Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 574 Breakout

On the sixteenth day of the sixth month in the fifth year of Zhaowu, Wu Jinkun arrived in Qufu accompanied by a team of more than a hundred Qingluan Guards.

The Kong family now has undisguised ill will towards the Qian Dynasty, especially Wu Jinkun. Even the Qufu County Magistrate refused to pay a visit to Wu Jinkun, as if the Qufu County Magistrate was not included in the establishment of court officials but a private official of the Kong family. Although this is indeed the case, this is the first time that the Qufu County Magistrate has shown such disdain towards the imperial envoy of the court.

On the second day after entering Qufu, the inn where Wu Jinkun was staying was surrounded by a large number of people.

The Qingluan Guards who were responsible for protecting Wu Jinkun all changed their expressions when they saw this. The leader gritted his teeth and shouted, "What are you doing? This is an imperial envoy. Do you want to rebel?"

Countless people holding rakes and hoes glared at the Qingluan Guards. At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "If the court won't let us live, we won't let them live either. Let's attack together! Kill these lackeys!"

When the people heard the shouts, they suddenly became courageous and rushed forward. The Qingluan Guards were so scared that their faces turned blue. In this situation, even if they were martial arts masters who could fly over eaves and walls, it would be useless. The gatekeepers immediately fled into the inn and quickly closed the door.

And just at the moment the door was closed, an arm stretched out and blocked the door.

The Qingluan Guard who was desperately holding the door shouted, "Someone come quickly!"

The Qingluan Guards inside rushed over in a hurry, and for a while the two sides wrestled at the gate.

There were even more people outside, and the crowd was pushing the gate. Seeing the gap in the gate gradually getting bigger, a Qingluan Guard had a gloomy look on his face, and then as if he had made up his mind, he shouted, drew his sword, and swung it fiercely towards the gap outside the door.

Suddenly, a scream was heard, and someone outside the door shouted in a mess: "Bleeding! Bleeding!"

"Someone died, hurry up and save him!"

The force pushing against the door suddenly loosened, and the Qingluan Guards immediately closed the door.

Just when the Qingluan Guards breathed a sigh of relief, another shout came from outside the door: "They are dead, they are being kept in the Holy Palace, hurry up and kill these dog officials!"

Wu Jinkun was not far from the gate. He could clearly hear the voice and his face changed. When he came here, he thought that the Kong family would be unwilling and would incite the people to resist the new system, but he did not expect that the Kong family would be so bold that they would even kill the imperial envoy. In broad daylight, they openly said, "The dead will be kept in the Holy Palace."

Wu Jinkun originally wanted to go to Qufu first and have a talk with the people in the Confucius Mansion. No matter what, at least there should be no civil uprising in Qufu. But he never expected that the Confucius Mansion would not talk to him at all.

He knew that civil unrest was inevitable and he could not die here now. Wu Jinkun was not a coward. If he was afraid of death, he would not have taken up the banner of reform that would offend all the gentry in the world.

What Wu Jinkun was worried about was that he represented the emperor's own order and was an imperial envoy of the court. If the imperial envoy died in the siege of Confucius Mansion in Qufu, the consequence would probably be that the army would march south, and once the army took action, it would become a rebellion, and the ending would be a field of corpses.

The plan of equalizing the land tax had already been approved by the government and successfully implemented in Jiangnan. However, in Shandong, if the Confucius Mansion refused, whether it could be implemented would be another matter if the court did not use force.

Thinking of this, Wu Jinkun said to Ding Zhiji, the captain of the Qingluan Guard, who was sent by Lu Ping to protect him, "The ignorant people have been incited by the thieves. Once we are done with this, the whole government and the people will be allowed to be smeared by the thieves."

Ding Zhiji said seriously, "Lord Lu said before he left that everything will be up to Lord Wu. I will do whatever you say!"

Wu Jinkun nodded and said, "Okay, I will write a letter in person right away. You and I will each lead a team to break out of Qufu and find Lord Lu or Bai Tongzhen!"

Ding Zhiji shook his head and said, "Sir Wu, you are an important official of the court, a person valued by His Majesty. How can you have half the guards? I will only lead ten people and attack southward. Sir Wu will lead the remaining guards and head north."

Wu Jinkun frowned and was about to retort when he heard Ding Zhiji say, "Master Lu said when he came here that he would protect you. I am a rough man and I speak bluntly. Please don't be offended, Master Wu. If anything happens to you, I will go back and my life will be ruined. In this case, I might as well make a good future for my descendants!"

At this moment, a shout came from outside, "The door can't be opened, set it on fire, burn this dog official to death!"

Many people vied with each other to agree. For a moment, the scene was extremely noisy. This was completely different from the scene during a war. Many people in the back came just to show their heads and get some small money. There was no loss in responding. As for those standing in the front, there were Kong's confidants and some people who were really fooled.

Hearing that someone was going to set a fire outside, Ding Zhiji knew the situation was critical. The gate had been burned open, and there were only a hundred Qingluan Guards. With the huge crowd outside, it would be a dead end if they rushed in. So, Ding Zhiji shouted, "Liu San, the safety of Master Wu is in your hands!"

Liu San had tears in his eyes, but he still nodded firmly. Seeing this, Ding Zhiji shouted, "Gather, get ready to open the door, and fight our way out. Let the thieves see that we, the Qingluan Guards, are not just about arresting people. We are also men on the battlefield!"

At Ding Zhiji's command, all the Qingluan Guards quickly assembled, with determined looks in their eyes. At this point, there was no point in being afraid, they could only give it a try and rush out.

Ding Zhiji stood in front of the door with a knife in his hand. As he shouted "Open the door!", the wide door burst open. Several rioters who were still stacking wood looked at the murderous Ding Zhiji in surprise. For a moment, they were stunned where they were.

Ding Zhiji was the first to rush into the enemy camp. He was agile and his sword flashed. Wherever he went, the rioters avoided him. A confidant of the Kong family was about to step forward, but before he could see Ding Zhiji's movements, he was knocked to the ground by a sword, and blood splattered on the rioters next to him, frightening him and making him scream.

Although the rioters were numerous, they were mostly a mob. Faced with the fierce attack of the Qingluan Guards, they immediately fell into chaos.

There were several more rioters who were at the front, and they were chopped or hacked to death by the charging Qingluan Guards in an instant. The bright red blood spread on the ground, terrifying the people behind them.

The people who had come here just to collect a little money were so frightened by the tragic scene that they turned around and fled, wishing they had two more legs.

(One more chapter to go!)