Chapter 102: The Token

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"Move out — let's catch the rebels!"

Hearing the shouts of battle, the company captain showed not the slightest alarm on his face; instead he was especially excited, and with a great clamor he led his banner soldiers toward the direction the sound came from.

Along the way, the banner soldiers who had been extorting the common folk also heard the commotion and abandoned those commoners who had little to squeeze from them, shouting and hollering as they followed the company captain to catch the rebels, each one running at full speed, afraid that if they were too slow the rebels would get away.

"Brothers, let's go catch the rebels!"

"Don't let the rebels escape! Don't let the rebels escape!"

The banner soldiers who had been eating and drinking wildly inside the tavern also rushed out one after another. The few banner soldiers at the very front had gleaming eyes, chunks of greasy pork clenched in their teeth, and in their hands they openly raised firelocks taller than a man.

Before long, the more than four hundred Han Banners troops of the Bordered Blue Banner scattered throughout the city converged on the eastern part of the city, where the shouts of battle had risen, moving so fast that even charging into battle against an enemy could hardly have matched it.

The petty clerks and runners of the county yamen, upon hearing the news, all turned pale with fright and cursed endlessly, asking which blind fool of a commoner dared to raise a hand against the banner soldiers — if he was tired of living, that was his own affair, but he must not drag the whole city's people down to die with him!

If those banner soldiers merely made a little trouble in the city and extorted a bit here and there, that would be tolerable enough, for it never led to loss of life.

After all, Gaoyao was under the rule of the Great Qing, and however fierce the banner soldiers were, they did not dare go too far; at most they squeezed out some silver and scrounged food and drink. But if there really were rebels, who knew what would happen?

One must remember that four years ago the Great Qing troops had actually slaughtered the city!

The petty clerks and runners, frightened out of their wits, crowded around the registrar and went to consult the County Magistrate on how to escape this calamity. But to their disappointment, they could not even see His Honor the magistrate.

At the second hall they were blocked by several trusted men the magistrate had brought from his hometown, who refused to let them through no matter what, saying the master was gravely ill and could not rise from bed, and told them not to come and disturb him.

Since His Honor the magistrate would not come forward, there was nothing to be done. Someone then proposed going to find the Battalion Commander of the Green Standard garrisoned in this county.

He was the garrison Battalion Commander of Gaoyao, and surely he could not stand by and watch the banner soldiers slaughter Gaoyao.

But no sooner had the man finished speaking than someone else told how that Green Standard Battalion Commander had led his men alongside the banner soldiers in extorting the western part of the city. At this, everyone fell silent: birds of a feather, birds of a feather.

The Green Standard troops ordinarily ran wild in the city, and now that the banner soldier lords had arrived, how could they not fish in troubled waters along with them? This Battalion Commander clearly could not be counted on.

In any case, they were not local troops, so which of them would exert himself for the local people, and which of them would dare offend the second lords of the Han Banners?

It's over, it's over, now it's all over...

Thinking that the banner soldiers would use the pretext of rebels to slaughter the city, the local runners and petty clerks were so anxious they were about to weep. The registrar, though not a local man, at least had a conscience, unlike the heartless Magistrate Qin.

After a moment of confusion, knowing that he himself as registrar had no way to stop what was happening outside, he could only warn everyone: "Everyone hurry back and bring your wives and children to the county yamen. If you're late, I fear there will be trouble!"

At the registrar's reminder, the runners and petty clerks finally came to their senses. The banner soldiers were surely going to use the pretext of catching rebels to sack the city.

Those commoners they could not protect; the only thing to do now was to hurry, before the banner soldiers made their move, and move their own families to the county yamen to take shelter.

However fierce the banner soldiers were, no one had ever heard of them daring to sack the county yamen too.

The crowd thanked the registrar profusely and then scattered in a rush.

Outside the eastern city, Zhou Shixiang looked at the wide-open gates of Gaoyao. Word from Qin Zhisheng's unit, which had already charged in, made his brows knit tightly: how could there be Han Banners troops in the city?

Just two days earlier, several soldiers Zhou Shixiang had sent ahead to scout the road had brought back a young man bearing a report.

The man called himself Song Ying and said he was a man recruited in Deqing by Zhang An, the commissioner of the Military Intelligence Division, and that having discovered intelligence on the Gaoyao garrison, he had risked his life to come and report.

Because Song Ying was anxious to deliver his report, and by day had to avoid inspection at the Qing army checkpoints along the way, he truly traveled by night and hid by day. Fearing exposure of his identity, he did not dare seek food from the common folk.

By the time he saw Zhou Shixiang, he was so starved he scarcely looked human, and he swayed as he walked, yet he still clenched his teeth and held on, afraid of being looked down upon by the Taiping Camp.

The soldiers who had brought him back privately all held Song Ying in great admiration.

Seeing that Song Ying was faint with hunger, Zhou Shixiang had food brought for him. Song Ying truly was ravenous; at the sight of food he paid no heed to any courtesy, snatched it up, and wolfed it down.

After he had eaten and recovered some of his strength, Zhou Shixiang then questioned him, but first he had him produce the token of the Military Intelligence Division so that his identity could be verified.

When Zhang An had left Luoding, Zhou Shixiang had personally made six wooden tablets for him. Each tablet had a single character carved on it: "Benevolence," "Wisdom," "Propriety," "Ritual," "Filial Piety," and "Righteousness."

Zhou Shixiang told Zhang An that when sending intelligence in the future, he could give the messenger one of the wooden tablets; only upon seeing the tablet would he believe the messenger's identity, and if there was no tablet, the man was to be killed.

This could be considered a simple counterintelligence measure. No one who saw the six characters carved on the tablets would suspect anything, yet they were the sole tokens of contact between Zhang An's Military Intelligence Division and Zhou Shixiang.

Song Ying had indeed brought a token with him: it was the wooden tablet carved with the character "Filial Piety." Seeing that it was indeed carved by his own hand, Zhou Shixiang then believed Song Ying's identity and asked about Zhang An's recent situation.

Song Ying answered, but he knew little, only that Zhang An was now in Zhaoqing Prefecture; beyond that he knew nothing.

Zhou Shixiang nodded at this, very satisfied with Zhang An's performance. Even his own subordinates did not know what he was doing, which showed he had begun to grasp the essentials of the intelligence trade.

Of course, it would be even more successful if even his subordinates did not know where he was.

Song Ying then told Zhou Shixiang that he had been sent by Zhang An to spy on the strength of the Green Standard garrison in Gaoyao County. Through his reconnaissance, he had learned that the Green Standard garrison in Gaoyao numbered only a little over five hundred men.

If the Taiping Camp marched straight upon it, the city could be taken in a single battle.

After hearing this intelligence, Zhou Shixiang had someone lead Song Ying away to rest, and then summoned Ge Zheng, Tie Yi, Ge Yi, Shao Jiugong, and the other banner chiefs to discuss the matter.

When Ge Zheng heard that Gaoyao had only a little over five hundred Green Standard troops garrisoned, he at once grew excited, rubbed his hands together, and declared: "What use are five hundred-odd Qing curs?

If we all surge forward together, one gob of spit from each man would drown them! Battalion Commander, there's no time to lose — let's set out at once, then press on in one burst and fight our way in.

Damn it, this officer refuses to believe five hundred-odd Qing curs can hold back so many of our brothers!"

"Right! Charge in with one burst of momentum and seize Gaoyao!" Ge Yi was the most supportive of his elder brother.

"Banner Chief Shao, what do you think?"

Five hundred-odd Green Standard troops could not be called many, but neither could they be called few. If they were to attack Gaoyao, the entire vanguard would have to be committed, and they might even need to use gunpowder to blast the walls.

Otherwise, with the Green Standard holding out behind the city walls, the Taiping Camp, lacking siege weapons, would have no way to deal with them. Besides, caution keeps a ship safe for ten thousand years.

Confidence is all well and good, but one cannot truly be blind to everything; in all matters it is better to be prudent, for the fragile Taiping Camp could not withstand a single defeat. (My novel We Sons of Han Will Never Be Slaves will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there is also a 100% lucky draw gift for everyone!

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