Chapter 36: You Are a Soldier, He Was a Bandit

Footsteps sounded — it was Gao Shiyin rushing over. From a distance he shouted, "There's no one around anywhere. It seems the bandits have all scattered!"

Abruptly he saw Mo Tianchong's corpse on the ground. He froze for a moment, went over and crouched down to look. After a long while, he looked toward Wang Dou and the others. "Chief Wang, you killed Mo Tianchong?"

Everyone's expression remained indifferent. Wang Dou glanced at him and said, "This Mo Tianchong was a menace in the end. It was right to kill him."

Gao Shiyin stood up, dumbstruck. For a long moment he murmured, "I promised him... Big Mo only agreed to be our inside man out of regard for our old friendship!"

Wang Dou gave a great shout, pointed at Gao Shiyin's nose, and said sternly, "Gao Shiyin, remember who you are. You are a soldier, he was a bandit. You speak of friendship with him? Do you have any regard for law and military discipline?"

Gao Shiyin involuntarily stepped back. He said in a low voice, "But Chief Wang, you gave your word and promised him!"

Wang Dou shouted, "Promises are only for the good and honorable. This Mo Tianchong was a government soldier yet willingly followed bandits — his bandit nature was impossible to change! Who knows how much common folk blood stains his hands? Do you dare say he never slaughtered the villagers of Fangjiagou? Never took innocent lives? If that scoundrel had taken the silver, who knows where he would have gone to recruit troops and buy horses, bringing disaster on good people. In rooting out evil one must be thorough — how could I leave such a future threat?"

Wang Dou grabbed a handful of silver from the chest and threw it at Gao Shiyin's feet. "Take the silver and go. Do not come to see us again."

Gao Shiyin instinctively picked up the silver. The coarse flesh of his face twitched uncontrollably, but he just stood there dumbstruck.

Han Zhong called out, "Gao Manzi, think it through clearly. Once you leave now, we are no longer on the same path."

Gao Shiyin only stood there in a daze. Wang Dou ignored him and simply ordered his men to tally the silver.

By rough estimate, the silver in this room amounted to over two thousand taels. And according to what Mo Tianchong had said, there were still over six hundred dan of grain in a storehouse not far away. A single small bandit stronghold had such abundant reserves of money and grain — no wonder the roving bandits in history were always willing to destroy but never willing to build. Plunder simply brought wealth far faster than bitter toil in the fields.

Looking at this silver, a flash of inspiration struck Wang Dou. He worried about money every waking moment, yet just one small bandit stronghold had yielded so much. It seemed that from now on, suppressing bandits to stockpile grain was also a shortcut to quickly amassing wealth.

As they tallied the silver, every man from Jingbian Fort was beaming with joy. With this silver and grain, life in the fort next year would be much easier.

Seeing that day was slowly breaking, Wang Dou told Han Chao to take a few men and first hide away half of this silver.

Han Chao was just about to go when Gao Shiyin came back to his senses. He gritted his teeth, flung the silver aside, knelt down, and knocked his head heavily on the ground before Wang Dou. "This humble one does not want the silver. From now on I only wish to follow at Chief Wang's side. I hope Chief Wang will not drive me away!"

So saying, he again knocked his head repeatedly.

Wang Dou was very pleased. He said loudly, "Good! It is good that you understand the greater right. Rise. From now on we are good brothers who will live and die together."

He picked up those pieces of silver, placed them in Gao Shiyin's hands, and said with a slight smile, "How could you not take this silver? It was yours to begin with."

Gao Shiyin clutched the silver tightly in his hands and said in a low voice, "Many thanks, Chief Wang."

Han Chao and Han Zhong also came over and clapped Gao Shiyin on the shoulder, both saying, "Good brother!"

Gao Shiyin broke into a foolish grin.

Once he saw that Han Chao had taken men and hidden the silver somewhere in the rear mountain, Wang Dou set off the rocket signal for Zhang Gui to bring troops as reinforcement.

Zhang Gui had long heard the commotion on the mountain, but he did not know how Wang Dou was faring, nor had he seen Wang Dou's rocket signal. He was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan and was just gritting his teeth, about to order his soldiers to storm the stronghold, when he saw Wang Dou's signal. Overjoyed at once, he mustered all his troops and charged over.

When the government soldiers rushed through the stronghold gate, they met no resistance at all. Only a few scattered remnant bandits were left inside, fleeing in chaos. Zhang Gui shouted orders for his men to search and suppress the bandits, then went to see Wang Dou.

When they met, all were full of emotion. Looking at the council hall littered with bandit corpses and the floor soaked in blood, they could well imagine the ferocity of last night's slaughter. When Zhang Gui asked about the events of the previous night, Wang Dou naturally had a different version of the story prepared.

Zhang Gui clapped Wang Dou on the shoulder and sighed, "You've had it hard, my young brother!"

Xiao Daxin, the detachment officer, also looked at Wang Dou in silence.

Wang Dou then led Zhang Gui and the others to the storehouse inside the stronghold where the silver was kept. Although half the silver had already been hidden away by Wang Dou the night before, what remained still amounted to over a thousand taels. Looking at this silver, and then at the storehouse piled full of grain, Zhang Gui roared with laughter, utterly delighted.

He ordered all the silver and grain to be moved out and piled high on an open clearing inside the stronghold.

Looking at this silver and grain, greed showed in everyone's eyes. Zhang Gui stroked his beard and pondered for a moment. After this battle, he relied on Wang Dou even more heavily. He said, "Brother Wang has toiled bitterly in this fight. Had it not been for you, who knows when we would have taken this mountain stronghold. In that case, half of these spoils shall go to you!"

At these words, many of the men from Dongjiazhuang showed displeasure on their faces. Xiao Daxin opened his mouth as if to speak, then shut it again, his expression only growing more somber.

Wang Dou said with a slight smile, "Everyone contributed to this battle. How could my Jingbian Fort soldiers alone take as much as half? I only want two hundred taels of this captured silver. However, since Jingbian Fort is newly established and our grain stores are insufficient, I only hope you, my lord, will grant me a larger share of the rice, flour, and grain."

At these words, the eyes of everyone present turned toward Wang Dou with much greater warmth. Zhang Gui laughed heartily, finding Wang Dou more and more agreeable. He said, "Very well. Your elder brother knows you've been living hard. As you wish — two hundred taels of the captured silver are yours, and I'll give you four hundred dan of rice and flour!"

Wang Dou loudly gave his thanks.

Zhang Gui then said cheerfully to his own Dongjiazhuang soldiers, "Before we set out to suppress the bandits, I promised you all that if we took the Siqingliang bandit stronghold, every man would be rewarded. I, Zhang Gui, am a man of my word. Now, every man is rewarded one tael of silver. After we return to the fort, I will also distribute rewards based on merit!"

All the Dongjiazhuang men cheered. This bandit-suppression campaign could be counted a major success. Not only were casualties light, but every man had food, drink, and reward silver. Once the reward silver was distributed, everyone was delighted.

And aside from the spoils and rewards before their eyes, once the military merits were reported, there might also be some head-count bounties coming down. However, in the Great Ming, military merit was ranked first by the capture and beheading of eastern slaves and northern caitiffs, second by western tribes and Miao barbarians, third by inland rebels, and last by local bandits. Who knew how long it would take for the merit awards to finally come down — the spoils and rewards right in front of them were the most practical.

Besides the silver, grain, and rice, the government troops had also captured nearly a hundred bandit weapons. Zhang Gui kept most of these for himself and gave only a dozen or so to Wang Dou. In these times, as long as you had weapons in hand, you had power. Wang Dou naturally could not contend with Zhang Gui over them.

In addition, after searching and clearing the mountain stronghold, the soldiers had also captured six or seven remnant bandits. Zhang Gui sternly berated these bandits for a while, then ordered them all beheaded.

Wang Dou did not want these men either. Although his fort was currently short of manpower and these remnant bandits were all able-bodied young men, each with considerable skill, such hardened old bandits were steeped in deep vice and would surely corrupt the military households in the fort. These bandits could not be taken in.

Furthermore, the government troops had rescued over forty women whom the bandits had abducted. Toward these women, Zhang Gui naturally took it upon himself as a bounden duty to go and comfort them. Wang Dou likewise could not contend with Zhang Gui over these women.

Finally, Zhang Gui cast a glance at this Siqingliang bandit stronghold and loudly gave the order to burn it down!

Wang Dou's mind stirred. He called out, "Company Commander, please wait."

Zhang Gui looked at Wang Dou strangely and said, "What is it, my young brother? This stronghold cannot be garrisoned. Once the government troops withdraw, it will likely be occupied by bandits again. If we don't burn it, what else?"

Wang Dou said, "As Company Commander knows, my fort is newly established, and we lack both stone and timber. These timbers are useful — burning them would be a waste. After this humble officer returns, I will mobilize men and women to come dismantle and haul back all the timber and stone from this stronghold camp. Burning it can wait until then!"

Zhang Gui roared with laughter, pointing at Wang Dou and saying repeatedly, "My young brother, you really are something!"

The rest of the Dongjiazhuang men also laughed in the same way.

In the end, Zhang Gui agreed to Wang Dou's suggestion. The stronghold camp would be left for now and burned after the military households of Jingbian Fort had come and stripped away all the timber and stone.

The great army returned in triumph. After passing through Xinzhuang, Wang Dou and Zhang Gui parted ways.

Now, as the military households of Jingbian Fort marched along the road, aside from the baggage team, even the two squads of battle soldiers — every man bore heavy loads of silver, coin, rice, and flour on his shoulders. The two hundred taels of silver they had been allotted was manageable enough, but four hundred dan of grain and rice was no small amount. Moreover, each man also carried heavy armor and weapons on his back. Thus, with the loads distributed, every man bore some amount of goods, more or less.

Yet every face was brimming with irrepressible joy. They all laughed and cheered loudly. Their very first campaign to suppress bandits had yielded such rich spoils — this year they could properly celebrate the New Year.

When these campaigning military households returned to Jingbian Fort bearing their spoils of victory, the entire fort was stirred into a frenzy. Zhong Rong and Yang Tong led everyone out of the fort to welcome them. Seeing the captured goods, the crowd was one great surge of joy and noise. Amid the clamor, when some of the fort's elderly and young saw their own men return safely, many also shed tears of emotion.

After returning to the fort, Wang Dou immediately distributed rewards based on merit. Nearly every man in the two battle squads had made a kill. Wang Dou ordered silver, rice, and flour taken from the spoils: each of them was rewarded five taels of silver and two dou of rice and flour, with an extra dou for those who were wounded. That baggage squad, though they had not fought on the front line, had toiled just as hard transporting supplies; each of them was rewarded two taels of silver and one dou of rice and flour.

The battle squad that had stayed behind to guard the fort was likewise given one dou of rice per man. For a time, everyone was overjoyed.

Of course, for the two Jingbian Fort military households whose men had died in battle, Wang Dou not only ordered a grand burial but also granted their families ten taels of silver as consolation payment. Henceforth, their households could also draw three dou of wheat and rice from the fort each month. This caused the two households to weep with grief and at the same time shed tears of gratitude.

With only a few days left until the New Year, the most urgent matter now was to bring back the over one thousand taels of silver hidden outside the Siqingliang bandit stronghold, and also to completely dismantle and haul back all the timber and stone from inside the stronghold. Wang Dou mobilized every man and woman in the fort to go to the Siqingliang stronghold every day to tear down timber and planks. This went on for many days in a row. Word spread, and the matter became a local joke around Shunxiang Fort.

The stone and timber in the mountain stronghold could not all be stripped away at once; that could continue into the next year. But the hidden silver had to be brought back first. With this silver, plus the rice and flour allotted from this campaign's spoils, the fort could properly celebrate the New Year this year. And with this silver, many matters concerning the fort next year would be much easier to handle.

And these days, Wang Dou had also been constantly reviewing this bandit-suppression operation with Han Chao and the others.