Chapter Forty-Four: Promotion on the Battlefield

  Those who were chasing after the salted fish sticks are now running back to the front, these young people can no longer see the panic from earlier, instead they have a spirited and heroic demeanor. Li Meng's face however is gloomy, he spoke in a low voice to the person beside him:

  "It seems I haven't practiced enough and fought too little."

  Those three people who were shot by arrows, one was shot in the thigh, and two were shot in the shoulder. When Li Meng went to check on them, these three people had already struggled to get up by themselves. The salt workers' archery skills are indeed not worth mentioning, even if they hit their mark, the arrow didn't penetrate too deeply into the flesh, and there wouldn't be any aftereffects.

  But being shot by an arrow, for these young men who had never been on the battlefield before, the psychological shock was unbearable. They immediately fell to the ground, thinking they had suffered serious injuries. It wasn't until their companions rushed back that the three of them realized nothing was wrong with them.

  The road was littered with corpses, but the young salt sellers showed no signs of discomfort, instead boasting to each other in hushed tones about how many people they had killed. The atmosphere was tense and high-strung until someone noticed Li Meng's somber expression, at which point the group fell silent.

  Li Mengxian was pulling a horse cart and shouted loudly:

  "Ma Ke's brave performance today was seen by everyone, from now on he is the deputy captain!"

  As soon as the sentence was finished, there was a stir below. Looking at Ma Gang's eyes, they were suddenly filled with envy. But who could say anything about this appointment? Just now, at the critical moment of life and death, it was Li Meng, Zhao Neng, and Ma Gang who rushed out. Weren't these three team leaders and deputy team leaders?

  Li Meng's eyebrows were tightly locked, knowing that this was not a place for lectures either, and he loudly gave the order:

  "Search for the trees, three people who were shot with arrows are lifted up, and these corpses are arranged on the side of the road. The money and weapons on their bodies are all taken out and gathered here at Ma Gan's place. No one is allowed to secretly take them!"

  These young people reacted quickly at this time, dispersing with a loud noise and starting to get busy. Zhao Neng walked over to their side and said in a low voice:

  "We have four people who ran away, one from Benbai Hu's household and three from the northern hundred households. Not counting those hit by arrows, two people were lightly injured."

  Li Meng's face looked even more unpleasant, and he said coldly:

  "Let them go, just give the order and don't let them come back. We won't even take their salt. This year's harvest is bad, and these good-for-nothings still want to live a good life? Let's teach them a lesson."

  On the other side, the waist knives and iron rulers were all piled up at the feet of Ma Gang, with scattered silver coins, copper coins, and some valuable jewelry placed on the edge of the weapons. Ma Gang was good at fighting and charging, but when it came to counting and calculating, he looked a bit dizzy.

  The work of searching and sorting was soon completed, Li Meng deliberately looked elsewhere and discussed with Zhao Neng, Ma Kan hurriedly untied the small package on his back, took out the package skin and wrapped up all the money, then ran to hand it over to Li Meng. Just now, Li Meng had been paying attention to Ma Kan's sorting of goods, these silver coins and copper coins were not a few, but Ma Kan didn't show any sign of being tempted, he was just sweating profusely while sorting.

  Before and after this battle, Li Meng's impression of Ma Gang has improved a lot. Not only is he brave in battle, but he also has a sense of justice when it comes to money. He is indeed a rare talent. Li Meng smiled and patted Ma Gang on the shoulder, saying:

  "When we arrive at Jiao State, I will reward you according to your merits and arrange for the people below to take the captured weapons away!"

  When he heard the words "those below" and "rewarding those who have made achievements", Ma Gong's face turned bright red, his chest puffed out straight, and he gave Li Meng a big salute. He then turned around and shouted loudly:

  "Each person carry two weapons, form up and march!!"

  The salt-peddling team, delayed for half a day, set out again. The road was stained with blood, and nearly eighty corpses lay by the roadside, but no one paid any attention to them...

  The sun is setting, according to the rules, the soldiers guarding the gate should be preparing to close the city gate. In these chaotic times, they fear that if the gate is closed late, bad people will take advantage of the darkness and sneak in. The several counties under Dengzhou Prefecture were not conquered by Kong Youde in this way. On ordinary days, if one enters half an hour later, the soldiers at the city gate would directly chase them away.

  Today, several soldiers stood on one side of the west gate of Jiao State with a smile, not daring to say a word of urging. On this side of the city gate, there were dozens of people standing, all of whom were prominent figures in the city. The prefect and the registrar who accompanied the governor were here, as well as the owners of several large shops, surrounded by yamen runners and underlings, all gazing out at the official road.

  Today, something big happened in Jiaozhou City. In the morning, someone went to the government office to report a case, and the officers who received the report were all familiar with each other. They were small-time gang leaders from the west of the city, known as Luo Xi. It turned out that they had some connections. Recently, it was said that the new inspector had taken office and dismissed all the old staff members, which made them lose their power.

  The new governor of Zhi State heard someone beating a drum outside and immediately sent an officer to lead him in. He ascended the hall and asked about the case, but as soon as Luo Xi spoke up, everyone was shocked.

  The case reported by Luo Si was shocking and astonishing. The scattered salt workers had their financial resources cut off, and they were resentful in their hearts. After failing to appeal to the new inspector Li Meng, several major leaders conspired together and decided to ambush and kill Li Meng on his way to take office. Although they knew that Li Meng had salt stick men under him, the salt workers believed they were all ruthless and desperate fugitives who could still handle a few poor militiamen who had been trained for only a few days.

  Jiaozhou's governor nearly fell off his chair upon hearing this. Although a touring inspector was only of the ninth rank, he was still an official appointed by the imperial court and one who many people looked up to. The previous one supposedly lost his position because when he was in office, the touring inspector died at home but the case couldn't be solved.

  After toiling for over a decade, I finally managed to pass the imperial examination with a mediocre grade and was appointed as a regional governor. My wife and daughter were allowed to join me, and we began to enjoy a better life. However, if a powerful official were to arrive and start oppressing us, or if there were to be an uprising that would force me to flee, I would surely lose my position. In such a predicament, I am at a loss for what to do.

  The yamen runners and constables in Zhi Prefecture were not only beaten by the salt workers, but sometimes even the shop assistants couldn't intimidate them. In a hurry, they sent someone to fetch official documents from a nearby garrison of government troops, asking the government troops to come and rescue them. However, the commander of the thousand-strong battalion simply ignored them, saying that he was guarding against bandits and not there to maintain local order.

  The civilians and the military are not subordinate to each other. Although the governor is anxious, there is no way out. It was Li Zhuangui, the owner of Jinzhou Warehouse, who said that the patrol officer was a military household, and he might be able to fight back. The governor also knew what kind of person a military household was, but under desperate circumstances, he could only pin his hopes on luck.