In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 484 Seeking Self-Preservation

What's even more frightening is that the local state and local military forces are extremely slow to react, often only realizing what's happening and sending troops to suppress the rebels once the rebel forces have grown stronger.

Because these rebel forces were often composed of peasants, they lacked weapons and training, so the local government's army usually won more battles than it lost against them.

However... there was more than one rebel force in the three prefectures. As soon as the prefectural armies eliminated one rebel force, new rebel forces would spring up like mushrooms after rain, keeping the prefectural armies of the three prefectures busy and unable to completely suppress the rebels.

"It's true."

Zheng Qing nodded solemnly and said, "It's no exaggeration to say that Qiongzhou, Haizhou, and Yuzhou are currently engulfed in flames of war. The state armies may be powerful, but they are simply unable to completely suppress these rebellious forces, and these forces are still growing stronger..."

At this point, Zheng Qing paused, then continued, "You two should know that starving people cannot be killed off completely. Therefore, I can conclude that unless the imperial court sends troops as soon as possible, these three prefectures will likely change hands very soon."

Currently, the state armies in the three prefectures can barely suppress the rebellions within their respective prefectures, but as time goes on, the situation may change.

Each time these rebel forces breached a city, they would open the granaries and distribute food, attracting more starving people to join their ranks and making their strength grow.

Just like a snowball rolling downhill, these rebel forces may have started as a small snowball, but as they plunder more and more cities, the snowball grows larger and larger, eventually evolving into a colossal snowball.

By then, it will probably not be so easy for the state army to defeat them again.

Yang Zheng from Liangzhou is the best example.

Yang Zheng was initially just a low-level figure with only a few dozen followers who rebelled with him, but what about now?

Yang Zheng first defeated the Liangzhou prefectural army, and then defeated the imperial court's 250,000-strong capital garrison. Now he has 200,000 armored soldiers. If he wanted, he could even raise an army of one million. He is one of the forces that can truly influence the overall situation of the world!

"This……"

Li Qingyun stared in disbelief and said, "We must never repeat the mistakes of the Three States."

Li Qingyun knew very well that the reason why so many rebels had appeared in the three prefectures was because of the imperial court's order to increase taxes. The imperial court disregarded the lives of the people and chose to increase taxes, which led to the current situation in the three prefectures.

With the lessons of the past right before our eyes, Taicang County, or rather, Ding'an County under Li Qingyun's rule, must absolutely not repeat the same mistakes.

"good."

Zheng Qing nodded and said, "The reason I called you two over is precisely for this matter."

After saying that, Zheng Qing continued, "The officials in the capital may disregard the lives of ordinary people, but we cannot stand idly by."

"Oh?"

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Xu Zhiwen's eyes as he asked, "What does Lord Zheng intend to do?"

"I intend to disobey the imperial court's order to impose additional taxes!"

Zheng Qing finally revealed his purpose: "The cold disaster has lasted for several years, and we have finally managed to restore some of the livelihood of the people in Taicang County. If the additional tax order is carried out, all our efforts will be in vain. Therefore... I intend to refuse to carry out the additional tax order."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiwen and Li Qingyun exchanged glances, realizing that Zheng Qing shared the same thought.

They both had the same plan, except...

Their idea was to stall, but judging from Zheng Qing's expression, it wasn't as simple as just trying to delay.

"Has Lord Zheng thought this through?"

Xu Zhiwen asked meaningfully, "Disobeying the imperial court's orders will result in losing your official position."

"I am naturally aware of the consequences."

Zheng Qing replied without hesitation, "As an official, one should always bring benefits to the people. I cannot agree with such a wicked policy of the court."

Xu Zhiwen and Li Qingyun nodded in agreement. They shared the same thoughts as Zheng Qing. As ambitious scholars and conscientious officials, they simply could not stand by and watch the people under their rule starve to death, just like the imperial court.

“But once you lose your position as prefect, the next prefect may not care about the lives of the people as much as you do.”

Xu Zhiwen said.

"That's why I came to Chenjia Village this time."

Zheng Qing said, "I do not intend to carry out the court's orders, nor do I want to lose this official position. Therefore... we must have the power to protect ourselves."

I intend to establish an army belonging to Taicang Commandery in order to ensure our own safety.

army!

Xu Zhiwen and Li Qingyun were shocked, their eyes widening in surprise. They never expected Zheng Qing to go to such lengths.

Maintaining an army for personal gain has always been a major taboo for officials.

It's a very simple principle: what are you, an official without the power to command troops, doing by keeping a group of soldiers under your command? Are you planning a rebellion?

The imperial court would never allow local officials to raise their own armies, and would not even grant them military power, because if local officials had troops, they might threaten the rule of the imperial court.

But Zheng Qing said he wanted to form an army...

This is practically telling the court that he has rebellious intentions!

"Does Lord Zheng perhaps aspire to conquer the world?"

Xu Zhiwen asked in a deep voice, "Zheng Qing's behavior makes it hard not to suspect that he wants to raise an army and then take advantage of the chaos in the Nine Provinces to contend for the world."

"I do not have such great ambitions."

Zheng Qing shook his head and said, "The reason I want to form an army is only for self-protection and to make life better for the people of Taicang County. As for that dragon throne... I have no interest in it."

Many people in this world want to be emperor, but Zheng Qing is definitely not one of them. Governing a single prefecture has already exhausted him, let alone governing the entire land of the nine provinces...

Zheng Qing knew his own limitations; he simply didn't have that ability.

After all, Zheng Qing is not the current emperor, who can hand over all government affairs to the prime minister and the six ministries, completely disregarding the lives of the people.

"Is it?"

Xu Zhiwen gave Zheng Qing a deep look, and seeing that Zheng Qing's expression did not seem to be fake, he asked, "Lord Zheng, how do you plan to build the army? And how many soldiers will there be?"

"That depends on you, young friend Chen."

Zheng Qing did not answer, but looked at Chen Dao.

"I?"

Chen Dao, who had been quietly drinking tea, pointed to himself and asked in surprise, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Of course it concerns you."

Zheng Qiuyan, who was standing to the side, laughed and said, "Building an army is never an easy task. It takes a lot of time to train new recruits and to equip the soldiers with weapons and armor."

The Zheng family can provide weapons and armor, but only Young Master Chen can help with training.

"How can I help?"

Chen Dao asked, completely bewildered.

P.S.: This chapter marks the book's one million words, which gives the author a great sense of accomplishment. Thank you to all the readers who have supported the author, especially those who consistently send gifts to the book every day, such as [炸天帮:少女滴哥哥], [抱抱药罐子], [段子～GG], and the top donor [江中意], etc. Thank you for your support. The author will continue to work hard and try to write more exciting stories to give back to everyone.

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