Chapter 22: Concealing Martial Prowess Among The People
In the tenth month of the Shu Tian Calendar year 25, the local elders and folks in the prefecture confirmed a piece of good news: that Wu Fei, who lacked virtue and was greedily excessive, had been kicked out of the central military tent! He was sent to manage food and grass! Meanwhile, Wu Hengyu was reappointed by Wu Hanluan to command the vanguard army. The local village elders all praised, “Good is rewarded with good, evil with evil.”
…The prominent figures discussed “the people’s peace and safety,” while the little people always fretted over firewood, rice, oil, and salt…
Sanlong Town, Old He Tou rode in a donkey cart, watching this bustling great market.
In his forties, he had spent most of his life muddling through in the ranks. With the sudden rise of the local Common Union rebels, his brothers suffered heavy casualties in a short time. He too was scattered, but soon the Da Yao official army (Wu Family Army) arrived, and the thugs could not match the official army and were beaten back.
When the young general began recruiting soldiers locally to pursue the remaining bandits, he gritted his teeth and signed up. In these three months, he followed Wu Hengyu to “pay respects at the mountain gate.” After seeing Wu Hengyu kick open the mountain gate of the largest local bandit gang, Dao Yi Gang, and stab two bandit leaders to death with three spear thrusts, he was convinced.
However, recently, Wu Hengyu’s army was already fully staffed with elites, and as one of the elderly and weak, he was to be discharged. Just as he was at a loss about where to go—Wu Hengyu was righteous, guaranteeing to arrange for them old and weak ones.
Now, introduced by a tooth man, he had brought his wife and kids to settle here. Having eaten military grain for half his life, the moment he laid eyes on this town, he felt it was extremely secure.
The town was surrounded on all four sides by four ponds, the ponds connected to live water and covered with lotus leaves. The town’s white walls and black tiles reflected on the ponds, appearing very poetic and picturesque, but! For thieves, this meant wading through this pond to even reach the wall, and when climbing the wall, mud on their feet would make them slip, and mud on the white walls would be extremely conspicuous—like lice on a bald man’s head.
The town’s great north gate was a large stone bridge. On the three-zhang-wide bridge surface, people flowed ceaselessly. The town patrol at the entrance, after checking Old He Tou’s bamboo plaque credential and confirming it was a family of five, dropped the harsh scrutiny for outsiders and put on a smiling face.
Town patrol: “Military master, coming here to take root, follow me, don’t get lost. This town inside is quite winding; outsiders get dizzy the first time, but once you’ve lived here a while and know the way around, it’s fine.”
Old He Tou had his wife watch their three kids, and after entering the town, walking in the two-to-three-meter-wide stone alley, looking at the high walls on both sides, he swallowed hard—this felt like charging into a barbican. If bamboo ladders were placed as bridges on the walls on both sides, soldiers could block invaders from the wall tops.
He thus followed the town patrol carefully, but then the town patrol introduced: “He Ye, look up, see it? On the wall is the Azure Dragon, the alley exit ahead has the White Tiger on the wall top, that’s a dead end.”
Only then did Old He notice that every section along the white walls had a gray stone window, with stone carvings on the windows of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Gou Chen. This involuntarily reminded him of the four-directional flag orders he had seen in the great camp.
Soon they arrived home. After the town patrol helped him unload the goods at the courtyard gate, he announced: “Won’t disturb brother and sister-in-law anymore, but tomorrow brother still needs to report at the civilian braves office at the town’s east gate.”
Old He Tou hurriedly thanked him, while taking out several dozen copper coins, asking this brother to buy wine and food.
……
That night, after the two kids on the bed fell asleep, Old He Tou wiped his water fire staff and practiced a set of staff techniques in the small courtyard. Recalling his previous worries, he shook his head with emotion.
He had muddled through in the ranks for most of his life, with no other trade or craft. He had never thought about what livelihood he could manage after leaving the great camp. Thus, he often followed “drink today, worry tomorrow.” He had never considered the days after leaving the camp.
Ten days ago, the vanguard army suddenly began discharging personnel, and all the brothers panicked, including him. Some old army brothers even took sticks and blocked the military order officer, shouting, though not swinging sticks for martial combat.
Old He had an old comrade who flung his stick, stripped off his clothes, bared his scars, and cursed these youngsters right in the face: “xxx, fuck your x, when grandpa was taking knives, you were still a worm in your x’s belly. Come beat grandpa with the military cudgel; if grandpa hums once, remember when grandpa lost an arm to a knife on the battlefield back then.”
Of course, everyone ended up getting the whip later.
And all the old soldiers who got the whip were invited by Wu Hengyu into the military tent. First they were scolded thoroughly, then made to understand anew that even after “leaving the ranks,” they were still sons of the Wu Family Army.
Old He Tou still had military pay in Sanlong Town, and every three days he still had to lead the other able-bodied men in the town in drills.
After entering the town today, though no longer in the great army, this town was full of traces from the great army everywhere.
Snapping out of his memories, Old He looked at the bamboo armor on his body and the red tassel spear in his hand, feeling like he was still eating military grain.
…Perspective pulls back from the individual…
Sanlong Town was designed by Wu Fei. If viewed from above, the entire town formed a Bagua Formation, or rather, it was a fortress completely composed of walls.
This town fully complied with Imperial Court ritual system; the walls were no higher than two zhang, no thicker than two chi. It belonged to “civilian housing clusters.”
But the walls couldn’t be thicker than two chi, though nothing said they couldn’t build several layers! Every street had a wall, right? Without ladders, crossing seven or eight layers of walls, up and down, was no easier than climbing a ten-zhang-high city wall.
Thus, between every pair of walls was a small alley. Bandits could break through one wall, but there was another behind it, and in the outer walls’ two-man-wide alleys, a big hammer couldn’t swing, so they could only use a chisel to pry at the lime water-bound stone brick walls.
Moreover, the entire town, aside from a few fixed main roads leading outside, was wrapped in dug lotus ponds. The outermost wall and the lotus ponds were separated by only a one-meter path; that one-meter path outside the wall couldn’t let siege engines through!
If trying to force horses to drag heavy engineering equipment onto this narrow path! Nine times out of ten it would overturn due to collapse at the roadside, and flip sideways into the adjacent lotus pond, impossible to right. Reference twenty-first century cases of some drivers plunging cars into fish ponds, having to wait for cranes to tow them out.
For invading thugs, unwilling to storm the main gate, crossing the lotus ponds to directly ladder up the walls meant facing combat on wall-top suspension ladders with the town’s able-bodied defenders.
Because the town’s defending able-bodied men used a wall-top defense mode: with very narrow distances between two walls, ladders could bridge a layer, and the town’s specially made ladders could just card stably between two wall tops. Able-bodied locals familiar with the town layout, as defenders, could use bamboo ladders to cross walls, poke spears from above on the wall tops, and hurl stones.
And! A fatal little detail: these seven or eight layers of walls had inner wall tops always half a head higher than the outer layer’s. This meant the inner wall top could always see the outer wall top situation, while the outer wall top couldn’t see people crawling on the inner wall.
If attackers climbed the outer wall, they’d find that as soon as they showed their heads, a crossbow bolt was aimed from the inner wall a head higher. Or a pre-set bamboo spear would thrust over.
…This was the “Da Yao” ritual system, um, local defense system under treaty restrictions…
Xuan Chong’s design concept came from seeing Huizhou-style architecture during previous life travels. Precisely, Jiangnan folk architecture; tour guides introducing always talked about how many rank officials came from this house. That attic was the young lady’s; Xuan Chong found it boring at the time.
Compared to contemporary castles lacking Grimm fairy tale prince princess stories for romantic flair, these folk architectures were full of rustic flavor.
But later, Xuan Chong thought, no! This place hadn’t been peaceful in modern times, especially since the Long Mao uprising, with killings sweeping from place to place! —Such so-called architecture enduring centuries of wind and rain wouldn’t have survived to now without practical value.
Later he read a little story about General Su: while strolling, he suddenly told his wife, “This coffee shop is nice.” Just as his wife wondered why this man suddenly got romantic, General Su: “Mount two machine guns in this coffee shop and you can seal the entire street.”
Oh, Xuan Chong’s afterthought: General Su was so romantic!
Right, from then on, Xuan Chong used “General Su’s romanticism” to view ancient architectures everywhere. Not the big red lanterns hung high and literati narratives suppressing female stories. Speaking of which, if following that narrative, Europe’s castle princesses were pretty tragic too.
Ancient architecture only endures risks to last through a century, a millennium of storms.
…High walls and great courtyards dividing line…
In a local residence secretly bought by the Wu Family. Wu Hanluan found Wu Fei at some post station. After Wu Hanluan sat down, his killing intent swept fiercely, startling some bugs on the wall tops to drop like they ate pesticide; Wu Fei knew this was insurance against eavesdroppers on the beams.
Wu Hanluan: “Prefect Lin (prefect) has already reported to the Imperial Court, saying the area is pacified, demanding we return to army immediately. And we must follow the Imperial Court’s laws.”
He said that, but Wu Fei knew Wu Hanluan had no intention of going back at all.
Recently, banditry everywhere sprouted one after another. The Imperial Court was still ordering the Wu Family Army to resolve local banditry within a year. This showed those above knew they couldn’t send the Wu Family Army away short-term.
Wu Hanluan kept a stern face telling Wu Fei, to convey some pressure to his nephew, because lately Wu Fei kept sending letters south, looking eager to return early. That wouldn’t do.
Wu Fei: “If the Imperial Court doesn’t let us stay, we can’t resist openly.”
Wu Fei saw Wu Hanluan’s displeased expression and thus switched topics.
Wu Fei: “But we can relocate the troops, without withdrawing personnel.”
Wu Hanluan paused, gesturing for Wu Fei to continue.
Wu Fei took out a string of bamboo slips, which recorded the merchants he selected here. On the nearby silk book were records of the trade routes these merchants paid for, previously all occupied by bandits.
It had to be said that any bandits who grew big chose mountain strongholds that, in Wu Fei’s view, were all prime spots for toll stations. Of course—these toll stations, Wu Fei decided to “nationalize” them all, that is, have Wu Hengyu lead troops to discuss “acquisition.” As for whether big brother Wu Hengyu would resort to violence in “business negotiations”? Hard to say.
Under Wu Hanluan’s questioning, Wu Fei laid out his entire plan: “That is, my Wu Family leaves three escort agencies here; the escort agencies’ trade routes go straight to the south directly controlled by my Wu Family, and these, um, and here~”
Wu Fei marked several points on the map; these were previously famous strongholds within a hundred li radius, and after this round of bandit suppression, they would all become Wu Family-funded toll branch stations.
As for the original thugs in these strongholds, just like monsters in Journey to the West, those with backers—um, that is, protected by local magnates—would be given staffing quotas and taken under Wu Hengyu’s command. As for those without backers, the stubborn and ignorant ones would be beaten to death with a cudgel, as the saying goes, “My Buddha is merciful, but double standards.”
Wu Fei fiddled with the bamboo tallies he carried; the engraved marks on them were accounts: “Southern Border is short on people now. Though many Southern Border foreign race slaves were brought via slave trade, it’s lacking Da Yao person slaves.”
Wu Hanluan nodded while asking a key question: “These warehouses?”
Wu Fei counted on his fingers: “As for inside these warehouses, absolutely no heavy crossbows over two shi, no iron armor, no firearms. And fortress walls no higher than two zhang, only one brick thick…”
Wu Fei silently recited article by article the Da Yao edict clauses on civilian weapon hoarding.
Finally, Wu Fei added the key line: “I’ve been scraping the land here, dealing much with the local merchants; now though I’ve stopped scraping, contacts remain. These commercial ports, I’ve already connected with sellers, and precisely Wu Hengyu has reliable people there.”
Wu Hanluan sternly reminded: “Hengyu is short on people; don’t draw any this year!”
(Wu Hanluan wasn’t worried about Hengyu lacking people, but Wu Hengyu’s recent recruits were all outsiders; for important positions, Wu Hanluan wasn’t at ease.)
Wu Fei paused: “Child understands. I’ll select a batch from home side, just!”
Wu Hanluan gestured for Wu Fei to speak directly.
Wu Fei cautiously: “If only arranging locals to guard these warehouses, then if the Imperial Court comes knocking, we can shed the golden cicada shell. But if we put our old family clansmen there, what if—I mean what if the Imperial Court gets suspicious?!”
Wu Fei looked at his uncle, eyes questioning: “Are you really prepared to challenge Da Yao laws?”
Speaking of which, as a transmigrator, after early reality beatings, Xuan Chong was extremely cautious; even now laying out locally with Wu Hanluan, his calculations considered breaking tail for survival.
Everywhere in this new place where he set up military fortresses—um, commercial ports—Wu Fei tried to keep things clean, not leaving handles. Striving to muddle through in this era.
Though Wu Fei knew clearly that even if these folk fortresses hid something, at the prefect level Da Yao wouldn’t send “investigators” to barge in for evidence before sealing; the dynasty lacked that grassroots execution ability. But on another level, if internal factional rivals wanted to frame them, they’d directly bring troops in to fabricate evidence.
In Wu Fei’s eyes, only the Southern Border was truly beyond Da Yao’s reach.
Wu Hanluan smiled at Wu Fei: “Yuan Chang, actually, you have chancellor talent.”
Wu Fei paused, not understanding what he meant, but it seemed like a warning, so he asked no more.
Wu Fei guessed Wu Hanluan must have some trump card, like attaching to a big shot in court. So daring to let him enclose land locally.
…Bullets fly a while…
In the ninth month, commercial port organized “hunters” for autumn defense, entering mountains to clear beasts. Hundreds of beasts pierced full of arrowheads.
Local official pulled an arrow from the tiger skin, saw the shell arrowhead on the arrow shaft, sneered at mountain farmers not using ironware.
But in the commercial port, old soldiers like Old He Tou pinched the arrow shaft, weighed it, looked at the “internal thread” mating on the arrowhead, and quickly spotted the trick.—This heavy arrow shaft with shell arrowhead was too luxurious.
The threads on the arrow shaft foreshadowed swapping to quenched blue steel arrowheads!—Currently, no matching arrowheads were visible in the commercial port.
But Old He knew the army great warehouse had plenty of these arrowheads; just send them, and they could assemble overnight. At that time, all able-bodied in this commercial port who could form ranks held crossbows.
As for the crossbows, even more so: there seemed to be a mounting port in front of the crossbow arm, able to add another bow arm for double strings, matching the newly installed winding mechanism structure, directly reaching three shi “bow strength.”
According to Da Yao ritual edicts, civilian armament strength couldn’t exceed limits.
But those who experienced “armament restriction treaties” knew designs could circumvent treaty limits.
When Old He Tou held shell arrowhead bamboo bows leading village lads to practice shooting at straw targets.
Tianchi City, armament workshop, Wu Fei picked up his modified crossbow, muttering: Unless the treaty limits unreasonably to initial velocity under 16 joules. Wound the trigger mechanism full on the bowstring.
With a twang, heavy arrow shaft, steel arrowhead crossbow bolt flew high into the sky; the wind control rune on it formed streamlined wave pattern talisman, making the arrow trail bright blue in sunlight.
The lead goose in V-formation overhead suddenly plummeted.
Time quickly came to the eleventh month of Shu Tian Calendar year 25.
Merchants backed by Wu Family strong-arming civilian homes in villages was impeached by a censor recommended by the same-term prefect, but these impeachments sank like stones in the Da Yao Imperial Court.
Because Wu Family Army had reported: returning to Zhao Yun Commandery in six months. And now already starting to move military camps away, far from the two prefecture cities. In Da Yao state fortunes Yao calculation, Wu Family Army had gathered up the military killing intent.
Seemed for the Imperial Court, as long as Wu Family Army obeyed calls, that was enough.
As for military families colluding with merchants, smuggling a bit? Imperial Court tacitly allowed it, as long as not smuggling ironware, gunpowder, horses north of the passes. Bringing some cotton cloth, wood, medicinal wine and such local goods was impossible to ban. Speaking of which, even private salt trading, since four hundred years ago when Ren Zong ascended, Imperial Court mutual markets with Southern Border border army, as long as not excessive, was one eye open one eye closed.
In the twelfth month, in Wu Family Army’s new camp site on the trade route far from prefecture, Imperial Court officials arrived, first checked the rosters, then issued court rewards.
But these rewards were somewhat meager, only twenty jars of wine, and over ten each of cattle, sheep, pigs.
But the Imperial Envoy summoned Wu Hanluan into a secret room, talking for a long time.
