Chapter 11: 011: The Rebel Routed

Tapotian was not spending the night in town at all!

It wasn't that the scoundrel was particularly vigilant, but rather that about three li east of town stood a grand residence built by a local gentry magnate. Not only was it extravagantly luxurious, but its compound walls were towering — a place where one could enjoy comfort and still protect one's own safety.

The two hundred or so strongest rioters had been selected by Tapotian as his personal guard, and they stayed with him in the great residence outside town.

The lovely wives and beautiful concubines in the residence were divided up among the several rebel ringleaders.

The serving maids and slave girls were distributed to the personal guard commanders.

Even the sturdy women who did the washing and sweeping, along with women seized from the town, were bestowed upon the two hundred personal guards — who, once they had eaten their fill, set about releasing their lust.

Tapotian at this moment was snoring away in deep slumber, lying beside a young woman who wore not a stitch of clothing.

The young woman had clearly suffered brutal ravaging. Only after Tapotian was sound asleep did she quietly grope her way up in the dark. She felt inside a cabinet and took out a pair of scissors; tears streaked down her cheeks as she walked step by step toward Tapotian.

"Bang!"

In the darkness, the young woman tripped over a stool.

Tapotian jolted awake with a start and demanded, "What are you trying to do?"

"Vile villain, I won't let you go even as a ghost!" The young woman, knowing revenge was hopeless, instead turned the scissors around and stabbed fiercely at her own chest.

Tapotian hurriedly lit the oil lamp. Looking at the young woman with blood streaming from her chest, he said in a daze, "You... didn't you want to be an empress? I truly meant to marry you, I didn't care that you were already wed. What does your dying count for? What does your dying count for? Wu wu wu..."

This rebel chief actually broke down sobbing in a low voice — all because the young woman was the secret crush he had yearned for over many years.

Tapotian's home village was right in Duliu Town.

He had once been a private salt peddler, and of the lowest sort at that.

In the Ming dynasty, trafficking private salt took the following forms —

First, official-private, where officials and their family members smuggled salt in transit; second, military-private, where army units took part in private salt dealing; third, merchant-private, exceeding the salt-certificate quota by loading extra weight; fourth, canal-private, using canal-troop soldiers and canal boats to run smuggling; fifth, xiao-private, also called salt-xiao, gathering mobs of thugs to carry out large-scale private salt trafficking.

As for Tapotian, he could only be called a salt-gun.

He would round up three or five able-bodied men and travel through villages and towns peddling crude salt — in nature, much like a peddler earning bitter toil money.

Crude salt, in turn, was divided into alkaline salt and nitrate salt, produced by scraping nitrate-alkaline soil and boiling it down. The taste was bitter and acrid, it carried toxicity, and only the very lowest class of common folk would buy it.

Even the meager profits from peddling crude salt drew the attention of the Patrol and Inspection Office.

Two of Tapotian's partners were arrested. He took his two remaining brothers and fled to the Tianjin South Dock to try to survive. They could have scraped by selling their labor, but then came several months of drought — the Grand Canal grew shallow and dry, navigation ceased, and with it the dock coolies' work was lost.

Then revolt it was — fight their way back home, and seize the woman of his heart: the granddaughter-in-law of Squire Hu of this very town.

Tapotian's face was awash in tears. He sat beside the young woman's corpse, stifling his voice as he wept with heart-rending grief.

"Dong dong dong dong dong!"

"Kill!"

The pounding of drums and the shouts of slaughter suddenly rang out. Tapotian sprang up in alarm, shouting even as he dressed, "Could it be government troops attacking?"

Wang Yongshi tucked the hem of his robe into his belt, rolled up his sleeves, raised his sword, and charged: "My lads, defend our homeland — the moment is now! Follow me and kill!"

Before setting out, each of these brave men had received three taels of silver as a family-settling allowance, and after the battle they would also get two taels of silver as reward. Moreover, Wang Yongshi had promised to exempt them from corvée labor for the next three years, with the corvée fees directly struck from the Single Whip tax.

Five taels of silver, and three years' exemption from labor service — enough to make a man stake his life.

Every one of the brave men was sturdy and strong; those with night blindness were rejected.

Pity that none of them knew how to fight.

When they charged, the ranks fell completely into chaos — squad leaders could not find their own men, and squad leaders had no idea where their squad leaders were. What's more, they did not know to conserve their strength, breaking into a full sprint while still far away, so that by the time they reached the town they were gasping and panting from exhaustion.

A disorderly mob.

Still, as the saying goes, the peasant army was even more rotten!

The rioters scattered about the town were startled awake by the drumbeats and battle cries. In a fluster they threw on clothes and came out to see what was happening. They saw countless torches outside the town, and were so terrified they immediately turned tail and fled — yet still remembered to bring along the grain they had looted.

They did not take their weapons, only money and grain, having completely forgotten they were a rebel peasant army.

Many of the rioters also suffered from night blindness; fleeing blindly, they tumbled into the canal, and in the night countless numbers drowned.

"Kill!"

The five hundred-odd brave men had originally been afraid to die, but seeing this situation, they suddenly were afraid no longer. One by one they transformed into peerless fierce generals, often a single man daring to chase down and slaughter scores of the enemy.

The local braves chased until they lost all unit organization, and the rioters fled until they lost all unit organization — the night raid turned into a muddled, chaotic melee.

Zhang Fen and Song Chunming, the two chiefs of the township Patrol and Inspection Office, no longer bore the wretched look they'd had during the day. Now they seemed as if Lü Bu had possessed them, brandishing their waist sabers as they chased and hacked all the way. Wherever they passed, no foe could last a single exchange — each stepped into the most glorious moment of his life.

Fei Yinghuan pursued for a spell, then found his interest waning. He stopped, returned his sword to its scabbard, and took out a folding fan to enjoy the moon and cool air.

Wei Jianxiong could not even be bothered to use his wrought-iron staff; he merely held a torch aloft as he gave chase. On horseback he overtook a rioter, seized him, and demanded, "Where is Tapotian? Tell me and I'll spare your life!"

The rioter answered in terror, "To the east, in Squire Hu's residence."

"He's not in town?" Wei Jianxiong pressed.

"No, no." The rioter was nearly fainting from fright.

Wei Jianxiong flung the man aside and galloped east, shouting as he went, "Quickly, follow me and hunt down the rebel chief!"

No one answered the call — they had all gone kill-mad, and chased themselves into chaos.

Wei Jianxiong had no choice but to ride on alone. He did not know where Squire Hu's residence was, and spurred his horse at a wild gallop eastward, going by rough estimation.

He had ridden who knows how far when he finally spotted several rioters, laden with bundles large and small, fleeing for their lives.

Wei Jianxiong spurred his horse after them, clubbed one dead with a single blow of his staff, smashed open several more heads in succession, then seized a survivor and forced out the question: "Where is Tapotian?"

"No idea, they've all run off!"

"Worthless scum!"

Wei Jianxiong was so furious he brought his staff smashing down, and the man's brains instantly burst out.

Tapotian at that moment was also seething with rage. Government troops had raided Duliu Town by night, and he, being outside the town, had initially been safe. He had hurriedly mustered his two hundred-odd personal guards — there was even time to haul away valuables and goods — intending to take this core force and continue roaming as bandits.

Who could have guessed that after fleeing barely one li, more than half of his two hundred-odd personal guards would scatter and vanish.

Even the old brothers who had peddled crude salt together with him had quietly slipped away with goods and money — in the pitch-black dark, who the hell knew where they had gone.

The band was impossible to rein in. Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven, utterly disheartened, said to the hundred-odd personal soldiers who remained: "We are all good brothers who have fought side by side. Now that calamity is upon us, I will not make things hard for you. Take what goods you will and scatter."

The men were overjoyed and fell to plundering goods from the carts.

Yet a dozen or so remained, gathered around Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven, unwilling to leave. They said: "General, surrendering to the government troops is death, and going home to farm is death too. Better to follow you, General, and fight for a future!"

These words rekindled Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven's fighting spirit. Moved to tears, he said: "You are all good brothers. You do not forsake me, and I shall not forsake you. From this day forward, we share fortune and endure hardship together. Leave the surplus goods — take only grain and weapons. We shall skirt Jinghai and rise up in Yanshan County!"

A disheveled, wild-haired rioter, who had been cowering at the very rear, suddenly stepped forward: "General, let this lowly one hold your horse. The General is Lord Guan the Second; this lowly one is willing to be Zhou Cang."

Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven burst out laughing: "Ha ha, so you've heard the operas too — you've got a bit of learning in that belly. Where is your home village?"

The rioter answered: "Reporting to the General, this lowly one's home is in Zongbao Village, Ziya Township. The whole family fled famine to Duliuzhen to beg. Luck was against us, Heaven was blind, and every one of my family starved to death. Just then I chanced upon the General doing great deeds."

"You speak in such a bookish way — have you had some schooling?" Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven asked, puzzled.

The rioter cupped his hands and said: "I studied a few years at a village school. Pity I never passed the xiucai exam — my family had no money, so I stopped."

Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven said: "I went to Zongbao Village to sell salt. Last year the village produced a juren — called… what was his name again?"

"Gao Eryan, courtesy name Zhongfu," the rioter explained. "He is my clan cousin, from the main lineage. I am only from a cadet branch. This lowly one's name is Gao Ershun."

Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven searched his memory: "Gao Ershun? I seem to recall something. Does your family live on the east end of the village?"

The rioter said: "Exactly so. The General has a fine memory."

Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven's last doubts vanished. Greatly pleased, he said: "Brother Gao, since you are a scholar, from now on you shall be my military advisor. When I become Emperor, you shall be Chancellor."

"Many thanks, General. This lowly one will hold the General's horse." The rioter seized the chance to step closer.

Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven handed him the reins and said: "Advisor Gao, I intend to rise up in Yanshan County. Devise a stratagem for me, would you—"

Mid-sentence, he stopped abruptly. A dagger had been thrust into Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven's belly.

The rioter twisted the dagger half a turn, pulled it out, and stabbed it in again.

After several thrusts, Broken-Hearted at Trampling Heaven slowly collapsed to the ground.

The rioter drew Heartless at Heaven-Trampling's saber, vaulted onto the horse with startling agility, and before the other rioters could react, spurred the horse forward, hacking and slashing as he bellowed: "Gao Eryan, juren of Ziya Township, is here!"

The bandits were all terrified and fled in every direction.

Gao Eryan immediately wheeled around, severed Heartless at Heaven-Trampling's head, and galloped off toward Duliuzhen.

Clippety-clop, clippety-clop!

After riding for a spell, the sound of hoofbeats came from the open wilderness.

Gao Eryan reined in his horse and shouted: "Who comes from the other side?"

Wei Jianxiong answered: "Wei Jianxiong, great general under His Honor County Magistrate Wang of Jinghai!"

Gao Eryan raised the head and declared: "I am Gao Eryan, juren of Ziya Township! The bandit chieftain Heartless at Heaven-Trampling has been executed — his head is here!"

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(End of chapter)