Chapter 639: Pity Our Country, Pity Our People

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In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the second month, at Nanyang Prefecture, Yuzhou.

As if an ancient wind had blown, the northeastern edge of the Nanyang basin cracked into a pass, and the city of Yuzhou sits right there — this place was also once the fief of the Great Han Bowang Marquis Zhang Qian, who was sent as an envoy to the Western Regions.

But at noon, this ancient city — it first spread from the eastern side of the city, and then the terrified screams and wails spread throughout the whole city.

"The city is breached..."

"The roving bandits have entered the city."

In a dilapidated house near the Yuzhou City God Temple, a young couple and a pair of five- or six-year-old twin girls listened to the commotion outside. The woman trembled and said to the man beside her: "Brother Yuanfa, what do we do?"

The man's face was pale. He searched around the room, picked up a wooden club, and held it in his hand. Seeing this, the woman hurriedly found a kitchen cleaver as well. After a moment's thought, she grabbed a handful of stove ash and smeared it on her face.

The man clenched his teeth and said in a low voice: "Liu Niang, watch Da Nan and Er Nan closely."

The woman called Liu Niang gave a sound of assent and said to the two hand-holding little girls: "Da Nan, Er Nan, be good, come to Mother's side."

The two little girls called out "Mother" and obediently nestled beside their mother, tightly hiding behind their father.

The family huddled together, listening to the chaos and wailing outside, along with the disorderly footsteps and the rumbling of horse hooves passing through the streets and alleys. Finally, the sound of doors being broken down house by house rang out. They were all trembling with fear, and Liu Niang began to weep quietly.

Her gaze fell upon a loom in the room. In this family, the man worked outside, tilling a few mu of poor farmland and sometimes doing odd jobs, while she herself helped at home. Through bitter toil, they had raised Da Nan and Er Nan. Though life was hard, they had always hoped to carry on.

Just last month, they had gritted their teeth and bought the loom, but now, what they faced was an uncertain future.

Amidst their anxiety, suddenly the shabby door burst open with a "boom" — it was kicked in. The whole family screamed in fright. Da Nan and Er Nan were so scared they began to cry.

About six or seven raiders entered. The two in the lead wore felt hats and short armored jackets; their bearing was full of ferocity and fierceness. The other several men wore headscarves. Some held waist sabers in their hands, some held spears — their status was somewhat lower.

After the several raiders entered, the two leaders coldly glanced at the young couple huddled together in terror, utterly indifferent to the club and cleaver in their hands. They also looked at Da Nan and Er Nan beside the couple with slight curiosity — after all, twins were not something one saw every day.

Then they spread out in all directions. One of the leaders waved his hand and said: "Look around everywhere. Whatever rice or flour is hidden — take it all, to serve as army provisions."

He spoke with a thick Shaanxi accent, clearly from the old camp cavalry of the raiders.

"Rice and flour?"

Liu Niang grew terrified. She watched helplessly as several headscarved raiders ransacked chests and cupboards, and finally lifted a small bag of grain and rice from the rice jar.

She hurriedly said: "No, no..."

She threw down the cleaver at once, searched all over herself, and took out a few copper coins and a small piece of broken silver. After a moment's thought, she rushed to the wall, pried open a brick, and took out several pieces of jewelry from her dowry.

The several raiders watched her frantic activity with amused interest and whispered among themselves: "People nowadays, their skill at hiding money is getting better and better."

"In my experience, many people hide silver on the roof beams."

"I've heard that over in Shanxi, the rich landlords and gentry cast their silver into the shape of winter melons."

Liu Niang came before the raider who was giving orders and stammered: "Army... army master..."

A headscarved man beside her corrected: "It's the Righteous Army."

"Yes, yes, Righteous... Righteous Army master, take these silver and jewelry, but could you leave the rice and flour?"

That raider glanced at her, took the silver and jewelry, looked them over, and tossed them to a headscarved man beside him, who put them into a bag he was carrying. In the current raider army, what was valued most was grain, rice, horses, and mules; bows, arrows, lead, and firearms were also considered important. As for gold, silver, pearls, and jade, sometimes they did not even need to be handed over.

So these raiders all paid it no mind.

"Go."

The lead raider waved his hand, and the several men, carrying the rice bag, were about to leave the house.

Liu Niang stared dumbfounded. She let out a shrill cry: "No..."

"Liu Niang."

Her man failed to hold her back in time.

"Don't..."

Liu Niang threw herself at the feet of the lead raider, hugged his calf, and wailed loudly: "I beg you, this is the last bit of grain left in the house. If you take it all, our whole family cannot survive."

"Donkey's balls."

That raider frowned, jerked his foot, and Liu Niang cried out "Ah," tumbling backward several times.

"Ah, Liu Niang, I'll fight you to the death."

Liu Niang's man, Yang Yuanfa, charged forward, brandishing the club in his hand. The raider glanced at him contemptuously and struck him square in the face with one punch, making Yang Yuanfa's mouth and nose bleed and the club fall to the ground. Then several raiders surged forward, punching and kicking him until Yang Yuanfa rolled all over the floor.

Suddenly he let out a miserable howl — a headscarved man had slashed his left arm with a blade, and blood streamed freely.

Liu Niang screamed in terror, knelt on the ground, and desperately kowtowed, weeping and begging: "I beg you, stop beating my husband. If you want the grain and rice... just take it all."

The twin girls, Da Nan and Er Nan, were crying their hearts out beside them: "Daddy, don't hit my daddy."

The other felt-hatted raider, who had several scars on his face, looked at the young couple and cursed angrily: "Your mother's fur, daring to resist the Righteous Army?"

The blade of the saber at his waist was drawn out inch by inch. A cold light flickered in his eyes, and the scars on his face twitched slightly — he was clearly moved to kill.

"Go."

The other lead raider held him back. With a wave of his hand, the several raiders surged out together, leaving the family behind, still weeping.

"Brother Yuanfa, it's me who brought this harm upon you."

Inside the house, Liu Niang wept as she bandaged her man's wound. Fortunately, the arm was still there, but the bone had been injured — she feared this hand, from now on...

Yang Yuanfa gently stroked his wife's hair and said softly: "I don't blame you. It's my own uselessness, unable to protect you three."

He looked at his wife. From the day she married him, she had never known a single good day. Liu Niang was only in her twenties, yet there were already several strands of white hair at her temples. Yang Yuanfa felt as if a knife were slicing his heart. Now, the only bit of grain in the house had been looted — what would they do from now on?

The family wept in silence. They listened as the cries and clamor that filled the streets outside slowly died down. A voice rang out — it was a raider cavalryman riding back and forth through the streets, proclaiming.

"By order of the Fengtian Changyi Camp, Civil and Martial Grand General Li: The officials are without the Way, the common people wail. The princes, nobles, and great men viciously strip the poor, unwilling to spare a single thread or grain to aid the hundred surnames. Now the Civil and Martial Grand General upholds Heaven and promotes righteousness, punishes tyranny, enforces Heavenly principle — no corvée, no grain tax, comfort to the refugees, free passage for merchants..."

"The righteous army's discipline is strict and clear. Where the great army passes, not a blade of grass is disturbed. The Civil and Martial Grand General declares: To kill one person is like killing my own father; to violate one woman is like violating my own mother..."

Then countless people entered the city, and earth-shaking ballads rose: "Kill the cattle and sheep, prepare the wine and ale. Open the city gates to welcome the Chuang King — when the Chuang King comes, no grain tax is paid."

The young couple listened blankly. They heard that among the surrounding neighbors, those who were bolder had already opened their doors. Liu Niang wept and said: "Brother Yuanfa, what do we do?"

Yang Yuanfa said: "Let's go out and look. Take it one step at a time."

The young couple, bringing the twin girls, cautiously stepped out of the house. They looked at the street — more and more people were out, and neighbors from left and right were also emerging, all asking each other for news.

Those poor peasants and common folk like them had only a little copper cash and some scraps of silver — the raiding soldiers searching the houses didn't even bother with those. But the grain, rice, flour, and all the food in their homes were taken away completely.

Seeing Yang Yuanfa's left arm bandaged tight, still seeping traces of blood, everyone asked about it and could only sigh: "Why suffer so? Keeping your life is what matters most."

Sixth Wife shed tears again: "But without grain and rice, what do we do from now on?"

These words left all the neighbors at a loss too. Indeed, from the look of things, the entire city had been emptied — not a single grain of rice remained. Even if they had a little silver, where could they go to buy food?

Just then someone shouted: "The Chuang King is going to distribute gruel at the Dragon King Temple outside the city, and he's also going to publicly execute Magistrate Zhao and a group of the local gentry."

The crowd stirred and surged toward the outside of the city. The young couple, carrying Big Girl and Little Girl, were carried along involuntarily as well.

When they reached the area outside the eastern city, it was already a sea of people. The front of the Dragon King Temple in particular was packed solid. The young couple and their neighbors squeezed forward too. They saw on the steps in front of the Dragon King Temple a great banner several zhang high had been planted, embroidered on black satin with an enormous "Chuang" character. The banner pole was silver-white — actually made of pure silver.

To the front, left, and right of the temple stood soldiers exactly like those two ferocious raiders who had earlier burst into their home. And not far around the temple, as well as behind it, were numerous encampments and mat-sheds, stretching all the way to the nearby mountain ridges and riverbanks — countless banners of every kind, beyond counting.

On several roads beside the temple, numerous carts filed in an endless stream into each camp, loaded entirely with grain, rice, wealth, and silks.

The young couple also saw, standing on the highest step, a middle-aged man wearing a white felt hat and an arrow-riding robe. Seen from afar, this man wore a treasured sword, had a high nose and deep-set eyes, and his face was covered in curly whiskers — he did not much resemble a Han person.

Around him clustered one after another of officers wearing padded armor or iron or leather armor, along with a few men who looked like scholars.

"Is that the Chuang King?"

The young couple dared not look too long and both hurriedly lowered their heads.

A stir ran through the crowd as they saw Magistrate Zhao, covered all over in blood and filth, bound and escorted over by some raiding soldiers. Behind him were some other officials, scholars, and gentry.

In addition, there were some people dressed as military officers. Sixth Wife spotted the fat Garrison Commander Sun, who usually threw his weight around and bullied everyone in the city — his hair disheveled, trussed up tightly like a zongzi dumpling.

Seeing this, Sixth Wife could not help but feel a surge of satisfaction. That villain — so he too would meet such a day.

Magistrate Zhao and the others were brought before the steps. The raiding soldiers barked orders for them to kneel. Garrison Commander Sun and the other military officers hurriedly and obediently knelt. Magistrate Zhao and his group, however, stood with heads held high.

"Those who surrender live; those who resist die! Who among you is willing to surrender?"

Someone on the steps was speaking — no one knew who.

Garrison Commander Sun and the others had long been terrified beyond measure. Hearing this now, they hastily kowtowed, putting on ingratiating, fawning smiles: "We petty men are willing to surrender, to abandon darkness and turn to the light, to serve the righteous army."

Magistrate Zhao swept a contemptuous glance over Garrison Commander Sun and the others, then glared furiously at Li Zicheng and the men on the platform, shouting: "I am an official of the imperial court — how could I consent to be used by bandits and rebels? You villains, if you want to kill me, then kill me!"

His words carried a thick Jiangnan accent. Sixth Wife had heard before that Magistrate Zhao was from Yangzhou and belonged to something called the Donglin faction. In daily life he had always been refined, gentle, and kind to people. Now, seeing him like this, even as she silently cheered him on, she also felt sorrow for him.

The moment Magistrate Zhao spoke these words, the raiding soldiers and officers flew into a great rage. One soldier suddenly drew his blade and hacked off Zhao's right arm. Magistrate Zhao let out a piercing shriek but continued to curse. They hacked off his left arm — his curses grew fiercer. They hacked off both his legs — Magistrate Zhao passed out and then came to, still cursing defiantly.

In the end, the raiding soldiers hung Magistrate Zhao from the banner pole and shot arrows at him. Magistrate Zhao, struck by many arrows and with all four limbs severed, was long since barely breathing. Struggling, he gazed at the countless common folk before him, at this city, these mountains and rivers, and sighed at last: "Alas for my country, alas for my people." (To be continued)