Chapter 244: Section 1: Faithful Words

On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, at dusk.

The victorious Ming army had largely finished clearing the battlefield. They had captured over fifteen hundred sets of armor and more than two thousand swords, spears, and halberds. The Guanning officers showed little interest in this equipment and were somewhat embarrassed to divide it with Huang Shi, so it all went to the Dongjiang army. The swords, spears, and halberds were one thing, but the armor was truly valuable — it was military-grade equipment, and in principle even frontier combat troops were only issued armor on a per-soldier basis. Even at the Juehua warehouse center, there was little armor in reserve.

After nightfall, in Huang Shi's camp, the staff officers from Changsheng Island tested the weapons, including various firearms from the Guanning army. Some of the matchlock arquebuses stored by the Juehua Guanning army were completely unusable, so Huang Shi had his men check the quality of this batch. The Ming army's arquebuses were modeled on Japanese matchlocks; they were not very heavy and required no stand. If they were usable, Huang Shi planned to ship them back for the auxiliary troops.

Having learned from the previous test of the Lüshun arquebuses, the Changsheng Island staff officers lit the matchlocks and then frantically fled. All three arquebuses tested in succession lived down to expectations and burst their barrels. Deng Ken, Changsheng Island's veteran firearms expert, carefully inspected the arquebuses and reported to Huang Shi that this batch was even more shoddily made than the last — the bores had been reamed only once, twice at most. The powder charge would therefore have to be drastically reduced, or they would explode the moment they were lit.

"Worthless, completely worthless junk. Every last official of our Great Ming's Ministry of Works deserves to be hanged." When Deng Ken used the phrase "our Great Ming," no one around reacted in any particular way, for Deng Ken's use of this term had long since become a common occurrence.

Huang Shi had also brought back some three-barreled hand cannons, a weapon the Ming army was most fond of. Assistant Regional Commander Yao and the others generously offered to give Huang Shi five hundred of them. Because the three-barreled hand cannon has a thick outer wall, it is less likely to burst, but the iron used is cast directly from coal-smelted raw iron, so its quality is even worse than the wrought-iron gun barrels currently used on Changsheng Island. For safety's sake, Deng Ken felt it best not to load even the regulation charge. Moreover, the barrel is short and its power pitifully weak.

"With a safe charge, its lethality is roughly comparable to a bow and arrow, far inferior to a crossbow. Beyond forty meters it can slightly injure cotton armor; beyond twenty meters it cannot injure iron armor at all. Rather than use this, it would be better to equip the auxiliary troops with hoes and daggers — at least those can be used for labor."

Deng Ken's opinion represented the view of most of the testing officers, which made Huang Shi abandon the idea of taking those three-barreled hand cannons for free. With the silver he had, Huang Shi planned to build a new charcoal-fired water-powered furnace on Changsheng Island to smelt wrought iron, then forge the charcoal wrought iron into gun barrels. Since the three-barreled hand cannon was rated so poorly, he decided to politely decline Assistant Regional Commander Yao and the others' kind offer.

At the same time, in Jin Guan's main camp, Assistant Regional Commander Yao was watching Assistant Regional Commander Jin direct a few trusted men as they handled a secret weapon...

Bang!

Earlier today, Jin Guan had asked Huang Shi for a Changsheng Island musket as a souvenir, and now he was showing this weapon to his old comrade Yao Yuxian. Assistant Regional Commander Yao, his face taut, walked toward a shield cart ten paces away. Against this kind of Later Jin equipment, a Changsheng Island musket had always punched straight through with two holes. On the same cart were several arrows, most of their heads shallowly embedded in the shield's surface — a firm tug could pull them right out. Even the crossbow bolts brought over specifically for testing had only penetrated to the depth of a single head, still far from piercing through.

This type of defensive crossbow had also been used by Zhang Pan during the defense of Lüshun. The Later Jin shield carts were more or less designed to defend against such Ming crossbows. Yao Yuxian stroked the large holes in the shield cart, the muscles on his face twitching violently. The terrible damage caused by the musket before him was almost beyond belief. Only after a long while did Assistant Regional Commander Yao look up and exchange a glance with Assistant Regional Commander Jin. The two men nodded in unison, their faces showing an expression of sudden realization.

On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, early morning, Shenyang.

A tent had been pitched on the official road directly facing the city gate, its flaps lifted. A thick woolen blanket could be seen spread at the entrance. Kong Youde lounged lazily on his side atop the blanket, propping his head up with one hand while the other arm waved feebly: "Curse on, keep cursing for me."

Around the tent, a group of Dongjiang refugees sat or lay on the ground beneath the city walls. Weapons and banners were strewn about in disarray, and their horses had all been freed of bridles and saddles, left to dig for grass roots in the frozen earth by the roadside. The armed Dongjiang refugees had stuck many wooden poles into the ground, pasting banners and slogans made of white paper onto them and holding them up to display to the defenders on the walls.

These slogans and banners were covered with drawings of pigs, dogs, rats, frogs, and locusts. Ming soldiers pointed at the figures with clubs, loudly explaining to the Shenyang defenders without pause, insisting that these creatures were Jirgalang. Since the day before, Kong Youde had also ordered several soldiers to perform opera beneath the city gate, ridiculing Jirgalang until not a shred of his dignity remained.

This morning, Kong Youde had even brought a few women from the female camp, giving them paper weapons and sending them beneath the walls to challenge Jirgalang to combat. These women all wore brightly colored skirts and padded jackets, striking poses with exaggerated affectation below the walls, then one after another declared they would duel Jirgalang, demanding to know whether he dared come out and fight. The Ming soldiers watching had all unfastened their armor, joining in the clamor and cheering on the challenging women.

Historically, when Nurhaci had campaigned far into Liaoxi, even the fierce general Manggūltai had cowered inside Shenyang, not daring to test his edge against the full force of the Dongjiang refugee armed bands and the Mongol Right Wing in Liaodong. Now the Plain Blue Banner was absent, leaving the Bordered Blue Banner and the Mongol Right Wing even weaker. So no matter how Kong Youde cursed and taunted below the walls, Jirgalang absolutely refused to take a single step beyond the city gate.

On the mountaintop beside Shenyang, General Who Pacifies Liao, Mao Wenlong, quietly watched the performance before the city gate. The Bordered Blue Banner held Shenyang with part of its forces and refused to come out, while the rest assembled with the Mongol Right Wing at Liaoyang. After Amin completed his military concentration, the Geng Zhongming brothers, who were screening the Dongjiang army's left flank, immediately felt the pressure multiply and were forced to fall back toward the main force for protection.

Now Amin's army of over ten thousand had marched north from Liaoyang, advancing all the way to Hupi Fort to set up camp, maintaining distant coordination with the Shenyang garrison. This field army, positioned on the flank and rear of the Dongjiang army, posed a great threat to Mao Wenlong. Under its influence, even small bands of Dongjiang refugees dared not stray too far from the main force, which further reduced the efficiency of Mao Wenlong's foraging.

After entering the central Liaoning plain, the supplies the Dongjiang army gathered had far exceeded consumption, but since the day before, the main Dongjiang force's provisions officer had reported that income had begun to drop sharply. In the professional judgment of General Who Pacifies Liao Mao Wenlong, honed over many years, within a few days income would plummet to match expenditure, and then the period of net loss would arrive. If they started heading home only at that point, by the time they got back, the hard-won forage would have been largely eaten up again.

In the direction from Shenyang toward Liaoyang, columns of gray smoke rose by day, and clusters of firelight glowed by night. The Later Jin grand army in Liaoxi must have received the news by now. If the Dongjiang refugees delayed their departure, Amin would not mind sacrificing a little to tie them down for a few days, allowing the Later Jin grand army to rush back and give Chief Mao a sound thrashing.

But Amin's calculations were destined to fail once again. Whenever this moment came, the guiding star of the Left Chief Commissioner and Dongjiang Regional Commander would silently remind him — it is time, go, take one step back and the sea and sky are boundless...

"Withdraw the troops," Mao Wenlong said softly with a long sigh. Relying on that innate intuition, the Left Chief Commissioner felt that now was the perfect moment to withdraw. He turned and strode down the mountain path, at the same time raising his voice to command: "Withdraw the troops immediately."

"As you command, Grand Commander." Chen Jisheng and the other Dongjiang officers clasped their fists and bowed, respectfully seeing Mao Wenlong off. Back when he was still Mao Wenlong's captain of personal guards, Chen Jisheng had already worshipped his old superior's strategic instincts with utter devotion. The other officers were equally superstitious about Grand Commander Mao — General Who Pacifies Liao's intuition was truly as precise as divination. After Mao Wenlong left, Chen Jisheng and the others issued their orders without the slightest hesitation:

"Withdraw the troops, return to Korea."

"Retreat at once, fall back to Kuandian."

"Pass on my order: the entire army is to turn back."

The Ming forces in Liaodong pulled out group by group. The Sun brothers also packed their gear, preparing to return to Uiju in Korea. The place they had been staying was originally a blacksmith's shop. Nurhaci had built large numbers of such manual workshops around Shenyang, and this time they had all become temporary cold-weather shelters for the Dongjiang refugees.

Ever since moving in, the Sun brothers had carefully inspected the entire building. Now they were doing one final sweep. The third and fourth brothers were tidying up the tables in the room — these tables had originally been what they slept on, but they no longer needed them. The two of them used bamboo strips to pry out every iron nail from the tables and, without missing a single one, tossed them into their bundle for safekeeping.

The eldest brother had already torn down all the window paper, rolled it into a bundle, and stuffed it into his pack along with the leather. The second brother carefully wrapped the porcelain bowls and dishes in straw, counted them one last time, then packed and tied them up to take away. After stepping outside, they lit a fire and, their hearts full of joy, dragged their large and small bundles toward the column.

"Second Brother Sun."

A delighted shout came from behind. The second brother turned to look — it was their neighbors from Uiju, Old Man Bai and his grandson. During these days when the Sun boys went out on rotating sentry duty, Grandpa Bai had been digging up field mouse nests in the wilds. Over the past few days, he had seized the winter stores of nearly a hundred field mouse families.

Not to mention the Bai boy — even Grandpa Bai himself carried a bundle on his back the size of a small mountain. The four Sun brothers hurried over to support the old man: "Grandpa Bai, take it easy, mind your back!"

"Don't you boys look down on Grandpa — Grandpa's back is still strong and sturdy!" From Uiju in Korea all the way to Shenyang, they had endured wind and slept in the open, yet Grandpa Bai grew more hale and spirited by the day. He shook off the Sun brothers, strode briskly to catch up with the column, bared his few remaining teeth, and laughed heartily: "Grandpa's heart is glad, so glad!"

At Juehua at that same moment, it was likewise a clear early morning. Huang Shi had mounted the command platform early. The bonfires that had burned all night on the ice were mostly dying out, leaving only wisps of gray smoke. The morning watch was methodically conducting handover with the night sentries — another night had passed peacefully.

Huang Shi figured that the Later Jin had basically seized what they came to seize and in theory should be leaving soon. Besides, both Ningyuan and Juehua were clearly tough nuts to crack, and bandits always calculated the cost. Moreover, Huang Shi remembered that historically Mao Wenlong would raid the outskirts of Shenyang at this time. Now the defenses of the central Liaoning plain were even weaker than in history — it would be strange if Mao Wenlong did not go raise hell. Nurhaci would not have much time to waste here in a stalemate with him.

Although for various reasons Huang Shi's plan to find an opportunity to strike Nurhaci a painful blow and thereby reverse the strategic situation in Liaodong in one stroke had suffered some setbacks, after all, the tens of thousands of lives at Juehua had been saved. The tragedy here, like that at Guangning, had been averted. His heart filled with a sense of accomplishment, Huang Shi's mood became very cheerful, and he softly whistled a tune.

When Hong Antong came up, Huang Shi hastily stopped whistling — after all, one must maintain some dignity before one's subordinates. The day before, he had assigned Hong Antong a task. Hong Antong had now come to report the results in secret: "Reporting to my lord, the second daughter of the Zhao family is currently staying at her brother-in-law's home. Her brother-in-law is a clerk at Juehua, working in Assistant Regional Commander Hu Yining's old camp."

Huang Shi glanced at Hong Antong twice and asked quietly: "Her brother-in-law's surname is Chen, isn't it?"

Hong Antong was briefly startled, then caught on and quickly nodded in agreement: "My lord is most perceptive."

"Then why is Miss Zhao staying at her brother-in-law's home — do you know?"

Almost without any hesitation, Hong Antong blurted out: "It seems that because all the maidservants of Lord Zhao's household have gone to Ningyuan Fort, and Lord Zhao has been so busy with official duties these days that he eats and sleeps at the government office, this subordinate surmises that he must have felt it unsuitable to leave the second Miss Zhao at home alone, and so sent her to stay with her sister."

The day before, Huang Shi had also instructed Hong Antong to try to find out the second Miss Zhao's whereabouts, but this time, after hearing the report, he fell silent. Since there was no enemy trace, Huang Shi did not remain on the command tower to endure the cold wind. He descended the tower and gestured for Hong Antong to walk alongside him.

Hong Antong had followed him for many years, and they knew each other very well. Whatever task Huang Shi assigned, Hong Antong would certainly carry it out, but in the past, when Hong Antong reported on his work, there had rarely been times when he hemmed and hawed as if squeezing out toothpaste. Hong Antong's mind was also very sharp; his analyses were always clear and logical, and he almost never kept his thoughts bottled up. Huang Shi remembered very clearly that the few other times this had happened were because Hong Antong had objections to the task Huang Shi had assigned.

When Huang Shi asked for his opinion, sure enough, Hong Antong began to remonstrate: "This subordinate believes that it is highly improper for my lord to go spying on this woman. If it were to leak out, it would be extremely damaging to my lord's reputation..."

Zhao Manxiong's foresight had been demonstrated time and again in recent years. Through this period of tempering, Zhang Zaidi and Hong Antong had also matured greatly, but Zhang Zaidi always obeyed Huang Shi's orders unconditionally and carried them out to the letter, while Hong Antong often had his own ideas and would even feel dissatisfied with Huang Shi's orders — as was the case now.

"...My lord bears the safety of all Juehua Island and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians on his shoulders. At a time like this, if he does not deploy the Internal Guard for extensive reconnaissance, so be it, but at the very least he should let them rest. How can he engage in spying on a respectable woman?" Hong Antong grew more agitated as he spoke, clearly deeply averse to this order of Huang Shi's.

Huang Shi wondered whether it was because Hong Antong practiced virgin boy cultivation, but he felt the man had grown increasingly extreme. As the military situation on Changsheng Island steadily improved, Hong Antong's hatred for the Jianzhou slaves seemed to make him unable to endure even one more day. In Hong Antong's description now, Huang Shi was practically a scoundrel who lusted after women and disregarded his soldiers' lives: "For the sake of a woman, my lord places his troops in danger — this subordinate deems it improper."

Although his mood was instantly soured by Hong Antong's words, Huang Shi still forced an expression of approval onto his face, nodding repeatedly as he said: "Alright, alright, I was indeed at fault in this matter. Many thanks for your frank words, Company Commander Hong."

"My lord is too harsh on himself." Hong Antong detected the impatience in Huang Shi's tone, and his bluster immediately subsided considerably. He hastily added: "This is but the foolish loyalty of a dog and horse from this subordinate."

Huang Shi sighed deeply at these words: "Faithful words grate on the ear — I understand this very well. Continue."

"There is nothing more to say." After Hong Antong had successfully driven away all of Huang Shi's good mood, he rambled on with some information he had gathered about the second Miss Zhao. Had he placed this information first, Huang Shi might have listened with keen interest, but after having just been righteously subjected to a dose of "faithful counsel," this news left Huang Shi with an increasingly unpleasant taste as he listened.

The daytime of the twenty-seventh passed peacefully as well. The sound of cannon fire from the direction of Ningyuan had also ceased. The scouts Huang Shi sent out were intercepted on the ice and unable to land. The Later Jin army still continuously dispatched scouts to probe for intelligence on Juehua, though their numbers were now greatly reduced. The staff officers all believed this was an intelligence screen rather than an intelligence-gathering feeler, and they generally believed the Later Jin army was preparing to withdraw.

Huang Shi concurred with the judgment of Jin Qiude and his group. Since the Later Jin army was no longer expending horseflesh on continuous reconnaissance, it meant the enemy had little interest in attacking. Furthermore, Huang Shi believed that without a detailed probe of the Ming defensive line's weaknesses, Nurhaci could not even begin to talk of launching an assault.

Three thousand Changsheng troops were certainly powerless to confront seven Later Jin banners on the open plain. The Juehua Guanning army could not be relied upon, and the Ningyuan garrison would absolutely never venture out of the city. The results achieved so far were not unsatisfactory. After issuing orders for the entire army to hold fast, Huang Shi took the initiative to invite the island's civil and military officials to a council. Once the council concluded, naturally there was some drinking to ward off the cold.

After toasting Assistant Regional Commander Yao and Assistant Prefect Zhao each one round, Huang Shi excused himself on the pretext of pressing military affairs and departed.

When they reached the gorge between Juehua and the two mountains, Huang Shi waved for his accompanying personal guards to withdraw. After advancing a short distance further, Huang Shi saw a solitary figure standing in the cold wind, head and face wrapped tightly in winter clothing.