Chapter 48: The Defeated General

Deqing was the nearest Qing garrison to Luoding, just as Xinhui was to Guangzhou. Deqing was likewise the gateway to Zhaoqing Prefecture, a key stronghold in Guangdong.

Two years earlier, when Li Dingguo's great army first attacked Guangdong, it was at Zhaoqing that a hopeless assault had forced him to turn back.

Know the enemy and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be defeated.

To win against an attack by the Qing troops at Deqing, they first had to know how many Qing soldiers were in Deqing.

To that end, Zhou Shixiang discussed matters with Boss Hu, then ordered Shao Jiugong brought over, intending to get from this man every scrap of intelligence about the Green Standard troops at Deqing.

Once the man was brought over, Boss Hu was about to put on a show of intimidation first, lest Shao Jiugong prove a dead pig unafraid of boiling water. But it turned out there was no need for such trouble at all.

The moment Shao Jiugong understood that they wanted to know the situation of the Green Standard at Deqing, he spilled everything he knew like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, in full detail.

According to his account, stationed at Deqing was Garrison Commander Zhang Dade, who served under Regional Commander Xu Erxian of Zhaoqing. Because his face was covered with pockmarks, he was also called Pockmarked Zhang.

Under him was a full-strength battalion, no small number — a full five hundred men.

Kong Guoliang was a Battalion Commander with more than four hundred soldiers under him, yet Zhang Dade was a Garrison Commander with only five hundred?

Zhou Shixiang was somewhat confused. Only after hearing Shao Jiugong's subsequent explanation did he understand.

It turned out that although the Green Standard's camp structure was divided into four types — biao, xie, ying, and xun — the number of men in each camp was not fixed. There was no set troop allotment.

Generally, a camp could be as small as two or three hundred men or as large as six or seven hundred. A camp did not necessarily have more troops than a xun post, either; it depended on where they were stationed.

Green Standard troops along river routes or grain-transport canals, for instance, were fewer than combat troops.

Moreover, the Green Standard was made up entirely of former Ming troops. Many Ming commanders, when the Qing army came, simply changed their banners, shaved their heads, and in the blink of an eye became Green Standard.

As a result, the troop numbers under their command were utterly disordered, some large, some small.

On top of that, with the Southern Ming Yongli regime still in existence, and with men like Jin Shengheng of Jiangxi, Li Chengdong of Guangdong, and Jiang Xiang of Datong having rebelled against the Qing and returned to the Ming in previous years, the Qing court, in order to consolidate the territory it had already occupied and at the same time placate the surrendered Ming commanders, had laid down a rule in the eighth year of Shunzhi: all Ming troops who surrendered were to be reorganized into the Green Standard, their forces were not to be reduced, and whatever office a man had held under the Ming, he would hold under the Qing — sometimes even promoted a rank.

Because of this, the Green Standard's military organization grew ever more chaotic, since each commander brought in a different number of troops.

Zhang Dade was a Garrison Commander under Regional Commander Xu Erxian of Zhaoqing; Kong Guoliang was a Battalion Commander under Regional Commander Kong Guozhi of Southern Jiangxi.

The former was an old subordinate of the Manchu Prince of Pingnan from Liaodong, while the latter was a commander who had surrendered later.

By rights, Xu Erxian's military organization ought to have been stronger than Kong Guozhi's, but in reality there was little difference between the two.

Both were Regional Commanders, yet the troops under each were not the same — which was how the situation arose where a Garrison Commander was nearly inferior to a Battalion Commander.

"Old... Prince Li wants to attack Deqing?"

Shao Jiugong had almost called Li Dingguo "Old Rebel," but fortunately his wits turned fast enough to keep himself out of trouble. Even now, he still did not suspect that Zhou Shixiang and his men were in fact a band of bandits rather than genuine Ming troops.

He simply took them for Ming soldiers under Li Dingguo who had come over from Gaozhou.

Zhou Shixiang shook his head. "It is not the Prince of Xining who wants to attack Deqing. It is our Taiping Camp that wants to attack Deqing — or rather, the Qing troops at Deqing will come to attack us, so we want to strike them first."

Hearing this tongue-twister of an explanation, Shao Jiugong was thoroughly baffled: So is it that you want to attack Pockmarked Zhang, or that Pockmarked Zhang is coming to attack you?

As for why it was the Taiping Camp attacking Deqing rather than Li Dingguo's great army, he did not give it much thought, because he figured the Taiping Camp was most likely a vanguard sent by Li Dingguo to probe the Qing army's reaction.

At the thought of Pockmarked Zhang, the Deqing Garrison Commander, Shao Jiugong felt a stir in his heart. He had already lost his way back, and for the rest of his life he would have to serve the Ming army whether he liked it or not.

That being the case, he might as well use Pockmarked Zhang as his first blade, so as to gain a firm footing in the Ming army and avoid being pushed aside and used as cannon fodder.

With that in mind, he could not help but volunteer eagerly: "If you mean to attack Deqing, Generals, let this humble one lead the vanguard. That Pockmarked Zhang suffered at my hands twice back in the day. This humble one has no great talents, but thrashing Pockmarked Zhang is no trouble at all."

"You?"

Zhou Shixiang did not suspect Shao Jiugong of any hidden motive. He merely glanced at the man's back and gave a soft laugh. "Has the wound on your back healed?"

At those words, Shao Jiugong felt a twinge of pain, but he gritted his teeth, thrust out his chest, and said with forced bravado: "A bit of flesh wound, nothing that gets in the way.

So long as I can win merit for the Great Ming and drive the Tartars out of our Han land, this humble one would not flinch even if his bones were ground to dust!"

"So how exactly did Zhang Dade suffer at your hands?"

What Zhou Shixiang cared about was not Shao Jiugong's volunteering, but what ability he had that could make Zhang Dade suffer.

This was the proudest exploit of Shao Jiugong's entire life, one he had recounted to others countless times before. Now that he had another chance to show it off, he was naturally overjoyed, and at once launched into the tale with spittle flying.

It turned out that back when Shao Jiugong had followed the Kong Guozhi brothers in Jin Shengheng's campaign against Jiangxi, Zhang Dade had been a Battalion Commander in a Ming guard post in Jiangxi.

Once, Kong Guozhi, eager for merit, had advanced alone with his troops and fallen into a Ming ambush. During the retreat, he had ordered Shao Jiugong to take men and cover the rear against the Ming troops — and the one leading the Ming pursuit was none other than Zhang Dade.

Shao Jiugong had been scared out of his wits at the time, but he dared not disobey Kong Guozhi's order. He could only take a band of broken remnants and hold the rear as best he could.

After holding for a while, he truly could not last, and just as the Ming troops were about to charge through, Shao Jiugong had a flash of desperate inspiration. He told his men to take out their bits of silver and copper coins and throw them on the ground.

At that, Zhang Dade's men all fell to picking up the silver and coins — who had any mind left to chase Shao Jiugong and his men? Seeing the Ming troops in chaos, Shao Jiugong turned around and led his men charging back, scattering the Ming troops in one blow.

Zhang Dade had to run and leap for his life just to get away.

"That was the first time. What about the second?"

Shao Jiugong's method of escaping with his life had Zhou Shixiang and Boss Hu listening with great interest. Both grew eager and urged him to go on.

Shao Jiugong swallowed, then chuckled. "The second time, I used the same trick — only that time I didn't throw silver and copper coins."

"Oh? Why not?" Zhou Shixiang and Boss Hu were both surprised. Why not use such a good trick a second time?

Shao Jiugong laughed.

"Pockmarked Zhang's no fool.

He'd already fallen for it once. If he saw me throwing silver and coins on the road again, he'd never take the bait.

So I deliberately didn't throw any — and that made him believe I really was fleeing. He came after me with his personal guards at full speed, and in the end I led him into a valley and sprang an ambush.

I nearly captured him!"

So he was fighting a battle of wits...

The more Zhou Shixiang thought about it, the more interesting it seemed. This old army fox Shao Jiugong was rather good at calculating people's minds.

"Later, I don't know how it happened, but this Pockmarked Zhang surrendered to the Tartars too, and now he's worked his way up to Garrison Commander. Last time we passed through Deqing, he stood on the city wall looking down at me with his nose in the air. I was so angry my teeth itched..."

Thinking of the scene when he and Kong Guoliang had passed through Deqing that day, Shao Jiugong wished he could seize Zhang Dade and give him a proper scolding: You defeated wretch, how do you have the face to put on airs before me?!

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