Chapter 194: A Flock of Weaklings

Huguang, Liuyang County.

The county magistrate was named Feng Zuwang, son of Feng Menglong — author of the *Three Volumes of Words* — and disciple of Xue Fujiao, one of the Eight Gentlemen of the Donglin.

Through his father's influence, Feng Zuwang was deeply affected by the thought of Li Zhi. On one hand he advocated saving the world and succoring the people; on the other he raged bitterly against the age. His entire life was lived in extreme torment and contradiction.

Feng Zuwang was a jinshi of the fourth year of Chongzhen, and his first official post was magistrate of Liuyang.

After taking office, Feng Zuwang concerned himself with the people's hardships, personally walking the fields and furrows, and wrote an essay titled "A Discourse on Eight Hardships and Seven Bitternesses," recounting the manifold sufferings the common folk of Liuyang endured. In his account, Liuyang's land was utterly barren: many rice paddies yielded only one shi per mu, and even the finest top-grade fields did not exceed three shi.

First the court imposed across-the-board surtaxes, and then neighboring Pingxiang County was seized by that so-called Sweeping King.

Feng Zuwang, a bookworm who understood nothing of such matters, could only do his utmost to scrape together grain and pay, and recruit local militia to guard against the worst.

This summer, the Sweeping King really did come — he made a special trip to plunder the summer grain!

"Your Honor, the rebels have fallen for the ruse!" A scholar came running over in delight.

Feng Zuwang had passed the jinshi at forty-six and was now already fifty-one. Seeing the bandits below the mountain chasing the defeated troops, he immediately drew his scholar's sword: "Fellow countrymen and elders, follow me and slay the bandits!"

Twelve hundred local militia suddenly burst from the mountain ridge, charging toward an enemy three times their number.

The Sweeping King had not come to pillage Liuyang in person; the one who came this time was "Fly-to-the-Sky."

Fly-to-the-Sky was thoroughly vexed himself. Twice he had led his men to assault Liuyang's county seat, and both times had been beaten back in defeat. This time, having finally encountered government troops in the open field, he naturally pursued them relentlessly. Chasing and chasing, he lost all reason and forgot that ahead lay dense mountain forest.

"Kill!"

The Liuyang militia's morale soared like a rainbow. They were defending their native soil, protecting their own fields and grain. These rebels, who had crossed the border from Jiangxi, burned, killed, and plundered without restraint, and had already roused mass fury in Liuyang.

Over three thousand rebels, ambushed by just over a thousand militia, panicked at once, turned, and fled.

Feng Zuwang, at fifty-one, was already panting and gasping by the time he ran out of the mountain forest. Too embarrassed to stop, he clenched his teeth and gave chase with all his might, finally catching up to a rebel who had tumbled into a rice paddy.

Before Feng Zuwang could strike, two militiamen had already thrust their bamboo spears and stabbed the rebel to death.

Ahead of the rebels lay a small river. In their headlong, desperate flight, many rebels jumped straight into the river to escape, while many others fled southeast along the riverbank.

The rebel leader Fly-to-the-Sky was now frantic with rage. He realized that the militiamen pursuing them were few in number and had already scattered in the chase. At this moment, with just over a hundred men, he could turn back and rout those militia — but only a dozen or so veteran bandits around him were willing to obey.

Then he saw a militia officer, a hundred-refined steel saber in hand, sprinting with astonishing speed along the paddy ridges.

Fly-to-the-Sky, seeing this man coming alone, immediately bellowed: "Turn back and kill that wretch!"

Yet only six veteran bandits obeyed; the rest chose to keep fleeing for their lives.

One against seven, the militia officer was utterly unafraid, simply charging along the paddy ridges. The six veteran bandits jumped into the field, coordinating with Fly-to-the-Sky to surround and kill him. The two sides were about to clash in the blink of an eye.

The rice had not yet ripened; the newly eared tips of the stalks already rose as high as a man's waist.

The militia officer leaped into a paddy to one side, constantly pushing aside the rice stalks, charging forward barefoot through the mud and water. His hundred-refined steel saber flashed — one slash split a veteran bandit dead; he spun and struck again, cleaving a second rebel.

"Run for it!"

The remaining veteran bandits, seeing this, panicked. Abandoning their bandit chief Fly-to-the-Sky, they turned and fled without a trace.

Fly-to-the-Sky had long since lost his head. Ignoring the distant pursuers, he actually jumped into the paddy too, intent on fighting the militia officer one-on-one.

"Clang!"

The two men, separated by the rice stalks, traded a swift slash.

Unfortunately, Fly-to-the-Sky wore shoes on his feet, making movement in the flooded field far less convenient. The militia officer pushed aside the rice stalks and soon reached his flank. Fly-to-the-Sky, straining mightily to lift his foot, ended up pulling one shoe clean off.

A flash of blade, and Fly-to-the-Sky's left arm was bloodied.

The militia officer shifted again, already circling behind Fly-to-the-Sky, and struck with startling speed once more.

Fly-to-the-Sky collapsed in agony, crushing several clumps of rice stalks, but did not die immediately. The wretch struggled to rise, and before he could steady himself, a blade slashed into his neck.

The militia officer strode over, severed the head, and raised the skull high, shouting: "Wang Hui of Liuyang has slain the rebel chief here!"

For a few, the Jiangxi rebels' incursion into Huguang was precisely the moment to win glory and build a name.

Feng Zuwang, who had led his troops in pursuit the whole way, was so exhausted his tongue lolled out. Hearing that Wang Hui had taken the rebel chief's head, he collapsed onto the ground and roared with laughter.

As for those defeated rebel remnants, they were driven back to Pingxiang County, and the very next day were ordered to assemble at the prefectural seat of Yuanzhou.

They dawdled their way toward Yuanzhou, but halfway there heard they were to fight Heavenly King Zhao, and were so terrified their legs trembled. That very night, more than half of them deserted outright and fled in a mass into the Wugong Mountains.

That was Heavenly King Zhao — he had defeated government troops time and again, driven off two Jiangxi governors, and even captured a Jiangxi Regional Commander.

How could one possibly match strength with the very patriarch of rebels?

The Sweeping King was at that moment defending the city of Yuanzhou. Listening to the reports that came in daily, he was driven frantic, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Big Brother, let's surrender," One-Zhang Ice said, his face full of misery.

"Surrender my ass!"

The Sweeping King roared: "How much blood is on our hands — it's not like you don't know. Surrender and we die anyway; better to stake it all and fight! That bastard Zhao has no sense of honor at all. We agreed not to attack each other. I didn't go after him, and he comes after me!"

One-Zhang Ice said: "Every day there are deserters, sliding down the walls on ropes. We can stop them here but not there."

"All ball-less cowards — with guts like that they still came to rebel!" The Sweeping King was thoroughly dejected.

If he wanted to expand his territory, he had only four choices: first, go east and start a war with Zhao Han; second, strike southwest at Chaling County; third, strike northwest at Liuyang County; fourth, attack Wanzai County to the north.

Starting a war with Zhao Han was something the Sweeping King absolutely dared not do, so he could only pick from the latter three.

But with Jiangxi in such upheaval, the Huguang officials had long since grown vigilant. Chaling County and Liuyang County were both guarded by government troops. Two frontal assaults had failed, and an attempt to take a city by trickery had also failed.

Attacking Wanzai County to the north was even more absurd — over five hundred government troops held Iron Crag Pass, and when the Sweeping King led his men there, all he could do was stare blankly.

Bottled up in a territory of just three counties, had no unforeseen trouble arisen, the Sweeping King could have continued to enjoy himself. Who knew that Heavenly King Zhao would turn hostile at the drop of a hat!

……

Huang Yao was garrisoned at Linjiang Prefecture, and Fei Ruhe at Wan'an County; they were to guard against a sudden attack by government troops.

For this western campaign, Li Zheng led troops to attack Yuanzhou Prefecture, and Jiang Dashan led troops to attack Yongxin County.

Yongxin County was the territory of the rebel chiefs Nine-Headed Bird and Mountain-Quelling Tiger. Nine-Headed Bird held the county seat; Mountain-Quelling Tiger held Lotus Township.

Jiang Dashan arrived outside the Yongxin county seat with his troops but did not choose to assault the city immediately. Instead, he encamped outside the walls, preparing to besiege the city and strike the relief force.

They waited and waited, but Mountain-Quelling Tiger still did not come to the rescue.

So Jiang Dashan had his soldiers erect extra banners, took eight hundred men himself to keep watch on the county seat, and dispatched all remaining troops to make a forced march on Lotus Township.

"Report——!"

"Lotus Village has no bandits. Our scouts have learned that Mountain-Quelling Tiger has already fled into Huguang territory!"

Jiang Dashan was so furious his liver ached. These rebels had no sense of loyalty whatsoever. Fine if they wouldn't come to relieve a besieged ally, but to flee all the way to Huguang without fighting a single battle—

Once his main force returned and crossed the river to lie in ambush in the mountains, Jiang Dashan gave the order: "Send men outside the city to shout the news. Tell them Mountain-Quelling Tiger was routed at Lotus Village and fled to Huguang with only a few dozen old bandits."

A dozen or so men with booming voices, tin megaphones in hand, boarded boats and bellowed at the gate tower:

"Mountain-Quelling Tiger was routed at Lotus Village! He fled to Huguang with only a few dozen old bandits! You have no relief force coming!"

"Mountain-Quelling Tiger was routed at Lotus Village! He fled to Huguang with only a few dozen old bandits! You have no relief force coming!"

The rebels atop the wall were stricken with terror.

Days earlier they had already been told that the prefectural seat of Yuanzhou was besieged and that Sweeping-the-Land King could not possibly come to relieve Yongxin County.

That very night, over thirty bandits, lugging chests large and small full of valuables, crept furtively to a section of the western wall. Every other rebel along the route had been quietly reassigned ahead of time.

Nine-Headed Bird stood guard on the gate tower while his trusted men used wicker baskets to lower the valuables over the wall, ready to take with them.

Yongxin County seat was ringed by water on three sides and backed by a mountain on the fourth, with only a narrow strip of level ground from which to mount an assault. Storming the city head-on was a lethal proposition.

Clang!

A basket suddenly plummeted from midair. The chest hit the ground; though locked, it did not burst open.

Nine-Headed Bird hissed, "Careful!"

His trusted man groaned, "Ninth Master, the silver's too heavy — the brothers couldn't hold it."

A rebel sentry on another section of the wall heard the noise and came to investigate. Sharp instincts told him something was wrong. He did not dare draw closer, but turned and fled, shouting, "Ninth Master's running! Ninth Master's running!"

The rebels inside the city erupted in chaos at once. They threw open the gates, each man thinking only of getting himself out in the confusion.

Jiang Dashan heard the uproar and immediately ordered: "The whole army crosses the river — storm the city!"

The troops encamped in the mountains to the northwest also surged down from the heights. The bandits had nowhere to flee but the western ridges.

Nine-Headed Bird had no time to take the valuables. He let each of his trusted men grab a few dozen taels of silver, then fled in utter terror toward the great mountains to the west.

"Kill!"

As the Great Unity soldiers gave chase, one bandit after another dropped to his knees and surrendered.

There were only a few paths leading into the mountains, all of them narrow mountain tracks. The bandits jammed together, each cursing his comrades for blocking the way, and soon they began slaughtering one another.

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Nine-Headed Bird was killing men too. He had over thirty trusted followers around him, each with a few dozen taels of silver stuffed inside his clothes.

What was more, they wore leather armor and carried superior weapons. As they fled, they hacked down any comrade who blocked their path, leaving corpses everywhere they passed.

At last, one bandit, seeing Nine-Headed Bird cutting his way toward him, shouted in desperate inspiration: "Kill Nine-Headed Bird and claim credit from Heavenly King Zhao!"

"Kill Nine-Headed Bird!"

"Kill Nine-Headed Bird!"

From the mountain slopes above and below, the rebels roared in fury. Nine-Headed Bird and his thirty-odd trusted men were trapped in the middle.

Suddenly, one of his trusted men swung his blade. Before Nine-Headed Bird could even react, he was cut down by his own personal guard.

"Nine-Headed Bird is dead! I killed him!"

The man severed Nine-Headed Bird's head. Then a blade struck him from behind, and he too was killed, never knowing who did it.

His killer snatched the head and swung his weapon wildly. As the other bandits recoiled to avoid the blade, he scrambled up a nearby cliff. The wretch threw away his weapon, clutched Nine-Headed Bird's head, and slid straight down the sheer rock face.

"Get the head!"

For no sensible reason, a great many bandits now charged down the mountain, all trying to seize Nine-Headed Bird's head.

Many others seized the chance to vanish into the mountains, crossing the ridges and fleeing toward Huguang. They dared not stay here — Heavenly King Zhao was too terrifying. Once in Huguang, they could rise in rebellion all over again.

By the time Jiang Dashan arrived with his troops, a mob of rebels was still fighting at the foot of the mountain, all for the sake of that single severed head.

(End of chapter)