Chapter 207: Jiang Yingchang's Great Adventure

On the night the magistrate disappeared, every household in Heshui City barred its doors and shuttered its windows.

The townsfolk hid behind door cracks, listening to iron-shod hooves strike the ground, watching torch-bearing cavalry charge back and forth through the streets; now and then, a few screams rang out from the west and east ends of the city.

Everyone thought their own family was the lucky one in this soldier riot.

At first light the next day, before the sun had risen, the damp, mist-filled city grew somewhat calm; bolder folk ventured out and could still see traces of last night's chaos on the streets.

There were soiled bolts of cloth and scattered grain, even broken-wheeled wooden carts tilted crookedly under the eaves by the roadside.

Then the first ones out discovered that the dog-coward neighbor who had built his courtyard wall a foot higher was still alive.

Every household was still alive.

After the great calamity, relatives, friends, and neighbors visited each other and spread the news, yet a question could not help but rise in their hearts: then who died?

Once the panic passed, the first to organize were the county academy students; led by the instructor, each brought servants and friends, forming several squads of seven or eight men. They opened the armory, took up weapons, and patrolled the streets to retake the east and west gates.

And then they learned who had died.

A maidservant released last night from the Yuan family mansion in the west of the city said that soldiers had entered Squire Yuan's home during the night.

Aside from the newly purchased Sixth Madam, who was taken away the day before yesterday, Squire Yuan, his family, and his hangers-on were slaughtered until blood flowed like a river.

Everything in the house was also carried off completely clean; the two-wheeled mule carts used just to haul the goods numbered over a hundred coming in from outside the city.

The homes of Old Master Feng and Vice Magistrate Nie in the east of the city had also suffered at the soldiers' hands. When the academy students rushed over upon hearing the news, they found the corpses in the houses dead in all manner of ways.

These border soldiers' methods were extremely cruel; there were hardly any corpses that had been killed cleanly.

But later, the onlooking townsfolk said that the one who had been hanged had hanged others years ago, and the one beaten to death inside a sack had once used the same method to harm people.

It was as if they had come to exact revenge.

Knowing that these were the ones who had died made the onlooking townsfolk clap their hands and cheer instead.

One academy student said, "Be that as it may, over a hundred people died last night. The corpses cannot just be left here; they will stink by tomorrow. We are all from the same place — shall we chip in for some coffins for them?"

The townsfolk who had just been clapping turned and walked away.

The student hastily called out, "Don't go, don't go! If not coffins, then chip in for straw mats! Don't go — just carrying them out of the city, alright?"

With great difficulty they organized a party, gathered the corpses, and headed out of the city to carry them away. Halfway there, however, they heard someone say that those border troops had not left; they were encamped in two camps just outside the western pass.

Far to the west, black smoke was still rising from somewhere; judging by the direction, it should be Ding Family Fortress, the county's major grain merchant.

A corpse-bearer in the funeral procession said, "They've come to rid the people of a scourge!"

"It's just a pity about Magistrate Jiang. He served this small county for only two years. Though he accomplished no great deeds, he never brought disaster to the area either. Who knows how long it will take the court to send another official, or what sort of thing they'll send."

"Indeed, indeed!"

For the county's academy students especially, Jiang Yingchang had paid great attention to Confucian education; when he had nothing to do in the county, he would even come to the academy to teach them. Beyond being their parent-official, he also held the role of their teacher.

Now, thinking of the magistrate fallen into rebel hands, his fate unknown, the faces of the several county academy students were all filled with worry.

They were still lamenting below the wall when suddenly they heard someone on the wall shout, "I see the magistrate!"

The townsfolk immediately dropped the corpses on the spot and swarmed up the stone ramp of the horse path onto the city wall. Someone pointed into the distance and said, "The magistrate is over there!"

Outside the western moat, a dozen or so border cavalrymen — some bearing flags, some brandishing whips, and behind them more men driving mule carts and donkey carts — a great convoy of vehicles and horses churned up vast clouds of dust over the parched earth.

Beyond the dust cloud, Heshui County's parent-official, Jiang Yingchang, walked eastward. A young man in border-army armor walked alongside him; the two slowly made their way to the moat.

Liu Chengzong raised his eyes toward the top of the wall, gauging that the distance was about right. Any closer, and a matchlock set up on the wall could hit him.

He said, "Curse me."

Jiang Yingchang understood what he meant, but still shook his head. "You did a good deed for Heshui. The grain and goods you left behind can save many people. I, Jiang, believe the pure will prove themselves pure."

Liu Chengzong raised an eyebrow and said, "But you didn't stop me either."

"If I were the Prefect of Qingyang, I would naturally lead troops to block you."

Jiang Yingchang lifted his chin toward the county seat. "Heshui is a small county, without soldiers or grain. Even if the entire county died, we could not stop you. I receive the Emperor's grace as a local parent-official; to be able to stain my own name somewhat to keep this place safe — that is already the limit of my ability."

Liu Chengzong nodded. "Fine."

With that, he turned to leave. After two steps, he turned back and said, "Magistrate Jiang, the world is hard to predict. There is only one Liu Chengzong, but there are many bandits under heaven. Perhaps the next time I hear your name..."

"... it will either be because the court stripped you of office and threw you in prison, or because you perished together with your city. Go into the city, bring your family, and come with me. I guarantee you will have no worries about food or clothing."

Jiang Yingchang froze for a moment, then paused briefly. Silently, he cupped his fists and said, "Eat the sovereign's pay, serve the sovereign's cause. If the city falls, I die; a worthy death."

Liu Chengzong had already swung onto Red Flag's back. He nodded again. He had anticipated this outcome before speaking; opening his mouth had merely been a matter of routine. He said, "Each man has his own aspirations. Don't blame me then for not warning you."

"The Supreme Commander is currently employing a pacification strategy. If you are willing, I can convey a message on your behalf." Jiang Yingchang said, "Submit a memorial of allegiance with your troops, and you, General, will still enjoy a lifetime of wealth and rank."

A lifetime of wealth and rank is easy, but who can say for certain how long a lifetime is?

Besides, the court's actions were teaching him: the better you fight, the later you surrender, the greater the rewards.

Right now, his price was basically at the rank of Regional Commander; if he annihilated two more Chief Generals, he could probably get promoted to Vice Chief General. With a little money spent, Chief General wasn't impossible either.

But wouldn't that just be asking for trouble? Now, without army provisions, he could figure out ways to take them from others. If he surrendered and there were no provisions, wouldn't the soldiers' resentment all pile onto him?

Enjoy wealth and rank for two days, then get yourself killed — that also counts as a lifetime of wealth and rank. Who would you go to for justice?

A general merely enjoying a lifetime of wealth and rank won't do. At the very least, he must also retain the position of a Tusi, eternally garrisoning this land, before Liu the Lion would even consider it.

Liu Chengzong smiled, reined in his horse, and said, "I appreciate the kind intent, but I'm afraid a lifetime of wealth and rank is not enough. Farewell."

With that, he tossed something from his waist, turned his horse around, and those cavalrymen roaming left and right also promptly led donkeys and mules galloping westward, leaving behind a ground full of carts laden with grain and goods.

Jiang Yingchang caught his official seal. His mind could not reach the notion of a Tusi position; he simply felt this young man's thinking was very dangerous. A lifetime of wealth and rank isn't enough — what are you planning to do?

Planning to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple after you die?

The distant figures of the cavalry troop trampled across the desolate fields. Jiang Yingchang let out a long sigh of relief and rubbed his swollen eye bags; it had been a long time since he had stayed up all night.

He tied his official seal back to his waist and turned around. The light of the rising sun shone on his face. A sleepless night had left him extremely weak, and facing the sunlight made him feel intensely dizzy.

But Heshui County seat was still there.

The drawbridge fell, and a great crowd of county folk surged out. His wife and child ran at the very front. The usually virtuous and demure woman threw herself onto him, her face haggard, tears streaming like rain on pear blossoms.

Jiang Yingchang could only respond with a simple, silly smile. "Madam, go home, we can embrace at home. So many people are watching."

Once the woman shyly withdrew, the magistrate picked up his five-year-old son, asked a few smiling questions, and was then immediately surrounded by the academy students in the crowd.

People asked all at once, "Sir, that bandit soldier didn't hurt you, did he?"

Jiang Yingchang laughed silently for a good while, then breathed out in relief and said, "Not a hair was harmed."

"Just now, what did you and that bandit soldier talk about?"

"That was no bandit soldier — that was Liu Chengzong, the great outlaw of Yan'an Prefecture." Jiang Yingchang's face showed both the helplessness of a man with little power and the pride of one who had survived a calamity. Finally, he laughed freely and said, "I tried to persuade him. He didn't surrender."

With that, he didn't wait for everyone to finish laughing and flattering him. Holding his son in one arm, he raised the other to point at the carts outside the city and singled out a county student: "Quickly, gather civilian laborers to transport the money and grain into the city's official storehouse. Seal the city gates and tally up the county's losses this time."

The crowd was intensely curious about that money and grain. A few county students went to summon the common folk, but some people still gathered nearby and asked curiously, "My lord, why would bandit soldiers leave behind money and grain?"

"I asked for it, of course. I said this small county is especially poor — even if they looted the money and grain, they couldn't take it all with them. They weren't bad sorts, just unpaid mutinous soldiers with some conscience left. They really did leave a bit for the county."

The common folk, overjoyed, escorted Magistrate Jiang into the city. Just as they reached the city gate tunnel, Jiang Yingchang saw corpses laid out all over the ground ahead, and turned his head back to look toward the western outskirts, long since far away.

Back at the county yamen, the students were still tallying up outside the gate the money and grain that Magistrate Jiang had ventured into the enemy's midst to obtain. Jiang Yingchang had already issued several orders in succession.

He appointed the nine remaining students in the county: six would rotate to help guard the city gates, and the remaining three would organize the common folk to repair city-defense equipment and weapons.

"Liu Chengzong won't be the last to enter Qingyang. Heshui City's luck won't always be this good. Recruit troops, prepare for war — there are plenty more rebels to come."

The money and grain were soon tallied.

What Liu Chengzong had left him was by no means little. Over a hundred carts made two round trips before everything was transported back into the city.

There were over fourteen hundred dan of the five grains — old grain, spoiled grain, grain crawling with bugs — but not a single grain of clean, fresh grain with that rich scent of the harvest.

The value of the goods was hard to estimate, because there was no gold, silver, leather goods, textiles, or spices — not even copper coins.

It was all things hard to sell but a shame to throw away: exotic goods from both oceans, jade ware, porcelain, fine paper, wine-pot ornaments, furniture of precious woods, and the like.

Jiang Yingchang had known since the night before what Liu Chengzong would leave behind, so when the students came to report, he was not surprised. He simply waved his hand and said, "Write up a notice. Post it not only in the city, but in every village ward outside the city as well. Sell it — sell everything at seventy percent of market price. They can pay in coin or in grain."

"If it really won't sell, store it temporarily in the official treasury. Whenever it sells, that's when it's settled."

He had calculated: these things looked piecemeal, but in fact, if they could all be sold at market price, they would bring in at least ten thousand taels of silver.

More than his county paid in taxes over ten years.

Those two thousand-man-hour canopy beds alone — selling them for less than a thousand taels of silver would be a loss.

It was just that, at present, it wasn't certain anyone in the county could afford them, even at seventy percent of market price.

Jiang Yingchang thought Liu Chengzong's soldiers truly knew their goods. Those soldiers were genuinely skilled at looting, extremely organized — no reckless dismantling, no arson, no smashing. Just to move those two beds, they had torn down five walls, one after another.

They went to all that trouble, and in the end, left them for him.

The most important order Jiang Yingchang issued was to recruit famine refugees, select able-bodied men from among them, and form a militia unit.

That night's experience had shaken him deeply.

It couldn't quite be called escaping the tiger's jaws, but it was enough to count as surviving a calamity — and besides, Liu Chengzong's Lion Camp was astute and well-disciplined.

Throughout the entire looting process, Liu Chengzong had stripped off his official robes, dressed him in commoner's clothes, and taken him along, letting him watch everything clearly from start to finish.

The wealth of the three great households — the powerful gentry, the imperial kinsmen and noble relatives, and the corrupt officials — was even more shocking to him.

He had been the magistrate of Heshui for two years, yet he had never imagined that this county town could hold so much wealth.

Canopy beds, Western clocks, silks and satins by the hundreds of bolts — they even looted over a dozen bolts of official-robe fabric, both outer and lining.

Many things, Jiang Yingchang, that country bumpkin, had never seen in his entire life. One night had opened his eyes — it was practically a grand adventure.

It had nearly scared him to death. How could the common folk, eating dirt to survive, not rebel?

Squire Yuan had dug seven or eight grain cellars in his courtyard. No one knew when those cellars had been dug — old grain not yet exhausted, new grain piled on top, the grain at the bottom all rotted away.

But Squire Yuan had considered this problem when building the cellars. Beneath the cellar floor, he had neatly laid a foot-thick layer of Jiajing Tongbao coins. When rot turned to liquid, it all seeped through the coin holes into the earth below, never soiling the grain.

Jiang Yingchang had known before only that gambling-house owners had a lot of money. He never imagined they already had so much money they no longer treated money as money.

And then there was that Yuan Sanmen. Taking advantage of the chaos in the county the day before, he had brought his hangers-on to loot two great households, killing people and plundering. At night, he brought four hangers-on, seized a woman, and slipped out of the city from the north wall by rope.

He had very nearly gotten away.

He was caught by the mounted troops the Lion Camp had left outside. On his person, not a single tael of silver — one man had made off with eight jin of gold bars.

In his entire life, including visits to jewelry shops in Qingyang Prefecture, Jiang Yingchang had never seen that much gold all together. Converted to silver, it was fifteen hundred taels.

That gold wasn't what mattered. What mattered was the family that had been robbed.

That old master had lived over forty years and never done any evil. He neither annexed farmland, nor bought up shopfronts, nor ran gambling dens. His whole life, he just ate, drank, and enjoyed himself.

He had never done anything bad. Whenever the county repaired bridges or roads, he always donated ten or twenty taels.

That was no small sum — he was a very charitable and generous man.

Jiang Yingchang had always known that old master's family had some wealth, that he was generous, and he also knew where the money came from.

That old master had an uncle who was a eunuch. When the court sent out tax commissioners, he followed to Xi'an Prefecture — wherever he pointed, things were torn down; wherever he pointed, things were seized. And so, for decades afterward, the whole family had lived very comfortably.

But Jiang Yingchang had never known they were this rich.

His jurisdiction was not just this small city, three li in circumference. His jurisdiction stretched over a hundred li in every direction — over a hundred li of common folk fleeing disaster, begging for their lives, gnawing tree bark, starving to death.

When things had come to this, how could the common folk not rebel?

Jiang Yingchang sat in the county yamen, crumpled into a ball the letter he had half-written to Yang He, tossed it aside, ground fresh ink, and picked up his brush to write.

He still wanted Yang He to dispatch troops to Heshui County, still wanted to warn him to guard against the bandits fleeing westward from Yan'an Prefecture to avoid the Guanning Army. But more important than that, he wanted Yang He to know about these things — to write a long, long letter.

To know what sort of thing Liu Chengzong's unit was.

To know the enormity of the wealth of those rich men, to know the extremity of the poverty of the destitute — it was not simply a matter of the rich having fields stretching to the horizon while the poor had no ground to stand on.

No matter what, from this moment on, Jiang Yingchang knew that he was the true magistrate of Heshui County, holding full power in his hands.

He also knew that this time, with no hindrance and no obstruction, the bitter poverty, starvation, and shattered families of the Heshui common folk — that cutting pain now rested entirely on his shoulders. There was no longer half a step's room to shirk responsibility.

The Stubborn Bandits — source: