Chapter 181: 179 — Imperial Clansmen Come to Pledge Allegiance

Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen practically staked their lives on it — they ate and slept up on the city gate tower.

Xie Longwen even brought out all his personal wealth and goods, personally leading men to distribute them to the soldiers, to make sure no damned scoundrel skimmed anything off.

The pity was, he had been County Magistrate for only two and a half months. If not for squeezing a wave of silver during the autumn grain levy, he would not even have the money to recruit troops now. But coin and grain were still insufficient — the silver did not need to be paid out again this month, yet the grain was being consumed every single day.

"We're nearly out of grain," Xie Longwen said in a low voice. "At most we can hold out another two or three days. None of the great households in the city are willing to donate grain."

Yang Jiamo frowned. "Do these great households not understand that when the city falls, they will be finished too?"

Xie Longwen sighed. "Back in the summer, the rebels broke in once. They did not loot a single great household; on the contrary, they kept order and killed some who were taking advantage of the chaos to plunder. The great households in the city are not afraid of the rebels — they are only afraid that if they donate grain to support the army, the rebels will settle accounts and retaliate against them later."

Last time, when Huang Yao raided Fengcheng County, his forces were too few and it was during wartime — he had not even forced the great households to release their household slaves.

Yang Jiamo asked, "Among the grain merchants in the city, which family has the most grain?"

Xie Longwen replied, "The Zhou clan and the Wan clan."

"Those two families must be in collusion with the rebels," Yang Jiamo said. "I will lead troops to raid the Zhou residence; you lead troops to raid the Wan residence. We move tonight at the third watch."

Xie Longwen said, "We must not let word leak. Among the county yamen clerks and runners, there are sons of these two families. I have been in office less than three months and have not yet untangled many connections; I also do not know which of the soldiers have ties to these two families."

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Assistant Magistrate, the Registrar, and the Constable were also in conference.

"This Yang Jiamo is too cautious — there is simply no way to poison him. The wine we sent he would not even drink; he only eats together with the common soldiers."

"More than that — my military authority has been stripped too!"

"The County Magistrate still will not come down from the gate tower?"

"He never returns to the county yamen at all, only eats and sleeps alongside the soldiers on the tower."

"Why not simply set a fire tonight? Once the fire catches, the city will surely be thrown into chaos, and the righteous army outside can come in."

"Setting a fire is not good — these are all our neighbors; one blaze would burn a whole swath."

"Then what else can we do? The three of us have all been transferred away from the city gates. We can hardly lead a few dozen trusted men to seize the gates, can we?"

"Think again. What if the Governor leads troops to the rescue and holds Fengcheng County?"

"If the Governor were coming, he would have come long ago. It has already been five days, and there is not a shadow of government troops."

"Wait one more day. If the Governor still does not come to the rescue, then we will set fires inside the city."

"..."

Outside the city.

Li Zheng and Huang Yao were wounded, so Fei Yinggong was temporarily put forward as commander.

Although Huang Shun and Jiang Dashan had greater seniority, everyone knew that Fei Yinggong was the fourth uncle of Zhao Han and Fei Ruhe. Moreover, Fei Yinggong had ability of his own; the other military officers were all sincerely convinced and submitted to him.

"Company Commander Fei, there are righteous troops coming to join us!"

Fei Yinggong immediately strode out of the camp tent and went in person to receive the righteous troops — this was already the second group.

The common people of Fengcheng County were wretched. In the summer they had been plundered in turn by government troops. With the autumn grain harvest in sight, the new County Magistrate had begun exploiting them again. Let alone tenant farmers, even many small landlords could no longer get by.

At this very moment, a scholar, leading over a thousand peasants and with pack animals laden with much grain, stood outside the stockade waiting quietly.

Seeing the officers of the righteous army come out, the scholar immediately cupped his hands and said, "Luo Gongqin of Fengcheng, paying my respects to all you generals. The court is without the Way; corrupt officials exploit; landlords abuse the people. Hearing that the righteous host was besieging the county seat, this unworthy one ventured to kill a landlord and rise up. I am willing to give my life and follow Mr. Zhao of Luling!"

"Gentlemen, please, quickly come in!" Fei Yinggong said, delighted.

The righteous army, which had numbered less than three thousand, after five days of besieging the city, had seen its strength surge to five thousand — all local commoners who had spontaneously risen in revolt and come to join!

Just after settling Luo Gongqin in, before Fei Yinggong had a chance to rest, suddenly another peasant army came to offer allegiance.

This time there were only a hundred or so people, but their status was exceedingly peculiar — there were actually eight imperial clansmen, and they had brought their entire families with them.

Descendants of the Zhu family!

The moment word spread that imperial clansmen had come to pledge allegiance, everyone, including Fei Yinggong, was greatly astonished, and they all came running to gawk at the novelty.

The leader was called Zhu Yirong — his name had even been given the wrong character; the last character ought to have had the "metal" radical. As for the other seven clansmen, they had not even been assigned generation characters; names like Zhu Gui and Zhu Fu were among them.

Huang Shun asked curiously, "Brother Zhu, you are imperial clansmen — how... how is it that you too have come to rebel?"

It could not be denied that these rebel chieftains, to say nothing of encountering a princely king, felt intimidated even meeting down-and-out imperial clansmen, and could not help a sense of awe rising in their hearts.

Zhu Yirong sighed. "Let me tell you all — my ancestor belonged to the Prince of Huai lineage, the Prince of Dexing branch. The Hongwu Emperor set rules: imperial clansmen may not farm, may not sit the civil examinations, may not engage in trade, and may not work as artisans. I at least have had some schooling; I changed my name and surname and secretly worked as a village tutor to make a living. But this Brother Zhu Gui," Zhu Yirong pointed to one of the clansmen, "carries loads for people on the docks as a coolie."

Another clansman sighed. "I even spent two years as a beggar."

The crowd looked at one another, their faces full of expressions of utter disbelief.

Huang Yao asked, "Aren't imperial clansmen supposed to be supported by the government?"

Zhu Yirong replied, "The Prefect of Raozhou diverted all the coin and grain to the Prince of Huai's estate. Commandery princes can certainly receive their stipends, but the lesser nobles below them — bulwark generals, bulwark lieutenants — may not necessarily get their grain. My uncle is a Bulwark Lieutenant, with a stipend of two hundred shi, yet his whole family has never had a single day of eating their fill. The lowest-ranking clansmen live worse than tenant farmers! Our stipend grain has all been embezzled by the Prince of Huai!"

These words completely overturned everyone's view of the world, and they all felt sympathy for these clansmen.

In fact, this situation had already been very common since the Zhengde and Jiajing reigns. In the late Zhengde period, some clansmen had their grain cut off for several years; countless dragon sons and dragon grandsons survived by begging. Only after the Jiajing Emperor ascended the throne did they band together to go and bring suit before the imperial presence.

Zhu Yirong continued, "Some time ago, the common people of Raozhou rose up, broke through the prefectural seat, and occupied the princely estate. Many of us clansmen also joined the rebellion, but in the end we could not defeat the government troops. Hearing that Mr. Zhao of Luling is righteous and humane, we fled all the way here, following the Fu River downstream. Halfway, we learned there was a righteous army at Fengcheng County, so we came to offer our allegiance to you generals."

Fei Yinggong sighed. "Ah, the court is without the Way — even imperial clansmen are rebelling. How can this Great Ming realm not fall?"

These clansmen all looked like beggars. Fei Yinggong gave them good hospitality, and at last they got a full meal.

In the afternoon, someone delivered a secret letter, but refused to disclose his own background.

The secret letter contained only two lines: "The Governor has no intention of sending troops. Beware of government troops raiding Jishui along the Wu River."

Fei Yinggong summoned all the officers to council. Gu Jianshan also came ashore.

"Could this letter be a fake?" Huang Yao asked.

Fei Yinggong said, "It should be genuine. The Governor has been scared out of his wits; he would not even rescue a besieged Regional Commander."

They had surrounded Fengcheng for several days without any intention of storming the city; they were besieging the city to strike the relief force, hoping to annihilate the Governor's reinforcements.

Gu Jianshan said, "The main strength of our naval force is here. If an enemy truly comes along the Wu River, I fear it will be hard to deal with. They could plunder the villages and towns, and the Jishui garrison would be hard-pressed to pursue them."

"Let the naval force go back. If problems arise, I will bear the responsibility," Fei Yinggong said.

Huang Shun said, "I also agree the naval force should go back. Even if the Governor leads troops to relieve Fengcheng, we are not afraid. Who knows — once the naval force leaves, the Governor might just dare to come and court death!"

Li Zheng had been shot in the cheek and had lost two teeth; he could not speak for the moment and clapped his hands to show approval.

After the group reached their decision, Gu Jianshan immediately withdrew with the naval forces, but left behind those several hundred sets of armor.

That night.

Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen led troops in a surprise raid on the prominent households. All the men of the Zhou family were killed, and the Wan family was seized and thrown into the county jail.

The charge: colluding with the rebels!

Every prominent household in the city was terrified, but none dared make a move. They could only conspire in secret.

"What are you all waiting for? Death?"

A young man shouted, "Who knows how long the rebels will besiege the city? There's been no sign at all of relief troops from Nanchang. If Yang Jiamo eats through all the grain, every one of us will follow the Zhou and Wan families to the grave!"

"Keep your voice down, keep it down!"

Another gentleman, an older man, said, "This old man believes we could donate some money and grain to the government troops. If they have grain, they won't go killing people. Besides, the grain seized from the Zhou and Wan families is enough to feed the city garrison for a month or two."

The young man said angrily, "In my opinion, we might as well just join the rebels!"

"This old man has land outside the city," another gentry member said. "Over ten thousand mu of land. If I join the rebels, it's all gone. That rebel Zhao wants to divide up the land!"

"Utterly shortsighted," the young man sneered. "Do you really think this Fengcheng County can hold out? Once the city falls, whether you like it or not, the land will be divided then. Divide it late, divide it early — sooner or later, it will be divided. Why not surrender the city now and earn some merit?"

One of the gentry laughed coldly. "Your Tu family naturally isn't afraid of land division — you've only got those two or three thousand mu outside the city."

The assembled gentry parted on bad terms. Weak before the rebels, equally weak before the government troops, they could only harden themselves when facing the common people.

Tu Changhan returned home and took out a copy of The Great Unity Collection from beneath his pillow.

He had no aversion whatsoever to land division, for the Tu family made its profit from commerce. Moreover, Tu Changhan was a xiucai, and harbored ambitions of setting the world right. He greatly admired the contents of The Great Unity Collection.

In the middle of the night, Tu Changhan was jolted awake by a clamor.

A fire had broken out in the city. Once something like that started, it could consume a whole swath of buildings, and neighbors from the surrounding streets all rushed over on their own to help fight it.

Tu Changhan seized the moment to assemble his household slaves. Raising his sword, he cried, "The court has lost the Way. Mr. Zhao of Luling is certain to win the realm. Even you servants can receive Mr. Zhao's favor. Now a fire has started in the city — it must be Mr. Zhao's agents within acting in coordination. All of you, follow me and earn merit by seizing the city! Each of you, come and receive one tael of silver!"

"Young master, you mustn't!" The steward was horrified. "The old master's bones are not yet cold. If the young master acts this way, he will surely bring disaster upon the Tu family. The old master could not rest easy even in the netherworld!"

Tu Changhan flew into a rage. "One more grating word, and I'll cut you down!"

Before long, Tu Changhan, leading over twenty household slaves and carrying clubs and staves, charged toward the city gate, shouting along the way, "The rebels have entered the city! The rebels have entered the city!"

"Do not panic! No one is permitted to flee!"

Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen, along with Yang Jiamo's two surviving household retainers, were each guarding one of the four walls — east, south, west, and north.

But Fengcheng County had twelve city gates!

Many of the soldiers guarding the city, seeing the fire rise within the walls and fearing it would spread to their own homes, wanted to go back and help put it out. Then they heard the shouts rising one after another, believed the rebels had already infiltrated the city, and one after another, they turned tail and fled.

Yang Jiamo cut down several men in succession, but still could not stem the rout.

At this very moment, before the forces outside had even launched an attack, these defending soldiers had already been scared out of their wits.

(End of chapter)