Chapter 609: Think It's Still Like the Old Days?

In the old days, no one would have held him to account, but this time was different. Constable Meng Chao took on this merit, and such a great merit naturally called for a reward. The mediocre and idle Head Constable Liu could no longer keep that seat — let someone with merit take it! Meng Chao naturally replaced Head Constable Liu, and now everyone above and below calls him Head Constable Meng.

Having suffered this loss for no clear reason, Head Constable Liu was of course unwilling. An old hand like him in the yamen and on the streets had deep, tangled connections everywhere. Even the county magistrate could do nothing about a man like that — how could he just accept this? But when he went to make a scene that morning, he was thrown in jail that very afternoon. The charges of corruption, perverting the law, and colluding with bandits were solidly pinned on him, and he would never think of leaving prison for the rest of his life.

Meng Chao led all the constables to Qingjiangpu. The first place they went was the shop that the Zhao Camp cavalry had stormed into the night before. It was hard to say what the shop looked like inside; the constables did not stay there long before hurrying back to the city to muster more men.

Before long, word got out: a certain shop in Qingjiangpu was a den of "Japanese pirates," the goods it sold were all plundered loot from the sea, and it also bought various supplies to sell out at sea.

Although the sea ban had been lifted again during the Longqing reign, the grave crime of "colluding with the Japanese" still remained, still punishable by beheading and the extermination of one's clan. One must understand that in the Great Ming, "Japanese pirates" did not only refer to the bandits and sea raiders who came from Japan — the Great Ming's own sea lords, the Franks, and the red-haired barbarians were all counted among them.

Since it was confirmed that this shop colluded with sea pirates, not a single person could escape. And the witness testimony and material evidence were indeed there — not only the confessions of the shop's manager and clerks, but also the material evidence of the goods plundered from the sea. Then they also got confessions about the hundred-odd men who had attacked Zhao Camp the night before: those men were all sea pirates under Niu Er and Niu San, left in Qingjiangpu to watch over the scene.

With this, the Niu family's great crime of colluding with the Japanese and sea pirates was confirmed, and every evil deed and major case they had committed in Qingjiangpu was also confirmed. Life after life, crime after crime, all were laid upon them. Every person captured was doomed to die, and even Niu Er and Niu San outside became wanted felons.

In one stroke, over a hundred sea pirates were captured, along with over a hundred sea pirates and Japanese pirates' inside agents in Qingjiangpu — more than two hundred heads, among them wanted felons and serious criminals with drawn portraits and descriptions circulated through every level of yamen. This merit was truly no small thing. Meng Chao being promoted to Chief Constable was already shortchanging him. The merit was shared and moistened at every level; even the prefect and the county magistrate would have a mark added to their performance evaluations at the Ministry of Personnel.

For such great merit, and an ironclad case at that, every yamen was very low-key. Even the former Head Constable Liu in the great jail suffered no hardship — not only did he have a clean single cell, he even had wine and meat.

The reason for this was that Niu Er and Niu San were still outside. The claim of over ten thousand followers was an exaggeration, but with over a hundred dead and wounded, they should still have preserved their vitality and would not collapse and fall apart. That meant they could come to Qingjiangpu for revenge at any time. The people of Qingjiangpu might not know much else, but they did know that Niu Er and Niu San had both been wounded at sea and could no longer have offspring. That was why Niu Shengjie was so highly valued. This time, dragging Niu Shengjie to death in broad public view was truly a blood-deep grudge. After suffering such a great loss, the Niu family would certainly not let it go.

Since the Niu family would not let it go, and the Niu family still had several hundred sea desperadoes in hand, then this matter would surely see more twists and turns. Everyone had better not rush to show their stance. The common folk were happy because they knew nothing at all. At our level, what was the hurry?

Everyone shared this thought, and even Meng Chao, this Chief Constable, was sidelined because of it. The constables barely listened to him, the auxiliary runners and irregular runners could not be ordered around, and the clerks and officers above constantly found trouble with him.

However, Meng Chao's embarrassment lasted only three days. On the fifth day of the eighth month, over a dozen fairly senior auxiliary runner headmen were seized and brought right before the constabulary gate. These dozen or so men, confident in their seniority and with backers behind them, paid Meng Chao no heed at all and even mocked him to his face. At the time, Meng Chao did not flare up, which made everyone above and below think him weak and easy to bully, causing them to despise him all the more brazenly.

Now these headmen, mouths and noses bleeding, faces and hands covered in bruises, knelt obediently before the gate. Every so often, they would shout: "Lord Meng, we lowly ones were wrong." Then they would kowtow together, drawing many idlers to watch.

Inside the constabulary, those constables who drew official pay all wore ingratiating smiles, clustering around Meng Chao with flattery, which actually left him a bit at a loss. He had his own eyes and ears inside and outside the city and knew the reason for all this. The homes of several constables who had spoken viciously had been smashed clean, and even their children had been taken to the cart company to "learn a trade." As for those runner headmen outside, they had been beaten several times since last night, and two of their homes had even been set on fire — though luckily the people had been dragged out beforehand.

These Xuzhou men truly acted with thunderous decisiveness. Everyone finally understood that this suddenly risen Chief Constable Meng had found a great backer, and that this great backer was willing to use deadly force to support him. What vexed everyone even more was that both Meng Chao and those Xuzhou men enjoyed the people's favor, and even the gentry were willing to support them. That made them all the harder to shake.

"... Just wait and see. Who knows what they're so arrogant about. No regard for rules or seniority — just beating up so many uncles and elders like that?"

"... They won't be jumping around for many more days. Setting everything else aside, that Zhao Jin and his underlings have all gone back to Xuzhou — must be hiding from the sea bosses too..."

Zhao Jin had left on the fourth day of the eighth month. Shi Manqiang stayed behind. He and Liu Yong made the return journey under the escort of the cavalry. The strength in Qingjiangpu had not weakened in the slightest, so these people only dared to mutter in private, merely venting their mouths.

"... Li Yongfang, I'll fuck eighteen generations of your ancestors! You surrendered to the Tartars yourself, and now you want me to follow you over? Daydreaming..." A big man in armor was cursing furiously. Around him, over a hundred sturdy men dressed as Ming soldiers stood guard, every one of them wounded and covered in blood. And beyond this hundred-odd men, no other soldiers could be seen.

Over a hundred paces away from them, the banners of the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army fluttered. A middle-aged, powerfully built man in an embroidered robe, his hair in a money-pigtail, stood at the very front. His face now flushed red and pale by turns, looking extremely awkward. Behind this middle-aged man in embroidered robes, the Jurchen officers and soldiers all wore expressions of mockery.

Thick gunsmoke hung over the battlefield, the smell of sulfur and gunpowder piercingly acrid. Both the Ming army and the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army were covered in considerable soot and dust.

After besieging Qinghe Fortress for three days, the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army began their assault. The cannons on Qinghe Fortress's walls roared, and every kind of firearm fired at once. The gunsmoke was so thick one could not see beyond a dozen paces.

But the roar of the firearms was more like a signal to the enemy. The Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army used bundled wooden rafts as cover and advanced all the way to the base of the walls. The cannons did kill a few men, but cannons could only bombard fixed positions. Once you avoided the impact zones, there was nothing to fear elsewhere. Apart from the cannons, the rest of the firearms had no killing power at all — they could not even pierce the wooden rafts shielding the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin troops, and in fact could not even hit them.

And precisely because firearms were used so much, almost no one knew how to use bows and arrows anymore. Only the personal guards and household retainers of a few officers on the walls of Qinghe Fortress could use them, but these men were far too few and could not hinder the Jianzhou Jurchen army's charge at all.

When the scaling ladders were set against the walls, the resistance at Qinghe Fortress collapsed completely. Over ten thousand defenders either died or surrendered. The city's commander, Vice General Zou Chuxian, and his personal guards were also cornered by the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin troops.

Toward the civil officials and military officers of the Great Ming, the Jianzhou Jurchen had always tried to win over and persuade to surrender. In their view, a military officer who fought to the death without retreating from the very start was far more valuable than someone like Li Yongfang, who had been ready to surrender from the beginning. But for whatever reason, the man they sent to urge surrender was actually the turncoat general Li Yongfang.

"... Let you run wild for a time. When the Great Ming catches its breath and an army of hundreds of thousands, a million, arrives, you Tartar slaves will be turned to bloody mud..." Zou Chuxian roared hoarsely, and his personal guards and household retainers shouted along with him.

Most of the Jianzhou Jurchen could understand Chinese, but they were very sensitive to the term "Tartar slaves." It was brought up again and again, pushing their patience to the limit. A Jalan Ejen frowned and raised his arm. A vicious, gleeful grin appeared on Li Yongfang's face. Amid the roars, the Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers surged forward like a tide.

"... Qinghe Fortress in Liao Garrison was surrounded by the main Jianzhou Jurchen army around the seventeenth day of the seventh month. The city fell within a single day. The ten thousand defending troops were completely annihilated. All firearms and supplies fell into Jianzhou hands. The defending Vice General Zou Chuxian and Mobile Corps Commander Zhang Fangpei died in battle..." Inside the Zhao Camp encampment at He Family Village in Xuzhou, Wang Zhaojing was quietly reading a family letter aloud. Everyone in the room was either expressionless or wore solemn looks.

Ever since Fushun fell, the imperial court had strengthened the post roads between the capital and Liao Garrison. As soon as there was urgent military intelligence, it could be relayed by fast horses to the capital, allowing the central court to receive news as quickly as possible.

And Wang Youshan had already established a friendship with Zhang Qinghai, a Director of the Bureau of Military Personnel. As soon as any news arrived, the Zhang household's servants would immediately deliver it to the Wang household, and the Wang household would send men by fast horse to deliver it to Xuzhou.

Unlike the time Fushun fell, when Wang Youshan had deliberately waited until the news was confirmed from all sides before sending it, and had even appended many of his own words — this time, almost the very moment the Liao Garrison news reached the capital, the Wang family's messenger servants were hurrying toward Xuzhou.

This time, it was less a family letter than a transmission of military intelligence, simply writing out the information they knew, exactly as it was, in the letter.

"Previously, they said Liao Garrison had been at peace for so long, and we thought Fushun City fell because of negligence and carelessness, taken by surprise. But these past two or three months, Qinghe Fortress should have long been on guard. With over ten thousand defending troops and numerous firearms, and yet the result is still this result..." Wang Zhaojing trailed off.

Ji Xiang, seated at the lower end, glanced at Zhao Jin, then at Chen Sheng, and said solemnly: "No matter what, Fushun could be explained away. But in the business of battle and killing, after one lesson, there is absolutely no room for carelessness a second time — after all, everyone wants to stay alive. And yet the result is still this. It shows that the Jurchen Tartars are too strong, or else that our Great Ming's government troops are too weak."

Thank you everyone, so many things to deal with after the wedding.