Chapter 17: Heroes

Under Ge Wu's wild distortions, attacking Luoding was no longer about finding everyone a proper standing, nor about fighting the Tartars to the death out of some great national cause, nor about rewards from the Southern Ming Yongli court, nor about future titles for wives and sons — it was simply "pulling off a big one."

That even a xiucai dared to pull off a big one became Ge Wu's best reason for rousing everyone's spirits, and the men listening all boiled with excitement.

Those who had been hesitating threw caution to the wind too — if they really turned out worse than a xiucai, damn it, wouldn't they be ashamed to death!

As Ge Wu sprayed spittle in all directions, the abstract Luoding grew concrete: how much coin and grain the Qing troops in the city had stockpiled, how many rich households were in the city, which rich household's daughters and daughters-in-law were stunningly beautiful, which family's house looked impressive, which restaurant's food and wine were the best...

In the end, the most reliable thing Zhou Shixiang heard was how many able-bodied men they could press into service to expand the ranks. Beyond that, he heard not a single constructive or farsighted word.

What shortsightedness!

The men's feverish discussion left Zhou Shixiang not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It reminded him of a movie he had seen in his previous life, which contained this line: "The Qing have always oppressed us Han, seizing our silver and our women, so we must oppose the Qing."

Indeed, for a band of illiterate bandits with no sense of national cause, opposing the Qing was probably just that simple — take back our coin, grain, and women. As for anything else, these rough fellows truly had never given it a thought.

With all his men single-mindedly set on attacking Luoding, Boss Hu naturally would not pour cold water on them.

The prospect Zhou Shixiang had painted for him was still extremely enticing — if they truly got lucky and took Luoding, he, Hu Quan, would be the rightful Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding.

Then, with territory, men, coin, and grain, wouldn't that be far more pleasurable and far more prestigious than being a bandit in this mountain hollow?

And if Heaven blessed them and the Great Ming rose again, he would truly offer up this head of his for the house of Zhu, lead his brothers to fight the Tartars to the death, and avenge his dead mother and brothers!

Damn it all, I'm in!

Boss Hu finally made up his mind. But making up his mind was one thing — his head had not gone muddled.

He had once served as a personal guard in Li Chengdong's army and had seen what two armies clashing looked like. He understood that fighting a battle was not something you did on a hot head, stripping off your shirt and charging in.

How to attack Luoding, and how to take it — this matter required careful discussion. One careless move and they would have no burial ground at all.

Seeing his men still shouting and hollering, every face beaming as if Luoding were already in hand, Boss Hu's brow furrowed at once. He gave Song Xianggong a light cough, and the latter caught his meaning, hastily pulled Zhao Sihai aside and whispered a few words in his ear.

Zhao Sihai nodded repeatedly as he listened, then pulled Ge Wu over and said a few low words. Very quickly, the Ge brothers coaxed and cajoled the crowd out of the room.

Once everyone had left, only Boss Hu, Song Xianggong, Zhao Sihai, and Peng Dazhu remained in the room — the core leaders of the Mount Dajiao bandits.

After the Ge brothers had handled things outside for a while, they realized the room was discussing the attack on Luoding, so they secretly slipped back in. As they entered, they heard Zhao Sihai asking Zhou Shixiang: "From what the xiucai just said, you've clearly seen the world.

Might I ask what wise counsel the xiucai has for taking Luoding?"

"Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.

I don't know Luoding's situation well, and at the moment I have no plan. I must first learn the conditions in the city before I can make any decision."

Zhou Shixiang did not dare spout boasts carelessly — even with several hundred more years of knowledge, he would not dare act rashly when the enemy's situation was unclear.

Hearing this, Song Xianggong deeply agreed: "Quite right — know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles and win a hundred. I have been to Luoding to buy medicine and know a thing or two about conditions in the city. Why not let me explain them for Brother Zhou?"

Boss Hu had no objection. Song Xianggong had naturally scouted the city's situation when he went to Luoding to buy medicine, and no one else in the room knew more than he did. It was best for him to speak.

At once, Song Xianggong briefly related what he knew.

According to Song Xianggong, Luoding Prefecture was a directly administered prefecture newly established in Guangdong in the fifth year of the Ming Wanli reign, governing the prefectural seat of Luoding and the two counties of Dong'an and Xining.

In the second year of Yongli, the fifth year of Shunzhi, after the Qing army under Li Chengdong's command fought its way into Guangdong, the Southern Ming Regional Commander Xu An'guo garrisoning Luoding betrayed the Ming and surrendered to the Qing.

Later, when Li Chengdong switched back to the Ming, Luoding became Ming territory once more.

After Li Chengdong perished in Jiangxi, Guangzhou quickly fell again. The Ming troops garrisoning Luoding fled before the Qing army even arrived, and Luoding fell to the Qing once more.

After that, Li Dingguo invaded Guangdong twice, and Luoding, like the other prefectures and counties of western Guangdong, changed hands repeatedly between Ming and Qing, until it was now held by the Qing army again.

A Green Standard detachment was garrisoned in the city, numbering several hundred men. It was said these Green Standard troops were not from Guangdong province but had been transferred from Jiangxi, and their commander was a Battalion Commander, though his surname was unknown.

After hearing these basic facts, Zhou Shixiang thought for a moment, then asked Song Xianggong: "Do Dong'an and Xining counties have Qing troops garrisoned?"

Song Xianggong shook his head: "Dong'an and Xining were massacred by the Qing army years ago. The county seat of Dong'an was even burned to the ground — it's now a stretch of ruins with no one living there.

Xining is much the same. At present, apart from Luoding city itself, there's not one place in Luoding Prefecture that's intact."

"Then where is the nearest Qing garrison to Luoding?"

"It should be the Qing troops at Deqing."

"How far away is that?"

"At least a hundred li."

"That far?" Zhou Shixiang was somewhat surprised. "At such a distance, if something happened at Luoding, how could the Deqing troops arrive in time to relieve it? And Luoding only has a few hundred men garrisoned — with so few troops, aren't the Qing afraid Li Dingguo's army will strike again?"

This question did not require Song Xianggong to answer; Zhao Sihai spoke up from the side: "The Tartars are afraid of Li Dingguo's army striking again, so they don't dare scatter their forces.

These few hundred Green Standard troops at Luoding are probably just an outpost — if Li Dingguo's forces come again, they'll surely turn tail and run."

Song Xianggong laughed: "The Tartars fear no one but Li Dingguo's troops. If they truly wanted to control Luoding Prefecture completely, they wouldn't have failed even to appoint a prefect."

Having said this, he remembered something and hastily added, "Oh, right — Luoding's walls have long since fallen into ruin from the back-and-forth fighting between Ming and Qing these past years. Last time I went, I saw two large breaches.

The Tartars only made simple repairs. From the look of it, if Li Dingguo really came, they would certainly abandon the city and retreat to Guangzhou."

Ge Wu cut in from the side: "No matter how far the Tartar reinforcements are, and no matter how broken the walls, we've got too few men — we still can't take this city."

"Not necessarily." Zhou Shixiang's mind stirred. "Since the Qing troops at Luoding are so afraid of Li Dingguo's army striking, why don't we make use of that?"

"You mean scare them off?" Zhao Sihai shook his head vigorously. "The Tartars aren't fools. Without seeing real men, how could they possibly run?"

Zhou Shixiang did not answer him directly, but turned instead to Song Xianggong: "Does Master Song know of Sesame Li of Xuzhou from the late Yuan?"

"Sesame Li?"

Song Xianggong was taken aback. He searched his memory for a moment before recalling who this man was, and said: "I've read of him in books.

He was from Pi County in Xuzhou. When famine struck, he had a storehouse of sesame and gave it all away to relieve the disaster victims, so people called him Sesame Li."

Zhou Shixiang nodded. The Sesame Li Song Xianggong described was indeed the same hometown hero he knew from his previous life.

He said to the group: "This Sesame Li was a great hero who resisted the Mongol Tartars at the end of the Yuan. At that time, the Red Turban Army rose in revolt against the Yuan.

To answer the Red Turbans' call, Sesame Li led several dozen stout fellows from his hometown in a plan to attack Xuzhou."

"I know Xuzhou — that's a great city. How could Sesame Li's few dozen men dare attack it?" Peng Dazhu looked utterly unconvinced, though his question served Zhou Shixiang's purpose perfectly.

"Even now, thinking of it is astonishing. Indeed, at the time there were several thousand Yuan soldiers in Xuzhou, yet the city was taken by Sesame Li with just a few dozen men. Do you know how he took Xuzhou?" Zhou Shixiang paused deliberately here.

"How did he take it? Xiucai (Brother Zhou), don't keep us in suspense — speak!"

Everyone, Boss Hu included, had their appetite whetted by Zhou Shixiang. Song Xianggong, however, smiled enigmatically — he already knew what Zhou Shixiang intended to do.

"The situation Sesame Li faced when he wanted to attack Xuzhou was the same as ours — in fact, even more perilous, because Xuzhou had several thousand Yuan soldiers while Luoding has only a few hundred Qing troops!

At the time, some surely opposed Sesame Li's reckless move, but Sesame Li overrode all objections. He ordered eight stout fellows under him to disguise themselves as river-dredging laborers and slip into Xuzhou by night.

Four entered the city, and four remained outside. At the fourth watch, the four inside lit four fires and shouted in unison: 'The Red Turbans have fought their way into Xuzhou!' The four outside also lit four fires in response.

With the uproar inside and out, the city was thrown into chaos. The four inside seized weapons from the gate guards, and the four outside surged in with the momentum, all crying out to kill."

Zhou Shixiang had spoken at length in one breath. He paused to catch his breath, then said with rising excitement: "The Yuan soldiers in Xuzhou woke from their dreams in shock.

Suddenly hearing the cries of battle in the city, not knowing how many Red Turbans had actually entered, every one of them was terrified out of his wits, fleeing in all directions in utter chaos.

At that moment, Sesame Li led the rest of his men and seized the chance to storm the city, fighting bravely, scattering the Yuan defenders, capturing the prefectural official alive, and swiftly taking all of Xuzhou.

After daybreak, Sesame Li raised a great banner on the city wall to recruit soldiers, and over a hundred thousand answered the call.

He also raised a great banner atop Xuzhou's Overlord Tower, inscribed: 'Three thousand tiger guards, straight to the lands of You and Yan; the dragon soars at the zenith, reopening the great Song's heaven!'"

"Truly magnificent!"

Hearing of such a hero, the Ge brothers could not help but cheer in unison: "What a man, this Sesame Li! What a great hero!"

Boss Hu was also stirred, rubbing his hands together: "Brother Zhou means for us to learn from Sesame Li and take Luoding the same way?"

"Exactly. If our predecessors could do it, why can't we!" Zhou Shixiang said with finality. Then he clasped his fists and bowed to Boss Hu: "Brother Hu shall be our Sesame Li, and we shall be those stout fellows. We beg Brother Hu to lead us in becoming great heroes too!"

"Good!"

Boss Hu's heroic spirit surged, and he could not help but cry out: "I, Hu Quan, will learn from the great heroes of old and take Luoding to find all our brothers a place to settle and thrive!"

Author's note: The Manchu Qing's Han troops used green banners, commonly called the "Green Standard," stationed throughout the provinces.

The highest commanding officer was called the Provincial Military Commander, under whom were four levels: zhen (Regional Commander), xie (Vice Regional Commander), ying (Assistant Regional Commander, Mobile Corps Commander, Route Commander, Garrison Commander), and xun (Battalion Commander, Company Commander, etc.), each level subordinate to the one above.

The Assistant Regional Commander was the commanding officer of a "ying" in the Green Standard.