Chapter 301: All the Same

Zhou Jiaxing was facing two patrolmen. The two of them were wearing yellow Daoist robes and straw sandals, their skin tanned and reddish.

The two men opposite were also looking at Zhou Jiaxing curiously.

They already knew that the people from Xuzhou opposite were not the same Jianghu people as before, but people from Yangzhou.

“Have you eaten?” Zhou Jiaxing held a glass jar containing… pickled cucumbers.

It was already October, and the north was gradually getting colder. After the season for beans and eggplants had passed, the only vegetables left were winter melons and Chinese cabbage.

Moreover, they had come from Yanzhou and Jizhou in the north, eating only dry rations every day. Who could stand that? So, they were delighted to see pickled cucumbers.

Yangzhou’s canned food was also a popular commodity in their area.

It was a pity that it was not sweet fruit canned food.

However, they still had military discipline. Although they saw it, the two men remained very reserved.

One of them, named Ren Zhonghuang, said, “Are you trying to bribe us?”

“Hey~” Zhou Jiaxing said in a very experienced tone, “What do you mean by bribing? We’re all working for our superiors. When our superiors are fighting to the death, aren’t we the ones who suffer?”

“I just saw that you two brothers looked kind, and I wanted to trade these pickled cucumbers for some of your dry rations,” he added.

“Oh?” The other Yellow Heaven Daoist, named Li Weiye, said with great interest after hearing Zhou Jiaxing’s words, “Come, come, come, let’s trade!”

So, the three of them approached each other. Zhou Jiaxing traded a jar of pickled cucumbers for a few pieces of dry rations from the two men.

The two men felt that it was a very good deal, they had really gotten a great bargain!

Their dry rations were just a few steamed buns, which had been left out for a day and were very dry and hard, making them very difficult to swallow.

But Zhou Jiaxing had his own way. He took out another small jar of pickled cucumbers, then broke the steamed buns open and placed the pickled cucumbers in the middle of the buns.

After that, Zhou Jiaxing ate with relish. The pickled cucumbers were both salty and sour, and when paired with the dry steamed buns, they gave the buns flavor and made them less dry.

His way of eating prompted the two Yellow Heaven Daoists to imitate him.

The same food, the same way of eating, suddenly brought the three of them closer together.

Zhou Jiaxing finally asked his question, “I heard that you Yellow Heaven Path, like us in Yangzhou, also equally distribute land?”

For people like them, land was a very good topic.

The Yellow Heaven Path aimed to establish a prosperous and peaceful Golden Age of Yellow Heaven, with many propositions and methods, one of which was “equal distribution of land.”

“Yes! We’ve all been allocated land,” Ren Zhonghuang nodded and said, “Now we’re having our families farm it!”

“Then I’m sure you, like us, are no longer being bullied!” Zhou Jiaxing said again.

“Well…” Ren Zhonghuang ate his steamed bun and remained silent.

“Hey! To be honest,” Li Weiye sighed and said, “The two of us were ostracized and sent here to patrol.”

“We’re all soldiers, who wants to come here? It’s dangerous and thankless.”

If they were not being bullied, how could it be that only the two of them were sent to patrol this dangerous place?

“Ah? I heard that your Sun Daoren wants to establish a fair and selfless Golden Age of Yellow Heaven?” Zhou Jiaxing said, “If you’re not even fair internally, how can you be fair externally?”

“Our backgrounds as Daoist soldiers are different!” Li Weiye, who was more talkative, said, “Some people joined with their own troops and servants, and upon arrival, they could immediately lead a small squad.”

“Some are relatives of the District Leaders, and once they join the Yellow Heaven Path, they become the District Leader’s personal guards.”

“And some have donated all their family property to Master Sun Xian. Such people can’t start as ordinary soldiers like us, can they?” Li Weiye said.

After listening to Li Weiye’s words, Zhou Jiaxing understood. The Yellow Heaven Path’s members had very diverse backgrounds, and without a unified ideology to guide reforms, friction easily arose.

How could the son of a martial artist hold the same position as the son of a poor farmer?

✿✿✿

Even with Yangzhou’s development in recent years, there were still some old fogies clinging to such ideas, let alone the Yellow Heaven Path?

Zhou Jiaxing could see clearly that the Yellow Heaven Path used religion to unite everyone, but its internal problems were not small. Since religion itself was oppressive, how could it establish a fair and selfless Golden Age of Yellow Heaven?

“In our place, officers and soldiers are equal, and the salaries they receive are the same!” Zhou Jiaxing said.

“Really?” Ren Zhonghuang, munching on his steamed bun, widened his eyes and said.

How could officers and soldiers be equal?

He couldn’t imagine it.

“Of course it’s true. Superiors don’t hit subordinates, everyone shares the joys and sorrows!” Zhou Jiaxing added.

“Even martial artists?” Ren Zhonghuang asked again.

“Even martial artists!” Zhou Jiaxing nodded.

Yangzhou had a system that had been honed for a long time, preventing high-level martial artists from hitting low-level martial artists. It was even a serious crime for a high-level martial artist to injure an ordinary person!

Once discovered, they would be heavily punished, even beheaded!

“We in Yangzhou also value production and education. Martial artists cannot demonstrate their worth through martial force, but through production,” Zhou Jiaxing said. “Fighting alone is not enough in our place.”

“No wonder you have some strange and useful things in Yangzhou!” Li Weiye said.

Li Weiye was different from Ren Zhonghuang. Ren Zhonghuang had been farming for half his life, but Li Weiye had wandered around before, so he had seen much more than Ren Zhonghuang.

He said with emotion, “I originally thought Yangzhou was similar to our Yellow Heaven Path, but now it seems that it’s not quite the same.”

They had also heard of things like Yangzhou standing up for the poor and holding public trials for martial artists.

And not just once!

“Actually, it’s all the same,” Zhou Jiaxing said. “We’re all ordinary people, we all want a stable life, we all hope for a fair environment, to live our lives in peace and safety.”

“Easy for you to say, but where is it that easy?” Ren Zhonghuang said.

Stability, fairness, peace, these three simple wishes were indeed difficult for them to achieve.

“Anyway, when the fighting starts, you two brothers should stay far away. The battles between True Realm martial artists are very scary! Run as far as you can!” Zhou Jiaxing advised.

“I’m afraid we can’t…” Ren Zhonghuang said, “I have to chant scriptures, I have to…”

Before he could finish speaking, Li Weiye stepped on his foot.

It was only then that he remembered that the person opposite him was from Yangzhou, not a brother from their own tent.

He couldn’t tell such things to outsiders!

Zhou Jiaxing was too friendly, making him forget that this was someone he had just met.

“It’s okay! I didn’t hear anything. What happened today, only Heaven, Earth, you, and I know!” Zhou Jiaxing eased the awkwardness.

“Yes, yes! Let’s just pretend we never met!” Li Weiye said quickly.

With that, the three of them parted ways.

The two Yellow Heaven Daoists continued their patrol, while Zhou Jiaxing went back to organize and gather the intelligence he had collected.

They were walking in two different directions, but they were all the same.

Ren Zhonghuang, Li Weiye, are aliases provided by book friends.