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30฀ Neither One' s Own Nam e or Daughter I s Sacre d Commander Yang was a Brigadier General from anothe r province. It was not a lucrative post, so he went to the Governor-General of the Two Rivers and obtained throug h him a n order for him t o remain i n Nanjing fo r the defence o f the city. This was how the Emperor allowed the Commander t o make up for his lean years in the earlier station . Since his assumption of the new office, he was quick to note that the tercitory under his care was peaceful, an d most of his soldiers simply drew their wages with nothing to do. His predecessor had tolerated a twenty-percent vacancy which was never filled. When he came on the scene, he dismissed another twent y to thirt y percent on the pretext that he was eliminating the old and weak. However, though the old ones had gone, not one new recruit was brought in . At th e triennia l inspectio n b y th e Governor-General , som e o f the soldier s were temporary recruits; others were those at the rear taking over from thos e i n front. For example, if the battalion should comprise five hundred men, there was in fac t a shortag e o f thre e hundred ; tha t i s to say , the battalio n ha d onl y tw o hundred men ! At th e Governor-General's inspection , those i n the front havin g answered th e roll-call, would quickly retreat to the rear, changed thei r uniform s and weapons, and followed th e others to the front t o answer the roll-call. In this way, even if there were more unfilled vacancies, a remedy could be found. Besides, the Governor-Genera l wa s old : h e wa s devote d t o 'cultivatin g th e Wa y an d nurturing his heart'. Most of the time, the Intendant of the Military Secretaria t would stan d i n for him. All thos e i n the Militar y Secretaria t wer e Commande r 266 Officialdom, Unmasked Yang's friends. Every day, they indulged in drinking wine and engaging prostitutes, and generally had a good time together. So when the time came, they knew precisely what to do, and did not require even a hint from the Commander . Since thi s was the way the Commander conducte d himself , th e Majors an d Captains under him naturally followed hi s example. The appointmen t t o one of these office s wa s a route t o makin g mone y fo r Commande r Yang . If a vacanc y occurred, there would be no lack of supplicants who tried every means to take the position. There were many ways one could achieve his purpose, for example, by establishing a connectio n wit h th e Commande r himself , b y goin g throug h hi s concubines, or those friends who kept the Commander company every day in the brothels o r restaurants , o r throug h hi s mistresse s o r low-clas s prostitutes i n th e Fishing Lane. However, one could never get pass the Commander without money. His brokers and middlemen too did rather well in handling these transactions . Within Commander Yang's sphere of responsibilities were the Guards Division, with a Head and a Deputy Head; the Regulars; the New Army, and so on. In each unit, there were inevitably the Majors and Captains and other officers . Let u s now tur n ou r attentio n t o a Major wh o use d t o serv e o n a gunboat . After a term of two years and three months on the gunboat, he was cashiered fro m office fo r misappropriatin g militar y provisions . Th e ma n the n mad e his way t o Nanj ing to seek a livelihood. The man's name was Mao Deguan. He had only been a footman. One day, he did somethin g wron g an d wa s roundly rebuke d b y his master . I n a moment o f distress, he went to an opium den for some opium. It was fate which dictated that he should become an official! At the time, the authorities ha d just embarke d upo n a...

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