Chapter 242: Strengthening the Army

Thick smoke rose skyward outside Wuqiao County. Countless Liao soldiers threaded through the streets and alleys beyond the walls, laden with bundles large and small. Many of the locals who had come to gawk days before had already become corpses on the ground, and from some houses came the shrill screams of women.

On the twenty-first day of the eleventh month, the Dengzhou troops, silent for two days, received the definite word sent back by Li Yingyuan. After analyzing Chen Xin's state of mind, Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde found it reasonable enough, and so they opened the floodgates. The Liao soldiers, who had been stifled for nearly ten years since the fall of Liaodong, surged forth with pent-up fury, plundering everything they could find outside Wuqiao County.

Because Sun Yuanhua's predicament was more perilous than in the original history and his eagerness to earn merit was greater, the force he assigned to Kong Youde was over a thousand men larger than before. Kong's unit was also more formidable in battle, and the area outside Wuqiao County swiftly turned into hell. Once an army unleashes its savagery, the degree of it is entirely beyond the control of men like Kong Youde.

But this situation perfectly suited the ferociously cruel Li Jiucheng. At that moment he stood outside Wuqiao County gripping his great blade, the shrieks and wails drifting around him as pleasing as celestial music. Wuqiao County town had no defenses whatsoever. On the wall were only a handful of trembling civilian braves, without basic defensive implements like striking poles, rolling logs, or night-fork clappers. After the Deng-Lai troops killed people a few days earlier, they had remained motionless outside the town, and the county magistrate had not foreseen they would rebel. He had only sent dispatches to the Provincial Administration Commission and the Shandong Provincial Governor's office, still waiting for Kong Youde to come begging for his life. He never imagined it would turn into a great catastrophe in the blink of an eye.

Behind Li Jiucheng were over a thousand soldiers. They had hastily built a large number of scaling ladders. Wuqiao County lay along the Grand Canal, and the prosperity outside the walls had already been an eye-opener for them. In the cellar of a single gentry household, Li Yingyuan had found thirty thousand taels of ready silver. The wealth inside the town would naturally be far greater. The Dongjiang soldiers' eyes were all red-rimmed, and they held Japanese swords of varying lengths in their hands. The Deng-Lai troops were equipped with nearly two thousand Japanese swords, which now proved quite suitable as ladder-blades for assaulting this sort of unfortified town.

Li Jiucheng swept his hand forward. "Attack the town! Those who retreat die! Once we take it, we divide the silver and the women!"

A dense mass of Dongjiang soldiers roared and surged forward. Row after row of scaling ladders went up against the wall, the wooden hooks at the top gripping the parapet firmly. Some ferocious soldiers clenched their Japanese swords between their teeth and swarmed up the ladders like ants.

A sparse scattering of stones dropped from the walltop, knocking down only a few men before several fierce Dongjiang soldiers gained the parapet. The civilian braves on the wall scattered in a single rush. The city gate was quickly thrown open, and over a thousand Deng-Lai troops poured in through the gate, shouting and yelling as they hacked at everyone they saw. Soldiers carrying sacks broke open shops along the street one by one, ransacking chests and cabinets in search of valuables. The town descended into utter chaos.

Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng advanced along the street with their retainers. They had captured a local idler outside the town and had long since found out exactly where the wealthiest households were. By the time they reached the dye-works in the western part of town, they were surrounded by deep residential compounds. A dozen or so retainers sealed off the lane, and the rest split into over ten squads, using iron hammers to smash down doors and force their way in.

At the doorway of the second household, the idler who had volunteered as a guide bowed and scraped to Kong Youde. "My lord, this is the Yang family. They have jewelry shops, salt shops, and silk shops in Dezhou and Tianjin. There is bound to be no small amount of silver in this house."

Kong Youde waved his hand, and several retainers brandished iron hammers and set to battering the door with all their might. People inside braced it desperately with furniture. After a few blows the hammers had already smashed through the door panels, and several panic-stricken faces could be seen within.

A man inside shouted loudly, "Honored soldiers, stay your hands! Name whatever price you want, and our master will surely agree to it."

Li Jiucheng burst out laughing. "I want all the silver and all the women in your house, but I don't need your agreement. I'll come take them myself. Keep smashing."

The soldiers hammered with even greater vigor. A long spear suddenly thrust out from inside and stabbed one man. The soldier, wounded in the shoulder and arm, fell to the ground cursing furiously. Seeing that there were household guards resisting, all the retainers surged forward together, jabbing wildly inside with their long spears. Screams rang out in succession. The blood-crazed soldiers seized the chance to shove the main gate open. Li Jiucheng, carrying his great blade, charged into the compound along with the soldiers. He was in no hurry to seize silver, but instead barged straight toward the rear quarters.

Just as he burst into the second courtyard, he collided head-on with a family servant. Li Jiucheng raised his blade and lopped the man's head off in one stroke. Shrieks filled the courtyard. Li Jiucheng wiped the blood from his face and paid no heed to the maids and servants scurrying about like headless flies. He strolled into the third courtyard. The idler led him to the outside of the west wing-room. Li Jiucheng picked a door at random and kicked it open. A waft of rouge and powder fragrance greeted him. His blood surging, he stepped into the boudoir.

Huddled in the corner of the bed was a young lady, and a maidservant said in a trembling voice, "You, how dare you, do you know this is…"

Li Jiucheng slapped her across the face, sending the maidservant sprawling to the floor. "I don't care who you are. Even if you were a princess, I'd bed you today. Lie obediently on the floor. If you dare move, I'll chop your head off. Once I've had my fill of your young mistress, I'll come play with you."

He then turned toward the young lady, whose face had gone ashen with terror, and a cruel expression settled on his features. "I've bedded plenty of whores, but never a proper young lady. Usually you lot are high and mighty, never even giving me a straight look. Today you'll get a taste of us lowly soldiers."

He turned to the idler again. "You go next, after me." With that, Li Jiucheng gave a savage grin and pounced on the young lady…

Inside Wu County town, weeping and wailing shook the heavens.

…

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, at the Provincial Governor's office in Jinan, the refined and scholarly Shandong Provincial Governor Yu Dacheng held an urgent letter sent by Shandong Regional Inspector Wang Daochun. When Kong's unit mutinied, Wang Daochun happened to be on official business in Pingyuan County and learned of the Wuqiao mutiny the very next day.

Pingyuan County was only a few dozen li from Wuqiao, and just over twenty li from Ling County, so the information he received was very detailed. His letter recounted Kong's unit taking Wuqiao on the twenty-first, and also estimated that Kong Youde's force would continue to attack the nearby Ling County, Linyi, and Pingyuan, with Dezhou also in a precarious position requiring early precautions. When Yu Dacheng saw the words "dispatch troops to exterminate" at the end of the letter, his hands began to tremble slightly. Although in ordinary times he often boasted to others of how formidable he had been during the Jisi Incident, in truth he had never even left the city at that time, and he was a man of very little courage.

He knew the military strength of Shandong all too well. Having seen no warfare for many years, the entire province had only a few thousand garrison troops, some of whom were canal transport soldiers, utterly insufficient for combat. If a battle were fought and lost, his official position would be hard to keep. The best outcome would be for these Deng-Lai troops to behave like the routed Shanxi soldiers of years past — plunder for a while and then withdraw. Dezhou lay on the edge of Shandong; perhaps these mutinous troops would simply head straight for Northern Zhili. He could then shirk responsibility on the grounds that he had no time to mobilize troops, and instead impeach Sun Yuanhua.

So after pondering for a while, he decided that troops could not be mobilized for the moment. He summoned his private secretary to draft a letter, and after deliberation, spoke. "First send a letter to Grand Coordinator Sun of Deng-Lai, explaining that the Deng-Lai troops are in revolt at Wuqiao. Then submit a memorial to the Ministry of War."

The private secretary, aware of Wang Daochun's letter, turned and asked, "My lord, the Regional Inspector's message is extremely urgent. Should we not reply to him first?"

"Do not reply. Tell outsiders that I am gravely ill and temporarily unable to attend to official business…" Yu Dacheng considered for a moment, then felt he should still make some preparations. He told the private secretary, "Have Shen Tingyu, Tao Tingquan, and Wu Debing of my personal battalion ready their kits."

…

That same day in the capital, Song Wenxian received a secret letter from the Intelligence Bureau on the street outside Chongwen Gate. He had been staying in the capital all year, maintaining connections in various government offices. After learning that Chen Xin was to reinforce Dalinghe, he had been both worried and anxious, and was just about to go to Shanhai Pass to await the Wendeng Battalion's main army.

When he suddenly learned from the courier of Kong's unit's mutiny, he thought for a moment and then his face lit up with delight. At the very least, there was no need to go to Dalinghe now, and the situation in Deng-Lai would become even more advantageous. He had even already thought of how Zhou Yanru's position as Grand Secretary was growing unstable.

He and Zhang Da promptly found the corresponding codebook and converted the numbers in the secret letter into text. After writing it out, Song Wenxian picked it up and read it in a low voice. "Kong's unit's mutiny was within expectations. The capital station has three tasks: first, have the Ministry of War order the Wendeng Battalion to turn around and suppress the rebellion; second, spread word that Kong's unit is extremely formidable in battle, so that the court inclines toward appeasement; third, write a secret letter in my official name to Liang Tingdong, to the general effect that the Dongjiang troops at Lushun are making suspicious moves and appear to have conspired with Kong's unit beforehand, and that this mutiny may be connected to the unrest on Pi Island…"

After reading it, Song Wenxian took out a fire striker, lit a flame, and watched the secret letter turn to ash.

With Kong Youde's revolt at Wuqiao, the entire situation in the northern Great Ming was thrown into motion. The Shizhu troops garrisoning Shanhai Pass were ordered to be ready to redeploy to the capital at any moment, while the Wendeng Battalion, which had nearly reached Tianjin, was also urgently ordered to turn around on the spot and proceed to Dezhou to await orders.

Shandong's most combat-effective force, the Provincial Governor's personal battalion, did not move, but the Deng-Lai troops, in stark contrast to their immobility on the way there, now moved with the speed of wildfire. Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng, seasoned in many campaigns, were quite adept at directing troops. They knew they had no secure base and had to escape this unfamiliar region before the court could react. Speed was the most critical factor. Now that Wuqiao had been struck, the fact of their rebellion was set; they had to grab what they could and run.

Unlike their dawdling advance, the Deng-Lai troops now moved as swiftly as beacon fires. Having tasted the sweetness of attacking cities, they no longer wasted time along the way but drove straight for the next town. On the twenty-first day of the eleventh month they took Wu County, plundered it for two days, set it ablaze, and then withdrew eastward. On the twenty-fourth they reached Ling County. Ling County's war readiness was equally lax, and it was taken by Kong's army on the twenty-fifth. The Deng-Lai troops plundered wantonly and also broke open the prison. The inmates inside all became fresh blood for the rebel army. By the time they left Ling County, their marching column was already twice its original size, swollen with many captured ox-carts and horse-carts used to haul their loot. Their spoils grew greater and greater; the cotton cloth they had once prized so highly was now beneath notice and constantly discarded along the road, replaced by loads of silk and silver taels.

The main army plundered Ling County for only one day before Kong's unit moved on. On the twenty-seventh they took Linyi, on the twenty-ninth they took Shanghe, on the first day of the twelfth month they split their forces and took Deping, and on the fifth day they rejoined and took Qingcheng. These Dongjiang troops, tempered by the warfare in Liaodong, swept all before them along the way. Because their military strength was greater than in the original history, they captured two additional towns, Wuqiao and Deping, and their plunder was even richer.

The small county towns along the route had not seen warfare for a long time and had no war preparations to speak of, nor any strong garrisons. Moreover, Kong's unit came swiftly and generally took the walls in a single assault. The northern part of Jinan Prefecture was left in ruins. County towns everywhere were in a state of high alarm, especially those lying on Kong's unit's eastward return route. They all reckoned Kong's unit would head back to Dengzhou and might well strike them along the way. Pleas for help poured like snowflakes into the Shandong Provincial Governor's office. Yu Dacheng's wishful thinking had come to naught. Seeing that Kong's unit was taking more and more towns, he realized that if he did nothing, losing his post was only a matter of time. No longer able to indulge his fear, he immediately ordered his personal battalion and Wu Debing's troops to advance to the Zouping-Changshan line.

It was at this time that the court received word that Linyi had also fallen. Chongzhen was beside himself with rage. The siege of Dalinghe beyond the passes remained unbroken, bandit hordes ran rampant in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and now a new rebel army had appeared right near the capital region — and it was from Deng-Lai Garrison, which cost nine hundred thousand taels of silver a year. The Emperor was furious. Liang Tingdong had no choice but to hastily devise a plan, but the main armies were all tied down elsewhere, and the Ministry of War could not redeploy forces in time. Apart from urging the Wendeng Battalion to hurry its pursuit, they merely ordered the Shandong Provincial Governor and the Deng-Lai Grand Coordinator to combine forces in a pincer attack and quell the chaos as quickly as possible. The Wen Tiren faction was already preparing to exert its strength, and a new round of impeachments against Sun Yuanhua was about to begin.