Chapter 107: Tempering Troops in Real Combat (For Alliance Leader

Zuo Xiaoliang came to join Zhao Han not out of any plan to hedge his bets.

The Huang and Zuo clans are both great families of Ji'an.

The Huangs of Huangjia Town and the Zuos of Huangba Village are merely remote, minor branches split off from the main lines.

Zuo Xiaoliang's home is in Huangba Village, on the opposite bank from Wuxing Town, where the villagers rose up on their own and divided the land. By the time Zhao Han took control there, Zuo Xiaoliang was so destitute that he had only a few mu of land left — and because of that, he escaped the purge.

As for Zuo Xiaocheng, who went to join the Governor, his home is in Yongyang Town.

That area is right on the front line: the west, north, and south are all already occupied by the rioters. Because Yongyang Town is commercially prosperous and its land fairly fertile, the peasants there can still scrape by for now, so no landlord-killings have broken out yet.

But the gentry are still afraid. They have quietly called up their clansmen and household slaves to drill troops, on constant guard against the peasants rising with polearms.

Zuo Xiaocheng and Zuo Xiaoliang had never known each other until both passed the xiucai exam. Seeing from their names that they were clan brothers, they quickly grew close.

When the riots erupted one after another in Xuanhua Township, the two of them were in Nanchang sitting for the provincial examinations.

Both failed to pass the juren exam. Traveling home together, they learned of the situation and agreed to go to Wuxing Village to scout out the truth.

After some inquiries, Zuo Xiaocheng was horrified. He rushed at once to Ji'an and sought an audience with Governor Xie Xuelong.

Zuo Xiaoliang, however, was torn between hope and worry. He stayed to observe Zhao Han's governance, and gradually, he found himself won over.

His own family was already desperately poor. During the provincial exams he could not even eat his fill — it was Zuo Xiaocheng who gave him a few meat cakes. He had passed the xiucai at sixteen, yet failed the provincial exam every time, and now the court had even canceled the tax-and-labor exemptions. Zuo Xiaoliang was utterly disillusioned.

Zuo Xiaoliang felt that Zhao Han might actually succeed!

Bang!

Fei Ruhe slapped his saber onto the table, dropped into a seat, and said, "Is it war, then?"

"No idea," Zhao Han said, his head aching. "The rioters downriver are plundering boats. No merchant ships dare come anymore, so no news gets through either. I've already sent a boat to the prefectural seat — let's hope the rioters don't seize it, or even our scouts won't make it back."

"It ought to be war," Zuo Xiaoliang suddenly spoke up. "My clan cousin has already gone to join the Governor. He knows exactly what Wuxing Town looks like. Unless the Governor is a fool, he is bound to send troops to attack — though he will certainly strike the rioters downriver first."

Fei Ruhe shot Zuo Xiaoliang a sidelong glance. "And who is this?"

Zhao Han said, "Zuo Xiaoliang, courtesy name Dashan, a xiucai gentleman."

"Ha, so at last a xiucai has come over," Fei Ruhe said with a grin, then asked Zuo Xiaoliang, "Can you lead troops into battle?"

Zuo Xiaoliang shook his head. "No."

Fei Ruhe did not mince words. "A civil official, then. Not one of us."

Zuo Xiaoliang answered with a smile and did not bother to argue with the man.

Zhao Han addressed the group: "Lijia Guai must be taken. We march tomorrow. All relevant personnel will accompany the force. Go back and make your preparations!"

Lijia Guai is a large village — large enough to have developed a market town. It sits at a bend in the Heshui River shaped like the character for "table," with land that is flat and richly fertile. To its north are mountains, and across the river are mountains as well. It is a place that must be attacked if the Governor sends troops.

At present it is held by a gang of rioters. After killing the landlords, they turned themselves into the new landlords, and they have formed factions to suppress the tenant farmers.

Worse still, these fellows operate under Zhao Han's banner, claiming with every breath to honor "Mr. Zhao" as their master, yet they refuse to let political workers enter and spread the message.

If Xie Xuelong marches to attack, those fools occupying Lijia Guai are very likely to go straight over to the Governor and help government troops fight Zhao Han.

The next day, the troops set out.

Eight hundred sons of the army marched on foot along the river, while provisions and fodder were carried in small boats — Zhao Han was too poor to buy large troop transports and could only build his own small supply boats.

Zuo Xiaoliang stayed close to Zhao Han, watching the beggar army behind them, a very strange feeling welling up inside him.

Bamboo spears, yellow bamboo poles, pot lids, kitchen cleavers, sickles, shears… could a force like this really fight government troops?

And yet their spirit and morale were so high — a hundred times better than any government soldiers Zuo Xiaoliang had ever seen!

That man called Chen Maosheng, he had heard, used to be an actor. Now he was marching at the head of the column, leading everyone in singing little ditties, the soldiers breaking into laughter from time to time.

Wasn't an army on the march supposed to be solemn and grim?

Zuo Xiaoliang knew nothing of military matters and was somewhat baffled. He still needed time to blend into the group.

Zhao Han's Regional Commander banner was carried by a man called Liu Zhu.

That great banner bore no design at all — just a piece of indigo-dyed cotton cloth. This was the color of commoners' clothing, for indigo dye was cheap, affordable even to peddlers and laborers, and so it could stand for the common people.

The herald was even more interesting. The command flags stuck in his waist were normal enough, and the brass gong hanging from him was normal too — but he also carried a suona on his back.

This herald had once been a folk musician, the kind who played the suona at weddings and funerals.

Word was, when the suona blew, the whole army charged.

Was he blowing for his own side's celebration?

Or sounding a funeral dirge for the enemy?

Huang Shunde's feet were already aching from the march. As the army's Registrar, he dared not complain or call a halt, and could only hobble along, lurching forward.

"Only a few li and your legs are already done for?" Zhao Han teased with a laugh, then his face turned stern. "From now on, you train with the soldiers!"

"At your command!" Huang Shunde said hastily.

A perfectly proper child student, forced into the company of mud-caked bumpkins — you could call it driving a virtuous woman into a brothel.

Still, his re-education was going passably well. He no longer resisted Zhao Han's policies, though the thought of accepting an amnesty had not yet been entirely scrubbed away.

"Brother Dashan," Huang Shunde edged over beside Zuo Xiaoliang, "you're a xiucai, and you even held a stipend before — how is it you've come to join Mr. Zhao too?"

Zuo Xiaoliang asked in return, "And you?"

Huang Shunde promptly declared, "I, of course, admire Mr. Zhao's brilliance, revere Mr. Zhao's virtue and authority, and am convinced that Mr. Zhao can succeed."

Zuo Xiaoliang said, "The same for me."

"Er…" Huang Shunde had nowhere to go with that. The conversation was dead.

At last they reached the bounds of Lijia Guai. The herald pulled out his horn and blew a little tune to draw the attention of the local villagers.

Once enough villagers had gathered, Chen Maosheng stepped forward at once and, with the men and women under him, shouted the slogans of the Great Unity Society — the usual talk of land for all to till, food for all to eat, clothes for all to wear.

"Mr. Zhao has come! We are saved!"

Countless villagers rejoiced and fell in behind the column of their own accord; some even ran ahead to guide Zhao Han.

Zuo Xiaoliang took all this in, and four words surfaced in his mind: Welcoming the King's Army!

The gang of rioters who had seized Lijia Guai were cowed by the sight of the eight-hundred-strong army. Most hid inside the landlord's great mansion; a few quick-witted ones fled straight into the hills.

Zhao Han divided his eight hundred soldiers into four groups and surrounded the large compound tightly.

Just as he was pondering how to attack, the local villagers suddenly carried over ladders and even helped set them against the walls.

So the wolf-brush soldiers raised their branched bamboo poles to obstruct the enemy's vision and movements inside the wall. The rattan-shield soldiers, holding wok lids in one hand and sickles or kitchen knives in the other, swiftly climbed the ladders and scaled the wall, then sat atop it to cover the spearmen coming up.

Zhang Tieniu paid no mind to any of that. He clambered up to the top of the wall in a couple of moves, hefted his axe, and jumped straight down.

Fei Ruhe could not stand anyone being stronger than him, so he also leaped down with his blade.

These two born killers, outnumbered, actually sent the enemy scurrying wildly all over the courtyard. Our troops' morale instantly soared, and ignoring all battle plans, they followed suit and jumped into the courtyard one after another.

In the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, the fight was over.

Zhang Tieniu came over holding a severed head, grinning at Zhao Han as if waiting to be praised.

Zhao Han glared at him furiously and said through gritted teeth, "You've lost this month's pay and earned a major demerit!"

During a military campaign, soldiers did receive pay.

Zhang Tieniu was utterly baffled and said aggrievedly, "But we won."

"Military judge, you explain it to him!" Zhao Han could not be bothered to argue with this idiot.

Li Xiangui, who had been a schoolboy, instantly ran over and said, "Squad Captain Zhang Tieniu, you committed two errors this time!"

Zhang Tieniu scratched his head in distress and said, bewildered, "I made errors? Two of them?"

Li Xiangui laid them out one by one: "First, this operation was primarily a training exercise to drill the troops in real-combat coordination — that was the military order issued before we set out. You sabotaged the live training exercise! Second, military regulations forbid taking heads as proof of merit, and you are holding a severed head in your hand!"

Zhang Tieniu was dumbstruck and instantly had nothing to say.

Zhao Han looked at the wounds on Zhang Tieniu's arm and ribs and sneered again, "Taking on a bunch of village bullies and thugs, and you actually got wounded — two wounds, at that. Truly mighty and valiant!"

Zhang Tieniu explained, "They're just scratches."

Fei Ruhe suddenly appeared and said with a smile, "I'm completely unscathed, not a single wound."

"You get a major demerit too!"

Zhao Han was furious and burst out cursing, "You're a damned first-squad captain, commanding my own elite guards, and you abandoned your men to jump into the courtyard alone and hack away. By the end, you'd vanished, and your soldiers couldn't even find their commanding officer! On a real battlefield, would you abandon your men like that too? If that's how you are, forget doing great things — go back home and be a bandit!"

Fei Ruhe started to speak but stopped. In the end, knowing he was in the wrong, he sighed and said, "I was wrong. I got hot-headed and forgot about the men under me."

A mob, Zhao Han thought anxiously. Nothing but a mob.

They drilled decently enough in peacetime, but they haven't even faced government troops yet — just a bunch of village bullies, and every one of them has shown their true colors!

Zhao Han ignored those two and said to Zuo Xiaoliang, "Follow Chen Maosheng, Fei Chun, Huang Fei, and Huang Fei and learn how things are done. First, open the granaries and distribute grain to draw the villagers in for registration — those who don't register get no grain. Once the household registers are done, survey the fields and distribute land according to the registers. Watch out for trickery during the land distribution. After the land is divided, perform 'The White-Haired Girl,' hold a public trial for these bullies, convene a grievance-airing assembly, and propagate our Great Unity ideology."

"Rest assured, sir, I will certainly study how to do things diligently," Zuo Xiaoliang said, very humbly. Though he already knew the routine, he showed not a trace of impatience.

Zhao Han added, "Once the administrative work at Li Family Bend is finished, I will personally act as your sponsor and invite you into the Great Unity Society."

Zuo Xiaoliang clasped his fist in salute and said, "I shall do my utmost!"

Just then, a scout who had been sent to the prefectural city came rowing back mid-journey and ran over frantically to report: "Sir, government troops are coming — a full sixty thousand strong. The leaders of many villages and towns up ahead are all asking you to come take command, saying we should combine forces to deal with the official suppression campaign."

"Sixty thousand troops, my ass," Zhao Han could not help scoffing. "The Governor, the Prefect, and the County Magistrate could sell their own backsides and still not scrape together the provisions for sixty thousand troops!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The crowd burst into laughter. They had been very tense, but Zhao Han's one remark had them all amused.

(End of chapter)