Chapter 198 Emergency Conscription (1/2)

Chapter 198 – Emergency Conscription

Zhang He guided all of them to a private room that Ju Shou prepared for them. It was a closed room with one entrance and no window.

”The air is quite stale. Are you sure you want to receive us here?” A fat merchant asked.

”Please bear with it for a short while. Because our deal is somewhat immoral to the public, we can't let a voice out, or we can risk exposing ourselves to others. You know, we want it a secret.” Zhang He explained as he shut the gate.

As soon as the door was shut, nobody can hear what happened inside the room.

Ten minutes later, Zhang He opened the door and stepped out of the room. His clothes covered in blood and the room reeked of iron. He closed the door behind him and said to the guards nearby.

”Don't clean the room yet. Clean it at night and make sure nobody sees the bodies.”

”Yes, sir!”

…

Zhang He ordered the city sealed and took his men and visited the merchants' companies later.

The scene when Julu purged the crooked officials happened again in Shangdang. From 3 PM in the afternoon until the dawn of a new day, Zhang He and 5,000 men raided all companies in the lists that the 450 merchants stated in the scrolls, confiscating properties and arresting over 10,000 subordinates of the merchants.

Upon inspection of the warehouses and their goods, they seized 150,000 gold and 100,000 tons of provision. Ten thousand female slaves were found in the brothels they owned. These groups of girls were either sold by their families or bought from bandits, who had kidnapped these girls from villages.

In addition, Ju Shou and Zhang He also arrested mercenaries who worked for the 450 merchants. Each merchant commissioned at least a hundred men as private guards.

Although Zhang He and his soldiers killed half of these bodyguards, they still gathered up 30,000 people from all surrendered mercenaries.

The five thousand men of Zhang He were so tired that they collapsed the moment the other 5,000 came to changed their shift in the next morning. Running around and raided 450 households in a night was tedious and tiring. Though they separated into small groups to raid different companies and households, each of them ended up dealing with more than 30 places that night.

Ju Shou gave Zhang He a pat on the back, ”You did well. Go and rest. I'll take it from here.”

”This tactic reminds me of Jia Xu. That guy didn't care about allies' well-being at all. Sir Ju Shou, you almost drove all of us to death.” Zhang He gave Ju Shou a bitter smile.

”If I had known that Liu Ping would return so soon, I would have asked you to do this earlier at a slower pace. We had wasted three days stabilizing the domestic because of my decision, so I'm sorry about that. But yeah, I don't like doing this either. It reminds me of that guy. To be honest, I admire his intelligence, but I hate his guts.” Sighed Ju Shou.

”Ah, me too.”

”By the way, you're wrong about one thing. This tactic was originally derived from what our Lord did in Julu.”

Zhang He dryly laughed. It seemed that their Lord and Jia Xu had a similar taste. They were efficient in their field-of-work, but they could be ruthless to allies or themselves at times. He thought of the day when Tong cut off his own arm to disguise as an escaping prisoner. Zhang He was still shocked by his Lord's resolve to this day.

…

Ju Shou did not have times to rest. In fact, he did not sleep last night. He was busy getting in touch with all blacksmiths and bowyers to commission weaponry.

He transferred the 30,000 captured mercenaries to the city barrack and persuaded them.

”If you don't want to become slaves, work for this city as soldiers for a year. You will get your salary, stipend, and other rights depending on your position and rank in the army. Should you desert or try to escape, the punishment will be death.”

During the Han period, there were common laws and a standard punishment for criminals. All male criminals, who were arrested by the government, would be converted into public slaves for at least three years. They would be castrated and had properties seized by the government. Once ones became slaves, they had to work as servants, cannon fodders in wars, or served as laborers in a mine or a farm. Female slaves also had it rough as they were often treated as sexual relievers or maids.

In this era, slavery still existed, yet it was neither legal nor illegal. Each city government had its own standard and laws, depending on the governor's personality. For a mining city like Jinyang or wealthy cities like Luo Yang, Chang An, or even Ye City, slaves were common. It was even legal to either own or trade private slaves.

Because of the exploitable rules of the government, some abusers and bandits kidnapped townspeople or beautiful young girls to sell them as slaves. Many cities in the outskirt areas banned slavery as they were aware of these practices, but nobles and merchants still dipped their hands into these immoral businesses as private slaves, especially young girls, were always in high demand.

Hearing that they could get their freedom and would not end up as castrated slaves, the mercenaries rejoiced. Though working as a soldier at this moment could be risky as there were movements from the Imperial forces, a one year risk period to exchange their forever freedom was worth the gamble.

Ju Shou also was not a harsh civil officer. He gave these people more hope, ”After a year of service, you can choose to retire or continue your services as a military soldier. For those who choose to remain in the army, you will be promoted by one stipend. By chance, if you are talented enough to climb up into a 1000-man-commander or a higher status, you will get your noble status as a reward!”

The captured mercenaries cheered. They were initially hoodlums and triad gangsters with no future. Some of them even failed the basic military tests and did not manage to get into the army. Seeing the bright road ahead of them, they also wished to convert to the right path.

”I'll do it.”

”I'll join the army!”

”Don't castrate me! I'll join!”

The coaxing went smoothly, but Ju Shou's face did not reveal a joyous smile. His gloomy face still intimidated the mercenaries and his bodyguards.

This recruitment increased this city troop number from 15,000 to 45,000. However, these 30,000 additional men were ordinary hoodlums without military experiences. It was questionable if they could withstand a siege battle for a day.

'I'm out of time. If the letter is right, those Liu Ping's men will be here today! I don't have times even to train these guys. I hope that Jinyang Army is competent.'