Scripture of Days Past

"That was very well said by Student White Rice," Chu Qiguang praised, giving a round of applause. "We have to make the entire world understand that cat fiend lives matter so there's never a repeat of the tragedy that befell A'De. To do that, we have to completely change our image. Only when people stop villainizing fiends and demons will there be a fundamental change.

"Our opponents have never been the people of the world. Instead, it's the mind-numbing doctrines of the Heavenly Master Religion and the rotten system of the Great Han Empire. They are the culprits behind your oppression."

The cats seemed to understand what he was saying, but at the same time, they still looked a little confused.

Seeing this, Chu Qiguang decided to take a different approach. He put on a look of melancholy as he said, "I know that many of you fled to the county town from nearby villages. Lulu, you came here from South Gully Town, right? Why did you come here?"

Lulu felt the urge to rebuke Chu Qiguang, but that would undoubtedly earn him another beating, so he answered obediently, "I didn't have anything to eat."

"Why didn't you have anything to eat?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"The people were so desperate for food that even the bark on the trees had been stripped, so there were no rats or birds around," Lulu replied. "I couldn't find any food, so I had to come to the county town to try and survive."

Chu Qiguang nodded, then asked the same question to the other cat fiends, receiving a range of answers. Some couldn't find any food, some had been abandoned by their owners, and some were even nearly captured and eaten.

"It seems like all of you came to the county town for different reasons, but fundamentally, your circumstances are the same," Chu Qiguang concluded. "You couldn't survive where you were before, so you had to come here. Why has survival become impossible for all of you?"

Chu Qiguang's gaze fell on White Rice as he raised that question, and the latter could only rise to his paws as he replied, "We couldn't find anything to eat, and the people who used to care for us weren't around anymore for one reason or another."

"Precisely!" Chu Qiguang declared with a nod. "Cat fiends and humans are supposed to coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship. You help humans capture rats and pests to protect their fields and grain, and in return, they feed and take care of you. Your main food sources come from the pests you catch and what humans feed you, but right now, both of those sources are steadily declining.

"All of you and the common folk belong to the same class. If one prospers, both prosper; if one suffers, both suffer. If they're thriving, then all of you will have enough to eat. If they fall on hard times, then all of you will starve as well."

Most of the cat fiends nodded with thoughtful expressions. What Chu Qiguang was saying clearly matched their personal experiences.

They had never considered completely leaving human society to live in the wild. After all, food was even harder to find in the wild, not to mention the dangers of surviving alone in such an environment.

Only a powerful cat fiend capable of subduing other beasts, like Qiao Zhi, could survive in the wild.

"Things only became like this because the common folk no longer had enough to eat," Chu Qiguang said. "How could they keep feeding all of you when they couldn't even feed themselves? In their desperation to survive, they began eating the pests that were once left for you, and they even considered eating you!

"However, as time went on, they only became poorer, and the starvation grew worse. Why is that? What happened to all the crops they planted year after year?"

The cat fiends were intrigued. They clearly wanted to know the answer as well.

"Let's use Azure Sun County as an example," Chu Qiguang continued. "The Wu Clan alone owns at least one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, while the Hao Clan owns at least a hundred thousand acres. Then there are other wealthy clans like the Ding Clan and the Sun Clan. Altogether, they've claimed more than half of the arable land in the county. That's not even counting the exploitation by the nobility.

"For example, the Huiqin Feudal Lord of the Northern Mountain Manor demands annual offerings of sixty thousand stones of grain, thirty thousand taels of silver, forty pi of brocade,[1] three hundred pi of satin, five hundred pi of silk, and ten cartloads of all kinds of pills. On top of that, they spend astronomical sums on cultivation resources every year.

"The Northern Mountain Manor presides over eight counties, including our Azure Sun County, all of which fall under the territory of the Huiqin Feudal Lord. The nobles and officials take so much from those below them, yet they pay no taxes and are exempt from forced labor. They've claimed the majority of the world's resources, yet they give nothing in return. In contrast, the common folk have almost nothing, yet they're the ones forced to pay taxes.

"How can they possibly survive in such a lopsided system? Over time, the rich accumulate more and more wealth, while the poor are driven further and further into the ground. The worse off the common folk are, the harder life becomes for all of you. Perhaps some cat fiends can become pets in wealthy households, but those households alone can't raise all the cat fiends under the heavens.

"Through their exploitation of the people, the wealthy and the nobility are also inflicting widespread suffering on countless cat fiends. They are the common enemy of both cat fiends and commoners."

Looks of realization appeared in the eyes of the cat fiends at this revelation.

"But if the common folk are on our side, then why are they trying to kill fiends as well?" Lulu asked.

"Great question, Lulu," Chu Qiguang praised. "This is the result of species conflict. Conflict doesn't only exist between humans and fiends, but also between different species of fiends. However, what you need to understand is that they are not your enemies. Your real enemies are the wealthy and the nobility who exploit everyone. The pillars that allow them to do this are the twisted ideologies of the Heavenly Master Religion and the corrupt system of the Great Han Empire.

“If you want change on a fundamental level, then a revolution is necessary. That's all the time that we have for today. Next time, I'll go into more detail about species conflict and class conflict."

Since birth, the cat fiends had been struggling just to survive, but no matter how hard they tried, life only seemed to become more difficult. They had never thought about the fundamental reasons behind why it was becoming increasingly difficult to get by, nor had they ever had someone like Chu Qiguang explain it to them.

As a result, many of the cat fiends present felt enlightened by Chu Qiguang's lesson.

Chu Qiguang was very pleased with the outcome of this lesson.

These cat fiends are much easier to influence than humans. If I tried to teach humans like this, they'd probably chase me down the street with pitchforks!

"From now on, I'll be giving a lesson every day," Chu Qiguang declared. "I hope we can all work together to make the cat race great again. For now, let's eat."

After the lesson, Chu Qiguang personally began feeding the cat fiends. They lined up in an orderly manner, each holding a plate.

As each cat approached, Chu Qiguang served some food onto their plate, patted them on the head, and said, "Study hard."

"Thank you, Brother Chu," White Rice said.

"Don't copy Chen Gang!" Chu Qiguang reprimanded. "You can all call me Mr. Chu instead."

"Yes, Mr. Chu."

After all of the cat fiends had received their food, Chu Qiguang began eating as well, eating the same dishes as the cats.

With the cat fiends becoming more obedient, Chu Qiguang was feeling very pleased.

I'm going to turn these cat fiends into the perfect envoys to help me expand my fiendish forces!

1. Pi is an ancient Chinese unit of measurement for fabric. There's a lot of conflicting literature on how long a pi was at different points in history, but from my research, it seems to be somewhere between 10-20 meters or 33-66 feet. ☜