Recently, it seemed that quite a few people had defected to the rebel forces, but everyone kept markedly silent about it.
People can't live on, so you can't expect an old farmer, who faces the yellow earth and has his back against the sky all day, to speak of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Letting them have enough to eat is still feasible, but if they're starving, naturally, they'll do whatever they need to.
It was precisely because of this that the ranks of the rebel forces grew increasingly terrifying, especially after they had captured some cities. They would open the granaries to distribute grain and kill the local gentry to divide the money. Of course, they targeted common people more often, but as the saying goes, 'a dead companion's fate does not befall a living Daoist'; as long as there's food and drink and money to take, it's all good.
