Chapter 235: 233: The Fei Clan of Yanshan

After Li Zheng led his troops to occupy Raozhou city, the various counties of Raozhou Prefecture had an order of attack. First, go to Fuliang County and seize Jingdezhen; second, go to Dexing County and seize Silver Mountain Town.

Silver Mountain produced silver, originating in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and flourishing in the Tang and Song.

In the Tang and Song dynasties alone, over a hundred million taels of silver were mined, earning it the name "The Foremost Mountain of Great Tang Silver Mining."

The Ming dynasty also mined there continuously, but by the mid-Ming, reports claimed the silver deposits were exhausted. Exhausted my foot — the Qing dynasty was still mining silver here!

"Wheep!"

A bronze whistle suddenly sounded from the mountains — the search team was raising an alarm.

Moreover, the first whistle blast cut off abruptly; clearly, a soldier in the search team had been killed.

"Wheep! Wheep! Wheep!"

The remaining search team members immediately blew their whistles in response. Li Zheng at once ordered the bugle sounded and swiftly halted the army in the valley to form battle lines.

"Kill!"

Seeing their movements exposed, the ambushers in the mountains immediately charged out.

These ambushers were all local braves and miners recruited by the gentry and powerful magnates of Dexing County. Not just silver miners, but also copper, tin, and iron miners — Dexing County, besides its silver mines, also had the largest open-pit copper mine in Asia!

Under Li Zheng's command were only one thousand regular troops, two thousand peasant soldiers, and four thousand supply transport personnel.

But those gentry and magnate armed forces numbered over twenty thousand!

There was absolutely no possibility of compromise between the two sides, especially with the magnates who monopolized the silver and copper mines. They colluded with eunuchs and civil officials, daring to deceive even the imperial court. They knew full well the value of the copper and silver mines, and that Zhao Han would certainly confiscate them — this was a fight to the death.

Over twenty thousand ambushers charged down from the great mountains on both sides.

Because the search team had discovered them early, they had not entered their intended ambush point, so charging over cost them considerable time. Li Zheng had long since finished forming his lines and was simply waiting for the enemy to come and throw their lives away.

"Raise bows!"

"Raise muskets!"

These ambushers were utterly disorganized. They scattered even before charging halfway, and with the rugged terrain, they came running in scattered clumps and clusters.

Earlier, propaganda officers and the peasant association had planned to go to Dexing County to spread the Datong ideology. Things went relatively smoothly near the county seat, but after entering the mining areas, most were driven away, and a small number were killed.

The gentry and magnates spread rumors everywhere, saying that the Luling rebel Zhao was going to slaughter all the people of Dexing, and then forcibly conscript peasants and miners to fight.

"Thwip thwip thwip!"

"Bang bang bang!"

Bows and muskets fired in succession, and the ambushers running at the very front were immediately terrified into scattering and fleeing.

After another volley, the entire enemy force of over twenty thousand had completely collapsed and fled.

They had been forcibly conscripted in the first place and were not very willing to fight for the gentry and magnates. Had the ambush succeeded, they might have shown some enthusiasm; once the ambush failed, they simply fled. Only a fool would risk his life for those few coins.

The mountains and fields were covered with routed soldiers. After capturing only a few hundred, Li Zheng ordered the pursuit halted.

After interrogation, he immediately split his forces into three columns and went to settle accounts with those gentry and magnates.

Li Zheng personally led troops to one location, where a magnate had actually built a fortified earthen tower. However, the household slaves had all gone off to set the ambush, so there were not many people left defending the tower.

Li Zheng had someone step forward and shout: "If you surrender, only the ringleaders will be executed. If you resist stubbornly, every last one of you will be slaughtered! Household slave brothers inside, after you surrender, you can receive a share of farmland!"

"Don't believe the rebel scum's lies — the rebels want to kill us all!" the magnate inside the earthen tower hastily shouted.

"Household slave brothers, come out quickly and get your land! Mr. Zhao's rule is that each person gets four mu of paddy field. If paddy fields are insufficient, two mu of dry field count as one mu of paddy field, so each person can get up to eight mu of dry field! The household slaves and peasants around Raozhou Prefecture city have already received their land. The suffering brothers in Fuliang County are also receiving land now. We passed through Leping County, and Leping County is distributing land too. Mr. Zhao himself came from a household slave background — he won't mistreat you!"

"No one is allowed out! Let me see who dares!"

"..."

The common people here might not have known about the land distribution over in Raozhou.

However, Leping County was right next door, and news of Leping's land distribution had more or less already spread here.

The household slaves defending the earthen tower were half-believing, half-doubting, mainly because they dared not imagine such a good thing could happen.

But half-believing, half-doubting was enough. When Li Zheng ordered the attack on the earthen tower, most of the household slaves were unwilling to resist.

"You motherfucking traitor, kill him!"

It turned out that this magnate's several sons were each leading men to defend different parts of the earthen tower.

At one spot, some household slaves secretly opened the gate. The magnate's son immediately ordered them killed. But only a few trusted henchmen moved to act; the rest of the household slaves recoiled in fear, backing away.

Great Unity rattan-shield soldiers climbed up ladders. Again, only a handful of trusted household slaves put up a semblance of resistance; all the rest went through the motions without putting in any real effort.

Outside the earthen tower, the shouting never stopped: "Household slave brothers, we're all suffering people — don't throw your lives away for the landlords and magnates. Keep your lives and get land to farm — isn't that good? Suffering people don't fight suffering people. Kill the landlords, kill the evil gentry, kill the magnates! Kill! Suffering people, all of you rise up and rebel! The land is ours, and the world is ours too! Kill with me!"

"Kill!"

The moment the Great Unity soldiers stormed onto the earthen tower, household slaves immediately rose in revolt, turning their weapons on the magnate and his lackeys.

More and more household slaves revolted, and soon the interior of the earthen tower was in chaos. Cooperating with the Great Unity troops who had first scaled the walls, they opened the tower's two main gates.

Once the gates were open, the battle was essentially over; all that remained was hunting down survivors and taking captives.

Anyone who resisted was killed on the spot at once; those who did not resist were all tied up. This family belonged to the category of those who resisted to the bitter end: all the men were sent to work the mines, the women were distributed to unmarried soldiers, the children were sent to relief homes, and they would also undergo thorough ideological re-education.

After the earthen tower was occupied, it served as Li Zheng's temporary command post, with the supply troops left behind to garrison it.

After a brief rest, Li Zheng immediately led his troops to the next household, this time with many surrendered household slaves acting as guides.

Li Zheng's blood was now thoroughly up. When he had occupied Raozhou Prefecture, Fuliang County, and Leping County, he had encountered hardly any resistance. The gentry and magnates of Dexing County had outrageous gall — earlier they had killed several propaganda officers and peasant association members, today they had killed three of his mountain-search soldiers, and in storming the earthen tower he had lost one man killed and several wounded.

The second target had no earthen tower, just an ordinary walled mansion compound.

This time, surrendered household slaves did the shouting, which was far more persuasive. The household slaves inside the compound quickly revolted, killed their master, and ran to open the gates. After Li Zheng finished dealing with the place, he immediately rushed to the third magnate household.

Not a single one of those who had conspired to send troops and set the ambush could escape. Even surrendering and offering up their land now was not enough — Li Zheng was going to thoroughly sweep away the evil gentry and magnate forces of Dexing County!

Because this place was far too important. It had silver mines, copper mines, iron mines, and tin mines. This was to become Zhao Han's coin-minting center.

By the time Fei Yinghuan returned to Yanshan, heavy snow was swirling down; it was already the depths of winter, the twelfth month.

The Prefect of Guangxin was named Xie Lijing, a man from Guizhou and a disciple of the Qianzhong Wang School of the School of Mind. Historically, he was a loyalist who resisted the Qing. Appointed by Sun Kewang as Governor of Sichuan, after being defeated and captured, he held fast to his integrity, refused to submit, and starved himself to death.

Guangxin Prefecture was the farthest from Zhao Han's territory and had little influence there.

Xie Lijing did his utmost to relieve the famine victims in Zhejiang this year, but it was only his best effort — many of the starving still died, and when winter snows came, another batch froze to death.

Hearing that the rebel Zhao kept expanding his territory, Xie Lijing immediately urged the gentry to contribute funds to raise troops.

A few years ago, Zhang Yinggao had raised several thousand troops, with the Guangxin gentry providing both money and men. In the end, those several thousand local sons marched off to Jishui and vanished without a trace; the few who fled back spread wild rumors that Fei Ruhe had turned rebel.

Now that Xie Lijing was raising troops again, the gentry were unwilling to go through that turmoil once more.

They certainly could not defeat the rebel Zhao, and with Zhejiang in the grip of a great disaster, they could not flee either — they could only stay in their home villages and resign themselves to fate. In Yanshan County especially, there were very many gentry engaged in trade and running workshops; even if their fields were seized, they could still make a living.

Xie Lijing struggled for two months and managed to recruit only a little over a thousand local braves.

When word came that the Great Unity Army had occupied Anren, those thousand-odd local braves swiftly deserted until only a few hundred remained.

Fei Yinghuan returned home. Fei Yuanyi exclaimed in alarm, "You were perfectly well serving as an official in Fujian — what are you doing back? The rebels are about to strike!"

"Father, I have come precisely to deal with this matter," Fei Yinghuan said.

Fei Yuanyi urged him, "Go back to Fujian at once. Buy more land and property there; the whole Fei clan may have to move there someday."

Fei Yinghuan said, "Father, Ruhe is that Second General Zhao."

"Ru…" Fei Yuanyi was horrified. "The rumor is actually true? Did you not write saying Ruhe had gone to Fujian?"

"That was to keep it secret," Fei Yinghuan said.

Fei Yuanyi asked, "Then who is this Mr. Zhao of Luling?"

Fei Yinghuan answered, "Zhao Han."

"Zhao Han?" Fei Yuanyi shuddered all over. He was truly terrified — he had framed Zhao Han back then!

Fei Yinghuan said, "Summon the clan head at once and convene the entire Fei clan to discuss this!"

"Yes, yes." Fei Yuanyi was both alarmed and delighted — alarmed that Zhao Han had become the rebel chieftain, delighted that his own grandson was the rebels' second-in-command.

A few days later, the Great Unity Army had already taken Guixi, with only Yiyang County lying between them and Yanshan.

At the Fei clan ancestral residence in Henglin, representatives of every Fei branch gathered for a council.

The Fei clan head Fei Yuanzhen and the head of the Hanzhu Academy Fei Yuanlu — both old men were still alive and well. Only, Fei Yuanzhen was utterly decrepit; he could not walk without a maidservant supporting him, and his hearing was nearly gone.

Once everyone had assembled, Fei Yuanzhen, his teeth all fallen out, spoke through the gaps: "That rebel Zhao is about to arrive. This villain is fierce and ruthless; even the government troops cannot defeat him, and our Fei clan certainly lacks that ability. The only course now is to offer up our fields and preserve our other properties. If anyone refuses to surrender their fields, I fear disaster will befall the entire Fei clan."

Some agreed; some were displeased.

Those who agreed to surrender their fields were all families that owned trading firms or workshops. The Fei clan had risen on commerce to begin with, and on the whole, their commercial and industrial income far exceeded what the land produced.

Those who opposed surrendering their fields relied mainly on land income.

"Allow me to say a few words," Fei Yinghuan said, rising.

Those who opposed surrendering their fields were overjoyed, because Fei Yinghuan held the highest official rank in the entire Fei clan. They hoped to rely on Fei Yinghuan to take their movable wealth to a prefectural or county seat, buy property and land, and become landlords once more.

Landed estates could no longer be sold; no one would buy even at the lowest price, for everyone knew Zhao Han was coming to redistribute the land.

Fei Yinghuan said, "My first proposal is that the Fei clan replace its clan head."

What was this about?

The crowd listened in some confusion, while the clan head Fei Yuanzhen was still stroking his beard and smiling — for he was hard of hearing and did not know what Fei Yinghuan was saying.

Fei Yinghuan leaned close and shouted, "The Luling rebel Zhao — is Zhao Han!"

The others did not know who Zhao Han was, but Fei Yuanlu listened in stunned disbelief; the "Hanzhu Debate" had left far too deep an impression on him.

This time Fei Yuanzhen finally caught the sound. Still stroking his beard, he said, "Zhao Han or Zhao Yan, they are all surnamed Zhao — likely descendants of the Zhao-Song remnant clan."

Clearly, this clan head had already forgotten who Zhao Han was.

Fei Yinghuan could only shout again: "Zhao Han! The Hanzhu debate! Expelled from the academy rolls!"

"Zhao Han… Zhao…" Fei Yuanzhen's eyes suddenly flew wide. He remembered now — the fine deed he had once instigated Fei Yuanyi to do.

A single breath failed him, and Fei Yuanzhen collapsed limp in his chair.

"The clan head has fainted!"

(End of chapter)