Chapter 915 - 760: The Rise of the Anti-Japanese Army

Zheng Jiye held a torch and walked in the front, followed by dozens of people, some with horse-drawn carriages, others carrying sedan chairs, all with official status.

Behind the carriages and sedan chairs, there were also twenty young men, wearing constable uniforms.

As they passed through the South City Gate, the coachmen and chair carriers, looking at the small mountain of human heads, dared not move forward, trembling with fear. The heads, pickled with lime, were gray-white, with some looking as if they died with grievances.

Someone inside the carriage lifted the curtain to look, then hurriedly let it fall back down.

Zheng Jiye entered the city gate, turned back at the Human Head Mountain and urged, "Move, what are you staring at?"

Someone inside the carriage called out, "Please ask the Chief to meet outside the city, we will not go in."

Jiang Chai sat beneath the city wall, turning to Yuan Xing and said seriously, "Foster father wants us to pile the heads at the city gate to first test the courage of these Jiangnan gentry, and then consider how to do business with them. These gentry and wealthy families have held sway over Jiangnan for years, manipulating the people with a few sets of rules, seemingly formidable but actually weak underneath, unwilling to stain their hands with blood. No need to fear... Foster father is wise."

Yuan Xing retorted irritably, "If you want to flatter foster father, just say so directly, don’t pretend you’re explaining it to me. I don’t need your explanation."

Chen Ji, sitting between the two, patted his buttocks and stood up, pressing down on the brim of his bamboo hat, holding Wu Yun as he walked outside the city.

Outside the city, the person in the carriage did not even disembark, speaking through the curtain, "Young man, do you know the crime for the Anti-Japanese Army to trade military merits? Capturing enemy heads during battle and exchanging money to buy and sell merits, pretending to earn promotions, results in banishment to the frontier garrison."

At this moment, a constable from behind the carriage stepped forward, and someone in another carriage leisurely said, "Considering your youth and ignorance, and your merits in killing pirates, we won’t hold it against you this time. Just don’t repeat it. We’ll take the pirate heads as a small punishment."

Zheng Jiye’s expression changed: "Gentlemen, that’s not what you said on the way here, didn’t we agree on a price?"

A constable rebuked, "Nonsense, these gentlemen are retired court officials, how could they engage in trading military merits with you? Step aside, or you’ll be thrown into jail!"

Zheng Jiye showed fear, allowing the constables to pass by him, calling some gentry’s servants to pull the ox carts forward and load the pirate heads to take away.

However, when the head constable reached the city gate and stretched out his hand to push Chen Ji blocking the way, Yuan Xing kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back: "Your eyes are on a donkey, is foster father someone you can push?"

The head constable groaned, staggered back, and a few constables rushed to support him, but were knocked down by the sheer force.

The gentry in the carriage couldn’t help but lift the curtain to look. They saw Chen Ji and others wearing bamboo hats standing in front of the city gate, faces unclear, surrounded by a pile of pirate heads taller than a person.

Chen Ji slowly spoke, "Bringing a few petty constables might scare rural folk, but they’ll find no success intimidating the Anti-Japanese Army."

A gentry in a sedan chair sneered, "If constables can’t scare you, then what about us, the scholars? Do you also hold scholars in contempt?"

Chen Ji glanced at the sedan chair: "Today the pirates attacked Jingjiang County. It just so happened that the Anti-Japanese Army passed by and saved the county’s people. Next time, when pirates come for you, perhaps the Anti-Japanese Army won’t be nearby."

A middle-aged scholar opened the curtain and angrily shouted, "How dare you threaten us? Resisting pirates is your duty, don’t try bargaining with us!"

Chen Ji signaled: "Bring the broker."

Jiang Chai dragged the broker to the city gate and threw him down.

Chen Ji calmly said, "Tell these gentlemen, who were the pirates targeting yesterday?"

The broker hurriedly said, "They were after the King Family of Jingjiang, to kidnap them all and demand ransom."

Chen Ji looked at the carriage and horses: "Pirates have already set their sights on coastal gentry and wealthy households. Do you all think, if over three hundred pirates come to your village, can you resist? Besides the Anti-Japanese Army, who else is fighting against the pirates?"

Someone retorted, "Do you think the Jinling Central Army Governor’s Mansion is just for show?"

Chen Ji nonchalantly said, "The Central Army Governor’s Mansion probably has its hands full dealing with private salt smugglers now, how could they have time for you all?"

The inside of the carriage and sedan chair was silent. A moment later, an old voice asked, "Fifty taels for one head, a thousand silver taels for twenty heads to exchange for a position in the Common Households, isn’t that a bit too expensive? Young man, your greed is insatiable like a snake trying to swallow an elephant."

Chen Ji smiled, "The northern officials have the Nine Borders where they can buy military achievements for their sons. Even the least promising son in the family can get a position in the Common Households, and if lucky, they might even secure a place among the households. Jiangnan is not like the north, where there’s rarely any decent battle, so we must rely on studying and the Imperial Examination."

"But the Imperial Examination is held every three years, and only two or three hundred scholars succeed. In Southern Zhili, only a hundred or so manage to become scholars. Not to mention whether your unpromising sons can become scholars, even if they do, they would need to spend thousands of taels waiting for a vacancy. With court positions being as scarce as hen’s teeth, in the past we had Official Xu to look after the Jiangnan gentry. Now that Official Xu is gone, do you think Official Chen and Official Hu will bother with you? If it were easy to be an official, you wouldn’t be idle at home as ’scholars’."

The old voice suddenly said solemnly, "You are not from the Anti-Japanese Army; the Anti-Japanese Army doesn’t have such insight. Who are you?"

Chen Ji lowered his head, the brim of his bamboo hat covering his expression: "There’s no need for you all to care who I am. Today, I’m just offering you a path outside of the Imperial Examination... as military generals. Jiangnan’s military is in shambles, from the Central Army Governor’s Mansion at the top to the Cao Yun garrison in the middle and the Anti-Japanese Army at the bottom, all are drawing empty salaries with vacant positions aplenty. With your gentlemen’s abilities, it’s not a problem to arrange a position as a small flag officer or in the Common Households."

A scholar said in a deep voice, "Do you think arranging this won’t cost money? Even if one becomes part of the Central Army Governor’s Mansion or the Cao Yun garrison, what good will it do?"

Chen Ji changed the topic: "Do you not see value in the Anti-Japanese Army? I disagree. If you arrange for your sons to join the Governor’s Mansion and Cao Yun garrison, they will have to take orders from others and might not come home for months. But if they become part of my Anti-Japanese Army in the Common Households, you may recruit a hundred able-bodied men to stay and defend against the Wokou... though you must fund these men yourself."

Yuan Xing and the others hadn’t reacted yet when Jiang Chai gasped.

Yuan Xing turned his head: "Speak up if you have something to say, why keep it to yourself? What is godfather up to?"

Jiang Chai lowered his voice and said, "Godfather is helping the Jiangnan gentry build a private army. The hundred able-bodied men are said to be defending against the Wokou, but instead of following the Anti-Japanese Army, they stay to guard the family property. With the son as the captain, the men must obey him. How is that different from a private army? With the Wokou rampant in Jiangnan, who wouldn’t want to build a private army for protection?"

Yuan Xing muttered to himself: "Building a private army used to be a capital offense. Now godfather gives them legitimacy to bear arms, wear armor, and carry crossbows... The Jiangnan gentry aren’t short of silver, but lack the military power to secure their position. This military merit hits the gentry’s soft spot."

Right then, Chen Ji said slowly, "Gentlemen, you can also send your able-bodied men to my Anti-Japanese Army for training. In just two or three months, we can teach them how to patrol the villages and deal with the Wokou, though that’s a separate cost."

Jiang Chai gestured at the Human Head Mountain behind him: "Two hundred weak old men of the Anti-Japanese Army beheaded 261 heads, how’s that?"

The old voice in the carriage was silent for a long while: "Allow us to discuss it."

The carriage and sedan whispered for a long time, after two sticks of incense worth of time, the old voice finally spoke loudly: "Young man, twenty silver taels per bandit head."

Zheng Jiye’s eyes lit up, two hundred sixty-one heads would be over five thousand taels?

But Chen Ji calmly said, "Please go back, gentlemen, we will ask the gentlemen of Jiangyin, Changshu, Kunshan, and Huai’an tomorrow."

A middle-aged scholar heard this and immediately lifted the curtain of the carriage: "Forty taels, we’ll take them all."

"Deal," Chen Ji smiled and said: "The bandit heads are here, and how the Merit Officer evaluates them depends on your capabilities. Gentlemen, before any merit is determined, your sons must be first recorded into my Anti-Japanese Army’s Age and Appearance Book, and sign the ’Team Guarantee’ and ’Team Leader’s Guarantee’. Oh, and the Central Army Governor’s Mansion hasn’t increased the funds for the Anti-Japanese Army; please make some efforts, or your sons won’t be able to join the Anti-Japanese Army."

No one in the carriage said a word, and finally, that old voice said, "I’ll personally make a trip to Jinling then. First register and create the records, and I’ll take the documents with me to Jinling."

Chen Ji agreed with a smile: "Good."

A few swaggering young men jumped off the carriage, stepped forward to sign their names, and write their information in the Age and Appearance Book: name, age, origin, which mansion, county, village, height, skin color, body shape, scars and spots on body, and note which camp or team they were assigned to.

The document was made in duplicate, one for the camp’s bottom record, and the other sent to the Jinling Central Army Governor’s Mansion. Only with the governor’s signature would the document be valid.

Jiang Chai exclaimed marvelously: "First you sell merit for silver, then quarter troops among civilians to jointly defend against the Wokou, and finally turn competitors against each other, solving the issue of the Anti-Japanese Army’s inability to expand - a move that kills three birds with one stone."

Yuan Xing chuckled softly, lowering his voice: "Do you really think godfather is some shallow character fixated on those five thousand taels? Do you truly believe he cares whether the gentry live or die, wanting to help them fight the Wokou? Jiangnan is going to get lively now."

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