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“There’s a village ahead. Let’s ask the village chief if there’s an empty house we can stay in for the night.”
They had already covered about one-third of their nearly 3,500-mile journey into exile. They were now in the Gunzhou area, which for some reason was sparsely populated despite its vast expanse. They had been camping out in the wilderness for three days, so they were eager not to miss the opportunity when they finally spotted a village.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped. As soon as they entered the village, they noticed that the villagers began to close their doors and shut themselves in.
They knocked on several doors, but no one answered.
The entire village gave off an air of hostility, as if the villagers were treating them like bringers of plague.
“Let’s head north. I saw someone shoveling snow earlier; let’s go ask them.”
Xu Zheng approached a house that seemed to belong to someone more courageous. Why? Because when they had turned the corner earlier, someone had quickly darted into this house.
“Is anyone home?” Xu Zheng knocked on the door. “Old man inside, I saw you. But don’t worry, we’re not bad people. I’m an officer of the court, and these are my subordinates. We’re responsible for escorting prisoners. The man beside me is the chief bodyguard of Yang Wei Escort Agency, and the others are guards hired to protect wealthy merchants and their goods. We’re not bad people!”
“We have no other intentions in coming to the village. We just want to know if there’s an empty house where we can rest for a while?”
The courtyard gate didn’t open, but through a small gap in the low mud wall, they could see someone open the door just a crack. A trembling voice came out, “You’ll have to ask the village chief about that. His house is just ahead; you’ll reach it after walking a bit further.”
Xu Zheng didn’t push the matter. “Alright, thank you.”
Not long after they continued on their way, a short old man approached them with seven or eight strong villagers in tow, and they met face to face.
Xu Zheng stepped forward to explain their purpose, handing over his official badge for the old man to inspect.
After carefully examining it and confirming Xu Zheng and his group’s identity, the old man finally relaxed. “Please forgive us, officers. Our village is so wary of strangers because we’ve been through too much.”
Xu Zheng first asked the old man’s surname, then quickly inquired about what he had mentioned.
The old man introduced himself as Chen and said they could call him Village Chief Chen.
“Sigh, it’s a cursed situation! About 200 miles from our Qingxi Village, there’s a bandit stronghold called Qinglong Fort. They often raid the surrounding villages. Just half a month ago, our Qingxi Village was looted by them. When we saw you coming with such a grand presence, we thought the bandits from Qinglong Fort had returned.”
“Is Qinglong Fort really that audacious?”
“Absolutely.”
“Has the government done nothing about it?”
“You mean to eliminate the bandits?” Village Chief Chen gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “They’ve tried, but it’s been useless.”
“Qinglong Fort is located halfway up the treacherous Cang Mountain, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The government has sent troops, but they’ve never been able to wipe them out completely.”
Village Chief Chen told them that every time the government sent people, the bandits from Qinglong Fort would retaliate even more fiercely, raiding the nearby villages even more frequently. Over time, they simply gave up resisting.
Lu Songli and the others listened quietly from the carriage. This was indeed a situation that would lead to endless troubles.
“Whenever the bandits from Qinglong Fort come, as long as we obediently hand over enough grain, they won’t kill anyone, nor will they harm the women or kidnap our children.” As for not having enough to eat? Well, we just tighten our belts and drink more water. As long as we don’t starve to death, we’ll manage.
Lu Songli listened quietly, realizing that Qinglong Fort was treating the surrounding hundred miles as its own fishing pond. It seemed they understood the concept of sustainable exploitation.
But in doing so, hadn’t Qinglong Fort effectively become a second government? After paying taxes to the government each year, the villagers still had to be exploited by Qinglong Fort.
Moreover, as ordinary citizens, isn’t it a basic expectation not to be subjected to burning, killing, and looting?
Lu Songli noticed that the common people’s demands were indeed very low. Perhaps this was just a reflection of their helplessness.
“Oh dear, I’ve been rambling about these bothersome matters. Sirs, you wanted to know if our village has any empty houses available for you to stay in, correct?”
“Yes, Village Chief Chen. As you can see, we have quite a few people. Could you arrange something for us?”
“Well, we do have some empty houses in the village, but they might not be able to accommodate so many people at once.”
“No problem, we can lay out some mats on the ground and make do with a bit of a squeeze. Village Chief Chen, please lead the way.”
Village Chief Chen then led them to an empty farmhouse. The courtyard had nearly ten large rooms, and the house itself looked fairly new, yet no one was living in it.
However, they didn’t bother to ask more questions.
Yang Wei handed him a pouch of copper coins, containing about five or six hundred coins. “Village Chief Chen, take this as compensation for us using the house.”
Along the way, it was clear that Qingxi Village was not prosperous. The villagers were all thin and gaunt, with none of them appearing even remotely well-fed.
“No, no, I can’t accept this.”
“Please, take it.”
Yang Wei insisted that he take the money. They weren’t short of it, but Qingxi Village was extremely poor, with few opportunities to earn money. Since they were using someone else’s house, it was only right to pay for it.
Seeing Yang Wei’s insistence, Village Chief Chen finally said, “Brother Yang, I don’t want the money. If possible, could you give me some grain instead?”
He went on to explain, “To be honest, this house belongs to my cousin. He built it two years ago, but last year he died suddenly of an illness. His wife remarried shortly after and moved to another place, leaving behind only my two-year-old nephew. Since last year, he’s been surviving on food given by various families.” In reality, the child had been living with Village Chief Chen’s family, but they weren’t well-off either, and his daughters-in-law often complained about having another mouth to feed.
“If you give me the money, I’ll have to go to town to buy grain for him. If it’s convenient for you, it would be better to just exchange it directly for grain.”
“Alright.” Yang Wei exchanged the money for grain based on the current prices. This year, grain was indeed expensive, and as the year-end approached, the price of fine grain had risen to 200 coins per *dou* (a unit of measure), while coarse grain was 100 coins per *dou*. In the end, Yang Wei gave him five *dou* of coarse grain and half a *dou* of fine grain.
Village Chief Chen and his men carried the grain away.
One of the villagers who had accompanied him remarked enviously, “Village Chief, these outsiders are really wealthy.”
The others nodded in agreement, “They have so many carts. Just by looking at how deep the ruts are, you can tell they’re loaded to the brim.”
They had no ill intentions, just simple envy. After all, the group had 40 to 50 strong men, each of them looking as though they could easily take on three of the villagers. They wouldn’t dare to harbor any bad thoughts.