Chapter 2255: Moving
"Was the road difficult?" Feng Haijiao waited until the servants had cleared away the leftover food and served tea before asking.
Bi Xuansheng had been focused only on eating and drinking; only now did he recover his wits, gasping. "It was dangerous! I nearly lost my life!"
"That dangerous?!" Seeing his appearance, Feng Haijiao knew the journey had not been peaceful. "Don't rush—tell me slowly."
Bi Xuansheng had eaten and drunk his fill and regained some energy. He then recounted his liaison trip in detail.
When he left Qinglian Market, he had still been dressed as a scholar, bringing a dozen attendants without concealing his identity. However, after traveling less than half a day, he encountered a "Joint Patrol Team." At first, Bi Xuansheng hadn't been concerned, thinking it was village braves under some local strongman. With his status, he naturally didn't need to worry—a greeting would suffice. Only when he got close did he realize that although the other party was composed of local troops, a small squad of Australian soldiers was mixed in.
At that point, the two sides were only a hundred zhang apart. The subordinates Bi Xuansheng had brought were still wearing Feng Haijiao's uniforms. The village braves on the other side rushed up with a clamor to arrest them. Bi Xuansheng, on horseback, took the lead and ran, managing to avoid being "captured alive." However, most of his subordinates were captured; only a few escaped.
"Whose troops were they, to be so bold?" Feng Haijiao was startled. Though the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, the various strongmen in the surrounding area had not yet openly torn their faces with him. Now someone had actually attacked his men directly!
"I didn't see clearly whose troops they were, but they must be from those few large gentry households around here." Bi Xuansheng shook his head with a bitter smile. "Now patrolling the county are not only the National Army—the village braves of various large households have also come out. Notices are posted everywhere..."
"Notices? What notices?" Feng Haijiao asked urgently.
"Here." Bi Xuansheng pulled a ball of crumpled paper from his shirt. "I had a subordinate tear it down from the market."
Feng Haijiao opened it and saw it was a proclamation issued by the female magistrate. It could be considered a reward notice, because it explicitly offered rewards for him and the main bandit leaders under him, including Bi Xuansheng, Zhan Zhekun, Xin Laonan, and others—not a single one was left out, all listed on it. Densely packed, there were fully thirty or forty names.
Looking at the reward amounts, however, made Feng Haijiao's nose crooked with anger: for him, one of the Three Tyrants of Yangshan, this barbarian female magistrate had actually offered a reward of only three taels and five mace of silver. Not only that, he was ranked second, behind Zhan Zhekun, whose reward was four taels. Those following were nothing more than one or two taels, with the lowest being only five mace. Bi Xuansheng was also offered a reward of three taels of silver.
"Master, don't look at the reward amounts—look at the main text." Seeing him gnashing his teeth while staring at the wanted list, Bi Xuansheng hurriedly reminded him.
Feng Haijiao hurriedly looked at the main text. It turned out that "Reward for capture, dead or alive" was only the first article of this proclamation. Several articles followed, all targeting the local large households, requiring them to "rectify the Baojia system and patrol day and night," strictly prohibiting "colluding with bandits." Not only were the large households themselves strictly forbidden from associating with bandits, but if their clan members, relatives, tenant farmers, or servants did so—once there was evidence of association—the whole family would be prosecuted. Heavy punishment meant beheading, confiscation of property, and exile; light punishment meant fines and forced labor.
The second article addressed the bandit gangs themselves, proclaiming to the ordinary minions that those willing to forsake darkness and turn to the light would be pardoned for past misdeeds. If they could bring information on the whereabouts of bandit leaders or their heads, there would be additional rewards.
Feng Haijiao read on, becoming more alarmed as he continued. He didn't care about the reward on his head, but the following articles clearly intended to force the local large households to completely sever relations with him. This was digging up his roots.
Since ancient times, the relationship between bandit gangs and large households had always been quite subtle. Especially in remote mountainous areas like Lianyang, the connection between bandits and large households was not as simple as "secret collusion." Sometimes they were "allies": in the common clan and local-settler armed conflicts in the area, large households often hired bandits to increase their combat power, and bandit gangs were happy to act as thugs, thereby obtaining extra income, safe shelters, and channels to communicate with the government. In particular, the large quantities of grain, cloth, and salt needed by bandit gangs relied almost entirely on colluding large households for supply.
The articles issued by the Australians were naturally worded severely—the key was that, carrying the momentum of the Battle of Dalang Market, no large household in the county dared ignore their words. Sun Dabiao's entire family's heads were hanging neatly in a row.
No wonder the first thing Bi Xuansheng had done was show him the proclamation. This was a matter of life and death!
He shook his head, held the proclamation over the oil lamp to burn it, then asked, "Did you see Master Zhan?"
"I saw him," Bi Xuansheng said. "I didn't dare take the main road with my followers—I could only detour on small paths. Damn it, there were village braves from large households even on the small paths. Every village and stockade had people standing sentry. As soon as they saw strangers approaching, they beat gongs to summon village braves for interrogation. Fortunately, I brought plenty of dry provisions and didn't starve to death..."
Feng Haijiao had no interest in hearing his adventure story and interrupted, "What did Master Zhan say?"
"Master Zhan's meaning is the same as what I said last time. He asks you, Old Sir, to immediately abandon Qinglian Market, take your men and horses to join forces with him, and then make plans. Xin Family Manor has precipitous terrain, easy to defend and hard to attack. The Hair thieves won't be able to fight their way in for a while..."
"I know that manor of Xin Laonan's. Precipitous it may be, but the manor is palm-sized. We're bringing several hundred brothers plus family members—where will we live?"
"We can only ask everyone to build sheds and make do. This place, Qinglian Market, has no natural barriers to defend." Bi Xuansheng urged, "The Hair thieves' navy on the river is strong; they control the entire waterway, with ships coming and going at will. If the Hair thieves attack by both water and land, we won't be able to resist..."
Though so far the Australian fleet and patrol boats had only reached the county seat and had not yet gone upstream to the Qinglian Market area, their advance was only a matter of time.
Qinglian Market was surrounded by water on three sides. Feng Haijiao could entrench himself here entirely by relying on the water. However, the Australian gunboats were a hundred times more powerful than his rowing boats. If it truly came to pass as Bi Xuansheng said, with the Australians advancing by both water and land, Qinglian Market would become a death trap!
Thinking of this, Feng Haijiao collapsed into the grand armchair, silent for a long time.
Bi Xuansheng knew these words had moved him. Secretly admiring Master Zhan's brilliant plan, he spoke according to what Zhan Zhekun had taught him beforehand: "I looked at that place, Xin Family Manor. The manor is a bit small, but there's plenty of land and few people on the mountain. We build sheds to make do for a few months first, then slowly build houses—the brothers' dwelling places will come naturally..."
Feng Haijiao shivered. He remembered: Xin Laonan's manor was very small, with no more than twenty households—either his kinsmen or his trusted aides. Counting fully, there were no more than twenty able-bodied men. Zhan Zhekun and Bi Xuansheng had brought thirty-some followers to Yangshan. That meant there were fewer than a hundred able-bodied men at Xin Family Manor now.
He immediately racked his brain to recall the appearance of Xin Family Manor. He had been there once many years ago, and the impression was already very blurred. But he roughly remembered it was amidst mountains. The manor sat on a flat piece of land at the mountaintop. To go up the mountain, one had to pass a rugged mountain road with several dangerous passes along the way. It indeed had the feeling of "one man guards the pass, ten thousand cannot force it open."
There were dozens of mu of fields and a water source on the mountaintop. He had also hoarded a lot of grain and provisions; taking them all up the mountain, several hundred people could hide there without worrying about food or drink. No matter how powerful the Hair thieves were, they couldn't drag cannons up the steep mountain road...
Feng Haijiao was moved. As long as he took his men and horses to Xin Family Manor, the place would take the surname "Feng." Even if Zhan, Xin, Bi, and others had complaints, they wouldn't dare act rashly—if they really disobeyed, he would just slaughter them all! Xin Laonan had robbed on the Lian River for many years; presumably, he also had quite a few valuables stashed away.
Thinking of this, Feng Haijiao nodded and said solemnly, "It seems this is the only way!" He pretended to shake his head painfully and sighed. "What a pity. This Qinglian Market is the capital with which I made my fortune—now I actually have to leave it to the Hair thieves!" After saying this, he squeezed out a few tears.
Bi Xuansheng consoled him. "Master, do not be sad. A great man can bend and stretch. Now we go up the mountain to weather the storm. When the imperial army counterattacks, won't Master come down the mountain and have this Qinglian Market returned to its original owner just the same?"
Though it was empty talk, it was very agreeable to Feng Haijiao. He laughed. "Master Bi is indeed a scholar—you know how to speak so well!"
"Not at all—we all rely on the Master's great fortune." Bi Xuansheng said respectfully. "Won't this Yangshan belong to the Master sooner or later?"
Feng Haijiao put on an act for a while, then immediately ordered the various leaders and steward bandit chiefs in the gang to pack up luggage and items, organize grain, fodder, gold, and silver, and prepare for the whole gang to retreat to Xin Family Manor.
However, running away was not simple. Feng Haijiao had entrenched himself in Qinglian Market for many years. Just the family members of the gang living locally numbered two or three hundred. Including those who had joined in recent months, there were fully five or six hundred people, among them many women and children. They had to bring supplies and valuables. Xin Family Manor was fully seventy or eighty li away, mostly mountain roads. His team had both family members and heavy supplies; walking twenty li a day would be considered good. Even if the journey was smooth, it would take at least four or five days to arrive. If they encountered an attack halfway, such a team dragging families and belongings would instantly collapse.
He thought it over repeatedly: only by risking the water route of the Lian River. If they didn't encounter Australian patrol boats, they could save more than half the journey. Once they entered the mountains, it wouldn't be easy for the Australians to intercept them.
Therefore, while ordering boats to be prepared, he sent people to monitor various key points along the river near the county seat. Once they discovered Australian boats heading toward Qinglian Market, they were to immediately light beacon fires to raise the alarm.
"If it really doesn't work, we'll sail at night," a subordinate suggested.
Sailing at night was extremely unsafe. Neither locals nor Australians sailed at night. Feng Haijiao had lived off the water all year round and was very familiar with the hydrology and geography of the Lian River, so risking night navigation was barely feasible.
"Just do it like this!" Feng Haijiao said. "Pass the order down: tell everyone to pack up their bedding and prepare to move house!"
Next Update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Part 460 (End of Chapter)