Chapter 1371: Fuzhou Bay

But in the days that followed, while supplies continued to pour in, the large force of cavalry and infantry Chen Sheng had mentioned never came ashore. Only about a thousand men arrived by ship, taking over the defense duties at various points around Jinzhou.

By this point, Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan had nothing left to worry about. Even if the numbers here swelled to over ten thousand, the volume of supplies arriving was more than enough to sustain them through the winter. In private, they sometimes remarked that Xuzhou must be straining every resource to supply them, and that their own territory was probably suffering terribly now—the people with no means to live, the very ground scraped bare for miles.

But after all their earlier misjudgments, no one was quick to draw conclusions, especially watching Chen Sheng and his men remain so composed, their soldiers confident and at ease. The Zhao Family Army's officers and elite troops were mostly Xuzhou men. If their homeland were being bled this dry, they would hardly be carrying themselves like this.

Around the time they reckoned the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, several dozen large ships remained in the harbor without departing. Before the former Jinzhou garrison could guess why, word came down: from Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan on down, including Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, the Liu brothers, and all the key men of Jinzhou and Dongjiang Garrison, everyone received orders to prepare for an expedition.

Where they were going to strike, everyone could guess. The only place near Jinzhou worth attacking was Fuzhou. It seemed this Chen Sheng still wouldn't listen to advice and was determined to lead the army against Fuzhou.

No one could see this campaign ending well. Attacking a city in unfamiliar territory—no matter how confident you were, no matter how great your firepower, you still had to know your enemy and know yourself. Yet all these days, those hundred-odd cavalrymen had merely patrolled the area around Jinzhou city, never once venturing out to scout ahead. Marching so recklessly—what if something went wrong?

Some had wanted to go and remonstrate, but Chen Jisheng stopped them. He had thought it through clearly: if they could supply this much material, Xuzhou's coffers must be deep. Even a brief setback wouldn't break their bones. And that Chen Sheng had shown himself steady enough in battle—any loss he suffered likely wouldn't be a crippling one. In that case, better to let him take a loss and learn his lesson.

The night before departure, when the orders came, Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan urged their hundred-odd Liaodong men to pack their gear and ready their weapons. Yet they saw no large-scale movement in the camp, which only made them sigh. These Xuzhou troops were unreliable—one victory and they were already this arrogant.

But the next day, the Liaodong officers and men realized just how utterly wrong their judgment had been. The Zhao Family Army was not marching overland to Fuzhou at all. They were assembling at the harbor, forming ranks to board the ships.

Still taking the sea route? So it was the sea route all along. Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others suddenly understood. By now, any worry for the Zhao Family Army was gone, replaced by self-mockery. They had only thought of their own small force using the sea route, never imagining that this large force could do the same.

The Zhao Family Army had come by ship to relieve Jinzhou, but everyone had consciously or unconsciously dismissed that fact. The sea was windy and rough, the route perilous—this was "common knowledge" etched into everyone's mind. Coming from Shandong to Liaodong, you had no choice but to take the sea route; that was a necessary evil. Military campaigns demanded caution and stability. How could you rely on ships? How could you take the sea route?

What if the ships capsized at sea? What if they met the same fate as the Mongol Yuan fleet that sailed against Japan and was wiped out by a storm? Chen Jisheng and the others, though they regularly traveled by ship between Pi Island and Jinzhou, saw it as a last resort, something they were forced to do. Any conventional, prudent operation would never use ship transport.

Once aboard the great ships, feeling the familiar pitch and roll, they all laughed ruefully. This was truly a case of the darkest place being under the candlestick—the solution was right before their eyes, yet they had been blind to it, never even thought of it. Still, someone sighed with deep emotion: "If we'd had this many ships back then, we could have used this method too."

The sea route was indeed far more convenient than the land route. What was even more remarkable was that the ships were already fully loaded with supplies. The Zhao Family Army's battalions didn't need much preparation; they could board light. When they noticed this, no one had any more thoughts about the candlestick. This method was something only the extravagantly wealthy Xuzhou could afford. Even if others thought of it, what could they do?

"This must be Fuzhou Bay!" someone shouted excitedly. Back when they had fled by ship, they had glimpsed the coastline, but they had been too panicked then, and never imagined they would return.

The ship captains and sailors aboard were utterly unimpressed by such excitement. Before the main fleet arrived, each ship had sent picked men ahead in small boats to survey the area. They had long since figured everything out.

Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan's attention was mostly drawn to the several "strange ships" in the fleet. They had asked the sailors about them and learned they were foreign barbarian vessels the Zhao Family Army had captured. Those ships used canvas sails, and their masts and hulls were all different from Ming ships. Even more eye-catching were the cannons. Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan couldn't quite understand—how could there be openings below the gunwales, with cannons mounted there? A single ship carrying dozens of cannons, capable of firing over twenty shots in a single broadside—it was simply beyond belief.

Fuzhou Bay had no large docks. The government-run port had fallen into disuse long ago; all that remained were private anchorages. Reckless merchants, colluding with Liaodong Garrison officers, would bring all manner of high-demand goods from inside the passes and ship back local specialties. Now that trade was conducted with the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Faced with profits several times or even ten-plus times the norm, talk of righteousness meant little. The Jianzhou Jurchens needed goods from inside the passes even more than the Liaodong Garrison did, so they paid even higher prices.

But after the fierce fighting at Jinzhou and the Zhao Family Army's takeover of Dengzhou Harbor, few dared come here to trade anymore. Though the Jianzhou Jurchens still had silver to spend, the Zhao Family Army kept an extremely tight watch on this. Several sea routes had been blockaded by the great sea lords from the south. If you were caught, you lost your ship and your crew—everything. No one dared take that risk.

"There's actually no one guarding this place?" The lookout at the bow was baffled. The facilities at Fuzhou Bay might be incomplete, but it still offered a viable landing point. Why was it so empty? There was virtually no defense, not even a garrison. Through the telescope, they could just make out a few men fleeing inland in panic—probably not scouts, but men who had been waiting here for merchant ships to load cargo.

The Zhao Family Army and the fleet were puzzled, but Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others understood. Chen Jisheng simply gave a bitter laugh and explained: "Please relay to your commanding general that, in the Tartars' minds, the sea does not exist. They know nothing of the ocean. They are aware that Jinzhou is supplied from Dengzhou Harbor, but they have made no move to blockade or intercept. Their boats and rafts are all for river use. Even though they saw the army land at Jinzhou Bay, it would never occur to them that the army could also emerge here at Fuzhou Bay. They probably assume you'll march overland from Jinzhou."

The explanation was somewhat disjointed, but the men on the ship understood. While sending word back, one of them laughed and said, "Whether they think it's there or not, the sea is always here. And the sea is vast. No wonder Master Jin can achieve great things—he ponders this coastline, these seagoing ships, more than even our own Dragon Head does!"

Although the Jianzhou Jurchens had not set up defenses at the harbor, word still traveled back quickly. They could still react fast.

Just as a horse can be ridden to death chasing a distant mountain, the same held true at sea. The private anchorage at Fuzhou Bay looked close at hand, but it would still take some time to reach it. And in that time, the garrison from Fuzhou city had already rushed over. The Zhao Family Army had no seasoned hands aboard, but Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others possessed this skill. Watching the dust cloud rising from inland beyond the harbor, both men's faces changed.

"About a thousand cavalry. The troops that withdrew from Jinzhou must all be stationed around Fuzhou. What are the Tartars planning, committing this much strength to bottle up Jinzhou?"

The Jianzhou Jurchens had a far higher ratio of cavalry than the Ming army, but they were not structured as all-cavalry like the Mongol forces. Moreover, their cavalry was primarily deployed against Ming armies. For suppressing internal regions and campaigning against Pi Island and Jinzhou, infantry was the main force. Those two places mainly involved sieges and fortress assaults. Jinzhou, lacking the barrier of a bay, had a few hundred cavalry attached. Fuzhou itself had never had many cavalry. To field a thousand horsemen at once meant either a large army had been dispatched from Liaoyang, Shenyang, or Guangning, or the defeated troops from the failed siege of Jinzhou were still in Fuzhou city. The latter was more likely.

By Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan's assessment, those thousand Tartar cavalry could block the fleet from landing. Their numbers might not be large, but their mobility was unmatched. Wherever a landing was attempted, the cavalry could rush there, using speed and shock to crush one force before wheeling to strike another. No matter how elite the landing troops were, the process of disembarking and coming ashore required preparation; they would be unsteady, with no firm footing. They simply could not withstand cavalry. And no matter how deadly the Zhao Family Army's fire lances and cannons were, they could not fire from the sea.

Those thousand Jianzhou cavalry might not be able to inflict damage on the fleet, but a standoff like this would be enough. The ships couldn't land; fresh water and food would steadily run out. In the end, they would have to withdraw, making this entire expedition a wasted trip. Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan weren't worried about withdrawal—Fuzhou Bay was only a day and a night's sail from Jinzhou, faster with a favorable wind. What worried them was that Chen Sheng, young and hot-blooded, might rely on his army's strength and try to force a landing.

This judgment was soon confirmed. The flagship's semaphore and signals were all directing the fleet to press forward. It seemed they were indeed going to force it. Over on the other side, Kong Youde and his men were already rubbing their hands, eager to charge in after them.

"Maybe it's good they take this loss. Liaodong is not like inside the passes. These Xuzhou men are used to running roughshod everywhere. A lesson will teach them caution." Zhang Pan spoke plainly.

Chen Jisheng, however, sighed and said in a somber voice: "They're all fine sons of our Han people. If they die here at Fuzhou Bay just for a lesson, that would be a terrible waste."

"Han people... Han people. That's a good name." Zhang Pan murmured, turning the words over.