Under the light of the Night Pearl, Zhou Ziren patted a thick stack of papers on the table beside him and said, "Tonight, we are going to post this notice all over the streets and alleys without using any violence. We will not let the police stop us and will not punish us."
Everyone in the Renaissance Society responded in unison.
"Set off!"
Under the cover of night, hundreds of people were divided into more than 20 teams, each carrying a large number of notices, and began to post them on some streets in Taihe Prefecture.
Even if they encountered patrolling yamen runners, they would not be able to stop them as long as they revealed their identities as scholars.
An hour later, everyone returned to the academy gate.
The east is already getting light now, and the sun will rise soon.
In the morning light, more than a hundred energetic readers were smiling.
"Everyone go home and have a good sleep." Zhou Ziren said.
One hundred people left one after another.
Shortly after the hundred people left, dozens of men in black carrying bags and holding iron rods appeared on Mingyang Street.
Mingyang Street is a famous prosperous street in Taihe Prefecture. The shops on both sides of the street sell exquisite goods from other places and are completely monopolized by the big trading companies of Qing State. Even after Xiangzhou was annexed to Jing State, it did not affect the operation of these big trading companies. During the looting and smashing in the past few days, only three or five shops on the entire Mingyang Street were affected.
Snapped…
A stone smashed a glazed window, sounding the first sound of the day in Taihe Mansion.
Afterwards, these people split into three groups. One group tore off some of the Fuxing Society's notices, one group continued to smash the doors and windows of the shops with stones, and another group smashed things around with iron bars.
These people were smashing and shouting at the same time.
"Down with the Qingguo dogs!"
“People in Xiangzhou don’t buy Qingguo products!”
"People from Qing, get out of Xiangzhou!"
Strangely, the vandalism did not cause major damage to the shops on Mingyang Street.
At the same time, a large number of people in black poured out of Jianghe Street, which is not far from here. Jianghe Street is also a famous commercial street, but unlike Mingyang Street, most of the merchants here are native people of Xiangzhou. The goods they sell are varied and far less valuable than those on Mingyang Street.
The behavior of these men in black on Jianghe Street was even more violent. They would rush into shops at any time and beat the goods with iron bars. If they encountered someone in the shop, they would not stop and would beat them desperately and run away after knocking them unconscious.
These people shouted the same slogan.
"Those who sell Qing country's goods should die!"
Yali Academy is one of the most famous large academies in Taihe Prefecture. Only the rich or the noble can study in the academy. More than ten years ago, only the children of scholars from Qing Kingdom could study here.
As the looting and smashing were going on, a group of people came here with oil bottles and candles, poured kerosene on a building of the academy, set it on fire and ran away, shouting as they ran: "Burn the bastards of Qing!"
On their way to escape, they deliberately left behind some notices, which were signed with the three words "Fuxing Society".
Nearly a thousand people were scattered throughout Taihe Prefecture, looting, smashing, and even burning. After only a quarter of an hour, all these people disappeared. Then, the yamen runners of Taihe Prefecture went out one after another. Finally, the runners who went out reported the situation in Taihe Prefecture to Yan Wu, the prefect of Taihe Prefecture, who was awakened from his dream.
After listening to the report from the yamen runners, Yan Wu said angrily, "Come here, arrest all the members of the Fuxing Society and hand them over to the Taihe County Yamen for trial."
Secretary Sun on the side hurriedly said: "Sir, this is obviously a method of framing others. I think..."
Mr. Sun suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his words, because Yan Wu looked at him with a very cold gaze, which seemed to freeze Mr. Sun's blood. Mr. Sun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized something, lowered his head, and said nothing.
"Old Sun, I see you've been too busy these days. Go home and rest for half a year." Yan Wu said lightly.
President Sun suddenly raised his head and looked at Yan Wu with pleading eyes, but Yan Wu no longer looked at him. He saw unprecedented indifference in Yan Wu's eyes.
"I... obey your orders!" Secretary Sun said, and left the prefectural government office like a zombie.
All the yamen runners in Taihe Prefecture were dispatched to arrest all members of the Restoration Society of Mingxin Academy and sent them all to the Taihe County Yamen.
Taihe Prefecture had nine counties and a prefectural city under its jurisdiction, and Taihe prefectural city, like other county cities, was managed by a county magistrate. However, due to the existence of the prefect, county magistrates of lower ranks were restricted in many ways. Therefore, there is a saying that "If one did evil in his previous life, the county magistrate will be a subordinate of him", which refers to the people who served as county magistrates in the prefectural city.
Lu Ming, the magistrate of Taihe Prefecture, sat in the lobby, looking at the crowd of scholars outside the lobby door with a worried look on his face.
"Dog official! Qing country's running dog!"
"A traitorous county magistrate, a scholar who surrendered to the enemy!"
"We are scholars, students of the Holy Academy, and disciples of the Holy Ones. What rights do you have to arrest us?"
Outside the county government office, thousands of people were blocking the door. They were all relatives, friends, and neighbors of the members of the Restoration Society. Not far away, there were many people watching the fun.
"The county magistrate has killed someone!" The relatives and friends of the students of the Restoration Society began to make trouble.
Lu Ming coughed lightly, slammed the gavel, and said, "Silence!"
The scolding continues.
Lu Ming suppressed the anger in his heart, and his tongue burst into thunder, which spread over a hundred feet nearby.
"This morning, I was awakened by a yamen runner while I was sleeping. I learned that the prefect, Lord Yan, believed that students of the Restoration Society smashed shops and burned the academy, and wanted to arrest all students of the Restoration Society in the city and send them to this county for trial. The prefect has given an order, and this county has no choice but to obey. If you have anything to say, then wait for this county to question you one by one. If you continue to speak rudely, don't blame me for beating you with a stick for the crime of disturbing the court!"
Lu Ming's words were very clear. The students present were quiet for a moment, and then began to talk.
Someone whispered, "The prefect Yan Wu is the 'Qing official', there is no doubt about it!"
Zhou Ziren said, "The prefect is not important. What is important is those black-clad people who smashed, looted and burned. They must be the running dogs of Qing. Once the people of Taihe regard those people as members of our Renaissance Society, not only Taihe Prefecture, but also people on the discussion list will attack us. When people smashed, looted and burned that day, all the scholars in Shengyuan Continent laughed at and ridiculed all of us Xiangzhou scholars as idiots... No! I understand. Could it be that the people who smashed, looted and burned last time were not really anti-Qing people, but spies sent by the people of Qing?"
"I don't think so. They must be some hooligans who took the opportunity to cause trouble. If they were really spies from the Qing Kingdom, why didn't the court announce it?"
"Why would those officials make it public? Why would they care about ordinary people like us? In other words, if they don't force the officials into a corner, when will they take the initiative to tell us the truth? Moreover, in the eyes of those officials, this is just a trivial matter. They have always adhered to the concept of 'doing nothing is not wrong, doing less is less wrong, doing more is more wrong', so why would they do this? Moreover, there are many officials in Xiangzhou who laugh at those who oppose the Qing Kingdom!"
"Everyone, please be patient and wait and see how Magistrate Lu handles the matter." Zhou Ziren said.
Everyone looked at Lu Ming.
Lu Ming looked at the hundreds of scholars, thought for a long time, and said: "The head of the society, Zhou Ziren, stay here, and let the county slowly investigate the case. Come on, send the rest to jail, and be sure to treat them well, and don't embarrass these students!"
Lu Ming began to try the case, one person at a time for one day.
.