Chapter 165: A Mess to Clean Up

On the seventeenth day of the fifth month of the Chongzhen Eighth Year, on the main street inside Zongyang Gate in Anqing Prefecture, a long black column marched into the city, the short spears overhead swaying in dense clusters.

Shops along the way scrambled to board up their doors, women on the street turned pale with fright and fled westward in panic, and even the beggars scurried into the alleys in alarm.

Wu Dacai felt a strange sensation in his heart. As a peasant, he knew that soldiers were no good — they mainly wanted to plunder. He could understand the shopkeepers being afraid, and it made sense for the women to be scared too, but he couldn't figure out what a beggar had worth stealing. That people could be this afraid — aside from surprise, he felt a vague sense of superiority. He could make people afraid now too.

Wu Dacai used the motion of walking to adjust his waist sash, making his backside a bit more comfortable. Last time he'd given that fool a hint, and Lord Pang had punished him with ten military beatings. Unlike the plank beatings at the yamen that tore flesh open, these military beatings hurt enough to kill a man, but the injuries weren't that severe. He'd recovered quickly, but his backside was still sore and itchy, and this whole journey of one hundred forty li from Tongcheng had been pure misery.

He lifted his head and glanced ahead — Lord Pang, the man who'd ordered his beating, was right there in front.

Because Wu Dacai was in the First Squad of the Hundredth Chief Bureau and was the second tallest, he'd ended up in the second row of the entire column. In front of him was that fool, and further ahead was the Garrison Commander's Red Banner guiding the way.

Beneath the Red Banner were five riders led by Lord Pang. They stopped in front of the Flag of Authority Hall of the Garrison Command. Lord Pang took the lead in dismounting, and then the Red Banner gave a wave.

"Halt!"

Wu Dacai heard Yao Dongshan's barked order and hurriedly stopped his steps. The squads ahead and behind all gave their orders in succession, and the long column came to a stop section by section, its tail still back in the archway of Zongyang Gate.

"Dress ranks!"

Wu Dacai glanced at his distance from the fool and quickly adjusted it slightly, roughly matching the spacing they used during silent standing drills.

No one came out from the Garrison Command to receive them. Lord Pang stood before the gate for a moment, then went inside. The column waited outside the gate.

After dressing ranks, there were no further orders. Everyone could only stand in silence. According to the training requirements, no talking, no moving. Wu Dacai still couldn't quite get used to it. Back when he was in the countryside, he'd never been subjected to this kind of restraint. If he wanted to sit on a paddy ridge, he sat; if he wanted to lie down, he lay down. Lord Pang's demands were truly strange.

The commoners by the roadside gradually increased in number. These grunts were completely different from any soldiers they'd seen before. Every soldier in the column stared straight ahead, standing motionless, looking a bit foolish. They didn't seem to pose any danger, so after they'd stood there a while, people gathered around. A group of Green-Skins happened to be right at the head of the column, pointing and gesturing at the ranks.

The crowd of onlookers on both sides grew larger and larger, even laughing loudly. They were probably mocking people like him. Wu Dacai's sense of superiority vanished without a trace, and his face flushed red. He'd never had this feeling of being the center of everyone's attention before. He felt every laugh was aimed at him. Superiority had turned into humiliation.

But he had already completed the silent standing training. He'd taken plenty of beatings over the past twenty days and knew that until the dismissal was called, nothing but his eyeballs was allowed to move.

That fool in front of him was tilting his head to look at a young wife nearby. Then some women on the other side of the street laughed, and he turned his head to look at them instead. He was already taller than everyone else, standing out like a crane among chickens, and this movement made him especially conspicuous.

Wu Dacai was just about to remind him not to turn his head around when suddenly a figure strode past from the side. Wu Dacai jolted — it was unmistakably Guo Fengyou, the one who'd administered the beatings, a bamboo cane in his hand.

The moment Wu Dacai saw that bamboo switch, he felt like his breathing was about to stop. It was made from the small mao bamboo that Anqing produced in abundance, about as thick as a thumb. Not the old, sun-dried, hard kind, but the more flexible and pliant type. Yet the searing pain it delivered was no less than a military beating.

The bamboo cane cut through the air in front of him and smacked against the fool's back, right on the shoulder armor. The fool cried out in shock, his whole body shuddering as if electrocuted. He whipped his head around in terror, and when he saw it was Guo Fengyou, he froze in place.

"Where's your face supposed to be?" Guo Fengyou said, then struck again. "Still looking!"

The fool hurriedly turned his face forward, his body still trembling — whether from pain or fright, it was hard to tell. A few Green-Skins, seeing someone get beaten, laughed loudly from the side.

Wu Dacai's fingers trembled. Over the past two days on the road, he'd been struck by that little mao bamboo many times. Every time he saw that little mao bamboo, he couldn't suppress his terror. When that little mao bamboo appeared, the world seemed to contain nothing but that little mao bamboo. Around Wu Dacai's old home, there were bamboo groves everywhere, but this was the first time he'd discovered bamboo could be so terrifying.

Guo Fengyou, carrying the bamboo cane, strode off toward the rear. Only then did Wu Dacai's breathing return to normal, and the laughing and chatter of the surrounding onlookers reached his ears again.

Wu Dacai stared straight ahead, standing motionless in place. He stood for a long time with no order given. The entire column stood in solemn silence. The spectators who'd come for the excitement lost interest, and some began to drift away. The crowd of onlookers wasn't so large anymore.

Just when he was wondering how much longer they'd have to stand, he saw Lord Pang and a General Officer emerge from inside the Garrison Command.

"Surely General Pan isn't crossing the river today?" Pang Yu said politely to Pan Keda. "There's really no need for the General to rush. Stay a couple more days and let the clerks take their time with the handover. We two brothers can just enjoy some wine and good conversation."

Pan Keda chuckled dryly. "The clerks started the handover two days early, and everything's more or less in order. Lord Pang is newly appointed, and this is precisely the time when affairs are most complicated. I wouldn't want to impose."

"General Pan humbles me. How could it be an imposition? The General has protected our Anqing's territory and people, performing deeds of great merit. I am but a junior and a latecomer, and there are many military matters I had still hoped to consult the General about."

Pan Keda tilted his head slightly, studying Pang Yu. The Tongcheng Uprising the year before last had been a chance for great merit, and a chance to get rich — a plan that should have been foolproof. Yet somehow this little yamen runner had used some method or other to kill every last rioter at Yunji Temple.

Though Pan Keda had been in the military for years, opportunities for real battle were few. That night, the great hall had been awash in blood, dozens of headless corpses lying every which way. It had left a deep impression on Pan Keda.

Forty thousand taels of dirty silver had vanished without a trace from that point on. Not only had Pan Keda not gotten the silver, he'd also drawn suspicion all over himself. Meanwhile, this little yamen runner had soared upward, becoming the Two-Shift Squad Leader of Tongcheng. Then, in the city defense battle at the start of the year, he'd routed the Roving Bandits, and now, as a matter of course, he'd become the Garrison Commander of Anqing — and had instead driven Pan Keda back to Jiangnan.

Returning to Jiangnan wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Pan Keda had also leveraged the Civil Unrest to rise to Mobile Corps Commander, but his troop quota had decreased rather than increased. For a General Officer in these times, without any other source of income, the court issued Military Stipend Silver based on the troop quota. The troop quota was silver.

According to an acquaintance in the Anchi Military Defense Office, the Anqing Garrison Commander's combined water and land troop quota had actually been raised to one thousand. This did nothing to improve Pan Keda's mood.

When you got down to it, the origin of everything was that night at Yunji Temple. Others might suspect Pan Keda, but Pan Keda himself could only suspect Pang Yu, because he absolutely did not believe Pang Yu had killed all those rioters alone. It was very likely he'd had a group of helpers, and the silver had been carried off by those people.

Pan Keda glanced at the column in the street. "Lord Pang is too modest. These troops are drilled to an imposing standard. Given Lord Pang's great achievements in quelling the Civil Unrest single-handedly and raiding the Roving Bandits by night, it should be me seeking instruction from Lord Pang — especially regarding the battle at Yunji Temple." Pan Keda paused. "In all my years in the military, I know that one man, no matter what, cannot kill thirty people. It's not that I doubt Lord Pang's valor, but when those rioters saw Lord Pang's might, they would surely have fled. Killing is easy; chasing is hard. Lord Pang must have had some clever method. Could you reveal a hint or two to your brother here?"

Pang Yu waved a hand and laughed. "The General jests. I've heard the storytellers speak of Grandfather Yue, and tell the Sanguo Yanyi — in those tales, one general kills several hundred. My thirty heads are nothing. It was indeed as the General says: I took thirty heads, all of them the slow runners. The other rioters who escaped numbered in the hundreds."

Pan Keda burst out laughing and clapped Pang Yu heavily on the shoulder. "Yunji Temple housing several hundred rioters — it must have been packed tight. And Lord Pang dared to go alone and wipe them out. Truly a young hero. No wonder Lord Zhang made the appointment personally. Leaving Anqing to Brother Pang puts my mind at ease too."

"Lord Zhang said that General Pan is also a commander who dares to fight, and he knows this. It's just that the area around Chizhou is also a critical point for River Defense, and Lord Pan knows the terrain well — you are irreplaceable."

"So that's how it is." Pan Keda stepped down from the platform, strode onto the Mounting Horse stone in one step, and his Household Retainer immediately led the horse over.

Pan Keda mounted the horse and looked at Pang Yu. "Now I understand why old Pan here was suddenly transferred back to Jiangnan. So there was such a purpose behind it. My thanks to Lord Pang for clearing that up. Since Chizhou is so critical, I must cross the river at once. I wish Lord Pang ever-higher promotions in the days to come."

Pang Yu cupped his hands. "I wish the General a smooth journey."

Their eyes met. Pan Keda returned the cupped-hand salute, reined his horse around, and headed in the direction of Jixian Gate.

Pang Ding said quietly, "Young Master, what did Pan Keda mean?"

Pang Yu smiled. "No need to worry about what he meant."

"Will he go to Wang Gongbi and lodge false accusations against us? I've heard Wang Gongbi thinks highly of him."

"Whatever he can give Wang Gongbi, this young master can give too. Why would Wang Gongbi go out of his way for him?" Pang Yu looked at the column in the street, then turned to Jiang Guoyong beside him. "Have you personally inspected the barracks and the drill grounds?"

Three days earlier, Pang Yu had arrived in Anqing ahead of time. After meeting with Pan Keda, he'd arranged for the clerks to handle the handover. On Pang Yu's side, that meant Jiang Guoyong. With Jiang Guoyong managing things, Pang Yu had found the time to cross the river and pay a visit to Wang Gongbi. After some careful smoothing over, his relationship with Wang Gongbi had improved slightly.

Jiang Guoyong came over and said, "I've inspected the barracks. They're only enough for two hundred men — twenty barrack rooms."

"A Water Troops quota of five hundred, and only twenty rooms?"

"The rest have been encroached upon by various officials over the years. Some along the street have been converted into shopfronts and rented to merchants, or the Water Army officers live in them themselves."

Pang Yu rubbed his forehead. "And the drill grounds?"

"There are three drill grounds. A small drill ground inside Zongyang Gate — that one belongs to our Garrison Command. The large drill ground outside Zongyang Gate belongs to the Anqing Guard. The Water Army drill ground is outside Jixian Gate, not far from the river."

"What's the condition of these drill grounds?"

"The small drill ground has been encroached upon by covered walkways and buildings, about half of it taken. The large drill ground is untended and has become a storage yard for some timber merchants. The outer walls of the Water Army drill ground have all been turned into shopfronts, and the remaining open space inside is piled high with beans and rice. Porters have also thrown up shacks — it's basically completely occupied."

Pang Yu grunted in acknowledgment. "What armaments are currently available?"

"The Arsenal has thirty-five horses, three intact suits of Chain Mail, five damaged suits of Chain Mail, twenty-three suits of Cotton Armor, three hundred Hundred-Subcannons, seven Second General cannons — most rusted beyond use — two hundred catties of Gunpowder, three hundred cannonballs for the General cannons, one room stacked full of Hundred-Subcannon shot — too many for your subordinate to count — seven hundred thirteen Long Spears made by the Anqing Guard, four hundred thirty-seven Swords, ninety Tang Pa, one hundred sixty-five bowstaves, one hundred ninety-six bowstrings..."

"Are any of them usable?"

Jiang Guoyong thought for a moment and said, "If judged by Your Lordship's Military Law standards, none of them are usable."

Like the county yamen's accounts, the Garrison Command's books are a complete mess. These military barracks weren't built by Pan Keda either — they were simply handed down from one commander to the next. Even if we didn't go through Pan Keda for the handover, he couldn't solve any of these problems anyway; it would just be a waste of time.

Pang Yu listened without speaking. Jiang Guoyong bit his lip and said, "Sir, you should make those merchants move out. This is imperial court land meant for drilling troops — how can we allow them to occupy it for their private use? Otherwise, where are we supposed to drill?"

Pang Yu glanced at him. Jiang Guoyong's face was slightly flushed, agitated again. Pang Yu couldn't help but laugh. "Guoyong has a point, but we mustn't rush things. It looks like that Dajiaochang outside the Zongyang Gate will be easier to deal with, and more suitable for our purposes. Let's secure that Dajiaochang first."