MLMD – Chapter 15 I’ll Run a Militia

Lin Yuanteng’s expression first stiffened, then changed completely. As his face darkened, his already unsightly triangular eyes became even more ferocious.

Everyone knew that although the Lin family also owned a fair amount of land, their main business lay in the five or six mines within Yingzhou Prefecture. Anyone who ran mines naturally had to supervise and suppress the miners, so Lin Yuanteng kept a number of desperadoes and hired thugs under his command. Unlike Li Yuan and Wang Shoucheng—who were full of dirty tricks but had never personally gotten their hands bloody—Lin Yuanteng had personally taken lives. The moment he flared up like this, the atmosphere in the hall instantly grew heavy and tense.

Standing directly opposite him, Yue Yang bore the brunt of it. If this had been the original Yue family young master—raised in a greenhouse, knowing nothing but rote study—he would probably have collapsed in fright under pressure like Lin Yuanteng’s.

Yue Yang looked at the murderous Lin Yuanteng and felt a flicker of surprise in his heart, but he was very clear about one thing: this was the prefectural yamen, which represented the highest authority in all of Yingzhou Prefecture. Even if Lin Yuanteng had ten times the courage, he would not dare make a move here. Otherwise, it would be blatant contempt for the imperial court and for Zheng Fakui himself.

After all, although Yue Yang had been a bottom-rung nobody in modern society, he was hardly a goody-two-shoes. Back in high school and college, going out chasing girls with classmates or getting into fights with street punks was nothing unusual. So he was completely unafraid of Lin Yuanteng’s intimidation. His expression turned cold, and he pointed at Lin Yuanteng, saying icily:

“Surname Lin, this young master gives you face by calling you ‘Uncle.’ If I didn’t give you face, you’d be nothing at all. Don’t think that raising a few vicious lackeys who bully the common people makes you impressive. If you’re not convinced, send all those thugs over and try—let’s see whether the tens of thousands of people in Wuli Village will be afraid of you!”

“His—!”

The moment Yue Yang’s words left his mouth, everyone in the hall sucked in a sharp breath. No other reason—his tone was simply too forceful. It was nothing like what a weak scholar should say; it sounded more like the words of a street ruffian.

“Brat, you’re courting death!”

Lin Yuanteng, who was used to lording it over others at his mines, had not been contradicted like this in a very long time. His anger flared instantly. He jumped to his feet, rolled up his sleeves, and was about to teach Yue Yang a lesson. Yue Yang was no less fierce—he stood up as well, grabbed a chair, and looked ready to fight. In the blink of an eye, it seemed the two were about to stage a full-blown brawl right there in the prefectural yamen’s back hall.

The others in the hall reacted differently to the scene. Li Yuan stroked his beard, closed his eyes, and said nothing. Wang Shoucheng held his teacup and watched coldly, a trace of schadenfreude on his face. In his view, if Lin Yuanteng could give Yue Yang a good beating, that would be for the best—it would make things much easier afterward.

Unfortunately for Wang Shoucheng, things did not go as he hoped.

With another loud bang, a sharp sound echoed through the hall. Zheng Fakui slammed the table, stood up, pointed at Yue Yang and Lin Yuanteng, and shouted angrily:

“Outrageous! Look at you—one a local notable, the other a dignified xiucai—yet you behave like two street hooligans, hurling insults at each other right here! Do you have any regard for this prefect, or do you want me to order the yamen runners to throw you out?”

Only then did Lin Yuanteng, his head clouded by rage, realize that this was not his mine headquarters where he could do as he pleased, but the prefectural yamen, the highest authority in Yingzhou Prefecture. If he continued to act foolishly, Zheng Fakui could indeed have him expelled on the spot. Thinking of this, Lin Yuanteng quickly bowed deeply and apologized:

“Prefect, please forgive me! I was reckless just now. I hereby apologize to Your Excellency!”

“Hmph. Let it go this time. If there’s a next time, I will not spare you!” Zheng Fakui’s face looked unpleasant. Lin Yuanteng daring to make trouble right in front of him felt like a challenge to his authority. Turning his head, he said coldly to Yue Yang, “Young Master Yue, you are also a man of letters. How could you fall out on the spot with Lin Yuanwai like some common ruffian?”

Yue Yang cupped his hands toward Zheng Fakui, neither servile nor overbearing, and said:

“Prefect Zheng, the Lin family truly went too far. The Sanggan River already has little water, and even supplying the people of my Wuli Village is worrying enough. Yet someone still wants to come and take a share. Free use of our water would be one thing, but they even hurled insults. How could this humble student not be angry?”

No sooner had Yue Yang finished speaking than Lin Yuanteng shouted, “Who’s using your water for free? Didn’t we say we’d pay you silver?”

“Did you?” Yue Yang sneered. “May I ask, Lin Yuanwai, how much silver did you say you’d give? I don’t recall you agreeing to pay even a single copper coin.”

“Even so, you can’t ask for such an outrageous price! Opening your mouth for a thousand taels of gold… Do you really think your river water is immortal dew?”

“If you’ve got the ability, then don’t buy it. No one’s begging you!”

Their voices began to rise again, clearly on the verge of escalating once more. Zheng Fakui rubbed his aching temples. At that moment, he truly regretted getting involved in this mess. To be honest, he found the Lin, Li, and Wang families’ attempt to seize water rather despicable. The Sanggan River was already low, and these three families still wanted to grab more—wouldn’t that force the Yue family into total crop failure? But Yue Yang was no pushover either, opening his mouth and demanding a thousand taels of gold from each family. In the late Ming, the gold-to-silver exchange rate was about 1:8. That meant Yue Yang was asking the three families to collectively pay three thousand taels of gold—equivalent to twenty-four thousand taels of silver. That price was simply too high. One had to know that the entire Yingzhou Prefecture’s annual tax remittance to the court was probably only around that amount.

With a sigh, Zheng Fakui said to Yue Yang, “Young Master Yue, let me speak fairly. A thousand taels of gold is no small sum. Your asking price is indeed a bit high. In my view, perhaps you could take a step back.”

“Oh?” Yue Yang smiled faintly. After sweeping his gaze across everyone present, he spoke slowly, “Prefect Zheng, since you’ve said as much, this humble student will take a step back. As long as each of the three families pays five hundred taels of gold, I will open the Sanggan River and allow them to dig channels to divert water, for a period of three months. However, there is one more matter that I need Your Excellency to approve. If you agree, then I will make the decision on my grandmother’s behalf and accept.”

“Five hundred taels of gold?”

Lin Yuanteng exchanged looks with Li Yuan and Wang Shoucheng. The three of them nodded slowly in unison. At this price, it was fairly reasonable. Converted to silver, it was only twelve thousand taels in total. Split among the three families, it was entirely affordable—and in truth, they were still getting the better end of the deal.

Seeing this, Zheng Fakui’s expression finally eased somewhat. He nodded and said, “Mm, this price is fairly just. But what else does Young Master Yue need this prefect to help with?”

Hearing this, Yue Yang knew the real highlight of today was about to begin. He took a deep breath before saying:

“Prefect Zheng, in recent times, due to severe drought, the people across many regions of our Great Ming have been plunged into misery. Begging for food is common everywhere, and with no way out, many gather and rebel. Such bandits may lightly become mountain outlaws, or heavily kill officials and revolt outright. The court has long been plagued by this. This humble student is deeply concerned as well. Thus, I have thought of recruiting a militia for self-defense, to bring peace and security back to the locality.”

“You want to recruit a militia?” After Yue Yang spoke, the expressions of everyone in the hall varied, and all fell silent.

The so-called Militia—militia—refers to China’s ancient local militia system, rural armed groups also known as village soldiers, later called militia. As a supplementary force to the regular army, the militia system played a significant role throughout Chinese history. The most famous figure associated with militias was the renowned Zeng Guofan. Even Chiang Kai-shek and Chairman Mao greatly admired him. Zeng Guofan rose through organizing militias, and the forces he created were formidable enough that the famous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Rebellion was ultimately crushed by him leading those militias. This showed that if militias were organized well, they had considerable potential.

Since arriving in this era, Yue Yang had thought long and hard. If he wanted to survive in this chaotic age, he had to have an armed force loyal to himself. Otherwise, his end would either be being hacked to pieces by roving bandits or being forced by the Manchu Qing to grow a queue and live as a slave for life. Of course, Yue Yang could choose to return to the modern era through the spacetime gate—but that would mean abandoning his current family, something he could not accept after finally finding familial bonds again.

For this reason, Yue Yang wanted to ask Zheng Fakui for an official appointment related to militia organization. That way, he would have legitimate grounds to recruit soldiers. Though militia troops were not regular army, they were still a form of armed force.

After a long while, Zheng Fakui finally suppressed the doubts in his heart and said slowly:

“I truly did not expect Young Master Yue to harbor such an ambition to protect the land and pacify the people. However, this matter is not something I can decide on my own. It still requires the approval of Lord Wang, the Military Commissioner of Datong Prefecture. That will be somewhat difficult…”

The Military Commissioner (Bingbei Dao) was an office established by the Ming dynasty in key regions to oversee and regulate military preparedness. Originally set up during the early Ming under the Hongwu Emperor, it was meant to dispatch civil officials to assist generals with documentation and confidential matters as a temporary institution. But from the mid-Ming onward, as civil officials gained more power, it gradually became an important mechanism for restraining military officers. Troop movements, provisions, weapons, and supplies all fell under its control. Thus, Zheng Fakui’s words were not merely an excuse.

Yue Yang, however, had no interest in these details. He merely swept a calm glance over Lin Yuanteng and the other two, then fell silent. His meaning was obvious: if this matter was not settled, they should forget about getting even a single drop of water from the Sanggan River.