Chapter 1128: The Liao Migrant Yao Qi

Wang Zhaojing raised a hand to signal pause, then continued thoughtfully, "The household troop brigades and regiments, the militia companies — we needn't worry too much about them. The various farmsteads — we needn't worry too much about them either. But Cloud Mountain Trading will be thrown into panic. The gentry and powerful families everywhere suppressed by Xuzhou will surely stir up trouble. The outlaws of the rivers and lakes will move in the shadows as well. As for our Xuzhou... well, Xuzhou itself we needn't worry too much about now. Big Brother built those river embankments, shielding the people of Xuzhou and Pizhou from flood disasters. The people's hearts have turned to us."

"Which is to say, if we were to raise troops, the household troop brigades and regiments would face government forces. At double, triple, even quadruple our numbers, we needn't worry. But what if it's tenfold? We only hold this territory of one prefecture and three subprefectures — how many men can we mobilize? Our cavalry is insufficient. Winning once or twice won't let us annihilate them and settle the matter. We'd just have to grind it out battle after battle. And we're still deep in the Great Ming heartland, enemies on all sides. We'd have to dispatch troops in every direction, fight on every front. That leaves no room for the slightest setback. Victory and defeat are also tightly bound to the people's hearts. Victory is naturally good, but the slightest setback, I fear, and hearts will waver. You just said the household troops and militias can be trusted. If you ask me, even the household troop companies have their unreliable aspects."

"Big Brother, if it goes on like this, how long must we wait? The Great Ming's emperors will just cycle through generation after generation. If we wait until we're old, won't it still be the same situation as today? Will we still be saying the same words when we're old, still holding our troops motionless like this?" Ji Xiang asked, agitated.

Wang Zhaojing and Ruhui both furrowed their brows. These words were somewhat excessive. Even Ji Xiang himself regretted them the moment they left his mouth, gritting his teeth as he braced for Zhao Jin's angry rebuke.

But what followed was not Zhao Jin losing his temper. Instead, he smiled and said, "We grow stronger day by day. One day, we won't need to worry about so much."

Ji Xiang had already shrunk back, but upon hearing this, he opened his mouth to speak again. Zhao Jin continued, "Look at Liaodong. Look at the southwest. Then look at ourselves. How can you think the situation won't change by the time we're old? One year, it may not change. Two years, it may not change. But in five years, there will certainly be change. In ten years, there will definitely be great change!"

Hearing Zhao Jin assess the situation with such certainty, Ji Xiang first froze, then looked somewhat bewildered. Still, he clasped his fist and said solemnly, "If Big Brother says five years, then I'll wait five years. If he says ten years, then I'll wait ten years."

At this, Wang Zhaojing's face darkened. He said coldly, "Daxiang, what do you mean by that? After five years, after ten years, you won't follow Big Brother anymore?"

In the past, on such a topic, Ji Xiang would have argued back, red-faced and flustered. But this time, he merely sighed and said with a bitter smile, "Third Brother, Big Brother, this little brother will follow Big Brother for the rest of his life. But those household troopers may not. The company commanders and squad commanders still have something to look forward to. For the men below, the first few years are fine, but after a long time, people grow weary. When that time comes, never mind what they think — whether they can even fight is hard to say."

It was rare for Ji Xiang to speak like this. As the brigade commander of the Personal Guard Brigade, he trained and led the household troops day in and day out, so naturally he observed the mentality and condition of the men below more closely than others.

His answer was, in effect, a rebuttal to Wang Zhaojing. Yet Wang Zhaojing showed not the slightest anger; instead, he smiled approvingly. At that moment, Zhao Jin walked up to Ji Xiang. Ji Xiang instinctively wanted to step back, but he stiffened his spine and stood firm. Zhao Jin reached out and clapped Ji Xiang heavily on the shoulder, then said in a solemn voice, "I've told you all many times — our strength does not lie in the elite, fierce household troops of these current brigades and regiments. It lies in our system and structure. At the very beginning, we brothers had to lead those current regiment commanders, battalion commanders, and company commanders to charge into battle. But now, as long as we have our farmsteads, our trading houses, our workshops, and our maritime trade, we will not grow weak. And we will only grow stronger!"

"Understood, Big Brother!" Ji Xiang answered loudly. But his expression, like everyone else's in the room, was one of: Since Big Brother said it, I'll obey — right or wrong is a separate matter. As for Ji Xiang's surprise, it was because Zhao Jin had not scolded him.

To these kinds of questions and answers, the reaction was more or less the same every time they were raised. Zhao Jin paid it no mind. He merely smiled and continued, "Don't think you'll be idle. The situation is already like this — how could peace possibly last?"

Yao Qi was a man of Liaodong. Nominally, he was still a soldier in a certain thousand-household garrison beside Shenyang. But from childhood to adulthood — or rather, starting from his grandfather's generation — no one in his family had ever gripped a saber hilt or spear shaft. They had always swung hoes and tilled the fields. By this generation, when Yao Qi was eighteen, the garrison farmstead land that nominally belonged to his family was outright seized by the thousand-household commander in charge. He became, like the other soldiers of the Liao Garrison, an ordinary, common long-term laborer and tenant farmer.

But for Yao Qi, this matter was not necessarily a bad thing. Losing the land that had been his livelihood and being summoned to the thousand-household commander's mansion to serve as a menial, turning from a free commoner into a serf — that was terribly bad luck. Yet when the Jianzhou Jurchen Tartars attacked, that thousand-household commander fled with his family, and naturally had to bring servants along to wait on them and do the heavy lifting. Yao Qi, being young and strong, was selected and followed them all the way in their escape to Pi Island. Compared to living under Jianzhou Jurchen rule as beasts of burden or ending up dead, this was far, far better.

A thousand-household commander who controlled a garrison fort in the Liao Garrison counted as someone of importance. He had land, subject people, and his own sphere of influence. But on Pi Island, a thousand-household commander wasn't worth a hair. Defense commanders, regional commanders, mobile corps commanders, even assistant regional commanders were all stuck there enduring hardship, waiting for a chance to flee south across the sea. Who cared about your former dignity? If you angered the wrong people, they'd draw life-or-death lots and send you back to Liaodong to fight the Jurchens. That was a mission with nine chances in ten of death, and you couldn't refuse to go.

Yao Qi's own thousand-household commander was quite wealthy. He poured out every last tael of silver he had and managed to secure the right to remain on Pi Island without being moved. But that only bought him the right to stay put. All able-bodied men besides his own family were to be reassigned under the command of the Dongjiang Garrison. Just like that, in a muddled haze, Yao Qi became a soldier of the Dongjiang Garrison.

Just when it seemed he would draw lots and be sent to die in Liaodong, many large ships arrived at Pi Island. They said they wanted to trade grain and critical supplies for people. Though no one knew why the other side wanted to do this kind of business, Yao Qi did know that his own thousand-household commander's family was among the first hundred households to leave. And Yao Qi also knew that to secure that early departure, the thousand-household commander had married off his flower-like, beautiful daughter to one of Marshal Mao's personal guards.

After that ship visit, the assignments sending men to their deaths in Liaodong became far fewer. Most were operations along the Yalu River line. Moreover, Marshal Mao's personal guards and followers spent their days conducting inspections across Pi Island and the various Dongjiang Garrison outposts, picking out men with martial skills or battlefield experience. People like Yao Qi, who had only ever done farm work, were all weeded out.

Yao Qi had no idea what this sudden arrangement was for, but all he could do was obey. The second time even more large ships came, Yao Qi was sent aboard. Once on the ship, they were told they would be taken to the Great Ming interior. This sudden stroke of good fortune left Yao Qi stunned. Could he really just leave the deadly peril of Pi Island behind and go straight to the peaceful world of the Great Ming?

Right there on the ship, they had to sign an indenture contract of servitude, agreeing to labor for twenty years for a great landowner named Zhao Jin. Refuse to sign, and you'd be thrown straight off the ship into the sea. Yao Qi didn't make much of it and just pressed his thumbprint to sign. He had been born into exactly this kind of life in Liaodong. Going to the peaceful interior to work was at least a chance at a stable life. Besides, he was long accustomed to being a long-term laborer. Listening to the terms of this indenture contract, it was far more conscientious than the one he had signed with his own thousand-household commander.

And who would dare refuse to sign? Never mind the fierce, thuggish looks of the sailors on board — the young toughs guarding the ship were clearly blooded killers at a single glance. That kind of murderous aura was something Yao Qi had rarely seen even among the men of the Dongjiang Garrison. On Pi Island, some who boarded the ship felt aggrieved and tried to argue about the law. They were promptly stabbed with several bloody holes by long spears and thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

There was just one thing that confused Yao Qi. His thousand-household commander's entire family was supposed to have gone to seek refuge with wealthy relatives in Northern Zhili. So why was the commander's son coming back with the ship this time, and even shouting about how farming over there had this benefit and that advantage, and what kind of good life they could live?

Yao Qi and the people on his ship disembarked at Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong. Once ashore, people came to receive them. Although the guard was tight and the escorts had the same fierce temperament, being on land was different from being at sea. At sea, you were on a ship in the vast ocean with nowhere to flee even if you wanted to. But now they were in Great Ming territory in Shandong — where couldn't they go? Everyone had been law-abiding commoners back in the Liao Garrison. Why should they sign an indenture contract and toil like beasts of burden for someone else their whole lives? Besides, with so many Liao Garrison soldiers and civilians coming through Dengzhou Prefecture, fellow countrymen looking out for each other was better than anything.

The timid ones, those with families, and those who had nothing to hope for back in the Liao Garrison all resigned themselves to fate. They had no one to rely on in the interior anyway. Having barely escaped from war and slaughter, finding a place to settle and make a living was good enough. And like Yao Qi, they figured this master's terms were far more substantial and practical than what those Great Ming officers in Liaodong offered. In their hearts, they still held onto a sliver of hope.

As for the bold ones — those who still had some real or pretended dignity back in the Liao Garrison, the lone soldier-riffraff — they were naturally unwilling to accept their lot so meekly. In twos and threes and small groups, they secretly conspired and murmured, plotting how to escape. Some even thought of killing the team leaders and escorts outright, taking their weapons and valuables before leaving. They even bolstered each other's courage, saying, "We're in Great Ming territory now, under the Emperor's law. They might not dare to actually kill anyone. What do we have to fear?"

At first, there were two incidents of trouble, and they happened right near the cities. Not only could the defending troops on the city walls see everything clearly from their high vantage point, even the guards standing at the city gates could watch it all unfold. But the Xuzhou men escorting them dared to act and spill blood. Pole-blades and long spears hacked and stabbed. Blood sprayed. Screams rang out one after another. The Liao migrants who saw things going badly just shouted at the top of their lungs that people were being killed. But the garrison troops and civilians in those Shandong cities simply pretended not to see. Some escapees even reached the city gates, only to be driven back by the local soldiers and civilians with their own weapons.

After suffering losses a few times, they no longer dared to make trouble. They only thought of running. And run they could. Before fleeing, they even mocked those who couldn't, saying, "We're off to live the good life. You lot go be beasts of burden on that estate. When the time comes, you won't even be able to cry."

Yao Qi paid it no mind. Back on Pi Island, he had always heard people say that Dengzhou Prefecture city was full of Liaodong soldiers and civilians, that everyone looked out for each other and lived just like back in the Liao Garrison. But after disembarking and passing near Dengzhou Prefecture city, he saw no Liao commoners at all. Moreover, the way the Shandong commoners looked at them was very unfriendly — exactly the way they themselves had once looked at the Tartars.

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