Chapter 263: The War Staked on the Nation's Fate

By the time Fat An was seen off, it was already dusk.

Lin Qian rarely had the chance to dine with his family at home, and Uncle Chen had prepared an extremely lavish dinner.

Two cold dishes—sliced white-cut duck breast and candied tangerine peel. Hot dishes included stewed Yongchun white duck chunks, steamed large yellow croaker, sweet-and-sour tender pork tenderloin, and stir-fried winter bamboo shoots. The staple was Fujian thread noodles.

The table not only looked superb, but the ingredients and techniques were increasingly refined.

After all, Nan'ao now held three provinces of the Great Ming, and the helmsman's dining standards had risen accordingly.

At the table, Lin Qian ate while listening to Yueyi describe how Ye Zhen had rendered Qin Liangyu speechless with just a few words.

"The mistress first took out the newspaper and showed it to General Qin, and her arrogance immediately receded...

Then the mistress said the Master said thus-and-so, Mencius said thus-and-so, the sages said thus-and-so—wow, it was really like a schoolmaster lecturing in a classroom!"

The little maidservant narrated with great animation.

Baikou listened with a face full of longing, exclaiming again and again. She had accompanied Lin Qian to meet Andre today, and although her master had dominated with full authority—that fat man practically wished he could grovel into the dust—what the mistress had persuaded was the great hero Qin Liangyu herself!

And from a storytelling standpoint, the mistress's side had traded verbal thrusts and parries, back and forth, which was far more interesting.

Yueyi continued: "... General Qin couldn't utter a single line of the Master or the Odes; she was stunned, staring blankly, speechless...

The mistress also said that the master attacked Guangxi rather than Zhejiang out of consideration for the common people of the realm.

General Qin's expression at that moment was as if struck by lightning—her whole body froze, as though her very spirit had been drained away.

When General Qin flew into a rage, she was so terrifying—her voice shook the roof tiles, and when she stretched out her palm, it was like a black bear's paw—and then..." Ye Zhen hurriedly cut her off: "How dare you speak ill of General Qin!"

Yueyi fell silent with an embarrassed laugh.

Lin Qian asked instead: "Qin Liangyu flew into a rage?"

Yueyi said: "Her daughter-in-law poked a hole through the window paper, which infuriated General Qin, and she even slapped her daughter-in-law."

Lin Qian looked at Ye Zhen: "You weren't hurt, were you?"

Ye Zhen shook her head.

Lin Qian called out loudly toward the door: "Geng Wu!"

Ye Zhen hastily stopped him: "Hey, it was all my own doing—it has nothing to do with Guard Commander Geng."

Yueyi said: "Helmsman, rest assured—although General Qin has a temper, she is very reasonable. Her whole family is wonderful, especially General Qin's daughter-in-law. Seeing the mistress walking slowly, she even..."

Yueyi suddenly realized she had misspoken and quickly covered her mouth.

It was already too late. Lin Qian asked: "Walking slowly—what do you mean?"

Ye Zhen shot Yueyi a glare and had no choice but to confess truthfully: "Your concubine is with child, but it hasn't been long. I wanted to wait until the pregnancy was stable before telling you..." Only then did Lin Qian notice that the dinner dishes were all warm-natured or neutral-natured, combining pregnancy-settling nourishment with appetite-stimulating, palate-pleasing fare.

He was overjoyed on the spot, kissed Ye Zhen on the cheek, and added: "Had I known you were pregnant, I wouldn't have let you go see Qin Liangyu."

Ye Zhen said playfully: "Then wouldn't my lord have lost a great general?"

Lin Qian was stunned for a moment, then caught on and said: "Oh, you—comparing me to Liu Bei, are you?"

Early the next morning, Lin Qian arrived at the General Staff Headquarters.

The Guangxi sand table in the main hall had been removed, replaced by several smaller sand tables—some showing certain Guangxi prefectures and counties, others showing unknown island frontiers. A military intelligence staff officer was briefing on the mopping-up operations of the Guangxi campaign: "From the bombardment of Wuzhou on the twelfth day of the second month of the ninth year of Tianqi to now, just over three months have passed. Wuzhou, Xunzhou, Guilin, Nanning, and all other major Guangxi prefectures and counties have been taken by our forces.

The remnant forces of the Ming court are scattered only across a few remote prefectures and counties not connected to waterways, with a small number of native chieftains still unsubmitted.

At present, the main body of our Nan'ao land forces has withdrawn from Guangxi in batches, leaving only five thousand men to carry out follow-up combat missions. A subsequent garrison force of approximately ten thousand is entering Guangxi along the Xi River.

In this campaign, our forces suffered a total of three hundred eighty-one casualties, consuming sixty-seven thousand dan of military grain and one hundred ninety thousand jin of gunpowder.

The duration of the war, the expenditure of men and materiel, and the planning of marching routes are almost exactly consistent with the General Staff's final pre-war plan."

Put plainly, the Guangxi campaign was almost a straight push—from start to finish, the Nan'ao army never encountered a single setback.

Of the four provinces surrounding Nan'ao, Guangxi was indeed the weakest link, which was also completely consistent with the General Staff's pre-war assessment.

In this campaign, the Nan'ao army displayed such extremely high military professionalism that the Ming army could be said to be left far behind in the dust.

Taking an entire province with fewer than four hundred casualties was an astonishing achievement by the standards of any dynasty in history.

Of course, there was a price as well—the Nan'ao army's consumption of pay, grain, gunpowder, weapons, and other materiel was shockingly high.

After all, a modern-style army cannot be managed with old methods; expecting excellent conduct in battle while having soldiers show up unarmored on payday is simply unrealistic. Among the many supplies, gunpowder consumption was the greatest.

Beneath the painting of the fierce tiger descending the mountain, Lin Qian flipped through the detailed documents handed up by the staff officer while asking: "Have the karst caves in Guangxi been surveyed? What is the saltpeter output?"

A staff officer replied: "The Construction Bureau under the Administrative Affairs Department is following up on this. However, according to intelligence sent back by the Southern Route Army, most of the caves are scattered and lack convenient transport. Before our forces entered Guangxi, these places produced less than ten thousand jin of saltpeter annually. They cannot compare with traditional saltpeter-producing regions like Shu, Shanxi, and Shandong." The Nan'ao army's gunpowder consumption was too great—even a supplementary output of ten thousand jin per year would be welcome. Moreover, once the Construction Bureau intervened, operating saltpeter production through investment or contracting could also raise output.

Of course, artificial saltpeter production methods also existed, but Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian were rainy and humid, making artificial purification of saltpeter difficult and costly—and compared with Bengal-produced saltpeter, the cost was even higher.

Especially as Nan'ao's shipbuilding industry developed rapidly and shipping costs kept falling, Bengal saltpeter's value grew ever greater.

All that was needed was to build more ships and open up the Strait of Malacca.

Thinking of this, Lin Qian asked again: "How much ship timber has been collected from Guangxi?"

"Approximately thirty thousand liao, mainly fir, nanmu, and ironwood—mostly small pieces, only suitable for building small-sized Guangdong junks and Fujian junks."

Guangxi did not border the sea, so its timber reserves were primarily for river vessels—that was only normal.

Given Nan'ao's demand for transport capacity, whether large or small, any ship that could carry cargo was good.

Even the small sand junks had shown their might transporting grain and troops in the Guangxi campaign, hadn't they?

After finishing discussions on post-war Guangxi matters, Lin Qian asked about the preparations for the Aceh expeditionary force.

This campaign was an overseas expedition, and Aceh was a far stronger opponent than Guangxi—it had to be handled with care.

The staff officers exchanged uneasy glances upon hearing Lin Qian's question.

After a moment, the Army Chief of Staff stepped forward and said with a stiff neck: "Helmsman, our department believes that getting involved in the Battle of Malacca at this time is not a good decision." Lin Qian gave no indication of agreement or disagreement.

The Army Chief of Staff had someone bring over a screen and turned to a page of the Great Ming's Jiangnan map, on which Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian had already been marked with the shield-and-halberd flag insignia. The bordering provinces had become Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Guizhou, and Yunnan.

The Army Chief of Staff said: "According to recent news from the capital, the Tianqi Emperor is already gravely ill and may not survive this summer. Wei Zhongxian is making blunder after blunder and looks set to lose power. At this moment when the Ming court is about to install a new emperor, large-scale external military action may harbor hidden dangers."

This was put euphemistically. Put bluntly, it meant that once Wei Zhongxian fell, Nan'ao's good days would be over.

As long as the new emperor was a normal person, he could not possibly sit idly by while Nan'ao swallowed up three southeastern provinces—everyone understood the principle of raising a tiger to court disaster.

Once the power transition was properly settled, the new emperor's priority on attacking Nan'ao might even rank ahead of recovering Liaodong.

There was another layer of speculation—the new emperor would, in all likelihood, be Prince Xin. This new sovereign was no Taoist priest, no money-grubber, no carpenter; he was a worthy prince who concealed his brilliance and possessed considerable depth.

In the seventh year of Tianqi, when Prince Xin married, the Emperor had bestowed upon him a large sum of silver, which he declined, citing: "The borders are fraught with peril, and military funds are severely lacking." These words made him stand out among all the princes of the Great Ming, and even caused the Wanli Emperor to feel ashamed.

A man who could say such things—once he ascended the throne, his blade would inevitably be pointed first at Nan'ao.

The Army Chief of Staff pointed at the map and said: "Once war breaks out, Jiangxi and Huguang will become the main axes of attack.

Sichuanese, Guizhou, and Hunan troops can depart from Yongzhou, advance south along the Hunan-Guangxi corridor, pass through Quanzhou and Xing'an, and strike directly at Guilin, the capital of Guangxi..." This was the route Qin Liangyu took when reinforcing Guilin—along the way it passed the Xiang River, Lingqu Canal, and Li River, and supplies could be shipped by water the entire way, making it extremely convenient. "Jiangxi troops, Zhejiang troops, and forces from South Zhili can depart from Ganzhou, attack east to take Tingzhou to pin down our Fujian forces; they can also march south, enter Nanxiong via the Meiguan Ancient Road, pass through Shaozhou, and drive straight into Guangzhou."

As he spoke, the chief of staff's pointer slid back and forth across the map, and one invasion route after another punctured Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi full of holes.

Having finished, the Army Chief of Staff said apologetically: "Helmsman, the land passes guarding Nan'ao's three provinces are too numerous—strategic initiative rests in the hands of the Ming court. So dispatching troops to the South Seas at this time is by no means a good strategy."

Lin Qian asked: "What does the Navy think?"

The Navy Chief of Staff rose and said with difficulty: "Helmsman, our department believes this campaign truly requires deliberation.

First, it is now May, when the summer monsoon prevails. Not only would our forces sail against the wind the entire way out, but on the return voyage we would run straight into autumn, when the South China Sea's winds are fierce and waves are high, making navigation difficult.

Second, two Candle Dragon-class fourth-rate ships and three fifth-rate cruising ships are still under construction—the earliest they can be launched is October this year, the latest April next year. In addition, shark ships are also being built, and whale ships are even less suited for troop transport.

Third, the Sultanate of Aceh is throwing its entire national strength into besieging Malacca, claiming to field a hundred thousand troops and a thousand gunboats. Even if you cut that in half, that's still fifty thousand men and five hundred ships. Our allies have fewer than three thousand troops—the disparity in strength is far too great.

Furthermore, Malacca is only four hundred and twenty nautical miles from Batavia, but nearly sixteen hundred nautical miles from Nan'ao Island—almost four times the enemy's distance. And the Dutch still harbor old grievances against us. This expedition is simply too perilous!"

The entire staff department was opposed, which actually pleased Lin Qian—it proved that all the staff officers were seriously analyzing decisions rather than serving as mere mouthpieces for him alone.

However, Lin Qian's decision was one these staff officers would surely not like.

Lin Qian spoke calmly: "This battle must be fought—and fought staking the fate of our nation!"

"What?"

"Helmsman, this..."

"... I beg the helmsman to reconsider!"

The staff officers immediately began urging caution in a babble of voices.

In their view, this battle's risks far outweighed its rewards. Nan'ao was advancing steadily on land, and maritime trade was flourishing—wasn't that good enough? If things continued developing this way, Nan'ao replacing the Great Ming and changing the dynasty was already a foregone conclusion. Why risk such danger needlessly?

Lin Qian listened to the staff officers with a smile, and after a while the crowd quieted down.

"Five days from now, I intend to convene Nan'ao's supreme joint military-political conference. At that time, I will explain in detail why this battle must be fought." Lin Qian rose, and all the staff officers stopped what they were doing, stood up, and snapped to attention.

Lin Qian said: "That's all for today. Each department shall notify Assistant Regional Commanders and all officers above the rank of main fleet captain. Five days from now, the Nan'ao Government Hall will attend the meeting. During these five days, preparations for the expedition must not cease."

"Yes!" All the staff officers answered in unison.

Lin Qian walked out through the main hall's great doors, stopped beneath the gilded plaque reading "Marshal's Hall," and turned back to gaze.

Inside the hall, the eyes of all the staff officers were fixed on him as well.

Lin Qian remarked with feeling: "A calm sea breeds no skilled sailors... Brothers, we've taken the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, and it seems we've gained a foothold on land—but in truth... we've merely boarded a larger ship."

With that, Lin Qian stepped out into the sunlight beyond the door.

The General Staff Headquarters was located on the former site of the old Nan'ao Regional Commander's yamen.

As Lin Qian walked out of the compound gate, he happened to run into the accompanying cook returning with provisions. Seeing Lin Qian, the cook was startled and said: "Helmsman, out so early today?" After all, during the three months of the Guangxi campaign, Lin Qian had stayed at General Staff Headquarters almost every day until late at night.

Lin Qian said: "Little business today—I'm going to the drill ground for a stroll. Geng Wu, go and fetch General Qin as well."

"Yes!" Geng Wu agreed, then hesitated: "Helmsman, will she come? With General Qin's temper..."

"Just go and invite her."

The Nan'ao Island drill ground had also been built by the former Ming Nan'ao Vice Regional Commander, and was located at Shen'ao Bay.

From General Staff Headquarters, it was quite close.

When Lin Qian arrived at the drill ground, the man sent to relay the message to Qin Liangyu was probably still halfway there.

At that moment, over a thousand people were conducting formation drill on the ground—to be precise, one thousand three hundred and fifty men, exactly filling the establishment of one Nan'ao Army regiment, commanded by a Battalion Commander.

This regiment's formation differed from any formation the Nan'ao Army had ever used before—it adopted a two-rank depth, with soldiers elbow-to-elbow and shoulder-to-shoulder, packed tightly together with almost no gaps between them.

The advantage of this formation was that more soldiers could be packed into a given unit of space, giving the soldiers an edge in close combat.

The Nan'ao Army's old matchlock musket formations, even with rear ranks filling in, had shockingly large gaps between soldiers—once drawn into melee combat they held no advantage at all, which was why the army had always maintained pikemen and wolf-brush soldiers as close-combat supplements.

But once this dense formation was mastered, both firepower projection and close-combat capability would steadily climb to a whole new level.

And the precondition for all of this was that this regiment's soldiers had been issued a brand-new weapon—the Foye Type-01 flintlock musket.

This regiment's drill instructor was Zhang Moye. He had distinguished himself multiple times during the Guangxi campaign with outstanding performance, and his grades at the military academy ranked among the top. So after the Battle of Guilin, Lin Qian had promoted him from squad leader to Battalion Commander, putting this new flintlock musket regiment under his command.

However, everything Zhang Moye had previously learned about training troops was geared toward matchlock musketeers. Facing the entirely new flintlock musketeers, handling them for the first time, and never having actually seen a flintlock formation engage an enemy, he inevitably felt somewhat out of his depth.

Seeing Lin Qian arrive, Zhang Moye ordered the soldiers to rest in place, came forward to greet Lin Qian, and was just discussing training details when—

Qin Liangyu arrived with her son and daughter-in-law. The three came forward and clasped their hands in salute.

"Helmsman."

"Helmsman Lin."

"General Lin."

Three people using three different forms of address—a direct reflection of their differing degrees of allegiance. This straightforward temperament made Lin Qian unable to suppress a smile.

"I invited you here today, General, to ask for your guidance on this flintlock formation." Lin Qian said bluntly.

Qin Liangyu gave a cold snort. Zhang Fengyi said: "Happy to oblige." Ma Xianglin, meanwhile, looked at his mother and then his wife, caught in the middle.

"Zhang Moye, you explain it." Lin Qian said.

"Yes!" Zhang Moye responded by reflex, then hesitated somewhat, looking at Lin Qian—the flintlock was, after all, Nan'ao's secret weapon, and he wasn't sure how much he was permitted to reveal.

Lin Qian said: "Repeat to the three generals exactly the problems you just told me—say whatever there is to say."

"Yes! Three generals, the flintlock formation's current weaknesses are: poor flank protection, shallow-depth formations lacking shock resistance, insufficient anti-cavalry capability, bayonet fixing causing a gap in firepower, panicked firing by new recruits, repetitive reloading, poor handling of complex terrain, lack of rear protection...

Additionally, there's a high misfire rate, heavy ammunition consumption, difficult resupply, and great difficulty in maintaining the weapons..."

Zhang Moye faithfully carried out the helmsman's order, laying out all the current training difficulties, mixing in a great deal of technical jargon without caring whether Qin Liangyu and the other two could understand.

But after listening, Zhang Fengyi said thoughtfully: "Hmm. These problems are hardly unique to your army—the Qi Family Army had them as well. Your army's addition of bayonets to the muzzles, turning the gun into a spear, is one point where you surpass the Qi Family Army. It's just that the bayonet is still too short, and the movements lack flexibility. You'd need sword-and-shield men stationed within the formation and wolf-brush men on both flanks before it would be truly secure..."

Zhang Moye was greatly astonished: "You know of the Wolf Constitution?"

Zhang Fengyi laughed: "Who in the world doesn't know the fame of the Qi Family Army? At the Battle of Hun River, the Qi Family Army was positioned on our flank, and the time they had to form their ranks was bought with the lives of the White Pole Soldiers."

The Qi Family Army at the bloody Battle of Hun River was in fact made up of Zhejiang soldiers, not troops trained by Qi Jiguang himself.

They were trained from zero using Qi Jiguang's tactical system, very much like the Nan'ao land forces — they belonged to the Qi Family Army in the broad sense.

Zhang Fengyi analyzed: "Your army uses the Qi Family Army formations, and uses bayonets to make up for their shortcomings, and firearms to amplify their strengths. You've surpassed your predecessors — this is a formidable army! If you could also incorporate the essence of the White Pole Soldiers' spear formations into your ranks, I imagine you could reach even greater heights.

Ruizheng, come help me."

Ma Xianglin heard his wife's call, glanced at his mother, and seeing that Qin Liangyu neither approved nor objected, he trotted off eagerly.

They heard Zhang Fengyi leading her husband toward the flintlock musket formation, saying as she walked: "My husband has a rough grasp of staff and spear arts, having received the true transmission of both families' spear techniques. The White Pole Soldiers' spear arts are what my husband practices, so it's most fitting for him to make a humble demonstration..."

Lin Qian couldn't help but smile. The people of the Ming sometimes took modesty too far — Ma Xianglin was being called "roughly versed in staff and spear," and she even said "humble demonstration"? Did the title of Little Zhao Zilong come from nothing?

According to legend, after the Battle of Hun River, Ma Xianglin led scout cavalry out through Shanhai Pass and ran straight into a small squad of Eight Banner sentry riders. Ma Xianglin was struck by an arrow in his left eye. He grabbed the arrow and pulled it out along with his eyeball, then raised his spear and fought — alone on a single horse, he stabbed six Tartar soldiers to death and chased over a dozen more, frightening the Jianzhou barbarians out of their wits. The White Pole Soldiers were already the finest spearmen in the world, and Ma Xianglin was among their very best. If even a man like this was called "roughly versed in staff and spear," then I fear no one in the world would dare claim mastery.

Ma Xianglin moved with lightning speed, his strides extremely quick. Arriving at the formation, he first asked for a flintlock musket, weighed it in his hand, then had a bayonet attached and performed several spear techniques — all clean and crisp, drawing cheers from the other soldiers.

Ma Xianglin smiled and patted his arm and shoulder, then performed several slower movements, as if explaining the key points of each technique.

Close combat had always been the Nan'ao land forces' weak point. On one hand, their firearm allocation was high and the matchlock musket formations were loose; on the other hand, since the army's founding, the Nan'ao forces had always used the Mandarin Duck Formation and the rotating volley method.

The Mandarin Duck Formation emphasized a narrow front with great depth, the formation airtight and impenetrable, blocking lines of fire.

But rotating volley fire required a wide front with great depth, and nothing blocking the front.

These two formations were naturally incompatible — you could only attend to one and neglect the other.

Of course, when Qi Jiguang was stationed at the Ji Garrison, he developed a grand formation system better suited to firearm units — such as the four main camps of chariots, infantry, cavalry, and logistics, as well as the Three Talents Formation, the Two Principles Formation, and others.

This military system was already highly professionalized and modernized, and could basically be applied directly to flintlock musket formations.

But the problem was that it only existed in military manuals — no one knew how to use it.

Qi Jiguang's tactics had too high a logistical demand, and the Ming dynasty's finances were strained, so they were gradually abandoned. Moreover, after Qi Jiguang's death, he was caught up in the purge of Zhang Juzheng, and his military techniques were even more deeply buried.

The Nan'ao forces' core training methods and tactical thinking were all developed by Ma Chenglie's household troops. They were all southerners with no experience commanding armies; mastering the Mandarin Duck Formation was already no small feat. Asking them to teach the complete system of Qi Jiguang's military theory was truly asking too much.

After all, in the late Ming, the only man talented enough to train a formidable army from military manuals and old Qi Family Army veterans was probably Lu Xiangsheng alone.

As for the others — Sun Chuanting, Li Dingguo, and such — although they also borrowed heavily from the Qi Family Army's training methods, like the Nan'ao forces, they only grasped a fraction and could not fully master the essentials.

In the final analysis, it was because Nan'ao had no great general on land.

Now with Qin Liangyu joining Nan'ao, everything was different. She was not only a great general, but she had also been to Liaodong, was familiar with the Qi Family Army's tactics, and the White Pole Soldiers' battle formations were highly compatible with flintlock musket formations.

With someone like her providing guidance, the Nan'ao land forces' strength would surely rise another level.

Although Qin Liangyu kept a stern face, in her heart she had already sided with Nan'ao.

If she still harbored lingering attachment to the Great Ming, she would never have come, let alone sat by and watched her daughter-in-law and son go to participate in training.

Lin Qian's method for dealing with someone like this — who clung to face and put up a strong front — was to ignore her, while at the same time showing her the Nan'ao forces' weaknesses without reservation, demonstrating trust, and letting her suffer the torment of her own sense of honor and righteousness.

Finally, Qin Liangyu could not hold back: "May I ask... does your army have any military engagements coming up?"

Lin Qian did not hide anything: "In the coming months, there will be a great battle at Malacca."

Qin Liangyu was extremely astonished: "Malacca?"

She had originally assumed Lin Qian was preparing for the battlefields of Jiangxi and Huguang.

"The Strait of Malacca — that's the southernmost point of the South Sea, a strait connecting to Tianzhu..."

"This old woman knows of Malacca... That place is ten thousand li from the Great Ming. Why would you cross the oceans to fight there?" Qin Liangyu's tone carried some urgency. Lin Qian did not answer directly, but instead asked: "General Qin, on your way here, how did you find the livelihood of Nan'ao's common people?"

Qin Liangyu answered truthfully: "Shops and merchants stand in rows along the streets, pedestrians jostle shoulder to shoulder, and the people lack nothing in food and clothing."

Lin Qian continued: "After Guangxi was taken, each prefecture and county was granted tax exemptions ranging from one year at minimum to three years at most. What does General Qin think of that?"

Qin Liangyu spoke frankly: "Guangxi suffered years of great drought, and was plundered in turn by corrupt officials. The people were living in dire straits. General Lin's giving the people a chance to catch their breath has saved who knows how many lives. Truly... a boundless merit!"

"In these past two years, Guangdong and Fujian have also suffered repeated floods and droughts. I imagine General Qin is aware of this as well."

Qin Liangyu nodded.

"Nan'ao must both grant tax exemptions and provide disaster relief, while also reducing corvée labor and lightening levies to let the people recover — all while responding to wars on every front.

So what does General Qin think — where do the silver and grain come from?"

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen