Chapter 134: 132 Strategic Development

The household hired another maidservant and a manservant. The maid helped with washing, sweeping, and scrubbing; the man was solely responsible for carrying and chopping firewood.

These days, able-bodied young men were either mustered for military training or building roads and opening new land. The manservant Zhao Han's household had taken on was nearly fifty, his hair already stark white.

Yesterday the young lady had her formal wedding ceremony, and today Xiyue was brimming with energy.

She was a dowry maid, and with no house steward in the compound, Xiyue automatically promoted herself to head maid.

Because Zhao Han had rules and Xiyue herself had been properly brought up, she did not go around throwing her weight about recklessly.

She assembled the four hired servants and lectured them: "If we went by the old rules, you wouldn't even be allowed into the inner courtyard — you'd only be menial servants in the outer compound. Since you've entered the inner courtyard, you must follow the inner courtyard's regulations. When the mistress came, she bought some toothbrushes and tooth powder. Each of you take some and brush your teeth. Look at your own teeth — the moment you open your mouths the stench is terrible…"

Zhao Han strolled off to work, faintly catching Xiyue's lecture. He found it both amusing and funny — the girl was thoroughly enjoying playing the steward.

When he reached the Regional Commander's yamen, Gu Jianshan had already been waiting a long while.

Seeing Zhao Han, Gu Jianshan immediately rose and cupped his fists: "Greetings, Mr. Zhao."

"Sit," Zhao Han returned the courtesy.

Gu Jianshan did not take a seat. Instead, he removed his weapon and presented it with both hands, saying, "Mr. Zhao, I am an assassin."

Zhao Han did not take the sword. He waved him to take it back and asked, "Who sent you?"

Gu Jianshan said, "The Ji'an Branch Defense Eunuch, Zhang Yin. The eunuch has been ordered back to the capital and told me to follow the instructions of County Magistrate Wang Tiaoding."

"Zhang Yin has returned to the capital?" Zhao Han was somewhat surprised.

Gu Jianshan said, "I'm not entirely clear on it either. It seems all the eunuchs are to return to the capital."

All the eunuchs are to return to the capital?

Zhao Han racked his brains but could not fathom what new mischief the Chongzhen Emperor was up to now.

Zhao Han said, "I have yet to ask your honorable name."

Gu Jianshan said, "My surname is Gu, given name Shan. I was originally a military household in southern Sichuan and by luck passed the xiucai examination. Later, after misfortune struck my family, I drifted to Lake Poyang and became a bandit. Some days ago I was captured by government troops."

"Governor Li Maofang?" Zhao Han asked.

Gu Jianshan said, "Governor Li Maofang is not worth fearing. You, sir, must be more wary of the Jiangzhou Military Defense Assistant Commissioner Wang Siren."

Zhao Han quickly asked, "How do these two men differ?"

Gu Jianshan explained, "Governor Li Maofang, though extremely capable, is a very greedy man. As soon as he took office, he immediately recruited two thousand elite troops. Lacking funds and provisions, he colluded with the Nanchang Prefect to levy exorbitant taxes. Using bandit suppression as a pretext, he also withheld the grain and pay of the various guard stations. The Jiujiang Guard was provoked into mutiny by him, and it was Wang Siren who helped quell the unrest."

"And Wang Siren?" Zhao Han asked further.

Gu Jianshan said, "Wang Siren is a man who has deeply won the people's hearts. Wherever the troops under his command go, they commit no offense against the populace. If he were not tangled up with Li Maofang, I nearly went to offer him my service back then."

Wang Siren not only knew how to get things done, he also knew how to be an official.

Though he was merely a minor Military Defense Assistant Commissioner, three of the current Ministers of the Six Ministries were on good terms with him. What's more, those three Ministers belonged to different factions.

Wang Siren was accomplished in both civil and military arts, and relatively incorruptible besides — he could practically be called flawless.

If one had to find a shortcoming, it was probably only his lechery. He had formally taken several concubines, and there were many more chamber maids without formal status.

Zhao Han continued probing: "What are the troop strengths of these two men?"

Gu Jianshan said, "Wang Siren has recruited over three thousand troops, a thousand of them naval forces. Li Maofang has two thousand elite troops and has also conscripted many civilian laborers. Those two are very free with their silver. Several of the bandit chieftains on Lake Poyang were bought off and induced to surrender by them — otherwise I would not have been defeated so quickly."

"What of the uprising brothers in Duchang County?" Zhao Han asked again.

"At most another two or three months, and the government troops will be able to pacify Duchang County," Gu Jianshan speculated.

Zhao Han fell into silent thought. If matters followed the normal course, after Li Maofang and Wang Siren put down the Duchang commoner revolt, they ought to go campaign against Nanfeng, Pingxiang, and Ruijin first — after all, those rebel armies had even captured the county seats.

But who could be certain that those two gentlemen wouldn't act on a whim?

If they decided Zhao Han was the greater threat and came straight at him with their naval forces, was he supposed to go launch another surprise attack on a prefectural seat?

Gu Jianshan offered his counsel: "Mr. Zhao, Jiangxi is crisscrossed with rivers and lakes. To establish a foundation here, you absolutely must have a powerful naval force."

"Do you know how to train a naval force?" Zhao Han asked.

"I do!" Gu Jianshan said at once.

Zhao Han asked, "Does training a naval force require firearms and crossbows?"

Gu Jianshan said, "Firearms and crossbows — if we have them, naturally that's best, but we can fight even without them. In a naval battle, you charge straight in and board. First hurl lime powder, then throw javelins, and use long spears to thrust and cover the boarding. If we have catapults, we can hurl clay jars at close range — jars filled with lime and stones — which greatly aids boarding."

Zhao Han asked, "Does Wang Siren's naval force have many firearms and crossbows?"

Gu Jianshan said, "No firearms, only a small number of crossbows."

The Ming dynasty's arms manufacturing departments were primarily the Arsenal Bureau under the Ministry of Works, and the Weapons Bureau under the Inner Court's jurisdiction.

Both of these departments had already gone to ruin as far back as the Jiajing reign, and weapons manufacturing authority was devolved to the local guard stations.

Zhao Han had questioned Li Banghua in detail. The only place in Jiangxi still capable of producing weapons was the arms workshop under the Nanchang Guard — which could produce roughly two or three sets of armor, a dozen or so crossbows, and a few hundred spears each year.

As long as you paid a high enough price, they were even willing to sell to rebels!

Zhao Han asked another question: "How many soldiers should a single warship be assigned?"

Gu Jianshan answered, "For inland river forces, a 400-liao warship is the limit — anything over 400 liao is too unwieldy. A 400-liao warship, aside from the boatmen, carries 50 to 70 soldiers. Smaller warships, depending on their size, carry either twenty or thirty soldiers, or thirty to fifty."

Zhao Han said, "After I defeated Xie Xuelong, I conveniently captured a batch of boats. From now on, I'm handing them all over to you to command."

"I shall spare no effort unto death!"

Gu Jianshan was extraordinarily stirred. He had only come to offer advice and strategies — he had truly never imagined he would be made naval commander. After all, this was only his second meeting with Zhao Han; not being trusted would have been the normal response.

Yet now, Zhao Han was making him naval commander. This weight of trust moved Gu Jianshan to tears of gratitude.

In truth, it was not so mystical. Zhao Han's own prestige was extremely high; even if Gu Jianshan wanted to cause trouble, the ship officers and men would not entirely obey him.

Zhao Han enjoined him: "I'll give you some carpenters and blacksmiths. Direct them to continue refitting the warships — after all, they were all merchant vessels before. Try making catapults too, and if that really doesn't work, go to Nanchang and hire craftsmen. While training the naval force, you must also help transport goods. I only have that many boats."

"At your command!"

Gu Jianshan was thus appointed naval commander — though it was really more akin to a water transport unit. At this stage, the primary task was shipping supplies; it would be a long while yet before true combat capability was formed.

Zuo Dou, of fisherman stock, who had previously been in charge of transport, was henceforth reassigned as naval Assistant Regional Commander.

Chen Maosheng's right-hand man, Li Huai, was appointed naval propaganda chief, and every warship was to be assigned a propaganda officer.

Once Gu Jianshan had left, Xiao Huan immediately came in.

Xiao Huan is a vicious and ruthless bastard — he'd actually be better suited to running intelligence. But that post is simply too important; handing it to Xu Ying puts Zhao Han more at ease.

At present, Xiao Huan controls two networks: one is the agents out in the prefectural city, the other is internal surveillance within their territory.

That sounds impressive, but in truth he has only a dozen or so men under him.

Once inside the house, Xiao Huan said in a low voice, "Word has come from the prefectural city — the uprising army in Pingxiang is finished."

"When did this happen?" Zhao Han asked, startled.

Xiao Huan said, "It's been nearly two months already. Tian Younian, the Prefect of Yuanzhou, raised troops on his own and put down the Pingxiang unrest."

Zhao Han sighed. "Ah, among the officials of the Great Ming, there are still plenty of capable ones."

His fellow rebels here in Jiangxi were simply too useless.

The Pingxiang rebels were destroyed, the Duchang rebels were about to collapse — the next target was very likely Zhao Han.

What's more, under the Governor's coordination, Zhao Han could well be caught in a pincer attack. The Prefect of Yuanzhou would probably cross the border to stab Zhao Han in the back.

Without waiting for the officials sent to the east bank to return, Zhao Han immediately convened a high-level meeting.

After the situation was explained, Li Banghua stroked his beard and said, "The situation is changing too fast. There's no need to wait any longer — we can take Ji'an Prefectural City at once!"

"I also support seizing the prefectural city," Pang Chunlai said. "Before, we wanted to grow steadily, keeping the water of our well separate from the river of the authorities. But now several officials who can fight have appeared. Whether we occupy the prefectural city or not, they will certainly send troops to suppress Luling — this winter at the earliest, next spring at the latest. Since that's the case, we should strike first and take the key prefectural city!"

Li Banghua suddenly put in, "Let's take Gucun."

Gucun was Li Banghua's hometown, which already fell under Jishui County. But this suggestion served both public and private interests — it wasn't purely selfish.

By now Zhao Han had a simple map, brought back from the prefectural yamen. Li Banghua pointed at the map and said, "We must take all of the Jishui County territory west of the Gan River, then push our forces west to take Anfu County."

Pang Chunlai frowned. "Isn't this expanding too fast? Do we have enough officials?"

"We have enough — more than enough," Li Banghua said. "Right now, at the village and town levels, there are far too many officials. It was just right during land distribution, but afterward it became redundant. If we keep going like this, once our territory grows large, the salary expenses for officials will be terrifying."

Zhao Han asked, "What does Mr. Li think we should do?"

Li Banghua said, "Merge two towns into one, roughly equivalent to a former township. That frees up half the officials, who can perfectly well be assigned to Jishui and Anfu counties." As he spoke, Li Banghua stood up and drew a circle on the map. "Take Anfu County, then take Yongxin County. Send a few hundred soldiers to block the key mountain passes, and the Prefect of Yuanzhou won't be able to circle around behind us — he'll have to take the long way around by the Gan River."

This was a strategic development plan. By taking Jishui, Anfu, and Yongxin counties, Zhao Han's territory would be ringed by mountains on all sides, with the Gan River to the east — the south could be ignored for now, since there were no government troops there. The west could also be ignored; that was Huguang territory, and cross-provincial military operations were very complicated, the bureaucratic process alone taking a year or two.

Li Banghua grew more and more excited as he spoke. "If this campaign succeeds, we then move south to take Taihe, Wan'an, and Longquan. By then, with mountains and rivers forming a natural stronghold, it will be as solid as metal and stone."

Following Li Banghua's expansion concept, they would essentially occupy the entire central Jiangxi basin. Then they would have mountains in every direction and only needed to focus on defending against enemies coming via the Gan River.

Zhao Han smiled. "And then?"

Li Banghua pointed to the lower part of the map. "After consolidating our territory, immediately move south to take Ganzhou, seizing all of southern Jiangxi. Once southern Jiangxi is taken, we can march north to attack Nanchang, while dispatching a flanking force to take Fuzhou. When our navy is trained, we can seize the entire province of Jiangxi!"

(End of chapter)