Chapter 146: 144: Captured a Scientist

Zhao Han's line of march followed only the foothills of the Wugong Mountains.

After crossing that first ridge, the rest was all relatively flat hills or valleys. Only when leaving the mountains did they have to cross one more ridge, and by then the snow was no longer so deep.

"General, ahead is the Wannian Bridge, built back then by Grand Secretary Yan. Once across the Wannian Bridge, it's the county seat… Might I, might I be allowed to go home…"

The speaker was the impoverished scholar Zhao Han had forcibly pressed into guiding them before they left the mountains.

Jiangxi is truly remarkable — there are scholars even deep in the mountains. The Zhuangyuan of the ninth year of Yongle, Xiao Shizhong, came from deep in the mountains, in what is now Fei Yinggong's territory, and an extremely remote part of it at that.

Zhao Han stood at the foot of the mountain gazing into the distance; the great bridge and the county seat were faintly visible. He could not help asking, "This Grand Secretary Yan you speak of — could it be Yan Song?"

The impoverished scholar said, "Though Grand Secretary Yan was a treacherous minister, his reputation in his home region is excellent. He did many great things that benefited his native place."

Taking advantage of the soldiers' rest, Zhao Han asked further, "And what of the Prefect of Yuanzhou, Tian Younian — how does he govern?"

The impoverished scholar grumbled, "Prefect Tian is certainly capable of getting things done, but getting things done inevitably disturbs the people. He raised troops to suppress… to suppress the righteous armies, and every household in the prefecture had to bear the levy. My family had to pay an extra three dou of rice last year. He also likes making bows and arrows — I hear they're sent to the capital as tribute for the Emperor — and the materials for those bows and arrows have to be levied too. One ox sinew levied from every five households; mountain folk can't bear to slaughter an ox, so they just pool money to settle it, don't they? I've heard the fishermen on the Yuan River even have to pay an extra levy of fish bladders, and the underlings and clerks take the chance to fleece them. Many fishermen have fled. From what people tell me, the righteous army in Pingxiang County was driven to revolt by the Prefect himself."

This was very interesting.

When Tian Younian heard the Tartars were besieging the capital, he immediately recruited craftsmen to make bows and arrows, then sent them a thousand li to the capital.

On the surface, loyal sovereign and patriotic subject — yet he drove the common people to rebellion. He then seized the chance to drill troops and exterminated the rebels, and indeed drilled out a crack force, but the common people's lives only grew harder.

Zhao Han had the quartermaster bring a small piece of broken silver and personally handed it to the scholar, saying, "New Year's Eve is nearly upon us. Take this silver and go home to see the year in properly. Do not go running off to the Yuanzhou prefectural seat to report to the authorities."

The impoverished scholar took the silver, stunned. He had thought the rebels would kill him to keep him quiet; he never imagined there would be reward money to receive.

The fellow offered a thousand thanks and ten thousand gratitudes, tucked the silver away, and headed home over the mountains.

After climbing the mountain, he gazed into the distance as the rebels crossed the bridge, and suddenly began to waver — should he go to the prefectural city and tip them off?

After weighing it back and forth for a long while, the impoverished scholar turned and went home.

In this bitter cold, why run all that way to the prefectural city? The Prefect had never shown him the slightest kindness, but levied extra on him every year. If the rebels took the city and a new Prefect came, he might even be better off.

In truth, Zhao Han was not afraid of him tipping anyone off.

The New Year was already near; Tian Younian's troops would surely all have been dismissed to go home. Zhao Han wanted Tian Younian to assemble his troops — otherwise, how could he destroy those elite government soldiers?

Because of the terrain, Zhao Han could not launch a surprise attack on the prefectural city; he had to take the Fenyi county seat first. His movements could not possibly be concealed.

At this very moment, Zhao Han was crossing the bridge — the Wannian Bridge built by Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan.

This bridge spanned the Yuan River, nearly 400 meters long overall and nearly 8 meters wide, with eleven arches in all. A great engineering project — it cost over twenty thousand taels of silver back then.

Several centuries later, the great bridge, along with the county seat, would all be submerged underwater, because the Jiangkou Reservoir would be built.

The present Fenyi county seat, however, lay right beside the Yuan River; cross the Wannian Bridge and there was the county's east gate.

"Full speed, march!"

Several thousand soldiers sprinted toward the great bridge; from time to time someone slipped and fell in the snow.

Not until they reached the bridge did anyone inside or outside the city react — most people were at home busily preparing for the New Year. It was already the twenty-eighth of the twelfth month.

Even the city-guarding soldiers, because of the freezing weather, had withdrawn into the gate tower to warm themselves by the fire; no one was willing to stand on the city wall and brave the wind.

It was the common folk at the wharf outside the city who noticed something amiss. They craned their necks and peered for a moment, utterly baffled: "Are those government troops or rebels?"

"Government troops are coming!"

They were fully armed — probably not rebels — but government troops were just as terrifying, no different from rebels at all.

Whether peddlers and porters or merchants from afar, the wharf descended into chaos, everyone shouting "Government troops are coming!" and fleeing in panic.

The city-guarding soldiers were completely bewildered. The New Year was just around the corner — where would government troops come from?

These fellows came out to look, and in their dazed confusion, one soldier cried out in alarm, "It's rebels! The rebels have come out of the mountains!"

"Close the city gates! Close the gates, quick!"

Zhao Han had already led his troops across most of the bridge, which was over three hundred meters long.

The soldiers roared in unison: "Avenge Heavenly King Li!"

The rebel chief of Pingxiang County whom Tian Younian had exterminated went by the bandit name "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" and was also called "Heavenly King Li."

A few merchants, hearing this cry, immediately took boats and fled — most of them, no doubt, heading to the prefectural city to report.

And the military intelligence that Yuanzhou Prefect Tian Younian would receive was sure to be: Though the Pingxiang rebel chief Heavenly King Li is dead, his followers who fled into the mountains have come back to kill!

That fellow Huang Yao charged incredibly fast, his pair of long legs striding as if flying over the snow. Next was Zhang Tieniu, gripping his battle-axe and following close behind; in a flash they were outside the east gate.

The two of them, one ahead and one behind, left the other soldiers a hundred meters behind.

"No one enters the city! Fall back at once!"

"Don't push, don't push!"

"Fall back, fall back!"

"…"

It was the merchants and common folk outside the city who, terrified of being slaughtered by the rebels and thinking the county seat safer, were all surging toward the inside of the city.

The government troops guarding the gate were in the middle of closing it; rammed by the merchants and common folk like this, they could not operate properly at all. In their desperation, the soldiers raised blades and hacked, cutting down several people in succession, yet the crowd behind kept pressing inward.

"Run for it!"

Seeing it was impossible to close the gate, the government soldiers simply turned and fled. With the soldiers no longer blocking them, the common folk poured into the city in a single surge.

By the time Huang Yao arrived, the city gate was wide open — it had been half-closed, but the common folk had pushed it open again.

"Seize the gate! Charge no further!"

Once inside the city, Huang Yao immediately took up a defensive position inside the gate.

Zhang Tieniu still wanted to keep charging and killing, but Huang Yao forcibly held him back. The two of them thus held the east gate.

Zhao Han and Fei Ruhe arrived with their troops and immediately assigned tasks.

Fei Ruhe led two thousand soldiers to seize the other city gates; Huang Yao and Huang Shun took one thousand men to maintain order inside the city; Zhao Han personally led one thousand soldiers to attack and occupy the county yamen.

The County Magistrate and his private secretary were drinking in the rear courtyard of the county yamen, warming wine over a little red clay stove, composing poems and matching couplets.

In the bitter cold, on the twenty-eighth of the twelfth month, with the New Year just around the corner — this was exactly the time to enjoy oneself properly.

"Magis… Magis-Magis-Magis-Magistrate, the rebels have fought their way into the city!"

"What?"

The County Magistrate and his private secretary's first reaction was not to summon troops and bailiffs, but to each flee to their quarters, clutch their silver, and try to slip out the back gate.

Unfortunately, the back gate was also surrounded by rebels, so the County Magistrate and his private secretary had no choice but to climb the wall.

"The officials are over here!"

Wu Yong, leading a ten-man squad, happened to spot the County Magistrate, his private secretary, and their household slaves setting up stools under the wall, about to climb over.

The County Magistrate was the sort who'd sooner die than part with his money. He had brought nearly two thousand taels of silver with him, a full hundred catties in weight. He had it carried from his quarters to the back gate to flee, and when that failed, had it carried from the back gate to the garden wall. At that moment he was sitting on top of the wall, ordering his household slaves to lift the silver up to him.

"The rebels are here!"

The household slaves panicked, abandoning the wooden chest of silver. The silver fell and scattered all over the ground.

The County Magistrate wailed, "My silver… Aiyo!"

In their panic, the household slaves had grabbed the County Magistrate's legs, desperately trying to climb the wall themselves. They made it up, but in doing so they dragged the County Magistrate, who had been sitting on the wall, right back down.

The private secretary, seeing the situation was hopeless, no longer dared to safeguard his silver. Taking only a few dozen taels, he vaulted the wall and fled.

Wu Yong led his troops charging to the foot of the wall. He leveled his gun at the County Magistrate and shouted in excitement, "I've caught another high official!"

…

Now, over at the county school in the south of town, there was not a single student left — all had long since gone home for the New Year.

When the County School Instructor heard that rebels had entered the city, he immediately took out a long sword, then retrieved a crossbow and a quiver of bolts. As he walked, he spanned the crossbow, then gathered the school's classics teachers and laborers — a dozen or so people in all — and they nervously stood guard inside the school.

One classics teacher was trembling: "The rebels won't come to the county school, will they?"

"They'll definitely go to the county yamen," another classics teacher said.

The Instructor ordered the laborers to bring a ladder. He climbed onto the wall to observe the situation. After waiting a good while, he saw a squad of rebels chasing and killing commoners, heading straight for the county school.

Filled with righteous fury, the Instructor aimed his crossbow at the rebels and, with perfect calm, pulled the trigger.

"Aiyo… They have an archer! Take cover, quick!"

Huang Shun was completely baffled. He had been leading men to hunt down looters taking advantage of the chaos when, out of nowhere, an arrow struck him inexplicably in the shoulder.

Gritting through the pain, he ducked behind a pillar under the eaves of a bookshop. Carefully recalling what had just happened, he looked across the street at the county school and immediately shouted, "Someone in the school is shooting arrows! Charge in and seize them!"

Seeing the rebels charging toward the school's main gate, the Instructor immediately ran back and said to the classics teachers and laborers, "Flee, quickly!"

The classics teachers and laborers inwardly cursed him — the rebels had been drawn here entirely by the Instructor. Wouldn't it have been better to just quietly stay inside the school?

The group bolted for the back gate. Just then, a boom sounded — the school's main gate had been smashed open.

"Seize them all! I want them alive!"

Amid his fury, Huang Shun felt a trace of excitement. He knew Zhao Han wanted to form a long-range unit.

They burst through the county school's main gate, but everyone inside had already fled. So they gave chase, pursuing them out the back gate and down half a street.

Since every household had its doors firmly shut, the Instructor, classics teachers, and laborers could not duck into any private home. They could only follow the main street and slip into an alley.

The laborers ran quite fast, but the teachers lacked physical training, and the pack of rebels drew closer and closer.

"Aiyo!"

One classics teacher tripped and fell. The other teachers paid him no heed, fleeing with every last ounce of strength they could muster.

The Instructor, who had been running at the front, heard what happened. He suddenly turned around and loosed another bolt.

"Ah!"

This shot was dead accurate, striking a pursuer square in the chest. Fortunately, the man was wearing thick padded cotton clothing, which absorbed most of the force; otherwise, he would have died on the spot.

"Raise shields and pursue!"

Huang Shun immediately shouted.

The rattan-shield bearers under Zhao Han's command had long since stopped using wok lids; they now carried proper wooden shields.

Everyone except the Instructor was captured.

Huang Shun gritted his teeth and pulled out the arrow. He was also wearing padded clothing, so the arrowhead had not gone deep, but it had still struck bone. He led his men in an accelerated pursuit, following the Instructor into an alley in the blink of an eye — and then lost him.

"Company Commander, there are footprints on the ground!" a squad leader warned.

With the New Year approaching, such alleys saw few passersby. Though there were many footprints in the snow, only one set was freshly made.

Huang Shun gave a cold laugh: "Rattan-shield bearers to the front. Raise shields and protect your comrades."

The Instructor was hiding in a pile of debris at the end of the alley. Seeing the rebels closing in and knowing there was no escape, he simply loosed another surprise shot.

"Ah!"

This time the arrow struck a thigh, because the men's upper bodies were all protected by shields.

"Charge! Don't give him time to span the bow again, and remember — take him alive!" Huang Shun shouted.

Zhao Han had already seized the county yamen. The private secretary had fled and was being hunted down. The County Magistrate was kneeling before him, trembling uncontrollably.

Huang Shun jogged over and said with delight, "Regional Commander, look what this is!"

Zhao Han took the crossbow and glanced at Huang Shun's shoulder. "Go find a doctor and get it bandaged. Don't let the wound fester."

The Instructor and several classics teachers were brought before Zhao Han. The teachers were so terrified they knelt and begged for mercy. The Instructor, however, refused to kneel no matter what. Even when the soldiers forced him down, it was useless — in the end, they had pressed him flat onto the ground.

"Enough. Let him stand," Zhao Han said with a wave of his hand.

The Instructor drew himself up to his full height and stood there, looking at Zhao Han with contempt, as if he could not be bothered to waste a single word.

"What is your name? And where did this crossbow come from?" Zhao Han asked.

The Instructor remained silent.

A classics teacher beside him said, "General, may I report: this man is called Song Yingxing, courtesy name Changgeng. He is the Instructor of the Fenyi County School."

"Song Yingxing?" A very peculiar smile appeared on Zhao Han's face.

(End of chapter)