The Red Headband Gang

I looked out over the men gathered in the training ground at the Great Saber Gang’s home base. Two hundred or so had turned out, in every state you could name: arms wrapped in bandages, faces puffed up and swollen, legs dragging. They all looked uneasy, and they had reason to be.

In less than two hours the Bosses they served have been killed and the rest of them subdued — of course they’re worried.

All the more so since their lives hung on what sort of man ended up on top.

I walked forward, unhurried, and stepped up onto a wooden crate.

“Attention.”

Every eye swung to me at once. I took them all in with a single sweep of my gaze and spoke.

“From today there is no more Great Saber Gang. The Great Saber Gang’s lieutenants — Suje, Docheol, Manbong — are dead. From here on we are born again. Not the Red Headband Hall, but the Red Headband Gang. I am your chief.”

The quiet gave way to muttering, and they looked me over without troubling to hide it. From their eyes and their faces… they did not look particularly convinced.

Well, I had expected that too. My age was a problem, since I was not yet twenty, and though the training had put muscle on me I was not a big man. On top of that, the rumor about me said I had no martial talent, so it would have been strange if they had accepted me straight off.

Not that I had any intention of coaxing and soothing them. I twisted one corner of my mouth up and went on.

“Sounds like you’ve plenty of complaints. Don’t squeak about it like rats — come out here and say it to my face. It isn’t compulsory, of course. If you’re too chicken, you can stay where you are.”

A brief silence followed my provocation. Then three big men shouldered their way out of the middle of the crowd, each with a filthy look on his face and the swagger of a man who took orders from nobody.

One of them came to a stop in front of me, cocked his weight onto one leg, and spoke up.

“You may have got to be our top dog, but calling us rats is going a bit far, isn’t it? It’s not as if you took the three Bosses down on your own — I’m saying you just got lucky and landed the catch while they tore at each other. Am I wrong, lads?”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
“Careful, or we’ll end up serving somebody weaker than we are.”

The men who had come forward sniggered among themselves. This was how the black path took a man’s measure. They climbed all over anyone who looked easy and tucked their tails the moment he looked strong.

Across the training ground others nodded along at their words, though only the ones who had attached themselves to Suje, Docheol and Manbong, naturally. The men who had come over from under Musam were watching the agitator instead, curious to see how I would wreck him.

I had seen men like this at Blood Sand Plain by the hundred. No, by the thousand. There was no persuading them with words; say what you liked, none of it ever sank in. What worked on them was something else.

Violence and fear.

I stepped down off the crate and walked up to the one in front. He made a show of being at his ease and put his hands in his pockets. I closed to within an inch of his nose and asked.

“So. You want to be treated properly?”

“Show a bit of proper courte— kh!”

I didn’t hear him out. Grabbing him by the collar, I drove him straight into the ground.

— Thud!

“Grraaagh!”

The dull sound was followed by a scream as the man rolled about, clutching his shoulder. The muttering died at once, leaving nothing in the training ground but his screams.

I raised my foot and brought it down on his arm.

— Krrrunch!

“Aaagh!”

The crack of breaking bone and his scream rang out across the training ground together. Without stopping, I kicked him in the head.

— THWACK!

The man’s head snapped hard to one side and the screaming cut off. Blood burst from his mouth and spattered the floor. He didn’t move, but I hadn’t killed him. He was breathing.

The training ground went quiet, as though cold water had been thrown over it. The men who had been sniggering a moment ago shut their mouths. So did the other two hundred.

I climbed back up onto the crate. Terror plain on their faces, every one of them turned his head aside to keep from meeting my eyes.

“Anyone else got a complaint? If so, step out now. I’ll treat you properly, with all my heart.”

“…”
“…”

Their eyes darted about, but nobody stepped forward. The mood was properly set now.

Ruling them on violence and fear alone was the easy way, but sooner or later that road led to trouble. Had I only meant to use them and be done with it, that would have been one thing. The men here, though, were going to be the foundation of my strength, and a foundation that creaked was no use to me.

“Listen well. From here on you become new men.”

I ran my eyes over them one man at a time and spoke slowly.

“The Red Headband Gang’s code is simple. You do not touch civilians. Threats, extortion, beatings, killing. The moment you commit any of it against a civilian, you die by my hand.”

Their faces went oddly stiff. Being told not to touch civilians was as good as losing their meal ticket, so the reaction was natural enough. The discontent showed on every face.

Not one of them let it past his lips, though. As ever, violence was the surest way to handle men from the bottom.

“In exchange, I will pay each of you five taels of silver a month.”

“…!”

The words were barely out before every mouth in the training ground fell open.

Five taels of silver.

A whole family could live a month on that without trouble, and for a single man it was plenty, with some to spare. Under a setup like the Great Saber Gang’s, where the top skimmed off most of it, the men below rarely got their hands on a sum like that. No wonder they were astonished that every one of them would get it.

But the carrot I was holding out did not end there.

“Follow my orders well and produce results, and I will pay out a fat bonus on top of it. I will see to it that none of you is short of money in hand.”

— Gulp.

I heard someone swallow. A reward they could count on: that was the carrot I held out to them.

“That’s not a lie, is it? You’re giving five taels to the likes of us?”

One of them asked as if he couldn’t believe his ears.

“I am the son of Iron Lion Yang Taejun, and the Young Master of the Yang manor. I give you my promise on my house, which stands among the orthodox sects.”

The moment I staked my house on it, the look in their eyes changed. If an orthodox man was staking his house on it, they seemed to think, it could not be a lie.

I had dropped my father’s name on purpose, too. They might not trust me, but they would have heard of him.

The whole mood of the training ground had turned. The fear was gone, their faces had brightened, and at the talk of money to be earned every one of them looked excited.

“It is not free, of course. Every day, from morning to evening, you will get through the training I set. There will be no time for pouring liquor down your throats and gambling.”

I paused a moment and looked them over.

“Anyone who doesn’t like it, walk out right now. I won’t come after anyone for leaving. Nobody will stop you.”

With that, I waited quietly. I had told them to go if they were going, but I was certain not one of them would leave.

At the bottom, that was how it worked. The man with the strength, the one handing out the money, was your Boss and your master.

“…”
“…”

Time passed with every mouth shut. Not a single man took a step.

“Good. It seems you all like my offer.”

I smiled, satisfied, and shouted.

“Welcome to the Red Headband Gang.”

“Waaaah—!”
“Long live the Red Headband Gang!”
“Long live the Boss!”

Cheers broke out. The men who had been sneering a moment ago were now bawling their loyalty at me at the top of their lungs.

I didn’t know how many of them meant it. No doubt some were only riding the mood.

Well, for now it made no difference. Whether these men followed me in earnest or not, so long as I handed over the carrot I had promised, no trouble would come of it.

What mattered was that the Great Saber Gang, no, the Red Headband Gang, had come completely into my hands.

In the building that had been the Great Saber Gang’s main hall and was now the Red Headband Gang’s home base, I sat in the seat of honor and drank tea. Across from me, Duho shook his head in wonder.

“Getting a grip on those real little punks in one go — that’s something else.”
“Talking round men who are already frightened isn’t hard.”
“Honestly, I thought it’d take days. Men from the bottom don’t come quietly, do they? And you settle it on the spot by wrecking one of them. It was the same when you took Musam’s head — there’s really not a scrap of mercy in you. Your skill at handling people is top class.”
“For men like that the most persuasive argument is violence. You know that perfectly well, so why the fuss?”

I set the teacup down and said it evenly. Duho looked me over, disbelief all over his face, and answered.

“Unbelievable. I know it because I’ve knocked around this world my whole life. Isn’t it stranger that a Young Master who grew up in his family’s house knows how this world works as well as I do?”

Hm. Duho, the bastard, had hit the mark square on. For a bandit, the fellow was quick enough on the uptake.

I answered as though I didn’t know what he meant.

“Books.”
“What? Books?”
“It’s all in the books, how you’re supposed to handle men from the bottom. Read one yourself when you’ve got the time.”
“Unbelievable.”

Duho shook his head from side to side, then pulled a wine bottle and cups out of his robe.

“Never mind that — let’s have a drink to celebrate.”
“Hold on.”

I put out a hand and stopped him.

“It isn’t time for a celebration drink yet. Right now we’re walking a dangerous tightrope.”

When I only looked at him, he set the bottle down. He was quiet a moment before he spoke.

“…Is it because of the Black Water Gang and the Blood Wind Gang?”
“That’s right.”

Along with the Great Saber Gang, they were the forces that had split Qingzhou three ways. Now that it had fallen, there was no chance the other two would sit still.

“The Black Water Gang and the Blood Wind Gang are only sitting still because they don’t know Black Leopard is dead yet. Once they find out they’ll come at us on the spot. To them we’ll look like a very tasty hunk of meat.”
“True enough… The gang leaders over there are all first-rate masters, so we’d have a hard time holding them off. We’d need the Young Master’s father here.”

Duho was right. With the strength we had now, holding off a joint attack by the Black Water Gang and the Blood Wind Gang was more than we could manage. Duho and I could each handle a man of lieutenant rank, but taking on a gang leader who was a first-rate master was not easy. And if both gangs came at us at once, defeat was certain.

“So we’ve got to hold out until the Young Master’s father is back from his escort run… Have you got some clever move?”

Duho looked at me expectantly. I nodded.

“I have.”
“What is it?”
“If my own strength won’t settle it, I ask someone who has it.”

I laid a sheet of paper out on the table and began to write.

“I’m sending a carrier pigeon to the Shandong Escort Bureau.”

“Ah!”

Duho let out a sound of admiration, having caught my intention at once.

“You’re borrowing the bureau head’s strength, is that it? We saved the young bureau head’s life, so he won’t refuse what we ask. He said himself he’d repay the kindness.”
“Exactly right.”

I finished the letter and handed it to Duho.

“The fastest bird you’ve got.”
“I’ll be right back.”

Duho took the letter and went out.

I looked out of the window. Night had settled over the streets of Qingzhou.

Whether this business succeeded or failed would decide the face of those streets.