Chapter 51: Section 16

He Baodao did not struggle, and his voice was full of fury: "I fought the rebels with all my might, braving death to take these heads. My lord, without even looking, you ask whether they are rebel heads — clearly you suspect me of killing civilians to claim false merit."

"For one man to kill one rebel is already no easy thing, let alone nine. Is it not permissible for me to ask?" Huang Shi found it very strange — this soldier had a temper that flared at the slightest spark; he wondered how the man had survived to this day.

He Baodao shouted defiantly: "Just because my lord cannot do it, how do you know your subordinate cannot either?"

The soldiers all changed color at these words. Huang Shi checked their stirrings and asked the soldier tallying the heads: "Are they all rebel heads?"

That soldier glanced at He Baodao, who was pinned to the ground, and said with a cold sneer: "Your subordinate finds them highly suspicious and must examine them carefully."

"Then examine them carefully." Huang Shi gave a snort. That a soldier with He Baodao's temperament could survive was indeed a miracle. He pulled Zhao Manxiong aside and whispered an order: "Tell me the truth."

After a long and careful examination, Zhao Manxiong secretly nodded to Huang Shi.

"Release him and give him forty-five taels of silver."

He Baodao sprang up in one motion, took the heavy reward silver, and gave Huang Shi a casual salute: "May your subordinate leave now?"

"What post does the stalwart hold at present?"

"No post at all," He Baodao answered lazily.

"Under whose command does the stalwart serve?" In all his time in the Ming, Huang Shi had never met such a bold fellow — one whose legs did not even go weak before a superior officer.

"In reply to my lord Huang, your subordinate is under Vice Regional Commander Luo, under Mobile Corps Commander Wang, under Company Commander Chen, under Squad Commander Ma's unit. All dead. Now I am just a scattered soldier, a wandering fighter."

"Would the stalwart be willing to serve under Huang Mou?"

"We can speak of that later. May your subordinate leave now?"

The personal guards at his side were breathing heavier and heavier with indignation, but Huang Shi grew more and more interested in this rare specimen: "You may leave, sir."

"Thanks." He Baodao strode away. Not far off, seven or eight soldiers were waiting for him. When they saw him casually toss the silver over, they let out a cheer, clustered around He Baodao, and swept off with loud whoops.

The soldiers around Huang Shi all showed expressions of indignation. Only Zhao Manxiong slipped over quietly: "My lord admires this He Baodao, does he not?"

"I do, but I do not know how to win over a man like that."

"Your subordinate has an idea." Zhao Manxiong leaned close to his ear and spoke a few sentences.

After hearing him out, Huang Shi loudly asked the soldiers around him: "Does anyone among you know the background of that He Baodao just now?"

Guangning City was so large — how would many people know one common soldier? The soldiers who had come to receive rewards all shook their heads to say they did not know.

"Truly a rare stalwart," Huang Shi exclaimed loudly in praise before the crowd. "Whoever can persuade He Baodao to come pledge himself to me, Huang Shi, will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver!"

"This is what they mean by 'buying the horse bones with a thousand pieces of gold,' is it not?" Huang Shi asked Zhao Manxiong after spreading the reward offer.

"What a man like that cares about is clearly face, not silver. Once my lord makes a stir like this, all of Guangning will know that my lord thirsts for talent. That gives him tremendous face. Even if others wish to recruit him, they will have to give my lord face." A man so unable to recognize good from bad was probably not one who could obey military discipline either. Zhao Manxiong felt no officer would like recruiting such a reckless hothead — his superior's selection criteria were rather unconventional.

Just as the two were chatting and laughing, a sudden thunderous boom came from the east of the city. Then they saw flames leap into the sky in the east. Huang Shi hastily dispatched a soldier to go investigate.

"My lord," the soldier came rushing back in a panic, "that dog Lu Guozhi — he set fire to the East Gate and used gunpowder to blast down the gate tower."

It turned out that the rebel Lu Guozhi, who was holding the East Gate, had long since planted explosives there as a precaution. After Sun Degong died, the rebellion-suppression army began storming the East Gate. They held out for a time but could no longer withstand the assault. After the eastern city barracks fell to Wang Huazhen, Lu Guozhi, a lone tree that could not prop up the sky, had no choice but to lead his hundred men in retreat to the East Gate barbican.

Wang Huazhen hated the rebels to the marrow. Once his forces were ample, he immediately sent men out the North Gate to encircle the eastern barbican, intending to wipe them all out. Lu Guozhi knew the game was lost and that there was no way he could hold out until the Later Jin reinforcements arrived. As he fled, he detonated the gunpowder beneath the barbican wall and set fire to the civilian houses and the gate tower near the gate.

By the time Huang Shi arrived, the fire at the East Gate was already raging. Great swaths of civilian houses burned fiercely, the scorching heat waves making it impossible to approach. From time to time, scattered explosions still rang out.

One corner of the East Gate tower had been blasted down. Though most of the rest was hidden by the flames and thick smoke, Huang Shi could still see that the bricks and stones had been heated red.

Not far away, Huang Shi spotted the Prefect Gao Bangzuo. The Prefect's black gauze cap had been swept away by the heat waves, and the blue official robes on his body were twisted askew by the strong wind. He stood staring blankly at the great fire. Huang Shi rushed over in one bound: "My lord Gao, what are you standing here looking at? Call for more men, quickly! We must put out the fire at once — we still need to repair the city wall."

Hearing what seemed like reproach in Huang Shi's tone, Gao Bangzuo cast aside all regard for face and shouted indignantly: "Huang Dusi, are you blaming this prefect? Eight out of ten clerks and village heads have fled, and more than half the commoners have fled the city. Huang Dusi, where do you expect this official to find men?"

This loud outburst immediately reminded Huang Shi that the Prefect was a civil official, far higher in rank than a petty military officer like himself. He hastily stepped back and saluted: "My lord Gao, where there is a will there is a way. This humble officer will go at once to seek troops from the Provincial Governor. I beg my lord Gao to do his utmost to gather whatever manpower he can."

This attitude calmed Gao Bangzuo down. He too understood that this was no time to flaunt official authority, so he said with a solemn face: "Then I must trouble Huang Dusi."

The whole of Guangning City was now in chaos, soldiers and civilians alike in turmoil. Both the rebels and the suppression army had set fires during the recent fighting. All along the road, flames still flickered everywhere. Some commoners were struggling to save their own houses, but many burning houses stood untended — their owners had probably abandoned their property and fled Guangning.

As he walked along the road, Huang Shi frequently encountered routed soldiers. Although the rebellion had been quelled, the chaotic battle had just ended. Without officers to control them, some soldiers had begun looting the commoners. At first they sought out empty houses, stealing unowned valuables, but before long it escalated to murder and robbery.

Though the runners from the Prefect's government office were doing their utmost to suppress the disorderly soldiers, most of their manpower had been drawn away to guard the granaries and organize civilian laborers. Moreover, the runners had suffered considerable losses, while the disorderly soldiers were numerous, so the city remained in great turmoil.

Under the heavy protection of his personal guards and troops, Huang Shi was of course perfectly safe, but his ears were constantly filled with the agonized cries of commoners, the angry shouts and sounds of men fighting, and the wails of women and children. He could even see some soldiers setting fire to civilian houses.

Huang Shi felt he could not simply stand by and do nothing, so he dispatched his subordinates to assist the runners in arresting the disorderly soldiers. He ordered his men to take them all to the Prefect's government office or gather them into the barracks to be kept under control.

He searched and searched, but Huang Shi could not find Wang Huazhen anywhere. Nor did he catch even a glimpse of Jiang Chaodong, the Assistant Regional Commander of Guangning. After searching a while longer, Huang Shi realized that the personal guards of the Liaodong Provincial Governor had also all vanished.

If Wang Huazhen had fled again, the hearts of the people in Guangning would once more fall into utter chaos. At this thought, cold sweat streamed down Huang Shi's back. He flicked his horsewhip: "Rush to the East Gate at once."