Chapter 142: Hell

After the surrendered camp soldiers identified one another, it was confirmed that 26 of the 415 Green Standard soldiers had taken part in the massacre on the rear mountain.

Once the identification was certain, the 26 men were dragged out and locked up together with the banner soldiers. Just as Shao Jiugong was about to force those camp soldiers to kill the prisoners with their own hands, Song Xianggong hurried over and stopped him.

After Song Xianggong's persuasion, Zhou Shixiang agreed not to execute these men for the time being, and to take them to the walls of Xinhui to break the defenders' morale.

Song Xianggong also urged Zhou Shixiang not to rush into attacking Xinhui, but to rest and regroup here for a day, waiting for the Guard Battalion to arrive before advancing on the city.

Zhou Shixiang disagreed, saying that speed is the essence of war. Xinhui was only forty li from Guifeng Mountain, and the city's defenders must already know of the Qing army's destruction there.

While they were still panicked, the Taiping Army should immediately launch its attack on Xinhui, lest the defenders begin preparing their defense after the initial chaos.

If the defenders were given time to prepare, one could imagine how many Taiping soldiers would throw their lives away beneath walls so strong that even Li Dingguo's great army had failed to breach them.

Song Xianggong countered that the Qing troops in the city already knew what had happened at Guifeng Mountain, so hurrying there now would at most throw the defenders into confusion for a little while.

No matter what method Zhou Shixiang used to assault the city, the vanguard battalion would still suffer enormous casualties against Qing troops holding strong fortifications. Expecting the defenders to collapse on their own was utterly unrealistic and impossible.

True, Zhou Shixiang had killed the Xinhui garrison commander You Yunlong, and now Regional Commander Wu Jinzhong had died in battle at Guifeng Mountain, but the fact remained that other officers in Xinhui would surely take up the burden of defending the city.

Moreover, the vanguard battalion had force-marched for days to rescue the rear battalion, and had just fought a major battle with the Qing army. From top to bottom, every man was utterly exhausted; many could barely keep their eyes open.

To make them march to Xinhui at this critical moment—who could bear it, who could hold out? To force an advance now would most likely be sending them to their deaths.

Of course, Song Xianggong did not say outright that Zhou Shixiang's forced assault on Xinhui would be a death march. Instead he tactfully reminded Zhou Shixiang of the consequences of marching now, and was careful in his words to uphold Zhou Shixiang's authority.

After all, the Taiping Camp had been built from nothing, from small to great, entirely by Zhou Shixiang's own hand. After Hu Quan's death in battle, Zhou Shixiang had in some sense become the core of the Taiping Army, its very soul.

Though Song Xianggong did not fear or worry that Zhou Shixiang would resent his remonstrance, he still made a point of keeping his own place and status clear: the Taiping Army now had only one leader, and that was the Xinhui xiucai, Zhou Shixiang.

After hearing Song Xianggong's words, Zhou Shixiang thought for a long while. His instincts told him Song Xianggong was right—the brothers of the vanguard battalion had to rest.

If he gave the order to move out now, more than half of them would probably fall asleep on the mountain path before they even got down the hill.

He did not insist on his own view, and ordered the whole army to rest and regroup at Guifeng Mountain, waiting for the Guard Battalion and part of the Tiger Swift Battalion, who were escorting the grain, to arrive before advancing on Xinhui.

During the rest, Zhou Shixiang was not idle. He gave Song Xianggong a general account of how he had granted the vanguard battalion its banners and reorganized it at Gaoyao, and told him one by one of the vanguard battalion's military operations around Zhaoqing Prefecture.

The two of them analyzed together what action the Qing troops in Zhaoqing would now take, and how, once the Taiping Army attacked Xinhui, the two princes of Pingnan and Jingnan in Guangzhou and the Governor-General's office would deal with a Taiping Army that had appeared right under their noses, in their very heartland.

The two also discussed the Taiping Army's next move after taking Xinhui, and where it should retreat and develop if it failed to take the city. The discussion lasted the better part of an hour.

During that time Lin Wan'er brought in food, but Zhou Shixiang, his mind wholly occupied, did not even notice her, which left the girl feeling quite dejected after she left the room. Song Xianggong saw it and could only smile wryly.

The vanguard battalion's division into five combat battalions and the officer promotion system both met with Song Xianggong's approval and support.

If before, the Taiping Camp had struck him as nothing more than a band of roving bandits, this reorganization and expansion now gave him the impression of a proper, regular army.

Because the Zhenlu, Xiongwei, and Xianzhen battalions had suffered heavy losses in battle, Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong agreed after discussion to replenish them from the surrendered Green Standard prisoners, and also selected 100 able-bodied men from the 200-odd surviving males of the rear battalion to fill them out.

In this way the three battalions were brought back to full strength, all restored to their authorized strength of 520 men.

The 300-odd laborers in the Qing camp below the mountain had been conscripted by the Qing army from Xinhui.

Quite a few of them knew Zhou Shixiang, and when they learned that the Xiucai Zhou who had slain a high Qing official with his own hand that day was now a battalion commander of the Great Ming's Taiping Army, they were all astonished.

After the astonishment, they hoped that Xiucai Zhou, for the sake of their being fellow townsmen, would let them go home. But Zhou Shixiang did not release these fellow townsmen.

Instead he forcibly conscripted them all as soldiers into the rear battalion, and together with the remaining males of the rear battalion reorganized them into a Security Brigade.

The Mobile Corps Commander's post was left temporarily vacant, to be filled by Zhao Sihai once his wounds healed. This arrangement set the laborers grumbling bitterly; in private they cursed Xiucai Zhou for being heartless, yet not one of them dared to run away.

In view of the rear battalion's armed strength being far too weak—which had prevented it from fully protecting the camp's people in the battle of Guifeng Mountain, so that half of the rear battalion's women and children were lost in the retreat—Song Xianggong requested that Zhou Shixiang expand the rear battalion's armed forces, so that the rear battalion would have a force capable of defending itself and would not be left without any means of counterattack the next time it encountered Qing troops.

Zhao Sihai's combat squad could be said to have been completely wiped out; the survivors had already been folded into the vanguard battalion.

The Security Brigade had also lost more than half its men, the storehouse troops had likewise suffered heavy casualties, and the able-bodied men of the various camps were essentially all dead or wounded.

Therefore Song Xianggong asked Zhou Shixiang to transfer some officers and veteran soldiers from the vanguard battalion to the rear battalion.

There was no need to set up a combat battalion in the rear on the model of the vanguard's war battalions; they could simply expand the Security Brigade directly.

Zhou Shixiang agreed to Song Xianggong's request, and as a bit of mischief upgraded the Security Brigade to a Security Regiment—the word "regiment" being roughly the same as in "local militia regiment."

Its strength was expanded to no fewer than a thousand men, every man to be armed, and its training to follow exactly the standards of the combat battalions. This delighted Song Xianggong.

However, Zhou Shixiang then said that for now this could only be a plan, because with the attack on Xinhui imminent, he could not draw veteran soldiers and officers from the vanguard battalion.

Instead, the Xinhui laborers who had just been conscripted into the rear battalion would be temporarily assigned to the Security Regiment.

Once Xinhui was taken, all surviving commoners in the city would be absorbed into the rear battalion, with the able-bodied among them serving as reserve manpower for the Security Regiment.

After reaching Xiangshan, the formal establishment and training of the Security Regiment would be carried out.

Though this was only a pie in the sky drawn by Zhou Shixiang, Song Xianggong understood that the vanguard battalion could spare no men at present.

After all, whether they could take Xinhui, and whether they could afterwards defeat the Qing troops sent from Guangzhou, Zhaoqing, and even other prefectures and counties to suppress the Taiping Army—everything depended on the vanguard battalion alone.

To rashly draw officers and veterans from it at this moment would be an extremely foolish move. Even after taking Xinhui, priority would still have to go to replenishing the vanguard battalion, not to expanding his Security Regiment.

With a nod of agreement, the matter of the Security Regiment was set aside for the time being. The task Zhou Shixiang assigned Song Xianggong from now on was to lead the four thousand-odd survivors of the rear battalion in following the vanguard battalion's movements.

The lesson this time had taught Zhou Shixiang not to lightly lead the vanguard battalion off on its own again. Though the rear battalion was made up of the old, the weak, women, and children, it was the future strength of the Taiping Army.

The vanguard battalion's manpower, money, and grain would all depend on the rear battalion in the future. Once they had a secure base, the elderly, the children, and even the women would all be productive force—and would likewise become soldiers.

The phrase "a nation in arms" was not something Zhou Shixiang had tossed out on a whim. He could foresee that the Qing army would never allow him to gain a firm foothold in Xiangshan County; one encirclement campaign after another was inevitable.

When that time came, it truly would be a nation in arms—every person in the Taiping Army would have to play the role he or she ought to play, rather than being casually abandoned or given up on.

From Song Xianggong, Zhou Shixiang learned that Lin Wan'er had shown extraordinary fortitude when the Qing army surrounded them—far stronger than her fence-sitting father, stronger even than many men.

Song Xianggong casually mentioned that Miss Lin had come in just now, seen that the battalion commander was deep in thought, and withdrawn without disturbing him, seeming somewhat dejected as she left.

Hearing this, Zhou Shixiang was at a loss for words. But he did not make a point of going to see Wan'er, because even now he did not know how to treat this nominal maidservant of his—he had never even entertained the thought of sleeping with the girl.

Perhaps, in his heart, he still could not forget his wife who had died so cruelly; or perhaps, toward this girl, what he felt was more sympathy than anything else.

For Lin Wan'er's sake, and because the situation at the time had been desperate, and surrender had been the choice of most of the camp elders and camp managers—indeed the wish of everyone in the surrounded rear battalion, high and low, and even Zhao Sihai had entertained the thought of surrendering—Zhou Shixiang did not censure these people, nor did he make trouble for Lin Wanfu.

He did not even strip Lin Wanfu of his post as storehouse commissioner, but instead let them redeem themselves through service. To surrender in a hopeless situation in order to save one's life was understandable.

After all, these people were ordinary folk of this age; they did not carry Zhou Shixiang's national enmity and family hatred, still less any sense of national righteousness. All they knew was that they wanted to live, to have full bellies.

To demand that they die for the Taiping Army was both unrealistic and immoral.

These arrangements by Zhou Shixiang went some way toward calming the unease of the camp elders and managers, so that no unnecessary unrest broke out in the rear battalion out of fear that Zhou Shixiang would settle accounts with them.

The money, grain, and supplies that the rear battalion had abandoned when surrounded by the Qing army at the foot of the mountain had all been stored in the Qing camp below.

Now these supplies were recovered, and in addition some of the Qing army's own money and grain was captured. However, since the Qing troops had not brought much money or grain when they left the city, the haul was limited.

What they did capture in abundance was carts and horses—over three hundred of them, which came as a pleasant surprise. So many carts and horses would ease the Taiping Army's acute shortage of transport and speed up its marches.

The monk Qilin, who had volunteered to lead the temple's monks in treating the Taiping Camp's wounded, was arrested.

He was arrested because the surrendered Qing troops confessed that Regional Commander Wu Jinzhong had decided to attack the mountain only after receiving a secret letter from the monks on the mountain.

In the now-emptied Hall of the Heavenly Kings, Zhou Shixiang and the monk Qilin stood before the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and had this brief exchange:

"This battalion commander has heard that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, seeing the suffering of the beings in hell, felt their pain as his own, and so vowed to descend into hell to save them. Thus it is said: 'If I do not enter hell, who will? Until hell is empty, I vow not to become a Buddha!'"

"Excellent, excellent. The benefactor knows the Buddhist allusions—truly a man of great wisdom."

"May I ask where the abbot will go after a hundred years?"

"Perhaps a speck of dust in the world, perhaps a donkey or a horse, perhaps grass or a tree."

"And after that? Will you not enter hell?"

"If it is the final destination, then naturally I will enter hell."

"The abbot is a man of great virtue and knowledge—how could he enter hell?"

"If I do not enter hell, who will go to hell to teach and transform the beings there?"

"The abbot is truly compassionate. In that case, would the abbot kindly go now to hell to teach and transform the beings there?"

"What?... Ah!"

"Men! Escort the abbot on his journey to hell!"

"Benefactor... General, spare my life!"

"If I spare your life, who will spare the lives of those old people, children, and women!"

These past few days have been exhausting.