They went around to scout the villages and farmlands around the county town, and they took note of all the villages and farmlands that were not particularly well guarded.
Afterwards, whether it was stealing or robbing, they were determined not to let the indigenous people who treated them as thieves escape unscathed.
Originally, they planned to pick a small and wealthy farm tonight to do something, steal the food stored by those wealthy people, and also steal some gold, silver and jewelry to prepare for returning home in glory in the future. However, the Meng family's slaughtering of pigs, sheep and stewing of chickens directly attracted all the refugees who smelled the food.
Those who were honest and peaceful just wanted to breathe in the fragrance, and those who were dreamy just hoped that the Meng family would stew some unwanted bones into soup and give it to them tomorrow. But those refugees who gathered because of the same bad smell chose the Meng family as their target for "enforcing justice and robbing the rich to help the poor" tonight without hesitation.
They mingled among the refugees who were intoxicated by the aroma, cursing the Meng family with gritted teeth for being inhumane.
"Damn it! I can't even get enough to eat, and yet these tycoons can eat meat and envious of us through a wall. Is there any justice in this world?"
"That's right, they also said that the surname Meng is a good man, bullshit good man!"
"I have to say none of these wealthy tycoons are good people! They say they're providing relief to the victims, but in the end, they're giving out things they don't want!"
"The rice is all moldy, and some people even mix pebbles in it. Ugh! How damn heartless!"
“…”
They were cursing and swearing, and the refugees who heard them did not dare to express their different opinions even if they had them. After all, there were many lessons from the past, and they did not want to follow in their footsteps and die miserably with their families.
After cursing enough, the leading refugees finally decided to wander back to the grove to discuss their action plan for the evening.
They asked their trusted men to guard outside the forest and not allow other refugees to approach.
What the refugees who thought they were acting secretly didn't know was that Yu Zizhen knew all their plans no later than they did.
After eating and drinking, Yu Zizhen wrote a few long characters with Yaoguang and Yuheng. Feeling "unwell", he went into the house early to wash up and rest.
In order to take her schedule into consideration, Mr. Jiang and others went to bed earlier than usual that night.
A group of people slept from the beginning of Xu time (7 pm) to the end of Zi time (1 am). One of the guards in charge of alert hurriedly woke up Mr. Jiang who was sleeping in the east wing of the front yard of Mengjiazhuang.
Although the Meng family gave up the front yard and the second courtyard, as polite and well-educated guests, Yu Zizhen and Mr. Jiang did not occupy the room that originally belonged to the Meng father and son.
They tacitly chose the east wing of the second courtyard and the front yard respectively, while the others either lived with them or divided the west wing and the back house of the two courtyards.
The two teams of guards in charge of guarding lived in the back house of the front yard, but they did not fall asleep at the same time like the others. Instead, each team was responsible for patrolling the front yard and the second courtyard of Mengjiazhuang for two and a half hours.
As for the East and West Courtyards, those who lived there were from the capital, and their safety was not the responsibility of the guards of the Zhenbei Palace. The soldiers they brought with them would be responsible for the security and patrols in their area.
Hearing some strange noise outside, the guard jumped onto the wall to observe the situation outside.
With this observation, they could see all the refugees rushing towards Mengjiazhuang.
"Mr. Jiang, there's a group of refugees outside, about eight or nine hundred in number, all armed with sticks, shovels, and the like. It's obvious they're here with bad intentions."
When the guard reported back, the sound of refugees banging on the door was heard outside Mengjia Village.
As Mr. Jiang put on his outer robe, he said to the guards, "Go call your leader and ask him to immediately organize people to protect the manor!"
The guard replied "yes", then immediately went to the west wing and the back house and knocked on the doors and windows.
The chief guard and the other guards quickly got up, put on their shoes, picked up their weapons and rushed out of the house.
At the same time, Mr. Jiang also sent two other attendants to report the news to the people coming from the capital in the east and west courtyards.
There are eight or nine hundred people. If they don't deal with it properly, the guards in their team will inevitably suffer casualties.
"You stay here to protect the prince and Mr. Jiang, and everyone else come with me!" The head guard raised his arm and shouted. Except for the ten-man team that he had gestured to stay behind, the other guards immediately followed his footsteps and rushed towards the main gate and side gate of Mengjiazhuang.
There was a main gate and two side gates, which were weak points that were easily breached compared to the high courtyard wall. The head guard ran forward while instructing his two deputies, "First, use bows and arrows to intimidate the others. Kill a few of them and they will become obedient."
One of the deputies hesitantly reminded his leader, "We...shoot civilians?"
The head guard took a deep breath and said, "They are not civilians, they are rioters."
They were brazenly attacking the farms of local gentry, and the head of the guards did not dare to treat them as weaklings.
He said, "With a four-fold difference in numbers, if we can't scare them off right from the start, once they break into the courtyard, we, the guards, will be the first to suffer."
The refugees who are crazy about killing will not care whether you are a court official or a royal guard. Throughout the dynasties, there are so many peasants who have overthrown the old dynasty and killed all the royal relatives and nobles of the previous dynasty that they cannot be counted on one hand.
Death yourself or death of others, this is a multiple-choice question with an easy answer.
When the head guard said this, his two deputies immediately became nervous.
The two men each led a team of guards to guard the side gates, while the head guard took more guards to guard the main gate.
The main gate was the main target of the refugees. When the head guard led his men there, they had already smashed the main gate of Mengjiazhuang into pieces.
Seeing that the refugees were about to break in, the guard leader decisively ordered, "Shoot!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, a wave of arrows shot straight at the refugees who were rushing in at the moment the gate collapsed.
Batch after batch of refugees fell like leeks, and their corpses piled up into a small hill at the gate of Mengjiazhuang.
Hundreds of people died, and the refugees behind them finally realized the situation and became afraid.
No matter how much the leading refugees threatened or lured them, those refugees who were used as cannon fodder refused to move forward.
Seeing that rushing forward would mean death, and retreating would also mean death, the refugees simply dispersed and stopped surrounding the few leading refugees.
Although the leading refugees also had some trusted subordinates, it was extremely difficult for them to stop the other refugees on their own.
In a short while, the refugees who were driven forward by their interests disappeared into the dark night.
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