Chapter 1130: This Is Not Xuzhou

If these were the farming hamlets and stockaded villages of the Huai'an North District, they would all have complete outer earthen walls and deep enough moats. At the first sign of trouble, everyone could fall back inside and hold out. But now, even the defenses of ordinary villages in the Huai'an North District had begun to slacken, because that area was entirely Zhao Battalion territory, garrisoned by heavy troops, so there was no need to worry about bandit raids.

If they were in those Yi Prefecture farming estates, there wouldn't be much to worry about either. The Tian family couldn't match the thoroughness of the Zhao Battalion, but with the mountain bandits and mounted brigands running rampant through southeastern Shandong, every estate and stockaded village had always maintained high walls and deep moats, keeping careful watch. Moreover, with mutual defense pacts linking them all, small bands of outlaws simply didn't dare venture deep enough to provoke them.

But the place where Yao Qi and the others were was different. Compared to the Shandong refugees of those years, the Liaodong refugees were not nearly so docile. So the farming estates where the Liaodong people were settled were always chosen in relatively remote locations, and when selecting the sites, no one demanded complete facilities — the Liaodong people would build everything up properly once they arrived, after all.

The stockaded villages and estates where the second and third waves of Liaodong refugees were settled all lay on the mountain-bordered flatlands between the Meng and Yi Rivers. Although this area was nominally within the borders of Qingzhou Prefecture, the terrain cut it off, making these farming estates effectively isolated territory. Mengyin County to the west lay deep in the Yimeng Mountains, while the prefectural seat of Ju Prefecture and the county seat of Yishui County were situated to the north and east respectively. This region was precisely the border zone where the three jurisdictions met.

This region happened to be at the farthest possible distance from all three walled cities — the one prefecture and two counties. Yi Prefecture to the south was even farther away. The nearest market town was Gegou Shop, a small trading post that had formed purely because large cart merchants stopped over there.

Being far from all the prefectural and county seats meant being far from the local villages. The Liaodong people in the farming estates would find it very hard to run away. Transporting supplies and provisions in the early stages might take a bit more effort, but in exchange, they would gain long-term stability, and they could also reclaim the abandoned fields and bring them back under cultivation.

It had to be understood that there were quite a few rivers in this region. As long as they dug canals and ditches to channel water for irrigation, the land could be turned into irrigated fields, and the yields would certainly not be small. The Canal Springs Supervisor was officially responsible for strictly forbidding the digging of ditches or wells around the rivers that fed the Grand Canal, but how would they dare interfere in the affairs of the Zhao Battalion?

Only, all these perfectly laid plans rested on a single premise: that these areas would be peaceful and tranquil, and that no one would dare cause trouble for anything connected to the Zhao Battalion.

In truth, this premise was the very last thing that needed worrying about. In Shandong, the Zhao Battalion had defeated government troops once and quelled the great rebellion stirred up by the Smelling Incense Sect. The unsolved massacre that wiped out the Lu Prince's line was also dimly linked to them — to say nothing of the First Brigade stationed in Yanzhou Prefecture, whose mere presence awed the entire region.

On Shandong soil, whether government officials and runners, gentry and local strongmen, or the outlaws of the rivers and lakes — everyone knew the Zhao Battalion was not to be trifled with. You might have heaven-defying skills, but could you possibly surpass that Smelling Incense hierarch, Xu Hongru? And yet a figure like that, who stirred up a rebellion of several hundred thousand, the moment the Xuzhou troops marched out, it was like boiling water poured on snow — instantly melted and annihilated. Not to mention, the Zhao Battalion always acted directly and without reservation. Once you crossed the line, whether you were government troops or bandits, they came at you with the crushing force of Mount Tai bearing down, utterly smashing you.

And so every faction in Shandong walked on eggshells. Since they couldn't afford to offend them and had no way to deal with them, they simply treated them like an offering on an altar. Fortunately, the Zhao Battalion was still fairly reasonable in its conduct and never stirred up trouble without cause.

Even the government troops and the gentry strongmen were cowed and helpless. The horse thieves and bandits were just ragtag armed riffraff who couldn't even be brought to the table — they had even less nerve to provoke or offend. Yet no one could have imagined that in this remote corner of the Yimeng mountain region, there would actually be bandits bold enough to actively harass a Zhao Battalion farming estate.

Anyone who understood the Zhao Battalion's development would be stunned by this. Could it be that the bandits around the Yi and Meng Rivers were so isolated they simply lacked all awareness? That was why they came to provoke a Zhao Battalion estate? Were they tired of living?

The estate head, the steward, and the militia company commander of the farming estate where Yao Qi was stationed gathered to discuss the matter, then decided to handle things by the book. On one hand, they would tighten security within the estate; on the other, they would send out two messengers — one to the Cloud Mountain Agency in Yi Prefecture to report and request reinforcements, and one to the other nearby farming estates to arrange mutual defense.

But these responses were still just a precaution against any contingency. Everyone simply thought someone had lost their mind, or perhaps they weren't even bandits or horse thieves at all, just passersby who happened to get too close.

The messenger heading to Yi Prefecture would need two days even on horseback. The messenger sent to the neighboring farming estates returned the very next afternoon. The estate closest to Yao Qi's had not encountered any suspected bandit harassment, but another estate, northeast of that one, had run into a similar situation.

What exactly was going on? The reason wasn't hard to guess. If the other side was acting deliberately, then they were specifically choosing their targets. At the very least, they had thrown these three nearby estates into a dilemma. The estate in the middle had to stay on guard and protect itself, and then, if it went to reinforce either of the others, it would have to abandon the remaining one — and that would also bring the danger of leaving itself exposed to attack.

The likelihood that the other side had premeditated designs was growing, but reinforcements would not arrive for at least three days. The only thing they could do was strengthen their vigilance.

If these were farming estates the Zhao Battalion had been operating for a year or even several years, the forces they could mobilize would not be limited to the militia. The able-bodied men among the tenant farmers could also be organized. But in these agricultural reclamation estates at the confluence of the Meng and Yi Rivers, everything was still in its rough beginnings. They had settled the Liaodong people here precisely because they thought it was remote, yet at this moment, the Liaodong people's minds were still far from settled, and panic was already beginning to spread.

Yao Qi heard everyone spreading all sorts of rumors. Like the other Liaodong people who had been the first to arrive here, he forced down his alarm and followed the estate's arrangements to stand night watch and patrol. Yao Qi performed his duties with great care. He had poured tremendous effort into the crops now in the fields and was desperately looking forward to next year's harvest. He had no desire to see it all ruined like this.

As for those who had fled before and then come back, they were utterly panicked. Not only were they terrified themselves, they also spouted all manner of horrifying speculations — things like the local Shandong people had taken a dislike to this farming estate and were gathering a mob to attack it, and once the estate was overrun, not even the chickens and dogs would be left alive.

These sensational rumors set everyone on edge. Even the normally honest Yao Qi couldn't help losing his temper. He pointed at a Liaodong deserter who was spraying spittle as he ranted and cursed him out: "You say this place is so dangerous — then why haven't you run off? Didn't you already run once? Didn't you say you had skills? The reason you're clinging on here and not leaving is because you know that out there, it's nothing but death!"

The man he had berated turned shame into fury and stood up to brawl with him, but the estate's militia quickly arrived. After getting to the bottom of it, they directly gave the rumor-spreader fifty strokes of the rod. Those fifty strokes were delivered without the slightest mercy, beating the man until his flesh was a bloody pulp. He wouldn't be standing up for the next ten days or more.

Although in a moment of crisis they ought to conserve manpower, the Zhao Battalion's rules demanded severe punishment for any treacherous element who shook people's resolve. Losing one such person wouldn't affect the overall situation, and it also removed a troublemaking pest while serving as a warning to the others.

After this harsh beating, morale within the farming estate began to steady. The estate head and stewards kept boosting the spirits of the Liaodong and Shandong tenant farmers in the estate, saying that while our Zhao Battalion militia company couldn't fight one against a hundred, they weren't afraid of a few hundred bandits coming at them. No matter how many enemies, they'd all be skewered on the end of a pike.

By this point, they had been on tense alert for some time. Although people's hearts had steadied, a sense of dread was unavoidable. Everyone felt that the bandits and horse thieves were about to launch a massive assault at any moment. They had never expected that after making so many preparations, this day would pass entirely without incident. There was not the slightest sign of anything unusual around the farming estate.

Could it be that those suspicious figures around the estate really were just passersby, or that they had learned this was Zhao Battalion territory and been scared off? Although this notion was far too wishful, it couldn't be called unreasonable. Many people breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, but in their actions, they dared not relax in the slightest. They simply pressed on with their urgent tasks.

In a newly established farming estate, every kind of supply was in short supply. Having not dared to go outside for several days, the firewood and kindling in the estate were running out. The weather was turning colder by the day, and going without firewood was absolutely out of the question. Since nothing seemed amiss that day, just past noon, the able-bodied men of the estate, under the protection of the militia, went out to chop firewood and gather brush.

The advantage of being near the mountains was no shortage of firewood and brush. By the time the sun had just set, they had gathered roughly enough for ten days' use. At this critical juncture, and with the bloody lesson of those fifty strokes from a few days earlier fresh in their minds, the tenant farmers all pulled together with one heart. Yao Qi was also utterly exhausted. He came back, ate his evening meal, and hurried off to sleep. According to the estate's arrangements, he still had to get up for the night watch in the second half of the night.

After several days of tense dread, they had relaxed a little today, and then they had gone up the mountain to chop wood and gather brush. Their bodies were weary, and this sleep was deep — until he was suddenly jolted by a nightmare. All at once, Yao Qi dreamed of the time when the Jianzhou Jurchen Tatar slaves came attacking. In truth, the battalion commander he served had run so fast that he never even laid eyes on the Jianzhou Jurchen troops. It was only when he reached Pi Island that he witnessed the savagery of the Tatar slaves. But in this dream, Yao Qi seemed to see the stockade where he was born being overrun by the Jianzhou Jurchens. The Tatar slaves were killing people and setting fires, and someone was shouting...

Just at that moment, Yao Qi was jolted awake. That shouting was not in the dream — it was inside the farming estate. He rushed out of his shack and saw that somewhere in the estate, a fire had already broken out. The blaze roared fiercely, dyeing the sky above the estate red.

For a brief moment, he stood stunned. Then Yao Qi's drowsiness vanished like smoke. He felt a chill course through his entire body, as if he had been frozen solid. The place on fire was the granary — the granary where the stored grain and the harvest were kept. The food for the entire estate, nearly a thousand people, was right there.

By the time the fire was put out, the sky was already faintly bright. Late autumn was dry, and grain was highly flammable. Once it caught fire, it burned very fast. But the men assigned to night watch had not been lax. Normally, the moment smoke and the acrid smell of burning drifted out from a fire, it would certainly be detected, and they would react, raise the alarm, and put it out.

But this fire had started from inside the granary. By the time anyone discovered it, the fire was already raging. Although they put it out promptly after discovering it, nearly half the grain had already been destroyed by fire.

The morale that had just steadied began to waver again. The messenger sent to Yi Prefecture to request reinforcements would not return until the day after tomorrow at the earliest, and arranging for grain shipments would take even longer. Although the unburned grain could still last for a while, no one knew whether it would continue to be burned. And this proved one thing: someone was indeed targeting the farming estate. It was no passerby, and certainly no misunderstanding.

Thanks to the four new and old friends "Qi Sanwen, Pomelo, Infantry Colonel, Xiao Qi Wenming Qiji" for their tips. Thanks to everyone for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. It's the end of the month, please cast more monthly tickets to support Mighty Warrior of the Ming!