Chapter 24: Robbery

Killing men after breaking his word was something Zhou Shixiang reckoned he could not bring himself to do, but Boss Hu's worry was not without reason.

Once these Qing prisoners learned the truth about them, there was no guarantee they would still be willing to surrender, and if trouble broke out, it would mean another bloody fight and only add more uncertainty.

Yet after turning it over in his mind, he could find no good way to settle the matter for the time being, so he went along with Boss Hu and had the men locked up first.

When they saw the "Ming army" bring ropes to bind them, Shao Jiugong and the others cooperated fully and showed no sign of resistance, evidently understanding that this was customary.

And so, after a headcount, including Company Commander Shao Jiugong himself, there were sixty-three Qing prisoners in all.

The rest had either been burned to death in the great fire or killed in the fight for the gate, and how many more still remained in the city was impossible to know.

To guard against any mishap, Boss Hu had Ge Wu take a few men and seal off the west gate, then personally led men to escort the prisoners to the prefect's yamen. Zhou Shixiang, for his part, volunteered to lead men in searching the city for surviving Qing troops.

His killing of Kong Guoliang had already established his prestige among the men of Daqiao Mountain and made them fully acknowledge his ability. Hearing of someone killing You Yunlong with his own hands was nothing like witnessing him cut down Kong Guoliang on the spot.

In their eyes, Zhou Shixiang was now a great man, a great hero, a true stalwart accomplished in both letters and arms!

Without a word, Boss Hu ordered Peng Dazhu to take six men and follow Zhou Shixiang. He had just led his men in a desperate defense of the west gate and lost more than ten of them dead or wounded in the process.

Now he had barely twenty men still fit to fight, and with the prisoners to guard as well, his manpower was stretched to the breaking point. Giving Zhou Shixiang seven men was truly generous of him.

Zhou Shixiang also asked for one Qing prisoner, so that when they found Qing soldiers, the man could call out and urge them to surrender.

After leading his men on a circuit of the city, apart from a dozen or so Qing soldiers who had fled and, once called to and assured their lives would be spared, were willing to surrender, they found no trace of the remaining Qing troops.

They did, however, find quite a few discarded swords and uniforms lying in the streets — evidently those Qing soldiers who had escaped the camp had seen which way the wind was blowing, disguised themselves as commoners, and mingled into the crowd.

As long as the Qing troops did not band together, Zhou Shixiang was not worried. Men without organization, however many, were not worth fretting over.

The wind had weakened considerably from before, and as it weakened, the fire weakened with it. But the smoke was thicker than ever, making it impossible to see any distance, and the air everywhere was thick with choking smoke and the stench of burning corpses.

Zhou Shixiang saw that some of the common people had already organized themselves to fight the fire, but there were many places burning in the city, and relying on those self-organized civilians alone was far too inefficient.

So he took Peng Dazhu and the others, along with the dozen or so Qing prisoners, and headed for the prefect's yamen, hoping to ask Boss Hu to organize manpower and mobilize the whole city to fight the fire.

Otherwise, if the fire were left to burn, by daybreak more than half of Luoding would likely be ruins.

The reason Zhou Shixiang had changed his mind about going to Guangxi to join the army was precisely so he could use this bandit gang from Daqiao Mountain to seize Luoding, thereby winning recognition from the Southern Ming Yongli court, and with territory of his own, raise troops to fight the Qing — rather than living under someone else's roof.

The key to this plan lay in Luoding. If Luoding were reduced to ruins, the plan would lose all meaning.

At the very least, Zhou Shixiang would no longer be able to rely on Luoding for manpower, money, and grain.

By the time they reached the prefect's yamen, Boss Hu had just locked up Shao Jiugong and the rest of the prisoners and was about to send someone to notify Song Xianggong and Ge Liu at the east gate to come regroup.

Seeing Zhou Shixiang and the others return, he was overjoyed, and the moment he heard Zhou Shixiang wanted him to organize men to fight the fire, he agreed on the spot.

Boss Hu had been born into a poor family. If the Manchus had not enclosed his family's land and tried to press his whole household into slavery, he would never have fled south with his aged mother and brothers.

So although he had taken to the hills as a bandit, deep in his bones he still sympathized with the poor and could not bear to see common folk suffer. When Zhou Shixiang said they should fight the fire, he naturally had no objection.

But while Boss Hu had no objection, Ge Wu and his lot were not pleased at all. They clamored that they had risked their necks fighting their way into the city to kill, burn, and make a fortune.

Now that they had finally beaten the Qing army and taken control of the city, how could there be any sense in not looting while the fire raged, but instead going to help put it out!

Once Ge Wu started shouting, the others immediately joined in, every one of them itching to rush out and plunder to their hearts' content.

A dog really can't stop eating shit!

Zhou Shixiang cursed inwardly that these bandits truly were mud that could not be plastered onto a wall. Forcing down his anger, he said to them: "We all risked our necks fighting into this city to get rich — I understand that, and I won't stand in anyone's way.

But let me ask you: do you want to rob big or rob small?"

"We came to Luoding to pull a big job. Since when is there talk of robbing big or robbing small?" Ge Wu was baffled. Was there really such a thing as big and small in robbery?

"Of course robbery comes in big and small!"

To make sure all these men could hear clearly, Zhou Shixiang deliberately raised his voice and went on: "Right now the city is full of fire. If you go looting now, that's robbing small.

Because the fire broke out suddenly, the common folk are busy fleeing for their lives — how many valuables can they carry out with them? Which household is rich and which is poor, can you even tell?

If they've hidden things away, can you find them? I'd wager before you find anything, this city of Luoding will have been burned to the ground by the great fire.

By then, I guarantee what you manage to loot won't be worth as much as what the fire has burned!... To put it plainly, that's picking up a sesame seed and dropping a watermelon — losing the great for the small.

Isn't that exactly what robbing small means?"

"That does sound reasonable, but," Ge Wu half-understood, "then how do we rob big?"

"Let me ask you: what business in this world makes the most money?" Zhou Shixiang tried his best to find another way to persuade these men to do as he wanted.

Ge Wu answered without a second thought: "Trade, of course! When we waylay travelers, we love robbing those merchants best — they're loaded!"

"Is there really no other road to wealth in this world besides trade?"

"Well, there must be. Landlords certainly have money too, though it seems not as much as the merchants."

Seeing that Ge Wu was not following his line of thought, Zhou Shixiang had no choice but to ask directly: "Then let me ask you — do these people have to pay taxes to the government?"

Ge Wu nodded: "Of course they do. What traveling merchants fear most are the toll gates.

After passing gate after gate, most of their profit ends up in the government's hands. Those with a lot of land have to pay grain tax too, though if they have connections in the yamen or hold degrees, they don't pay much."

"And what gives the government the right to make these people hand over money and grain?"

"If they don't pay, that's resisting the grain levy and the tax, and then the soldiers come to beat them."

"So then, isn't what the government does just robbery?

When we rob common folk and they won't hand things over, don't we also start shouting about beating and killing? So you see, the government is the most profitable business in the world.

Merchants, landowners — all of them have to pay the government. That being the case, why can't we become the government and rob big?

Once we're the government, everyone in this city of Luoding, no matter what they do, will have to hand over grain and pay taxes to us! Then we can all sit back and collect money — isn't that faster than robbing with blades in hand?

Besides, if we go rob on our own, how much can we take, and how much can we carry away?"

"A scholar really does think things through!

Damn, even robbery has its principles — isn't that exactly right? The government's running the same business as us!"

It took Ge Wu a great deal of effort, but he finally grasped Zhou Shixiang's meaning, and he rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"Since we're going to be the government and rob big, we can't just watch this fire keep burning.

Don't you see — what the fire's burning is all our stuff! If everything valuable in the common folk's homes gets burned up, what will they have left to hand over to us?"

"Say no more, Brother Zhou, I, Ge Wu, get it now! No question about it — brothers, we'll do as you say. Let's go fight the fire!"

"Right, let's go fight the fire! Can't let all the good stuff get burned up!"

The men were suddenly energized again. Boss Hu, standing to the side, was also won over by Zhou Shixiang's reasoning. The robbers becoming the government — then he, Hu Quan, would be the head of the government, a genuine Assistant Regional Commander. Tsk, tsk, a bright future lay ahead...

"Everyone go fight the fire now.

Once the fire is out, brothers, we'll become the government. At first light, we'll split up and take a census of how many people are in the city — rich and poor, count them all.

Then we'll draw up regulations, and when the time comes, whoever dares not pay, we'll go beat them."

"Good!"

The men roared their approval in unison. Ge Wu was about to dash off to fight the fire, but after two steps he turned back with a troubled look: "The city's so big — with just the few of us, I'm afraid it won't be enough."

Zhou Shixiang was just about to say that he didn't mean for them to fight the fire directly, but to organize the panicked common folk to do it — even if they had to force them at sword-point!

But just as he was about to speak, Zhao Sihai came running over, panting. The first person he spotted was Zhou Shixiang, and he called out: "Xiucai!

Mister Song has already organized several hundred able-bodied men to help the townsfolk fight the fire.

He sent me to tell you that there are some ruffians and scoundrels in the city looting while the fire burns, and some Qing soldiers mixed in with them fishing in troubled waters.

He wants Brother Hu to take men and deal with them right away, or the situation will get too chaotic to control."

"Motherfucking bastards! I haven't even started robbing yet, and they've already begun!" The moment Ge Wu heard there were people out there looting, his face went dark. He grabbed his blade and charged out: "Brothers, follow me and catch those bastards who're cutting in on our business!"