Chapter 1314: The Backup Cannot Be Given

"Just these men, just these men. I told you long ago, Commander, these men are the trading company's guards," Luo Chen quickly said with a smiling explanation.

At this explanation, Mao Wenlong merely gave a cold snort and said nothing more. Surrounded by his officers, he walked toward where the Zhao Family Army was formed up.

After all the companies were in position, a young man shouted an order. The four companies advanced in column toward the Cloud Mountain Trading Company building, while the soldiers armed with firelocks split into two squads to screen the flanks. The five-hundred-man formation was orderly, the sound of their marching steps nearly uniform. Watching such foot drill, the soldiers and civilians of Pi Island who had gathered to watch all felt their eyelids twitch — this was the mark of elite troops.

"You've certainly made your calculations well!" Mao Wenlong said coldly, looking at the trading company building that resembled a fortress. Luo Chen merely smiled in response, acting as if he could not make out the meaning at all.

Once the Zhao Family Army soldiers entered the Cloud Mountain Trading Company compound at the harbor, the several large ships whose cannons were trained on the dock also began to weigh anchor and turn. The stewards on board negotiated with those ashore, and the speed of loading and unloading quickened.

Seeing this, Mao Wenlong no longer wished to watch. Just as he was about to leave, a startled cry came from the unloading area, along with the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. The sea swell was a bit rough today, the gangplank unsteady — a fall was nothing unusual. Mao Wenlong glanced over casually, but then turned fully around. What lay wrapped in that straw sack was actually a firelock.

Pi Island had no Zhao Family Army–pattern firelocks, but when the seagoing ships arrived, the Zhao Family Army soldiers escorting the vessels carried them. These firearms had been seen by Pi Island's officers and soldiers — half with contempt, half with curiosity. They thought such a crude, clumsy device could not shoot far and had little power. After receiving permission from their company commander, the Zhao Family Army soldiers conducted a test firing right there on the shore. Pi Island also possessed firearms like bird guns, quick guns, and three-eyed guns. After the test firing, everyone on Pi Island, from top to bottom, understood that the Xuzhou firelock was a weapon of national power.

At the time, Mao Wenlong had immediately proposed a purchase, and without haggling over price — whatever Pi Island could provide, Xuzhou could take its pick. As battle-hardened veterans, they naturally understood the significance of this firelock. However, Xuzhou would not sell, saying it was a secret of the highest order and could not be sold. He had never expected to see them being unloaded today. Looking at those long straw sacks, the number was no fewer than a hundred.

"Are these to be sold to Dongjiang Garrison?" Mao Wenlong's tone carried a trace of excitement. If they could be supplied to Dongjiang Garrison, then stationing troops here would be just that — stationing troops.

Hearing the question, Luo Chen coughed twice and said with a smile, "These are reserve supplies for the trading company's guards. Being isolated so far out, we naturally need a bit of surplus."

"With your esteemed side garrisoned on Pi Island, could it be that Dongjiang Garrison cannot protect your safety? This is over three hundred firelocks, plus two cannons. Just who are you guarding against? Or does your esteemed side have some other designs?" Li Jiucheng, standing beside Mao Wenlong, asked in a sullen voice.

"How could there be any other designs? It is simply to guard against the Tatar slaves and the Koreans. We Xuzhou folk are accustomed to self-reliance. Your garrison ordinarily faces its own hardships — how could we always trouble you?" Trading company steward Luo Chen simply pretended not to understand, offering only his own explanation.

His thick-skinned, carefree response left the Dongjiang Garrison officers with no recourse. They had a mind to flare up, but thinking of how their own side relied on the other party's trade and supplies, their anger subsided somewhat. And thinking further of the five hundred elite troops who had entered that "fortress," there was not much anger left at all.

"Is this armor also reserve supplies?" Mao Wenlong asked again. He was no longer watching the Zhao Family Army soldiers entering the trading company, but only staring at the cargo being unloaded from the ships. The straw sacks containing firelocks were loaded onto carts and transported toward the trading company. Now, wooden crates and bamboo baskets half the height of a man were being unloaded, clanking and clattering as they landed and were loaded onto carts.

The Dongjiang Garrison officers of Pi Island were familiar with this kind of packaging. On previous occasions when Zhao Family Army ships had come ashore, they had gifted Pi Island's officers ten sets of armor, which at the time had shaken the entire island. When Mao Wenlong, Chen Jisheng, and the others saw this Zhao Family Army–pattern armor — iron armor that covered nearly all the body's vital points and could block saber cuts, spear thrusts, and arrow shots — they all felt it was a treasure to be passed down through the family. These ten sets of iron armor had even produced an undesirable effect: Mao Wenlong and his subordinates all felt the ten sets were far too valuable, and suspected Xuzhou harbored some scheme or ambition, to give away such implements of national power.

However, after several subsequent waves of ships arrived, this misunderstanding was dispelled amid shock. It turned out that the armor they regarded as precious treasures was standard issue in Xuzhou, worn by ordinary foot soldiers. This caused the soldiers and civilians of Pi Island's Dongjiang Garrison to imagine even more about Xuzhou. The Liaodong territory beyond the passes was a semi-isolated region; most of its inhabitants never left the area their entire lives. The few with broader knowledge did know of Xuzhou, but in their impression, Xuzhou was a desolate, remote place — it could not possibly possess such strength and wealth.

Some guessed that maritime merchants backed Xuzhou; others guessed that Xuzhou was in fact an agent for the Jiangnan region. Guesses of every sort, bizarre and strange. What they could perceive, however, was that this Xuzhou was certainly no loyal subject of the Great Ming, and that the current situation in the Great Ming was far more complicated than they had imagined.

Luo Chen knew the atmosphere at this moment was somewhat delicate. The feelings and face of Pi Island's Dongjiang Garrison officers could not be disregarded. He pondered a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Commander Mao has granted Xuzhou many conveniences. I will take it upon myself this once to make a decision — I gift Commander Mao ten sets of iron armor!"

Mao Wenlong gave a mirthless smile and said, "Many thanks," then turned his gaze back to the unloading site. The officers around him, however, all showed expressions of excitement. With such a suit of iron armor on one's body, one man could do the work of five. Ten sets of iron armor used in a single squad, coordinating with one another, could rout two hundred men without difficulty. This would be an immense enhancement to Dongjiang Garrison's combat strength.

Happy as they were, after the excitement passed, watching the armor being unloaded from the ships in a continuous stream left the Dongjiang Garrison officers with a sour taste in their mouths. The other side had come here with over five hundred men — aside from the firelock soldiers, every man had armor, and there were even backups. Their own side, with tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, had fewer than twenty sets in total.

It was not only the firelocks and iron armor that had backup supplies. Long spears, sabers, uniforms, and ammunition, along with all sorts of goods the Dongjiang Garrison officers could not identify, were unloaded and transported into the Cloud Mountain Trading Company. These supplies alone took roughly ten ships. Half the fleet's carrying capacity on this voyage had been used to transport these five hundred–odd men of the Zhao Family Army and their provisions. Only then came the various goods from Xuzhou, Jiangnan, and foreign lands.

It was at this point that the cheerful chatter and laughter truly swelled. Laborers shouted as they loaded and unloaded. Merchants from every route and trading house representatives inspected goods right there on the dock, which added considerable trouble to the loading and unloading. Yet they would rather pay money to smooth things over than wait to look. Here on Pi Island, where goods were distributed to various places, a day's difference in news greatly affected prices. The truly influential figures went to a tea shed, where naturally someone would approach them to negotiate bulk trade deals.

Even without going there to listen in, Mao Wenlong and those around him knew that Korean ginseng, furs, and other specialty goods were all prepared over in Tieshan Commandery. The iron tools, farm implements, silk, and cotton cloth from here were urgently needed over there. Moreover, Mao Wenlong vaguely understood that the goods the Korean merchants brought to sell, aside from Korean domestic products, were also connected to the Jianzhou Jurchens and even Japan. Mao Wenlong did not much care about this. What he kept thinking was that if he could levy a tax on this trade, Dongjiang Garrison would surely grow rich. But thinking of the cannons on the large ships, thinking of those five hundred elite troops, Mao Wenlong did not dwell on the thought too deeply. For Pi Island to be able to participate in this business at all was already a great fortune.

After seeing the Pi Island military camp enter the trading company, Luo Chen took his leave. Mao Wenlong, however, did not depart. He stayed until nightfall, then sullenly turned to walk back. The officers around him were in equally gloomy spirits. Thinking of their own circumstances, and then looking at this Xuzhou that seemed like a fairy mountain beyond the seas — how could they be happy?

The fleet's arrival was ultimately of great benefit to Pi Island. The various supplies made Dongjiang Garrison's stockpiles more ample, and some could even be sent to the forces under Zhang Pan holding out in Jinzhou. The ships that had transported the Xuzhou soldiers would not make the return voyage empty, either. They used silver to purchase goods and people from Pi Island. Although Pi Island's greatest need was grain and military supplies, it also needed to issue military pay to sustain itself — even though there was nowhere on the island to spend it. But this silver could be used to buy urgently needed goods from Korea.

The military battalion garrisoned at the Cloud Mountain Trading Company collectively carried out cleaning and preparations, then drilled for half a shichen. This surprised the Dongjiang Garrison side. Everyone was indeed very resistant to Xuzhou soldiers being garrisoned at Pi Island's harbor, but they also knew they could not afford to slight them. They had already prepared manpower to do the cleaning for them — with so many refugees on the island, this was easy — and had even detailed several hundred women... However, after watching the military battalion's own labor and drill, Dongjiang Garrison, under the pretext of protecting the harbor, stationed roughly a thousand troops near the trading company.

At first, Mao Wenlong had assumed that these five hundred Xuzhou troops who had come were under Luo Chen's command. It was not until the fourth day that he learned the man leading them was named Zhao Song, a young man about the same age as the soldiers. This left Mao Wenlong and the Dongjiang Garrison officers utterly astonished. Someone who could lead a battalion like this and take charge of a sector on his own would, in the Great Ming, be a person of wealth and rank. How could he not be surrounded by attendants, in brocade robes and jade belt? Yet he had gone entirely unnoticed by everyone. The rules of this Xuzhou were simply too peculiar.

The Korean merchants departed fully satisfied. This Xuzhou cloth was no worse in quality than Songjiang cloth, slightly lower in price, yet available in very large quantities. This not only allowed them to meet the demands of their own country's yangban nobles and chungin class, but could even be sold to Japan, or secretly sold to the Jurchens. This single bulk commodity alone could make both sides rich. Thus, besides the spot transactions this time, they also arranged goods for the next visit. Despite the Korean merchants' stinginess, they were even willing to pay a deposit. And when they learned that the other side had a considerable demand for people, they even offered to supply able-bodied Korean men and women.

Merchants from other places were also satisfied. Those who came to Pi Island to do business were all fortune-seekers who took risks. Many of the things Xuzhou supplied were exactly what they needed. Moreover, though this place was called an exclave of the Great Ming, in reality there was no law here — doing anything was very convenient. Having made this trip, everyone had already decided to come again next time, and to bring relatives and friends, and to bring more capital.

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