Chapter 300: Section Fifty-Four: Raging Waves (Part Two)

After the southwestern rebellion was quelled, the Emperor rewarded Zhang Heming with the title of Junior Preceptor to the Heir Apparent, and also promoted Huang Shi to Left Chief Commissioner, Junior Guardian and concurrently Grand Guardian to the Heir Apparent, and bestowed upon him a python robe and jade belt. At this time, Mao Wenlong had already been promoted to Grand Guardian for his stubborn resistance in Liaodong; among all the military officers in the realm, he alone held a titular rank slightly higher than Huang Shi's.

First month of the first year of the Chongzhen reign, Liaoyang

Today, after Huang Taiji arrived before his brothers, he waved a letter at them: "Mao Wenlong, Regional Commander of the Dongjiang Garrison of the Ming state, has sent another letter requesting peace negotiations with us."

"Another?" Amin sharply seized upon that word.

"Yes, last year it was one month. After the Dongjiang Army of the Ming state captured Haizhou, Mao Wenlong sent someone to propose peace talks."

"Swindlers!" Manggultai leapt up, grinding his teeth and cursing furiously: "That whole Dongjiang Garrison are swindlers."

"Fifth Brother, don't be hasty yet; listen to me slowly." Huang Taiji soothed Manggultai back into his seat, and addressed the several men in the room: "At the time I also thought Mao Wenlong was employing a delaying tactic — if he wanted peace, why would he attack our Haizhou? So I had his envoy killed. But I didn't expect Mao Wenlong to send another letter. Now that his Haizhou city is consolidated, I find it somewhat strange."

"What's strange about it? The Dongjiang Garrison are all swindlers." Manggultai muttered under his breath. Daišan and Amin both glared at him; Manggultai cast a sidelong glance at the ceiling, but did shut his mouth.

"This time Mao Wenlong again emphasized it is a secret letter. He says he has not yet reported either communication to the Ming court, as if he is privately communicating with us." Huang Taiji stressed the word "privately." Because such communication was far too easy to exploit, Huang Taiji was quite inclined to give it a try.

Amin and Daišan exchanged a glance, and it was still Amin who posed the question: "What conditions does Mao Wenlong propose?"

"We withdraw beyond the border wall, and Mao Wenlong takes responsibility for restraining the officers and troops of the Dongjiang Garrison, guaranteeing no retaliation against us." Huang Taiji, his expression unchanged, stated Mao Wenlong's conditions.

"Swindler! Traitorous scoundrel!" Manggultai sprang up as if scalded by a red-hot iron; this was not the first time he had heard such conditions, so Manggultai was so agitated he nearly lost all self-control. Straining his neck, he shouted at Huang Taiji: "Parade the envoy through the streets, then execute him by a thousand cuts. I'll wield the knife!"

"Shut your mouth!" Before Huang Taiji could speak, Daišan and Amin rebuked him in unison. Manggultai's face flushed crimson; he stormed out of the tent in a fury. As he lifted the tent flap, he still flung back a bitter remark: "You never believe me. Anyway, I've told you — the Dongjiang Garrison is a pack of scoundrels. Go ahead and match wits with Mao Wenlong all you want."

After Manggultai had left, Daišan nodded: "I think it's feasible. The former Ming Liaodong Provincial Governor... that Yuan Chonghuan — last time when he was attacked in Korea, he told the Ming court that Korea lies in a remote borderland and losing it would not matter. Korea has already grown disheartened. But because they have that tyrant Mao Wenlong at their side, Korea has never dared to show any intention of peaceful coexistence with us. Now if Mao Wenlong begins peace talks, Korea will likely lose even more confidence to keep wearing us down."

Huang Taiji clapped his hands and laughed: "The Great Beile's words coincide perfectly with my own. I also suggest we give it a try. If we can truly get Mao Wenlong to negotiate peace with us, our situation will improve considerably once again."

"Yes, indeed. Mao Wenlong is far too troublesome. Every time we are tied up fighting the Mongols and cannot spare a hand, he comes running to do mischief. Now that he has occupied Haizhou, we still have no good way to deal with him. If we can make peace, that would be the best outcome."

Since Amin also expressed agreement, that meant three of the four Great Beile were in favor of peace talks with the Dongjiang Garrison. Huang Taiji told the other two Beile that he would personally go and work on Manggultai shortly, and guaranteed he could talk him around.

Amin wore an expression of utter indifference: "It doesn't matter if he can't be talked around. After all, Old Fifth is just one man, and there are three of us. But you must send capable people; you absolutely must get Mao Wenlong thoroughly confused."

"Rest assured. I will first agree to Mao Wenlong's proposal. As long as the Dongjiang Garrison is willing to talk, that's good enough — as long as we can let the Ming's vassals see it."

At the same time, Huang Shi had already returned to Fujian, where he found the situation had become a complete mess. After the Fujian government troops fought a fierce battle with the Dutch at Penghu, although they forced the Dutch to abandon Penghu, the Fujian government troops, having received a written guarantee from the Dutch, assumed they could rest easy, and so they also withdrew from the Penghu area.

Thus, a power vacuum emerged in the region from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou to Manila. The entire northern end of the Maritime Silk Road was undefended, and pirates rapidly rose up to fill this blank space left by the Dutch and the Ming army. The largest pirate leader at present was Zheng Yiguan. After the Funing Garrison defeated the Dutch, they immediately disbanded the Penghu fleet. Zheng Yiguan then spent large sums of silver to hire these demobilized soldiers, absorbing almost all the naval elite of the former Funing Army, and even pulling away more than half of the Funing Army's warships.

By the first half of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Zheng Yiguan began setting up checkpoints along the Fujian coast, decreeing that every merchant ship passing through these waters must pay him taxes. By the second half of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Zheng Yiguan's monthly income had already surpassed one hundred thousand taels of silver. By the eighth month of the Tianqi reign, forty-three large Fujian merchant ships had set sail, and Zheng Yiguan had seized twelve of them, obtaining nearly two million taels in silver and goods. His strength grew even more formidable, and he attempted to complete the undertaking the Dutch had failed to achieve — the total monopolization of China's maritime trade with Spain.

In the eighth month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Fujian Provincial Governor Zhu Yifeng, seeing the pirates' growing power, ordered the Vice Regional Commander of the Funing Garrison Naval Southern Route, titular Regional Commander Yu Zigao, to rebuild the naval forces and launch a punitive expedition. As a result, the hastily assembled Ming navy of Fujian Province suffered defeat after defeat through mid-September. Sternly reprimanded, Yu Zigao, frantic and helpless, simply proposed "using barbarians to control bandits," suggesting the leasing of Dutch ships and sailors to attack Zheng Yiguan.

In the tenth month, Yu Zigao gave a written guarantee that he would petition the Son of Heaven for a trade permit for the Dutch. Upon hearing this, the Dutch scraped together every warship they had in Taiwan and attacked Zheng Yiguan at Tongshan Island in Fujian. By this time, Zheng's forces already exceeded twenty thousand men, half of whom were naval veterans of the Funing Garrison. The Dutch navy collapsed at the first encounter; of seven warships, one was destroyed, four were captured, and the remaining two did not even dare return to Taiwan, fleeing straight for Batavia.

After routing the Dutch, Zheng Yiguan continued spending heavily to recruit sailors and soldiers from Fujian and Japan. Once his preparations were complete, he began attacking Haicheng in Fujian. The one thousand government troops garrisoned there were completely annihilated, and all supply ships fell into the pirates' hands. Fujian Provincial Governor Zhu Yifeng lamented: "His followers are all wicked youths from the interior, mixed with fierce foreign and Japanese brigands, over thirty thousand men..."

After breaching Haicheng in the eleventh month, Zheng Yiguan amassed nearly twenty thousand naval troops and over five hundred vessels. In the twelfth month, he launched a fierce assault on Xiamen, the station of the Vice Regional Commander of the Funing Garrison Southern Route. Several thousand government troops resisted for days before collapsing entirely. Yu Zigao fled to Quanzhou. After absorbing the Funing Garrison navy, Zheng Yiguan continued raiding Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and other places. Tens of thousands of Funing Army troops in southern Fujian disintegrated and surrendered. Zheng Yiguan took away every ship he could, and burned those he could not. "Officers, troops, ships, and equipment were all reduced to nothing; the entire province of Fujian was shaken by this."

At the end of the twelfth month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Zheng Yiguan attacked from the coast into the interior of Fujian. "The sea bandits banded together and raided the interior, burning, looting, and killing in places like Wuzhou, Lieyu, Dadeng, Aotou, Liuwudian, and Zhongzuo along the coast. Nine out of ten homes were plundered, and refugees filled the roads." When the Funing Garrison Southern Route collapsed, the desperate Yu Zigao sent word to the Funing Garrison headquarters for help. At this time, Huang Shi's three battalions were still on the road, and Zhao Manxiong had absolutely no troops at his disposal, so he had no choice but to refuse Yu Zigao's request.

After annihilating the Funing Army in southern Fujian, Zheng Yiguan did properly release all the captured Ming army officers. At the same time, he had them deliver a letter to the imperial court, expressing his willingness to accept amnesty and "garrison the coastal defenses" for the Great Ming. After releasing the Ming army officers, Zheng Yiguan posted proclamations throughout southern Fujian, announcing that all passing merchants must pay him taxes, and those setting sail must naturally also pay him protection fees.

The Fujian Provincial Administration Commissioner memorialized the court: "The seas are filled with bandits; the people have not a single sail to come and go, and the livelihoods of merchants and peddlers are cut off." After this memorial reached the capital, Chongzhen immediately ordered Yu Zigao's arrest and interrogation.

At the same time, the court was in an uproar. Some strongly advocated sending Huang Shi personally to suppress the pirates along the Fujian coast, but many others proposed granting amnesty to Zheng Yiguan and promoting him to a coastal defense post in the Funing Garrison. The current situation was that the Funing Garrison Southern Brigade had collapsed. Although Huang Shi's reputation was resounding, neither he nor his troops were ever known for naval warfare. In the end, the Emperor decided to order Huang Shi to begin bandit suppression while also planning to promote Xiong Wencan as Fujian Provincial Governor, so as to employ both suppression and amnesty.

But military funds still had to be raised by Fujian Province and the Funing Garrison themselves. After Chongzhen implemented massive tax reductions, the income of the Inner Treasury was almost completely cut off, making it impossible to subsidize the state treasury any longer. Therefore, the Donglin Party proposed increasing agricultural taxes. Increasing agricultural taxes did not begin with the Chongzhen reign; although the Wanli reign set agricultural tax at roughly one-thirtieth of a farmer's income, Wanli still added the Liaodong military tax, totaling five million. However, during the Wanli and Tianqi reigns, whenever a province suffered a natural disaster, the court would reduce or remit that province's taxes.

The Chongzhen Emperor intended to govern diligently and revitalize the state, but unfortunately he was severely short of funds. He therefore decreed that provincial taxes must be collected in full, and local officials were not permitted to delay or obstruct. At the same time, Chongzhen and the Donglin Cabinet believed they should display the spirit of a new reign and resolved to investigate the accumulated arrears and abuses in each province, aiming to fill the shortfalls left by previous reigns.

Taking Shaanxi as an example: during the Wanli reign, it was estimated that the grain yield per mu could be sold for about five mace of silver, and the tax per mu was about two candareens of silver. Adding the Liaodong military tax of two candareens and seven cash, the total came to about four or five candareens of silver. During the Wanli and Tianqi years, when famine struck, not only was this sum waived, but there would also be corresponding relief.

By the first year of the Chongzhen reign, the Emperor's Inner Treasury could no longer provide relief to the disaster-stricken areas of Shaanxi. Not only that, Chongzhen also ordered that taxes be collected uniformly without exception.

In the early years of the Ming dynasty, the military provisions, weapons, and clothing for the various garrisons in Shaanxi were all self-raised by the garrisons. After entering the Little Ice Age, they were mainly subsidized by the miscellaneous taxes collected by Wanli. Now that the source of Inner Treasury funds was nearly exhausted, the Donglin Party proposed, according to the Single Whip Law precedent, to apportion this tax evenly among the farmers in the disaster-stricken areas of Shaanxi, amounting to two mace of silver per mu. The Son of Heaven approved this draft edict.

In the early years of the Ming dynasty, the court established horse administration in the Shaanxi region, specifically designating pastures for raising horses for military use. By the first year of the Chongzhen reign, the Shaanxi horse administration should, on paper, have had five hundred seventy thousand warhorses and draft horses, but in fact... there was not even a single horse skeleton left, and the pastures had long since degraded and disappeared.

During the Wanli reign, military horses were primarily purchased using the income from mining taxes from the Inner Treasury. After the Donglin Party abolished the mining taxes in the Taichang reign, Wei Zhongxian, who came from an old farming background, did not dare to scheme against the impoverished peasants. He therefore secretly ordered the Eastern Depot to investigate which civil and military officials had wealth, and then collected horses by granting the right to ride horses within the Forbidden City. (This policy has been discussed earlier in this book and will not be elaborated on here.)

After toppling the monstrously evil Wei Zhongxian, the Donglin gentlemen immediately abolished this unpopular decree. But carving up Wei Zhongxian could not magically conjure five hundred seventy thousand horses out of thin air in Shaanxi, and the Nine Frontier Garrisons still needed horse supplies. The Donglin gentlemen were not of old farming stock; they did not share Wei Zhongxian's peasant mentality. The Donglin Cabinet first shifted the blame for the dereliction of the horse administration onto Wei Zhongxian, then told the Emperor that the reason horses could no longer be raised was because the pastures had all been seized by "wicked people" in Shaanxi for farming. They therefore suggested, according to the Single Whip Law precedent, adding five mace of silver per mu in Shaanxi to buy horses. Chongzhen approved this draft edict.

During Zhang Juzheng's time, the number of imperial clansmen had already greatly increased. To save money, Zhang Juzheng only provided eighty percent of the stipulated allowance. By the time the money-grubbing and shameless Wanli took personal rule, he was only willing to give some clansmen fifty percent or even less. Moreover, the Wanli Emperor creatively invented the method of not granting formal names and therefore not providing stipends. During his reign, some distant imperial clansmen of the Ming never received an official name in their entire lives, and thus never received imperial grain.

After the sagely ruler Chongzhen ascended the throne, the Donglin Cabinet suggested, according to the Single Whip Law precedent, to make up part of the imperial clansmen's needs by collecting taxes from the peasants. Chongzhen agreed to this draft edict, and Shaanxi thus gained yet another additional tax.

Furthermore, the Donglin Party claimed they would manage water conservancy and increase production in Shaanxi, according to the Single Whip Law precedent...

Moreover, the Donglin Party believed that the cost of transporting grain to the Gansu-Shaanxi military garrisons should not rely entirely on salt certificates...

Also...

In Shaanxi Province, where Zhang Juzheng had assessed during bumper years that income per mu could reach four or five mace of silver, the total tax per mu set by the Son of Heaven and the Donglin Party for local farmers in the first year of the Chongzhen reign had already reached as high as two taels of silver.

Huang Shi returned to Fujian at the end of the first month. The order for Yu Zigao's arrest had just arrived. Upon hearing the news, he immediately went to Quanzhou to meet with Fujian Provincial Governor Zhu Yifeng. After meeting Governor Zhu, Huang Shi dispensed with pleasantries and stated bluntly: "My Lord Zhu, your subordinate is not versed in naval warfare. If General Yu is imprisoned, your subordinate will be even more at a loss as to how to organize and train a navy, let alone suppress the bandits."

Zhu Yifeng had long been as frantic as an ant on a hot pan, but under the present circumstances he could hardly protect himself, let alone protect Yu Zigao. He gave Huang Shi a bitter smile: "Commander Huang, this time the bandits have penetrated deep into the heartland of Fujian Province. With an incident of this magnitude, the censors are already in an uproar. How could responsibility possibly not be pursued?"

"My Lord Zhu, at present at least ten to twenty thousand of the bandits were originally officers and troops of the Funing Garrison. If the court had not disbanded the Penghu navy before, things would never have deteriorated to this point."

Zhu Yifeng nodded repeatedly, casually chiming in: "Commander Huang is right. It was all that traitor Wei. If he had not withdrawn the Penghu coastal defenses, we truly would not have today's chaos. But now, saying anything is useless."

Zheng Yiguan himself wished to blow the matter up to seek amnesty, so that he could legitimately set up checkpoints and collect protection fees in Fujian. And the main force within Zheng's army was also former government troops of the Funing Garrison, so accepting amnesty had a very strong following within Zheng's army. Historically, after Xiong Wencan took the field, Zheng Yiguan immediately accepted the court's amnesty and became the Coastal Defense Mobile Corps Commander of the Funing Garrison.

After obtaining his official status from the Great Ming, Zheng Yiguan closely coordinated with the Funing Garrison troops, using court resources to annihilate all the other major pirate bands on the Fujian seas, and decreed that all ships passing through the Taiwan Strait must pay him taxes, otherwise the safety of their merchant vessels would not be guaranteed. After the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign, Zheng Yiguan's annual income amounted to several million taels of silver or more. Relying on his Ming official status and his fleet, he monopolized the trade along the southeastern coast and maintained an army of several hundred thousand.

If it were merely a matter of personal sentiment, Huang Shi still held quite favorable feelings toward the Zheng family. He still remembered when he was a child visiting Xiamen, an adult had pointed to a statue on Gulangyu and told him: "This is the national hero Zheng Chenggong. He recovered the motherland's territory from the hands of foreigners. His heroic name will be passed down through the ages."

At that time, Huang Shi's elders had also told him: "The greatest mistake Zheng Chenggong ever made in his life was promoting a Han traitor named Shi Lang. This Shi Lang, coveting wealth and rank, turned his back on the land of his parents, sold out the culture and traditions of his ancestors to foreigners, and dyed the topknot on his head red with the blood of his compatriots. A kneeling statue of Shi Lang truly ought to be erected before the statue of Zheng Chenggong!"

After Huang Shi grew up, he gradually came to understand that Zheng Chenggong's father had engaged in the same kind of dealings as Shi Lang. When the Qing troops marched south, Zheng Yiguan, whom the Longwu Emperor had relied upon as the pillar of the state, reached a private agreement with the Manchu Qing. He betrayed the Great Ming's Longwu Emperor, who had trusted him so deeply, and the people of Fujian. While the Manchu Qing were brutally massacring the people living within thirty li of the coast, Zheng Yiguan, a native of Quanzhou, groveled and begged the Manchu Qing to enfeoff him as "King of the Fujian Seas," and in the end took his tens of millions of taels in savings to Beijing, shaved his head into a queue, and lived as a man of leisure.

Yet Zheng Chenggong had declared with a resounding voice: "If the father is not a loyal minister, then the son shall not be a filial son," and flatly refused the Manchu Qing's offer of surrender.

Because of Zheng Chenggong, Huang Shi originally bore no ill will toward the Zheng family and had no intent to kill them. But now, Huang Shi was a government soldier, and Zheng Yiguan was a sea bandit.

— This is not a personal grudge.

Huang Shi said to himself in his heart, then raised his head and asked Zhu Yifeng: "Your subordinate ventures to ask, my lord: does my lord advocate amnesty or suppression?"

Zhu Yifeng was of course an advocate of suppression, but now it was clear that suppression could no longer continue. Since the court had already moved to employ Xiong Wencan, that indicated the amnesty faction had already gained the upper hand in court. Zheng Yiguan had repeatedly declared his willingness to accept amnesty, and it seemed highly likely that Xiong Wencan would succeed in arranging it. In that case, he, Zhu Yifeng, might well be charged with "improper handling that provoked unrest" and forever lose any chance of reinstatement.

These past days Zhu Yifeng had thought it over again and again, and he was already nearly in despair about his own prospects. When he heard Huang Shi ask such a question, he could only respond with a bitter smile: "The Southern Coordination Naval Force has been annihilated. Old General Yu is in prison. What other solution does Marshal Huang have?"

"Those who build bridges and pave roads leave no bones behind; those who kill and burn wear golden belts. To gather a mob and run riot, to attack and plunder prefectures and counties, and then to accept amnesty and transform overnight into an official — is there any bargain cheaper than this under heaven?" Huang Shi clasped his hands behind his back and gave a few cold laughs, then loudly declared to Zhu Yifeng: "My Lord Zhu, your subordinate believes we should suppress them with the utmost severity. Absolutely no amnesty."

"Marshal Huang has great spirit, but the dynasty's policy toward internal bandits has always been pacification."

"That applies to starving refugees who cannot be subdued, not to pirates and Japanese raiders. This time the bandits have penetrated deep into the interior, slaughtering tens of thousands of officers, soldiers, and civilians, causing My Lord Zhu and Old General Yu to be impeached — Old General Yu even faces the threat of death. If anything should happen to Old General Yu, and yet your subordinate were to become colleagues with these bandits, that is something your subordinate could never accept, no matter how he reasoned it."

"Well said, Marshal Huang!" Zhu Yifeng could not help but voice his approval. Zheng Yiguan had stormed and breached so many prefectures and counties this time that Zhu Yifeng's own official post was about to be lost. If Zhu Yifeng lost his post and at the same time saw Zheng Yiguan become an imperial official, he felt he would simply die of sheer rage.

But rage aside, after a moment's reflection Zhu Yifeng's spirits sank again: "Yet we have no provisions, no ships, no sailors, and no great naval general. Where would we even begin such a suppression?"

Huang Shi gently removed his official hat, held it in both hands, and said to Zhu Yifeng with solemn gravity: "My Lord Zhu, your subordinate is willing to stake this black gauze cap as surety for Old General Yu. I will submit a memorial imploring the imperial court to adopt a suppression policy against the sea bandits. I wonder if My Lord Zhu would be willing to take the lead in submitting this memorial."

These words left Zhu Yifeng both startled and delighted. By all rights, this affair should not have brought disaster upon Huang Shi. If Huang Shi kept silent, Zheng Yiguan would most likely become his nominal subordinate. Using Huang Shi's current reputation to vouch for a man like Yu Zigao would naturally pose no great problem, and if the court approved the suppression proposal, then his own official post, Zhu Yifeng's, would most likely be preserved as well.

Of course, such preservation would only be temporary. If the bandit suppression ultimately failed, the punishment would become far more severe. Zhu Yifeng knew that if he now bravely retired from the fray, he would merely lose his post, but if another suppression campaign ended in catastrophic defeat, he estimated it would bring a fatal calamity upon him. After his initial surprise and delight, he hesitated again: "Marshal Huang, do you have any confidence of success in this suppression?"

"Your subordinate is willing to set a two-year limit and guarantee that Old General Yu will certainly succeed in suppressing the bandits."

Zhu Yifeng calculated to himself: a two-year time limit was not excessively long, and the court could probably accept it. If the situation did not deteriorate too severely by then, he might be able to maneuver and perhaps secure a transfer elsewhere. Even if it deteriorated badly, he might still escape a death sentence — far better than his current predicament of losing his post with his hands tied. Having thought this through, Zhu Yifeng expressed his agreement with Huang Shi's plan: "Since Marshal Huang has such confidence, this official will also stake his own head as surety for Old General Yu."

The two men promptly drafted an urgent memorial, and then began discussing military matters. Zhu Yifeng immediately proposed: "The Funing Garrison originally had an establishment of eight battalions. In this official's view, that may not be sufficient. I intend to submit another memorial to expand the Funing Garrison's forces to ten battalions, with the battalion structure placed entirely under Marshal Huang's authority."

Huang Shi's battalions were calculated at five thousand combat soldiers each. Zhu Yifeng declared through gritted teeth: "The sea bandits number roughly forty to fifty thousand. If the government troops of the Funing Garrison have ten battalions and fifty thousand combat soldiers, then with Marshal Huang's martial valor, we can surely drive the bandits out of Min Province."

However, the Funing Garrison could by no means afford to support fifty thousand troops. Though Zhu Yifeng did not mention it aloud, he had heard some rumors about the great loan for pacifying the barbarians, so he surmised that Huang Shi had originally intended to disband his existing three battalions to save on expenses. If he wanted to support Huang Shi and Yu Zigao in continuing the fight, then Zhu Yifeng would certainly have to find a way to produce some funds.

When Zhu Yifeng inquired about the costs, Huang Shi reported honestly: "In the Funing Garrison, each soldier's monthly pay and rations amount to one tael and five mace of silver. Factoring in armor, provisions, equipment, shipbuilding, and cannon-casting, the average monthly cost comes to at least two taels of silver per man."

As the Provincial Governor of Fujian, Zhu Yifeng had a fair grasp of the basic figures for the Funing Garrison. "Mm. Marshal Huang is correct. So fifty thousand troops would cost one hundred thousand taels of silver per month. That is one million two hundred thousand taels of silver per year. Recruiting soldiers also requires a settling-in fee of five taels of silver per man, which is another two hundred fifty thousand taels. Hmm, we must produce five hundred thousand taels of silver as quickly as possible, and within one year we will need a total of one million five hundred thousand taels of silver."

Huang Shi proposed that they could save a portion by using military scrip; if all settlements were made in silver coin, they would only need about one million taels of silver per year, and the Funing Garrison could also provide for a part of it itself. The two men calculated again and again, and in the end the bulk of the provisions and pay would still have to be borne by Fujian Province — at least seven hundred thousand taels of silver in the first year, and the second year could not be less than that figure.

"What is to be done? The court has already ordered the suspension of maritime taxes." If the maritime taxes had not been suspended, Fujian could probably still draw a monthly revenue of one hundred thousand taels of silver from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. A large portion of that money had originally been allocated to the Funing Garrison for maintaining the naval forces. But now that could no longer be counted on. Without waiting for Huang Shi's reply, Zhu Yifeng lowered his head and began calculating to himself. After a while he looked up and said: "The only plan now is to impose a Sea-Pacifying Levy."

According to Zhu Yifeng's calculations, he could impose some additional special taxes on merchants and townspeople, extorting at least two hundred thousand taels from the entire province in a year. The remaining five hundred thousand taels Zhu Yifeng intended to pass on to the peasants under the names of the Sea-Pacifying Levy and meltage fees. To be on the safe side, he planned to collect a bit more: "Adopting the Single Whip method, an additional levy per mu of..."

Huang Shi had no fondness whatsoever for this plan, because he believed the peasants might simply be unable to pay. And once an additional levy of several hundred thousand taels of silver was imposed, it would be a wonder if the local officials did not exploit it to fleece the people. In truth, Zhu Yifeng also thought that the peasants' hard-earned yearly surplus probably could not match this tax. Grain yields per mu in Fujian had never been high, and coastal peasants had to both farm the land and go out to sea to fish just to sustain their livelihoods.

Now, in order to combat the sea bandits, the Funing Army and the Fujian Provincial Administration Commission would very likely also have to impose martial law and a sea ban along the Min coast, which would cause even more losses for peasants and fishermen. And if additional taxes were levied on townspeople and merchants, commerce would also suffer. Combined with the sea bandits and the court's martial law and sea ban, the merchants would probably sustain enormous losses.

But Zhu Yifeng believed that the common people's money was like water in a sponge — as long as one was willing to squeeze, it could always be wrung out: "The common folk generally have some savings. If it truly comes to it, they also have household property they can pawn. As long as Marshal Huang can pacify the sea bandits within two years, this official believes they can still produce this bit of money."

Huang Shi, however, listened and shook his head inwardly.

At present, in order to gather intelligence, Zheng Yiguan deliberately put on a show of generosity and magnanimity. When he encountered a scholar, he would give some silver for the examinations; when he encountered the poor, he would hand out a few copper coins. He also spent heavily to buy off numerous spies, to the point that some among the populace "esteemed the bandits and aspired to join them."

But such people were, after all, a minority. Zheng's army's plundering along the Min coast had left vast numbers of Fujian's people without food, and he had also burned large numbers of merchant ships in Zhangzhou, Xiamen, and other places. Thus the scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants of Fujian, for the most part, still fervently hoped that the government troops would exterminate the bandit gang and restore their peaceful lives.

If Zhu Yifeng's strategy were carried out, the court would inevitably lose the hearts of the people on a massive scale. The elders of Fujian might well come to hate the government troops even more than the sea bandits, and the calls to accept Zheng Yiguan's amnesty would grow ever louder.

"My Lord Zhu, your subordinate ventures to ask: could the court and the Fujian Provincial Administration Commission permit the Funing Garrison to collect a Sea-Pacifying Fee along the Min coast? For example, collecting a set amount of silver based on the cargo or the size of the vessel, and using this money to build a naval force." What Huang Shi was describing was precisely the right that Zheng Yiguan had obtained in his original history. At that time, Zheng Yiguan had been the Maritime Defense Mobile Corps Commander of the Funing Garrison, setting up checkpoints along the Taiwan Strait to collect taxes, which yielded an annual income of at least over a million taels of silver.

"Isn't that just repackaging the maritime tax? Mm, although the court has a sea ban, this official thinks there should be no major problem, as long as..."

Zhu Yifeng made a gesture of handing over money. Huang Shi nodded: "Your subordinate would certainly not keep this silver for himself. I beg My Lord Zhu to grant me the authorization. Your subordinate intends to rely on this to build the naval force."

"Hmm? A piece of paper granting authorization is easy enough, but this is distant water that cannot quench a nearby thirst. And at present, the seas off Min are infested with pirates everywhere; without a naval force, we cannot collect the Sea-Pacifying Tax..." As Zhu Yifeng spoke, he trailed off. He felt his train of thought had become somewhat tangled.

"Is My Lord Zhu trying to say that we must first have a naval force before we can collect taxes, and yet we must first collect taxes before we can have a naval force? Therefore, given the present circumstances, we will have neither a naval force nor taxes. Is that it?"

Zhu Yifeng stared blankly at Huang Shi for a moment: "Marshal Huang is quite right. That is exactly the case."

"Which is to say, as long as we have a naval force and exterminate the sea bandits, we will certainly have the taxes?" Huang Shi asked with a smile. Without waiting for Zhu Yifeng to answer, he pressed on: "Then I beg My Lord Zhu to grant your subordinate the authorization immediately, and to issue a proclamation throughout Min, so that every merchant knows that the naval force of the Funing Garrison has the authority to collect this sum."

"But... but we still don't have the money for the naval force?"

"Borrow! Using the Sea-Pacifying Tax as collateral."

On the twenty-first day of the second month, in the capital,

When Senior Grand Secretary Li Biao and Junior Grand Secretary Qian Longxi of the Donglin Party received the urgent memorial from Huang Shi and Zhu Yifeng, they could not help but smile as they read it. They then drafted a rescript recommending that the Son of Heaven accept Huang Shi's guarantee and adopt a suppression policy against the Min sea bandits, with a two-year deadline.

Unexpectedly, the Chongzhen Emperor did not immediately approve this draft rescript. Instead, he summoned Qian Longxi to inquire: "Grand Secretary, Marshal Huang does not seem to be renowned for naval warfare. Is this not somewhat forcing him to do the impossible?"

"Your Majesty, Marshal Huang is in truth the foremost fierce general of our Great Ming. In the past, Marshal Huang was permanently stationed on Zhangsheng Island. In your subject's humble opinion, his naval warfare skills must naturally be quite formidable as well — he simply has not had the opportunity to display them. Moreover, Marshal Huang has outstanding military merits and has rendered great service to the state. Since Marshal Huang's plea is so earnest and he is so determined to vouch for Yu Zigao to atone for his crimes through meritorious service, your subject believes it would be inappropriate to reject this memorial."

The boy draped in the dragon robe pondered this for a moment and felt that Qian Longxi's words were not false. He nodded and asked: "What punishment should Yu Zigao originally have faced?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, your subject believes that Yu Zigao's crime warrants the death penalty. However, he defended the frontier for many years and recovered Penghu for the state. Even if a death sentence is prescribed, your subject believes the punishment should be reduced by one degree. Stripping him of his hereditary rank would be about right."

"Very well. Since his crime does not warrant death, then let us heed Marshal Huang and allow him to atone for his crimes through meritorious service."

"Your Majesty's insight spans ten thousand li."

Qian Longxi returned and immediately ordered the swift dispatch of an imperial edict to Fujian, changing the policy from pacification to suppression. At the same time, he held back the edict that would have dismissed Zhu Yifeng and promoted Xiong Wencan to Provincial Governor of Fujian to go and offer amnesty to Zheng Yiguan. After work that evening, Qian Longxi personally went to visit Sun Chengzong. Since the visitor was a Grand Secretary, Sun Chengzong naturally did not dare to be remiss. The two men took their seats as host and guest, and after a few words they were addressing each other as equals.

After a long while, Sun Chengzong finally inquired about the purpose of Qian Longxi's visit. The latter then recounted the contents of Huang Shi and Zhu Yifeng's memorial to Sun Chengzong, along with the Grand Secretariat's decision.

Sun Chengzong asked with some puzzlement: "Brother Jishan, what is the meaning of this? I have never heard that Huang Shi excels in naval warfare. Besides, with the forces of just the single Funing Garrison, how can the Japanese raiders be swiftly swept away?"

"The very point is to blunt his edge!" Qian Longxi gave a cold laugh and picked up his tea to drink. Back then, the eunuch faction's Grand Secretariat had transferred Huang Shi to suppress the She-An Rebellion. Apart from wanting to weaken Mao Wenlong's strength, there was also the sense that Huang Shi's star was rising too fast, so they intended to let him wear down his sharpness in the southwest.

Unexpectedly, the She-An Rebellion, which had dragged on for years, was resolved when Huang Shi arrived — first by a divine forced march of three thousand li to relieve the siege, and then by sweeping the rebellion away in a single stroke. Although Huang Shi gave all the credit to Zhang Heming, anyone with discerning eyes could still easily see whose achievement it truly was. Not only did the court ministers think so, but even the storytellers in the capital attributed this merit to Huang Shi. In their tales, Zhang Heming, who had been given chief credit for pacifying the southwest, became a mere supporting character.

After the Chongzhen Emperor received the memorial announcing the pacification of the She-An Rebellion, he immediately inquired of the Grand Secretariat whether Huang Shi could be granted a noble title. This frightened the civil officials badly. Huang Shi was barely thirty years old, and already his prominence faintly threatened to overshadow the civil officials. What would become of them if he was given more time? So they fought tooth and nail to dissuade the Emperor from this idea, arguing on one hand that it was inappropriate to bestow heavy rewards so soon after the late Emperor's passing, and on the other that the new Emperor's accession called for prudent use of the dynasty's instruments of honor. In the end, they managed to quash this notion of the young Chongzhen Emperor.

Qian Longxi took a slow sip of tea, then leaned slightly toward Sun Chengzong: "His Majesty has already summoned Old Zhang and Yuan Chonghuan to the capital, presumably to inquire about the strategy for pacifying Liaodong. In my view, this Old Zhang will probably recommend Huang Shi as Provincial Military Commander of Liaodong, no?"

Sun Chengzong knew that Qian Longxi's attitude toward Zhang Heming was not particularly friendly. This was because Qian Longxi had once risen to the post of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, but had been dismissed by Wei Zhongxian. Old Man Zhang Heming, however, had always been an unshakeable fixture in the political arena. Even at his worst, he had still managed to secure the title of Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Works. Zhang Heming's writings were watertight from beginning to end; Wei Zhongxian wanted to bring him down but could find no good pretext, and in the end simply packed him off to the southwest, hoping the old man would succumb to the unfamiliar climate and kick the bucket on his own.

To everyone's surprise, this seventy-six-year-old man not only grew more vigorous the longer he lived, but also climbed even higher on the back of Huang Shi's great victory. People like Qian Longxi, Donglin partisans who had been dismissed from office during the Tianqi reign, felt envy, jealousy, and hatred toward this old man, and now they were even more green-eyed with resentment. Yet however discontented they might have been with Old Zhang in the past, they absolutely dared not vent it now — after all, Old Zhang's merits and seniority were there for all to see.

Unlike Qian Longxi, Sun Chengzong's relationship with Zhang Heming was quite good. Apart from the connection through his teacher Ye Xianggao, Sun Chengzong had not suffered much misfortune during the Tianqi reign — in fact, he had fared rather well. For this reason, people like Li Biao and Qian Longxi within the Donglin Party did not think very highly of Sun Chengzong either, always feeling that he was not one of their own who had shared in hardship. Since the start of the Chongzhen reign, the Donglin Grand Secretariat had also been quite exclusionary toward Sun Chengzong, so Sun Chengzong and Zhang Heming shared a certain sympathy as fellow sufferers.

"I'm afraid so."

Qian Longxi weighed his words and said: "There are people whispering behind Old Zhang's back, saying that he obtained his office through the traitor Wei."

"Baseless slander!"

"There are also those who say that Huang Shi, too, was in cahoots with the traitor Wei."

"That is even more catching at shadows. Huang Shi is a man of unblemished integrity. I guarantee he has done no such thing."

"Then why would the traitor Wei have sent the two of them such a tremendous merit?"

Sun Chengzong immediately fell silent. After all these years, he had long seen through the workings of officialdom. Sun Chengzong recalled how the Donglin Party used to hurl accusations over the Three Cases, denouncing others as traitors. Now that they had crushed all the other factions, the Donglin Party drew their swords and looked around at a loss, so they began accusing one another of being remnants of the Eunuch Party — every Donglin clique brandished the hat of "traitor" and slapped it on each other at will.

"Brother Kaiyang, I support Elder Zhang. Look, I even held back the imperial edict summoning Yuan Chonghuan to the capital — I didn't send it by urgent dispatch, and the edict's wording is deliberately vague, with travel arrangements at the level of a dismissed official. By the time Yuan Chonghuan receives the edict and sets out for the capital, it will be July at the earliest. By then Elder Zhang will likely have settled the postwar matters in the southwest, and might even reach the capital before Yuan Chonghuan does."

"Yuan Chonghuan is no stranger to warfare. The great victories at Ningyuan and Juehua were both the fruit of his planning. Over two thousand heads were taken that time — the first great victory against the northern barbarians in a hundred years."

"Brother Kaiyang, as I recall, Huang Shi was also present in that battle, wasn't he?"

"Yes, but the relationship between Yuan Chonghuan and Huang Shi seems to be very poor."

"Exactly!" Qian Longxi lightly slapped the tabletop with force, then said to Sun Chengzong with a solemn expression, "The Grand Secretariat has already reached a consensus: Huang Shi cannot be employed in Liaodong affairs. If Elder Zhang does not recommend this man to His Majesty, we will support Elder Zhang as Grand Coordinator of Liaodong. Otherwise, we would rather have that barbarian Yuan. Elder Zhang will surely heed your words, Brother Kaiyang. I must trouble you with this matter."