Chapter 234: Grabbing Territory!

"Five days?" Gu Sanmazi's face lit up with excitement. Grinning broadly, he cupped his hands. "Thousand Years, are we marching on Nanjing in five days? This humble general begs to lead the vanguard! I have two large flat-bottomed centipede ships, each thirty-three meters long and nearly seven meters wide, every ship fitted with forty guns and two bronze cannon — more than enough to dominate the river!"

The flat-bottomed centipede ships he spoke of combined a sand ship with a Western-style oared sailing vessel. Shen Tingyang's Great Dragon Head was the same type of ship.

Because this ship type carried both a large number of oars and sails, and had a flat bottom suited to shallow water, it possessed excellent maneuverability on the Yangtze and in the coastal waters of the Northern Seas. Moreover, the hull was large enough to hold many oarsmen, soldiers, and firearms, making its fighting power formidable.

In battle on the Yangtze, these flat-bottomed centipede ships were even more effective than the Zheng family's great warships. The Zheng family's great warships were galleon hulls fitted with Chinese-style square sails. Because a galleon's sides were high and its broadside was pierced with numerous gunports, it was inconvenient to fit long oars. Thus this ship type was suited only to the waters of the South Seas and the Japanese coast, where winds shifted often and the water was deep. It was not suited to entering the Yangtze or the coastal waters of the Northern Seas.

Historically, the Zheng family fleet performed terribly in combat on the Yangtze, largely because the ship type was unsuitable. With a favorable wind, the great warships worked well enough, but against the wind or in a dead calm, they were in trouble.

During Zheng Chenggong's northern expedition against Nanjing, the Zheng fleet met adverse currents and headwinds and could only advance by being hauled along by manpower, which delayed the whole enterprise.

But the large flat-bottomed centipede ships were like fish in water on the Yangtze — fast, nimble, able to go anywhere. And with their heavy firepower and large crews, they held the advantage in gunnery duels and boarding actions alike, and could even ram!

Relying on those two large flat-bottomed centipede ships, Gu Sanmazi had lorded it over the mouth of the Yangtze for years. Even the Sea Sand Gang had to pay him tribute. And now he had secured an official post — he could not have been more pleased with himself.

As for Nanjing's river fleet, he did not even consider it worth his notice. What did give him some wariness were the naval forces in the hands of Suzhou-Songjiang Regional Commander Wang Zhiren and Zhoushan Assistant Regional Commander Huang Binqing.

Zhu Cilang did not answer Gu Sanmazi's question, but merely smiled and said, "This is no place for discussion. Let us go to Pingshan Hall and talk further. Governor Lu, let us all go sit for a while at Pingshan Hall in Daming Temple."

"We will not go to Nanjing just yet. Let them make as much noise as they please. When the evidence is conclusive and they have no room to deny it, then We will go and settle accounts. For now, We will first take the five prefectures of Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang, and Ningbo. What do you all think?"

Inside Pingshan Hall, Zhu Cilang had a map of the southeast laid out. The map marked the situations of the "traveling court" and "Nanjing." At present, the traveling court held the two prefectures of Huai'an and Yangzhou, while the Nanjing side controlled Yingtian Prefecture.

As for the remaining prefectures in the southeastern corner of the Great Ming, their allegiances were still unclear.

Inside Pingshan Hall, around the map table made of several square tables pushed together, besides the Crown Prince himself, were gathered Li Yan, Chen Rui, Fang Gongyue, Qiu Yu, Fan Jingwen, Li Banghua, Lu Zhenfei, Wu Xiang, Cao Youyi, Wang Zhixin, Zheng Sen, Liu Chongru, Gu San, and others. Every one of them could play a part in Zhu Cilang's grand plan to pacify the southeast!

Not rushing to enter Nanjing had been Zhu Cilang's established strategy from the start. Not only because Nanjing contained a clique of ennobled families that opposed him, but also because Nanjing was the victory objective in the eyes of the traveling court and the officers and men of the Hard-Working New Army.

Everyone was thinking of Nanjing, so before entering Nanjing, everyone would keep their spirits up and not dare slack off — a situation rather similar to Li Zicheng's before he entered Beijing!

So Zhu Cilang was in no hurry to enter Nanjing. He would not imitate Li Zicheng, who had eyes only for Beijing and never properly consolidated the territory he gained along the way. Before entering Nanjing, he had to firmly control the seven prefectures of Huai'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang, and Ningbo in the southeast as his base.

With these seven prefectures, plus Nanjing's Yingtian Prefecture, plus the four prefectures of Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, and Jiaxing that should soon be brought under control — twelve prefectures in all — Zhu Cilang's foundation of rule in the southeast would be secure.

"Zhenjiang and Changzhou are garrisoned by Regional Commander Jiang Yuntai; Suzhou and Songjiang by Regional Commander Wang Zhiren; Ningbo by the former Zhoushan Assistant Regional Commander Huang Binqing, who has already been appointed Regional Commander of Guangxi." Minister of War Chen Rui said, "The civil officials in these prefectures are not the problem now. The key lies with these three Regional Commanders!"

"Thousand Years, Wang Zhiren is this old slave's brother. If this old slave goes to speak with him, he will certainly submit." Wang Zhixin immediately took up the topic and gave his guarantee.

Zhu Cilang nodded, then looked at Lu Zhenfei and Zheng Sen. "Governor Lu, Senior Brother, you two have old ties with Huang Binqing, do you not?"

"We have some acquaintance," Lu Zhenfei said.

Zheng Sen added, "My family and the Huang family are fellow Fujian natives and old family friends."

Zhu Cilang nodded slightly and asked, "How strong is he?"

Gu Sanmazi cut in bluntly, "Thousand Years, he also has two big centipede ships, built at the Zheng family's Shijingkou shipyard, and he keeps eight hundred ship-handling household retainers. With those two ships and eight hundred retainers, he counts as a figure of some consequence."

"Governor Lu, Senior Brother," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "We must trouble you two. Now that Shen Tingyang has gone north to take command of the Northern Seas, the post of Navy Guard Commander is vacant. If Huang Binqing is willing to come to Yangzhou, the Guard Commander post is his. His two centipede ships and eight hundred ship-handling retainers will all be incorporated into the Yangtze River Navy. In addition, he will be given one Naval Commander appointment, to be filled by a man of his choosing. And he will be given fifty thousand taels of silver, as Our purchase of his ships and ship-handling retainers."

Zheng Sen frowned. "Your Highness, Junior Brother, these terms are a bit tight. Regional Commander Huang may not necessarily agree."

"He will agree!" Zhu Cilang gave a cold smile. "He is a monkey, and We hold the knife — and We also intend to kill a chicken!"

"A chicken?" Wu Xiang asked. "Who is the chicken?"

"Zhenjiang Regional Commander Jiang Yuntai is the chicken!" Zhu Cilang said. "We have been in Yangzhou for some days now, and he has not come to pay his respects. What is he scheming?"

Now that We have soldiers and ships, if We do not make an example of him, whom should We make an example of?"

Cao Youyi said, "Thousand Years, whom shall we send?"

"Hao Yaoqi, Sun Fugui, Chen Yidao, and Zhang Wenjue will each lead a musket brigade, with Hao Yaoqi as overall commander. They march in five days!" Zhu Cilang said. "The Yangtze River Navy will sortie together with them."

"Governor Fang, you will go with them to Zhenjiang to take up your post. All of Jiang Yuntai's remaining troops will be given to you as your governor's escort battalion!"

He glanced again at Wang Zhixin. "Companion Wang, after Zhenjiang is taken, you will go on to Suzhou and Songjiang. Have Wang Zhiren hand over the two prefectures to Governor Qiu, then bring his warships and household retainers to Yangzhou. We will make him Guard Commander of the Huaiyang Military Farm Garrison! The military farms and official lands of Huai'an and Yangzhou will all be under his management."

"Godfather, the boat is already moored at Baoshan Station. Your servant also used a telescope to spot the Second Master's great banner flying from the walls of Baoshan Station. It seems the Second Master has already arrived at Baoshan Station and will soon be able to meet you."

The speaker was one of Wang Zhixin's god-sons, also a eunuch, who had followed Supervisor Wang Zhixin through years of glory and then fled with him through all manner of hardship to Yangzhou. Now he was attending his godfather Wang Zhixin on a family visit to Suzhou.

Wang Zhixin had a younger brother named Wang Zhiren, now Regional Commander of Suzhou-Songjiang, stationed in the city of Suzhou. Incidentally, Baoshan Station is not the site of the modern Baoshan District of Shanghai, but rather lies around Gaoqiao Town in the Pudong New Area. The territory of the modern Baoshan District belonged at this time to Wusong River Station. Both stations were under the jurisdiction of Zhenhai Guard, and neither lay within Songjiang Prefecture — they were within Suzhou Prefecture.

That is to say, the entrance to the Huangpu River at this time belonged to Suzhou. A little further in was the territory of Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture.

But whether Suzhou or Songjiang, both were now within the defense zone of Wang Zhiren, Regional Commander of Suzhou-Songjiang. These two prefectures were no small matter. In Ming times there was a saying: "The taxes of Suzhou and Songjiang are half the empire." It meant that the taxes paid by Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures accounted for half of the empire's total tax revenue! This was of course an exaggeration, but the importance of Suzhou-Songjiang taxes to Ming finances was beyond question.

And even after paying so much in taxes, Suzhou remained one of the greatest cities in the empire. Before the late-Ming plague ravaged Suzhou, the city's population reached as high as five hundred thousand, surpassing Nanjing to become the largest in the southeast! In the whole country, it was probably second only to Beijing — the second most populous metropolis.

But Beijing was a consumption-oriented, military city, while Suzhou was a production-oriented industrial and commercial city — the largest silk industry center in the world at the time, and also an important cotton textile center.

Even with the damage from the plague and the decline in European demand for silk caused by the Thirty Years' War, Suzhou and Songjiang remained among the wealthiest regions of the southeast.

And in Zhu Cilang's view, the potential of Suzhou and Songjiang was nowhere near fully realized!

(End of Chapter)