Chapter 434: Catching a Vice Raid

A group of riders galloped into the fort, slowing down on the main street, and the fort households along the way all moved aside. After the riders disappeared, a head popped out from a street corner.

Propaganda team member Tang Wei poked his head out to look, and only came out after seeing that the officers had all left. Rubbing his hands, he walked with mincing, tiptoed steps along the main street of Lin County, with his Tatar-play partner Xie Fei beside him.

"Fatty, who were those people just now? You hid so fast."

Tang Wei raised his head proudly and said, "Zhu Daichun, you know him. I also saw someone who looked like Lord Liu. When I enlisted, it was Lord Liu who had the keen eye to spot talent and specially asked for me to stay, saying I was born to be a fierce general. Otherwise I wouldn't have even taken the job."

Xie Fei grinned shamelessly and said, "You're bragging. You think I'm Sister Guan, to fall for your tricks?"

Tang Wei spat. "Do I need to lie to you? I'm not marrying you as my wife." He stamped his feet after speaking. "Once those bandits freeze to death, we can go back to Dengzhou. Don't you think, those bandits, wouldn't it be nice if they just froze to death on their own?"

Xie Fei laughed. "Do you think bandits freeze to death that easily? They've been out of Shaanxi for years, been through winter several times, and I haven't seen any freeze to death."

"I don't care whether the bandits freeze or not. First I'll deal with Xu Pingjie."

Xie Fei turned his head left and right to look at the street, then lowered his voice and said, "Fatty, are we really going to nab that embroidered pillow?"

Tang Wei glared at him. "If we're not going to nab him, why did I call you here?"

Xie Fei shot Tang Wei a sidelong glance and said somewhat reluctantly, "I heard the captain say we're going to have some kind of reorganization, all to be placed under the Propaganda and Education Bureau, no longer part of the army. No one knows how many will be kept. At this critical moment you go after Xu Pingjie — what if his uncle puts in a word? Who's going to speak up for us two?"

"I have to go. That bastard swindles and cheats. If Sister Guan gets tricked by him, wouldn't I be the one who loses out?"

Xie Fei looked at him in surprise. "Sister Guan never said she'd marry you. What are you losing out on? She's not your wife. Besides, Sister Guan never said she'd marry Xu Pingjie either."

"Marrying me is only a matter of time." Tang Wei said as he walked. "If it weren't for this Xu Pingjie causing trouble, Sister Guan might have already agreed to me. Tell me, can I let him off?"

"Save it. Sister Guan would sooner take a fancy to me than to you." Xie Fei straightened his collar. He was very confident that his looks surpassed those of the fat Tang Wei.

Tang Wei, now needing his help, quickly flattered him. "Brother Xie, of course you're better-looking than me. But Xu Pingjie is prettier than you, isn't he? Let's make him lose face. Then the lead role in this new play will go to you. Who could say they won't keep you?"

Xie Fei thought for a moment and nodded. "That works. But if they don't keep me, that's fine too. I won't go back to the fort. I'll just do some small business in Huang County."

Tang Wei snorted. "My mother wrote to me about the same thing. She heard from someone in the village that I'm playing a Tatar, and sent a letter telling me to quit soldiering and come back to run the general store she contracted. She thinks it's like going to the market, that I can go back whenever I want. Even one letter took two months to arrive. What does she think?"

The two talked as they walked to the west side of the fort, an area full of shacks. Many of the people here were newly arrived refugees from Northern Zhili, who usually helped transport some grain supplies.

The Lin County base had over six thousand people in total, mostly refugees from Henan and Northern Zhili, plus one company headquarters from the Fifth Battalion stationed there, responsible for guarding the fort and the traffic eastward along the Huan River. The rest of the Fifth Battalion was stationed between Hui County and Lin County, controlling the area south of Lin County. Because of the surprise raid on Zijinliang, all the various bandit groups had been scared out of their wits by the Dengzhou garrison. Moreover, they were busy dealing with the other Ming forces led by Xuan Mo, so Hui County was very stable, and the bandits dared not come within a hundred li of the Dengzhou army.

In Lin County, several forts had been established in the name of resettling refugees, with the approval of both the Ministry of War and Xuan Mo. The Dengzhou garrison had made a name for itself, and the number of refugees coming to Lin County to seek refuge steadily increased. However, supplies were difficult here, so the Dengzhou garrison did not accept most of them, instead directing them to go to Dengzhou on their own. Thus the current population of Lin County was only a bit over five thousand, and with one company headquarters, less than seven thousand.

Relying on these several forts, a small cluster of market towns had formed. The fort where Tang Wei was located was in the center. It had originally been a village, taken over by the Dengzhou garrison after being swept clean by bandits. It currently had about a thousand fort households, with the able-bodied men organized into a company, normally responsible for guarding the fort. Because of its central location, there was also a combat battalion temporarily stationed there, and the dispatched offices of other civil and military affairs departments were also here, serving as the administrative core of Lin County, larger in scale than the other forts.

Tang Wei and his companion walked for a while and arrived near the east gate fort wall. The two craned their necks and looked around for a bit, and soon spotted another Tatar-player. That man saw the two and hurried over.

Tang Wei grabbed him and asked in a low voice, "Did you see Xu Pingjie go in?"

"I saw him. Inside is that young singsong boy. Lu Zhi left in a hurry last time and abandoned him. He's been mixing among the refugees and staying in Lin County. Just now that singsong boy was even at the door greeting Xu Pingjie. Last time Xu Pingjie stayed for a whole two hours before leaving."

"Hmph, that dog, with his thick brows and big eyes, likes to play with boys. You keep watch. I'm going to find Juanzi."...

Juanzi tilted her head up, her delicate eyes blinking a few times. "Fatty Tang, what's in it for me?"

Tang Wei wore an ingratiating expression. "Of course there is. When those rouge and powder supplies arrive in the future, Sister Juanzi gets first pick. Only after you've chosen will the others get theirs."

Juanzi pursed her lips, considered for a moment, and agreed. Nowadays, Fatty Tang was not just a Tatar-player; he also managed the team's logistics. Because Tang Wei's family had originally run a small grain shop, he had helped with odd jobs since childhood, knew some characters, and could keep accounts and do calculations. So he had been discovered by the propaganda captain and put in charge of managing the team's money, grain, and props, including buying powder and rouge for the female team members. He was now very popular in the team.

Xu Pingjie's family also ran a shop, mainly selling salt, clothes, and cigarettes, and it was bigger than Tang Wei's family's shop. But all that happened after they came from Yanggu to Dengzhou. Xu Pingjie himself couldn't read a single character and didn't like to learn anything, so he could only watch with envy.

Juanzi twisted her body and said, "Then I want to pick more. And that corn, save an extra one for me at every meal."

"Fine, fine. I'll save some for you from now on. Remember to lure Sister Guan over in a bit."

"Lure her over for what?"

"To watch a good show!"

"Alright then."...

"Has Sister Guan been lured over yet?"

"Juanzi went shopping with her. They just turned into the general store."

"Today we'll make that Xu Pingjie utterly disgrace himself. Let Sister Guan see what kind of goods Xu Pingjie really is." Tang Wei snorted smugly and led the other two Tatar-players forward. Over there was a house with mud walls, its door opening into an alley.

The few of them stood near that mud-walled house for a while, and when they saw the figures of Sister Guan and Juanzi appear on East Gate Street, Tang Wei and the other two walked to the door and exchanged a look.

"Catch the petty thief!"

The three shouted loudly. Tang Wei took the lead and slammed into the door of that room. The wooden door burst open with a bang. Tang Wei was just feeling pleased when a layer of some cloth covered his face. With it wrapped over his head, he flailed wildly. The house was made of mud walls, so the door was naturally shabby, but there was another layer of door curtain inside.

Two startled cries came from the room. Hearing them, Tang Wei hurriedly shouted, "Don't let them put on their clothes."

The two Tatar-players rushed forward and began fighting with the two people, dragging away the clothes in the room to prevent them from getting dressed.

Tang Wei finally pulled the filthy cloth off. He looked and sure enough, there was Xu Pingjie in the room, bare-shouldered and still grabbing for clothes.

"Xu Pingjie, you've done a fine thing. You stole grain from our team and fed it to this singsong boy. You're doing things too shameful to be seen."

Tang Wei went up and grabbed Xu Pingjie's hands, not letting him snatch the clothes.

"Fatty Tang, I'm sworn against you to the death." Xu Pingjie was frantic, clutching clothes with one hand and swinging wildly at Tang Wei with the other.

"Aiya, you son of a dog, you dare hit people? Aiya!" Tang Wei, two hands against one, still couldn't beat the tall and sturdy Xu Pingjie, and instead took punch after punch.

"You two bastards, help me!"

Only then did the two Tatar-players rush forward. The three of them punched and kicked at Xu Pingjie. Xu Pingjie couldn't fend them off and had to retreat repeatedly, all the way back onto the bed.

On the bed, the young singsong boy screamed loudly, pulling the quilt over himself, exposing only his bare shoulders.

A circle of onlookers had already gathered outside the door. Tang Wei shouted smugly, "Come see the man who sleeps with men! So shameless!"

Xu Pingjie hid on the bed, pulling half the quilt over his lower body, and cursed at Tang Wei, "Tang Wei, you wretched scoundrel. You steal flatbread from the kitchen to eat. Can't I eat some too?"

"Eat, you eat. But after eating you do no good deeds, no good deeds!"

As Tang Wei cursed, he threw the clothes out the door, all the while shouting, "You disgrace your Xu family, disgrace your Uncle Xu the Director. These fort households outside can't even get enough to eat, and you dare steal to give to this slutty singsong boy. Did he farm the land or build the roads? You're shameless. Fine, even this quilt is stolen from our team. No wonder the captain said two were missing. You're shameless."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tang Wei saw Sister Guan's figure also outside the door, and his voice grew even louder. After a while, noticing that Sister Guan had already left, Tang Wei said smugly to Xu Pingjie, "Xu Pingjie, I've marked this down. Back in the team, I'll report you to the captain. Let's go."...

"Fatty Tang, you dog, do you think there aren't enough problems already?" The captain rained blows on Tang Wei's head. "You knew perfectly well he's Director Xu's nephew, and you still dared to go catch him in a vice raid. You're making trouble for me."

Tang Wei dodged around the table while arguing, "What did I do? He stole things. Am I not allowed to catch him?"

The captain was frantic, his head swiveling rapidly. Finally he found a broom, grabbed it, and swung it wildly at Tang Wei's head and body. "I told you to catch him, told you to catch him. Two quilts and you had to make it more lively than a theater show. Wang Mafu was already going to clean up the propaganda team, and you still dare give him an excuse."

"How was I supposed to know Wang Mafu was going to deal with the propaganda team... Ouch!"

Tang Wei was beaten until he scurried all over the room, until the deputy squad leader ran in and muttered something in the squad leader's ear. The squad leader looked somewhat surprised, then suddenly seemed very relieved, and said to Tang Wei, "Full alert — including our propaganda squad. No one is allowed to go out. Be ready to move out at any time."

Tang Wei clutched his face. "What's going on?"

"What's going on? The Yellow River froze over. The entire roving bandit army crossed the river at Mianchi and entered Henan. And you, you dog, still have the leisure to go busting whorehouses."

"Entered Henan? That's nothing — they're still far away from us."

The squad leader threw the broom at Tang Wei's head. "Get lost, get lost. What the hell do you know? The roving bandits have fled — who knows how many people His Majesty and the Ministry of War will punish. The Fifth Battalion is about to give chase. Only one Company Commander headquarters will stay nearby, and we're going with them. Oh, and for this new play, you'll keep playing the villain for me — the villain who runs a grain shop."

Tang Wei let out a miserable cry. "Why do I still have to play the villain? Then who plays Du Qinlao?"

"Xu Pingjie, of course."

"His reputation is already rotten!"

"Rotten in Linxian. We're about to head to southern Henan — who knows if he's rotten there? With a face like yours, if you don't play a treacherous merchant villain, what else would you play? And about today's business — you'd better not go blabbing about it in the squad. Do you think offending the Bureau Chief is a joke? If I find out you've been wagging your tongue, I'll send you to the military judge."

"I swear I won't say a word!"

Tang Wei hurriedly fled outside, turned his head, caught his breath, and muttered smugly in a low voice, "I won't say anything — but Juanzi saw the whole thing. Getting a woman to keep a secret is harder than killing her. By tomorrow, everyone in the squad will know."

ps: Begging for monthly tickets and likes.