Chapter 226: Cold Night

Jiang Fan on the Purple Come Bridge sneezed. He had no time to dwell on it and hurried across to the circular fortification on the opposite side. The circular fortification on the Official Road was already complete; they had even dug a channel north of the Purple Come Bridge, diverting water from Tong Stream into the deep trench. During construction, every unit had been offering suggestions at all times, and the methods the soldiers came up with were often more useful than those of the Tongcheng officials.

Jiang Fan thought it was a bit of a pity, digging the area around the Official Road into such a mess. He would have liked to see the Roving Bandits come and attack, but the bandits probably wouldn't come now, and they'd have to laboriously fill it all back in later. To his surprise, civilian laborers ahead were erecting wooden pagoda towers, and people were also putting up plank bridges over the trench — it didn't look like work was stopping.

After the guard soldiers checked him through, Jiang Fan found Pang Yu inside the fortification. Standing before Pang Yu were Yang Xueshi and Mr. Hou; the three were in conversation.

Jiang Fan came up behind Pang Yu and said, "Sir, the Roving Bandits have reached Quanjiao. Jiangpu, Liuhe, and Nanjing are under martial law. Here is a letter sent by He County Yamen."

Pang Yu immediately turned around, took it from Jiang Fan's hands, and read it carefully. He County Yamen had written very concisely, confirming the bandits had reached Quanjiao, though it was unclear which Camp Heads they belonged to. Information circulating out of the various Nanjing government offices claimed they were the forces of the Eight Great Kings, Shooting Down the Sky, Sweeping King, and Cao Cao.

Pang Yu put the letter away. "Quanjiao is only a few dozen li from Jiangpu. We cannot afford the slightest delay."

Jiang Fan agreed. "Hanshan, Quanjiao, Hezhou, Jiangpu — all have reports of bandits. Whichever is true, the bandits are definitely moving east."

Pang Yu turned to Yang Xueshi. "Confirm that no bandit traces have been seen in Wuwei Prefecture."

Yang Xueshi nodded firmly. "Your subordinate sent three teams toward Wuwei Prefecture, all the way to Wuwei Prefecture's city. Confirmed no bandit traces. In the Luzhou direction, Scout Cavalry checked road traces at the Prefectural City and captured Servants for interrogation. The Luzhou bandits split into two routes: one toward Chao County, the other toward Quanjiao. On the Chao County side, we gathered information from Chaohu fishermen who saw bandits passing through Chao County heading toward Hanshan."

"Then we can confirm here the bandits' direction of movement. From Luzhou they split toward Quanjiao and Hanshan, possibly assembling at Jiangpu or Yangzhou. Liuhe is an unavoidable route. Judging by the difficulty of obtaining supplies along the way, they won't turn back along old roads toward Anqing. This official judges the bandits' next move: if they seize enough boats, they will cross the river into Jiangnan; if not enough boats, they will head north toward Chuzhou and Xuzhou."

Jiang Fan and Yang Xueshi nodded at the same time. These two were Pang Yu's intelligence force. Although they were still far from being able to anticipate the enemy in advance, they had made enormous progress compared to the blank confusion at the start of the year. Their understanding of the bandits' characteristics and patterns was slowly taking shape. By gathering the downstream bandit movements within a few days, Pang Yu was able to make a clear judgment.

He turned to Yang Xueshi. "How many Scout Cavalry can be assembled?"

Yang Xueshi lowered his head and thought. "Seventy at most. Some have already been dispatched and cannot be recalled."

"Send no more new scouts. Recall as many of those dispatched as possible. Assemble outside South Fumigate Gate before the hour of Shen today." Pang Yu looked at Mr. Hou. "Mr. Hou, draft the following military orders. The Artillery is to set out for Zongyang immediately. County seat infantry is to complete march preparations before the hour of Mao tomorrow. North Gorge Pass and Kongcheng Town infantry is to reach the County Seat before noon tomorrow. The Water Army is to complete departure preparations before noon tomorrow. Once drafted, have Personal Soldiers by Relay Horse deliver them to each unit at once."

Mr. Hou acknowledged. He was a bit nervous, because this time he needed to march with the army. Currently the Anqing Water Camp and requisitioned boats were already assembled at Zongyang. Judging by Pang Yu's plans, they would set out from Zongyang the day after tomorrow at the latest. A clash with the Roving Bandits was unavoidable.

"Sir, your subordinate has something to say…"

"From now on, Mr. Hou may always speak directly."

Mr. Hou kept his head lowered. "This humble one feels that this time our camp's relief operation should focus on Jiangnan, not on Jiangpu and Liuhe. Jiangpu and Liuhe matter — but they matter because of the Jiangnan ferry crossings, not because of Jiangpu and Liuhe themselves. If we land directly on the north bank and rashly plunge into hundreds of thousands of Roving Bandits, the outcome would be very hard to predict. Why not go directly into Nanjing and help defend it?"

Pang Yu's eyes blinked rapidly a few times. He smiled at Mr. Hou. "One thing you said is quite right — the focus is Jiangnan, not Jiangpu. But exactly how to fight, we must see the situation once we arrive. If the bandits have already breached Jiangpu, we will naturally land on the south bank and assist in defending Nanjing. But it may not only be Jiangpu and Liuhe. Hezhou is under the Canal Transport Governor's jurisdiction. If the bandits seize boats there, we must also retake the docks. Otherwise the bandits can still cross the river and ravage Jiangnan."

He stopped there. Mr. Hou knew Pang Yu had not taken it in, and said no more, hurrying off to draft the military orders.

Now only Jiang Fan remained. He said to Pang Yu in a low voice, "Has Circuit Intendant Shi given his approval?"

Pang Yu shook his head. "He still says to wait. He even wants to confirm whether there are bandits inside Yingshan and Huoshan. A mountain range that big — you couldn't confirm it in half a year. The bandits march fast. If we delay any longer, there will be no way to provide relief."

Having said this, Pang Yu looked at Jiang Fan. "I dare not say there are no bandits in Yingshan and Huoshan, nor that Anqing is entirely without risk. But we should also see the opportunity this time. Circuit Intendant Shi has the prospects of a civil official; he is unwilling to bear any risk. I, as a military officer, am not the same. If the Garrison Battalion never marches out, it will forever remain a local force tucked away in a corner."

"Then what about Circuit Intendant Shi…"

Pang Yu's eyes flickered. By hierarchy, Shi Kefa was his direct superior, but Shi Kefa still had Zhang Guowei as his direct superior. Pang Yu's military funds and equipment also did not rely heavily on the Military Defense Circuit, so Shi Kefa's air of superior authority had been steadily diminishing.

"Just say we received a verbal message from Mr. Ma. Tomorrow the entire army reaches Zongyang. We must set out onto the river the day after tomorrow at the latest, to relieve Jiangnan."

…

On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month, wisps of white smoke rose beneath the walls of Hezhou. Damaged bamboo ladders, tables, and benches lay piled at the base of the wall. Below the wall lay some bandit corpses, and some gravely wounded not yet dead were wailing and writhing.

Tan Laizi cupped his hands over his mouth; his nearly frozen fingers finally regained a trace of warmth. He spread them before his eyes and looked — the backs of his hands had six or seven chilblains.

"Freezing to death." The Traveler beside him was curled into a ball, still shivering uncontrollably. He lifted his head slightly and looked at Tan Laizi. "Jiangbei is Jiangbei. The south isn't this cold."

Tan Laizi crouched down and cursed fiercely. "What nonsense. Isn't Anqing in Jiangbei too? It's never been this cold there either."

The Traveler shrank his head back in. "My feet are numb. I don't want to stand guard anymore."

Tan Laizi looked to the left. A few people were slowly tidying up a corpse. The corpse was an old man, his face a patch of scorched black — he had blown himself up while lighting an iron blunderbuss.

Many firearms had been placed on the Hezhou city wall, but those who knew how to load and fire them were very few. Most on the wall were hired substitutes, completely untrained. Just in this vicinity, there had been three explosions. No one dared fire them anymore.

Tan Laizi was so cold at night he couldn't sleep, and he only got one meal a day. When the bandits assaulted the city, he barely managed to pick up small stones and hurl them down randomly. Fortunately, the bandits were likewise suffering the effects of the bitter cold; their attacks over the past two days had been weak, and they had been beaten back each time by the motley crew on the wall.

The condition of the other defenders was just as bad. There were not enough supplies. The hardest thing now was the lack of charcoal fires. The many Community Soldiers, on alert for days, were utterly exhausted.

More shouting and cursing came from outside. Tan Laizi craned his neck to look. It was that fake Constable again, still wearing that Constable Uniform. Tan Laizi laboriously picked up a fist-sized stone, ready to throw it down in a moment.

But the bandit did not come close. He shouted toward the city wall, "Tu Jishan! You promised me you'd start the fire on the night of the twenty-seventh. Why did you deceive me!" (Note 1)

The voice echoed along the nearby wall. The people on the wall looked around at each other. After a moment, a scuffle broke out outside a Grass Depot. Many Community Soldiers surged over there. Then a gentry member went over, leading the Community Soldiers to escort that person away under arrest.

Rumors spread across the wall. There really was a Tu Jishan, right on this section of the wall — the person just seized was him.

"Wu Zhenggui and Tang Dashan of Jiye Ward, Qu Daoen of Limin Lane — you were driven to ruin and death by the Yang Licentiate family, and still you sell your lives defending the city for them. Can you face the vengeful ghosts in your homes?"

Tan Laizi said to the Traveler in astonishment, "The bandits even know these people — they know all this. Who knows how many spies are in the city, and they've been scouting for quite some time."

"What use is that? The wall is here. No matter how clearly they scout, they still can't get up. Old Master Ma anticipated this long ago. The whole city is guarded against it." (Note 2)

That bandit rode along the wall shouting curses, calling out the names of people in the city one after another, from every ward inside the city to every village outside — not a single mistake. The wall was in an uproar, with people constantly being seized as their names were called.

Tan Laizi recalled the bandit intelligence materials they had discussed on the boat coming here and said with full confidence, "My master said the bandits only attack one place for two or three days. They arrived on the twenty-sixth — today is the third day. They must know they can't take it and are about to leave, so they're calling out the names of these Inner Responders as revenge."

"Should be leaving. If they don't leave soon, we'll all freeze to death." The Traveler mumbled haltingly, then leaned against the wall and said no more.

This commotion went on for an hour. Everyone on the wall who needed seizing had been seized. The bandits did not attack the city again. That fake Constable also spurred his horse and returned to the camp.

Tan Laizi leaned out, staring outside with reddened eyes. A hundred paces away lay many corpses with heads separated from bodies — commoners beheaded by the bandits the day before.

Those killed were mainly the old and weak among the commoners. Although word of the bandits' incursion had spread everywhere, many commoners still had no way to relocate. The stronger ones had been captured by the bandits, some even made to carry riders on their horses.

Tan Laizi quickly averted his gaze and looked farther back toward the Bandit Camp. It was in chaos inside, as if they were packing up.

"Told you — the bandits are sure to leave."

The Traveler stirred slightly but did not reply.

Just then a gust of cold wind blew. Tan Laizi shuddered. It seemed even colder today. He hastily dragged the Traveler up, and the two shrank back inside the Grass Depot.

But today's weather seemed unusual. Gust after gust of cold wind came, and the surroundings were like an ice cave. Tan Laizi was chilled to the bone. The Traveler beside him kept shivering.

The other Community Soldiers around were gradually unable to endure it. Shouts rang out from time to time. Within an hour, two people had succumbed, and no one even came to drag them away — they just lay there on the wall.

"Your mother, someone give us some charcoal." When Tan Laizi came to from his confusion, the weather had grown even colder. Shivering, he cursed. But the Traveler beside him did not speak. Tan Laizi suddenly realized he had stopped shivering. He jabbed hard with his elbow — the Traveler still did not stir.

Tan Laizi turned his head to look. The Traveler's clothes at the chest had been pulled open. On his face was a trace of a strange smile. He had been dead for some time.

"Give us some charcoal…" Tan Laizi said numbly.

…

When night fell, Tan Laizi still had not eaten. Two Community Soldiers from the same Grass Depot had just returned. They had brought two hired men with them; one of them even had only one leg. The moment they reached the Grass Depot, they lay down and did not move. Fewer than half the people remained inside the Grass Depot. Anyone whose family could still scrape together a bit of silver had paid to find a Hired Substitute. Many, even without finding a substitute, had simply gone back into the city on their own. Because of the severe cold, the gentry leading each defense section had all gone home to warm themselves by the fire. No one stopped the scattering and disorder on the wall.

The two Community Soldiers paid him no mind, gathered their things, and were about to descend from the city.

Tan Laizi moved his tongue and called out with great effort, "You're all leaving — you mean to leave me guarding alone all night?"

"The masters of the various families have all gone back. Freezing to death — who's going to care about my family."

The other Community Soldier said, "It'll be even colder tonight. The Roving Bandits are people too; they won't come assault the city. Your face is already blue. I advise you to go down below the City Tower tonight, pay the copper coins, and warm yourself by the fire. In any case, the Roving Bandits will be gone tomorrow — don't freeze yourself to death this one night."

The two finished speaking, ignored Tan Laizi, and hurried home. Before the Roving Bandits arrived, these Community Soldiers had already been standing guard on the city wall for several days. Hezhou's overall preparations could be considered adequate, but the resources were not effectively allocated to the men defending the city. When the weather suddenly turned cold, both the Community Soldiers and the Hired Substitutes reached their limit.

Tan Laizi turned his head to glance at the dead traveler beside him, felt inside his clothes, and found seven or eight copper coins. With a sigh, he said, "I tell you, brother, seeing as fate brought us together, old Tan here will endure hunger for one night and save a little money. Once the Roving Bandits are gone, I'll find someone to bury you."

"Don't even know your name — what would I carve on the stone tablet… Ah, forget it, not enough silver for a tablet anyway. A pit will do. A person's whole life, in the end, is just a pit."

He kept watch like this for another two double-hours, then Tan Laizi woke in a daze.

The lanterns atop the wall swayed in the cold wind. Yellow light filtered through the bamboo slat gaps of the Grass Depot, rocking back and forth across the traveler's already stiffened body.

Tan Laizi's whole body shook uncontrollably. He tried with great difficulty — his hands could still be controlled, but his legs and feet had completely lost all feeling. Yet Tan Laizi could hear movement. The people on the wall were growing fewer and fewer. Inside this Grass Depot, apart from that cripple, he was the only living person left.

"Brother, I can't hold out any longer. I've got to go warm myself by the fire, or else if I freeze to death, there'll be no one to bury you either." Tan Laizi struggled to move, but his curled-up legs would not obey.

"I'm about to freeze to death too." Tan Laizi bared his teeth and let out two cries — "Ah, ah."

Anxiety gripped his heart. With trembling hands, he rubbed his legs vigorously. After a good while, he finally recovered slightly, but his movements were still clumsy. Not daring to wait any longer, he let out a low roar and tried to stand, but failed.

Tan Laizi roared, rolled onto the ground, and crawled all the way out. He pushed aside the Grass Depot's bamboo curtain and reached the battlements. After all this crawling, his legs and feet were actually a bit more limber than before. The veins on Tan Laizi's face bulged. Using every ounce of strength in his body, he hooked his fingers into the brick gaps and propped his legs up one at a time. He threw himself onto the battlements, then, bracing against the wall, limped step by step toward the City Stairs.

The City Wall was empty of people. The City Stairs were just ahead, not far. A faint firelight glowed at the stairway entrance. Tan Laizi fixed his eyes dead on that spot, not even glancing at the other Grass Depots along the way. Halting at every step, he reached the City Stairs.

Below the wall there was a Fire Beacon, with many people gathered around. Tan Laizi knew the place — three Wen for a night. Maybe the price had gone up, but that didn't matter; he had seven Wen.

The handrail on the City Stairs was frozen over with ice. Tan Laizi could not afford to care. Bracing himself, he descended step by step, until at last he reached that place where they warmed themselves by the fire.

"Six Wen!"

Tan Laizi's hands were shaking violently. He reached inside his clothes and felt around for a long time, no longer able to tell exactly how many copper coins there were. He grabbed a handful and passed them to the man, then threw himself toward the crowd, forcibly squeezing out a spot. Even the ground was so warm.

The people around him all cursed and shouted, but Tan Laizi's consciousness grew more and more muddled. He murmured, "Tan Ya has… has silver. That heaven-cursed Bandit Spawn — let him ask all over Anqing… just ask… who dares provoke, dares provoke Tan Ya…"

Not long after Tan Laizi passed out, on the section of the city wall he had left behind, two bamboo ladders were quietly leaned against the now deserted wall.

……

Note 1: Tu Jishan is a real historical figure. He was a native of Hezhou who arranged with the Roving Bandits to set fires at Two Places on the twenty-seventh day. He had over twenty accomplices. Lu Kezao's "Chongzhen Yihai Hezhou Lost City Full Account" records that the Roving Bandits below the wall called out people by name and surname, knowing the identities and backgrounds of those inside the city with perfect clarity. Locals serving as Inner Responders for the Roving Bandits reveals the deep social conflicts in various regions at the end of the Ming dynasty, and also shows that the Roving Bandits' emphasis on and mastery of intelligence work far exceeded that of the court officials.

Note 2: This Master Ma is Ma Rujiao, the most outstanding gentry scholar in the defense of Hezhou.