Chapter 259: Section 16: Interaction

On the fourth day of the first month of the sixth year of Tianqi, at Juehua.

The very day Huang Shi returned, Zhao Yin came looking for him, but Huang Shi refused to say anything more and instead expressed his wish to leave immediately. Seeing his firm attitude, Zhao Yin did not waste further words.

The troops from Zhangsheng Island kept boarding the ships in a steady stream, and the military households of Juehua also helped carry fresh water and other supplies onto the docks. Ever since Huang Shi had announced his departure three days earlier, Zhao Yin had directed the men of Juehua Island to break open the wharf, and today he was extremely cooperative with Huang Shi’s embarkation, which gradually put the wary Huang Shi at ease.

After lunch, the Zhangsheng Island troops had largely finished boarding. Seeing that the artillerymen had also all boarded the small boats, Huang Shi knew it was nearly time for him to leave. He clasped his fist toward Zhao Yin: "My Lord Zhao, until we meet again."

Zhao Yin smiled and returned the salute: "Until we meet again."

As the moment of departure arrived, Huang Shi, recalling their cooperation over these days, added one more flattering remark: "My Lord Zhao has rendered the greatest service in this campaign. The imperial court will surely bestow rich rewards. I offer you my premature congratulations."

Unexpectedly, Zhao Yin gave a bitter smile: "General Huang jests. I would rather resign my post than accept."

Huang Shi’s heart stirred, and his brow lifted slightly. He glanced around and saw no one nearby, then asked in a low voice: "Has my lord’s family matter still not been resolved?"

Zhao Yin muttered to himself: "How can it be resolved? There’s no time now to find witnesses on short notice. If everything is forged, there are no walls in this world that don’t let the wind through. If the censors uncover it, it won’t just be a matter of lax household discipline. You made such a huge scene last time, and quite a few people know. If you would just nod, the censors would truly have nowhere to investigate."

Seeing that Zhao Yin remained silent, Huang Shi sighed again. From what Zhao Yin had just said, it seemed he would rather his two younger sisters had lived, which somewhat surprised Huang Shi, but it also increased his respect for the man.

His career prospects were indeed very important to Zhao Yin; he supported his mother and relied on this post to enable his younger brother to study. After stealing a couple of glances at Huang Shi’s expression, Zhao Yin gritted his teeth and said humbly: "General Huang, this official rank and merit were originally of the utmost importance to me, which is why I last time begged the General for a helping hand."

After a pause, Zhao Yin continued: "Someone once advised me to simply report my younger sisters as having died chastely and be done with it. But in my humble opinion, it will only take the General a few more years to sweep Liaodong clean. If my sisters are still alive then, and I cannot acknowledge them, they will have no home to return to. So… so…"

Zhao Yin stammered and could not go on, but Huang Shi already understood the plea behind his words. He thought for a moment, then suddenly asked: "My Lord Zhao, may I venture to ask you something?"

Hearing a hint of assent in Huang Shi’s tone, Zhao Yin was naturally overjoyed. Thinking that Huang Shi was worried about his reputation being affected, he hastily assured him: "General Huang, please see clearly — I will keep my mouth tightly shut and absolutely will not reveal a single shred of news."

"That is not the issue." Huang Shi was, in fact, not worried that he would go around talking nonsense, because if this matter got out, it would hardly be pleasant news for Zhao Yin either. Huang Shi hesitated. The reason his heart had softened was precisely because he had heard Zhao Yin say he would rather give up his official rank than leave his sisters homeless. That had truly moved Huang Shi somewhat.

"My Lord Zhao, after the Jianzhou slaves are swept away, if your eldest and second sisters are still alive… heh, that would certainly be a happy outcome. But has my lord considered — what if they do not return alone? Would my lord still acknowledge them?"

Huang Shi’s words first made Zhao Yin freeze. When he grasped the meaning, his face flushed bright red, and he glared at Huang Shi with fury, as if ready to start a brawl. Huang Shi met his gaze without the slightest fear. Although he knew these words were asking for a beating, he had served as a frontier general in Liaodong for many years and had seen such things more than once or twice.

If a rescued daughter had already given birth to a child, the victim’s family would naturally be burning with anger, and the pastors on Zhangsheng Island would go and try to persuade them. But many families resolutely refused to acknowledge them, and quite a few planned to drown the infants. Although such a demand accorded with the morals of the age, many mothers were unwilling to kill their children, and many tragedies had resulted.

Zhao Yin and Huang Shi stared at each other for a while. His fury gradually subsided, and his head drooped. Huang Shi relentlessly pressed on with a preemptive warning: "My Lord Zhao, ever since the Jianzhou slaves rose in rebellion, such tragedies among the people of Liaodong have been countless. I know that my lord’s heart is full of concern right now, hoping they can return safely. But has my lord considered that they will still have to marry into other families? Yet if there truly is a child, that child will certainly remain in my lord’s household. Would you be willing to raise them?"

If Zhao Yin’s two sisters could return, although they certainly could not marry into particularly good families, finding a household to entrust the rest of their lives to would not be a great problem. In such a case, the children could only stay in their uncle’s home, and when they grew up, matters of establishing their own families and careers would naturally have to be handled by the uncle.

Zhao Yin had not thought much about this before, but now he knew that what Huang Shi said was the truth. After tilting his head and pondering for a moment, he sighed mournfully: "If they are truly my sisters’ flesh and blood, then I will have no choice but to raise them."

"In that case…" Huang Shi believed that Zhao Yin was speaking the truth, because if he only wanted to preserve his official rank, he could have simply reported his sisters as having died chastely regardless of whether they lived or died, and then refused to acknowledge them forever. "Very well. If the censors wish to impeach my lord, in your self-defense memorial you may have the Ministry of Rites inquire of me. I will bear witness for my lord."

Zhao Yin bowed so deeply that he nearly touched the ground: "Many thanks to General Huang for his righteous aid."

…

On the eleventh day of the first month of the sixth year of Tianqi, at Zhangsheng Island.

Upon returning to the island, Huang Shi saw He Dingyuan waiting to greet him at the dock. The latter gave a deep bow upon seeing Huang Shi: "I lost over a hundred soldiers. I beg my lord to mete out punishment."

"Mobile Corps Commander He, please rise." Huang Shi hurriedly helped He Dingyuan up. After a moment’s thought, he recalled that Zhao Manxiong had said Gaizhou had only fifty defenders. Relying on fifty men, it seemed impossible for them to have cost Zhangsheng Island a hundred casualties. "Brother He, did you go and attack Haizhou?"

He Dingyuan’s face was full of shame: "My lord sees clearly. I was greedy for merit."

Huang Shi laughed heartily at this. He clapped He Dingyuan forcefully on the shoulder and said: "What crime has Brother He committed? If you were able to attack Haizhou, then Gaizhou must already be in our army’s hands. Is that not a great merit for Brother He?"

"My lord overpraises me. There were only fifty Jianzhou slaves in Gaizhou. Before I even reached the city walls, they had all fled and scattered. Where is the slightest merit to speak of?"

"Though there are no severed heads, if I say it is merit, then it is merit." In this victory report, Huang Shi had only written his own name, precisely so that after coordinating the overall situation he could distribute the credit among his subordinates. This time he had a total of seven hundred.

Because Huang Shi had ordered most of the military grain in Gaizhou to be transferred back, He Dingyuan did not have enough provisions to move out with the entire force. In the end, he only took the Boulder Battalion and roughly the corresponding number of auxiliary troops to attack Gaizhou. Seeing five thousand Ming troops coming at once, the Later Jin forces in Gaizhou naturally fled as fast as they could. After taking Gaizhou without bloodshed, He Dingyuan, still not satisfied, sent men north to reconnoiter.

At that time, Mao Wenlong had already attacked to the walls of Shenyangcheng. Li Yunrui, playing the role of chief of staff, concluded that the main Later Jin army would certainly go to Shenyangcheng first and Haizhou second, so the Boulder Battalion need not worry too much about encountering a large enemy force. He Dingyuan strongly agreed with Li Yunrui’s assessment, but Yang Zhiyuan told them that their remaining provisions were running low, and if they wanted to continue north, they should try attacking Haizhou to see if they could seize the Later Jin army’s stores.

Although Nurhaci had been continuously shipping supplies back to Haizhou, according to Li Yunrui’s analysis, the garrison inside Haizhou was actually very limited — the combat troops absolutely did not exceed a thousand, and might number only five hundred. Upon hearing this figure, He Dingyuan decided to attack Haizhou, committing the entire Boulder Battalion.

At this point, He Dingyuan slammed his hand on the table and said, full of fury and regret: "Originally we had also discovered that the Jianzhou slaves had many cannons at Haizhou, but I assumed those were all captured by the Jianzhou slaves — cannons without cannoneers. I never imagined there really were quite a few cannoneers inside the city. They occupied the high ground on the gate towers and exchanged fire with our troops, inflicting heavy casualties on the unit."

"How many casualties? How long was the engagement?"

At Huang Shi’s question, an accompanying staff officer from Zhangsheng Island produced a complete set of documents: "My lord, here is the detailed report."

After the Boulder Battalion returned to Zhangsheng Island, the staff officers who had remained behind had repeatedly verified the details of the Battle of Haizhou. In order to collect data, they had questioned nearly every man who had participated in the battle. This was the first time the Zhangsheng Army had encountered enemy artillery in combat, so everyone on Zhangsheng Island, from top to bottom, took it extremely seriously. The officers and men of the Boulder Battalion were also very cooperative.

Huang Shi carefully leafed through the documents in his hands, occasionally posing questions to the staff officer beside him. Jin Qiude sat on his other side reading the report. Both men’s expressions were extremely grave.

"A great many cannons. Both gate towers probed in the attacks had no fewer than twenty cannons each, and no cannon bursts were observed, indicating that these cannons were operated by trained cannoneers." Neither probing attack had lasted long, but each had cost over fifty casualties. Huang Shi gave a cold laugh and shook his head: "It seems we have run into newly surrendered Han troops."

"My lord sees clearly." Jin Qiude and He Dingyuan voiced their agreement in unison. In this attack on Haizhou, the Boulder Battalion had suffered one hundred and sixteen killed in action. Many of them had undergone amputation by the army surgeons but still failed to survive the march in the bitter cold. Moreover, this was also the first time Zhangsheng Island had abandoned some of its fallen soldiers’ bodies on the battlefield, and the attempt to recover the bodies had led to further losses.

"…The existing three-pounder cannons have too short a range and would come under attack far outside our effective range, so no attempt was made. The six-pounders can barely exchange fire, but the cannoneers still have to push them forward several dozen meters under enemy fire to get within range. Fortunately, at long distance the enemy did not shoot accurately, but at extreme range we did not shoot accurately either, so we were completely unable to suppress the firepower from the city walls…"

Huang Shi shook his head as he read. The entire report was extremely pessimistic about the siege capability of the existing artillery and gave a very high appraisal of the enemy cannons’ power. "…The Jianzhou slaves deployed one extremely powerful cannon each at the south and west gates of Haizhou. From seven hundred meters out, these cannons incessantly bombarded our infantry formations outside the city. Over three days, everyone struck was killed without exception, causing seventeen of our troops to die in action… Our troops picked up several of this cannon’s shot on the battlefield, and testing by the Training Corps indicates they appear to be eighteen-pounder cannonballs…"

"Eighteen-pounder bronze cannon." Huang Shi softly read the name aloud, laying the report flat on the table. "This should be equipment from the Guanning Army’s artillery battalion, copied by the Ministry of Works based on the Hongyi cannon."

Huang Shi immediately picked up his brush and wrote a letter. After sealing it with wax, he handed it to a staff officer: "Send a few men from the Training Corps with fifty firelocks to Juehua. Deliver this letter and the firelocks to Assistant Regional Commander Yao Yuxian. Ask him to cooperate and let us test the eighteen-pounder bronze cannons under his command, then record the data and bring it back."

"As ordered, my lord."

The Ordnance Department of Zhangsheng Island was very weak in strength, and there were simply too many projects to develop. For a long time, there had been no pressure on the artillery front, so there had been little investment. Huang Shi pondered silently for a moment. It seemed he would need to discuss with Bao Jiusun whether they could begin producing nine-pounder and twelve-pounder iron cannons.

…

On the twenty-first day of the first month of the sixth year of Tianqi, at Jingcheng.

The Emperor, his brow furrowed, flipped Huang Shi’s memorial back and forth several times, then could not help but ask Wei Zhongxian beside him: "Why is General Huang’s impeachment so absurd?"

In this memorial, Huang Shi impeached Yuan Chonghuan for outrageous arrogance, for calmly accepting his kowtow without returning the salute, and so on. Hearing the Emperor’s question, Wei Zhongxian hastily nodded and bowed, softly agreeing: "Your Majesty sees with lofty wisdom. It is indeed far too absurd."

"It is not as if Lord Yuan forced him to kowtow. I suspect Lord Yuan did not even know he was carrying the Imperial Sword on his person." Tianqi muttered a few more sentences, finally setting the memorial aside, and looked at Wei Zhongxian with puzzlement: "General Huang is not such an absurd man. There must be a reason behind this."

"Your Majesty sees clearly across ten thousand li. Here is a secret report from Wu Mu, the Army Supervisor on Zhangsheng Island." As Wei Zhongxian finished speaking, a young eunuch presented another memorial. Tianqi snatched Wu Mu’s secret report from the tray, tore it open violently, and began to read.

Before he had read more than a few lines, Tianqi’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed, and he let out a long breath: "So that is what it was about. Good."

"Your Majesty, allow this old slave to offer his humble opinion. Yuan Chonghuan was merely lamenting the wastefulness of the Liaodong military tax and made a couple of remarks in idle conversation. It is just that Dongjiangzhen and Liaozhen are different. The Dongjiang Regional Commander Mao Wenlong had three hundred members of his entire clan die at the hands of the Jianzhou slaves, with only his eldest son surviving in Jingcheng. Vice Regional Commander Chen Jisheng also lost his entire family. As for Huang Shi… this old slave recalls he is a man of Kaiyuan, also with his family destroyed and dead, who fled alone from Liaodong to Guangning to enlist."

"Mm. Lord Yuan was not wrong; he merely touched upon Huang Shi’s hidden pain. Huang Shi, in a moment of indignation, submitted this absurd impeachment. He was not wrong either." Tianqi casually tossed Wu Mu’s secret memorial back onto the tray, his expression now relaxed. "Let this memorial be retained in the palace. There is no need to send it to the Grand Secretariat for deliberation."

"As decreed." Wei Zhongxian bowed in acknowledgment. With a flick of his sleeve, someone came forward to collect both memorials and take them away to the imperial archives.

The next day, Wei Zhongxian came again to pester Tianqi: "Your Majesty, the victory report from Liaodong has arrived."

"…Huang Shi took seven hundred and sixty heads; Yao Yuxian took four hundred and eleven heads; Jin Guan took three hundred and eighty-five heads; Hu Yining took three hundred and sixty-six heads; Zhang Guoqing took two hundred heads… Man Gui took one hundred and twenty heads; Zu Dashou took eighty heads; Zhao Lujiao took fifty heads…"

After the victory report was read aloud clearly below, Tianqi laughed heartily: "This place Juehua truly hides dragons and crouching tigers. So it held so many fierce generals of mine. Haha, it sounds as if they are all roughly on par with General Huang."

Wei Zhongxian, standing to one side, said with an ingratiating smile, "Your Majesty sees all with piercing clarity. Wasn't this all thanks to General Huang's awe-inspiring might? If Your Majesty had not sent General Huang to Juehua, they would have been lucky just to avoid defeat — how could they have had the chance to achieve such great merit? In the final analysis, was not this merit all bestowed upon them by Your Majesty?"

Tianqi nodded in strong agreement and laughed heartily twice, saying, "Hmm, you are right. Has this victory report been sent to the Grand Secretariat for deliberation?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, it has already been sent."

"Good. Yuan Chonghuan planned and coordinated well, winning both battles at Juehua and Ningyuan — clearly a commander of great talent. As for that Zhao at Juehua..." Tianqi stopped mid-sentence, feeling the name was on the tip of his tongue but unable to recall it for the moment.

Wei Zhongxian quickly whispered a reminder: "Zhao Yingong."

"Hmm, yes. We judge him also to be a man of promise. Let the Grand Secretariat deliberate first. Once they have decided on the rewards, do not be hasty in marking them with the vermilion brush — bring them to Us first for review. We fear they may be too stingy and reward insufficiently."

Wei Zhongxian drew out his voice in a long cry: "As decreed."

Then his tone shifted: "Your Majesty, Yuan Chonghuan has submitted a memorial of self-impeachment through the Office of Transmission. One copy has already been sent to the Grand Secretariat, and they are now deliberating upon it."

Tianqi asked in astonishment: "Self-impeachment? What is Lord Yuan impeaching himself for?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, is it not still that matter concerning Huang Shi? Lord Yuan impeaches himself for intemperate speech, which has caused discord between the civil and military officials."

"Aiya, what a nuisance." Tianqi reached up and scratched his head. After pondering for a moment without coming up with any good solution, he asked again: "What does the Grand Secretariat say?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, the Grand Secretariat is baffled. They have drafted a rescript ordering Yuan Chonghuan to defend himself, and have issued a dispatch reprimanding Huang Shi and demanding an account of the matter."

"Detain them at court, detain them at court. What self-defense, what reprimand?" Tianqi grew impatient as soon as he heard this. Speaking in a hurried tone, he said: "Detain them all at court."

"As decreed. Your Majesty, however, this old servant believes that discord between civil and military officials is truly detrimental to the state. Now, Yuan Chonghuan is quite conscious of the greater good, so naturally there is no hindrance, but this old servant feels it would still be best to offer him some gentle words of praise and encouragement. As for Huang Shi's side, would it not also be best to offer some reassurance?"

"Hmm, you are right." Tianqi's brow furrowed again. He pondered hard for a while, felt he could not quite grasp the proper measure, and directly gave Wei Zhongxian an order: "Handle it as you see fit. Make sure the matter is settled well for Us."

"As decreed."