Chapter 116: Military Law

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Good news came from the east gate recruiting station — in a single afternoon more than four hundred people had signed up to join the Taiping Camp. This left Qin Zhisheng, Shao Jiugong, and the others, who had not thought highly of the recruiting prospects, completely dumbfounded.

Both of these men had served in the Ming army and the Green Standard before, and they knew that in times like these, if you wanted common folk to willingly become soldiers, there was no way other than dragging them in by force.

They had never heard of commoners volunteering for the army.

Yet the facts were right before their eyes: the names written one after another in black circles on the roster told them plainly that today the Taiping Camp really had recruited more than four hundred able-bodied young men. This they simply could not understand.

It was not only Shao Jiugong and the others who could not understand. The petty clerks and runners of the Gaoyao county yamen were even more dumbfounded.

Watching that crowd of local able-bodied young men constantly shoving forward to sign up, they did not know whether to curse them or be happy for them. They were all from the same place, and Gaoyao was not a big town.

Many of the young men signing up were people the runners and clerks knew well — some were even relatives by marriage. But they did not dare step forward to dissuade them, nor even secretly signal with their eyes.

They could only feel sorry for these people in their hearts.

Aside from those dozen or so beggars at the very start, why would the rest want to join the army? Had their heads truly gone bad, to fall for the Taiping Camp's trick? Did they not know the consequences of becoming soldiers?

There were some clear-sighted people, and they all said these men could not eat their fill at home anyway, so they might as well stake everything and go with the Taiping Camp. Whether the Taiping Camp's promises were true or false, at the very least they would be fed right now.

Besides, those half-grown lads — if you did not let them go out, they would worry their parents to death at home. Since they themselves were not afraid to die, let them go wild.

With good luck, they might truly make something of themselves in the army; with bad luck, at least they could die as well-fed ghosts. Moreover, their joining the army might not even be a bad thing.

With Ming troops having entered this city, would the Great Qing's soldiers spare Gaoyao? Would they spare the people in this city?

Households that knew what consequences would follow once Ming troops entered the city had long been thinking of fleeing to safety.

Right now those black-clad Ming soldiers were guarding the city gates, but judging by the way they were emptying the county yamen's storehouses of money and grain, they probably would not stay more than a few days.

As soon as these black-clad soldiers left, everyone would hurry to take their old and young and leave this place — otherwise it would be too late. Did you think the Great Qing's troops were vegetarian monks chanting sutras?

Once the Qing troops came, they would kill! Why had those neighboring counties been massacred in years past?

Among those signing up to join the army, there were not a few who harbored the thought of entering the camp to take shelter and save their lives, nor were there lacking those who planned to find a chance to escape later. But such people were after all a minority.

Most of the able-bodied young men came for the sake of eating their fill. As for the Taiping Camp's promise of meat, they merely listened and did not take it seriously.

The able-bodied young men in the city who did not come to sign up were not necessarily unwilling to enter the camp for shelter. The problem was that the Taiping Camp only recruited the able-bodied and did not want the old and weak.

Those men all had wives, children, and elderly parents — which of them could harden his heart, stamp his foot, and abandon them?

Zhou Shixiang did not care what thoughts the recruits harbored. He only needed people to come in.

He ordered Shao Jiugong to find several open plots in the east part of the city to settle these new soldiers, and to organize them all together tomorrow along with any further recruits. As for food, the whole camp ate well today.

The city's restaurants and great households all "offered" wine and meat in tribute. After so many tiring days, the whole camp had not had a proper meal, so they took the chance to eat and drink their fill.

That night, Gaoyao was truly lively. After several scouting parties confirmed there were no signs of Qing troops near Gaoyao, Zhou Shixiang permitted the whole camp to drink wine, and his men grinned from ear to ear with delight.

Zhou Shixiang himself rarely drank, but he had a bowl, and then personally escorted Song Ying out of the city. Song Ying was going to find Zhang An.

Zhou Shixiang wanted Zhang An to go to the provincial capital in person.

Though the wine ban was lifted, it was not a case of letting things go unmanaged. Tie Yi's engineer battalion was not permitted to drink; instead they took on the task of patrolling the streets.

The patrols were not out of fear that the city's gentry and great households would conspire in secret, nor fear of Qing spies, but fear that soldiers who had drunk too much would leave camp and cause trouble.

The greatest power Zhou Shixiang gave Tie Yi was this: anyone caught drunkenly rampaging in the city, whether officer or soldier, was to be tied up first; if they resisted, they were to be beaten directly with staves.

Fortunately, although many soldiers got drunk that night, most slept soundly in camp. Only a few went out to act wild with drink, and none used their drunkenness to force their way into commoners' homes to make trouble.

The engineer battalion patrolled all night and only tied up twenty-odd dead-drunk men, half of whom were found asleep in the streets.

The next day the number of recruits dropped sharply. All morning only a scattered few dozen came, and after noon no one else could be seen coming to sign up.

Once the situation was reported, Zhou Shixiang had the recruiting stand packed up. Whether or not anyone else came to join, the recruiting was over.

Those who should join had joined; those with intentions had come. The rest basically would not come to join the army.

Just after noon, Zhou Shixiang ordered every unit of the camp to assemble in the east part of the city.

Li Fuguo and his two hundred-odd Green Standard soldiers were also brought out and escorted over, and the four hundred-odd Gaoyao recruits from two days of recruiting were herded to the east side as well.

The open ground in the east was not large, and with so many people gathered together it immediately became crowded.

Tie Yi had men build a high platform according to Zhou Shixiang's instructions. Two great banners stood on the platform: one bore a single large character "Ming," and the other was embroidered with the three large characters "Taiping Camp."

Among the officers, apart from the Ge Zheng brothers, who had been ordered to guard the east and west gates, all the rest came as ordered. No one knew what the Battalion Commander had summoned them for, so everyone was guessing.

Because the previous night's wine and meat had been enjoyed so heartily, and because the troops were of mixed background — many officers being former bandits or Green Standard men — discipline was not very good, and the crowd was in noisy disorder.

"The Battalion Commander arrives!"

With the ringing shout of Zhou Shixiang's personal guards, Zhou Shixiang, dressed in close-fitting attire with one hand on his saber, walked slowly up onto the platform. Once up, hearing the noisy chatter below, he could not help frowning. He raised a hand, and immediately three drumbeats sounded.

Hearing the drums, the officers and veteran soldiers all instinctively stiffened, then began to restore order. The scene quickly quieted.

The Green Standard prisoners were uneasy, not knowing what awaited them today. The newly recruited Gaoyao soldiers were also anxious, not knowing what the general on the platform would do with them.

Once the field had fallen completely silent, Zhou Shixiang looked down at the crowd and addressed them in a raised voice: "From the day my Taiping Camp first raised its banner, I, this Battalion Commander, have sworn to lead you all to recover the two capitals and restore our Ming Han realm.

For this ambition, my Taiping Camp needs good men from all quarters to join us. Any good man, my Taiping Camp will take in.

But cowards and scum — not a single one will be accepted!... The other day, when this camp attacked Gaoyao, I heard there were a few timid rats who shrank back and would not advance.

Not only did they disobey orders and refuse to move, they even shouted wildly before the battle line, disturbing our army's morale.

Therefore I have summoned you all here today to execute these rats by military law before your very eyes, so as to make clear the army's discipline!" (A great event with pies falling from the sky — cool phones waiting for you!

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