Chapter 1142: The Local Ruffians
Jiang Daliang stood by, watching the Gao Family Village Militia thoroughly thrash Wang Wen and his crew, a sight that left him utterly delighted.
Soon, Wang Wen's shrill screams echoed: "Where's the militia? Quick, come help! Get rid of these bastards!"
At his shout, Jiang Daliang immediately looked away.
The other hired militiamen on the city wall all pretended not to hear.
Those less adept at feigning ignorance simply ran in the opposite direction, yelling, "Oh no, the rebels could attack at any moment! I need to guard the North Gate!"
Wang Wen roared in fury, "Fine, fine, you want to play it this way, huh? Just you wait! All of you, just you wait!"
Clutching his profusely bleeding nose, he darted away, vanishing in an instant.
Cheng Xu raised a middle finger at Wang Wen's retreating back, then bellowed cheerfully to the dockworkers, "Everyone, come and move the cargo! You'll get your wages directly from me now. We're cutting out that Wang fellow entirely!"
The dockworkers cheered with delight, "Coming! Coming!"
Getting their full wages, with no one skimming eighty percent off the top—what an incredible feeling!
Jiang Daliang carried several large baskets of grain off the ship and received his full wages. He felt an indescribable joy. How many years had it been? This was the first time in his life, from childhood to adulthood, that he'd received his full pay. For some reason, the rolling river waters suddenly seemed beautiful.
Even Jiangbei City behind him no longer looked so repulsive.
Jiang Daliang couldn't hold back. He quietly approached Cheng Xu and whispered, "New militia instructor, I have some information for you."
Cheng Xu raised an eyebrow.
Jiang Daliang lowered his voice. "This Wang fellow has serious connections. With the authorities... he has people..."
Cheng Xu smiled. "What a coincidence. We also have people with the authorities, and our backing is much stronger. Even the Prefect of Chongqing treats us respectfully; we're not afraid of him at all."
Jiang Daliang was overjoyed, then interjected, "But this Wang Wen has another backer: the local ruffians entrenched on Tieshan Ping..."
"Local ruffians? What are those?" Cheng Xu had never heard the term before.
Jiang Daliang explained, "They're local bandits, utterly ruthless and vicious. Anyone who crosses Wang Wen ends up murdered by these ruffians, their bodies tossed into the river. You must be careful!"
Cheng Xu's expression instantly turned grim. "So that's how it is."
Jiang Daliang thought he was scared and whispered, "Perhaps you should withdraw for now."
Cheng Xu replied, "You're mistaken. I'm not scared."
Jiang Daliang looked bewildered.
Cheng Xu continued, "I'm just regretting that I didn't kill him directly just now, but only gave him a punch. Ah, I went too easy on him."
Jiang Daliang gasped.
Cheng Xu chuckled. "Thanks for the heads-up. You should stay out of this for a while. Once I've dealt with Wang Wen and the local ruffians backing him, I'll make sure all the dockworkers get proper justice."
Jiang Daliang was quite baffled. Where did this man get the confidence to take down the local ruffians?
*Sigh.*
Outsiders, no matter how formidable, always underestimated the strength of the local powers.
He wouldn't listen to reason.
Jiang Daliang could only sigh and return to the city wall, picking up his pike to resume his duty as a militia warrior.
Standing on the city wall, Jiang Daliang silently observed the newly arrived militia. He watched as they set up their own tents in an open area within the city, showing no signs of disturbing the local residents whatsoever.
They brought their own provisions, requiring no extortion from local gentry or wealthy families. When they shopped in Jiangbei City, every single one of them paid their dues, behaving with utmost courtesy and entirely devoid of the usual swagger of military men.
Jiang Daliang was utterly bewildered by what he saw.
In his twenty-odd years of life, he had never once witnessed such an army or militia, never! Even within the militia he currently served, many had grown arrogant after joining, occasionally eating cold noodles or other snacks without paying.
Especially the masked instructor leading them—he dared to strike even Wang Wen, so he was clearly a person of great importance. Yet, he conducted himself with remarkable humility, never flaunting his status, always speaking to everyone with a cheerful smile.
Furthermore, after entering the city, this man not only organized defenses but also actively observed the lives of the common people. When he saw poor families without food, he arranged for militia soldiers to distribute congee on the streets, bringing relief to the needy.
With his arrival, the impoverished residents of Jiangbei City suddenly had food to eat.
*Could it be that good people exist even among the wealthy?* he wondered.
*Damn it,* he thought, *after all this, should I still open the city gates for the rebels? I don't want them to kill this new militia instructor.*
Jiang Daliang was suddenly torn—
Tieshan Ping, Shu Kingdom Barracks.
Tieshan Ping was Chongqing's river gateway. Warships arriving from downstream had to pass this stretch of the river at Tieshan Ping before they could reach Chongqing's Chaotianmen Pier.
Such a vital location was, naturally, a place of paramount strategic importance.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the Shu Kingdom built a massive barracks here. Li Daoxuan, in his own time, had even visited this very site as a tourist, where a giant statue of Zhao Yun stood.
Yet now, entrenched within the Shu Kingdom barracks was an army of local ruffians.
Their total numbers reached two thousand five hundred.
These local ruffians had always lived by plundering passing merchants and travelers. However, in recent years, with the world in chaos and trade routes severed, they no longer preyed on merchants but had turned to robbing ordinary people instead.
Their actions were utterly barbaric—murder and robbery were their staples, and their methods were no less brutal than those of roving bandits.
Such local bandits, so vicious even towards their own people, were rare in the entire realm.
At this moment, Wang Wen stood in the main camp of the Shu Kingdom barracks, whining tearfully to the chieftain, "Brother Ma, I got beaten up."
The leader of these local ruffians was Ma Qiang. He wasn't particularly burly, standing only about one meter sixty-five tall, but his presence was formidable. With a fierce look on his face, he snarled, "Who dared to hit you? Don't they know you're under my protection?"
Wang Wen replied, "It's a group of outsiders. This fellow has a thousand men, claiming to be a militia from Shaanxi, here to help suppress the roving bandits in Sichuan."
Ma Qiang chuckled maliciously. "A Shaanxi militia? Coming to Chongqing to throw their weight around? Who gave him such audacity?"
Wang Wen pressed on, "After hitting me, this fellow changed the rules at the pier. He won't let the silver pass through my hands anymore. And you have a share in that silver, Brother Ma. You have to intervene in this!"
Ma Qiang sneered, "Hmph, you don't need to tell me; I was going to intervene anyway. Daring to act like a boss on my territory? He doesn't know his own place. Men! Go scout Jiangbei City, find out everything you can about these Shaanxi people."
The moment his words fell, a subordinate burst in from outside.
Ma Qiang smiled and praised, "Came quite quickly, didn't you?"
The subordinate's face was pale with panic. "Big Brother, it's bad! A militia unit has attacked the foot of Tieshan Ping, threatening to wipe us out!"
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