Chapter 64: Gou Family Village (Part 1)

While the Saltworks Task Force was in full swing, preparations for the “hunting” operation to eliminate the great landlord Gou were also underway. Xi Yazhou wanted it done as soon as possible—there were still many villagers imprisoned in Gou’s private jail in Gou Family Village. However, the Executive Committee was in no hurry. After all, the people of Saltworks Village were no relatives of theirs. Everything had to be thoroughly investigated first. After two or three days of investigation, the Committee learned that this man was a universally despised character. The term “local tyrant and evil gentry” fit him perfectly. Eliminating him would satisfy everyone in the county, from top to bottom. Although the great landlord Gou hadn’t provoked this group of time-traveling bandits—at most, he had only used their name to swindle and bluff—the transmigrators urgently needed to project an image of being great, glorious, and correct, and incidentally, improve their own meals. Thus, the fate of the great landlord Gou was sealed.

The immediate reason for eliminating the great landlord Gou was his attempt to control the saltworks. However, the Executive Committee did not assign this task directly to the task force. Instead, a separate team was formed to handle the matter, led by Comrade Wu De, who had extensive experience dealing with the locals.

Some of the bachelors from Wu De’s production team had already returned. With few ties, they went back, packed up their meager belongings, and those who were long-term laborers simply resigned from their masters’ service. As for their wages, none of the masters dared to withhold them. Everyone knew these poor brutes were going to work for the “short hairs,” and if they were to speak ill of their former masters to them, there would be hell to pay.

Wu De selected a few of these men, disguised them as peddlers and short-term laborers, and sent them out to gather intelligence on the great landlord Gou and the situation in the county. He himself didn’t stay idle either; he got in a vehicle and went directly to the county seat.

At the south gate of the county seat, he ran into Inspector Fu. This inspector from the Bopu Inspection Office was the only one dissatisfied with the current situation—his yamen was gone, and he had no way to explain it. So, for days, he had been visiting Zhang Youfu, begging him to go to Bairen Beach to mediate and get his yamen back. He even promised to split the “gray income” of the Inspection Office fifty-fifty.

Zhang Youfu, being a shrewd man, would never get involved in such matters. He kept making excuses about his poor health and refused to go. Inspector Fu couldn’t force him and could only stand guard at the county gate every day with a long face—a temporary job assigned to him by County Magistrate Wu.

Seeing the “short hair” leader suddenly appear, Inspector Fu was startled. Fortunately, he could manage a few sentences of Mandarin. After some gesturing and communication, Inspector Fu understood that the man wanted to see the County Magistrate.

The Kun bandit leader wanting to see the County Magistrate surprised Inspector Fu. However, he didn’t dare to be negligent. He quickly ran to the county yamen to report to Magistrate Wu. This news frightened Wu Mingjin, leaving him cold from head to toe. He had already sent people to the provincial capital to arrange for a transfer, but before anything was settled, the Kun bandits came knocking. What was he to do? To meet them would risk being suspected of colluding with bandits. Not to meet them, and the county was as vulnerable as a naked maiden. In the city, there were no militiamen, and even the yamen runners were out in the countryside collecting the autumn grain tax.

He hurriedly summoned his advisor. The advisor’s idea was straightforward: it was inconvenient for the magistrate to appear officially, so he, as a private representative, should go and see what the other party wanted. After all, the advisor was just a private employee of the magistrate, which gave him more room to maneuver.

Wu De’s demands were simple: to collect the salt tax on behalf of the government and to form a militia. This put Advisor Wang in a difficult position. Saltworks Village wanting to form a militia was a small matter; the county was full of local militias. One more or one less wouldn’t be a problem, and the petition was indeed written by the villagers of Saltworks Village. But the Gou family would not be happy about this.

The county was well aware of the Gou family’s doings, but the magistrate generally had no way to deal with such a local tyrant. Moreover, in a small, remote county like this, it was good enough that the Gou family didn’t openly rebel.

Collecting the salt tax and forming a militia in Saltworks Village—anyone with a little knowledge of the county’s affairs could see that this group of “short hairs” was preparing to snatch the meat from the Gou family’s mouth.

The problem was that the county could afford to offend neither the Gou family nor the “short hairs.” Comparatively, the “short hairs” were even less to be trifled with. After consulting with County Magistrate Wu, Advisor Wang gave a flexible reply:

“The salt tax silver is due on the first day of the eleventh month. Whoever delivers it first gets the contract.”

The implication was: you can have a fair competition, and the government won’t interfere. Whoever wins gets the reward for collecting the salt tax. As for forming a militia, the county had no objection; they could go ahead and do it.

After reaching this tacit understanding, Wu De took his leave and returned to begin preparations for the attack on Gou Family Village.

When it came to providing information about the Gou family, Zhang Xingjiao, a native of Gou Family Village himself, offered the most. However, the Executive Committee did not fully trust his intelligence—people with a grudge often exaggerate or downplay certain details. Wu De still wanted to understand the basic situation for himself.

After sending people out to investigate, it was discovered that Gou Family Village was not actually its real name. Its true name was Damei Village. This village was located in the Gaoshanling area, northwest of Lingao. The Gou family were outsiders to the village, but they were no ordinary outsiders. They were remnants from the suppression of the Wokou pirates in Zhejiang and Fujian. (Don’t think for a moment that the Gou family are descendants of the Japanese. The Wokou raids of the Ming Dynasty were always led by Chinese bosses, with the Japanese being mere hired hands, and not even high-level ones at that. They were basically the ones who charged first in battle and covered the retreat. The ancestor of the Gou family was at least a minor leader, not so insignificant.) He didn’t flee alone; he brought many of his followers with him. Arriving at this village, he found that although it was close to the county seat, it was situated in a mountainous area, easy to defend, and also near the coast. So he settled down, killed or drove out the original landlords, and brazenly became the new landlord. His power gradually expanded, and he vaguely became a local hegemon. Damei Village thus became known as Gou Family Village.

The mountain village didn’t have much arable land; the Gou family themselves only owned about a hundred mu. But they were powerful and tyrannical. Although they held no official titles, they used both hard and soft tactics to force landowners outside the village to pledge allegiance and their land to them. Gradually, the land under their name grew to nearly a thousand mu. In recent years, as taxes became heavier, many farming households voluntarily placed themselves under the Gou family’s protection. Although they were severely exploited, they could at least eke out a meager living.

The Gou family relied on these lands, collecting large amounts of rent annually and practicing usury, accumulating considerable wealth. The fortified village had over two hundred households, with a population of more than a thousand men, women, and children. The village was situated on a small, not particularly steep, hill. However, it had numerous local militiamen and retainers, most of whom were desperate fugitives from the mainland, homeless bachelors. The village was heavily fortified with two earthen walls. The outer ring housed the ordinary villagers, tenants, and farmhands, while the inner ring contained the residences of the dozen or so core Gou family households. It was guarded by specially trained retainers, and no one who wasn’t a familiar face from the village could enter the inner fortress.

What was even more impressive was that the Gou family continued their ancestral pirate tradition. Although they didn’t engage in piracy themselves, they colluded with small bands of pirates at sea. They couldn’t latch onto major figures like Liu Laoxiang, but small-time pirates were as numerous as hairs on an ox. Although pirates made their living at sea, they still needed to come ashore for fresh water, to fence their stolen goods, and to recover from injuries and illnesses. Therefore, regardless of their size, pirates needed a safe house on shore. The Gou family provided just such a safe house. However, they had their principles: they never fenced stolen goods locally in Lingao. Firstly, the place was small and lacked purchasing power. Secondly, they wanted to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities. According to the intelligence gathered, the stolen goods all went to Qiongshan. This local wealthy family, surprisingly, had business dealings in Qiongshan. Their awareness of a market economy seemed quite strong.

Although Qiongshan was more prosperous and bustling than Lingao, it was still just the capital of Qiongzhou Prefecture. The Executive Committee’s intelligence team deduced that the Gou family’s business in Qiongshan was merely a front for selling stolen goods to the mainland.

To ascertain the specific situation and defenses of Gou Family Village, Wu De requested that a professional reconnaissance team be dispatched. Bei Wei was not in Bairen City, but the reconnaissance team he had single-handedly trained was already taking shape. On Bei Wei’s recommendation, Xue Ziliang was chosen to lead the mission. This prompted another round of protests to the Executive Committee, with some arguing that such an important military matter should not be entrusted to this “ABC” (American-Born Chinese). Fortunately, he had the recommendation of a heavyweight military leader like Bei Wei; otherwise, he would have undoubtedly been accused of colluding with foreign powers and fawning over foreign things.

For Xue Ziliang, a reconnaissance mission like this was child’s play. However, his attitude was still very serious. After all, this was the first time the organization had given him full responsibility, and he had to succeed without any mistakes. Ye Mengyan also finally got his first real mission. He immediately decked himself out in all the personal gear from his luggage: jungle BDUs, US military LC-1 individual equipment—a mix of authentic and replica, real and fake, all piled onto his body. To someone like Xue Ziliang, who was used to genuine articles, this hodgepodge of gear looked extremely amateurish. With a Type 80 helmet on his head and an SKS rifle in his hands, he looked like a South American guerrilla fighter.

“You don’t need all that gear. Our reconnaissance mission is very simple.”

Although Xue Ziliang was not well-liked by the nationalists, he was very popular in Bei Wei’s reconnaissance team—talented and capable people can stand out anywhere. He was different from Bei Wei. While Bei Wei had a solid foundation in reconnaissance skills, he had zero combat experience. Xue Ziliang, on the other hand, had knocked around in the Middle East and had been on numerous real-life missions. In terms of combat experience, besides He Ming who had fought the “Vietnamese devils,” there was really no one else. The young men who were military enthusiasts were particularly fond of this, so Xue Ziliang often catered to their interests by recounting his combat experiences and various anecdotes from the US military. He was sociable and had grown up in America, inheriting the American tradition of being talkative. The nightlife in Lingao was dull and boring, so listening to his stories became the reconnaissance team’s only evening entertainment.

“Then what should I bring?” Little Ye was reluctant; if he couldn’t show off his gear, he would have brought it for nothing.

“Your usual equipment is fine.” Xue Ziliang knew that the rest didn’t matter much. The key was to find a guide; Damei Village couldn’t be found on a 21st-century printed map.