Chapter 85: 083 Down-and-Out Patrolman (Bonus Chapter for Big Boss Penguin)

They reached Wuzi Water Station, and just beyond it lay Lake Poyang.

Several boatmen of the Fei household flatly refused to go any farther, afraid of running into the lake bandits on Lake Poyang.

Zhao Han could hardly force them, so he simply put up at the station, paid out of his own pocket to stock up on New Year's goods, and the whole group celebrated the new year right there.

After lingering several days at the station, Chen Maosheng's wound had fully healed, leaving a large scar along his forehead hairline.

Asking around among the station hands, they learned there was no need to enter Lake Poyang at all.

Wuzi Water Station sat at a three-way river junction; the western branch was a tributary of the Gan River, so there was no reason to make the long loop around Lake Poyang.

Merchant boats came and went in plenty; Zhao Han and his three companions paid their fare and took a merchant boat straight for Nanchang.

A few days later they came ashore, and right at the landing stood the Pavilion of Prince Teng!

Well — the wreckage of the Pavilion of Prince Teng.

Seventeen years earlier, the Pavilion of Prince Teng had burned down in a great fire; now Xie Xuelong was preparing to rebuild it.

This Xie Xuelong was a man of some ability. He was not of Donglin Faction origin, but because he had offended Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch faction branded him as one of the Donglin lot. The previous year he had been made Governor of Jiangxi, only to find eunuchs running wild everywhere; not daring to clash with them head-on, Xie Xuelong could only throw himself into cultural and educational endeavors.

They lingered a few days in Nanchang, then changed boats and continued south.

Along the way they passed three customs barriers privately set up by eunuchs, and at Xiajiang County they encountered lake bandits once.

The bandits did not attack outright; they merely surrounded the merchant boat, let it go after collecting a few taels of silver, and from the look of it seemed more like tax collectors than anything else.

Upon reaching Ji'an Prefecture, they came to a tributary of the Gan River called the He River.

Zhao Han hired a boat heading up the He River, and three days later they arrived at a valley basin.

Mountains on all four sides, a single river cutting through — the valley floor in the middle was shaped like the bottom of a well, the surrounding peaks like its walls. It was called "Jinggang Town," and the court had established the "Jinggang Patrol Office" here.

It had no connection whatsoever to the later Jinggang Mountains, and before the Republican era, the name "Jinggang Mountains" did not even exist.

If one insisted on drawing a link, this place was about seventy kilometers from the Jinggang Mountains, and traveling by mountain path would take several hundred li.

"Master Zhao, there's a customs barrier ahead," the boatman suddenly warned. "If we go through the barrier, you'll have to pay the transit tax yourself. If you'd rather not hand over extra silver, you can disembark right here."

"Then let's disembark," Zhao Han said.

The He River was a key water route from central Jiangxi into Huguang; that eunuchs would set up private checkpoints here to fleece travelers was entirely to be expected.

The four of them went ashore on foot, and the passenger boat turned back toward Ji'an.

Zhao Han studied the mountain terrain the whole way. When he reached the valley mouth, he exclaimed in wonder, "Station five hundred troops here and build a water fortress, and you could hold off an army of tens of thousands."

Pang Chunlai laughed. "You'd need to build a naval force too, or else government troops could just sail straight into the valley."

"True," Zhao Han nodded.

The valley was an enclosed world, sealed off completely by the surrounding peaks.

Farmland was scarce; many hillsides had been cleared and planted with coarse grains to boost food production.

Zhao Han asked his way along and at last found the Patrol Office — it was a rundown temple...

A few archer-soldiers were sprawled on the ground sunning themselves. At the sight of Zhao Han and his group of four, they made no sound, too lazy even to open their eyes.

"Is Patrolman Fei in?" Zhao Han asked.

"Archer-soldier" here did not refer to a troop type, but to the rank-and-file men of a Patrol Office, who doubled as beat officers, criminal police, and riot police.

Those archer-soldiers finally opened their eyes. One of them asked, "You've got business with Fourth Master?"

Zhao Han cupped his hands. "We are family of Patrolman Fei. He hasn't been home for the New Year in two years; the old master sent me to look in on him."

"Then you're one of us. I'll take you to him right away." One archer-soldier slapped the dust off his backside and got up to lead the way.

As they walked, Zhao Han asked, "How is it that your Patrol Office yamen is a rundown temple?"

The archer-soldier said glumly, "The yamen was seized by a eunuch. No more silver to be had, either. The whole Patrol Office has run off — only the few of us are left."

"So that's how it is." Zhao Han found this rather interesting.

He pressed for more details and learned that Fei Yinggong, having rendered service in the campaign to relieve the capital, had been dumped here in Jinggang Town as a patrolman, and the bandits under his command had likewise been transformed overnight into Patrol Office archer-soldiers.

At first things had been quite comfortable — after all, he was in charge of a small commercial town.

But just the previous year, a tax eunuch had suddenly dropped in out of nowhere, bringing more than a dozen enforcers with him. Without a word, the eunuch commandeered the Patrol Office yamen and put up money to lure the archer-soldiers over to his side.

A third of the men under Fei Yinggong defected to the eunuch, and another third chose to leave.

After the start of spring, a few more trickled away, until only six archer-soldiers remained.

The reason for such abject helplessness was purely the eunuch's status — killing a eunuch was tantamount to rebellion, because a eunuch represented the imperial mandate.

The group soon entered the small town. There was only a single street along the river; in scale it could not compare at all with Hekou Town.

"Fourth Master lives here," the guiding archer-soldier said, pointing at a residential house.

They knocked for a while, and a brawny black man came out.

Zhao Han broke into a grin. "Tie Nu, we meet again."

The brawny black man scratched his head; he had no memory of Zhao Han whatsoever, but he let them into the courtyard anyway.

It was a perfectly ordinary small folk dwelling. Fei Yinggong was in the courtyard practicing swordplay, and it was clearly drunken swordplay at that.

The man had a wine jug in hand, his steps staggering, barely able to stay on his feet, his stubble a mess — who knew how long since he had last tidied himself up.

"Fourth Uncle!" Zhao Han called.

Fei Yinggong, bleary-eyed with drink, came wobbling over with his sword. He stared at Zhao Han for a long moment. "You're... that one from eldest brother's courtyard..."

Zhao Han cupped his hands and smiled. "My name is Zhao Han. I pay my respects to Fourth Uncle."

"Eldest brother sent you to find me?"

Fei Yinggong let out a drunken belch and said, swaying, "I... ain't... ain't going back. I'm no man of the Fei... family!"

Fei Yinggong's wife had died early. He had brought a daughter home, but Old Master Fei refused to acknowledge her, and in a fury the man had simply taken his daughter and left.

"Father, have guests come?" Fei Ruhui emerged from the house.

From her hairstyle, one could tell she was already married; this was very likely the home of Fei Yinggong's son-in-law.

Zhao Han cupped his hands. "I greet you, elder sister. My name is Zhao Han. I have come to seek refuge with Fourth Uncle."

Fei Ruhui quickly greeted them: "Come inside and sit down."

"Sister, no need to stand on ceremony — if you have things to do, go ahead and busy yourself." Zhao Han smiled.

"No hurry, no hurry," Fei Ruhui said warmly.

Fei Ruhui was sixteen this year, rather dignified in appearance, and at the moment wore a plain, simple cotton dress.

She bustled about attending to everything, brought out several long benches into the courtyard, and poured tea and water for everyone — the kind of virtuous, generous nature.

Zhao Han vaguely recalled that Fei Yinggong used to have two attendants.

Now only one black man remained; the other had probably run off. No wonder Fei Yinggong spent all day holed up at home drinking.

Down on his luck and frustrated.

After a long while, Fei Yinggong sobered up a little, and his speech grew much clearer: "What of my elder brother? Did he pass the jinshi exam?"

Zhao Han answered: "The eldest young master failed the list. He is now County Magistrate of Suqian."

"Being a county official is fine too," Fei Yinggong said, wine jug in hand as he sat on the ground, then simply lay flat on his back again, mumbling, "And how did you end up here?"

Zhao Han, mixing three parts falsehood with seven parts truth, began spinning his tale: "The young lady's betrothed died at the hands of roving bandits. The old master forced the young lady to follow him in death..."

He had barely begun when Fei Yinggong suddenly sat bolt upright and burst out cursing: "That old bastard — he really would do such a thing! Refusing to acknowledge my daughter is one thing, but he'd even drive his own elder brother's daughter to her death!"

Zhao Han continued: "The young madam wished to betroth the young lady to me. When the old master learned of this, he stripped me of my child student status. The young madam then returned my bondservant contract, wanting me to establish my own household and then marry the young lady. The county private secretary took the money but did nothing, and colluded with the old master to lure me to the county yamen, where I was arrested and thrown in jail."

"How did you escape?" Fei Yinggong asked.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "I couldn't swallow my anger, so I killed the private secretary and the Constable, and set the county yamen ablaze."

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Fei Yinggong's eyes first went wide and round, then he burst into loud laughter, pointing at Zhao Han: "You've got guts, you scoundrel. Corrupt officials and crooked clerks — killing them is the only satisfaction. Come, come, drink a jug with me!"

"Father, you mustn't drink any more," Fei Ruhui hastily urged.

"Fine, I won't drink, I won't drink," Fei Yinggong shook his head with a bitter smile, then took another fierce swig of wine. "You've come to throw in your lot with me, but it's a pity you've come too late. This patrol inspector post — there's really nothing to it, being bullied by a ball-less eunuch. Of the brothers who once followed me, only a few remain now. Throwing in with me has no future. Go quickly, go quickly. I'm nothing but a useless wreck!"

Zhao Han was not truly looking to attach himself to anyone; he only wanted to find a place to settle first, then observe which rural area was suited for starting an uprising.

Zhao Han said: "Fourth Uncle, the world is so vast — where can a man not go? Bullied by one eunuch, and you hide away drinking all day?"

"None of your damn business — get lost!"

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Fei Yinggong, who had just been speaking civilly, suddenly started cursing. It seemed he was still in a drunken state.

"Then I shall get lost. Farewell, Fourth Uncle." Zhao Han was not angry; he would find an inn to stay at first.

Fei Ruhui hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "Everyone, don't be angry. My father has been in a bad temper lately."

Fei Yinggong was still in the throes of his drunken fit, roaring from where he sat on the ground: "I've always had a bad temper! If you're going to get lost, then get lost far away! Get lost, get lost now!"

Zhang Tieniu had kept silent until now, but at this point he truly could not hold back. Raising his axe in fury, he said: "A broken-down patrol inspector — what are you so high and mighty about? If you've got the guts, fight three hundred rounds with me, Tieniu!"

Chen Maosheng quickly urged: "Brother Tieniu, don't lose your temper. Let's talk this over properly."

Pang Chunlai had said nothing the whole time; such a trifling matter was beneath his concern.

"Iron Slave, throw them out!" Fei Yinggong bellowed.

The black-skinned brawny man picked up a club and swung it straight at Zhang Tieniu's head, with no apparent fear of killing a man on the spot.

"Mother-fucking thief, you're really fighting to the death!" Zhang Tieniu hastily dodged.

Fei Ruhui cried out at the sight: "Stop fighting, stop fighting!"

The courtyard descended into chaos — what on earth was all this?

Zhao Han was speechless as well. He said: "Let's go. Don't lower yourself to the level of a drunken madman. We'll talk once he's sobered up."

The four had not yet left when suddenly another person burst in.

The newcomer was dressed like a farmer, around twenty or so, and came running in carrying a hoe on his shoulder: "Father-in-law, a fight's broken out outside the town."

"Fight — they can all fight to the death for all I care!" Fei Yinggong roared.

Zhao Han cupped his hands and said: "Brother-in-law, I am a man of Fourth Uncle's household. What exactly has happened?"

The man paused a moment, then said: "Spring plowing, fighting over water. The Liang family has thrown in with the eunuch and seized the irrigation canal outside town. The other families couldn't stomach it and gathered their tenant farmers to seize the water back. Who knew the eunuch would actually send thugs? They're about to start fighting any moment now."

Fei Yinggong suddenly asked: "Our family's fields have no water either?"

"None. Once the canal was seized, we can only carry water from the river to irrigate the fields," the man said.

Fei Yinggong shot to his feet, grabbed his sword, and charged out: "Fuck his mother! I hadn't gone looking for trouble with him, and this damned eunuch has to push his luck. I'll cut him down today — to hell with this patrol inspector post, I'll take to the hills and become a bandit!"

(Seeking subscriptions, seeking monthly tickets.)

(End of chapter)