The Warlord

INTRODUCTION

Zhang Zong Chang was born into abject poverty in 1881, in Yi County, Shangdong Province, China.  However, his innate intelligence and cunning permitted him to rise from peasant farmer to bandit, from bandit to bandit chieftain, then army captain to army general, and then to warlord of his own large army, and finally to Governor of a province.

As a general he acquired the reputation of being cruel and treacherous to his enemies, but loyal and generous to his troops and officers.  He paid his soldiers well, and bestowed lavish gifts on his officers and friends.   

During his rise to power Chang accumulated tremendous wealth, a large number of wives and concubines, and many enemies.  He came to be known as “the general of the three I don’t knows,” because he once said, “I don’t know how much money I have, how many women I have, or how many men are in my army.”

                                                                                Chapter One

                                                                                 Easy Money

      It was still dark when fifteen-year-old Chang got out of bed and rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out.   He put on his pants, shirt, his tattered old blue coat, and slipped his feet into the straw sandals he wore daily. His mother was still asleep, so he ate a bowl of cold rice for breakfast before going to work the small plot of land. 

     The land he worked so hard farming did not belong to his family, it belonged to the rich Mandarin in the village.  Chang’s father had died two years before, and since then it was up to young Chang to tend the small field and care for his mother. 

     His father’s dream had always been to purchase a small parcel of land he could call his own, but after the landowner took his share of the meager crop there was barely enough left to keep the family from starvation.  Poverty was the rule rather than the exception where Chang lived in Shangdong Province.  

     At fifteen, Chang was bigger than most men in the area.  He stood six foot two, and weighed two hundred pounds.  Years of hard work in the field had strengthened not only his body but also his resolve to escape the abject poverty he saw all around him.  Although he had never been to school a day in his life, he was intelligent and had learned the rudiments of reading and writing from his father.       

     Chang planted a small vegetable garden next to the house so he would have something to sell at market.  Every Friday he would take a few vegetables to the village market to sell in order to earn a little cash money.   

     On one of his trips to market Chang had sold all his vegetables and had a few copper coins in his pocket.  As he was returning home he passed the local tavern and heard loud yelling and laughter inside.  He decided to go in to see what all the merriment was about. 

     At a corner table was a group of men playing a game of dominos called Pai Gow.  They were the ones that seemed to be having so much fun.  Chang had never heard of Pai Gow before, much less played the game, so he stood there watching the men play.  It seemed a simple enough game, and after half an hour he thought he understood the game well enough to play.

     “Do you have room for another player,” he asked them.

     One of the old men looked up at him, and seeing his tattered clothing, replied, “Go away young rooster, we are playing for money!”

     Not to be so rudely put off, Chang held out his hand showing the man his copper coins. “Look, I have money,” he replied.   

     The old man winked at the others at the table and said, “Well young rooster, if you don’t mind losing your money sit down and we will give you a lesson.”

     Chang pulled up a chair and sat down.  He placed his hard-earned twelve copper coins on the table in front of him and said, “Okay, I am ready.”

     Each of the men bet three copper coins by placing them in the center of the table.  Chang added his coppers to the pot. Then one of the men mixed up the dominos and distributed them to each of the players, and the game began.  The other men at the table had been playing the game for years so it did not take long for Chang to lose.

     Loss of the first game, and his three coppers, did not discourage Chang.  He placed another three coppers into the pot for a second game.  This time he was determined to play more carefully and win.

     One by one the men played their dominos until one of them had no more dominos to play.  Due to either beginner’s luck or skill, Chang won the second game.  He scooped up the coppers from the center of the table and counted them.  Now he had a total of twenty-four coppers.  In only two games he had doubled his money.      

     He continued to play until it grew dark outside, sometimes losing but often winning.  By the time he left the tavern to return home he had over sixty coppers jingling in his pocket.  Never had he had so much money before, or gotten money so easily.

     His initial success at the game got Chang into the habit of going to the small tavern almost daily to play Pai Gow.  Within a few months he had the reputation of being one of the best players in the village, and he had accumulated what to him was quite a large sum which he kept hidden in a clay pot in his mother’s house.  

     With his newfound income he could now afford to drink a few glasses of rice wine and eat a few of the pickled duck’s eggs that he liked so much while he was at the tavern.  He could even treat some of the other players to glasses of rice wine while they were playing.  After all, he reasoned, “It was really their money he was spending.”

     His generosity soon earned him many friends and he became one of the tavern’s favorite customers.  He came to know the owner of the tavern, who occasionally treated to a free glass of rice wine by him.  As Chang’s reputation as a Pai Gow player grew, men from other villages nearby began frequenting the tavern to watch him play, or to see if they could best him at the game.

     Although Chang was bringing home more money than ever, his mother didn’t like him gambling at the tavern every night.  He assured her that he knew what he was doing and when he had enough money he was going to stop gambling and buy a piece of land and build her a fine big house.     

     Then one night on his way home something happened that would change Chang’s life forever.  While walking home after winning a considerable amount of money at the tavern he was set upon by two men with knives.  “Give us your purse or we will kill you,” one of the men said brandished his long knife in a threatening manner.

     As he was unarmed, Chang had no choice but to hand over his purse full of silver tael coins.  As the men ran away with his purse Chang made up his mind that he would never let himself be robbed again. 

     Chang had heard that the tavern owner also sold weapons under the counter.  The following evening when he went to the tavern he went to the owner and whispered, “I have heard that you may be able to sell me a pistol.” 

     “I may be able to find someone that has a pistol to sell.  What kind of pistol are you looking for?’ the tavern owner asked cautiously.     

     “I don’t know, but last night on my way home I was robbed of all my winnings and I need a pistol to protect myself,” he replied.

     “Chang, pistols are very expensive, do you have enough money to buy one?”

     “How much would a good one cost?” he asked.

     “Come back tomorrow evening at seven o’clock and bring one hundred silver taels with you and I will see what I can do,” the old tavern owner replied.

     The next evening Chang returned to the tavern carrying one hundred silver taels tied up in a rag.  As he entered the tavern the owner motioned for him to follow him.  He led Chang to a small dark room behind the bar.  “Did you bring the money?” he asked.

     “Yes, I have it right here in the rag,” he replied, holding up the small bundle for the owner to see.

     “Well, young Chang, you are in luck because I was able to locate a wonderful pistol for you,” the owner told him.  He reached into a wicker large basket in the corner of the room and pulled out a large pistol.

     “This is a very fine pistol, and almost new.  It is a Model 1896 Mauser from Germany!” he stated proudly, as he handed the weapon to Chang. 

     He hefted the weapon in his right hand and immediately liked the feel of it.  It was a heavy pistol with a round handle that fit easily into his hand.  “Do you have any bullets for it?” he asked.

     “For the hundred taels I will include a box of twenty bullets,” the tavern owner told him.    

     “Okay, I’ll take it,” Chang said, handing him the rag with the money tied in it.

     “Chang, with this pistol in your belt nobody will dare rob you,” the man assured him.                   

     He tucked the pistol into his waistband and returned to the main room in the tavern to play Gai Pan again.  He wanted to replace the hundred taels he had spent on the pistol.