Chapter 2: Squad Commander Zhong Dayong

The moment he stepped inside the enclosure wall, an indescribable stench hit him head-on — impossible to tell whether it was the smell of cattle and horse dung or the sour reek of household garbage. In short, it was an unspeakable odor, and the entire interior of the watchtower compound could only be described as filthy and squalid.

And no wonder: in a space this cramped, counting the watchtower soldiers and their families, over a dozen people ate, drank, shat, and slept inside it. These watchtower soldiers were hardly refined gentlemen, so naturally they paid little attention to hygiene. The result was garbage strewn everywhere, flies and mosquitoes swarming in the air, enough to make anyone frown deeply. To be honest, Wang Dou still had not gotten used to the environment inside this watchtower compound.

Along the left side of the enclosure wall stood a row of living quarters for the watchtower soldiers. Beside the quarters was a water well, but the well had long since run dry.

On the right side of the enclosure wall were structures like the sheep and horse pen and the storehouse, where various watchtower supplies were piled. In addition, beside the watchtower platform directly facing the gate stood a stone tablet. It recorded the names of the defending soldiers of Jingbian Watchtower and their wives, and further listed in detail the firearms, equipment, furniture, and other items within the watchtower:

"…Jingbian Watchtower has seven defending soldiers, including two Night Scouts: Han Chao and Han Zhong. Five watchtower soldiers: Zhong Dayong, wife née Wang. Yang Tong, wife née Liu. Qi Tianliang, wife née Tao. Ma Ming, wife née Shi. Wang Dou. Furniture: seven pots, seven vats, fourteen dishes, fourteen bowls. Firearms: one hooked cannon, one line gun, one large blunderbuss, one three-eyed blunderbuss, gunpowder and fuses complete. Equipment: each soldier has one bow, one saber-spear, thirty arrows. …One military banner, two flagpoles, two sets of flag-hoisting ropes, three lanterns, one set of watch-clappers and bell, one rope ladder, five firewood stacks, five smoke and dung piles, twenty rock piles, cattle, horse, and wolf dung complete…"

Such stone tablets were erected at every watchtower in the Great Ming. The purpose was to prevent the defending soldiers from fleeing and to facilitate future inventory checks. The arrangement for each watchtower soldier's wife to live with him was made out of consideration for keeping the soldiers content and steadfast in their garrison duties.

When Wang Dou came in carrying water, the watchtower soldiers Qi Tianliang and Ma Ming, along with the Night Scouts Han Chao and Han Zhong, were either squatting or leaning against the stone tablet chatting idly. The rest — their wives née Tao, née Shi, and Yang Tong's wife née Liu, along with a few other women — were hanging laundry to dry nearby, talking as they worked.

Like Wang Dou, these people wore clothes that were tattered and torn, covered in patches. Apart from the waist tokens that identified their status and the mandarin-duck battle jackets they wore, calling them soldiers would hardly seem fitting. Except for the two brothers Han Chao and Han Zhong, Qi Tianliang, Ma Ming, and the several women all had a famished, sickly look about them, clearly malnourished. Compared to them, Wang Dou was somewhat better off — at least he did not look as sallow and emaciated, with disheveled hair, dirty faces, and filthy clothes.

Seeing Wang Dou enter, everyone grinned at him, as if some source of amusement had appeared in their dull day. The man who had just yelled at Wang Dou was none other than Han Zhong. Twenty-one years old this year, he was the youngest person in the watchtower. He had a rough and brash temperament by nature, with a certain fondness for bravado and brawling. Moreover, his elder brother Han Chao was also highly skilled in combat, so the two brothers held considerable status within the watchtower. Even Squad Commander Zhong Dayong usually treated them with polite courtesy.

At this moment, Han Zhong was half-leaning against the rammed earth of the watchtower platform, one foot propped up on the stone tablet, making an idle jittering motion. His elder brother Han Chao had his arms folded across his chest, leaning lazily against the rammed earth with his eyes closed in rest, looking half-asleep. When he saw Wang Dou enter, he cast him an indifferent glance and then closed his eyes again.

Seeing Wang Dou huffing and puffing past him with the water load, not even bothering to acknowledge him, Han Zhong's ox-like eyes widened. He called out in surprise, "Hey, Wang the Big Fool, I was talking to you just now — why don't you answer?"

Everyone laughed. Ma Ming's wife née Shi, who was a kind-hearted woman, said with a smile as she hung clothes on the line, "Young Brother Han, don't tease Brother Wang. The man hauls water and does chores all day — it's not easy for him."

After a few more laughs and jokes, Qi Tianliang said, "Ignore that bastard, let's get back to what we were saying… Right, where was I just now?"

…

Wang Dou reached the row of watchtower soldiers' living quarters and poured the water into the water vat in front of Squad Commander Zhong Dayong's room.

This row of living quarters was divided into several small rooms. Each room had a heated brick bed inside, and outside were stoves, water vats, bowls, dishes, and the like, for the use of the watchtower's defending soldiers and their families. Due to years of neglect, most of these houses were dilapidated and leaky, with broken doors and windows — typical ramshackle dwellings.

Among this row of rooms, the one with the best location and the most sunlight was the room right in front of him, occupied by Squad Commander Zhong Dayong and his wife née Wang. Even so, it only guaranteed that the doors, windows, and roof did not let in water or wind; dilapidation was unavoidable.

Every time he saw this row of houses, Wang Dou was always reminded of the makeshift plank shacks of migrant workers on construction sites in later ages — crude, low, with the tattered clothes of the watchtower soldiers and their wives hanging askew in front of the doors, along with all sorts of strange odds and ends.

Wang Dou finished pouring the water, put the buckets away properly, and breathed a sigh of relief. He was just about to rest properly when a stir came from the direction of the stone tablet. He heard a jumble of voices saying, "Squad Commander Zhong has come down? Any news?"

Then came the ingratiating voice of watchtower soldier Yang Tong: "Squad Commander Zhong, you've worked hard. Quick, sit down and have a good rest."

So Yang Tong had already come down from the overhanging tower. That bootlicker never missed any chance to curry favor with Squad Commander Zhong Dayong.

Wang Dou turned his head coldly to look. Beside the stone tablet was a rope ladder that led straight up to the watchtower platform over a dozen meters high. The watch hall on the platform was stocked with signal cannons, wolf dung, firewood, and other items for raising the alarm when enemies approached.

Compared to everyone else in the watchtower, Zhong Dayong was quite fond of the watchtower platform. He said it gave him the feeling of ascending high and gazing far, of drinking wine in the wind, and he would often stay up there for half a day at a time. When Wang Dou had gone to fetch water, Zhong Dayong had still been keeping watch in the watch hall; at some point he had already come down the rope ladder.

Like a moon surrounded by stars, Zhong Dayong now stood proudly in the middle of the crowd, his wife née Wang also beaming and pressing close to his side. This Zhong Dayong was forty years old and held the post of Squad Commander concurrently serving as the head of Jingbian Watchtower. It was rumored that he was on good terms with Zhang Gui, the Unit Commander of Dongjiazhuang. Moreover, as the head of the watchtower soldiers, he held absolute power and authority within Jingbian Watchtower.

In contrast to everyone else in the watchtower, who were sallow, emaciated, and sickly-looking, he was sleek and greasy-faced, fat and plump. His narrow, slitted eyes from time to time flashed with greedy and vicious glints. He was the only one in the entire watchtower who possessed a suit of armor, and his mandarin-duck battle jacket had not a single patch on it. The waist token at his belt was also made of fine hard wood.

After enjoying a round of flattery from everyone, Zhong Dayong's sharp, cutting voice rang out: "It's been over ten days with no activity. It seems the Tatars really have gone elsewhere. But we still haven't seen the all-clear smoke signal indicating the Tatars have left the border, so who knows where they're still out plundering."

There was a faint hint of schadenfreude in his tone.

Yet at his words, everyone present fell silent for a moment. The brutality of the Later Jin army's plundering was something everyone there had experienced firsthand. In recent days, the Baoan region had suffered greatly. Even if the Later Jin army had moved elsewhere to burn, kill, and loot, this was absolutely nothing to feel happy about.

Seeming to realize he had misspoken, Zhong Dayong's expression soured somewhat. Only Yang Tong continued to fawn: "It's good enough that the Tatars have left. Thank heavens and thank earth. Another day I'll go to the City God Temple at Proprietor Fort to pay my respects, burn some incense, and fulfill a vow."

This Yang Tong was thirty years old and, all things considered, had a rather dignified and handsome appearance. Unfortunately, this fawning, sycophantic manner of his ruined his image.

Hearing Yang Tong speak this way, Zhong Dayong's expression improved a little.

At that moment, Zhong Dayong's wife née Wang whispered a few words in his ear. Zhong Dayong nodded. He cleared his throat and said in a shrill voice, "There's a matter I need to discuss with everyone. Autumn planting is almost upon us, and I'll need everyone's help with the work in the fields. Rest assured, we're all colleagues in the watchtower — when the time comes to work, I'll make sure everyone eats their fill."

According to the guard battalion system of the Ming Dynasty, like ordinary banner soldiers, the soldiers defending watchtowers everywhere were likewise allotted forty to fifty mu of farmland, along with oxen, tools, seeds, and so on, so that the watchtower soldiers could farm to support themselves and concentrate on their watch duties. The several soldiers in Jingbian Watchtower were all hereditary military households; their ancestors had lived here for generations and had originally been allotted land as well. Although the grain rent for military household land required paying two dou per mu — double the rent of ordinary civilian households — in the early Ming, one could still live decently on it.

However, the abuses of the Great Ming's military farming system had left Jingbian Watchtower in the same plight as the other banner soldiers of the guard battalions. Over the long years, most of the watchtower soldiers' farmland had been encroached upon and seized by the various levels of officers at Shunxiang Fort and Dongjiazhuang, and they had privately become tenant farmers to these various officers. With unending natural disasters in recent years, plus the crushing rents they had to pay each year, they could barely feed themselves. This was why they and their wives and children looked like beggars.

As a Squad Commander, Zhong Dayong's family also had one hundred mu of inherited officer's official land. He counted, more or less, as an official, and had a certain backing behind him, so the land under his name would not be seized by others. But his rank was low, so of course he could not seize much land from others either. Still, he had his own trick: he made the several watchtower soldiers under his command farm and labor for him. This was a common phenomenon in the guard battalion armies of the Great Ming at the time.

After the mid-Ming period, in an effort to curb the practice of local officials and military officers embezzling and seizing military household farmland, the Great Ming court granted each officer a certain amount of "integrity-nurturing land" according to rank. Zhong Dayong's family had also been allotted fifty mu of this. Altogether, that made one hundred fifty mu of land. Aside from what his family cultivated themselves, the Zhong household mostly used the watchtower soldiers under his command to farm it. In the past, Wang Dou had been the main labor force.

It was now the thirteenth day of the eighth month in the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign. By the later-era Gregorian calendar, this was only the beginning of September. Logically, the autumn wheat-planting season should not have arrived yet. But in this Great Ming, due to the effects of the Little Ice Age, the weather turned cold early, causing the autumn wheat-planting season in Baoan Department to be moved up considerably. This was the reason for Zhong Dayong's words.

Yang Tong was the first to speak: "What are you saying, Squad Commander Zhong? Helping you with some work is only our duty. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, we would have volunteered to help anyway. Why bring up the matter of food? That just makes us seem like strangers."

A smile spread across Zhong Dayong's greasy face, and he cast an approving glance at him. Zhong Dayong's wife née Wang also praised Yang Tong: "Brother Yang is so quick-witted."

Hearing Zhong Dayong's words, Qi Tianliang and Ma Ming, however, wore pained expressions. Together with Yang Tong, all three were tenant farmers of Zhang Gui, the Unit Commander of Dongjiazhuang. Their usual farming work was already heavy and burdensome, and now they had to help Zhong Dayong with his work for free. What a bitter life. But after so many years, they had long grown numb and accustomed to it. If Zhong Dayong wanted them to work, then work they would. At least there would be a few solid meals at the time. In these times, having something to eat was good enough.

Qi Tianliang was around thirty years old, of ordinary military household origin. Strangely, he could read a few characters. Moreover, though he was small and skinny, his appetite was astonishingly large. When he opened his mouth to speak, he asked nothing else but first inquired, "Squad Commander Zhong, when we work, will we really get to eat our fill?"

Qi Tianliang's question displeased Zhong Dayong. He kept a sullen face and said nothing. His wife née Wang scolded from the side, "Of course! Would our master lie to you? But Qi Monkey, could you eat a bit less when the time comes? With an appetite as huge as yours, no matter how much our family has, you'd eat us into poverty!"

Qi Tianliang rubbed his head, somewhat embarrassed. His wife née Tao tugged at him from the side, signaling him not to speak recklessly. No wonder Qi Tianliang had this question — every time Zhong Dayong said he would let the workers eat their fill, Qi Tianliang had never once eaten his fill. When it came to stinginess, this Zhong Dayong was equally unmatched in the entire area.

Ma Ming, standing beside Qi Tianliang, was two years younger than him. What he usually cared about most was his own farmland. He hesitated for a long while, then asked, "Squad Commander Zhong, how many days will this work take? I'm afraid of missing the farming season for my own fields."

Zhong Dayong replied impatiently, "Just work a bit quicker when the time comes, won't you?"

While they were talking, the brothers Han Chao and Han Zhong stood leisurely to one side. Helping Zhong Dayong with work was no problem, as long as there was food when the time came. Like Wang Dou, they were not of military household origin but had been recruited from civilian households in recent years. Only, the Han brothers had drifted here from who knows where. Because of their martial skill, they had been recruited as Night Scouts and become reconnaissance soldiers of the Great Ming. Wang Dou was from the nearby Xinjiazhuang village.

Originally, the three of them had joined the army just to earn their rations — one shi of grain in monthly pay, with no need to pay rent on military household land. The prospects had seemed decent. But in recent years, the court's grain and pay had often been in arrears; for the greater part of a year, no silver or grain pay was received. This made life for the Han brothers extremely harsh and impoverished, sometimes even worse off than the several watchtower soldiers, since the latter at least rented and farmed land and had some income.

Wang Dou was in the same situation. For the original Wang Dou, he had joined the army to get a grain stipend to help support his family. He had never imagined that for most of the year he would be working for nothing, and that he would have to endure abuse every day inside the watchtower. He had grown increasingly unwilling to continue this job. But for the current Wang Dou, this military profession was not something he would give up. In these chaotic times, having the status and protection of armed force gave him one more chance to protect himself and his family.

After speaking a few words with everyone, Zhong Dayong turned his head to look around. "Right, where has that Wang the Big Fool gone?"

Wang Dou had always been his main labor force for corvée work. Now that his own fields needed autumn planting, the participation of this stout fellow was naturally indispensable.

Everyone looked around. Just then, they saw Wang Dou striding over, fully outfitted. Not only did he carry a long spear in his hand and have a saber at his waist, but his bow case and arrow quiver were also fully equipped on his person.

He was already tiger-backed and bear-waisted to begin with, and now, fully armed and with a sharp gleam in his eyes, he advanced with the powerful, imposing gait of a dragon and tiger.

Seeing him like this, everyone felt a strange sensation in their hearts. Zhong Dayong cursed, "Where the hell did you run off to, you lout? Looking for another beating?"

The onlookers all had expressions of schadenfreude. A flash of cold light flickered in Wang Dou's eyes!

※※※

Old White Ox:

The new book is finally released. Thank you all for your support.

This book has twelve volumes. The characters and plot of each volume have been carefully considered; it should be an exciting story.

Also: regarding updates, when there are no recommendations, one update per day, at noon. When there are recommendations, two or three updates per day, at noon and six in the evening. After entering VIP, regardless of how many updates, they will all be posted at noon.

。