Chapter 9: The Magistrate of Wang Ba Dan County

  In the south, rice is planted, while in the north, wheat is planted. Therefore, there are rice fields in the south and wheat fields in the north. Just outside the village, less than half a mile away, there was a vast expanse of wheat field. At this time, it was the season for harvesting wheat, and the field was piled high with golden wheat straw that looked like small hills. This year was a good harvest, and the crops were extremely bountiful. The common people were originally overjoyed, but who would have thought that just a few days ago, the government army retreated in defeat, trampling the fields, and now bandits had arrived?

  In the wheat field, some people were busy collecting their own harvested grain. The strong men from the village came one after another, almost everyone's face was filled with a look of bad luck. Xu Wei and the other four people came out all the way, seeing many families packing up their belongings, pulling pigs and leading donkeys, guessing they were preparing to flee.

  Not everyone is afraid of death, at least some young people are fearless and gather in the wheat field to discuss something excitedly. As soon as Xu Wei and others appear, these scattered young men start to surround them, but before they can get close, most of them retreat, leaving Xu Wei confused.

  Originally, Xu Wei relied on his bravery and ferocity, and with the backing of his family, he not only made a name for himself in Xujiazhuang but also in Xiacheng County. He naturally became the leader of some young people in the village. However, after he fell seriously ill, he forgot everything. In this era, there was no concept of amnesia, and all such cases were classified as "madness". But Xu Wei's "madness" was different - he didn't chop his father or kill his mother, nor did he jump around from dawn till dusk cursing the heavens, so he wasn't a "martial madman". Therefore, Xu Jialang was determined to be a "scholarly madman".

  Who would want to talk to a "madman", let alone discuss important matters?

  When Xu Wei heard this, he almost jumped up and cursed the sky! It turned out that all the old and young in the village thought I was a madman? I said why did the lame fat women from the east of the village who picked up donkey dung eggs also hide when they saw me yesterday?!

  Before he had time to get over his frustration, the surrounding area was filled with cries of surprise. Someone whispered: "Even County Magistrate Liang has come out in person, it seems that things are really going to change."

  Xu Wei looked up and saw that on the north side of the wheat field, several stone rollers were parked. The county lieutenant, Liang, who he had seen in the county seat yesterday, was standing on one of the stone rollers with a few guards. He had his hands on his hips and was fanning himself with one hand. His face looked gloomy, as if someone had beaten up his own father. Next to him stood a sturdy man wearing a sunshade hat and a green straight robe, who was probably the baozheng.

  Everyone has almost arrived, the head of the local government held up the bronze gong in his hand and struck it violently, startling County Lieutenant Liang who snatched it away, scolding: "Are you announcing a funeral?!" The head of the local government was so frightened that he repeatedly bowed.

  Throw that copper gong on the ground, and County Magistrate Liang cleared his throat and shouted loudly: "All you men in the village listen clearly! There is a group of damned bandits who started making trouble three months ago. At first, there were only thirty or forty of them, doing some small-time robbery. Now, for some reason, they have gathered seven or eight hundred people and horses, occupied Mount Qian Niu, and turned to banditry. Although this matter has nothing to do with Xiajin County, we still can't be unprepared. You men in Xu Family Village have some skills, the county magistrate's intention is to let you organize a militia to defend the county seat. When you serve the county magistrate, you are serving the imperial court; when you serve the imperial court, you are serving His Majesty. This is your greatest honor, this is the great virtue accumulated by your ancestors...

  The Song Dynasty army was divided into four types: the Forbidden Army, the Imperial Guard, the Miao Army, and the Xiang Army. The Xiang Army was also known as the militia, recruited from local areas, and was considered to be the most inferior type of soldier. However, throughout the Song Dynasty, the tradition of martial valor among the people remained strong, and due to frequent wars and sharp conflicts, violent uprisings continued to occur. As a result, the people spontaneously organized militias to defend their homes. The Song court's attitude towards these civilian armed forces changed from prohibition to openness, then to encouragement, and finally to vigorous promotion. After the "Jingkang Incident", the famous Northern Song general Zong Ze quickly assembled hundreds of thousands of volunteer soldiers in the capital city, the vast majority of whom were members of these civilian militias.

  Liang Heng spoke with great eloquence, but Xu Wei couldn't bear to listen anymore and impatiently said: "This guy is really good at deceiving people."

  "This guy is poisonous! In March, Li's eldest son had a dispute with someone in the county and punched him, knocking him out. Who knew that was the uncle of County Magistrate Liang? He was arrested and tortured in prison. The Li family paid a huge price to bail him out, but the other party refused to let it go. It wasn't until your father asked your fourth brother to plead for mercy that they were able to bring him back home. The state he was in... Ugh, don't even mention it, he didn't look human anymore..." Yang Yan said, still looking pale with fear as if the memory still haunted him.

  Xu Wei didn't say a word, and Zhang Qing sneered: "Li Heng's uncle is the deputy minister of the Ministry of Personnel, so he was given the title of county lieutenant. That's why several magistrates looked up to him and turned a blind eye to his actions, which led to the emergence of this living Yan Luo."

  "Can this also be related?" Xu Wei asked in surprise.

  "There are good officials in the court." Ma Tai interjected.

  "Xu Jiu, just wait and see, we'll be called out soon. Neither of us can escape. You're not necessarily safe either." No matter how Xu Wei listened to Zhang Qing's words, he felt a bit of sourness in them. The implication was that his family had connections, so no one dared to do anything to him.

  Xu Wei didn't refute him either, and instead smiled disdainfully before falling silent.

  That county lieutenant finished his nonsense and came up with a threat, saying that whoever dares to escape will be guilty of violating the king's law and will be considered a rebel. Xu Wei listened and shook his head, thinking that only these honest and simple farmers would be deceived by him. Since they didn't receive any salary from the imperial court, why should they risk their lives for him? Have all the soldiers died out?

  "Attention, roll call! Anyone who dares to cheat or be lazy!" Liang Heng said this, and like yesterday, he suddenly drew out the steel knife from his waist. The peasants in front of him retreated in a big circle. Seeing that it had an effect, he was satisfied and put the knife back into its scabbard, sitting down on the stone mill to supervise the roll call.

  "Xu... Wei." The head of the village called out the first name, and even he himself was in doubt, turning his head to glance at Liang Heng. It didn't make sense, Xu Wei was the ninth son of the Xu family, the only son by Xu Taigong's side, how could he have been included?

  "Can't even sing a name? You're still pretending to be the head of the village, get out of here before it's too late, scram!" Liang Heng didn't know if he had eaten expired aphrodisiacs or something, but he seemed to have a belly full of pent-up fire with nowhere to vent.

  The village head did not dare to say more, and continued to read out the names. A total of over 300 male adults were counted, made into rural soldiers, without issuing a single coin or a piece of military equipment, all self-funded. Xu Wei, Yang Yan, Zhang Qing, and Ma Tai's four people are all on the list.

  "This time we've thoroughly offended Liang Heng." Yang Yan said so, but his tone was completely nonchalant.

  "This guy used to be just a down-and-out in Xiajin County, doing all sorts of shady business. Now that he's made it big, we've offended him and I'm afraid our days are going to be tough..." Zhang Qing shook his head and sighed.

  Xu Wei smiled carelessly: "Never mind, when those thieves come, can't brothers fight side by side?"

  "True enough, we don't ask to be born together, but we do ask to die together." Ma Tai also laughed.

  "Ah! Don't know what to say, just wait for those hairy thieves to deliver themselves to my door, I'll chop them all off one by one!" Yang Yan gritted his teeth and hummed.

  The recruitment of the local militia has been completed, and all have been registered. Three "brave leaders" were also appointed separately. Unexpectedly, Xu Wei, who was notorious in Xiajin, not only was recruited as a local militiaman but also didn't even get a single hair hurt.

  At this time, Liang Heng ordered the more than 100 people who had arrived first to disperse and return home to prepare their equipment, waiting for training. Xu Wei bid farewell to Yang Yan and the other three, and returned home.

  As soon as he stepped across the threshold, he felt that something was amiss. The old servant in the gatehouse was sighing incessantly, and the several maidservants in the house were all wearing worried expressions, hurrying to and fro. Xu Wei was at a loss, when he heard a voice behind him say, "Doctor, please." He turned his head to look, and saw that the family's groom, Xu Fang, was leading an old man with a wooden box on his back into the house quickly. Ah, wasn't this the one who had treated Ma Tai's injury yesterday?

  "What's going on?" Xu Wei frowned and asked.

  "Little official..." Xu Fang shook his head and sighed, "Alas, you'll understand once you go in." Xu Wei didn't ask any more questions and followed the two to the front of Xu Taigong's room. Upon entering, they saw Xu Wangshi anxiously guarding Taigong's bedside. Seeing the doctor arrive, she hastily said, "Doctor, please take a look...he's suddenly taken a turn for the worse..." At this point, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.

  He was startled, Xu Wei went forward to take a look, and saw that Mr. Xu was lying on the bed, his fists clenched, his eyes tightly closed, his teeth chattering "click click", his chest heaving constantly, apparently seriously ill.

  Taking advantage of Lang Zhong's opportunity to see Taigong's illness, Xu Wei asked his sister: "What's going on?"

  "Ah, Ninth Brother..." Xu Wangshi's face was streaming with tears as he shook his head and sighed: "Alas..."

  "What's the use of just sighing?! What's going on, spit it out!" Xu Wei stamped his foot and bellowed.

  Xu Wang's wife was startled, and this little uncle was in trouble again. She quickly stopped crying and explained the situation: "Just after you left the door this morning, County Magistrate Liang came. He didn't say much, but I heard the two of them arguing. At the time, I didn't hear very clearly, but it seemed like Liang was mocking your father, saying 'a phoenix that has lost its feathers is not as good as a chicken, and an old tiger without teeth is bullied by a dog.' By the time I realized things were going wrong, County Magistrate Liang had already slammed the door and left. Your father was so angry that he...".

  "Damn it!" Xu Wei's eyes suddenly filled with bloodshot, red and frightening.

  At this time, Lang Zhong had already finished taking the pulse, and Xu Wei hastily asked: "How is it?"

  Lang Zhong knew Xu Jiu's evil reputation and didn't dare to answer for a moment. Xu Wangshi saw this and said, "Let's talk outside." After saying that, he led Lang Zhong out, just as Xu Wei was about to follow, he heard Taigong call from behind, "Old Nine."

  Back at the bedside, Xu Wei bent down: "It's here."

  "Is it the local militia?" Xu Taigong opened his eyes slightly and asked with difficulty.

  "Hmm." Xu Wei nodded slightly.

  Xu Taigong gritted his teeth and pounded the bed: "Tiger falls in Pingyang! Tiger falls in Pingyang!"

  Seeing him emotionally agitated, Xu Wei suppressed his own anger and whispered: "Don't get angry, it's nothing serious." (Due to work reasons, I've been working overtime since morning and just got back home now. Today's update is a bit late, sorry everyone. Still trouble those with votes to cast a few, and those without votes to collect one, thank you.)