Chapter 776: Tomato Braised Shrimp

In mid-February of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, at Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi.

It is said that when Li Zicheng marched south, the only thing the General Who Pacifies Bandits, Zuo Liangyu, did was flee. When the Chuang army attacked Xiangyang, he ran to Wuchang. Then when the Chuang army captured Hanchuan and looked poised to strike Wuchang, he hurriedly led his troops and fled again to Jiujiang.

Moreover, he had made up his mind: if Li Zicheng continued south, he would simply keep fleeing downstream along the river.

Fortunately, Heaven showed its power. When the Chuang bandits crossed the river to attack Wuchang in the first month, great waves rose on the river. The Chuang bandits, mostly landlubbers unfamiliar with the nature of water, were drowned alive in droves by the river. In the end, they halted their offensive and focused solely on consolidating the several prefectures north of the river.

Zuo Liangyu, who had fled to Jiujiang to watch and wait, finally breathed a huge sigh of relief and reverted to his old ways.

And because he had plundered all along the way, gathered surrendered soldiers and rebel deserters, and coerced and swept up disorderly commoners, the troops under his command were now so numerous even he could not count them, publicly claiming two hundred thousand. How to feed so many soldiers? Zuo Liangyu had his own method: plunder!

He led his army to strip the wealth from the common people everywhere outside the city, and to seize every beautiful wife, concubine, and daughter from every household, making the suffering of the Xiangyang people replay once more in Jiujiang.

And still not satisfied, his capable subordinate Wang Yuncheng, originally a rebel deserter and the most ruthless and untamable, led his troops in early February to wreak havoc in Qizhou, killing, burning, and stopping at nothing. The various divisions of the Bandit-Pacifying Army rose up in response.

Because they had earlier seized the boats in Wuchang, including the tribute grain and salt vessels, they sailed south in a mighty, surging fleet. The rebel army broke through Jiande, plundered Chiyang, came within forty li of Wuhu, and moored their boats at Sanshan and Digang, seizing every tribute grain and salt vessel to carry their troops.

The various rebel generals also declared they would send their spoils to Nanjing and requested to bring three thousand trusted men with them. The civil and military officials in Nanjing were terrified, deploying troops along the river for defense, and urgently transferring Luzhou Regional Commander Huang Degong to move his forces there. At the time, the river was in utter chaos, with scholars and commoners relocating en masse and merchant travel ceasing entirely.

Fortunately, the Provincial Governor of Anqing drafted a proclamation to Zuo Liangyu, moving him with stern words, and also disbursed over a hundred thousand taels of silver from the treasury. Only then were these rebel troops pacified, returning fully laden with wealth, goods, and women.

And with the Bandit-Pacifying Army setting the precedent — killing, burning, seizing money, grain, and women not only went unpunished but was rewarded with feasts — why not do it? The crying child gets the milk; as the saying goes, if you don't make trouble, you get nothing, but if you do, the rewards only increase. Thus, in the prefectures along the river thereafter, every kind of rebellion and mutiny emerged endlessly.

That day, not far from the city of Jiujiang Prefecture, people say the February spring wind is like scissors, and also speak of the warm spring of the third month, when the breeze is gentle and green willows hold the mist — a season soon to arrive. Jiujiang, especially, has long been praised as "the Xunyang commandery of nine tributaries, as vivid as a painting." This ancient Jiangzhou, this Xunyang region, has always been a place of beauty, the eyes and brows of the realm.

Yet recently, all such poetic charm had utterly vanished. Not a single sail remained on the river. Even though Jiujiang had always been called the mouth of three rivers and the thoroughfare of seven provinces, with the bandit general Zuo Liangyu here, what traveler or merchant, unafraid of death, would dare come to Jiujiang or pass through this stretch of the river?

It was not without lessons. There had been riverboats passing through the waters of Jiujiang that encountered the patrol boats of the Bandit-Pacifying Army. Those bandit soldiers, without a word of explanation, would board and plunder.

Before plundering, they might casually pin a charge of colluding with bandits and cut the victim down with one stroke, the corpse tossed into the river. Or they might not even bother to find a charge, simply boarding the boat to rob it directly. If there were beautiful women aboard, their fate was even more unspeakably miserable.

The gates of Jiujiang Prefecture were also frequently shut. Soldiers and able-bodied civilians all watched the military camps outside the city warily, terrified that those Bandit-Pacifying troops would storm in to burn, kill, and loot. And the Bandit-Pacifying Army was so vast that the southern bank of the river seemed entirely occupied by them.

Zuo Liangyu's army claimed two hundred thousand men. He established the forward several battalions as his personal troops and the rear several battalions as surrendered troops. Their military drill involved two men riding with a horse between them, called "passing in pairs." Their cavalry often galloped outside Jiujiang Prefecture, flaunting their might. But watching these Bandit-Pacifying soldiers, the local people hated them to the bone.

With the arrival of the bandit general, countless local people suffered calamity. The wives and daughters of many households were seized and defiled in the camps. At such times, they could not understand: why were there so many such beasts among the government troops? Were they not supposed to protect the common people? Why were their deeds so worse than beasts?

Each person buried their hatred deep in their hearts. Seeing that King Chuang's righteous army would not march south for the time being, they cared only about one thing: when would retribution finally come for this bandit army and that bandit general?

In the past, Jiujiang city was bustling, and outside the city there were many estates, as well as all kinds of tea houses and wine shops. But once the Bandit-Pacifying Army arrived, how many dared to open their doors for business? Even those with the nerve, or those forced by livelihood, all carried their hearts in their hands, in constant fear that some unforeseen calamity might befall them any day.

However, near Suojiang Tower, there was a wine shop whose business was very good. Ordinarily, the officers and soldiers of the Bandit-Pacifying Army dared not harass this wine shop, which inevitably aroused the curiosity of outsiders.

It turned out, as people inquired, that the newly arrived proprietor of this wine shop, Manager Tian, was a fellow Shandong native like the Bandit-Pacifying General Zuo Liangyu, and he cooked excellent Shandong cuisine. The bandit general praised it endlessly, and because they were fellow townsmen, Zuo Liangyu personally issued an order forbidding the Bandit-Pacifying Army from harassing this wine shop.

He also frequently brought his generals over for a few drinks, making it impossible for this wine shop's business not to thrive.

Suojiang Tower stood on the bank of the Yangtze River northeast of Jiujiang city. This wine shop also faced the river, grand in style, divided into three floors. The original owner of the wine shop had vanished, and Manager Tian, leading a few assistants, had taken it over like a cuckoo in another bird's nest.

It was exactly noon, and the wine shop was a clamor of noise. The clatter of cleavers and ladles, the shouts of orders, and wafts of the aroma of wine and meat continuously rose from within. Around the upper floor, officers and soldiers of the Bandit-Pacifying Army indulged in unrestrained revelry, many clutching plundered common women in their arms, the din rising in waves.

A slender, small-framed assistant, carrying a plate of brightly colored fruit, hurried upstairs. The officers and soldiers he passed along the way, seeing the fruit in his hands, were all curious. What kind of fruit was this? So alluring, so vividly fresh it seemed about to drip.

But no one dared to stop him and seize it, for they knew that the proprietor of this wine shop was a fellow townsman of the Grand Commander. Such strange fruit was surely being sent to the top floor for the Grand Commander and his men to enjoy.

This assistant moved with the lightness and agility of a fox. As he walked up the stairs, he inadvertently glanced outside and saw a fleet of boats docking not far away. Each boat was packed with soldiers cheering and laughing wildly, and the weeping and shrieks of various women could also be heard. It seemed another batch of commoners had fallen victim to the Bandit-Pacifying Army.

The assistant bit his lower lip. Just then, an assistant from upstairs came down with an empty tray and shot him a meaningful glance. The slender, small-framed assistant nodded and continued on his way upstairs.

Before reaching the top floor, he heard a burst of raucous laughter, faintly mingled with the music of string and bamboo instruments and the sound of soft singing and dancing. Going up to look, he saw Zuo Liangyu seated with his various generals.

His son Zuo Menggeng, the camp's senior general Wang Yuncheng, Vice General Wu Xueli, Vice General Lu Guangzu, Assistant Regional Commander Ma Jinzhong, Ma Shixiu, and others were all present. A crowd of entertainers and camp prostitutes were either singing and dancing or urging them to drink — a scene of great revelry.

In the corners of the upper floor, some personal guards stood. Seeing this assistant come up, they cast fierce, menacing glares at him. Lu Guangzu and others, hearing the movement, also shot him a glance, their eyes filled with brutal, vicious malice.

At that moment, Wang Yuncheng was laughing wildly: "...Those officials in Nanjing actually wanted the Grand Commander to kill me. What wishful thinking..."

Zuo Menggeng's face was pale, bearing the look of someone excessive in wine and lust, sharp and mean. He said in a shrill voice: "It seems the ruckus wasn't enough. Father Commander, we must give those Jiangnan officials and generals a bit more to look at, let them know the might of our Bandit-Pacifying Army..."

"With our hundreds of thousands of troops, the court can only appease us. Every time after, just imagining the faces of the Emperor and the Grand Secretaries is amusing..."

Wu Xueli and Ma Jinzhong also burst into loud laughter, speaking without any restraint. To them, the present days were indeed pleasant. The days when military men rose up and became masters had finally arrived. Every time they thought about it, they still had to thank Li Zicheng and his ilk.

The wine shop owner, Manager Tian, was attending nearby. He was fat and plump, yet his movements were very nimble.

After each dish was served, he would also solicitously explain it to Zuo Liangyu. After eating another piece of flash-fried double crisp, Zuo Liangyu nodded with satisfaction and said to Manager Tian: "Old Tian, your skill in Shandong cuisine is truly beyond words. If this marshal moves his defense elsewhere in the future, you just follow along."

Manager Tian put on an expression of overwhelming favor. He knelt with a sob and kowtowed, choking with emotion: "The Grand Commander's great kindness — even if I were to spill my liver and brains on the ground, I could never repay it. Whatever the Grand Commander says, this humble one will do."

Wu Xueli, Lu Guangzu, Ma Jinzhong, and the others were indifferent. The Grand Commander liked eating Shandong cuisine, so they came to show their support. Whether the army had such a cook or not was of no consequence.

Wang Yuncheng, in particular, glanced at Manager Tian with the look of someone sizing up food, thinking to himself that this fellow's body full of fat would be quite chewy, and in times of food and clothing shortage, he could be butchered and eaten.

Just then, the slender, small-framed assistant arrived carrying the fruit. Seeing how vividly beautiful this fruit was, everyone was curious but also wary. Just like a venomous snake, the brighter its colors, the more poisonous its nature — the same with brightly colored mushrooms. What was this thing?

Seeing the expressions of Zuo Liangyu and the others, and several personal guards pressing their hands on their sword hilts about to approach, Manager Tian hurriedly nodded and bowed: "Grand Commander, and all you generals, no need for alarm, no need for alarm. This is a small token specially prepared by this humble one for the Grand Commander and the others..."

He personally picked up one of these things, put it in his mouth, and took a bite. Immediately, a bright red liquid flowed down. A look of intoxication appeared in Manager Tian's eyes: "Truly a delicacy of this world."

He ate the fruit in a few bites, then said to Zuo Liangyu and the others with a smile: "This thing is called 'Joyous Report of Triple Firsts.' I hear it was transmitted from the Western Ocean, and it also goes by the name 'foreign persimmon.' It usually grows in autumn and summer; to see it in spring is extremely rare. This humble one found it in the greenhouse of a wealthy household — a rare sight indeed."

Zuo Liangyu and the others, seeing Manager Tian eat with such relish, as if it were extremely delicious, were all tempted. And seeing that he was perfectly fine after finishing an entire Joyous Report of Triple Firsts, clearly the fruit was non-toxic, they felt even more at ease.

In truth, initially they had not trusted this wine shop either. Not only were there people supervising the kitchen, but every dish served was tested with a silver needle for poison. However, as days passed, their wariness had completely faded. After all, it was impossible — who would have the guts of a bear or a leopard, daring to plot against a Regional Commander, and one who commanded hundreds of thousands of fierce troops and had a notorious reputation for brutality?

At this season, fruit was scarce. This thing, if not found in a wealthy household's greenhouse, would normally never be seen. Its Chinese name was auspicious, and it was transmitted from the Western Ocean, making it even rarer. Thus, Zuo Liangyu said impatiently: "Quickly, bring it to this marshal."

He picked up a tomato and bit into it. Immediately, his eyes widened. He smacked his lips, then finished the tomato in a few large bites and picked up another. Chewing, he said indistinctly to his subordinates: "Not bad, not bad. You all try some too."

At once, the generals each grabbed one, curiously taking them, every one eating until their mouths dripped with juice. The taste of eating a tomato for the first time especially made them cry out in endless praise. Manager Tian struck while the iron was hot and said with a grin: "This thing tastes even better after cooking. I've especially heard that the Grand Commander enjoys lake shrimp. If paired and cooked with this..."

Zuo Liangyu picked up another tomato and bit into it, waving his hand repeatedly: "Go, go, go. Manager Tian, you personally take charge. This marshal must have a grand feast today." (To be continued

〖Update fast, plain text〗