Chapter 2258: The Guest Becomes the Host
Feng Haijiao smiled. "Go back and tell your manager that I have many family members and a lot of luggage boxes here. Even if we wanted to walk fast, we couldn't. We can only walk slowly. It will probably take another three days to arrive. Tell him not to rush the preparations."
"Yes, many thanks to the Master for his understanding."
"Give Steward Huang five mace of silver. I will be troubling you plenty in the future."
"I dare not, I dare not." Huang Daqiao bowed repeatedly. After he left, Feng Haijiao thought to himself: This old fox is indeed worried that I will eat up his property after coming up the mountain. This actually set his heart at ease—once up the mountain, wouldn't it be just a matter of one word!
The highest point of Thunder Struck Slope was a pile of protruding rocky hills. The bare stones looked particularly conspicuous on this lush green mountaintop flatland.
The stone hill was neither high nor large, but it had a stable foundation and a flat top. Thus, unknown in which year, a simple temple had been built here. After an unknown number of years and several rises and falls, when Xin Laonan brought his tenants and subordinates here thirty years ago to build the mountain stockade, it was already crumbling. Xin Laonan renovated this nearly collapsed temple—people doing business without capital killed and burned, so they most needed spiritual sustenance.
After the temple was completed, this place became not only a place for him and his minions to burn incense and pray, but also a place for him to issue orders, divide gold by the scale, and handle stockade affairs.
Under the compassionate gaze of the Buddha statue in the middle of the hall, they plotted murder and robbery and divided gold and silver stained with human blood. The bandits never felt it absurd—even before and after every "business deal," they would come to pray for safety.
The furnishings of the hall were very simple. In front of the offering table, four sets of tables, chairs, and tea tables were arranged in a figure-eight shape on two sides. In the center was an Eight Immortals table and four grand armchairs. Without the central Buddha statue and offering table, it would be a very common hall of a large household.
The most eye-catching feature in this hall was the various precious swords hanging on the left and right walls. Some of these precious swords not only had blades forged from high-quality Suzhou steel but were also exquisitely decorated with gold and silver mouth-guards and shark skin scabbards. There were also crude inferior goods with iron strips sheathed in wooden scabbards. These weapons were all Xin Laonan's "spoils of war" over the years. Every time he robbed passing merchants on the river, if he encountered scholars carrying "zithers, swords, and book boxes," after treating them to "board knife noodles" or "wonton noodles"—presumably killing them and throwing them into the river—he would bring their precious swords back and hang them on the wall to appreciate carefully, savoring the last appearance of these people under his blade.
Xin Laonan was thin and small. Though an old man in his early sixties, he was still very shrewd and capable. He wore commoner's short brown clothes, unlike many of his kind who pretended to be refined masters. At this moment, he sat upright in the grand armchair, eyes slightly closed, looking uninterested in anything.
In the other grand armchairs sat two middle-aged men dressed as scholars. One was Zhan Zhekun, the other Yang Jinghui.
Standing respectfully in the middle was none other than Huang Daqiao, who had been sent to contact Feng Haijiao.
After listening to his account of meeting Feng Haijiao, Zhan Zhekun asked, "Is the number of people clear?"
"Clear. I counted them one by one. There are about one hundred men carrying swords and spears. There are also one hundred thirty or forty family members who are not able-bodied men. The others are carrying luggage boxes. The number is quite large—fully over two hundred people."
This number was almost the same as the intelligence brought back by the spy Zhan Zhekun had sent. He nodded slightly. "You have worked hard. Go to the grain office and draw two taels of silver."
"Yes, thank you for the reward, Master!" Huang Daqiao was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to get a reward just for passing a message and counting people. This Master Zhan was indeed more generous than Manager Xin!
Thinking so, he still glanced carefully at Xin Laonan—who still had his eyes closed with a face of indifference.
Huang Daqiao withdrew. Zhan Zhekun and Yang Jinghui looked at each other. Zhan Zhekun picked up his tea cup and smiled slightly. "This Feng Haijiao harbors the thought of the guest becoming the host."
"It's not surprising he has this idea." Yang Jinghui glanced at Xin Laonan. Indeed, they themselves were also "the guest becoming the host."
Since raising the imperial court's banner in Guangning, Yang Jinghui had once mixed quite successfully. However, with the increase of the National Army garrison and the consolidation of local government institutions, his sphere of activity had grown smaller and smaller. With the continuous suppression campaigns of the Fubo Army, eventually he had to abandon even his old nest, Yang Family Manor. Taking all the able-bodied men and assets of the manor, he had gone up to Xie Wendong's Laoshan Stockade.
Laoshan Stockade had originally been seized by Xie Wendong after killing his boss in an internal strife. It was located at the junction of two counties with precipitous terrain. Hiding inside could allow one to linger on for a while. However, Zhan Zhekun believed that though this place was remote, it was isolated and helpless. Once the Hair thieves caught their breath and concentrated their forces to attack, Laoshan Stockade would be surrounded on all sides—a place of certain death.
Zhan Zhekun had infiltrated the three Lianyang counties for activities, got to know the Three Tyrants of Yangshan in Yangshan, and learned about Xin Laonan's Thunder Struck Slope. Using opportunities like settling Zhang Tianbo's family, he had visited here several times. He was very satisfied with the terrain. Moreover, he knew the distance from Thunder Struck Slope to Laoshan Stockade was only twenty li, making them exactly able to support each other like horns.
Therefore, the thought of seizing Thunder Struck Slope immediately arose in his mind.
Zhan Zhekun was a literatus and naturally got along better with Yang Juren, who also had a literati background. Moreover, he had observed the caliber of these Three Tyrants of Yangshan—"no usable talent." Though Sun Dabiao had turned Yangshan upside down for a while, he always believed these bandits were just cannon fodder—adequate for disturbing the Hair thieves, but incapable of accomplishing great things.
Naturally, with Yang Juren's current strength, he couldn't fight his way in directly. He had lost several consecutive battles in Guangning, suffering heavy losses in village braves. Now in Laoshan Stockade, dispatching all able-bodied men from fifteen to sixty years old would only amount to three hundred odd people. Forcing an attack on a natural barrier would only mean delivering heads. Zhan Zhekun and Yang Jinghui discussed secretly again and again, deciding to take it by cunning.
Xin Laonan was advanced in years and somewhat muddled, plus he was greedy for wealth. He never suspected that this Master Zhan was actually plotting for his manor. Just a few days after Sun Dabiao was night-raided and his whole army annihilated, Zhan Zhekun led more than ten capable village braves headed by Xie Wendong to infiltrate the stockade under the guise of "transporting Sun Dabiao's treasure." That night, they quietly killed the guards, opened the stockade gate, and led Yang Jinghui's main force into the stockade.
Xin Family Manor had no more than twenty households and fewer than fifty able-bodied men. It relied entirely on natural barriers for protection. Once Yang Jinghui's main force got up the mountain and killed a few resisters, the manor fell without a fight.
Zhan Zhekun had visited here several times and had always been observant. He had long figured out the interpersonal relationships in Xin Family Manor. After occupying the manor, he immediately purged more than twenty of Xin Laonan's trusted aides and clan members, using their money and female family members to buy over the remaining tenants and servants. Then Yang Jinghui transferred a portion of the tenants and village braves from Laoshan Stockade to strengthen Thunder Struck Slope. In this way, not only was Zhan Zhekun's strategy of "two stockades supporting each other like horns" realized, but he also used this to split Xie Wendong's subordinates in half—not only weakening Xie's strength but also making him completely lose his original foundation in Laoshan Stockade. It could be called achieving several goals with one move.
As for Xin Laonan himself, Yang Jinghui had originally prepared to give him a "whole family extermination"—cutting grass and removing roots to eliminate future trouble forever. Zhan Zhekun stopped him, saying, "No hurry."
Zhan Zhekun's keeping Xin Laonan's whole family alive was not due to a discovery of conscience or any soft-heartedness. Rather, during his activities in Yangshan, he had learned that Thunder Struck Slope was quite famous in the three Lianyang counties. Many bandits and powerful men used this place as a hideout for stashing loot and recuperating when things got dangerous. That was why Sun Dabiao and others had hidden Zhang Tianbo's family here, and Zhan Zhekun could use "transporting treasure" as a pretext to infiltrate the manor.
This reputation could be exploited. Zhan Zhekun believed that especially now, when all kinds of riffraff lived in constant fear, it was very likely they would flock here with valuables and family members to seek refuge.
"As long as this living signboard Xin Laonan is here, naturally there will be people throwing themselves into the net." Zhan Zhekun smiled, stroking his beard. "When that time comes, how to dispose of them will be just a word from Master Yang."
Yang Jinghui laughed loudly, and the Xin Laonan family thus escaped disaster. They were imprisoned separately. Only Xin Laonan himself, force-fed some drug by Zhan Zhekun, sat like a clay idol or wooden puppet every day, left to their manipulation.
"Someone come—Manager Xin is tired. Serve him to go back and rest." Zhan Zhekun ordered.
Though the drug made Xin Laonan practically deaf and mute, Zhan Zhekun was naturally cautious. Though he couldn't help but let him live for now, since he was alive, there was some danger. Utmost caution was required.
"Invite Chief Xie over to discuss matters." After Xin Laonan left, he ordered again.
"What for? Why call him?" Yang Juren was somewhat puzzled. In his eyes, Xie Wendong was a rough fellow—perhaps a good hand at charging into battle and killing, but he couldn't be put at the table for discussing strategy.
"That's not right," Zhan Zhekun said seriously. "Since League Chief Xie is the Chief Drill Instructor of your village braves, how could he not know about such a big matter? Moreover, in the current situation, we must not let him feel alienated."
Xie Wendong was not Master Yang's direct subordinate. Though he had made a great contribution by killing the stockade chief and offering Laoshan Stockade back then, and had put in great effort seizing Thunder Struck Slope this time, within the Yang family group, he was forever an untrustworthy "outsider."
Using the pretense of separating stockades to break up his men and transfer him to a "strange place"—these measures, Zhan Zhekun thought, were not inappropriate. But he must be appeased well. This appeasement couldn't just rely on giving him a title of "League Chief" plus dividing money and women; he also had to be made to feel like "one of our own."
Zhan Zhekun had secretly observed this former bandit leader and felt this person was crude in appearance but fine in detail, capable and decisive in handling affairs. Used well, he was an enormous help; if controlled improperly, he was an enormous hidden danger. He was exactly the kind of person described as "if you can't use him, best kill him." It was very normal for Yang Jinghui and others not to trust him—after all, he was a "traitor" who had killed his boss, and his surname wasn't Yang.
Though he tried his best to support Yang Jinghui, he also didn't wish to see a monolithic "Yang Family Army." Xie Wendong was his idle piece and cold chess move.
Next Update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Part 462 (End of Chapter)