Chapter 112: A Piece of Meat

Liu Chengzong would never let a duck that was already in his mouth fly away.

The robbery of the rent silver was a foregone conclusion. Liu Chengzong had made thorough preparations for this raid, setting up ambushes and defenses, only to find them entirely unnecessary. As his four platoons charged down from the surrounding hills, the government soldiers and laborers transporting the silver either kowtowed or fled; not a single soul was willing to die protecting the Prince’s rent silver and pack animals. It was particularly bizarre—among more than two hundred men, not one could be found who was loyal and brave. The massive transport column simply disintegrated.

Afterward, they learned the reason: news of the rebels in Yan'an Prefecture had spread like wildfire. Ansai was already unstable; while the flag-bearing soldiers stationed at the Prince’s manor were enough to scare off petty bandits, the closer people got to the prefectural city, the more terrified they became. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, while the transport team rested in Ansai, the men had been whispering in their shared beds about the stories of the "Liu Camp" raiding the wealthy in the city. Some were trembling with fear, while others tried to bolster their own courage, unable to sleep for half the night. By the next noon, when they saw rows of elite cavalry bearing the "Liu" flag charging down from the mountains like a dragon, appearing even more formidable than the rumors suggested, any thought of resistance vanished completely.

The banner gifted by Gao Yingxiang had done its job well. Liu Chengzong chuckled when he heard the captives recount this and asked, "How exactly did you bolster your courage that night?" Their immediate surrender hardly looked like the actions of men who had been trying to steel themselves.

One captive replied, "We are all wretches, and the Liu Camp never kills the poor."

This remark drew peals of laughter from everyone, especially Liu Chengzong. These men, who usually lived off the Prince’s salary and prided themselves on being lackeys of the royal clan, were suddenly able to clearly recognize their own class status the moment they saw his men.

Once his laughter subsided, Liu Chengzong turned to Cao Yao and said, "Find out who among them has bullied women, seized civilian farmland, built dams to block rivers, or is dead-set on serving the Prince’s manor. Have the others point them out."

"Understood!" Cao Yao nodded. "After they are identified, should we kill the villains, or let them go to cut off their retreat and recruit them as auxiliary troops?"

Liu Chengzong’s expression was fine for the first half, but at the mention of the latter, he turned and glared: "Are you Song Jiang the Timely Rain now?"

Cao Yao laughed, shaking his head. "Actually, I think it doesn't matter whether we kill or release them... the morality of small people is already useless."

Liu Chengzong was left speechless. Outside the city, thousands of starving people had nothing to eat, while forty miles away, a magnificent glazed pagoda was being built. Villages were desolate, corpses filled the pits, while a river dam blocked the fragrant grain of the royal manor. This was an absurd and chaotic world. Having spent ten years running like a stray dog in this chaos, it was easy for Cao Yao to lose faith in the world. Whether good or evil, due to sickness or hunger, people always died. Perhaps in Cao Yao’s eyes, these people were small, and so were he and Liu Chengzong. Killing some or releasing others made no difference to the big picture. In fact, to him, the big picture held no meaning at all. As long as one could survive, who cared about the big picture?

"It matters," Liu Chengzong said, shaking his head. "Distinguishing good from evil, black from white—that is human dignity." It was not just his dignity, but the dignity of everyone under the "Liu" flag, and even the dignity of those about to be identified. Only humans have morality; beasts do not. Only by treating oneself as a human and viewing others as humans can one possess dignity.

The identification process fell into a prisoner’s dilemma. As long as the first accuser didn't exist, no one would speak up, but once the first person did, everything changed.

"Damn you, you were part of that too! General, I’m reporting him!"
"And what about you? Why are you only talking about me!"
"You took my wife, you son of a bitch!"

The two hundred men descended into chaos, cursing and brawling. The onlookers from the Mule Platoon stared at each other, finding it hard to believe that just moments ago, these men had been marching in formation, guarding the rent silver as they headed south.

Cao Yao stepped forward to maintain order, fired a shot into the air, and shouted from his horse, "Stop fighting! Line up! Everyone walk forward one by one; if anyone has a problem with someone, speak up." He had them walk past the queue one by one, with those flagged as problematic moving to the left and the others to the right to continue the identification process.

***

In the end, there were about a hundred men on each side. Those with issues were mostly servants who worked for the manor, while those without were mostly the newly recruited starving refugees from Ansai. Among the problematic ones, a small group had frequently bullied other servants.

Liu Chengzong acted as a magistrate in the wilderness, passing judgment on the spot. Six men, identified by dozens as heinous offenders, were pinned to the ground by Han Shipan and Han Shiyou’s retainers and beheaded. The rest were given floggings or handed over to the starving refugees to deal with, depending on the severity of their crimes and the number of accusations against them. Many who hadn't committed major wrongs—merely petty disputes or fights—were protected and spared punishment. Two others who gave false testimony were shot dead by Cao Yao. Minor offenses might be forgiven with a plea, but false testimony was different; it wasn't just lying, but an attempt to manipulate them. That was suicide.

As for the rest, their physical condition was actually decent; the royal manor had already filtered out the weakest among the refugees, and those who weren't fit wouldn't have been sent on this mission. The five platoon leaders each picked men from the crowd, pulling those they fancied into their ranks as auxiliary troops for the combat soldiers. After nearly an hour, the platoon had grown by another hundred men.

Liu Chengzong didn't involve himself in the recruitment; he was busy inquiring about the royal manor and inspecting the loot. Most eye-catching were four wooden chests, each weighing over fifty pounds, all containing the same items: three layers, with one hundred taels of gold on top and three hundred taels of silver in each of the two layers below. In total, four hundred taels of gold and two thousand four hundred taels of silver—a value of five thousand six hundred taels. Then there were crops, alkali, salt bricks, Sichuan peppercorns, fine cotton cloth, tanned leather, and ox and sheep horns. There were too many types of goods for Liu Chengzong to check one by one, so he simply cross-referenced the manor manager's manifest to ensure nothing was missing. Besides these, there were twenty-four fine horses, twenty carts, forty-five fat sheep, and over a hundred pack mules. The grain he wanted most was absent, save for the seven-day rations the men carried, though there was plenty of fodder.

After questioning, Liu Chengzong learned that this wasn't the Prince of Qin’s manor, but a pasture belonging to the Prince of Qing. Their first destination had been Ganquan, then Fuzhou, then Qingyang, and finally Weizhou in Ningxia.

"You've got guts. Didn't your manor manager ever think about the bandits everywhere?"

The flag-bearing soldiers, now recruited as auxiliary troops, were still terrified of Liu Chengzong. One nodded and said, "He did. None of us wanted to take this trip, but the manor was pressing hard. The manager said it would be safe once we reached the Ganquan border, so he urged us to get on the road."

Liu Chengzong had many questions: "Safe once you reach Ganquan? What a lovely thought. There’s plenty of wealth here. Since you didn't want to go, why didn't you just split it up and turn to banditry yourselves?"

"We didn't dare. Once we reached Ganquan, there would be contacts from the manor, and further on in Qingyang, there would be guards from the Prince of Han’s manor. With winter approaching, everyone had to deliver goods." The auxiliary soldier explained why they thought it would be safe, then added with a bitter smile, "There’s no grain here. Working for the manor at least meant we wouldn't starve. Turning to banditry would just mean... just mean becoming cannon fodder for a warlord."

Cannon fodder? Liu Chengzong pondered for a moment before realizing the meaning. He chuckled, "I am Liu Chengzong. Follow me, and I’ll see that you’re fed... Tell me carefully, how much land did that manor seize to end up with so much wealth?"

With that, he ordered the column to return to Dawang Mountain. On the way, the "cannon fodder" described the situation at the manor in detail. The manor’s land wasn't outrageously large, but it included pastures, hills, grasslands, and riverbanks, producing horses, mules, donkeys, sheep, and various minerals, while also growing leeks, grain, fruit, vegetables, and fodder. Thanks to the river, they could also hunt and fish. This was impressive; even at the Yuhe Fortress along the Wuding River, the fish had vanished two years ago.

Their reason for taking the risk was simple: in the eighteenth year of the Wanli reign, the imperial court had set a fixed amount for the stipends of the royal clans in Shaanxi, Henan, and Shanxi. Officials detested the royal clans and were already reluctant to transport their stipends during peaceful times. Now, with the border armies’ pay and rations unpaid, they had found their excuse—who cared about the royal clan’s stipends? With the court no longer paying, the manors had to press their managers to send cash instead.

Once the goods were back at Dawang Mountain, Liu Chengzong met with his five platoon leaders to discuss the distribution of the spoils, primarily informing Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu of the rules: seventy percent to the platoon, twenty percent to the soldiers, and ten percent to the officers.

Not long after, the platoon leaders were discussing the raid when Chengyun, who kept the books, arrived.

"So fast? Impressive!" Liu Chengzong was pleased, but when he stepped outside, he saw Chengyun looking awkward. He pulled him aside. "Brother, it's not that I'm fast, but... the squad leaders are getting less silver than the common soldiers. Is that reasonable?"

Liu Chengzong frowned slightly, took the ledger, and understood immediately. The soldiers’ shares totaled over a thousand taels, while the officers’ totaled five hundred and sixty. According to the rules, a platoon leader received ten shares, a captain five, and a squad leader one; soldiers received up to five shares based on their merit. This meant soldiers got between one and five taels, while officers, based on rank, only received one tael and eight mace for a squad leader, nine taels for a captain, and eighteen for a platoon leader.

Liu Chengzong smiled. "That's because we lack auxiliary troops. My plan is for the auxiliary troops not to share in the loot; the combat soldiers will support them. If a squad leader’s team performs meritorious service, they can receive bonus silver. Just keep it as it is... have you calculated it all?"

It was time to recruit auxiliary troops. He envied Gao Yingxiang’s men—the varied talents they possessed, from those who gathered fodder and picked fruit to auxiliary troops who could graze horses and stand guard. In his own camp, the combat soldiers had to do all these chores. It was fine for a short time, but if it continued, it would eventually affect their combat effectiveness.

Liu Chengzong led Chengyun into the meeting cave. Cao Yao was the first to approach with a mischievous grin. "Well? How many taels of silver does this trip get me?"

"Eighteen for a platoon leader, nine for a captain."

Cao Yao smacked his lips and laughed to Yang Yao, "Eighteen taels, not bad. We didn't do much this time, and it’s half a year’s pay in the border army."

Gao Xian and Feng Rang reacted differently; for them, this was a massive fortune. As for Wei Qian’er, the leader of the scout cavalry, he was stunned by the amount. He leaned against the earthen wall, counting on his fingers for a long time before asking blankly, "General, can I really have nine taels?"

Liu Chengzong nodded. Wei Qian’er held up three fingers, his expression extremely complex. "Three years. I worked at the courier station for three years, and my pay was ten taels and eight mace."

Liu Chengzong didn't know how to comfort him, so he patted him on the shoulder. "Just learn to keep that foul mouth of yours shut, learn to lead troops from the platoon leaders, and one day you can be a platoon leader too."

"How the hell do I shut it?" the scout leader muttered to himself, scratching his dirty headband. Realizing he’d spoken aloud, he gave himself a light slap, stood straight with a determined look, and said, "General, don't worry, I will definitely make the platoon leaders like me!" He then leaned in closer and whispered, "I don't really need the money here, can I send the silver home?"

The fact that they didn't really need money was the biggest reason the platoon leaders weren't that interested in silver. Living on the mountain and confined to the camp, silver had largely lost its intended purpose. In fact, this was precisely why Liu Chengzong had set the rules to distribute all spoils other than food and weapons to the soldiers and officers—once the camp grew and they settled somewhere, it would naturally become a small market. The soldiers could use their bonus silver and loot to trade, which helped keep their minds occupied.

He had been a soldier and knew too well the effect of being confined to a camp. Even if soldiers loved practicing martial arts, they only trained for four hours a day. The rest of the time, boredom inevitably led to bad habits like drinking or gambling. If they didn't have those, they would get into trouble, either by causing mischief for the locals or by picking fights within the camp. None of that had a good outcome. Having a small market where soldiers could trade and interact was a decent form of entertainment for a peasant army.

Wei Qian’er’s words made the platoon leaders look at him. He envied them for their money, and they envied him for having a home and someone to send money to.

Cao Yao, being particularly cheeky, leaned back on the heated brick bed. "Just send it. Look at me, my wife is just across the mountain. I’ll send my silver to her as soon as I get it."

Wei Qian’er’s eyes widened, his mouth opening to curse, but remembering Liu Chengzong’s words, he closed it and sighed. "Platoon Leader Cao is right. I’ll bring my family here too."

The way he looked—all sour and grumpy—made Liu Chengzong laugh. He waved his hand. "You're all right. The courier brothers should bring their families. It’s a good thing to send money home, but not right now."

He sat on the bed. "The good stuff is yet to come. That Qing manor has good horses, fields that can be irrigated, and iron mines. Plus, it’s not located at a major thoroughfare like Yan'an, and it’s surrounded by mountains, making it easy to hide people. It’s a great place to settle your families... Tomorrow, we’re heading over there!"