Chapter 41: Reorganization

Please give me a little more support. Thank you.

With one person taking the lead, the crowd was like a thousand-li dike breached by an ant hole. First they looked at one another, and soon they were calling out to each other, bringing their whole families, young and old, to sign up.

The promises Zhou Shixiang had made them were simply too tempting; they could not help but be moved.

Those who signed up were basically all residents whose homes had been caught in the fire. They had nothing left now, and rather than wait for death with no food and no clothes, they might as well grit their teeth and take a chance.

What if what that xiucai said was true — wouldn't that be a pie falling from the sky! Besides, it was the Ming army after all; no matter how bad it was, could it be worse than the Tartars?

Better hurry, or if they stop recruiting, there'll be nowhere to go and regret it. Once they leave, who in the city will care whether they live or die? Can they still count on two bowls of thin gruel a day to keep them alive?

"After we sign up, you'll give us food, give us clothes, and even give us meat to eat, right?"

"Yes!"

"Then will you still pay the two taels of silver you mentioned before?"

"We will, but only to able-bodied men. The old and children get none."

"Why don't the old and children get any?"

"Because before, we weren't taking them. Now we are, and we still have to feed them, clothe them, and give them meat!"

"Oh? Fine!"

"Xiucai, my second grand-uncle is blind. He asked me to come ask — can he sign up too?"

"That... yes, he can. Have him come sign up."

"Xiucai, my family still has some relatives up in the mountains. If they're willing to join too, will you take them?"

"We will!"

"....."

Zhou Shixiang could not count how many times he had said the word "take," nor could he remember how many words against his own judgment he had spoken. As for the blind, the lame, and other such disabled people, he truly had no idea what use they could be once taken in.

But since he had already spoken big words, he could only steel himself and agree for now. As for how to settle them later, that could be dealt with later.

As for continuing to make good on paying two taels of silver to the able-bodied men, Zhou Shixiang did not feel it was a loss. To put it bluntly, those two taels of silver were money for buying lives.

The silver could be given to them, but whether they lived to spend it depended on their own luck. Besides, if they did not fight with their lives, what would they use to feed their wives and children?

In this world there is simply no such thing as a pie falling from the sky. No matter what is promised, in the end it still has to be earned by the hands of those involved. Expecting others to selflessly devote themselves to you — even several hundred years later, no such thing exists.

Survival of the fittest.

Watching the fervent sign-up scene, these four words suddenly surfaced in Zhou Shixiang's mind. He knew very well that most of these commoners probably would not live to see the day their dreams came true, because reality was too cruel, and the enemy they faced was too powerful.

Zhou Shixiang knew deeply that no matter how dazzlingly he spoke, today's scene could not escape the two words "forcible coercion."

If he succeeded, that would be fine — future historians would always sing a hymn for what he did today, with phrases like "the scholars and people turned their hearts to him," "with one rallying cry, all quarters responded," and so on.

But if he failed, his end would be little better than Li Zicheng's or Zhang Xianzhong's — though probably a bit better than the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's. At least he had not created a God-Worshipping Society.

Now it remained to be seen whether he could lead these "coerced" commoners to create one miracle after another, giving them a little more chance to survive.

There were simply too many commoners stirred up by Zhou Shixiang. They surrounded the city gate passage in layer upon layer, and after waiting and waiting, Zhao Sihai, who could not wait for Boss Hu and Song Xianggong to arrive, did not dare stop them.

He could only lead the previously recruited able-bodied men to maintain order, and called over two minor clerks to register the applicants and compile a roster.

The two clerks who had been dragged over to do the registration were dumbfounded at the scene. They had seen something of the world, and they would never believe such a good thing truly existed in this world.

They both thought these bandits were fooling the commoners into selling their lives and going to their deaths for them!

Wicked! If you want to take the able-bodied men, take them — why drag these old, weak, women, and children down the road to death too!

Utterly devoid of conscience!

Roving rebels, roving bandits, may you die a wretched death!

Curse as they might, the "roving rebels'" blades were right beside them, and these two clerks, however bold, did not dare openly dissuade the commoners. They could only dutifully register the roster there. Every time they wrote down a name, both sighed inwardly: another fool going to his death!

"My name is Song Erniu. My family of six is signing up. This is my mother, this is my wife, these two are my children, and the little one is my nephew."

"My name is Lin Qilong. My family of four is signing up. This is my father, my mother, and this is my son, childhood name Lin Shitou."

"Where's your wife?"

"The year before last, soldiers carried her off."

"Sir, this humble woman is Qi, née Qin. My sister-in-law and I are willing to do sewing and mending for the soldiers. Please, sir, record us."

"Where are the men of your household?"

"... All dead..."

"Ah, two widows..."

"Little one, why are you alone? Where are your father and mother?"

"My father was taken by the Tartars as a laborer. My mother ran off with another man."

The registration work went on until afternoon before it was more or less concluded. Those remaining either would rather die than join the army, or still had relatives to turn to, and saw no need to gamble on whether these soldiers were truly showing charity.

These people made up about one-fifth of the total disaster victims, over two hundred people. They gathered in a group, watching coldly from the sidelines, and from time to time mocking smiles appeared at the corners of their mouths.

Zhou Shixiang took in their expressions and sneered inwardly as well, but for the moment he did not intend to make an example of them, because he still needed to reorganize the people already recruited.

He did not expect them to have combat strength immediately, but at the very least they had to learn to obey orders and heed their officers.

Zhao Sihai, with a bitter face, presented the roster to Zhou Shixiang for review. According to Zhou Shixiang's instructions, all men aged fourteen and above and under forty-five were to be counted as able-bodied.

Except for those with disabilities, all the rest were to be organized and trained into troops. After screening, a total of 320 people met this condition, while the remaining 800-plus were all old, weak, women, and children.

Zhou Shixiang wanted Zhao Sihai to take men and reorganize the 320 able-bodied men together with the 35 who had earlier been willing to join the army. Zhao Sihai asked how to reorganize them.

After thinking, Zhou Shixiang told him to organize them by squads of ten and companies of fifty, with the old brothers from Daqiao Mountain serving as squad leaders and company commanders.

Once the men were organized, they were to be issued Ming army uniforms and weapons, and they should strive to have the entire force reorganized before sunset, as he would have great use for them then.

Although Zhao Sihai was dissatisfied with Zhou Shixiang's recruitment of the old, weak, women, and children, he was happy about reorganizing the able-bodied men.

He had served in the Ming army before, and although Zhou Shixiang's method of organizing squads differed somewhat from the Ming army's, the general idea was much the same.

Moreover, once reorganized, he and the old brothers from Daqiao Mountain would each be able to command troops. Though squad leader and company commander were still a far cry from the Route Commander and Garrison Commander they imagined, it was at least a good start, was it not?

With troops in hand, was there any fear of not getting an official post?

As for the remaining 800-plus old, weak, women, and children, Zhou Shixiang had no plan for the moment to divide them into an old camp and a women's camp.

Instead, he would keep them mixed together for now, which would more easily dispel these people's suspicions and also make it convenient for the younger members of each family to look after the older ones. After all, with family close by, their hearts would settle considerably.

There had been a prior promise: as long as they joined, there would be food to eat and meat to eat. Clothing was not urgent for the moment.

Grain was readily available — the wealthy households' relief contributions and the unaffected residents' homes had all been assigned grain requisition quotas, so as soon as the pots were set up, the kitchen could start. Meat, however, was somewhat troublesome.

In the end, it was the three fat pigs "borrowed" from Zhang Changquan's household that solved the urgent problem.

By evening, all 355 able-bodied men had been reorganized. Each one put on a cleanly washed Ming army uniform, with blade or spear in hand. They looked quite good, full of spirit.

Boss Hu and Song Xianggong also hurried over from the prefectural magistrate's yamen just before dark.

But to Zhao Sihai's surprise, Boss Hu greatly appreciated Zhou Shixiang's approach of recruiting all the commoners into the army, and Song Xianggong praised it repeatedly as well, leaving Zhao Sihai very puzzled.

Zhou Shixiang, however, knew the reason in his heart: Song Xianggong must have explained his thinking to Hu Quan, which was why Hu Quan supported him so fully.

To avoid any suspicion of overstepping his authority, Zhou Shixiang asked Boss Hu to appoint the company commanders and squad leaders.

After some polite demurral, Boss Hu did not stand on ceremony, and forthwith appointed Zhao Sihai, Ge Wu, Peng Dazhu, Ge Liu, and Baldy as company commanders of the five companies, while all the squad leader positions were filled by the old brothers.

Because there were still several dozen Qing army prisoners locked up in the yamen, Boss Hu sent Peng Dazhu with one company of troops to the yamen to stand guard.

Ge Wu and the others had only just arrived and did not yet know what Zhou Shixiang had said and done during the day. Once Zhao Sihai told them about the public treasury and the old, weak, women, and children, sure enough, he started making a fuss again.