Chapter 13: The Countermeasures of the Lingao People

“The reward money is no problem,” Magistrate Wu said with a bitter smile. Compared to the fifty taels of silver he had sent, thirty shi of rice was nothing. “You have worked hard, Adjutant.”

“It concerns the safety of the entire city, how dare I speak of hardship. It’s just that Commander Li was very difficult. Your humble subordinate had to plead with him before he was willing to dispatch thirty men. As for the gunpowder and lead shot, it’s fine if we don’t use them, but if we do, we have to pay him back double.” Wu Ya was nearly forty, a fat man who was well-maintained and looked much younger than the magistrate. He had come up through the ranks of miscellaneous officials and didn’t have the same ambitions as those who had passed the imperial examinations. He lived a rather carefree life.

“He can’t be blamed for that,” Magistrate Wu said with his head lowered, sighing. “The state of the military garrisons is known to everyone at court. What usable soldiers could he possibly have there? Even if he did, they would just be the old, weak, sick, and disabled who couldn’t escape.”

“Your Excellency is right,” Wu Ya nodded. As they were speaking, a doorman came to announce that the county’s Master of Records and Director of Studies had arrived. The Master of Law was leading a patrol and couldn’t come for the moment, while the County Instructor had gone to invite the local gentry. In the Ming Dynasty, the power of the gentry was significant, and local gentlemen could often interfere in local administration. Therefore, whenever there was a major event in the county, it was always a good idea to invite the gentry to discuss it.

The so-called gentry was a complex class, ranging from high court ministers and provincial governors down to the families of officials, powerful landlords, and officials who had returned to their hometowns for various reasons such as mourning, dismissal, or retirement. It also included provincial and metropolitan graduates who had not yet taken up official posts. Through various connections, they had close ties with provincial governors and the imperial court, and some even had connections that reached directly into the inner court of the palace. The seventh, eighth, and ninth-rank officials of the county yamen could act like masters in front of the common people, but their authority was greatly diminished in front of these local gentry.

Because Lingao was a remote and small county, there were not many gentry in total. Some lived in remote areas that the pirates couldn’t reach and so didn’t come. Others had built their own fortified villages and recruited local militias, and at this time, they had to stay and defend them, so it was inconvenient for them to come. Only the gentry in the county town and a few surrounding districts, whose interests were at stake, naturally came.

Seeing that most of the people had arrived, Wu Mingjin asked the secretary beside him in a low voice, “Has Mr. Liu arrived yet?”

“Your Excellency, Instructor Feng has gone to pick him up personally. He will be here shortly.”

He nodded and looked over the gentry in the flower hall. There were already more than a dozen people sitting there. Some were arrogant, some were obsequious, and some were pretending to be profound, stroking their beards and saying nothing.

“Esteemed elders,” Wu Mingjin said, dispensing with pleasantries and getting straight to the point. “The current situation is this: a large force of pirates is entrenched at Bopu and shows no sign of leaving. The harbor is full of giant ships and fast boats. Tomorrow, they will surely sail up the river, plundering as they go. The situation is critical! Adjutant Wu risked his life to go out of the city for help today, and tomorrow thirty soldiers from the garrison will arrive. However, the garrison soldiers can only be used to bolster our numbers; we absolutely cannot rely on them!”

His words were stern, and the listeners couldn’t help but stir uneasily. Wu Ya knew this was just a common tactic of beating the grass to scare the snake. By exaggerating the danger to the extreme, the goal was none other than to compel these gentry to donate grain and silver. As the long-serving county adjutant, he was well aware that the court’s finances were in a state of extreme decay. Lingao had suffered from a typhoon and flood last year, and most of the autumn harvest was lost, but the three major taxes levied by the court were not waived. The county was already in dire straits, and even the salaries for the militiamen and archers were several months in arrears. Now they had to defend against a pirate attack, request reinforcements, and recruit more militiamen, all of which cost money.

Seeing that the group was uneasy, Magistrate Wu said slowly, “I have been entrusted with this post and have the responsibility to defend this land. I will live or die with this city. You are all either hereditary beneficiaries of the state’s grace, or the gentry of this city, or have passed the imperial examinations. The duty of defending the city is yours as well. I ask you all to work with me, with one heart and one mind, to defend this city together, repel the pirate attack, and ensure the safety of all the officials, gentry, and common people of the city. What are your thoughts?”

The crowd hurriedly stood up and said, “We will follow Your Excellency’s lead!”

Seeing that the atmosphere was good, Wu Mingjin then revealed his plan. “Although this is a small town, its circumference is over 600 zhang. We currently have just over a hundred soldiers and militiamen in the city. We have to defend three gates, and many common people have flooded into the city. We cannot guarantee there are no pirate spies among them. Relying on the yamen runners alone to maintain order may not be enough. I wish to recruit two hundred more militiamen to help defend the city.”

[Note: Lingao County in the Ming Dynasty originally had four gates, but the north gate was permanently blocked. This was a characteristic of Hainan’s Ming Dynasty cities, said to be for defense against pirates, as well as for feng shui reasons.]

One gentleman said, “Your Excellency’s loyalty is truly a blessing for all the officials, gentry, and people of the city. But the pirates are currently only at Bopu and have not made any move to enter the county. Recruiting more militiamen, might that not cause a panic?”

Another quickly added, “Recruiting militiamen for defense is a good strategy, but after last year’s typhoon and flood, the people’s livelihood is in decline. Unless it is a moment of extreme crisis, we should not resort to such a measure that would disturb the gentry and the people!”

These cunning gentry all had looks of difficulty on their faces. They began to complain one after another, about the heavy taxes imposed by the court, the disaster last year, and how many of their tenant farmers had starved to death or fled…

Some also said that the patrol boats of the Qiongya Brigade Commander would surely arrive at Bopu within three days. Once the government forces arrived, even if the pirates didn’t flee, General Tang had a duty to defend the land and would surely lead the troops from the Baisha naval base to attack them.

Wu Mingjin’s face grew darker and darker. Suddenly, he heard a voice from outside the door. “The city is in imminent danger, and you are all still stingy with a little money!” As he spoke, Instructor Feng entered with two attendants, carrying a middle-aged man in a rattan chair. Everyone hurriedly stood up to greet him with great respect. Even Magistrate Wu hurried forward, repeatedly addressing him as “Old Sir.”

This paralyzed middle-aged man was the famous Liu Dalin of Lingao history, courtesy name Mengliang. He had passed the metropolitan examination in the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the first jinshi from Lingao since the county was established in the Tang Dynasty. However, he became paralyzed shortly after passing the exam and thus never held an official post.

He was now just over forty, in the prime of his life. Although his body was paralyzed and he could not walk, he was still very enthusiastic about local affairs. His home was just inside the west gate of the county town. As soon as he heard Magistrate Wu’s invitation, he came without hesitation.

Wu Mingjin said, “Old Sir, what good strategy do you have for this?”

Liu Dalin said, “The militiamen must be recruited. The pirates are not moving now, but does that mean they won’t move tomorrow? How can a large pirate force mobilize just to occupy Bopu? Bopu is only thirty li from here. The pirates could arrive by noon if they set out in the morning. When the army is at our gates, and all is lost, will your family fortunes still be safe?”

He shifted his body, and his servant quickly helped him adjust his position. “The military is in a state of decay now, and you still count on General Tang’s troops?! Haven’t you all heard the scouts’ reports? The pirates are all on large iron ships that move freely without sails or oars. Even if the entire Baisha naval base came, what could they do?”

Hearing this, the faces of the crowd turned another shade grayer. A gentleman whispered, “If even the government soldiers are useless, what can a few recruited militiamen do?”

“Since ancient times, there have been many cases where local militias and braves were better than government soldiers! The former are just seeking a salary to make a living, while the latter are defending their hometown. How can they be compared?” Liu Jinshi spoke eloquently. “The plan now is to rely on ourselves rather than others.” He cupped his hands towards Wu Mingjin. “Your Excellency, Dalin believes that recruiting local braves for defense is only one matter.” He then laid out the several countermeasures he had been contemplating all day:

1. Send people to the villages and districts to inform the local gentry to recruit local braves and build earthen walls for self-defense.
2. Implement a scorched-earth policy. For villages and market towns that are too small to defend themselves, or villages in places where the main pirate force might pass, evacuate all people, property, grain, chickens, ducks, and livestock into the county town.
3. Conduct a census and strictly enforce the curfew to prevent pirate spies from infiltrating the city.
4. Send scouts to monitor the movements of the pirates at Bopu day and night.
5. Send a brave warrior with dozens of local braves to the main roads outside the city. If any lone pirates are caught plundering, they should be captured or killed. If the pirates have no food for a long time, they will naturally retreat.
6. Recruit more militiamen. The areas outside the city cannot be abandoned either. A stockade should be erected outside each of the three city gates to aid in defense.

After speaking, he added, “Dalin is willing to donate thirty shi of grain!”

With the county’s only jinshi making such a statement, the others had to show something as well. They began to pledge ten shi here, five taels there. In a short time, they had collected three hundred shi of grain and one hundred taels of silver. Seeing Liu Jinshi being so public-spirited, offering both plans and donations, Wu Mingjin offered countless compliments and invited him to stay in the yamen as an advisor. Liu Dalin did not refuse and took up residence in the yamen. The gentry then went off to raise the silver and grain.

Wu Ya organized the male refugees who had entered the city, from sixteen to sixty years old, into groups of ten, assigning them to the four gates to repair the city walls and transport bricks, stones, and rolling logs. The students of the county school were responsible for defending sections of the city wall. The students were all young and strong, their youthful fire not yet faded, their minds full of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and the ambition to defend their hometown. At this critical moment, each of them wore old armor taken from the county armory, topped with rusty iron helmets, and carried rusty sabers and swords, shouting orders on the wall, each looking majestic. It was just that the weapons taken from the county armory were all rotten and unusable, and blacksmiths and carpenters were temporarily called in to rush repairs.

On each of the four city gates, there were originally two “Tiger Squat” cannons, all made during the Zhengde era. Fortunately, they had all been fired during the Wanli era, which meant the cannons could still make a sound. Even a civil official like Wu Mingjin knew that these things were just for show and couldn’t be relied upon.

The officials discussed that with so many refugees in the city, a slight misstep could trigger a popular uprising. So they ordered the Master of Records and the county school’s Instructor and Director of Studies to set up soup kitchens in front of the Confucian temple and to boil herbal tea for drinking. The Master of Law led the yamen runners to patrol the streets and suppress the populace. Originally, Magistrate Wu had wanted to execute someone to establish his authority, but he was dissuaded by Liu Jinshi, who said that it was not appropriate to kill at this time, lest it fail to establish authority and instead provoke a popular uprising. However, the beatings with the cane became more frequent, and the sound of bamboo hitting flesh and the miserable cries and pleas of the unlucky ones could be heard all over the street. The common people stood silently in the cold autumn night wind.

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At this time, in a narrow alley behind the county yamen in the northern part of the city, a faint light shone from a residence. The courtyard was silent. A lantern was placed on the wellhead, and next to the lantern were several iron chests. A man and a woman sat on the bluestone slab of the well platform, staring blankly at a tall kapok tree by the well, not saying a word for a long time. The autumn night was already chilling, and both were wrapped in felt blankets.

The man used a rope and grapple to lower the chests one by one into the well. When a chest entered the water, he would shake the rope to release the grapple. With a gurgle from the well, it would disappear from sight.

The woman stood up from the side, shook out her long skirt, and finally spoke. “Is it safe here? My heart trembles when I think of it—this is the savings of several generations of our family…”

The middle-aged man sneered, bent down to move the lantern, and said in a low voice, “Even if the pirates break the city, it will take more than a day to drain this well. It is extremely deep. Without this grapple, no one but a god could retrieve them.”

He thought for a moment, then removed the iron parts of the grapple and hid them under the kapok tree, coiling the rope up again. He said to the woman, “Tomorrow morning, you take the family and go back to your parents’ house. Chengxuan and I will stay in the city.”

“And you?”

“What are you afraid of? With my brothers to protect me, it won’t be difficult to escape with my life even if the city falls. Chengxuan is a student at the county school; he can’t leave. Magistrate Wu has had his eye on our family for a long time. If Chengxuan runs away, he will definitely use it as an excuse to strip him of his academic title.”

He stood up and clapped his hands. “I just had the Lai brothers send money to Magistrate Wu. I also donated twenty taels, and privately gifted another ten…”

“Thirty taels?!” the woman exclaimed, the pain evident on her face.

“Hehe, don’t worry, wife.” The man had a confident look on his face. “If the city doesn’t fall, on account of these thirty taels, the contract for the autumn grain tax collection in the county’s capital district will fall into my hands again, and the profit will be great. If the city falls…” he chuckled, “I have dozens of brothers. It won’t be hard to pull a job in the chaos before we leave.”

He looked up at the starless, moonless night sky. “Hmph, how can I, Gou Dahù, be an ordinary person who panics?”