Chapter 271: 269 Military Law

Guangzhou, the north gate tower.

Here stood a five-story structure, built in the early Ming, originally erected to command a view of the entire city.

Zhao Han set down the battle report he had just received, saw Zheng Zhilong looking at him, and said with a smile, "Western Guangdong is taken. Only Qiongzhou Prefecture remains. The frontline general is requesting ships to assault the island."

"Congratulations, worthy brother," Zheng Zhilong said, immediately cupping his hands. "Does the Zheng family need to send ships to help?"

Zhao Han waved his hand. "Not for now. Once we have enough officials, it won't be too late to go take Qiongzhou Prefecture. Does elder brother know the situation on Qiongzhou?"

"That place is far better than Dongfan," Zheng Zhilong said with a laugh. "The Han population on Qiongzhou Island is at least over a million."

The population of Hainan Island in the late Ming was definitely more than a million!

Because in Zhu Yuanzhang's time, the registered population of Hainan Island had already reached 291,030 — just a hair short of breaking three hundred thousand. Over the past two hundred-plus years, the court had continuously exiled convicts there, and private migration from the Guangdong coast had never stopped. Two or three million Han on Hainan Island was entirely possible.

As for the official figures, Hainan in the late Ming had only 250,000 people — even fewer than in Zhu Yuanzhang's day. Utterly absurd and nonsensical.

Zhao Han rose, rested his hands on the railing, and gazed out past Guangzhou city toward the sea. He suddenly turned his head and asked, "Will the red-haired barbarians really dare to come?"

"They will definitely come," Zheng Zhilong said with a laugh.

After Zhao Han retook Macau, he immediately informed the merchants that all nations could come to Guangzhou to trade freely — Holland excepted.

Given the arrogance of the 17th-century Dutch, once they heard this news, they would probably want to charge into Guangzhou and kill Zhao Han. According to Zheng Zhilong, within three months, the Dutch would be at Guangzhou.

Zhao Han was now in a hurry to drive off the Dutch because he had taken the whole of western Guangdong.

In Ming times, Guangdong directly bordered Vietnam. The coastal areas that would later belong to Guangxi were at this time all under Guangdong's jurisdiction.

The maritime trade of northern Vietnam had already been monopolized by the Dutch. Only by driving off the Dutch could Zhao Han buy grain in northern Vietnam and thereby solve Guangdong's grain shortage.

Guangdong had suffered three years of major disaster, and Zhao Han had brought in a large number of troops and officials. Local grain purchases were no longer enough; supplies were being shipped over from Jiangxi, but the cost of hauling them over the mountains was enormous. He had to secure grain imports from northern Vietnam as soon as possible.

Buying grain from northern Vietnam cost less than from southern Vietnam, and merchants would be more motivated to ship and sell it.

Zhao Han suddenly asked, "Is it easy to attack Taiwan City — Fort Zeelandia?"

"Easy," Zheng Zhilong said. "If it's only a naval battle, you can make peace with the red-haired barbarians after the fight. If you attack and take Taiwan City, that means all-out war with the red-haired barbarians."

Zhao Han asked again, "How is the red-haired barbarians' army in combat?"

Zheng Zhilong laughed. "A bit stronger than the Great Ming's guard-station troops."

That remark made Zhao Han laugh. He asked more closely — and it turned out it really was about the same.

You couldn't blame the Dutch army for being too weak; like the Ming guard-station troops, the problem came down to pay and treatment.

Dutch army pay was extremely low; they even had to provide their own clothes and hats.

Most army soldiers had to find side work to earn money; some even slipped out of camp every day to work full-time jobs.

Their recruits came from all over the place, with only two months of military training — basically just a cursory drill — and then they were shipped out from Batavia to the various colonial outposts.

Put it this way: the peasant-soldiers under Zhao Han's command had training time several times that of the Dutch army.

Historically, when Zheng Chenggong attacked Fort Zeelandia, the Dutch had three fortresses. At one of them, Fort Provintia, the gunpowder reserves were critically short, the matchcord for the matchlocks had even gone moldy, and the Dutch soldiers in the fortress spent their days scrambling to earn a living.

The Dutch relief force at the time was even more ridiculous. The fleet set out from Batavia and transported only six or seven hundred army troops.

And of those few hundred army soldiers, they sent only two hundred to relieve Taiwan. The rest split off and came to attack Macau — leaving the Portuguese in Macau utterly baffled.

It seems that once they have to fight on land, the Dutch army is just a pack of lunatics.

Zheng Zhilong glanced at his son and said, "I'll be leaving now. Let my unworthy son go with you, worthy brother, to Ji'an Prefecture. It will do him good to see something of the world in Jiangxi."

"Father, I still have to sit for the juren examination," Zheng Sen said.

"Sit for what juren examination?" Zheng Zhilong was thoroughly exasperated. "By the time you pass the juren exam, Fujian will be gone. Where are you going to take the exam then?"

Zhao Han laughed. "No matter. When the time comes, I'll administer it myself."

Fujian would be easy to take. They would advance on three routes.

One route south from Yanshan, one route east from Chaozhou, and one route striking Fuzhou directly from the sea.

Since ancient times, Fujian has been a place no strategist bothers to contest.

Mountains everywhere, barren soil, passes thickly clustered. Taking it yields no real advantage, and actually attacking it means running into obstacles at every turn. In every dynasty, attacking Fujian was always just a sideshow.

From another angle, Fujian can only serve as a separatist stronghold; a regional power there can never hope to break out and contend for the realm.

Just like this time — Huguang and Guangdong were fighting fiercely, while the Fujian troops made not a peep. Because as long as Zhao Han held two passes, a thousand or two of his miscellaneous troops could bottle up tens of thousands of Fujian soldiers.

Zheng Zhilong was also resigned to it. Half his power base was in Fujian, half in Taiwan.

Even if he occupied all of Fujian and Taiwan, Zheng Zhilong could only rest content in his corner. Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong could all press down on Fujian and beat it. There was no helping it — the terrain made it so, just like Shandong: fit only for short-term separatism, impossible to use as a base to contend for the realm.

After the Song dynasty, in the entire south, the only place truly suited as a dragon-rising ground was Jiangxi!

Back then, Chen Youliang had held Jiangxi. If not for Zhu Yuanzhang's heaven-defying luck, who would have won and who would have lost is really hard to say.

Zheng Zhilong knew Fujian's disadvantages deeply, and so he had no ambition whatsoever to contend for the realm. He was sending his son to Jiangxi to plan for the future, hoping his son could gain an important post under Zhao Han.

And he did not want his son to be a military officer; he would much rather his son become a civil official.

Two days later.

Zheng Zhilong led his fleet away, taking many goods with him from Guangzhou.

As for Zheng Sen, he stayed behind as Zhao Han's attendant, helping handle some simple official documents every day.

"Regional Commander, why so many probationary clerks?" Zheng Sen asked curiously, holding a document.

Zhao Han smiled. "Household registration and land distribution."

"That's far too many," Zheng Sen said in surprise.

Because their territory was expanding too fast, they urgently needed large numbers of grassroots officials. Zhao Han had transferred another hundred full clerks and two hundred probationary clerks from Jiangxi, while simultaneously recruiting probationary clerks in Guangdong.

The specific arrangement was: one full clerk in charge, supported by two Jiangxi probationary clerks and four Guangdong probationary clerks. Once the registration and land distribution work was completed, the full clerk would be promoted to an official post, all probationary clerks would be made full clerks, and those who performed especially well would become officials directly.

"Regional Commander!"

Zou Guangdi delivered a list. "The army investigation is complete."

Zhao Han examined it carefully and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Among the Great Unity Army here in Guangzhou Prefecture, the high-ranking officers were all clean. Two mid-ranking officers had been ferreted out — one had taken eighty taels in bribes, the other had concealed goods during a house confiscation. In addition, six low-ranking officers and over twenty soldiers had engaged in concealing goods.

"Drag them to the dock and carry out the sentence in public!"

Zheng Sen followed Zhao Han to the gate tower, watching the execution at the dock — his heart was profoundly shaken.

They heard Zou Guangdi and a Guangdong interpreter announce in Jiangxi dialect and Cantonese respectively: "The Great Unity Army's discipline is strict and clear — no taking of the people's property… Liu Qianzheng, Picket Commander of the Fourth Picket, Third Battalion, First Regiment of the Southern Military Council, having accepted eighty taels of silver in bribes and privately released the hired thugs Lin Fu and Chen Mingyi, is hereby sentenced to death by military law!"

Liu Qianzheng was dragged out, bound, and before the eyes of the gathered crowd he shouted toward the gate tower: "Regional Commander, I broke military law, I deserve to die. My son studies at Luling Middle School — he's an excellent student. I beg the Regional Commander not to let this implicate him!"

He shouted it over and over, then kowtowed to Zhao Han, his forehead streaming blood from the impact.

"Tell him: one man punished, his whole family not implicated," Zhao Han said, expressionless.

A personal guard immediately ran down from the gate tower and said, "The Regional Commander has spoken: one man punished, his whole family not implicated."

"My thanks to the Regional Commander!"

Liu Qianzheng kowtowed three more resounding times, then said to the execution officer, "Go ahead."

Shing!

The blade flashed — the head fell to the ground.

The watching crowd recoiled in fright, then broke into a buzz of discussion.

Taking eighty taels in bribes meant losing your head — Heavenly King Zhao's military law was truly severe. No wonder they routed the government troops and sent them scattering everywhere.

Next, officers who had concealed property were also beheaded.

Six low-ranking officers and over twenty ordinary soldiers, having concealed property worth less than twenty taels, were caned on the spot, had their personal land confiscated, and were expelled from the army.

One charge after another was read out — not just the common folk, even Zheng Sen was stunned speechless.

One of the soldiers had merely concealed some jewelry — jewelry worth only a few hundred cash — and for that he was caned on the spot, expelled from the army, and had one mu of land confiscated (calculated by paddy-field standard).

Someone who concealed two taels of silver had all his land confiscated.

"Regional Commander," Zheng Sen could not help saying, "this is surely too harsh. As long as a man fights bravely, for a few hundred cash worth of jewelry, why expel an elite soldier?"

Zhao Han said, "This is only the beginning. From now on, every month, a batch will be executed at the dock!"

Execute whom?

The civil officials who dare to reach out and embezzle, of course!

Zou Guangdi announced again: "Fei Ruhe, Director of the Southern Military Council, for lax discipline over the troops, is stripped of all military posts and retained in the army for assignment. Ten strokes of the cane, and one mu of land in his name confiscated!"

Fei Ruhe was led out — they at least preserved his dignity and did not strip his trousers in public before beating him.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

The common folk watching the punishment wore expressions of utter disbelief.

They might not know the others, but Fei Ruhe was the highest-ranking officer who had occupied Guangzhou, and he had led troops to conquer half of Guangdong. Before Zhao Han arrived, Fei Ruhe had been the master of Guangzhou — he decided everything on his own authority.

A great general like that, dismissed from office over such a trifling matter?

Next, several high-ranking officers were all dragged out and beaten on the buttocks. Some were demoted and retained for assignment; some were stripped of all rank. The charge was accepting bribes from merchants — but they had voluntarily surrendered the illicit silver to the public treasury.

"I'm dead, I'm dead," a merchant trembled uncontrollably — he had bribed these very high-ranking officers.

A group of scholars standing at the dock sighed with deep emotion:

"In the rigor of military discipline, from ancient times to the present, I fear none surpass the Great Unity Army."

"I have heard that this dismissed General Fei is none other than the brother-in-law of Heavenly King Zhao himself."

"This man is certain to win the realm. I intend to emerge from retirement and serve him."

"Ha, you 'emerge from retirement and serve' — they only recruit probationary clerks. Even to become a clerk, you first have to work."

"I've already inquired. Once you become a clerk, promotion is swift. The current County Magistrate of Nanhai, a juren from Jiangxi, also started as a civil clerk. If they take Fujian, this Nanhai County Magistrate can be promoted to Department Magistrate at once."

"Right, right — coming out of retirement only gets you a clerk's post, but they promote fast. I'm going to offer my services to Mr. Zhao. If I delay, it'll be too late. Serve first, get promoted first."

"…"

(End of chapter)