ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTEST 1

"Defenders of The Mandate of Heaven... make devastation all over Kaifeng?!"

Not only Zhu Su, but Chen Xinyi also got astonished. As the ex-Jinyiwei he should find out any secret movements even when it was still a plan, especially such very dangerous movement whose purpose was to rebel against the government. Yet he did not hear even the pettiest gossip about it. How could it be? How come?!

"Yes, Sir," The soldier answered. "It happened before dawn, of a sudden. Carrying knives, axes, machetes, and other kinds of weapons, the rebels came to government offices and messed up there! They even ransacked every house and forced the citizens to get involved in the riots!"

"Has the security guard anticipated the rebels?" Zhu Su asked.

"Yes, Your Highness. But looks like they are outnumbered, lost in total."

"How come?!"

"The protests they scream, Your Highness. Too provoking, even the foreigners who just come into our country for the first time will immediately get tensed up as they hear those protests."

"What do they shout?"

"Grandmaster De Ta has helped to tame the Yellow River and diminished the flood. And Grandmaster Suo Junhuan has helped to heal the sick. They are very meritorious to people, yet the government instead arrests and tortures them. It proves that the government doesn't side with the commoners since they oppresses the people's saviors. The government has violated the Mandate of Heaven, the people are disappointed with the government. No need for us to submit to the unworthy government. We must fight this heretic government without delay!"

"Really?!" Not only surprised, Zhu Su also felt a flash of irritation flowed rapidly in his body. What an awful yell. A venomous slander! "How can they worship those swindlers so much?!"

Suddenly a flash of Liu Ku's words yesterday passed through his mind. "... you like to be oppressed by the government. Ridiculous. Instead like to be the powerful one, why are you likely to become the victims?"

They couldn't give the answer to that question. As if they were confused because their shrewd strategy had been revealed... Then it means, this is what they have planned from the beginning?!

They deliberately sacrificed themselves to provoke the people's anger towards the government?!

Another soldier came. Kneeling beside his colleague, he spoke, "May I report Your Highness! The vandals have ravaged all the important government buildings, and now, they are heading straight here!"

No, people don't hate the government... They hate me!

"Such a group of fool people! They dare to underestimate us! Don't they know the number of Kaifeng protectorates? San Hu Wei consists of more than 50 thousand soldiers!" Chen Xinyi chuckled. "So what should we worry about? We will finish them easily!"

"No... maybe it can't be so easy..." Zhu Su asked the soldier. "Anyone investigate who is the culprit behind the chaos? Is this purely people's power, or is there a mastermind behind it?"

"We haven't found it yet, Your Highness. The military forces are overwhelmed with the attacks!"

"So many San Hu Wei we have! How can't they defeat those culprits?!" Chen Xinyi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Because almost all Kaifeng people are united against us!"

"Then you mean, the amount of those vandals are greater than San Hu Wei?!"

"They claim so. According to them, their soldiers consist of hundreds of thousands of oppressed people, or even more... and it seems that they are right!..."

The soldier's words was interrupted by the banging of a cannon, it also made several passing-by female servants screamed in shock. Their location was indeed near the main entrance gate.

Chen Xinyi, Wu Qi, and several chiefs of the high ranking soldiers immediately stood by. They drew their swords, showing their readiness to protect Zhu Su. Zhu Su himself, turned silent for a few moments.

"No need to do such things," He finally spoke. "It will be okay. I believe that San Hu Wei will do their best to protect Kaifeng."

"Yes, Your Highness... but still, we mustn't let our guard down. Since the enemy has arrived, we must be on guard," said Wu Qi.

Another soldier continued, "If necessary, we may ask the Capital for help."

"Don't do that!" Zhu Su straightly refused that suggestion. "We can do it by ourselves, why should we ask the capital for help? How embarrassing, as if we can't deal with our own problems. We must try on our own to solve our problems."

Nevertheless, although San Hu Wei is immense in number, the chaos could not be subsided. The power they possessed was almost on par with the well-trained soldiers, and more, their amount was greater from time to time. The morning turned into the afternoon, the afternoon turned into the evening, and it had been in the next morning, but the riot had not been subsided, not even a single progress appeared. Much worse, it was not the progress they got, but the bad news - the prison where Huan Shikang and his cronies were imprisoned had been broken down.

"Huan Shikang, De Ta, and Suo Junhuan had fleed!" One of Chen Xinyi's men reported.

Chen Xinyi tensed up. "Why can the jailers be defeated by the vandals?!"

"This rebellion is too massive, Sir. There are too many vandals. When the soldiers arrest one, five new vandals appear. Arresting another vandal, many more new vandals appear. And it repeated again and again."

"We haven't still found out their identities, but new problems have appeared," Wu Qi grumbled angrily.

"They have proclaimed their identity, Sir."

"Really?!?"

"They proclaim themselves as "The Defenders of The Mandate of Heaven" and their goal is to bring down the unworthy government. Huan Shikang shows his scars they've got in the dungeon, he shows it in a hyperbolic manner, makes his followers grow more furious to you. They then yell that The Defenders of The Mandate of Heaven have been tortured inhumanly, by then they must take revenge!"

Chen Xinyi soon shouted, "I get it! It's indeed Bai Lian Jiao's job!"

Suddenly Zhu Su remembered something. "Maybe... they imitate Zhang Jiao!" Zhang Jiao, or Zhang Jue, was The Head of the Yellow Turban Rebellion who rose against the Han Dynasty, he was so popular in the era of the Three Kingdom. Proclaiming that he had got a sacred book from Nan Hua Lao Xian when picking up medicinal plants in the mountain, Zhang Jiao traveled around and healed many sick people in many areas by using his "sacred water", at that time epidemic was spreading over. Zhang Jiao got so many followers by then he could rebel against the empire. "Huan Shikang and his cronies also use medical treatment to attract the naïve people, as well as magical power to mitigate disaster... exactly the same! Gosh, how come we don't realize that?!"

"Bai Lian Jiao is unwilling to learn its lesson. They have launched a rebellion in the Hongwu Emperor era and had been harshly punished, but still want to repeat it once again?!"

"I'm afraid, they are stronger than the previous Bai Lian Jiao..."

The soldier reported again, "This is more awful, Your Highness. People are willing to be death squads. They are willing to sacrifice themselves for Huan Shikang!"

"What the heck?! Instead of sacrificing themselves for the country, they prefer to sacrifice themselves for the rebels and fight against the country?!"

"Because they worship Huan Shikang and his cronies as Gods. They are seemingly blinded and can't see the reality."

They heard the sound of a cannon boomed one more time. And this time, the voices of people's screams also came into ears - the voice which was full of anger and hatred.

"How long has this chaos been going on?" Zhu Su's asked.

"Three days already," answered Wu Qi.

Zhu Su looked straight to the front, more precisely, to the main gate.

"I want to observe it in person, what's actually going on."