Chapter 233: With a Navy in Hand, We Can Make Our Move!

Outside Yangzhou, on the Grand Canal winding its way northward, at least two or three hundred grain-transport boats were at this moment lined up in a long queue, coming in a long, sinuous procession.

If Zhu Guobi, who was familiar with the grain transport, had seen these boats, he would certainly have been astonished. For these grain boats were no ordinary grain boats, but specially selected large vessels that had also been reinforced and refitted. Along both sides of the grain boats, rows of bulwarks shaped like city-wall crenellations had been added, with holes cut into them, and long oars extended through the holes, rowing in unison and driving these large grain boats at a steady, unhurried pace toward Yangzhou.

Clearly, these two or three hundred grain boats had now been turned into warships capable of sailing and fighting on rivers and lakes. Though they could not compare with the armed sand-boats of the Sand Boat Gang, still less with the Zheng family's half-Chinese, half-Western great warships, these warships converted from grain boats nevertheless had their own particular uses.

The fleet now approaching Yangzhou was personally commanded by Lu Zhenfei, Governor-General of the Grain Transport and concurrently Governor of Huaiyang.

After the third month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, among the surviving regional governors of the Great Ming, Governor-General of the Grain Transport Lu Zhenfei was absolutely one of the foremost power-holders. For the Governor-General of the Grain Transport commanded a special force known as the "Grain-Transport Army," and at the same time he also served concurrently as Governor of Huai'an.

The so-called "Grain-Transport Army" was in fact the "rotating troops" responsible for managing the canal and shipping tribute grain to Beijing — that is, guard-station troops serving in rotation. The soldiers all came from the various guard stations along the canal, and at their peak they numbered as many as 120,000 men!

But by the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, when Lu Zhenfei took up the post of Grain Transport Governor, the section of the canal north of the Huai River had already become very difficult to navigate, and the Canal Army's numbers had accordingly fallen sharply to a little over 30,000 men, while the grain boats under its control had also dwindled to a few hundred.

Yet 30,000 able-bodied men, several hundred grain boats, plus the grain stockpiled in Huai'an and the strong walls of Huai'an itself, were all enough to make Grain Transport Governor Lu Zhenfei a governor of real power.

After word of Beijing's fall arrived, Lu Zhenfei — who held large quantities of tribute grain in his hands (in the chaos of war, grain was more precious than silver!) — immediately began reorganizing the Grain-Transport Army, weeding out the old and weak, recruiting the strong and brave, and manufacturing weapons. In short order he had sorted out 30,000 "crack troops," and had even defeated the Shun army led by Lü Bizhou, Wu Su, and Dong Xueli — former Ming officials who had gone over to the Roving King. He also had Lü Bizhou and Wu Su beheaded!

However, Lu Zhenfei, with 30,000 "crack troops" and several hundred grain boats in hand, had little interest in "serving" that emperor Chongzhen. For through letters from his old subordinate Shen Tingyang, he already knew how formidable Zhu Cilang was. Moreover, he was an official of Northern Zhili origin, and his native place had been occupied by the Tartars! Therefore, supporting an emperor who could drive out the Tartars and recover his homeland was far more important than foolish loyalty to Chongzhen.

Besides, Zhu Cilang was the legitimate Crown Prince! The Chongzhen Emperor had lost half the realm — should he not follow the example of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Emperor Huizong of Song, abdicate the throne, and let the capable Crown Prince take power?

So from the very beginning he had been unwilling to wade into Shi Kefa's muddy waters, and after going to Dengzhou with Ma Shiying on an inspection tour, he became even more certain that Zhu Cilang was a lord who would restore the dynasty, and therefore found an opportunity to slip back to Huai'an.

Later, when Zhu Cilang escorted Chongzhen south and passed through Huai'an, he had conveniently enfeoffed him as "Viscount Quzhou of Overcoming Hardship," added the title of Junior Preceptor to the Heir Apparent, let him continue guarding Huai'an, and on top of that generously allocated him 500,000 taels of silver to reorganize and recruit his army as he saw fit.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang ordered Lu Zhenfei to draw 250 sturdy, durable large boats from the "Grain-Transport Army," refit them, and assign 40 sailors to each boat, all to be sent to Yangzhou for service.

So Lu Zhenfei was now personally leading 250 grain boats and 10,000 sailors to Yangzhou to report to Zhu Cilang.

When the grain boat carrying Lu Zhenfei came to a steady stop at the East Gate Dock of Yangzhou, he found the area around the dock already under heavy guard. Large numbers of Eastern Palace guards were clustered around Zhu Cilang, who was dressed in plain clothes, waiting on the dock for him to disembark.

"Your old servant respectfully wishes His Highness the Crown Prince golden peace!" Lu Zhenfei did not dare be remiss; he hurried down from the boat, ran before Zhu Cilang, and prostrated himself.

"Get up, get up — quickly rise, Governor Lu." Zhu Cilang hastily reached out and helped the old man to his feet, then took his hand with a smile and said, "I did not expect to meet you in Yangzhou so soon. Are the 250 grain boats and 10,000 sailors all ready?"

"All ready," Lu Zhenfei said, pointing at the grain boats lined up in a long queue along the canal, and said to Zhu Cilang, "250 grain boats, all refitted according to His Highness the Thousand Years' instructions, and manned with the finest, strongest sailors!"

"Good, good, good!" Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly. "Governor Lu has done Us another great service!"

"Serving His Highness the Thousand Years is this subject's bounden duty."

Zhu Cilang said, "If every man were like you, Governor, why should the state worry about failing to revive? Governor, your talents are more than enough for one prefecture — why not take on Yangzhou Prefecture as well? Henceforth you shall be Governor-General of the Grain Transport and concurrently Governor of Huaiyang!"

"Your old servant will surely hold the two prefectures of Huai and Yang for Your Highness."

Zhu Cilang nodded approvingly, then beckoned with a wave, summoning over Liu Chongru — the "Firelock Liu" who had served as a boat captain under Shen Tingyang — and a dark-skinned, heavily pockmarked brawny man.

"Your subject Liu Chongru respectfully wishes His Highness the Crown Prince golden peace!"

"Your subject Gu Rong kowtows to the Crown Prince!"

"Chongru" was, astonishingly, Firelock Liu's formal name! This dark-skinned "water bandit" was in fact also from a sand-boat family; for generations his family had traded along the northern sea routes and had long since accumulated a considerable fortune. So his father had hoped for his son to succeed, wanting him to study and rise in the world, and had therefore named him "Chongru" — "Revere the Confucians." But the name had done little good: he did not love study, nor did he revere the Confucians. Instead he loved tinkering with firelocks and cannons and took to the seafaring life, and had actually made a name for himself, becoming a famed warrior in the Sea Sand Gang.

And Gu Rong was none other than Gu Sanmazi, the great water bandit! He was no sea pirate, but a water bandit who roamed the rivers and seas. He was entrenched on islands around the mouth of the Yangtze, growing rich by plundering passing ships — the terrain of the Yangtze estuary in this era was quite different from later times: the river surface was much broader, and the areas that would later be Qidong and Haimen were still underwater. Nor was there the later "Great Chongming," but rather a "Little Chongming" plus a scatter of small islands and sandbars — ideal for water bandits to hole up in.

This great water bandit and the Sea Sand Gang had originally been enemies, but Shen Tingyang had advised Zhu Cilang to offer a large sum to recruit him into official service.

Because this great water bandit had real ability — at least more than the naval forces of Regional Commander Wang Zhiren of Susong and Regional Commander Huang Binqing of Zhoushan. In this age, the foundation of an army was farmers and herders, while the foundation of a navy was sea merchants, sea pirates, and fishermen. Regular Ming soldiers and officers, however, usually came from guard-station backgrounds — either landlords or peasants — and of course could not do naval work well. Thus, in the late Ming, all the naval forces that could actually fight had been recruited from surrendered bandits.

And the naval profession was one where different trades were worlds apart. Those who worked the northern sea routes belonged to the Sea Sand Gang — the Sea Sand Gang's sand-boats were best suited to the northern routes. For the northern routes (meaning the Chinese coastal waters north of the Yangtze mouth) had rolling mud waves; sharp-bottomed boats were easily capsized by the swells, while sand-boats did not fear such waves. Therefore, north of the Yangtze mouth, it was the domain of the sand-boats!

The Zheng family's great sea-going ships, by contrast, were all sharp-bottomed; they were well suited to the southern and eastern routes, but simply could not sail the northern routes. Thus, although the Zheng family's strength far exceeded that of the Sea Sand Gang, they did not venture into the northern-route trade.

As for that fellow Gu Sanmazi, he operated between river and sea, and his main range of activity was the stretch from the Yangtze mouth to Jiangyin — perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a river bandit.

Therefore, if Zhu Cilang wanted to establish a Yangtze River Navy, he had no choice but to recruit this river bandit Gu Sanmazi into official service!

"Rise, both of you, rise," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, beckoning to Liu Chongru and Gu Sanmazi. "The 250 grain boats and 10,000 sailors that Governor Lu has brought are now handed over to the two of you. All the sailors are to be incorporated into the New Army's navy, and will draw military pay like the other officers and men of the navy."

The pay and treatment of the Overcoming Hardship New Army's navy differed from that of the army. The Northern Sea Navy had been contracted out to the Sea Sand Gang — no military pay was issued, and no equipment was provided; instead, trading privileges were granted directly, to be managed by Shen Tingyang.

The Yangtze River Navy, however, was to be paid, with generous treatment: even the lowest rank of "Guard" would receive a monthly wage of four taels of silver! But naval officers and men would not be allotted land — the navy would not recruit peasants, still less use "rotating troops," and even if land were allotted, they would have no way to work it.

Zhu Cilang continued, "These grain boats may not be suited for combat, but they can carry grain and troops. With them, Our New Army can move like the wind along the Yangtze. As for warships, it is best to use gunboats — the many-oared centipede boats (modeled on Portuguese galleys) are quite good. We have already sent Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Li Zubai together to Macao to purchase Hongyi cannons; by next spring, several dozen cannons should arrive, and We will give you ten of them then.

In addition, you are given five days to organize the navy. In five days, the Yangtze River Navy is to set out!"

(End of Chapter)