Peasant Disposition

"Ouch," Piotr winced bumping his head upon arriving in the next time period. "I hate it when the machine drops us off in the dark."

"Whaddya talking about, mate? It's not dark in here," Pyro blinked disorientedly. "Well, maybe it is up in the rafters where your head is…"

"Considering we've had to deal with multiple fires and volcanoes during the last few jumps, a little darkness sounds pretty good," Mastermind moaned rubbing his temples. "It would fit perfectly with my long-held desire to get a decent sleep."

"Looks like you might finally get your wish this time, Masty," Remy glanced around at the interior of what appeared to be a decrepit, ramshackle house or cottage. "From the look of things, I'd say this place has been abandoned for a while."

"停止!" A pair of lightly armored men brandishing shields and short spears suddenly burst through the cracked, wooden front door. "別動!"

"You were saying?" Mastermind gave Remy a look.

"安靜!" The men threateningly pointed their spears at the mutants. "給我們你的食物!"

"Forget it, punks!" Sabertooth growled snatching the weapons out of the men's hands and backhanding them against a wall. "You ain't getting a thing!"

"Was that really necessary?" Piotr frowned as Sabertooth casually knocked the men out.

"Gee, let me think?" Sabertooth grunted mockingly. "Yes!"

"Anybody know what those guys were saying?" Remy asked poking his ear. "My translator got turned off during our brief stop in Italy."

"I don't know. Mine was off too," Mastermind shrugged and whacked Pyro in the head.

"Ow!" Pyro yelped. "What did ya do that for? My translator wasn't off."

"Really? Huh, my mistake," Mastermind whistled innocently before whapping him on the head once more. "Oops! I did it again!"

"Stop playing around Masty and tell us what the machine says," Remy scolded.

"Fine," Mastermind reluctantly ceased hitting Pyro and checked the machine just as it displayed:

September 29, 1347 A.D.
Fengyang County, China

"China again, huh," Remy commented at the news. "I thought those hommes' jabbering sounded familiar. Hope the souvenir pickings around here are better than they were the last time."

"Last time?" Mastermind blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? We've never been to China before."

"Sure we have, Masty. It was a lot of fun!" Pyro grinned at the memory. "Of course, you were pretty loopy at the time…

"And that's him saying it," Sabertooth grunted.

"I hope no one comes looking for these men soon," Piotr glanced at the pair of armored figures' prone forms. "Is there a war going on during this time?"

"Doesn't sound like it," Remy cautiously peeked out a broken, paper-covered window. "Looks like we ended up in a large farming town or something. Though half of it looks abandoned and the other half is pretty run down. There's a party of armed guys standing around a couple carts parked in the middle of the street. Half of them are pairing off and breaking into other homes."

"Must be looting the place," Sabertooth growled.

"If they are, they aren't getting much," Mastermind noted as the other Acolytes joined Remy at the window. "No gold, no jewels, no porcelain. Just sacks and baskets of food. And little food at that."

"They're ignoring the sheilas too," Pyro watched a growing crowd of weeping men, women and children as more armed figures carried away their collected foodstuffs. "You'd think they'd want a date to share their purloined tucker with."

"Looks like they're about to move out," Remy said as the armed figures loaded what little they had taken into the carts and prepared to leave. "This house is so dilapidated I doubt anyone will bother checking it again. We can probably relax once those guys leave and just hang around till the machine finishes cooling down…"

"URRRAAAHHH!" An enraged, armored up Piotr ran out into the street and crashed straight into the armed figures.

"On the other hand," Remy blinked in surprise.

"What the heck is he doing?" Mastermind hissed staring out the window.

"He's fighting with the mob of armed blokes and wiping the floor with 'em," Pyro watched Piotr go. "And he's doing a smash job of it too."

"But he's blowing our cover!" Mastermind protested. "We have to do something about this!"

"I'll say. I ain't letting the Russian have all the fun," Sabertooth roared dashing out into the street. "RRROOOAAARRR!"

"That's not what I meant!" Mastermind yelled.

"Yeah! Go Colossus! Go Sabes!" Pyro cheered running after them. "Don't worry, mates! I got your backs! Wait for me!"

"Oh no, not again," Mastermind groaned.

"C'mon, Masty. Might as well tour the town and see the sights," Remy said as they headed out to join their teammates. "I for one am very interested to see what got Piotr all riled up. He's usually the one arguing against too much interacting with the locals."

"Awww, everything's over so soon?" Pyro pouted as Piotr and Sabertooth easily rendered the entire party of armed men unconscious. "I didn't even get to burn anything!"

"Thank goodness for small favors," Mastermind grumbled.

"Nice job, homme," Remy walked up and give Piotr a look. "Guess fighting and knocking people out really was necessary."

"I am sorry," Piotr sighed and shuffled his feet looking contrite. "But I know what it is like to be a farmer. These people obviously have very little and those men were just taking it all way. I could not just stand by and…"

"It's okay, homme. I understand," Remy patted his shoulder reassuringly. "You jumped in to play the game. Just be sure you're willing to pay the price."

"And take responsibility for your actions," Mastermind muttered joining them. "Now what do we do?"

"Give them their food back, of course," Piotr said.

"Might be kinda hard to do that," Pyro said as the crowd of people watched the Acolytes warily. "They're looking at us like we're a bunch of demons or something."

"I've often done the same thing," Mastermind grumbled.

"Eh, I'm used to it," Remy waved. "It's the 'giving things away part' I'm having trouble with."

"Oh crud, I'll handle this," Sabertooth growled before shouting at the crowd in Chinese. "EVERYBODY COME AND TAKE BACK YOUR STUFF! ANYTHING LEFT WILL BE EATEN ALONG WITH WHOEVER IT USED TO BELONG TO!"

The crowd immediately rushed the carts. "There, that's my good deed for the millennium," Sabertooth grunted. "Be grateful!"

"That could have been phrased much more gently," Piotr frowned.

"I SAID, BE GRATEFUL!" Sabertooth snapped.

"Excuse me, most gracious strangers," A young, raggedly dressed man emerged from the crowd and respectfully bowed at the Acolytes. He wore a torn weathered robe, thin mustache and beard and appeared to be around nineteen years old. "Thank you for returning to the people all that had been taken from them."

"No problem, mate," Pyro chirped. "None of that stuff would've made a decent souvenir anyway."

"You are obviously personages of great wealth and power," The man bowed again. "I humbly ask if you would be willing to part with a small bit of charity for a poor, hungry man such as I, Zhu Chongba?"

"Sorry, homme. Afraid we don't have any snacks or spare change to spare," Remy shook his head.

"Not to mention sanity," Mastermind groaned.

"Please! I beg of you, sirs!" The man who identified himself as Chongba fell to his knees after Sabertooth translated Remy's response. "I have not eaten for three days! My belly is empty! I promise your kindness will be rewarded!"

"Yeah, right," Sabertooth snorted. "I've heard that one before!"

"I am sorry we do not have any food or money to give," Piotr looked at Chongba sympathetically. "Why don't you join your fellow villagers and take back what little food the bandits took from you?"

"Those men did not bother me. I had nothing they wanted," Chongba pointed at the armed figures' prone forms after hearing the translation. "And they are not bandits. They are tax collectors."

"There's a difference?" Remy quipped.

"Huh, lucky for you these blokes were bad at their job," Pyro commented. "Instead of cash and gold, they were only raiding your larders."

"Are you crazy? Food is far more valuable than gold these days," Chongba corrected hearing Sabertooth's translation. "Ever since the Yellow River flooded three years ago there has been nothing but drought and famine throughout the region."

"Oh my," Piotr gasped. "That sounds terrible."

"Over half the county population has already left in hopes of finding food elsewhere in order to keep from starving," Chongba went on. "The rest stay and just try to survive as best they can."

"Oh," Mastermind paused and stared at the mass of people who had finished retrieving their meager food stores. All of them were gaunt, haggard and clearly emaciated.

"I used to be a Buddhist monk at the Huangjue Temple. Well, an apprentice monk," Chongba's face grew wistful. "I used to have an entire bowl of gruel to eat per day! And vegetables! Imagine the luxury!"

"That's one way to describe it," Sabertooth scoffed. "Sounds more like prison rations to me."

"But when the river flooded the monastery ran out of funds and I was forced to leave and become a wandering apprentice monk," Chongba sighed sadly. "I have been a beggar ever since."

"Ouch. Tough luck, mate," Pyro shook his head. "Ever consider becoming a bushranger?"

"This is horrible. These people do not deserve to have their food taken like this," Piotr swept his hand over the villagers. "They should complain to the local magistrate."

"The magistrate? Ha!" Chongba spat after Sabertooth translated Piotr's suggestion. "Who do you think is responsible for collecting such unreasonable taxes in the first place?"

"What?" Mastermind blinked. "Are you serious?"

"The magistrate is supposed to be an official of great integrity who works to achieve harmony and justice, but our county magistrate is as corrupt as a rotten fish," Chongba grumbled. "He continues to collect grain taxes instead of distributing them to the people or even letting them keep what little food they manage to grow or raise themselves. He eats like an emperor while the people are left to starve!"

"Hooley dooley," Pyro looked around as children, many no older than ten, stared back at him with hollow eyes and pinched faces. "Poor little tackers."

"And if that was not bad enough, the magistrate is also selling off his stores of rice and grain to wealthy officials of other provinces," Chongba went on. "Not only does he use part of the money to import rare luxuries to consume himself, but he also fails to report his sordid profits to the prefect and provincial governor!"

"Man, talk about bureaucratic corruption," Remy shook his head. "And people call me a thief!"

"How do you know all this?" Mastermind asked.

"I begged outside his official residence and private storehouses for several weeks," Chongba explained after Sabertooth translated the question. "It is not difficult to deduce what is going on when loads of rice go out and carts of luxuries come rolling in."

"This is not right," Piotr clenched his fists in frustration. "The government is supposed to help people, not exploit them!"

"Since when?" Sabertooth quipped.

"Even the soldiers are starving," Mastermind carefully nudged one unconscious figure with his boot. "Look at their hands. They're all bony and arthritic."

"No wonder their armor is so light," Remy noted. "They're so malnourished they wouldn't be able to support wearing anything heavier."

"The magistrate's greed and corruption knows no bounds," Chongba finished in resignation. "People did not even have enough spare food to celebrate this year's Mid-Autumn Festival. And that was just a day ago!"

"I do not believe it," Piotr was stunned. "No one can be that heartless."

"Even Mags treats us better than that," Pyro sniffed. "Barely…"

"The machine is finally done cooling down," Mastermind said softly. "We can leave at any time."

"Great, let's go. Nothing worth staying around here for," Sabertooth growled. He then saw one starving young girl run a hand along her thin, exposed ribs. "Then again…"

"Well, looks like there's only one thing to do," Remy declared flashing Chongba a wicked grin. "Where did you say this local magistrate lives again?"


Twenty minutes later…

"Hahahahaha!" Pyro cackled happily as he led a multicolored fire dragon parade down a wide cobbled street. "Here ya go, mates! I'll show ya how to celebrate a real festival!"

"Wheeeeee!" Dozens of young, smiling children clapped and laughed at the display in delight.

"Yahooo! Lalalalala!" Pyro giggled as the parade passed outside an elegant-looking house.

"WAAAHHHHHH!" A richly-dressed middle-aged man, obviously the county magistrate, screamed and ran about the house with the back of his silk Hanfu on fire. "HELP! WATER! WATER!"

"That's it, hommes! You're doing a master thief's heart proud!" Remy grinned leading a party of eager villagers in looting the magistrate's house and stripping the place bare. "Leave no floorboard unturned. You never know where a loose coin or hidden stash of cash might be…hey! Nice silver hairpin!"

"Stop! Looters! Thieves!" An armed trio of the magistrate's private guard appeared.

"Aw, back off gendarmeries," Remy tossed a handful of charged, beaded necklaces at them. "You ain't locking up any of my apprenties today!"

BOOM! POW! CRACKLE! POP!

"Yaaahhhhhh!" The frightened guards yelled and fled into the streets.

"Oooh! Fireworks! Yay!" The crowd of spectators cheered and clapped happily.

"COME BACK HERE!" The harried magistrate shouted at his departed guards. "DRIVE THESE FILTHY PEASANTS OUT OF MY HOUSE! AAAHHH! PUT THAT PORCELAIN TEAPOT DOWN! GIVE ME BACK MY GOLD-LINED SLIPPERS! NO, NOT MY IMPORTED PERSIAN PERFUMES! GAAAHHHHHH!"

"Outta the way, punk!" Sabertooth growled while rifling through the magistrate's many storage chests of clothing. "There's gotta be some decent threads around here…ah! Silk stockings. Nice!"

"PUT THOSE BACK AT ONCE…MMMPPPHHH!" The magistrate gagged as Sabertooth's discarded, worn socks hit him in the face. "WAAAGGGHHHHHH! THE SMELL! THE SMELL!"

"Ahhh, now this is more like it," Mastermind sighed lying on a mound of plush silk cushions and pillows. "Nothing is worth more than a nice, well-earned nap!"

"Wanna bet?" Remy smirked exiting the house while pocketing a few choice souvenirs. He spotted Piotr sitting on some nearby steps. "Having fun, homme?"

"Oh yes," Piotr said while watching the belated festival celebrations. "This is all been very interesting. I was able to make several sketches of people back when they were starving and now again after they have been fed."

"Hmmm, not bad," Remy peered over Piotr's shoulder. "The contrast between them is literally like night and day."

"Here ya good, kiddies!" Pyro used his powers to finish quick-baking a rack of sweet, golden mooncakes. "Dig in!"

"Thank you," Piotr smiled as the kids eagerly dug into the crisp, savory delicacies. "I wanted to capture and preserve the images of starving, destitute people like that famous American photographer Dorothea Lange."

"I'd say you succeeded," Remy said. "Which is more than I can say for the local guards. They haven't caught one of my eager thieves…er, I mean, liberators."

"You did not hurt any of them, did you?" Piotr asked worriedly. "Many of them probably used to be former farmers themselves. They likely only became guards in order to get what passed for a decent meal."

"Don't worry, homme. I didn't fight 'em. I bribed 'em," Remy grinned. "Doling out a few sacks of grain and rice after breaking into the bigshot's storehouses turned the guards into loyal protectors of the people."

"Hahahahaha!" Groups of guards and peasants laughed and ate together while literally dancing in the streets.

"I see," Piotr blinked.

"The local bigshot still has one or two diehard guards with him," Remy reported. "Along with a handful of officials who were in on the take, but they shouldn't pose any significant problem."

"YAAAHHHHHH!" The ragged magistrate fled his ruined house followed by his remaining guards, staff and lackeys while being hounded by a very energetic fire dragon. "ANCESTORS! SPIRITS! SAVE ME! YEEEOW! THAT'S HOT! GAAAHHH! HELP! MAMA!"

"I suppose that is for the best," Piotr decided to turn a blind eye to the magistrate's plight. "I would hate for these people to be left unprotected and suffer for our actions here today."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Remy waved. "Between the newly-fed guards and the bigshot's corruption being exposed I'd say these people should be just fine. Well, at least until the famine ends."

"My friends!" A beaming Chongba came up to the pair of Acolytes and bowed deeply to them. "You have given us a great boon! I never dreamed I would see the people happy like this again!"

"It is nothing," Piotr blushed modestly. He realized Sabertooth was not around to translate for him and simply bowed back. "I am glad we were able to help."

"I have decided to return to Huangjue Temple," Chongba indicated a stuffed sack on his back. "The monastery's lands will be very appreciative of the supply of seeds I retrieved from the magistrate's storehouses. I might just finish my studies there and become a monk after all. Perhaps I will even learn to read and write!"

"Hey, that's great, homme," Remy grinned patting him on the shoulder. "And if the whole monk thing fails, you can always fall back and become a rebel against the government."

"Uh, I would not go that far," Piotr gulped.

"Farewell, my friends. May the Blessed Buddha guide and watch over you all," Chongba gave them both a final bow before heading out of town.

"I'd settle for him providing a little help and guidance to the machine," Remy quipped watching Chongba depart. "That homme should do alright for himself."

"I hope so," Piotr smiled glancing down at his sketchbook. "I am glad I was able to capture a quick likeness of him. Do you think we can stay a few more minutes? There are a few other things I would like to try and sketch."

"I'm sure the others won't mind hanging around a bit longer," Remy said. "Should give you plenty of time to jot down a few more pics of people and the town."

WHOOOOOOSSSHHH!

"YAAAHOOOOOO!" Pyro laughed maniacally while filling the air with bright fire lanterns.

"Oooo!" People smiled and watched in awe while enjoying the feeling of being well-fed for the first time in a very long while.

"YAAAHHHHHH!" The departed magistrate's party could be heard screaming in the distance.

"Zzzzzz," Mastermind snored atop his mound of pillows, oblivious the world.

POW! SMASH! BAM! BOOM!

"While it's still standing that is," Remy finished.

"No kidding," Piotr sighed gazing at the crowd of kids once again. "You know, this jump really reminded me how thankful I am for everything I have."

"I know what you mean," Remy nodded contemplatively. "As bad as we may think our lives are now, it's sobering to know they could also be a heck of a lot worse."

"You're telling me," Sabertooth grunted shattering racks of porcelain flasks and vessels all over the magistrate's former mansion. "I promise things will get far worse if I have to remain sober for much longer during this stupid trip!"


Historical notes: Zhu Chongba (later named Zhu Yuanzhang) returned to the Huangjue monastery and stayed there until it was destroyed when he was twenty-four years old. He then joined an insurgent force in rebellion against the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, rapidly rose through the ranks and later became leader of one of the most powerful rebel factions. He eventually captured Nanjing, drove the Mongols out of China, defeated his rivals and proclaimed himself the founder and first emperor of the Ming dynasty on January 20, 1368 A.D.