Chapter 714 - Sanliang Market

Sanliang Market could not match the prosperity of nearby county seats. Even compared to the county's other market towns, it was merely middling. But it was far more prosperous than the impoverished prefectural and county towns found in the remote interior or borderlands.

Today was not market day. The threshing ground had no vendors, only a few idlers chatting and watching the scene. Seeing this boat enter the pond, everyone whispered among themselves.

This Lord Luo on the boat was the town's foremost gentleman, named Luo Tianqiu. He was a juren from the final years of the Wanli reign. Besides holding formal literati credentials, his family were also long-established locals. Not only were their clan members numerous, but they had produced several xiucai and juren over the generations. Lord Luo's grandfather had also passed the provincial examination and served several terms as a prefectural or county official. Thus the family had accumulated ten thousand guan in wealth, maintained many household guards and enforcers—Sanliang Market might as well be called the Luo family's fief rather than Great Ming territory.

The Luo family's sedan chair and carriage were already waiting at the dock. Normally when Lord Luo returned from an outing, he would stand briefly on the stone embankment after disembarking, surveying his surroundings and stamping his feet to loosen his muscles. But today he had no such inclination—he climbed directly into the sedan and departed.

The sedan passed through Brokerage Street—this street's earliest business had been the brokerage house the Luo family established. The Luo family's original rise had begun when ancestors violently monopolized the local rush-mat grass trade. Over four generations, they had transformed from petty local toughs into the area's preeminent gentry.

This brokerage's building had been reconstructed during Lord Luo's father's lifetime. Grand and imposing, quite magnificent. But after several decades, the gilded characters on the sign had grown somewhat dim in the sunlight. A thought stirred in Luo Tianqiu: time for fresh gilding!

The Luo Residence occupied the northwest corner of Sanliang Market—a vast, brooding complex of buildings with an air of stern authority. Besides living quarters, there were specialized "Warehouse Courts," "Rent Courts," "Steward Courts," and "Servants' Quarters." The Warehouse Courts stored various goods and daily necessities. The Rent Courts handled rent collection, weighing, and storage of grain, indigo, rush-mat grass, and other agricultural products. The Steward Courts managed the various Luo Residence enterprises. The Servants' Quarters housed the household guards, servants, attendants, and workers. The buildings numbered in the hundreds.

Before the blue-brick gate wall lay a large stone-paved courtyard. Several dozen stewards, managers, and attendants stood waiting, all in servants' blue robes and small caps, neatly dressed. The moment the sedan touched down, at the head steward's cry of "Respectfully welcoming the Master home!", all household staff knelt to pay respects.

Luo Tianqiu did not spare a glance for his servants' solicitous greetings. He looked somewhat haggard. Three or four days in Dongguan—endless banquets and socializing, daily revelry, constantly visiting and gift-giving—his body truly could not take it anymore.

He climbed into a two-man sedan chair for use within the inner quarters and was carried inside.

Luo Tianqiu's trip to the county seat had been to compete for position as Deputy Commander of the Dongguan County Militia Bureau. The Bureau's Chief Commander was the county magistrate; the two Deputy Commanders were the ones who actually ran things. And the Bureau's revenues made many people green with envy: since last year, Dongguan County had added a surcharge of three fen of silver per mu for militia expenses. With several hundred thousand mu of taxable land county-wide, that meant tens of thousands in silver.

Beyond the silver, the Militia Bureau could also conduct "donations" in the name of organizing militia—in practice no different from forced levies. In short: rich revenues.

The militia silver was officially meant for recruiting and training militia, purchasing weapons, and constructing defensive works. In reality, two-thirds was embezzled by various officials and the gentry handling militia affairs. So the Deputy Commander position had always been coveted by the county's powerful magnates. Previously the Luo family had not been able to secure it. Now one family's patriarch had suddenly died, leaving only an underage son. This vacancy immediately attracted considerable attention.

The moment Luo Tianqiu received word, he had immediately taken a large sum of silver to the county seat to work his connections. After private negotiations and dealing, he had finally secured the Dongguan County Militia Bureau Deputy Commandership.

Properly speaking, the Deputy Commander should remain at the county seat to command the thousand-odd recruited militia, prepared to fight at any moment. But neither Luo Tianqiu nor the other Deputy Commander Song Yasi had any intention of doing so—both were gentry with no experience of leading militia in battle, let alone wielding weapons. They wanted only the position and power. Furthermore, the concept of leaving one's home base to serve the entire county's populace was foreign to them. Once the positions were secured, both coincidentally sent nephews to the county seat as proxies. Luo Tianqiu planned to send his clan nephew Luo Heying as "Acting Deputy Commander."

During his three or four days in the county, Luo Tianqiu had heard much troubling news. Liu Xiang, who had been operating at the Pearl River Estuary, had left. The self-proclaimed Australians—the crop-heads—had arrived. They had fought a victorious battle against another pirate gang at the estuary. Then they had pushed on to the Bogue and defeated the government troops there as well. Now they held the Bogue and showed no signs of leaving. In a few days, they would probably sail upriver to raid everywhere.

Pirates and river brigands harassing and raiding the Pearl River banks had happened before. That was why Sanliang Market had become so heavily fortified. But this time the "crop-heads" with their powerful ships and guns had come. Their reputation was already universally known locally—everywhere people talked about how their ships were fast as lightning, their cannons irresistible and invincible. And their capture of the Bogue had profoundly shocked Luo Tianqiu. County Magistrate Fan Wencai's recent expansion of the Bogue batteries had drawn considerable labor and funds from Sanliang Market. When Luo Tianqiu had personally escorted laborers to the Bogue, he had visited the construction site and seen all the military preparations the government troops were making there. At the time he had believed no ships could sail safely into the Pearl River under such dense Red Barbarian cannon fire.

Though Fan Wencai refused to discuss the Battle of the Bogue, the way his face went white whenever the crop-heads were mentioned revealed how terrifying the scene must have been. When Fan Wencai spoke with him at the county seat, he had been visibly distracted, repeatedly asking about Sanliang Market's defenses—how close it was to the main Pearl River channel, whether large ships could approach Sanliang Market, and so on. Luo Tianqiu wondered: could the County Magistrate be planning to abandon the county seat and flee? Just who were these crop-heads, that they could frighten Magistrate Fan so badly?

Spending some silver, he learned from one of Fan Wencai's household servants that the crop-heads' firepower was ferocious. The Bogue's various batteries had crumbled like earth and tiles under their bombardment in less than half a day. Two thousand government troops had been no more effective than clay chickens and wooden dogs before being utterly routed.

"I never imagined the crop-heads would be so rampant!" Luo Tianqiu silently cursed. But fear gripped his heart too. Though Sanliang Market had a perimeter wall encircling the entire town and two blockhouses, its defense relied mainly on natural terrain: the maze-like waterways that would confuse unfamiliar outsiders' boats, causing them to get lost or even run aground. Several years ago he had also mobilized able-bodied men to build bamboo palisades along the riverbanks—these simple barriers could effectively prevent brigands in small boats from landing along the shallow tributary channels.

Such defenses were absolutely no match for Australian cannons. Yet Luo Tianqiu thought Sanliang Market had one geographic advantage—not only was the waterway network complex, but the channels were generally quite shallow. Ships too large or heavy simply could not enter.

If large ships could not enter, neither could large cannons. Even if the crop-heads came, they could only send small bands of raiders in sampans and small boats. They would not have many men, certainly could not bring heavy artillery, and would have limited supplies. Fighting on home ground, perhaps they could hold their own against the crop-heads.

With these thoughts, Luo Tianqiu reached the main hall. Maids attended as he changed clothes and freshened up. His wife, hearing he had returned without having eaten lunch, personally brought maids carrying food boxes to see him. She saw he had dismissed the servants and sat silently in his great chair, looking weary and troubled. Worried, she sat beside his table and said:

"Master, did things not go smoothly at the county seat? Five hundred taels weren't enough to satisfy Magistrate Fan?"

"Things went very smoothly," Luo Tianqiu said. "Magistrate Fan has appointed me Deputy Commander of the Militia Bureau. The formal commission will arrive any day. It's just that with Liu Xiang gone—that thorn in our side—the crop-heads have become a new fishbone stuck in our throat!"

The Lady did not know who the crop-heads were. She said: "These sea bandits—one gang goes, another comes. It's been this way since the Tianqi reign. We're far from the shipping lanes, our defenses are tight, and no one here would serve as their inside man. Even if pirates entered the inland waters, they surely wouldn't dare attack us rashly. Only these days of constant worry—the thought of you becoming Deputy Commander and going off to war makes me terribly afraid."

"Don't worry—I won't personally go to war. I'm planning to send Heying, our nephew, to serve as Deputy Commander at the county. He's a military xiucai. Some experience at the county level would be good for him—perhaps he'll even establish himself there."

"Heying is a good lad. But sending him off to swing swords and spears—if something happened, how would you explain it to your Ninth Sister-in-law?"

"If one wants to win wealth through blade and spear, one can't fear death." Luo Tianqiu stroked his beard. "If the crop-heads attack Sanliang Market, every able-bodied man must take the field—even I as head of household would be no exception. When that time comes, everything depends on Heaven's will."

"Ah, if only everyone could just stay safe and sound." The Lady was over forty—approaching old age by local standards. Having lived a life of comfort and privilege, the increasingly chaotic world troubled her greatly. "These past few years it's been river pirates and sea bandits day and night, and the weather's been bad too. Even the tenants are causing trouble. Coming one after another to plead poverty and beg for exemptions. How are we supposed to live? If we don't teach these mud-legs a harsh lesson, life will become impossible!"

"No matter how chaotic the world gets, as long as we hold Sanliang Market firmly, we'll be fine—life goes on as usual." Luo Tianqiu said. "Give the tenants some slack. Reduce their rent a bit—once fighting starts, we need them to risk their lives for us..."

"Those who won't work—confiscate their land and seal up their houses. Let's see which of those mud-legs dares refuse to fight then!"

(End of Chapter)