Chapter 87: Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fort, Chapter Eighty-Seven: No Mercy

Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fort, Chapter Eighty-Seven: No Mercy

"My lord, the lady still refuses to come down. She only says she is fine and can continue serving porridge to the starving people."

Han Chao came to Wang Dou's side and said in a low voice.

Around the starving people, squads of Shunxiang troops patrolled, and Wang Dou, surrounded by a group of officers, watched the scene before him.

The sight before him was a typical tableau of the chaotic late Ming world, shocking to behold. On the flat ground around Shunxiang Fort, piles of ramshackle, crudely built huts stretched out in a vast expanse below the fort. Inside lived disaster victims in tattered clothes, their limbs thin and withered, each face sallow, bodies filthy, eyes filled with despair.

Between the huts, garbage and excrement were everywhere, the stench nauseating. Many starving people who had just received word and barely managed to arrive from other regions were already at death's door, lying weakly on the ground, waiting for their relief. Orphans who had lost their parents either walked about listlessly or sat on the ground in a daze. They did not even have the strength to cry.

Among these huts, every night, all kinds of wicked transactions had once flourished. The strong bullied the weak, seizing property; children were abducted and sold; a single coarse, black steamed bun could trade away a woman's chastity; grown girls were given away for free and no one wanted them — everything was for survival.

To change this situation, starting from the twentieth, Wang Dou dispatched three squads totaling over a hundred Shunxiang troops out of the fort to maintain order, making the starving people build huts and latrines at designated spots, having them live together by village and clan as much as possible, appointing some village elders to keep order, and also sending several clerks from the fort out to register the population, and organizing some women to go out and take in orphans.

These Shunxiang troops patrolled the perimeter. Seeing these soldiers, so valiant and spirited, full of mettle, without a trace of ruffianism on them, vastly different from Ming troops elsewhere, many of the young and able-bodied among the refugees looked on with envy, while the rest watched in fear.

In these past few days, the Shunxiang troops had summarily executed several ruffians who robbed property and violated women, greatly reducing criminal incidents below Shunxiang Fort.

On the other side of the porridge station, some starving people with better complexion and somewhat recovered strength had already gathered before the desks of Clerk Feng Dachang and several other clerks. After Feng Dachang and the others registered them, they would be transferred to various places around Shunxiang Fort for settlement, through work-relief.

These people would receive better treatment, such as eating rice, changing into clean clothes after washing, and having better shelter. Shunxiang Fort would also issue them military household certificates, making them military households of Shunxiang Fort.

With relief and hope, the previously somewhat restless starving people below Shunxiang Fort all settled down. At noon, everyone lined up again to receive porridge. Many of them gathered in front of the pots of Xie Xiuniang and Madam Zhong, wanting to see for themselves the compassionate Defender's wife and the old lady who were talked about among the starving people.

Wang Dou looked from afar. Xie Xiuniang had already been busy for over two hours, yet she still smiled as she served porridge to the starving people. One by one, the starving people took the porridge from her hands and left with profuse thanks. Wang Dou sighed and said, "If she says she is fine, let her continue serving porridge."

Han Chao nodded and stepped back behind Wang Dou.

Among a group of starving people sitting and drinking porridge, an old man suddenly stood up. The old man had a white beard and eyebrows, and on his head he wore a placard reading "Grace Deep, Virtue Profound." He stood among the crowd and loudly declared: "For the kindness of a drop of water, one should repay with a gushing spring. We are sustained by the great lords of Shun Fort — how can we repay this? Henceforth, let each be content with his lot, and commit no misdeeds."

He sang with fervor, his voice mournful. He sang three stanzas, and thousands could not help but weep.

Wang Dou also felt a pang in his chest, and everyone shed tears.

"Heaven is merciless, the people's livelihood is fraught with hardship. We have read the sages' books thoroughly, yet we are inferior to a military man. Shameful, shameful!"

At the edge of the starving crowd, several Confucian scholars stood watching from a distance. The man at their head, nearing fifty, wore a square scholar's cap and a straight-hemmed Confucian robe. Though old, it was washed and starched very clean. He had a long three-part beard and a refined, handsome face. As the old man's song reached him, tears welled in his eyes, and he looked up to heaven with a long sigh.

Beside him stood two middle-aged men, both around forty. Hearing the mournful song, they too were visibly moved.

One of them sighed: "Indeed. A prefectural city, full of wealthy households, yet few came out to serve porridge. Instead it is Shunxiang Fort, a remote rural place, that has saved countless lives. We are truly ashamed!"

"Look at the multitude of starving people below Shun Fort — I fear all the disaster victims from within the prefecture have gathered here."

The other middle-aged Confucian scholar said, "Mr. Fu, Mr. Jiang, why must you blame yourselves? These days our toil and rushing about have been evident to all. This student has a clear conscience."

These men were precisely Fu Mingqi, Director of the Confucian School of Baoan Prefecture, and the two Instructors, Jiang Hongsheng and Huang Riguang. Since the third month, when starving people had gathered in the prefectural city, Fu Mingqi had mobilized the students of the Confucian school, rushing about within the city, appealing to the authorities and wealthy households to set up porridge stations outside the city. But the results were meager. Shunxiang Fort, on the contrary, had relieved countless disaster victims. After the news spread, everyone was astonished, and all sorts of discussions arose.

Fu Mingqi was also curious. He wondered what kind of person the Defender of Shunxiang Fort, Wang Dou, was, to dare make such a decision. One must know that Shunxiang Fort, in everyone's mind, was merely a poor Battalion Commander station. Where did Wang Dou get such boldness and financial resources?

During this time, in order to raise funds and grain for disaster relief, Fu Mingqi had endured countless cold stares. The Li family of Sangganli was originally a wealthy household of Baoan Prefecture, with countless fertile lands and numerous rice shops in the prefectural city. The family head, Li Jichen, was even a Licentiate. But after Fu Mingqi approached Li Jichen, Li Jichen flatly refused, citing his large family and his own inability to help. Even a Licentiate who had thoroughly read the sages' books had this attitude; those merchants who read even less were even more tight-fisted. Thus, Fu Mingqi's long efforts had yielded very little.

After hearing the news of Shunxiang Fort, and also wanting to see the condition of the disaster victims for himself, Fu Mingqi brought two good friends from the Confucian school, Instructors Jiang Hongsheng and Huang Riguang, to Shunxiang Fort to observe. As they traveled, on the road they also heard that Yang Zhichang, the Defender of Wubao, had not only driven away the disaster victims below his own fort but had also let his troops plunder, robbing the starving people of their last scraps of property. The hearts of the few men burned with even greater indignation.

However, after entering the territory of Shunxiang Fort, the few men were astonished to find the area in perfect order. The hellish scenes of starving people found everywhere else in Baoan Prefecture were completely absent in Shunxiang Fort. Patrols of soldiers were constant, all remains and bones had been buried, and the starving people, supporting the old and carrying the young, with hope in their eyes, headed toward Shunxiang Fort.

When asked, the starving people all said in various accents: "The Defender of Shun Fort, Lord Wang, is benevolent and righteous. He has set up porridge stations below the fort. We are all going there to save our lives!"

When they arrived below Shunxiang Fort and saw such a large-scale gathering of starving people, numbering perhaps three thousand, yet everyone was content, each person able to receive relief and save their life, and the Defender's wife, pregnant yet personally serving porridge, the few men were astonished. Then they heard the old man's mournful song and exhortation. Fu Mingqi could not help but sigh with emotion.

At that moment, Wang Dou also saw Fu Mingqi and his companions, and was taken aback. He had met Fu Mingqi before in the prefectural city and recognized him. He hurriedly led his officers forward to greet them.

Fu Mingqi, however, had never met Wang Dou. After they met, he gave Wang Dou a deep bow and said, "On behalf of these elders and countryfolk, this old man thanks Lord Wang. Lord Wang's lofty kindness and noble actions have delivered thousands of common people from dire straits. This is truly great righteousness!"

He sighed: "Lord Wang, though a military officer, can perform such a righteous deed. The prefectural city is full of those who have read the sages' books thoroughly, yet none compare to Lord Wang. It truly makes one sigh with emotion!"

As the Director of the Confucian School, Fu Mingqi held an exalted status. For Wang Dou to receive such a grand gesture from him was cause enough for pride. Even Wen Fangliang, Lin Daofu, and the others beside him showed envious expressions. Wang Dou returned the courtesy and said, "Whether civil official or military officer, all are subjects of the Great Ming. Whether military household or civilian household, all are people of the Great Ming. As a subject of the Great Ming, how could I sit idly by and watch the people suffer, seeing death and not saving them? This small matter is not worth mentioning."

Hearing Wang Dou's manner of speech, Fu Mingqi was even more surprised. In his impression, among all the military officers across Baoan Prefecture, only the former Defender of Shunxiang Fort, Xu Zhongjun, possessed such learning and cultivation. He had not expected this young successor Defender...

Fu Mingqi became even more interested in Wang Dou. He looked Wang Dou up and down, and even Jiang Hongsheng and Huang Riguang beside him scrutinized Wang Dou repeatedly.

After exchanging a few words, Wang Dou invited Fu Mingqi into the fort to talk, and Fu Mingqi gladly agreed.

The arrival of Fu Mingqi and his companions also sparked an idea in Wang Dou. Now there were many children in Shunxiang Fort, especially with the arrival of so many refugee children. Their education arrangements should be put on his agenda.

As they entered the fort, Wang Dou turned back to look at the dense crowd of starving people outside the fort. They were still lining up to receive porridge. Many of their faces had already regained signs of life, and some children had recovered their childlike innocence, simply playing and frolicking among the crowd.

He had saved their lives, and in the future, they would become important population and households for Shunxiang Fort. Yet, sustaining these people was truly difficult.

Wang Dou suddenly felt a bit dazed. Since arriving in this world, he had gone from struggling desperately for personal survival to now being able to control the fate of thousands. The wonder of the world was nothing less than this.

"Boom!" A loud report!

Flame spouted from the muzzle, and the lingering wisps of gunpowder smoke slowly drifted upward.

A burly mountain bandit, charging forward with a wild scream, was knocked to the ground from afar by Zhong Xiancai's bird gun.

With a wave of his hand, Wu Zhengchun and several armored long-spear soldiers of his squad charged forward in a ranked battle line.

"Kill!"

Five long spears thrust out like venomous stings. Screams rang out as the spears stabbed into the mountain bandits' eyes or pierced their hearts — not a single thrust missed!

As the long spears were withdrawn, blood sprayed in all directions. Some of the blood even splattered onto Wu Zhengchun's face and armor, but he did not so much as blink.

After several bandit suppression campaigns, Wu Zhengchun no longer felt any resistance or distress about killing. His skills, honed in the real combat of bandit suppression, had become even more ferocious and ruthless. Every spear thrust he made never missed, and he never showed mercy!

The Defender was right: kill all those bandits, confiscate all their stores, take their grain, and the entire fort's soldiers and civilians could survive. Now, with the fort's provisions and pay running low and disaster victims to relieve, troops are trained for a thousand days to be used in a single moment. It was time for these soldiers to contribute their strength.

Starting from mid-third month, Wang Dou had been sending out Shunxiang troops in rotation to suppress bandits outside the fort. Each squad traveled light, carrying only weapons, ammunition, and a few days' dry rations. Under the severe strikes of the Shunxiang troops, the bandit menace around Shunxiang Fort was swept clean. Some entrenched bandit gangs that had existed for years, even over a decade, were completely annihilated under the attack of at most two squads of Shunxiang troops, just over a hundred men.

The results were remarkable. In a short time, the Shunxiang troops had wiped out over a dozen bandit strongholds in succession, seizing over a thousand taels of silver, several hundred dan of grain, a hundred horses and mules, and countless weapons, greatly easing the survival pressure within the fort. However, this also brought one consequence: the bandits within the territory were either killed off or had abandoned their strongholds and fled. There were no more bandits left to suppress.

In the fourth month, Han Chao led the Night Scouts and discovered a bandit stronghold in the Meiyu Defense Battalion area. This place had high mountains and dense forests, rarely trodden by man. Inside were nearly three hundred bandits, all hardened criminals of many years. Their range of activity was quite broad, from the Meiyu Defense Battalion to Weizhou, to Laishui. Every so often they would go out to plunder, then retreat back to their mountain stronghold to enjoy themselves. Because it was a no-man's-land ignored by all three jurisdictions, and the mountain paths were high and perilous, the local authorities and guard battalions could do nothing about them.

Wang Dou, however, was tempted. This bandit stronghold had been accumulating wealth for many years; its stores were likely abundant. Taking this stronghold could feed the soldiers and civilians of Shunxiang Fort for at least half a year.

But the Meiyu Defense Battalion was not under the jurisdiction of Shunxiang Fort, nor even under the jurisdiction of the Baoan Prefecture Guard. Great Ming Defense Battalions had always held a unique status; though merely a battalion, they could stand on equal footing with some full Guards. The Meiyu Defense Battalion in particular connected the passage between Weizhou and Baoan Prefecture, a strategically important location, and a special Garrison Commander was appointed to lead troops and defend it.

Leading troops across borders was a major taboo, but Wang Dou, his eyes red with desperation, could not care about any of that. He ordered Han Zhong to lead a picket of troops, each man carrying over ten days' dry rations, with the absolute order to flatten this bandit stronghold and seize all their stores.

Guided by several Night Scouts, Han Zhong led his picket of troops as they silently closed in on the bandit stronghold. The bandits had not expected government troops to suddenly appear below their mountain stronghold; they could only rely on their sturdy stockade walls to defend. Though the mountain stronghold was firm, the Shunxiang troops always used force to break through skill. Their musketeers kept up a continuous bombardment, and in less than half a shichen, the stronghold was breached. Row after row of armored long-spear soldiers surged in!

Under the fierce assault of their battle formations, though these mountain bandits were all desperate outlaws, in the eyes of the Shunxiang army they were nothing but a disorderly rabble — how could they withstand the great force of Shunxiang Fort? Soon after the Shunxiang army breached the stronghold, the bandits either collapsed and fled for their lives, or knelt and surrendered.

"Haha, these bandits are utterly worthless!"

Watching cluster after cluster of bandits kneeling in surrender, Han Zhong approached surrounded by several guards, utterly delighted and laughing heartily.

He had come leading over two hundred and forty men of one picket, swiftly overrunning this mountain stronghold. After tallying the spoils and returning, it would surely count as another major deed of merit — and when it came to distributing rewards from the plunder, Wang Dou was never stingy. When everyone went back this time, even the common soldiers would have bulging purses.

Han Zhong stepped forward and clapped Wu Zhengchun on the shoulder, saying, "Young fellow, not bad. Keep this up and you'll be promoted again soon!"

At that moment Wu Zhengchun's body was covered in sweat stains and blood spatter; dried by the mountain wind, he felt miserable all over. He now held the post of Squad Leader. After the previous squad leader in his small unit had been selected for the cavalry detachment, Wu Zhengchun, as a superior-grade soldier, had taken over as Squad Leader of the long-spear squad in the small unit. But he had fought fiercely just now — by Han Zhong's estimate, as many as seven bandits had died on his long spear. With such battle achievements recorded as military merit, as long as a vacant position appeared, promotion was obvious.

Wu Zhengchun gave a sharp "Hua!" and saluted with his spear, saying, "It is all thanks to my lord's cultivation!"

At this moment, his whole bearing was full of keen spirit; the cowardly man of former days was nowhere to be seen.

Han Zhong nodded with satisfaction and said, "In this assault on the stronghold, our army's casualties were slight. I imagine when His Lordship learns of it, he will certainly be pleased!"

In Han Zhong's picket force, there were one hundred arquebusiers and one hundred long-spearmen, the remainder being officers, guards, standard-bearers, and the like. From late in the second month through the third month, the ironworks at Koujiagou had produced nearly ten thousand jin of wrought iron. With iron material available, Shunxiang Fort worked day and night, and by early in the fourth month had forged over one hundred more arquebuses and over thirty sets of iron armor.

Adding these to the seventy-odd new-model arquebuses and bird guns Wang Dou originally possessed, Wang Dou could now essentially equip every arquebusier in the army with a firearm.

As for iron armor, originally in the Shunxiang army, aside from some officers and superior-grade soldiers who were issued armor, most of the rest wore none. After more iron armor was forged at the fort, over forty men in Han Zhong's picket were now equipped with iron armor, mostly issued to the long-spearmen. The remaining soldiers still wore the original leather armor or padded cotton armor from the Shunxiang Fort storehouse, or wore no armor at all.

In this assault on the stronghold, these iron-armored long-spearmen played a major role. In particular, the iron-armored long-spearmen of Wu Zhengchun's squad, and the iron-armored long-spearmen squad led by Shen Shiqi of the second platoon, were the first to break into the stockade and rout the bandits — it can be said they all rendered great merit!

Han Zhong waved his hand in a big, casual gesture and said, "Alright, the fighting is over. Time to see how much grain, silver, and coin we've seized!"

At this moment corpses covered the ground, and reddish-brown mud was everywhere inside the stockade. After over fifty bandits had died, over a hundred had surrendered, and the rest had fled to who knows where. Han Zhong could not be bothered with them and simply ordered his soldiers to tally the spoils and search out the remaining bandits.

Wang Tianxue had recently opened a medicine shop in Shunxiang Fort and had also taken on several herb-gathering apprentices. For this expedition led by Han Zhong, Wang Tianxue had dispatched a few apprentices to accompany them and provide medical aid. While these apprentices bandaged the wounds of injured soldiers, the remaining soldiers began clearing out and transporting the silver, grain, weapons, mules, horses, and other supplies from the stockade.

Watching the supplies being continuously carried out and piled high in the open ground, the haul was not small — yet Han Zhong grew impatient keeping count. He threw down his brush and cursed, "Damn it all, put a blade or spear in my hands and I'm fine, but tell me to read and write, and you might as well just kill me!"

He shouted, "Zhong Xiancai, you come over and keep the register!"

Zhong Xiancai was fair-skinned and refined-looking, quick to learn characters, and wrote a fine hand. He answered the call at once and came over to keep the register for Han Zhong.

Xie Shangbiao, the captain of the Left Picket's First Platoon, strode over. He saluted Han Zhong and said, "Chief Han, what shall be done with those captured bandits?"

Those over a hundred surrendered bandits were all tightly bound at that moment, kneeling on the ground with their heads hanging dejectedly. Han Zhong glanced over at them and said coldly, "His Lordship once said that those bandits are all utterly depraved wretches whose thieving nature is hard to change and cannot be reformed. Kill them all!"

A cold gleam flashed through Xie Shangbiao's eyes. He clasped his fists and said, "This officer obeys the order!"