Chapter 8

  The villagers gathered more and more, standing in groups outside the gate, discussing and gossiping. Some of the villagers who had seen the beheading of Huang Yanwang's wives were saying to some of the later arrivals with spittle flying: "It seems that this military officer is really here to do something. The good days of this Yanwang are finally over." Other villagers also echoed in agreement.

  Wang Hu and Yi Tianxing have brought people in, I took a look at their eyes about to speak, I signaled them not to speak, turned around and said to Huang De standing in the hall: "Huang De, are all the people who should be called here? Are all the common people who should come here?"

  Huang De looked outside the door and said, "Everyone has arrived." According to your instructions, all the villagers nearby have come, and most of the young and strong laborers from the key target areas have also arrived.

  I smiled in satisfaction and said to them: "Alright, let's go outside and take a look."

  I stood at the gate and faced the densely packed crowd of people below, saying: "Fellow villagers, hello. First, let me introduce myself. My surname is Zhu, my name is Xiao, and I am the leader of this team, or as you call it, the head. I have some good news to share with everyone. Huang Yanwang, who often bullied our people in the past, has now been captured by us. Now, I've called everyone over mainly to expose his past crimes. We will severely punish Huang Yanwang based on the crimes you provide. Who would like to speak first?" After finishing speaking, I looked at the crowd below, which was boiling with excitement.

  The common people pushed and shoved each other. Finally, an old man was pushed to the front, and he stood there for a moment before bursting into tears: "This damned yellow dog! He took away three mu of land from my family, and my poor son was beaten to death by him while arguing with him. Please, Your Majesty, do justice for us!" After speaking, he knelt down and began to wail.

  I frowned and walked forward to wipe away the old man's tears. Standing up, I said: "Fellow villagers, we are not some mountain bandits, we are a team formed to rescue our poor people. We are a team that speaks for our people. Don't be afraid, just tell us about this inhuman creature's crimes and the People's Army will take care of it."

  The crowd below had already started to make a commotion, and someone said: "People's Army, what is the People's Army? I've never heard of it before. Are they the army of the Ming dynasty or the Western Expedition?"

  "He said: 'A team that speaks for us ordinary people, I've lived so long but have never heard of any dynasty having a team that speaks for us ordinary people.'"

  I raised my voice and said: "Fellow villagers, please be quiet for a moment. Now I ask you, do you agree to kill Huang Yanwang to sacrifice our people who were killed by him?"

  At this time, the common people all cheered and shouted: "Kill, kill that son of a bitch."

  I said to Zeng Qing beside me: "Tell the soldiers to drag out Huang Yanwang and kill him."

  Zeng Qing waved his hand at the inside, and several soldiers dragged Huang Yanwang out. At this time, Huang Yanwang's face had turned pale. He was trembling with fear, his eyes occasionally revealing a desperate gaze for survival.

  Zeng Qing said to those soldiers: "Carry out the execution."

  A heinous landlord ended his shameful life like this. The crowd cheered as Huang Yanwang's head fell to the ground. Someone in the back shouted: "Long live the People's Army, long live the People's Army!" All the people also waved their hands and followed suit: "Long live the People's Army! Long live the People's Army!"

  I said to Zhou Lun beside me: "Ah Lun, when it comes to doing work, you're better at it than I am, so why don't you say something?"

  Zhou Lun nodded, stood up, cleared his throat and said loudly: "Fellow villagers. Another good news I want to tell everyone is that we have decided to distribute the land of Huang Yanwang to you. Anyone who has been robbed of their land by Huang Yanwang in the past or does not have land can get a share. Now go to the side of the main hall to register and see how many people there are, we will divide the land equally among everyone, so that those who cultivate the land own it. And I want to tell you something else."

  "After that, Zhou Lun looked around and continued to say: "The things you grow don't have to give us any land rent, and don't pay taxes to the government. All the harvests now belong to you. On the contrary, if we want food, we will take money to buy it from you at the current market price. Fellow villagers, do you think this is good?"

  All the people cheered and said: "Good, good, good!" Among them, a few villagers whispered to each other: "This year I'm going to do better. There's no tax, it would be wrong for me to slack off again." The wife of one of the villagers said: "Exactly, you should at least buy me a new set of clothes. In twenty years of marriage, you've never bought me any clothes."

  Zhou Lun coughed slightly, made a gesture to indicate silence from below, and continued: "Our team is serving our vast number of ordinary people. At the same time, we are also the team of the Ming Dynasty. I hope everyone can support our team well. We will drive the Qing dynasty's Tartars out of our land for everyone and establish a society where everyone has food to eat."

  Outside, there was a warm applause in response to Zhou Lun's speech. Several hot-blooded young people on the scene shouted: "We also want to join the team! We also want to establish a society where everyone has food to eat!" Some have already started asking our soldiers how they can join our team. Some impatient ones directly walked up to Zhou Lun and me, asking us to take them in.

  Looking at this scene, I nodded to Zhou Lun with a pleased heart and walked up to the front stage, facing the citizens standing below who were about to join the army. "Comrades, don't worry. Many young people have asked me how they can join our troops, wanting to fight for a society where everyone has food to eat for the sake of the people and their loved ones. That's great! How could we not want them? I can tell you that as long as they are poor and ordinary people, they can all join our army. (Of course, this is just a temporary phrase, I believe that the poor and ordinary people who join the army will still change their thinking through education in the military, and we cannot only recruit poor and ordinary people.) However..."

  I changed my tone, and everyone below fell silent. I looked at the quiet crowd and continued: "Those of us who are only children in our families will not be accepted. Those under 16 years old will not be accepted. Those over 30 years old will not be accepted. Now, please ask those who wish to join the team to go to the side hall on the right to register. After registration, go home and make arrangements. You must come here tomorrow morning to report for duty."

  The crowd walked away with smiles, and everyone felt the refreshing taste in their hearts. The ordinary people were silently supporting us in return for our "favors". However, some men who couldn't join the army due to my restrictions or young children looked downcast. The kids walking together said to each other: "We've made a promise that when we all turn 16, we'll go and join the army together."

  The suspension bridge of the village has been repaired, and all the warriors are gathered in the square outside the hall. The torches illuminate the red faces of the warriors, and everyone looks very joyful. A whole cow and a whole pig are hung over the bonfire, and the roasted oil is dripping down, making a sizzling sound. The warriors are drinking fragrant white wine, occasionally bursting into loud laughter.

  I stood up and said loudly: "Comrades, quiet down for a moment and listen to me. Today, our first task was done very well by everyone. I'm delighted that you can grow and exercise in this atmosphere. But now I want to tell you all not to be so excited, it's only natural for us to do these little things for the ordinary people, we don't just want to rescue the people of Hunan, our mission is to rescue all the people under heaven and let them live a good life. Next, let Wang Hu say something about Huang Yanwang's property."

  Wang Hu looked around at everyone, slightly drunk, and stepped forward: "I took a few soldiers to check the warehouse, and found that Huang Yanwang has more than 30,000 stones of grain. There is 10,000 taels of gold, 1,270,400 taels of silver, 64 pieces of antiques, over 300 pieces of gold, silver, and jade utensils, and over 60 other ornaments, paintings, and calligraphy. There are also more than 800 land deeds. The total value is worth over 6 million taels of silver."

  I nodded and looked around at the slightly intoxicated soldiers, saying: "Comrades, now we need to use these things to recruit and expand our troops. We hope that in the future, you will become squad leaders, platoon leaders, or even company commanders. So, the next task is for you to mobilize the local people according to what your instructors taught you before, to win their support and join our ranks. We will also teach you our training methods. Our next target is another landlord over a hundred miles away from here. Everyone will receive military pay, which will be issued on time every month. I hope everyone doesn't get impatient, we still need to manufacture some weapons, so please ask the soldiers who know blacksmiths to contact them. Now everyone is very tired, so go rest. Tomorrow will be even better."

  The warriors who were busy signing up had been busy for a whole morning, and after spreading the word to the people within three miles, the nearby farmers all rushed over. After our screening and investigation, I recruited 500 new warriors, adding to the original ones, we temporarily formed two full battalions, with some even exceeding the quota. Of course, I didn't consider those who were originally skilled in martial arts, organizing them into 40 groups, forming my and Zhou Lun's guard battalion. As long as there were casualties within the battalion, they would be immediately replenished. The personnel arrangement was that I took on the role of First Battalion Commander and Instructor (no choice, although not very good at it, but had to take on the responsibility). Zhou Lun took on the role of Second Battalion Commander and Instructor (can't deny this kid has a knack for ideological education work). Lei Feng took on the role of First Battalion Deputy Commander and First Platoon Leader. Zeng Qing took on the role of Second Platoon Leader. Wang Hu took on the role of Third Platoon Leader. The deputy platoon leaders of the first, second, and third platoons were chosen by their respective platoon leaders and approved by our battalion headquarters. Additionally, Wu Shuang took on the role of Second Battalion Deputy Commander and Fourth Platoon Leader. Fifth Platoon Leader was taken on by Yi Tianhang. Li Keming took on the role of Sixth Platoon Leader. The original old warriors were dispersed among the new recruits, with two purposes: one was to supervise, and the other was to lead by example and inspire them ideologically.

  Intensive training like our first batch of troops in the past is no longer possible. Now we only have around 10 days to train, and as soon as the troops are ready, we will take the next step. This action has brought a certain reaction from the local officials in Yuezhou. Although some scouts were sent out, due to the mixed forces here, it belongs to an area of three no's (neither side can control), and we are being cautious, so there is still no big reaction for now.

  On a dark and windy night, we launched an attack on two local landlords based on the reflections of the people around us. I led a company and my own guard unit to attack one of the landlords, while Zhou Lun led his second company to attack the other landlord. Due to the sudden surprise attack, combined with the fact that these two landlords' estates were not as strong or strategically located as Huang Yanwang's, our soldiers were able to take down their estates under the cover of thunder and lightning. We dealt with these two heinous landlords in the same way we did with Huang Yanwang. Of course, my nephew lit up the lanterns and looted their homes as usual. All land deeds were destroyed, and the land was distributed to the nearby villagers.

  In the two battles of gathering wealth, we collectively gathered more than 2.5 million taels of silver in addition to the original over 6 million taels, so our activities finally had a certain scale. After distributing land to the nearby common people, our influence among them has become greater and greater. Moreover, the warriors often do things for the common people around us.

  Every day, people came to enlist in the army, and finally, I expanded the team to nearly 3,000 people with the principle of "not being too extravagant" and became a full-fledged regiment. At this time, I felt that after the expansion of the team, the emotions of the comrades had undergone great changes, and I thought it was necessary to give these military leaders at all levels an educational lesson. Still in the large hall of the Huang family, more than 20 military leaders at all levels held a meeting, which lasted for half a day. After this meeting, everyone fully recognized the role of ideological mobilization, and I made the first personnel arrangement after the formation of the regiment.

  Of course, the candidates for the team leader and political commissar have already been fixed. I will serve as the team leader, Zhou Lun as the political commissar, Wu Shuang as the chief of staff, Lei Ting as the deputy team leader and commander of the first battalion, Li Keming as the political commissar of the first battalion, Zeng Qing as the commander of the second battalion, and Zhou Hua from our first batch of soldiers will serve as the political commissar. Wang Hu will be the commander of the third battalion, and Yi Tianxing will be the political commissar of the third battalion. The team guard platoon leader will be **, the reconnaissance platoon leader will be Zeng Zhe Kai, and the logistics platoon leader will be Li Mu, a deputy officer who surrendered in another battle against the landlords. Other military officers will be reported to the team department for approval after discussion between the battalion commanders and political commissars. After all, we must now exercise their independent command ability, otherwise it would not be possible for us to personally solve everything when the time comes. That would be exhausting.

  I stood in the main building of the Huang family, looking at the night outside and couldn't help but sink into thought. It's been over half a year since we came out, I don't know how Xiaoying and Lü Junye are doing, or what's going on with Grandfather. We've finally settled down here. However, as our team continues to grow, new problems have arisen. Over 3,000 people need to be fed! Although the grain from these three landlords is enough for us to eat for a year or two, we're weak in terms of weapons. As someone who has walked through modern times, I still think about advanced weapons in my heart. Moreover, the government army in this era occasionally shows up with a few big cannons. The area around Yueyang lacks mineral resources, and we don't have a large base. Although we've formed a considerable scale here, because we haven't occupied cities, we're still blank in terms of commerce and industry. The current era is not the one Chairman Mao talked about, where the countryside surrounds the city; that route doesn't work here.

  As he was thinking, Zhou Lun's voice came from behind: "A Xiao Team Leader, what are you thinking about?"

  I let out a sigh and said, "What are you thinking, Ah Lun? Do you think Chairman Mao's idea of the countryside surrounding the city is suitable for here? I didn't bother to listen to what he would say, and continued, 'It's not suitable, absolutely not suitable. In this society, it's still those with extensive connections, the landlord class, who hold power. Although we have no mercy on those wicked landlords and must eliminate them, we still can't ignore the interests of the majority of the landlord class. The goal of surrounding the city from the countryside is unrealistic here. Didn't Chairman Mao say that practice is the sole criterion for testing truth? Now we've put it into practice and found that the road to rural revolution doesn't work. A team of three thousand can do it, but what about a larger army or military unit? The conditions in the countryside would be unable to support such an army, let alone go to war. Our current approach is to focus on combining the city and countryside. With the city, we have the people, and at this point, we can directly establish our own government and manage our own people. We can develop industry and commerce. Merchants are sharp-eyed and sensitive; as long as there's money to be made, they'll come. They won't care if it's the Qing or Ming dynasty or a rebel army, as long as your policies suit their development and protect their interests. Only then can we gather more wealth, develop military industry, research military technology, and support our massive military institutions. I think we should split up now. In a few days, I plan to take down Yueyang City. Since this is an area that belongs to no one, let's just take it over ourselves. Also, since it's close to Wuhan, after taking the city, I want you to lead a battalion back to base once and bring some weapons back. As for me, I'll stay here and develop our forces while also governing Yueyang City and consolidating our foundation among the masses. What do you think?"

  Aaron thought for a moment and nodded: "A Xiao, you've really matured, I guarantee the completion of the task." After that, both of us burst out laughing. Aaron continued: "Also, don't forget about that big landlord from a hundred miles away."

  I smiled and looked at Aron, "No, I haven't forgotten him. And I'm planning to eliminate him before attacking Yuezhou City. To hone the overall combat capability of the entire team."

  One day's secret expedition, we quickly reached the territory of the landlord reflected by that warrior. "Hu Baigu" may have already heard the wind. I commanded over a thousand people: "Lei Tong, you lead this thousand or so people to quickly surround the landlord's house. Also, when they try to break out, intentionally let a few people go to Yue State to report the news." After finishing, I looked at the crowd of military officers, some nodded in understanding, while others were confused: "This time we'll just use the tactic of surrounding and attacking, gathering and annihilating."

  When we surrounded the estate of Mr. Hu, the landlord, we occasionally sent a few shells into it. At this time, Mr. Hu was in his living room looking at several head guards below and said: "You guys are now surrounded by these rioters, what do you think we should do?"

  One of the guards said, "Master, I think we have no choice but to go to Yuezhou to ask for reinforcements. As far as I know, the county magistrate of Yuezhou is a greedy man, and if you send him some silver, he will definitely dispatch troops to come and rescue us. Once our lives are saved, what's a little money? Moreover, according to the news, those few landlords you've been wanting to get rid of have already been eliminated by this rebel army. In that case, all their land will be yours."

  A group of people, after a fierce battle, broke out and escaped in the direction of Yuezhou. I stood on the bridge and said: "After the government army arrives, we will wait until the last person walks across the bridge, then blow up the bridge. Now have you dig a large number of traps on this side of the bridge, today we must make them come without return."

  A troop of over 500 people kicked up a cloud of dust. They ran from afar. It seems they've been running for a while. I let out a cold hum and said, "They actually don't know life or death. No rest. Pass down my orders. Next time we must annihilate them completely."

  As the bridge made a loud noise, more than 100 people also fell into the river with the bridge. The huge body of the bridge sank and created a whirlpool that swept away more than 100 soldiers instantly. The soldiers in front saw the collapse happening behind them and quickly ran forward. At this time, I waved my hand towards the back and said: "Bring out your courage and strength to eliminate these miscellaneous soldiers for me."

  The absolute superiority in numbers, combined with the power of the trap. The 400-strong troops soon had nothing to resist. They were all annihilated. I casually counted the battlefield and pushed away the captured cannons and distributed the weapons. I looked at the excited eyes of the soldiers and said: "Government army? No way! Comrades, we have won! Next, follow me to capture this landlord."

  The landlord surnamed Hu looked at us and saw that we had eliminated all the relief troops, and there were more than 2,000 people who suddenly fell to the ground in the living room. The bombardment of the two earth cannons and the newly captured large cannon quickly opened a gap in this small courtyard-like manor. The soldiers who had a grudge against the landlord rushed in first. After more than half an hour of fighting, after basically eliminating all the enemies, I led them to take inventory of the supplies. I waved my hand at them and said: "Huang De, stay behind and divide up all the land for me. The rest of you follow me back, prepare to attack Yueyang City."

  At this time, a soldier rode to the gate and shouted: "Commander, Yueyang has been occupied by the Qing army. The county magistrate has surrendered and is still acting as the county magistrate. There are more than 1,300 defending soldiers."

  "Hmm, things are getting more interesting. Hey, Qing army, let's see the real strength of your Eight Banners!"