Chapter 33: Section Twelve

"I often speak without thinking, I'm quite muddle-headed, and I don't understand many social niceties. I'm sincerely asking now — just now when I said you should help that girl onto the horse, all of you reacted strongly. Why?" Huang Shi's tone was very earnest. Although he was basically certain of the young lady's status, he still wanted to confirm it one last time.

Yang Luhuo stifled his smile and stared at Huang Shi for a long moment, then suddenly burst out laughing again. He leaned forward and cupped his hands: "My lord, you are too serious. You are a man who does great things — naturally you pay no mind to these trivial little matters."

"Speak freely, there's no harm."

"Yes, your subordinate obeys." As Huang Shi's first-ever captain of personal guards, Yang Luhuo's status was naturally quite different, and all this time he had essentially been Huang Shi's right-hand man: "My lord, do you still remember the scene yesterday when the Sun family's young lady sent her maid over?"

Yesterday all his personal guards had been exceedingly deferential toward Guai Baobao, and today Yang Luhuo, half-frozen to death, still insisted on shielding her from the wind. Huang Shi asked with feigned nonchalance: "You are all very afraid of her?"

"Yes. My lord is a hero and a man of great stature who pays no heed to trifles, but we cannot compare to my lord. Everyone knows perfectly well in their hearts who can be offended and who cannot." As Yang Luhuo spoke, his smile turned somewhat suggestive: "We might dare offend the First Lady a little, but we absolutely dare not offend the Second Lady."

"Second Lady?" Huang Shi cried out in surprise, scratching his head and looking very bewildered: "I come from a poor background — don't laugh at me, Yang Luhuo — originally I didn't even dare think about taking a wife. I truly don't understand any of this at all. Explain it to me properly."

Yang Luhuo found this a bit strange. When a matter had been spelled out to this degree, anyone in the Great Ming ought to understand by now — the lord he followed was ordinarily as shrewd as a monkey, so how could he still not grasp it when it was laid out so plainly?

In the Ming dynasty, ninety-nine out of a hundred such personal maids who accompanied a bride into the household would become the master's concubine. For someone like Huang Shi, who had taken no concubine, it was even more of a foregone conclusion that she would be the first concubine. The backward state of technology meant the Ming dynasty lacked contraceptive methods; the principal wife might soon become pregnant, and as time went on the husband and wife could no longer share a bed. A master from a well-off family naturally would not resort to using his five fingers to solve the problem, and at such times he would often take a concubine. And since the principal wife was responsible for arranging the concubinage, she would of course choose from among people she trusted.

The maids who accompanied the bride were generally the personal maids who had served the wife since her days as a young lady, so they would honorably take up this important duty, keeping watch over the husband for the wife during this critical period. The wife could use such a maid with greater peace of mind: no need to worry about rebellion, and she would be relatively obedient — she could definitely be counted as a wing the wife had cultivated.

Moreover, in the Great Ming the wife governed the inner household. Although the principal wife had the final say in all domestic matters, she could not possibly be out and about all day long, so the work of controlling the household was also carried out through trusted confidantes like her personal maid. This custom had in practice become an unwritten institution. When wealthy families chose a personal maid for their daughter, the girl not only had to be clever and reliable, but also refined and pretty, so that she could help the daughter secure favor and consolidate her position.

Although Huang Shi had some vague awareness of these things, Yang Luhuo was after all someone who lived in this era, and his explanation allowed Huang Shi to thoroughly understand these rites and customs. He recalled his several meetings with Guai Baobao — no wonder she had acted so strangely at the time. The truth was that nominally she was acting on behalf of the young lady, but in reality she was also observing her future husband for herself.

"The First Lady is as distant as heaven and as remote as the emperor, but if the Second Lady took a dislike to someone, that person would be in for a world of trouble." Yang Luhuo reiterated his attitude that he feared Guai Baobao even more than he feared Miss Sun.

Everyone foresaw that Huang Shi would rise steadily through the ranks and his household would grow larger and larger. If one stayed in the household, that was originally the Second Lady's territory. Even if one were sent out as a junior military officer, if the Second Lady lodged a malicious complaint against you to the First Lady, and the two of them whispered pillow talk together, it would still be unbearable. Yang Luhuo even mentioned a more despicable trick — going to Huang Shi and tearfully accusing someone of making improper advances toward her. That one charge alone would be enough to doom the unlucky wretch beyond all redemption.

The proper course today would have been for Huang Shi to go over and help Guai Baobao onto the horse. If Huang Shi was unwilling to do so in front of Miss Sun, then she would have no choice but to follow behind on foot. This was easy to explain — the unwritten institution had sunk deep into everyone's hearts. Miss Sun, Guai Baobao, and Yang Luhuo had all determined their own positions in life and their interpersonal relationships based on their respective distances from Huang Shi.

Huang Shi mulled over Yang Luhuo's words. Very well, this man could basically be ruled out as a suspect. He felt that Zhao Manxiong had been right — he was seeing ghosts because of his own guilty conscience, viewing everyone as a potential spy for Sun Degong.

"Today my lord has truly done his subordinate harm. Add to that yesterday when your subordinate made the Second Lady lose her temper — if the Second Lady harbors a grudge in her heart, your subordinate is in for misfortune." Yang Luhuo smiled bitterly as he laid the groundwork, then went straight to the point: "My lord, might I say that my lord was angry because of what happened with the Second Lady at home yesterday?"

"Why?"

"Your subordinate has selfish motives. Your subordinate plans to secretly tell the Second Lady about this matter. The Second Lady will surely be grateful to your subordinate."

Huang Shi could not help but smile. He was still at such a low rank, and already his household was going to be filled with so many schemes and intrigues: "You may."

"Thank you, my lord. Then your subordinate will go tonight. This is also good for my lord — this way the personal guards will also feel that my lord does not lust after women. Oh —" Yang Luhuo hastily added: "My lord of course does not lust after women, it will just let the personal guards know that my lord cares about them."

Yang Luhuo had no idea that the suspicion he had just cleared had been placed back on him. Huang Shi's first reaction was that this fellow wanted to tip her off.

Of course, it could also be a sincere remark — in that case he was afraid that Guai Baobao would learn the truth in the future and realize she had been tricked out of her gratitude.

Huang Shi thought it over and felt that, whichever possibility it was, it was best not to refuse: "Of course, you're right. Go and publicize this matter for me. Let everyone know that I was very dissatisfied with the Second Lady scolding my personal guard, and that I very satisfyingly avenged them."

"Yes." Yang Luhuo agreed cheerfully.

Huang Shi smiled and accepted his thanks. This fellow had no idea of Huang Shi's other, deeper intention.

Anyone would ask about the details, and in this way the matter of his secret meeting with Miss Sun would spread. It might even reach Sun Degong's ears. Whether it did or not, anyone who heard about this matter would think that the relationship between him and Sun Degong was already inseparable.

Huang Shi hoped that Sun Degong would believe he harbored no disloyalty, and forget about the issue of Miss Sun's reputation — or perhaps, he had never considered it at all. But no matter what era one lived in, would any husband not consider his wife's reputation? And if these things fell into the eyes of someone with ulterior motives, what then?

On the twelfth day of the first month of the second year of the Tianqi reign, urgent military intelligence came from Liaodong spies: the Later Jin had mobilized in full force and were advancing on Guangning.

In the original history, Huang Shi remembered that it was around this time that the Later Jin launched their massive assault on Guangning, decisively destroying the Guangning army.

At this moment, just as in the timeline Huang Shi came from, the Liaodong Provincial Governor Wang Huazhen had already submitted a memorial requesting battle. The memorial was distributed in the form of a court gazette to all the military garrisons of the Great Ming, and Guangning Garrison, as the frontier garrison directly under the Liaodong Provincial Governor, further distributed it to officers at all levels via garrison reports.

"I wish to advance into battle with sixty thousand troops and sweep the enemy away in one stroke! I dare not covet heaven's merit, but only wish that the officers and soldiers who follow this campaign be richly rewarded, that the people of Liaodong be granted ten years' tax remission, that the realm be relieved of the additional levies, and that I may retire to the mountains and forests — then my wish would be fulfilled! Even if things do not go as hoped, we shall certainly inflict casualties equal to our own, so that the enemy cannot recover and we are assured they will not menace Hexi again. With a little more time, the Grand Coordinator shall press them from three directions, and the enemy's annihilation will be certain. I further wish to make a pact with the Grand Coordinator: the angry frog can serve as a model — do not crush the soldiers' fighting spirit; the toiling firewood-bearer deserves regard — do not dampen the hearts of those who undertake the task. But once across the river, any officer or soldier who fails to break the enemy and flees back shall all be put to death. As for military decisions at the front, permit me the discretion to act as circumstances demand. If every command must await approval before being carried out, then there is no hope. If my words are deemed unacceptable, I beg to be dismissed and to place sole responsibility upon the Grand Coordinator, so that the recovery may be pursued single-mindedly and not be disrupted by my interference."

Huang Shi softly finished reading this impassioned text and sighed. At this time, the Manchu population of the Later Jin was still less than two hundred thousand, with able-bodied males numbering no more than sixty thousand. Nurhaci was draining the pond to catch the fish, and the Manchu fighting men could not exceed thirty or forty thousand. Yet the calculation Wang Huazhen had made was actually "inflicting casualties equal to our own"!

But if that could truly be achieved, with the sixty thousand main-force troops of Guangning Garrison plus the river defense forces and local garrisons totaling a hundred and thirty thousand, Wang Huazhen could certainly exhaust the Later Jin's manpower resources. It was a pity that the sixty thousand main-force troops of Guangning, in Huang Shi's original history, inflicted almost no losses on the Later Jin.

Wang Huazhen had painstakingly and exhaustively planned to counterattack, to recover Liaodong, to quell the rebellion — but this disastrous defeat would not only take his life, it would also nail him and his pro-war stance to the pillar of shame in history.

On the sixteenth day of the first month of the second year of the Tianqi reign, Nurhaci's great army set out from Liaoyang and advanced toward Haizhou. Guangning scouts immediately raced on horseback to report to the Liaodong Provincial Governor's field headquarters.

"The Jianzhou slaves have an estimated twenty thousand fighting men, ten thousand Han fighting men, and forty thousand logistics and labor personnel, totaling around seventy thousand."

Huang Shi briefly read out the garrison report intelligence to the three acting Company Commanders and sternly issued the order: "Immediately prepare separately and mobilize all soldiers."

"Yes, my lord."

The silver and coin Huang Shi had squeezed out of Hong Taiji had long since been thrown at the armory custodians, and the bribe money for the annual audit was spent as soon as it arrived — all of it converted into equipment.

"Troops are trained for a thousand days to be used in a single moment." Huang Shi had not trained these troops in preparation for this great battle. The sole purpose of these two hundred men was to launch a surprise attack on Sun Degong.

"I cannot change this great defeat. Even if I told Wang Huazhen, he absolutely would not believe me — it would just be throwing away a life for nothing." This reasoning was used by Huang Shi to soothe his own sense of guilt — the guilt of standing by and doing nothing in the face of the coming catastrophe.

Huang Shi had pondered long and hard, and felt that Sun Degong would be at his most vulnerable when he launched his rebellion in Guangning. At that moment he would openly cast aside his disguise and defect to the Later Jin side with banners flying, so Huang Shi would not need to worry about being counter-accused.

Furthermore, Sun Degong's thousand or so men would need to subdue the troops of Guangning Prefect Gao Bangzuo; the Liaodong Provincial Governor's personal guard soldiers; and also needed to control Guangning's fifteen thousand garrison troops and each of the city gates — his forces would undoubtedly be very dispersed.

As Sun Degong's trusted confidant, Huang Shi was confident he could launch a surprise attack on Sun Degong and succeed. He once again looked over his annual audit records, on which were written conspicuously in English the number of cannons and the gunpowder stockpile.

Huang Shi stroked the records as though he were stroking those very cannons: "Next, it will all depend on you."

"If I can't handle Hong Taiji, can it be that I can't even deal with Sun Degong?" Ever since taking a head-on blow from Hong Taiji, Huang Shi had already set aside the notion that ancient people were easy to deal with.

But now, seeing that his plan was going smoothly in every respect, that he was deeply trusted and commanded a unit of elite soldiers, Huang Shi began to feel a bit giddy again: "Once I've dealt with Sun Degong, that will be paying Hong Taiji back in kind. Hahahaha."

The next day, the Later Jin's great army departed Haizhou and pressed straight for the Liaohe River.

On the same day, Guangning Garrison declared martial law.