Chapter 76: Li Mu's Action

  Lian Wenqing continued: "We merchants will not agree with Guo Xiangguo's approach, so we asked the head of the Wu Guild to come out and go with us to reason with Guo Xiangguo. However, Guo Xiangguo hid in his mansion and avoided meeting with us. Now many residents in Handan have run out of food, and when they heard that grain from Qi had arrived in Handan, it was all detained by Guo Xiangguo and sold at a high price, which made people very indignant. Two days ago, Mozi's disciple Meng Zizhi led the way, gathered thousands of residents, and went to the front gate of Guo Xiangguo's mansion to ask for an audience, demanding that Guo Xiangguo distribute grain. However, Guo Xiangguo ordered Zhao Cong to send troops to suppress them, resulting in over a thousand deaths on the spot, and more than two thousand civilians were captured. Meng Zizhi was also caught."

  Li Mu couldn't help but be greatly shocked, saying: "Something like this can actually happen."

  If only a few hundred people were captured, there was still room for redemption. After all, capturing a few people is not a big deal. But capturing Mozi's disciples would be a big trouble. Although the Confucians always boasted that among the various schools of thought, the Confucian school had the most students, in reality, the Confucian school could only rank second, and the first place was actually the Mohist school.

  Although the Mohist doctrine of "inclusive love" and "mutual benefit" is overly idealistic, due to the fact that Mohism is more closely related to the lower classes, because the lives of the lower classes are difficult, they hope to be able to "love each other inclusively" and "benefit each other mutually", and since the property of the lower classes is not much, the Mohist doctrine of frugality, simplicity in funerals, opposition to music and military aggression can also be accepted by them. Therefore, Mohism spread widely among the lower classes, and many people from the lower classes are followers of Mohism.

  Moreover, compared with other schools of thought, the Mohist school has always been known for its urgency in serving the public and upholding justice, taking it as their own responsibility to save the world, and being called the righteous scholars of the world. The martial arts culture of later generations in China was developed from Mohist thought.

  Around 440 BC, the State of Chu asked the famous craftsman Gongshu Ban to manufacture cloud ladders and other equipment for attacking Song. Mozi learned about this and personally rushed to Chu, where he debated with Gongshu Ban, convincing him to abandon his plans, and eventually persuaded the King of Chu to call off the attack on Song. This is the origin of the famous story "Mozi Saves Song" from the Warring States period. From then on, Mohism became well-known throughout China, and its followers increased dramatically, with Mozi's teachings becoming extremely popular. After Mozi's death, Mohism split into several branches that dispersed to various states. The main branches were the Qin Mohists, the Zhao Mohists, and the ** branch.

  After the Battle of Changping, the State of Qin launched two expeditions against Handan, but the Mohist disciples of Zhao all took part in defending the city and achieved great merit. As a result, the Mohists held high status in Zhao and had considerable influence, with tens of thousands of followers in Handan alone. Mozi's current leader was named Di Pingzi.

  This time, Guo Kai took the grain he had bought back from Qi State and sold it at a high price. With the Mozi's principle of "impartiality and justice", Di Jin naturally stood up and led the organization of the people to ask Guo Kai for mercy. But Guo Kai did not distinguish between right and wrong, and actually arrested Mo Jin, which would inevitably provoke the Mozi brothers in Handan. If the Mozi brothers were to take action together, it would inevitably lead to a great riot in the city of Handan.

  At this time, the merchants and Wu Lie also knew that things had gotten out of hand, so they jointly recommended that Lin Wenqing step forward to ask Li Mu to return to the city and salvage the situation.

  After Wei Wenqing finished speaking, Li Yinghong said with hatred: "It's Guo Kai's ghost again. This time we can't let Guo Kai go. Father, let's hurry back to Handan City."

  Li Mu also realized the severity of the situation at this time and immediately said: "Alright, we will return to the city immediately. I will go into the palace right away to see the king."

  Gao Yuan Dao: "Great General, wait a moment."

  Li Mu Dao said: "Is there anything else?"

  Gao Yuan said: "Does the General think it's useful to enter the palace? Whether the King will see the General or not is not the issue, but what if Guo Kuo does this with the King's consent? On the other hand, if the King orders the General to lead the army to quell the Handan rebellion, how will the General deal with it?"

  Li Mu was taken aback, and he couldn't help but sink into thought. Gao Yuan's reminder wasn't unreasonable - if Zhao Wangyan hadn't agreed, Guo Kai wouldn't have dared to commit such a grave offense against the state of Zhao. Although Guo Kai controlled the government of Zhao, offending both the merchants and the Mohists at the same time was something even the royal family of Zhao didn't dare do. Moreover, Li Mu was well aware that Zhao Wangyan was a man of little insight, who almost always followed Guo Kai's advice - as long as Guo Kai suggested it, he would agree to anything. Therefore, even if Li Mu went into the palace to see Zhao Wangyan in person, he probably wouldn't be able to change anything.

  The whole big account did not calm down, Li Yinghong originally wanted to say something, but was blocked by Gao Yuan. At this time, Lin Wenqing also fell silent.

  After a while, Li Mu finally stood up and said in a low voice: "Summon Yuan Xuan."

  Before long, Yuan Xuan entered the tent and clasped his fists in respect, saying: "General."

  Li Mubai said: "You immediately go and gather five thousand soldiers, follow me into Handan City."

  Yuan Xuan was also shocked, he knew that Li Mu would not lead the army into the city without a reason, something big must have happened. However, he didn't ask more questions and only responded with a "yes" before immediately turning around to gather the troops.

  Li Mu then said, "Gao Yuan, you and Ying Hong go together to gather a thousand troops again. After entering the city, you immediately lead the army to Yun Jie Society, move out all the grain. If anyone dares to block, can be killed on the spot. If Zhao Cong leads the army to stop, don't be afraid of them, just take action, no need to show mercy. All consequences will be borne by me. If they are overwhelming in numbers, send someone to find me for help."

  Gao Yuan was taken aback and said: "General..."

  Li Yinghong exclaimed, "Father, it should be done this way."

  Lin Wenqing couldn't help but say: "General, why don't you think about it again?"

  Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "There's nothing to think about, this is the only way now. But Wen Qing, you can't idle around either, hurry back to the city to gather other merchants. Once the grain is seized, it will be distributed among you, then immediately open market for sale at the original price, and quickly stabilize the situation in the city."

  "Yes, Wenqing will go back immediately."

  Li Mu nodded and said, "Don't hesitate, let's act immediately."

  "Alright, Sister Wenqing, let's go," said Li Yinghong, pulling Wenqing along as they walked out of the main tent, with Gao Yuan following behind them.

  They arrived outside the tent, and saw Luo Huan holding a wooden sword in front of Wen Qing's carriage, chopping wildly at Wu Hongru, shouting "ya ya" with his small mouth. The little guy was very excited. Wu Hongru just blocked and parried, basically playing along with him.

  "Good boy."

  The little guy finally stopped, still holding the wooden sword in his hand, and jumped to the front of Lin Wenqing, panting: "Mom."

  "Look at you, just a moment's work and you're covered in dust. What do you look like?" He said, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping Luo Huan's face before saying, "Hurry up and go pay your respects to your master."

  Luo Huan finally arrived in front of Gao Yuan, put down his wooden sword, and respectfully bowed, saying: "Master."

  Gao Yuan rubbed his head and smiled: "Was it fun practicing sword just now?"

  The little guy immediately came to life and said: "It's fun, too much fun! Master, when will you teach me swordsmanship?"

  At this time, Lin Wenqing said: "Huan'er, you are still too young now. When you grow up a bit, your master will teach you swordsmanship. Now your master is busy with something and we need to go back, return the sword to your master and bid farewell to your master."

  Luohuan's face flashed a hint of disappointment, but he still bowed to Gao Yuan and said, "Master, I'm going back with my mother." As he spoke, he picked up the wooden sword and handed it over to Gao Yuan. His eyes, however, were filled with reluctance.

  Gao Yuan smiled and said: "This wooden sword will be given to you, go back and practice by yourself first, when I have time, I'll teach you the sword techniques."

  Luohuan listened and immediately burst out laughing, saying: "Really?"

  "Of course it's true."

  Luo Huan immediately said, "Thank you, Master." He took the wooden sword and ran back to Lin Wenqing's side, saying, "Mother, Master gave me this sword."

  Lin Wenqing nodded and said, "Since it was given to you by your master, then take good care of it." Then he bowed slightly towards Gao Yuan and said, "I'm sorry for the trouble, thank you sir. Lin Wenqing will take his leave now." With that, he got into the carriage with Luo Huan and left.

  After Wei Qing left, Yuan Xuan and Gao Yuan immediately gathered their troops and followed Li Mu into Handan City. Since they were entering the city, this time the army was mainly infantry, with a small number of cavalry, bringing only five or six war chariots.

  The plateau led by himself was trained with 900 infantry and 100 cavalry. And the weapons were also replaced with real ones, knives were replaced with swords, and double-edged axes were replaced with halberds, but the halberd handle was cut off to a length similar to that of the double-edged axe, which could be used with difficulty.

  After the army entered Handan City, the whole city became very desolate, and there were almost no pedestrians on the streets.

  When they arrived at a crossroads, there were already over a thousand people gathered, many of whom were armed, but judging from their clothing and attire, most of them were ordinary civilians. In the center of the street, Wu Lie was arguing with several people, accompanied by a few disciples.

  Seeing Li Mu's large army arrive, Wu Lie also showed a joyful expression and said loudly: "You see, the Marquis of Wu'an has arrived." He led three people to the front of Li Mu's chariot and said: "Marquis of Wu'an, now we can only ask you to preside over justice."

  Li Muo got out of the car and said: "What's going on? Who are these people?"

  Wu Lie said: "They are disciples of Di Kuai, and they are all Mohists from our state of Zhao."

  Mozi is a term used to refer to the followers of Moism, so Li Mu nodded and asked, "What are you doing here?"

  A young man of about thirty years old stepped forward and said, "Wu Anjun, I am Zhao Mo's younger brother Cheng Gui. Because Muzi pleaded for the people, he was instead captured by Xiang Guo. We are not at peace with this, so we have decided to gather all of Zhao Mo's younger brothers to rescue Muzi."