Chapter 709: Pizhou

Li He was silent for a moment, then changed the subject with a grim sneer. "That bunch of merchants in Qingjiangpu are eyeing these militia too. Last night someone even came with silver to see me and Lu Da, saying this was originally the guild's guard unit, raised with guild money, and that they'd double the supply going forward — told us to just do our jobs and follow the guild's orders. They've got some nerve. This militia — forget me, a mere deputy, being able to mess with it; even Lu Da couldn't move it if he tried!"

"Just do as the higher-ups instruct. Being posted here is a good thing anyway — no matter what happens, you've got a way out, nothing can touch you. Once everything's settled, it won't be too late to make your plans." Li Dakun's analysis was as steady as ever. Li He nodded in conviction.

Having said that, Li Dakun stopped walking. He was silent for a moment, then sighed. "This world is getting more and more twisted. No matter who they are, everyone's trying to grab troops."

Logically, the rendezvous with the Fengyang Defense Eunuch's cavalry should have strengthened Ma Chonghao's force — everyone ought to have been pleased. Yet whether it was the Nanjing side or the Langshan side, both were utterly indifferent.

With things looking so promising right now, every extra person who showed up meant one more person to split the spoils. Silver already tucked into one's own pocket — no one was willing to dig it back out.

What's more, as soon as this Fengyang contingent arrived, they made it clear: since everyone was joining in this grand cause to root out traitors for the country, there could be no "yours" and "mine." The tribute silver already delivered from all quarters of Qingjiangpu — they were entitled to a share too.

That was tens of thousands of taels of gleaming silver. Such an enormous sum — the several leaders and their key subordinates had already worked out how to divide it. Don't be fooled by the fact that the Duke of Wei's estate in Nanjing and the Langshan Vice Regional Commander hadn't come in person — they'd each sent trusted stewards and accountants, precisely to prevent the men below from skimming.

And now this squad pops up out of nowhere, saying they want a cut too? On what grounds? You think your Fengyang Imperial Tomb Defense Eunuch is so exalted? My Duke of Wei's estate and the Langshan Vice General aren't exactly lowly either.

It was already the sixteenth of the seventh month, yet the group still felt no urge to move. Qingjiangpu was supplying them so lavishly — what was the harm in enjoying a few more days? Everyone said Xuzhou was a desolate, poor backwater, no fun to go to. Besides, that Zhao Jin couldn't run anywhere — what was there to worry about?

After staying in Qingjiangpu this long, all the silver that needed delivering had been delivered. The wealthy merchants and the various households had even finished negotiating the division of every industry and property — who got what percentage of shares, how dividends would be paid out going forward. All of it had been discussed with perfect clarity.

By this point, Ma Chonghao was once again utterly harried.

"Speed is the essence of war. We've already been delayed here for nearly a dozen days. If we don't get to Xuzhou soon, I fear things may change!"

"We must make a great show along the way, spreading word far and wide that we're hunting the traitor — weren't those your own words, Sir Ma? And now you want to go back on them?" Faced with Ma Chonghao's outburst, Xu Tiebiao and Shi Ping'ao showed not the slightest fear.

At these replies, Ma Chonghao truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He fixed his eyes on the men and said, "Don't think what you've got in hand now is so rich. Don't let those promised dividends dazzle your eyes. Once we go to Xuzhou and seize Zhao Jin, what we gain will be ten times, a hundred times this. But if we don't move, all of it is just air!"

"Sir Ma, Eunuch Xiong did say that he's well aware of the ins and outs of this rebel-hunting business. But here we are, so many of us come, and each man's gotten less than two taels of silver — that's impossible to justify!" The battalion commander sent by Fengyang Defense Eunuch Xiong Hai was surnamed Hu. He stood up and argued his case forcefully.

Looking at this barrel-chested, bear-backed Commander Hu, no one in the room had any goodwill. Ma Chonghao's expression darkened too. That bastard did nothing but clamor for money every day. His endless wrangling here had drawn in Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu of Xuzhou as well. Now Zhou Baolu's son and accountant were running over here from dawn to dusk. Yet Commander Zhou couldn't be offended — he had over three hundred cavalry, after all, and he was a local military officer in Xuzhou. Whether it was guiding the way or handling the aftermath, they'd need Zhou Baolu's help to manage things. So the Zhou family had already carved off a piece for themselves.

On the eighteenth day of the seventh month, the various forces, thoroughly unwilling, finally set out from Qingjiangpu. The whole way, that Commander Hu never stopped his grumbling — because he hadn't gotten what he wanted.

It wasn't just the Fengyang contingent endlessly complaining and negotiating; every other force was seething with resentment too. The reason was simple: life in Qingjiangpu had been far too comfortable. Wine, meat, women — and not a day of drill required. Best of all, there was silver being handed out. Life felt like that of an immortal; they wished it could go on forever. Why go to Xuzhou? Even if they caught Zhao Jin, so what? The benefits would just be scooped up by the higher-ups anyway.

The reason Ma Chonghao was able to get these troops moving was also simple: if they didn't leave soon, the Nanjing Garrison Eunuch would be sending his own men too. That meant yet another hand dipping into the pot. Moreover, the Duke of Wei's estate and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had brought considerable intelligence — the Nanjing Minister of War, the Grand Coordinator of Yingtian, and the Grand Coordinator of Fengyang had been exchanging frequent letters of late and had already taken note of the rumors that someone in Xuzhou was plotting rebellion.

If they didn't move fast, the Nanjing Garrison Eunuch's men arriving would actually be the best-case scenario — that would at most mean splitting off one more share. Once the civil officials got involved, never mind whether anyone would still get a cut; they might well end up saddled with the blame afterward. In the two hundred-plus years of the Ming, everyone had long since figured out how this game worked.

Out of Qingjiangpu, through Qinghe County, past Taoyuan County and Suqian County, then on to Pizhou. In Qinghe, Taoyuan, and Suqian, there were no spoils to be had. Instead, along the road, plenty of people came to lodge complaints, saying that bandits were rampant now, major crimes occurring one after another, and begging the court's troops to sweep the outlaws clean and pacify the region.

The Zhao Camp had no hand in these places, merely setting up Cloud Mountain Inns as relay stations. But because the Zhao Camp was present, the local outlaws of the rivers and lakes hadn't dared to stir. Once the Zhao Camp pulled out, however, everyone threw caution to the wind. What's more, the Zhao Camp had given everyone a precedent — or perhaps an illusion — making every sort of demon and monster believe that as long as they could fight, they too could build such a power. This set every region ablaze. Though there were no major upheavals, mixed together with the refugees and displaced people driven out by the Liao campaign levies, it made the local authorities miserable beyond words.

Those who came to petition and plead were not only gentry but also local officials. Ma Chonghao and his lot, of course, paid them no mind. Their excuse for brushing them off was simple: "This official is occupied with pressing public duties."

Having trudged along this bland, unprofitable road the whole way, by the time they entered Pizhou territory, every man in the force, high and low, was itching for action. Ever since the canal was rerouted to the Jia River, Pizhou had grown prosperous and wealthy. In Qingjiangpu, they'd already fleeced the place once — surely here, too, there would be no small harvest.

But the guides under Commander Zhou's command didn't even let them enter the city, leading them straight to the encampment west of the Pizhou city walls instead.

"It's not that our general is keeping things for himself. It's that the powerful local families here lean toward Zhao Jin, and every last one of them is obsessed with martial pursuits. If things really blew up, it'd be a huge mess. It's only thanks to Sir Ma's brilliant tactic — using the moral high ground of suppressing rebellion and catching traitors to bear down on them — that they've been kept in check. But with the big operation imminent, it's best not to provoke them."

Hearing the guide speak so earnestly and convincingly, everyone temporarily suppressed their discontent. Ma Chonghao, brimming with bravado, declared, "Local hegemons like these are all fence-sitters. Don't be fooled by how menacing they look now. Once we've seized the ringleader and are on our way back, these very same people will be the ones kneeling before our horses."

They had barely settled into this Pizhou encampment when someone overheard Ma Chonghao and Commander Zhou in a furious argument. It made the other unrelated parties quite tense. By the customs of Ming military camps, the two sides might well draw blades and come to blows next. Yet Ma Chonghao's and Zhou Baolu's subordinates remained amicable, merely gathering nearby on standby.

The reason for the quarrel became known to everyone that evening. But at the banquet, no one brought it up. Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard Assistant Commander Ma Chonghao and Xuzhou Defense Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu acted as if nothing had happened, chatting and laughing warmly.

Commander Zhou Baolu had originally promised to send three hundred and twenty of his personal troops, but only upon reaching Pizhou did everyone learn he could only produce a hundred and fifty. Though they now had nearly two thousand elite cavalry and weren't hurting for that hundred-odd men, he had reneged on a prior commitment. What was worse, he'd still taken a sum of silver based on the share they'd negotiated earlier. Putting up far less capital yet demanding just as large a dividend — did he think they were all idiots?

The reason they could all act as if nothing had happened was simply that Zhou Baolu had returned part of the silver. That he had actually given it back astonished the other parties even more.

The reason Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu was so amenable was simple: he himself felt ashamed and humiliated. His personal guard troops — men he'd stuffed with silver, drilled without a day's rest, men he treated like his own sons and nephews — had, to a man, asked for leave. One had carelessly drawn his blade and cut his hand. Another had pulled a bow and strained a tendon. Yet another had fallen off a horse and broken a leg. The excuses were many and varied, but they all boiled down to one thing: they absolutely could not go suppress the rebels and catch the traitor.

"In front of my worthy brother Ma, I've lost all face. My lads see that little villain's camp every day — they've already lost their nerve. They simply don't dare go fight, won't even show their faces. I wouldn't dare hope for much — I'll just follow my worthy brother Ma's arrangements!" Commander Zhou laid it out plainly himself.

Ma Chonghao, however, was baffled. He couldn't help but press further: "Brother Zhou, your personal guards here don't look any worse than frontier troops. How can they be afraid of a mere local strongman's militia? Could it be that Zhao Jin bought them off with silver?"

"I'd be better off if that little villain were willing to spend silver on me. Xuzhou's an inland region — no major wars. They've grown slack and lazy, and with all the tangled ties to the three Xuzhou Guards, it's only natural they can't bring themselves to act." Zhou Baolu, however, refused to speak plainly. He offered a couple of lines, then changed the subject.

Ma Chonghao's brow furrowed deeper. He pressed with another question: "That battle a few years ago, pacifying the roving bandits beneath the city walls — it caused a stir throughout the court and the realm. How is it that…"

He was, after all, a man who knew when to read the room. Seeing Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu's expression turn ugly, he didn't press further. After all, here in Xuzhou territory, they still had to rely on Commander Zhou for guidance and to show the way.

The cavalrymen who had grown slack in Qingjiangpu, after this journey north, by the time they reached the encampment east of Pizhou, had finally pulled their spirits and vigor back together. They were beginning to look the part of troops about to enter battle.

Thank you, everyone.