Zhu Lao San felt that Zhu Xiaosong was somewhat underestimating the situation, treating an important matter lightly.
The rebel army on Yuhuang Mountain numbered only eighty-odd men. Even with the more than two hundred who had joined today, the total was just over three hundred. By Zhu Xiaosong's organizational standards, this amounted to at most a single battalion.
Even at its weakest, the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office had a thousand soldiers. That was at least three battalions, or if counted generously, a regiment.
To confront a regiment with a single battalion was already absurd. But now, judging by Zhu Xiaosong's attitude, he intended to use eighty-odd men to face a regiment?
Therefore, Zhu Lao San tried to persuade Zhu Xiaosong: "Brother, if I take these two hundred men back to the mountain, you'll only have eighty-odd left. The Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office has a thousand soldiers. Isn't it..."
Zhu Xiaosong shook his head and said, "It's not calculated that way. The Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office does indeed have a thousand troops they can mobilize, but think about it, whether it's Old Master Hao or the Yanzhou Prefect and the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Commissioner, would they dare to mobilize a thousand troops openly?"
"You must know that mobilizing troops requires reporting to the Ministry of War and receiving a military order. They want to suppress the matter quickly before it escalates, which is why they have to mobilize troops privately. Mobilizing three to five hundred would already be the limit."
"Besides, even if they mobilize all one thousand troops from the Military Preparedness Office, it's really not a big deal."
"The Jiannu don't trust them, so the officials' soldiers at the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office are not equipped with firearms, and they don't even have many arrows. They can only wield sabers and spears as their weapons."
"Moreover, these officials' soldiers have no combat experience and haven't trained for a long time. If our eighty-odd men use grenades to bomb them, the only problem we need to worry about is that capturing prisoners might not be easy."
"As I said before, if we can solve the problem with a carpet bombing of grenades, there's no need to draw our swords and fight them to the death."
After Zhu Xiaosong's explanation, Zhu Lao San gradually felt more at ease.
Zhu Lao San couldn't understand why, after his father died, his elder brother seemed like a completely different person. Although he still treated Zhu Lao Er and himself with the same affection as before, the aura of authority around him was growing stronger, and his words were involuntarily convincing.
Could it be that the blood of rebellion truly flowed in their veins? Was his elder brother truly destined to be emperor?
After much thought, finding no answers, Zhu Lao San abandoned these jumbled thoughts. He agreed on a meeting point with Zhu Xiaosong and then, along with Liu Er Niu, he hurried to lead the more than two hundred able-bodied men who were willing to join the rebellion up Yuhuang Mountain.
After Zhu Lao San and Liu Er Niu left, Zhu Xiaosong also prepared to lead the rebel army of Yuhuang Mountain out of Ningyang County town.
Zhu Xiaosong had stated that he brought people to Ningyang County not to rob or pillage, nor to force everyone to join the rebellion. He came to the county town to kill corrupt officials and distribute grain.
Now that the corrupt officials had been killed, the grain distributed, and the land deeds burned, Zhu Xiaosong naturally intended to keep his promise and lead the rebel army of Yuhuang Mountain out of Ningyang County town.
This was a novelty for the people of Ningyang County.
Ningyang County had not been without soldiers before. The three hundred garrisons under the Patrol Inspector, the constables under the County Lieutenant, as well as prison guards and post officials, could all be considered soldiers.
However, those soldiers were accustomed to bullying the people in Ningyang County. It was normal for them to eat watermelons without paying, and they occasionally committed petty acts like kicking down the doors of widows.
The word "soldier" had long since been ruined by them, earning a terrible reputation.
Now, Zhu Xiaosong's rebel army from Yuhuang Mountain had come to Ningyang County, killed officials, and distributed grain. They hadn't stepped into any civilian homes, hadn't stolen a single copper from the people, and had even been polite when distributing grain.
Now that Zhu Xiaosong was leaving without any lingering attachment, the people of Ningyang County were unaccustomed to it.
Why were they leaving so abruptly, like the literati and scholars who frequented brothels? Were they truly heartless?
If Zhu Xiaosong was heartless, how could the people of Ningyang County who had benefited from him be unfeeling? What would that make them? Would they still have the face to claim they were from the hometown of Confucius and Mencius?
Therefore, as Zhu Xiaosong led the Yuhuang Mountain army towards the city gate, the roads were lined with people.
To speak of "ten li long pavilion, snapping willows to see them off with reluctance" was pure nonsense. After all, it was only for a day; how could such deep affection be formed?
For these illiterate people, who spent most of their lives tilling the land, the most practical farewell was to boil a few eggs.
Fifty jin of grain and a few eggs – their market values were worlds apart.
But in Zhu Xiaosong's heart, those fifty jin of grain were far less significant than those few eggs.
Zhu Xiaosong had experienced hardship and knew that even in later generations, the people of Ningyang County would only boil a few eggs to give to relatives going on a long journey.
Therefore, these few eggs were truly heavy in Zhu Xiaosong's heart.
This newfound weight caused some of the money Zhu Xiaosong had plundered from the county yamen to be reduced – the people were giving eggs to show respect to the Yuhuang Mountain rebel army, so these eggs had to be accepted, and the money had to be returned to the people; they could not take advantage of the common folk.
...
While Zhu Xiaosong was enacting a scene of harmony between the army and the people in Ningyang County, Hao Liangcai, the old master of Yanzhou, felt like cursing.
When he had brought the discovered gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy, and paintings to the Yanzhou Prefect's yamen, Old Master Hao had been full of confidence, believing that as long as he could get the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office to send troops, the mere rebels of Yuhuang Mountain would be easily captured.
However, when Xu Yaozu, the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Commissioner, personally mustered five hundred soldiers, Old Master Hao's heart grew cold, colder than iced Sprite on a hot summer day.
He didn't see the expected elite troops, nor the scene of fully armed soldiers with sharp blades. All he saw were five hundred "elite soldiers" dressed in rags, with broken spear shafts and chipped saber edges.
If a greenhorn official were in this situation, they might assume that the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office had no usable troops. But in Old Master Hao's view, this was clearly Xu, the Military Preparedness Commissioner, giving him a hint.
What was the hint?
As the saying goes, the emperor does not neglect hungry soldiers. If you, Old Master Hao, are asking the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Office to send troops to quell the rebellion, shouldn't you provide the equipment? Shouldn't you also provide the provisions?
The reason for Old Master Hao's despair was precisely that he was running out of money.
The gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy, and paintings he had offered to Wu Zude and Xu Yaozu had nearly depleted his accumulated wealth. Now, Xu Yaozu was so blatantly hinting at him – didn't he mean that upon arriving in Ningyang County, Ningyang County should pay to re-equip these five hundred elite soldiers!
Whether he could gather enough money in a short time was one thing, but even if he could, the equipment for five hundred men was not a small matter, and it would take more than a day or two to produce.
The longer it was delayed, the more money Ningyang County would have to spend, and the longer Zhu Xiaosong could "hop around." His official hat would sway precariously for another day.
Damn it!
After cursing Xu Yaozu to the high heavens in his heart, Old Master Hao had to flatteringly approach Xu Yaozu and say in a low voice, "Your Excellency Xu, please forgive me. The gold and silver I collected were not much. The soldiers will have to endure for a while. Upon arriving in Ningyang County, I will find a way to gather some 'tea money' for the soldiers?"
Xu Yaozu glanced at Old Master Hao and gave a soft "Mm," without pressuring Old Master Hao to produce the silver immediately.
Old Master Hao then continued, "There is a scholar Zhao in Ningyang County, and it is rumored that his daughter is as beautiful as a flower. If she could marry Your Excellency Xu, it would truly be a story of a beauty meeting a hero, wouldn't it?"
Xu Yaozu's expression brightened visibly, and he smiled, saying, "We serve in the same court and work for the Emperor. Quelling the rebellion is more important, quelling the rebellion is more important."
Old Master Hao thanked Xu Yaozu profusely. After they both got into their sedan chairs, Old Master Hao's expression couldn't help but darken, and his heart felt both cold, painful, and uneasy.
It was cold and painful because Old Master Hao was also running out of money. He didn't know how much he could extort upon his return, and how much would be left after giving it to Xu Yaozu.
As for the unease, it was purely because of the five hundred elite soldiers from the Military Preparedness Office.
Old Master Hao had been a local official in Ningyang County for several years and had seen the aftermath of two villages engaging in armed conflict. Although it wasn't as horrific as the books described, with rivers of blood and piles of corpses, the scene was still terrifying enough.
If these five hundred elite soldiers were to be used to suppress those two villages engaged in conflict... Old Master Hao suddenly felt very unsure of himself, even feeling that the most likely outcome was that these five hundred elite soldiers would be suppressed by the rebels.
What if, what if these five hundred elite soldiers were defeated by the rebels of Yuhuang Mountain? Wouldn't that escalate the situation? How would it be resolved then?
If this matter reached the imperial court, even the Yanzhou Prefect would struggle to protect himself. Xu Yaozu had a brother-in-law who was a Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner to rely on, but who should he, the Ningyang County Magistrate, rely on?
The more Old Master Hao thought about it, the more frightened he became, even regretting not reporting the matter immediately.
If he had reported the matter directly from the beginning, he might have been reprimanded or even lost his post, but at least the silver he had extorted over the years would have been safe.
Now, the silver was gone, his official position might be lost, and even the head on his shoulders felt precarious?
The more Old Master Hao thought about it, the more his heart sank, and the more angry he became. He wished he could catch Zhu Xiaosong quickly and tear him to pieces.
Why couldn't these damned commoners just be obedient citizens? Wasn't it their own fault for being oppressed? They should have endured it and hoped for a better reincarnation in the next life. Why did they have to rebel?
And they called themselves the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, Bah! They had no sense of propriety or shame, disgracing the sages!
While Old Master Hao was constantly filled with worry, Xu Yaozu, the Yanzhou Military Preparedness Commissioner, was happily lost in his own thoughts.
A third-rank official from the capital didn't have a sedan chair, but he, a mere Yanzhou Military Preparedness Commissioner, could ride in an eight-bearer sedan chair. What was this? This was the prestige of having a good brother-in-law!
Going to Ningyang to quell the rebellion, it was just a few dozen commoners. Wiping them out with five hundred elite soldiers would be as easy as a strong man fighting an infant, wouldn't it? But how long should he stay in Ningyang County before the rebellion was quelled?
How much silver could Hao Liangcai offer? How beautiful was Scholar Zhao's daughter? If Scholar Zhao was willing, he, Old Xu, would even call him father-in-law. If he wasn't willing? Should he have both a funeral and a wedding at the same time?
While thinking about these miscellaneous matters, Xu Yaozu gradually felt a bit sleepy. Just as Xu Yaozu's eyelids were about to droop, he heard a loud bang from outside the sedan chair.
Was it thunder?
Thunder and rain in summer, but why thunder in the dead of winter?
As Xu Yaozu was pondering whether the weather would thunder, he suddenly felt the sedan chair beneath him abruptly empty. Immediately after, a sharp pain shot up from beneath his buttocks.
I've been thrown off?
These damned sedan bearers, they all deserve to die!
Xu Yaozu was furious and was about to lift the sedan curtain to go out and kill someone to establish his authority, when he heard the continuous rumbling of thunder in his ears.