Chapter 990: The Road to Teng County

When the gun platforms outside Jining city were dismantled and the tribute barges laden with supplies either dispersed or entered Jining's own canal berths, the anxious hearts throughout Jining still could not settle. The Zhao Battalion had left as swiftly as they came — what if the roving bandits struck back? Though everyone knew the likelihood was small, it was amid this unease that the city gradually returned to normal. Corpses were burned, and one by one the tribute barges began sailing south and north. Word that the canal was open again would spread quickly.

When dust rose on the southern horizon, Jining was seized by fear once more. Only upon learning it was the Xuzhou troops did their suspended hearts finally settle completely. With several thousand government soldiers guarding them, Jining city was safe and sound. The city hastily scraped together large quantities of supplies to reward the troops, but everyone noticed the Xuzhou soldiers' spirits were deeply low. Though their discipline was terrible, few dared to run wild. Some could roughly guess the reason: as imperial government troops, they had been herded forward by local militia, and now they were here merely to clean up the aftermath. Such a passive role naturally bred resentment. Moreover, these government soldiers knew the Zhao Battalion was watching closely — any misconduct would invite deadly calamity. To obediently swallow their frustration was indeed hard to stomach.

News of the army led by Caozhou Regional Commander Yang Zhaoji and news from Yanzhou's prefectural seat, Ziyang, reached Jining simultaneously. The prefectural seat of Ziyang was unharmed, but because the defending troops had been careless, rebel soldiers disguised as government troops infiltrated the city and stormed the Prince of Lu's manor. The entire Lu princely household perished. The rebels then attempted to open the gates to let the bandit army outside in. Fortunately, the government soldiers and civilian braves within the city united with one heart to annihilate the bandits, holding the city at all costs and preventing an even greater disaster. Afterward, the Scent-Smelling Sect bandits outside the city saw no opening and, with provisions running out, scattered and retreated. In this battle, the government troops won a great victory, taking several thousand heads and dealing a heavy blow to the roving bandits' morale.

This floridly embellished dispatch was meant to claim credit. Naturally, it was not sent for Jining's eyes, but for Jinan and the capital. Those in the know, however, understood that the Prefect of Yanzhou and the government troops garrisoning Yanzhou were desperately using this merit to evade responsibility for the Prince of Lu's death. That culpability was simply too immense. The Magistrate of Ziyang, the Prefect of Yanzhou, the Yanzhou Assistant Regional Commander, along with the Shandong Grand Coordinator and the relevant circuit intendants — none would likely escape implication. And this evasion was not to save their posts, but to save their lives.

The upper echelons of Jining who learned this news were each secretly terrified. On the surface they mourned the Prince of Lu's household, but in truth, all were thinking thoughts they dared not voice. Even as they thought it, none could bring themselves to believe it. To do such a thing required far too much audacity, and no matter how you looked at it, there was no profit in it.

Caozhou Regional Commander Yang Zhaoji had locally recruited over two thousand troops, with over three thousand government soldiers from Northern Zhili, two thousand border troops from Xuanfu, and over fifteen hundred troops from Henan — a force he proclaimed to be twenty thousand strong. The passage of such a large army would normally be a great calamity for Jining. All were troops from other provinces, acting without the slightest restraint, their destructiveness no less than roving bandits passing through. Inside Jining, they had even scraped together three months' worth of pay and provisions in advance for Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu, demanding in return that the Xuzhou government troops guard the city and, at the critical moment, shut the gates and yield not an inch.

Those familiar with the government army system knew that Yang Zhaoji was furious. He, Yang Zhaoji, had withstood pressure and prepared for so long precisely to seize the foremost merit of retaking Jining. Moreover, this wealthy Jining could produce an enormous sum in rewards, which he could then use to motivate the various provincial armies to unite and go rescue Ziyang and attack Zou County. But now, that merit had already been snatched away by the Xuzhou troops who had suddenly appeared.

In the Ming government armies, such blatant theft of credit would make outright infighting and bloodshed unsurprising. Yet the veteran general Yang Zhaoji could no longer afford anger. The complete annihilation of the Lu princely line would surely shake the court and the realm. Though the news might not yet have reached the capital, he knew full well what the outcome would be once it did. His own prolonged inaction would inevitably be seized upon by the central authorities and the upright censors. If he did not secure some merit now, his own rank, wealth, and likely his very head could not be saved.

Yang Zhaoji understood the stakes, and the various armies from Northern Zhili, Xuanfu, and Henan also knew they were now in deep trouble. For a time, they cooperated with united purpose, daring not delay a moment. The entire army thrust straight toward southeastern Shandong. Caozhou Regional Commander Yang Zhaoji even met amicably outside Jining with Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu, requesting that the other man join the campaign. Zhou Baolu, for his part, had a clear conscience. With such great merit already in hand, the calamity of the Lu princely line's extermination could not possibly implicate him. Faithfully holding Jining and the canal route was itself a major achievement — why wade into murky waters again? Still, since there was a chance for promotion, there was no need to offend people too deeply. Assistant Regional Commander Zhou did not agree to join the campaign, saying only that the situation inside Jining was still unstable. After a few days, once things settled, he would send two thousand government troops to follow and provide rear-guard support.

Yang Zhaoji was satisfied even with this outcome. After replenishing his supplies with the funds and grain scraped together by Jining, he continued eastward. Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu also knew that in the days just before and after the Caozhou Regional Commander's arrival, many suspicious figures who looked like government troops had been active in and around Jining, trying to see whether that "Xuzhou militia" was still present.

Everyone knew that great victory had not been won by Zhou Baolu, but seeing him afterward firmly credited with the major achievement, they assumed this was a reinforcement force that the Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander had called in and could control. That Caozhou Regional Commander Yang Zhaoji had long since dispatched spies in every direction — such a large-scale operation could not be hidden from him.

Thinking of this, Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Baolu could only smile bitterly. The Ming system and its rules were sometimes utterly absurd. You could do something brazenly, involving thousands or tens of thousands of men, even the loss of a city, yet as long as you were careful, officially it could be treated as though it never happened. Even if the lawsuit reached the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Grand Secretariat, legally it could only be treated as nonexistent. That Zhao Jin's reckless conduct had exploited precisely these loopholes. It must have been that father-and-son pair of the Wang family who taught him. Illustrious upright officials — why must they aid a villain!

As the Zhao Battalion returned south, the situation in Shandong abruptly became clear. The Scent-Smelling Sect rebellion that had ravaged most of Shandong, igniting beacons everywhere — despite the tragedy of the Lu princely line's annihilation, everyone could see plainly that the Scent-Smelling Sect roving bandits could not hold out much longer. Because after Jining was retaken by the Xuzhou government troops, people suddenly realized that the Scent-Smelling Sect bandits' area of activity was now confined to the tiny region of Zou County and Teng County. And even Teng County, the Scent-Smelling Sect rebels still had not managed to take. At this moment, Caozhou Regional Commander Yang Zhaoji was leading twenty thousand government troops eastward, while Shandong Regional Commander Yang Guodong, seeking to atone for his failures, was leading four thousand troops of Liaodong origin from Dengzhou Prefecture, plus remnants gathered after defeat, totaling six thousand troops marching south. This was a combined force of nearly thirty thousand government soldiers. With less than a single county's territory, how could the Scent-Smelling Sect possibly hold out?

Those previously fallen departments and counties — Yuncheng, Dong'e, Wenshang, and the like — were all swiftly retaken by government troops. Sometimes it was actually local gentry-led militias who fought their way back. The Scent-Smelling Sect rebels and refugees, now bereft of fighting strength, collapsed and scattered in all directions. Thus had the situation developed to its present state.

This time, it truly bore out the assessments from all quarters of the court and realm: "A tree without roots, water without a source, clay chickens and pottery dogs, a rabble of mobs." "The people's livelihood in Shandong is harsh, like a wilderness of dry grass. A single spark will surely ignite a prairie fire. But when the dry grass is burned to ash, the fire too dies out." Now, what everyone from top to bottom was considering was no longer the course of battle, but how to handle the aftermath. The extermination of the Lu princely line was too immense a matter. How many local officials would lose their black gauze caps? The court situation, which had only just stabilized, was about to undergo a massive upheaval as well.

On the path where the two great armies converged, fierce battle finally erupted beneath the walls of Teng County. Ever since the Scent-Smelling Sect refugee rebels had occupied Zou County, they had been dispatching forces to assault Teng County. The Scent-Smelling Sect had already done some groundwork inside Teng County. According to prior estimates, with internal and external forces coordinating, Teng County's seat would fall in a single push. They had never imagined the fighting would prove so difficult.

When the vast, surging horde of refugees appeared on the horizon, the already extremely tense Teng County immediately shut its gates. The moment the Scent-Smelling Sect rebels began clamoring and encircling the city to fill in the moat was supposed to be the moment the Scent-Smelling Sect collaborators inside rose up and opened the gates. Part of the civilian braves manning the walls suddenly erupted in mutiny, cutting down their comrades on one side while rushing to seize the gate on the other. Though precautions had been taken beforehand, the sudden chaos at their side still caught them off guard. The gate bar was on the verge of being removed; many saw the gates trembling. The rebel refugees outside were about to breach the city. Many had already collapsed in despair. The Teng County magistrate overseeing the defense was ashen as a corpse, already instructing his household servants to prepare to rush back to the yamen, where he would take his own life and die for the realm.

At this critical, hair-trigger moment, a band of ferocious, murderous-looking men charged in. Every one of them wielded a pudao or spear and understood battle formation coordination. How could those civilian braves and sect followers compare? In an instant, the ground ran slick with blood, and the situation was forcibly stabilized. The whole city erupted in cheers, while the refugees below the walls saw their morale utterly collapse and could only retreat and regroup.

Only then did everyone recognize who these men were. As it turned out, they were the salt merchant Yan Blackface from Xuzhou and the salt smuggler Qi Erkui, who was hand-in-glove with Yan. Teng County was a relatively prosperous place in southern Shandong, often designated a prefecture — Teng Prefecture — throughout the dynasties, and quite xenophobic. They had always looked askance at these Xuzhou men who came so brazenly to make their fortunes, especially since the business Yan Blackface and Qi Erkui were in — the salt trade — was not exactly legitimate.

Disapproval aside, there was nothing anyone could do. The local gentry outside the city and the gangs of the rivers and lakes had either been smashed or submitted. The officials and gentry kept their hands clean. Moreover, the salt these Xuzhou men distributed was fairly priced, and they spurred trade in all sorts of other goods. So everyone just held their noses and endured it.

This time, when the Scent-Smelling Sect refugee rebels came raiding, the city conscripted civilian braves and militia to prepare for a desperate defense, but regarded the salt-guard detachment led by Yan Blackface and Qi Erkui as a hidden danger. Though there was no open hostility, they were secretly very wary, considering such Xuzhou river-and-lake characters unreliable.

Who could have imagined that today it would be these salt men who saved the day? Never mind the shock and relief throughout Teng County — Yan Blackface had no time for any of that. He was urgently shouting for the county yamen's head constable to lead a squad of reliable civilian braves to the east gate. The Scent-Smelling Sect had planned a two-pronged internal-external assault. Though they had not placed a large force there, they did have a scheme in place. Watching that gate were several dozen guards from the Cloud Mountain Trading House branch, led by Qi Erkui's good friend, Instructor Lian.

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