Chapter 1087: Stop Them

"What's the big deal about foreigners? We have them in Xuzhou too," Liu Yong muttered. To him, these white men from Europe were nothing rare, and the matter hardly warranted an urgent report — it was making a fuss over nothing.

"There are cannons on the ship, bigger than the ones our Zhao Battalion has!" By this point, the company commander's voice was already trembling uncontrollably, though not from fear, but from excitement.

"Cannons?" Liu Yong murmured, exchanging a glance with Li Dajin and Wei Mugen. Wei Mugen spoke up: "It's not like we don't know the Ming court buys cannons from the foreigners. There have been a few times cannons passed through our territory."

But at this, Li Dajin caught on and cut in: "You've seen Young Master Housheng escort cannons through here before. Are these bigger or smaller than those?"

The company commander just kept repeating the word "big" several times, which sounded rather ridiculous, but Li Dajin was starting to understand.

"Much longer, and much thicker than those," the company commander answered hastily.

At these words, the room fell silent. Liu Yong's expression immediately turned grave. Li Dajin and Wei Mugen didn't know the situation at the Xuzhou firearms workshop as well as he did — they only knew the Zhao Battalion currently placed great importance on cannons. But Liu Yong knew exactly what kind of cannons Zhao Jin truly valued.

When Xu Housheng returned from Macau, the several cannons he brought back could now all be replicated. But Xu Housheng had also mentioned there were cannons of even larger caliber. The workshop had attempted casting them several times without satisfactory results. According to the supervisors at the works, it would be best to have a sample to work from. Yet heavy cannons above this twelve-pound long gun were not so easy to find. Although the foreigners' eyes lit up at the sight of money, cannons like these were their bread and butter, and they wouldn't sell them easily.

Moreover, if the Zhao Battalion wanted to purchase such cannons, the most reliable channel at present was through Li Laohai. But making contact with that side was extremely difficult. Fortunately, the matter wasn't urgent, so they were all settling in to wait patiently.

No one expected that after searching in vain, someone would come delivering them right to the door. Sending cannons like these to Xuzhou would surely make Zhao Jin very happy.

While Liu Yong was still mulling this over, Li Dajin said sternly: "Have you assigned men to keep watch? What if they use these cannons against Qingjiangpu? That would be a serious matter."

"Rest assured, Regiment Commander. Our entire company is now fully focused on watching those ships. At the slightest sign of trouble, we'll charge in and seize them immediately!" the company commander answered loudly.

Hearing this exchange, Liu Yong couldn't help but think to himself with shame: he'd only been thinking about sending the cannons to Xuzhou, never considering the threat the cannons themselves posed. He had truly forgotten his own duties.

"Master Yong, how do you think we should handle this?" Li Dajin asked him.

Liu Yong pondered only briefly before making his decision: "Seize everyone and everything on those ships and escort them to Xuzhou!"

His decision was an order. Li Dajin and Wei Mugen both voiced their agreement. Li Dajin added: "I'll assign you another large squad. Try to move at night, and before you strike, make sure the surrounding area is cleared out. Qingjiangpu is crowded with prying eyes right now. Word of us making a move against grain-transport ships getting out would be very bad."

The company commander quickly acknowledged the order and was just about to turn and leave to make arrangements when Liu Yong called him back. "When you move tonight, I'll be coming along," he said.

As he gave this instruction, Li Dajin shook his head slightly. These young leaders from Xuzhou were excellent in every way, but the moment firearms and cannons came up, they lost their usual composure. Seeing that Liu Yong intended to go, Wei Mugen stood and said, "To ensure nothing goes wrong, I'll dispatch extra eyes to keep watch."

After the trap had been set, they had originally been resting at the garrison post, waiting for the results of the prisoner interrogations. No one expected another matter like this to arise. The relevant personnel of the Internal Guard and Patrol were all mobilized into action once more. The three had just been discussing how it was impossible to cover every angle in a place as vast as Qingjiangpu, yet compared to other powers — even compared to the local government offices and the wealthy merchants — the Zhao Battalion was already thorough enough.

Not long after the orders were issued, intelligence came flowing back from all sides. For instance, the ship had been hired in Hangzhou. Many of the people on board were local Han Chinese from Macau, hired by the Macau church to transport cannons to the capital. They had reportedly set out in July of this year, taking the inland route. The ship had only arrived at Qingjiangpu today and was noticed immediately. After reconnaissance, it was reported up the chain — the response time couldn't be called slow.

Still, time was too short to gather every piece of information. By nightfall, Liu Yong had already mustered his men and was preparing to set out when new intelligence came back.

"... There are officials from the capital on the ship, said to be from the Ministry of War and the Bureau of Armaments. There's even a eunuch among them..."

"Eunuch" was a term for castrated men. Everyone knew what office the Ministry of War was, but the Bureau of Armaments stumped them for a moment. Upon asking, they learned it was one of the twenty-four agencies of the inner court — no wonder there was a eunuch present. Hearing this news, everyone immediately grew more cautious. Involvement with the government, and with the Six Ministries and the inner court of the capital at that — they could not afford to be careless.

"Have the officials on that ship made contact with the local government offices?" Liu Yong asked this question first.

"No, they haven't. After they docked, they came ashore and walked around a bit, bought some wine and food nearby. According to the sailors who came ashore, the journey had been exhausting and all they wanted was to eat and sleep." The intelligence-gathering had been very thorough.

Upon hearing there were officials on board, both Li Dajin and Wei Mugen hurried over. They were now all waiting for Liu Yong's decision. Liu Yong showed no hesitation. Crisply and decisively, he said: "Send in another company. Every person on those ships is to be captured. I want them alive or dead — see the living, see the corpses!"

"Master Yong, Master Jin has said we're not yet at the stage of tearing our relations with the government. And this involves eunuchs from the palace. Shouldn't we..." Li Dajin said in a low voice.

"We proceed as planned. Are we supposed to wait until these cannons are delivered to the capital and they build them to fire on us? As for tearing relations — who will know it was us? Afterwards, we'll just have this ship sail on out of Qingjiangpu!" Liu Yong said grimly. Li Dajin paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

When outside merchants came along the canal to the Qingjiangpu docks, mooring their boats, going off to enjoy the bustling districts, or temporarily stopping at the docks to rest, or loading and unloading cargo, they would feel nothing different from before — might even feel things were better than before. Loading and unloading was more efficient. The bandits running extortion and honey-trap schemes were gone. But they would never sense the tight control the Zhao Battalion held over these docks.

From a distance, several of the largest regulation grain-transport ships were moored at the Qingjiangpu docks. Lanterns hung from their prows, and lamplight glowed from within the cabins. Judging by the depth of the waterlines on two of the ships, they were certainly carrying heavy cargo. By now, everyone on the docks — from the civilian watchmen making their night rounds to the sailors on the surrounding boats — were all Zhao Battalion men. The yards and warehouses around the docks were already filled with Internal Guard and Patrol personnel.

As for the other people normally present at the docks, once they got the veiled hint from Cloud Mountain Trading, they all tactfully kept far away. Some things were better left unknown.

"It's almost freezing over up at Suqian by now. They'll probably have to unload the cannons somewhere north of Suqian, then hire large carts to haul them north," someone explained in a low voice.

"Wouldn't that mean passing through Xuzhou? It'd be even easier to make a move there..." The man who spoke only got halfway before his companions silenced him with sharp glares. Make a move near Xuzhou? Wouldn't that be handing over the credit they already had in their grasp?

Li Dajin turned and swept a stern glance behind him. The warehouse immediately fell silent. Li Dajin's face was grim. Compared to the Internal Guard and Patrol units in Xuzhou and Pizhou, the personnel here in Qingjiangpu came from more mixed sources, and their discipline was far inferior. This gave Li Dajin considerable headaches, and he had discussed with Wei Mugen several times the details of intensifying drills and tightening discipline.

Liu Yong paid no attention to these matters. He simply stared at the ships outside and said: "Every person on those ships is to be captured. If they don't take up weapons and resist, try not to kill anyone. Capture one, gag one. Is that understood?"

A ragged chorus of acknowledgments rose from behind him. Liu Yong waved his hand and said: "Go now and pass the word to prepare. Once this stick of incense here burns out, the lantern goes up — that's when we strike!"

Unless someone was paying special attention, the boatmen on the canal would never notice the activity on the docks. Though night had fallen, it was still too early for sleep — people moving about was perfectly normal. Even when a lantern on the dock was suddenly hoisted up on a long pole, no one thought anything of it. Perhaps it was just some new rule at Qingjiangpu...

It was only when the surrounding boats drew near and numerous figures appeared on the docks that the targeted ships finally realized something was wrong. But by then, it was far too late. Cries of alarm rang out continuously from the prows and within the ships, then were cut off just as abruptly. There were hardly any screams, not even the sound of anyone falling into the water. Jumping into the river in this freezing weather would be courting death.

Before long, the scene fell quiet. The boats clustered around those ships began to disperse. One after another, horse-drawn carts that had long been prepared rolled in. The prisoners, mouths gagged, heads covered with hoods, and bound hand and foot, were tossed onto the carts.

"Some of them claimed to be court officials, shouting about whether we feared the law of the land. All of them have been tied up. Those foreigners had no strength to speak of — even when they tried to struggle, it was useless. There was one foreigner, though, who was very strange. He stayed completely calm, offered no resistance and made no outcry. His Mandarin was quite good. He asked if he could meet our leader," the company commander reported back.

Unless someone was paying close attention, the boatmen on the canal wouldn't notice any movement on the dock at all. Though night had fallen, it was still far too early for sleep, and people coming and going was perfectly normal. Even when a lantern on the dock was suddenly hoisted up on a long pole, no one thought anything was amiss—perhaps it was some new custom of Qingjiangpu.

Thanks to "Farewell Someone, User Dongfang, Qi Sanwen, Yuan Heng Li Zhen, Dragon King in the Wind, Uranium Enrichment, Great Ming*Man-at-Arms" and the other new and old friends for their tips. Thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you for your support.

Before long, the scene quieted down. The boats crowding around those few ships began to disperse. One after another, horse-drawn carts that had long been prepared were driven in. The prisoners — mouths gagged, heads covered with hoods, bound hand and foot — were tossed onto the carts.

"Some claimed to be imperial officials, shouting about whether we feared the king's law — those were all tied up. The few foreigners had little strength; struggling was useless for them. But one foreigner was very strange — he remained quiet the whole time, offered no resistance and made no outcry. His Mandarin was quite good, and he asked if he could meet our leader." The squad commander returned and reported.

It's the first day of the month — loudly begging for monthly tickets.

Thank you to "Goodbye Someone, User Dongfang, Qi Sanwen, Yuan Heng Li Zhen, Dragon King in the Wind, Uranium Enrichment, Great Ming*Martial Man" — several new and old friends — for the tips. Thank you everyone for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support.