Chapter 320: Blossoming

Shipai Market in Anqing was blessed with a rare sunny day, and the temperature climbed quickly. Wooden boats dotted Matang Lake to the northwest, where fishermen cast their nets from time to time; the rippling circles reflected the sunlight, almost dazzling to the eye.

Squinting, the youth Yang Guangdi carried two wooden buckets to the lakeshore. He glanced left and right, and seeing no fishing boats nearby, swiftly picked up a fishing rod from the ground, hastily cast the line into the lake, and immediately stuck the rod into the mud, hiding it at a slant among the grass where it could not be seen unless one walked right up to it, then pressed a stone over the base.

After wiping the sweat from his forehead, Yang Guangdi picked up the buckets again. Reaching the water's edge, he first checked the surface — the three floats made from short reed stalks were bobbing faintly — and only then did he carefully tilt a bucket sideways into the water. He slowly filled it just over halfway before lifting it; the moment the bucket left the water, it became much heavier.

Once both buckets were full, Yang Guangdi glanced at the floats again. There was no movement. He laboriously lifted the two buckets, turned, and headed up the bank. Along the nearby lakeshore, over a hundred horses were scattered about grazing. Some soldiers in red padded coats stood on the perimeter, keeping the horses from straying and also letting their own mounts drink.

Yang Guangdi had been rescued by the Garrison Battalion at Chuzhou and had trekked all the way to Anqing. Over a thousand people had come together at the time and were briefly settled at Shipai Market. When the Garrison Battalion selected refugees at Chuzhou, they had specific criteria — most people had various skills or were physically strong. Men like Old Ceng, who knew how to raise horses, were quickly transferred away by the Cavalry Battalion. People from the workshops, the Shipping Company, and the Silver Bank appeared at the camp from time to time, taking people away batch by batch.

Because Yang Guangdi had been recruited as an exception granted by Mr. Hou, his listed skill was horse riding, but when the Cavalry Battalion came to test him, he naturally failed. The Cavalry Battalion did not pursue how he had been recruited, but there was no follow-up after that. He had no workshop skills either, so Yang Guangdi could only remain in this refugee camp.

Later, when Pang Yu took on part of the Taihu wall-building project, Yang Guangdi followed the main group to labor at Taihu for three months, then returned to Shipai. Units kept coming to take people in, and the group grew smaller and smaller until only a little over four hundred remained. Those counted as registered individual numbered one hundred seventy, the rest being family dependents. This handful of people was not even enough to repair the barracks, and the Garrison Battalion still had to recruit laborers from the surrounding area.

After the new year, the barracks were finally finished. This small group had nothing to do, but luckily the Cavalry Battalion was stationed nearby. The Anqing Garrison Battalion cavalry had more horses than men, and the surplus horses lacked hands to care for them, so they recruited a batch of camp auxiliary troops from among the registered individual. Yang Guangdi joined and ended up working under Old Ceng, whom he knew.

"Master Ceng, should I wash the dappled horse next or the black one?"

"The dappled horse."

Ceng Zhimu, his face full of wrinkles, pointed ahead. Seeing Yang Guangdi drenched in sweat, he gave a rare smile and asked, "Caught any fish?"

Yang Guangdi shook his head, his dark, thin face bearing a smile as bright as sunshine. "How could it be that fast? There were boats before, so I didn't dare fish. I just put the rod down."

Old Ceng patted the field ridge beside him. "Boy, rest a while before you wash."

Yang Guangdi said nothing and plopped down beside Old Ceng. Before he was even settled, he jumped up again, ran a short distance to pick a few flower buds, and handed one to Old Ceng.

"Master Ceng, suck on it. This flower is sweet."

Old Ceng shook his head, but Yang Guangdi kept his hand extended, so the old man had to reach out and take it. The red flower was brilliantly colorful, with some condensed dew inside. The old man sucked hard; there was a faint hint of sweetness.

"Didn't lie to you, Master Ceng." Yang Guangdi grinned and sucked his own flower.

Old Ceng held the flower in his hand, tilted his head to look at Yang Guangdi, and said, "Boy, how come you're so happy every single day?"

Yang Guangdi stretched out a hand and pointed at the distant barracks. "One day I'll buy a brick-and-tile house just like those for my mother to live in. The moment I think of that, I'm naturally happy."

Old Ceng turned his head to look. Those rows of barracks were orderly and imposing. They currently served as housing for the Cavalry Battalion. Many troops had arrived recently, and tents filled the interior of the walls. Old Ceng had no idea how many soldiers had actually come, but there had to be at least a thousand.

He sighed and said, "A single one of those brick-and-tile houses costs several taels of silver. When will a little lad like you ever earn that much?"

Yang Guangdi, not the least bit worried, said, "I'm learning to ride horses here with you, Master. Once I know how, I'll go to the Cavalry Battalion. They say it's two or three taels a month — that's only a matter of a few months."

Old Ceng looked at Yang Guangdi's smiling face and couldn't help but chuckle twice himself. Unconsciously, he turned to look at those people in red military uniforms — the soldiers of the Cavalry Battalion.

There had been a great battle by the Pure Stream River. Old Ceng had stayed in the camp. Somehow the front had collapsed, and the camp was full of people running. The old man was bewilderedly taken captive — not even captured by the Garrison Battalion, but actually bought by them. So he had never seen the Garrison Battalion fight. Whether this government army could actually fight or not, the old man was not very clear.

Usually the old man managed the horse pens, mainly caring for the surplus idle horses, and did not interact much with the soldiers. But he saw that their drills were extremely diligent; every few days there was some kind of assessment. Soldiers were required to maintain their own horses. He never saw the troops plundering the common people when they were out. They were different from any government troops he had seen before, and even more different from the Roving Bandit lords. But as for who was better in a fight, the old man could not say for sure.

"Master, watch me mount this horse!"

Yang Guangdi jumped up, ran to the side of a white horse wearing a saddle, and with a whoosh vaulted onto it, sitting there steady and secure.

The old man hurriedly waved at him. "Get down, quick! That horse isn't an idle horse!"

Yang Guangdi immediately jumped down again, ran back to sit beside the old man, and said, "Master, what do you think?"

"I think it'll do." The old man put the flower back in his mouth and sucked on it. "But as for those soldier lords, I can't say. Their training method is a bit strange. Even mounting a horse has to be done exactly the same way. First stand properly beside the horse, wait for the shouted count before stepping one foot into the stirrup, and even after stepping up you have to pause. Going uphill, downhill, crossing water — all has to be done the same. I feel they don't ride as well as those old... those Roving Thieves."

"I'm not afraid of those Roving Thieves!" Yang Guangdi stood up, yanked a stalk of dog-tail grass, and said fiercely through gritted teeth, "If I just had a sword, I'd slaughter every last one of them!"

The old man looked at the fierce, dark, thin youth before him, lowered his head, and sighed. "They're all just wretched souls, fighting for a mouthful of food."

The youth kept brandishing the dog-tail grass. "I only saw them killing people. Half our village was killed, and those who could still walk were taken as servants. If I don't slaughter them all, the brick-and-tile house I'm going to build for my mother won't be safe."

The old man was slightly taken aback. He shook his head and said no more. The youth waved the dog-tail grass enough, then turned to carry water and prepare to wash the horses. Suddenly, a rapid drumbeat came from the camp.

The few red-coated soldiers nearby had been very relaxed, but the moment they heard the drum, they acted as if chased by a whip, searching everywhere for their mounts. But there were too many idle horses around, all mixed together, and for a moment they could not find them, spinning in frantic circles.

Old Ceng was used to the sounds in the camp and knew it was the Gathering Drum. Failure to answer three rolls meant a beating and a dock in monthly pay. He called Yang Guangdi and the other grooms over to help them search. Yang Guangdi worked hard, running swiftly to find the saddled horses and delivering them one by one to the cavalrymen. By the time the second drum roll sounded, the cavalrymen had all found their horses and were racing toward the drill ground as if fleeing for their lives.

After the soldiers left, Yang Guangdi hurriedly went to retrieve his fishing rod. He had not caught any Matang crucian carp. When he returned, the grooms were buzzing with discussion. Normally, the Gathering Drum was beaten during morning drill; after training tasks were assigned, everyone dispersed, and the drum was not beaten again until before dinner, when the drill ground assembled and counted troops and horses, and each unit reported the day's training. Beating the drum midway like this usually meant urgent military intelligence.

Recently, news of Roving Bandits had come from time to time, and the drum was beaten a bit more often. The grooms felt this time it might mean going to war. After they discussed for a while, sure enough, the adviser in charge of idle horses rode over and told everyone to bring the horses back to camp and immediately prepare the carriages.

Yang Guangdi was not a formal groom. He parted with Old Ceng at the camp gate and prepared to go home with the other temporary workers. They had not taken more than a few steps when another officer came out.

"Go back and tell your Chief of Ten to muster all the registered individual. Everyone is to follow the Cavalry Battalion. We're going to fight Roving Bandits."

Before the other temporary workers could reply, Yang Guangdi shouted an acknowledgment and ran back toward the shack area as fast as his bare feet could carry him.

The shack area was much smaller than before. The registered individual now numbered less than two hundred. One unit was fifty registered individual, so only four Chiefs of Ten remained, all transferred from the Canal Gang. Yang Guangdi knew where to find them at this hour.

Reaching a tent in the middle area, Yang Guangdi stopped to catch his breath. From inside came a sudden loud shout: "Two Flowers, aiyo, haha, another kong for Thirty Thousand Strings — brothers, be careful now, a Flower on the Kong means two mace of silver from each of you!"

Yang Guangdi lifted the curtain. Sure enough, all four Chiefs of Ten were there. The four men sat around a small table, each holding one side, locked in combat over a modified version of Mahjong Cards. His own unit's Tan Zongjia was directly facing the door. To his right, Chief Lu was standing in some excitement, having just drawn a tile. He had not yet looked at its face and was rubbing it with his fingers. Tan Zongjia was scratching at the scabs on his head, grimacing in a show of teeth.

Tan Laizi turned and spotted Yang Guangdi. Instantly delighted, he said, "What is it?"

"The Cavalry Battalion officer says the Chiefs of Ten are to muster the registered individual — we're going to fight Roving Bandits!"

At that moment, Chief Lu was not listening at all. His fingers finished rubbing and read the result. His face filled with ecstatic surprise. "I've got a Flower on the—"

His hand rose high, ready to slap the tile onto the table.

"The Roving Bandits are coming!" Tan Laizi sprang up. His knee accidentally knocked the table, and the low little square table toppled over. Chief Lu could not withdraw his hand in time, and it slapped right onto the edge of the table. Chief Lu yelped in pain and jumped up. The Flower Tile slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground along with all the other tiles.

"This great matter of fighting the Roving Thieves cannot be delayed." Tan Laizi's face was utterly solemn.

Chief Lu's hand hurt terribly. Though furious, he could not yet speak and could only manage to point at Tan Laizi with his left hand.

The other two Chiefs of Ten chimed in together, "Official business comes first. No excuse can delay fighting Roving Bandits — otherwise, what kind of men would we be?"

Tan Laizi glanced at the tiles on the ground, then suddenly reacted as if just realizing something. "This — how did the table flip over? Who did it? This hand of mine was a guaranteed Clear Hand win. Ah, forget it, forget it. The tiles are all mixed up now, so it's just words without proof. I'll let you off cheap this time."

Chief Lu kept shaking his right hand, tears of pain streaming down his face. At these words, the tears flowed even more.

The other two Chiefs of Ten scolded, "At a time like this, what talk of tiles? My hand was the certain winner, but I won't quibble with you lot. Muster the registered individual, muster the registered individual!"

Tan Laizi flicked his sleeve. "I haven't killed any Roving Bandits since Hezhou — my hands have been itching. And they dare come knocking? Go ask around all of Anqing — who dares provoke me, Tan Ya!"

With that, the three men pulled each other along and left the tent together. Yang Guangdi hurried off as well, leaving only Chief Lu, still shaking his hand. It was a long while before he recovered. His face was still streaked with tears and mucus. Looking at the Mahjong Cards scattered all over the ground, he said, "My Flower..."

On the official road outside Taihu County Town, a unit of government troops had just arrived from the east. Encountering some scattered common folk fleeing toward the southeast, a group of soldiers broke away from the column, seized the bundles the people were carrying on their backs, and dumped everything onto the ground. Anything of the slightest value sparked a scramble. The common folk dared not stop them and wept in clusters nearby.

On the south gate City Tower, Vice Regional Commander Cheng Long of Yongsheng Prefecture, holding an additional title, was conferring with a few reinforcement General Officers, paying no attention to anything else. Beside him, Yang Zhuoran's expression was wooden, as if he did not hear the weeping outside at all. Although he was still the magistrate of Taihu, compared to what he had endured in recent years, the scene before him seemed almost routine.

Ever since the city was sacked two years ago, Taihu County Town has never regained its vitality. This year the Roving Bandits repeatedly harassed the area, followed by government troops coming and going, which drove the remaining inhabitants in the vicinity to flee in droves. The county town's surroundings are now almost entirely devoid of human habitation. The rural areas, by contrast, have retained more of their population. In places near the mountains, Local Militia have even been organized, capable of dealing with scattered bands of Roving Bandits. But when faced with a large force of bandits, they can still only rely on the government troops.

Although an agreement was previously reached with Pang Yu — the Garrison Battalion promised to prioritize the relief of Taihu, and the county yamen deposited the city construction silver in the Great River Silver Bank — Taihu's project went more smoothly than those at Qianjiang and Susong. Nearly half the deposited silver has been spent, and relations with the Garrison Battalion naturally began to grow distant. Yang Zhuoran had not been particularly worried at first, because Shi Kefa had promised that troops would be permanently stationed in Taihu as soon as the city walls were completed. But last year, the Earthworks were mostly finished, and the next step after Rammed Earth was to face them with brick. Then the Roving Bandits came out of the mountains in the autumn, all construction halted, and the permanent garrison never materialized.

Yang Zhuoran now finds himself in the awkward position of having neither a city wall nor any troops. This year he has already fled the city three times to avoid the bandits. The last time, Zuo Liangyu led his troops and drove the Roving Bandits out of Anqing. Yang Zhuoran thought the bandit threat for the year was over — that the Roving Bandits would surely move on to other places, leaving a few months of peace and quiet, at least nothing to worry about before late summer, so he could at least rush to complete another portion of the city walls. Who could have known that less than a month later, the Roving Bandits would again enter Susong in force? The Jinshan Battalion stationed at Erlang Town fled at the mere sight of the enemy, retreating all the way back to Fengxiang Courier Station.

At present, there are no commoners left in Taihu County Town, and the clerks and runners of the county yamen have all Scattered. Yang Zhuoran is a Bare-stick Commander. Since this half-finished Tucheng is useless, he must still rely on the Jiangnan Reinforcement Troops led by these General Officers up on the City Tower. Being in a position of needing their help, he can only set aside the sense of superiority of a civil official. As for matters like looting along the Official Road outside, he can only pretend not to see them.

These General Officers come from five Camps in Jiangnan. The Changzhou Biao Camp is stationed at Fengxiang Courier Station, and its Company Commander made a special trip to attend this Urgent Meeting. The other four Camps are in Taihu, and two more Camps arrived today, meaning the greater part of the Jiangnan Reinforcement Troops is now present. Yang Zhuoran does not know whether Circuit Intendant Shi intends to hold Taihu. Only after these General Officers finish their deliberations will he know whether he must flee the city for a fourth time to avoid the bandits. Privately, however, he believes Shi Kefa does intend to fight this battle, because he knows that when Zhang Guowei came last time, he put considerable pressure on the officers. Although Zhang has now left, that Mr. Ma remains in Anqing, which is no different from an Army Supervisor.

Shortly after, the newly arrived General Officers ascended the City Tower and spoke with Cheng Long and the others for a moment. Suddenly, Cheng Long clapped his hands and bellowed, "What the hell are we still waiting for him for? It's just two Camps of Bandit Spawn. If Zuo Liangyu can beat them, then so can we Jiangnan Troops! Let that Zuo Liangyu know he's not the only one in the world who can fight. The moment Vice General Pan arrives, we'll go smash their mothers' heads into blooming flowers!"