Tomorrow marks five years.
A small village outside Xing County, Yongxing Prefecture, Shaanxi Province.
A young man, nearly seven feet tall, with a sharp face, long hair and shoulders, was standing in a slightly shabby but extremely tidy tile roofed house, looking at the distance, his eyes were burning, and he did not know what he was thinking.
"Qinger, in the past years, you gave food to your uncle's relatives and neighbors to help them, and I have always depended on you. But this year, the drought in Xingxian County, our own food is not enough, why are you still like this?" Wang's face was sad, and the deep wrinkles in the corners of his eyes seemed to be deeper.
"Mother knows why I am like this." Li Qing's eyes are still calm.
"I don't know, but I know that Qing'er does things reasonably. Qing'er has never worried about his mother since he was young. But this time," Wang thought of Li Qing's methodical way of doing things all the time, and the wrinkles around his eyes seemed to disappear.
"Four years ago, my father suffered a relapse and died. My mother and I were devastated and could hardly help ourselves.
It all depends on being close to my uncle to help take care of the future affairs. Later, my uncle pushed me to succeed the village head. I was only 14 at that time, and I was neither benevolent to the people nor brave today. If I were peaceful, I might be OK, but my mother also knew the situation now. "Li Qing turned to look at the woman who had worked for her all her life, and did not go on.
"What Qing'er said is that in recent years, there have been many natural disasters, big and small, and some people in the village starved to death. If our mother and son are keeping food, let's not mention outsiders. I'm afraid that some people in our village have evil intentions." Wang heard what Li Qing said. The sadness in the eyes seems to have disappeared for the most part.
"But Qing'er, the grain is already insufficient. If we take out the remaining grain this year, how can we survive next?"
"Mother knows that I have been waiting for the relief food from the Imperial Court", said Li Qing quietly.
"The Imperial Court, there are still some grains mixed with a lot of silt to relieve the disaster in Wanli years, but in recent years, only the silver has been collected, and the relief has never been heard of," Wang said angrily.
"My mother is right. There is no news from the imperial court, but it is not necessarily bad news for me." Li Qing said as if falling into memory.
It has been eighteen years since Li Qing came to this era. After several years of private schooling, the youth wanted to pass the imperial examination and gradually step up to the top of the Ming Dynasty. By reforming from top to bottom, we can avoid the perishing of this decadent dynasty.
However, it was gradually discovered that the whole Ming Dynasty was extremely decayed from the bottom. From petty officials to county magistrates, everyone is greedy. The poor people are on the verge of life and death. Officials are still singing and dancing night and night. The top officials, with constant party strife, are afraid to be more cautious about corruption. Can we change when we get to the top?
Besides, Li Qing's family has a lot of land, which is enough for the family. But not even the smallest landlord. I want to go to the top of Daming and even enter the cabinet. I'm afraid I can't do it in my whole life.
So since Li Qing became the village head, all the surplus food has been taken out to help his uncles, relatives and neighbors. In recent years, almost no one has starved to death in Lijia Village.
There are only a few families whose land in the early years was in famine, and they can't afford to give it to Zhao Youcai, the landlord of the town. There is no surplus food in the family. You can't make a living by going out and never come back.
In the past four years, Li Qingmei taught half the children in the village to learn to read with him during the slack season. At first, some parents were not very happy, but Li Qing refused to accept any study. The parents of the children were happy with their children's literacy and learning arithmetic. Some do not want to learn, fun. I was taught a lesson by my parents.
Therefore, the village head of Li Qing is worthy of his name. Gradually gained some prestige in the village. People in the village also come to Li Qing to mediate when they have conflicts. In the end, both parties are often satisfied.
"Mother, I will kill the chicken tonight, and I will invite my uncle and cousin to dinner." Li Qing seemed to have some determination in his words.
"Well, Qing'er will follow you and support you in everything, but you must remember that if something happens, my mother will die in front of you." Wang probably already knows what Li Qing plans to do, but he doesn't intend to stop it. When people are going to starve to death, they seldom fear anything.
In the twinkling of an eye, it was night. There were seven or eight people sitting in Li Qing's house, gathered around the table, and Li Qing sat at the main seat.
"Brother, why did you suddenly ask us to come to dinner today? In order to help us in recent years, we have little food left, so why waste my body?" The first person to speak was a spotless, thin young man dressed in patches but washed.
Li Qing has not yet opened his mouth. A big man with a beard has already opened his mouth, "Li Zhi, the eldest brother naturally loves us, and would rather not eat, but also take care of us." Li Zhi turned his eyes to Li Gan and did not speak, but turned his head to Li Qing.
"Li Qing invites all his uncles and brothers today to have a reunion with us, and to have something to discuss carefully with us," Li Qing said, pausing, without waiting for everyone to answer.
"Li Qing invited everyone to dinner today. There was an elder present, but he sat in the main seat. It was not rude, but Li Qing decided to sit on a big event. If it didn't succeed, not only Li Qing would die without a burial place, but the whole Li Village would also be affected."
"Qing'er wants to do something terrible, but it has such serious consequences." A middle-aged man looked at Li Qing with a trace of confusion.
As soon as Li Qing said, "Kill officials and rebel", the hall was quiet. It seemed that it took a long time for a chopstick to fall on the ground and wake everyone up.
"This, this, how could Qinger have such a terrible idea?" The middle-aged man seemed to have a trembling voice.
"Whether the food in each family can survive this year, waiting for the harvest of the next year, and this year's autumn grain is about to be delivered" Li Qing's words are still calm and powerful, as if to inject a little courage into everyone.
"There is not enough food, but why revolt? The government may provide disaster relief, and the big families in the city may set up porridge sheds to provide disaster relief." The middle-aged man spoke with perhaps no confidence.
"The fourth uncle deceived himself. The Imperial Court has not provided disaster relief for many years. No one in the nearby village has starved to death in that year. He has seen people in the city give alms." Before others could speak, Li Zhi answered.
"Yes, it's better to kill the dog officer and rob the food with the elder brother. Starving to death is also death, and being beheaded is also death. Maybe the elder brother can be the emperor in the future, and we can all get a big official to be in charge at that time." Li Gan seemed to think of something, and said it over and over again, laughing, and his tall body laughed like an orangutan.
As soon as this remark was made, the relaxed atmosphere was just restored and became dignified again.
The Ming Dynasty has gone through more than two hundred years and is deeply rooted in people's minds. Not to mention ordinary people, even warlords like Zheng Zhilong and Zuo Liangyu in the later period had a natural fear of imperial power.
Li Qing knew that they should gradually eliminate their fear of the Imperial Court step by step. When their power expanded, even if some people still feared the Imperial Court, they would become fanatical and belligerent under the influence of the whole social atmosphere.
"Little daren, joking, everyone can rest assured that we are just starving to death and have to revolt under the oppression of the dog officials. It seems that the Son of Heaven was just fooled by the dog officials below. I don't know what we are doing." Li Qing waved his hand, as if to ease the atmosphere.
"I see."
"Yeah, yeah"
"It's just that the dog officials forced us, and we have no choice but to not starve to death," several uncles said in succession.
"The eldest brother has been smart since he was young. We have been taught by the eldest brother for many years. Naturally, we know that the eldest brother has a literary talent and martial arts strategy. We must have a strategy in mind. Please tell us that we will obey each other to the death," Li Zhiyi said with a fist clasped.
"We will be determined to obey" everyone said.
Under the dim light, Li Qing looked at the crowd, his eyes full of determination.
"Li Zhi, take this silk book and these copper coins. Tomorrow you will go to the city to buy a fish. The year before last, I told you the story of the 'Daze Township Uprising'. Do you still remember it?"
"Of course I remember. Don't worry, brother. I will do it properly and never make a mistake."
"Uncle Si, you have a unique voice. If there is one thing you need to do, please come here." Li Qing went on to say to the middle-aged man.
"Don't worry, Hao Qing'er, I'm good at this, and it's up to me." The middle-aged man was full of confidence in his eyes, and he was not the same person as the man with cowardice just now.
People are doing what they like. It's really different. Li Qing looked at his fourth uncle and thought.
"In addition, I happened to find my father's ancestral tree in the box today, and found that his father was the direct descendant of General Li Linli, who was under the control of the left army under Yue Wumu's account in the Song Dynasty. After Yue Wumu was persecuted by treacherous officials, his ancestors were discouraged and came here to settle in anonymity." Li Qing seemed to have a smile in his eyes.
"Well, is that true? I haven't heard from your grandfather." One of the uncles seems to have some doubts.
"Naturally, when I was a child, my grandfather said that we are indeed the descendants of General Li Lin." Li Zhi looked at several uncles, and his eyes seemed to indicate something.
"Yes, yes, I've heard about it"
"Me too"
"Indeed," several uncles said in succession.
"Really? I was the descendant of the general under grandpa in law." Li dared to scratch his head and smile like a child of more than 300 kg.
"Of course it's true." The people looked at Li Gan with loving eyes and said one after another. Li Gan was embarrassed to continue scratching his head when he saw the people looking at him.
"Well, it's late at night. Everyone has something to do tomorrow, and everyone is almost ready to eat. There is no wine at home, so Li Qing presents you with water instead of wine." Li Qing holds up a bowl with a notch.
Everyone raised their bowls.
"Li Qing will let you have plenty of meat and fish to eat and plenty of wine to drink in the future."
Dry
"Done"
"Yes," everyone held up a bowl and drank away.
When everyone left, Li Qing picked up the dishes and prepared to help his mother clean them up.
"Go to bed, Qing'er. Qing'er is a person who wants to do great things. Let's leave these trivial things to his mother." Wang Shi looked at Li Qing with kindness in his eyes.
"Mother was wrong. If you don't sweep the whole house, how can you sweep the whole world? No matter how big things are, you have to do them step by step. If you can't do small things well, you can't talk about big things." Li Qing didn't put down his dishes and chopsticks, while cleaning up, he talked to Wang Shi.
Look at Wang's rough hands. Thinking of the woman who has worked hard for herself all her life, she will soon live a precarious life with herself. Li Qingdark is determined to make his mother live a good life.
At night, Li Qing lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He didn't know where he would go in the end.
Whether it will change this era and enable the poor people to live and work in peace and contentment, or will they die in a different place and have another ghost at the entrance of the food market.
But he thought that since God let him come to this era, he must want to change something.
From the moment he came to the world, he knew that he would bring something new to the world.
Although dead, no regrets.
