Chapter 123

Fourth watch, ten thousand words — begging subscriptions, begging monthly tickets!

There are no small matters in an army. Marching and fighting are great matters, but food, clothing, shelter, and movement are great matters too.

A mosquito bite looks like a small thing, yet in Zhou Shixiang's eyes it was as great a matter as storming a city or seizing a stronghold. One must understand that malaria arises largely from mosquito bites.

Once malaria spreads through an army, although its fatality rate is not especially high, what ordinary man can endure daily fevers and the shakes, or bouts of vomiting and diarrhea at the slightest provocation?

Without effective medical treatment — antibiotics, for instance — the only cure for malaria is time and the patient's own constitution. Beyond that, there is no other way.

And what the Taiping Army lacked at present was precisely time. They were carrying out a long-distance transfer operation, and if malaria broke out in the army at this critical juncture, the consequences were easy to imagine.

Even if malaria did not break out, how could soldiers rest when mosquitoes bit them every night as they slept? Without enough sleep there is no energy; without energy, how could they march by day, how could they fight the Qing army ahead of them?

In view of this, Zhou Shixiang found it necessary to summon the senior officers of each battalion for a council of war, to pool their wisdom so that a good method of preventing and controlling mosquitoes could be found.

Except for the Xiongwei Battalion, the centurions and probationary centurions of the other four battalions all hurried to the Battalion Commander's headquarters at the highest point of Lingyang Gorge upon receiving the order.

To call it a Battalion Commander's headquarters was generous — it was a makeshift lean-to that could squeeze in a dozen or so men at most, and not one more.

Beside the headquarters a wooden watchtower had also been erected, manned by several sharp-eyed soldiers.

From the watchtower one could see everything inside and outside the gorge at a glance; it was impossible for anyone to slip into the gorge without being spotted by the Taiping soldiers on the tower.

The centurions and probationary centurions were in no better shape than Zhou Shixiang. Every one of them had patches of skin scratched red here, or mosquito-bite welts there.

When asked, nearly all said they had only fallen asleep in the second half of the night; the first half had been spent slapping at mosquitoes.

Once these senior officers sat down, every one of them was listless. Even Ge Zheng of the bulging muscles, ordinarily the hardiest of them, and the bald Jiang He hung their heads, unable to summon any spirit.

Zhou Shixiang took this in and sighed inwardly. He did not blame his subordinates for being in such a state, for this was not merely a matter of mosquito bites.

Since setting out from Gaoyao, they had spent most of each day marching. The marching itself was not the problem; the problem was that at night, when they should have been resting, the mosquitoes kept them from sleeping.

Without proper rest, men and horses alike were exhausted — how could anyone bear it? His subordinates could still hold on now, but if this went on another three to five days, even a man of iron would collapse.

As Battalion Commander, as the leader of these men, Zhou Shixiang had the responsibility and the duty to remove non-combat disturbances for his subordinates. He therefore briefly explained the purpose of the gathering.

When they heard that the Battalion Commander had called them together to discuss how to deal with mosquitoes, the centurions did not think it was making a fuss over a trifle. On the contrary, every man felt it was entirely warranted.

Ge Zheng said with a look of longing, "If only we had mosquito nets, none of us would have to suffer this."

At that, Qin Zhisheng gave a bitter laugh. "We're on a military campaign. Do you think you're at home enjoying yourself? Mosquito nets indeed — out in the wilds, where are you going to get mosquito nets? And with this many men, how many nets would it take to be enough?"

Ge Zheng laughed sheepishly. "I was just saying it offhand."

"Mosquito nets are out of the question for now, and even if we got some, we couldn't possibly provide them for everyone. Think of other methods — they must be practical and workable." Zhou Shixiang stressed that the methods had to be usable; there was no point even mentioning impractical ones.

Everyone fell to thinking. After a while, Peng Dazhu suddenly slapped his head and cried, "Battalion Commander, I remember that those great households all keep incense burners.

The smoke from the incense not only smells wonderful, it also drives off mosquitoes and flies. I just don't know exactly what kind of incense it is."

No sooner had he spoken than the probationary centurion beside him, Zhang Erjiang, rolled his eyes and shot back, "You said it yourself — only great households keep that. What commoner's home has such a thing?

Besides, that incense must cost a good deal of silver. Where would we get that much silver to buy it?"

Stung by Zhang Erjiang's retort, Peng Dazhu was about to argue back, but just as he opened his mouth, Zhou Shixiang shook his head to stop him. Zhou Shixiang said, "It's not a matter of silver.

I've heard of the incense Brother Dazhu mentioned, but even with silver we couldn't buy it. I've heard it's only sold in the provincial capital.

We can hardly go all the way to Guangzhou to buy it, can we?"

Peng Dazhu thought it over and sensibly shut his mouth. Seeing this, Tie Yi spoke up: "Battalion Commander, mosquitoes don't discriminate whom they bite. The rich have their methods, and the poor have theirs. Back when my brothers and I worked the mines, we used mugwort to keep mosquitoes away."

Lin Zaisheng, who rarely spoke at these councils, uncharacteristically chimed in: "Right, mugwort works. Besides mugwort, I think there are also things like insect-eating grass and patchouli that drive off mosquitoes.

Some you place directly in the room, some you dry and burn — though the smell is a bit acrid."

"An acrid smell doesn't matter. What matters is whether these plants work." Zhou Shixiang did not care whether the smell was harsh; what concerned him was whether these plants could actually repel mosquitoes.

"They certainly work. In my early years in the army, I used patchouli and mugwort to keep mosquitoes away."

The speaker was the probationary centurion Li Fuguo. His voice was not loud, and he seemed very deferential. Zhou Shixiang glanced at him and nodded with a smile.

One man proposed a method, and soon several more followed. Zheng Tiezhu, for example, said they could place a large bucket filled with water and stones inside the tent, then put some frogs in the bucket.

He said mosquitoes love cool, shady places, and any that flew in would become a meal for the frogs.

This method was rather fanciful. Zhou Shixiang was taken aback, but he saw probationary centurions like Lin Zaisheng and Song Erniu nodding in approval. From what they said, it seemed they had all used this method at home before.

Fanciful was fine, so long as the method worked. The army had some wooden buckets, and frogs were in no short supply.

Zhou Shixiang at once ordered all these methods written down, then sent the senior officers back to their battalions to dispatch men to search the surrounding area for mugwort, insect-eating grass, and other mosquito-repelling plants.

To thoroughly eliminate the mosquito menace and guard against malaria, Zhou Shixiang issued an order that there would be no marching that day; they would halt at Lingyang Gorge for one day.

At the same time, he sent men to the Xiongwei Battalion with orders for Shao Jiugong to come to Lingyang Gorge as well.

Once the order was passed down, cheers immediately rang out through the gorge. It seemed the soldiers of every battalion, after five days of marching, had also been hoping for a day of rest.

After the centurions returned, they quickly arranged for men to search all around for mosquito-repelling plants. Lingyang Gorge was in mountainous country, and with careful identification, mugwort and the like were not hard to find.

By noon, every battalion had gathered a haul, and they laid the plants out on rocks to dry in the blazing sun.

In the afternoon, a party of riders entered the gorge from the west. It was Zhu Er and the others — the cavalry squad Zhou Shixiang had earlier sent to the rear camp to deliver a message.

Zhu Er brought bad news: the rear camp had been surrounded by the Qing army at Guifeng Mountain, forty li southwest of Xinhui.