Chapter 57: Principles

Seeing the current scale of Jingbian Fort and the scene inside it, Du Gong and his brother-in-law were both very surprised. Du Gong even gaped, looking around everywhere, his pair of eyes darting about ceaselessly.

Du Gong’s brother-in-law was named Xie Cigao, aged thirty-four or thirty-five, a tall and thin man — a stark contrast to Du Gong’s short and stout build. He also wore two thin rat-like whiskers above his lips; in this respect, he and Du Gong did share a resemblance.

Seeing Du Gong, Wang Dou was slightly surprised. Back in April, he had gone to Shunxiang Fort. At that time, Vice Battalion Commander Du Zhen had treated him coldly, and since Du Gong was Du Zhen’s personal attendant, Wang Dou had assumed Du Gong would henceforth be as distant as a stranger. He had not expected him to come calling today.

Upon meeting Wang Dou, Du Gong’s face was all smiles. He said, “Brother Wang, I remember this fort was only built in the ninth month last year. In such a short time it has already taken on this appearance — tsk tsk…”

Clicking his tongue in wonder, he raised a thumb toward Wang Dou: “A man of talent!”

Wang Dou clasped his fists and smiled. “Brother Du flatters me too much. Coming to my humble place today, this is…”

Du Gong said, “Ah, brother, today I come as one who does not visit the Three Treasures Hall without a reason.”

He gestured to the brother-in-law beside him and introduced him to Wang Dou. Hearing that Wang Dou was merely a Platoon Leader, Xie Cigao’s face immediately showed an arrogant expression. His voice was hoarse as he gave a slight cupped-hand salute: “I have long heard of Platoon Leader Wang’s great name — honored for a long time.”

Wang Dou glanced at him and smiled faintly. “Your presence, two elder brothers, brings light to my humble dwelling. Let us go inside and talk.”

He ushered the two into the Platoon Leader’s official hall. They took seats as host and guests, tea was served, and Wang Dou inquired about Du Gong’s purpose in coming.

Du Gong explained: it turned out his brother-in-law Xie Cigao, having heard that Jingbian Fort was growing ever larger in scale, wished to open a cattle market business inside Jingbian Fort, with the location planned for Jingbian Fort’s West Street.

Wang Dou listened quietly. After hearing the purpose of their visit, his face beamed as warm as spring breeze. “Brother Xie wishes to open a market business in Jingbian Fort — that is no problem. Since you are Brother Du’s man, the merchant registration review is waived, and I will also exempt the rent tax. Whenever Brother Xie comes, just send word. The good spots along both sides of the main road outside the fort — take your pick as you please.”

Xie Cigao was first delighted, then he froze. “Outside the fort? Not inside the fort?”

Wang Dou smiled faintly. “Jingbian Fort has its rules. No merchant businesses are permitted to open inside the fort. In the past when merchants came to see me, I always had them set up their trading houses outside the fort.”

Xie Cigao and Du Gong exchanged a glance; both their faces turned sour.

Du Gong probed, “Brother, can you not make an exception for your elder brother just this once?”

Wang Dou said sincerely, “Changing orders overnight is a grave taboo. I hope elder brother can understand my difficulty.”

A joke — he had just laid down the rule forbidding merchants from setting up shops inside the fort, and now he would break it for someone else in the blink of an eye? Where would his authority be after that? Who inside the fort would still heed his words? Not to mention Du Gong coming — even if Du Zhen himself came, it would be useless.

Du Gong coughed and forced a smile. “Brother Wang, you are too rigid. The law does not stand outside human feeling. As the master of this fort, even if you bend a little, no one would say anything. Of course, just this once — no precedent after!”

Wang Dou said, “It truly is difficult.”

He still kept a smile on his face, but his tone brooked no doubt.

Du Gong and Xie Cigao looked at each other, then at him. Their faces darkened, and the atmosphere grew stiff.

To ease the tension, Wang Dou smiled and said, “Your presence, two elder brothers, is an honor to my humble place. How about this: I shall play host and arrange a banquet this evening. I hope you two elder brothers will not disdain it.”

Xie Cigao abruptly flicked his sleeve and stood up. He shouted harshly, “Eat what? Haven’t we had our fill of indignation already?”

His hoarse voice rose to an extreme pitch, faintly carrying a metallic scraping sound, exceedingly grating to the ear. He looked at Wang Dou with a cold sneer. “A mere Platoon Leader of a tiny fort, yet putting on such airs. Brother-in-law, you are a full Company Commander, yet you let a Platoon Leader look down on you.”

Du Gong’s face changed drastically. He barked at Xie Cigao, “Nonsense! What are you saying?”

When he turned back to Wang Dou, not a trace of a smile remained on his face. When he did not smile, his expression was especially sinister and chilling.

He looked at Wang Dou and gave a cold laugh, his voice dark and menacing. “Platoon Leader Wang, only today have I, your official superior, come to know your grand style. But let me say this here: a man who does not know how to adapt is bound to suffer a great loss!”

He and Xie Cigao stormed off in a fury.

Watching the two figures depart, Wang Dou’s eyes narrowed habitually. Perhaps today he had missed the last chance to mend relations with Du Gong and his ilk, but a true man’s principles — how could they be casually altered for others? What were Du Gong and Xie Cigao anyway? Mere rats. What did he have to fear?

Wang Dou sat steady and unmoving. Zhong Diaoyang, standing in attendance beside him, looked somewhat worried and was about to speak, but Wang Dou waved his hand and said, “Cousin, go see the guests off.”

…

In the early eighth month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Qi Tianliang’s direction of the military households’ land reclamation inside the fort was entering its final stage.

Along the northeast and southeast directions of Jingbian Fort, over this past month and more, Qi Tianliang had led several hundred men and women from the fort and newly reclaimed over two thousand mu of land. At this point, the farmland registered in Jingbian Fort’s military cultivation ledgers already exceeded three thousand mu. In terms of both land and population, it had already become a colossal entity.

At present, the total registered military cultivation land of all Shunxiang Fort was only a little over seventy qing — that is, a bit over seven thousand mu — yielding an annual military grain tax of over nine hundred dan. Jingbian Fort, a single garrison fort, was already approaching half of its total cultivation land.

Apart from reclaiming wasteland, the military households of Jingbian Fort had also dug some irrigation wells, but they had not undertaken the construction of any new canal waterworks.

To the north and south of Jingbian Fort lay the cultivation lands of various garrison forts under Shunxiang Fort, such as Zhouzhuang, Huzhuang, and Chafang Fort. Even to the southeast, there were the cultivation lands of Luanzhuang Fort, which was under the jurisdiction of the Rear Battalion of Baoan Guard — that is, the Five Forts.

The lands in these places were intermingled, and many were private fields belonging to various military officers. Therefore, constructing waterworks in these areas meant unclear ownership rights and ambiguous property boundaries, which easily led to disputes and greatly impaired the effectiveness of canal irrigation.

Moreover, the construction of canal waterworks was enormously costly, the work period long and drawn-out, and questions such as how to apportion labor wages and grain rations, and how to distribute water after completion, would lead to endless wrangling. Historically, the struggle over water in the northern regions was fierce — villages sharing the same canal fought each other, and those on different canals fought each other, with countless lawsuits and violent brawls.

Irrigation wells, by contrast, were far simpler. Well irrigation was mostly undertaken by individual farming households or by several households cooperating voluntarily. Property rights were clear, making them easy to use and manage, and unlikely to cause disputes. Besides, with drought now widespread across the Great Ming, the water sources of rivers and lakes were diminishing or even drying up, greatly reducing the usefulness of canal waterworks, whereas irrigation wells provided a relatively stable water source.

Therefore, the military households of Jingbian Fort had newly sunk over a dozen irrigation wells along the newly reclaimed fields to serve these lands.

The great Lanzhou waterwheel by the Dongfang River had also become a thing of the past. Scattered outward from the initial thousand-plus mu of land first reclaimed by Jingbian Fort, there were no abandoned canals in the surrounding area. To build a waterwheel, one would have to construct new channels and reservoirs, which would return to the aforementioned problems. Hence, the newly reclaimed fields only used irrigation wells.

According to the old rules, the original fifty-five military households who had joined Jingbian Fort in the seventh year of Chongzhen had each previously been allotted over twenty mu of land. Now that new land had been reclaimed, each household was allotted an additional twenty mu. Henceforth, these forty mu of land would belong to their families, passed down from generation to generation.

In addition, over a thousand mu of land remained. The thirty-plus military households who had joined in early eighth year of Chongzhen were each allotted twenty mu of farmland. The remainder became officer land for Wang Dou, Han Chao, Han Zhong, Qi Tianliang, and others. Yang Tong, Zhong Rong, Gao Shiyin, and Zhong Diaoyang were also each allotted several tens of mu of farmland, making all of them wild with joy. Zhong Diaoyang, disregarding his father Zhong Zhengxian’s fierce opposition, had already decided to join the Jingbian Fort military households; henceforth, his roots would be sunk deep into this land.

However, according to Wang Dou’s land policy, whether fort officers or ordinary military households, all must pay grain tax by the mu in the future. Wang Dou did not wish for a tax-exempt privileged class to emerge under his governance in the future.

As for the sixty-plus new military households who had joined in the eighth year of Chongzhen, they could only wait until more wasteland was reclaimed in the future before being allotted their share.

When distributing farmland, every household drew lots to ensure fairness — even the officers were no exception.

After receiving their land, the military households were overjoyed. Seeing their happy expressions, the later-arriving military households all wore eager looks, longing only for the day when they themselves would receive their own land.

However, the twenty-plus artisan households who had joined Jingbian Fort in early eighth year of Chongzhen were still not allotted farmland. They lived on the monthly grain rations and labor bonuses issued by the fort, becoming Jingbian Fort’s specialized handicraft workers.

…

“Early at White Dew, late at Cold Dew — the autumnal equinox is just the right time to plant wheat!”

This year’s harvest prospects were relatively good, so Jingbian Fort decided to wait until after the autumnal equinox in the middle of the eighth month before carrying out the autumn sowing and planting.

During this period, the fort was preparing seeds, as well as plow oxen and farming tools.

The fifty-plus military households who had joined Jingbian Fort in the seventh year of Chongzhen had long since been allotted plow oxen and farming tools. However, the thirty-plus military households who had joined in early eighth year of Chongzhen, though newly allotted twenty mu of farmland, had no plow oxen or farming tools. The fort needed to lease them plow oxen, farming tools, and seeds, and lend them grain and provisions. Moreover, the waterwheels in each household’s irrigation wells also required mules to draw them — all of which the fort needed to arrange in advance.

On the fifth day of the eighth month, Wang Dou was in the Platoon Leader’s official hall discussing the matter of plow oxen and farming tools with Qi Tianliang and others. Wang Dou decided to go to the department city to purchase a batch of plow oxen and farming tools. If necessary, it would be best to buy over a hundred head of plow oxen and mules in one go. Unfortunately, Wang Dou’s finances and grain supplies were always tight, so he could only buy them in batches, a little at a time.

As for Wang Dou’s current military defense arrangements at Jingbian Fort: of the seven combat squads, one squad rotated on duty at the Platoon Leader’s official hall, one squad patrolled the fort walls, one squad roved and scouted the fort’s perimeter, and the remainder either trained or rested inside the fort. As for the night scouts led by Han Chao, apart from one team rotating to stay inside the fort, the rest were always coming and going like ghosts, often unseen for days at a time.

In the midst of their discussion, a combat soldier patrolling outside the fort rushed in urgently to report that trouble had broken out outside the fort. The fort heads of three garrison forts under Shunxiang Fort — Zhouzhuang, Huzhuang, and Chafang Fort — had together led several hundred men, armed with blades and clubs, converging on Jingbian Fort, claiming they had come to seize back military household members who had fled from their forts to Jingbian Fort.

Furthermore, they also maintained that Jingbian Fort had encroached upon their cultivation land and demanded that Wang Dou give them an explanation.

According to the combat squad roving outside the fort, the officer in charge of Luanzhuang Fort under the Five Forts had also brought a group of men, advancing with menacing momentum, for reasons unknown.