Chapter 112: 110 The White-Robed Scholar

Zhao Han was smoothly taking over the prefectural treasury, but Fei Ruhe, who had been dispatched to quell the unrest, came under inexplicable attack.

Many street toughs were looting in the chaos, and Fei Ruhe split his troops to stop them in every street. One ten-man squad was actually surrounded and assaulted; the squad leader was beaten over the head with clubs until blood streamed down his face, and he passed out unconscious on the spot.

When Fei Ruhe got word of this, he immediately massed his troops to sweep the area and personally interrogated the prisoners.

"What are you people?" Fei Ruhe demanded, suppressing his fury.

Those fellows hung their heads in dejection, all kneeling on the ground, and one of them said, "Oxen and horses."

Fei Ruhe flew into a rage, drew his blade, and roared, "If you won't come clean, I'll send you straight into your next life to be oxen and horses for real!"

Suddenly, a scholar stepped forward, bowed with clasped hands, and said, "General, permit me to explain. What they call 'oxen and horses' are men of the strike gangs."

Strike gangs were spread throughout the southern provinces, though their specific names varied — in the Southern Metropolitan Region, for instance, they were called "mule drivers."

"And who are you?" Fei Ruhe asked.

The scholar cupped his hands and said, "Xiao Huan, xiucai of Luling, courtesy name Jingming."

Fei Ruhe cupped his hands in return and said, "Zhao Yaonian, courtesy name Ruhe."

Xiao Huan said, "General, lend me fifty soldiers, and within a single shichen I can completely quell the chaos in the south of the city."

Fei Ruhe frowned and said, "If you can't pacify it, I'll pacify you!"

"I am willing to sign a military pledge!" Xiao Huan said with a smile.

A squad captain, leading fifty men, followed Xiao Huan to go and quell the unrest.

Along the way they encountered scattered troublemakers, but Xiao Huan paid them no attention at all, heading straight for a residence in a certain lane and ordering, "Break down the gate and seize the people!"

The rattan-shield bearers raised their wicker shields and took turns charging the gate, quickly smashing it open.

The wolf-brush spearmen immediately thrust forward to clear the path, the long-spearmen swiftly followed, and in a matter of moments they had occupied the residence.

These well-trained soldiers rather surprised Xiao Huan. He strolled into the courtyard and said to an old man who had been seized, "Second Master Liu, call your oxen and horses back at once. Daring to stir up trouble at a time like this — are you tired of living?"

Second Master Liu sneered, "So a white-robed scholar like you has thrown in with the rebels too?"

Seeing that Second Master Liu would not cooperate, Xiao Huan said to one of the rattan-shield bearers, "Cousin, lend me your weapon for a moment."

What weapon?

The bamboo-splitter's knife that bamboo craftsmen use to chop bamboo and pare bamboo strips!

Xiao Huan, dressed all in a white Confucian scholar's robe, raised the bamboo-splitter's knife and hacked down with a sweep of his arm. The youth beside Second Master Liu lost half his head on the spot, dead after only managing a single startled cry.

"Xiao Wu!"

Second Master Liu was stricken with shock and fury, then burst into howling, tearful rage.

Xiao Huan said, "I have already killed one of your sons. Do you want me to slaughter your whole family as well?"

Second Master Liu's expression turned venomous. He ground his teeth and said, "Let me go out!"

"By all means." Xiao Huan smiled faintly.

The old man went out into the street and summoned several strike gang members to issue orders.

Very soon, the strike gangs from three nearby streets all came to the residence to report in, nearly every man laden with plundered goods and valuables.

"Close the gate. Kill them!"

At Xiao Huan's command, the courtyard gate was immediately shut.

A battle formation of wolf-brush spearmen, rattan-shield bearers, and long-spearmen charged at the street toughs armed with an assortment of weapons, and victory was decided in an instant.

It could be said that the toughs were utterly helpless to fight back.

A few of the rattan-shield bearers even took the chance to swap weapons, tossing aside the sickles and kitchen cleavers in their hands and replacing them with looted iron waist-swords.

"Leave not a single one," Xiao Huan said, pointing at Second Master Liu. "Be sure to kill his entire family!"

The squad captain, however, would not obey. "Mr. Zhao said no killing indiscriminately. Tie them all up and take them away."

Xiao Huan had no choice but to escort the prisoners, including the women and children of Second Master Liu's household, and hand them over to Fei Ruhe, who was in charge of quelling the unrest.

Immediately after, Xiao Huan led these soldiers off again to search for the other strike gang ringleaders.

In less than a shichen, the chaos was entirely suppressed. Over four hundred strike gang members and their families were killed or captured.

Fei Ruhe personally wrote a proclamation to reassure the people and sent his men to post it in every street. Clapping Xiao Huan on the shoulder, he said, "Not bad. You do things with method. I'll take you to meet the Society Head."

"Would that be Mr. Zhao?" Xiao Huan asked.

Fei Ruhe laughed. "The very man."

"That is my dearest wish." Xiao Huan cupped his hands.

The prefectural yamen.

Zhao Han pointed at the various official documents and said to a dozen or so xiucai, "Pull out everything from the last five years. I'll be taking them with me in a few days."

The xiucai dared not refuse, afraid they would be cut down with a single stroke.

They were all impoverished xiucai. The truly wealthy scholars would never have stayed behind at the prefectural or county schools. Though their names were still registered here, their daily place of study was the White Egret Isle Academy.

Li Zheng suddenly ran in and said in a low voice, "Chief, there's not much money in the prefectural treasury, but we found two chests in the inner courtyard of the yamen — I'm afraid it's over ten thousand taels of silver!"

"This Prefect Xu is truly a man of means," Zhao Han remarked with a sigh, then instructed, "When Huang Yao gets back, load the silver onto the boats at once."

Not long after, Fei Ruhe arrived with his men. "Chief, a xiucai has come to offer his service. His name is Xiao Huan, courtesy name Jingming. He's a man who can get things done — he helped me put down the unrest in the south of the city."

Zhao Han turned to look and saw a man dressed all in white, his robes still spattered with many traces of blood.

Xiao Huan cupped his hands and bowed. "This junior pays his respects to Mr. Zhao."

Zhao Han asked with a smile, "Why are you willing to turn rebel?"

Xiao Huan's expression remained perfectly composed. He answered, "Even if I did not turn rebel, in the eyes of the world this junior would be no different from a bandit anyway."

"Oh? Tell me more." Zhao Han grew somewhat curious.

Xiao Huan said, "This junior comes from a poor family, and when my father fell gravely ill, I had no choice but to borrow from loan sharks. Unable to repay the enormous debt, I could only throw in with the strike gangs, earning my living as a private secretary and pettifogger for others."

In the late Ming, strike gangs flourished, and by the Chongzhen reign they had developed into a fully-fledged system.

The men within a strike gang could be divided into three tiers —

The first rank: sons of officials and xiucai degree-holders.

The second rank: sons of the gentry and merchants.

The third rank: street thugs and riffraff.

The sons of officials and gentry were usually responsible for opening up upper-level connections. The sons of merchants provided the money. Xiucai acted as legal shysters, handling lawsuits afterward and also moonlighting as strategists. The thugs and riffraff served as enforcers, charging to the very front lines of every dirty deed.

Jiangnan folk love to litigate, and whenever they go to court, they must hire a strike gang to help.

First, on the day court opens, they need not fear being ambushed on the road. Second, the litigation lawyers are often the strike gang's own legal shysters. Third, it intimidates the officials, reminding the prefect and county magistrate not to be too greedy.

If the case involves a fight over family property or a fengshui burial plot, the parties must even bring in strike gangs from out of town, because local gangs will go easy on each other.

Gradually, the business of guarding homes and estates was also monopolized by strike gangs everywhere, and some armed escort bureaus were simply the gang headquarters in disguise.

Blocking the road to demand money at weddings and funerals — such things went without saying.

There were even those who specialized in taking beatings on another's behalf…

This xiucai before him, if placed in a Young and Dangerous movie, would be the equivalent of the Hung Hing gang's in-house lawyer.

Zhao Han laughed. "As a legal shyster, you have no worries about food or clothing. Why would you risk having your head chopped off to become a rebel?"

Xiao Huan's expression turned grave. "If I remain a legal shyster, I'll be a legal shyster my whole life. If I become a rebel, I'll either be sliced to pieces or ascend to the Grand Secretariat and become a minister!"

"Do I look like someone who can succeed?" Zhao Han probed.

Xiao Huan answered, "The docks south of the city are the very essence of the entire Ji'an Prefecture. Sir, you have already seized the prefectural city, and the wealth and goods outside the walls are yours for the taking. Yet you did not let your troops run wild and plunder; instead, you sent soldiers to punish the violent and pacify the people. To remain unmoved by wealth and goods — this is great wisdom. Since ancient times, how many who rose in revolt have been able to do this?"

Zhao Han pressed on. "Do you know how I conduct affairs in the countryside?"

"I have heard," Xiao Huan replied. "Kill the landlords, equalize the land, and level the high and low!"

Zhao Han asked, "Do you oppose such methods?"

Xiao Huan answered, "At the beginning of a rising, violence is unavoidable; even a hundred times more ferocity would be acceptable. The urgent task at hand is to defeat Governor Xie Xuelong. Everything else is a trivial detail."

"How do we defeat Xie Xuelong?" Zhao Han continued asking, though he held little hope for the answer.

Xiao Huan, however, lowered his voice and said, "In order to dispatch his troops, Xie Xuelong forcibly commandeered countless merchant vessels, and has already earned the loathing of the great houses and powerful clans. If, after spring begins next year, he still has not returned the merchant boats, I fear impeachment memorials will reach the very eyes of the Emperor. Now that Mr. Zhao has stormed the prefectural city, the matter is even easier to handle. Use the wealth and goods seized from the prefectural city, and offer a heavy bribe to the Eunuch Defender of Jiangxi!"

A faint smile appeared on Zhao Han's face. "Go on."

Xiao Huan suddenly asked, "I wonder, has that Branch-Defending Eunuch Zhang Yin been beheaded by Mr. Zhao yet?"

"He's still alive, for the moment," Zhao Han said.

Xiao Huan offered his scheme. "This man is of great use. You could recruit a batch of strike-gang thugs for him and outfit them as his personal troops. When Xie Xuelong turns his army back to relieve the prefectural city, Sir, you can withdraw at once and hand the city over to Eunuch Zhang Yin, claiming that it was Zhang Yin who recovered the city."

"The Eunuch Defender of Jiangxi and the Branch-Defending Eunuch of Ji'an both bear the duty of guarding the territory. The fall of Ji'an's prefectural city is a blame they cannot shirk. If Sir also writes a letter, pledging not to occupy any prefectural or county cities, and secretly sends them heavy gold — these two eunuchs, to evade the crime of losing the prefectural city, will certainly bribe the palace eunuchs to frame Xie Xuelong. And once Sir withdraws his troops, the gentry and merchants will no longer be terrified and will join in impeaching Xie Xuelong, if only to get their merchant boats back."

"When that time comes, without even fighting a direct battle, Xie Xuelong will be dismissed from office and sent back to the capital! How many Xie Xuelongs can there be under heaven? When the next governor arrives, I fear he won't even have the ability to raise troops."

This xiucai's mind is filthy — no wonder he ran with the gangs!

Zhao Han asked again. "What do the merchants and gentry around the prefectural city think of me?"

Xiao Huan thought for a moment, then answered, "Terrified, and waiting to see."

"Elaborate," Zhao Han said, unamused.

Xiao Huan explained, "Terrified, because they fear being killed and having their land divided. Waiting to see, because they are watching what Sir does next. If Sir stays only in Xuanhua Township, they won't bother meddling. If Sir no longer kills landlords and divides land from now on, and the government finds it hard to exterminate you, they may open secret channels and choose to quietly cooperate with Sir."

This analysis was fascinating, and it saw through the landlords' minds with great clarity.

Truly, so long as their own interests were untouched, even if rebels turned the neighboring township upside down, the landlords here would be unwilling to spend money drilling troops.

And should Zhao Han grow powerful one day, so long as he stopped killing landlords indiscriminately, everything he had done before could be overlooked.

Think how ruthlessly Li Zicheng kills — compared to him, Zhao Han's methods don't amount to a fart. Yet when Li Zicheng reached Beijing, didn't the entire court of civil and military officials kowtow to welcome him?

Zhao Han asked, "Who else is in your family?"

Xiao Huan said, "An elderly mother, a wife, and one son."

"Bring them into the army camp and come back with me to receive land," Zhao Han said with a smile.

This was both a bestowal of favor and the taking of family as hostages.

Xiao Huan cupped his hands. "Many thanks, sir, for the gift of land."

Zhao Han asked another question. "Are you familiar with White Egret Isle Academy?"

Xiao Huan answered, "I audited classes there for half a year, but stopped going when I ran out of money."

Zhao Han rose to his feet. "Then come with me for a trip. Let's see if it lives up to its name."

(Seeking monthly tickets.)

(End of chapter)