Chapter 185: Section 2: Cooperation

In the fourth month of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, military funds, grain, and cloth from Dengzhou were once again shipped to Changsheng Island. This time, far more than a mere twenty thousand were transported — now the entire payroll and provisions for the Left Brigade of Dongjiang Town were to be delivered here, then distributed through Huang Shi’s hands. A beaming Huang Shi ushered Zhen Yucun, the gentleman from the Laideng Military Defense Circuit, to the seat of honor. He hastily called for his personal guards to serve tea and refreshments. Once the steaming tea arrived, Huang Shi, still all smiles, extended his hand in a respectful gesture: “My lord Zhen, please have some tea.”

By now, Huang Shi was after all a military officer of the upper second rank, more or less able to stand on equal footing with Zhen Yucun, a civil official of the lower sixth rank. Besides, Huang Shi was now the dignified Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent of the Great Ming. Although Zhen Yucun was a civil official, he still had to give Huang Shi some face, so he no longer put on the airs he had during his previous two visits to Changsheng Island.

Huang Shi and Zhen Yucun exchanged utterly vacuous pleasantries like “Lovely weather today… ha ha ha,” while patiently awaiting the inspection report from the Changsheng Island main camp. As he sipped his tea, Huang Shi kept stealing glances at the other man’s expression. This time, Lord Zhen Yucun seemed rather displeased. In the previous two years, when that fellow had come to Changsheng Island, he had never furrowed his brow the way he did today.

This peculiar phenomenon caused Huang Shi some puzzlement, until Yang Zhiyuan delivered the warehouse report and Huang Shi suddenly saw the light… He lightly flicked the slip of paper Yang Zhiyuan had brought. The fixed payroll for the Dongjiang Left Brigade was sixty thousand taels of silver. According to the old rule Zhang Pan and Huang Shi had set with Chen Jisheng back then, ten thousand taels of that belonged to the Dongjiang headquarters. So the Dongjiang Left Brigade only had fifty thousand. However, this shipment included a large and varied assortment of imperial rewards for Changsheng Island and Jinzhou. Furthermore, the fixed pay for the Dongjiang army was only half that of Guanning, which is to say ten qian per soldier. Mao Wenlong had kicked up a fuss about this many times, but to no effect. This time, Tianqi had also issued internal funds to supplement the Liaonan soldiers by ten qian, bringing them all in line with the Liaoxi standard of one tael and four qian per soldier.

All told, the sum came to a staggering one hundred fifty thousand taels of silver. But the slip from Yang Zhiyuan stated that one hundred twenty thousand taels had been received — that is, eighty percent. As for the cloth and grain, they too were uniformly at eighty percent this time. All of it was ten percent more than on those two previous occasions.

Huang Shi carefully pushed Yang Zhiyuan’s receipt slip before Zhen Yucun: “My lord Zhen, regarding this grain and silver pay…”

“Lost at sea.” Zhen Yucun answered curtly. The expression on his face was as sour as could be, the implicit subtext being that Huang Shi had better not push his luck — a twenty percent loss-at-sea rate was already giving him plenty of face.

“Yes, I understand.” Huang Shi smiled harmlessly. He picked up a brush and wrote down the normal figure beneath the receipt slip — that is, seventy percent of the issued amount — then asked with an innocent expression: “My lord Zhen, has the sea been particularly calm lately? How is it that only twenty percent was lost at sea this time?”

Although Huang Shi’s tone and expression held no trace of sarcasm, Zhen Yucun’s face instantly turned the color of dark purple sauce. His full forehead and broad jaw now looked… exactly like a large piece of pig’s liver.

Yet Huang Shi seemed not to notice that Zhen Yucun was on the verge of exploding with shame and rage. He let out a soft “Ah,” and slapped his thigh: “It must be that an extra ten percent was added for wastage when loading the ships at Dengzhou. My lord Zhen and the various gentlemen of Dengzhou are truly considerate. I thank you on behalf of all the officers and men.”

With that, Huang Shi rose to his feet and bowed deeply to Zhen Yucun. The latter, by now, was so furious that his fingers trembled involuntarily. The words “Huang Shi, don’t get cocky just because you’ve had some success” rolled back and forth in Zhen Yucun’s chest and throat. Several times, the cup of tea in his hand nearly flew from his grasp to splash Huang Shi. But the moment he recalled the illustrious reputation of the man before him, Zhen Yucun had no choice but to forcibly suppress the rage in his heart. The civil official bloc in Shandong all knew that Huang Shi was now a great favorite before the Emperor, and he even held the right to submit sealed memorials directly. Provoking him would clearly bring no good.

Thinking that the silver had already been given to Huang Shi, Zhen Yucun decided not to quibble over this verbal sparring. He took a deep breath and began to compose himself, intending to say a few magnanimous, face-saving words.

“The gentlemen of Laideng are so considerate of the frontier soldiers, it truly moves me to tears of gratitude. I shall certainly memorialize His Majesty to request commendation for you all.”

Upon hearing Huang Shi’s next words, Zhen Yucun’s mood improved considerably. The money was already spent and there was no help for it; gaining a good reputation wasn’t bad either. At the very least, it would make his performance evaluation at the Ministry of Personnel look much better. This Huang Shi, it seemed, was far more adept at handling people than that boor Mao Wenlong: “Military Commander Huang is too kind. To toil for the nation and share His Majesty’s burdens is, after all, our duty.”

“My lord Zhen’s lofty integrity fills me with admiration, admiration indeed.” Huang Shi grinned as he listened to the old fellow’s self-praise, then clapped his hands to summon Yang Zhiyuan, who was waiting nearby: “You there.”

When Yang Zhiyuan walked over and bent down to receive his orders, Huang Shi handed the receipt slip back to him, pointed at the row of figures he had written at the bottom, and said: “Anything exceeding this number, have it all moved back onto the grain ships.”

Yang Zhiyuan answered without a moment’s hesitation: “At your command, my lord.” He turned and left to direct the porters.

Zhen Yucun, however, was stunned. Before he could ask, Huang Shi rushed to explain: “Although you gentlemen have the best intentions, the military funds allocated by the imperial court have fixed regulations. This ten percent surcharge for wastage would likely be difficult to account for, I fear. It’s improper, quite improper. Please, my lord Zhen, take it back.”

Zhen Yucun stroked his beard and fell into thought, his eyes rolling around several times: “Then will Military Commander Huang still memorialize His Majesty?”

“Of course.” Huang Shi thumped his chest so hard it boomed, and vowed solemnly: “My lord Zhen, rest assured. Although I cannot accept this surcharge, I will certainly inform His Majesty of the goodwill of you gentlemen.”

“In that case, Military Commander Huang should keep this silver.”

“How could that be proper?” Huang Shi grew agitated at these words and immediately shot to his feet.

Zhen Yucun extended a hand and pressed downward, gesturing for Huang Shi to sit. Once Huang Shi was seated, Zhen Yucun said leisurely: “Military Commander Huang may not be aware, but we colleagues specifically loaded an extra twenty percent for Changsheng Island as a wastage surcharge. That is what ensured eighty percent of the provisions could be delivered here. So even if we took this ten percent back, it still wouldn’t be enough. Besides, on the return voyage, there might be further losses at sea.”

“This, this, what is to be done?” Huang Shi felt he was vaguely grasping Zhen Yucun’s intent, but still needed the other party to confirm it.

“We local officials have it hard too.” Zhen Yucun sighed with feeling: “Adding a wastage surcharge without authorization is hard to account for, yet if the delivered amount falls short, we get impeached by your military garrisons. It’s hard, truly hard.”

“My lord Zhen, I understand your difficulties very well, very well indeed.” Huang Shi nodded his head like a chicken pecking at grain: “I wonder if there is anything I can do for you gentlemen?”

“Military Commander Huang has rendered great service to the nation,” Zhen Yucun said, raising a thumb and clicking his tongue in praise. Then he coughed: “We colleagues in Laideng all hope to provide Military Commander Huang with full provisions, so that the officers and men may recover Liaodong at an early date.”

“The concern for state and people shown by you gentlemen is truly admirable.” Huang Shi basically understood now what the other party wanted. The other side had clearly offered the benefit; now they were waiting for Laideng to ask for a favor in return.

“This silver and grain need not be sent back this time. But I would ask Military Commander Huang to put in a few words for us, to explain to His Majesty the difficulties of sea transport,” Zhen Yucun paused, then pointed toward the direction of Dongjiang: “Didn’t the silver and grain shipped to Marshal Mao also suffer thirty percent loss at sea? So I would also ask Military Commander Huang to help us attest that when the silver, grain, and cloth left the Dengzhou warehouse this time, a twenty percent wastage surcharge was indeed added.”

Impassioned, Huang Shi once again thumped his chest until it boomed: “You gentlemen show such concern for the frontier soldiers, it truly moves me to tears of gratitude. This memorial will of course be written. No matter what, I cannot let you gentlemen be unable to close your accounts.”

“Ah, in that case, many thanks to Military Commander Huang — bring a brush.” Zhen Yucun grabbed the brush and scribbled on the paper, muttering to himself: “If shipping ten yields seven, then shipping fifteen should yield about ten…”

“Military Commander Huang, you have rendered great service to the nation. If you memorialize the Son of Heaven to request a fifty percent wastage surcharge, I believe His Majesty will not deny it.” Zhen Yucun handed the slip to Huang Shi. On it was written a figure of thirty thousand taels. Pointing at this number, Zhen Yucun said: “Military Commander Huang can mention Laideng when you memorialize His Majesty. Once your dispatch arrives, we will immediately send another ship to make up the shortfall from this loss at sea — thirty thousand taels of silver, plus grain and cloth — all delivered to Military Commander Huang. What do you say?”

“In that case… I am truly grateful to you gentlemen.” Huang Shi said with emotion: “If I can achieve any merit here in Liaodong in the future, I will never dare forget the strategic support of the gentlemen of Shandong!”

The next day, after seeing off Zhen Yucun and his party of grain officials, Huang Shi began to worry about how to distribute the pay and provisions. Being the Vice Regional Commander of the Dongjiang Left Brigade was no longer the same as being the Assistant Regional Commander of Changsheng Island. The military pay for Zhang Pan, Shang Keyi, Shang Kexi, and the others certainly couldn’t be withheld entirely. But if he issued pay to them, then it would also be hard not to issue pay to the troops directly under his own command.

Following the principle of setting aside a problem if he couldn’t handle it well for the moment, Huang Shi decided to think this over slowly. The silver was in his hands, after all. For now, Huang Shi had temporarily put aside the issue of nurturing the enemy. His current thinking was to first cripple the Later Jin completely, or at the very least drive the Later Jin bandit group out of Liaodong before considering the problem of keeping the threat alive.

After the Battle of Nanguan, the situation for the Later Jin army in Liaonan had deteriorated to the extreme. Nurhaci, heedless of anything else, had withdrawn all reinforcing troops for the sake of Liaobei and Liaodong. The Bordered Red Banner was sent to Fuzhou before its wounds had even healed, while the Plain Red Banner was also holed up in Haizhou licking its wounds. The Later Jin had merely transferred the fifteen niru of the Bordered White Banner originally stationed in Haizhou to Gaizhou.

The Plain Blue Banner had been nearly crippled; the most optimistic estimates said they wouldn’t recover partial combat effectiveness until October. The Plain White Banner and Bordered Yellow Banner, which had suffered lighter damage, had no time to regroup before immediately heading north to reinforce Khorchin Mongol and the Plain Yellow Banner. It seemed Nurhaci was betting that the Ming armies in both Liaonan and Liaodong were temporarily incapable of attacking. But even so, Nurhaci still didn’t have a single banner’s worth of reserves left.

As far as Huang Shi was concerned, Nurhaci’s handling of Liaonan wasn’t too bad. To be precise, Nurhaci had once again correctly guessed the current state of Changsheng Island. Before Huang Shi finished training his new recruits — that is, within roughly three months — he would have no offensive capability. Huang Shi didn’t know whether Nurhaci had guessed the situation in Liaodong correctly, but judging from the tone of Mao Wenlong’s letters… the Dongjiang headquarters and the Right Brigade seemed quite full of fighting spirit.

As for the Mongols in Liaobei, Huang Shi believed that as long as Lin Danhan wasn’t foolish enough to seek a decisive battle with the Later Jin, everything would be fine.

Right now, the Later Jin had already drawn troops from Liaoxi to cope with the pressure, but they still couldn’t escape the predicament of fighting on three strategic fronts: Liaodong, Liaonan, and Liaobei. As long as this situation could be maintained until the new army on Changsheng Island was trained, that moment would be the death knell for the Later Jin bandit group.

Huang Shi was also quite confident in Lin Danhan’s likely strategy. Historically, that fellow would flee the moment he saw Hong Taiji — a classic example of utter uselessness. But the significance of the Mongols in the late Ming was merely deterrence. As long as Lin Danhan’s force existed in Liaobei, the Later Jin’s two Yellow Banners and the Khorchin Mongols would have to remain there to guard against him.

Liu Qingyang had just rushed back from Japan. He had a major issue on which he needed to personally request instructions from Huang Shi. But before he could speak, Huang Shi began rambling to him about the problem of military pay.

“Silver is something you can’t eat when hungry, nor drink when thirsty. If I issue military pay, then barring merchants from entering Liaonan becomes meaningless.” Huang Shi hoped that Liu Qingyang, an economic expert, could devise a system akin to a planned economy. The population of Liaonan was still not very large; Huang Shi wondered if it was possible to roughly calculate each person’s consumption to implement unified purchasing and distribution, or a rationing system.

“If I may be so bold as to guess, is my lord concerned about military intelligence being leaked?”

“Brother Liu, you truly know my innermost thoughts.” Huang Shi never missed any opportunity to win people over. He sighed and confided his worries: “Not only must we guard against merchants fishing for information, we must also guard against soldiers being bribed. In the past, even if my men on Changsheng Island had silver, there was nowhere to spend it. Even if Jianzhou slave spies wanted to bribe them, they had no opening. After all, they couldn’t carry sacks of rice to bribe my soldiers. But once we lift the restrictions on silver within the army, and soldiers can use it to buy all sorts of things, I fear some will be bribed at high prices by the Jianzhou slaves.”

“My lord’s concerns are extremely valid.” Liu Qingyang racked his brains for a long time, but didn’t seem to come up with any good ideas: “But Liaonan is so large; unified purchasing of goods would likely be very difficult. And this military pay also belongs to others; not issuing it would probably be hard to justify.”

Seeing this, Huang Shi did not press him further: “Brother Liu, on this return trip, is there some urgent matter?”

“There is an urgent matter.” Liu Qingyang shook his head: “My lord, I’m afraid we can no longer do business with Japan.”

…

On the same day, in Liaobei, among the Khorchin Mongol tribe.

“Great Khan, Great Khan!” A Mongol soldier came running, shouting his report: “The Jianzhou army has arrived, led by the Old Khan of Jianzhou’s eighth son, Hong Taiji.”

Seated high in the center of the great tent was none other than Lin Danhan, the current Genghis Khan officially enfeoffed by the Ming dynasty. The Ming court had given Lin Danhan four hundred thousand taels of silver as a reward the previous year, demanding that he send troops to attack the Khorchin Mongols, the diehard allies of the Later Jin.

The Khorchin Mongols were the first Mongol tribe to defect to the Later Jin regime. When the Jianzhou Gioro fought the Jianzhou Yehe, Khorchin had sided with the Yehe. But after being soundly thrashed by the Gioro, they immediately switched banners and allied with Nurhaci. At that time, Hong Taiji was the Gioro commander who had beaten Khorchin the hardest, so the Khorchin chieftain married his younger sister to Hong Taiji.

Afterwards, Hong Taiji rendered further meritorious service in the various campaigns of the Jianzhou’s rise. So, in their terror, the Khorchin married the old chieftain’s eldest daughter to Hong Taiji as well. Aunt and niece served one husband together.

In Huang Shi’s original history, when Lin Danhan besieged Khorchin, it was also Hong Taiji who came to their aid. Lin Danhan had also heard of Hong Taiji’s exploits in the Jianzhou’s rise and his fame from the Battle of Sarhu. After he turned and fled, the old Khorchin chieftain married his twelve-year-old youngest daughter to Hong Taiji as well. In Huang Shi’s previous life, this little girl would later become Hong Taiji’s Consort Zhuang and Fulin’s mother.

This time, after the arrival of Hong Taiji, that fellow reeking of overpowering charisma, many of Lin Danhan’s ministers immediately began urging him to make a “strategic” withdrawal, just as they had in Huang Shi’s original history.

Amid the incessant urging of this group, the current Genghis Khan remained silent, showing no sign of approval or disapproval. This generation’s Genghis Khan had a rather interesting logic: parents and kin were not as dear as wives. Lin Danhan had distributed all his tribesmen, livestock, and armies to his various wives, senior and junior, to manage.

In Huang Shi’s previous life, Lin Danhan had relied on his ability to flee a thousand li at a time to evade Hong Taiji’s repeated pursuits. Yet, after escaping safely, he fell ill and died. As a result, his multitudes of wives were all drawn in by the overpowering charisma emanating from Hong Taiji, and they scrambled over each other to marry him, bringing their tribesmen and livestock with them.

Reading that history in the past had filled Huang Shi with deep emotion. Indeed, real history was even more absurdly wish-fulfilling than fiction. That kind of overpowering charisma was truly something else. After Nurhaci died, Hong Taiji merely had to radiate his charisma and over a hundred thousand Mongols became his followers. After Lin Danhan died, Hong Taiji just had to shake his tiger-like frame, and women and armies came shaking right to him. Truly, with one blast of overpowering charisma, brave followers kowtow and pledge allegiance, and wealthy women throw themselves into his embrace.

After arriving in this world, Huang Shi had also indulged in wishful fantasies about Lin Danhan’s group of widows, but by now he had long abandoned such thoughts. The reputation of Mongol women in the late Ming was utterly rotten. In this era, many Han merchants went to the Mongol steppe to do business. The moment they left the pass, Mongol women would volunteer to be temporary wives to earn some living expenses. When Huang Shi was at Shanhai Pass, the local Shanxi merchants had boasted smugly — even the assistants they brought to the steppe had each bedded dozens of Mongol women.

As the exalted Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent of the Great Ming, even if he merely took a Mongol woman as a concubine, Huang Shi would certainly be denounced into a cripple by the censors. Besides, the Mongols of this era still revered rivers as deities and never bathed once in their entire lives. Also, according to what the Shanxi merchants said, the moment those Mongol women took off their trousers, the whole tent would reek of salted fish and goat — which was precisely the reason and origin of why the Mongol brethren were cursed as "stinking Tatars" by the Han brethren in the late Ming. Thinking of this, Huang Shi could not help but admire Huang Taiji's endurance — truly, the capable are capable of anything.

The last Genghis Khan's fury erupted without the slightest warning. He angrily cut short the rambling of the defeatists: "I heard that in the south, Huang Taiji was beaten into utter rout by a fledgling Han man! And the Han forces were even fewer than the Jianzhou Army!"

Lin Danhan waved his hand heroically: "Slaughter the cattle and sheep, feast to your hearts' content — tomorrow we shall capture Huang Taiji alive without fail."