Chapter 252: External Foes

Salt smuggling was a career with great prospects.

Liu Chengzong had originally thought he would have to wait until the Haibei shipyard was finished before he could see his own ships.

He never expected the bold reconnaissance cavalry to take the initiative and capture two fishing rafts from the Mongol Empire — for a moment, joy spread far and wide, and the West Sea Fleet was born!

Because the reconnaissance soldiers were having so much fun, they mounted two bird guns on the rafts.

Thus, on the very day of its founding, the West Sea Fleet became the sole overlord of these waters, instantly raising the average equipment level of every tribe's naval forces around Qinghai Lake.

They now possessed shipboard artillery.

Since water burial and sky burial were common customs among the Western Tibetan commoners, the locals did not eat fish, and so the Tibetan Empire withdrew from maritime hegemony.

As a result, the only rival left on this sea for Second Master Liu, a landlubber by origin, was the fish-hunting Mongol Empire.

A match of equal strength.

However, when it came to shipbuilding, Liu Chengzong and Zhou Riqiang had quite a major disagreement.

Liu Chengzong felt that since the Tibetan Empire had already withdrawn from maritime hegemony and the Mongol Empire's navy had never dared face the wind, they could just throw their ships together — getting the ships built as fast as possible was the only thing Zhou Riqiang needed to worry about.

After all, the sooner the ships were built, the sooner his troops could construct garrison beacon towers on the opposite shore; then, with a single plume of smoke lit over there, support could arrive day or night from this side, and they could dispatch troops to seize the Chaka Salt Pool.

He would then possess a trade route that earned a daily fortune.

Based on the half-million population of the He-Huang Valley, the salt consumed every day was worth over a thousand taels — this was a huge business with a four-hundred-thousand-tael market.

But Zhou Riqiang felt that willow wood was no good for shipbuilding, pine wood would last twenty years at most, and the hulls would be too weak to defeat anyone.

Liu Chengzong wanted to send Zhou Riqiang to the medics under Chengyun and have someone check his brain.

Was this guy hoping to build a warship capable of fighting the Qinghai Lake monster or what?

Lion Liu said, "Use pine. Pine is perfectly fine. Lasting twenty years is more than enough."

In truth, many merchants running maritime trade used pine to build their ships, because pine ships were cheap.

A ship cost a few dozen taels of silver; as long as it could make one round trip on the Nanyang route and return, you'd still profit even if you dismantled it for firewood.

Of course, more people would just abandon the ships along the coast — the Spanish were very fond of buying such cheap secondhand vessels.

For Liu Chengzong, his use of ships was the same: as long as one ship could haul back a load of salt, the salt's value already exceeded the ship's by a hundredfold.

But a single ship required at least a hundred man-hours, and they were severely short of craftsmen.

Zhou Riqiang's solution to this problem was very official: he found two garrison soldiers from Xining Guard and had them send a message to Lanzhou.

There were shipbuilding craftsmen on the Yellow River at Lanzhou; their skill might not be the highest, but for everyday cargo ships, it was more than sufficient.

At any rate, they were far more skilled at shipbuilding than this bunch of Shaanxi soldiers.

While Liu Chengzong was busy planning the shipyard at Haibei, his subordinate Dai Daozi was preparing for battle on the shores of Chaka Salt Lake, just one mountain away in Hainan.

At Lazun's call, over ten thousand herding soldiers and Western Tibetan troops, led by the noyans of each tribe, launched an assault on the Heka Grasslands.

Baiyan was unwilling to commit his forces to this kind of fratricidal battle, so he led only two hundred herding soldiers, following Lazun under the protection of Dai Daozi's squad of reconnaissance cavalry.

The reason Dai Daozi stayed by his side was because of the threat posed by Baiyan Taiji.

Baiyan said, "Brother, look — the mission the Great Commander gave you was to protect me safely back to my garrison. But now there's a war. If I die, won't your Great Commander's wish come to nothing? So you still have to protect me a bit longer."

Dai Daozi thought... if you die, can't the Great Commander just find someone else? In a Qinghai this vast, a five-legged horse is hard to find, but aren't two-legged Mongols all over the place?

But following Baiyan Taiji to scout out intelligence on the two large tribes wasn't a bad choice.

On a hill south of the Heka Grasslands, Dai Daozi's men were making camp. Several dozen cattle and sheep grazed on the meadow below the hill — all livestock belonging to this squad of reconnaissance cavalry.

"Squad Leader, another sheep."

An iron pot hung over the campfire, thin-sliced mutton sizzling fragrantly inside. Dai Daozi, utterly bored by the scout's report, grunted in acknowledgment and focused on fishing out the mutton, dipping it in mashed garlic and popping it into his mouth.

In half a month, Dai Daozi had led the reconnaissance cavalry into two battles.

Baiyan Taiji was not stingy; all spoils captured by the reconnaissance cavalry belonged entirely to them.

Now every scout had his own Hequ horse. Other unneeded gear and tools were simply piled at the edge of camp after each battle, left for the tribal herding soldiers Lazun had gathered to buy as they pleased.

This kind of trade between them — how to put it.

Because the two sides had completely different ideas of prices, it was like someone buying a dan of white flour at a cost of one tael of silver and selling it to Liu Chengzong in northern Shaanxi for two taels.

Both sides felt the other was extremely sincere, and that they themselves had made a killing.

Dai Daozi wiped his mouth when he'd eaten his fill and sighed. "If all the tribes of Qinghai are like this, I'd say the Great Commander has no need to advance step by step. One sweep around, and Qinghai would be his."

In his eyes, Lazun's large and imposing army was not worth mentioning.

The bulk of this army, compared to a Xiongnu army from fifteen hundred years ago, had slightly worse equipment and slightly better tactics — call it a draw.

But there were exceptions.

For instance, the Khalkha Daiching tribe that had come through the northern mountain pass to join the alliance.

Daiching was Lazun's vassal. That force had eight hundred cavalry, generally using leather armor reinforced with iron strips, and plenty of sabers and strong bows.

Baiyan Taiji said Daiching had once been a Khalkha noble who fled here from Mobei; he was Lazun's capable lieutenant.

"There may be hard fighting ahead. All of you remember this: whoever returns to Haibei must tell the Great Commander about the Khalkha tribe's situation."

In one of the two battles Dai Daozi took part in, he fought alongside Daiching and encountered troops subordinate to Guru Huang Taiji — that unit's equipment was also markedly better than the Huoluochi tribe's.

What was especially noteworthy was that those Mongols had firearms.

Daiching and that unit shared a tacit understanding. The two sides suddenly encountered each other, then each slowly withdrew from the field. In the end, Dai Daozi followed Daiching and went off to raid one of Guru Huang Taiji's tribes nearby.

Dai Daozi felt this Daiching was just like himself — one slacker monster easily spots another slacker monster.

People always have their reasons for showing up without putting in the work. Dai Daozi believed the reconnaissance cavalry weren't worth dying in battle for Lazun — so what was Daiching's reason?

Dai Daozi figured it was very likely also for gathering intelligence.

But that was not his concern. Spending his days mingling with a bunch of Mongol tribes had greatly improved this group of scouts' shepherding skills.

Dai Daozi just wanted this war to end quickly so he could return to Haibei and report his findings to the Great Commander.

This land was full of treasures. Lazun's territory had lush, fertile pastures; near Bajiao City there were silver-lead mines, and also plenty of peat.

And in Guru Huang Taiji's territory, along the campaign route, they had discovered several stockaded villages with silver deposits, as well as mountains with gold-lead ore.

Right beneath the hill where they were camped, there was placer gold — but it wasn't something they could mine.

Not just them — even the Mongols who pastured here couldn't be bothered to mine it. Placer gold mining is an extremely complex and tedious undertaking.

It requires people with specialized expertise.

So he noted down all these locations one by one, waiting only to report back to Liu Chengzong when he returned.

Soon, Baiten Taiji came riding in from outside. By the look of it, he hadn't originally planned to stay long in camp, but when he saw Dai Daozi eating boiled mutton, Baiten dismounted, sat down beside him, asked someone for a pair of chopsticks, and had a few bites himself.

"The mutton tastes very good. So," Baiten Taiji asked, "any thought of staying here with me? You're all good men — cattle and sheep in plenty."

Baiten Taiji genuinely wanted to keep Dai Daozi's squad here.

During this period, he had deliberately kept Dai Daozi out of combat. Every day there was nothing for him to do — just staying by his side was enough.

Dai Daozi's scout cavalry squad was like the largest gemstone, making every noble who encountered him look upon him with envy.

Every man among them was a seasoned soldier. Forty-nine men with forty-nine sets of armor, and all of them uniform Ming army regulation cotton armor... on the Gannan grasslands, not even Lhazang's guard unit had equipment this uniform.

Most importantly, during this time, not only had Dai Daozi gained a much deeper understanding of the Gannan Mongol tribes, but Baiten also believed he had come to know Liu the Lion's forces very well.

Although the vast majority of his intelligence came from Chen Shifo, who understood nothing, there were some things Baiten could easily extract through casual probing.

For example, Liu the Lion was from northern Shaanxi; his army originated from Yulin, Ningxia, and Guyuan; the overwhelming majority of his senior officers came from his fellow Yan'an townsmen and Yulin comrades-in-arms.

And Dai Daozi and this scout cavalry squad were all from Ningxia.

In Baiten Taiji's eyes, this was equivalent to Daiching of the Khalkha tribe who followed Lhazang — basically ready to leave at any moment.

So Baiten wanted to try to keep this squad by his side forever.

Dai Daozi found a scout who understood the Mongol tongue. After listening, he gave a dry laugh. He knew what Baiten Taiji was thinking, and shaking his head, he said, "As long as the trade between Taiji and the Grand Commander goes through, all this gear we're wearing — you'll be able to buy it easily."

Dai Daozi knew the armor on his own body very well. The quality wasn't great. Every time the Lion Army issued pocket money, they would go to the craftsmen to hunt for armor plates.

Since the scouts rarely took part in looting missions, the main goal for everyone wasn't to buy the best set of plates — just a decent set was enough.

He too was hoping for the Lion Army's trade with the Mongols to go smoothly. When it did, they could trade the armor on their backs for eighty or ninety head of livestock, haul the livestock to Xining, and even buy armor for their own sons.

Though most of them didn't have sons, once trade opened up, they'd soon have wives.

Never heard of a rich bumpkin who couldn't find a wife.

Baiten Taiji smiled and said no more.

Though the prices here were just that — a thing is valued in proportion to its rarity.

But in truth, Baiten... couldn't produce five thousand head of livestock all at once.

Besides, he didn't actually want Liu Chengzong to truly open a market in Qinghai. That was only human nature.

Right now, all it took was these forty-nine men of Dai Daozi's to make others envious. Once every noble could buy expensive equipment from Küriye, would forty-nine sets of armor still inspire envy?

Without disparity and comparison, where would people find happiness?

"This campaign is nearly over. You'll be heading back after?"

Dai Daozi nodded as if it were only natural and asked, "The campaign is nearly over?"

He felt the campaign had only just begun.

Baiten nodded and said, "We only came to seize horses. Once we've seized enough, we go back. You think we'd actually beat our own blood brothers to death?"

Having said this, Baiten glanced left and right and lowered his voice. "Have you felt that Daiching has a problem?"

Dai Daozi certainly felt Daiching had a problem, but he didn't say so. He only asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"He's a Khalkha. Guru's side also has Khalkhas. Even further west in Tsaidam, the Yöngshiyebu tribes also have Khalkhas."

Tsaidam was the later Qaidam. At present, two Yöngshiyebu tribes occupied that area.

Khalkhas who had come from the Mobei steppe were mixed into every faction in Qinghai, which made Baiten uneasy.

"We brothers are killing each other, and the Khalkha's Chogtu Taiji is watching from just beyond the border at Suzhou. I keep feeling Chogtu is like a wolf cub — no telling when he might launch an attack on us."

The moment Dai Daozi heard the jumble of tribal names, he frowned.

Especially when those tribal names came with the chieftains' names — it made his head spin.

He said, "So what are you planning?"

Baiten was silent for a long time.

His feelings were complicated. Lhazang and Guru were both his brothers. Brothers killing each other was a deeply painful thing.

But brothers killing each other was not the most painful thing.

If, because of brothers killing each other, they weakened themselves and invited outside enemies — that was the most painful thing.

Because it not only caused pain, it also made them brothers look like fools.

Beside them was the Khalkha wolf, Chogtu, and at Küriye, there was the lion, Liu Chengzong.

Relatively speaking, the lion made him feel more at ease.

Because every Mongol was willing to believe that no matter how formidable the Han were, at worst they could settle in Amdo; they couldn't last in Kham, and they absolutely could not enter Ü-Tsang.

Whereas the Mongols would not only pursue into Kham, they would chase all the way into Ü-Tsang.

Whether Lhazang or Guru, at this moment, regarding the small vassal tribes outside, both only wanted to use their strength to attack each other.

Baiten, on the other hand, could stand as an outsider, surveying the ever-growing number of Mobei Khalkhas in Qinghai.

"Once this campaign is over, it won't be long before Guru advances toward the Gannan grasslands. I don't want to fight him, so when you go back, ask the Grand Commander — can I lead my tribe across the Yellow River from Guide, pass by Riyue Mountain, and go pasture in Haibei?"

Dai Daozi burst out laughing at this. "Isn't Haibei the place Lhazang gave to our Grand Commander?"

"Your Grand Commander doesn't heed him, and Lhazang can't afford to fight you, so naturally it's your Grand Commander's place now."

Baiten was helpless about this too. After seeing Liu Chengzong's army, he was actually more worried that Liu the Lion would send troops to attack them.

"I can go back and ask for you, but don't get your hopes up." Dai Daozi said, "We're going to farm. We won't just let you pasture wherever you want."

Hearing that Dai Daozi was willing to relay the message for him, Baiten's expression relaxed a little. "I know that. Haibei is vast; there are many places unsuitable for farming. I'll just go to those places."

"I do have one condition, though."

Baiten Taiji looked at Dai Daozi, paused, and then continued, "I told the Grand Commander — since we've made peace, two families becoming one, we should get along well."

"If those outside tribes from the Khalkha want to invade and occupy Qinghai, I hope the Grand Marshal can lend me troops, so that all of us here in Qinghai can resist the foreign enemy together."