Chapter 383: Crossing the River into Shanxi
An Jile emerged from the school, her mind still somewhat in a daze.
The teacher's words still echoed in her ears, prompting her to reflect: 'Have I been too anxious about sending my son to school? Yes, probably, that must be why he spoke to me that way.' From now on, she resolved to be more careful when talking with her son.
Lost in thought, she ambled forward without a clear destination, not even noticing which direction she was heading. As she walked, the sound of women's laughter suddenly reached her ears, jolting her back to reality.
She then realized she was standing inside another building that resembled a school.
Its layout was similar to the Gao Family Village School she had just seen, though it was slightly smaller, with fewer rooms and buildings.
The strangest thing was that the building contained no men or boys – no male creatures whatsoever. Even a mosquito that had just flown past her was female, its gender revealed when it bit An Jile and drew blood.
An Jile felt a pang of bewilderment. 'What kind of place is this?' she wondered.
Two middle-aged women walked past her, deep in conversation about weaving. 'Have you heard?' one said. 'Mr. Song has developed something called a small steam engine. If you connect it to a loom, the steam engine can continuously turn the rocking arm, and then the textile machine just weaves all by itself! It’s truly incredible.'
'What?' the other exclaimed. 'Then what good is it for us to learn weaving? Wasn't it all for nothing?'
'Oh, I see,' the second woman replied, visibly relieved. 'You really startled me.'
An Jile, still utterly bewildered by their conversation, quickly reached out and stopped the two women. 'Sisters,' she asked, 'what exactly is this place?'
The two women recognized her as a newcomer the moment she spoke and chuckled. 'This,' one explained, 'is the Gao Family Village Women's Vocational School, dedicated to teaching women all kinds of skills.'
'What?' An Jile gasped. 'Specifically for women?'
The women smiled. 'Yes, it's a truly wonderful place! Here, we've learned weaving, tailoring, cooking, embroidery... With these skills, we can all earn good money.'
'Oh my,' An Jile exclaimed, her eyes widening. 'Something this good exists? Can... can I also come to learn? I've always wanted to learn how to measure and tailor, so I could make my son a nice outfit.'
The two women laughed again. 'Broaden your horizons a bit,' one advised. 'Don't just think about making clothes for your own son. If you master the craft, you can take on custom tailoring orders, and each one could earn you dozens of copper coins!'
'Oh?'
An Jile was clearly tempted by the mention of 'dozens of copper coins.'
The two women pulled her along to the tailoring class, which was currently in session. The instructor for the course was Gao San Niang, one of the forty-two elders of Gao Family Village and a true master of tailoring.
Standing at the podium, a garment in her hands, she pointed to various parts as she addressed the students below: 'Look... when making clothes, you absolutely must leave half an inch of allowance here. Never cut the dimensions too tightly in this spot. Otherwise, when someone receives your finished garment and tries it on, *rip*... the seams will simply burst open.'
The female students diligently took notes.
The students varied widely in age; the oldest were over fifty, the youngest barely ten, yet all were engrossed in their studies.
An Jile watched with a yearning heart, desperate to join, yet a little too shy to do so.
The two women who had brought her simply reached out, gave her a firm push, ushering her into the classroom and settling her into a seat. Then, they clapped their hands lightly and walked away.
An Jile was momentarily flustered, but then Gao San Niang nodded slightly at her, showing no intention of expelling her, instead conveying a warm sense of welcome.
Only then did she finally relax, settling in to listen attentively to the lesson.
Fugu County...
All the city walls of Fugu County had been torn down, leaving the town like an egg stripped of its shell, trembling in the biting wind. Large groups of rebel soldiers roamed through its streets and alleys.
A squad of rebel soldiers knocked on a family's door. An old man, who lived in the house, silently tossed all his family's valuables outside.
The rebel soldiers picked up the valuables, a hint of a smile playing on their lips. The old man, believing he had escaped his ordeal, turned to leave, but before he could, a rebel soldier cleaved him in the back with a saber.
Before the old man died, he heard a burst of arrogant laughter. 'Just an old good-for-nothing,' one voice sneered. 'Couldn't stand the sight of him.' 'Hahaha,' another echoed, 'me neither.'
Wang Jiayin sat in the county yamen at the heart of Fugu County. The Fugu County Magistrate's corpse lay at his feet, yet no smile touched his lips.
The naval assault on Qichuan Ferry had failed, and Wang Er was nowhere to be found.
His plan to lead his army south to occupy Huanglong Mountain had been shattered. He was forced to reverse course, attacking Fugu County town once more.
But the government troops were hot on his heels.
Song Tongyin, Governor of Shanxi, had personally led troops to garrison Baode County across the Yellow River, blocking Wang Jiayin's route into Shanxi.
Meanwhile, Du Wenhuan, a formidable general under Yang He, the Supreme Commander of Shaanxi's three border regions, was stationed with his army outside Fugu County, ready to charge in and claim Wang Jiayin's head at any moment.
Du Wenhuan's forces were not large, numbering only two thousand men.
Yet these two thousand men had, in the Battle of Shanshentang, utterly routed Wang Jiayin, leaving him in disarray and disgrace.
It turned out that several hundred 'monsters' were mingled within their ranks: Hong Chengchou's elite retainer troops.
After Hong Chengchou became Governor of Yansui, he gained the authority to mobilize government troops. It was at this time that Du Wenhuan was clamoring for revenge for his slain clansmen, vowing to eliminate every bandit. Seizing the opportunity, Hong Chengchou formed a core unit from his own retainer troops, integrated over a thousand garrison soldiers, and handed them over to Du Wenhuan, ordering him to deal with Wang Jiayin.
Ever since all his clansmen had been killed, Du Wenhuan had been in a constant rage, relentlessly pursuing and suppressing bandits everywhere, making Wang Jiayin's life a misery. Now, Du Wenhuan had tracked him all the way to Fugu County once more.
Wang Jiayin felt under immense pressure.
'Let's feign surrender!' Zijing Liang leaned over and advised. 'Yang He, the Supreme Commander of Shaanxi's three border regions, is actively advocating for pacification. Our army of fifty thousand is quite substantial, and the imperial court is reluctant to confront us directly. As long as we are willing to surrender and accept pacification, Yang He will certainly agree. Then, under the guise of peace, we can lull the government troops into complacency, cross the Yellow River in one swift move, and storm into Shanxi!'
Wang Jiayin thought carefully for a moment. 'Good,' he declared. 'We'll do exactly that.'
And so, a letter of surrender was delivered to Song Tongyin, Governor of Shanxi, who in turn passed it to Yang He.
Yang He was immediately overjoyed. He dispatched an envoy with an order: 'Wang Jiayin is willing to turn over a new leaf. We should grant him this opportunity.'
Du Wenhuan, however, was furious. 'This bandit murdered my clansmen,' he declared. 'I will not accept it.'
'Consider the bigger picture!' Yang He retorted.
The two men were still squabbling back and forth through letters when news abruptly arrived: Wang Jiayin, capitalizing on the delay Yang He had imposed on Du Wenhuan, had suddenly forced a crossing of the Yellow River and attacked Hequ County in Shanxi. Inside the county, a local contact named Wang Kegui had helped open the city gates. Shanxi Provincial Commander Wang Daliang had once again set up Western cannons, intending to blast Wang Jiayin back, but unexpectedly, the cannons suddenly backfired, obliterating their own artillery position.
Hequ County fell!
Subsequently, rebel forces from all quarters responded, crossing the river one after another.
In the third year of Chongzhen's reign, the eastern rebel armies – led by Wang Jiayin, Zijing Liang, Chuǎng Wang, Cao Cao (Luo Rucai), the West Camp Eight Great Kings (Zhang Xianzhong), Lao Huihui (Ma Shouying), Bu Zhan Ni, Chuang Jiang (Li Zicheng), Xie Zikuai, and others – led their followers across the river into Shanxi.
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