Chapter 11: The Court

Zhou Shixiang, appearing in the room dressed as a scholar, made the young Southern Ming official pause for a moment. When he saw that this scholar's head had actually been shaved, he immediately showed a look of contempt.

His earlier expectation vanished, and he turned to Hu Quan and said coldly: "When I came here, Governor Zhang told me that although Hu Quan had become a bandit on Dajiao Mountain, his conscience was not yet extinguished, and his heart still turned toward the Great Ming.

Therefore, on this visit, I need only appeal to his sense of righteousness, and you would gladly accept the commission and henceforth be a loyal subject and righteous man of our Great Ming's Son of Heaven. But now it seems Governor Zhang was mistaken.

Your heart, Hu, does not turn toward the Great Ming, and my trip to Dajiao Mountain has been for nothing."

Hearing the barbed words, Boss Hu frowned, not understanding what they referred to, and asked in confusion: "Why does Sir Cheng say such a thing?"

"Are you not asking a question you already know the answer to?"

The young Southern Ming official addressed as Sir Cheng pointed a finger at Zhou Shixiang, then snorted angrily at Hu Quan and said: "You have already made contact with the Tartars, so how could you still be a loyal subject and righteous man of the Great Ming court!"

With that, without waiting for Hu Quan to react, he flicked his sleeves and rose. The four Ming army guards, seeing this, hurriedly stepped forward to follow.

Made contact with the Tartars? What was that supposed to mean!

Boss Hu stood there dumbfounded. Call him a bandit, a murderer, a despoiler of the common people — all that he could accept.

But to say he colluded with the Tartars was absolutely intolerable. Seeing that Sir Cheng was about to leave, in his desperation he actually stepped forward and blocked his path.

When Sir Cheng saw Hu Quan trying to stop him, he could not help but grow frantic, and said in a trembling voice: "What? Are you going to take my head and present it to the Tartars to claim credit?!"

"Protect the sir!"

The four Ming soldiers, seeing the situation turning bad, hurriedly drew their blades. The moment they drew, Boss Hu's men also stirred, one after another grabbing their weapons.

In an instant, the room was tense with drawn swords, the atmosphere extremely strained. The four Ming guards were so nervous their palms were slick with sweat.

If it truly came to blows, they would be hacked to pieces by this gang of bandits in no time.

Though Sir Cheng had some courage, with so many blades pointed at him now, his calves could not help trembling slightly, and he groaned inwardly: Had I known Hu Quan was in league with the Tartars, why would I have come here to throw my life away! That Zhang Xiaoqi has truly done me in!

"What are you doing? Put your blades down, all of you!"

Seeing the misunderstanding growing worse and worse, and Sir Cheng's face turning pale with fright, Boss Hu hurriedly shouted at his men to stop and not act rashly. Although he was no longer a Ming soldier but a bandit, he still felt close to the Southern Ming at heart.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, he did not want to cut off the path to the Ming army, and even less did he want to be pointed at and cursed as a traitor to the Han.

After his men had all quieted down, Boss Hu clasped his fists toward the official surnamed Cheng and said: "Sir, you misunderstand. This Brother Zhou is no man of the Tartars.

He is the righteous man who slew the villain You Yunlong with his own hands. The Tartars are hunting him everywhere right now.

If you do not believe it, send someone out to make inquiries and you will know!"

"The righteous man who killed You Yunlong?" Sir Cheng, hearing this, could not help looking at Zhou Shixiang again in surprise, and said: "So you are Zhou Shixiang, the scholar of Xinhui?"

Zhou Shixiang knew this young official had misunderstood him. If the two sides truly came to blows over this, he would be caught awkwardly in the middle.

After all, he was preparing to go to Guangxi to join Li Dingguo, and Li Dingguo was the guardian of the Southern Ming court. If Li Dingguo were to learn in the future that a Southern Ming official had died because of him, it would be hard to explain.

So he quickly nodded and said: "I am indeed Zhou Shixiang."

"So it is you."

Sir Cheng had apparently long known of Zhou Shixiang's name. His brow immediately relaxed, and the wariness in his heart faded with it.

After signaling the guards to lower their blades, he looked Zhou Shixiang over once more, nodded slightly, and said: "Since you are the righteous man who killed You Yunlong, you are naturally no man of the Tartars. I was indeed mistaken."

With that, he paid Zhou Shixiang no further attention, and instead said to Hu Quan: "Have you made up your mind whether to accept the court's commission?"

"This..."

Boss Hu hesitated somewhat, a troubled look on his face.

Seeing this, Sir Cheng took from his bosom a blank document bearing a seal and held it in his hand, then ordered the guard behind him to bring out a large official seal, and said to Hu Quan: "The seal and the letter of appointment I have both brought with me.

The moment you agree, you will at once be Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding Prefecture of our Great Ming!"

Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding Prefecture!

Gazing at that letter of appointment and that great seal, Boss Hu would be lying if he said he was not tempted. To be transformed from a bandit into an Assistant Regional Commander in one stroke — that temptation was not something an ordinary man could resist.

But thinking of the trouble that would come after accepting the appointment, he found it very hard to make up his mind. After all, with only a few dozen men under him, there was simply no way he could attack Luoding Prefecture.

If he truly went, he feared that before he became an Assistant Regional Commander, he would first lose his life.

Seeing that Hu Quan still hesitated even after seeing the letter of appointment and the Assistant Regional Commander's seal, Sir Cheng's expression immediately changed, and he said with displeasure: "The Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding is a military officer of the third rank, a great official whose name is known even to the Son of Heaven.

If you, Hu Quan, will not take it, there are plenty of others fighting to take it." Then he added persuasively: "I understand your difficulties.

But the court is in peril now, and all the righteous men of the realm are striving for the Great Ming's restoration. As the saying goes, those with money give money, those with strength give strength.

Though you are men of the rivers and lakes, rough fellows of the wilds, as long as your hearts hold the Great Ming, the court will never treat you poorly.

When the day comes that the northern expedition succeeds, would it not be splendid to have your wives ennobled and your sons favored?"

Before these words were even finished, Peng Dazhu over on the other side jumped out and cursed: "The court? What damn court!

When the Tartars came, where was the court? When we brothers were fighting the Tartars to the death, where was that Yongli Son of Heaven?

Damn it all, one scrap of paper and one broken seal, and you want us brothers to go sell our lives — your court sure drives a good bargain!"

The moment he raised this ruckus, others immediately chimed in: "Don't try to fob us off with that damn Assistant Regional Commander. If you people truly mean it, then allocate us money and grain.

For the sake of real gold and silver, the brothers might just risk their lives and take Luoding City for you! But if you expect us to sell our lives on empty words — no way!"

"Luoding Prefecture is in the hands of the Qing army, yet you make our big brother the Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding. Heh heh, so is this a Ming official, or a Qing official?"

"Big Brother, don't believe this bird official's nonsense. Last year you led the brothers to attack Xinhui City with that Governor Zhang. What came of it? So many brothers died, and did that Zhang give us one word of thanks, one tael of silver?!"

"........"

Hearing this clamor, Sir Cheng was truly furious, and burst out cursing: "You bandits who have no regard for the court, no sovereign, no father, shameless and without honor — you are utterly despicable, utterly despicable!..."

"Sir Cheng, don't forget — this is a bandit den. Is there any bandit in this world who isn't despicable?!"

"If you find us shameless, then why did you come all the way from Gaozhou? What's this — officials of the Great Ming court consorting with bandits, and making a bandit chief a high official? So who's shameless here, who's despicable?"

"Ha ha..."

The crowd burst into jeering laughter. The men cursed back and forth, one after another, a disorderly racket with no decorum whatsoever.

Boss Hu remained silent there too, evidently having already made up his mind, resolved not to accept the commission, letting his brothers make trouble with this Cheng fellow. If Cheng were to leave because of it, so much the better.

Zhou Shixiang, listening on the side, was thoroughly confused. He half understood and half did not.

What he understood was that this Southern Ming official surnamed Cheng had come to confer an official post on Boss Hu, in order to make Boss Hu sell his life for the Southern Ming. And Boss Hu clearly did not want to sell his life for the Zhu family's Son of Heaven for nothing.

What he did not understand was this: Boss Hu had only a few dozen men under him, so how could the Southern Ming court take notice of him, and confer a full third-rank Assistant Regional Commander post at that?

Could it be that Southern Ming military officers had become as cheap as dogs? Besides, did the Southern Ming not have regular troops reorganized from the former Daxi Army, whose fighting strength seemed no worse than the Qing army's?

Why go to the trouble of recruiting bandits, and what could they possibly expect these bandits to do?

Had all the Southern Ming officials lost their minds?

Zhou Shixiang found it baffling. He caught sight of Song Xianggong standing behind the crowd with the look of someone watching a play, and an idea stirred in him.

Taking advantage of the chaos, he squeezed over, tugged at the man lightly, and asked in a low voice: "Sir Song, who is this man who has come?"

Song Xianggong chuckled, lowered his voice, and said: "Don't be fooled by how young this fellow is — his office is no small one. His name is Cheng Bangjun, and he is a vice director of the Bureau of Operations in the Ministry of War of the Yongli court."

A vice director of the Bureau of Operations in the Ministry of War?

Zhou Shixiang did not immediately grasp what this office actually did or how high it ranked, but he figured that since it was in the Ministry of War, it must have something to do with the military.

Putting it together with today's events, he reckoned this man was probably sent by the Yongli court specifically to incorporate various irregular troops and bandits.

"They give nothing, yet they want us to go sell our lives.

This Yongli court is truly too outrageous. Last year we already suffered at Zhang Xiaoqi's hands, and this year the situation is even worse than last year.

This time, no matter what, we must not fall for their trick again. They have no troops of their own, and they want to amuse that Yongli Son of Heaven, so they're using us as fools."

When Song Xianggong said this, his contempt for the Yongli court was plain to see. Judging by his expression, he seemed to have long seen through the schemes of those Yongli court officials — nothing more than casting a wide net.

If they caught something, it was a great merit; if not, the ones who died were those bandits and irregulars. After all, it was not themselves who died, and the cost was only some empty titles, so why not enjoy it?