Chapter 64: Section Twelve

Not daring to wait for them to spout more nonsense, Huang Shi hurriedly began to dissolve the grudge between his men and Kong Youde, while continuing to dispel the ill effects. He raised his voice to all the soldiers: "Tonight we were fortunate to encounter General Kong. Otherwise, Huang Shi would still think he understood soldiering, and one day he would have led you all to your deaths without even knowing it. If anything, we owe much to General Kong. If any of you wish to leave a worthless wretch like Huang Shi, Shi will certainly not dare to force you to stay."

"My lord, your words are too harsh." Instantly, everyone in the room fell to their knees.

Kong Youde, standing to the side, could listen no longer: "General Huang, there is something you do not know. Today was also a coincidence — truly, it was just our luck."

"Clearly it was I who dragged my lord down, clearly it was this humble officer who failed to see through the treacherous scheme..." Zhao Manxiong dragged his wounded leg and struggled to his feet. Halfway through his shout, he suddenly realized it was inappropriate and hastily corrected himself: "It was this humble officer who failed to see through General Kong's brilliant stratagem. I beg my lord to mete out punishment."

"Gentlemen, please rise. I am the commanding general. Even if the blame does not rest entirely on me, mine is still the greatest share." Huang Shi sighed in the most sincere tone: "So long as you gentlemen do not scorn Huang Shi, I shall be endlessly grateful."

"We are willing to die for my lord."

Next, Huang Shi offered another round of reassurance, and at the same time thoroughly dissolved his men's hatred toward Kong Youde. Kong Youde watched coldly from the side. After it was over, Huang Shi invited Kong Youde to step out into the night for a chat, and Kong Youde readily agreed.

Once the two had withdrawn from the others, Kong Youde, who had been deep in thought, praised him: "General Huang loves his soldiers like his own sons — truly the bearing of a great general."

"What great general? Was I not utterly routed by General Kong?"

"Would General Huang like to... ahem, would General Huang be willing to discuss the rights and wrongs of it with Kong?" Worried that Huang Shi might become angry from humiliation, Kong Youde hemmed and hawed, trying to find two more pleasant-sounding words.

"I was just about to seek instruction from General Kong, and I hope General Kong will not be stingy with his teaching."

It turned out that Kong Youde had also set his sights on this relay station during the day, wanting to replenish some food and fodder. Unexpectedly, Huang Shi had beaten him to it. But by coincidence, when Huang Shi and his men stormed the relay station, Kong Youde's men happened not to see it. By the time Kong Youde's scouts discovered firelight emerging from the relay station, Huang Shi's men were already lighting fires to cook, and amid the noise of men and neighing of horses, the scouts had thoroughly scouted their strength.

"Kong's scouts reported that quite a few Jianzhou slave cavalry were spending the night at the relay station. Judging by the sounds of men and horses, roughly a hundred men, and even more than two hundred horses. Kong wanted to seize these horses, and as a result wounded many of General Huang's subordinates. I am ashamed." Kong Youde smiled apologetically.

Hearing how his own carelessness had allowed the enemy to ascertain his numbers, Huang Shi's face had long since turned bright red; luckily, it could not be seen in the night: "No blame for what one does not know. Then how did General Kong know that Huang was going to ambush at the main gate?"

"That was a complete fluke." Kong Youde burst into hearty laughter. "That is why Kong said just now that General Huang is too modest."

When Kong Youde surrounded the relay station, Huang Shi and his men, with their preconceived notion, believed it was the Later Jin army surrounding them, so the sentries naturally used Chinese to answer in order to lull the enemy. But Kong Youde was certain that those inside were Later Jin troops, so he grew suspicious, thinking the Later Jin army knew someone was coming and was deliberately answering in Chinese. Moreover, the content of the speech was deliberately meant to lull him — on this point, he was not wrong in his guess.

But because Kong Youde harbored suspicion in his heart, he detected all of Huang Shi's attempts to lure him to the ambush point. Since he already suspected there was a trick inside the relay station, once he climbed over the wall and entered, the various behaviors of Huang Shi's gate guards naturally appeared full of holes.

Kong Youde personally scaled the wall to come in and scout. Once he was certain that Huang Shi was setting a trap, he climbed back out, revised his plan, and decided to turn Huang Shi's own trick against him by laying an ambush for Huang Shi.

The last few soldiers who came in did indeed use cricket chirps to communicate with those outside, but not, as Huang Shi had guessed, to summon men to seize the gate. On the contrary, they were reporting that they had already diverted the defenders' attention. Those soldiers' dawdling behavior in opening the main gate was also to buy time. While Huang Shi and his group were being tricked into waiting bitterly at the front and back gates, Kong Youde's large force had already scaled the walls and entered from other places.

"You see, General Huang, was this not a coincidence?" After finishing his explanation, Kong Youde again burst into hearty laughter.

When Kong Youde heard all of Huang Shi's subordinates shouting in Chinese, and Huang Shi issuing orders in Chinese, Kong Youde suspected he had attacked the wrong people. The performance and shouts of Huang Shi's subordinates also indicated their status as an army unit; the suspicion of them being bandits was immediately ruled out. Once Kong Youde saw clearly that they were not Later Jin Han troops, he knew at once that he was facing a small Ming army unit as well.

Understanding the whole story, Huang Shi felt much relieved at heart and laughed along.

After the laughter ceased, Kong Youde suddenly began to stammer again: "General Huang and that wretch Sun Degong, are you not, are you not..."

"Indeed. Huang had eyes but failed to see, and once had a marriage agreement with the daughter of that traitor Sun."

Kong Youde was filled with solemn respect: "General Huang regards glory, wealth, and rank as dirt, places righteousness above family loyalty, and bravely charged into Guangning. Kong admires you greatly."

"General Kong praises me too highly."

Kong Youde asked hesitantly: "From General Huang's accent, you do not seem to be a man of Liaodong. You have no irreconcilable blood feud with the Jianzhou slaves, do you?"

"Is a national feud not an irreconcilable blood feud?"

His tone becoming even more respectful, Kong Youde, while exclaiming that he had misspoken, greatly praised Huang Shi's loyalty and righteousness. He sighed with emotion: "Kong was originally a miner from Tieling. My grandfather and father both died at the hands of the Jianzhou slaves, so Kong joined the army. When Guangning was defeated this time, Kong swore not to surrender to the caitiffs, and thought himself loyal and righteous. Compared to General Huang, it is truly like the difference between clouds and mud. Ashamed, I am ashamed."

The Kong family were originally miners in Liaodong and organizers of the Tieling uprising. In the Later Jin retaliation, they were wiped out completely; only Kong Youde escaped. He led the remaining miners to seek refuge in Guangning and became a local military officer. Because of his outstanding achievements over the years, he had been promoted through accumulated merit to Mobile Corps Commander, and his long experience had given him rich combat experience.

At the Battle of Shaling, the elite of the Guangning army were annihilated. After Guangning was lost, the surrounding forts also surrendered one after another. Although Kong Youde refused to surrender because of the blood debt of his father and grandfather, he also knew that a mere Xining Fort could not possibly hold back the Later Jin grand army. So he first summoned the entire army, pretended he wanted to surrender, then suddenly turned hostile and killed everyone who had most actively supported that decision.

After purging the ranks, Kong Youde did not plan to go to Liaoxi either. His father's and elder brother's great vengeance being unavenged was only the first reason; the second was that he could not go to Liaoxi anyway — Xining was east of Xiping Fort. So Kong Youde decided to go to Lüshun and join the Guangning Army Vice Regional Commander Mao Wenlong. Most of the officers under him were old brothers from Tieling, and they also had experience fleeing from the previous failed uprising, so despite their flight, they remained in remarkably good order.

Unlike Huang Shi's light cavalry, his force included many infantrymen, and when they fled, they also had to bring along many military dependents. So although his route was shorter and he had set out earlier, he and Huang Shi still encountered each other here.

What Huang Shi admired was that Kong Youde actually dared to flee with two thousand civilians in tow, and even marched by day. It turned out that Kong Youde had calculated that most of the Later Jin cavalry had gone to Guangning and would naturally pursue Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi, meaning there were not many Later Jin mobile forces left in the Haizhou area.

"At most, a few scouts would spot us, and they naturally would not dare attack my six hundred plus soldiers. Even if they returned to the city to report, dealing with my force would require assembling troops from several forts, which would take considerable time. By then, I would already be far away, and the matter would naturally be dropped." Kong Youde spoke with full confidence.

"Indeed, General Kong's insight is profound."