Chapter 1129: Who Has Such Gall

They stopped briefly in Dongchang Prefecture, then followed a merchant transport caravan to Jining, and from there kept heading west. Yao Qi did not know where he was going; he even wished he could just keep walking forever like this. But at last they stopped. Yao Qi felt they had been traveling west for a very long time.

Coming all the way from Liaodong, many of the companions traveling with them had left the group along the way. A small number had fled, but most had stayed behind at the various farmsteads along the route. By the time Yao Qi was ordered to stop and settle, very few people remained in the group.

The farmstead where Yao Qi was left was very crude. Many people lived in makeshift shacks they had thrown together, and Yao Qi had to build his own as well. He heard from others in the hamlet that this place had originally belonged to the wealthy Tian family to the south. It had just been bought and changed hands recently, and the new owner was said to be some Elder Zhao from Xuzhou. It was then that Yao Qi finally learned he was somewhere near Ju County in Qingzhou Prefecture.

This farmstead lay at the boundary between mountains and plains, adjoining the Yi River and not far from the Meng River either. Yao Qi was very familiar with farm work, and he could tell this land seemed to have lain fallow for a very long time. This puzzled him. This was irrigated land right by a river — the harvests certainly wouldn't be poor. How could it have been left fallow? Had everyone died off?

Among the long-term laborers and tenant farmers in this farmstead, some hailed from nearby prefectures and counties and knew the inside story. From them, Yao Qi learned that the original masters and tenant farmers on this land really had all died. In those years, disasters struck. First the farming households fled and scattered as refugees. The landowner had seized the chance to swallow up a great deal of land, but before the day of riches arrived, the Liao taxes drove him to utter ruin. Later, an even larger house took over these fields, but before they could recruit enough tenant farmers to work the land, chaos erupted here. The landowner's family compound was breached by refugees, and the entire family was exterminated.

Moreover, this farmland had another serious drawback: water could not be diverted from the two nearby rivers, the Meng and the Yi. They could only rely on the heavens for their livelihood. This astonished Yao Qi. What kind of nonsense was this? Farmland right beside rivers was actually dry land, dependent on the sky for sustenance? Then what harvest could you even speak of? The slightest trouble and you'd go hungry. Those Shandong locals grew indignant just talking about it. They said many places in Shandong had this rule, and the officials enforced it strictly. The water had to be preserved for the Grand Canal, they said; no one was permitted to divert it for irrigation. Even digging wells had to be done in secret. If discovered, the wells would be filled in and sealed shut, and people would be arrested and thrown in jail.

Such unheard-of absurdities left Yao Qi dumbstruck. But now, it seemed no one cared about that anymore. The main daily labor for these resettled Liao refugees was digging ditches and channels to divert water. Were they no longer afraid of the officials now?

"... In Shandong these days, who dares meddle in the affairs of Elder Zhao, King Zhao the Heavenly King..." To his question, a local answered with great disdain.

As long as irrigation was guaranteed, they could grow two crops a year here in Shandong. Farming tools and seeds were all fully provided, and every day they could eat their fill of coarse grain and as much pickled vegetables as they wanted. This filled Yao Qi with enthusiasm. He roughly calculated the terms of the death contract he had signed and thumbprinted aboard the ship. As long as the land yielded a harvest, they would surely live a good life. Coming here had truly been the right choice.

After living for a while at this farmstead near the Yi River, Yao Qi kept having a strange feeling. This place was very much like the garrison villages and stockades of the Liao Garrison, yet there were also many differences. In the Liao Garrison, every garrison village and stockade actually corresponded to a Battalion Headquarters or Company Headquarters, and each had dedicated soldiers. It was the same here — the farmstead he was in had over a hundred militiamen.

But the soldiers he had seen back in Liaodong were all for show. Most were just farmers who raised livestock in peacetime. A small number knew some martial skills but had never seen battle; they were just there to help the garrison commanders collect rents and put on a strong front. The hundred-plus militiamen in this farmstead, however, radiated a chilling, murderous air. Though they also worked and kept busy, they were far more capable and battle-hardened.

Back in Liaodong, when those personal guards and soldiers practiced martial arts and staged drills, it was always a fine spectacle — blades flashing, tumbling and leaping. But the militiamen in this farmstead only did formation drills and foot drill: marching in step, moving in unison. You couldn't see any martial skill in it at all. Yao Qi had no idea whether it was actually useful, but watching it put one's mind greatly at ease.

When Yao Qi first arrived, the farmstead's first crop of the season had already been sown. But because the irrigation channels for diverting water had not yet been dug, there wasn't enough water, and they couldn't expect much of a harvest. By the time the second crop was sown, however, the channels were nearly finished. With enough water for the crops, the harvest wouldn't be poor. Yao Qi took part in planting this crop as well. He was full of hope for the coming year's harvest. For as long as he could remember, this was the first time Yao Qi had ever been so full of hope, feeling that life would get better and better.

Besides living a stable life, full of hope, there was another reason Yao Qi felt he had made the right choice. Some of the companions who had fled midway actually ended up being resettled at the farmstead. The high-spirited confidence they'd had when they fled was gone. Now they were haggard and wretched, their expressions betraying a fear and despondency they could not suppress.

None of these people wanted to talk about what had happened after they fled. Some bore obvious scars on their bodies and faces. Some, in their first few nights at the farmstead, could not sleep at all, like startled birds — the slightest noise would make them leap from their beds. Others had gloomy expressions and refused to say more than a word or two.

But from occasional chats, Yao Qi still picked up some information. Many of those who fled had died. Those who made it here had done so because they found the next passing group of refugees and were accepted only after agreeing to extremely harsh terms. They would rather toil like oxen and horses their whole lives than be fugitives in Shandong.

"Our Liaodong at least has vast land and few people. If you escaped from the Tartars and they tried to catch you, you could still hold out a few days. But here in Shandong, the villages guard against us like we're thieves. If you try to beg a drink of water and that Liaodong accent slips out, they'll immediately band together to hunt you down and kill you. Are we Liao people not subjects of the Great Ming?"

Once they reached this farmstead, they learned the reason. Dengzhou Prefecture had recruited Liaodong deserters to replenish the Shandong government troops. For ease of command and to form combat strength as quickly as possible, they established several battalions composed entirely of Liao Garrison soldiers. But back in the Liao Garrison, these men had never known much discipline. Defeated and come to Shandong, most were solitary bachelors with no ties, so they acted without any restraint. They had actually disguised themselves and gone plundering through the surrounding villages.

Though the discipline of the Shandong government troops was nothing special, they still showed some restraint in Dengzhou and Laizhou Prefectures. But the battalions formed from the Liao Garrison's defeated soldiers were utterly reckless. The people of Dengzhou and Laizhou, unfortunately, were caught off guard at first and suffered terribly. There were even several villages where not a single chicken or dog was left alive. Those who survived by luck went to the city to file complaints. The officials said they would deal with it severely, but the Liao battalions gathered in mobs and raised a ruckus, making it clear that if anyone was arrested, they would immediately mutiny and riot. In the end, after the Shandong Regional Commander and the Deng-Lai Circuit Intendant discussed it, they could only hold their noses and swallow their anger, all in the name of the greater good.

With that, the local region erupted in uproar. The Liao battalions grew even more brazen. The villages began mounting strict defenses and, at the same time, harbored deep hatred for anyone with a Liaodong accent. Earlier, small bands of defeated Liao soldiers had pretended to ask for water or lodging, infiltrated villages, and acted as inside agents. So now, any fleeing Liaodong soldier or civilian was simply treated as a scout. They weren't handed over to the authorities but were dealt with through vigilante justice. As for lone Liao Garrison soldiers, their fate was even worse. The government runners dared not interfere in this either — the local gentry and strongmen were equally not to be trifled with.

Under such circumstances, what good end could those Pi Island soldiers and civilians who thought they had escaped possibly meet? Many simply died silently and without a trace in the countryside of Dengzhou and Laizhou.

Seeing the miserable state and fate of those people, Yao Qi felt all the more fortunate about his own choice. Here, the officials dared not interfere, the powerful families all bowed their heads, and the terms offered by the master were generous. Where else under heaven could you find a place better than this? Yao Qi tended the crops with ever greater diligence and care, his expectations for this harvest extremely high, because for the first time in his life, from childhood to now, so much of the harvest would belong to him.

But just as they were about to enter the tenth month, figures of unknown origin began prowling around the farmstead. There were even riders watching from a distance. Yao Qi quickly formed his own judgment about such people: they were of the mounted bandit and brigand sort. The Liao Garrison might have been a military garrison, but roving mounted bandits and mountain-stronghold bandits were everywhere.

Yao Qi remembered that whenever a large band of mounted bandits appeared, the garrison village he was in would always shut its gates and mount a strict defense. Often they would also have to pay the bandits a sum to make them go away. When some hot-blooded young men wanted to go out and fight them head-on, the Battalion Commander would curse them back, saying these mounted bandits were no simple characters. There were deserters from the Liao Garrison itself, Mongols from the north, and Jurchen refugees from beyond the border wall — all incredibly fierce and brave. How could we possibly defeat them? Even the Grand Marshal's personal guards couldn't do anything about them.

He never expected such a trade to exist even here in the peaceful land of Shandong. Yao Qi couldn't understand — the officials and powerful families had all bowed their heads, so why were these mounted brigands and bandits still so recklessly coming around, courting death? It made no sense. He knew that among the Liao Garrison's several large mounted-bandit gangs, there were vague rumors that they were actually backed by a few Vice Generals and Regional Commanders behind the scenes. Who was backing the bandits in Shandong? The officials and powerful families had all bowed their heads — who would still dare to stir things up?

Yao Qi soon discovered he was not the only one baffled. The old and new stewards managing the farmstead and the militia company commanders were all equally stunned.

"... When our family's Eldest Master and Second Master were around, everyone across the land, from the Three Mountains to the Five Peaks, had to give them face. If they were truly short of money or grain, they only had to send someone to Yizhou to say the word, and they'd get something, more or less. But if anyone tried to rob them by force, Eldest Master and Second Master would fight them to the death without fail, sparing neither silver nor face in both official circles and the underworld. The various gang leaders and bandit chiefs around here shouldn't have changed much; they ought to know this rule. Besides, Master Jin's name is far more imposing than our Eldest Master and Second Master's. Who in Shandong right now would have such gall..." These were the words of the Tian family's farmstead head. In the border region between Yizhou and Qingzhou Prefecture, the Tian family had sent many experienced household retainers to assist the Zhao Battalion's operations.

"Who would still dare have such gall?" The stewards and militia company commanders sent by the Zhao Battalion had only this one question.

Thanks to "Primal Harmony and Prosperity," "Blessing of the Angel of Light," and "Little Qi's Civilisation Miracle," three old friends, for the tips. Thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you, everyone.