Chapter 68: The Mayor Enters the City

After speaking, he tilted his head and died.

Wu Guangzhi was greatly shocked. He had no foundation in the local area and no power in the army. He relied entirely on silver to maintain his position. Therefore, he had always been worried that the army’s morale was unstable and did not hesitate to spend a lot of silver. Unexpectedly, he still lost his footing.

He knew that this must have been instigated by the gentry. These shameless people who would sell out their ruler and father for the sake of their own lives and property!

Since the army had mutinied, the city was no longer defensible. However, he cast aside the thought of suicide and decided to die on the battlefield to repay the emperor’s grace. He drew his Japanese sword and shouted, “Everyone, follow me! Today is the day to be loyal to the country!”

The few trusted aides and family members who had followed him all the way from Shaanxi now drew their sabers and rushed out with him.

The defending militia and soldiers all rushed towards the county yamen. The small team of government soldiers who had originally been guarding him outside the yamen collapsed without a fight. Only a few family members resisted and were killed in an instant. Their bodies fell at the foot of the steps of the main hall.

Wu Guangzhi led a few family members and met the mutinous soldiers in close combat before they even left the second hall. Although he was a scholar, his swordsmanship was very high, and he had accumulated a lot of combat experience in Shaanxi. Without any panic, he cut down a miscellaneous soldier with one stroke and then stabbed another militiaman in the stomach. The surging mutinous soldiers were all afraid to step forward when they saw how brave he was, and they were even pushed down the steps.

However, the mutinous soldiers were numerous, and they soon surrounded him and his servants. In an instant, all his family members were killed or injured. Wu Guangzhi had already been injured in several places and was covered in blood. He refused to surrender and had no intention of committing suicide. He still fought his way through. At this time, several mutinous soldiers stabbed at him randomly with long spears. He was stabbed several more times, and blood flowed like a stream. He knew that he was not going to make it. He propped himself up with his sword, knelt down facing north, and gasped in a hoarse voice, “Your Majesty, your servant has been loyal to you.” Before he could finish his words, he was stabbed in the back of the heart by a spear and immediately fell down, dying in a pool of blood.

An hour later, Shi Zhiqi received a report from the signalman: Xin’an has been captured.

“The county magistrate has been killed.”

The reason for mentioning this specifically was that according to the Guangdong occupation memorandum, all local officials of the Ming Dynasty who were captured, whether they surrendered or were captured, would be registered and sent to Hong Kong for centralized detention with their families and servants. The requirement of the Military Control Commission was that local officials must be seen alive or their bodies must be seen. Those whose whereabouts were unknown also had to be registered and reported.

“Do we have any casualties?”

“Reporting, sir, no!”

“Well done!” Shi Zhiqi said as he drew a blue circle on the map of Xin’an County, indicating that it was “occupied.”

Looking at the progress on the map, it had been less than 12 hours since the operation began. The Fubo Army had met almost no resistance wherever it went. The few sporadic resistances were not on a large scale at all. Most of them were just a few people fighting spontaneously. The only place with organized resistance was Xin’an County. It seemed that the situation of “pacifying by proclamation” was basically a foregone conclusion!

For the scholars and civilians of Guangzhou and the neighboring counties, this was an unforgettable day. The Australians came from the sea and captured the largest city in southern China quietly and without bloodshed. By the time the sky was bright, the city gates had been replaced by “short-haired soldiers” in blue-gray short uniforms and holding muskets. On the streets, teams of short-haired soldiers in gray clothes patrolled. The whole city was quiet and orderly, and many shops had also opened. The common people were both shocked and found it novel: just overnight, Guangzhou had a new master!

Fortunately, the new master was not a stranger. The Australians had been a semi-public existence in Guangzhou for the past few years. Even those who had no business or labor dealings with the Australians had more or less bought Australian goods: all kinds of “Australian paper,” “Australian fire,” “Australian cloth,” and “short-hair socks.” These small things had long since entered the daily lives of the common people.

In the past, they were merchants who carried swords and traded. Now, they had brazenly become the rulers here. No one knew how the Australians would rule this great city.

The rumors about the Australians’ governance in Lingao had spread here more or less. Many people did not believe it, thinking that it was just a strange story from overseas. There were also people who knew the exact situation and wanted to see: could the Australians’ methods be implemented in this Guangzhou city? You must know that the population of a street in this Guangzhou city was more than that of the entire Lingao county.

As Liu Xiang said in his speech to the members of the northbound detachment before entering Guangzhou, this was a “big test” for the Senate. Before this, they had only governed some semi-agricultural small county towns. Even the prefectural city of Qiongzhou was a small city not worth mentioning on the mainland. Guangzhou was not only the largest city in Lingnan, but also one of the largest and most famous cities in China at this time. Lin Baiguang estimated that the permanent population here was at least half a million.

Governing a large city with a population of half a million was not an easy task even in the 21st century. If in the past they were drawing on a blank sheet of paper, then now they had to redraw on a scroll that was already painted with five colors and was bizarre and motley. They had to erase the bad strokes without damaging the exquisite parts. The difficulty can be imagined.

These difficult problems were currently circling in Liu Xiang’s mind as he entered the city in a sedan chair.

He had originally wanted to enter the city in a official horse-drawn carriage to show the majesty of the Senate. For this reason, he had already shipped the Red Flag horse-drawn carriage to the Wuyang Posthouse by ship. However, Lin Baiguang said that the city could not accommodate horse-drawn carriages. Except for a few main streets, the general streets in the city were very narrow, and it was difficult for horse-drawn carriages to pass. Not only that, the bridges in the city did not consider the passage of vehicles at all. They were all high arched bridges with dense steps. In the past, the Guangzhou station had wanted to promote rickshaws in Guangzhou, but it was not carried out due to the problem of bridges.

Although Liu Xiang did not object to entering the city on foot, his subordinates all objected: first, it was not conducive to security; second, for the director of the Guangzhou Military Control Commission and the mayor of Guangzhou to enter the city on foot would damage the prestige of the Senate.

For this reason, the two-person sedan chairs of the sedan chair companies in the Dananmen area were not acceptable. Fortunately, there were ready-made official sedan chairs in the Wuyang Posthouse. The postmaster who had officially surrendered quickly tidied them up and called four sedan chair bearers to carry the sedan chairs. He was bent on currying favor and found all the riffraff who were scattered in the posthouse outside the Dananmen.

“Quick! Go and clear the way for the Australian masters!”

When Liu Xiang came out, he saw that the whole set of pomp and circumstance had already been arranged. The gongs for clearing the way, the two signs of “silence and avoidance,” and all kinds of flags and ceremonial decorations were all in place, majestic and awe-inspiring. All kinds of people were all dressed in official uniforms and were waiting below.

When the postmaster saw him come out, he ran all the way to him and knelt down, reporting, “Your Excellency! The ceremonial procession has been arranged. Please get into the sedan chair!”

Liu Xiang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The pomp and circumstance of this feudal high official was really not small. He immediately instructed, “There is no need for so many people. Just prepare a sedan chair.”

The postmaster, who had been obedient since he surrendered, was very insistent on his principles at this time, “Your Excellency’s words are wrong. The Great Song has recovered Guangzhou, and Your Excellency is an imperial envoy. You absolutely cannot act too simply, otherwise it will be easy for the scholars and civilians to have a contemptuous heart for the Great Song. In my humble opinion, this pomp and circumstance is still a bit small and cannot show the majesty of our Great Song.”

Liu Xiang looked at the surrounding native cadres and soldiers, who also showed expressions of approval. He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. He said, “These fancy ceremonial decorations and flags are all the rituals of the Zhu Ming. How can I use them?”

This was also reasonable. The postmaster thought for a moment and said, “In that case, the ceremonial procession for clearing the way must still be used. Otherwise, it would be bad if the common people did not know and bumped into the procession.”

Liu Xiang could not refuse any longer, so he “got into the sedan chair.” The gong beater who was clearing the way did not know what rank Liu Xiang was in the Great Song and did not dare to strike randomly. So he asked a native cadre, “What is the rank of Master Liu?”

The native cadre said, “Chief Liu is an elder, extremely noble. How can there be any rank?”

The gong beater thought to himself that this was “no rank.” It was generally for people of the rank of duke or marquis. Anyway, it was better to be polite. So he struck the gong thirteen times.

Amidst the sound of gongs of “all civil and military officials, soldiers and civilians, move aside,” Liu Xiang’s procession entered the city in a mighty manner. Behind the gongs for clearing the way and the signs of silence and avoidance was the fluttering morning star flag. There were thirty guards carrying rifles with fixed bayonets. In the center was an eight-bearer sedan chair. Behind the sedan chair, someone held high his elder eagle flag. Behind the flag followed a dozen or so native cadres. Finally, there were another twenty fully armed guards.

Liu Xiang was going to the Guangzhou Prefectural Yamen. This was the yamen he was most concerned about. For him, the mayor of Guangzhou, the archives of the Guangzhou Prefecture and the Panyu and Nanhai counties below it, and the old officials there were of immeasurable importance. Many basic situations had to be obtained from them. Therefore, when formulating the occupation plan, he specifically requested that the National Army entering Guangzhou should first occupy these places.

Liu Xiang’s procession slowly passed through the streets and alleys. For a time, the onlookers were like a wall. The citizens of Guangzhou, who had recovered from the panic of the city being broken in the morning, already knew that the one who had come was the “Guangzhou Prefect” of the Australians. Everyone wanted to see the style of this new “Prefect.” The National Army had to deploy along the way to maintain order. Even the yamen runners of the one prefecture and two counties in Guangzhou came to curry favor and clear the way and shout. For a time, it was an infinitely glorious scene.

Liu Xiang sat in the sedan chair, watching this scene, with thousands of flavors in his heart. The so-called a great man should live like this, that’s probably what it means. He, a doctoral student who was ravaged and exploited by his supervisor, had now become a local high official who lived in eight seats. How could the common people understand the taste of it?

Amidst the monotonous sound of gongs, they arrived at the Guangzhou Prefectural Yamen. The sedan chair stopped in front of the screen wall. Liu Xiang got out of the sedan chair and stamped his somewhat numb legs and feet. He saw that the screen wall in front of him was concave, five meters high and more than twenty meters wide. It was built with green bricks, and there were brick inscriptions of “Guangzhou Prefectural City” and “Guangzhou Prefecture” on the bricks. He looked at the eight-character wall in front of the main gate opposite. Four stone tablets were embedded in each of the green brick walls. He didn’t know what was engraved on them.

Before even entering the yamen, the entrance alone already felt extraordinary.