Chapter 298: Taking It All

"From now on, I'll have to rely on myself."

Early the next morning, standing atop the walls of Pengze Town and watching Tu Sui's fleet hoist sail and head east, Heifu let out a long breath.

The previous night, Pengze's surrender had been genuine. With Chu already fallen and Qin's great army pressing on the border, although the local enfeoffed lord might have tried to resist to the death — either out of noble dignity or knowing that once the Qin troops entered the city he would lose everything — the local powerful clans had no wish to die with the Lord of Pengze as martyrs for Chu, so they decisively killed their lord and surrendered.

Thus, Heifu captured this small town without spending a single soldier — an unexpected delight.

Standing now on the town wall, Heifu began sizing up the first spoil of this expedition of his.

Pengze Town lay on a low hill two li from Lake Pengli. Its northwest gate faced the lake, to the south stretched open plains with paddy fields crisscrossing one another, and to the east a small stream flowed by, its banks dense with bamboo groves.

The town itself was rectangular. Heifu walked a full circuit himself and had Jing record it for him, discovering that the east and west walls were each one hundred and fifty paces long, while the north and south walls were each two hundred paces — one could walk the whole perimeter in a quarter hour.

The town was small to begin with, and half the space inside was taken up by the Lord of Pengze's mansion. The remaining half was divided among streets, workshops, and the market, making it cramped and cramped, and rather filthy besides. Now every household's gate was tightly shut, and on the streets Qin soldiers stood guard every five paces.

Those living inside the town were mainly nobles who did no productive labor, their retainers, and a small number of artisans and merchants. The farming population mostly lived in hamlets outside the town. These settlements were scattered south of the town and covered an area no smaller than the town itself.

The Xu clan, who had surrendered the day before, lived there as an entire clan. Without the protection of town walls and unwilling to let the war sweep over them and harm their own interests, they had no choice but to surrender.

"Little Brother, do you know — after the army seizes a place, what is the first location that must be controlled?" Heifu asked his younger brother Jing as he walked along the town wall.

"Elder Brother once told me: sufficient provisions make a sufficient army. The first places to control should be the granaries and the armory." Jing thought for a moment and answered Heifu's question correctly.

The granaries and armory of Pengze Town were both located within the Lord of Pengze's mansion. So the first thing Heifu did after entering the town was to send Dongmen Bao with men to secure the four walls and gates, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving, and then he ordered the five-hundred-man commanders to take men and seize the mansion.

Seeing that the hour was about right, Heifu brought Jing and his personal guard into the Lord of Pengze's mansion. Li Xian had already finished searching the place and came over to report to Heifu:

"The armory and granary in the mansion have both been secured. The armory is completely empty. I hear that yesterday the Lord of Pengze distributed the armory's weapons and called on everyone to resist, but was then assassinated by the Xu clan in the chaos. His personal followers all died, and those weapons distributed to the commoners were each taken away — I'm afraid we won't be getting them back."

"Roughly how many weapons did the Lord of Pengze distribute?" Heifu asked.

Li Xian replied, "No fewer than two hundred swords, halberds, dagger-axes, and spears!"

The people inside and outside the town together numbered roughly four thousand — this was indeed a hidden danger. But with popular sentiment still unsettled, it would not do to suddenly force them to hand over their weapons. Heifu asked again, "And the grain in the granary? How much?"

"Five thousand shi of millet and rice."

"Only enough for three thousand men to eat for one month."

Heifu sank into thought. According to their agreement, Tu Sui had left Zhao Tuo with Heifu. Zhao Tuo commanded several boats, and aboard them was millet from Nan Commandery — about ten thousand shi, enough for Heifu's men to eat for two months. Heifu had already sent Man with men to assist Zhao Tuo in repairing the docks. Once the docks were repaired, the grain could be transported into the town. Together with what was in the town granary, it would only sustain them for three months. And this was all unhulled grain — after hulling, the amount would be even less.

"Which means, after three months, if the war is still not over, I'll have to find a way on my own."

Apart from the granary and armory, Ji Ying had also been ordered to inventory the Lord of Pengze's property. He came out shaking his head, saying this enfeoffed lord was truly poor.

Holding up a small ding, he said with disdain, "Look, Commander — the ritual vessels are small and meager, gold and silver items are scarce, there aren't even many lacquerwares, and they're actually mixed in with some pottery! Not only can he not compare to the fabulously wealthy Lord of E, he can't even match some town grandees in Huainan..."

Indeed, the Lord of Pengze's mansion exuded an air of poverty from inside out. These nobles who had come to Jiangxi as enfeoffed lords were all out of favor with the King of Chu. They had few registered households under them, and aside from the convenience of hunting wild game, it was tantamount to banishment.

At that moment, Xiao Tao also arrived, herding over a hundred people in tattered clothing. Under the threat of the Qin soldiers, they all knelt in unison before Heifu.

"Com... Commander, these people are... bondservants."

"All bondservants belonging to the Lord of Pengze?"

Heifu swept his gaze over them and saw not only men and women with vacant eyes, but also a dozen or so children, all looking thin and scrawny.

Slaves existed in both Qin and Chu. Heifu had seen plenty of them in Nan Commandery, and his own household had even bought a few to tend the fires and cook, so at this moment he felt no extra pity.

But their army was alone deep in Jiangxi. This batch of bondservants who had lost their master might be won over and become the first group of people to serve the Qin army...

So Heifu clasped his hands behind his back and, face stern, addressed the bondservants: "Are you all bonded for life to the Lord of Pengze?"

This area belonged to southern Chu, so the Anlu accent should be understood. But the bondservants only looked at each other, and no one answered. After a long while, a gaunt, one-armed bondservant with a haggard face raised his sole remaining right hand high and said:

"General, we are Yangyue and Ganyue people. Most of us do not know the Xia tongue and cannot understand!"

"So that's how it is."

Heifu suddenly understood. No wonder this group of people were on the short side, and many had their hair cropped short and their faces tattooed. He had assumed they had suffered corporal punishment, but they were actually Yue people who cut their hair and tattooed their bodies...

The Yue were the most widely distributed ethnic group in the south. Apart from the Yuyue around Kuaiji who had been sinicized — the descendants of King Goujian of Yue — there were many other branches, whom the Central Plains people called the Hundred Yue.

In Jiangxi, the Yue people were mainly divided into two branches, the Ganyue and the Yangyue, neither of whom understood the Xia tongue. Their language was not even of the same language family as Old Chinese, but instead shared a common origin with the later Thai language.

"What is your name?" Heifu singled out the one-armed young Yue man.

"I am called Jiujue." The young man had dark skin, his body covered in dragon-and-serpent tattoos, and a wooden cangue fastened around his neck. His arm was missing from the elbow down, leaving only a hideous scar.

"Why can you speak the Xia tongue?" Heifu asked him.

"My mother was a local Chu woman who married over."

Jiujue answered, "I was a free man in the past, living by the Fan River, so I can speak it."

"You were originally a free man — how then did you become a bondservant of the Lord of Pengze?"

Jiujue spat on the ground. "Last autumn, I came with my clansmen to Lake Pengli to fish. We were captured by the Lord of Pengze's retainers, dragged back here, fitted with a wooden cangue, and made slaves."

Hunting slaves was also a great pastime of the enfeoffed lords of Chu south of the Yangtze.

Heifu asked, "Are the Lord of Pengze's bondservants made to serve until old age?"

"Serve until old and dead, or serve until worked to death. That is why I tried to escape several times."

Jiujue showed his back, and on it were dried blood-scab scars, dense as cowpeas.

"I could not resign myself to this, so I tried to flee while working. The Lord of Pengze set his hounds on me, and they bit off my arm. Then he had me dragged back and savagely beaten..."

As he spoke, tears streamed down his face. That injury had been so severe that he was thrown onto a pile of straw to die, yet by chance he had survived. Jiujue gritted his teeth and said, "So when the General attacked and destroyed the Lord of Pengze, I was so overjoyed I laughed out loud!"

"Good."

Heifu nodded. "From this day on, you have a chance to regain your freedom. Serve as my interpreter, and each month you will have enough grain to eat your fill. After half a year, I will grant you your freedom. If you perform well, I will also gift you coin and silk and let you go home!"

Jiujue was overjoyed. After the wooden cangue around his neck was removed, he made a salute to Heifu. Though he was missing a hand, he still prostrated his whole body on the ground and even kissed the tip of Heifu's shoe — perhaps this was a Yue custom?

Heifu had him rise and said, "Tell these hundred Yue bondservants for me, in the Yue tongue, that so long as they labor for me, I will not mistreat anyone. Likewise, after half a year, all of them will regain their freedom!"

Jiujue repeated Heifu's words. The Yue people were first stunned, then they began dancing and cheering. They had been destined to be bondservants for life, yet in half a year they could be freed — how could they not be happy? Their originally dull, gray eyes now gained a few glimmers of spirit.

Rather than letting them constantly harbor thoughts of escape, it was better to give them hope. Let them be beasts of burden for him for half a year; by then, he would have completed his mission and left Jiangxi, and the Yue people would each return to their homes — a happy outcome for all.

Heifu made Jiujue the interpreter and a squad leader the overseer, responsible for supervising this batch of Yue people. He also ordered Li Xian, "Have the craftsmen quickly make a few treadle pestles. Set these bondservants to hulling rice five double-hours a day. That way, we won't have to worry about having no rice to put in the pot!"

Just as Heifu had taken full inventory — the Lord of Pengze's mansion, property, grain, and bondservants — and accepted it all, Dongmen Bao, who was guarding the town outside, came to report to Heifu that several people from the Xu clan, who had been the first to surrender to the Qin army the night before, had come seeking an audience...

"They've probably come to claim credit and haggle."

Pengze Town was Heifu's foothold. For the next several months, his grain transport would all depend on this place. If the advance went poorly, it would also become his line of retreat. Therefore, he had to build good relations with the local clans and elders. Otherwise, even if he controlled the walled town, he would be unable to command the vast surrounding villages.

Heifu laughed. "Let them come in. Though I am only a Major of a Separate Detachment, I still have the authority to temporarily appoint a few acting Se Fu and acting Sanlao!"

PS: Something came up tonight, so only one chapter. Will make up with three chapters tomorrow.

(End of chapter)