Chapter 109: Precedent

Li Fuguo was the first to be brought before Zhou Shixiang. So far, he was the third Green Standard battalion commander Zhou Shixiang had seen.

The first two were Kong Guoliang, the Green Standard battalion commander garrisoned in Luoding Prefecture, and Li Deming, the Green Standard battalion commander garrisoned in Sihui County.

These two battalion commanders had met very bad ends — the former had his neck cut through by Zhou Shixiang, while the latter was skewered bottom-up with a long spear by a squad leader of the Taiping Camp. As for the fate of this third battalion commander, it was hard to say.

"Your humble servant Li Fuguo wishes to surrender. I beg the General to spare my life!"

When Li Fuguo was brought over, his clothes were still fairly intact and he bore no wounds. Apart from his extremely poor mental state, he looked no different from usual.

On the way under escort, he had been observing the Taiping Camp.

When he was brought before Zhou Shixiang and saw the Ming soldiers around him treating Zhou with great deference, he immediately realized this man was the commander of this Ming force, and at once dropped to both knees and kowtowed to Zhou Shixiang, begging for his life.

Although his plea was hoarse and desperate, to Zhou Shixiang it held no novelty whatsoever. Still, the sincerity of Li Fuguo's plea was far stronger than that of Zhao Shiyu, the company commander from Xinxing.

At least he truly begged with tears and snot running down his face, unlike Zhao Shiyu, who kept haggling throughout his plea, as if that second steward of the Prince of Jingnan's household he had tied up really were some priceless treasure.

Thinking of that second steward of the Prince of Jingnan's household whom he had released, Zhou Shixiang could not help letting his thoughts wander — wondering how Steward Xiang would go about raising the supplies he needed, and when he would ask Zhou Shixiang to silence Xiong Yingfu and the other men from Zhaoqing, lest his master Geng Jimao learn that this slave of his had secretly dealt with the Ming army and flay him alive.

Whatever Steward Xiang did was no concern of Zhou Shixiang's. In any case, he held Xiong Yingfu and the others in his hands.

If Xiang proved tactless enough to think that once he escaped the Taiping Camp, the sky was high and the Emperor far away, and that the Taiping Camp could do nothing to him, then Zhou Shixiang would have to show him what it meant to wish for death.

His own arm was not long enough to reach Guangzhou, but he had plenty of ways to make Geng Jimao deal with this untrustworthy fellow for him. Presumably the Prince of Jingnan would be only too happy to flay alive this slave of his who ate from within and worked for outsiders.

But so many days had passed; it was time to send someone to jog Steward Xiang's memory, lest the fellow truly think the Taiping Camp had forgotten him.

By the time Zhou Shixiang's thoughts drifted back from Guangzhou to the matter before him, Li Fuguo's voice was nearly hoarse from shouting.

Seeing that the other party still gave no sign, he was steeling himself to kowtow several more times when Zhou Shixiang finally spoke — yet he did not say he would spare him, only asked: "When did the Han Banners arrive in Gaoyao city, and why have they come?"

"This..."

Li Fuguo's descending head stopped abruptly at the sound, then he raised it with a bitter expression and said: "In answer to the General, the Han Banners entered the city at noon. Before that, your humble servant did not know they were coming.

As for why they came, your humble servant is merely a Green Standard officer; I truly have no authority to manage them or question them, so your humble servant does not know."

He did not know?

Zhou Shixiang pondered briefly. He did not berate Li Fuguo for evading the question, but instead asked: "Who commands this Han Banner force? Besides them, are there any other banner troops or Green Standard forces nearby?"

"The commander is Xiang Guoqing, a company captain of the Bordered Blue Banner.

Your humble servant knows little of this man, only that he is someone the Prince of Jingnan brought from Liaodong. As for whether there are other banner troops nearby, well... your humble servant believes there should be none.

If there were, they would have notified me. I can ignore the Green Standard of other prefectures and counties, but if banner troops were present, your humble servant would certainly have to see to their proper accommodation.

Otherwise, your humble servant would be in for a very bad time."

Li Fuguo held nothing back in his words, but gave an honest and straightforward account. He knew that if he did not speak, someone else would.

Rather than let this Ming commander learn it from another's mouth, it was better to say it himself — that way his chances of keeping his life were somewhat greater.

Zhou Shixiang did intend to question the others. After Li Fuguo finished speaking, he waved a hand and ordered the soldiers: "Take this man away for now."

"Yes, Battalion Commander!"

Soldiers immediately came forward to pull Li Fuguo away. Li Fuguo froze for a moment, not knowing whether Zhou Shixiang would spare him or not.

Just as he hesitated, he saw Zhou Shixiang give him a slight nod and then reveal a faint smile. His heart at once settled, and he thought to himself that this Ming general most likely would not take his life after all.

With hope in his heart, Li Fuguo also understood the principle of quitting while ahead.

Fearing that staying any longer would make him an eyesore to this Ming general, he hastily and obediently followed the soldiers away, feeling all the more fortunate along the way that he had not fought to the death — otherwise by now he would surely have become a corpse.

After Li Fuguo was led away, Zhou Shixiang had several Green Standard soldiers brought in, among them Li Fuguo's personal guards and a company commander. What these men reported differed in no way from Li Fuguo's account; all said they did not know why the Han Banners had come.

Since nothing could be learned from the Green Standard side, Zhou Shixiang could only bring in the surrendered Han Banner soldiers for questioning. After all, the sudden appearance of this Han Banner force had kept his nerves taut the whole time.

If he could not determine why this Han Banner force had come, then Gaoyao city would not be a safe place. War is a matter of peril; one misstep and there would be no recovery.

There were no officers among the surrendered banner troops, but after interrogating several of them, Zhou Shixiang still managed to find out why this Bordered Blue Banner Han force had appeared in Gaoyao city.

Contrary to what he had feared beforehand, Xiang Guoqing's Han Banner force had not been sent from Guangzhou to Zhaoqing to suppress the Taiping Camp. In fact, this Han Banner force had never even heard the words "Taiping Camp."

The reason they had come from the provincial capital to Gaoyao city was entirely due to recent events in Leizhou.

Half a month earlier — that is, just when the Taiping Camp had emerged from Yunwu Mountain and struck the town of Xinxing — a major event had occurred in Leizhou Prefecture.

Although in name the Southern Ming court had established a governor over the four prefectures of Gao, Lian, Lei, and Qiong, apart from Gaozhou and Qiongzhou, which were entirely under Ming army control, the greater part of Leizhou and Lianzhou was not held by the Ming army but occupied by the Qing army.

Because most of the counties under Leizhou Prefecture lay near the sea, and the Qing army had no navy in Guangdong, the coastal Ming forces could use their navy to launch attacks against the Qing army.

Chen Qice, the Wave-Conquering General appointed by the Southern Ming, had since last year led his troops in support of Li Dingguo's great army as it advanced east.

Two months earlier he had again led his troops to fight across the Leizhou Peninsula, and half a month ago he had captured Xuwen County, which was heavily garrisoned by the Green Standard, in a single stroke, taking prisoner Gao Youyi, the Qing-appointed Regional Commander of Leizhou.

When word reached Guangzhou, Li Shuaitai, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, who had just pacified the Ming forces in Xiangshan, Dongguan, Shunde, and other counties, immediately requested that a portion of the Han troops under the two feudatories of Pingnan and Jingnan be transferred to Leizhou, to ensure the safety of Haikang County, the seat of Leizhou Prefecture, and to seize the opportunity to annihilate Chen Qice's force.

Shang Kexi of Pingnan and Geng Jimao of Jingnan were not much concerned with Leizhou affairs. The two princes cared only about securing the wealthy Guangzhou and Chaozhou-Shantou regions, and so had no desire at all to send troops to Leizhou.

But Li Shuaitai demanded again and again that the two princes dispatch Han troops to Leizhou, and even required each of the two princes to contribute a force, "a thousand seasoned fighting men would be best."

Unable to withstand Li Shuaitai's demands and backing, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao conferred, and on the pretext that Chaozhou and Shantou had only just been pacified and were still unstable, and that Li Dingguo's great army had withdrawn from Guangdong only a few months before — who could know whether he might again march east — the bulk of the Guangzhou Han troops could not lightly be transferred elsewhere.

Reluctantly, Geng Jimao sent a little over 300 banner troops to Leizhou to assist the local Green Standard in combat.

When Xiang Guoqing and his three hundred-odd banner troops swaggered into Gaoyao city and were preparing to loot the townspeople, they happened to run straight into the Taiping Camp, which had come charging all the way there — and the result was the present situation.

As long as they had not come for the Taiping Camp, all was well. Having figured out the situation, Zhou Shixiang set his mind at ease.

At present, although he was leading the vanguard camp in putting on a great show of strength throughout Zhaoqing Prefecture, his true purpose was to ensure that the rear camp could safely advance toward Xiangshan — not to actually draw the main Qing force into a showdown with the Taiping Camp.

If that really happened, the act would become reality.

The navy of Chen Qice, the Wave-Conquering General of Leizhou, also entered Zhou Shixiang's view for the first time.

But the other man was a general appointed by the Southern Ming court, and his navy commanded a great many troops — not someone a false Battalion Commander like himself could recruit.

Being able to deal with Xiang Guoqing's Han Banner force for him could still count as building a favor, one that might prove useful someday.

Qin Zhisheng came over to ask for instructions: "Battalion Commander, shall we dispose of these prisoners according to precedent?"

The so-called precedent referred to the old affair at Xinxing. The Taiping Camp's method of handling the Green Standard troops who surrendered at Xinxing was to keep the soldiers but not the officers — using the soldiers to kill the officers, and thereby absorbing the surrendered men.

Zhou Shixiang thought for a moment, then instructed him: "Not according to precedent. Take men and escort the banner troops and Green Standard troops all to the east gate of the city."

I hope this author account being hacked is an isolated incident.