Chapter 31: Staking One's Life

Lu Changyuan's words carried a hidden meaning — talk of "restoration" and "the royal army" was pleasant to the ear, and before one knew it, the lofty hat of "savior of Luoding's people from dire misery" had been placed on their heads.

But on closer thought, that wasn't quite right. However benevolent this royal army might be, however much it rescued the common folk from suffering, the royal army was still made of men, and men's bellies needed food — so without grain, absolutely nothing would work!

Zhou Shixiang had no patience for dealing with these worldly-wise clerks, and cared nothing whether their words were true or false. With a wave of his hand, he said to Lu Changyuan: "We all know the people's hardships, but right now our army urgently needs grain.

If the soldiers don't eat their fill, they'll have no strength to fight the Qing army, and when the Qing army comes again, won't you still have to raise grain for them! So don't waste words before me and Lord Song.

However you raised grain for the Qing army, raise it for us the same way!"

Lu Changyuan at once cried out in distress: "After last night's great fire, there truly isn't much grain left in the city. I beg Your Honor to show compassion for the people and give the city's residents a way to live..."

It wasn't that Lu Changyuan was unwilling to raise grain. He knew full well that whether it was the Ming army or bandits entering the city, grain and gold and silver were all essential supplies to them.

So the question now wasn't whether to raise it, but how much grain these people intended to take. If the amount was large, it would be difficult — after all, last night's great fire had afflicted half the city's households, and grain had suddenly become desperately scarce.

Zhou Shixiang thought for a moment, then said: "I won't make things hard for you. Though half the city's households suffered in the fire, the other half did not.

Let it be this way: fire-stricken households need not pay grain; unaffected households must pay, assessed by the number of mouths in each family. Our army will absolutely not levy anything extra!"

Song Xianggong added from the side: "Though the wars have dragged on for years, Luoding still has its share of well-to-do families. Just last night, the Lin family of the Datong Rice Shop voluntarily donated a dozen or so carts of grain to relieve the disaster victims.

For such great households, you should assess them more heavily. If any refuse, report them, and I will send troops to have a word with them."

When they heard Lord Song mention the Lin family of the Datong Rice Shop, Lu Changyuan and the several minor clerks all showed a strange look on their faces.

"I don't care what methods you use — in the end, you must produce the grain for me. Otherwise, don't blame the blades of our Ming soldiers for not recognizing friend from foe!" Zhou Shixiang added another round of intimidation.

One minor clerk mustered his courage and asked: "May I ask how much grain your esteemed army requires?"

"That..."

Zhou Shixiang truly hadn't calculated how much grain was needed. He didn't even know yet how many men he could recruit as soldiers, so how could he know how much grain would be required?

Keeping his composure, he said: "Let me discuss this with Lord Song before giving you an exact figure. For now, go raise some grain to send to the disaster-stricken people, and also bring some to the yamen."

Lu Changyuan didn't know what Zhou Shixiang's position was. He looked hesitantly at Song Xianggong, waiting for this "Lord Song" to give him a clear answer.

Song Xianggong had no objection to Zhou Shixiang's arrangements. With a slight nod, he said: "General Zhou's words are my words.

Go and carry them out at once, without delay. I will personally inspect the disaster victims afterward.

If I find any of you scheming or slacking, stirring up public anger, there will be no leniency!"

"Yes, my lord."

Lu Changyuan answered with his mouth, but inwardly he was cursing. He bowed once more to Zhou Shixiang, then with a face full of grievance led his men out.

Along the way he calculated how much he could squeeze from those great households, and whom he should share it with to keep their mouths shut, lest the matter leak and these bandits find out.

No sooner had they withdrawn from the hall than Zhou Shixiang slammed the table and cursed: "This fellow Lu can't be trusted — he's playing tricks with us!"

Song Xianggong had dealt with yamen clerks for years and knew their character all too well. With a bitter smile, he said: "Even if he can't be trusted, there's nothing to be done.

We're short-handed, and for now we can only rely on them to keep things running. Without them, we'd be in even greater difficulty."

He paused, then added: "If we had a force of soldiers in hand, naturally we wouldn't need to waste words with these petty clerks. These people are experts at trimming their sails to the wind; they don't feel pain until a blade is at their necks.

Judging by their manner just now, I fear they're already suspicious of us."

Zhou Shixiang nodded and said: "We must raise a force immediately. Otherwise, we'll be hamstrung at every turn and still have to guard against these people's tricks. Luoding likely won't hold for long."

Song Xianggong pondered for a moment after hearing this, his gaze fixed on Zhou Shixiang, and asked: "What does Brother Zhou plan to do?"

Zhou Shixiang said: "I want to use Brother Hu's title as Assistant Regional Commander of Luoding to conscript the able-bodied men of the city. First we expand the strength we have in hand.

Once the men are raised, we needn't fear those petty clerks secretly tripping us up, and there'll be much more we can do."

"We do have the authority to recruit, but raising a force requires money and grain. May I ask Brother Zhou, where will the silver come from, and where the grain? And once the force is raised, what then? Surely Brother Zhou doesn't think this city of three thousand-odd people can support us?"

Song Xianggong naturally had no objection to expanding the force — more men meant more strength, and even if they truly couldn't beat the Qing army, at least they could hold out for a while, not having to flee the day after the city fell.

The crux was that Luoding was too poor and too sparsely populated; they simply couldn't stay here long.

Unless they drained the pond to catch the fish — ignoring the lives of the city's people and seizing every last bit of grain, gold, silver, and goods they had — this wretched place couldn't support many troops.

Otherwise, why would the Qing army have stationed only an auxiliary Battalion Commander with four hundred-odd men in Luoding, rather than a full Green Standard battalion!

But if they truly drained the pond to catch the fish, they probably wouldn't need the Qing army to attack — the city's people would band together and wipe out Mount Daqiao themselves, and even less would anyone come join their ranks!

How difficult!

Zhou Shixiang, however, already had a plan. He said to Song Xianggong: "For grain, we'll first squeeze some out of those great households.

If that truly isn't enough, we'll assess some from the unaffected commoners. As for what comes after, we'll deal with it once the force is raised.

A living man won't be choked to death by his own piss."

That was one way to do it. Song Xianggong stroked his beard noncommittally and nodded: "We can indeed scrape together some grain from the city's great households first, and we have some stored in the stronghold as well.

Combined, the two should last about a month. As for silver — I suspect you're eyeing that silver of Kong Guoliang's.

But that matter won't be easy to touch. Brother Hu's side is no problem, of course, but you know the temperament of Ge Wu and his lot.

Expecting them to hand over silver — difficult!"

"I'll go talk to Ge Wu and the others."

Zhou Shixiang slapped his backside and stood up, ready to go find Ge Wu and the rest. Seeing him so impatient, Song Xianggong couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Does Brother Zhou truly intend to make a big stand here in Luoding?"

Zhou Shixiang countered: "Doesn't Mister Song want to make a big stand?"

"Me..."

Song Xianggong didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he said with some concern: "The situation in Luoding can't be kept hidden for long. Within a few days, there'll be movement from Deqing. When the Qing army comes, do we leave or hold?"

Zhou Shixiang said: "Soldiers come, we block them; water comes, we dam it! If the Deqing Qing army really comes, we'll fight them!"

"Fight? Can we win?"

Song Xianggong didn't have Zhou Shixiang's courage, and he was even more doubtful about the outcome of a battle.

Seeing this, Zhou Shixiang couldn't help but say with heroic spirit: "No one expected beforehand that we could take Luoding, yet here we are, right in the middle of Luoding!

As I've said before, in this world there's no battle that's certain to be won or lost, and no battle that can or cannot be fought. What we need fear is only our own doubt, our own cowardice!

As long as we're not afraid, we won't necessarily lose everything! Even if we're defeated, what does it matter!

A man dies with his prick pointing at the sky. Before, we had no chance; now that we have one, why shouldn't we have a great fight with the Qing army!

Winner takes all, loser is condemned — all it costs is one life. What's there to fear!"

"Good!"

Hearing these heroic, soaring words, Song Xianggong felt hot blood surge to his heart as well. He clapped his hands sharply and shouted: "Brother Zhou has great courage! Very well then — I'll stake my life and join Brother Zhou in a proper fight against the Qing army!"