Chapter 166: When a Man Rises, Even His Chickens and Dogs Ascend to Heaven

Over a year had passed, and the desolate ancient road along the Wuding River was just as it had always been.

He Renlong halted his horse for a moment at the river bend; further north, the land was all yellow sand.

Humans are creatures who learn from their mistakes.

Though Wu Zimian had already gone to the capital to serve the king, He Renlong still dared not bring too many horses when he came to Yulin City again.

He traveled to Yulin City, entered the Regional Commander's headquarters, and waited a long time before finally seeing Du Wenhuan, reeking of alcohol.

Many officers sat in the hall; Du Wenhuan sat in the seat of honor, looking no different from his younger days — at most, a little less edge and a little more authority.

He Renlong dared not look around more and hurriedly knelt in salute.

"Your subordinate, He Renlong, Garrison Commander of Yuhe Fort, kowtows before Grand Commander Du."

Du Wenhuan seemed tipsy; he propped his arm on his chair and pointed at He Renlong in the hall.

To the stern-faced officers around him, he said: "Oh, He Renlong has come."

He Renlong raised his head with an ingratiating smile and heard Du Wenhuan say: "Renlong, I recall... when I was a Mobile Corps General, you were already a Garrison Commander, weren't you? So many years have passed — how is it you're still a Garrison Commander?"

Du Wenhuan had been a Mobile Corps General back in the final years of the Wanli reign.

But that was the closest their official ranks had ever been; before the Tianqi reign even began, Du Wenhuan had been promoted to Assistant Regional Commander, then Vice Regional Commander, then rotated between Ningxia and Yansui — fighting when he could win, resigning in disgrace when he couldn't, and always reappointed as Regional Commander.

And He Renlong, in that tiny place called Yuhe Fort, had watched the yellow sand stretching to the horizon, year after year.

"In reply to the Grand Commander, your subordinate has achieved no merit, and is ashamed before the Emperor's grace."

"Get up, quickly, no need to keep kneeling."

Once He Renlong rose, he exchanged formal greetings with each of the officers in the hall.

Those standing in the hall were all Mobile Corps Generals.

"Left Battalion Mobile Corps General Zuo Guangxian."

"Right Battalion Mobile Corps General Bai Bangzheng."

"Mobile Corps General Cui Zongyin."

"Mobile Corps General Li Guoqi."

"Mobile Corps General Li Mingfu."

"Mobile Corps General Guan Fumin."

Truth be told, He Renlong knew these men.

But when Yansui Garrison had acquired so many Mobile Corps Generals, He Renlong had no idea.

Just as he was busy returning their salutes, Du Wenhuan spoke: "Yan'an Assistant Regional Commander Ai Mu is besieged at Wen'an Post Station and has requested aid from Yulin Garrison. General He is aware of this?"

"Your subordinate is aware."

He Renlong had already guessed as much before coming.

The mounted messenger heading to Yulin had passed through Yuhe Fort first; the news had already spread through Yuhe Fort before it even reached Yulin.

In truth, the people of the fort had never had any particularly deep impression of Liu Chengzong before.

Everyone was so hungry they couldn't eat their fill — they had no interest whatsoever in other people.

But they couldn't help hearing that name over and over, and besides, now that they could eat their fill, Liu Chengzong was known to every soul in Yuhe Fort.

Everyone could recount the events after he joined the army as if they were their own family treasures.

Last time, annihilating Li Bei's force at only half strength had been shocking enough; this time, he had surrounded Ai Mu's nearly full-strength force at Wen'an Post Station and fought them until they begged Yulin for aid.

In truth, this matter had people mocking He Renlong behind his back quite a bit.

A retainer this fierce — why did you let him go?

He Renlong was well aware of all this, but he was also helpless. Before this, who knew Liu Chengzong could fight so well?

During the autumn border defense, killing a couple of Tatars — wasn't that something anyone with hands could do?

Beyond that, the most impressive talent Liu Chengzong had shown was shooting wild geese.

He hadn't displayed any real ability.

Yuhe Fort was simply not a place where one could display ability.

Otherwise, He Renlong wouldn't have wasted ten years there either.

"General Ai sent someone from Shenmu to find me, to break the siege at Wen'an Post Station." Du Wenhuan said: "However, with the bandit horde now entering Shanxi, I can't spare the hands to deal with Liu Chengzong for the moment. He was once acquainted with you."

He Renlong didn't quite understand that statement.

That line sounded like something the Shanxi Regional Commander ought to say.

The bandit horde entered Shanxi, so the Shanxi Regional Commander couldn't spare the hands.

The bandit horde entered Shanxi — what reason did the Yulin Regional Commander have for not sparing the hands?

He Renlong cupped his fists and said: "In reply to the Grand Commander, Liu Chengzong was indeed once this subordinate's retainer."

"That settles it. Send someone to tell him: capturing a Yan'an Mobile Corps General does him no good either."

Du Wenhuan pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said: "Three thousand taels — three thousand taels of silver. Have him withdraw from Wen'an Post Station and release Assistant Regional Commander Ai back to Yansui."

He Renlong was stunned. Three thousand taels... what did three thousand taels even mean?

His own Garrison Commander's monthly grain stipend, office allowance, and fuel allowance combined came to ten taels of silver a month.

Wasting away ten years at Yuhe Fort, he had only earned twelve hundred taels of silver in total.

Besieging an Assistant Regional Commander was this profitable?

He Renlong felt like taking the Yuhe Fort brothers out to do some shady work himself.

Only, who was going to pay this sum? Yulin Garrison might not be able to afford it, and even if they could, they wouldn't be willing to part with it. Could it be the Ai family of Mizhi putting up three thousand taels?

Who knew that right after, he would hear Du Wenhuan say: "If his heart is with the court, His Majesty and the Supreme Commander are now discussing pacification — paying ten thousand taels of silver and giving him an Assistant Regional Commander post to serve the nation would be no problem either."

Sweat beaded on He Renlong's forehead.

So the idea was to have Liu Chengzong pay three thousand taels of silver, and then release Ai Mu.

Just moments ago he had been wondering how he would enter Liu Chengzong's main camp.

What frame of mind he should adopt to speak with his former subordinates.

Whether it would be more fitting to show deference, or to put on a bit of his old superior's airs.

Hearing this now, he thought, forget it — he would rather die than enter Liu Chengzong's main camp. Go in bearing those terms, and once inside, he'd never come out.

He cupped his fists and said, "Grand Commander, what if he does not agree?"

"Not agree?"

Du Wenhuan clearly had never even considered the question.

A mere bandit of household servant origin like you — I, a dignified Regional Commander governing both Guyuan and Yulin garrisons, send men to offer you amnesty, and you would still refuse?

Du Wenhuan could find no possibility of refusal. He turned to look at the Mobile Corps Commanders around him, and the men all burst into laughter.

Zuo Guangxian, however, did not mock He Renlong. He simply cupped his fists and said, "General He, when General Li was previously defeated by the bandit chief, a Battalion Commander named Ma Ke fled back from his unit. He reported that the Liu bandit had gathered over ten thousand rabble and used firearms, cannon, and cavalry to break the formation."

"This time, General Ai's subordinates came seeking reinforcements and said he has a force of four thousand, with exceptionally sharp weapons, exceptionally sturdy armor, and exceptionally many horses. He also benefited from the advantage of coming and going like the wind. Having returned from Shanxi, he must have plundered no small amount of wealth and goods. Regional Commander is a very fitting rank."

He Renlong thought it over, and indeed, that reasoning held.

Report four thousand men, disperse three thousand rabble, and keep a thousand men drawing military rations while garrisoning the locality — that actually sounded rather nice.

He immediately cupped his fists and said, "Yes, your subordinate understands."

Du Wenhuan nodded and smiled. "Very well, since that is the case, I, Du, shall await the General's good news here in Yulin."

As He Renlong withdrew from the main hall of the Regional Commander's office, he heard the laughter of the assembled officers in the hall, along with Du Wenhuan's smug and self-satisfied words ordering them to drill the troops.

"After the royal escort campaign, every unit's strength is terribly hollow. You must press on with drilling the troops in preparation for great use in the future."

On the road back to Yuhe Fort, He Renlong's mind was a tangled mess.

He had already given up on his customary annual trip to Yulin to demand military pay, and he would no longer petition the court to allocate funds for repairing the fort's materials and labor.

Especially after seeing so many Mobile Corps Commanders in that hall.

Some of the men in there, like Guan Fumin — his father, Guan Bingzhong, had been Du Wenhuan's old superior, the former Regional Commander of Yulin.

Du Wenhuan treated him like a son or nephew; He Renlong could not compare.

But as for the greater number of them, those ranked above him — were their talents and strength necessarily greater than his?

This had been an audience filled with humiliation, but He Renlong was used to it. For ten years, every trip into Yulin to demand military pay for his soldiers had been far more humiliating than this one.

This time, on the contrary, his former subordinate had a Regional Commander besieged in a tiny post station town.

It actually made him feel a surge of pride and vindication deep in his heart.

You lot, ranked above me — you're nothing special after all!

A window had opened in his mind. He had always thought only of doing his own job well, of fulfilling his duty in his post. He had fulfilled it for ten years and never fulfilled it well. He needed to think of other ways.

At this thought, He Renlong unconsciously revealed a smile on horseback.

His trusted aide He Yong spurred his horse forward and asked, "General, you seem very happy coming out of Yulin today. Did the Grand Commander have some happy news?"

"Happy news — no happy news yet, He Yong." He Renlong turned his head and asked, "Do you dare go see Liu the Lion?"

See Liu the Lion?

He Yong's reaction was the same as He Renlong's had been earlier at the Regional Commander's office: he froze numb.

Seeing him like this, He Renlong could not help but laugh aloud. He paused a moment before saying, "You and Liu the Lion were fairly familiar in the past. Go see him. Grand Commander Du wants him to pay three thousand taels of silver and withdraw his troops. See if he's willing."

Before He Yong could recover from his stupor, He Renlong added, "Willing or not, this is the court's business. Liu the Lion is now a grand commander of a region himself. Do not argue with him, and even more, do not threaten him."

"Just deliver the message. Otherwise, you may not return alive."

Hearing these words, He Yong relaxed slightly in his heart. If it was just delivering a message, he felt it would not be so dangerous.

After all, in the past, when Liu Chengzong went out hunting, whatever game he caught — aside from the meat the office demanded — if there was anything usable, he would always return it, and had never once embezzled his catch.

By all accounts, the two had no personal grudge.

He Yong took a deep breath and said, "Alright, then I'll prepare to set out when I get back. Right now he's besieging Regional Commander Ai at Wen'an Post Station, so he'll be easy to find."

"Yes, you must go see him."

He Renlong looked left and right, then very grudgingly fished out three taels of silver from his bosom and handed it to He Yong. "Take this for the road. And then there's also... also this."

He truly had nothing good left on him. He looked left and right but could find no object worthy of presenting.

In the end, He Renlong unfastened his saber and passed it from horseback to He Yong, saying, "Take this blade. Deliver it to Liu the Lion. Consider it a gift upon meeting."

"This... General, isn't this the one forged the year you passed the Military Examination?"

He Yong dared not accept it. He had a deep impression of this saber — a genuine Western Regions iron, pattern-steel, ball-bearing goose-quill saber. It was the finest blade he had ever seen in his life.

He had once taken the chance to handle it when fetching the blade for He Renlong, secretly drawing it from the scabbard twice. It felt utterly wonderful in his grip.

He said, "General, you want to give this blade to Liu the Lion?"

"All of Yuhe Fort knows how much I cherish this blade."

Seeing He Yong not take it, the resolve on He Renlong's face vanished. He drew the blade to look at it once more, and at last his expression was filled with reluctance. But he gritted his teeth and sheathed it again.

"This blade has followed me over ten years. It's tasted blood only once, and that was years ago, killing a brother who tried to run. It's won no damn merit."

He patted his own round, bulging belly, his face fierce as he said, "Just like me, damn it — well-maintained, fat and strong. What damn use is it? Take it!"

The war blade was forcibly thrust into He Yong's hands. He Renlong said, "On this trip, there's another matter to handle. Take a few more men — they must be old brothers from Mizhi. Ask around everywhere for the brothers who left Yuhe Fort in the past, and the young fellows from Mizhi who've taken to the wilds. Meet them all."

"Where you can drink and eat meat, exchange a few words. Where you can pass word back and forth, pass it." He Renlong instructed, "Best of all, find those bandit camps and leave a brother to stay and amuse himself in the camp."

He Yong was stunned speechless. He paused, then stammered, "General, isn't this... colluding with bandits?"

"Then collude with bandits. Do you know who Du Wenhuan is? Do you know what the first thing he said to me today was?"

He Renlong did not look at He Yong. He rode his horse straight on, moving half a horse's head ahead.

He Yong could only watch his back and hear his voice: "The office was full of Mobile Corps Commanders standing there. Two were men Yulin recommended and promoted for talent. One was from a military family, no Military Examination. All of them young whelps."

"Today when he saw me and spoke of the old days, his first words were that the year he became a Mobile Corps Commander, I was a Defense Commander. Seeing me today, I am still a Defense Commander. Those whelps were laughing."

"How amusing is that? Over ten years have passed. His uncle Du Song has been dead ten years. His son is already the Regional Commander of Ningxia. And I, He Renlong! He Renlong is still a Defense Commander."

He Yong could not speak; he could only follow He Renlong step by step as they walked their horses.

After walking forward a dozen or so paces, He Renlong turned his head, his expression calm: "Brother, these past ten-odd years, what have we been doing?"

He Renlong's words struck He Yong's forehead like a heavy club.

That year, He Renlong passed the military examination.

He Yong was working as a permanent hired hand in the Chang family's compound. His mother, a basket of eggs slung over her arm, dragged him out of the Chang family compound without a word of explanation and led him by the hand to He Renlong.

On the road, his mother asked him, do you want to be a hired hand your whole life?

What's so bad about being a hired hand your whole life? No need to pay taxes, and besides, the Chang family's kitchen maid was really pretty.

But his mother said the kitchen maid would never marry a hired hand, said the neighbor's Renlong ge had passed the military exam and was going to be a general.

Told him to go to the battlefield to block arrows and blades for Renlong ge, to be his groom.

In the future, follow him and earn merit, stake his life on rising from rags to riches.

He looked at his mother's chapped hands, his mind full of the Chang family's little kitchen maid, and nodded heavily.

Rise from rags to riches.

From that day on, he followed He Renlong everywhere, to Yuhe Fort, practicing martial arts and drilling troops.

In the second year of Tianqi, they defended the fort, shot dead two Tartar slaves, but didn't sally out, and the corpses were all carried off by the Tartars.

Wearing armor on the wall, he blocked three arrows for He Renlong. The armor plates inside that cloth-faced armor were older than his own father, all fucking rusted.

Ancestors blessed him, he scraped back his life.

From that year on, he was Renlong ge's head household retainer.

And from that year on, the court began to stop paying their wages.

His mother never lived to see them rise from rags to riches before she caught consumption, and the little kitchen maid had long since married someone else.

After all these years, He Renlong suddenly asked what they brothers had been doing all this time.

He Yong did not know. He truly did not know.

For several years, they had racked their brains and exhausted their spirits over the several hundred mouths in Yuhe Fort, had tried every method, but this matter was just like his mother's consumption that couldn't be cured, like the kitchen maid's marriage that couldn't be stopped — there truly was no way.

In his hazy memories, he heard He Renlong say: "Handle this matter well. We are going to leave Yuhe Fort and find a way to climb higher."

He Yong said nothing. He no longer cared about whether they were turning bandit or not.

He only nodded heavily.

Rise from rags to riches!

Note:

Regional Vice Commander monthly stipend, heart-red, firewood, and other silver: thirty-two taels; Regional Commander: twenty-six taels; Mobile Corps Commander: twenty-two taels; Regional Military Commissioner: sixteen taels; those with brevet titles decrease by one grade, current Garrison Commander monthly pay ten taels; each battalion's Central Army Commander monthly pay eight taels; Brigade Commander six taels; Squad Commander four taels; Centurion two taels and four mace; Platoon Leader one tael and eight mace.

—"Memorials on State Expenditure: The New Pay Bureau"

Source of "The Stubborn Bandits":