Chapter 325 - Consequences of Victory

Xin Nari once again displayed his cunning—instead of fleeing through the village entrance, he jumped directly into a small river by the village and swam to safety.

During the operation, besides the Work Team itself, the Executive Committee had also deployed a bandit suppression detachment for support. In fact, most soldiers never even got a chance to fire before the battle ended. Du Wen and Dong Weiwei kept straight faces in front of outsiders but were blooming with joy inside—this was a complete victory, achieved under their own direct management!

After this battle, the deadlock in Daolu Village was completely broken. The victory not only eliminated the bandit gang but also purged the power of several bandit leader families who had entrenched themselves in the Thirteen Villages area for years. Work in Daolu Village progressed a thousand li in a day. The militia unit Du Wen had longed for was quickly organized, earth wall construction commenced, and village administration that had faced obstacles everywhere suddenly transformed into a situation where "the whole village obeys orders, none dare to disobey." Like dominoes—after one fell, a total chain reaction followed. Work Team activities in other Thirteen Villages areas suddenly met no resistance and proceeded smoothly.

Du Wen unceremoniously exercised the "Iron Fist of Dictatorship," first sweeping away bandit families in the village—the blue cloth strips on doors had become perfect identification marks. Regardless of gender or age, those not killed were tied into strings with ropes and escorted back to Bairen City—coolies were urgently needed there.

"Taking the children too?" asked the transport officer.

"Of course. Take them all. Ask the Executive Committee about handling when you arrive." Du Wen was happy to conduct a thorough cleaning, removing everyone she considered problematic. As for how to handle the children—let Wen Desi rack his brain.

Du Wen originally intended to handle all bandit families in the Thirteen Villages area this way but was stopped by Dong Weiwei: "They didn't participate in the riot. Don't drive them to extremes—leave people a way out."

"Cutting grass requires removing roots! Families of such bad elements are full of bad water; they'll all be factors of social instability..."

"Unnecessary, and it loses too much popular support." Dong Weiwei insisted. "History tells us that campaign-style expansion and implicating nine generations only backfires."

"Without settling accounts, boundless leniency is harmful." Less than five minutes after hugging in victory, the two women started a new round of arguments.

Finally, both reached a compromise. Du Wen began promoting the "Enter Village, Enter Household, Check Roots, Dig Sources, Everyone Must Pass" movement in every village. Every day, she took the newly formed Daolu Village militia and some guards to various villages: holding meetings, organizing militias, cleaning household registries, ordering home-returning bandits and their families to register and surrender, and investigating hidden valuables and grain.

Because other villages hadn't participated in Xin Nari's counterattack and had no other bandit associations, final handling was much lighter than in Daolu Village. Only a few bandits with blood debts were dealt with. Ordinary bandits, as long as they handed over looted valuables and grain and signed guarantee letters, were released. Then announcements came at village assemblies: those with minor experiences of following bandits or helping transport stolen goods in the past—as long as they hadn't participated in this counterattack and had incurred no public wrath—were granted amnesty. Money and grain distributed years ago needn't be returned—what these people had obtained was limited, and since it was years past, investigating would be endless and counterproductive for quickly stabilizing hearts.

Sending Dong Weiwei as vice-captain had indeed been a wise decision. Though she constantly argued with Du Wen on specifics, she effectively tempered Du Wen's enthusiasm for big mass movements. Things proceeded relatively gently and orderly without extreme incidents. Wu De, who had originally had reservations about sending two women to run the Work Team, now prostrated himself in admiration of Ma Qianzhu.

"The Lord Superintendent is indeed the Lord Superintendent," he said in the farm bar.

Regarding confiscated houses, fields, and property, Du Wen originally wanted to seize the opportunity for small-scale land reform and distribution. But the Planning Committee's special commissioner intercepted this.

"These are all spoils of war for the transmigrators. Handling must be discussed and decided by the Executive Committee."

"Flies!" Du Wen muttered aggressively. Though the Planning Committee was responsible to the most beloved Commissioner Ma, its people really lacked appeal. Whether distributing materials normally or receiving post-battle spoils, this group exercised their characteristic of haggling over every penny—and they always appeared at every location with major gains at the fastest speed.

Digging three feet into the ground yielded quite a few valuables, though not much grain. The Planning Committee left a portion for the Work Team to conduct village relief. Every household received some grain and silver; families harmed by bandits or who had lost members received extra pension silver.

Lu Ruohua made large signs of the cross on the street and led people to collect corpses, wearing an expression of compassion for the world. However, he was the greatest contributor to this victory. During routine confession, Old Lady Mei had revealed Zhao Dachong meeting the couple to ask about the Work Team, mentioning Zhao Dachong wanting Old Man Mei to spy.

Knowing the matter was grave, Lu Ruohua called Bai Duolu to discuss. Logically, confession content couldn't be revealed to third parties—but the Jesuits had long received exemptions. Bai Duolu hurriedly reported the intelligence to Dong Weiwei.

That night, the Work Team called Old Man Mei for questioning. Scared to death, he quickly spilled everything. Based on his news, everyone unanimously speculated the bandit gang was about to launch a counterattack.

Dong Weiwei telegraphed Bairen City requesting a bandit suppression detachment for support—to surround and annihilate them if possible. At this time, a Work Team member reported Liu Si's recent abnormal state: distracted, often hiding in the ancestral hall, too lazy to visit Widow Zhou's house where he used to help frequently. Linking this with Old Man Mei's news, the two women knew Liu Si definitely had a problem.

How could Liu Si, a country bumpkin, match cunning modern people? Covered by Du Wen's half-true, half-false words, plus half-baked body language reading learned from FBI studies, Liu Si thought he was completely exposed—originally, he hadn't wanted to become a bandit either. Under Du Wen's "patient guidance," Liu Si knelt crying bitterly and repenting, confessing everything—even admitting his mass work was actually picking up girls. Du Wen, who always looked down on promiscuity, wanted to kick him in the crotch and give him "permanent expulsion." But under Dong Weiwei's strong persuasion, she finally decided to let Liu Si "atone through meritorious service"—a good opportunity for Infernal Affairs.

For Liu Si, this merit wasn't easy to render. But Du Wen promised: after bandit suppression succeeded, she wouldn't pursue his womanizing, and guaranteed not to record the matter in his personal file.

As for the bribed valuables—those naturally had to be turned over. Liu Si dared not argue and had to honestly play double agent.

After the enemy-luring operation succeeded, Liu Si received his reward. Du Wen called him for a private talk:

"Little Liu, though you made mistakes, your attitude is good." She paused; Liu Si quickly stood. "Thank you, Organization, for trusting me! I will definitely correct past mistakes and contribute to the great cause of transmigration..."

"Alright, alright." Du Wen waved her hand. "Merit offsets faults. As said, it won't be pursued. However, you must give Widow Zhou an explanation. Just have the wedding. Always sneaking around has bad influence on the masses!"

"Yes, I'll pick an auspicious day..." He stopped—Chief Du hated such things.

"Picking a day is fine." Du Wen was in good mood and didn't fuss. "Also, the Organization has researched and decided: since you married a local woman, stay here for local work. Daolu Village is a new area—you'll serve as Village Head!"

"Thank you, Organization, for the promotion!" Liu Si stood excitedly. If kowtowing weren't out of fashion with the Australians, he probably would have knocked his head several times.

"Work hard. Get Daolu Village done well first; then we'll gradually expand to other villages." The Thirteen Villages situation was excellent. The Work Team's next focus was social investigation; they wouldn't have time for specific village affairs. Handing it to Liu Si should be fine.

However, amidst many excellent situations, one sequela dissatisfied Du Wen: the number of baptized people increased dramatically. From the original Mei couple to the whole village scrambling to hear reason and get baptized. Lu Ruohua thanked God every night. He also looked at Bai Duolu with new eyes—bombarding him daily about taking vows.

"With your talent, piety, and contribution to spreading the Gospel, the future Archbishop of Guangdong Diocese can be none other than you, plus holding posts as abbot for several wealthy monasteries..."

Bai Duolu thought: President Wen wanted me to be Bishop of Lingao; now Lu Ruohua says the Archbishop of Guangdong is mine for the taking. Is the Pope planning to award me a red hat? No—if I really wear a red hat, Wen Desi and his ilk will definitely make me Pope... This thought made him both guilty and yearning. Then he remembered clergy meant no wife—everything else was negotiable, but that absolutely could not be agreed.

During Du Wen's bandit-clearing activities—causing panic and making every family uneasy—Lu Ruohua seized the opportunity to enter various villages preaching the Gospel. This time, he wasn't alone. Though believers in Daolu Village weren't clear on basic doctrines, they had opened the path for his missionary career. A group of middle-aged and elderly women wearing crosses followed Father Lu, sweeping house by house in a "Everyone Listens to the Gospel" mass-movement-style evangelism.

"Everyone must go deep into every household, to fields and ground heads, to spread the Lord's Gospel to every lost lamb," Lu Ruohua said to the group carrying bags of missionary leaflets, their eyes extremely pious.

His mission group followed behind Du Wen's operations, active everywhere, leveraging the transmigrators' remaining prestige. Many people, hoping to quickly establish Transmigration Group connections, ran to Lu Ruohua for baptism without even understanding who the Lord and Virgin Mary were. The catechism class was overcrowded daily, holding sessions in the courtyard. Bai Duolu's voice grew hoarse. Once mass-produced believers were baptized, they quickly requested crosses—some hung several, including one on the gate. Lu Ruohua's supply quickly ran out. He hurriedly wrote Macau to order more.

Du Wen was furious and wanted to expel this foreign monk several times. But the monk's preaching about "forgiveness" and "benevolence" undeniably helped stabilize society. Under Dong Weiwei's persuasion, she endured. Besides, swarms of missionary personnel were mostly middle-aged and elderly women—she couldn't order force against them.

During this evangelism leap forward, Lu Ruohua also developed the first batch of "nuns": solitary middle-aged and elderly women wanting to cultivate the afterlife after this turmoil. Lingao lacked big temples or nunneries. This new foreign religion came at the right time—the foreign monk spoke gently, sang nice songs, had beautiful pictures. Lu Ruohua tore out advertisement pages from real estate ads that Bai Duolu had used to wrap books. After describing Heaven and resurrection, some women asked to become "foreign nuns."

Lu Ruohua simply took them in as temporary church staff. At least cleaning, cooking, and washing would get done.

That day, Lu Ruohua called Bai Duolu.

"Has your monastery been established?"

Bai Duolu was tongue-tied. The so-called Australian Church was fundamentally air—where would a monastery come from? He made excuses: "There's no monastery locally yet."

"Establish one. Many lambs here want to choose serving the Lord for life." Lu Ruohua crossed himself. "Please discuss it with He Ying."

After receiving Bai Duolu's telegram, He Ying dared not neglect. This involved future ecclesiastical authority—he hurried to the Executive Committee for instructions.

"What do you think?" Wen Desi asked back.

If based on his social experience in the other timeline, He Ying would definitely say: "My view is the same as yours." But there was no need for that here.

"Do it," He Ying said. "After bandit suppression, many bandit orphans will remain. We can't kill these children, but keeping and educating them ourselves is trouble. Why not let the monastery adopt them? It doesn't waste resources and conveniently brainwashes them. Controlling them with threat of Hell after death—isn't that more effective than knives and guns? Two birds with one stone."