Chapter 299: Collecting Debts

"Brother Pang, you and I must advance and retreat together."

At West Stream, not far from the Southern Court of the Imperial Stud, the scenery was picturesque. Xu Strengthening stood solemnly atop a great boulder, facing into the wind, his red cape snapping and flying. He watched the river water flowing through West Stream and spoke with gravity.

The very day the two of them rushed to Chuzhou, reports came that the Roving Thieves were rampaging in the Zhulong Bridge area, causing a wave of panic outside the city. Word of the Roving Thieves also stirred worry in Xu Strengthening — his camp did not even have walls. If the Roving Bandits charged through Pure Stream Pass, it would truly become a battle, so he would go no further north. He sought out Pang Yu by the river to discuss matters.

Pang Yu stood on another large boulder nearby, left hand pressing on his sword hilt, still as a statue. He too watched the river water and said in earnest, "Elder Brother, set your mind at ease. Both our camps are filled with loyal and courageous men — how could we allow the Roving Thieves to caper about? If they dare cross the pass, we will slaughter them wholesale, repaying the Imperial grace above and the common people below."

In the midst of this solemn atmosphere, Xu Strengthening raised his left hand and calmly took a bite of the watermelon in it.

"With us brothers united in heart, would those Roving Thieves dare take a single step past Pure Stream Pass? But that is not what your elder brother speaks of — rather, it is the rations and pay for the rally to the king. What I mean by 'advance and retreat together' is advance only, and never retreat!"

As the red melon juice trickled down from the corner of his mouth, he turned around to look at Pang Yu, his eyes flashing with divine light. "We led our troops a thousand li for the rally to the king — are we not entitled to some rations and pay? At Chuzhou we forced back the Roving Thieves — are we not entitled to some reward? To issue soldiers' pay and then demand it back — there is no such principle under heaven. Surely we cannot be expected to pay out of our own pockets for the rally to the king!"

Pang Yu nodded repeatedly. Mr. Ma had now arrived, bringing the formal imperial edict. The entire army was halted at Chuzhou, preparing to return to Puzikou — which meant the performance was over. Next, the splitting of the box-office take would be another chaotic battle.

Raising the watermelon in his right hand, Pang Yu also took a bite. The watermelon, chilled in the river water, was icy and sweet, temporarily offsetting the sweltering heat of high summer.

"Elder Brother speaks reason. We shall bite down on one claim — that it has already been issued to the soldiers and officers, and absolutely cannot be recovered."

"On this matter we must be of one heart; no one may loosen his mouth." Xu Strengthening said confidently, "I do not fear that Feng Yuanbiao, but Lord Zhang is at Puzikou. If we return now, we will certainly be summoned by Lord Zhang, and then we will have no choice but to cough up the rations and pay. We shall stay put in Chuzhou. Lord Zhang still has a pile of urgent business in Suzhou — let us see who can outlast whom. We must bite down to the death: not a single tael of silver, not a single piece of equipment, gets returned."

This time, the Roving Thieves were active near Zhulong Bridge, and the rally to the king army happened to arrive just then. The locals thought they had been sent by the Yingtian Grand Coordinator as a coordinated response. The next day, the local gentry even organized a troop comfort mission, sending some grain, vegetables, and meat. Xu Strengthening and Pang Yu were together, feeling their troops strong and horses sturdy, with Pure Stream Pass still standing before them as a shield. They had not the slightest fear of the Roving Bandits, and with Chuzhou providing food and drink, they were not at all afraid of a war of attrition with Zhang Guowei.

Pang Yu nodded firmly and said, "Then so be it — return nothing at all!"

……

"Mr. Ma, the grain can all be returned, and the bedding and clothing as well. Only the silver, coin, and equipment present genuine difficulty."

Inside the great tent of the military camp, Pang Yu solicitously brought over a cup of tea and personally delivered it into Mr. Ma's hands.

"The silver…" Mr. Ma said calmly, "General Pang says it has been issued to the soldiers and officers, and along this road there has been nowhere to spend it. Circuit Intendant Feng's opinion is that it naturally still remains on the soldiers' and officers' persons — simply have the General Officers collect it back."

Pang Yu sat down and said, "It has indeed been issued down into the hands of the soldiers and officers. Mr. Ma has followed the Lord for many years in military campaigns — taking silver from the grunts in camp is like taking their very lives. If handled poorly, it will stir up trouble. As to the circumstances here, I must beg Mr. Ma to explain them on my behalf before Lord Zhang."

Mr. Ma did not press him. After a pause, he said, "This old man has had dealings with General Pang for a long time. In this matter of overseeing the return of rations and pay, General Pang has been most supportive — unlike that Xu Strengthening, stubborn and unenlightened, who makes things extremely difficult for this old man. By rights, this matter of the silver is one where I should accommodate the General. But with all the yamen in Nanjing applying pressure, Lord Zhang also finds it hard to manage. Before coming here, he had words with this old man beforehand: for any who do not return it, it will be deducted from the military pay disbursed going forward. When the final reckoning is made, will it not be the same as having returned it?"

When he spoke of Xu Strengthening, Mr. Ma was rather annoyed. Clearly, Xu Strengthening truly had no intention of coughing up a single bit, leaving Mr. Ma, the man tasked with handling this, stewing in a bellyful of anger.

Pang Yu could well understand Mr. Ma. Dealing with someone like Xu Strengthening gave anyone a headache. And Mr. Ma not only had to handle the accounts from Nanjing, but also the rations and pay relieved by the Jiangnan Ten Prefectures — two accounts that had been mixed together when disbursed, and now had to be separated and cleared up. Enough to give Mr. Ma a headache.

His talk now of deducting directly from future military pay was the simplest course for the yamen, but deeply unfair to the military commanders. Pang Yu was not anxious upon hearing this; he had long anticipated it. Because demanding money was difficult, but deducting money was easy. Zhang Guowei held the power over Commuted Tax and grain tax in kind, and could deduct the rations and pay back at any time — perhaps even deducting more than was owed. So clinging on and refusing to return it was ultimately a poor strategy. Unless several military commanders united, making Zhang Guowei wary of harming the whole for fear of injuring one, only then might it be possible to swallow the rally to the king rations and pay. But Xu Strengthening was not very reliable. Rather than wait for Xu Strengthening to sell him out, Pang Yu planned to sell Xu Strengthening out first, for a good price.

"Commander-in-Chief Xu was not stubborn and unenlightened only as of today. When it comes to rations and pay, he has always been one to let the wind blow in but never let an ox pull anything out. I tried to advise him several times and was cursed out for it." Pang Yu sighed and continued, "Mr. Ma is no outsider, so I shall speak plainly. The total sum from Nanjing was twenty-one thousand taels. I received only five thousand. Even if the soldiers and officers returned this silver, after it makes a round through the Grand Coordinator Yamen and then returns to the various yamen in Nanjing, could even two thousand taels remain? Whether Lord Zhang deducts it from military pay based on twenty-one thousand taels or five thousand taels, in the end Nanjing will not receive that sum anyway. It is, all in all, a muddled account."

Mr. Ma smiled but did not take up the thread. They both clearly understood the goings-on inside the yamen: when silver passed through hands, the wild goose was plucked of its feathers. A fifty-percent discount was the norm. The rally to the king silver, when it left Nanjing, may have been thirty thousand taels; after crossing the river to Puzikou, it became twenty-one thousand taels. Pang Yu's troop quota accounted for nearly seventy percent, so he should have received fourteen thousand taels. But the people in the Household Office of the Grand Coordinator Yamen said they had to see the troops before issuing pay. Pang Yu maneuvered in many ways, but before departing for Chuzhou, only eleven hundred troops had arrived. On the Household Office's books, nine thousand taels had been issued, but Pang Yu had actually received only fifty-seven hundred taels. Official Silver made up half; the rest was miscellaneous bits of silver, of far inferior purity. The actual silver amount may have been just over four thousand taels. Calculated against a troop quota of twenty-seven hundred, that averaged a little over one tael per man — and that was under the condition that Pang Yu and his subordinate General Officers took no Blood Money.

Of course, Pang Yu did not have that many troops either. Even counting the sailors on the boats, he had only a little over twenty-one hundred men. The rally to the king Army that had assembled numbered roughly fourteen hundred. The main force was the Land Combat Division, the Personal Guard Division, part of the Third Division, and directly subordinate units. But even so, that only came out to three taels per man.

Now they had to run the process in reverse. Setting aside the matter of making the soldiers and officers refund the money — what the yamen had swallowed was even harder to spit out than what the soldiers and officers had. Even Zhang Guowei could do nothing about it. In the end, the silver that could return to the various Nanjing yamen would likely be less than twenty percent. So whether Pang Yu returned it or not, it was certain to be a rotten account.

"Then how does General Pang feel this matter should be settled?"

"A muddled account must be settled muddily. The silver and coin in the soldiers' and officers' hands truly cannot be retrieved, and in the end, Nanjing cannot get it back either. But in between, we can think of a method. Those pursuing the rations and pay are the clerks of the yamen. If they say it is settled, then it is settled. We can work our article there. The most conspicuous item among the various categories is the silver. As it happens, Liu Ruogu gave me a sum of silver, which can be appropriately deployed. Among the things the various Nanjing yamen provided, some are genuinely useful to us. Since they have already been taken out of the Arsenal this time, we might as well engage in a transaction with them. They gain a benefit, we gain something of practical use, and it also allows Mr. Ma to hand over his assignment."

Mr. Ma looked at Pang Yu thoughtfully and said, "General Pang's meaning is to still produce silver, but to exchange it for some supplies in return — supplies whose book value those yamen find more convenient to dispose of."

"Exactly so." Pang Yu lowered his voice. "Just like on the day we received them — the handover for armor only listed 'armored clothing.' Five hundred sets of armored clothing could be tattered cotton armor, or it could be Chain Mail. This sort of thing is held by the Ministry of War Arsenal Department, the Ministry of Works, and the Chief Military Commission of the Central Army. In their hands it is useless, but in my hands it is useful. Giving the silver to them is no problem either. In this way, the accounts for the silver and coin are balanced."

Mr. Ma nodded. What Pang Yu described could be considered a method — essentially another transaction within the transaction. Pang Yu would provide silver, letting the Nanjing yamen clerks gain a real benefit, but in return, the armored clothing would be swapped for usable armor. A single set of armor was generally priced at twenty taels or more. Pang Yu's five thousand taels in exchange for five hundred sets, at roughly ten taels per set, was a highly profitable deal. Once the yamen clerks got the silver, they would naturally muddy the waters of the accounts, making the muddled account even more chaotic, until everything vanished without a trace inside the yamen on both banks of the Great River.

Pang Yu profited with armor; the yamen clerks profited with silver. And for Mr. Ma, as long as Nanjing did not continue to pursue the matter, his assignment would be settled. Truly, everyone would be happy. The only one to suffer a loss in the end would be the public accounts of Nanjing.

Among the items Nanjing provided were five hundred sets of armored clothing. When registering them, Pang Yu had specifically come to give advice, instructing that the type of armor not be specified — everything was to be written simply as 'armored clothing.' So this was what he had been waiting for here.

Mr. Ma thought for a moment and said, "The total number of armor sets in their Arsenal would still be short by five hundred. The number is indeed not a problem — stuffing in some tattered cotton clothing would also count as armored clothing. But they would need to swap all the tattered armored clothing for qualified armor. I still do not know if that can be done."

"Sir need not worry. If they want the silver, they will certainly come up with a method. Besides armor, the fine horses of the Southern Court of the Imperial Stud can also be valued and accounted for — trade for as many as there are."

Mr. Ma frowned and thought for a moment. It seemed there might be feasibility, but he still raised one question. "What if the various Nanjing yamen are still unwilling?"

Pang Yu leaned in close and said in a low voice, "I have a method here."

"General Pang, please speak."

"As soon as Lord Zhang returns to Suzhou, the various Nanjing yamen will certainly become willing."

"A fine method." A smile immediately appeared on Mr. Ma's face. Once Zhang Guowei left Puzikou, Nanjing would lose its target. The cost of going to Suzhou to demand payment would multiply. The Yingtian Yamen would certainly have to repay it, but once the matter reached Suzhou, the Yingtian Yamen would be fighting on home ground. The debtor would become the master, and they could drag things out until the debt collectors dropped dead. The handover would be even less up to Nanjing. And the plan before them was both convenient and allowed them to reap benefits — the choice for the Nanjing yamen would be obvious.

"We shall do it this way."

As Mr. Ma left the tent, Pang Ding pressed another Silver Note into his hand. Mr. Ma did not even look at it; he accepted it within his sleeve and strode off.

Once Mr. Ma was far away, Pang Ding said in a low voice, "Young Master, was this rally to the king business a good deal or not?"

Pang Yu paused, then shook his head. "Who knows. But your Young Master knows another thing."

"What thing?"

"Lately, it seems everyone is smarter than me, your Young Master. But today, your Young Master knows that when it comes to doing business, I am still the smarter one."

Without waiting for Pang Ding to answer, Pang Yu gave a "hmph" of a laugh, turned around, and went back into the great tent.