Chapter 92: The Plan to Attack the Estate

In the late Ming, the commodity economy was highly developed; even a great clan like the Huangyan Lin family could not live self-sufficiently by scratching food from the soil—they needed sufficient silver to keep things circulating.

What Lin Qian had to do was squeeze every last tael of silver out of the Lin household.

Let this great clan that had endured for over four hundred years decay, let the masters, madams, young lords, and young ladies of the household end up on the streets, dying in poverty, leaving behind a vast expanse of white earth, truly clean.

This was far more satisfying than killing a man with a single blade.

Lin Qian explained his thinking to his brothers, and a look of understanding appeared on everyone's faces.

Lei Sanxiang rubbed his head apologetically: "The helmsman still thinks of everything. I don't know why my head only knows how to kill. And you, big brother, you know I'm impulsive—why didn't you hold me back a bit?"

Chen Jiao said irritably: "I was afraid you'd smash me to death using me as a chair."

Lei Sanxiang looked at the walnut chair that had been smashed into splinters and said awkwardly: "This one, I'll pay for it."

Lin Qian said: "It's just a broken chair, nothing worth paying for. Just bring another one over to sit on."

Lei Sanxiang scratched his head and, following the instruction, carried over a new chair and sat down.

"I already have a preliminary plan." Lin Qian stood up and pointed at the map of the Lin estate as he spoke.

Seeing this, Xie Er prepared to walk out of the cabin.

Lin Qian called him back: "Stay. We'll discuss it together."

Xie Er bowed, flattering with a smile: "Helmsman, after all, I am an outsider."

Lin Qian: "A man who knows which way the wind blows is wise. If you help us pull off this job, you'll be counted as one of us, and you'll get a share of the silver we take from the Lin estate. But if you walk out that door, once we're done robbing the Lin estate, I'll give you a blade."

"Helmsman…" Chen Jiao wanted to advise against it, but Lin Qian stopped him with a gesture.

Xie Er's heart waged war within him for a long time, and in the end he came around. Gritting his teeth, he said: "Master Lin… no, Lin Jiren's tyrannical ways—I've long since found them unbearable. Today, by the helmsman's grace in not rejecting me and taking this lowly one into your ranks, from now on I will serve with utter devotion, following you unto death!"

Lin Qian nodded and said to Bailangzai: "That finger of his—once we're done discussing matters, have Doctor Su set it back properly."

Bai Qing said: "No need for all that trouble." She stepped forward as she spoke, grabbed Xie Er's broken left pinky, and popped it back into place.

Xie Er immediately let out a miserable scream.

"Done." Bai Qing said.

Xie Er was in so much pain he couldn't even get out a word of thanks.

Lin Qian ignored him and pointed at the back gate of the Lin estate: "There's a river landing at the back gate. The water connects on one end to the Yongning River. We'll take the bird boats by water route, and the galleon will wait in support at the mouth of the Ling River."

Among the fifty-plus ships captured when they defeated Li Kuiqi earlier, there were a dozen or so single-masted bird boats. These vessels had long, slender hulls—sails when there was wind, oars when there wasn't—with excellent seaworthiness.

Though they were sea vessels, they drew little water, making them suitable for river travel.

Lin Qian continued: "Inside the estate there's a water channel connecting to the river landing, but the channel is narrow, only allowing small boats to pass. We'll disembark at the river landing and slip into the estate through the water."

Bailangzai reminded him: "Helmsman, there's a kennel at the back gate."

Lin Qian said: "We'll use meat buns laced with knockout powder. Uncle Chen will steam the buns, Doctor Su will prepare the knockout powder. Yiguan, this task is yours to carry out."

Zheng Zhilong rose to receive the order.

Last time when treating wounds, the anesthetic Su Kang had used was clearly of similar composition to knockout powder.

It was just that Su Kang had a stubborn, hard temper—arranging for the smooth and diplomatic Zheng Zhilong to wear him down with patient persistence was the most fitting approach.

Lin Qian continued drawing lines on the map: "Once inside the estate, we split into three routes. The left and right routes scale the high walls and deal with the guards on the walls.

The middle route enters the inner compound, deals with the guards inside, gathers the Lin family's dependents in one place, and moves the silver to the women's hall in the rear courtyard.

After the left route finishes off the wall guards, they join up with the middle route at the women's hall and carry the silver onto the boats.

The right route stays on the compound walls to stand watch and keep guard.

At daybreak, we use three clacks of the watchman's rattle—two short, one long—as the signal, and withdraw from the Lin estate together."

After hearing this plan, everyone inwardly praised it, gaining a bit more confidence in the matter.

Chen Jiao pondered for a moment, then said: "The crew are used to blades and spears in battle, and won't flinch from trading blows with the estate guards. But what if they really do have crossbows?"

Lin Qian: "We'll prepare crossbows and bolts too, and we'll need shields."

Shooting a bow was a skilled craft—there was no way the crew could train up in time. Crossbows were much simpler to use.

The only problem was that crossbows, bolts, and shields were contraband. Even with silver, there was no channel to buy them.

Fortunately, there was a ready-made naval camp on Nan'ao Island. No matter how corrupt a Ming general might be, in a guard station with a paper strength of five thousand men, a dozen or so sets of suitable equipment ought to exist.

Lin Qian said: "Besides crossbows, bolts, and shields, if there's any light armor, scrounge up a few sets of that too, along with military weapons like fine steel blades and swords. This matter I'll leave to big brother—start with Garrison Commander Huang."

Chen Jiao: "Understood."

Lin Qian then said to Lei Sanxiang: "The crew have seen little of blade-to-blade combat, and have never even seen crossbows or shields. The training over the coming days, I'll leave to Third Brother."

Lei Sanxiang slapped his chest: "Leave it to me."

Lin Qian said to Bai Qing: "Bai Qing, the estate-raid plan is only a rough draft. It still needs adjustment based on specifics like the Lin estate guards' shift-change times, the nighttime movement routes, and the daily schedules of the household's masters and servants. I'm leaving all the intelligence-gathering to you. This time, don't act rashly."

Bai Qing cupped her fists: "Rest assured, Helmsman."

Lin Qian thought it over and still wasn't at ease, so he said to Bailangzai: "Go with your sister, and bring Xie Er along too. He knows the layout of the estate—he might prove useful."

"Understood." Bailangzai replied.

Zheng Zhilong said: "Helmsman, just sending me to get knockout powder—isn't that too simple? Is there anything else I can help with?"

Lin Qian said: "I've saved one more task for you. At the mouth of the Ling River, there's a guard station called Haimen Guard. If we can't get past Haimen Guard, we can't sail into the inland river. Whether to bribe them with silver or slip around them under cover of darkness—that's for you to decide. This task is formidable; I'm entrusting it to you."

Zheng Zhilong excitedly clasped his fists: "As you command!"

Scholar Zhou rose and said: "Helmsman, what should I do?"

Lin Qian hadn't assigned Scholar Zhou any task—after all, when it came to blades and guns, he couldn't be of help.

But after thinking for a moment, he realized he really had overlooked one major matter.

Lin Qian asked: "After Li Kuiqi's death, on the seas of Fujian and Guangdong, who is the largest sea bandit force?"

Everyone exchanged glances, thinking to themselves: "Isn't that us?"

Lin Qian realized his question was flawed and added: "Other than us."

Chen Jiao said: "It should be Yuan Jin and Li Zhong. Those two forces are evenly matched."

Zheng Zhilong vaguely guessed Lin Qian's intention—he must be looking for a sea bandit leader to serve as the scapegoat.

So Zheng Zhilong said, "Heading north along Fujian, off the coasts of Zhejiang and South Zhili, there are also several bands of great sea bandits, and among them a Shuangyu shipmaster is the most famous."

Lin Qian thought for a moment, then said, "This crime isn't a big one, so let's pick a small sea bandit to use first. Second Brother, look into Yuan Jin and Li Zhong—find out their distinguishing features, their appearance, the number of men under them, and where they hide. I'll leave this matter to you."

Scholar Zhou said, "Orders received!"

Yuan Jin and Li Zhong were only small sea bandits, acting recklessly without restraint and leaving many openings—unlike Li Kuiqi, whose trail was so hard to follow. Entrusting this to Scholar Zhou to investigate should be no problem.

Xie Er, listening from the side, was already somewhat stunned, and thought to himself: "This kind of arrangement—how is this like going to rob the Lin estate of silver? It's practically like launching an assault on the prefectural city of Taizhou!"

"Helmsman," Zheng Zhilong said, "water gates usually have iron grilles. Wouldn't it be faster to use grappling hooks to scale the walls?"

"No grappling hooks." Lin Qian's tone was calm. "Breaking through the water gate—I'll handle that."

To guard against grappling hooks, the courtyard walls of such great households were built with water-polished blue bricks and lime-mortared joints, made extremely smooth and flat, and some wall tops were even tiled—grappling hooks would find no purchase at all.

To get in, one had to break through the water gate first.

(End of chapter)

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