Starting from 1618 of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 57 The Beginning of a Chaotic World

On the 15th day of the fifth month of the second year of the Tianqi reign (523), at the hour of You (5-7 PM).

The south gate of Jinan Prefecture, Luoyuan Gate.

The rain poured down, and the sky was as black as an overturned iron pot. On the city gate tower, several gas lamps swayed violently in the gale, creaking and groaning.

The garrison commander huddled in the doorway, soaked to the bone, his teeth chattering from the cold. He wasn't cold, he was afraid. Just half an hour earlier, refugees had brought news that Xu Hongru's vanguard, the "White Sun Banner," was only thirty li from Jinan, and the villages along the way had been burned to the ground.

"Sir, are you sure you want to open the door?" an old soldier asked tremblingly. "If we open the door now, what if some thieves sneak in..."

"Open! Not opening is disobeying orders!" The captain clutched the warrant just delivered by the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, veins bulging on the back of his hand. "Lord Zhou said they're a living saint sent to save our lives! If we don't open the door, we'll all die!"

As the heavy winch sounded, the rusty, yet incredibly heavy iron gate slowly opened to both sides.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

There was no expected cacophony of voices, only the sound of synchronized footsteps. The sound was deep and powerful, each step like a beat on the same drum, actually drowning out the thunder and rain.

A black torrent of steel surged out from the rain.

Leading the way were three hundred heavy infantrymen clad in half-plate armor (the prototype of stamped armor produced by Lu Ji) and wielding twelve-foot-long spears. Rain streamed down their iron helmets, but it couldn't dispel the suffocating, chilling aura of death. Their faces were expressionless, lacking both the laziness of government troops and the fanaticism of bandits, displaying only a mechanical indifference.

Following closely behind were five hundred musketeers. They carried their expensive flintlock muskets wrapped in specially made oilcloth covers on their backs, with heavy ammunition pouches and daggers hanging from their waists.

Further on were dozens of large trucks covered with tarpaulins, carrying ammunition and provisions.

At the center of the procession, Lu Yan rode a tall, black horse from Liaodong, wearing a black cloak but no armor, still dressed in a blue robe. Yet, surrounded by a thousand fierce warriors, the imposing aura emanating from his blue robe was far more terrifying than any purple robe or gold belt.

"This...this is a group training exercise?"

The captain was stunned, and the spear in his hand clattered to the ground.

He had served as a soldier in Jinan Prefecture for twenty years, and had seen the general's personal guards and the remnants of Qi Jiguang's army, but he had never seen such a... strange army.

They were too quiet.

The caravan of over a thousand people entered the city without a single word spoken or a glance around. Even the mules and horses pulling the carts were bridled, unable to utter a single neigh.

This extreme discipline represents absolute violence in chaotic times.

"Go into town."

As Lu Yan passed through the doorway, he merely glanced at the captain indifferently. "From now on, Lu's Group will take over Luoyuan Gate. Your men will be relegated to the second line, responsible for boiling water and cooking. Anyone who dares to run away will be executed."

"Yes...yes!" The captain's legs went weak and he knelt down in the mud.

The team marched straight in, without reporting to the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's office, and instead split into two groups.

Zhao Changying led 500 men straight to the south city wall to take over the defense; Lu Yan led the remaining 500 men directly to the lifeline of Jinan Prefecture—the Changping Granary.

At this time, Jinan was already in complete chaos.

Taking advantage of the government's paralysis, local thugs and ruffians began to take to the streets to vandalize, loot, and burn. The doors of several rice shops were smashed, and rioters carried sacks of rice and ran wildly in the rain; some even took advantage of the chaos to rush into the homes of wealthy families and rob women.

"Rob it! The bandits are coming anyway! We might as well rob them!"

A burly thug with a face full of scars was holding a bloodstained kitchen knife and directing his henchmen to break into a pawnshop.

Just then, a rapid sound of horses' hooves rang out.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out.

The scoundrel's head exploded like a watermelon, splattering red and white matter all over the faces of the people next to him.

Lu Yan rode up, the short gun in his hand still emitting blue smoke.

"In times of chaos, harsh measures are necessary."

Without even glancing at the corpse, he ordered his personal guards, "Issue a city-wide order: Lu Ji is taking over defenses. A curfew is immediately imposed. Anyone carrying weapons in the streets will be killed! Anyone looting during the chaos will be killed! Anyone spreading rumors will be killed!"

"Hang this scoundrel's corpse at the street corner. Tell everyone that the rule in Jinan now belongs to the Lu family."

As squads of cold-blooded, black-armored soldiers poured into the streets, the previously boiling chaos cooled down instantly, as if doused with liquid nitrogen.

Half an hour later, at Changping Granary in Jinan.

The officials in charge of guarding the warehouse had all fled, leaving only a few old guards. Lu Yan had his men take over the warehouse, and seeing the mountains of grain piled up inside, he felt reassured.

"Master, Lord Zhou and the Prefect have arrived," Hu Jingshui said quickly as she walked over. "They're waiting outside, and they don't look too good."

Lu Yan's lips curled slightly. How could it possibly look good? This was like inviting a wolf into the house.

He straightened his clothes and walked out of the storeroom.

The rain was still falling. Zhou Daodeng and the prefect stood under the eaves, looking at the Lu family soldiers who were armed to the teeth, their eyes filled with fear and regret.

"Scholar Lu... no, General Lu," Zhou Daodeng chuckled dryly, his tone sour, "You're quite the big shot. I appointed you to assist in the defense, not to take control of the city's grain supply, was I?"

"Lord Zhou, you are mistaken."

Lu Yan walked up to the two men, but instead of bowing, he stood in a posture of equality. "An army marches on its stomach. The brothers of Lu's are risking their lives at the front, so they need to be fed, right? Besides, unscrupulous merchants in the city are hoarding rice, causing prices to skyrocket. If we don't control the food supply, the city will be filled with starving corpses before the enemy even attacks."

"I am the Deputy Provincial Surveillance Commissioner! This authority over grain allocation..."

"grown ups."

Lu Yan interrupted him, wiping the rain from his face with a handkerchief, his tone gentle yet chilling:

"Xu Hongru's vanguard is still thirty li away from here. Do you think your official document can stop them, or my thousand guns can?"

Zhou Daodeng choked.

"These next few days, you should rest well in the government office. Drink some tea, write some memorials, and report your achievements to the court."

Lu Yan withdrew his gaze, his expression once again becoming clear and cold:

"As for the dirty work of murder and the troublesome housekeeping work, I, Lu, will take care of them for you."

After saying that, Lu Yan turned and left, leaving behind two high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, shivering in the cold wind.

They knew that from this moment on, the landscape of Jinan Prefecture had changed.

The businessman Lu Yan, who once groveled before them, showering them with money and women, is dead. In his place stands a warlord in the making, wielding both a gun and the purse strings.

……

That evening, Lu Yan released the "Jinan Wartime Management Regulations".

Article 1: All grain stores must remain open. Prices will be uniformly set by Lu Ji. Any store that dares to raise prices will have its property confiscated.

Article 2: All blacksmiths, carpenters, and bricklayers in the city shall be conscripted to Lu Ji Workshop to assist in the defense of the city, and shall be paid double wages.

Article 3: Wealthy households within the city shall pay "subsidy silver" per capita; those who fail to pay shall not be protected.

This was an extremely domineering wartime system that completely disregarded the laws of the Ming Dynasty. But under the threat of death, Jinan miraculously restored order.

Late at night, at the watchtower on the south city wall.

Lu Yan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the dark night sky to the south.

"They're here."

On the distant horizon, a winding fire dragon appeared. It was an ocean of countless torches, slowly approaching the city of Jinan.

"Master, that's Xu Hongru's vanguard, the 'White Sun Banner,' about five thousand strong." Zhao Changying put down his binoculars, his voice tinged with excitement. "The leader is Xu Hongru's eldest disciple, named Wang Haoxian. I heard he's a martial arts expert, known as invulnerable to swords and spears."

"Invulnerable to swords and spears?"

Lu Yan smiled and patted the "3-jin field gun" that had just been calibrated next to him.

"Let him try and see if his skin is tougher or my shotgun is tougher."

"Order the entire army to sleep. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, begin the killing."