Chapter 180: Section 37: Internal Strife

Under the feudal hierarchy, the lives of ordinary soldiers were as worthless as weeds. These expendable soldiers were nothing more than figures on paper — since there was little compensation to pay anyway, everyone was happy as long as the officers' vacant roster spots were filled. Of course, in any army soldiers are in fact expendable, but Huang Shi placed great value on veterans. He remembered a theory from his previous life: one veteran is worth five new recruits. Huang Shi also remembered that in his previous life, the loss of an entire established unit was considered the most devastating kind of loss, and that a massive drain of veterans inflicted extreme damage on an army — damage that was even called "snapping the spine."

The Battle of Nanguan cost the Firefighting Battalion nearly three hundred infantry dead, with just over a hundred more dying later or left disabled. But the surviving soldiers had all been tempered by the fires of battle, and many among them had already fought three or four engagements. They would make qualified NCO material. Huang Shi was already planning to use the remaining sixteen hundred soldiers to train twenty-four hundred new recruits, thereby expanding his Changsheng Island New Army into two battalions.

He quietly weighed the pros and cons in his mind. If he followed Sun Chengzong's suggestion, Huang Shi knew he would undoubtedly receive a great deal of supplies, along with Sun Chengzong's trust and greater prestige — those seemed to be the three benefits.

On the other hand, there were also three drawbacks. First, Huang Shi worried that the army's quality would plummet drastically, and he would likely have to retrace the entire path of the past year — not to mention the question of whether the Later Jin army would still be willing to cooperate as his training partner. Second, his own prestige within the army might suffer. Ever since Huang Shi raised his troops, he had always managed to bring the vast majority of his soldiers home safely, which earned him deep affection and was a major source of Huang Shi's authority. If a battle left his forces decimated, Huang Shi feared the soldiers would feel that "my lord is trading our lives for his career advancement" — and while there was nothing wrong with that by the standards of the era, it would likely cause severe damage to the atmosphere of trust within the army. The final problem was… just how much longer could this old fellow Sun stay in Liaodong anyway?

In summary, Huang Shi knew he had to choose between "prestige at court and among the people" and "military strength." In essence, this was also a choice between "sacrificing the small family to protect the greater family" and "harming the public good to enrich oneself." Either walk the path of Yue Fei, or walk the path of Yuan Shikai.

"This general will do his utmost. Please set your mind at ease, Grand Secretary." Huang Shi had already made up his mind. He then promptly invited Sun Chengzong to inspect the Firefighting Battalion and several other units, and Sun Chengzong gladly accepted the invitation.

"Grand Secretary, please look — my Firefighting Battalion already has two thousand sets of iron armor, all thanks to your efforts." Huang Shi had long resolved to seize the initiative. With a face full of sincerity, he repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Sun Chengzong: "The Grand Secretary spoke well of this general before His Majesty, and as a result His Majesty allocated another thousand sets of iron armor. The victory at Nanguan depended entirely on this armor, and it also saved the lives of several hundred soldiers."

Hearing that Tianqi had been so obedient this time brought a faint smile to Sun Chengzong's face, but then his thoughts turned to last year's capital review. A great number of his idiot Donglin colleagues had already fallen from power, and it was certain that the disastrous defeat at Guangning would be retried. Stirred by these troubled thoughts, the smile at the corner of Sun Chengzong's mouth froze. The old man's face also took on a somewhat bleak expression.

The Donglin Party's consistent political strategy was to denounce all dissenters as treacherous sycophants. The Donglin Party's big boss Zuo Guangdou had a famous saying: "If not a fellow traveler, then an enemy!" In any case, the Donglin Party always figured that if the sky fell, Sun Chengzong would still be there to hold it up. At first, Wei Zhongxian, awed by the Donglin Party's power, had even sent gift money to Zuo and Yang, but he was arrogantly rebuffed by the Donglin Party. Subsequently, the Qi, Chu, and Zhe Parties and not a few fence-sitting officials were all half-destroyed by the Donglin Party. To preserve their careers, they all flocked to Wei Zhongxian. Once the Donglin Party drew its blade against Wei Zhongxian, the so-called Eunuch Party formally stepped onto the political stage. This Eunuch Party was less a group with political aspirations than an anti-Donglin Party alliance tightly united around the core of Eunuch Wei. If one had to name any political ambition of the Eunuch Party, it was simply: "The Donglin Party must be brought down!"

These Qi, Chu, and Zhe Party members who defected to Wei Zhongxian were of course cursed by the Donglin Party as "shameless villains." As far as Huang Shi was personally concerned, he could well understand the Donglin Party's anger. The current situation was similar to the company in his previous life — the Donglin Party, the Qi Party, the Zhe Party, and so on were naturally all senior white-collar workers of Great Ming Ltd., each one a master's or doctorate holder who had toiled for many years to get there, with at least a bachelor's degree at minimum. It was understandable that so many elite members would engage in some internal strife now and then.

But those Qi, Chu, and Zhe Party fellows clearly had no sportsmanship. When they found they couldn't outplay the Donglin Party, they started playing dirty. What was Wei Zhongxian anyway? Just an old man who cleaned the house of Chairman Zhu Youxiao. Physically disabled and an illiterate who hadn't even finished elementary school, yet now he was on the verge of riding roughshod over the Donglin Party's doctors and masters. These elites were naturally filled with hatred, and naturally looked down even more on those degenerate colleagues who went to cling to the thick legs of an illiterate old man.

Unfortunately, for all the Donglin Party's calculations, they never remembered that Wei Zhongxian was not only the old man who emptied the chairman's chamber pot — he was also Zhu Youxiao's wet nurse's husband. More importantly, from the fifth year of Tianqi onward, apart from Sun Chengzong toiling bitterly in Liaoxi, the Donglin Party members who stayed in the capital did nothing at all. Every day, besides internal feuding and undermining each other, they spent their time trading curses and brawling in the court, repeatedly turning not-so-terrible situations into utterly disastrous ones. Chairman Zhu Youxiao figured that since they were all drawing salaries and doing no work anyway, he might as well use his own nanny's husband! At the very least, that saved on wages.

According to the unwritten rules of Great Ming Ltd., internal feuding was supposed to stop at forcing the opponent to resign. Going any further than that was a foul. But Old Man Wei was not an employee — he was a dog of Chairman Zhu Youxiao. Eunuchs have no human rights. So the Donglin Party had always wanted to send Old Man Wei to the execution ground, and now Old Man Wei, riding high on his power, showed no mercy and was single-mindedly determined to exterminate the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party could now only shout frantically, "Wei Zhongxian, you've used excessive force in self-defense!" while scrambling everywhere to find political achievements to win back Chairman Zhu's heart.

Unfortunately, in the five years from the first year of Tianqi to the sixth year of Tianqi, apart from bringing down Xiong Tingbi and tolerating Wang Huazhen's loss of the entire Liaodong, the Donglin Party did nothing of substance. Yet historically, Dongjiangzhen successively achieved victories at Lushun, Zhendian, and elsewhere. Mao Wenlong had already taken over two thousand heads, and now with Huang Shi the transmigrator joining, Dongjiang's battle record had nearly doubled compared to history. Moreover, in the original history, Dongjiang's head count came mainly from Mobile Corps Commander warfare killing Han troops, with field battle results accounting for less than thirty percent. In Huang Shi's timeline, Dongjiang Army's field battle results already made up fifty percent of the total. And this still did not count the battle record from the Battle of Nanguan.

Because the Donglin Party in the two prefectures of Lai and Deng never treated the soldiers as human beings, day after day "misplacing" Dongjiangzhen's supplies, Dongjiangzhen and the Shandong civil official clique had accumulated deep enmity. Mao Wenlong stubbornly refused to share the fruits of victory with them.

The Donglin Party in power had never been able to reap any benefit from the victories in Liaodong, which made the Donglin Party extremely eager for a passable victory in Liaoxi, or to scrape some credit from Dongjiang so that… Sun Chengzong also hoped for this.

After inspecting the Firefighting Battalion, Huang Shi also brought out the Vanguard and Jie Battalions, as well as Shang Kexi's naval battalion.

Geng Zhongming, bursting with martial vigor, was the first to leap out: "Your subordinate Mao Youjie pays respects to Lord Sun."

Sun Chengzong saw that this young military officer had a resonant voice and was also possessed of thick brows and large eyes. His age seemed comparable to Huang Shi's… Huang Shi, of course, was beyond comparison, but for Geng Zhongming to have risen so young to the rank of acting Regional Military Commissioner in charge of a new recruit battalion was no small feat. Sun Chengzong took quite a liking to him in his heart and personally offered him a few words of encouragement.

Geng Zhongming was naturally overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. When had he ever had the chance to speak with the teacher of the reigning Emperor? He kowtowed repeatedly, banging his helmet noisily against the ground: "Your subordinate engraves Lord Sun's teachings upon his heart. Your subordinate will certainly exert himself to the utmost under Lord Huang's command to slay the rebels. Please set your mind at ease, Lord Sun."

While Geng Zhongming was stealing the spotlight, Shang Kexi had been stewing on the side. When Sun Chengzong finally walked up to him, Shang Kexi hurriedly performed the grand salute and then, unable to contain himself, began boasting: "Your subordinate Mao Kexi commands the Zhangshan Island naval battalion. Your subordinate was the very first to come reinforce Lord Huang! And what your subordinate brought were three hundred elite soldiers, every one of them personally trained by your subordinate — enough to send fifteen hundred rabble fleeing, discarding their armor and helmets."

At first, Sun Chengzong smiled and said a few words of "good," but as he listened, he increasingly felt something was off. When Shang Kexi spoke of "fifteen hundred rabble," he also shot a fierce glare at Geng Zhongming beside him, and the latter glared back just as fiercely. Shang Kexi sneered and continued: "When your subordinate came to Jinzhou, he also took fifteen heads and recaptured two sea vessels, burning over a hundred Jianzhou slave warships. For this achievement, Lord Huang allocated two hundred sets of armor to your subordinate. Your subordinate ventures to say that he is no shameless villain who receives rewards without merit."

Shang Kexi was closer to the typical military officer image in the minds of civil officials — unable to hide whatever was on his mind. Huang Shi, on the other hand, was more akin to what civil officials called a scholar-general. So Sun Chengzong did not take offense. He glanced slightly sideways at Huang Shi, and Huang Shi gave a light nod. With a clear understanding in his heart, Sun Chengzong, after finishing the inspection, invited both Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming to the banquet together. During the meal, he even condescended to toast the two young men, which thoroughly intimidated these two who had never seen such high society, and they repeatedly declared they would certainly pull together and never undermine each other on the battlefield.

The current officers of the Vanguard Battalion were not even qualified to attend. Huang Shi planned to use them first as a city garrison unit. Having lost its officer corps, the Vanguard Battalion's field combat effectiveness was practically zero.

After the banquet ended, Huang Shi had his personal guards arrange Sun Chengzong's lodging, while he himself continued chatting at the table with Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming. Once Sun Chengzong had left, a layer of estrangement settled between them again. It seemed that when they had promised not to undermine each other, their blood had been running hot; once that surge of emotion cooled, they realized they still detested each other deeply.

How to make two people fight? You hint to each of them separately that you will back him up. After mulling it over briefly, Huang Shi asked Geng Zhongming: "Brother Mao Youjie, what exactly is going on between you and Brother Mao Kexi?"

Geng Zhongming cast a sidelong glance at Shang Kexi, who had already slammed his bowl onto the table and was sitting bolt upright, waiting to hear Geng Zhongming's reply. Geng Zhongming thought for a long while and felt that this was perhaps not the moment for a complete falling-out. Such a scene was probably not what the just-departed Lord Sun Chengzong or Lord Huang before him wished to see: "In reply to Lord Huang, the heads were distributed by Regional Military Commissioner Mao Yongshi. I'm afraid Brother Mao Kexi and Brother Mao Yongshi have some misunderstanding — a misunderstanding."

Shang Kexi had long been drawing in breath, poised to strike. The moment Geng Zhongming's words fell, he shouted: "There's no misunderstanding! It was agreed beforehand that we would ambush and you would pursue, and in the end the heads would be split equally. Then you reneged on the fifty heads you owed my elder brother and me. It's obvious you used your relationship with Mao Yongshi to bully us. Out of three hundred sixty-one heads, you brothers and Mao Yongshi each took one hundred fifty, and gave us only sixty. And in the end you deceived our foster father and spoke ill of us!"

Geng Zhongming's face instantly flushed as red as Lord Guan's, and the veins on his neck bulged with fury: "How is there such a thing?! Clearly you thought that once the agreement was set you could slack off. When you saw the Jianzhou slaves fleeing, you didn't pursue. Those heads were all retrieved by my hard work. Why should they be split with you? Brother Mao Yongshi is fair in his rewards and punishments — giving you sixty was already generous. If it weren't for us covering for you brothers in front of our foster father…"

Shang Kexi hurled his bowl straight at Geng Zhongming. Geng Zhongming nimbly dodged the attack, yet still finished his last sentence: "You two should have been paraded through the camp pierced by arrows long ago." After speaking, he saw Shang Kexi had already thrown his whole body at him. Geng Zhongming flipped the table to block Shang Kexi's full-body lunge, then sprang from his stool and counter-charged.

By the time Huang Shi's personal guards pulled the two apart, they were still desperately stretching their legs out to kick at each other. Even after being dragged a considerable distance apart, Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming were still hoarsely roaring curses at one another.

Huang Shi's face at this moment was as dark as a great bluestone underwater. He slammed the table fiercely: "Mao Youjie, Mao Kexi — do you two still have any regard for your general?"

The two men jumped in fright and hastily knelt to beg forgiveness. Huang Shi scolded them a couple more times, then pointed at Shang Kexi and shouted: "This general had intended to help you reconcile. I never imagined you would dare be so insolent before a superior officer!"

"Brother Mao Yongshi was originally this general's sworn brother, a bond of gold and orchid. He is my oath brother to whom I would entrust my very life. I absolutely do not believe that Brother Mao Yongshi would practice favoritism."

Huang Shi grew angrier as he spoke, and finally bellowed harshly: "Mao Kexi shows no respect for his superiors. Attendants! Drag him out and give him forty military strokes!"

Hong Antong led men to seize the ashen-faced Shang Kexi. Only then did this fellow and Geng Zhongming realize that Huang Shi and Kong Youde had once been sworn brothers. Shang Kexi could only lament in his heart that after fleeing from Liaodong to Liaonan, he had still fallen into the hands of an enemy. As Huang Shi's personal guards moved to seize him, Hong Antong kept watching Geng Zhongming. Seeing him standing there dumbly with no reaction, Hong Antong stealthily kicked him.

After being lightly kicked, Geng Zhongming shuddered and snapped out of his daze of encountering a kinsman. He glanced left and right, and seeing that no one had noticed Hong Antong's little move, he hastily dropped to one knee and loudly pleaded for leniency on Shang Kexi's behalf: "Your subordinate dares to beg Lord Huang to quell his anger. This is a time when men are needed. Your subordinate also bears fault in this matter. If Lord Huang must punish, then punish your subordinate as well."

Huang Shi kept a stern face and postured for a while longer. Geng Zhongming naturally seized the opportunity and played along, repeatedly pleading for Shang Kexi with earnest words, his expression frantic with urgency, his tone utterly heart-wrenching — as if his friendship with Shang Kexi ran as deep as the ocean.

Seeing that the act had been performed long enough, Huang Shi waved for his personal guards to release Shang Kexi. Once everyone was seated again, Shang Kexi was naturally as docile as a toad stunned by thunder. After a while longer, Shang Kexi also felt awkward and found an excuse to ask to leave. Huang Shi did not urge him to stay and let him go.

"Brother Mao Yongshi and I share a bond forged in life and death. From Sanchahe to Lushun, we went through life and death together." After Shang Kexi left, the atmosphere between Huang Shi and Geng Zhongming grew warm again. Huang Shi recounted many of their shared experiences to Geng Zhongming, who listened with both surprise and delight. With such a personal connection, he would naturally fare well in Liaonan.

Kong Youde had never spoken of his oath brotherhood with Huang Shi, because deep in his heart there still lurked a faint sense of grievance. He always felt that he should not have been left so far behind by Huang Shi, who back then had understood nothing. This time, the Liaonan situation had arisen suddenly, and when Mao Wenlong dispatched Geng Zhongming to Liaonan, Kong Youde was still on the front lines at Kuandian. So Geng Zhongming had originally known nothing of the personal friendship between Huang Shi and Kong Youde.

After asking Geng Zhongming's age, Huang Shi found that he was less than a year older than the other man. He smiled and said: "In private from now on, let us address each other as brothers."

Such faction-building within the army was very common. Although Geng Zhongming was Mao Wenlong's adopted son and stationed at Dongjiang headquarters, which seemed to make him more of a direct lineage member, Mao Wenlong had already adopted four or five thousand orphans — so Geng Zhongming's status as one adopted son hardly seemed worth much. Huang Shi, on the other hand, was like the rising sun in the Dongjiang Army, already faintly ranked behind the old retainer captain Chen Jisheng as Mao Wenlong's second most capable lieutenant. In terms of achievements, he was indisputably the foremost in Dongjiang aside from Mao Wenlong himself. Therefore, Geng Zhongming hastily agreed. To build a good relationship with a great general like Huang Shi was truly a blessing one could only wish for.

Their subsequent conversation became much more intimate. Huang Shi said to Geng Zhongming: "This time I put some pressure on Mao Kexi. By pleading for him, you've made him owe you another favor. I expect he won't make trouble for you anymore."

Seeing that Geng Zhongming was about to express his thanks again, Huang Shi smiled and told him to dispense with further formalities: "While you are here with me, you can set your mind at ease. Mao Yongshi is my elder brother, and his brothers are my brothers."

"Mao Yongshi is my elder brother — I must at least give Mao Youjie some face." After sending Geng Zhongming off under personal guard escort, Huang Shi slipped away to placate Shang Kexi. Thumping his chest and taking it all upon himself, he declared: "Since my Brother Mao Yongshi owes you fifty heads, I'll make them up to you this time. For my sake, just don't make things difficult for them anymore…"

On the seventeenth day of the second month of the fifth year of Tianqi, a large Later Jin army was discovered on the official road north of Jinzhou.