Chapter 228: Section 43: Rushing to the Rescue

Huang Shi issued orders for the entire army to immediately begin preparations for the expedition, while also directing that a portion of the stored winter grain be drawn from the warehouses. At the same time, he sent word to Fuzhou, instructing He Dingyuan to reduce the number of troops deployed, to immediately return the other camps in Liaonan to their respective garrisons, and to ship any surplus military grain back to Changsheng Island without delay.

At present, Changsheng Island's main objective had been set on the Ningyuan direction, but Huang Shi still needed to arrange matters concerning Fuzhou. It would be a great pity not to make use of all the preliminary work Wu Mu had done. Besides, retaking Gaizhou now seemed almost effortless, but how to maintain a defense in Gaizhou was a major problem. Moreover, Gaizhou lay at the edge of the hilly region of the Liaodong Peninsula; advancing from Gaizhou toward Haizhou would mean entering the Northeast Plain, where logistics could no longer rely on sea routes.

Once on the plain, the Later Jin cavalry would find it far easier to exploit their tactical mobility advantage than in the peninsula's hilly terrain, while Huang Shi's infantry would still be heavily dependent on the official roads. In Huang Shi's original plan, the time had not yet come to conduct operations around Gaizhou. As if sensing Huang Shi's concerns, Zhao Manxiong asked cautiously, "My lord, should we also go to the horse market and purchase some horses? Mobile Corps Commander He has always been eager to form a cavalry battalion."

Seizing the opportunity of Huang Shi's occupation of Fuzhou, Mao Wenlong had petitioned the Tianqi Emperor, requesting permission for Dongjiang Town to open a horse market for trading with the Mongols, allowing Dongjiang Town to trade sea salt and medicinal materials for Mongol horses. As a result, the Dongjiang horse market opened several months earlier than recorded in the original history. Over these days, however, the Dongjiang Left Division had not traded for a single horse. The Shang brothers and Zhang Pan were all busy training their pikemen and naturally unwilling to spend money on horses. And Zhang Minghe had already largely integrated into the Changsheng Island system, so he was even less inclined to trade for horses.

The Dongjiang main force and the Right Division had already traded for over a thousand horses over the past few months. When their horse-transport ships passed by Changsheng Island, the escort personnel on board would often come ashore to beg for a cup of wine. These successive horse ships made He Dingyuan green with envy; he wished he could seize every one of them, and so he was always clamoring to buy horses too. But Bao Jiusun and Yang Zhiyuan both opposed it, and even Liu Qingyang, who occasionally returned from far-off Japan, disapproved of buying horses. Thus, Changsheng Island's small cavalry force steadily dwindled as its horses died off.

According to Changsheng Island's organization, each battalion was supposed to include a cavalry company. This cavalry company originally had two hundred cavalry combat soldiers and two hundred cavalry support soldiers, but during the last reorganization of the Selected Front Battalion, Huang Shi had also cut the two hundred cavalry support soldiers. Now the cavalry company no longer had an independent support unit; all the fodder needed by the horses was handed over to the battalion's support unit to carry. This caused each battalion's cavalry company to completely lose the ability to operate independently away from the battalion.

Without an independent cavalry force, operations on the plain could only proceed by fortress advance. Huang Shi stared at Gaizhou's position on the map and finally shook his head: "No. My Changsheng Island cannot afford to keep horses. As for Gaizhou, send a unit of troops to drive out the Jianzhou slaves, then burn down the surrounding fortresses, tear down every Jianzhou slave banner, and expel the Jianzhou slaves. That can barely count as having half-recovered Gaizhou."

According to Changsheng Island's calculations, the peacetime cost of maintaining one warhorse equaled that of maintaining seven or eight infantrymen, before the cavalry support soldiers were cut. A cavalry company of four hundred men and horses consumed nearly forty percent of a field battalion's maintenance costs. The gunpowder expended during artillery company drills was another major expense; though the artillery company had only two hundred men, it accounted for thirty percent of maintenance costs. The expenses for the two thousand infantrymen in the battalion were merely on par with the artillery company. The gunpowder consumed by arquebusiers was very limited, and they did not practice shooting all day long. Pikemen were the cheapest soldiers to maintain; apart from food and pay, they required virtually no other maintenance costs.

Although Deng Ken was always lavish when drilling the artillery, as if gunpowder cost nothing, at least the improvement in artillery skill was visible to all. But warhorses ate better than men all day long, and ate so much at that, which truly pained the hearts of the cash-strapped Changsheng Island logistics officers. They were the strongest supporters of cutting the cavalry support soldiers, and after those horse units were eliminated, the logistics officers of the old camp breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

"To maintain a cavalry battalion requires at least a thousand warhorses, right? In peacetime they eat a bit less, but on campaign, to keep the horses from losing weight, a four-hundred-jin horse needs twenty jin of grain a day, and you can't make them carry their own supplies. To carry their fodder, you need a batch of packhorses or support soldiers. With that much money, I could maintain at least five infantry battalions without cavalry companies!" Huang Shi's Changsheng Island was nothing like the Later Jin regime that controlled the central Liaoning plain. The Liaonan region, after years of back-and-forth warfare, was already devastated. If they maintained several cavalry battalions, the Changsheng Army would eat itself into poverty without the Later Jin even needing to attack.

The reason Mao Wenlong bought horses was that the proportion of elite troops under his command was not high, so he would rather sacrifice the living standards of ordinary military households to strengthen a small number of crack troops. Huang Shi was taking a different path. As long as morale and courage were roughly comparable, infantry cost only a tenth of cavalry, just like industrialized assembly-line production compared to primitive manual workshops — it was clearly the better approach no matter how you looked at it.

In the final analysis, human life was still the cheapest. Huang Shi had already made up his mind: he would rely on a modern military system to train large numbers of qualified infantry, determined to drown the enemy's small number of elite cavalry in a vast ocean of modern infantry. Comparing infantry to cavalry, it was as a military thinker once said — the more advanced a nation's military system, the more it relies on infantry; conversely, the more backward, the more it relies on cavalry.

Seventeenth day of the twelfth month, fifth year of the Tianqi reign. The beach at Changsheng Island.

Forty seagoing vessels pitched and rolled in the black-blue icy sea. In the boundless, vast expanse of the Liaodong Sea, the enormous hulls, each capable of holding a hundred men, seemed as tiny as a child's toys. One after another, the ships rose and fell on the surging waves, their masts appearing and disappearing amid the towering swells.

Hundreds of small boats struggled forward, battling the waves, ferrying soldiers, weapons, fresh water, and grain from the shore to the seagoing ships in trip after trip. Because Wu Mu had already shipped the hay and warhorses to Fuzhou, Hong Antong's Internal Guard unit could not even muster enough mounts. So Huang Shi decided not to bring horses to Ningyuan; cavalry were of little use in defending a city anyway.

This expedition consisted of seven infantry companies totaling two thousand eight hundred men, eight artillery sections totaling one hundred sixty men, six wrought-iron three-pounder cannons, and two six-pounder cannons. In addition, there was an artillery company's pike squad headquarters unit, and finally Huang Shi's accompanying Internal Guard unit. Altogether, there were over three thousand one hundred officers and men. Huang Shi did not bring support soldiers, because the newly trained engineering units had also been sent to Fuzhou by Wu Mu. The only personnel available for conscription on Changsheng Island now were ordinary military households.

The sailors sent by the Tianjin Garrison were fully capable of handling the loading and unloading required for the voyage. Once they reached Juehua, Huang Shi could conscript local support soldiers. So he decided not to mobilize his own military households; they offered no particular advantage anyway and would only waste grain.

Faintly, Deng Ken could be seen jumping and shouting on the dock. Because of the wind and waves, not only the heavy six-pounder bronze cannons but even the wrought-iron cannons had repeatedly failed to be hoisted onto the small boats. Huang Shi looked up at the sky overhead, the same black-blue as the icy sea. If they could not hoist the cannons onto the ships before dark, they would be unable to set sail today.

The iron cannons, as a military achievement, pleased Huang Shi greatly. But other matters were less satisfactory. Although several thousand taels of silver had been spent and a large number of blacksmiths employed, the mass-produced steel armor that Huang Shi urgently needed had still not been produced. By now, Changsheng Island had established steel hardness grades according to Huang Shi's requirements, because he hoped to apply the new high-carbon steel with its excellent properties to various axles and cutting tools. Unfortunately, working steel was extremely difficult; at the very least, the old iron tools were completely inadequate, and the quality of the newly made steel tools was highly inconsistent. Bao Jiusun believed that only by completely replacing the old-style tools with new ones could they efficiently process Changsheng Island's crucible steel. He estimated this would require at least a year of technical accumulation.

At the time, faced with Bao Jiusun's apology, Huang Shi magnanimously expressed that he was in no hurry at all and was already very satisfied with Commissioner Bao's work. Huang Shi understood: Beijingcheng could not be built in a single night. A mere half-year was still too short, and the failure to complete the technical accumulation for steel processing was entirely understandable.

Watching Deng Ken's busy figure, Huang Shi could not help but begin to recall what simple future tools might be usable. He watched the sliding rods currently in use for a while and felt that perhaps he could sketch a pulley design and have Bao Jiusun try to see if a pulley block could be made, especially a movable pulley block.

But this would surely be water too distant to quench a nearby thirst. Suppressing the anxiety in his heart, Huang Shi said to Wu Mu beside him in as relaxed a tone as possible: "Eunuch Wu, regarding the divided-action strategy I proposed, will you really not reconsider it?"

Huang Shi had originally suggested that Wu Mu go command the military operations in Fuzhou. After all, Eunuch Wu had poured several months of painstaking effort into the plan to recover Gaizhou; not letting him go reap the harvest would surely leave some regrets. But Wu Mu flatly refused. He insisted on sailing across the sea with Huang Shi to Juehua, and then jointly reinforcing Ningyuan.

Upon hearing Huang Shi's question, Wu Mu slowly shook his head. Standing side by side with Huang Shi on the seashore, hands clasped behind his back, Eunuch Wu gazed at the soldiers struggling against the waves, desperately loading the cannons, and sighed as if something were lost: "I have always wished to serve the nation, but I always end up hindering rather than helping, always causing trouble for those doing the real work. It is only thanks to Eunuch Wei's protection and General Huang's forbearance that I can still stand in this position today."

These words made Huang Shi stare blankly. Wu Mu sighed again: "Last night I reflected, and I truly owe General Huang a great deal."

Only then did Huang Shi react. He laughed heartily: "Eunuch Wu, what are you saying? You neither knew that I would return yesterday, nor that I intended to reinforce Ningyuan. Retaking Gaizhou was always going to require careful planning. For you to dare shoulder such a heavy burden on your very first attempt at strategy — your courage is far greater than mine was back then."

"General Huang is truly a magnanimous man." Today, Wu Mu possessed an uncharacteristic depth, and even his expression was very restrained: "But that is not what I was speaking of."

Huang Shi turned his head to look at him, completely failing to grasp Wu Mu's meaning. But since the other man was unwilling to explain himself, Huang Shi did not press further.

"I sent half of General Huang's army to Fuzhou, leaving you with only three thousand officers and men to take to Ningyuan." As he spoke, Wu Mu shook his head again, his expression even more resolute: "I hear that this time the great slave chieftain Nurhaci is personally leading the force, with over fifteen thousand armored troops. It is only natural that I advance and retreat together with General Huang."

When Wu Mu first came to Changsheng Island, Huang Shi had always urged him not to risk his life. But over these few years, Wu Mu had shared Huang Shi's fate in nearly every campaign. So upon hearing this, Huang Shi merely smiled: "Very well. To be able to stand shoulder to shoulder against the enemy with Eunuch Wu — nothing could please me more."

"General Huang." A faint voice drifted over again. A hint of an ambiguous smile suddenly surfaced on Wu Mu's face: "General Huang went to the capital for several months, returned only two days ago, and now must leave again. I have heard that you have a beautiful confidante on the island. Why not go see her?"

Seeing the startled look Huang Shi shot him, Wu Mu grew even more smug: "General Huang need not be so surprised. I know a great many things. That young lady's surname is Wang, is it not?"

"Eunuch Wu's eyes are indeed as sharp as a torch." By now, Huang Shi had roughly figured out the situation. He guessed that Wu Mu had inquired into the Internal Guard's intelligence work. Before departing, Huang Shi had instructed Hong Antong and Li Yunrui not to conceal intelligence from Wu Mu, lest it delay military operations. Since the Internal Guard's routine surveillance of Young Lady Wang had been discovered by this fellow, Huang Shi no longer evaded the issue. He smiled and cupped his hands in salute: "I must ask Eunuch Wu to keep this secret for me."

"That goes without saying." Wu Mu raised his head and puffed out his chest as he accepted Huang Shi's salute. In truth, after seeing the relevant Internal Guard records, he too had kept his mouth tightly shut, not even telling Zhang Gaosheng or Chen Ruike. He glanced at the loading progress: "General Huang may go take a stroll now. I will keep an eye on things here."

"With a great battle imminent, how could I have the leisure for such thoughts?" There was naturally no need now for anyone to stand on the shore watching oysters. Huang Shi was also unwilling to barge rashly into the Wang household, fearing that any gossip might spread and harm them both.

Wu Mu was silent for a moment, then suddenly said in a low voice: "Before I entered the palace, I too had a beautiful confidante. Although I was too poor at the time to afford the betrothal gifts, being able to exchange a few intimate words before each escort mission was still a comfort."

Discussing romantic feelings with a eunuch felt very strange to Huang Shi. Seeing that Huang Shi did not respond, Wu Mu continued on his own: "Before each escort mission, even if there was nothing to say, even if I did not know how long it would be before I returned, even if I feared her family would find out, I would always go and tell her, 'Rest easy, nothing will happen to me.' Though she would still worry, it would ease her mind considerably, wouldn't it?"

After the Internal Guard had withdrawn into the distance, Huang Shi gazed for a while into those dark eyes brimming with anticipation: "Calling you out in such bitter cold, I am truly sorry."

There was no reaction from the other side. Huang Shi smiled: "I must leave for Ningyuan immediately. I will board the ship soon. At most two months, at least one month, and I will certainly return."

"Mm." A barely audible nasal sound finally came in reply.

Just now, when he had sent the Internal Guard to the Wang household to bring her here, Huang Shi had dashed back to his own quarters. This time, upon entering Beijing, he had bought a batch of gifts intended for others, prepared to leave immediately after completing his imperial audience. Huang Shi drew from his bosom a piece of exquisite embroidery. According to a soldier knowledgeable in such matters, this kind of embroidery could be sewn onto the lapel and cuffs of a woman's wide-sleeved jacket, or made into a sewing kit. Huang Shi guessed that a sewing kit might be similar to the shoulder bags used by women in the twentieth century. He gently handed it to the girl before him. She loosened her sleeves, which had been drawn together, and slightly extended her fingertips, reddened from the cold, to take it.

The doll-like, petite girl stroked the vibrant, shimmering embroidery threads, unable to conceal her delight. Huang Shi's heart also felt a warmth. He smiled and asked: "I bought it when I was in the capital. Do you like it?"

Young Lady Wang lowered her head, fiddling with her newly acquired gift, her small lips pressed tightly together. She nodded quickly: "Mm, I like it."

"I'm glad you like it." Huang Shi glanced left and right, his heart already flying back to the dock: "Hurry home now. The weather is so cold; don't catch a chill."

Joseon, Yizhou.

Inside a dilapidated thatched hut, four brothers lay stiffly on the bed, each covered with a thick layer of dry straw. Their eyes were wide open as they stared motionlessly at the ceiling. This was the standard way for military households of the Yizhou Dongjiang Army to pass the winter. Although people of this era did not yet understand the conservation of energy, they had discovered that lying down all day and reducing activity slowed the onset of hunger, and that covering up warmly also conserved grain.

The last time they had gone to Zhenjiang to forage, the eldest and the second eldest had each carried back a sack or two of coarse grain, along with quite a few snakes, frogs, and other small animals. These things, combined with the monthly rations issued by Dongjiang Town, could probably keep them from starving to death. But to achieve their goal of surviving the winter, they would not even casually go out to urinate unless they absolutely could not hold it in.

Some clamor seemed to come from outside the door, growing louder and louder. The youngest boy had been lying down continuously for several days, enduring with all his might. Listening intently for a while, his curiosity was piqued, and he could not resist the urge to go out and see the excitement. The noise outside grew increasingly boisterous. He strained his ears desperately to listen, but unfortunately, he could not make it out clearly. The moment the fourth brother shifted slightly, the rickety wooden bed immediately let out a terrifying creak, piercing the silence of the room.

"Xiao Si, stay put and behave yourself." The eldest brother's authoritative voice rang out, filled with an irresistible force: "Otherwise, you'll be crying hunger again soon."

The room instantly fell silent again. The noise outside was now very loud, yet still very indistinct, as if countless people were shouting from very far away.

"Strike..."

"Strike all the way to..."

"...Shenyang..."

The sounds drifting into the broken hut gradually began to take on meaning. The four inside all held their breath, listening nervously to every sound from outside.

The second brother suddenly let out a great shout: "Strike all the way to Shenyang, eat pork and eat mutton!" He scrambled up from the bed, flinging the dry straw off his body all over the room.

In the instant the second brother leaped up and threw open the door, wild shouts erupted from their neighbors on both sides:

"Grand Commander Mao!"

"It really is Grand Commander Mao!"

"Grand Commander Mao is going to counterattack Liaodong again!"