Chapter 1671: Mao Wenlong Is About to Strike It Rich!

The moment Zhu Youjian's words left his mouth, not only was Mao Wenlong stunned, Wang Zaijin, Yuan Keli, and Yang Hao were all shocked as well.

Six hundred thousand taels a year, issued directly from the privy purse to Mao Wenlong, with not a single cash in ministry fees — this was far too irregular! The Dongjiang Garrison was not the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, nor was it the personal army before the throne; it was a frontier army under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Military pay was supposed to go through the Ministry of Revenue to the Liaodong Supreme Command, and then be distributed downward from there. Skimming at every level was mandatory — of six hundred thousand taels issued, if three or four hundred thousand actually arrived, that was already quite good. How could the inner treasury issue six hundred thousand directly? Would this not prevent the Grand Secretariat, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Liaodong Supreme Command from working their hands up and down the chain?

This simply would not do!

Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli hurriedly signaled Mao Wenlong with their eyes — he must not accept! To accept would be to make an enemy of every official in the court! It would cost him his life.

Yang Hao, however, narrowed his eyes and showed no reaction at all. He was currently being scorned by the civil officials and military nobles at court, who believed that in order to save his life he had become His Majesty's "household servant" and abandoned the dignity of a court minister.

But how could those bastards know how hard the days were inside the Imperial Prison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard? Yang Hao was not one of those Donglin Faction grandees — if they were locked up they could still harvest popular esteem, and outside they had plenty of partisans to look after them and speak up for them. Those hawks and hounds of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would not dare to fleece the grandees unless they had received word from someone like Wei Zhongxian. He, Yang Hao, was a true convict; after his family fortune was exhausted, each day in the Imperial Prison truly felt like a year!

Even if he now had to be His Majesty's dog, he could not go back to the Imperial Prison!

Mao Wenlong had also seen the looks from Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli, and he understood what was going on. The problem was that the Dongjiang Garrison was too poor — even with the business of collecting tolls at sea, Dongjiang's days were still tight. Because Dongjiang was not like the Liaoxi side; the Dongjiang army had to actually fight the Tartars!

Dongjiang not only constantly took beatings, it also launched attacks on its own initiative!

This was because the Dongjiang army and the Tartars simply could not coexist. The Dongjiang army lived off the profits of the Ming–Joseon trade, and the main products of the Ming–Joseon trade conflicted with the eastern barbarians' exports — they were competitors! Every extra mouthful of profit Dongjiang ate was one less mouthful the eastern barbarians could eat.

Moreover, as long as the Dongjiang Garrison existed, the eastern barbarians could not swallow Joseon. Joseon might not be wealthy, but big or small it was still a piece of meat, and Dongjiang wanted a bite of it too!

Last year Hong Taiji sent troops to attack Joseon, and though he had clearly won, because Dongjiang kept harassing his rear the whole time, in the end he could only withdraw his troops in resentment, without having eaten much profit.

Of course, Hong Taiji could also force Joseon down — simply station a large army in Joseon to guard against the Dongjiang army's harassment from the sea.

But how many troops would garrisoning Joseon require? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? If Hong Taiji really did that, Dongjiang's value would soar to the heavens.

So the existence of the Dongjiang Garrison made the eastern barbarians extremely uncomfortable!

But the Dongjiang Garrison itself, because of its frequent clashes with the eastern barbarians, also lived very hard — fighting wars costs lives, and even more, it costs money!

And Mao Wenlong all along had only been able to barely hold on.

Fortunately, the Dongjiang Garrison could keep absorbing Liaodong Han people who had been bullied by the eastern barbarians to the point they could not survive, so it could obtain low-cost soldiers, and thus it gritted its teeth and kept fighting.

"Your Majesty, this subject—" Mao Wenlong had already stood up, and then with a thud he dropped to his knees before Zhu Youjian. "This subject, on behalf of the thirty thousand warriors of the Dongjiang army who dare to fight, kowtows in gratitude for the imperial grace!"

When Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli heard these words, their hearts nearly went cold. It was not that they themselves wanted to embezzle — it was simply how the rules of officialdom worked!

Zhu Youjian was the Emperor; for the moment the ministers could do nothing about him. But Mao Wenlong was merely the commander of a frontier army — if he offended the whole court, would he not be drowned by impeachment memorials?

"Rise, rise." Zhu Youjian was already grinning from ear to ear. Six hundred thousand taels of silver to hire thirty thousand soldiers! That was only twenty taels per soldier — far too cheap!

And Mao Wenlong's soldiers really were fighting the Tartars!

Seeing that Mao Wenlong had already stood up, Zhu Youjian said with a smile: "We have on hand thirty thousand sets of armor and weapons recovered from the Pure Army at Nanhaizi, including two thousand matchlock muskets — all fine guns that the traitor Wei had forged at great expense. Take them all with you!"

The armor and weapons Wei Zhongxian had procured for his Pure Army were of course good; even the underlings who wanted to skim money would not dare play tricks on those.

But Zhu Youjian had seen better! And he also knew that giving these things to Mao Wenlong would certainly put them to their greatest use.

"This subject kowtows in gratitude for the imperial grace!" Mao Wenlong dropped to his knees again with a thud, tears streaming down his face. He had met an enlightened sovereign! Now every warrior of the Dongjiang army could be armored — even if it was only cloth-faced armor, it could still ward off the eastern barbarians' arrows.

As for the two thousand matchlock muskets — if they were not the kind that burst their barrels, their use would be immense!

Although the eastern barbarians could build shield-carts to defend against muskets, the scale of engagements between the Dongjiang army and the eastern barbarians was never large; there were rarely pitched battles in proper formation. Most clashes involved fewer than a thousand men, and they were often meeting engagements, surprise attacks, and ambushes.

If two or three hundred serviceable matchlock muskets could be committed at once, perhaps they could win several resounding victories!

"No need for thanks, no need for thanks." Zhu Youjian waved his hand. "The Dongjiang army is a regular army of the Great Ming, so of course We should give it money, grain, and equipment! As long as you fight well, We will have further rewards!"

Further rewards?

Mao Wenlong raised his head and gazed eagerly at Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian smiled. "Regional Commander Mao, you are the Regional Commander for the Pacification of Liao, are you not?"

"This subject is the Regional Commander for the Pacification of Liao," Mao Wenlong replied.

"Then your jurisdiction ought not to be Dongjiang alone, but all of Liao." Zhu Youjian said, "Wherever you can pacify, that place shall be your jurisdiction!"

This was to have the Regional Commander for the Pacification of Liao replace the Regional Commander of Liaodong!

Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli both frowned deeply. The young Son of Heaven was putting Mao Wenlong on the fire to roast!

Zhu Youjian continued: "Furthermore, We hope you will establish your headquarters at Lüshun. However good Pi Island is, however good Dongjiang is, neither can compare with Lüshun. Two years ago, did not Governor Wu Zhiwang of Denglai submit a memorial proposing to dig a canal at Nanguan, between Jinzhou and Lüshun? We think the matter is feasible and can be tried again. We will issue another hundred thousand taels from the privy purse for construction costs, and give you a method of building ramparts with sandbags. That is, fill hemp sacks with earth, then pile them up bag by bag to form a wall. The earth dug out from the canal can be packed into hemp sacks and used to build the rampart. In this way Nanguan will not only have a river, but also a wall, so that even in winter when the sea freezes over, it will not be without defensible terrain. If Lüshun can be consolidated, then the several thousand li of coastline of Liaodong and Liaoxi will all lie beneath the sword's edge of the Pacify-Liao army!"

Once this plan to dig a canal at Lüshun's Nanguan succeeded, Mao Wenlong would possess a large tract of land where he could farm in peace — south of Lüshun's Nanguan, there were at least two hundred square kilometers of flatland that could be opened up, and reclaiming three hundred thousand mu would be no problem at all.

Moreover, the waters around Lüshun were rich in fishery resources, and the catch could supplement any grain shortfall. Once developed, Lüshun's economic value would be no less than Liaoxi's.

Although after the canal froze over, the eastern barbarians could still cross on the ice and break through the long wall at Nanguan, by the time the canal froze, the autumn harvest would already be over; the farming folk would have withdrawn into the forts, and the grain would already be in the storehouses. Eastern barbarians who broke through the Nanguan wall would find nothing to plunder, and their own logistical supply would become extremely difficult.

And with the three hundred thousand mu of farmland at Lüshun, the Dongjiang army's grain supply would be greatly eased, and it could support more able-bodied men.

Mao Wenlong also knew that Lüshun's value was greater than Pi Island's, and at once declared loudly: "This subject will strive with all his might to accomplish it!"

Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction, then said to Yuan Keli: "These years we have only focused on confronting the eastern barbarians in Liaoxi, and the results are plain for all to see. This so-called recovery of four hundred li of land is nothing more than gaining a long strip; the actual territory held perhaps cannot even compare with Lüshun and Jinzhou. And resupply is truly difficult; it seems hard to make further progress. So We wish to change direction — take Lüshun and Pi Island as our foundation, use Denglai as our rear support, come and go by sea, and turn the entire Liaodong coast into a battlefield! Therefore the post of Governor-General of Liao will also shift from Liaoxi to Denglai. Minister Yuan has long governed Denglai, and together with Regional Commander Mao once recovered southern Liao — he is the best candidate for Governor-General of Liao."

(End of Chapter)