Chapter 7: The County Magistrate

The reason these men looked at Zhou Shixiang with such admiration was that they had all suffered terribly at the hands of You Yunlong.

The previous year, Li Dingguo of the Southern Ming had launched an attack on Guangdong from Liuzhou in Guangxi.

Guo Zhiqi, then a Grand Secretary of the Yongli court, and Lian Chengbi, Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, actively contacted the scattered anti-Qing loyalist forces and Southern Ming troops throughout Guangdong to coordinate with Li's main army.

In order to recruit more men and build up their strength, they even extended their righteous appeals to the bandits in every region.

Many of these men had indeed once served in the Ming army, but after six or seven years of Ming-Qing fighting over Guangdong, their units had either been defeated and destroyed by the Qing army, forced to retreat to remote corners of the Guangdong coast, followed the Yongli Son of Heaven all the way to the rear, or surrendered to the Qing and transformed into the Green Standard overnight.

In short, once their officers fled, most of these men became scattered soldiers and stragglers, and turning bandit was their only choice — after all, they were unwilling to shave their heads and become obedient subjects of the Manchu Qing, and apart from wielding a blade to kill, they knew how to do nothing else.

After turning bandit, these men had done their share of bullying the common folk, but when they learned that the Guangxi Ming army was going to attack Guangdong and saw the recruitment notices issued by the Southern Ming Grand Secretary and Governor, they came down from the mountains one after another to join the loyalist forces, driven by the conviction that as sons of Han they ought to fight the Tartars to the bitter end.

The loyalist force they joined at that time was a unit organized by Zhang Xiaoqi, Governor of the four prefectures of Gao, Lian, Lei, and Qiong under the Southern Ming.

Later, when Li Dingguo's great army entered Guangdong and won victory after victory, beating the Qing forces in Guangdong back until they cowered around Guangzhou and dared not move, Zhang Xiaoqi led his troops to Xinhui to join the siege of the city.

Unexpectedly, on the very second day after arriving at Xinhui, You Yunlong, the Qing garrison commander in the city, launched a surprise attack on the Ming army with four hundred elite cavalry, and Zhang Xiaoqi's unit was the first to bear the brunt.

Almost in an instant, Zhang Xiaoqi's hastily assembled force was shattered by the Qing army — the dead were truly beyond counting, and the wounded beyond reckoning.

The men before Zhou Shixiang were survivors of that battle.

They had all witnessed with their own eyes how an army of ten thousand had been crushed by a few hundred Qing cavalry, and how You Yunlong, the garrison commander of Xinhui, had fought like ten men, charging fiercely at the very front.

Even now, the memory of that scene filled them with lingering terror. So when they learned that You Yunlong had actually been killed by this very xiucai Zhou before them, how could they not be astonished, and how could they not be filled with admiration!

"So you're a hero who kills Tartars! Brother Zhou, please rise, quickly!"

The lead man was already beside himself with excitement and stepped forward personally to help Zhou Shixiang up. As Zhou Shixiang rose, he noticed that the man's left arm was missing half its length.

After Zhou Shixiang stood up, the man stepped back a few paces, then together with the rest of the men bowed deeply to Zhou Shixiang and said in unison, "Please accept our bow, Brother Zhou!"

"No, no, I can't accept this!" Zhou Shixiang waved his hands instinctively.

The gentleman Song beside him laughed and said, "Why can't you accept it? Brother Zhou, do you know that last year they all nearly died at You Yunlong's hands?

If you hadn't killed that villain, they might never have avenged this grudge in their lifetimes. So accepting their bow is only right and proper — no need to decline."

As the gentleman Song spoke, the men had already bowed down insistently, and Zhou Shixiang, having no choice, could only accept the gesture.

After the bowing, the atmosphere changed from before. The men now looked at Zhou Shixiang with eyes as ardent as if they were gazing at a pretty bride, and the man with the full beard was the first to return An'er's longevity locket to Zhou Shixiang.

Zhou Shixiang, however, was still confused at heart, not knowing just who these people were. He wanted to take advantage of the moment to get closer to them, strike up familiarity, and fish for some information, but he didn't know how to begin.

He could only look awkwardly at the gentleman Song and say sheepishly, "I still haven't had the honor of asking your esteemed name, sir?"

The gentleman Song started, then slapped his own head and laughed heartily.

"Look at me — so busy introducing you to the brothers that I forgot to introduce myself."

Then he introduced himself: "My humble surname is Song, given name Xianggong. Because I know a bit of medicine and can read and write, they all call me Sir Song.

If you don't mind, you may call me Sir Song just as they do."

Song Xianggong?

Hearing this name, Zhou Shixiang's expression turned a little odd. Sir Song knew why and didn't mind, saying self-deprecatingly, "A name given by one's parents — even if there's something unsuitable about it, a son can do nothing.

But the name Xianggong is fine too; it makes me seem benevolent and righteous, doesn't it? Heh heh."

"Yes, yes, benevolent and righteous is good, benevolent and righteous is good." Zhou Shixiang didn't feel it was his place to comment on another man's name, so he could only nod and echo a few words.

The lead man laughed from the side and said, "Brother Zhou, Sir Song is not only benevolent and righteous, and not only skilled in medicine and letters. Do you know, our Sir Song once served as a County Magistrate — a man of great ability."

"Oh?"

The former owner of this body, who held xiucai rank, had dreamed of nothing more than passing the imperial examinations and becoming a county magistrate — a father-and-mother official to a whole county.

But he had never even managed to pass the juren examination, so becoming a County Magistrate could only ever be a dream.

Upon hearing that this Song Xianggong had actually served as a County Magistrate, Zhou Shixiang couldn't help but feel deep respect and regard him in a new light.

But no sooner had the man spoken than Sir Song's face turned bright red. Wringing his hands, he stammered, "What County Magistrate? Brother Zhou, don't listen to Hu Da's nonsense. I never served as a County Magistrate, never..."

"Hey, that's not right — how can you say you never served?" The lead man was not about to let Sir Song's words stand. "You clearly served as a county magistrate. Why won't you admit it in front of Brother Zhou?"

"Boss Hu, let's talk about this another day, another day. For now, let's head back to the stronghold."

Sir Song's face was flushed crimson as he hurriedly tried to change the subject, but Boss Hu hadn't realized that he truly didn't want to bring the matter up.

Ignoring Sir Song's repeated meaningful glances, he launched into a spirited account, spittle flying, of how Sir Song had become a County Magistrate back in the day.

Had he not spoken, all would have been well — but once he did, Zhou Shixiang listened with his jaw dropping.

It turned out that this Song Xianggong was originally from Nanyang Prefecture in Henan, a xiucai of the Chongzhen era. Only because his family was utterly destitute and wars raged ceaselessly, making it impossible for him to study in peace, had he stopped at the xiucai rank.

Otherwise, he would surely have been another tale of a youth passing the juren examination — and who knows, he might even have gone on to pass the jinshi. (This experience was rather similar to Zhou Shixiang's own.)

That year, seeing no hope of passing the juren examination and with the Chuang bandits growing powerful as they passed through, Song Xianggong, desperate for a future, took the reckless step of joining the Chuang rebels.

It was the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, and Song Xianggong was thirty-one years old.

After joining the rebels, although Song Xianggong was merely a poor xiucai who had never passed the juren examination — hardly a true man of letters and without any reputation to speak of — he was still a xiucai, able to read and write, and among the rough, unlettered men of the rebel camp he stood out like a crane among chickens.

The rebel general he served under was quite fond of him, promoted him to clerk and secretary in the army, and treated him generously.

A scholar will die for the one who appreciates him. The rebel general treated Song Xianggong with great kindness, and Song Xianggong was deeply grateful, devoting himself wholeheartedly to serving his patron.

For more than two years in the army, he handled all matters properly, and every official document, from top to bottom, was free of error — earning him the rebel general's high regard.

Song Xianggong had assumed that once the Chuang rebels took the capital, the new dynasty would surely be established, and since the rebels treated men of letters well — the juren Niu Jinxing had already risen to become Chancellor of the Dashun court — as long as he worked steadily and served diligently, the new dynasty would surely make great use of him one day.

Though he might not have Niu Jinxing's fortune of standing in the imperial court, he could at least secure a County Magistrate post in the new dynasty, and with a bit of luck, even a Prefect's position was not out of reach.

That way, he would bring glory to his ancestors and fully repay his parents' nurturing kindness.

And indeed, things unfolded just as Song Xianggong had imagined.

As the great army captured the capital and it became all but certain that Dashun would replace the Great Ming, the rebel general, in his delight, told Song Xianggong that once the Yongchang Emperor formally ascended the throne in Beijing, he would submit a memorial recommending him as a county magistrate.

Having received the rebel general's promise, Song Xianggong was overjoyed and even more grateful to his patron. Who could have imagined that just as his wish was about to be fulfilled, the Earl of Pingxi, Wu Sangui, would invite the Manchu armies through the pass?

The Chuang rebels were defeated in a single battle and collapsed utterly — and the speed of their collapse left Song Xianggong dumbstruck, something he could never, ever have anticipated!

After the Chuang leader died, the rebel generals were left leaderless, living in constant dread. Seeing that the cause was lost, Song Xianggong's heart turned once more.

He heard that the Earl of Pingxi, Wu Sangui, had borrowed the barbarians to suppress the bandits, and that a Prince of Fu of the Zhu Ming line had ascended the throne in Nanjing.

For a moment, deluded by wishful thinking, he believed that the realm would ultimately still belong to the Great Ming.

Rather than be hunted down by the Ming army in the future and sent to the executioner's block, it would be better to defect from the rebel camp and return to the Great Ming now.

Song Xianggong also reflected that he was merely a clerk in the rebel camp, and that if he defected to the Ming he couldn't bring anyone with him — a lone man with nothing to his name, how would the Ming court possibly value him?

So he steeled his heart and, in the dead of night, stole the official seal of the rebel general who had been as kind to him as a mountain, then fled south, intending to try his luck in the southern capital with the stolen seal.

Unexpectedly, before he even reached the southern capital, he was captured on the way, north of the Yangtze. The ones who captured Song Xianggong were soldiers under Regional Commander Li Chengdong, a subordinate of Gao Jie, newly enfeoffed by the Southern Ming as Earl of Xingping.

This Li Chengdong, nicknamed "Li Hezi," had, like Gao Jie, originally been a member of the Chuang rebels, and had later defected with Gao Jie to the Ming.

Because the Chuang rebels were too powerful for Gao Jie to resist, he had led Chengdong and his men in flight southward, temporarily settling in Xuzhou, north of the Yangtze.

After the cataclysmic upheaval of the Jiashen year, Gao Jie's force, once a pack of homeless strays, found its fortunes turning with the times.

Relying on the troops under his command to support the Prince of Fu's enthronement, he was enfeoffed as Earl of Xingping, and later was relied upon by Shi Kefa, the Grand Secretary and key minister of the Hongguang court, as one of the Four Garrisons North of the Yangtze.

When Gao Jie was enfeoffed as Earl of Xingping, Li Chengdong was also appointed Regional Commander of Xuzhou.

After his soldiers captured Song Xianggong fleeing south and found the rebel general's official seal on his person, they mistakenly believed Song Xianggong was a high-ranking officer of the Chuang camp.

Delighted as if they had found a treasure, they gleefully escorted Song Xianggong to the Regional Commander's headquarters to claim their reward.

Song Xianggong protested his innocence in every way he could, arguing desperately, but a scholar meeting soldiers can never make himself understood. Chengdong's subordinates paid him no heed.

Chengdong himself, however, was no fool. Seeing at once that Song Xianggong was dressed as a scholar, he grew suspicious.

Taking the man's hands, he found no calluses — clear proof he had never held a blade or spear — and immediately began questioning him closely.

To save his life, Song Xianggong spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, recounting his experiences in full detail, then wept and begged for mercy.

Chengdong smiled without speaking, ordered his men to untie Song Xianggong, and said to him: What could a petty xiucai who once followed the bandits possibly accomplish in the southern capital? Men wanting official posts there are as numerous as hairs on an ox.

You have no examination rank, no record of service, no money, and no connections. You expect to trade a single rebel general's seal for an official post?

Truly laughable. The way you are now, the government troops in the southern capital would be more likely to bind you as a rebel general and claim credit than anything else.

Better to stay and serve in my army. If you earn merit, I will recommend you to the court someday.

Song Xianggong had not expected Chengdong to actually recruit him, and was overjoyed. He reflected that if Chengdong's men could bind him today as a rebel general to claim credit, there was no reason the southern capital's troops wouldn't do the same tomorrow.

Either way he was surrendering to the Ming — what difference did it make which Ming he joined? He agreed without hesitation and remained in Chengdong's army from then on.

Though Chengdong was a rough man, he valued talent. Song Xianggong had no earth-shaking abilities, but his advantage lay in having served as a clerk in the rebel camp for over two years, making him thoroughly familiar with military regulations and procedures.

He required no training and could be put to use immediately, so Chengdong kept him at his side, in charge of funds, provisions, and official documents. Song Xianggong handled these matters with practiced ease, and master and servant got along harmoniously.

Song Xianggong had thought that now that he had returned to the Ming and the Chuang leader was dead, the Ming's restoration was in sight and his own future was finally secure.

But no one could have imagined that the Great Qing actually intended to swallow the whole realm, and that Shi Kefa, the Grand Secretary and key minister of the Southern Ming Hongguang regime, was a man of mediocre ability — with no intention of recovering the Central Plains, no strategy for holding the south, and no skill in managing his generals.

At court, Ma Shiying and the Donglin Restoration Society faction were locked in endless partisan strife. As a result, a year later the Manchu armies marched south, and Grand Secretary Shi had no plan to counter them.

Of the Four Garrisons North of the Yangtze, only Huang Degong fought to the death and died without surrendering; the other three garrisons all surrendered to the Qing.

The Grand Secretary himself, along with more than eight hundred thousand civilians of Yangzhou, became victims of the Manchu armies' blades, and the Hongguang court was finished.

Before the Qing army marched south, Gao Jie had already been lured to a banquet and murdered by Xu Dingguo, the Regional Commander of Henan, who had secretly surrendered to the Qing.

After Gao Jie's death, his forces were temporarily commanded by Provincial Military Commander Li Benshen and Regional Commander Li Chengdong.

When the Qing army marched south and Grand Secretary Shi perished at Yangzhou, Chengdong and Benshen, escorting Gao Jie's widow Lady Xing and his heir Gao Xingyuan, shaved their heads and surrendered to the Qing, changing their allegiance and their banners.

Song Xianggong had once been willing to join the rebels, so he had long since cast off a scholar's integrity. Since his patron Chengdong had surrendered to the Qing, he naturally shaved his head as well.

At this point, what could he do even if he refused? The Hongguang regime had already collapsed, the Dashun army was disintegrating, and the realm was clearly about to belong to the Great Qing.

At such a juncture, if he didn't seek wealth and rank in the new dynasty, was he supposed to become a loyal martyr of the Great Ming instead?

The Ming army transformed overnight into the Qing army, and Chengdong and his subordinate generals adapted readily enough. Soon after, a single order from the Manchu Qing's Prince Rui commanded Chengdong's force to march south and attack Suzhou and Songjiang.

As a new servant of the Qing, Chengdong was eager to earn merit, and hastily selected five thousand elite troops to cross the Yangtze and advance south.

Before departing, Chengdong came to ask Song Xianggong whether he wished to accompany him south. Song Xianggong thought to himself: Though I followed you in surrendering to the Qing, I am after all a Han man.

These Manchu soldiers are far too brutal — they committed a great atrocity at Yangzhou. Who knows how many Han people you will kill on this southern campaign against Suzhou and Songjiang?

Better that I not go with you, lest I stain myself with the blood of those Han people in the south and find my conscience uneasy.

Seeing Song Xianggong stammering and hesitating, Chengdong understood what was on his mind but did not call him out. Instead, he sought a favor from the Prince of Yu and secured Song Xianggong an appointment as County Magistrate of Yancheng in Huai'an Prefecture.

He held this County Magistrate post for more than four years, and life was pleasant enough. Unexpectedly, in the fifth year of Shunzhi, Li Chengdong suddenly renounced the Qing and returned to the Ming in Guangdong.

When the news arrived, Song Xianggong was so terrified that he abandoned the gold, silver, and valuables he had amassed over the years and fled south overnight in a panic to join Li Chengdong.

He had no choice but to run!

Song Xianggong understood perfectly well that his County Magistrate post had come through Li Chengdong's recommendation, and everyone in Huai'an Prefecture knew of that connection — which was why, out of consideration for Li Chengdong, they had not made trouble for him.

But now that Li Chengdong had renounced the Qing and returned to the Ming, how could he possibly remain a County Magistrate? His colleagues in Huai'an Prefecture had probably already begun considering whether to bind him and hand him over as a "rebel partisan" to claim credit.

The journey south was full of hardships for Song Xianggong, but though there were alarms, no real danger befell him, and he finally met his former patron — now the exalted Duke of Huiguo of the Southern Ming, Li Chengdong.

Song Xianggong's arrival greatly surprised Li Chengdong as well.

Out of regard for their old relationship, he wanted to put him to important use, but at that time Chengdong was leading his army to attack Ganzhou in Jiangxi, and military affairs were urgent, so he couldn't attend to the matter for the moment.

Song Xianggong himself couldn't wait. Just as he was about to seek another favor from his patron, Chengdong died in battle.

Then the Qing army swept into Guangdong, and with no other choice, Song Xianggong followed Boss Hu — who had once been one of Chengdong's personal guards — and turned bandit.

Through years of wind and rain after that, now bandit, now Ming soldier, now loyalist — he had been tossed about quite thoroughly, yet in the end he was still just a bandit in the mountains.

Author's note: The southern capital refers to Nanjing.

Jiangnan Province was originally the Southern Metropolitan Region of the Ming dynasty.

After the Manchu Qing entered the pass, Nanjing was renamed Jiangning, and in the second year of Shunzhi, following the Ming system, the Jiangnan Provincial Administration Commission was established, with the Governor's yamen located in Jiangning Prefecture.

In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, Jiangnan was divided into the two provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui.