MLMD – Chapter 18 Laying Everything Bare with the Old Madam

The water had finally been drawn, yet Yue Yang’s heart was still somewhat unsettled—especially over the matter of forming a Militia.

Put bluntly, a Militia was nothing more than a militia organization. Its nature was the same whether in feudal times or in so-called democratic modern society: it was essentially a reserve force for the army. Although such reserve forces were, more often than not, neither valued by the court nor even looked down upon, no matter how secondary or shabby they might be, they were still an armed force. Once you had this title, you could openly and legitimately recruit soldiers. As long as you did not openly raise banners and rebel, no one would interfere. Therefore, such a title was extremely important to Yue Yang, who severely lacked a sense of security.

But sometimes the more anxious you were, the slower things came. Several days had already passed since returning from Yingzhou Prefecture, yet there was still no news about the Militia. Yue Yang considered sending Shunbao to Yingzhou to inquire, but Shunbao’s reply left him deeply disappointed. Shunbao had only said one sentence: “Young Master, we don’t have anyone in the Yingzhou prefectural offices.”

That single sentence was enough to make Yue Yang rant inwardly. The Yue family was, after all, one of the top four landlord families in Yingzhou City—how could they have fallen so low as to not even have a single person in the yamen to gather information? No wonder they had been bullied mercilessly by the other three families in recent years. It seemed that although the decline of the Yue family was indeed partly due to being squeezed by the other families, their own lack of initiative was also a major reason.

Yue Yang’s anxiety was not without cause. He was conducting large-scale well drilling here, and although he had already instructed Yue Laifu to block the news and keep it confidential, he had no idea how long it could truly be concealed. After all, there were no walls in this world that did not leak. Drilling wells to draw water was a major affair—if those household servants and tenant farmers could really keep their mouths completely shut, Yue Yang would rather believe that pigs could climb trees.

Fortunately, Yue Yang’s worries did not last long. Five days later, on the third day of the sixth lunar month, someone from the prefectural yamen finally arrived at Yue Family Manor. Yue Yang at last obtained what he had been longing for: an official document appointing him as Yingzhou Militia commander, stamped with the grand seal of the Military Commissioner of Datong Prefecture. But do not misunderstand—this “commander” was not the same as the other kind of commander.

A zongbing (commander) was an officer established in the Ming dynasty to command troops guarding the frontiers. It was originally a temporary appointment: in times of war, the seal was issued for battle; after the war, it was returned, with no fixed rank. That was the case in the early Ming. By the late Ming, however, with border unrest becoming constant, the position gradually became a permanent one, turning into the highest military authority in a given region. Figures like Li Chengliang and Li Chengdong were proper zongbing—equivalent, in modern terms, to at least a regional military commander.

But once the word Militia was added in front of zongbing, the position was far less glorious. A Militia was a locally organized militia, so a Militia zongbing was merely the head of a militia. Usually, after local gentry organized a militia on their own initiative and expressed willingness to accept court deployment, the court would grant recognition and bestow the title of Militia zongbing as a form of commendation. Although this transformed the militia from a private force into an officially recognized quasi-military organization, its authority did not change much—it could still only command its own men. It was merely draped in a shiny outer garment.

Even so, Yue Yang was very pleased. What he lacked most at the moment was precisely that shiny outer garment. With it, he could recruit soldiers openly and legitimately. What delighted him even more was that in this official document, the military commissioner of Datong Prefecture had not set any limit on the number of militiamen Yue Yang could recruit. This gave Yue Yang room to exploit a loophole—in other words, as long as he was willing and could afford it, he could recruit as many men as he wanted.

However, his happiness did not last long. Along with the document came bad news: on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the Yellow River breached its banks at Mengjin, resulting in countless deaths among soldiers, civilians, and merchants. Tens of thousands of people were displaced, wandering and begging for food with nowhere to go, eventually gathering together and rebelling.

Upon reading this, Yue Yang knew that the chaos of the late Ming had begun. Although this turmoil would rise and fall over more than a decade, sometimes suppressed by the court, it would ultimately spread across the entire Ming realm as disasters worsened, finally drowning a dynasty that had lasted for over two hundred years.

“Chaos has finally begun. Can I protect my family and everything around me in this time and space?” Yue Yang slowly folded the official document and the accompanying imperial courier report, tucked them into his sleeve, narrowed his eyes at the setting sun, and walked toward the old madam’s courtyard…

At this time, the old madam was still sitting in the courtyard, eyes half-closed, while two young maids attending her gently pounded her back. After quite a while, she opened her eyes and said to Yue Yang, “Grandson, since Grandma has already said that all major and minor matters of Yue Family Manor are entrusted to you, then go ahead boldly. Grandma will support you. There’s really no need for you to report everything to me. You are Grandma’s good grandson—could Grandma possibly not trust you?”

Yue Yang gave a bitter smile and replied, “Grandma, it’s not that your grandson wishes to trouble you. It’s just that I believe this matter is too important. I think it’s better to report it to you, because it concerns not only Yue Family Manor but also the lives and property of thousands—perhaps even tens of thousands—of people in Wuli Village. I cannot afford not to be cautious.”

Hearing this, a sharp gleam suddenly shot out from the old madam’s normally cloudy eyes. “Oh? What exactly is the matter?”

Yue Yang took the document from his sleeve and handed it to her. “The Military Commissioner’s office has sent an official document allowing your grandson to organize a Militia on his own. I plan to form a Militia force soon and hope to obtain Grandma’s approval.”

“Organize a Militia?” The old madam took the document, brought it close to her eyes, read it carefully, and said indifferently, “Isn’t it just organizing a Militia? What’s the big deal? Which wealthy household in these ten-odd villages doesn’t have a Militia to guard their property? You mentioned this to Grandma last time, and didn’t Grandma already agree?”

Yue Yang shook his head. “This time is different. Your grandson plans to form a large Militia force.”

“Oh? How large? Don’t tell me my good grandson wants to recruit seven or eight thousand militiamen?” The old madam chuckled nonchalantly, accepted a teacup from a maid, and took a light sip.

Yue Yang did not smile. Instead, he looked at the old madam solemnly and said, “You are right, Grandma. Your grandson really does intend to recruit seven or eight thousand militiamen.”

“Pff—”

The moment Yue Yang finished speaking, the old madam spat out the tea in her mouth.

“What?! Grandson, how many militiamen did you say you want to recruit? Grandma didn’t hear wrong, did she?”

This old madam, who was usually calm and unflappable, lost her composure today. Yue Yang’s words no longer fell into the realm of nonsense—they were outright madness. Since the founding of the Ming dynasty, countless local gentry had organized Militia, but at most they formed units of a few hundred to guard their homes. Even a thousand men would already be the limit. No gentry had ever dared to recruit over ten thousand men as a Militia, because at that point it was no longer guarding homes and protecting the people—it was rebellion.

“Grandson, you… what are you trying to do? Do you know that if these words of yours were to reach the authorities, our Yue family would face extermination in the blink of an eye?” Even with decades of storms behind her, the old madam was frightened by her beloved grandson’s wild idea. Leaving aside whether Yue Family Manor even had the financial and material resources to recruit so many troops—even if it did, what would you recruit so many troops for? A proper imperial zongbing commanded only about this many soldiers. Were you planning to rebel?

“Grandma, please don’t be anxious. Let your grandson finish explaining first—won’t that do?” Seeing that his grandmother was truly alarmed, Yue Yang dared not keep her in suspense any longer and quickly laid out his thoughts…