Chapter 26: Suppression

No matter the dynasty or era, whenever disaster and chaos strike, there are always those who fish in troubled waters and profit from the turmoil. Such people are usually street riffraff, local thugs and hooligans, the sort who bully the good and honest even in ordinary times.

Given an opportunity like this, with the whole city in chaos and free for the taking, they would never let it pass.

Ming army or Qing army, neither mattered to these people. As long as the city remained in turmoil, they would keep looting until order was fully restored.

By then, they would have grabbed their fill; they need only hide away somewhere deserted and wait for the storm to pass. If Luoding ended up belonging to the Ming, they would be loyal subjects of the Great Ming; if it stayed Qing, they would be obedient subjects of the Great Qing.

As long as they did not rebel, who could do anything to them?

The victims?

In all that chaos, who could tell who robbed them?

Besides, these people were clever enough. They understood the principle that a rabbit does not eat the grass by its own burrow, so they would never rob acquaintances or their own neighbors.

Living on the same street, seeing each other day in and day out, robbing them would be awkward, and it would also be easy to get reported afterward. The new authorities would love nothing more than to use their heads to win the people's hearts.

Therefore, for safety's sake, these people mostly chose to rob elsewhere. Those from the south side went north to rob, those from the north went west, those from the west went east.

They struck fast and hard while the common folk were panicking. If they met anyone who dared resist, and the goods were valuable, then bloodshed was unavoidable.

In times like these, could you get rich without a ruthless heart?

In the eastern part of the city, because Song Xianggong had falsely assumed the title of Luoding Prefect under the Yongli court, and had borrowed the fearsome prestige of the Southern Ming's Prince of Xining, Li Dingguo, and because the "Ming army" entering the city had become an established fact, under his half-command, half-threat, the former village heads and prominent households of the eastern district had no choice but to steel themselves and come out to help Song Xianggong calm the people.

With their assistance, Song Xianggong organized a number of able-bodied young men to fight the fires and save themselves. As a result, the situation in the eastern district was far better than elsewhere.

With the eastern district stabilized, the thugs and riffraff who had wanted to loot during the chaos found no easy pickings there. Their minds turned quickly: if they could not rob here, they would go elsewhere.

After all, it was not yet dawn, and the Ming army had just entered the city and had no time to deal with them. If they acted too late, the opportunity would be gone.

Were they supposed to wait until the next time the Qing army attacked to make their move?

Luoding, under the great fire, became a looter's paradise. On top of that, some Qing soldiers who had fled and found no immediate way out simply stripped off their uniforms and joined the looting.

With the mindset of "if you don't grab, you're a fool," they too wreaked havoc on the common people. Very quickly, the chaos these people created became worse than the fire itself.

Many commoners escaped being devoured by the flames, only to fall victim to their cruel hands. Everywhere there were cries and pleas for mercy, and the people were thrown into panic.

The state has its laws, and every trade has its rules. They had risked their necks to break open Luoding, and before they themselves could loot, others had gotten there first. Ge Wu and his band of bandits were absolutely furious. How could they accept this?

By the rules, looters in times of chaos counted as half-colleagues. In the old days, when the bandits ate meat, they would leave a bone for these people to gnaw.

But now they themselves had become the biggest looters of all: the authorities. As members of the authorities, how could they tolerate such rioters looting in the chaos?

Suppression. They must be severely suppressed! Otherwise, where was the authority of the government? And how were the brothers supposed to make a fortune under the government's name? If all the good stuff was taken by those people, what would the brothers eat and drink?

"Brothers, don't hold back. Cut them down like I do. After you've cut them, string up their heads for me. I want to see whether those bastards' heads are harder, or our blades are faster!"

At first, Ge Wu had not been so bloodthirsty; he had only planned to tie up those bastards. But when he saw that an entire family of several people had been wiped out, and not a single piece of gold, silver, or valuables remained in the house, his eyes went red with rage.

Bellowing, he vented his fury on the unlucky few who had just been captured, pressing them all to the ground and chopping off their heads one by one!

Once Ge Wu started killing, he could not stop. His men were all hardened killers, far superior to those half-baked street thugs and hooligans. And with the halo of the "Great Ming Royal Army" (old bandits) over them, how could those riffraff possibly be their match?

Moreover, Ge Wu's men fought as a united band, while the looters each acted on their own. Compared side by side, the difference was obvious at once. Even when the looters clearly outnumbered Ge Wu's men many times over, no one could stop them, and no one dared to.

From the south of the city they fought all the way to the north, then circled back to the west, and finally charged straight to the east.

Along the way, Ge Wu and his men cut down no fewer than forty-odd thugs looting in the chaos, and more than a dozen Qing soldiers were also slain under their blades.

The killing was not enough; the heads were all hoisted on wooden poles. Truly it was suppression and intimidation all along the way.

Fortunately, although Ge Wu and his men looked fierce and terrifying, what they did was exactly what the common people delighted to see, so they were greatly praised by the populace, who all said the Ming army was good.

Along the way, many victims joined Ge Wu's ranks, and many spirited young men also followed behind to help. In the end, the force had grown to more than ten times its original size.

With such numbers and strength, the looters one by one stopped their hands. No one dared test whether these fierce men's blades were sharp enough with their own heads.

In the eastern district, Song Xianggong was responsible for calming the people, while Zhou Shixiang, under the name of a subordinate of the Ming Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding, organized able-bodied young men to fight the fires.

Quickly, with everyone working together, the fire in the eastern district was successfully brought under control.

Hearing from commoners who had fled from elsewhere in the city that many Qing soldiers were looting over there, Zhou Shixiang immediately took Ge Liu and the others, along with several dozen bold young men, to suppress them.

These young men were ordinary commoners of the city. Had someone not stepped forward to organize them, and had the Qing army not been utterly routed, they would never have had the courage to help deal with the Qing soldiers.

With several dozen young men helping—though they only bolstered the show of force from behind, while the real fighting was done by Zhou Shixiang, Ge Liu, and the others—to those Qing soldiers, already frightened birds who only wanted to grab some things in the chaos, they were an invincible foe.

With almost no casualties, the several dozen looters in the city were rounded up in one sweep. Many fled in terror the moment they saw the "Ming army" approaching, only to be tied up and dragged back one by one by Ge Liu and the others.

Only two Qing soldiers dared to resist with blades—they were brothers—and both were cut down on the spot.

After the men were tied up, Ge Wu and his band came surging over in force.

When Zhou Shixiang saw that Ge Wu and his men had strung the looters' heads on wooden poles, he was first surprised, then deeply approving: in chaotic times, harsh laws must be used, and nothing frightens people more than a severed head!

To intimidate and warn the Qing soldiers and rioters still hiding in the city, Zhou Shixiang immediately ordered all the captured looters to be brought forward, and then, before the watching crowd, had them all beheaded.

When those men heard that the Ming army was going to execute them, they were terrified, wailing and begging for mercy, soiling themselves in fear. But Zhou Shixiang was unmoved. Sympathy was never meant for such looters and murderers!

Ge Wu was even more in the grip of bloodlust; how could he spare them? With one shout, the crowd surged forward, two men holding down each prisoner. "Thwack, thwack"—heads rolled to the ground one after another.

"Those who loot in the chaos shall be killed without mercy!"

"Those who resist the Ming army shall be killed without mercy!"

"Those who hide Qing soldiers shall be killed without mercy!"

The bloody heads, together with the three kill-without-mercy decrees, quickly brought order back to Luoding.

With the looters no longer interfering, Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong once more mobilized the common people. After more than two hours of strenuous firefighting, as the eastern sky showed the first pale light of dawn, the great fire in Luoding was at last completely extinguished.

The fire was out, and the sky was bright. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The commoners who had helped fight the fire were exhausted, sitting or lying on the ground. Song Xianggong was also worn out, his voice so hoarse he could barely speak.

Zhou Shixiang climbed from the city road up onto the gate tower and stood at the top of the wall looking down. He saw that half the houses in the city had been destroyed in the great fire, and white smoke rose everywhere from the ruins.

There was still much to be done; this was no time to catch one's breath.

Zhou Shixiang, through Song Xianggong, instructed the village heads and prominent households willing to cooperate to take men and collect the dead throughout the city, while also having Ge Wu and the others organize able-bodied young men to search the streets for Qing soldiers who had escaped the net, so that not one would get out to carry word.