Chapter 0038: To Hell with the Heavens, To Hell with Floods and Droughts!
“Isn’t the truth that the gods moved the two mountains away?” a villager couldn’t help but shout out in question.
Zhu Xiaobiao shook his head and said calmly, “The truth isn’t that gods moved the mountains, but that the mountains moved on their own.”
The mountains moved on their own?
The villagers grew even more confused. How could mountains possibly move by themselves?
“Do you all know about earthquakes?” Zhu Xiaobiao asked.
This, they did know. Yi Province had experienced earthquakes before, but they were only slight tremors that shook houses a little, not severe enough to cause deaths.
Zhu Xiaobiao smiled. “Perhaps you don’t know that earthquakes vary in size. Minor earthquakes merely shake the ground, slightly stronger ones can collapse houses, and extremely powerful earthquakes can split mountains, swallow entire peaks, and even cause mountains to move far away on their own.”
“The two high mountains in The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains were separated by an earthquake, creating a path for people to travel. But the ancients of that time didn’t understand what earthquakes were. They thought it was the heavens showing divine power, unaware that the heavens couldn’t care less about an old fool!”
The villagers stood frozen in shock, feeling an itch in their heads as if something new was about to sprout.
The scholars were equally astounded, never expecting a mythical story to ultimately point to the study of geography and landforms.
So, The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains had nothing to do with gods at all?
And earthquakes could be this powerful?
“So, do gods even exist in this world?” someone couldn’t resist asking.
“Whether gods exist or not is unimportant.” Zhu Xiaobiao stepped forward, the bronze gongs behind him striking a lively rhythm as he declared loudly, “As you all know, so-called gods are ordinary people who performed good deeds and accumulated merit to transform into immortals. If there had been no earthquake, Yugong’s descendants would have eventually carved out a mountain path, benefiting future generations, and he might have become a mountain deity. It’s just hard to say whether his luck was good or bad—he happened to encounter an earthquake.”
Hearing this, the common folk couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions. They didn’t know whether to feel relieved that Yugong didn’t have to dig for thousands of years or regret that he missed his chance to become an immortal.
“Whether it was good or bad, let’s set that aside for now.” Zhu Xiaobiao smiled, his tone shifting. “What this story truly teaches us isn’t about perseverance, but about how we can use the heavens to rebel against the heavens.”
Use the heavens? Rebel against the heavens?
Hearing this, the crowd found it absurd, yet they also felt a faint thrill of excitement.
They had long suffered enough from the heartless cruelty of the heavens and naturally wanted to turn the tables, to retaliate.
“How do we rebel against the heavens?” someone quickly asked.
Zhu Xiaobiao replied, “Seeds always sprout in spring and yield harvests in autumn. Our ancestors used this pattern of the heavens to obtain food that filled their bellies. Since mountains can move with earthquakes, it means we can also use earthquakes to shift mountains. The reason we can’t do it now is simply that we haven’t yet uncovered the patterns of earthquakes or created tools to detect them in advance.”
“If we can create something that detects earthquakes in advance, then the people suffering from earthquakes can escape the whims of Heaven! If we can excavate Yu Ji Mountain, then the people suffering from drought can defy Heaven and let it watch us fill our bellies!”
Zhu Xiaobiao’s tone grew increasingly impassioned, the clanging of gongs behind him growing more urgent and intense. “In Heaven’s eyes, we are no different from insects. Don’t you want to rebel against Heaven’s cruelty? Don’t you want to make it open its eyes wide and see that no matter how it bullies you, you will never surrender?! You might not be able to fill your own bellies, but your children and grandchildren can! They will be proud and grateful for your sacrifices! Because you dared to defy Heaven, they will no longer fear its tricks—they might even dare to throw punches at Heaven, just like you, and never yield to it!”
“As parents, isn’t it all for the children? If we dig through Yu Ji Mountain, farming will become easier for our descendants and their descendants. They won’t be plagued by drought and hunger, and they can spend more time studying, traveling, and learning to resist Heaven. For all this, why can’t we do it?”
“Since we were born in Yi Province and live in Yi Province, let’s change Yi Province! Whether our fate is bitter or not is up to us to decide, not Heaven! We’ve believed in Heaven for so long, begged it for so long, yet it refuses to grant us even a little extra grace. Then we should stop believing in Heaven and start believing in our own hands!”
“To hell with Heaven! To hell with floods and droughts! We can do it ourselves!”
Zhu Xiaobiao raised his hands, shouting with fervent emotion!
Yes! Why should we live by Heaven’s whims? The means to change our bitter fate is right before our eyes. We can completely rely on our own hands to change our circumstances, ensuring that neither we nor our descendants remain prisoners of misery, and that we can eat our fill every day!
The villagers were all stirred with excitement, raising their hands alongside Zhu Xiaobiao and shouting, “To hell with Heaven! To hell with floods and droughts! We can do it ourselves!”
“So what should we do?” Zhu Xiaobiao immediately asked loudly.
“Dig the mountain! Dig the mountain!”
“Open the river channel! Open the river channel!”
“Exactly! And when we dig for stones, it’s not for nothing—we earn silver too! No need to worry about making ends meet like Yugong, with the women and children in the family fretting over survival!” Zhu Xiaobiao shifted his tone, heavily dropping the final bait.
What? Dig for stones and earn silver too?
Upon hearing this, everyone widened their eyes, suddenly energized.
“Our prefect has said that as long as you sign up to dig the mountain, you’ll be paid in silver—more work, more pay! When the relief grain arrives, you can even use the silver to buy food! There’s no need to fear starvation!” Zhu Xiaobiao laughed.
“But isn’t relief grain supposed to be distributed for free?” a villager couldn’t help but ask.
“Ah, speaking of that makes me angry!” Zhu Xiaobiao suddenly slapped his thigh, and the drum corps behind him immediately beat out an angry rhythm. “Some county magistrates are truly inhuman—they embezzled all the relief grain and even lied, claiming it was washed away by mountain floods, deliberately driving their own people to our side! But since they’ve come, we have to take responsibility, right? We can’t let them starve to death!”
After some thought, the crowd realized it was true—hadn’t they themselves been taken in by the people of Jiangdu Xian?
“But grain can only be bought with silver! The funds allocated by the imperial court are limited. If we have to buy grain and pay wages, how can we sustain such expenses? Moreover, digging the mountain is for your own benefit. The people of Jiangdu Xian have taken us in and given us steamed buns to eat—we can’t just take without giving back, right? Naturally, we must use money to buy grain, so Governor Liang can use these funds to purchase more grain from other prefectures and counties. Only through this cycle can everyone survive!”
The crowd found this reasoning headache-inducing, but they grasped the key phrases: “digging the mountain is good,” “can’t just take without giving back,” and “only then can we survive.”
These few words were enough for them to understand that this was the right way forward.
Since this was being explained at the government office entrance, it must be an official matter. Though they might be uneducated commoners, they knew to follow the authorities’ directives. As long as they wouldn’t go hungry, they would naturally comply.
“Young man, you mentioned earlier that some counties are deliberately directing people here—how many are we talking about?” someone asked curiously.
Zhu Xiaobiao sighed. “A full thirty thousand.”
The crowd gasped. Thirty thousand? That would be nearly ten counties’ worth of people!
“With so many people, will there be enough grain to go around?”
“Can they help us dig the mountain?”
“Digging will take a long time—won’t they need to farm their own land?”
Zhu Xiaobiao cleared his throat. “No need to worry, everyone. Grain won’t be a problem, and farming won’t be an issue either. The only problem is…”
The crowd held their breath, leaning in to listen.
“…there are too many people. Governor Liang is too kind-hearted to enforce conscription, but he can’t persuade them one by one either! We need many, many people to help per—ahem, help make them understand that coming to dig and work is a good thing, beneficial to everyone!”
The commoners: Ohh~ Ohhh~~
Understood! They were to help per—no, no—help persuade people to work and dig the mountain!