Chapter 36: Coercion

Song Xianggong was not wrong. What Zhou Shixiang called "all the people are soldiers" was in truth nothing but a disguised form of coercing the common folk.

Old men in old men's camps, young men in young men's camps, women in women's camps — it all sounded well ordered, but to put it bluntly, was it not still coercion of the common folk, a wicked means of forcing the people to follow for the sake of swelling one's own power and prestige!

Coercing the common folk was not without its advantages.

For example, if Zhou Shixiang could only recruit three hundred able-bodied men from Luoding to join the army, then in the eyes of the Qing army they would be no more than a small band of Ming troops with three hundred soldiers.

The Qing army would naturally not take such a force seriously, nor could it possibly feel any fear of them.

But if Zhou Shixiang had more than three thousand men under his command, then no matter how many of them were actually able-bodied and how many were old and weak, in the eyes of the Qing army they would still be a large Ming force numbering in the thousands!

Three thousand men on the march would certainly look far more imposing than three or four hundred. Seen from a distance, a dark mass stretching as far as the eye could see — how could that not be an awe-inspiring sight!

Faced with a force far larger than their own, Qing troops with fewer men would naturally not dare to sally forth lightly. If the enemy advanced to the foot of their walls, they would most likely do no more than cower within the city.

In this way, the side with superior numbers could naturally continue to sweep through the villages outside the city like locusts passing over the land, coercing still more common folk and seizing more coin and grain, until they snowballed ever larger and became a force that could not be lightly dismissed.

By then, they would no longer be a small band of roving bandits, but a great horde of roving rebels!

This method was nothing new. Peasant uprisings in dynasty after dynasty had largely followed it.

To speak only of recent times, great rebels such as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had all committed the misdeed of coercing the common folk in the early days of their risings.

By coercing great numbers of commoners into their armies, they had indeed defeated countless Ming forces sent to suppress them, until they shook the very foundations of the Ming state. One could not therefore say the method was entirely useless.

Yet Song Xianggong, who had spent two years in the Chuang camp, utterly abhorred the practice of coercing the common folk.

He firmly opposed Zhou Shixiang's use of this absurd so-called "all the people are soldiers" method to expand his strength, and so great was his shock and anger that his voice trembled.

"Since ancient times, no roving rebel has ever accomplished great things! The lesson of the Chuang bandit is not far behind us. Brother Miehu, you must not imitate him. This all-the-people-are-soldiers scheme is far too absurd, and it must not be adopted. It absolutely must not be done!"

Song Xianggong spoke with deep sincerity, but Zhou Shixiang was unmoved. Instead he replied, "If we do not coerce the common folk, how can we rapidly build up our strength? If we lack even the power to defend ourselves, how can we speak of accomplishing great things!"

Coercing the common folk was naturally no long-term solution, and its drawbacks were too great. It invited criticism, and could easily lead to one being seen as roving rebels, thereby losing the people's hearts.

But at this moment Zhou Shixiang could think of no better method. Moreover, his "all the people are soldiers" was not the same as simply coercing the common folk to swell his numbers — the two could absolutely not be lumped together.

More importantly, what Zhou Shixiang now faced was not the question of whether to establish a base in the future, a territory that could continuously supply coin and grain to sustain a long-term anti-Qing war, but rather the problem that these able-bodied men of Luoding could not bear to leave their homeland!

Reluctance to leave one's homeland was a sentiment peculiar to the Chinese people over thousands of years. With poor transport and limited horizons, making a man leave his native place was an extremely difficult thing, especially when facing a powerful enemy.

If he could not solve this problem of the Luoding able-bodied men being unable to leave their homeland, then no matter how many able-bodied men he recruited in Luoding, it would be to no avail.

If he wanted the young men of Luoding to follow him willingly in doing great things, he had to solve their reluctance to leave home. Otherwise, all his efforts would be a castle in the air, without foundation.

Imagine if one day Zhou Shixiang issued an order for the whole army to march on Guangzhou, to advance toward Fujian or even farther, or if for some strategic purpose he decided to abandon Luoding temporarily — and then his Luoding soldiers, unwilling to leave their homes and fearing their families would suffer Qing reprisals, refused to carry out the order, or even scattered in a single uproar.

How would he, Zhou Shixiang, deal with that?

"I understand your concerns, sir.

There is no such thing in this world as water without a source, so all-the-people-are-soldiers is only a stopgap. When our strength grows in the future, we will naturally open offices and establish a government, administer the land, and collect taxes and grain.

That is the lasting way."

Zhou Shixiang could not afford to lose Song Xianggong's support, so he patiently tried to persuade him.

"If you believe all-the-people-are-soldiers is unacceptable, then what plan do you have, sir, to make those able-bodied men willing to follow us?

At the very least, when the Qing army comes, they must be willing to fight to the death for the safety of their families, rather than scattering in an uproar and running home!"

Song Xianggong could not out-argue him, and knew this was the truth of the matter, so he could only say, "Even if you want all the people to be soldiers, the common folk may not be willing to let you coerce them."

Song Xianggong's softening delighted Zhou Shixiang. "That is why we start with the disaster-stricken common folk. Once we have half the city's population under our control, we need not fear the rest refusing to follow us!"

Zhou Shixiang's method was simple: use silver to buy over the disaster-stricken common folk in the city. Once these people were under control, they could naturally be used to threaten the remaining common folk who had not suffered disaster.

As for the few gentry and great households, they were even less of a concern — whenever necessary, they could be dealt with at any time.

Once all the common folk in the city were gathered under his great banner, there would naturally be no need to worry about these people turning traitor, or cowering and not daring to fight when the Qing army attacked.

With their entire families, old and young, in the army, could they refuse orders? Could they fail to fight to the death?!

"Enough!"

Song Xianggong stared at Zhou Shixiang for a long while, then sighed.

"If you truly mean to do this, I cannot very well dissuade you.

You understand the pros and cons better than I do. I only hope you will not go down a crooked path in the future."

With that, his gaze turned beyond the hall, and with a touch of worry he said, "I wonder how many men Zhao Sihai and the others have recruited?"

"I will go and see now."

Zhou Shixiang was likewise concerned about the recruiting. Had it not been necessary to first secure grain to keep the new recruits and their families fed, he would never have left the matter to Zhao Sihai and Peng Dazhu.

Unexpectedly, Song Xianggong grabbed hold of him and urged, "You have not shut your eyes for a day and a night. The recruiting can wait until tomorrow.

Go and eat something first, and rest a while." With that, and without allowing Zhou Shixiang to refuse, he summoned a minor clerk and ordered him to have someone prepare a meal.

When Kong Guoliang had been there, the yamen had kept kitchen help, so presently someone brought food over.

After eating, Zhou Shixiang heeded Song Xianggong's advice and found a random room in the rear yamen, intending to rest.

But once he lay down, he was startled to sense something amiss in the room, as though someone were spying on him. Alert, he flipped up from the bed, gripping the saber that had belonged to Yunlong, and shouted, "Who's there!"

Within his line of sight, a pretty girl of sixteen sat huddled beneath the cabinet in front of the bed, hugging her shoulders and trembling as she stared at him.

Dear readers, my apologies — Bones here is a drinker. Today I had a bottle with the old master, and by the time I got back my head was spinning and I truly could not keep my wits about me, so today I have barely managed a single chapter. Please forgive me!