For this dynasty that had endured for over two hundred years, this was yet another year of calamity and disaster.
Catastrophes erupted across the land, and unruly mobs rose up everywhere.
The autumn harvest should have been drawing near, yet in some regions the crops had failed badly, coming on the heels of an already poor harvest the year before.
The people who didn't have enough to eat began to stir and make trouble, for they had barely survived starvation the previous year, and many now could not hold on until the harvest came.
Meanwhile, the court's tax revenues had dwindled, the northern barbarians pressed their threat from beyond the frontier, and armies throughout the land clamored for grain and pay, threatening mutiny if they received nothing — and so, before the autumn harvest had even arrived, the court issued orders to raise taxes.
The rate was increased from forty percent to sixty percent.
The result was catastrophic. The whole realm erupted in flames of rebellion.
The Bright King rises, and all under heaven is purified!
The largest band of refugees from the west, which had first emerged the previous year, appeared once more — and this time with the momentum to sweep across the entire realm, pressing eastward and northward in a great tide.
The last army still capable of fighting, fresh from suppressing an uprising the year before, had returned to find that the grain and pay the court had promised them never materialized. Their fighting spirit collapsed utterly.
They were swept aside and scattered by the vast refugee horde.
The emperor, sensing that things had gone badly wrong, fled with a small retinue before the refugee army stormed the capital, heading south.
When Lin Xuejin heard the news, he shut himself alone in his room and sat in a daze for a long while, seeing no one.
Lady Lin paced anxiously outside the door, muttering distractedly to herself: what should they do, whatever should they do.
Jinyuan said, "Auntie, didn't you already send word for your family to come take refuge with us here? Did they not manage to escape?"
"They should have gotten out — but everywhere is in such chaos right now, and there's been no word."
"Then there's nothing I can do either." Jinyuan's little face fell, troubled that she could offer no help.
The door swung open, and Lin Xuejin stepped out, his face considerably more haggard though his expression remained largely composed.
"What isn't ours to worry about, we shouldn't worry about. Whether they make it out or not is a matter of fate."
"Jinyuan, how much longer before the sweet potatoes are ready to harvest?"
"No more than ten days, I'd think."
"Mm. Mingcheng, how is the reorganization of the garrison coming along?"
"My lord, the garrison was supposed to have three thousand men, but it had fallen into such shambles that when we first took stock, there were barely five hundred — and all of them old, weak, or unfit for duty."
"Over these past six months we've brought the numbers back up to a thousand, and drilling goes on every day, but I honestly cannot say what their fighting strength amounts to."
"Mingcheng, you've worked hard. Let us only hope that heaven is merciful and nothing untoward happens before the harvest."
One mustn't dwell on bad things — for what you dread is precisely what arrives. With the harvest nearly upon them, disaster came all the same.
A mob of five or six thousand refugees appeared outside the walls of the prefectural city.
They swaggered beneath the walls, hurling curses and insults.
Lin Xuejin stood atop the battlements looking down, his face dark as iron.
The one saving grace was that these refugees had no idea the sweet potatoes grew underground; they had trampled some of the vines on the surface but caused no significant loss.
As Lin Xuejin gazed down at the refugees below, his heart ached with grief and with cold despair.
Most of these people had begun as ordinary folk. Then the terrible refugee tide had come — killing, looting grain, violating women, destroying all that was prosperous and good. Those who survived had wept themselves dry and grown numb at heart, filled with hatred yet not knowing where to direct it — hating the age, hating the court, hating heaven itself — and had become, in turn, ravening creatures who fed on others.
"Where do these refugees come from? The neighboring prefectures are poor, but they should still be getting by. Surely things haven't deteriorated to the point of open rebellion there yet."
"Mingcheng, can our soldiers go out and fight?"
Mingcheng shook his head. "The men's spirit is not there. Holding the walls — perhaps. Sallying out to fight — certain defeat."
"Then what are we to do? The sweet potatoes are still out there waiting to be brought in. They are the people of Qingjiang Prefecture's only hope for the coming year."
"My lord, please wait a little longer."
"Wait for what?"
"Reinforcements."
"Where could reinforcements possibly come from?"
"From Taoyuan Township. The… Wolf Soldiers."
Lin Xuejin turned his head in disbelief. "What? The Wolf Soldiers are from Taoyuan Township? How did I not know this…"
But then he reconsidered. Of course — where else in this whole realm, apart from Taoyuan Township, could such a fierce wolf-like army be forged? Taoyuan Township even had its own steel foundry.
He had never seen them himself, but rumor held that the Wolf Soldiers wore armor that no blade could pierce. Surely only Master Zhao could have produced such a thing.
"My lord, they've come! Look — to the east!"
There were only a few hundred cavalry, yet the force of their coming was terrifying. The very earth seemed to tremble at their approach.
Viewed from above, those hundreds of iron-clad horsemen looked like an unstoppable blade driving straight into the soft, yielding mass of the refugee horde.
The refugee mob shattered and broke apart instantly.
Then the Wolf Soldiers fanned out, riding among the scattered masses, cutting them down without pause.
In moments, a third of the thousands-strong refugee force had been killed.
Those who remained, realizing they could not flee and having no courage to resist, dropped to their knees or fell prostrate on the ground, wailing and begging for mercy.
In a single instant, the sheep that had turned into wolves were beaten back into what they truly were.
"Move out — open the gates — bind what's left of them!" At Mingcheng's command, the city gates swung open.
The garrison soldiers cast an awed glance at the Wolf Soldiers standing motionless in the wind, then set to work with nimble efficiency, trussing up the surviving refugees.
Some laid into the captives with kicks and blows, cursing loudly: "Not so tough now, are you? All that swagger earlier — where's your bravado gone?"
Useless in battle, but perfectly capable when it came to handling prisoners.
"Stop!" Mingcheng cracked his whip across the back of one particularly vicious soldier. "These people are the master's property. Damage them, and see if you don't pay for it with your life."
The soldier, who had been wearing a fierce scowl, instantly rearranged his face into a sheepish grin. "Mingcheng, sir, I was wrong, I was wrong — I'll take good care of the master's property, I swear it."
Seeing the situation in hand, the Wolf Soldiers' commanders — a few figures in full-face helms whose features were invisible — gave Mingwu a nod, then led their troops away like the wind.
Compared to their arrival, the only difference was a few flecks of blood on their armor.
Not a single one of them was injured.
Lin Xuejin came out as well, watching the Wolf Soldiers ride away without pause into the distance, and felt a sense of calm and peace unlike anything he had known before.
So this was what Jinyi called a sense of security.
Jinyuan came running out too, waving after the departing soldiers and calling out with a grin, "I recognized them — couldn't see their faces, but I'm sure Mingjian-ge was there just now, and Mingwei-ge too. The rest I couldn't tell."
Lin Xuejin ruffled Jinyuan's head gently and said with a smile, "Let's get people out to bring in the harvest."
Jinyuan nodded. "Mingwen, Mingzhen — you're in charge of the harvest. I'm going to find the local gentry in the city."
Lin Xuejin asked curiously, "What for?"
Jinyuan declared with perfect confidence, "We saved them! Is it so wrong to ask for a little money? If our soldiers hadn't shown up, the refugees would have stormed the city and they'd all be dead. It's only fair to ask them to cover the Wolf Soldiers' pay and provisions, don't you think?"
Well. She made such a good point that it was entirely impossible to argue with.