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Chapter 67 248 Li Yan and the Red Lady

When Li Zicheng left Shangluo and arrived in Henan, there was a severe drought in Henan, and tens of thousands of hungry people fled everywhere.As soon as Li Zicheng arrived in Henan, the hungry people came to seek refuge after hearing the news that King Li Chuang had left the mountain. One day, a group of hungry people came to King Chuang with a young man who looked like a scholar.Li Zicheng inquired about the origin, and knew that the young man was named Li Yan (also known as Li Xin), and he had just been rescued from the prison in Qixian County, Henan Province. Li Yan was originally the son of a wealthy family in Qi County.A few years ago, there was a severe famine in the area, and many farmers ran out of food.Li Yan took out some food from his family to help the poor who were short of food.It is rare for a kid from a rich family to do so.

Therefore, the poor people thought that Li Yan was a good man and called him "Mr. Li". Qi County has been suffering from famine year after year, and the poor have suffered so much that they cannot survive.However, the county magistrate still sent servants to force taxes and debts from the poor.Li Yan was afraid that something would happen, so he went to see the county magistrate surnamed Song and advised him to suspend tax collection temporarily, and also hoped that he would allocate part of the official food to lend to the hungry people. The county magistrate said to Li Yan: "The boss sends military salaries to the local area, and they are urgently urged. I don't ask them for taxes or rents, and what to pay for them. Besides, the grain in the official warehouse has long been empty, so what to lend to the hungry people. If you want to borrow, I have to ask you a few rich families to pay for the food."

Seeing that the county magistrate refused to agree, Li Yan returned home, opened his granary, and took out more than 200 shi of grain for the hungry people to share. The people suffering from famine were very happy to see that Mr. Li was willing to donate food.However, there were so many people affected by the disaster that it was not enough to just donate food from the Li family.Someone came up with the idea of ​​gathering dozens of people to petition other rich families, asking them to follow the example of the Li family. Those rich families not only disagreed, but stared at the hungry people at the door, saying that there was no food at home.Angrily, the hungry people broke out, rushed into a rich family's granary, and divided his family's grain.

The rich families panicked and cried to the county magistrate one after another.The county magistrate said, "Isn't this the opposite?" Immediately, several guards were sent to stop it with his badge, and threatened that if he gathered a crowd to threaten him again, he would be dealt with severely.The hungry people are angry, even if your county magistrate puts pressure on them.They grabbed the guards, threw the tokens on the ground, smashed them to pieces, and rushed to the county government gate, yelling: "We have no food, and we will starve to death sooner or later. Why don't we fight with you?"

When the county magistrate heard that the hungry people were going to riot, he was so frightened that he hid in the county government office and dared not come out.He thought that Li Yan had some contact with the hungry people, so he quickly sent someone to find Li Yan and asked him to find a way. Li Yan said: "If you want to avoid trouble, you have to stop pressing for debts as soon as possible and persuade rich families to donate food." The county magistrate had no choice but to reluctantly agree.The hungry people who gathered outside the county government calmed down when they heard that Li Yan had persuaded the county magistrate to donate food.Someone said: "Let's go back first. If you don't see them bring out the food in a few days, then ask them to settle the score!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as the hungry people dispersed, the county magistrate regretted it.He thought, if he doesn't force taxes from the hungry people, although he can solve the immediate emergency, what should he do if the boss urges him to keep his black hat?After thinking about it, he began to hate Li Yan, thinking that the raging of hungry people was all caused by that Li Yan.He immediately asked a master who handled the case to write an official document to his superiors, falsely accusing Li Yan of buying people's hearts and wanting to rebel. When the news leaked out, people were worried for Li Yan.In the nearby woods, there was an uprising team of peasants. The young woman who led the way was a performer in the rivers and lakes. People called her Hong Niangzi.The red lady usually admired Li Yan's food donation for disaster relief, but now she heard that Li Yan was in danger of being killed, so she went to Li Yan's house and took Li Yan to the forest to hide.

Li Yan didn't understand Hong Niangzi's original intention at first, but when he heard that Hong Niangzi wanted to keep him and join the uprising team, he didn't want to.Not long after, he sneaked back from Hong Niangzi. As soon as Li Yan came home, the wolf-like guards were waiting for him with shackles and handcuffs. When they saw Li Yan, they handcuffed him and took him back to the county government for interrogation. When the people of Qi County heard that Li Yan was arrested, they said, "Mr. Li is in jail, can we just watch him suffer and not rescue him?" When the red lady heard the news, she also came with a team.A large group of hungry people followed her, some with knives, some with sticks, and attacked the county government together.

Seeing the strength of the uprising team, the county magistrate and guards slipped away, anticipating that they would not be able to resist it.Together with the hungry people, Hong Niangzi opened the prison and rescued Li Yan. At this stage of the field, Li Yan felt that there was no way out to go home, so he followed the advice of the red lady and went to King Li Chuang with the hungry people who rebelled. Li Zicheng found out about Li Yan's situation, and knew that although Li Yan was a scholar from a wealthy family, he was also persecuted; besides, the rebel army needed to find a counselor, so he kept Li Yan in the camp.Li Yan also knew that Li Zicheng was a very ambitious hero, so he wholeheartedly helped Li Zicheng overthrow the Ming Dynasty.

After the rebel army grew stronger, Li Zicheng set about rectifying the army, strict discipline, and accepted Li Yan's suggestion, and put forward the slogan of "equalizing the land and exempting taxes" ("tax" means taxation).Li Yan sent a group of rebel soldiers dressed as businessmen to sneak into the city occupied by the official army, and advertised to everyone: "The team led by King Li Chuang is very disciplined, and they don't kill people or rob things." The army's murder and robbery have long been hated.Now that I heard that King Li Chuang's team is strictly disciplined, he naturally moved towards King Li Chuang.The local farmers also sang some songs, which were also composed by Li Yan:

Eat his mother, wear his mother, and open the door to welcome King Chuang.King Chuang didn't pay for food when he came. Seeking promotion in the morning and seeking union in the evening (one tenth of a liter), it is difficult for the poor to survive these days. Open the door early to pay homage to King Chuang, and discipline everyone to be happy. Li Zicheng's rebel army was supported by the people. After killing Fu Wang Zhu Changxun, they fought several big victories in Henan.In 1643 A.D., Li Zicheng broke Tongguan, killed Sun Chuanting, the governor of the Ming Dynasty and Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and occupied Xi'an not long after.

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