Chapter 233: The Fleet

On the south wall of Puzikou Town in Jiangpu County, gongs and drums sounded in unison, and many figures rushed along the wall top.

In the water beyond the wall floated some bloated corpses, bobbing and drifting away with the river current; farther out on the river, a line of ship silhouettes was approaching Puzikou Ferry.

Puzikou Town stands opposite Nanjing across the river. It was originally the seat of Jiangpu County, but when the Yangtze River channel shifted north during the Hongzhi era and destroyed the south wall, it was redesignated Puzikou Town. Later, during the Wanli era, the south wall was rebuilt to a length of eight hundred ninety-nine zhang, with four gate arches, one barbican, seven enemy platforms, and nine water gates added, restoring a complete wall system.

The town's fortifications begin at the foot of Ding Mountain to the west, cross over Puzi Mountain, and extend east to Jinwang Mountain, standing at the river's edge.

The closest ferry crossing from Jiangbei to Nanjing is located here, long described as "girdling the river and controlling the Huai." Under the Ming dynasty's administrative thinking of deliberately interlocking boundaries, it was placed under the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture in Jiangnan, thereby strengthening Nanjing's control over the Jiangbei region.

Because of its critical strategic role, the Ming court established five guard posts here: Yingtian Guard, Dragon-Tiger Guard, Wude Guard, Heng Hai Guard, and Heyang Guard, with an authorized strength of over twenty thousand. After the guard post system declined, the Pukou Battalion was additionally established to command the guard posts and bolster defense.

Although the military establishment looked formidable on paper, the Nanjing region had long seen no warfare. Faced with the hundreds of thousands of roving bandits outside the walls, Puzikou's impressive paper strength could only cower inside the town.

Zhang Xianzhong and the other camps reached Jiangpu County from Quanjiao on the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month. Because Puzikou was sheltered by mountains and surrounded by rivers, making it very difficult to attack, they besieged Jiangpu County seat instead.

Puzikou Town possessed excellent geographic conditions and strong defenses of its own, but the rot in the military system left it incapable of rescuing Jiangpu County seat twenty li away.

When the roving bandits attacked Quanjiao, Puzikou was already under martial law. After that, Jiangnan army units gradually crossed the river to reinforce the defenses of Puzikou and Jiangpu. After the bandits surrounded Jiangpu, they deployed camps on the outskirts of Puzikou, using mounted patrols to control the official road by day and cutting off the reinforcement route west toward Jiangpu.

At this moment, the grain transport ships coming from upstream were more likely government troops, since no one had heard of the roving bandits having boats. More and more people climbed onto Puzikou's south wall to observe the fleet's movements. They were excited but also a bit uneasy — after all, they still did not know exactly whose troops these were.

On the broad plain between Puzikou Town and Jiangpu County, some of the bandits' horse soldiers had rushed to the riverbank to observe the fleet, while messengers on horseback constantly galloped toward the camps around Jiangpu County.

Xiao Wazi was standing right at the river's edge, observing that massive fleet. Today his Post Commander was tasked with keeping watch on Puzikou. Xiao Wazi had crossed directly over the Puzikou River and was operating near the city wall. He knew the city gates ordinarily dared not open, and the wall constrained the defenders, so moving about nearby was safe. The suburban area also had more wealthy households, and being far from camp, he could find plenty of good things in those large compounds during idle moments.

It had originally been an easy job, and he could have returned to camp after a while longer, but the appearance of this fleet suddenly made the situation tense. Xiao Wazi hurried to the riverbank and began carefully observing the fleet.

As a northerner, he had seen grain transport ships before, but this was the first time he had seen a fleet of such scale. The grain ships with their tall Chinese-style stiff sails, sailing in groups downstream on the river, carried a rather majestic momentum.

Some of the horse soldiers around him were shouting in alarm, clearly very nervous. Quite a few hurriedly retreated north, worried that the town would open Wanfeng Gate and block the bridges.

The packhorse beneath him was also a bit restless. Xiao Wazi knew this horse could not compare to a warhorse, but he did not think troops shipped by boat could make him flee for his life. Boats might be somewhat frightening, but they could never come ashore. If too many government troops landed and he could not beat them, those infantry could never outrun his packhorse anyway — and he still did not know whether the ships actually carried troops.

So he stood at ease on the riverbank, patiently observing this strange fleet.

The fleet gradually left the main current mid-river and sailed toward Puzikou Ferry, drawing closer and closer to the bank. Xiao Wazi's eyesight was excellent; he could see the grain ships flying banners of various colors. The first two ships carried men in short jackets, their weapons somewhat haphazard. The deck of the third ship was full of swaying long hair, and they wore black armor. Someone on deck spotted him too and was shouting curses in this direction, but it was too far to make out clearly.

"Third ship is household retainers, about twenty-some per ship." Drawing on years of experience, Xiao Wazi assigned this force its roles and confirmed that the fleet definitely carried troops.

After the second ship drew closer, black armor was still visible on its deck, and the five ships following it were all the same. Xiao Wazi's relaxed expression vanished.

"Over a Company Commander retainers — which Regional Commander has come?" Xiao Wazi pondered inwardly for a moment. As far as he could recall, none of the border army men he had seen traveled by boat. Household retainers had armor but always rode horses. This boat-borne force had to be troops from somewhere in Jiangnan, definitely not from Beidi.

The first ship was nearing the dock; these government troops could begin landing at any moment. Xiao Wazi swept his gaze around — the other horse soldiers had all fled. The fleet stretched across the river, its end still out of sight.

Xiao Wazi reined in his packhorse and stayed where he was, carefully watching the ships behind while also stealing glances at the dock to see whether the lead ships had begun disembarking soldiers.

By the time the fifteenth ship passed before him, Xiao Wazi had counted close to three Company Commander retainers. The first ship had set up its gangplank, and the infantry aboard were stepping onto the stairs.

His mouth felt dry, his eyes darting back and forth between the river and the dock. At this moment, this entire force was still on the river, and all the other horse soldiers had fled. Xiao Wazi sensed an opportunity — he was the mounted bandit closest to the dock. If he could bring Eight Master precise intelligence, a promotion to team leader was something to hope for.

He had so far seen only part of the fleet, roughly twenty to thirty officers and soldiers per ship. What he needed now was to see the entire fleet, count the approximate numbers, and also spot the general officer's banner.

Red short-jackets appeared at the eastern dock. Those government troops surged toward Xiao Wazi's position the moment they landed, running at top speed — they were the unarmored soldiers from the first two ships. He had heard that Jiangnan troops were no match for the border army, but judging by their equipment now, they were not inferior to the border army, and their fighting spirit was quite high; they simply had no horses.

Xiao Wazi's palms were drenched in sweat. He glanced back north again. He had to worry not only about the landing government troops, but also about the government troops in the town opening Wanfeng Gate — if they blocked the two bridges over the Puzikou River then, he would be a turtle in a jar.

Though it was deep winter, Xiao Wazi's forehead was already beaded with sweat. He closed his eyes to steady his nerves, then opened them again to gauge the distance of the government troops at the dock. He could stay a little longer. His eyes swept further west along the river — the fleet still streamed on endlessly, the ships spaced far apart. The farthest grain ship was just a tiny black dot on the river, and beyond that nothing was clear. He might not have time to finish counting the numbers.

His gaze swept continuously over the fleet, and soon he spotted a red banner on one ship that stood out from the rest.

"A general officer's banner!" Xiao Wazi focused intently on that spot. The red banner fluttered in the river wind, ripples flowing ceaselessly across its surface. There seemed to be six characters on it. Xiao Wazi could not read, but he knew that the flagpole and banner length of a recognition banner differed by rank. He hoped to see clearly how long it was when it got closer — that way he would know whether the man was a Regional Commander or a Vice General.

Howls came from the east. Xiao Wazi turned his head nervously to look — the government troops who had landed were already within a hundred paces, close enough that he could even make out their weapons.

"Look a bit more." Xiao Wazi suppressed the urge to leave and continued observing the ship with the banner.

The red banner rippled again, and Xiao Wazi suddenly narrowed his eyes. He distinctly saw one of the rare characters he actually recognized.

When Eight Master celebrated his birthday last year, the character "qing" had been hung in many places. It was a somewhat complicated character, but Xiao Wazi had happened to remember just this one. And now, that really did seem to be the character on the banner.

"Qing... from Chongqing?" Xiao Wazi's mind wandered. Just then, twang-twang — two sounds came from that direction.

A dark streak flashed before his eyes. Xiao Wazi jolted alert. No longer caring to check the flagpole's length, he ducked his head, yanked the horse's head east, and in that brief spare moment stole another glance behind the recognition banner — and to his shock, he saw horses on the deck too.

Shipping cavalry by boat — this was something Xiao Wazi had never even dreamed of. It seemed this government force was indeed rather strange. He had counted over fifty ships, and now there were cavalry too. This intelligence was enough to earn him praise from Eight Master.

The landed government troops were now within fifty paces; he could see the fierce faces of those soldiers. Xiao Wazi lashed his horse's rump and galloped north toward Silver Ingot Bridge.

……

On the prow of the ship flying the Banner of the Anqing Garrison, Pang Yu held a telescope in both hands. In the lens was a lone mounted bandit, a red headscarf wrapped around his head, his frame somewhat lean, who had just spurred his horse and left. The marine corps soldiers were already very close to him, but the arrows loosed by several archers had failed to hit.

In the telescope, the marine corps soldiers were not in formation, but their momentum was like a rainbow. This was the first time Pang Yu had watched them fight in person, and he was very satisfied with this new unit's performance. They seemed more combative than the land battalion, though their tactics and skills indeed needed improvement.

Pang Yu turned the telescope toward Puzikou. The town's fortifications bristled with enemy platforms, imposing and majestic. The tall central enemy platform stood towering atop Puzi Mountain. The city wall was hung with chains and lanterns, the official banners still flew above the city tower — the landing site was secure.

At the dock, the moored grain ships were disgorging groups of soldiers. Troops in red and black armor assembled on the dock, then moved west along the main road.

He felt somewhat fortunate that he had chosen the prudent plan. When passing Bazigou Ferry, he had looked through the telescope — the dock there was narrow and lacked the cover of a walled town; it could not have gone this smoothly.

Puzikou Ferry's dock was broad with an open field of view, enough to berth all the ships this time. Around the dock there were none of the reed thickets common elsewhere, but instead a seven-hundred-fifty-zhang stone-faced waterproof embankment, which could also be used to temporarily assemble troops.

Only at this moment had Pang Yu completed the first step: delivering his forces from Anqing to Jiangpu. The next step was the rescue.

The colors of the grain ships moored at the dock were still somewhat chaotic, but better than at Dangtu. The soldiers disembarked faster than at Dangtu too. Pang Yu reckoned the assembly time had been shortened considerably.

The boat gave a slight shudder as it drew alongside the bank. In front of the gangplank, Pang Yu grabbed Pang Ding and said in a low voice, "Remember to look out for your young master."

Pang Ding nodded firmly. Pang Yu drew a breath and stepped onto the gangplank. The sailors untied the flagpole from the boat's canopy, and the personal guard unit took over the red banner, climbing the steps together with Pang Yu.

On the walls of Puzikou, cheers thundered. Among those commoners, some who could read had at least confirmed that the arrivals were government troops, and in no small number.

The first to land were Yao Dongshan's First Division and part of the Second Division. Both Yao Dongshan and Wang Zenglu had already come ashore.

Pang Yu walked up to Yao Dongshan and, without any pleasantries, asked directly, "Are all units here?"

"One banner team is missing, but it's no hindrance. The First Division can fight just the same."

Pang Yu pointed northwest and said, "The roving bandits haven't yet come to their senses. We advance west. The First Division sets out immediately and seizes the west bridgehead of Silver Ingot Bridge (Note 1). Bring hoes and shovels, and dig a camp trench before nightfall."

……

Note 1: From the Kangxi-era Jiangpu County Gazetteer: "Silver Ingot Bridge lies fifteen li east of the county seat, between Jiangpu and Puzikou."