Chapter 102: Section Ten

Although there were many exiled convicts in the frontier army, Liaodong natives still made up the majority, and the Dongjiang army consisted even more of Liaodong sons, so they felt the villagers' helplessness keenly. Since food was not critically scarce at the moment, they unanimously supported Huang Shi's decision.

A few subordinate officers had their own calculations, but since Huang Shi's decision had broad support among the soldiers, they interpreted it from angles they could accept. Huang Shi increasingly felt he had a bit of "overlord charisma" — the soldiers and officers showed him more and more respect, and his subordinates hardly dared question his orders anymore... though he was not sure whether the advantages outweighed the drawbacks.

Perhaps Fuzhou was unaware, but Huang Shi's name spread rapidly through the nearby area. Many surrounding villages secretly sent grain and supplies, and some hot-blooded Liaodong folk made their way to the southern and northern harbors, telling the Firefighting Battalion patrols they wanted to enlist.

In this piecemeal fashion Huang Shi gathered nearly two hundred Liaodong folk, all of them young and able-bodied. Li Yunrui also reported to Huang Shi that intelligence work had become smoother, with many villagers secretly exchanging information with the Dongjiang army. The intelligence network on Changsheng Island gradually spread. After discussing it with Li Yunrui, Huang Shi strictly forbade any form of terrorism — the underground operatives were not to ambush Later Jin patrols on their own initiative, for Huang Shi feared that would help the Later Jin improve their own intelligence work and alert them to Changsheng Island's underground presence.

Another problem emerged: the head of the Huang household discovered that his family was expanding rapidly. A month later, a newly recruited retainer was named Huang Sanliu. Unlike the modern view, these retainers, who shared no blood or marriage ties, were regarded by everyone on Changsheng Island as natural members of the Huang family, as part of the Huang household...

"This sea ban is truly vicious." Huang Shi was inspecting his territory once again and could not help venting his frustration to Hong Antong at his side.

Since September, Huang Shi had been looking for chances to ambush Later Jin patrols, but with the sea ban in place, the intelligence he received was always too late. Moreover, ambushing Later Jin units required penetrating deep inland, which greatly increased the danger of any sortie — after all, Huang Shi had very few horses.

Finally, there was the gathering of population and supplies. It was said that some able-bodied men who tried to join him were captured by the Later Jin halfway. And every time he sought out a village, he had to march ten or twenty li, which made raiding Later Jin grain-collection teams very difficult — wiping them out completely was impossible, and without wiping them out completely, there was no time to escape back to the sea.

"Didn't my lord once explain a way to break it in front of Zhang Pan?" Hong Antong asked, puzzled. Behind him were twenty retainers of the Huang household.

None of the Company Commanders wanted Huang Shi's retainers under them, saying they were hard to manage, so Huang Shi had no choice but to form a retainer squad. He sent all his surplus personal guards out to serve as Squad Commanders, keeping only Zhang Pan and Hong Antong to manage his retainer squad. The retainers privately called the two of them Steward Hong and Steward Zhang.

Huang Shi laughed. "Not a way to break it — I said the sea ban was stupid."

"Then why does my lord now say the sea ban is vicious?" Hong Antong was even more puzzled.

"Strategically stupid, tactically vicious." Huang Shi was caught a little off guard by the question.

"Strategy? Tactics?" Hong Antong had the spirit of one who would break a clay pot to get to the bottom of things.

"Yes, I will find a chance to explain them to you later. Right now you wouldn't be able to understand." As a personal guard, Hong Antong was naturally one of Huang Shi's trusted confidants. Whether in his own eyes or in the eyes of the other Changsheng officers and soldiers, he was seen as Huang Shi's future officer and battle commander. Hong Antong himself was very conscious of working toward that goal, seizing every opportunity to learn the art of military command from Huang Shi. But Huang Shi felt that tactical innovation was more urgent, and that instilling some tactical knowledge in Hong Antong first would be more useful.

While Huang Shi was troubled by his lack of equipment, the Liaodong Ming army's counteroffensive, which had begun in July, continued to develop, its momentum pushing ever deeper into Liaodong territory.

In the tenth month of the second year of the Tianqi reign, Dongjiang's Zhang Pan swore an oath to his troops at Lüshun. The Lüshun Dongjiang army had absorbed large quantities of equipment from routed troops and had become an elite force in Mao Wenlong's hands, so Mao Wenlong placed great hopes on the Lüshun army.

Zhang Pan did not disappoint Mao Wenlong. He easily routed the Later Jin garrison forces near Nanguan and Jinzhou, then promptly captured Yongning Fort in southern Liaoning, advancing in latitude north of Huang Shi's Changsheng Island. Along the way, the Liaodong common folk rose up in swarms to support him.

Encouraged by this, at the end of the tenth month, Mao Wenlong slaughtered oxen and sacrificed to the banners at Dongjiang, preparing to lead a campaign in person. His target was the Hengjiang and Kuandian region, which he knew best.

After his earlier surprise attack on Zhenjiang, Mao Wenlong had attempted to break through Xianshan Fort into the Kuandian region. This time he repeated his old tricks, stepping up efforts to bribe local Han troops while making contact with local powers he had dealt with before.

At the same time, the Later Jin began to react. Just as Mao Wenlong was dispatching troops toward Shuozhou, the Later Jin's Plain Blue, Plain White, and Bordered Red Banners massed and moved south. The Fuzhou garrison also sortied in coordination, attempting to encircle and attack Zhang Pan's Lüshun army.

Faced with a powerful enemy, Zhang Pan had no choice but to abandon Yongning Fort and relocate the nearby civilians back to Lüshun. The Later Jin army pursued all the way to Nanguan. Zhang Pan fought a series of delaying actions and finally managed to withdraw both troops and civilians safely to Lüshun.

Unaware of the military situation in southern Liaoning, Mao Wenlong was still pushing north at this time. After reaching Shuozhou, Mao Wenlong assembled five battalions and seven thousand soldiers, proclaiming them thirty thousand strong, and directed his spearhead at the Hengjiang and Kuandian region, intending to strike straight into Jianzhou.

The main Dongjiang force easily swept through Changdian Fort, Yongdian Fort, and Dadian Fort, then advanced through the Kuandian region to capture Xindian Fort and Aiyang Fort. Just as the Liaodong Ming army was attempting to eliminate Gushan Fort and invade Jianzhou, several thousand Later Jin reinforcements rushed through Lianshan and reached Caohe Fort.

Caohe Fort lay thirty li west of Aiyang Fort. To protect their line of retreat and supply route, the Ming army had no choice but to turn and accept battle. The Later Jin and Ming armies fought a field battle between Jiumaji Fort and Aiyang Fort. After three days of fierce fighting, both sides withdrew simultaneously without prior agreement, and both afterward claimed a major victory.

The Ming army's offensive in the second year of the Tianqi reign essentially ended here. But when the Dongjiang battle report reached Changsheng Island, the entire island's Ming troops erupted in excitement. Although everyone in the Ming army knew they had ultimately been forced back, this was the first time since the Battle of Sarhu that a Ming army had withdrawn intact from a field battle involving over ten thousand men — the first time they had fought to a draw.

Although the Liaodong Ming army had already withdrawn into the Kuandian region, the Later Jin army had also fallen back to Caohe Fort, which meant the Later Jin had suffered considerable losses as well. But since Huang Shi knew the Later Jin army would remain invincible for a long time to come, his excitement was actually quite limited.

The other Dongjiang officers lacked this awareness. The entire Liaodong Ming army, from top to bottom, was filled with a tremendous sense of achievement. Even Mao Wenlong himself began to grow hotheaded. The Dongjiang army's recovery of the Kuandian region and ten Battalion Commander of civilians made him somewhat giddy.

In the memorial Mao Wenlong wrote to the imperial court after the battle, he declared:

"The complete recovery of all Liaodong can be expected within a year."

He Baodao once again demanded a sortie against Fuzhou, to pull off something big. But Huang Shi was not optimistic; he believed that fighting to a draw in this campaign had involved a great deal of luck.

"It is not that I lack courage..."

Huang Shi had led his officers on the expedition into Liaodong, so He Baodao had never once doubted Huang Shi's valor.

"I just want to wait a few more days."

He Baodao sighed and said no more.

After the ninth month of the second year of the Tianqi reign, having pushed Mao Wenlong's main force back to Kuandian, the Later Jin launched a winter offensive.

Over ten thousand Later Jin cavalry began systematically sweeping the Liaodong Ming army. The first to bear the brunt was Changcheng. The commander defending Changcheng had originally been the Garrison Commander of the Guangning Left Garrison in the Guangning army. Now, seeing the Later Jin army bearing down with overwhelming momentum, he ordered the Ming troops to cover the civilians' retreat toward Yizhou and personally led his personal guards to hold the rear.

After questioning the defeated soldiers, Mao Wenlong issued a Dongjiang battle report requesting commendation for the Changcheng commander who had died in battle. Although the civilians had successfully withdrawn, the Changcheng Garrison Commander had suffered dozens of wounds, his intestines dragging along the ground, and had bled to death. Mao Wenlong therefore posthumously recognized the commander, Shang Xueli, as a Dongjiang Garrison Commander, and had his eldest son adopt the orphaned sons left by Garrison Commander Shang — the brothers Keyi and Kexi.

Over the past few months, Changsheng had boiled tens of thousands of jin of salt and also obtained five bear pelts and several dozen deerskins. These could probably be exchanged for over a thousand taels of silver. Huang Shi somewhat regretted his past extravagance — hardly any of the money he had embezzled and taken in bribes at Guangning remained.

Huang Shi decided to entrust this task to Zhang Pan. "Little brother, you go to Beizhili. Don't haggle too hard over every penny. It's your first time selling goods — just getting to know people's faces is good enough."

"Yes, Big Brother, rest assured." Zhang Pan appeared full of confidence, which made Huang Shi increasingly uneasy the more he looked at him, fearing he would be taken advantage of when buying pig iron and cloth. But the island was so shorthanded everywhere that it seemed he would have to let Jin Qiude accompany him on the trip.

"I have a task to entrust to you — a secret mission." Huang Shi's words made both Zhang Pan's and Jin Qiude's eyes light up.

"Let the others transport the goods back. You take fifty taels of silver and make a trip to Beijing. I will give you a special official document — nominally, you are going to buy rice." As he spoke, Huang Shi pulled out a sheet of paper on which he had drawn some religious patterns he remembered.

"What is this?" Zhang Pan was captivated by the strange crosses and crooked holy images.

"There are some Western monks in Beijing. This is the god they believe in." Huang Shi launched into an introduction of religious knowledge. Jin Qiude occasionally asked a question or two, and Zhang Pan also listened with great interest.

"Tell them that I have received the calling of the Lord of Heaven... the Heaven of sky and earth, the Lord of lord and master... and that I therefore hope to promote this faith within my army."

Huang Shi carefully laid out his true intentions to the two of them. He did not want devout Western monks, and he had even less desire to believe in any Western religion, but these Westerners possessed considerable unique military knowledge.

"Use the money to buy some crosses, buy a few scripture books, and then say that you hope to obtain some military assistance. I am not in a great hurry — there is no need to get everything settled in one trip. I will leave a few questions for you to take to the Western monks. Tell them I may send someone again next year to consult further."

Huang Shi's questions focused mainly on infantry formations and training. From this era onward, Western infantry tactics made major advances, and the threat posed by cavalry grew smaller and smaller, shifting from being the main force in frontal combat to taking on pursuit and reconnaissance roles.

Whether in terms of horses, armor, or pistols, the quality of the Manchu Qing heavy cavalry was inferior to that of the West, so Huang Shi very much wanted to know how the white-haired baboons had managed it — Huang Shi felt that "white-haired baboons" was the counterpart term to "yellow-skinned monkeys."

Another issue Huang Shi was very concerned about was the construction of fortifications. Star forts were beginning to appear on the stage of history. The advent of artillery had already rendered medieval castle tactics obsolete, but over the coming decades, star forts would largely replace old-style castles and prove even more formidable.

For over a hundred years to come, polygonal star forts would leave attackers at their wits' end. During the Thirty Years' War in Europe, where cannons dominated the battlefield, Western soldiers called a direct assault on an artillery-equipped star fort "a desperate undertaking." Lengthy sieges once again became the primary means of attacking cities, and tactics did not change until the more brutal twenty-four-pounder siege guns appeared.

Historically, early star forts had also appeared near China. Huang Shi recalled that these things had given his countrymen terrible headaches. The Zheng family's recovery of Taiwan goes without saying; another example was at Nerchinsk, where over ten thousand Qing troops could only rely on starvation and disease to break down the defenders — a few hundred old Russian ruffians, nothing more.

So Huang Shi also very much wanted to know exactly what sort of structure this damned star fort was. He was determined to use star forts in combination with coastal ports to teach the Later Jin army a proper lesson.

In the twelfth month of the second year of the Tianqi reign, the Later Jin army comprehensively pushed back the Liaodong Ming army. The Dongjiang army essentially fell back to the line from which their July offensive had been launched. Mao Wenlong threw all his strength into fortifying Yizhou, Lüshun, and Kuandian.

Changsheng Island now had nearly two thousand soldiers. As floating ice began to appear continuously at the northern harbor, Huang Shi had originally planned to build a stone wall along the coast, but the project was abandoned after just two days — quarrying stone was simply beyond what his manpower could handle.

The danger looming so close at hand suddenly tightened Huang Shi's heart: "Build an ice wall!"