Episode 15 recap: Mao Zedong started mobilizing the peasants.
Mao Zedong arrived in time and saved all the women. Mao Zedong told Lao Luo that while they should uphold ancestral traditions, they should also consider compassion and righteousness. Finding the place too noisy, Mao Zedong asked Lao Luo to join him in a quiet location for a chat. Mao Zedong first paid a great tribute to Lao Luo, saying that the incident today happened suddenly, and his eagerness to save people led him to act recklessly.
Mao Zedong mentioned that although he doesn't spend much time at home, he has heard of Lao Luo's acts of kindness and virtue. Mao Zedong still remembered that during the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, when people in Xiangtan had not yet cut off their long braids, Lao Luo led the villagers of Shaoshan to cut off the pigtail. Lao Luo considered those practices as outdated customs, but Mao Zedong asked if it wasn't also an outdated custom to prohibit women from entering ancestral temples.
Lao Luo believed that women inherently carried negative energy, and their presence in ancestral temples would corrupt the atmosphere. Mao Zedong mentioned his time at Dongshan Elementary School, where he knew that the school was established by Lao Luo despite opposition. At that school, Mao Zedong learned about many foreign friends through books and realized deeply that their country needed to change.
Mao Zedong proposed that if Lao Luo didn't mind, he could become his mentor, and he asked for Lao Luo's opinion on whether women should be allowed to enter ancestral temples. Lao Luo stood before the elderly and fellow villagers and announced that from now on, men and women would be treated equally when entering ancestral temples. Lao Luo felt that the world was indeed changing and asked Mao Zedong how it would ultimately turn out.
Cheng Xu Sheng learned that Lao Luo had released all the women and, upon inquiry, found out that Mao Zedong had persuaded Lao Luo to do so, which made him infuriated. Meanwhile, Yang Kai Hui was cooking in the ancestral temple when a woman cautiously revealed her head. Yang Kai Hui saw that the person was Xi Meizi and asked why she didn't come inside. Xi Meizi replied that she was a foot-bound woman and asked if she could enter. Yang Kai Hui assured her that she was welcome, and Xi Meizi subsequently brought many foot-bound women along.
Mao Zedong and several others, including Li Genghou, were having a meeting to discuss. Mao Zedong told Yang Kai Hui that if anyone asked what they were doing, they should say they were playing cards.
Li Genghou felt that the villagers' enthusiasm was very high now, and they could take action against Cheng Xu Sheng. Mao Zedong, however, thought that while the enthusiasm might be high, they didn't know if their hearts were united. They needed to become a solid group instead of a hollow one that would scatter when dropped on the ground. He asked them all to gather the backbone members of their agricultural workers' association and said he wanted to have a talk with them.
Hu Han Min and Wang Jing Wei were both waiting for Jiang Jie Shi alone, but to their surprise, Jiang Jie Shi arrived with Sun Zhong Shan's portrait to attend the meeting. He wanted to use the victory of the Eastern Expedition to comfort the spirit of the late Premier. He shouted that the revolution had not yet succeeded, and comrades still needed to work hard.
Mao Zedong gathered the backbone figures of the agricultural workers' association and told them that two measures of rice were only enough for one meal. The things he was going to do this time would allow them to eat their fill for a lifetime. They didn't know what the agricultural workers' association was really about and whether Mao Zedong had learned good things in the big cities. Mao Zedong asked them why, with the fertile land of Shaoshan and their hardworking nature, they were still unable to eat their fill.
They all believed it was because the heavens didn't allow them to eat their fill, with locusts, droughts, and disasters. Mao Zedong told them that it was actually because the landlord class imposed heavy taxes and levies on them, so how could they possibly eat their fill? Mao Zedong said that was the real reason they couldn't eat enough, and they needed to change this situation together. The first step was to teach them how to read. If they couldn't even recognize big characters, when the landlord class presented them with an agreement, clearly stating "135," they would insist it said "246" and be deceived without knowing it.
One elderly person asked Mao Zedong if he intended to lead them in rebellion, and they all started to discuss it animatedly. Mao Zedong asked them if they were all afraid of Cheng Xu Sheng, and the villagers said he had guns. Mao Zedong told them that, in fact, Cheng Xu Sheng was more afraid of them. If they were just one person, others wouldn't be afraid, like a single strand of noodle that's soft and pliable. But if hundreds or thousands of noodles were tied together, they couldn't be broken. After hearing this, the farmers agreed to follow him.
Japan and Britain were committing massacres against students, workers, and other civilians in Shanghai, and they all came to ask Chen Du Xiu to find a way to resist.
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