Chapter 67: Section 15

The next day, Kong Youde announced that from then on the two forces would be under unified command, with Kong Youde as the principal and Huang Shi as the deputy. Matters such as marching and fighting would be Kong Youde’s responsibility, while logistics like setting up camp could be referred to Huang Shi. Thus the Huang Shi bandit gang and the Kong Youde bandit gang completed their merger.

Huang Shi’s first order was for the entire army to use field latrines. Without a doubt, Huang Shi’s title of General Dung Pit was bound to grow ever more resounding. Other things also quickly spread into the Kong Youde bandit gang, such as the little ditties.

After the reorganization, the ditties Huang Shi had altered spread rapidly, and now all day long you could hear people singing “The Girl Next Door” in a hodgepodge of southern and northern accents. In Kong Youde’s army, this revised pop song was also the most popular, which made Huang Shi can’t help but think of the Soviet soldiers’ beloved Katyusha and the German soldiers’ beloved Lili Marleen during World War II. It seemed the dull life of a soldier made them all fond of such slightly sorrowful yet tenderly stirring tunes.

Huang Shi’s requests somewhat surprised Kong Youde. In his view, the rights Huang Shi asked for were all thankless tasks that brought neither merit nor good reputation. Although Huang Shi’s requests were not quite what Kong Youde had guessed, since they were harmless matters to begin with, and for the sake of face with the one hundred cavalry, he readily agreed.

Handing over the military authority of this cavalry unit was a somewhat painful decision for Huang Shi. He fully believed Kong Youde would not arbitrarily replace the officers of this unit, but in the minds of these soldiers, Huang Shi’s authority would undoubtedly be affected.

“Let go, let go — only by letting go can you gain.”

Huang Shi understood that this decision did not conform to the formula for a ruthless hero’s rise: “Better to be a chicken’s head than an ox’s tail.” But he believed he had no chance to become a ruthless hero in the short term, so a fiercely loyal unit was of limited significance for the time being.

Just as Zhao Manxiong had said, Huang Shi did not only focus on the present — he valued the future more. Kong Youde’s six hundred men and nearly three thousand Liaodong refugees would have long-term influence. Being the deputy who led them in escaping Liaodong would bring great benefits, certainly ten times better than being the principal commander of a hundred-man company. Moreover, the fact that Huang Shi voluntarily relinquished military authority today would also yield political dividends in the future, the nearest visible one being with Mao Wenlong.

Just as Kong Youde had anticipated, the Later Jin main army’s attack on Guangning had indeed left the rear area extremely empty, and the vast land of Liaodong was sparsely populated to begin with. Along the way, Kong Youde ceaselessly plundered villages and small towns. The Kong Youde bandit gang, relying on refugees for logistical support, was already quite efficient, and with a troop of elite cavalry it grew even more so. Many Han people who had been reduced to bondservants and serfs also joined their ranks.

Several of Huang Shi’s subordinates did not quite understand his handing over of military authority, and the one who reacted most vehemently was Jin Qiude. At a private gathering of Huang Shi’s old subordinates, he loudly voiced his dissatisfaction:

“My lord, rights are won by struggle, not waited for. It’s one thing for my lord not to struggle for them, but to actually give them away for free — does my lord not know that what is given away easily is hard to take back?”

“If right now Kong Youde and I gave different orders, whose would you obey — mine or Kong Youde’s?” Huang Shi’s single sentence left Jin Qiude speechless. “So how much of the authority I released is truly gone?”

Zhao Manxiong pondered for a long while: “My lord, for a short time there may be no problem, but as things subtly shift over time…”

“A short time? How much longer until we reach Lüshun? Ten days? Fifteen days?”

“My lord!” Zhao Manxiong argued, “Even so, my lord will arrive at Lüshun as Kong Youde’s deputy and will be kept one head beneath him, no longer on the equal footing you once had.”

“Correct.” Yang Zhiyuan and Jin Qiude voiced their agreement in unison.

Even over such a trifling empty title they had to contend for superiority — no wonder the Ming army was a heap of loose sand. And to abandon real gain for an empty title — Huang Shi was growing somewhat angry inside. Not being able to vent his anger at his loyal subordinates made him even more irritated: “Without Kong Youde’s refugees, what would happen to our wounded soldiers? We would have to go out hunting ourselves. Right now, we are the ones who need Kong Youde.”

Yang Zhiyuan loudly declared, “My lord, He Baodao still cannot even stand up!”

“Do you intend to go take revenge or something?” Huang Shi flared up at these words. “A defeat is a defeat, there’s nothing more to say. That he survived at all is entirely thanks to Kong Youde’s people.”

“That was just his good luck, recruiting so many refugees along the way.” Yang Zhiyuan retorted indignantly, still unable to face the crushing defeat of that day squarely. “If we had had that many refugee hands, it’s far from certain who would have routed whom.”

Deliberately mystifying things would probably make them grow alienated from him. Looking at the three indignant Company Commanders before him, Huang Shi decided to reveal some of his military considerations: “I have an idea — what you just said is exactly the problem I’ve been pondering…”

During this period, Huang Shi had been constantly summing up his experiences and lessons. He felt it was precisely because all the men he had brought out were combat soldiers that their fighting strength had declined so sharply. A purely combat unit without the support of logistical units simply could not hold out for long. He recalled the combat formations of later eras, where any unit capable of independent action possessed various support branches.

In his preliminary conception, from now on, building fortifications and repairing bridges and roads would be handed over to engineers; escorting provisions and organizing equipment would require logistics troops; and as for medical troops, they must be established even more. If possible, Huang Shi even planned to recruit some female soldiers as nurses.

He revealed a corner of this grand design to his several subordinates, but even just that was more than they could digest.

“My lord, transporting provisions is done by civilian laborers, organizing equipment by craftsmen, treating wounded soldiers by physicians — as for repairing bridges and roads, that is originally work soldiers should do.” Yang Zhiyuan worried that Huang Shi did not understand large-corps operations.

“Yes, I know all that, but these people are not soldiers — most of them are temporarily conscripted.”

Jin Qiude also wore a face full of shock: “My lord intends to turn craftsmen, civilian laborers, and physicians into soldiers? But in peacetime they have no use, and temporary conscription saves a great deal of money.”

So-called temporary conscription meant press-ganging laborers. Press-ganging of course saved money, but the results were correspondingly poor. Huang Shi believed that only an army that established these units would be a true field army: “Train them in peacetime — combat soldiers train combat skills, and these soldiers train their special skills.”

Zhao Manxiong began his trademark head-shaking again: “The imperial court will not support a batch of soldiers who cannot fight.”

“If the imperial court won’t support them, I will,” Huang Shi declared with a magnanimous wave of his hand. “We can eat empty pay slots.”

“Eat empty pay slots to support civilian laborers, physicians, and blacksmiths?”

“Correct.” Huang Shi answered in a tone that brooked no doubt.

The three men before him all revealed hesitant expressions. Huang Shi knew that hesitation would breed doubt, and doubt would shake loyalty. He fixed his gaze on Yang Zhiyuan and asked, “You said you would follow me forever — do you regret it now?”

“No, my lord. Your humble subordinate will follow my lord forever.” Yang Zhiyuan answered without hesitation.

After a moment, Yang Zhiyuan hesitantly added, “But your humble subordinate still believes all money should be spent on soldiers with fighting strength.”

Zhao Manxiong and Jin Qiude also silently expressed their agreement. In a feudal army, the unanimous opinion of subordinates was a tremendous pressure, because they were the source of a commander’s power.

“Understood. The reason I asked Kong Youde for this job was precisely for this idea, but I still need to see whether I am mistaken.” Under such pressure, Huang Shi also relented: “If I am mistaken, I will certainly correct it at once, and I will take back military authority.”

“My lord is wise.” The three subordinates bowed together in praise.

“Haha.” Huang Shi laughed aloud with feigned ease. “Why are we thinking so far ahead right now? If we’re going to think about these things, we should wait until after we reach Lüshun.”

Damned feudal army and feudal officers! Huang Shi cursed inwardly. The moment he got the chance, he would reform every last one of you.

But precisely because it was a feudal army, Huang Shi still firmly controlled his old unit. He was not sure whether his anger over this counted as “picking up the bowl to eat, then setting down the chopsticks to curse your mother.”

Against such a large bandit gang on the move, the Later Jin local forces had no good solution for the time being. The elite among them had mostly gone to Guangning, and Mao Wenlong at Zhenjiang was still tying down several thousand cavalry.

Huang Shi had once thought they could reach Lüshun safely like this all the way — until today, just before setting up camp.

Kong Youde pulled him aside. His expression had turned very grim: “I’m afraid we have trouble.”