Chapter 87: Suffering

Longxing Temple, also known as Huangjue Temple, was completed in the sixteenth year of Hongwu and held a position of supreme reverence throughout the Great Ming, hailed as a sacred shrine.

When the temple was first built, its scale was vast, covering 1,282.5 mu of land, and it was said that "monk novices could ride horses through the mountain gate." The temple was constructed by renowned craftsmen of the Central Capital, with exquisite carvings, grand layout, and very high rank, making it one of the important buildings of the Central Capital city.

The temple's halls and pavilions were extremely magnificent and imposing in scale. There were Buddha halls, Dharma halls, monks' quarters, and the like, totaling 381 rooms. Added to this, the Taizu Emperor personally inscribed the Longxing Temple stele inscription and the imperial calligraphy of the "First Mountain" stele, further enhancing the temple's majesty.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, when the roving bandits attacked Fengyang Prefecture, Longxing Temple suffered severe destruction—more than sixty rooms within the temple were burned down, the Taizu Emperor's stele inscription was consigned to the flames, and the temple's monks all fled and scattered.

Longxing Temple had now become a great construction site. Over a thousand soldiers and laborers were working with their heads down under the direction of craftsmen and foremen. These laborers had all been conscripted from the various counties under Fengyang Prefecture, while the soldiers were part of the Fengyang Central Guard and the Imperial Tomb Guard.

Behind a burned-out great hall, several soldiers lay sprawled about in various positions, resting. A young officer in his twenties, lean and capable-looking, was intently whittling a short piece of wood. As the sharp long dagger in his hand chopped back and forth, wood shavings flew everywhere, and a proper-looking, small and exquisite horizontal saber was gradually taking shape.

A soldier around thirty years old, lying on his back with both hands behind his head, legs crossed and squinting at the sky, spoke up: "Chief, my sister-in-law's skill is truly beyond words—those baked flatbreads she makes are fragrant and chewy, paired with a pickled radish, tsk tsk... that's truly a life fit for immortals! Just a bit too little though—the one piece you gave me was gone down my throat before I could even savor it. Sigh!"

"Get lost! There were ten damn flatbreads in total, and you bastards snatched away more than half. Others split one among several people, but you alone wolfed down a whole one by yourself, and you're still not satisfied?!"

The young officer set down his tools and laughed as he cursed, while the soldiers nearby started to chime in: "Zhang Laosan eats like a pig—whenever there's something good, you always eat the most!"

"Squad Leader, I think what Zhang Laosan is really after isn't the flatbread—it's our sister-in-law he's got his eye on, hehe~"

"I think so too. This fellow is always going on about 'sister-in-law this, sister-in-law that.' A man of several decades who can't even find a wife—he's dreaming of good things! Haha!"

Zhang Laosan was not at all offended. He said smugly: "You little bastards don't know a damn thing. I don't marry because I don't want the trouble. I'm used to being free. If I married, I'd have to have kids and support a family—just thinking about it gives me the creeps! Look how happy I am now—one person fed, the whole family's not hungry. When pay comes out, I spend it however I please. Happier than an immortal, I tell you!"

The young officer was Li Shuchun, a squad leader of the Fengyang Central Guard, from a hereditary military household that had served the guard for generations. At eighteen he had married Zhao, also from a military household, and his wife had borne him a son and a daughter. His son Xiaohu was already five years old and had loved playing with swords and spears since childhood. Taking advantage of the rest break, Li Shuchun had found a fine piece of wood and was carving a small wooden sword to take home to him.

Hearing Zhang Laosan mention military pay, Li Shuchun's heart sank. His Central Guard had not received its pay for several months, and many married soldiers could no longer keep their pots boiling at home.

It was only by relying on his skillful carpentry—secretly making furniture for some wealthy households—that he managed to maintain his current life of adequate food and clothing.

But most soldiers had no special skills. Aside from relying on that pitiful, intermittent military pay and provisions, they either depended on their wives doing needlework to supplement the household income, or on support from their parents and brothers to get by. Li Shuchun had also often helped out the men under his command.

One soldier said bitterly: "I heard people say the court did allocate pay and provisions, but when it reached the guard, those fine gentlemen skimmed it off! We can't even fill our bellies with chaff and wild greens, while those gentlemen are sick of eating meat and fish! Pah! This dog of a world!"

"Exactly! Why should the pay the court gives us be skimmed off by them? I won't accept it!"

"My wife married me, and the only time she ever ate a full meal of white flour was on our wedding day. Just thinking about it, I feel I've failed her!"

"In the past, when we did labor for the court, they at least provided sorghum rice. This time we even have to bring our own food!"

"I heard that dog of a eunuch and Chen Hongzu sold off the military grain issued by the court!"

"That little dog Hou Dingguo got more than his fair share of the spoils!"

Zhang Laosan sat up and let out a deep sigh: "Ergouzi, I've still got a few dozen coppers hidden in my tent. After we knock off work and head back, you take them and use them for now. Pay me back when you've got the means!"

Li Ergou was the soldier who had said his wife had only eaten one full meal of white flour. Hearing Zhang Laosan say this, his eyes reddened and he hastily said: "I can't, I can't! I still owe Third Brother a few dozen coppers! How could I take your money? I'm not that shameless!"

"Nonsense! If you want face, then damn well let your wife eat her fill! A fine girl married you—was it to drink the northwest wind with you? Your wife's belly is big now—if she doesn't eat well, how's she going to birth the baby?! Say one more word of nonsense and I'll slap you! Wait and come get the money from me!" Zhang Laosan said angrily.

Li Ergou's eyes brimmed with tears. His heart was filled with both shame and gratitude, and his lips moved but no words came out. The others had also received kindness from Zhang Laosan to varying degrees and were all deeply grateful to him, knowing that while his mouth was foul, his heart was very soft.

Li Shuchun said: "Ergou, when did your wife's belly start growing? Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Li Ergou wiped the tears from his face with his hand and said with his head lowered: "About two months now. A while back she'd vomit after eating. I thought she was sick, so I found a doctor to look at her, and only then learned she was with child."

Li Shuchun said: "When we knock off and head back, come with me to my place. I still have some coarse flour at home—take some back with you, along with a few eggs, to nourish your wife. A woman with child can't lack for sustenance!"

The tears Li Ergou had just wiped away welled up again. He sobbed: "Squad Leader, the kindness you and Brother Zhang San have shown me, I could never repay in a lifetime! Sometimes I just think—when will these bitter days ever come to an end?! Are we to stay poor like this, generation after generation? Why is it so?!"

Everyone fell silent. Li Shuchun looked up at the sky as several white clouds drifted slowly past. Suddenly his nose stung with emotion, and a single tear slowly slid from the corner of his eye.

Just then, a commotion suddenly arose from the front of the great hall. A soldier hurried over to investigate, and before long he came rushing back, saying urgently: "Squad Leader, someone's beating Wang Mutou!"

Li Shuchun quickly raised his hand to wipe away the tear tracks. Striding forward rapidly, he sheathed his dagger and tucked it into his bosom along with the wooden sword, asking: "Who's beating him? How many of them?"

"It's Hou Dingguo's men!"

"Let's go! Take a look!"

Zhang Laosan and the others followed close behind, and the group hurried toward the front of the hall. Wang Mutou was also in Li Shuchun's squad—an honest, slow-spoken man. Li Shuchun and the others had worked for a while before slipping off to the back of the hall to loaf, leaving only Wang Mutou and a few other honest soldiers still working. When called to join them, they refused, saying they feared falling behind schedule and being punished by their superiors. Li Shuchun could only let them be.

The group hurried to the front of the hall to find several men in short brown garments wielding wooden clubs and beating Wang Mutou and the others. The men being beaten dared not resist; they could only shield their heads with their arms and dodge about, the clubs striking their bodies with a series of dull thuds.

Li Shuchun shouted: "Stop!" He strode over in a few large steps and glared angrily at the attackers.

The attackers were indeed several retainers under Hou Dingguo. They were responsible for patrolling the construction site, and whenever anything displeased them, they would lay about with their clubs. Whether the beaten were laborers or soldiers, not one dared resist, which only emboldened their arrogance.

When these men patrolled to where Li Shuchun and his squad were working, they happened to see Wang Mutou and the others pause their labor to drink water. These ruffians were the sort who loved fighting and picking quarrels out of nothing. Seeing this, without distinguishing right from wrong, they went up and started swinging their clubs wildly, catching Wang Mutou and the others completely off guard. They had only stopped to drink some water, nothing more.

Seeing people rushing over, the men stopped their beating. One ruffian, imitating Hou Dingguo's manner, looked Li Shuchun and the others over with slanted eyes and said in a sinister, sarcastic tone: "Who the hell do you think you are? What, you want to stick up for these lowlifes? Don't you know who we are?"

Li Shuchun said coldly: "I am a squad leader of the Fengyang Central Guard. These men are not lowlifes—they are my subordinates, soldiers of the imperial court! Who gave you the guts to strike imperial soldiers?"

The ruffian was taken aback for a moment, turned to exchange glances with his companions, and then burst into laughter. The other ruffians also laughed wildly without restraint.

"What a damn joke! Since when did farming military households become imperial soldiers? Where were you lot when the roving bandits hit Fengyang? Hahaha! Too funny! Imperial soldiers! I spit on that!"

Li Shuchun and the others' faces turned dark, but they had no words to answer. When the roving bandits had broken into Fengyang, their superiors had led the flight. Once the commanding officer fled, all morale collapsed. Even if they had wanted to resist, they had no choice in the matter—they could only flee with their families to other places, and only after the bandits had looted and withdrawn did they return to Fengyang.

"You thieving military households—can't fight a battle, and you loaf on the job. You damn well need a good beating!" The leading ruffian cursed loudly, one hand on his hip and the other gripping his club.

By now many soldiers of the Fengyang Central Guard were gathering around. They had all lived in the same guard station for generations, and many were related by blood or marriage. Seeing a conflict break out, they instinctively came over to see what was happening.

Li Shuchun said angrily: "Say that one more time and see what happens!"

"Thieving military households! Thieving military households! Thieving military households who'll eat dirt for a lifetime!" These ruffians had no regard whatsoever for these guard soldiers. On ordinary days, even the Guard Commander Chen Hongzu would be courteous to them out of consideration for Hou Dingguo—to say nothing of soldiers they regarded as worse than pigs and dogs.

The soldiers who had gathered had already formed a circle. After hearing the full story and seeing these men cursing so arrogantly, they were all seething with indignation.

Since the restoration of the Imperial Tomb had begun, Hou Dingguo had led his gang of underlings on leisurely strolls about the place. Many people had been beaten and cursed by them but dared not speak out in anger. Today, seeing Li Shuchun stand up to confront this gang, they all secretly cheered.

Suddenly, from among the crowd of onlookers, a stone the size of a baby's fist flew out and struck the forehead of the cursing ruffian squarely. It hit him so hard that stars burst before his eyes and his head spun, then a stream of fresh blood flowed down his forehead.

The ruffian cried out in pain. Feeling his face grow hot, he reached up and wiped it, then turned his hand over to see it covered in blood. He flew into a rage and shouted loudly: "Who threw that? Daring to hit me! Are you lot looking to rebel?!"