Chapter 285

On the third day after Ding Liqiu and Wang Zhubao had finished their wine, in an unremarkable courtyard within the county seat, Ding Liqiu met the double agent Su Tieqiang whom Wang Yuanzai had spoken of.

This courtyard had been prepared by Wang Zhubao: a double agent meeting his employer naturally could not be done with great fanfare — who knew how many people in the county seat had ties with the various bandit gangs; it was better to be cautious in all things.

Su Tieqiang was an ordinary fellow of about twenty, his appearance utterly unremarkable. When they met, one of his arms was hanging in a cloth sling — an injury he'd taken, he said, during a fire merge between two bandit gangs some days earlier.

And it was precisely because his arm was badly injured and he was no longer of use that he had come down from the mountain to live out his days at home.

In ancient times, so long as bandits were "settled brigands" entrenched in a particular place, their members were mostly locals; it was not uncommon for uncles and brothers to go into "business" together.

Being a bandit wasn't so easy either — it was a job that fed on youth. Once a member grew old and frail, he would certainly have to withdraw from the ranks and go down the mountain to farm.

This also included those who were wounded or crippled, and those who had saved enough silver to go down the mountain and take a wife — in short, casting off the old and taking in the new was a law of nature, and bandits were no exception.

These people who went down the mountain to live became "stay-at-home bandits." These men were not only responsible for providing intelligence to their brothers on the mountain, but sometimes also provided lodging, money, and grain; they were crucial nodes supporting the operation of the mountain stronghold.

Su Tieqiang was just such a freshly minted stay-at-home bandit: his arm was ruined, and even if he wanted to stay in the stronghold, they wouldn't have him.

What infuriated Su Tieqiang, however, was that the gang's severance silver this time had not met his expectations — after all, hadn't he rendered meritorious service and shed blood for the party and state?

And then Su Tieqiang, who was at home sulking, encountered his lifesaver Wang Zhubao, who had come looking for him, and so the matter fell into place naturally: after Old Wang had enlightened him with the greater good, Su Tieqiang immediately agreed to act as an inside agent.

And Ding Liqiu, after hearing Su Tieqiang's background, promptly made him three promises.

First: his past offenses would not be investigated.

Second: so long as Su Tieqiang could assist the Official Army in exterminating the Lin Shiwan bandit gang on Duima Ridge, he would certainly be rewarded with a large sum of silver in the aftermath.

Third: after the matter was done, Su Tieqiang could also apply to go live in another region with his family — large cities like Fuzhou, Zhangzhou, and Hangzhou — and the government offices could help him make the arrangements.

Having received these promises, Su Tieqiang immediately kowtowed and acknowledged his new master, then laid out the true situation of Duima Ridge in full detail.

Ding Liqiu thereupon ordered his attendants to take notes, and when it was finished, he rewarded Su Tieqiang with ten taels of silver on the spot. After this, he gave this reformed double agent another order: the government offices were about to post a recruitment and amnesty notice to lull the bandit gangs; he required Su Tieqiang to go to Duima Ridge in the coming days to scout around and see how the gang reacted to the notice.

Su Tieqiang hastily agreed.

Finally, Ding Liqiu designated one man from among his attendants to be specifically responsible for communicating with Su Tieqiang in the county seat and conveying orders at any time.

That afternoon, notices were simultaneously posted at the County Yamen, the city gate, and the Rear Palace: a notice from the government offices urging the major bandit gangs to come forward and surrender for recruitment and amnesty.

One hundred and twenty li northeast of Longyan County seat lies Shuangyang Town. During the Longqing reign, because the court could no longer endure the endless emergence of rebels in this region, it simply made Shuangyang Town the county seat, incorporated a portion of the surrounding land, and newly established a county specifically for maintaining stability: Ningyang County.

China was originally a land of many mountains, and the reason Ningyang County could make a name for itself in the bandit world, to the point of arousing the central government's fury, was inseparable from its superior geographical terrain.

The mountainous region near Longyan and Ningyang is one of the areas with the most intensely developed karst topography in the country. The mountains here feature not only peak forests, peak hills, and karst caves, but also subterranean karst rivers stretching for hundreds of meters.

Streams and caves deep and secluded, bird paths steep and treacherous, stone forests bewildering and chaotic, karst caves everywhere.

This kind of terrain, combined with Ningyang County's ninety-five percent forest coverage, turned the Official Army's bandit suppression campaigns into a nightmare: the bandits could at any time use this maze-like terrain to scatter and regroup, exhausting the government troops who possessed superior troop strength.

The Su Apu Revolt during the Jiajing reign took the government offices a full six years to suppress, and for the majority of that time, the Official Army was playing hide-and-seek with its opponents.

This was also the reason the Red Spear Camp had been concealing its true strength all along.

Don't say only two hundred men — even if their numbers were doubled or tripled, it would still be very difficult to strike straight at the bandit gangs' heart and wipe them out in one sweep.

Take the Transmigrators' number one target, the Lin Shiwan bandit gang, for example. The terrain around Duima Ridge was complex, with not only stone forests but also karst caves and underground rivers. Troops could not encircle the natives as easily as they did on the Tainan Plain: the precipitous terrain prevented large forces from deploying; even if they felt their way to the enemy's doorstep, the moment the gang sensed trouble, they could immediately escape through prearranged caves and stone forests, making encirclement and annihilation utterly impossible.

This was the reason the Red Spear Camp had never dared to reveal its true strength: they absolutely had to give the bandit gangs hope and find an opportunity to annihilate them on a prearranged battlefield. Otherwise, they would be mired in a protracted security war.

On the third day after the recruitment and amnesty notice was posted, fifteen li south of Shuangyang Town, at the Lin Family Tulou.

The Lin Family were old-established residents of Shuangyang, numerous and powerful, wealthy and influential; their specialty was none other than banditry. The bandit chief Lin Shiwan, who now held Duima Ridge, was a product of the Lin Family.

The Lin Family's tulou complex was quite large in scale, and the one in the center was the Ancestral Building. The Ancestral Hall, the Public Office, the clan school, and the Clan Leader were all located within this circular, ancient tulou.

And at this moment, in the main hall of Lin Clan Leader Lin Sanmen, a meeting was underway.

Lin Sanmen was a man of about fifty, broad-framed and portly, with a fair complexion, a smooth, beardless face, and dressed in a native-silk robe — the very image of a country gentleman.

Half-reclining on a nanmu lounge chair, Lin Sanmen was at this moment listening with rapt attention as a man in the hall read something aloud.

"In total, fifty Western precision-made arquebuses, over forty three-eye blunderbusses, and an unspecified number of fine iron knives and spears. Additionally, an unknown quantity of Thunderclaps and Earth-Shaking Mines."

As time slowly passed, the man finally finished reading the intelligence on the letter in his hand. When he raised his head, it was unmistakably Su Tieqiang, the double agent, with his half-injured arm hanging in a sling.

After hearing the intelligence, Lin Sanmen slowly sat up from his chair and then extended his hand. At this, a beautiful concubine with a lovely face and a slender figure, named Biyu, who stood behind him, handed over a water pipe that had long been prepared. As Lin Sanmen began to smoke with a gurgling sound, he asked, "Are that Hai Qu's men truly so troublesome?"

"Oh, according to Master Wang, this group of government troops are Cao Chuan's personal guards, sent here to make their General-in-Chief look good before the court. Every one of them is an elite soldier; they fight with discipline and fear not death."

"So they're using us as a raft." Lin Sanmen gave a cold laugh upon hearing this.

After taking a few gurgling puffs of smoke, Lin Sanmen asked again, "And what are these Thunderclaps and Earth-Shaking Mines?"

"Oh, the Thunderclap is said to be made by skilled craftsmen of Jiangnan; it's just a large firecracker, its sound like rolling thunder, capable of making enemies dizzy and disoriented on the battlefield."

"The Earth-Shaking Mine is a gunpowder pack wrapped in cotton cloth; when attacking a stronghold, a death warrior ignites it beneath the stronghold gate." Su Tieqiang's expression turned unnatural as he said this: "The Chen Family Stockade didn't even hold out for the time it takes a joss stick to burn before it was breached."

"A formidable foe." Master Lin nodded slowly upon hearing this, then turned his head toward a corner of the main hall and asked, "What do you think?"

"No matter how elite, they're only two hundred men — what use can they be?" Only then did a sinister voice come from the dim corner of the main hall.

The next moment, a man of short stature, with a full beard, narrow, elongated eyes, and a fierce, ruthless countenance walked out — Lin Shiwan, the Great Boss of Duima Ridge.

"When government troops fight in formation, they are naturally formidable. But when have we brothers ever fought the government troops head-on?"

Everyone present understood what Lin Shiwan meant by this: Mobile Corps Commander raids and sneak attacks were the bandit gang's specialty.

"However, that Earth-Shaking Mine is indeed a problem; with that thing, a stockade can't be defended." Lin Shiwan paused thoughtfully at this point, then fixed his gaze on Su Tieqiang and said, "Thirteen, when those men make their move, you must report it to me at once!"

"Thirteen understands." Su Tieqiang nodded at these words. "It should be just before the end of the month. Master Wang has already probed out the news; the pressure from above is tight, and these men are in a hurry to take our brothers' heads to claim credit."

"Heh heh, it's good that they're impatient — what we fear is that they aren't impatient." After a sinister laugh, Lin Shiwan gave a final instruction: "Since you're the inside agent, you must guide the way well for the Vice Lords. When those men come, don't forget to take the road through Hulu Valley."

Upon hearing the three words "Hulu Valley," Su Tieqiang likewise gave a hehe smile; both sides nodded simultaneously in tacit understanding.

After the strategic plan was settled, Lin Shiwan withdrew into the corner of the room and silently slipped out the back door.

And after Lin Shiwan had left, Lin Sanmen discussed some details further with Su Tieqiang. Only after this did Master Lin summon the cart driver Guan Gong and instruct him to escort Su Tieqiang, with his injured arm, to the county border.

"Guan Gong" was a young fellow in his twenties. He was from a poor family of a different surname nearby and had worked as a long-term laborer for the Lin Family for years. Because he was tall and broad-shouldered, with a ruddy complexion and a fine pair of danfeng eyes, and since his original surname was Guan, ever since he once played the role of Guan Gong on the village association's opera stage, this name had become his actual name.

The nimble Guan Gong, upon hearing his master's orders, hurriedly and cheerfully led out the donkey cart, and then spent most of the day escorting Su Tieqiang to the county border that bordered Longyan.

By the time he felt his way back to the Lin Family Tulou in the dark, it was already late at night. After hastily begging two bowls of cold rice from the kitchen and eating his fill, Guan Gong returned to his own room.

After dozing in his room for a while, when he heard the sound of the midnight watchman's clapper outside, he abruptly sat up, then slipped out of his room.

A tulou was a city in itself, and Guan Gong had long been thoroughly familiar with every blade of grass and every tree here. He first crept out from his room on the lowest level, then went to the stable to add some night fodder for the donkeys and mules. After this, on his way back, seeing that no one was around, he darted onto the stairs and went up to the second-floor wooden gallery.

On the second floor there were living quarters and also storage rooms. After walking forward a stretch on the second floor, Guan Gong took out a key and quietly unlocked the door of a storage room he was responsible for.

After closing the door behind him, Guan Gong used familiar steps to avoid the clutter inside, then walked to the wall, pushed open the wooden window, and nimbly climbed out through the window.

Although the interior was a wooden structure, the Tulou's outer wall was built of smooth brick and stone, designed to defend against bandits attacking the stronghold.

Yet after climbing out the window, Guan Gong was not the least bit afraid of the sharp mountain rocks below the wall, because a rope hung right above his head.

After climbing up the rope to the third floor, an arm reached out from a window and pulled Guan Gong inside the room.

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