Chapter 106: The Prisoners

The captured government soldiers were held in several places. The wounded were all sent to the Army and Navy Hospital in Ma Niao, and the identified civil and military officials were also held in a special concentration camp in Ma Niao. As for the vast majority of the soldier prisoners, they were waiting for disposal in the temporary prisoner of war camp in Chengmai.

The prisoner of war camp was crowded. The prisoners had already had their heads shaved and had undergone a preliminary purification. Their armor and uniforms had been stripped from them, and they were now all wearing “purification clothes.” These so-called purification clothes were made of “recycled cloth,” of poor quality, and their style was extremely simple, almost like a sack with three holes for the arms and head. Of course, there were no shoes or socks, only a pair of straw sandals for each person. On their chests and backs were personal identification numbers composed of English letters and Arabic numerals.

Fortunately, it was summer in Hainan, so even being naked would not cause them to freeze.

With such attire, let alone escaping, even straying a little far would be immediately discovered.

The commander of the prisoner of war camp was Yuan Qiushi. This person had previously served as Wu De’s guard and deputy, and had seen and heard a lot about how Wu De dealt with prisoners and laborers. Although his position as the head of the labor camp was later replaced by Yang He, he was still an experienced hand. And because he was young and strong, a newborn calf who feared nothing and had no taboos, he was the type of person who was particularly cruel and ruthless to the enemy.

Wu De had specifically appointed this person as the commander of the prisoner of war camp with the intention of taming the arrogance of the old soldiers. As soon as the purification was completed, he had a gallows erected in the middle of the prisoner of war camp and then posted various regulations.

Although the building materials of the prisoner of war camp were only straw and bamboo poles, the straw huts were all neatly arranged, and all the facilities were complete. The most severe control was implemented here. Prisoners had to completely obey all the instructions of the prisoner of war camp guards. Any defiance would result in hanging. In the first few days, more than ten people were hanged every day. Then, suddenly, no one was executed anymore, and the entire prisoner of war camp operated completely according to the system.

At the beginning, the food was very poor, a thin gruel with more water than rice. The purpose was to prevent the prisoners from eating too much and causing trouble, and at the same time to wear down their will to resist.

At this time, the obviously weakened prisoners were lining up in more than ten long queues, entering a wooden house one by one for interrogation.

The interrogation was carried out by personnel sent by the Political Security General Bureau. The prisoners, after a few days of this life, had been trained to be obedient and to tell the truth.

The content of the interrogation was nothing more than basic information such as name, age, place of origin, family situation, level of education, whose subordinate they were, what year they joined the army, what kind of soldier they were, and what kind of weapon they used. This was followed by the specific skills the soldiers possessed: what they did for a living before joining the army—whether they were carpenters, blacksmiths, or artisans.

The soldiers with handicraft skills were gathered separately. They could be exempted from the hard labor of road construction and were organized into a special labor camp to engage in professional production. Yi Longwen proposed that it was a waste to send the prisoners with certain skills to build roads. It would be better to organize them into a special prisoner labor camp to engage in professional labor in the prisoner of war camp.

Through interrogation, Yi Longwen also identified all the prisoners who were from Hainan Island. According to the policy, local prisoners were to be released on the spot. The other prisoners watched with envy as the militia and garrison soldiers from Qiongzhou Prefecture were gathered together, then received their personal belongings back. Each local soldier and militiaman also received one tael of silver as a demobilization fee. Then they were released in batches.

Many prisoners, connecting this with the fact that the local militia and garrison soldiers had been unwilling to fight hard during the battle and had been the first to collapse during the retreat, became more and more suspicious of collusion. Although Tang Yunwen’s unit was a regular army unit, the vast majority of his men were locals, so his subordinates benefited greatly and were also all released. This further strengthened the idea among many prisoners that “Tang Yunwen was in collusion with the rebels.”

This sentiment was discovered and reported by the spies scattered among the prisoners. Zhao Manxiong decided to use this to his advantage and sow some discord, at least to make Tang Yunwen and his subordinates untrustworthy to the government in the future.

After Lu Yizhong was captured during the breakout, he was identified by the Ming army prisoners and then placed in the temporary prisoner of war camp in Chengmai as an important prisoner, awaiting the first batch of transfers. Besides him, there were also the captured aides. In addition to those captured during the final breakout, some had also been captured or killed in the main camp and elsewhere. In the end, about twenty-odd civilian prisoners were sent to Ma Niao.

These twenty-odd prisoners were terrified and had been running for a day. Their legs were sore and they could not walk. Many were also lightly injured. Yi Longwen, who was in charge of escorting the prisoners, felt that if he forced them to walk, some might die on the way. So he selected dozens of strong officers from among those who were to be escorted to the Ma Niao concentration camp and had them carry the aides in sedan chairs—the sedan chairs were also captured—all the way to Ma Niao. This immediately caused great resentment among the captured officers. Some even threatened to drop the “sour scholars” to their deaths while carrying the sedan chairs.

Of course, no one dared to actually do it. The executioners with their executioner’s swords, who were always ready to chop off heads, were obviously very happy to serve their new masters immediately. The day before they set out, several officers were immediately dragged out and beheaded for “roaring and being disrespectful.” The warriors, who seemed reckless and rude, were actually not stupid at all and immediately became obedient.

The aides and officers were placed in huts in groups of ten. After Lu Yizhong and the others were “purified” and returned to their rooms in a sorry state, everyone stared at each other. Lu Yizhong was older, had been an official, and was also an aide sent by the Viceroy. His status was higher than the others. Even after being captured and in a sorry state, everyone still maintained a certain degree of respect for him. Suddenly, like everyone else, his head was shaved, his hair and his majestic beard were all gone, making him look ten years younger, and he was wearing a sack. Although everyone did not burst out laughing, they all couldn’t help but snicker.

Only Qian Taichong said angrily, “A disgrace to the scholarly class! A disgrace to the scholarly class!”

Qian Taichong was also captured during the breakout. He could have escaped, but Chang Qingyun’s horse was shot and fell. Qian Taichong happened to be passing by and dismounted to help, but his horse was taken by someone else, and both he and Chang Qingyun were captured.

The moment he faced the rebels’ gleaming bayonets, Qian Taichong drew his sword to commit suicide. The few soldiers who were about to capture him, seeing that he was about to commit suicide, actually held back their bayonets for a moment, as if to let him have his way. But Qian Taichong raised his sword several times, and each time he brought it to his throat, he thought of his parents, wife, and children at home, and in the end, he could not bring himself to die.

The few soldiers, seeing that he had raised his sword several times and was still not dead, cursed and knocked his sword away, then tied him up and took him away.

Qian Taichong was filled with shame and anger. Before the retreat, he had thought that if he failed to break out, he would immediately commit suicide and not suffer humiliation. But when it really came time to die, he could not do it and was even cursed by a few crude rebel soldiers. This great shame made his lips tremble. Seeing the bodies of men and horses and the discarded armor and weapons all along the road, and the government soldiers being driven away in strings, Qian Taichong suddenly made a dash and fled to the east. He knew he could not escape. There were rebel soldiers everywhere. He only hoped that the rebels would kill him and grant him a martyr’s death.

He was indeed captured. After running for more than ten paces, he fell because his arms were tied and he lost his balance. When the soldiers tried to pull him up, Qian Taichong cursed righteously and without end, only asking for a quick death.

But what he got was not a sword or spear that would grant him martyrdom, but a horsewhip. After being whipped seven or eight times, the pain was unbearable, and he was finally forced to stand up and return to the ranks of the prisoners. This time, he was tied together with the other prisoners and driven back to Chengmai for more than ten li under the whip and bayonet.

They did not stay in Chengmai for many days before being transferred to Ma Niao.

“This is Ma Niao of Lin Gao County!” the rebel who came to receive the prisoners said arrogantly to them. “You have arrived in Lin Gao—but only as prisoners!”

This humiliation was nothing compared to the “purification” process that followed. Whether it was Qian Taichong, Lu Yizhong, or the other aides, they had all imagined that the rebels would give them, the scholar-aides, some preferential treatment—the fact that they were sent here in sedan chairs was proof. They had thought that after arriving at the place of detention, they would be treated with courtesy, given a bath and a change of clothes, and then a simple but comfortable accommodation—perhaps a small courtyard of a wealthy local family, or at worst, a temple. Some even thought that the rebels would not only give them good living conditions but might even have beautiful boys and girls to serve them. They knew that the rebels did not have many scholars, and now that they had captured so many at once, wouldn’t they treat them with courtesy to show their eagerness for talent?

But not only was there no courtesy, but they were also greatly humiliated. When Qian Taichong staggered into the barracks, his heart felt as if it had been plunged into an ice cellar.

There was no “small courtyard of a local wealthy family” or “temple house,” but a long, rectangular wooden house. The house was empty, with ten double-decker beds arranged in it, with only straw mats on them. There was no other furniture.

Such a simple house, coupled with everything he had suffered, where was there any sign of them being treated preferentially!

The captured aides sat on their beds with long faces. Their heads were all shaved, and they were wearing sack-like clothes. Everyone’s heart was filled with extreme gloom, and they were too lazy to even make polite conversation. Although Lu Yizhong’s strange appearance caused a burst of laughter, everyone was soon shrouded in gloom again.

“To be alive now is already a great fortune. What’s the point of talking about scholarly dignity?” Chang Qingyun said dejectedly. All his previous heroic words had vanished into thin air.

“The rebels have humiliated us scholars like this!” Qian Taichong said angrily. “We…” For a moment, he was at a loss for words. What could they do now? If they wanted to die as martyrs, they would have committed suicide in Chengmai. Now they were the enemy’s prisoners and could only be at their mercy.

Lu Yizhong couldn’t even speak now. He was older, and after the ordeal of purification, he could only gasp for breath. He lay on his bunk, secretly regretting why he had come up with the idea of “suppressing the rebels,” and why he had coveted the gifts of the generals and the spoils of war and had agreed to be Wang Zunde’s “supervising aide.” Now, he was afraid he would even lose his life.

Compared to the others, Lu Yizhong knew that his future was even bleaker. He was the mastermind behind the attack on the Guangzhou station. The rebels probably knew this already. Such a large industry had been destroyed. Needless to say, the rebels hated him to the bone. Now that he had fallen into their hands, he would surely be cut into a thousand pieces.

At this thought, his teeth chattered, making a “clattering” sound.

“Mr. Lu, are you having a fever?” Although Qian Taichong looked down on him, he was a kind person and still asked.

“No… I just feel a little unwell. I’ll be fine after some rest,” Lu Yizhong managed to answer.

“I wonder what the rebels are going to do with us?” someone speculated.

“They probably don’t want us to take up puppet posts—otherwise, they wouldn’t have humiliated us like this. They probably don’t want us dead either, otherwise they could have executed us all in Chengmai. I think the rebels want to use us as hostages to negotiate a peace with Viceroy Wang.”

“What you say makes sense,” Chang Qingyun said, his spirits lifting considerably. “Viceroy Wang will certainly not ignore…”

“In my humble opinion, not necessarily!” Qian Taichong said proudly again. “General He’s entire army was routed at Chengmai. Viceroy Wang probably can’t explain it to the court. How can he care about us!”

This once again plunged everyone’s hearts to the bottom. The food here was poor, the living conditions were terrible, and they were called out for roll call every day. How could they live like this? What made them even more unhappy was that as scholars, no matter how poor they had been in the past, they had always received some respect from the people around them. Only here, with the rebels, were they treated no differently from the other prisoners. This made them very unhappy.

“Time to eat!” someone shouted from outside. According to the system, each barracks had to have someone on duty to be responsible for fetching food and cleaning. Once, when it was Qian Taichong’s turn, he was filled with remorse for his cowardice and deliberately refused to do his duty, planning to “die cursing the rebels” if they pursued the matter.

But the rebels did not pursue the matter. The result of Qian Taichong’s refusal to perform his duty was that no one went to fetch the food, and the entire barracks went hungry for a day. Qian Taichong did not “die cursing the rebels,” but was instead complained about by the people in his barracks all night.

They had also resisted cleaning—this was something that should be done by servants. But the result of not cleaning was a stench. The rebels apparently did not care what the barracks smelled like, until they were so disgusted by the smell of feces and urine that they took the initiative to clean it up.

“You’d better straighten up your attitude. You are prisoners, not old masters!” the rebel officer in charge of this camp said viciously. “It’s already preferential treatment that you haven’t been sent to build roads!”

Sure enough, a few days later, they saw the officers in the barracks being driven out in groups early in the morning and returning in the evening, exhausted and covered in dust and mud.

Qian Taichong was not afraid—he was from a so-called “farming and scholarly family” and had worked in the fields himself. He was used to hardship. But the others were so frightened by this threat that their legs went weak. Most of them thought that the other side had not done anything too excessive, and there was no need to make a scene with the rebels.

“Now that we are in the rebels’ prison, what’s the point of being particular? The government’s prisons are even worse than this,” an aide who was familiar with the law said. “That’s a place of complete darkness!”

Chang Qingyun said, “I don’t think the rebels are not treating the prisoners well.”

He was talking about a certain house in this prisoner of war camp. The officers here had never been driven out to build roads, and their food and drink seemed to be not bad—they could often smell the aroma of meat and fish.

“The people living here are all Tang Yunwen’s subordinates,” an aide whispered.

This was part of Zhao Manxiong’s plan to sow discord. Under his arrangement, the captured officers of Tang’s unit in the officer concentration camp were all isolated. They received better accommodation and food—the officers ate very poorly, just enough to keep them alive. After all, these people were to be released in the future. The guards were also very polite to them and sometimes interrogated them individually for several hours. When they returned, the people around them did not look like they had been interrogated at all, but rather as if they had gone to eat, drink, and be merry.

“The rebels have been in Lin Gao for three years, and Tang Yunwen has turned a blind eye to it. There must be a hidden story!” Chang Qingyun said through gritted teeth. “If he had suppressed them in time back then, when the rebels’ wings were not yet fully grown, how could there have been today’s defeat!”

Everyone agreed and became suspicious of Tang Yunwen—some even suspected that Tang Yunwen’s ability to escape before the entire army was routed was a trick in itself.

Lu Yizhong also became animated. “On the day General He ordered the entire army to retreat, he used Tang’s unit and the local garrison of Qiongzhou as the vanguard. This force was routed in one battle. There is something very strange about this!”

“The rebels are overseas barbarians. We are the hosts, and they are the guests. But in battle, the roles were reversed, and our army was passive everywhere! If there were no Han traitors to guide them, how could the rebels have been so successful?”

“That’s right, it’s all the fault of the Han traitors!”

…

The impassioned discussion once again confirmed the truth that “the enemy is not to be feared, it is always the Han traitors who cause trouble.” As for Tang Yunwen’s betrayal, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

Some people felt that there were inconsistencies, but at this moment, everyone wanted to find a reason for this great defeat that had nothing to do with them. No one raised any doubts. Instead, they racked their brains to find suspicious signs of Tang Yunwen’s “betrayal.”

Qian Taichong did not question it, but he did not agree either. He felt that the claim of Tang Yunwen’s betrayal was not very solid. Tang Yunwen was an established military commander. It was possible that he had accepted bribes from the rebels and deliberately did not suppress or report them. But to say that he had instructed his men to deliberately rout and disrupt the army was very unlikely. Even if Tang Yunwen was greedy, he would never dare to use the method of sacrificing his own troops to gain wealth. As for his defecting to the rebels, it was even more impossible—he was an established military commander of the court. Why would he become an official of some overseas barbarians? It didn’t make sense from a common sense point of view!