Chapter 241: The Autumn Levy (Part 6)

Thinking of the fate of the Gou family’s estate, Huang Bingkun couldn’t help but feel a chill. Not only had his third brother died at the hands of the ‘Kunzei,’ but were they now going to wipe out their family?

He thought about how his father had suddenly sent his eldest brother and his son to the prefectural city a few days ago to buy land and set up a new estate, taking a large amount of silver with them. He had been puzzled at the time; the family had no plans to buy land, and his eldest brother, the head of the village militia, rarely left the estate, let alone for such a long period. Could it be that his father had already made the worst-case plans and was preparing an escape route for the Huang family in the prefectural city?

He broke out in a cold sweat. He said carefully, “Father, should we repair the village walls…”

After the defeat at Bairen Beach, although Huang Shoutong was injured, he had been constantly concerned with his family’s defense, guarding against retaliation from the ‘Kunzei.’ In the past few months, the village walls had been raised, watchtowers had been built, cannons and muskets had been acquired from the mainland, and large quantities of gunpowder and shot had been collected and manufactured. They had stockpiled grain and dug several new wells.

The militia had been on high alert day and night, their weapons by their sides. These tense days had lasted for a long time, only ending after the Lingao Political Consultative Conference was held.

Since he had reported on the situation at the conference, his father had paid less attention to the defense of Huang Family Village, only focusing on the usual raids by bandits and pirates. Huang Bingkun also knew that no matter how well the village walls were built, they couldn’t withstand the ‘Kunzei’s’ cannons. If they wanted to destroy his family, they could do it anytime, anywhere.

The feeling of being at the mercy of others was not a pleasant one. For months, the Huang father and son had been secretly discussing how to deal with the ‘Kunzei.’

Temporarily retracting their claws and lying low was naturally the best choice for now, but they believed the ‘Kunzei’ would not let them off. The long-term solution, of course, was to bring in the government troops to suppress them, which would solve the problem once and for all.

The government troops of the prefecture were theoretically spread throughout the island, and the county also had its own garrisons. But the only ones who could truly be called capable of fighting were the more than two thousand government troops of the Baisha Naval Base at the Haikou Chiliarchy in Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Although the Huang family was highly regarded in Lingao, they were ultimately just local squires. Not only would the garrison commander in Qiongshan County, Tang, not give him any face, but even the local chiliarchs and centurions couldn’t be bothered with him. Huang Shoutong had had enough of their disdain since he was a young man.

They had no ability but were arrogant; they were incompetent themselves but wouldn’t allow others to show their skills; they were unwilling to do anything but eager to claim credit. This was the general conclusion Huang Shoutong had drawn after decades of cooperation with the government troops. Except for suppressing the Li people’s uprisings, where the rebels had few iron weapons and used bamboo and wood as arms, and the government troops could be considered brave, their performance at other times was truly unimpressive.

Even if Commander Tang was willing to mobilize his entire force, he would be no match for this group of ‘Kunzei.’ To annihilate the ‘Kunzei,’ a province-wide joint suppression would be necessary, requiring four to six thousand combat troops and two to three hundred large warships. Huang Shoutong himself was startled by these numbers. That would mean mobilizing ten to twenty thousand men!

This was far beyond Huang Shoutong’s capabilities. So, the matter had cooled down.

Now, seeing that they were about to become the chicken to be killed, the Huang father and son couldn’t help but put this matter back on their agenda.

“Repairing the village walls is a waste of effort,” Huang Shoutong said. “We still need to ask the government troops to come and suppress them.”

“That’s a difficult matter—” Huang Bingkun had thought about it before, but still couldn’t come up with a good way to get the government troops to move.

“We can’t do it on our own, of course, but what about all the gentry in the county?” Huang Shoutong said. “Aren’t they going to conduct a land survey now? Will the gentry and large households be willing? If we act as intermediaries, perhaps we can get everyone to write a joint petition.”

A petition from all the gentry of the county to the province was no small matter. Whether it was the governor-general or the provincial governor, they would have to take a stance. If they then sent people to lobby, the matter of the government troops’ suppression might have a chance.

“I’ll send people to lobby right away!” Huang Bingkun, being young, was ready to act as soon as he heard there was hope.

“Wait!” Huang Shoutong stopped him. “No hurry. Right now, not everyone has seen the true face of the ‘Kunzei.’ Many probably haven’t woken up yet and are planning to compromise. When Old Eighth and his gang have made Lingao a place of public outrage, everyone will naturally be united.”

“Father’s teachings are wise!”

“Also, starting tomorrow, you will go back to the county school to study. Listen to what the scholars are saying and stir up some trouble. If all the scholars in the county can also write a petition, this matter will be even more certain.”

“Good. After you return to the county town, go and see Mr. Liu,” Huang Shoutong instructed him. “Ask him his thoughts—you can be direct with Mr. Liu. He probably doesn’t have much land of his own, but the amount of land entrusted to his name is likely not small. He can’t stay out of this.”

“I understand, son.”

“And Zhang Youfu, you must also visit him a few times.”

“That man is wholeheartedly working for the ‘Kunzei.’ To visit him…”

“Hmph, Zhang Youfu is an old fox. He might not really sell himself out. In any case, we don’t expect him to help with this matter—he’s close to the ‘Kunzei.’ You should visit him more often and sound him out.”

In the past few days, all the landowners of any scale in the county had been living in a state of panic. As soon as night fell, the heads of the households would gather under the lamps, whispering and discussing countermeasures for the land survey. Valuables that had been dug up were now being buried again. Some sent people to hastily buy boat tickets to Qiongshan, sending their chests and luggage to relatives in Qiongshan County and neighboring counties.

The passenger tickets of the Gaoguang Shipping Company suddenly became very popular. This abnormal phenomenon was immediately reported to the Political Security Directorate by both the port affairs office and the shipping company. Ran Yao didn’t dare to be negligent and quickly sent people to investigate.

“Capital flight?” Wu De glanced at Zhou Botao, who had rushed in to report to him.

“That’s right. After the tax demand notes were issued, the landowners in the county have been in a state of unrest. The phenomenon of transferring property to other counties is very serious.”

“Hmm, let them transfer it then,” Wu De said. “They can’t take the land with them anyway, and we don’t really care about silver and copper coins.”

“You mean—”

“Their voluntary departure from Lingao is not a bad thing for us,” Wu De said, looking at the report.

The large households couldn’t take the land, nor could they take the long-term laborers and tenants. The land and population left behind would naturally become their property. Unfortunately, most would still try to hold their ground—that was fine too. Let Chen Minggang and his gang stir up some trouble and put some pressure on them.

“Damn, so you have this trick up your sleeve. It’s a land reform in disguise, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not land reform,” Wu De shook his head. “This is just a side effect.” He then asked, “Is the surveillance report out?”

“It’s out,” Zhou Botao said, taking out a few sheets of paper.

“Any important intel?”

“There’s something you’ll definitely be interested in,” Zhou Botao said. “Huang Bingkun, the son of the militia leader Huang Shoutong who fought us last year, has returned to the county school to study.”

“Oh, that imposing old fellow who charged across the ditch and fell off his horse after holding on for a few minutes.” Wu De still remembered the old man—he had left a deep impression on the transmigrators back then. “I remember he didn’t die.”

“He was slightly injured and ran away. He’s been much more honest since then. During the consultative conference, he sent his second son, this Huang Bingkun, to attend. He was very cooperative on both the reasonable burden and the bandit suppression.”

“And then?”

Zhou Botao handed over the Huang family’s file. “It looks like this old fellow has some tricks up his sleeve.”

Wu De opened the surveillance report. Zhou Botao explained, “Huang Bingkun claims to be here to study at the county school, but he’s just an supplementary student. He hasn’t come since the county school was repaired. His sudden appearance this time is very suspicious.”

The report listed how he had immediately visited several of the county’s main gentry after arriving in the county town, and had also visited Liu Dalin, with whom he talked for nearly two hours. An informant among the county school’s janitors also reported that during breaks, Huang Bingkun always intentionally or unintentionally discussed the autumn levy with the scholars.

“Indeed, very suspicious.”

“And the Huang family should be considered the most dangerous ‘reactionary elements’,” Zhou Botao said eloquently. “According to Zhang Youfu’s denunciation, Huang Shoutong and Liu Dalin were the two most active in taking hostile actions after D-Day. And the Huang family has a personal feud with us—their third son was killed by Guo Yi. So, Huang Bingkun’s actions this time are very likely to have ulterior motives.”

“Then keep an eye on him and see what he’s up to,” Wu De said with a smile. “Actually, I don’t mind a few loyal and righteous men from the large households.”

“We’re not dealing with him now?”

“Just keep an eye on him. Don’t let him cause trouble. Right now, we’re dealing with the yamen runners. It’s not the turn of the gentry and large households yet.”

After dealing with Chen Minggang and his gang of yamen runners, the next step was to deal with a few disobedient large households to serve as a warning. This was the Executive Committee’s established goal. Boiling the frog in warm water, one by one.

“How’s the work on Zhou Qi?”

“The rumors have been spread, and we’ve put someone on him,” Zhou Botao said. “We haven’t found any hanky-panky between Zhou Qi and Qiuhong for now…”

“If there’s no hanky-panky, we need to create some!”

“Well—” Zhou Botao knew what he meant, but it wasn’t easy. The ancients weren’t fools. If it was done too crudely, people might not believe it. “I’ll think about it again.”

“Hurry up. Recently, Zhou Qi and his master have had more opportunities to be alone. It’s the perfect time to frame him.” Wu De planned to create a serious rift between Zhou Qi and his master, and then win him over.

One purpose of winning over Zhou Qi was to have him serve as a consultant. The old tax collection system’s flaws, the methods of cheating… these were the secrets of that particular trade, things that couldn’t be learned from reading any number of ancient books. Zhou Qi had been with Chen Minggang for over a decade and must have accumulated a great deal of knowledge in this area.

Another purpose was to have him expose others during the purge of the yamen runners. Since Zhou Qi was Chen Minggang’s eldest apprentice, he must know a lot about the ugly affairs of the yamen runners, which would be excellent material for discrediting them. People generally connect private morality with public affairs. Scandals in private life could not only be used to take people down but could also make the process enjoyable for the masses.