Chapter 17 - Don"t Worry About Scarcity, But Rather About the Uneven Distribution
"Boom!"
Along with a loud explosion on the streets of the Song Capital, a giant door of another store of Gu Hai’s was blasted away by the citizens.
"Hahaha, His Royal Majesty has decreed that everyone must exert oneself to destroy all the industries of Devil Gu within the Song Kingdom!"
"You can"t enter, this is plain robbery!"
"That"s right, we are robbing you, you are a henchman of that Devil Gu, get the f.u.c.k out!"
"Mine, this incense burner is mine!"
This porcelain vase is mine! Don"t steal what’s mine!"
"Ah, don"t step on me!"
"Get the f.u.c.k away, this is all mine!"
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Countless citizens charged into Gu Hai"s store and frantically started robbing everything inside.
According to the verdict of Gu Song Silver House, the citizens were not found guilty of robbery, and the Royal Family even greatly encouraged the act of doing so?
Even after committing robbery, the culprits were pardoned?
This news seemed to have acquired wings as it spread throughout the Song Capital almost in the blink of an eye.
Within the Song Capital, almost at the same time, the citizens seemed to have lost their minds as they recalled the terrifying amount of wealth of yesterday"s Gu Song Silver House. Perhaps in the Royal Family"s opinion, it was nothing more than a trinket, however, in the eyes of the citizens, it was an astronomical figure.
Everyone seemed to be thinking the same:
I don"t need to work, I don"t need to do any more labor, I just have to go and grab it? I just have to grab it and it"s mine? Not to mention, such wealth is way more than what my ancestors have earned in several generations.
I have to grab while it lasts! Should I stay or go?
Even His Royal Majesty has encouraged us to go, am I still going to keep gawking like a wooden log? If I keep the att.i.tude of wait and see, can I still gain anything?!
His Royal Majesty is encouraging us! This is bestowed by His Royal Majesty himself. These things are gifts bestowed upon us by His Royal Majesty! How can I shrink?
It"s a mountain of gold, it"s mine if I can take it, it is also perfectly justifiable, should I take it or not?
There wasn"t any need for organization, nor was there any need for a leader. As long as they had a little bit of brain, they would immediately charged towards Gu Hai"s stores. Furthermore, while some people were still hesitating on the grounds of morality, after witnessing many of their friends partic.i.p.ating in the robbery, under the orders of His Royal Majesty, could no longer sit still.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The citizens within the entire Capital had gone crazy, as long as it was Gu Hai"s store, in a moment, it would be surrounded by a sea of people. It seemed as though, all of the citizens were charging towards them.
All of Gu Hai’s stores, almost at the same time, barred their doors. However, it was impossible to block the fervency of the citizens with mere locked doors.
What should be done, the doors are closed?
"Let"s open them, let"s open them, we have brought the tools, let"s knock them down!" Someone shouted loudly.
When they turned their head to check, they witnessed the guards of Song Capital pus.h.i.+ng a battering ram.
"Ah? The city guards? Why are you not patrolling the Capital? Did you come here to join the fun with us?" Someone shouted.
"Patrolling my a.s.s! How can we let such a good opportunity go, let"s smash the door, we have a battering ram here, we secretly took it out from the armory, let"s smash this door down quickly!"
"You can"t, humph, so many of you, city guards have arrived, we came earlier than you, we have to divide first. If we give this location to you, then are we just going to have soup?"
"That"s right, you can"t, we don"t want your battering ram, we can smash the door ourselves!"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, audacious, you unruly people, we will no longer smash open the door, I will just arrest all of you, one by one," the city guard furiously shouted.
"You dare, my lord is the Royal Tutor, come and arrest me, do you dare arrest me?"
"My lord is Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, do you dare arrest me? First come first served, if you want to rob, let"s see if you will be alive to rob!"
"My lord is Vice Minister of the Ministry of War! Humph, come if you will!"
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It was a motley crew of three religions and nine schools[1], everyone was here. Each shop of Gu Hai was like a gold mountain placed in various parts of the Capital. No matter who it was, they weren"t exempted from the customs.
The civilians were here for overnight riches. The wealthy and the n.o.blemen also housed countless retainers, who weren’t willing to miss such an opportunity, and the houses of most of the Officials, were even more so, had received the first-hand information. City guards regardless of their important roles, had also come to rob.
At this moment, the entire Song Capital was in a chaos.
Sounds of riots, pillaging, crying, laughing, rage, and all kinds of emotions resounded throughout the entire Song Capital. It seemed as though, all of it broke out at the same time.
Standing atop a tall building within the Capital, Gu Hai and Gu Han gazed at the riots happening throughout the city, the residents of the entire Capital had gone crazy, at some places, besides robbery, fire, and smoke also started to rise simultaneously.
The noises could be heard without an end, and the screams could even be heard from far away.
"G.o.dfather, our Gu Mansion has suffered a tremendous loss of properties this time!" Gu Han said with a bitter smile.
"Loss of properties? Haha, do you think I would suffer losses?" Gu Hai said with a laugh.
"I was just saying! So what if we didn"t have those stores? Even if the entire wealth turned into rubble, G.o.dfather could rely on your name. I can guarantee that the Song Kingdom would be more than willing to lend all of their money at the first moment tomorrow, no matter how much G.o.dfather wants, they will lend it to G.o.dfather. G.o.dfather can raise all the stores of my Gu Family from the ground within one day, moreover, they will be bigger and stronger!" Gu Han confidently and proudly said.
Gu Hai didn"t refute but slightly smiled and said, "How can the properties of the secular world be considered as anything? How can the industries within the Song Kingdom amount to anything? Certainly, we can buy things with money, but all of those things are worthless!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Sounds of explosion resounded throughout the entire Song Capital. All of the citizens, retainers of various n.o.blemen, even began quarreling for various properties. Billowing smoke and flames continued to rise to the sky, while screams could be heard without end. The scene at the Song Capital began to resemble a living h.e.l.l amid the human world.
At the same time, those who were somewhat intelligent quickly bought horses and galloped towards the other cities of Song Kingdom.
If the citizens of the other cities knew that the Song King had decreed to plunder Gu Hai"s stores, they would definitely become crazy. We need to be quick, we must immediately plunder more wealth before the citizens of the other cities react.
"G.o.dfather, this chaos is just like fire, it is spreading towards the other cities of the Song Kingdom. Furthermore, the fire will only grow bigger and fiercer, the citizens will begin to rob more unscrupulously, their madness will also become more intense!" Reading the reports pa.s.sed by the subordinates, Gu Han looked towards Gu Hai and spoke with feelings.
"A spark can start a prairie fire, as long as the gates of ambition is opened, all of their thoughts can be hoodwinked, we can make them trample all of the Laws, as well as make them go crazy. However, it is still insufficient. Let"s wait till for the first batch of robberies to spread throughout the kingdom, then we just need to tear their last line of defense, and make them blinded by confusion!" Gu Hai said in a heavy tone.
"First batch? Ah, the faster the horses, the faster they will commit the robberies, and the fiercer it would become! G.o.dfather, no one could prevent this wave."
Sure enough, along with horses marching towards the cities around the Song Capital, the waves of robbery, just like a huge fire, engulfed the other cities one by one. The lighting of fires, didn’t require any complicated process, as long as there was firewood, the entire cities burst into flames as though barrels of gasoline had exploded completely.
Three, ten, twenty, the only thing that the citizens had in mind after they received the decree was to rob, furthermore, they didn’t need to be fastest, just quicker than their peers. The mob of citizens was as or even more frightening than a swarm of locusts.
In just a short period of few days, almost the entire Song Kingdom fell into a complete state of chaos.
On the fourth day, the closest city to the border of the Song Kingdom, the Border City, was also engulfed by chaos.
At this moment, within the Border City, flames were rising from everywhere as countless robberies, screams, crying, and sounds of frenzy continued resounding without an end.
At the Duke"s Mansion within the Border City.
At this moment, Gao Xianzhi furiously gazed at a middle-aged man who was dressed in a luxurious gown.
"Duke w.a.n.g, when your city is in chaos, how can you, how can you allow your retainers to go and pillage the shops?" Gao Xianzhi furiously said.
"No, no, no, General Gao, you are worrying too much. Hahaha, this is His Royal Majesty"s order, His Royal Majesty"s command cannot be violated. Everyone has the right to destroy Gu Hai"s stores. I am just following His Majesty"s order. Furthermore, even if I don"t send anyone to steal, others would still steal. General Gao, why are you so anxious?" Raising his teacup, Duke w.a.n.g said with a smile.
"No, this is not right. I don"t know what happened at the Royal Capital, in just half a month, how could His Royal Majesty allow the citizens to turn into bandits? This trend would lead the nation in a state of chaos!" Gao Xianzhi anxiously and furiously said.
"General Gao, you are overthinking this too much, it’s just robbing Gu Hai"s properties. We have to move along with the popular sentiment, the citizens are fuming in anger, and the destruction of Gu Hai"s industries will unite the hearts of everyone, from top to bottom, from Officials to the citizens of our Song Kingdom more than ever. Only then could we resist Gu Hai"s machinations in more straightforward manner. General, I heard that you have already gathered 50,000 soldiers, and it seems that there are soldiers included among those pillaging Gu Hai"s properties. You can"t even control your men, what"s the use of preaching me?" Duke w.a.n.g calmly said.
"The deserters of my barracks will be punished according to the Military Law. Sir w.a.n.g, can"t you see the flames within the city? The citizens have gone mad, and this must be a part of Gu Hai"s villainous plan!" Gao Xianzhi anxiously stated.
"Well, General Gao, this is His Royal Majesty"s command, you have no right to interfere. 800,000 soldiers were handed to you, yet you fell short of destroying the Chen Kingdom. His Royal Majesty has already shown greatest grace to you by not condemning you, but instead of feeling grateful, you are standing against His Royal Majesty"s order in all respects. Do you think that the Civil and Military Officials in the Royal Court are worse than a Military man like yourself? Humph, this is not your front line, this is my Border City, and I have the authority here!" Duke w.a.n.g reproached while staring at Gao Xianzhi.
"You!" Gao Xianzhi glared.
"My mansion is quite busy, I am unable to entertain General Gao, attendants, escort the guest out!" Duke w.a.n.g shouted.
"Humph!" Gao Xianzhi coldly snorted before he turned around and departed.
Just when he reached the entrance, a steward rushed into the hall.
"My Lord, it"s not good, we were a bit late and only managed to rob one store, resulting in just a few thousand silvers!" The steward bitterly said.
"d.a.m.n, we should have acted earlier, blame me for being indecisive in the beginning, if not, you could have gone a bit earlier!" Duke w.a.n.g burst with regret.
Gao Xianzhi"s complexion turned ugly, as he gradually walked away from the Duke"s Mansion.
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Song Capital.
Along with the verdict of the first robbery, the entire capital began seething with no end. Countless citizens started robbing and fighting, flames erupted everywhere, turning the entire capital into a mess.
Within just a single day, brawling incidents occurred one after another, so much, that all of the officials were mentally disturbed during the Royal Court hearing the following day.
No one had ever imagined that it would be this fast. Just in a single day, all of the properties of Gu Hai in the entire Royal Capital had been wiped clean; it was too fast. So fast that all the Officials had no time to even react.
The entire Royal Court including the Song King was slightly disturbed. No one knew whether the previous verdict was right or wrong, so during the Royal Court hearing, no one actually mentioned this matter.
After two days, the entire Song Capital had gradually calmed down. All the Civil and Military Officials in the Royal Court finally managed to heave sighs of relief.
"Royal Father, it turned out to be nothing, citizens only robbed Gu Hai"s stores. Now, all the citizens are united at heart, allowing us to resist Gu Hai"s machinations together!" Crown Prince Song was the first to stand before he laughed and said.
"That"s right, Your Royal Majesty, Gu Hai"s machinations will no longer be effective, we have gained the popular support, and, we will be able to destroy all of Gu Hai"s schemes in short periods of time!"
"Your Royal Majesty, all Gu Hai can do is concoct some schemes, that"s all. Now that all the citizens’ of my Song Kingdom are united, he will be powerless!"
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All of the Civil and Military Officials were loudly singing with the same tune. When the Song King nodded his head, everyone once more, heaved sighs of relief.
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"G.o.dfather, these two days have truly been peaceful! The people that robbed my Gu Mansion"s stores have all quieted down. It seems that nothing is going to happen." Gu Han said with a smile.
"Peaceful? They didn"t cause any more robberies, however, the beliefs of all the citizens of the Song Kingdom had been madly aroused, and those beliefs have already begun to be led by us." Gu Hai revealed a sliver of sneer.
"Oh?"
"Just listen to what they are saying!" Gu Hai sipped a mouthful of wine before he smiled and said.
At the moment inside the pub, sat a crowd of drinkers who were chatting with each other.
"That dog son Ergouzi Sun had actually robbed a golden Buddha, furthermore, started flaunting it off in front of me, pooh!"[2]
"Hahaha, don"t blame him, blame yourself for being slow!"
"Slow my a.s.s, I was just asleep and when I went, I could only grab a silver ingot!"
"Aren"t you content? I didn"t manage to grab anything. I think, Gu Hai"s properties didn"t have a lot of treasures, right? What do you think?"
"One has to grab them while it lasts. I have heard that some people had even grabbed tens of thousands of silver taels."
"Tens of thousands? f.u.c.k your ancestors!"
"If I am given another opportunity, I will definitely not sleep and keep on guarding the entrance of the goldsmith shop to be the first to rob!"
"Who isn’t going to plan this? You don"t know, over these two days, my wife had been nagging me all day, saying that I am too slow, our next door neighbor Ergouzi Sun had grabbed a Golden Buddha, originally they were dest.i.tute, but now our family simply cannot compare with them; with this robbery they have simply surpa.s.sed my family!"
"It"s all Gu Hai"s fault, why would he have so little stores, it would have been a lot better if he had a bit more!"
"That"s right, the most annoying are the people that have grabbed more than me! It"s annoying me to death!"
"Brothers, don"t be angry, come drink, drink!"
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The pub was filled with these kinds of noises.
Meanwhile, Gu Hai and Gu Han listened quietly.
"G.o.dfather, those who didn"t grab anything are grumbling and are deeply regretting!" Gu Han said with a smile.
"The people aren"t worried about scarcity, rather the uneven distribution! If the wealth was equal, no one would have said anything, however, now the wealth has been unevenly distributed, it can easily create psychological knots. The foremost robbery of my Gu Mansion"s stores in the broad daylight was just the leading act, while the robbery of my Gu Mansion was the foundation. They are already addicted to plundering, and still want to rob. Therefore, in order to satisfy themselves, all the stores in the Song Kingdom have become targets for them to rob. Everyone is acting like a bandit, their feelings are in chaos, the hearts of the citizens have completely turned into the hearts of bandits, the Song Kingdom is completely crippled!"
"G.o.dfather, I will go and supervise!" Gu Han immediately said in excitement.
"No need, wait for two more days so that the citizens" suffering becomes more intense and they begin to feel the gap becoming wider, which will make them even crazier and more chaotic!" Gu Hai said while shaking his head.
"Yes!" Gu Han immediately replied.
At this time, after the burst of the madness of the entire Song Kingdom, everything quickly calmed down. However, the hearts of people were still completely seething. When they looked at others, their gazes were filled with jealousy, their grim, red eyes couldn’t conceal the madness within their hearts. The hearts of countless citizens were like weeds, and those hearts were itching but they were unable to scratch. Whenever they would occasionally walk by the countless stores on the streets, their gazes were no longer filled with appreciation and what to chose, but rather greediness.
TLN:
[1] 三教九流 - Three religions and nine schools, Confucianism; Buddhism; Taoism; the Confucians; the Taoists; the yin-yang; the legalists; the logicians; the Mohists; the political strategists; the eclectics; the agriculturists. It basically means that people of all kinds of status were mixed among the crowd.
[2] In colloquial language, 二狗子 have a special meaning which carries a negative tone: someone who are a.s.sistants of the policemen