"Even if you don't say it, I know. We still don't have enough food, enough clothes, and we don't even have winter clothes for the children. These difficulties won't disappear just because we've distributed land. We Taiping soldiers are one family. If you have any problems, speak up, and we'll work together to find solutions."

He stood up and glanced at the crowd.

"We, the Taiping Army, belong to everyone. We are all brothers, and we should help each other. We are going to fight together to create a peaceful and prosperous world, so that our fellow villagers can have food to eat, clothes to wear, and land to cultivate!"

Several soldiers felt their eyes burning and their chests burning as if a fire was burning inside them.

"The general is right, we're all brothers!"

Li Sheng raised his hand to smother the conversation, his gaze falling on a soldier in the unit who hadn't said much.

"Wang Man".

Li Sheng called out.

The man stood up and bowed respectfully.

"General."

This Wang Man was the nephew whom the deceased Wang Fu had entrusted to him.

Li Sheng assigned him to the army, where he served as a "Taiping believer" in the local militia, specifically responsible for spreading Taiping ideology among the soldiers.

Of course, this Taiping ideology was not the original version preached by the Great Teacher of Good and Wise. Rather, he discarded some of the original concepts of the Taiping sect and combined them with some things from later generations to form a new Taiping ideology disguised as the Taiping sect.

Li Sheng asked.

"How's life in the military? Are you settling in?"

"General, the brothers have taken good care of me. When I first arrived, I didn't know anything, and it was the squad leader and the brothers who taught me step by step. Now I'm used to it."

Li Sheng nodded and turned to the group of people.

"Wang Man studied at our Dongping School and can read. If you need to write a letter home, you can ask him. If there's anything he doesn't understand, you should teach him too. Everyone should help and learn from each other, understand?"

Everyone answered in unison.

"Know!"

Li Sheng nodded with satisfaction.

"We are all the same, all citizens of this peaceful world. In the past, we were all trampled underfoot by those powerful families and officials. Why were they able to bully us? Because they banded together and colluded with each other. We, on the other hand, were a scattered bunch, each looking out for ourselves, so they defeated us one by one."

He looked around and raised his voice a few decibels.

"Things are different now. Even if we, the Taiping Army, are just a lump of sand, we will mold ourselves into a block of iron. Brothers, we share both hardship and fortune. If you help me and I help you, only then can we defeat those powerful families. Do you understand?"

"Got it!"

The members of the group answered in unison, their voices loud and clear.

Standing in the crowd, Wang Man looked at Li Sheng's young yet resolute face, and a feeling he couldn't quite describe welled up inside him.

He must follow in Brother Li Sheng's footsteps and pass on the Taiping Huangtian ideology to many brothers in the army!

Li Sheng chatted with them for a while longer before leaving.

……

Ten more days passed.

On this day, outside the south gate of Xiapi County, banners obscured the sun, and armored soldiers stood like a forest.

The Taiping soldiers lined up in the open field, with five battalions arranged in a neat and orderly formation.

On the city wall, Li Sheng, dressed in military attire with a ring-pommel sword at his waist, calmly gazed at the army formation below.

At the city gate, a dense crowd of people, numbering at least a thousand, filled the area. Some came to watch the spectacle, some to look for their sons or husbands, and others were local gentry, landowners, and other influential figures from within and outside the county, specially invited by the Taiping Army. Li Sheng invited them all.

At this moment, Liu Wu rode his horse to the city walls, dismounted, knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist and shouted.

"Reporting to the General! The soldiers of the five battalions of the Taiping Army are now in formation. Please inspect them!"

His voice was loud and clear, and could be heard clearly both on and off the city walls.

Li Sheng walked slowly to the front of the city wall crenellations, looked down at the dark army formation, and then glanced at the people who were eagerly waiting at the city gate.

He took a deep breath, gathered his strength, and his voice boomed like a bell across the city wall.

"Brothers of the Taiping Army!"

Thousands of soldiers below the city responded in unison.

"exist!"

The army's roar shook the surrounding area, even causing dust to fall from the city walls.

The people at the city gate were startled by this imposing manner, and some instinctively took a few steps back.

Li Sheng's voice continued to echo from the city wall.

"We've called you all here today to let you know that the Taiping Army is guarding Xiapi County! The land you've just received, the food in your pots, the lives of your children—the Taiping Army will protect you!"

The soldiers below the city shouted in unison once again.

"To defend our land and protect our people! We would gladly die for our cause!"

"To defend our land and protect our people! We would gladly die for our cause!"

"To defend our land and protect our people! We would gladly die for our cause!"

The three shouts were louder and clearer than the last.

Among the people at the city gate, some began to wipe away tears. An elderly woman with gray hair pointed at a swordsman and shield bearer in the ranks and said in a trembling voice.

"That...that's my son! That's my son!"

Those around her looked in the direction she was pointing. The swordsman and shield bearer stood tall and straight, holding his shield upright, his gaze fixed firmly on the city wall.

The old woman's tears flowed uncontrollably as she muttered to herself.

"Before, I was a tenant farmer for the Chen family, always hungry and cold, living in constant fear. Now things are better, I've been allocated land, joined the Taiping Army, and have made something of myself..."

Suddenly, a middle-aged man in the crowd shouted.

"good!"

That shout was like igniting a powder keg.

Thunderous cheers and applause erupted from the crowd, rising and falling, lasting for a long time.

Meanwhile, those well-dressed people at the back of the crowd looked shocked.

They were the few remaining small and medium-sized powerful families in and around Xiapi. Although not all of their land was confiscated, most of it was handed over, and more critically, almost all of their tenants were released.

Therefore, when Li Sheng invited them to come and observe the troops, they dared not refuse.

At this moment, looking at the well-organized military formation, the forest of spearheads, and the uniform commands below the city, they felt as if they had lost their parents.

A middle-aged man in a silk robe leaned close to another person's ear and whispered.

"With this kind of situation... even if the imperial court sends troops to suppress it, it probably won't be that easy."

The person being questioned did not speak, but silently looked at the figure in military uniform on the city wall with a complex expression.

They all knew in their hearts that from this day forward, the world in Xiapi had truly changed.