In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 555 The Rice That Never Ends

Because they had all changed into the clothes of county magistrates and officials, Yang Zheng and his men were able to approach the city guards smoothly, and then kill them all when they were off guard.

After visiting four counties in a row, Yang Zheng had finally gained complete control of the county.

Of course, Yang Zheng did not stop there. He knew very well that he had committed a capital offense punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his family, and he could not afford to be negligent in the slightest.

Soon, Yang Zheng led Yang Erlang and the others to the county granary. After killing the guards, they opened the granary and looked at the mountain of grain inside with longing in their eyes.

"Damn it, I've never seen so much grain before."

"Me too."

"The grain is piled up as high as a mountain, how much grain is that?"

"I don't know how much there is. I only know that I'm afraid I could never finish eating all this food in my entire life!"

"..."

What would it feel like for a group of starving people who have never experienced hunger in their lives to stand in front of mountains of grain?

Just look at how Yang Zheng and the others reacted. Yang Erlang stepped forward with his knife and made a cut on the grain bag. Instantly, grains of rice flowed out.

Yang Erlang reached out and caught the spilled rice, then stuffed the raw rice into his mouth and began to chew.

There was nothing he could do; he was starving. The little bit he had eaten at home that morning was not enough to satisfy his hunger, and the killings had exhausted him. At this moment, he felt so hungry he could eat a whole cow.

The others followed suit, grabbing handfuls of raw rice and wolfing it down, including Yang Zheng.

"Brother Yang, is this rice? It looks delicious."

A man chewed on raw rice, speaking indistinctly.

Most of Yang Zheng's group of people had never eaten rice in their thirty-odd years of life. This had nothing to do with taste; it was entirely due to poverty.

"Ah."

Yang Zheng nodded vigorously and said, "From now on, we'll have an endless supply of rice!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with knowing smiles, like mice falling into a rice jar. Having an endless supply of rice every day was a life they could never have dreamed of.

"However, we need to do other things before we eat rice."

After wolfing down a few mouthfuls of raw rice, Yang Zheng got up and walked outside the granary. He knew very well that it would be impossible for him and his dozen or so playmates from the same village to succeed in a rebellion. Therefore, he had to develop and strengthen his own forces.

According to Yang Zheng's previous plan, after taking over the granary, he would open it to distribute grain and attract hungry refugees and civilians to join his rebellion.

"Brothers, it's time to begin our plan!"

At Yang Zheng's command, Yang Erlang and the others did not act immediately, but instead looked longingly at the grain piled up in the warehouse.

"Brother Yang, with so much grain, are we really going to distribute it all?"

"What a pity! We risked our lives to finally seize this granary."

"Yes! The grain we risked our lives to seize is just going to be given to those refugees like this?"

"I really can't bear to part with it."

"..."

For the people of Xia, food was their lifeline. They could live without silver, but they absolutely could not live without food.

The same was true for Yang Erlang and the others, so when they learned that Yang Zheng was going to distribute the grain, they were very reluctant.

"There's nothing to be reluctant about."

Yang Zheng said calmly, "Even if we don't distribute this grain, we can't take it with us."

The granary contained no less than several thousand bushels of grain. Even with Yang Zheng's group's transportation capabilities, it would take them forever to move it all. Moreover, the current situation simply did not allow them to move it slowly.

"Instead of leaving the grain here to benefit others, we should use it to strengthen our forces!"

Yang Zheng said, "Now, everyone listen to my orders and go into the city to spread the news and attract the refugees and starving people here."

"Yes!"

Yang Erlang and the others glanced back at the grain once more, and then obeyed orders.

Soon, news that grain was being distributed from the granary spread throughout the county, and countless starving people and refugees flocked to the area, turning the open space in front of the granary into a sea of ​​people.

However, because Yang Zheng and his men were fully armed and guarding the warehouse, the starving people and refugees who came did not force their way in. However, their eyes were full of greed and longing for food.

Holding a long knife, Yang Zheng stood before the horde of refugees. Looking at these emaciated people, almost skin and bones, a hint of pity flashed in his eyes.

Without exception, these people were all citizens of Liangzhou, but this messed-up world had turned them into this ghostly appearance.

Yang Zheng even saw many women in the crowd carrying babies. The women were thin and their clothes were dirty and tattered. The babies were no better off, thin and bony, crying incessantly from hunger.

"Hello, fellow villagers! My name is Yang Zheng!"

Yang Zheng withdrew his gaze and slowly said, "Tell me, do you want to have a full meal?"

"miss you!"

The voices of thousands of starving people gathered here converged and soared into the sky.

"I want to eat my fill, that's right, I want to eat my fill too!"

Yang Zheng laughed, "But I want to ask you a question: why are you not getting enough to eat? Are you lazy in farming, or are you not hardworking enough?"

After these words were spoken, the crowd fell silent for a moment.

"Fuck your motherfucker!"

Among the crowd, a burly man couldn't help but swear: "I've never been lazy when I work, and everyone in the village praises me for being a good farmer!"

"That's right! Farming is the most important thing for us, how could we possibly slack off!"

“I started helping with chores at home when I was ten years old, and I’ve never been lazy.”

"Me too!"

"..."

Listening to the people's answers, Yang Zheng remained expressionless and continued to ask, "Since you haven't been lazy and have worked hard in the fields, why are you still not getting enough to eat?"

"It's because we don't have enough land at home!"

A young man who was closer to Yang Zheng replied, "If my family had hundreds or thousands of acres of land like the landlords, I would definitely be able to eat my fill!"

"Yes! We have too little land."

“I don’t own any land. I’ve been working for the landlord with my parents since I was a child. That damned landlord, we worked so hard to farm for him, but we could barely get enough to eat all year round. Now it’s even worse; he won’t even let us farm the land anymore.”

"These landlords all deserve to die!"

"That's right! Those damned landlords should be struck dead by lightning by God."

"..."

Yang Zheng's question seemed to stir up the resentment towards the landlords in everyone's hearts. There was no way around it; the landlords in Liangzhou were truly inhuman. In the past, during peaceful years, working for the landlords could barely keep them from starving, but with the arrival of the cold disaster, more and more people lost their land, and being a tenant farmer became a sought-after job...