Chapter 412: Bombarding the Xu Residence

The moment the fleet arrived, Shanghai County's Xiancheng was a sea of people.

Actually, after the fleet rounded Lujiazui, there were already people watching from the county's City Wall, and along with that, people were shouting in the streets — in an instant, the whole city knew strange ships had come on the river.

After this, starting from the city outskirts, the riverbank was packed solid with people. The Ming People watched the river's once-in-a-century marvel with excitement, heads bobbing like a tide surging ceaselessly along the bank amid the clamor.

The first to sense something was wrong was Shanghai's Magistrate, Chen Changyun. Magistrate Chen was a man from Ningde in Fujian, a newly minted jinshi from the previous year.

When Magistrate Chen rushed up onto the gate tower upon hearing the news, the billowing black smoke pouring from the giant ships on the river first made him think of wolf-smoke beacons.

Secondly, although a messenger had come running from Chongming Island yesterday to report the situation, the messenger had not said that the King's Rescue Army's Regional Commander would lead his forces into the Huangpu River — let alone come so far inland as Shanghai County.

So Magistrate Chen immediately gave the order: close the city gates.

The onlookers, however, lacked Magistrate Chen's sense of crisis.

On the river at that moment, with blue as the base and white clouds as sashes, a string of long, slender vessels covered in white sails, accompanied by the ant-like civilian boats all around, was slowly sailing toward Xiancheng. Among them, that blue-and-gold giant ship was the most magnificent, its billowing black smoke adding an air of mystery that dazzled and mesmerized the watchers.

Soon, as the fleet gradually drew near the river channel by the city outskirts, those with sharp eyes immediately read aloud the official-rank characters embroidered on the three great banners atop the Zhenman's mainmast.

Shanghai County in the Ming era was firmly a super-wealthy region, so the literacy rate was certainly over sixty percent. Thus, very quickly, the onlookers all figured out the owner of the approaching ships — so it was some countryside Regional Commander from the Fujian and Guangdong area?

Although the majority of Shanghai people could not figure out the exact jurisdiction of the "Zhang-Chao Deputy Regional Commander," the fact that the visitor was a country bumpkin was absolutely confirmed.

Just at this moment when the onlookers were buzzing with discussion, several people in the know within the crowd were scared witless. These few who had come to watch the excitement were all stewards and retained scholars of the Land Deed Alliance families. Once they figured out the identity of those on the river, they reacted and immediately sprinted madly toward the Xu Family Grand Residence not far away.

After the group burst into the residence, they grabbed the gatekeeper by the collar and demanded: "Where are the masters?"

The gatekeeper was scared senseless and answered honestly: "In Da Shufang, in conference!"

Then the several messengers ran all the way toward Da Shufang, shouting: "Master, disaster! That man surnamed Cao has brought troops to kill us!"

At this moment, the masters of the Land Deed Alliance were in the study arguing. With such a major incident, apart from that Master Huang who had not come due to a flare-up of his foot ailment, everyone else was present.

The alliance had received word not long ago that yesterday, the man surnamed Cao had personally led the King's Rescue Army into port, causing Mobile Corps Commander Wang to flee in panic.

As if struck a vicious blow to the head, in that moment, the masters were so terrified they could not speak.

The problem now was that once the man surnamed Cao went to the capital, this matter of the alliance privately mobilizing troops would certainly be exposed. Even if everyone's backers in the court managed to tough it out and prevent the case from being deemed a capital crime of rebellion, the Mobile Corps Commander who led the troops would inevitably lose his post and be dismissed.

In fact, the man surnamed Cao's impeachment memorial had very likely already been sent to the capital yesterday.

This way, once everything became public and people were on their guard, no one would dare do such a thing in the future. And the alliance's backers could not possibly expend political resources again to wipe everyone's backsides. Rebellion! Whose bones could withstand that twice?

Yet what was truly sickening was that Xiong Dao could still continue setting fires in the days to come!

How to break this? Waiting online, urgent!

The masters had been arguing from yesterday afternoon all the way until today, and still had not reached a conclusion.

Then everyone heard the wails of anguish coming from outside.

"What is this racket? Hmph, utterly disgraceful!"

As the host, Master Xu Jin was the first to step out of Da Shufang, standing under the eaves and shouting angrily.

"Master Xu, calamity, calamity! That man surnamed Cao has... has sailed his ships right up to our doorstep!"

Xu Jin blinked, not comprehending for a moment.

After staring at these panic-stricken retained scholars and stewards for a few seconds, Xu Jin slapped his thigh and turned back, rushing into the room: "Everyone, quickly follow me outside — something has happened out there!"

And so the group of masters, accompanied by a large retinue of attendants, retained scholars, and stewards, hurriedly rushed out of the Xu Family Grand Residence.

The next moment, they stood before the Xu Residence's gate, mouths agape, watching the sightseeing fleet dropping anchor.

At that moment, the fleet was only about 250 meters from the riverbank. And between the Xu Family Grand Residence and the riverbank, there was only a single flagstone road, so both sides could clearly see each other.

The masters standing on the stone steps before the gate could even see the group of figures on the opposite ship's deckhouse roof, pointing and gesturing — among them, Vice President Cao in his bright red Second-Rank Official's robe was especially conspicuous.

When enemies meet... the delight is exceptional.

"Hey, which one of these fellows is Master Xu? They all look about the same to me."

The one speaking with delight was Xue Haiyuan. This gentleman was holding a telescope, distinguishing the masters opposite one by one. Xue Haiyuan had originally run a trading house in Fuzhou City, handling commerce while also taking care of some underground work.

As the Transmigrators' operations grew larger and larger, the previous "one open, one hidden" layout method in Ming cities could no longer be sustained.

After all, the Transmigrators handling intelligence were just that handful of people. The rest of those masters would get fired up watching spy dramas, but when it actually came time for them to go into the "enemy-occupied zone" — a filthy environment where they'd often have to kowtow to people — each and every one of them shook their heads like a rattle-drum.

So this time, with Vice President Cao heading north, the Intelligence Bureau began implementing the "One Person, One City" pilot program: Xue Haiyuan, as the newly appointed head of the Beijing Station, had to manage not only the local intelligence departments but also the overt commercial affairs. His subordinates would all be Ming People — no more Transmigrators would be assigned to him.

Upon hearing Xue Haiyuan's question, Second-Rank Official Zhang Dongdong waved his hand dismissively and habitually launched into a leadership speech: "Why bother with all that? What we've come to smash today is the authority of the landlord class in Jiangnan, not to target any one individual."

Standing to the side, dressed in a white Navy General's uniform, top-tier in looks among the Transmigrators, the old handsome devil, Zhenman's captain Mu Longcheng, smiled and chimed in: "Yes, yes, not targeting anyone — everyone opposite is trash."

"That's the idea." Zhang Dongdong nodded and continued: "We can't rebel right now, so we can only walk the line at the edge of the rules — fight without breaking, demolish a residence and be done with it. When the day comes that we turn hostile with the Great Ming, can these masters escape to Mexico or something?"

"Maybe we'll be the ones to exile them there." Mu Longcheng said this, then suddenly patted his belly: "You know, I'm actually craving a Mexican corn tortilla right now. Hurry up — how about we fire one cannon to drive them off, then we get started?"

"No rush. I reckon the masters are about to withdraw any moment." Xue Haiyuan, standing nearby, had, after all, dealt with many Ming masters in Fuzhou City, so he made this prediction coolly.

Sure enough, not long after Xue Haiyuan finished speaking, a great crowd of household staff, maidservants, and long-term laborers surged out of the Xu Family Grand Residence, while the masters had already fled in panic toward Xiancheng.

In the brief time the few Transmigrators had been talking just now, the alliance masters had also figured out the situation.

And as the owner of the Xu Residence, when Xu Jin saw the giant ships right before his eyes, his first feeling was fury: "Utter madness, utter madness! How dare the man surnamed Cao do this, how dare he?!"

Immediately after, he felt terror — among the sea of onlookers inside and outside Xiancheng, only he knew most clearly why these strange ships had stopped in front of his own home.

However, the Ming People living in the Jiangnan heartland had never seen true Western-style double-decker gunboats. Even if some had, it would only have been Franji ships that people had seen at Zhoushan before the Jiajing era.

Thus, from Xu Jin's perspective, lacking any concept of broadside gunport firing, he thought the Zhenman, with its gunports concealed, posed no danger in itself, and that next, the man surnamed Cao would surely send troops ashore by boat to storm the Xu residence, killing, burning, and looting... just like all the pirates the Ming People were familiar with.

Legs trembling, face pale, Xu Jin was now terrified to the extreme, his panicked voice filled with bluster: "Could the man surnamed Cao be defying all universal taboos, returning to his old trade, coming ashore to plunder?!"

"Not so!"

Just at this moment when all the gentry were stricken with terror, a fair-complexioned, square-faced, middle-aged gentry scholar of about forty years old hit upon the Transmigrators' intent in a single remark: "That blue-decked great ship conceals cannons within. Cao Bandit means to bombard the Xu family with cannon fire. Fellow masters, this place is now perilous ground — everyone, hasten to Xiancheng. Master Xu, quickly order your household staff to evacuate!"

Who was this composed, commanding middle-aged man? The Transmigrators' old friend: Bo Daxing, Master Bo.

After his failed attempt to bring a secret accusation against Cao Chuan in Fuzhou City back then, Master Bo had come to Shanghai County's Xiancheng and taken up residence in the home of an acquaintance of his, who was also the father-in-law of his niece.

And not long ago, after word spread of the great ruckus at the Jiading County Office, Master Bo, who had been idling away his time to ease his mind, only then realized that righteous men resisting the dwarfs were everywhere!

And so Master Bo found an organization: with tears of passion in his eyes, he joined the Land Deed Alliance.

Who would have thought that just after joining the organization, his old nest would be raided by Cao Bandit right on his heels — the crisis was right before his eyes!

However, Master Bo had, after all, traveled to Dayuan and knew the inside story of the Cao Bandit — he had once witnessed the side cannons firing off the coast of Dayuan.

So Master Bo guessed the Cao Bandit's intentions at the first moment and began calmly commanding the alliance members to retreat into Xiancheng.

When Mu Longcheng, captain of the Zhenman, saw the mass retreat beginning in the Xu Residence across the way, he picked up the handset and used the loudspeaker to notify all gun crews aboard to prepare to fire.

Thereupon, on the side of the Zhenman facing the Xu Residence, gunports began opening one after another, and one after another, black, thick, and long cannon barrels emerged.

Then the onlookers crowded between the Zhenman and the Xu Residence were instantly shocked: What the fxxk?

After a brief daze, everyone who recognized those as cannons began fleeing, crying for their parents, and the riverbank was momentarily filled with ghastly wails and utter chaos. Even the Ming ships surrounding the fleet began a great escape... The Zhenman had gunports not only on its sides, but also fore and aft, and now black tubes extended from all of them.

On the double gun decks, each deck had four cannons responsible for firing fore and aft. That is to say, after excluding these eight cannons that did not participate in the broadside, the Zhenman could fire a maximum of 32 cannons in a single broadside volley.

The next moment, after a slight shudder, the Zhenman unleashed an earth-shaking broadside volley aimed at the Xu Residence.