Chapter 106: Guard Commander

The patrol constable gritted his teeth: "Carry the wounded down for treatment."

The soldiers scattered to carry off the wounded, but those who had fallen within crossbow range were left unattended, left to wail endlessly and bleed to death.

The village militia squad leader stepped forward: "Sir, why not ram the front gate?"

The patrol constable shot him a glance and said slowly: "The bandits are numerous and armed with powerful crossbows — this is beyond what a patrol station can handle. We must wait for the guard station troops."

The village militia squad leader grew frantic and hurriedly said: "Sir, that won't do! Even if Haining Guard and Xinhe Station rush over at top speed, it would take at least four hours — counting the time to send the message, a round trip is four hours. How could that be in time?"

This squad was made up of servants of the Lin household; seeing their masters' family in peril, they felt the urgency as if it were their own.

The patrol constable's voice was cold and stern: "Until the guard station troops arrive, we surround the Lin estate and make sure no bandit slips away — that's all."

The squad leader said: "But what if, in that time, the master or the young master meets with harm..."

The patrol constable: "The guard station troops will kill the bandits and avenge them."

Seeing the patrol constable's ice-cold expression, the squad leader said helplessly: "Sir, since we're to surround the bandits, shouldn't we send a squad to watch the back gate?"

The patrol constable frowned and said to the constable: "Then I'll trouble your men for it, Constable."

The constable had just dodged the back-gate trouble and was hardly willing to go back — he made excuse after excuse.

The patrol constable clenched his jaw and said to the squad leader: "Then you go!"

The squad leader accepted the order and was about to set off when he suddenly felt the ground tremble slightly.

He looked off into the distance and saw an orange-red glow rising in the southeastern sky — it seemed another force was approaching.

The patrol constable and the constable exchanged a glance, both their expressions changing, thinking to themselves — could this be the bandits' reinforcements?

Judging by the commotion, quite a number of people were coming.

And it seemed... there were cavalry too...

The firelight in the southeast drew closer and closer, and the thunderous hoofbeats grew increasingly distinct — clearly a large body of cavalry.

Horses were scarce in Jiangnan. Cavalry on this scale — never mind mountain bandits or river pirates, even the guard station's camp soldiers couldn't muster it. These were household troops!

Shock appeared in the patrol constable's eyes, and he thought to himself: "The Huangyan Lin clan truly lives up to being a famed house of Zhejiang — they can even get a Guard Commander to lead household troops to their rescue. Such is the depth of a great clan's foundations — truly terrifying!"

From within the estate came the faint sound of three strikes of a wooden clapper.

Dawn was nearly breaking now, and the countryside lay in dim half-light.

Those several dozen cavalrymen galloped all the way at full speed, showing no regard for exhausting their warhorses.

Reaching the front, the several dozen riders reined in together; the horses neighed and kicked up a cloud of dust.

Before the horses had even come to a full stop, one man swung himself down from his mount and strode forward with large steps.

This man had a tiger's back and a wasp's waist, clad in cloth-faced iron armor, wearing a crested helmet on his head, arm guards gleaming coldly. His left hand rested diagonally on the hilt of a wild-goose-feather saber, his right hand held a riding whip. His expression was cold and stern, and as he strode forward, his armor clinked and rang.

Just this aura alone pressed down on the several hundred people before the estate so that none dared breathe loudly; along his path, the crowd unconsciously parted to make way.

"Commander." The patrol constable recognized the newcomer's face and hurriedly clasped his hands in salute, his heart even more shaken, thinking: "So it's the Haimen Guard Commander leading the troops in person!

I thought the Lin clan was a fallen phoenix worse than a chicken — turns out a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. I truly was a dog looking down on a man!

Had I known this earlier, I should have ordered my men to storm the gate just now, shown my face before the Commander, sold the Lin clan a favor, and won myself a bright future! Ah! How I regret it!"

The constable didn't recognize the Commander at all; only when he saw the patrol constable salute did he react and follow suit, clasping his hands in greeting.

The Guard Commander stared at the courtyard wall, his voice cold as ice, and asked: "How many bandits broke in?"

"Er..." The patrol constable thought for a moment — if he said too few, it would make him look utterly incompetent — so he answered: "About a hundred."

"Have you sent men to the back gate?"

"Er... this subordinate was just about to send them." The patrol constable's face stiffened.

The Guard Commander's gaze was like a blade as he shot a cold glare: "Several hundred men blockading the front gate, and not one watching the back gate — if any bandit slips away, you won't escape blame!"

"Yes." The patrol constable's heart was bitter.

The Guard Commander ordered his household troops: "Zhao Ba, take fifteen men to watch the back gate! The rest of you, find a battering ram and break down the front gate!"

"Yes!" Several dozen household troops clasped their fists in acknowledgment, their voices shaking the heavens.

"Commander, the front gate... it seems to be open..."

"Hm?" The Guard Commander turned around and saw that the Lin estate's front gate was slowly opening.

He looked again at the wall top — the bandits had vanished without a trace.

From the Lin estate's opened gate, a crowd of people surged out; the household troops drew their bows in response, and a grating sound of bowstrings being pulled filled the air around them.

"Hold!" The Guard Commander raised a hand, and the household troops slackened their bowstrings.

He stared intently and saw that the people emerging from the Lin estate wore only their underclothes, each with a black cloth hood over their head, hands bound behind their backs, stumbling and being shoved out.

More and more people came out of the estate — about one to two hundred in all — crowding a large open area.

A gunpowder blast sounded from within the Lin estate, and the crowd before the gate was startled, scattering in all directions.

The Guard Commander hurriedly said to the household troops around him: "Stop them! Don't let a single one get away!"

"Yes!" The surrounding household troops quickly closed in, shouting harshly: "Don't move! Everyone sit down!"

But these people all had black cloth over their heads, unable to see what was before them, their hearts filled with utter panic — how could they easily stop?

The household troops turned ruthless and directly cut down several people.

The screams only spurred the crowd to scatter even more wildly.

The Guard Commander's household troops numbered only a little over sixty — even on horseback, they couldn't control so many people fleeing.

For a moment they were in a fluster, not knowing what to do.

The Guard Commander had already discerned that these people should be the Lin estate's family members and servants — but there were too many of them, all hooded, all in similar underclothes, making it utterly impossible to distinguish identities.

Most of the crowd were men, but there were also slender-figured women. These people only ran about in confusion, not speaking — they must have had their mouths stuffed.

So he shouted loudly: "I am the Haimen Guard Commander! You are all safe now — do not move!"

His single voice couldn't carry far, so he had the household troops shout together, then had the patrolmen, constables, and village militia split up in three directions to bring the crowd under control.

The Guard Commander himself strode forward, grabbed one person at random, and pulled off his hood.

The man was past forty, with neatly trimmed beard and hair and fair, clean skin—clearly the master of some household. His eyes were full of terror, his mouth stuffed with dirt and tightly bound with rope, leaving him only able to whimper without cease.

When the hood was pulled off his head, the man thought he had been captured by the bandits again and struggled violently. Only after he saw clearly that before him stood a Ming general in full armor did he stop struggling and burst into tears, whimpering ceaselessly as if he had something to say.

The Guard Commander drew a dagger from his waist and cut the rope.

"Pah! Pah! Pah!" The man spat out the mud-soaked dirt, gasping for breath as he said, "General, they're in the crowd! You can't... you can't let them get away!"

The Guard Commander already had a vague suspicion in his heart, but pressed further: "Speak clearly—are the bandits mixed in among the crowd?"

The man nodded desperately: "Yes, yes! They took our clothes, the bandits... mixed in... fishing in troubled waters, you absolutely cannot let them slip away!"

The Guard Commander cursed inwardly—these bandits were truly cunning!

A few nights earlier, the river-blocking chain at Haimen Guard had snapped without the slightest warning. After interrogating the Company Commander of the North Guard and learning the full story, he realized he had been tricked.

A broken river-blocking chain could be treated as a small matter or a large one. Taken lightly, the chain had simply decayed from years of disuse and suffered normal wear and tear—just report it to the Ministry of War for replacement.

Taken seriously, as Guard Commander, he could not escape the charges of damaging military supplies, lax defense, and dereliction of duty.

Pull up a radish and the mud comes with it—his embezzlement of rations, exploitation of soldiers' pay, illegal arms trading, and allowing his troops to plunder would all come to light as well.

Most terrifying of all, he had received an urgent report today that the Emperor had passed away on the first day of the ninth month.

The day the river-blocking chain snapped was the fourth day of the ninth month, and both the North and South guard stations of Haimen were feasting and drinking.

Emperor Taichang had been dead for only three days!

During the period of national mourning!

(End of Chapter)

Pen