Chapter 279: The Longyan Campaign (Part Two)

The mountainous counties of Western Fujian are rich in water, and Longyan is no exception.

The county is crisscrossed by numerous streams and rivers; in later ages, its annual runoff would be 19 billion cubic meters. And in the 17th century, the water volume far exceeded that of later times, so throughout history, flood disasters in these Western Fujian mountain counties have been a scourge rivaled only by banditry.

The Longjin River, which encircles Longyan County, forms a T-junction outside the South Gate Dock. There the waterway branches off and flows straight south, eventually cutting through hundreds of li of mountains, twisting and turning before merging into the Jiulong River and surging into the sea.

Just as the leading figures of Longyan County had all assembled at the dock, a line of boats was slowly sailing up from the lower reaches of the river.

Standing at the prow, Ding Liqiu gazed at the approaching dock and could not help but sigh.

Having been called "Ding Qiu" since childhood, he didn't escape the same fate after crossing over. Once the Great Office discovered this fellow had actually studied history in university and was a Fujian native, they cheerfully kicked Comrade "Ding Qiu" right back to his old home, assigning him as an adviser in Cao Chuan's General's Mansion.

This adviser, Ding Liqiu, should properly be called "Fujian Military Sub-District Foreign Liaison Minister" within the Transmigrators' system — specifically responsible for dealing with the Ming people.

So he, having crossed over relatively late, grew out his hair, tied it in a topknot, and ordinarily moved among officials, merchants, and gentry of all ranks in the capacity of a "Cao Family" member, socializing and negotiating certain "serious matters" that could only be discussed in private.

And this bandit suppression campaign, heading north from Zhangzhou to Longyan, was carried out to support the Transmigration Nation's established policy of opening up channels for industrial raw materials from key areas of Fujian.

As a result of Ding Liqiu's recent efforts, the relevant offices of Zhangzhou Prefecture had already granted the campaign considerable conveniences in the early stages. Now, having brought the troops to Longyan, Ding Liqiu knew they would be staying in this county town and fighting for some time, so his heart was still somewhat uneasy.

The Ming people already standing on the dock had equally complicated feelings.

As bandits proliferated everywhere after the mid-Ming period, the authorities were, generally speaking, plagued with headaches and exhausted from the constant scramble. In recent years, in bandit-prone mountain counties like Longyan, public order had deteriorated further.

In fact, Longyan could be considered one of the regions most sensitive to bandits, because bandits not only robbed homes and plundered property, but could also escalate into full-blown rebels.

During the Zhengtong era of the Ming, Deng Maoqi and others gathered a crowd and rose up in Jixianli, Longyan County. After they were suppressed, the authorities established the East-West Creek Patrol Office in the territory's East and West Creeks (locally called creeks).

In the 39th year of Jiajing (1560), a peasant uprising led by Su Apu erupted locally, and it was not suppressed until the 45th year of Jiajing (1566).

Then, in the first year of Longqing (1567), the imperial court could no longer endure this barren, hostile land that spawned rebels generation after generation. It therefore took the East-West Creek Patrol Office of Longyan County as the main body, merged a part of Yong'an County and a part of Datian County, and established Ningyang County — the name meaning "to pacify the East and West Creeks."

Ningyang County, a county created specifically to suppress bandits, lasted less than 400 years before being abolished by the State Council in 1956.

Thus, the leading figures of Longyan were extremely welcoming of outside reinforcements, because they could all sense the deterioration of the entire social environment during the Little Ice Age. They knew that if those Great Lords in the mountains decided to stir up trouble again, the County Magistrate and the garrison would certainly have no good outcome in the aftermath. As for the wealthy households and merchants, they needn't even be mentioned — these people had been fat sheep since ancient times, and the moment rebels appeared, they would be the first to be slaughtered.

This was the reason for the officials' and gentry's complicated feelings — they hoped the guest army would display great might and exterminate the bandits, yet feared these men would be mere pewter spearheads, good only for plaguing the locality and utterly useless.

A string of flat-bottomed boats slowly came alongside the dock.

The first to disembark was Ding Liqiu, dressed in a scholar's robe. When the welcoming party saw this smiling, adviser-like, portly man begin bowing while still several paces away, they too cupped their hands and returned the courtesy.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, once they learned he was an adviser in Cao Chuan's army, no one put on official airs with Ding Liqiu — everyone present understood that, properly speaking, someone like an adviser was precisely the key figure.

The scene that followed was rather unsightly. When Wei Yuan, a towering 1.92 meters tall, his head completely shaven and his face full of ferocity, stepped onto the dock planks and walked over with heavy, thudding steps, the Ming people collectively drew a sharp, cold breath.

This six-foot giant, resembling a bear panther, brought immense pressure upon the short-statured mountain folk. And when Wei Yuan cupped his fist in salute and loudly declared, "Wei Yuan, Commander of the Red Spear Camp, pays respects to Your Excellencies," quite a few among the group before him were so frightened they stepped backward.

Having finished toying with the Ming people, Wei Yuan lost all interest in dealing with this lot. He turned and waved his hand, and then a large body of soldiers surged up from the dock — the Red Spear Camp's official troops, 200 in total, swiftly rushed to the open ground beyond the dock and formed ranks.

These men were uniformly dressed in green canvas training uniforms, their feet shod in high-top cowhide boots for mountain warfare, and on their stubble-covered scalps they wore short-brimmed canvas flat caps.

The official troops' weapons were traditional red tassel spears, great knives, as well as bird blunderbusses, three-eye blunderbusses, and matchlocks. To coordinate these five great killers, the 200 men arrayed themselves on the dock into a neat, five-column square formation.

After a succession of resounding commands — form ranks, count off, stand at ease, attention — the main force, having postured enough, began to march toward the Rear Palace Camp. Simultaneously, the bright, ringing song roared out by the 200 men echoed through every place they passed: "I am a soldier, rifle on my shoulder, bullets loaded, bayonet gleaming."

Throughout the entire process, save for the soldiers' shouted commands, the dock was utterly silent. Only after the main force had marched far into the distance did the assembled Longyan gentry wake as if from a dream, recovering from their stupefied state.

"No wonder you could capture the great pirate of the seas. Your master truly governs with discipline — what a fierce, wolf-and-tiger host!" The great County Magistrate Yu, shaken by the synchronized movements, the muscular, well-fed bodies, the powerful commands, and the visual impact of the formation marching that transcended the era, set aside his reserve at that moment and began to offer praise.

"Your Honor overpraises us, heh heh." Ding Liqiu naturally had to show a bit of modesty at this.

"Good soldiers, but their attire is somewhat peculiar." The detractor, Li Qianhu, though he himself had no good soldiers under his command, had in his old age commanded military households in skirmishes against bandits, so he could not lie against his conscience and could only nitpick their clothing.

"Heh heh, what Commander Li does not know is that the one in charge of drilling troops at the General's Mansion is Sha Guerilla Commander. This man comes from a monastic background, and all his subordinates are monk soldiers. As for attire, well, one must economize somewhat."

County Magistrate Yu knew these so-called official troops were all Cao Chuan's private soldiers. He had no interest in what clothes a military strongman gave his men — in fact, historically, Zheng Zhilong had never provided Ming military uniforms for his tens of thousands of pirates either.

What County Magistrate Yu was interested in was another point: "Oh, in that case, do these soldiers abstain from meat?"

"Oh, that they do not. Those who abstain from meat are weak and strengthless; they cannot take the field or slay the enemy. They must still partake of meat and fish."

"Heh heh, so they are monks in name only."

"Your Honor jests. Even the monk soldiers of the Shaolin Monastery at Mount Song do not strictly abstain from meat and fish."

The dock scene that so utterly shocked the onlookers ended here. And after the troops entered the Rear Palace Camp, they swiftly set up sentry posts within, and sentries armed with knives and spears guarded the main gate, presenting an air of strict military discipline.

Meanwhile, a welcome banquet, paid for by the merchant Dong Daxing, was being laid out at the Wind Tower in the county town. Adviser Ding Liqiu naturally attended on behalf of his general. Throughout the feast, he conversed with wit and charm, discoursing on ancient and modern times, and his talk, laced with the historical knowledge of later ages, impressed County Magistrate Yu greatly.

After the banquet, when the crowd had dispersed, it was finally time for business. At this moment, Adviser Ding was already taking tea with County Magistrate Yu in a side hall of the County Yamen. Aside from one yamen adviser, no one else was present.

At this point, there was no more need for pleasantries. Ding Liqiu immediately made a request of County Magistrate Yu: to conscript corvée labor within the county and dredge Yanshi Creek.

Yanshi Creek was the main waterway of Longyan County and one of the direct tributaries of the upper Jiulong River. However, although the 17th-century Yanshi Creek had a large water flow, this primitive river was full of shallows and dangerous reefs, and many sections could only be traversed by small boat or raft, making it extremely inefficient.

When Ding Liqiu and his group came to Longyan this time, they had to switch to smaller boats midway, and much of their supplies and equipment were still waiting for boats back at Jinshan Town.

Upon arriving at their destination, a guest army that neither discussed provisions and pay nor inquired about bandits — Ding Liqiu's strange request left the County Magistrate momentarily bewildered.

After lifting his tea bowl and taking a light sip, County Magistrate Yu composed himself and asked amiably, "Mr. Ding, have you not put the cart before the horse? This official believes that for now, bandits must remain the priority."

Ding Liqiu rolled his eyes inwardly.

He had no way to enlighten this 17th-century antique before him with the truth that "to get rich, first build roads." So he could only pick something the other party might understand and muddle through for now: "Your Honor is unaware, but the army still has a large quantity of heavy supplies left at Jinshan Town, including two Great General Cannons allocated by Cao Jiangjun. If Yanshi Creek remains impassable, the supplies dispatched from Zhangzhou cannot be used at all, which is extremely troublesome."

After hearing this explanation, Yu Yinggui also rolled his eyes inwardly.

He was not the sort of bookworm who studied blindly, so Ding Liqiu's explanation did not hold water with him. A mere force of 200 men — how much heavy supplies could they need? If those boats could transport men, could they not also transport some grain, fodder, and weapons?

Even if there were general cannons, simply dispatching some civilian laborers to carry them over from Jinshan would suffice — it was only a few dozen li of mountain path, after all. Besides, by the time Yanshi Creek was dredged enough to sail large boats and transport great cannons, the bandits might well have died of old age, for all one knew.

Full of doubt, the Respected Yu had no choice but to raise his tea bowl and take another sip to mask his thoughts. Using this pause, he secretly shot a glance at the adviser beside him.

The adviser was surnamed Wang, called Wang Haogu. Seeing his employer's glance, Adviser Wang, who understood perfectly, gave a light cough and then opened his mouth to ask: "Cao Jiangjun has sent you gentlemen here, I fear, not solely to suppress bandits. There must be something else hidden within. Mr. Ding, please speak frankly."

Ding Liqiu nodded. "Your Honor is perceptive. Once the region is pacified, we do have some matters to attend to."