Chapter 2290: Life-Risking Brothers
At first, Jiang Yougong had considered the Sanhezu posting a risky assignment—stationed alone outside the city walls, with a captive camp of several thousand people on one side. If trouble broke out, it could easily become a pincer attack from within and without. So he had been reluctant to take it, and had complained privately to Zhu Si several times.
But as the days wore on, he came to see it as a cushy assignment. True, the camp held many captives, but they weren't his problem. The Australians had trained them into submission. And while bandits prowled outside the city, his task was simply to guard the camp—no need for special suppression operations. As long as he kept the perimeter secure, he'd fulfilled his duty. The bandits weren't so foolish as to attack a captive camp directly. So aside from daily patrols and sentry duties, the Third Squadron rarely saw combat and had no special assignments. It was leisurely and safe.
Since Jiang Yougong was responsible for guarding the camp, he naturally had frequent dealings with the camp manager, Liu Youwang. Truth be told, Jiang Yougong looked down on naturalized citizen cadres like Liu Youwang—a peasant background with nothing to show for it.
Yet despite his contempt, he couldn't help but envy the resources and authority Liu Youwang commanded. Several thousand people were in this camp manager's grasp; as the saying went, he could shape them round or square as he pleased. In Sanhezu, Liu Youwang was a petty emperor.
The National Army's treatment wasn't bad, but stationed outside the city, there were no pleasures to be had. Sanhezu was different. Inside was not only a market but women too. For just a few coins, a man could lose his soul for a night. Officers and soldiers from both the National Army and the Fubo Army had been slipping in quietly on their off-hours to "enjoy the spring breeze"—it was an open secret. Jiang Yougong was no exception.
Though Liu Youwang had over two hundred underlings at his disposal, they were all local retained personnel—useful enough for bullying common people and captives, but worthless against any real trouble. And this was outside the city walls! Many in the camp were former government army captives; if they truly caused an uprising, he couldn't suppress it alone. So he had every reason to cultivate Jiang Yougong, inviting him and his officers to drink and enjoy the women from time to time.
Because of these benefits, Jiang Yougong tolerated Liu Youwang's crude and vulgar manner—after all, Liu was footing the bill. On the surface, the two maintained a warm pretense, thick as thieves.
Since returning to the National Army, Jiang Yougong had no desire to go back to laboring on a farm—he wouldn't even stoop to being a semi-attached militia captain. What could compare to military life? Especially this National Army, where you didn't have to fight hard battles. All you did was guard duty; no risk to life and limb.
Intent on rising through the ranks, Jiang Yougong's first thought was to find a patron. As a former Guangdong Government Army defector who had been separated from the military for years, he had no connections to exploit. So he set his sights on Zhu Si.
Zhu Si seemed a suitable target: senior qualifications, having participated in the Shandong operation, trusted by the Australians, and appointed battalion commander shortly after re-enlisting. Both were former government soldiers—similar backgrounds made for easy rapport.
Jiang Yougong was a veteran military rogue. After over a decade in the government army, he had even served as a whistle officer. A simple soldier like Zhu Si was no match for him. With just a few maneuvers, he had the man wrapped around his finger. Zhu Si came to feel that Squadron Commander Jiang was far superior to those obtuse officers like Li Dong who didn't know which way the wind blew.
Though Zhu Si had been appointed battalion commander—quite a stroke of luck—he was privately dissatisfied with his situation. He felt his contributions in Shandong had been substantial, yet he'd received no reward. Coming here to become a "National Army battalion commander"—the position wasn't low, but Zhu Si felt he deserved to be a proper officer in the Fubo Army, not stuck in the National Army that everyone looked down upon, doing miscellaneous work.
He and Li Dong's group were like oil and water. He sensed that the Australians actually preferred officers like Li Dong over him. When the Wuzhou Integrated Squadron was sent on the North Guangdong expedition, it was Li Dong who served as squadron commander. That showed where they stood in Australian eyes.
This sense of grievance made him quickly accept Jiang Yougong as a confidant under the man's persistent flattery. Jiang Yougong would periodically invite him to Sanhezu to "inspect work," where they would eat, drink, and make merry—all courtesy of Liu Youwang, not costing Jiang a penny. A case of borrowing flowers to offer the Buddha.
Liu Youwang was only too happy to curry favor with the local National Army battalion commander. When the three gathered together, it could truly be called "finding each other by smell."
Originally these pleasures were conducted in secret. But as Wuzhou's troops and cadres continuously deployed to Guangxi, Xie Erren became consumed with supply and bandit suppression, unable to attend to Sanhezu. As long as nothing went wrong and operations continued normally, that was enough for him. Liu Youwang and his companions grew bolder. Chang Qingyun's suggestion to form an opera troupe was both catering to their tastes and perfectly timed.
Recently, with a large shipment of grain being transferred to Wuzhou, Zhu Si—however muddled—knew this was a matter of the highest importance. He didn't dare spend much time in Sanhezu and had been wandering inside and outside the city these past days, inspecting and tightening the defenses.
Truth be told, Zhu Si wasn't very confident about Wuzhou's defenses. Without Qian Duo's company holding the city, he felt Wuzhou might as well be singing the Empty Fort Stratagem.
He had inspected each city gate. With the Integrated Squadron transferred away and the First Squadron continuously losing personnel to river patrols, there were now visible gaps in sentry coverage. After discussing with Qian Duo, they decided to open only one gate at each of Wuzhou's four directions, reducing the number of sentries needed. All guards and night patrols at key locations inside the city would be handled by the Fubo Army; the Second Squadron would be responsible for round-the-clock security at the gates and walls. The First Squadron, when not on river patrol, would serve as the nighttime reserve. By this calculation, they barely had enough men.
"When will this Guangxi campaign ever end?" Zhu Si grumbled, his heart heavy. Bandits were causing chaos everywhere these days, and security pressure had spiked at every turn. He was exhausted from dealing with it all, and the psychological burden weighed heavily. Sometimes he caught himself wondering, "Can the Australians really hold on?"
Such thoughts he dared not reveal to anyone, but they greatly affected his mood. He grew irritable during inspections, quick to berate his officers and soldiers over trifles, creating a tense atmosphere within the Wuzhou Battalion.
Jiang Yougong went to confer with Liu Youwang about how to help Battalion Commander Zhu "let off some steam."
"He's got big matters pressing on him; naturally he's anxious. Just stay out of his way—why go provoking him?" Liu Youwang was dismissive. "If he doesn't come, we brothers can enjoy ourselves just fine!"
Liu Youwang had always felt Zhu Si put on airs, and often called him "not a straightforward fellow" behind his back.
"Old Liu, easy for you to say." Jiang Yougong knew Liu Youwang was an uncultured lout who sometimes couldn't grasp the simplest matters of interest. "Zhu Si is the National Army battalion commander—my superior!"
"So what? This is Sanhezu Captive Camp; it's not his place to meddle." Liu Youwang patted his belly.
"True, it's not his place to meddle. But he's the Wuzhou Garrison deputy commander, the National Army battalion commander. One word from him could 'rotate the defense' and swap in the Second Squadron—would you like that?"
This struck at Liu Youwang's weak point. Any squadron could escort him in theory. But over these months, Jiang Yougong had already entangled their interests together.
The captives and refugees taken in at Sanhezu Camp had been transferred many times; currently, three to four thousand remained. That many mouths meant massive daily rations. Factor in different work assignments, age and gender rations, different labor categories... Even in Lingao, running a camp this tightly was difficult, let alone in a "new territory" like Wuzhou. Opportunities for corruption were abundant.
Liu Youwang naturally understood the potential for profit, but being illiterate—barely able to recognize a few characters from Australian literacy classes—refined management was beyond him. Xie Erren knew he couldn't handle such tasks; assigning retained personnel to manage would be like setting wolves to guard sheep. So the City Government handled the actual allocation and record-keeping; the camp simply distributed according to the books.
But even this distribution link was full of holes to exploit. When Liu Youwang first took office, the retained personnel played their tricks, paying him monthly "filial respect" in money and grain. Liu Youwang knew officials had their perks, but he had no idea where the money came from or how to extract it. He could only accept whatever his subordinates deigned to offer, unable to negotiate.
Jiang Yougong was different. He had lived in the military long enough to be intimately familiar with embezzlement and military pay skimming. Though usually he was the one being skimmed, he knew all the tricks by heart. Observing quietly, he had mapped out the corruption at Sanhezu with crystal clarity. He knew that what Liu Youwang received was only a tenth of what was actually being embezzled.
Better to take what those retained personnel were earning—this gang didn't dare compete with them anyway. After all, Sanhezu was under "military law management." Liu Youwang couldn't theoretically kill people casually, but killing a few wasn't exactly difficult either.
Under the guidance of Jiang Yougong as his "dog-head advisor," Liu Youwang suddenly "displayed great divine might." He first arrested several key retained personnel; some were beaten, others imprisoned. A "corruption ring" was exposed—witnesses, evidence, everything in order. When reported to Xie Erren, it was naturally "kill one to warn a hundred," and they were executed by hanging. The rest were scared witless. Jiang Yougong seized the opportunity to take control of the wealth and power. After the purge, a new split emerged: Liu Youwang took half, Jiang Yougong took forty percent, and the retained personnel handling the work took ten percent.
Now, the relationship between them had risen from drinking buddies to "life-risking brothers"—brothers who shared the risks of life and death.
Next Update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Part 494 (End of Chapter)