Chapter 604: The Ming Bandits Are Coming!

About twenty li south of the Jinzhou Central-Left Guard city lay a stretch of hilly land called Old Iron Mountain, right on the edge of the sea, facing Dengzhou across the water. Of course, Dengzhou itself could not be seen — more than two hundred li of open sea lay between them!

Still, the watchtower built atop Old Iron Mountain commanded a fine view, and with a Western-imported telescope, dozens of li of surrounding sea could all be taken in at a glance. The waters south of Old Iron Mountain and north of Huangcheng Island also formed the key channel for entering and leaving the Bohai Gulf, known as the Old Iron Mountain Channel.

Any Ming fleet crossing from Dengzhou had to pass through the Old Iron Mountain Channel.

So as soon as Cao Mutan reached the Jinzhou Central-Left Guard city, he set up a lookout post on Old Iron Mountain to keep constant watch on the southern channel, and put his trusted man Zhang Feng'en — who was also his brother-in-law, a Dardan Janggin — in charge of it.

Zhang Feng'en and his men, on a fairly level hilltop about two li from the beach, used local materials — the timber that covered Old Iron Mountain — to build a wooden fort as their lookout post.

Standing high in the wooden fort, Zhang Feng'en was not looking at the sea at that moment, but north toward the vast, rich black soil around Iron Mountain Town. His own land allotment was at Iron Mountain Town — a full four hundred mu! It was not entirely wasteland; it had been cleared by earlier settlers and later abandoned for various reasons, so bringing it back under cultivation would not be difficult.

After receiving his allotment, Zhang Feng'en had cleared away the assorted brush and weeds growing there, hitched his horse to a plow, and turned the soil over again and again. Now he was just waiting for next spring to sow wheat. The northeast had rich soil, but it was cold and winter wheat could not be grown — otherwise he could have planted already.

Unlike his brother-in-law Cao Mutan, Zhang Feng'en was a simple, honest farmer — originally a booi bondservant of the Plain Red Banner, a "second-generation slave" long accustomed to servitude, who had forgotten his ancestors' grievances. He had no particular skills either; apart from a bit of strength, all he knew was farming. Had the Qing troops not entered the pass, he would have been fated to farm all his life.

But chance had favored him. As a booi he had followed his master through the pass, attending to him at every step, sometimes even having to take up a blade and join battle. He had actually earned merit and been raised out of bondservice, becoming a gentleman of the Plain Red Banner Han army.

Later, when part of the Plain Red Banner Han army was detached to join the Plain Green Banner, he was among them, and was promoted — from an ordinary bannerman to Dardan Janggin. It was not much of a career, but it was better than being an ordinary bannerman: two hundred more mu of land, a bit more grain stipend, and his immediate superior, the Niru Janggin, was his brother-in-law.

Life was quite good.

"Ming — Ming bandits! Dardan Janggin, the Ming bandits are attacking in force!"

Just as Zhang Feng'en was dreaming of a bright future, a terrified shout suddenly rang in his ears.

The Ming bandits had come!

At some point, the Ming army had become "bandits" in the eyes of the Qing troops — should they not have been fat sheep?

In any case, here in Liaodong and Liaoxi, the Ming army had now risen in status — from "fat sheep" to be slaughtered and plundered, to "bandits" who killed and burned!

For the Plain Green Banner soldiers and the booi bondservants of the old Eight Banners living peacefully in Liaodong and Liaoxi (there were still many estates of the old Eight Banners princes in Liaodong and Liaoxi), these Ming bandits coming from the sea were utterly despicable — killing, burning, looting, every evil imaginable!

And they did not even hold territory; they grabbed what they could and ran. The Nine Banners' crack troops could never arrive in time before the raiders boarded their ships and fled.

And even if they did catch up, what then? There were over a hundred million people in the south — could they not afford to lose some?

Trading three Ming bandits for one Nine Banners soldier was no loss to them!

And the exchange ratio was not even that bad — the Ming bandits had firelocks, pikes, and iron armor. They might not beat the crack troops, but could they not beat the old, weak, women, and children farming at home, and the booi bondservants?

If one really reckoned it up, the Great Qing's Nine Banners probably suffered the greater losses.

Zhang Feng'en had heard plenty of the Ming bandits' evil reputation, so he dared not be careless. He hurriedly raised a cloth-wrapped telescope to scan the sea. He should not have looked — the moment he did, every hair on his body stood on end.

There on the sea, at some unknown moment, twenty or thirty wooden ships with cloth sails had appeared, riding wind and waves straight toward them!

The Ming bandits were attacking in force!

Zhang Feng'en hurried down from the watchtower, had his men bring him a sturdy horse, mounted, and galloped straight for the Central-Left Guard city.

"H-how many ships?" Cao Mutan, on receiving the report, felt his heart pound and his voice tremble as he pressed for details.

"Twenty or thirty — twenty or thirty of them, all quite large," Zhang Feng'en asked, "Brother Cao, what do we do?"

"What do we do?" Cao Mutan stamped his foot. "What can we do? Hold to the death. Twenty or thirty ships must carry five or six thousand men! How many does one niru have? Five hundred — and we're not even true Manchus."

"Can we hold?" Zhang Feng'en lowered his voice and pressed on. "The Central-Left Guard city is not that strong!"

The Central-Left Guard city was a fort left over from the Ming dynasty — long neglected, that was certain!

And even if it were strong, it would not matter. Lüshunkou was on the coast; 24-pounder and 36-pounder heavy cannon could be brought in by sea. Once those 24- and 36-pounders were in place, the Central-Left Guard city was bound to fall!

Moreover, the terrain of the Jinzhou Peninsula was too peculiar — there was an isthmus a dozen or so li wide, with sea on both sides, far too easy for the Ming army to cut off. Then every city on the Jinzhou Peninsula would be a turtle in a jar — none could hold.

So Cao Mutan and his men were cannon fodder.

"Hold or not, we hold." Cao Mutan reached up and pulled out that death-warrant "money-rat tail." "What is this? It's a queue! We're all queue-heads!"

Queue-heads!

Cut one off and it was silver!

As long as the Ming bandits did not come, this hairstyle symbolized privilege; once the Ming bandits came, a queue-head had to watch that his head did not go missing. Why else would Dorgon forbid people from shaving their heads at will?

And keeping the money-rat queue left a mark — the skin at the root of the queue was a different color from elsewhere. Even if you cut it off and pretended to be a monk, you would be found out.

Besides, there were no temples on the Jinzhou Peninsula — where would monks come from?

The queues hanging at the backs of these Nine Banners men's heads were death warrants, were a battle-supervision squad!

"Th-this, this..." Zhang Feng'en was at a complete loss.

"What are you panicking for?" Cao Mutan was, after all, a man who had licked blood from his blade for years. "You go to Little Black Mountain at once and ask for reinforcements!"

Little Black Mountain lay right beside the Jinzhou Guard city — later generations called it Big Black Mountain. Atop it was a mountain fortress left over from the Goguryeo era. Because the Jinzhou Peninsula had suffered repeated Ming bandit raids in the past two years, the Eight Banners garrison headquarters on the peninsula had moved to the safer Little Black Mountain.

And after the Prince of Pacifying the South's heir, Kong Tingxun, arrived at Jinzhou Guard with five niru, he set up his jalan headquarters atop Little Black Mountain.

"Right, I'm going!" Zhang Feng'en turned to leave, but Cao Mutan called him back.

"Wait — take your wife's elder sister and her two children with you. And bring your own wife and children too!" Cao Mutan said. "Remember, don't be in a hurry to come back!"

"Ah..." Zhang Feng'en understood perfectly well what Cao Mutan meant.

The Jinzhou Central-Left Guard city, it seemed, was truly not to be held!

Because the two men's families had to be sent away, Zhang Feng'en was delayed for some time. It was already evening of the same day when Kong Tingxun on Little Black Mountain learned that the Ming bandits were coming in force.

But even if he had received word a few hours earlier, he would not have dared lead troops to fight the invading Ming bandits.

His men were not the old Eight Banners' crack troops — they were Plain Green Banner forces, and so scattered that gathering them would take time. If the Ming bandits truly came in force, all he could do was muster his troops and hold Little Black Mountain to the death.

As for his Plain Green Banner brothers in the Jinzhou Central-Left Guard city, he simply could not look after them — he could only hope they would delay the enemy a while and buy him time to prepare Little Black Mountain's defenses.

And during the time that Cao Mutan and his men held the Jinzhou Central-Left Guard city to the death until they gave their all for the Great Qing, the news that the Ming bandits were invading Liaodong in force was carried by relay riders, station by station, level by level, to the Ama's traveling headquarters in Zhengzhou.

But Dorgon did not take the matter to heart in the slightest, because the Liaodong and Liaoxi coasts were, for the Great Qing, inherently easy to attack and hard to hold.

(End of Chapter)