176 Closing the doors

More people were committing to the reparations division; accepting the brand and the tenure. Now the force was over five hundred men, young adults with no family to speak of, and a few women who had lost everything including their virtue. The teams had settled and women scattered into the groups, creating extended, working families. The women took up the roles of house keeper, tending to washing, cooking and mending. Some took on younger children and calling them theirs, began raising them. With working groups housing twenty or so men, the women felt useful, vindicated.

Madam Min watched all of this and smiled. Slowly a new Chenxi was rising from the ashes. A new community was being created, one which accepted strangers, gave work to the beggar and dignity to the fallen, the lame, and the chronically disabled. 

"Madam Min," a voice came from the door, making her jump back into the present, "may I come in and discuss things with you?" General Hao stood at the doorway, arms filled with documents, his aide standing next to him with  maps.

"Yes, yes, come in, she gestured, "drop those on there. Is this the next stage of reconstruction you mentioned last time?"

He nodded and taking a seat, he opened a map of Chen Province itself. "I've received word from some of the outlying villages and towns that they need support getting themselves fully operational again."

Min pointed to the map, "these are the numbers needed? And their specialty? You want me to take charge of distribution of manpower?"

Hao nodded. "I can provide the funds, but as you can well imagine, these are very limited. We are rebuilding so much, so the places the crews are sent will have to support them with food, lodgings and the basics they require. I can hold their pay, but even that is getting harder, the more people we are attempting to maintain..." he drifted off, leaving the sentence incomplete, but the implications clear. "We can't keep doing this for too long, after all, I have an army to pay as well."

"So, what you're saying is, we need to get the economy up and running as soon as possible, so money starts flowing."

Hao nodded.

"Okay, that is possible. I will concentrate my efforts on the production houses, you concentrate on rebuilding the warfs and ships to leave them. I will make sure we have items for sale in Tangun, when its freed and Shipao. Now that market is open already, we just need the ships to get it there, once its produced that is." She smiled to herself, her mind already whirring with ideas. "I have salvaged plenty of fabrics and jewels, so we can start the Milliners section, once the buildings are completed. Some farmers are already setting paddy fields and vegetable gardens. We are still short of dairy, hens, goats, but we can hunt those out, and coax them back to the pens. There are some small flagons of ale and saki, and I do have a few containers of soy ready for use. The noodle houses could start to open shortly once we have enough rice to grind down. I'll recall all the women and men who used to work in these areas and send out word, we are back in business. I think we need to get the fishermen....."

Hao cut in, "this is one area we need the Reparations Crews to go. Back Lake is full of fish ready for harvesting, which could go to the markets for sale, but also to the Noodle Houses which will spring up once we give them the raw ingredients. I will contact the people in Shipao and see what I can muster. The processing of the fish, though, and the also need small boats to do their work......."

Min had already drifted into her favourite world, that of logistical thinking. She turned to Hao, "leave it with me to come up with a plan. Between us we can organise all of that."

 

Băo sat silent in the mess hall. In his hands, he held the last remnant which connected to his sister, a small hairpin she had been given at her Coming of Age ceremony. It was a gift from their father; it was an enameled bee, sitting in the middle of a pink flower, surrounded by half opened blossoms and bright green leaves. He remembered the reason his father had bought it, and the intention behind it.

In his mind, he heard his father saying, "my darling daughter, you are the pretty bee sitting in the first bloom of your life, surrounded by the promises of things to come. One day you will marry and have children of your own and more of the blooms will open in your wonderful life. I hope you will pass this hairpin to your daughter, when she comes of age, so she too, can reap blessings of our family." 

Tears fell silently as he remembered her. He turned the hairpin over in his hands.

Xin walked in  and placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned slightly and buried his head in her stomach. The pain ached through his entire body. There would be no wedding, no children, no happiness, only the blood and torture of her final days. He threw his arms around Xin's waist and cried, for all those lost years.

 

Niao sat in a clearing, surrounded by starving people. They were close to the water's edge. It was safe here. "Go wash yourselves. The river is there," she pointed, "its only a short distance away. I have no cleaning cloths or towels, so you will have to improvise. The silt is fine grained around here, so as long as you are gentle when you use it, it is good at getting the worst of the grime off the skin. May I suggest the women and children go first. I'll keep watch as you bathe. Then, when we get back, you men can go. One of the Blades will go with you." She looked around at the frightened group of people, "I promise you, once you've got yourselves cleaner, and you've removed the smell of those cages from you skin and clothes, you'll feel a whole lot better inside, I promise."

With that a group of women got up, and taking some of the children by the hand, waited for Niao to show them the way. Some of the women stayed, not trusting or weren't willing to follow. Some of the children stayed too, too frightened by everything to trust anything any more.

"Gents," one of the Blades said, "we need firewood and we also need to gather food." He looked at the other Blade, "you go off and hunt?" The guy nodded then vanished. He turned to the male ex-prisoners , and the women who had not moved. "Who is willing to help gather wood?" A few stood up, looking uncertain. It was probably the first time in a long time that they had been asked to do something without being beaten.

Things progressed. More women went for a wash. More children came back cleaner. Men returned with armfuls of wood. Blades returned with various kills. Niao returned with large bundles of vegetation to be cooked. She went to the river with her net and began fishing. Steadily, the fish, still flapping on the bank, increased, the quantity, easily enough to feed most of the people present.

That night they slept, mainly from exhaustion than comfort, although the  soft earth must have been more preferable than the bar bases of those cages. They smelt less too, Niao noted. She sighed with relief at that, at least they wouldn't attract attention down wind. She heard a howl only this was four legged. She called back. There was no reply.

 

Tangun had been a hive of activity for several weeks.Following on from the activity of Xin and her packs, the soldiers had become considerably more nervous. Many of the residents had banded together to form resistance groups, orchestrating trouble in the centres where they knew Mu soldiers resided.

The areas where there had been the illegal sales of human trafficking, were now silent, having bee dismantled by a combination of the Twin Hammers and the freedom fighters. The people of Tangun were taking back control of their town and they were only too willing to point out exactly where Twin Hammer should go and inquire. Twin Hammer soldiers patrolled in large groups, hunting out the Mu, and once found, tying them in their signature choke rope restraint.

It was effective; ropes were applied to the men's throats and then double crossed behind and attached to bound hands which waited for the restraining rope. The effectiveness lay in the positioning of the restrained hands. Any movement caused the rope to bite into the man's throat. If they disobeyed, water was thrown at the rope which swelled and bit in deeper. If they dropped their arms, they strangled themselves. If they fell over, or stumbled, it was their necks which took the punishment.

 It was both cruel and effective. 

After the first fifty or so had been rounded up and frog marched through the town in such a manner, many of the Mu soldiers came out of hiding, submitting in full kowtow, armaments on the ground in front of them. These were rounded up and taken to holding pens awaiting repatriation with their homeland.

There was blood shed of course, and quite a bit of it too, after all, the sale of human slaves was profitable and not something those who controlled the markets were willing to concede, but the end was invariably the same, Twin Hammers, came out on top.

It was about a week later, Niao and her group arrived in Tangun. They had waited for carts to transport them back. Not metals ones with bars, open ox carts filled with fresh straw. By the time they arrived, some had even begun to smile again.