Chapter 601: Sea Chart

Ever since Hei Fu took up his post in Jiaodong, he had built two great seaports there — the southern one, Qingdao Landing, was dedicated to shipbuilding, while the northern one, Yuli Landing, lay in Chui County within the Zhifu Bay. But Commandery Governor Hei Fu forcibly renamed it, calling it "Yantai" on the grounds that beacon towers were erected there and beacon smoke was often seen.

Whatever it was called, Yantai Harbor was where the Jiaodong Fleet was stationed. At the end of the fourth month of the thirty-third year of the First Emperor of Qin, early in the morning, Commandant Ren Xiao, leading his subordinates, was waiting to receive them at the harbor fortress. Seeing Commandery Governor Hei Fu's carriage arrive before him, Ren Xiao stepped forward, clasped his hands, and said with a genial smile:

"It should have been Ren Xiao going to report to you; how dare I let the Army Supervisor come in person?"

Hei Fu returned the greeting with a beaming smile and pointed at the azure sea beyond the harbor. "General Ren, you are mistaken. Maritime affairs should be discussed by the seaside."

The two men exchanged courtesies as they walked inside. Though Ren Xiao looked delighted on the surface, inwardly he felt somewhat like weeping without tears…

By principle, the Commandant controlled military affairs and the Governor controlled civil and administrative affairs — the two were clearly separated and checked each other. Although in theory the Governor was the senior, the Commandant was not his subordinate officer.

But the situation in Jiaodong was somewhat unusual. At first, Hei Fu indeed did not meddle in military matters. That did not last long, however. When the various Tian clans rebelled, the First Emperor, without a second word, ordered Hei Fu to suppress the rebellion. This Commandant-Governor unceremoniously took the imperial tally, led the Jiaodong troops out of the commandery to quell the uprising, fought across two commanderies, and swiftly crushed the Tian clans and the vigilantes.

As for Ren Xiao, he could only lead the fleet in circles near the coast and gained no merit to speak of.

Although Hei Fu immediately returned military authority afterward, the unwritten rule in the army had always been: whoever leads the soldiers to win merit and ranks is the true general. In terms of prestige and influence within the commandery troops, the Commandant already surpassed Ren…

Now, the Emperor intended to use force against Joseon and Lord Changhai — this was the Jiaodong Fleet's chance to prove its worth. By all reason, Hei Fu knew nothing of naval warfare and should not have been able to interfere, right? Yet he was once again appointed by the Emperor as "Army Supervisor," tasked with overseeing provisions. Hei Fu had no say in how the front line fought, but on how to transport grain and when to transport it, Ren Xiao, this Deputy General, truly had no choice but to obey him.

Ren Xiao could only feel that these past few years, he had been utterly suppressed by Hei Fu at every turn, yet he dared not contend for power. Take today, for instance — if Hei Fu had put on airs and refused to come to Yantai Harbor, Ren Xiao would have had no choice but to lower his head and take his subordinates to Chui County to pay his respects and explain his grain transport strategy.

Fortunately, Hei Fu had, in the end, left him a little face.

The group sat down in the hall for military discussions. Ren Xiao noted that seated below Hei Fu were Chen Ping and Xiao He, as well as a commoner with a rather pallid complexion, as if he had been locked away in prison for a long time — an unfamiliar face, probably a newly recruited advisor of Hei Fu's?

He did not dwell on it and had someone hang up the newly drawn "Sea Chart."

The Jiaodong coastline was all drawn on it. To the north was the V-shaped Liaodong Peninsula; further east lay the Ma Zi River, Jizi Joseon, and the islands occupied by Lord Changhai — the location of those could only be estimated, probably several hundred li south of Joseon.

The template for this map had been provided by Hei Fu, said to have been offered by a confessing alchemist, and Ren Xiao had received it like a precious treasure. Combined with the results of the ships he had sent over the past half year to survey the Liaodong coast, this "Jiao-Liao Sea Chart" was finally completed. Islands, harbors, and reefs were all listed one by one. Hei Fu had even suggested carving it directly onto a large printing block and printing copies so that every ship would have one.

With this sea chart, the distance between Jiaodong and Liaodong became far more intuitive, and Ren Xiao was all the more convinced that supplying the eastern expedition army with grain and fodder by sea was feasible!

"From Ji City to Liekou and Manfanhan is a full two thousand li, taking at least three months to travel. With ten thousand men hauling grain carts, not one-tenth of the army provisions would arrive intact."

"But from Jiaodong to these two places, it is no more than a thousand li, and by sea, with sail and oar for aid, it can be reached in ten-odd days. The great ships built at Qingdao have round bellies and deep drafts, can carry a thousand dan of grain, and can transport tens of thousands of dan in a single trip."

Thanks to centuries of exploration by alchemists and the people of Yan and Qi, the circular Bohai route from Jieshi in Yan to Zhifu in Jiaodong, and on to Chengshan Cape, was already fairly mature.

Only the sea route through the southern Liaoning region was relatively obscure. Though there were records of "island barbarians in skin garments, keeping Jieshi to the right, entering the sea," in practice, the Central Plains had little contact with the peninsula. It was not until a decade ago, when scholars of the Six States in Qi, fleeing the tyranny of the Qin, took crude boats north from Jiaodong, passed through the Miaodao Archipelago, reached southern Liaoning, and then went on to the Korean peninsula to seek refuge with Lord Changhai.

"Where the foe can go, we can go too!"

That had been Supervisor Hei Fu's declaration last month upon receiving the First Emperor's edict. Finding a fast and convenient shipping lane from the sea thus became Ren Xiao's task.

"Supervisor, please look."

Ren Xiao pointed at the sea chart. "The ships set sail from Yantai, stop at Shamen Island, and the next morning, when the wind rises, hoist sail and go north. Before nightfall, they can reach Liaodong…"

The Liaodong Peninsula in this era was practically a blank slate, with no county structure. Only at the southern tip of the peninsula was there a small town called "Dashi" (Dalian), which oversaw the nearby fishing villages. Astonishingly, a fief-lord system from centuries ago was still preserved there, passed down through generations, and the imperial court did not interfere, not even collecting taxes. After all, Dashi was not only dirt poor, but it was a full month's journey or more from the Liaodong Commandery seat at Xiangping. Which commandery clerk would have nothing better to do than risk attack by barbarians, cross mountains and ridges, just to collect dried salted fish?

To Liaodong, Dashi was a remote fishing village, but to Jiaodong, it was a vital communication route. Ren Xiao had already sent men there, planning to build a small harbor where grain ships crossing the sea could dock for the night.

He also asked Hei Fu a question: "If a county were established here, would it belong to Jiaodong Commandery or Liaodong Commandery?"

Hei Fu's answer was: "Liaodong cannot govern it; Jiaodong can. Naturally, it belongs to Jiaodong!"

And so, Dashi in southern Liaoning was taken over by Jiaodong Commandery just like that. Governor Hei Fu, without any courtesy, truly treated the place as his own jurisdiction and, on the grounds that Dashi was a barbarian name, renamed it "Lüshun."

Next, according to Ren Xiao's plan, after leaving Lüshun, the fleet would sail slowly along the Liaodong coast. For some unknown reason, the speed along this stretch was always extremely slow, much like rowing against the current, so it would take seven or eight days to reach the mouth of the Yalu River, and two more days to reach the empire's most remote bay — "Liekou," located at the mouth of the Chongchon River.

Hei Fu nodded. "So it takes over ten days of sailing to reach Liekou?"

"Exactly so."

Ren Xiao added: "The return is somewhat faster, taking only seven or eight days, so one round trip is about twenty days."

"Twenty days…"

Hei Fu pondered. Calculated this way, with the capacity of Jiaodong's grain ships, they could transport at most seventy to eighty thousand dan per month — still far short of the "one hundred thousand dan per month" that Xiao He had calculated for him.

This speed was much slower than he had anticipated. The navigation techniques of this era were undeveloped, mostly "terrestrial navigation," determining a ship's position and piloting based on landmarks on shore, so they had to sail close to the coastline. Along the Jiaodong coast, with its many beacon towers serving as lighthouses, veteran boatmen could attempt night sailing, but along the uninhabited coast of southern Liaoning, they could only travel by day and anchor at night.

That was why it was so slow. From Yantai to Liekou, even hugging the shore, was probably over five hundred nautical miles, yet it took more than ten days. On average, that was fifty nautical miles a day. Even with half the time spent resting, the speed was only four or five knots per hour. Though far surpassing marching on land, compared to later ages, it was truly infuriatingly slow…

"What does the Supervisor think?"

Ren Xiao asked. If Hei Fu had no objections, the grain transport route and strategy would be settled.

Hei Fu looked as if he did not understand, turning his gaze to his advisors. His eyes passed over Chen Ping and Xiao He and settled on the third man — that pallid, middle-aged commoner — and nodded to him.

This middle-aged scholar had been holding back for a long time. Now, with Hei Fu's permission, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Wrong, wrong! General Ren's strategy is somewhat timid and inefficient."

These words immediately drew the displeasure of Ren Xiao's subordinates.

They had seen this man sitting in on the side earlier, shaking his head at every sentence Ren Xiao uttered. Had he not been an advisor brought by Hei Fu, the hot-blooded tower-ship marines from Chu and Yue would have long since beaten him up and thrown him into the sea to feed the fish!

"Oh?"

Ren Xiao glanced at the impassive Hei Fu, then shifted his gaze to this advisor. "Does this gentleman perhaps have a superior insight?"

The middle-aged commoner clasped his hands toward Ren Xiao. "I dare not call it a superior insight, only… a round trip taking a full twenty days — if the boatmen under Lord Changhai learned of this, they would surely laugh their teeth out."

He put away his smile and bowed to Hei Fu. "Supervisor, if we follow this commoner's method, the time can be cut in half. One round trip, ten days will suffice!"

"Ten days?"

Inside the hall, the tower-ship officers looked at one another. In their plan, this was impossible!

"How could it possibly be done!"

"How could it possibly not be done!"

The middle-aged commoner retorted: "As long as one is a little bolder, there is no need to creep cautiously along the shore. The fleet sets sail from Chengshan Cape, rides the wind and cleaves the waves, crosses the open sea, and goes directly to Liekou to dock! The return route remains unchanged. In this way, both the distance and the time will be greatly reduced."

These words made the crowd laugh in extreme anger:

"You mad scholar, do you know how thick the fog is east of Chengshan Cape? Do you know how fierce and unpredictable the winds are on the Eastern Sea, where a single random great wave can sink a ship? You, a commoner, understand nothing of maritime affairs. How dare you spout nonsense at a military council?"

Ren Xiao, however, stopped the crowd's attacks on the commoner and looked at Hei Fu. "May I ask the Supervisor, who is this gentleman?"

Hei Fu waved a hand and pointed at the commoner. "Speak for yourself."

The commoner acknowledged the order and sighed. "I was once a boatman who sought his livelihood on the sea. Though the Lesser Sea is vast, in my eyes, it is but a bathtub."

"I am also a seeker of immortals who has traveled back and forth between Jiaodong and Joseon no fewer than ten times. Pity that the so-called Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou are elusive and hard to find. Only in the end did I understand that they are false."

As he spoke, he walked over to the sea chart, pointed at it, and declared, "Now, I have turned over a new leaf and become the very man who drew this sea chart!"

"This sea chart was actually drawn by you?" The officials of the tower ship were all astonished.

"Indeed."

The middle-aged man in plain cloth cupped his hands to everyone. "This humble one is Xu Fu, a man awaiting punishment who, by fortune, was pardoned by His Majesty and now serves at the side of the Army Overseer!"

PS: Chapter 2 in the evening

(End of chapter)