Chapter 236: Relieving Liao

On the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Liao Sea was already thick with drifting ice, the land of Shandong blanketed in white snow. The common folk once again began their bitter struggle against the bitter cold; commercial and agricultural activities across the region had largely ceased, as if entering hibernation.

On the official road from Wendeng to Dengzhou, a crimson Flying Tiger Army banner snapped fiercely in the north wind, and the sound of neat, powerful footsteps carried far across the silent land.

"What army are you?"

"Wendeng Battalion!"

"What's a Wendeng Battalion?"

"Victory in every battle! Success in every assault!"

"For what cause do men join the army?"

"To save home and country from peril!"

Zhao Xuan, his face flushed red, led the morale-boosting chant, waving one hand with each question and whipping the marching atmosphere into a fervor. After being captured in the second year of Chongzhen, he had promptly surrendered to the Wendeng Battalion. Having previously worked with the White Lotus Sect, many of their propaganda methods were essentially the same, so he adapted to the work of an Indoctrination Officer very well and was highly valued by Huang Side. He rose through the ranks as Company Indoctrination Officer and Battalion Indoctrination Officer, and was now the Indoctrination Officer for the Fourth Company Headquarters of the Reserve Battalion.

For this deployment of the Wendeng Battalion to relieve Dalinghe, after Chen Xin haggled with Wang Tingshi, he secured a heap of benefits and increased the troop count to two thousand men, plus five hundred auxiliary soldiers. Of course, Chen Xin told Wang Tingshi they were all combat soldiers, and that this was the last remaining combat strength of the Wendeng Battalion.

Among the two thousand were the Third Company Headquarters of combat troops, the Second Battalion of the Reserve Battalion, and the Cavalry Battalion, a temporarily cobbled-together formation. Chen Xin named this force the Dalinghe Battle Group, with Cavalry Battalion Commander Zhu Guobin serving as the Battle Group's deputy commander. Chen Xin temporarily appointed him to the rank of Mobile Corps Commander.

The Third Combat Unit had over eleven hundred men, with Fan Shouye as Company Commander. One of the earliest batch of trackers from Zhangjiawan, he had served as a pikeman in Wang Zhangfu's squad upon first arriving at Weihai. Due to his bravery in battle, he rose steadily to Vice Company Commander. After Wang Zhangfu was transferred to serve as Reserve Battalion Commander, he became the Company Commander of the Third Combat Company Headquarters.

The Second Battalion of the Reserve Battalion consisted of two companies, both drawn from two fortified villages in the Wendeng camp area, totaling over five hundred men. The Cavalry Battalion was deployed in full, totaling four hundred men.

Zhao Xuan was the Indoctrination Officer for the First Company Headquarters of the Reserve Battalion. The Second Battalion, which was being mobilized this time, fell under his jurisdiction, so he volunteered to accompany the army and was appointed by the Central Army Staff as the Battle Group's Deputy Chief Indoctrination Officer.

The Central Army Staff formulated the marching plan. The Wendeng Battalion conducted frequent march training in peacetime, but this journey was extremely long, lacked the support of the fortified village system along the way, was a winter march, and had a limited number of auxiliary soldiers. Therefore, they planned for the army to march only thirty to fifty li per day.

The road they were currently traveling on within Wendeng territory had been repaired by refugees this year and was relatively smooth, but only up to the outermost fortified village. The road ahead would be more difficult, and they estimated the daily march would not exceed thirty li. Calculated this way, it would take ten days just to go from Weihai to Dengzhou.

At this moment, he was using his motivational talents to lift the spirits of the Reserve Battalion soldiers, which also helped reduce their fatigue.

Zhao Xuan's right hand danced in the air. "Kill the Jianzhou bandits and recover Liaodong!"

The surrounding Reserve Battalion soldiers responded in unison, "Hu!"

"Strive for glory to honor your ancestors!"

"Hu!"

"Win battle rewards and marry a wife!"

"Hu!" The soldiers loved this line the most, their faces full of delight.

"The Soldier's Song, ready, begin!"

"Boundless yellow sands, no man in sight, only the sounds of battle heard. Forests of spears and rains of arrows startle heaven and earth, how magnificent our soldiers. A breath darkens the universe, a shout shocks the gods and demons! We pledge a single heroic tear, to sprinkle upon the battlefield and see bloodstains. Sacrifice this mortal shell, to be the shield of our nation. Since ancient times all men must die, what better than to be a campaigning soul? The body dies but the name remains, bones decay but blood still rings! Why fear a rain of arrows, our noble spirit crushes the dust of war."

Amidst the stirring song, Chen Xin, sitting astride his horse on a small hill by the roadside, revealed a satisfied smile. This time he would also lead the Central Army personnel to accompany the Battle Group. The Central Army had mobilized its directly attached light cavalry reconnaissance unit of fifty men, the Central Army Guard of thirty men, the second squad of the Special Service Unit, and some staff officers. Today was the third day of the march, and they would soon leave the borders of Wendeng County. So far, morale was excellent.

He intended to promote Zhu Guobin, so he made him his deputy this time. Zhu Guobin was given full authority over specific command during the journey. Chen Xin trusted him quite a bit; this man was a standard soldier who never compromised on executing orders and had relatively rich combat experience. Chen Xin actually did not believe they would need to reach Dalinghe, viewing it more as a long-distance winter mobility exercise.

Huang Side, clad in military attire, said to Chen Xin, "My lord, in this freezing weather, please take good care of yourself on the road. Or perhaps, arrange for another carriage."

Zhu Guobin glanced at Huang Side. Initially, he had no good impression of this Chief Indoctrination Officer, but later discovered that he genuinely provided great benefits to morale and slowly accepted this role in the army. However, he still held some contempt for Huang Side personally.

Chen Xin gently waved his hand and said to the two men, "If the soldiers can march, then commanders can naturally lead by example. This march is commanded by Guobin, to jointly relieve Dalinghe with the Dengzhou army. I will clarify once more: maintain a distance of over a day's march from them during the journey. Set up camp each day according to protocols for threatened areas. Mounted scouts must keep track of the Deng-Lai army's movements at all times."

Zhu Guobin loudly acknowledged the order. He knew that relations between Chen Xin and Sun Yuanhua were terrible, so the armies were naturally sensitive to each other, and taking precautions was only proper.

Chen Xin turned around to look at the group of people seeing them off. This time, Liu Po would remain behind in Wendeng as the duty officer of the Central Army, responsible for convening the officers in an emergency. The highest decision-maker in case of disputes would be Liu Minyou.

Chen Xin said slowly, "This time is slightly different from previous expeditions. All of you staying behind in Wendeng must understand that the current situation is delicate. The army is in the business of beheadings, and no carelessness can be tolerated. Therefore, you must strengthen your vigilance and maintain close contact with me. The Intelligence Bureau must ensure smooth communication along the route. If urgent matters arise in Wendeng, remember only one principle of handling: the interests of our Wendeng Battalion are inviolable."

The group of officers nodded in agreement. If this were a conversation among scholars, they would never speak so bluntly about interests. But these officers were all rough men who had suffered greatly. Having followed Chen Xin for so long and constantly hearing him talk about the Wendeng Battalion's interests, they saw nothing wrong with discussing collective interests.

Chen Xin was still somewhat uneasy and gave each officer a few more reminders. By the time he finished, the marching column at the foot of the hill had reached its end. The rear guard was a flag unit of cavalry, advancing neatly in three columns.

Seeing this, Chen Xin gave a military salute to the group and said loudly, "I entrust Wendeng to all of you."

On the twenty-first day of the tenth month, after ten days of marching, the Wendeng Battalion arrived at Dengzhou. Wang Tingshi and other superiors personally welcomed them and arranged for them to camp on the parade ground east of the Water City. Sun Yuanhua also came to inspect them. The Wendeng Battalion's spirit, morale, and equipment far surpassed the Dengzhou Personal Battalion. Good nutrition and training made every soldier look fierce and robust.

Thinking of his own situation, Sun Yuanhua's face darkened. During this period, he had spent a large sum of silver to satisfy the appetites of the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, yet only managed to make Li Sizhong's case ambiguous. The imperial envoy's other investigation results had already been sent back to the capital. The most serious among them was the smuggling of native-color goods to Liaodong. The list Chen Xin provided consisted entirely of his own people, while some other naval camp officers of Lu Zhi's faction, though also involved in smuggling, were completely untouched.

After the report was submitted, Wen Tiren's offensive was expected. Soon, many censors would impeach Sun Yuanhua. Zhou Yanru was trying to find ways to delay for him, using the backdrop of the Dalinghe battle, with the reasoning that it was inadvisable to change commanders before battle, while also hoping he would quickly obtain some passable military merit.

Master Sun had thus been constantly hoping that Kong Youde could achieve merit in Liaodong. But Kong Youde had suddenly turned back before even arriving, practically pushing him to a dead end. He investigated extensively within the army and knew that Kong Youde had used the storm as a pretext, but was really just afraid to die and unwilling to go to Liaodong. Yet his own situation urgently required military merit, so he could only keep pressuring Kong Youde to dispatch troops via the land route.

But taking the land route required even more supplies. According to Great Ming regulations, guest troops provided their own marching rations. Once in Liaodong, the Ministry of Revenue and Liaozhen were responsible, but they had to fend for themselves on the road. Kong Youde constantly raised difficulties and stubbornly refused to move. The other units also came to Sun Yuanhua every day to complain, afraid that Sun Yuanhua would requisition their troops. After the Personal Battalion soldiers heard they were to take the land route to relieve Liaodong, some soldiers deserted again. Sun Yuanhua ruthlessly beheaded a batch of captured soldiers to intimidate the others.

Sun Yuanhua dared not set the troop numbers too low, or the impeachment would certainly be more severe. He still planned to send over three thousand men, plus the Wendeng Battalion's two thousand-plus, making six thousand, which was passable. So he emptied the storehouses and scraped together all funds, even misappropriating the military pay of the Dengzhou garrison troops, and gave it all to Kong Youde, finally forcing Kong Youde and the others to set a date.

There was no room left in the relationship between Chen Xin and Sun Yuanhua. Fortunately, Wang Tingshi and Lu Zhi were present, so Sun Yuanhua dared not mistreat this army in the slightest. Chen Xin replenished a batch of military rations in Dengzhou and received some of the horses promised by Lu Zhi, totaling over two hundred. The Wendeng Battalion found some carts in the warehouse and used these horses to haul extra fodder and provisions.

Before departure, Kong Youde came to pay his respects to Chen Xin. Chen Xin knew Kong Youde was hoping for his patronage once they reached Liaodong, but Chen Xin gave him no chance at all and had the guards block him directly outside the gate.

When the Wendeng Battalion's auxiliary soldiers entered the city to purchase supplies, a brawl also broke out with the Deng-Lai soldiers in the prefectural city, also instigated by the Intelligence Bureau. It alarmed Wang Tingshi and Sun Yuanhua, but in the end, no one was punished. Under Chen Xin's deliberate arrangement, after these two incidents, the mood between the officers and soldiers of both sides became very antagonistic. The Personal Battalion soldiers, who had originally thought they could rely on the Wendeng Battalion on the road, now had no such hope, and their morale naturally sank even lower.

On the twenty-third day of the tenth month, the Wendeng Battalion was the first to set out and leave Dengzhou. Their military songs rang out brightly as they crossed the open ground between the Water City and the prefectural city, displaying the image of a strong army to the soldiers and civilians of Dengzhou on the walls on both sides.

Kong Youde's unit followed ten li behind, trudging along dejectedly. Watching them, it seemed they were not going to relieve Liaodong, but marching straight to their deaths. The Wendeng Battalion had taken a large portion of Dengzhou's supplies, so their own provisions were not ample either. Kong Youde's plan was actually similar to Chen Xin's: to dawdle slowly on the road. Ideally, Zu Dashou at Dalinghe would be finished off sooner, so he could justifiably return. But dawdling also required capital, meaning at least having food to eat, and he happened to be short on that.