Chapter 265: Section 22: Marshal Mao

In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, Later Jin resolved to attack the Mongols on their own initiative, in order to remove the threat from the northwest and obtain fresh manpower. If they could drive Lin Danhan back from Liaobei, the Later Jin grand army could easily cross the Liaohe river loop and threaten Jinzhou from the flank of Liaozhen. Faced with this threat, the Liaodong Provincial Governor’s countermeasure was to speed up the construction of Jinzhou city. All thirty-five field battalions and seventy thousand iron cavalry of the Guanning Army were deployed together, laboring day and night alongside the hundred thousand military households of Liaozhen to carry bricks, stones, and earth.

The Dongjiang Army, tasked with pinning down the enemy, sortied from Yizhou in Korea. Mao Wenlong led his over one hundred thousand “mighty soldiers” in a counterattack on Liaodong, proclaiming it an army of five hundred thousand. They swept forward irresistibly, and the Later Jin Han troops along the route fled at the mere rumor of their approach. The Ming army successively captured fortresses such as Xianshan and Fenghuangcheng. Amin and Manggultai’s two Blue Banners were driven back over four hundred li in one breath. Only after the Ming army stormed Qingtaiyubao on the third day of the fifth month of the sixth year of Tianqi did the two Blue Banners barely manage to stabilize their battle line by using the natural barrier of Lianshan.

After two days of probing attacks, the Ming army discovered that the shortest route north to directly take Liaoyang was already blocked. Mao Wenlong, not daring to waste time, ordered the main Dongjiang force to remain and confront Amin, while he himself led thirty percent of the Dongjiang core troops to turn west and forcibly break into the Liaozhong plain. After entering the plains, the Dongjiang Army advanced westward with triumphant momentum, as if nothing could stop them. Two hundred li ahead lay Haizhou, a key military stronghold that Later Jin had painstakingly built up over many years.

……

The seventh day of the fifth month, sixth year of the Tianqi reign.

On the ground south of Haizhou city at this time, numerous crisscrossing trenches had suddenly appeared. Initially, the city walls of Haizhou fired quite a few cannon shots at these trenches, but after two days with no results, the sound of cannon fire from the city gradually died down.

Further south of these trenches lay a continuous stretch of Ming army encampments. Fierce snake banners fluttered high above the camps. Above the centermost main camp, besides the snake banner, a Vice General’s flag bearing the large character “Huang” also flew high.

Inside the command tent, Huang Shi was discussing the military situation with Jin Qiude, Ouyang Xin, and Li Yunrui. To counter Haizhou’s ferocious cannon fire, Changsheng Island had decided to adopt trench-approach tactics. The ones currently digging the trenches were the newly expanded engineer corps. Changsheng Island’s new-model engineer shovels and spades had all been tested by Ouyang Xin and the other grave robbers and were now standard-issue equipment for the engineer corps. The digging speed had already improved considerably, and it seemed there was still great potential for further improvement.

Ever since bringing back three hundred fifty thousand taels of silver from Juehua, Huang Shi had the spare capacity to further strengthen his field battalions. Take the Firefighting Battalion, for example: aside from its cavalry detachment being reduced to two hundred men, its subordinate infantry detachments had now been expanded to six, and a four-hundred-man engineer detachment and an eight-hundred-man baggage detachment had also been added.

Now, counting just these nine detachments, the Firefighting Battalion already had three thousand eight hundred officers and soldiers. Moreover, Huang Shi gave all these soldiers equal treatment as combat troops. The full names of the engineer and baggage detachments were also called the Combat Engineer Detachment and the Combat Baggage Detachment. If actual combat could prove the rationality of the Firefighting Battalion’s organization, Huang Shi planned to later reform the Rock Battalion and the Vanguard Battalion into the same model. But for now, he could only proceed step by step. The Rock Battalion’s existing engineer detachment had only a little over a hundred men, still far from comparable to that of the Firefighting Battalion.

Between Gaizhou and Haizhou there originally lay a Yaozhou. This time, upon hearing that the main Later Jin army had mobilized, Huang Shi had originally planned to capture Yaozhou first before attacking Haizhou. But to his surprise, the Later Jin army had also assigned cannons to Yaozhou. After careful consideration, Huang Shi decided to leave the Vanguard Battalion and Zhang Pan’s troops to besiege Yaozhou, while he himself led the Firefighting and Rock Battalions straight to the walls of Haizhou city.

Huang Shi recalled that historically, Zhang Pan seemed to have died in this very battle. In that timeline, when the Liaonan Later Jin army faced the Dongjiang Army’s large-scale offensive, they likewise chose to contract their defense to Haizhou. Zhang Pan, to boost morale, was the first to scale the walls and gave his life in capturing Haizhou. Although Huang Shi was not superstitious, in his heart he was unwilling for Zhang Pan to come and fight at Haizhou.

Moreover, Huang Shi truly needed someone to stay behind and keep watch on the Later Jin troops in Yaozhou, and to protect his supply lines along the way. Huang Shi hoped that the Yaozhou garrison would voluntarily withdraw after Haizhou fell, because if every single castle had to be besieged one by one, the pressure on Huang Shi’s military provisions and finances would be too great.

Although Huang Shi had recently made a considerable fortune, he was still unwilling to get bogged down in a war of economic attrition. After all, without support from Liaoxi, the Liaonan region, ravaged by war, was fundamentally unable to compare with the Liaozhong plain. The Liaonan Dongjiang Army had now largely moved beyond the category of refugees. The consumption of such a large army exposed in the field for several months was enough to completely devour Huang Shi’s many years of savings.

Huang Shi had always felt that the greatest significance of his appearance lay in reducing the Dongjiang Army’s losses while inflicting greater losses on the Later Jin army. Now, faced with the Later Jin army’s cannons deployed in actual combat ahead of schedule, Huang Shi was unwilling to adopt the savage frontal assaults the Dongjiang Army typically used historically. He sought to use earthworks to weaken the power of the cannons, and then employ the method of digging tunnels to breach the city.

Ouyang Xin was not the commander of the Firefighting Battalion’s engineer detachment. However, since this was Changsheng Island’s first large-scale assault on a fortified city, Huang Shi had temporarily assigned him to oversee the earthwork operations, which would also help the Instruction Corps collect and analyze data. Today, Ouyang Xin gave another comprehensive report on the engineers’ progress. Overall, it matched the Staff Department’s projected schedule. After these years of coordination, the Staff Department and the other departments were cooperating more and more smoothly.

“Very good.” Huang Shi gave a brief assessment. Ouyang Xin, along with the engineer detachment commanders of the Firefighting and Rock Battalions, picked up their helmets from the table one after another, put them on, saluted Huang Shi, and withdrew.

Ouyang Xin and the Rock Battalion’s engineer detachment commander were not entitled to wear white plumes. The Firefighting Battalion and the Vanguard Battalion

After returning, the men of the Rock Battalion and the Instruction Corps had twice raised a fuss with Huang Shi over this. Later, they attached a small rod a full five inches long to their helmets, raising the red tassel high at the tip of the rod, and only then did they feel somewhat psychologically balanced.

One white feather and two long red tassels brushed against the tent top as they exited. The month before, Changsheng Island had just added a new regulation: helmets must be removed when staying indoors for extended periods. Just like another regulation Huang Shi had previously set — “Do not wear medals while bathing” — before this regulation existed, Huang Shi observed that the officers and soldiers of the Firefighting Battalion seemed to wish they could keep that white feather perched on their heads even while sleeping.

After Ouyang Xin and the others left, only Huang Shi, Jin Qiude, Li Yunrui, and the other senior officers remained in the room. Jin Qiude and the others were still Mobile Corps Commanders, because Huang Shi held all power, great and small, on Changsheng Island. He simply could not produce, nor was he willing to establish, commissioned posts like Assistant Regional Commander. Every time Huang Shi went out, he would give Zhao Manxiong a temporary brevet rank of Assistant Regional Commander, making him temporarily responsible for Changsheng, Zhong, and Xi Islands. But the moment Huang Shi stepped through the gate of the old camp on Changsheng Island, he would strip away that brevet rank. Everyone had grown accustomed to this.

However, since Huang Shi’s status was steadily rising — he was now already a Right Chief Commissioner — Jin Qiude, Zhao Manxiong, He Dingyuan, and Yang Zhiyuan, the Four Great Guardian Kings, naturally had to rise with the tide. Currently, all four were Chief Commissioner of the Second Rank, and each also held the hereditary rank of Vice Guard Commander. Their current status was already comparable to General Man Gui’s before the Battle of Ningyuan. Man Gui’s post of Regional Commander and his official rank of Vice Chief Commissioner were only substantively conferred after the Battle of Ningyuan. Li Yunrui was still on a commission as Changsheng Island’s Military Intelligence Supervising Commissioner, but in terms of official rank, he had long been of the Third Rank. If his official rank were taken to Liaoxi, he would at least be a Vice General.

“My lord, it would be best if the Jianzhou slaves in Yaozhou flee. If they do not, we need not sacrifice the lives of our officers and soldiers to storm Yaozhou.”

The speaker was Chief of Staff Jin Qiude. Before the troops set out, the Changsheng Island Staff Department had conducted a simulation. If no further military funding could be obtained, Fuzhou was the limit of advance for the Dongjiangzhen Left Association. Now, with Huang Shi having the support of trade with Japan and Shandong, this limit of advance could reach Gaizhou, but it stopped there.

Gaizhou, as the apex of the Liaonan hilly region, marked the beginning of the Liaozhong plain to its north. If a large army were to be maintained north of Gaizhou, the Ming army would have to construct a series of grain-storage forts along the official road, or mobilize large numbers of troops to escort grain convoys. The former required a massive one-time capital investment; the latter meant sustaining enormous long-term military grain consumption.

Neither of these two paths could be sustained by Changsheng Island’s economy. The main reason the Dongjiang Left Association only deployed a standing force of one hundred men in Gaizhou was to save money. Ever since Huang Shi confirmed that he could not obtain help from the Liaodong Regional Military Commission, he had been racking his brains over how to attack the Liaozhong plain.

Huang Shi knew that Mao Wenlong was even poorer than himself, so Mao had definitely come this time still harboring the idea of grabbing what he could and then leaving. It was the same as Nurhaci’s objective in attacking Liaoxi. The annual military budget for the entire Dongjiangzhen was two hundred thousand taels of silver, and its largest logistics base was in Korea. If they entered a prolonged standoff with the Later Jin army at Yaozhou or Haizhou, the Dongjiangzhen would suffer total economic collapse on its own within half a year, without the enemy even needing to attack.

“Haizhou city does have considerable reserves. As long as we can breach the city, we can certainly cover our losses and have a surplus.” Li Yunrui had already basically scouted out the intelligence on Haizhou. There wasn’t much in Yaozhou, but Haizhou had grain, cloth, and quite a few weapons, with a total estimated value of over one million taels of silver. “My lord, taking Haizhou will be a huge profit no matter what. If we fail to take Haizhou, this expedition will be a massive loss for us.”

“Commissioner Li is right. No matter what, we must find a way to capture Haizhou. The supplies stored in this city are enough to cover the Dongjiangzhen’s expenses for more than half a year, and Marshal Mao could then advance along the official road toward Liaoyang to complete the pinning offensive. The current Genghis Khan…” Every time Huang Shi uttered this name, he would habitually shake his head, wondering if Lin Danhan’s illustrious ancestors were now writhing in fury within their graves. “Although this current Genghis Khan has limited ability, he is still far too important to us.”

The Mongol ally located in Liaobei was not only beneficial to the Great Ming; having such a person sitting in the position of Genghis Khan also posed no threat to the Great Ming. For the sake of long-term and immediate strategic interests, Huang Shi decided to put economic concerns aside for the moment. The expedition to Haizhou was truly bleeding money. With the army exposed in the field, Huang Shi had no choice but to feed the soldiers well; otherwise, he would simply be courting death.

Counting both combat troops and auxiliary troops, the Dongjiangzhen Left Association had mobilized a total of thirty thousand troops for this campaign. The military grain consumed each day alone was worth a fortune. Every day upon waking, Huang Shi would press for updates on the trench progress, and before sleeping, he would pray to Heaven, hoping that Nurhaci would quickly turn his army around so that he himself could withdraw his forces back to Changsheng Island. Overall, Huang Shi believed that the opportunity to attack Liaoyang was not yet fully ripe, because Changsheng Island’s heavy siege cannons were not yet completed, and he lacked the means to rapidly breach sturdy fortresses.

……

The ninth day of the fifth month, sixth year of the Tianqi reign, afternoon, Haizhou.

Yesterday, the Ming army had already dug the trenches right up to the edge of the moat. Although the defending troops in the city moved their cannons over to bombard the trenches at their feet, the Ming army’s losses over two days were very limited. The Later Jin army fired countless cannon shots at the trenches, but only a dozen or so successfully landed inside the deep trenches. Only two shots actually hit people, causing a total of eight casualties.

“The diversion channels are all dug. I have personally inspected them. Tomorrow morning we will begin diverting the moat water.” Inside the command tent, Ouyang Xin pointed to the engineering map and explained the plan to the senior officers. The maps now used by Changsheng Island were already

uniformly contour-line maps. The civil engineering works were marked on the map in red ink, and then traced over in solid ink upon completion. Now, the map was almost entirely covered in solid ink lines.

“Within three days we can drain the water. Hmm, let’s say four days. Then we will begin digging tunnels at the base of the city wall. This will likely take another one to two days. If the wall foundation is particularly solid, it might take three days. So, seven days from now, we will pack gunpowder beneath the city and begin blasting the wall. The existing data in the Engineer Regulations Manual are all from exercises. We have no actual combat experience, so I cannot guarantee success on the first attempt.”

Having finished his report, Ouyang Xin and the others stood at ease, awaiting Huang Shi’s further instructions.

“Mm, I am well aware of this. Go ahead and do it boldly. Just remember to carefully record all the data. We need to use it to improve the Engineer Regulations Manual.”

Huang Shi was a drill-manual obsessive. Following the Pikeman’s Drill Manual, the Arquebusier’s Drill Manual, the Artillery Drill Manual, and the Sailor’s Drill Manual, he had also issued various other drill manuals on Changsheng Island. From steelmaking and iron smelting to gun-barrel drilling and blade sharpening, all technical work had been compiled by Huang Shi into regulation manuals. Now, the engineers naturally could not be an exception.

“As ordered, my lord.”

Ouyang Xin first put on his long-red-tasseled helmet, then stood at attention and saluted. He executed a rigid about-face and walked out stiffly holding his posture… Fine, all these movements were plagiarized by Huang Shi from his military training memories.

“Seven more days. It’s finally almost over.” After Ouyang Xin left, Huang Shi let out a deep sigh. Today, a report came from the rear at Gaizhou that a large number of transport carts had been scrapped, and repairing them would require another sum of money. Huang Shi picked up his brush and did some calculations on paper. “Seven more days, meaning at least another twenty thousand taels of silver to spend. Sigh, just this one trip to Haizhou will consume more than half of our Left Association’s annual military pay. And we can’t even take all the goods in Haizhou; Marshal Mao is counting on them to get through the year.”

Everyone in Dongjiangzhen knew that Mao Wenlong only brought enough provisions for thirty percent of his entire force on each campaign. To use a more fashionable phrase, this batch of provisions was Mao Wenlong’s “startup capital.” After entering Later Jin territory, Mao Wenlong had to enter the capital-recovery phase; otherwise, everyone would have to gnaw on tree bark and go home.

This habit of Mao Wenlong’s led to a strategic limitation: he placed extreme emphasis on avoiding the enemy’s strength and striking at their weakness. Except for a few castles with particularly abundant supplies, Mao Wenlong would always bypass them if possible and never sit idle under city walls consuming rations. Historically, time and again, Mao Wenlong led his army on thousand-li campaigns, conducting large-scale, rear-less mobile warfare across Liaodong… Well, a more accurate term would be “mobile marauding,” managing each time to flee back to Korea before Nurhaci’s grand army returned.

Huang Shi could not help but sigh with admiration: Mao Wenlong truly lived up to his background as a master fortune-teller, and his instincts were absolutely at the level of genius, impossible for others to learn. If Huang Shi were in command, he reckoned those over one hundred thousand Dongjiang “mighty soldiers” would not need the Later Jin army to come and exterminate them; they would have long since starved to death in the wilderness.

Yesterday, the vanguard of Mao Wenlong’s Dongjiang core force had already established contact with the Dongjiang Left Association. Huang Shi knew that Mao Wenlong was now racing toward Haizhou at top speed. Mao Wenlong had launched this campaign over a thousand li from his base, so his expenses must also be enormous. If they could not capture enough goods, Mao Wenlong would likely be close to bankruptcy.

Huang Shi had no desire to see Chief Mao go bankrupt and jump into the sea, nor was he willing to let Chief Mao lead a hundred thousand “mighty soldiers” to Liaonan to eat Changsheng Island into poverty. Therefore, he would rather concede the lion’s share of the spoils to Chief Mao.

Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives.

Just as Huang Shi was calculating his own little schemes, Hong Antong ran in excitedly: “My lord! The scouts have spotted Grand Marshal Mao’s banner!”

“How far?”

“Just ten li east of Haizhou city.”

……

“Grand Marshal Mao.”

“Grand Marshal Mao.”

“Grand Marshal Mao.”

As Mao Wenlong spurred his horse toward Huang Shi’s main camp, he was greeted by overwhelming cheers. In that dark era when the imperial court had abandoned Liaodong, Mao Wenlong’s heroic feat of leading two hundred men and crossing three thousand li of sea to counterattack Liaodong was like a lightning bolt piercing the black night, making his name widely known throughout the land of Liao…

If a Jianzhou slave suddenly fell ill and died, it was surely Grand Marshal Mao who had come to administer poison;

If a Han soldier’s home was burned down, it was surely Grand Marshal Mao who had come to set the fire;

If a neighbor suddenly vanished without a trace, they had surely gone to join Grand Marshal Mao.

It was not only the ordinary officers and soldiers of the Left Brigade who were stirred — even Huang Shi’s personal guard became unusually excited. Starting with Hong Antong, the entire Changsheng Island personal guard had originally set out to join Mao Wenlong as well. It was precisely because of Mao Wenlong’s existence that these several hundred thousand Liaodong refugees had been given the chance to escape slavery and slaughter.

The unusual reaction of his personal guard first surprised Huang Shi, but then he understood. At present, the surviving Han people in the Later Jin–controlled zone of Liaodong numbered no more than five hundred thousand, yet over the past few years, six or seven hundred thousand had come seeking to join Mao Wenlong, drawn by his name. To these several hundred thousand people, was Mao Wenlong not a second father and mother, a life-saving god or Buddha? Never mind these people weeping with gratitude — had Huang Shi himself not twice thought of joining Mao Wenlong?

“Truly enough to rouse the righteous courage of heroes everywhere.” At this thought, Huang Shi stepped forward and bowed deeply before Mao Wenlong — this man who had saved the lives of hundreds of thousands: “Grand Commander, your subordinate Huang Shi reports for duty!”