Chapter 17: Fan City

Hong Chengchou led Shaanxi Vice Regional Commander He Renlong and his five hundred elite cavalry, traveling through the night, and finally arrived within Fan City's borders four days later.

Along the way, they saw no signs of villages plundered or slaughtered. Since the busy farming season had passed, there were basically no farmers working in the fields, and travelers and merchants on the official road were few and far between. The occasional peddler or traveler, upon seeing a large body of government cavalry, would keep far away, afraid of inviting trouble.

After entering Fan City's borders, He Renlong had already sent Night Scouts ahead to reconnoiter, while the main force reined in their horses and advanced slowly, the front and rear units separated by several li to guard against ambush, with the central main force clustering around Hong Chengchou.

When they were still several li from Fan City's county seat, dust rose on the road ahead as the scouting vanguard galloped back. Reaching the central force, he reined in his mount about a dozen paces from Hong Chengchou, dismounted in a hurry, strode forward rapidly, knelt on one knee, and reported loudly: "Report to the Regional Commander, this subordinate followed orders and scouted to beneath the county walls! The city gates are tightly shut, no rebel banners on the walls, and the surrounding villages are empty—no signs of looting or burning!"

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, stroking his beard in silence. He Renlong waved for the scout to withdraw, then edged his mount closer to Hong Chengchou and leaned forward, saying: "Regional Commander, could it be that the rebels learned of our coming and have already abandoned the city and fled?"

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said: "If the Sichuan troops had abandoned the city, this would not be the scene before us—the gates would be wide open, and they would have looted everything and fled!"

At this point, he glanced sidelong at He Renlong and continued: "The government army's reputation among the people is hardly good—you should know this well enough yourself!"

He Renlong awkwardly shifted his gaze elsewhere. He knew best what sort of men his subordinates were. In ordinary operations they had more than once robbed the property of gentry and commoners alike. Though rape and murder were rare, seizing wealth and injuring people happened from time to time.

He Renlong knew full well that the Regional Commander turned a blind eye to the army's plundering of property. Because if he restrained them too tightly, the troops would grow resentful. After all, military pay was owed in great arrears—if they could not grab a little on the side now and then, the army's morale would collapse entirely.

But if burning, killing, or rape occurred, the Regional Commander showed no mercy whatsoever. Previously, within Mianchi County's borders, Zuo Liangyu's forces had been pursuing the bandits Zhang Miaoshou and Zhuang Taitian. When the bandits fled into the mountains, the government troops demanded money from the County Magistrate in the name of military support. Refused, they looted the local great households and raped their wives and concubines, driving one wife to throw herself into a well in shame.

Afterwards, the great household appealed to the Governor-General's yamen. Upon learning of the matter, Hong Chengchou flew into a rage and sent his personal guards to seize and behead the three soldiers responsible for the rape and the death—among them a Chiliarch. After that, the entire army was on notice.

Hong Chengchou ordered the advance, and the whole force drove straight for the county seat. A quarter of an hour later they arrived beneath the walls. The gates were indeed tightly shut, but the walls stood empty of any person.

Hong Chengchou had several soldiers with loud voices stand beneath the walls and shout in unison: "Regional Commander Hong has arrived in person! Let someone in the city come forth to answer!"

After a long while, one of the tightly shut gates suddenly opened a crack, and a crowd filed out. At the head was a civil official around thirty years of age, wearing a blue official robe with a blue magpie rank badge and a black gauze cap—by his dress, he should be the Fan City County Magistrate. Behind him followed a group of government officers in military dress, hair disheveled, bare-chested, hands bound behind their backs. Hong Chengchou and the others were startled at the sight. The civil official stepped forward and saluted, saying: "This subordinate, Luo Fulong, County Magistrate of Fan City, pays respects to the Governor-General!" The military officers following him knelt to the ground.

Hong Chengchou dismounted and walked slowly to Luo Fulong, asking: "Magistrate Luo, what is the situation here?"

"Governor-General, it is a long story. Might I ask Your Excellency to move to the county yamen, where this subordinate will report in full detail!" Luo Fulong replied with a cupped-fist salute.

Hong Chengchou nodded in assent and said: "Then lead the way, Magistrate!" With that, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward the city gate.

Seeing this, He Renlong hastily urged his mount forward and called out loudly: "Regional Commander, beware of treachery!"

Hong Chengchou stopped in his tracks, turned his head, and said: "Though the roving bandits ravage the Great Ming, to this day there has never been a civil official who joined the rebels. I trust Magistrate Luo!"

"Regional Commander, it is still better to be cautious! Let this subordinate first send men in to investigate, and once it is confirmed safe, you may enter the city—there is no rush!" He Renlong was insistent.

No joke—if there were treachery and an ambush, and the Regional Commander were captured or lost, that would be a crime worthy of beheading and the extermination of his entire clan.

Seeing his resolute attitude, Hong Chengchou went along with the advice and stood in place to wait.

He Renlong hastily sent a squad of personal guards riding into the city to investigate, while Hong Chengchou chatted idly with Luo Fulong.

After roughly a quarter of an hour, the personal guards galloped back. Reaching Hong Chengchou, they dismounted, saluted, and reported loudly: "Report to the Regional Commander, every household within the city has its doors tightly shut, with no signs of fighting. Yamen runners stand guard before the county yamen, and their expressions show nothing unusual!"

Hearing the report, Hong Chengchou said: "Magistrate Luo, let us go—take me to the county yamen to rest!" Luo Fulong gave a salute at these words, then hurried a few steps ahead to lead the way, with Hong Chengchou following in stride.

He Renlong called over a personal guard and gave him low-voiced instructions. The guard then wheeled his horse about, shouted a command, and galloped off along the city wall, with a dozen or so riders peeling off from the column to follow. Meanwhile, the group of officers who had come out of the city rose to their feet. He Renlong shot a glance at his personal guards beside him, who readied bows in hand or drew blades from their sheaths, watching this group dressed as government officers with wary eyes. He Renlong spurred his horse into a trot and followed Hong Chengchou into the city.

The county seat was not large, and at this moment not a single person was on the streets. Whether shops or residences, all had their doors tightly shut, and through the gaps one could faintly see pairs of eyes sizing up the crowd.

After entering the city, the accompanying cavalry split into several squads that threaded through the various streets to investigate, while the rest drew their blades and swords, looking about vigilantly in every direction.

Before long, the party arrived at the county yamen in the middle of the city. Several yamen runners stood listlessly at the gate, and upon seeing the Magistrate they hurriedly offered salutes.

Luo Fulong gestured for the Governor-General to enter the yamen. Several personal guards had already gone inside to look around; a moment later one came out and shook his head, indicating all was well.

Hong Chengchou then stepped into the county yamen first. The personal guards dismounted, most remaining outside to keep watch around the perimeter, while a dozen or so guards, weapons in hand, escorted the group of officers inside.

Hong Chengchou passed around the screen behind the main hall and entered the inner hall. He Renlong and Luo Fulong followed closely behind. The group of bare-chested, disheveled officers took their positions in the yamen courtyard, with the personal guards watching over them.

Luo Fulong respectfully invited Hong Chengchou to take the seat of honor, then sat himself at the side. He Renlong stood behind the Regional Commander, hand on his blade, declining to sit. An old servant, hearing the commotion, came in from the rear courtyard. Luo Fulong ordered him to serve tea, and the old servant acknowledged and left.

"Magistrate Luo, what exactly is going on here? Those military officers should be the Sichuan troops' commanders. What on earth happened? Tell me at once!" Hong Chengchou began.

"Reporting to the Governor-General, those men are indeed the Sichuan troops' officers. The matter is thus..." Luo Fulong replied.

Deng Qi, Regional Commander of the Sichuan Relief and Suppression forces, upon receiving the military order from the Regional Commander's headquarters, had led his six thousand government troops in breaking camp and hurrying to Fan City.

Deng Qi was by nature mean-spirited and ungrateful. He habitually docked his subordinates' pay, and beat and cursed his men at the slightest provocation. Ordinary soldiers received one tael and two mace of monthly pay, allocated by the court per head. Though often in arrears, some would be disbursed every few months—but the arrears were never made up.

When pay reached the army, soldiers could only get half or even less. Men became soldiers and fought for money and grain. Over the past year and more, the military pay Deng Qi had embezzled in total exceeded ten thousand taels. He sent his personal guards to escort the stolen pay directly back to his home in Sichuan. When the officers and men learned of this, they were all furious, and their resentment deepened day by day.

On this day they arrived at Fan City, and the government troops set up camp ten li northwest of the county seat. The Fan City County Magistrate organized the local gentry to reward the army, sending several dozen jars of fine wine, ten live pigs, and some oil, salt, rice, and grain.

After the Fan City comfort delegation left, Deng Qi ordered his personal guards to slaughter pigs and cook dishes, and he drank and feasted boisterously with army supervisor eunuch Liu Yunzhong and a clutch of trusted confidants, carousing through the night. Within a few days, the wine and meat that had been sent were completely consumed by this group. The officers and men ordinarily could not even eat their fill, and now that someone had finally sent wine and meat, they could not see so much as a sliver of it. The troops gathered and began to mutiny.

Deng Qi was in the middle of drinking and gorging with Liu Yunzhong when he heard the uproar outside the tent growing louder and louder. He ordered his personal guards to investigate, and soon they reported that the troops had gathered.

Deng Qi rose to his feet, his chest bare and covered in thick hair, and staggered out of the tent in a lurch.

Mobile Corps Commander Gao Qixun stepped forward to salute, then said: "Regional Commander, we have heard that the county yamen sent people to reward the army with wine and food, and we have come to receive our share!"

Deng Qi, drunk, looked at him askance and said: "It is true the county yamen sent people to reward the army, but the wine and food were sent for me and the supervisor. What qualification does a mere Mobile Corps Commander like you have to enjoy them?"

Hearing this, Gao Qixun suppressed his fury and said: "Regional Commander, our brothers risk life and limb for the court. Usually we cannot even get a full meal, and our pay is always short! Now that someone has finally sent meat to reward the army, why are we not entitled to enjoy it?"

Seeing himself talked back to, Deng Qi flew into a rage. Looking down, he spotted a wooden club, bent to pick it up, and began beating Gao Qixun about the head and face, cursing as he struck: "A piddling Mobile Corps Commander like you dares to talk back to me? Who gave you the nerve? Do you believe I'll have you beheaded?"

After a bout of beating, blood streamed down Gao Qixun's face and head.

The army supervisor eunuch Liu Yunzhong and the others heard the commotion and came out of the tent as well. Seeing Deng Qi beating Gao Qixun, Liu Yunzhong's face split into a wide grin. He clapped his hands in approval and shrieked in a shrill voice: "Well hit! Hit harder! This sort of fellow who knows no rank or station—best to beat him to death!" Deng Qi's clutch of confidants also clapped and laughed heartily.

This Liu Yunzhong knew nothing of military affairs. Relying on the fact that he came from the palace, he arrived in the army swaggering and arrogant, calling himself Commandant. He went about proclaiming that his adoptive father was Zhang Yixian, the seal-holding eunuch of the Palace Eunuch Directorate, a favorite at the Emperor's side—and that anyone who dared offend him would get a word to his adoptive father and be made to swallow the consequences.

Ordinarily, apart from Regional Commander Deng Qi, all the other principal officers—Vice Regional Commanders, Assistant Regional Commanders, Mobile Corps Commanders—had to pay him grand formal respects when they met him. The officers and men were deeply disgusted by him. But they were also deeply afraid, which only fed Liu Yunzhong's arrogance and tyranny. He frequently beat soldiers for no reason at all. Over time, the troops' disgust toward him rose to the level of hatred.

Riding the momentum of his drunken rage, Deng Qi beat Gao Qixun. The gathered troops were angry but dared not speak, and the scene fell into dead silence—but the flames of the soldiers' fury had already blazed up.

His anger still unsated, Deng Qi turned, snatched the waist blade from a personal guard beside him, and swung around, raising the sword to cut Gao Qixun down on the spot.

Gao Qixun's personal guard Liu Erzhu saw his commander about to die beneath the blade. His blood rushed to his head. He sprang forward in a single stride, drew his waist blade, and delivered a diagonal slash. Deng Qi let out a miserable scream as his right hand, which held the sword, was severed at the elbow and fell to the ground. He let out inhuman shrieks of agony, clutching his severed arm and rolling on the ground in pain.

Liu Erzhu, having gone this far, pressed forward and raised his blade to strike down. Deng Qi's head and body were instantly separated, blood spurting from the neck cavity. Whether the gathered troops or Liu Yunzhong and the others, all were stunned—a court Regional Commander holding command of a major force had actually been beheaded by one of his own lowly soldiers!

Before anyone could recover their senses, Liu Erzhu raised his blade and roared: "The traitor Deng is dead! Kill Eunuch Liu, and everyone drinks and eats meat!"

The gathered troops' blood immediately boiled over. Hundreds upon hundreds surged forward with blades and spears, shouting and screaming, toward Liu Yunzhong and the others. In a matter of moments, Liu Yunzhong and his group were hacked into pulp by a flurry of blades.

The killing was done, the disaster was made. As everyone slowly calmed down, fear began to set in.

Gao Qixun stood frozen on the spot. Though he had challenged Deng Qi out of anger, he had never imagined killing the Regional Commander and the supervisor—that was the grave crime of rebellion!

And now it was done. A bloody incident touched off by wine and meat could not be undone. He had fought hard on the battlefield and accumulated merit to rise to the rank of Mobile Corps Commander—and now it was all over. He squatted down in despair, clutching his head, his mind a complete blank as to where to go or what to do.

The other officers and men looked at one another in dismay, slowly lowering their blades and spears, not daring to make a sound—each afraid that whoever spoke first would be thrust forward as the scapegoat.

Liu Erzhu, holding a waist knife still dripping with blood, strode up to Gao Qixun and said loudly, "General, why don't we just rebel! We can't eat our fill every day, and our pay is six months in arrears—we risk our lives for money! Bandits are everywhere now. Let's make you our leader, occupy a mountain and become kings, drink from big bowls and eat big chunks of meat—wouldn't that be satisfying!"

Gao Qixun suddenly jumped up and laid into Liu Erzhu with a flurry of punches and kicks, cursing as he struck: "I'll teach you to occupy a mountain and become king! I'll teach you to eat big chunks of meat! You bastard's heard too many storybooks and ruined your brain! We are imperial troops! Imperial troops! You damned bastard actually dares to side with the rebels—I'll beat you to death, you son of a bitch!"

Liu Erzhu dared not fight back. He threw away his knife, covered his head with his hands, and squatted on the ground, letting Gao Qixun beat him. After all, his skin was thick and his flesh tough—a few punches and kicks were no more than a scratch to him.

Gao Qixun beat him for a while before stopping, panting heavily for breath. Seeing this fellow wearing a grinning, unconcerned expression, he grew angry again and went over to kick him a few more times. If not for the fact that this fellow had saved his life several times on the battlefield, he would have long since taken his knife and beheaded him as a scapegoat to answer to his superiors.

He cursed hatefully, then turned and said loudly to the officers and soldiers: "Each Company Commander take your men back to camp. Without military orders, no one leaves camp—violators will be executed! Those above Battalion Commander stay behind—I have something to say!"

The men dispersed, and several Battalion Commanders remained.

Gao Qixun beckoned them into Deng Qi's tent. After everyone sat down, they had no appetite for the remaining fine wine and meat, all worrying about their own futures.

Only Liu Erzhu, seeing so much good food, secretly swallowed his saliva, but seeing the grim faces of his superiors, he dared not go eat on his own.

"Everyone speak up—what do we do next? We can't really do what that blockhead said and become bandits in the mountains, can we?"

Gao Qixun held the highest rank, and he had been the first to step forward in this incident. In daily combat he also fought bravely at the front and enjoyed considerable prestige in the army, so the other officers looked to him as their leader.

The officers exchanged glances. Battalion Commander Yao Huailong spoke up: "General, what Liu Erzhu said isn't wrong. We've been suppressing bandits for several years now—the more we suppress, the more bandits there are, and the fewer men we have. I hear the Dashing King Gao Yingxiang has strong troops and sturdy horses—even Governor Hong and Governor Lu fear him. In a few more years, who knows, he might actually succeed! Why don't we go and join him? With these few thousand troops, we'd be a considerable force. Besides, we have rich combat experience. If you go over there, General, and the dynasty changes hands in the future, you could even get yourself a duke's or marquis's seat!"

"Shut up!" Before he could finish, Gao Qixun shouted him down sternly.

"From the moment I understood anything, I've known benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom! I've known loyalty to the emperor and loyalty to the court! When I joined the army, I swore to be a hero like Yue Wumu! These bandits burn, kill, and plunder, treating the common people like pigs and dogs! Under the court's rule, though the people are poor, at least they won't be slaughtered without cause! We all come from poverty and all have families and kin. If we hadn't joined the army back then, the ones dying under bandit blades now might be you, me, or our relatives and old friends! Besides, how many brothers in this army have had their kin and friends killed by bandit weapons? We are men, not livestock! Those bandits are creatures worse than livestock! I will never coexist with bandits—whoever speaks of surrendering to them again, I, Gao, will surely cut off his head!"

Yao Huailong fell silent, embarrassed. Everyone remained quiet, saying nothing.

After a long while, Battalion Commander Yi Bang finally broke the silence and spoke: "General, we are all crude men and can't think of any clever plans! The best thing would be to find a learned man—a learned man would surely have a way!"

Hearing this, everyone felt it made sense. Book-learned men had more schemes and knew more things—they would surely find a way to handle such a matter. But the army was full of rough men who couldn't read a single character—where could they find a learned man? Everyone racked their brains for a long while and still found no answer.

Liu Erzhu, standing off to the side, muttered: "Can't find one in the army—go look in the county town!"

Gao Qixun slapped his thigh and laughed, cursing good-naturedly: "Right! The County Magistrate is a learned man! He's a jinshi—great learning indeed! Haha, this blockhead isn't as dumb as he looks sometimes!" Then everyone agreed to go to the county town together at dawn. Afterwards, they sent men to bury the corpses of Deng Qi and the others, and Deng Qi's head was buried together with his body.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Gao Qixun led several Battalion Commanders to the county town. As soon as the city gate opened, they entered and went straight to the county yamen to request an audience with County Magistrate Luo Fulong.