Chapter 161: Accompanying the Army

According to Han Zhong, his wife inherited her father's temper — the fiery disposition of Li Guangheng, the hereditary Company Commander of the Central Battalion in Bao'an Prefecture — and also her mother's, his own mother-in-law's, dual nature as the most jealous woman in Bao'an, Madam Liu, surpassing even her predecessor, making Han Zhong's life after marriage utterly miserable.

The matter was actually very simple: yesterday, while Han Zhong was out shopping with his wife, he glanced at the bosom of a seductive woman across the way, then casually looked at her hips, and finally checked what her face looked like. It was perfectly normal — in the old days when Han Zhong went out carousing with Gao Shiyin and the others, they often commented on women on the street. What was the big deal?

It was a very ordinary incident, and his wife showed no unusual reaction at the time. Han Zhong forgot all about it after returning home.

Unexpectedly, that night as they were about to sleep, Young Madam Li suddenly called Han Zhong to account over the matter. First she wailed and made a scene, then suddenly launched a full-scale assault on Han Zhong. Her fists and kicks were quite good, and Han Zhong, caught off guard, was knocked to the ground. For a moment he was stunned; when he jumped up to retaliate, before his fist could land on Young Madam Li, she was already crying as if her heart would break.

Her shrieks were so piercing that the entire Han residence heard them clearly, frightening his elder brother Han Chao and his sister-in-law Madam Zheng into rushing over. Needless to say, Han Zhong received another solid scolding from his elder brother: "Beating your wife — you're getting more and more promising. Your sister-in-law has such a delicate constitution; what if you damaged her?"

This Young Madam Li was very good at putting on an act, with a sweet little mouth, a delicate, fragile-seeming appearance. Usually Han Chao and his wife doted on this sister-in-law dearly. Beaten and then scolded, Han Zhong felt he was more wronged than Dou E, his heart full of bitterness with no one to tell. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt, and after hearing Wang Dou's inquiry, he could not help but start crying.

Wang Dou, hearing Han Zhong's tearful complaint, was also greatly astonished. He had seen Han Zhong's wife before — outwardly very demure, even somewhat bashful. He never imagined her inner nature was so violent. Truly, one cannot judge a person by appearance.

Everyone present was likewise shocked, and they discussed it animatedly: "This is utterly outrageous — a wife beating her husband. In the three hundred years of our dynasty, such a thing has never been heard of. It is truly shocking and scandalous."

Wen Fangliang patted Han Zhong on the shoulder and said with a grin, "Brother Han the Second, this won't do. How about your big brother teaches you a couple of tricks? Guaranteed your wife will be utterly obedient to you from now on."

Han Zhong, still sniffling, said, "Are you speaking true or false?"

Han Chao sat to one side and said in a muffled voice, "Brother Wen, don't add to the chaos."

Wang Dou was also pondering. Discord among his subordinates' families was a grave taboo. He said, "Brother Han, how about this: after the meeting disperses, I will have Xiu Niang summon your wife here and have her offer some persuasion."

Han Zhong suddenly stopped crying: "No need to trouble you, my lord, or the Madam. Actually, my wife is still quite good. She asks after my well-being and cares for me with the utmost attentiveness. She just cannot bear to see me look at other women. If she won't let me look, I simply won't look."

Sighs arose all around. Wang Dou also shook his head. Even an honest official cannot settle family disputes. He would let Han Zhong seek his own blessings.

He coughed and said with a serious expression, "We shall now begin the discussion."

Everyone immediately sat up solemnly. Wang Dou looked around and said slowly, "Given the current situation in the prefectural city, if we have no source of funds and grain, I fear that by the autumn sowing we will be severely short of plow oxen and waterwheels, not to mention the future expansion of the army. It happens that the spring plowing is over and the soldiers' field labors are all finished. It is time to go out, suppress bandits, and accumulate wealth."

Han Chao said, "Within the borders of Bao'an Prefecture, there are no more bandits to suppress. We can only go beyond the borders to fight."

Lin Daofu was somewhat worried: "My lord, for government troops to fight beyond the borders without orders from a superior officer violates military regulations and martial law."

Wen Fangliang laughed: "Sir Lin, we are all government troops of the Great Ming. Why distinguish between you and me, inside or outside the borders? To eliminate the violent, bring peace to the good, and pacify the region — this is the duty of us government troops. Of course, to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble, we simply won't fly our banners and will slip out quietly."

Everyone agreed with his view, and Lin Daofu said no more.

Wang Dou took out a map. This map was already much more detailed than the one used at Shunxiang Fort, but it still fell short of what Wang Dou envisioned.

Pointing at the map, he said, "In the four directions around our Bao'an Prefecture — east is Huailai Guard; north is the Xuanfu Garrison City; south are Mashuikou and Tianjin Pass. Given our current situation, deploying troops to suppress bandits in these directions is unsuitable. Only the west remains."

Wang Dou said, "Past the Hun River and the Meiyu Guard Battalion lies our Xuanfu Garrison's Huai'an Guard, as well as Weizhou, Guangchang, and other places. These regions have high mountains and dense forests, but also many broad plains and open wilderness, with fertile land. They have always been breeding grounds for banditry. By flattening the bandit strongholds in these areas, we can pacify the region, and the funds and grain we seize can also be used to enrich our soldiers and civilians in Bao'an."

Wang Dou slammed both fists on the table: "Dispatching troops to suppress bandits is imperative!"

Seeing Wang Dou's decision, everyone present was excited and vied to volunteer. The income of the soldiers under Wang Dou's command relied mainly on spoils from killing the enemy. And the opponents were merely bandits who could not withstand a single blow. Who would not want to lead troops into battle and claim a share?

Seeing the troops' high morale, Wang Dou was also satisfied. He smiled and said, "Gentlemen, there is no need to be impatient. This bandit-suppression campaign will continue until the autumn sowing. Everyone will have a chance to go to battle."

He pondered for a long moment, then said, "Brother Han, you two have only recently married. Stay home more to keep your wives company. For the first wave of the campaign: from the prefectural city, Brother Wen; from Shunxiang Fort, Brother Gao. Zhong Diaoyang has other uses. After Brother Gao departs, Brother Sun will lead Company Commander Ding's troops to defend Shunxiang Fort. When the two of them return, you will rotate in turn."

Hearing this arrangement from Wang Dou, Wen Fangliang and Gao Shiyin were both elated. Han Zhong cried out, "My lord!"

Wang Dou waved a hand: "It is thus decided."

He said to the Garrison Supervisor, Chi Dacheng, "Sir Chi, you will accompany the army and record the soldiers' merits and spoils."

Chi Dacheng solemnly cupped his fists and accepted the order.

Wang Dou said to Wen Fangliang and Gao Shiyin, "You two make preparations. Assemble your troops and drill them well. Once the night scouts who have gone beyond the border to reconnoiter return, you will set out immediately."

Both men loudly acknowledged the order.

……

The next day, Han Zhong came somewhat sheepishly to see Wang Dou, saying he wished to recommend a talented person to the Garrison Commander. Wang Dou gave an exclamation of interest. Han Zhong's elder brother Han Chao had recommended the Squad Commander Gao Xun to him, and he had turned out quite well. Now Han Zhong was also coming to recommend a talent. Curiosity piqued, Wang Dou asked a few questions and discovered it was none other than Han Zhong's father-in-law, Li Guangheng.

Seeing Han Zhong's embarrassed expression, Wang Dou comforted him: "In recommending the worthy, one does not avoid one's own kin. So long as your father-in-law truly possesses ability, I will certainly put him to good use."

Wang Dou inquired further and learned that this Li Guangheng indeed seemed to have genuine skill. He was an expert rider and archer, proficient in the long spear and fire lance, and also had a rough grasp of clerical work and considerable strategic acumen. His talents made even his son-in-law Han Zhong admit his own inferiority. Had it not been for his own good fortune in following Wang Dou, Han Zhong acknowledged that his own achievements would fall far short of his father-in-law's.

This Li Guangheng was currently a subordinate of Company Commander Tian Changguo. During the great mutiny over pay, because Tian Changguo had strictly controlled his men from causing trouble, Tian's several hundred men escaped the disaster, Li Guangheng naturally among them. Han Zhong felt deeply indignant on his father-in-law's behalf. Most of the soldiers under Tian Changguo were useless. Only the troops in his father-in-law's squad were quite robust. In the past, whenever there was fighting in the prefectural city, Tian Changguo would always deploy his father-in-law to battle, and he earned considerable merit, yet he never received the chance for promotion.

The reason for this was that Li Guangheng had a rather straightforward temperament and did not know how to speak in roundabout ways, which greatly displeased his superior, Tian Changguo. Without the appreciation of one's superior, hoping for promotion was a pipe dream. Fortunately, his son-in-law Han Zhong was a true judge of talent and had discovered this thousand-li horse in his father-in-law.

Han Zhong also revealed a piece of information: although his father-in-law was a hereditary Company Commander of Bao'an Prefecture, his ancestors, like the Garrison Commander's, had once campaigned across the land under the banner of General Qi's army. Hearing this, Wang Dou grew even more interested and urgently summoned Li Guangheng for an audience. Sure enough, this middle-aged officer with a rough-hewn face and a tall, brawny build was far from simple.

However, his temperament was indeed just as Han Zhong had described. Such a man was perhaps someone only Wang Dou could tolerate. Any other superior officer would not like such a subordinate, though they would be perfectly happy to use such a man as cannon fodder. The moment he saw Li Guangheng, Wang Dou was reminded of those old clerks, old so-and-sos, old so-and-sos of later generations who could not shift their positions for decades. Yet such talent was precisely what Wang Dou needed, and he immediately requested the man from Company Commander Tian Changguo.

When Wang Dou asked Tian Changguo for the man, how could Tian dare refuse? But after being summoned by Wang Dou and hearing whom Wang Dou wanted, the expression on Tian Changguo's face was very strange. He thought to himself, "I never saw this coming. Old Li is such a rigid man — when did he latch onto the Garrison Commander's coattails? This fellow keeps so quiet; his cunning runs far too deep!"

Suddenly it dawned on him: "Isn't his son-in-law that very Han Zhong? So that's it!"

For a moment he was filled with regret: "Why did I only beget sons and not a single daughter?"

……

At the end of the second month of the tenth year of Chongzhen, with a single transfer order from Wang Dou, the hereditary Company Commander Li Guangheng, serving as a Platoon Officer under Company Commander Tian Changguo in the Bao'an Prefectural City, was transferred to Shunxiang Fort to serve as a Platoon Officer under Gao Shiyin. Thus Gao Shiyin now had two Platoon Officers: one Yang Tong, and one Li Guangheng. Transferred together with Li Guangheng was Gao Xun, the former Squad Commander of Bao'an Prefecture, who had been serving as a Squad Leader under Squad Commander Chi Dengshan.

Both men expressed satisfaction with Wang Dou's arrangement. Although to outsiders, being transferred from the bustling prefectural city to the remote Shunxiang Fort seemed not worthwhile to many, in the eyes of the two men, Shunxiang Fort was where the Garrison Commander had risen to prominence, and Gao Shiyin was likewise one of the Garrison Commander's trusted confidants. Serving under Gao Shiyin meant more battles and more opportunities for promotion; they could rely on their own skills and fully display the knowledge in their hearts.

When Li Guangheng set off for his post at Shunxiang Fort, he brought ten retainers with him. His original squad had a paper strength of fifty men, but there were six or seven "empty pay" slots. In a place like the prefectural city, this was already considered very scrupulous. However, in Wang Dou's current army, a squad's strength was seventy-four men. Including his retainers, Li Guangheng had only fifty-four soldiers, leaving him twenty men short. Fortunately, Gao Xun brought a squad's worth of troops to supplement his unit, but he was still ten men short and could only make up the numbers gradually over time.

Travel-worn and dusty, the moment the two men arrived at Shunxiang Fort, they were captivated by the entirely new atmosphere inside and outside the fort.

……

The news that Gao Shiyin was about to lead troops out to suppress bandits spread through Shunxiang Fort. Every military household in the fort was envious. Those soldiers who would be going to battle were cocky and exuberant. In a place like Shunxiang Fort, it could be said that every household had a man serving in the army. Each family's income, aside from the land distributed by the Garrison Commander, depended on the spoils and rewards their own man earned by killing the enemy. In ordinary times, if a family's man had earned substantial military merit and received a large share of spoils, his wife and children could speak with a louder voice among the neighbors.

Over the past few years, Wang Dou's system of rewards for military merit and spoils had deeply taken root in Shunxiang Fort. In the current disastrous times of the Great Ming, even if a family had been allotted land, it could only barely keep their household fed and clothed. If they wanted their wives and children to drink wine and eat meat, they still had to rely on their man's skill at killing the enemy.

And to receive spoils and rewards, one's man needed the chance to go to battle, did he not? Therefore, after Gao Shiyin secured the opportunity to go in the first wave, he put on the airs of a man of merit, strutting proudly before his subordinates. Wherever he went, he was met with the admiring gazes of his men, and a constant stream of military families invited him to banquets.

After Gao Shiyin returned from Bao'an Prefectural City, he drilled his troops with great urgency. At that moment, from within the orphan barracks east of the new Shunxiang Fort, a voice rang out: "Sister Yue'e, have you truly thought this through? Going to battle to suppress bandits is no trifling matter. One moment of carelessness... We seven sworn sisters have, after all, been allotted fifty mu of land. Would it not be better to farm in peace and live our lives quietly?"

Xu Yue'e had already readied her long spear, and in her left hand she held a shield she had wrapped herself. She wore leather armor and had quite a heroic, dashing air about her.

Hearing her sister's worry and dissuasion, she said coldly, "Scratching food from the dirt — what future is there in that? I too will accompany the army to battle, earn military merit, and claim reward silver. Let those who look down on us see: I, Xu Yue'e, will not lose to them!"