Chapter 585: A Hard Sutra to Chant

Once the broad direction was settled, the remaining minor issues in the cooperation, such as logistics, resolved themselves naturally.

As the Denglai Governor, Sun Yuanhua was the Supreme Military Commander of the Liaodong flank theater. In the Great Ming, all administrative regions south of the Shandong Peninsula normally supplied wartime provisions to the theater, which would be gathered at Dengzhou and placed under Sun Yuanhua's allocation.

So when the discussion turned to logistical arrangements, Sun Yuanhua paused briefly in thought, then allocated a large batch of military supplies and fodder to Sha Zhengming, along with temporary supporting facilities like a Scout Field and barracks.

The quantity of provisions was allocated according to the daily distribution standard for the local Dengzhou troops.

From this one point, it was clear that Lao Sun took the newcomers quite seriously, because by convention, a guest army's supplies were always one grade lower than the main army's.

Sha Zhengming, however, was unlike other guest armies — he paid little mind to these things. After a few polite words, he instead raised some requests concerning the local business environment.

Hearing this, Sun Yuanhua smiled knowingly, revealing that particular, inscrutable expression of a Scholar-Official regarding a Merchant: "Such trifling matters are hardly worth mentioning."

And so, the first day after the relief fleet's arrival and settling in at Dengzhou passed in a very meaningful way.

Starting the next day, the fleet docked for rest and reorganization, and the water city bustled with noise.

On the civilian dock side, laborers in tattered, coarse cloth short robes carried sacks, crates, and packages of goods, stepping across swaying gangplanks to unload them into the warehouses. The dock was now thronged with figures; native bosses from the Three Mountains and Five Peaks gathered in droves, eyeing the cargo greedily while whispering among themselves, trying to ferret out a good way to request an audience with the cargo's owner.

As for the cargo's owner... the owner had no time to deal with merchants at the moment, as they were all "demonstrating martial prowess" on the Official Dock.

Accompanied by a burst of crisp gunfire and shattering sounds, a row of clay jars on the Official Dock, lined with standing soldiers, turned into broken porcelain.

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Sun Yuanhua was a man who had studied under Xu Guangqi, China's pioneer of Western Learning. These two can be considered representative figures of the Ming dynasty's version of "opening one's eyes to see the world."

Of course, opening one's eyes to see the world had its origins. Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua were both formal Catholic believers; they had accepted one part of modern Western natural science thought and were the most valuable believers developed in the East by missionaries like Matteo Ricci.

Sun Yuanhua authored many works in his lifetime, among which those on natural science were especially precious — for example, the Elements of Geometry he participated in translating, and books he personally wrote, such as Usage of Geometry and Essentials of Western Arithmetic.

Though Sun Yuanhua was without a doubt the most outstanding geometry expert in the 17th-century East, what he was most famous for was not geometry, but rather his works on firearms and military strategy: Divine Mechanism of Western Methods and Complete Book of Military Strategy.

A native scientist like him was naturally full of interest in the legendarily formidable firearms of the Transmigrators.

This was also the reason Lao Sun was easy to talk to in front of the Transmigrators: exchanging knowledge, sharing what each had.

So he had come early this morning to "visit" the guests. The Governor made his appearance, followed by a crowd of highly interested Dongjiang Miners, for the guest ships reportedly had very advanced cannons, right? As military men, they naturally could not pass up a good opportunity for military observation.

Thus, the sound of gunfire rang out on the dock — the big shots had taken an interest and set up a shooting range on the spot, with no regard whatsoever for the lives and safety of the onlookers.

After watching the firearm shooting, the group, their interest thoroughly piqued, personally took the field one after another to fire a few live rounds. Afterward, not only Sun Yuanhua, but all the military officers including Kong Youde declared the Percussion Cap Gun to be "deadly sharp" and "unmatched by any foe."

After this came the main event: observing the cannon firing.

The warship, maintained in constant combat readiness, had long been prepared to set sail. The guests stepped onto the deck, and immediately after, it left port.

There were many places to visit on the warship. Not only were there advanced cannon sighting and firing systems, but also a mysterious auxiliary power system. Moreover, the warship itself — with its sleek lines, astonishing speed, and ability to serve as a stable firing platform — was also a key focus for the geometry expert Sun Yuanhua.

Soon, the gunboat fired a shell at a reef in the sea area near Dengzhou.

This reef was randomly designated from among a nearby cluster of reefs. After Sha Zhengming, located in the operations room, issued the order, the Staff Officer began range-finding and chart work; then the Fire Control Officer used the Copper Wire Voice Transmission System to relay the firing data to the fort; after that, the fort fired a salvo.

From the issuing of the order to the start of bombardment, the entire process was controlled within three minutes.

While the guests were surprised at the speed of the artillery response, they looked through their telescopes and found that the naval guns' accuracy rate had reached over 90%.

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All of this, including the unheard-of loading speed during rapid cannon fire, left the observers with a feeling of shock.

"Divine skill! May I ask, this art of range-finding and chart-making — I fear there is geometric learning within it?"... This was Sun Yuanhua's question.

"Fine cannons! They shoot accurately! I wonder if the General might be willing to part with these items?"... This was the question of the military officers.

"Geometry is a foundational discipline. Observing the heavens and measuring the earth, delineating seas and scaling lands — none of it can be separated from the learning of geometry within."

Sha Zhengming first answered Lao Sun's question: "I know that Lord Sun has learned a good deal of geometric knowledge from the foreign missionaries. However, if I may be so bold, the foreigners' material, placed in the present-day Yi Province, is at the level of a community school."

Hearing this, Sun Yuanhua not only showed no anger, but revealed an expression of delighted surprise: "Oh, I did not expect that in a remote place like Yi Province, culture and education would be so flourishing. This learning, I presume, was obtained by your Earl from a foreign country across the eastern sea? That being the case, this official is quite intent on investigating it thoroughly."

Sha Zhengming picked up the surveying ruler from the table and handed it over: "There will be opportunities, always opportunities. For instance, the staff officers here with me have all studied geometry."

Seeing that Lao Sun had begun discussing rulers and maps with the Staff Officer, Sha Zhengming turned back and said cheerfully to Kong Youde: "Brother Ruitu, these cannons are instruments of the state and military, not for sale. However, since our two houses are good friends, there will certainly be many areas for cooperation."

Kong Youde showed no disappointment upon hearing this. He understood the newcomer's identity as a great southern military strongman, and also understood that the other party was far stronger than a minor military strongman like himself, who lived under another's roof. Since he was a military strongman, being unwilling to sell the treasures that safeguarded his house was only natural; it would be strange if he did sell them.

"This lowly general understands the gravity. In the future, I hope for your Lordship's generous guidance."

When Kong Youde spoke these polite words with a touch of regret, he had no idea that the purpose of such a large-scale fleet coming north to Dengzhou was precisely him. And the word "cooperation" from the other party's mouth was no empty flourish, but a genuine, all-encompassing cooperation — the 17th-century version of RCEP, so to speak.

Surprises and marvels to be discovered everywhere made the guests linger on the standard Small Escort Ship manufactured by the Crossing Faction. Including the power system in the lower hold, the sail system, and even the crew cabins and galley — many points of divergence from the common knowledge of this era could be found.

Thus, by the time the lamps were lit, the gunboat slowly anchoring in the open sea off Dengzhou glimmered with scattered points of light.

As Governor, Sun Yuanhua held an important status and had numerous affairs to attend to, so he eventually took a small boat back to the city. Before returning to the city, however, Lao Sun repeatedly praised the various fields of learning on the ship and made an appointment with the Transmigrators: whenever he had time, he would come to visit, not only to study geometric learning, but also to study the Dao of "water and fire" within the power cabin.

As for the rest of the military officers, given everyone's high spirits today and the fact that there was work to be done, Sha Zhengming directly ordered a night voyage, intending to treat the guests to an evening cruise.

"Can't afford it, can't afford it."

At dinner time, in a quiet place on the deck, with a glass coal gas lamp hanging overhead, a group of local Dengzhou military officers were sitting together in a circle, eating standard-issue meals brought from the ship's Mess Hall.

Geng Zhongming, the short, stocky, and solidly built Central Army Assistant Regional Commander of Dengzhou, was devouring cowpea stewed with meat from an enamel mug while saying indistinctly: "These Southerners are far too extravagant. Supporting troops like this — in less than two months, this old man would have to go begging."

"It's true the Southerners have silver." Beside him, a red-faced man chewed his food slowly: "I had someone look at the ships moored in the water city; most are for trade. Vessels like this one, used to carry cannons and troops, number no more than three or five."

"Tsk." Geng Zhongming sucked in a breath as if from a toothache: "Such thick capital. Jiucheng, you've got a sharp mind — finding a way to gain some benefit is the proper thing to do."

The officer named Jiucheng gave a self-deprecating smile upon hearing this: "We all serve as ministers in the same court, and with our situation being what it is, there truly is no way."

Geng Zhongming let out a long sigh. Stirred by old grievances, he was so upset he set his enamel mug down on the ground: "The Southerners swapped Tartar heads for a grand Earldom, and we homeless curs are not of the same stripe... Ha, 'serve as ministers in the same court' — what court do we even serve?!"

At this moment, Kong Youde, who had been eating with his head down beside them, finally interjected: "Big Brother, in my view, those people are not entirely Southerners either."

Geng Zhongming was taken aback: "Oh, how so?"

"These past two days, I have had considerable dealings with them. In my view... that Earl may well be a Northerner."

"Is that truly so?"

"Observing the speech and manner of his confidants, none resemble Southerners."

"That is novel. Youde, if so, it wouldn't hurt to get closer to those few. As we now live at others' mercy... more friends mean more paths."

"Agreed."

Just as the Liaodong men were eating, drinking, and idly speculating, Zhang Zhongqi and Sha Zhengming, inside the captain's quarters, were also exchanging opinions.

Before this, whenever Transmigrators rose from desolate backwaters, relying on technology and military capability ahead of the era, against any other power base they had in fact smashed straight through every time — fire first, fire again, then absorb. No power base had ever lasted three rounds against the Transmigrators.

Kong Youde and his ilk, however, were not the same as any other power base the Crossing Faction had previously come into contact with.

Because the distance was too great for sufficient force projection, and with the imperial court still looming to the north, the Transmigrators had no way to forcibly absorb this band of military strongmen.

So they had no choice but to adopt a mode of "coexistence" — something they themselves were neither willing to adopt nor familiar with.

This placed enormous pressure on Zhang Zhongqi, the man handling the actual operations: a scripture hard to chant.

On the whole, though, judging from the results of these two days of dealings, the attitudes of the various powers throughout Dengzhou toward the Transmigrators were more or less in line with the prior assessment.

With that being the case, Zhang Zhongqi was now intending to probe the next move: arrange a meeting with Kong Youde to discuss matters of cooperation.

Yet in Zhang Zhongqi's view, this task was still very difficult after all — the right touch was hard to gauge — so he remained constantly worried he would mishandle it.