Chapter 469: Chapter Ninety-Six: Sudden Illness

Chapter Ninety-Six: Sudden Illness

The two of them found a few teammates and spent half the afternoon burying that family. In the end, Tang Wei wrote a wooden grave marker for them all together.

Exhausted, Tang Wei walked back to the propaganda team's courtyard. Just as he was about to change clothes and then go find Little Sister Guan, a sudden shout came from beside him. Tang Wei turned his head to look—it was actually the team leader.

He hurriedly stopped in his tracks. The propaganda team leader waved him over. "Tang Pangzi, what are you running around everywhere for all day? With the way you are, you still want to be a combat hero? Look at yourself—are you cut out for it? The whole team is laughing at you."

Tang Wei was in a rush to go cause trouble and said flustered, "I, I am that what..."

The team leader raised his head and cut him off. "I have something to tell you today. Come with me." With that, he went back into his own room.

Tang Wei had no choice but to let Xie Fei go back first. He went to the team leader's room and hurriedly sat down across from him.

The team leader leisurely went to brew tea, making Tang Wei scratch his ears and cheeks in impatience.

Tang Wei anxiously lowered his voice. "Team leader, my share from last month's rouge and costume purchases, I'll give it to you right away. I still have to..."

The team leader waved his hand to cut him off. Only after a long while did he sit down and say to Tang Wei casually, "Let me tell you, Pangzi, the Training Directorate has sent a document. Our entire propaganda team is being transferred to the Propaganda and Education Bureau. The vice team leader is returning to Denglai to take charge of the new opera troupe in Qingzhou Prefecture. You've always performed well in the team—your writing and calculations are all very reliable. What I mean is, I want you to be the vice team leader."

"Really?" Tang Wei's eyes lit up. "I'm going to be vice team leader? Are there any benefits?"

The team leader coughed twice and said, "I say, Tang Wei, this vice team leader and team leader are both just assignments. How can you talk about benefits? Lord Huang Side is always telling us—we must be content with austerity. Doing work isn't about negotiating treatment. However, when you do more things, the various lords won't treat us poorly. The monthly pay will be increased by one tael and five qian compared to before, and you'll still manage the same matters."

"Haha!" Tang Wei clapped his hands. "Then I'll do it."

The team leader said happily, "Good. Today you go and do the handover with that vice team leader, and by the way, inventory the items that Little Sister Guan and Xu Pingjie and the others returned."

"Little Sister Guan is leaving?!"

The team leader pointed at Tang Wei. "Both she and Xu Pingjie are leaving, along with half of the others. The vacated positions will all be recruited by you from among those refugees. Now we're called the Huguang Propaganda Team; in the future, we'll be called the Huguang Opera Troupe."

Tang Wei stood stunned for a moment, then said to the team leader, "Why does Little Sister Guan have to leave?"

"This, ah." The team leader slowly took out a fire striker and lit a cigarette. "Her younger brother has entered Zhou Laifu's household. What background the Four Seas Trading Company has—you ought to know."

"I know. Could it be that Zhou Laifu helped arrange the transfer?"

"Correct. This is confirmed. The Training Directorate specifically ordered the transfer. So, Xiao Tang, put aside those unrealistic ideas. You must work hard at your job. This Zhou Laifu is now an extraordinary person, but I've heard people say that a few years ago he was merely running a clothing shop in Tianjin. He just followed the right Mr. Liu, that's all. So following the right person is very important. In the past, I wasn't very satisfied with this vice team leader either. So this time I also... of course, as long as you follow me and work hard, your future prospects will also be limitless."

Tang Wei lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his head and said to the team leader, "Team leader, I've thought it through. I want to go be a combat soldier. Lord Huang said combat soldiers are the most glorious people. I... also want to give it a try."

The team leader asked in surprise, "You—you'd better think this through carefully. Being a combat soldier isn't so easy. Those who earn medals all trade their lives for them. If you were a stout fellow, that would be one thing, but someone like you can't even run properly..."

"Thank you, team leader." The plump Tang Wei stood up and bowed to the team leader. "I've already thought it through. I'll go back to Denglai with that half of the people. Please grant me this, team leader."

The team leader looked at Tang Wei for a long while, shook his head, and sighed. "Since that's the case, I can't keep you either. It's just that even Huang Taiji couldn't find someone who plays the role as well as you do."

"Everyone, please rise." In the Great Governance Hall in Shenyang, the genuine Huang Taiji lightly raised his hand, signaling the dozen or so people kneeling below to stand.

After the few people stood up, Huang Taiji smiled and said, "You all come from Dengzhou. Now you have abandoned darkness for light and joined our Great Jin. You are precisely the people We will rely on in the future."

The crowd below all murmured humble refusals. After the voices subsided, Kong Youde stepped forward and said, "In reply to the Great Khan, everyone here has a blood feud with that Dengzhou Garrison. During this Xuanfu campaign, although the Dengzhou Garrison massed its forces, they still feared our Great Jin's military might and did not dare to do battle with us. Your slaves' hearts were stirred by this, awaiting the day the Great Khan leads us to sweep away the Dengzhou Garrison and rescue the people of Denglai from their misery."

A person at the lower end stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "All of your slave's family property was plundered clean by the Deng Garrison. My family members were driven out by the Dengzhou Garrison, or perhaps quietly killed somewhere. Your slave and the Deng Garrison cannot share the same sky."

Huang Taiji turned to look. It was Tang Yingtai, captured during the Lüshun campaign. He was different from He Changjiu—He Changjiu was just a bachelor refugee, but Tang Yingtai had parents and family in the Dengzhou garrison farms. According to military reports the Later Jin had obtained through roundabout channels, Tang Yingtai's entire family had their property and house confiscated and were sent to do hard labor in the mines. Even the farm head and the community chief of the garrison farm were punished along with them.

"That Chen Xin is vicious and cruel. Your slave swears to serve the Great Khan unto death, only begging that when the Great Khan captures those two bandits Chen and Liu in the future, you permit your slave to personally cut off their heads."

Huang Taiji nodded slightly. Dengzhou's handling of traitors was very swift. Though the methods were not extremely brutal, they were still very malicious. Direct family members were all tied up outside the garrison farm to be reviled, then paraded through the streets of nearby garrison farms, and finally sent to the mines to do hard labor. Huang Taiji knew very well how harsh those mining places were.

The others also clamored one after another. Huang Taiji reached out and gently pressed down a few times. Only after they quieted did he say, "With the aid of you brave warriors, the day Chen and Liu lose their heads should not be far off. But these two are no ordinary men. During this Great Jin campaign into Xuan-Da, the Dengzhou Garrison used treacherous schemes to ambush the Third Beile. While Our heart still aches with grief, today We have also invited you all here to examine the defensive and offensive strategies Dengzhou employed in Xuan-Da, and how to break them."

The highest-ranking officials below were Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng—one a Regional Commander, the other a Vice General. Kong Youde shot Li Jiucheng a look, signaling him to speak first.

In the original history, the two had brought over ten thousand men to defect to the Jianzhou bandits, but Chen Xin's sudden rise caused the Dengzhou Mutiny to be swiftly suppressed. Kong Youde and his companion fled in panic with only a thousand or so men, without a single red-barbarian cannon. Huang Taiji, acting on the idea of buying horse bones with a thousand gold pieces, gave Kong Youde the post of Regional Commander. The Tianyou Army was directly subordinate to the Later Jin Khan, so Huang Taiji still gave them decent reinforcements and let them expand their strength. But these two men's Tianyou Army had suffered heavy blows twice in a row at Fuzhou and Lüshun, their veteran backbone suffering catastrophic losses. Even among those who remained, the mere sight of Dengzhou's red military uniforms made their legs tremble.

During this incursion into Xuan-Da, the two had also brought the Tianyou Army along, seizing quite a number of people and bringing them back, which could be considered a slight recovery of their vitality. They had also fought a few small victorious battles—the Ming army collapsed at the first clash—and the Tianyou Army's morale improved somewhat. But then news of Manggūltai's death arrived, and the Tianyou Army's morale plummeted again in the blink of an eye.

Li Jiucheng held almost no hope of defeating the Dengzhou Garrison. He steeled himself and said, "Your slave has heard what the Duoluo Beile and the escaped armored soldiers said. The Dengzhou troops seen in Xuanfu were mounted infantry, called Dragoons in the Dengzhou Garrison, originating from the Song Dynasty's mounted-infantry horse army. They all use self-igniting firearms with bayonets. They can fight whether at range or close quarters. In your slave's humble opinion, we could lure them to flat open ground, surround and strike them from all sides with bow and horse, weary and trap them. Finally, use armored soldiers and shield carts to break their formation from one side, employing many long spears and two-handed great swords. Once inside their formation, their bayonets are short and can never match long spears and two-handed swords."

Huang Taiji smiled on the surface, but in his heart he dismissed everything Li Jiucheng said. Everything he proposed was conditional. The Dengzhou Garrison often held the initiative and would not be so easily trapped by Later Jin troops.

Still, he offered Li Jiucheng some encouragement, then turned to the more quick-witted He Changjiu. "He Changjiu, you speak as well."

"In reply to the Great Khan, your slave was originally in the detached units. In the past, the Deng Garrison did not have battalions entirely equipped with self-igniting firearms. From what Lord Li said today, that Dragoon unit is simply the original company of spearmen all converted to using firelocks. Without shield carts and such, breaking their formation head-on is extremely difficult. When exchanging bow fire, these musketeers all wear mail armor—arrows cannot penetrate it within twenty or thirty paces, but firelocks can penetrate armor at seventy paces. Our Great Jin's casualties would certainly be heavy. In open field battles, one cannot always find shield carts. Your slave believes that only firelocks and small cannons can counter the Deng Garrison's firelocks and cannons. Our Great Jin also needs this kind of infantry formation with bayonets."

"Well said!" Huang Taiji rose from his seat. "We also understand that these bayonet self-igniting firearms are not easy to make. But since the Deng Garrison can make them, there is no reason our Great Jin's tens of thousands of craftsmen cannot. Not only must the Tianyou Army train with them, the Ujen Cooha must train with them as well."

Kong Youde raised his head about to speak, but Huang Taiji waved his hand to stop him. "We know what Regional Commander Kong wishes to say. Manpower, funds, provisions, and armaments—everything is lacking. This matter cannot be rushed, but neither can it be halted and left undone. You will work with He Changjiu, Tang Yingtai, and the others to thoroughly study the Deng Garrison's offensive and defensive methods. Once our manpower, funds, and provisions arrive, we will immediately organize and train new musket battalions."

"Aye!"

After Kong Youde and the others withdrew, Huang Taiji sat back in his seat and rubbed his nose. Haoge, who had remained, dismissed the attendants and maids, then gently walked to the side and said, "Imperial Father, regarding the matter of organizing the Han army, there is considerable dissent within the Eight Banners. First, the new firearms are powerful, and each house fears that the Han people will be hard to control in the future. Second, it always requires drawing manpower from each banner. This has always been constrained by that—the manpower often cannot be allocated. Though manufacturing the weapons is difficult, it is not the hardest part."

Huang Taiji raised his head and looked at Haoge for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "That was before. This campaign into Xuan-Da yielded fairly rich gains. We've finally caught our breath."

"But Zhangjiakou was suddenly plundered by the Deng Garrison and the Liao Garrison. The eight merchant houses that we customarily traded with were uprooted entirely. The silver we obtained in Datong and other places cannot be exchanged for commercial goods. Having silver alone is useless."

"We are of course aware of this. These are minor details. If Zhangjiakou won't work, then trade through Liaoxi, through Kalaqin. With silver, there is no commercial good that cannot be bought. At most, it just lets people like Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang pile a bit more silver in their homes." Huang Taiji slowly stood and began pacing in the empty hall. "What you must see is that the Dengzhou Garrison helped us sweep away an obstacle. With Manggūltai dead, the Eight Banners have one less ringleader stirring up trouble. Your performance at Lingqiu was passable. Naturally, people from the Plain Blue Banner will come to attach themselves to you."

Haoge said in a low voice, "That Degelei has been extremely cautious lately, with no rash actions. Perhaps he has been advised by someone."

Huang Taiji gave a cold chuckle. "Now that the Deng Garrison is advancing by leaps and bounds, we have no leisure to slowly probe these people. Did you bring that person from yesterday?"

"He is waiting for orders in the attendant's room."

"He's called Leng Sengji, a bondservant of Mangguji's household in the Plain Blue Banner."

After speaking, Haoge fixed his eyes on Huang Taiji, awaiting his Imperial Father's instructions.

Huang Taiji looked up at the ceiling of the Great Governance Hall. "First go and speak with him. Have him come forward and accuse Mangguji and Degelei of plotting rebellion. After the deed is done, promote him into the Plain Yellow Banner and grant him two promotions."

"Your son understands. Then have the Ministry of Justice..."

"What Ministry of Justice?" Huang Taiji coldly cut him off. "As soon as Leng Sengji agrees to denounce them, you will immediately arrest Degelei and Mangguji."

Haoge was stunned for a moment. "Your son... and what after that?"

Huang Taiji stared at Haoge. "When decisiveness is needed, you must be decisive. Degelei and Mangguji must both die. Otherwise, how can the Plain Blue Banner fall into your hands? Once the Plain Blue Banner collapses, Daišan will be hard-pressed to stand alone. Only then can the Eight Banners truly be unified. At that time, whether it is organizing the Han army or other strategies, there will be room to implement them. Speaking of this matter, We must even thank Chen Xin. This is the opportunity the Dengzhou Garrison has given Us. It absolutely must not be let slip because of weakness in the heart. Before next month, Degelei must die."

"Then... if we kill them, under what pretext?"

"Sudden illness leading to death. When the time comes, we father and son will still go pay our respects. Then this Plain Blue Banner will be yours." (To be continued...)