Chapter 136 Military Pay

The platoon leader of Kouguo had indeed completed the transaction with the "Spider Hero." Moreover, he was not the only one; throughout Sha County, practically every platoon leader in all the garrison districts had made the deal. The "Spider Hero" himself did not show up at the transaction site; instead, the person who came to negotiate with them was the former clerk from the Sha County magistrate's office.

When this clerk appeared, a sense of relief washed over all the platoon leaders present. We are all companions in misery, they thought. Since the entire situation in Sha County had come to this, there was nothing they could do. After all, this "Spider Hero" had connections that reached the heavens—he could even order around people from the county magistrate's office, couldn't he?

This outcome was something Xu Wenshan had not anticipated. However, the result was a good one. This clerk seemed to be the proverbial last straw that broke the platoon leaders' final psychological defenses, and everyone simply decided to pay up and be done with it. Nevertheless, the clerk pointed out that Xu Wenshan had also prepared a sum of money for them called the "Stress Relief Fee."

"The Hero has instructed that you are all loyal subjects of the imperial court, and you all wish to protect the territory and pacify the people for the Duke. However, human strength cannot overcome the circumstances, and you all face pressure from both above and below. Therefore, a stress relief fee has been prepared for each of you to comfort your painstaking efforts. By the way, this money will be provided every month, as long as you can guarantee that you will not interfere with the Hero's affairs."

The platoon leaders looked at one another, thinking to themselves: Aren't all these pressures from above and below brought upon us by you people? No one had any idea what kind of medicine this Hero was selling in his gourd.

One platoon leader said, "Your Hero is quite absurd. First we pay him money to buy peace, and then he turns around and gives the money back to us. Isn't that exactly the same as before?"

The clerk wore a slight expression of astonishment. "Did you pay the 'peace money' out of your own pockets?... Ah, never mind."

Those two casual remarks from the clerk felt like a bucket of milk poured over the heads of the platoon leaders: That's right, why on earth did I pay out of my own pocket?

...

After returning to Xu Wenshan's stronghold, the clerk let out a long breath, as if laying down a heavy burden.

"How did it go?" Xu Wenshan's voice came from the deep shadows of the room.

"Very well," Liang Dong replied. "Just as you instructed, the 'ingredients' I added for them were gladly swallowed."

Xu Wenshan emerged from the shadows with a smile on his face. "Now we have firmly established our foothold in Sha County. Later on, make sure the account books are well-kept; these will serve as leverage against those platoon leaders."

Liang Dong said, "There are still many things I don't understand..."

Xu Wenshan seemed to be in a good mood today and was willing to entertain his questions. "What don't you understand?"

"You went through all the trouble to rob a massive shipment of military pay, yet why are you spending it so lavishly?" Liang Dong pointed out perceptively. "You didn't come here for the money."

"Uh-huh," Xu Wenshan replied noncommittally, with a rather flirtatious air.

"Buying slaves is supposed to be a way for them to make money for you, but the money you've spent on these slaves far exceeds anything they could ever earn for you. Why?"

Xu Wenshan said, "Because for me, these slaves in my hands can have far more value than they would in anyone else's hands."

Liang Dong thought about it, but failed to figure out what else these slaves could possibly do, so he skipped that point and said, "Given your strength, you could easily acquire plenty of slaves using other methods. You could round up those captives and peasants right now and take them all back to your territory as slaves, and they wouldn't even be able to resist."

"That's different," Xu Wenshan said. "What I need is a group of pure, completely untainted slaves. I don't need to do anything to them; they are already left with nothing but their wretched lives. I don't want a group of normal people whom I then have to turn into slaves. That is entirely different."

Liang Dong thought about it again, failing to see how it was any different, and instead concluded that it was simply because Xu Wenshan was soft-hearted.

Xu Wenshan did not bother to explain it to him. Capturing slaves the way one conscripted able-bodied men was certainly feasible, but firstly, it wouldn't net many people, and secondly, those captured slaves already had homes and businesses, with their ancestral roots back in Cai State, constantly dreaming of escaping back home. What use would such slaves be?

What he needed was a batch of "pure" slaves whose hearts were as dead as ashes, who possessed nothing left in the world except their wretched lives.

Xu Wenshan said to Liang Dong, "After the next mission, you can go back and continue being your clerk."

Liang Dong said miserably, "Everyone already knows that I've been working with you. If your actions are discovered by the imperial court one day, getting charged with treason would be getting off lightly. How could I possibly go back to being an official?"

"It seems you still don't understand the essence of being an official," Xu Wenshan said. "Precisely because everyone knows you've been working with me, your official career will only grow bigger and higher."

...

As the morning light dawned faintly and the eastern sky began to brighten, with only a dozen stars left blinking in the firmament, the soldiers of Deer Crane Gulch set out from Five-Mile Village, marching quietly toward the southeast.

Xu Wenshan told them there was another mission, and instructed them to bring along all the remaining incendiary bottles.

Over the past few days, they had practically raided every single military post around Sha County. Previously, they had only worn single-layer unlined garments and straw sandals, but now each of them wore leather helmets and leather armor, their military boots gleamed brightly, some even possessed iron armor, and they had multiple pairs of trousers to alternate between.

However, ever since their negotiations with the local platoon leaders here, Xu Wenshan had rarely taken them out on "missions." Instead, he spent more time having them interact with the local villagers.

Because Xu Wenshan was generous with his money and their soldiers maintained high discipline, the local villagers were now happier to see the Deer Crane Gulch troops than they would be to see their own relatives. Whenever the Deer Crane Gulch contingent entered a village, people would offer tea and water, greeting them with cheerful smiles. Even many of the young men in the villages declared their intention to join the ranks of the "Spider Hero" to uphold justice and do deeds worthy of true men.

As for these newly joined soldiers, Xu Wenshan dispersed them and integrated them into the existing squads, averaging two veterans to one recruit. By now, his troop strength had expanded to forty or fifty men.

This group set out in the faint morning light and did not reach their destination until noon. This place was quite far from Sha County, and actually much closer to Gui County, which lay downstream from the Sha River.

After flowing past Sha County, the Sha River first headed south, and then suddenly made a turn to flow northward. Crossing the Sha River from the southern bank and heading north, if one did not pass through Sha County, this was the shortest route.

However, this region was filled with hills and forests. Fortunately, the people of Deer Crane Gulch had grown up in the mountains, so they did not find the terrain difficult. After making a fire to cook at noon, Xu Wenshan instructed the soldiers to completely stamp out the embers, and then had them sit around in a circle so he could announce the upcoming operation plan.

Once the soldiers were all seated, Xu Wenshan said to them in a low voice, "This time, our target is different from the past. Our enemies will not be the garrison forces, but rather the frontline troops of Cai State."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone drew a sharp breath.

"Moreover, the enemy's numbers will far exceed ours, so for this battle, everyone must prepare..." Xu Wenshan originally wanted to say "prepare to make the ultimate sacrifice," but thinking it sounded ominous, he left the words unsaid.

Liang Dachang could not help but ask, "Commander, the previous battles were all about what you called 'attacking the enemy's weak points,' but why are we deliberately choosing to fight the enemy's regular army this time?"

Xu Wenshan said sternly, "Because this force is transporting the military pay for the frontline troops of Cai State."