Chapter 2898: New Journey (4)

Yang Ning's return to Jeju Island this time was, in a sense, a triumphant homecoming. His rank was still Major, but his position had changed. In addition to commanding the Cavalry Training Squadron, he had been appointed "Commander of the First Cavalry Regiment."

Of course, at present no cavalry regiment existed on Jeju — only a single cavalry squadron. But having the designation meant he could legitimately expand his forces. The Army Department had authorized him a table of organization with four squadrons; subtracting the one already on Jeju, he could raise three more. The latitude was considerable.

Yang Ning, unlike most Senators, was flamboyant — peacock-level flamboyant. It was just that being stationed on Jeju to raise horses had constrained his flamboyance. Even if he'd wanted to make a splash, there was nothing for him to work with. Feng Zongze, the "Governor of Jeju Island," was notoriously stingy, consumed day and night with construction, hell-bent on producing a "Jeju Island Miracle." He had zero interest in military buildup.

Although Yang Ning had obtained the post of squadron commander of the "Cavalry Training Squadron" by virtue of his horse-breeding duties, in practice he had long been little more than a glorified head stableman. Naturally, he received few resources.

This trip back to Lingao had been immensely fruitful. Not only had he secured authorization to form an experimental cavalry unit, but he and his Cavalry Training Squadron had been formally incorporated into the Jeju Island Army Military Academy's order of battle. He was now the "Chief Instructor of the Cavalry Department," with full legitimacy.

In the words of Training Inspector Fu Sansi, this was a case of "choosing the tallest from the short ones." He was the only one in the entire Senate who loved cavalry and had any semblance of horsemanship, so the job was his.

A similar reorganization affected the Artillery and Transport Training Squadron, also stationed on Jeju; it too was folded into the military academy, forming separate Artillery and Quartermaster departments.

His return today carried a certain air of "triumphant homecoming," which was why he had sent a telegram to the Jeju District before departing.

As Jeju Island's gray-blue coastline gradually sharpened through the morning mist, Yang Ning straightened his spine, a glint of near-ceremonial excitement flashing in his eyes. He raised his hand, his voice ringing clear across the deck:

"Everyone — dress uniform!"

At the command, the entire ship seemed to shift into a different rhythm. Yang Ning turned and ducked back into the cabin first, emerging transformed — not in the newly made dragoon service uniform, but in a full dress outfit almost perfectly replicated from the Napoleonic-era Austrian Imperial Hungarian hussar regalia: a deep-blue dolman tightly cinched at the waist, gold-braided soutache cordage interlacing across the chest, a deep-blue shako worn at a rakish angle with a snow-white ostrich plume trembling in the sea breeze. Following hussar tradition, he wore the pelisse trimmed with silver-gray Astrakhan lambswool only on the left sleeve, the other half draped over his side like a cape, its deep-blue hem billowing in the salt-tinged wind.

The eight orderlies had already changed with practiced efficiency into the uniformly issued "Shop No. 82" custom dragoon dress uniforms — deep-green jackets, snow-white crossbelts, gleaming helmets with plumes — forming two crisp ranks on deck. Their young faces were set in solemnity, though their eyes betrayed a flicker of eagerness at the prospect of setting foot on home turf. The four maidservants, under Guan Yiyi's somewhat flustered supervision, had changed into the black dresses and ruffled pure-white aprons Yang Ning had prepared in advance, their hair restyled according to the diagrams he had provided. At first glance they cut the figure of proper French parlor maids, though the glances they exchanged still carried a certain bewildered uncertainty.

Tan Shuangxi unconsciously touched the collar of his own starched-stiff but plainly modest army service uniform. Standing amid this riot of vivid, almost dazzling color and ornament, he felt like a sentry who had wandered onto the wrong stage. From the corner of his eye he glanced sideways — Hans and Otto were still in their drab, uniform work clothes, murmuring to each other as they watched the approaching wharf, fingers unconsciously rubbing the belt of their tool pouches. Tan Shuangxi's heart steadied slightly: at least he had these two for company.

Yang Ning's gaze swept over the group, pausing for a moment on the worn but substantial campaign medals on Tan Shuangxi's chest. The slight frown that had formed at the sight of the service uniform's plainness quietly eased. He tapped his riding crop, his tone casual yet brooking no argument: "Tan Shuangxi, keep an eye on the two German craftsmen. The wharf will be crowded — don't let them get separated."

"Yes, Chief!" Tan Shuangxi replied, chest out, instinctively shifting half a step closer to Hans and Otto. The two craftsmen exchanged a glance of partial comprehension: what a familiar feeling!

Hans said nothing, his gray-blue eyes fixed on the ever-closer wharf. There, rows of soldiers could already be seen standing in formation, looking like a dark seawall under the gray sky. That familiar mix of wariness and curiosity surged up in him again — this strange land seemed always to reveal new, incomprehensible facets just when you thought you'd begun to understand it.

Because the water depth at Chaotianpu was insufficient, the "Hallasan" dropped anchor in the roadstead, and the party transferred to a steam pinnace headed for the gangway. The little boat chugged through the pale-green water, and the welcoming formation on the wharf grew ever clearer: roughly a squadron of soldiers stood at present arms, their uniforms the distinctive indigo of the National Army. At the head of the formation, several officers stood waiting; the figure in the center, tall and upright, was none other than the Senator Nangong Wudi, Jeju Island's military commander.

The moment the gangplank was secured, the National Army squadron commander's ringing command cut through the harbor's habitual din: "Present — arms!"

A crisp, unified clash of metal — rifles raised as one, bayonets tracing cold arcs in the morning light.

"Salute —!"

The military band struck up the melody of "We Salute You, Comrade Commander!" at just the right moment, the brass sonorous and brimming with ceremony. Yang Ning's mouth curved into a perfectly calibrated arc as he stepped onto Jeju Island's soil. He touched his shako brim with the riding crop and strode at a leisurely pace along the formation, reviewing the troops. His deep-blue hussar uniform traced a striking trajectory before the wall of indigo.

Nangong Wudi stood at the end of the formation, watching with a calm face as this colleague made his entrance in such theatrical fashion. He mused inwardly: Yang Ning had gone completely mad over cavalry — even his arrival had to be a full retro costume drama. Still... that spirit and vigor were rather impressive... and the maidservants... hmm, not bad either...

Tan Shuangxi trailed at the rear of the party, his eyes following Yang Ning's back as he reviewed the troops, then stealing glances at the soldiers standing at attention, the flying banners, the distant barracks trailing faint wisps of cook-fire smoke. The sea breeze carried the unfamiliar scent of vegetation and the faint tang of horse manure. His earlier unease began to subside — this place felt like one giant barracks!

The military music concluded. The two Senators exchanged salutes and brief pleasantries. Then Chaotianpu's Administrator Park Bub-dong stepped forward to pay his respects. Yang Ning found the face unfamiliar and asked, "This Administrator Park is new? Where's Park Chang-beom?"

"This is his son, Park Bub-dong," Nangong Wudi introduced.

Park Bub-dong hastened to explain: "Park Chang-beom is my father. Last month, by the Senate's selection, he was sent to Lingao's Datong Academy for study. I have succeeded to his duties here."

"Well now — father and son, a regular dynasty," Yang Ning remarked offhandedly.

"I wouldn't presume, I wouldn't presume — it is all the Senate's grace..." Park Bub-dong bowed once more.

The party mounted up — some on horseback, some in vehicles. Yang Ning did not ride; instead, he boarded the same Dongfeng horse-drawn wagon as Nangong Wudi — he had been traveling too long.

Ever since Feng Zongze and Nangong Wudi had cobbled together a "White Horse Unit" on the island, which was subsequently absorbed into the National Army, Nangong Wudi's interest in organizing foreign-nationality units had surged. He established a "Foreign National Army Training Center" on the island, recruiting and training soldiers from Japan and the Joseon court year-round. In addition to providing replacements for the National Army, he organized two National Army field mobile battalions for the Japan-Korea direction. The bulk of the manpower came from Japan's bankrupt, unemployed samurai — the so-called "ronin."

These ronin, who had fled with little more than a loincloth and two family heirloom swords tucked under their arms, mostly possessed extensive combat experience. Having suffered religious and political persecution at the hands of the shogunate, they had nowhere else to go. They were ideal recruits. To Nangong Wudi, it seemed a waste that many of them had originally been mounted samurai — making infantrymen out of them was something of a pity. So he specifically organized a National Army cavalry squadron. Naturally, the training was handled by Yang Ning.

Since they were not regular army, the formation process was not cumbersome. Moreover, Nangong Wudi harbored none of the grand illusions and ideals about cavalry that Yang Ning did. All he wanted was an ordinary cavalry unit capable of reconnaissance, patrol, and charge — and he wasn't particular about the horses. Combined with the fact that the recruits were already professional soldiers, the unit came together with remarkable smoothness.

Upon returning from Lingao, Yang Ning immediately thought of this "light cavalry" unit he had personally trained and wanted it transferred to his command. That would give him two complete light cavalry squadrons, freeing him to concentrate on his dragoons and "heavy dragoons."

He raised this idea with Nangong Wudi in the wagon. Surprisingly, Nangong Wudi immediately shook his head. "Little Yang, it's not that I'm stubbornly clinging to these Japanese fellows. You seem to have forgotten — the White Horse Unit and the Battou Unit are both carried on the National Army's rolls. If you want to fold them into the Fubo Army, do you think Xiao Bailang, Liu Zheng, and those people would agree?"

"Oh... true, true..." Yang Ning nodded with some chagrin. "Then my several hundred recruits won't be easy to find." For all his talk about how things "couldn't be better," if he actually had to deal with several hundred raw recruits who couldn't ride, he'd go mad.

"What's the rush?" Nangong Wudi said. "You're worried about manpower? We've got plenty right here."

"You don't mean the refugee camp? There are plenty of refugees, but..."

"The Education Unit."

"You mean those Dongjiang Ming troops?!"

After the Dengzhou-Laizhou Rebellion was quelled, the Sun Yuanhua faction regained power in the Deng-Lai region and began rebuilding the "New Army." Because the Dongjiang Army had actively participated in the rebellion, Sun Yuanhua no longer trusted the former Dongjiang troops and civilians, turning instead to the "Shandong New Army." The Dongjiang garrison troops and civilians scattered across the Bohai Sea islands and the Yalu River estuary were abandoned. Lacking supplies and facing overwhelming Qing pressure, they either surrendered to the Qing or were eventually picked up by Senate ship fleets.

Multiple large "Education Units" had been established on Jeju Island for this purpose. Dongjiang troops and civilians collected from the Bohai islands and Liaodong were sent here for screening and purification, then six months to a year of "re-education."

Not only were they numerous, but many were veteran soldiers with years of military experience. Among them were those who had originally served as cavalry, and even "barbarian troops" of Mongol or Jurchen tribal origin. Their horsemanship and combat capabilities were assured.

(End of chapter)