Chapter 199: 197. The Great Union of Gentry and Peasantry

The river-channel topography of Ganzhou city truly does resemble Linjiang Prefecture, but here it is far more complicated!

Three rivers converge, and great mountains stand on all four sides.

Behind every river there is a sharp bend; even climbing high and looking far, you cannot see the other side's naval deployment, because the main fleet strength is all hidden behind those sharp bends, with only a few boats sent out to patrol.

Thus both sides can use their fleets to set ambushes, and what the other side is doing can only be guessed at through experience.

The Fujian fleet, long accustomed to fighting sea battles, was fighting a river battle for the first time. Moreover, the merchant ships they had commandeered in Jiangxi, after being converted into warships, lacked many river-combat weapons.

They had originally been fitted with some Frankish breech-loading cannon, but Shen Youlong took them all back to Guangdong to suppress bandits — who could argue, when he was the supreme commander bearing the imperial sword of authority?

After the ships grappled and boarding began, the Fujian sailors jumped into the river one after another, scrambling over each other to swim back to Ganzhou city.

The distance was very short; swimming a few hundred meters brought them ashore, and ashore they were right at the Ganzhou city wall.

As for the land battle on the opposite bank from Ganzhou city, the terrain was likewise somewhat complicated. Fei Ruhe still remembered what Pang Chunlai had taught him in his youth about the essentials of laying out a camp: at the back, Mount Egong; on the left and right, two large ponds; to the front, facing the Gan River. Between the main camp and the Gan River there was a gap of only three li, and the government troops had to attack through this space.

Fei Ruhe himself, meanwhile, could attack or defend at will, with ample provisions and forage and abundant water sources.

During the march, Huang Hanliang said, "We could detach three thousand men to seize the hilltop to the south and launch a surprise assault on the rebel main camp from the heights. Our main force would attack from the front, and a pincer from both sides might win a great victory. If we seize the hilltop, the rebels will have to divide their forces to defend against it. Once they divide their forces, it favors us, because the enemy has fewer men."

"You take men and attack the hill!" Chen Tingdui ordered.

Without another word, Huang Hanliang took three thousand men and headed for the ridge zone.

Chen Tingdui himself circled around to the west, arriving at the gap between the rebel main camp and the Gan River.

Compared to Ji'an, the rice planting in Ganzhou was slightly earlier, and by now it was already ready to harvest. In the paddies near Fei Ruhe's main camp, the peasant association had already organized the farmers to finish the harvest; the two sides would do battle across the broad flooded fields.

Although Chen Tingdui detested Zou Weilian, he had to admit that that Governor had a real knack for drilling troops.

After a year garrisoned at Ganzhou city, besides gathering provisions and forage and building fireships, the more than ten thousand Fujian soldiers had also greatly improved their training; they were no longer the rabble of the year before who broke at the first touch.

Officers included, all took off their shoes, rolled up their trouser legs, and stepped into the fields, forming ranks and advancing through the mud and water.

A thousand arquebusiers were concealed in the central army, waiting for the critical moment to unleash their power.

Chen Tingdui sent two thousand Fujian soldiers forward to assault the rebel stockade, with two operational objectives: first, to topple the wooden palisade wall of the rebel main camp; second, after being routed, to draw the rebels out in pursuit.

Win or lose, either was acceptable: if they won, he would seize the momentum and attack with the whole army; if they lost, he would use the arquebusier units to strike back.

The strong troops Zou Weilian had trained gave Chen Tingdui full confidence that a feigned defeat would not turn into a total army rout.

Whizz-whizz-whizz!

The two thousand Fujian soldiers charged toward the main camp, and the rebel archers began volleying; behind the palisade wall, pikemen were waiting.

It was less a palisade wall than a relatively sturdy wooden fence, very convenient for thrusting long spears out through the gaps.

After the Fujian soldiers took the volley of arrows, signs of collapse were already showing. The few who reached the palisade wall were immediately jabbed back by the pikemen, and then these two thousand Fujian soldiers broke.

Chen Tingdui was utterly frustrated: the rebels inside the main camp did not seize the victory and come charging out, rendering his follow-up deployments completely useless.

Under normal circumstances, the rebels should have seized the chance to rush out, and then routed the government troops all along the line.

But what Fei Ruhe was thinking was: Why should I pursue?

My fleet has already won a complete victory; I hold the stockade and wait at ease for the exhausted enemy, while the government troops have no way to cross the river back to the city. Every extra day we delay, the government troops' morale drops another notch — so why be in a hurry to fight a decisive battle?

Fei Ruhe, who at Taihe county town had single-handedly chased down over a hundred rebels, seemed suddenly to have transformed into a general of wits.

Thanks to Fei Yinghuan's secret report the year before, Zhao Han, Fei Ruhe, and the others all knew that the Fujian government troops had arquebuses in hand, so the rebels here had to respond with extreme caution.

Chen Tingdui thought his arquebusier battalion was a surprise force that could catch the enemy off guard at the critical moment. But how could he know that the rebels even knew the name of the officer commanding the arquebusier battalion with perfect clarity?

Seeing that luring the enemy had failed, Chen Tingdui could only reorganize his ranks and resolve to assault the rebel main camp by force.

It was just that the terrain was a bit disgusting: on both sides of the main camp were ponds, so he could only attack from the front.

While deploying his troops, he waited for his son-in-law.

His son-in-law Huang Hanliang was making a surprise attack into the hills; if it succeeded, he could descend from the heights at the rear of the rebel main camp and charge down the mountain straight into the rebels' backsides.

A pincer from front and rear was certain to work!

The rebels blocking Huang Hanliang were not many, only four or five hundred men.

Huang Hanliang was not only a child prodigy who could write eight-legged essays at age nine, he was also versed in military strategy, quite skilled in martial arts, and adept at naval warfare.

"Kill!"

Huang Hanliang charged at the front, leading three thousand Fujian soldiers as they attacked the several hundred rebels on the hillside.

Then they saw those several hundred rebels suddenly step forward, fifty-some of them, raising strange objects the size of bowls in both hands high above their heads and hurling them downhill with all their might.

Huang Hanliang thought they were small falling rocks, but then —

Boom-boom-boom!

Of the coarse-ceramic "Ten Thousand Enemies," a few had their fuses go out and did not explode, and a few exploded prematurely.

But still over thirty of them landed and exploded among the Fujian soldiers.

Not only did ceramic shards fly and wound men, but chili powder also burst out. Huang Hanliang's thigh was struck by a shard, and when he inhaled he felt as if his throat were on fire.

"Kill — cough cough cough..."

Those fifty-some rebels raised Ten Thousand Enemies again, while their comrades used slow-burning ramie rope to help light the fuses.

Boom-boom-boom!

Another wave of blasts, and the three thousand Fujian soldiers making the surprise attack on the ridge simply collapsed and fled down the mountain.

Huang Hanliang still wanted to charge on despite his wound, but he could not hold back the routing troops and could only flee down the mountain with them. Once at the foot of the mountain, he pulled out the shard embedded in his leg and was utterly speechless: the rebels' Ten Thousand Enemies actually used porcelain for the outer casing.

Nothing to be done — Zhao Han's territory was full of kaolin clay everywhere; Zhu Yuanzhang had even used it to fire porcelainized city bricks.

Because the material was convenient and abundant, the manufacturing cost of porcelain shell casings was far cheaper than iron ones.

This stuff — one kiln firing produced hundreds, even a thousand of them!

Huang Hanliang rushed back with his remnant troops and said to his father-in-law, "The rebel army has Ten Thousand Enemies."

"What's wrong with your voice?" Chen Tingdui asked.

Huang Hanliang sounded as if his tonsils were inflamed after a cold, his eyes streaming continuously. In a hoarse voice he said, "The rebels' Ten Thousand Enemies are mixed with chili powder — my eyes and throat both took a hit."

Chen Tingdui raised his spyglass and observed the watchtowers of the rebel main camp.

Those arrow towers had not fired a single arrow during the officers' first assault. Thinking back now, they probably had ten-thousand-man bombs hidden in them too, just waiting for the main government force to attack before hurling them out to blast a wide swath.

Chen Tingdui began cursing Shen Youlong in his heart. That bastard Governor-General of Liangguang had taken every cannon in the army with him. Otherwise, he could have bombarded the rebel arrow towers to rubble first.

Huang Hanliang said, "Father-in-law, withdraw. This battle cannot be fought. If the rebels would only come out of their camp for a decisive clash, that would be one thing, but these rebels are all turtles, shrinking inside their great camp and holding the advantageous terrain. How can our troops break through?"

Chen Tingdui turned and looked back at the river. The water battle was already in its final stage — the government naval force was completely gone.

"Withdraw!"

Chen Tingdui ground his teeth and issued the order.

Inside the rebel great camp, Fei Ruhe smiled and said, "Prepare to pursue."

It was not really pursuit, but rather forming ranks and following at a distance.

This tactic made it impossible for the government troops to withdraw in good order. They could only tread through the flooded paddies, barely holding formation as they slowly fell back.

Once the government troops emerged from the paddies and all moved along the narrow field ridges, under the rebels' pursuit they would easily collapse into a full rout.

Huang Hanliang said, "This cannot go on."

Chen Tingdui gave a cold laugh. "I know. I am deliberately luring the rebels out of their camp for a decisive battle. That terrain just now was impossible to fight on. We will switch to a place more comfortable for us, then fight."

The scene turned very strange.

Amid the riverside paddies, over five thousand rebel troops spread into formation and slowly advanced, while over ten thousand government troops also spread into formation and slowly withdrew.

At last, the government troops halted, because the terrain had opened up and they could now bring their numerical advantage to bear.

"Halt!"

Fei Ruhe likewise halted the pursuit. The two sides faced each other across several flooded paddies.

Chen Tingdui had his signal officer issue orders, spreading the government formation even wider, attempting to rely on numerical superiority to swing around to the east and launch a semi-encirclement attack — the west side was the river.

"Withdraw!"

A brilliant smile spread across Fei Ruhe's face. Seizing the moment while the government troops were spreading their formation, he suddenly ordered the entire army to withdraw back to the great camp.

The meaning was simple: I will not fight you, but I will not let you leave either.

Under this repeated tug-of-war, the government troops' morale was bound to sink, because they could not return to Ganzhou city and could only fall back further to Xingguo County or Yudu County.

Moreover, the government troops' level of training was certainly no match for the Great Unity Army's. Dragged back and forth like this, they might well collapse on their own.

"That brat toys with me!"

Chen Tingdui's lungs were nearly bursting with rage. He wanted a decisive battle, and the rebels would withdraw into their camp to defend. He ordered a retreat, and the rebels would follow right on his heels. Who ever fought such a shameless battle?

And all around were flooded paddies. Both sides could advance or retreat at leisure — neither could suddenly charge even if they wanted to.

"Kill!"

From a mountain ridge behind the government troops, heaven-shaking battle cries suddenly erupted.

Much of the plundered goods Chen Tingdui had seized had already been transported back to Ganzhou city. But a great deal of grain and fodder remained, camped against the hills and by the water, with over a thousand government troops left to guard the main camp and supplies.

"Where would the rebels still have troops to circle around and raid our camp?" a Fujian Battalion Commander exclaimed in alarm.

The Fujian soldiers all turned pale with shock, because the battle cries coming from the rear sounded like at least several thousand, perhaps even ten thousand troops.

Could the rebels conjure soldiers from scattered beans?

"Into the hills, quickly, into the hills!"

Chen Tingdui gave the order at once. To the northwest was the main rebel force; to the southeast, a huge rebel force had inexplicably appeared; to the southwest of the government troops was the river. They could only retreat toward the great mountains to the northeast.

As soon as the government troops withdrew, Fei Ruhe unhurriedly followed again.

Everywhere were flooded paddies — no way to charge in pursuit. Then they would just pursue unhurriedly.

Very soon, over a dozen routed government soldiers came running frantically along the field ridges, shouting in terror, "Commander! Our main camp has been raided!"

"Of the troops guarding the camp, only you dozen or so are left?" Chen Tingdui asked.

The routed soldier said, "They scattered and fled in all directions. The others — no one knows which way they ran."

Chen Tingdui asked again, "How many rebels raided the camp?"

The routed soldier said, "Several thousand, maybe as many as ten thousand. Most were peasants, carrying kitchen cleavers, hoes, and the like. Some were local militia — the gentry led their militia to raid the camp."

"How dare the gentry follow the rebels?" Chen Tingdui cried in horror.

Yes, the gentry had joined the rebels too.

Over the past few days, the propaganda officers had been contacting the landlords, while the peasant associations had been organizing and mobilizing the peasants.

Because the Fujian troops had been slaughtering so savagely, the landlords of Ganzhou would rather join the rebels and help the rebels defeat the Fujian government troops. Otherwise, if the rebels were defeated and fled, the Fujian troops could slaughter the Ganzhou landlords so thoroughly that not even a chicken or dog would be left alive.

Such things had happened before. A hundred years ago, troops from Liangguang and Huguang encircled and suppressed southern Jiangxi, burning, killing, and plundering all the way.

The Guangxi wolf soldiers were the most ruthless — they slaughtered southern Jiangxi until nine out of ten houses stood empty!

Even a sage like Wang Yangming, when suppressing bandits, used the collective punishment law. If one household followed the bandits, ten households were executed — heads rolling, people driven to inform on their neighbors.

Fei Ruhe pursued the government troops into the mountains — not some vast, rolling mountain range.

Very soon, the local militia also arrived to join forces. The overbearing landlords and gentry, and the long-oppressed tenant farmers, brought together by the propaganda officers and peasant associations, now worked in close cooperation to surround and slaughter the Fujian government troops!

(End of Chapter)