China's militia organizations grew out of organizations such as the Red Guards and workers' pickets. The Honghu Red Guards in the movies, the county brigades and district squads on television, and the support corps of as many as five million people during the Huaihai Campaign were all militia forces.
After the founding of the People's Republic, there was an even more widely circulated story: on National Day in 1959, Mao stood atop Tiananmen Gate, watching the Capital Militia Division march through the square in a mighty procession, and told Khrushchev pointedly, "We have a hundred million militia members."
Khrushchev was utterly shocked.
In fact, it was far more than a hundred million. China had 250 million militia members at the time.
There were over five thousand militia divisions and over forty thousand militia regiments.
The Iron and Steel Workers' Militia Division, formed by the Shougang militia, had thirteen regiments under its command and a total strength of over forty thousand. Who knew how many military observers it had scared shitless?
They also formed their own contingents for the National Day parades in 1960, 1984, and 1999.
In 1982, meanwhile, militia work took its direction from Comrade Xiaoping's assertion that "the militia must be raised to a strategic position." Militia organizations nationwide consequently underwent a major restructuring to streamline and strengthen them, reducing their numbers by sixty percent.
This time, the total number of militia members nationwide really did become a hundred million.
Before the restructuring of militia work, Xi County had one militia division, with three militia regiments under its command.
After the restructuring, the militia division was eliminated to simplify the command structure, and the Xi County First Militia Regiment, formed by government agencies and public institutions, was also disbanded.
In the end, Xi County was left with only two militia regiments.
One was the Xi County Second Militia Regiment, organized by factories and mines, and the other was the Xi County Third Militia Regiment, organized by communes or townships. They operated independently, trained year-round, and were equipped with a full complement of weapons.
For militia regiments occupying a "strategic position," a full complement meant more than small arms. The Type 1954 76.2 mm field gun, Type 55 57 mm antitank gun, Type 56 75 mm recoilless rifle, and Type 56 and XX 40 mm rockets were all standard equipment. Most numerous were the 57 mm antiaircraft guns: eight in all, a source of pride for the Xinan Steel Plant, which sent militia members to a neighboring province every year to play at outdoor warfare.
The militia battalion of the Xibao Meat Processing Plant belonged to the Xi County Second Militia Regiment, while the Xizhaizi Township Militia Company belonged to the Xi County Third Militia Regiment.
Comrade Yang Feng, Party secretary of Xizhaizi Township, could not mobilize the county Party committee or county government, but mobilizing the local militia regiment was child's play. With a field exercise as his pretext, he not only sent men to the bus station but also set up checkpoints on every major road leading out of Xi County. Any vehicle leaving Xi County without an inspection stamp from the bus station simply could not get through.
Huo Laosi's men were another matter entirely. Those on vehicles were dragged off, and all goods they had coerced drivers into transporting were unloaded, without anyone even bothering to find a reason.
State-owned enterprises were so formidable in those days because they lacked nothing. They had money, supplies, and favorable policies. They even came with their own police stations and troops. Gang bosses like Huo Laosi might have money and men, but anyone backed by an organization could look down on him as openly as they pleased.
Huo Laosi stared at the militia filling the streets, utterly helpless.
The man who had brought the warning stammered, "They hadn't put up their flags yet when I left."
Thirteen Wolves finally found an outlet for his anger. He slapped the man and said, "No flags, and you couldn't even tell how many men they had?"
"They were grabbing anyone who looked like us. I only got back to warn you because I was fast on my feet. A moment later, and they'd have rounded us all up." The man who had been slapped felt deeply wronged.
Thirteen Wolves glared at him, then said, "Fourth Brother, what do you think we should do?"
Earlier, he had hated Fourth Brother enough to fight him to the death, but now that they had an outside enemy, he remembered Huo Laosi's resourcefulness.
Huo Laosi had no time to dwell on it. He sighed and said, "They're cutting off our retreat."
He took a step forward and said quietly, "Without the bus station, what are we going to feed our brothers with?"
"And all those goods." Thirteen Wolves spoke bitterly. "Everything we have is tied up in them. We still owe money on some of them, and now they've all been confiscated. Once the suppliers hear about it, they'll probably come knocking. Who's this ruthless?"
Huo Laosi suspected Yang Feng of Xizhaizi Township. The saying about a man being absent from the underworld while legends of him still circulated referred to men like Yang Feng.
During the years of political campaigns that had only just ended, people had traveled all over the country to forge revolutionary links. News of any formidable figure in Xi County could spread throughout the province, let alone among people in the county itself.
Huo Laosi had kept his tail between his legs in earlier years. It was only after a lucky coincidence allowed him to take over the bus station and suddenly make money that he had let himself start swaggering.
Given another chance, Huo Laosi would certainly have been cautious, then more cautious still.
But voicing his suspicions would do no good. If Thirteen Wolves learned that they had lost the bus station because he wanted to get into the exam-paper business, there was no telling what trouble he would cause.
So Huo Laosi shook his head and said, "Whatever powerful figure this is, if we can't afford to cross them, can't we at least stay out of their way? Come on. We'll discuss it when we get back. A crowd draws attention."
Even that came too late.
The group had only just left the main road when the Xizhaizi Township Militia Company emerged from an alley and blocked their way.
Wei Lin stood in the middle of the road holding a Type 56 Semi-Automatic Rifle. Behind him, a group of militia members carrying guns or clubs grinned as they formed a circle around them.
"What are you people doing? Drop all your weapons on the ground. Hurry up." Wei Lin waved the rifle in his hands, its safety already off.
"Surrender your weapons and you'll be spared!" the militia members shouted in unison, amusing Yang Rui.
Unfortunately, no one else laughed, so he had to straighten his face again.
"Aren't you that militia guy from Xibao Middle School?" Thirteen Wolves squinted at him for a while before calling out.
"You don't even understand a feint," Wei Lin said disdainfully. "A rabble."
Yang Rui covered his face in embarrassment and thought, You're militia. Is it really all right for you to call them a rabble?
Huo Laosi took it calmly and asked, "What's the meaning of this?"
"Huo Laosi, your crimes have caught up with you." Dressed in a smart police uniform, with a Type 54 pistol at his waist, Duan Hang appeared directly ahead of them, imposing and formidable, one hand on his hip and the other resting on his handcuffs.
Huo Laosi remained silent.
Thirteen Wolves' eyes darted about, as though he were thinking of a way to escape.
"Disarm them," Wei Lin ordered, his eyes fixed on Huo Laosi as though he would open fire the moment the man moved.
Yang Rui was even more nervous than Huo Laosi. In his understanding, anything involving guns was serious business.
Yet Duan Hang, the policeman, looked perfectly at ease, and the militia members around them went on laughing and cursing as they pleased. Under the current militia training system, small arms could be taken home. Sleeping with a loaded rifle in one's arms was a fashionable household activity. Those with a little more swagger tossed their guns under the bed, or took them out hunting. It was all perfectly normal.
So, to say China was a country that banned guns was really only true from the late 1980s onward. Before then, anyone within the state system could get their hands on a gun and fire it with the greatest ease.
Amid the tense atmosphere, all the weapons belonging to Huo Laosi's group were confiscated.
Duan Hang looked at the contents of the basket and gave a savage grin. "Well, well. You've even got triangular bayonets. What were you planning?"
Yang Rui glanced at the enormous Type 54 at his waist, then at the Type 56 in Wei Lin's hands, and felt something was a little odd.
Huo Laosi snorted. "Your bureau chief doesn't know you brought the militia here, does he?"
"You mean, does Peng Xiang know?" Duan Hang chuckled and glanced at Yang Rui. "He certainly knows now. Before long, he'll also know the facts of your crimes: bullying merchants and monopolizing business, injuring and crippling people, robbery, and rape. Whatever you have to say, you can take your time saying it once you're inside. Now get on your knees, all of you. Body search."
Huo Laosi flared up. "Even an execution only takes a nod of the head-"
"Fuck you." A militia member charged forward and struck him with a rifle butt. "Where was your nod when you made me pay an extra twenty cents for my fare last time?"
At his move, the militia members surged forward, scrambling to join in. Using rifle butts or clubs, they beat Huo Laosi, Thirteen Wolves, and their men until they rolled all over the ground.
Shocked, Yang Rui asked Duan Hang quietly, "This won't get you into trouble?"
"Not once we get their statements. First, we have to make them understand that Huo Laosi and Thirteen Wolves' gang is finished. Then they'll start implicating each other, and every last one of them will go behind bars." Duan Hang smiled as he spoke, then lowered his voice too. "This was your dad's idea. He went to the county seat yesterday... Secretary Yang's an old hand. Even my dad told me to listen to him. Your township's militia commander must know too, or would he be working this hard?"
Yang Rui really had nothing to say.
This was also the difference between Yang Rui and his father, Yang Feng.
Although Yang Rui had been led astray by those pharmaceutical-factory people alongside his adviser during his graduate studies in biology, overall, he still had some notion of the rule of law. His plan had been to provoke Huo Laosi into making a move, then strike back with conclusive evidence.
His father, Yang Feng, did not care about evidence at all. He had brought down plenty of people, and had never relied on evidence to do it. To deal with a thug like Huo Laosi, who had no organization or work unit behind him and was not a Party member, he would never wait passively like Yang Rui. He went straight on the offensive.
Surrounding the bus station with militia would give them both the drivers' testimony and material evidence of Huo Laosi and his men illegally transporting goods. Those accompanying the vehicles would even be caught with the stolen goods. Capturing Huo Laosi and Thirteen Wolves as well would complete the mission perfectly.
Duan Hang waited until the militia members had tired themselves out beating them, then made Huo Laosi and the others kneel properly before kicking them over one by one. He made them kneel again, then kicked them over one by one again. After two rounds of this intimidating kneeling routine, every thug had submitted.
This treatment also made them understand that Huo Laosi and Thirteen Wolves were completely finished and would most likely never get out. Otherwise, these people would not dare treat them like this.
Huo Laosi and Thirteen Wolves, too, had grown accustomed to kneeling on the ground. All the authority they had accumulated over years as bosses drained away beneath their knees. They knew in their hearts that their men were no longer afraid of them. As soon as someone opened his mouth, they would all be wiped out.
Only then did Duan Hang stop, panting. He chuckled and said, "All right. Haul them back to the bureau like this, and we've got an airtight case. We won't even need the charge of speculation and profiteering."
Looking at Huo Laosi's gang, their faces bruised and swollen, utterly submissive, Yang Rui actually felt a little bleak.
Against coercive power, ordinary people had so little ability to resist.
Duan Hang brushed the dust off his clothes and climbed onto the truck that had come to transport the prisoners. Then he leaned over the side and said, "My dad came too. He said he wanted to talk to you about some technical stuff. Go ask for him."
"Oh. Where is he?"
"Go ask under the militia regiment's flag. He led the men here himself."
Yang Rui blinked. "Your dad's in the militia too?"
"What's so surprising about that? My mom and sister are both in the militia."
"Your whole family's in the militia?"
"Right. Our whole family's in the militia."
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