Chapter 364

The gates of Lin County's seat were tightly shut. Quite a few lanterns hung from the top of the wall, and many of the town's able-bodied young men stood guard up there. Outside the walls, scattered campfires dotted the wilderness; over ten thousand refugees had pitched camp along both banks of the Huan River, boiling water and cooking meals.

This was the Sweeping King, one of the Thirty-Six Battalions. He got along best with the Eighth Great King, so the two often moved together. After breaking through Pingshun, they had temporarily split their forces, and the Sweeping King had come to Lin County first. What he excelled at most was plundering — wherever he passed, he swept the place completely clean, which is how he earned the nickname Sweeping King. This time he had looted quite a lot of things in Pingshun, so for now he had no worries about food. Still, after reaching Lin County, he continued sending men out to plunder in all directions, while his elite troops camped outside the county seat, waiting for the raiders to return. Of course, if an opportunity arose, they would also take a few shots at the county town.

"Brother Zhang, I've got a good thing here. Cost me a whole bunch of brothers to snatch it from those dog-officer soldiers." Inside the Sweeping King's main tent sat quite a few leaders, big and small, gathered around a pile of roasted beef and mutton on the ground, eating and drinking heartily.

Yatouzi clutched a leg of lamb in his left hand, and with his right he held out a short gun to the Sweeping King. His rough, rugged face was all smiles. "A firelock that can kill a man without a match — brought it specially for you, Brother Zhang."

Yatouzi presented the firelock with both hands. When he had seen Old Three fall, he had guessed right away that this firelock needed no match. But Old Three's death required an explanation, so he conveniently pinned the blame on the Ming army. That night he also helped look after the last remaining concubine Old Three had left behind. He had fled all the way to Lin County with only a little over two hundred mounted men left, but he had shaken off his pursuers halfway, and before reaching the Lin County seat he had already pulled together a force of over a thousand again.

Here in Lin County, Yatouzi ran into the Sweeping King, who had come over from Pingshun. Lin County had already been swept once by several earlier bands of roving bandits, so there was not much left to loot. The Sweeping King was mulling over which direction to head next.

Neither the Sweeping King nor Yatouzi had any intention of attacking the town. Lin County's conditions were better than She County's — broad flat plains stretched around the county seat, ringed on all sides by mountains, and the Huan River provided a water route to the Wei River.

"What damn use is a firelock?" The Sweeping King cursed, then grabbed the gun and casually tossed it behind his back. "You said that bunch of dog-officer soldiers came from Dengzhou?"

Yatouzi slapped his thigh. "Exactly! Only after the fighting was over did someone on the road say so. They say those Dengzhou soldiers have fought the Tatars and killed quite a few Tatar heads. Brother Zhang, I beg you, avenge your brother here."

The Sweeping King sat with one leg crossed over the other and said indifferently, "You donkey's ball, why the hell should I avenge you? If those Dengzhou soldiers can fight, then all the more reason for me not to go near them. That dog-fucker Zuo Liangyu has been chasing me for two days straight. Now that you're here, and the Sky Monkey is arriving tomorrow, we'll go deal with Zuo Liangyu. I'll grab a haul and come back."

"I'll listen to Brother Zhang." With the few men Yatouzi had, he naturally had no choice but to obey the Sweeping King. The Sweeping King's power could not match the very largest bands, but among the rest he ranked in the upper-middle tier. He had around seven or eight hundred mounted men, thirty to forty infantry companies, and over ten thousand refugees, so Yatouzi could only follow his lead.

Still, he did not forget to remind him: "What if that Dengzhou force comes chasing after us?"

"Chase after us?" The Sweeping King frowned. Ever since entering eastern Shanxi, government troops had grown more and more numerous. That Hong Chengchou in Shaanxi was ferociously tough, and none of them dared go back. They had originally thought there were no formidable figures in Northern Zhili, but who would have guessed that a Lu Xiangsheng would pop up and defeat roving bandits time and again at Wu'an. Although the man was a civil official, his martial skill was actually better than the bandit chiefs', and not the flowery, showy kind meant for keeping fit either. Zuo Liangyu and the Sichuan troops were no pushovers either. Now with a Dengzhou force on top of that, the Sweeping King felt things were getting harder to handle than before.

From what he had heard about how the various battalions had fared after entering Henan, Northern Zhili and the areas near the Grand Canal were prosperous, and the common people there detested roving bandits. Because they were relatively well-off, their stockaded villages were also stoutly built. So as soon as the roving bandits drew near places like Zhending Prefecture and Great Ming Prefecture, they met far stiffer resistance than in Shanxi. Not only would government troops attack them, they would also come under attack in the countryside. Lu Xiangsheng's force was actually made up of local militia, which was far more formidable than ordinary garrison troops.

What gave the Sweeping King a real headache was which direction to go. Roving bandits though they were, they still needed a near-term objective — they couldn't just wander aimlessly wherever their feet took them.

"How many men does this Dengzhou force have? Do they have a lot of cavalry?"

"I'd guess… maybe around three or four thousand all told, with a few hundred cavalry." Yatouzi didn't really know for sure. All he had seen with his own eyes was less than a thousand. Later, some roving bandits who had escaped said they had seen another thousand or so government troops, so he figured three or four thousand was about right.

The Sweeping King burst out laughing. "A few hundred cavalry and you're scared shitless? Yatouzi, take your men and position them to the northeast. Bottle up their scout riders. Wait till I've swept this place clean, then we'll talk."…

At Chenjiapu in Ci County, Chen Xin's main army had also arrived. Old Fourth Zhong handed the prisoners over to the Guard Battalion. In this battle they had seized over twenty thousand taels of silver, over a thousand taels of gold, plus some jewelry and over a hundred mules and horses. The hundred-plus piculs of grain that the roving bandits had been carrying with them became spoils of war for the Dengzhou army.

Before them were over two thousand refugees, all captured by the vanguard. Some had also fled into the mountains. Zhao Xuan had experience handling bondservant prisoners in Jinzhou. His first step was a screening, picking out the most vicious among the captives. Then came a round of denunciations and informing, singling out every last core member.

These core roving-bandit elements were all placed under guard by the garrison troops until Chen Xin's main force arrived.

The nearly two thousand elderly, weak, women, and children were divided into groups of one hundred. Chen Xin rode slowly past them, his face expressionless as he swept his gaze over those people. The refugees stole glances at this government army general, their eyes either fearful or numb.

Zhu Daichun said quietly to Chen Xin, "That Old Fourth Zhong — what's he doing taking so many prisoners?"

Chen Xin smiled faintly. "In battle, I let him fight however he wants. But too many prisoners really isn't good — we can't afford to keep them locked up, and if we let them go, they'll just become roving bandits again."

"My lord, then how should we handle this batch of prisoners now?"

"Send those propagandists and instruction officers over to the refugees. Tell them they're free to flee the famine on their own. If any of them later join the roving bandits again, they'll be executed without mercy once caught. Also, send someone to notify the county magistrate of Ci County. Tell him we're continuing our pursuit of the bandits and that he should dispatch civilian braves to guard the prisoners. Have him send men to Chenjiapu to take them over before noon tomorrow."

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Zhu Daichun hesitated. "That county magistrate wouldn't even open his gates — there's no way he'll agree to take over the prisoners."

Chen Xin shrugged and said lightly, "In any case, I have notified him to take them over. When the time comes, I will simply leave. If these people join the roving bandits again, then they can't blame me. The core elements we've screened out — execute them in front of those refugees. Have the new recruits do the beheading."

"Understood," Zhu Daichun replied.

When they reached the end of the prisoner column, Zhao Xuan came over to meet them. Old Fourth Zhong had already led his troops onward in pursuit, leaving Zhao Xuan in charge here. Zhu Daichun issued orders to the garrison troops and the chief officers of each unit. When Zhao Xuan heard that more killing was to be done, his timidity flared up, and he requested permission from Chen Xin to hurry ahead to the vanguard.

Chen Xin paid no mind to his little schemes. He nodded and instructed, "Tell Old Fourth Zhong not to pursue too fast — no more than fifty li a day. Be wary of ambushes. The roving bandits are heading toward Ding. New forces could arrive at any time. The area around the Lin County seat is flat and open. If he encounters a large enemy force, he's to encamp on the spot and hold defensively, awaiting my support. Also, stop taking prisoners. After scattering them, screen out the core elements and execute them on the spot. Let the rest flee the famine on their own."

Zhao Xuan looked somewhat stunned, but seeing that Chen Xin had no intention of explaining, he quickly saluted and left with his personal guards…

That afternoon, when the sun was at its fiercest, the Dengzhou garrison began executing the roving-bandit core members. Nearly two hundred had been screened out this time — all vicious characters among them, the sort who routinely preyed on the refugees traveling with the band. These refugees played a dual role: they were bullied by those bandit core members, and in turn they bullied newly arrived refugees and the common people in the places they passed through.

Chen Xin had no use for these men, but he also did not intend to kill them all, lest he earn himself the reputation of a butcher. The first batch was shot by firing squad. The refugees dug a large pit, and those bandits stood at its edge. After volley after volley of firelocks roared, the bodies toppled into the great pit.

The core members further back who had not yet had their turn wailed loudly, weeping copious tears before the government troops. The Garrison Commander deliberately set the number executed in each batch very small, dragging out the process to heighten the psychological pressure on the bandits. The ordinary refugees watching were all trembling with fear. Some family members of the core members among them shrieked and wept bitterly; there were even those who loudly cursed the Ming army.

No one paid any attention to the weeping family members. Those who cursed the Dengzhou soldiers were quickly dragged by the garrison troops to the edge of the great pit, cut in line, and shot or beheaded on the spot. After two batches had been dragged away like this, not a single person among the refugees dared utter another curse.

After over a hundred had been shot, the beheadings began. The executioners were all mobilized soldiers selected from each unit, especially the timid ones. The remaining bandit ringleaders knew they could hardly hope to live, so they stopped begging for mercy. Some struck a heroic pose, declaring that in twenty years they would be stout fellows again. Others loudly cursed the Dengzhou soldiers — since they were going to die anyway, they might as well get a little satisfaction from running their mouths.

These unprofessional executioners often botched the job, failing to kill a bandit with a single stroke. The officers standing by would then force them to step up and finish the job with additional cuts, until they confirmed the bandit was dead. The ground ran with rivers of blood, and the dying screams of the bandits were too horrible to bear hearing.

Chen Xin also found it somewhat cruel, but that was simply how this era was. The methods these roving bandits used against common people were a hundred times crueler than this. Besides, he was not killing people indiscriminately. Chen Xin reckoned that a large portion of those refugees would still end up joining other roving-bandit bands. Letting them witness a shooting and beheading session would leave a deep impression on them, and later they would spread the fearsome reputation of the Dengzhou garrison to every bandit faction. This was also part of psychological warfare. In this era of backward communications, once a reputation spread, future battles would yield twice the result with half the effort.

That afternoon, instead of the Ci County magistrate, what arrived was a group of local armed men from Ci County. The areas of Henan near the Taihang Mountains were mostly flat plains with no defensible terrain, and the Taihang Mountains had always produced bandits. In the countryside of the various departments and counties along the mountains, many places had stockaded villages to guard against bandit incursions — similar to the military forts of the Nine Border Garrisons, in a wide variety of shapes and forms. Ever since the roving bandits had entered Shanxi, more and more of the gentry in the Henan countryside had begun building stockades to protect themselves. They often clustered by clan. If the stockade walls were tall, their defense was extremely tenacious, and ordinary roving bandits found them very hard to take. This was one reason the roving bandits dared not push deeper north or east.

After passing Eastern Depot Prefecture, Chen Xin had seen quite a few such stockaded villages along the road. These civilian armed bands, defending their own homes, were often more resolute than government troops. They guarded against roving bandits and government troops alike.

This time, after the Dengzhou garrison had routed a band of roving bandits, these locals had repeatedly sent men to verify the news. They had also discovered that the Dengzhou garrison maintained excellent military discipline. Only then did they send some people to make contact and provide a small amount of fodder and provisions.

Chen Xin was not short on food, but horse fodder was not easy to carry. He spent money to buy a batch of hay and black beans from them, and he did not hand those refugees over to them either.

The next day, as soon as noon passed, Chen Xin led his troops out, leaving the remaining two thousand refugees behind. After the Dengzhou soldiers had gone far and the refugees were sure they were free, they hurriedly found some farm tools, clubs, and staves to rearm themselves. Then most of them fled north, because they dared not follow behind the Dengzhou garrison.

Chen Xin and Zhu Daichun advanced toward Lin County. On the road, they received a report from Old Fourth Zhong saying that three or four hundred mounted men were blocking the way, that his scout riders were probing in the direction of Lin County, and that he had already encamped on the spot.

After hearing this, Zhu Daichun asked Chen Xin, "My lord, if we just keep following along like this without pressing the pursuit hard, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to wipe out those roving-bandit cavalry."

Chen Xin nodded and smiled. "That's true. At the last meeting we said it ourselves — if we're going to strike, we strike the ones with the biggest reputation. These other small fry aren't worth us spending that kind of effort. We'll just keep shadowing them like this, maintaining contact, hitting them now and then, until the Purple-Gold Beam or the Dashing King shows up. Then we'll give them a full-force blow."

ps: Requesting monthly tickets.