Chapter 122: Section Six: The Eighth Month

"For the past year, Changsheng Island has had only these nearly two thousand soldiers. Most of my men have not seen outsiders for a very long time. For their rudeness and offense, I beg forgiveness from all you elders." As he spoke, Huang Shi clasped his fists toward the Liaodong refugees in apology, and they hurriedly protested that they dared not accept such courtesy.

"My soldiers are also all unmarried. Although they are hot-blooded, I guarantee they mean no harm, and I will absolutely not permit them to offend your womenfolk. On this point, this general gives you his word." Huang Shi's words greatly settled the refugees' hearts, and their faces showed relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Yet Huang Shi felt that after a journey filled with fear and anxiety, arriving in a strange place would leave them deeply unsettled. So he patted the back of his own head and, with an embarrassed look, said, "Never mind them — even I, upon suddenly seeing so many young women, was utterly spellbound for quite a while. I must ask the elders to forgive my foolishness."

After laughter rippled through the crowd, Huang Shi waved his hand to signal that the soldiers could continue helping. This time the Liaodong refugees opened their hearts and accepted the soldiers' eager attentions. Though the young women were still too shy to lift their heads, faint smiles appeared on their faces, which made the soldiers stand utterly dumbstruck.

Huang Shi shook his head helplessly. Even after the boisterous crowd had moved far away, the soldiers at the port had still not fully regained their senses and continued to stare fixedly in the direction they had vanished.

"My lord, can we go propose marriage and offer betrothal gifts? That wouldn't violate military law, would it?" one soldier asked in a dazed, blunt manner.

"Of course. Go find your commanding officers to act as matchmakers." Huang Shi had originally ordered that no officer on the island could marry until half the soldiers were wed, but now he decided to amend it: "Every officer may marry only once half of his own men have married. Hurry and find your officers — they will certainly be very happy to serve as your matchmakers."

"Thank you, my lord!" A thunderous roar of cheers erupted around Huang Shi's ears.

……

The soldier acting as master of ceremonies drew out his voice in a long, high-pitched chant: "Escort the newlyweds into the bridal chamber."

The bride, her head covered by a red bridal veil, was led away by her relatives. The groom, his face brimming with joy, fended off one round of toasts before hurriedly taking his leave for the bridal chamber, pursued by a sky-obscuring barrage of crude jests and all manner of strange howls.

By custom, Huang Shi, as the island's highest authority, did not need to attend as a soldier's elder — if anyone was to receive kowtows, it would be their direct superior. But he felt he should show some courtesy for the first few weddings. Now, unwilling to watch the soldiers' rowdiness any longer, he quietly slipped away.

Huang Shi granted every newlywed soldier three days of marriage leave, exempt from drill and labor. This leave, which he considered only natural and proper, was regarded by the soldiers as a tremendous act of benevolent governance.

Before stepping out the door, Huang Shi ran into a veteran soldier who had followed him from Guangning and was now an acting Squad Commander. The fellow was rubbing his fists and palms eagerly, about to go crash the bridal chamber. Huang Shi laughed and grabbed hold of him: "You're not married yet, and you have drill tomorrow. Don't make too much of a ruckus — go back and get some sleep early."

"I'm too happy today, I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I went back." The soldier had to mouth an acknowledgment, but his eyes kept darting past Huang Shi's back — clearly his heart had already flown off.

Huang Shi could not help but laugh in spite of himself: "It's not even your wedding. What's there to be so happy about?"

"Tomorrow another batch of refugees is coming ashore. This subordinate will go wait first thing in the morning and pick one out to have Master Zhao propose marriage for me."

Even as he spoke, the soldier's body kept twisting and fidgeting. Huang Shi's delay in releasing him to join the revelry had already made him break out in sweat from impatience. The moment Huang Shi loosened his grip, the soldier shot out like a rocket. Huang Shi could only shout after his retreating figure: "Choose well, you little rascal."

"Thank you, my lord." The soldier had not entirely forgotten his manners. Huang Shi watched him push through the crowd at the doorway, pull out a waterskin, and spray water through the crack of the door.

Huang Shi suddenly realized that he himself was grinning foolishly from ear to ear. He hastily composed his bearing and left: "Thank goodness no one noticed... A soldier's happiness is truly a simple and crude thing."

In the eighth month of the third year of the Tianqi reign, Changsheng Island's population expanded to four thousand adult males and eight hundred women.

In the middle of that month, over twenty thousand mu of farmland on Changsheng Island completed its harvest, and more than thirty thousand shi of corn and peanuts were stored in the granaries.

On the twenty-second day of the same month, Kuroshima Yasuo and Liu Qingyang returned from Japan, bringing back a large quantity of copper bars and one thousand taels of silver. Huang Shi was overjoyed at the sight of the gleaming copper bars and immediately set Liu Qingyang to work casting copper coins. Kuroshima Yasuo was urged to stay and rest on Changsheng Island.

Wu Mu also gave Huang Shi a permit slip. With one thousand taels of silver, six thousand shi of grain could be purchased at low price in Dengzhou. As soon as Yang Zhiyuan received the permit slip, he immediately set out for Shandong.

At the end of the same month...

"General Huang, it is nearly the ninth month. You have dragged this on month after month. When exactly will you dispatch the troops?" Wu Mu had been coming to see Huang Shi very frequently of late, and his tone had grown increasingly displeased.

"Eunuch Wu, please look." Huang Shi led him to the training ground. Today, five hundred combat soldiers were drilling the spear formation. The one hundred soldiers who had already been trained had been dispersed to lead the new recruits. Half of these five hundred men had seen blood at Lüshun.

"Kill the chest!" came the officer's great shout.

"Kill!" The front-rank soldiers thrust simultaneously, driving their spears into the chests of the straw dummies before them.

"Kill the head!" came another command.

"Kill!" The soldiers stabbed in unison at the straw dummies' large heads.

……

"What does Eunuch Wu think?" Huang Shi asked smugly.

"Very orderly. But what use is orderliness?" Wu Mu, having watched for a long while, finally spoke.

"Before entering the palace, Eunuch was an armed escort, was he not?"

"I was." Wu Mu sighed. He had originally been the head escort of the Huangye Armed Escort Bureau in Beizhili. On his very first assignment after becoming a senior escort, the goods were lost. With no way out, he entered the palace. When Dongjiangzhen needed an Army Supervisor, Eunuch Wei figured that since he understood escort work, he would naturally have some competence in supervising an army as well. Moreover, the eunuch he had bribed also put in a few good words for him, and so he was dispatched to Changsheng Island.

"Martial arts and battle formations are different. Eunuch Wu's personal martial skill is certainly superb, but soldiers must be thoroughly trained. Only with instant obedience to orders can they slay the enemy and achieve merit."

Wu Mu sighed again: "General Huang, I have heard you say this many times already — nearly a hundred times."

"This time, does Eunuch think it looks stronger than last time?"

"It is more orderly, but I do not know whether it is stronger." Wu Mu was beginning to lose his temper. "These past months, our household has never given General Huang any trouble. I have helped in every way I could. Should not General Huang also help our household with one matter? Eunuch Wei has been constantly asking why there is still no movement from Changsheng Island."

A minor eunuch like Wu Mu was not important enough for Wei Zhongxian to personally inquire about. Huang Shi knew he was borrowing the tiger's skin for a banner, but he did not expose the bluff.

"Eunuch Wu, give me a little more time. Let me train the troops for one more month, all right?"

"This is the very last time, General Huang. You must keep your word this time."

"Eunuch Wu, set your mind at ease."

After seeing Wu Mu off, Huang Shi let out a long breath. Li Yunrui came over: "My lord, letters have come from both Dongjiang and Lüshun. The military council is ready to convene. Also, regarding that matter my lord instructed me to handle, this humble officer has also investigated it thoroughly."