Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 215 Borrowing Troops
June 1632, 6, Lushunkou, Xiguan Mountain (now Baiyu Mountain).

Huang Long, the general of Dongjiang Town, stood on the top of the mountain, his hands resting on his head, looking towards the south, as if he wanted to see the specific situation of Dengzhou City on the opposite bank through the vast waves.

His mother, wives, concubines, and several young sons were probably already reduced to corpses and buried in the dust in Dengzhou City.

A few months ago, Kong and Geng took the golden hairpins from their mother's heads and came to Pi Island to lure him into surrender.

But in the face of the righteousness of the court, he would never submit to the villain and could only kneel down in front of the hairpin and kowtow with tears and blood.

After hearing the news from the patrol boat, Zeng knew that after the rebels failed to force him to surrender by using his mother, they wanted to threaten him by writing a letter through his twelve-year-old son.

Unexpectedly, this boy was very similar to himself and had great integrity. He rebuked the two thieves, Kong and Geng, with great righteousness, which made them extremely ashamed and angry, so they cut off their heads and hung them on the table.

Soon, his mother, wives, concubines, sons, as well as many relatives and servants totaling more than a hundred people were all slaughtered by the bandits.

How sad!
Thinking of this, Huang Long couldn't help but tighten his grip on the knife handle. The veins on his wrist bulged, and he hated the two thieves, Kong and Geng, to the extreme.

"Sir..." Guerrilla Li Weiluan hurried to the top of the mountain, clasped his fists and reported to Huang Long, "This morning, our navy patrol boat intercepted another Dengzhou rebel liaison ship at sea, capturing six rebel soldiers and a letter."

"Where is the letter?" Huang Long asked in a deep voice.

"Sir, please take a look." Li Weiluan handed over a letter in his hand.

Huang Long took the letter, glanced at ten lines, and read it quickly. A look of contempt immediately appeared on his face.

"Sir..." Shang Kexi next to him looked over curiously.

"What a bunch of shameless people!" Huang Long clutched the letter in his hand tightly, his eyes burning with anger as he said, "The rebels actually want to surrender to the Jiannu, using letters to contact them, to get their support in Liaodong and prevent the Guanning garrisons from entering the pass to quell the rebellion."

"..." Shang Kexi was surprised when he heard this, and he and Li Weiluan looked at each other.

The rebels actually wanted to cross the sea to surrender to the Jiannu!
They had fought in Liaodong for many years and had fought against the Jiannu countless times. Almost all of them had some blood feud with the Jiannu. How could they think of surrendering to the Jiannu?

Not to mention the thieves like Li Jiuchen, Kong Youde, Chen Youshi, and Mao Chenglu, who had been fighting with the Jiannu on the battlefield for years and had always had a grudge against them. However, Geng Zhongming was originally a surrendered general of the Jiannu, but later he could not bear the humiliation and killed the Eight Banners soldiers of the Jiannu army. He led thousands of soldiers and civilians to flee to Pi Island and surrendered to Dongjiang Town.

Now, he has to turn around and surrender to the Jiannu again. How should he deal with it?

Does he still have any face?

"...General Shang, if you are left with nowhere else to go, will you turn to the Jian Nu?"

Shang Kexi suddenly thought of what the young foreign merchant named Zhong had asked him a month ago on the Ku Niang Island, and his heart was suddenly startled.

If I were in the situation of the villains like Kong and Geng, would you also think of surrendering to the Jian Nu?

No, I definitely won’t join the Jiannu!
Shang Kexi shook his head vigorously, and a sense of alertness arose in his heart.

"Do you have anything to say?" Huang Long noticed his strangeness, raised his eyebrows, and asked in a gentle voice.

Huang Long admired this loyal general very much. Over the past year, he had generously rewarded him, promoted him, and regarded him as his confidant.

"Sir!" Shang Kexi bowed slightly, clasped his fists, and said, "If the Dengzhou rebels intended to surrender to the Jiannu, they would inevitably pass through the Changhai Islands (now South and North Changshan Islands) and land directly in Lushun. From there, they would head north to Gaizhou, pass through Liaoyang, and enter Jiannu territory."

"In this case, our army must prepare early. In addition to continuing to strengthen maritime patrols to detect the rebels' movements in advance, we must also build more Lushun Fort and cut off the land route to Gaizhou to prevent the Jiannu from cooperating with the rebels."

"Well, you've thought it through very carefully." Huang Long nodded and said, "In addition to the two points you mentioned above, we also need to station patrol ships and set up beacons on the Changhai Islands to warn our troops. Furthermore, to guard against attacks from both sea and land, we need to recruit thousands more soldiers to strengthen our army."

"Sir, if we recruit soldiers, I'm afraid we won't have enough food and wages to pay..." Li Weiluan warned quietly, "Since the Dengzhou rebellion, Chen Shiyou and Mao Chenglu immediately joined the rebellion and plundered almost all of the Liaohai Islands, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of refugees who need to be fed. The imperial court has cut off our Dongjiang Town's food and wages for over four months..."

"..." Huang Long sighed slightly when he heard this.

Yes, a good cook cannot cook without rice.

Dongjiang Town currently has no money or food. Not only is it unable to feed the tens of thousands of refugees in the Liaohai Islands, but it also cannot provide excess supplies to recruit the much-needed military reinforcements.

Could it be that my Dongjiang Town can only passively garrison in Lushun and wait for the rebels to cross the sea to attack?
It is said that after capturing Dengzhou, the rebels including Li Jiuchen and Kong Youde obtained more than 3,000 fine horses, 100,000 taels of silver as military pay, more than 20 red-haired cannons, more than 300 iron cannons and tiger squat cannons, and countless other types of military equipment and supplies.

The rebels used this to recruit soldiers and absorbed the motley crowd from various military towns in Shandong. In a very short period of time, their forces expanded to 100,000 and their arrogance was extremely high.

However, in May, the imperial court ordered the mobilization of tens of thousands of elite troops from Hebei, Shandong and towns outside the Great Wall to come to Dengzhou to join the suppression, which made the rebels feel unprecedented pressure.

This led the rebels to actively prepare for war and deal with the imperial court's suppression, while at the same time secretly sending envoys to contact the Jiannu in order to find a way out.

If the imperial army could inflict a heavy defeat on the rebels, leaving them in a precarious position, I believe they would abandon all sense of shame and surrender to the Jiannu.

In this way, Dongjiang Town will have to take on the important task of blocking the rebels from crossing the sea and landing, and annihilate them at sea as much as possible.

In fact, as early as when the rebels started the uprising, they did not have many boats, and when faced with the encirclement and suppression by the imperial army, they could only be trapped in the isolated city of Dengzhou.

However, they did not expect that in mid-April, a stupid teammate would send them more than a hundred naval warships, which enabled the rebels to suddenly gain the ability to operate at sea.

At that time, Tianjin Deputy General Sun Yinglong led the navy to attack Dengzhou by sea, but he underestimated the enemy and fell into an ambush by the rebels. He mistakenly entered the water city of Dengzhou and not only lost his life but also lost all his warships to the enemy, which was a pity.

Although Dongjiang Town also has a navy and more than a hundred warships, it is probably not strong enough to cover the entire Liao Sea and cannot defend it at all.

Moreover, if too much energy is invested in the sea route, then checkpoints cannot be set up everywhere on land and leaks cannot be plugged in many places.

If, by some mistake, the Dengzhou rebels' letter for help reaches the Jiannu, causing them to respond on land, the Dongjiang Town's limited troops would probably be unable to cope with it.

"Sir, if we don't have the money and food to recruit soldiers to fill the gap, then why not..." Shang Kexi pondered for a while, suddenly looked up at Huang Long, and said carefully: "Why not borrow the help of external troops, and then take the initiative to attack and directly strike the rebels' rear."

"Borrow troops from outside?" Huang Long looked over in confusion, "Where can we...borrow troops from?" Could it be that we should ask Guanning Town for help?
"Sir, do you still remember the Xinzhou merchants who rented Weeping Mother Island?"

"Yes." Huang Long nodded and said, "A month ago, you took 500 dan of grain and a red cannon from the island. You said that the foreign merchants on the island were quite savvy and could be won over for assistance."

"My Lord, they mentioned to me back then that once their seaborne gunboats returned to the Liao Sea from the Xinzhou Continent, they were willing to join forces with my Dongjiang Town to defeat the rebel navy." Shang Kexi's expression was complex. "At the time, I thought this proposal was ridiculous and dismissed it, and I didn't report it to you. But now, I think this suggestion has some merit. Why not... why not give it a try?"

"Oh?" Huang Long suddenly felt curious. "What does that foreign merchant want from someone so knowledgeable and interesting?"

Last time, he secretly ordered Shang Kexi to lead troops to seize the Ku Niang Island, kill the foreign merchants, and seize the artillery and food on the island in order to weaken Shen Shikui's power.

But Shang Kexi failed to achieve complete success in the end, and returned to Changshan to reunite with the main force.

He reported to Huang Long that the foreign merchants who leased the island had successively gathered thousands of refugees from Liaodong, then selected the best and strongest among them, trained them into troops, built fortifications and strongholds, and deployed scouts, so as to protect themselves on the island.

Mao Chenglu, the rebel general of Guanglu Island, led his troops to attack fiercely for more than half a month, but not only failed to conquer the island, but also suffered heavy losses and became disgraced.

After Shang Kexi led his troops to attack, Mao's troops retreated westward.

However, the foreign merchants on the island were extremely cautious. Seeing the reinforcements from Dongjiang Town coming to rescue them, they did not allow Shang's officers and soldiers to land on the island.

This made it impossible for Shang Kexi to find any opportunity to attack the island, massacre the people and plunder their property.

Fortunately, when the other side learned that their Dongjiang Town had counterattacked Liaohai, recaptured Lushun, and suppressed the rebels, but lacked the necessary means to attack, they took the initiative to offer a red cannon to help their army.

Huang Long didn't take Shang Kexi's report too seriously.

The merchants were so cautious, they must have received information from Shen Shikui in advance, so they were wary of them.

However, the other party was sensible and knew not to offend him, the general of Dongjiang Town, too much. He sent a cannon and four gunners, as well as 500 dan of grain, which provided some help to the army in suppressing the rebellion.

At this time, when he heard what Shang Kexi said, that the foreign merchants were willing to provide several gunboats and work with their Dongjiang Town to fight the rebels together, this aroused his strong curiosity.

If one's ambition is big, then he must have something to rely on, right?

"Your Excellency, those people are seeking the title of a local garrison commander," Shang Kexi replied with a bow. "Furthermore, they mentioned that they cannot bear the unrest in the Liaohai Sea, nor do they want the Jiannu to reap the benefits. If the Dengzhou incident goes unchecked, it will inevitably spread to Liaodong and devastate the entire north, severely damaging the vitality of the Ming Dynasty. As one weakens, the other will become increasingly powerful and difficult to control, which will be a disaster for China."

"I'm afraid what they said is a bit too alarmist." Huang Long couldn't help but laugh.

The trouble in Liaodong is nothing more than a minor scabies and a bone-gnawing pain to our Ming Dynasty. How could it bring about a catastrophe to China?
"Sir, they seem quite wary of the Jiannu and are particularly concerned about the situation in Liaodong," Shang Kexi said. "From what they've said, it seems they don't want the Jiannu to gain power, nor do they want the situation in the north to be disrupted. I believe that with their attitude, we could make friends with them and help our army. Furthermore, we might be able to use this opportunity to sow discord between the merchant and Shen Shikui."

"How many gunboats can they provide to help me in Dongjiang?"

"There will probably be four or five."

"Oh, what can only four or five ships do?" Huang Long couldn't help but feel a little disappointed after hearing this.

"Sir, they claim that the gunboats they provided are all large ships with a capacity of ten thousand hu, and that they have powerful red cannons mounted on both sides of the ship, making them no less powerful than the Western barbarian gunboats."

"Ten thousand hu ship?" Huang Long's eyes lit up. "Can you really provide several ten thousand hu ships, like those red-haired barbarian gunboats from the South Seas?"

Ten years ago (1622), the red-haired barbarians from Southeast Asia defeated the Fujian Navy with five powerful gunboats in the waters near Liuao Port. More than eighty large and small warships were capsized or damaged, and thousands of officers and soldiers were killed or wounded, which shocked the court and the public for a time.

This naval battle almost destroyed the entire Fujian Navy, so much so that when Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan later again proposed to pacify the Min Sea and recruit Zheng Zhilong, the voices of opposition were much smaller.

If the foreign merchant from Xinzhou could really provide four or five 10,000-hu gunboats to help in the battle, then Dongjiang Town could take the initiative and launch a surprise attack on Dengzhou by sea.

Even if they could not help the various encirclement and suppression armies on land to break through Dengzhou City, they could take the opportunity to destroy the rebel navy warships, thus cutting off their escape route across the sea.

Without their warships, the rebels were trapped in the isolated city of Dengzhou. Under the imperial court's blockade by land and sea, their demise was inevitable.

At that time, Kong, Geng and other villains were about to surrender their heads to comfort their dead family members.

"Sir, if our Dongjiang Town relies on the power of overseas merchants to cross the sea to attack the rebels, will we be criticized by the court?" Li Weiluan saw that Huang Long seemed to be interested in making a move, so he reminded him in a low voice.

"That's all right," Huang Long said, waving his hand. "A few years ago, Denglai Governor Sun Yuanhua trained a firearms unit in Dengzhou, recruiting dozens of Portuguese, including Gongsha, as instructors. The imperial court didn't stop him; instead, they fully supported him. This time, we're using the foreign merchants and gunboats from Xinzhou to attack the rebels. We have a precedent for this."

"Well, your Excellency is right." Shang Kexi was delighted to see Huang Long support his suggestion. "Even if the court criticizes and punishes me later, I will accept it and will never bring any harm to you or our Dongjiang Town."

"That's wrong!" Huang Long said with a smile, "We had to do what we could in a hurry. How could the court blame us? Even if the officials in the court really wanted to punish Dongjiang Town for this, I, the general commander, would bear the responsibility. How could you, the guerrilla, take the blame?"

Li Weiluan glanced at Shang Kexi calmly, secretly criticizing him.

This flattery is beyond my reach!

Among these Dongjiang Town military generals who surrendered to Huang Long, Shang Kexi was the most trusted. In less than a year, he climbed from a small captain to the rank of guerrilla.

Judging from the situation, it might not be long before he is promoted to the rank of lieutenant general or even deputy general.

You know, this guy is not even thirty years old yet.

The future is limitless!

"Guerrilla Shang, listen!" Huang Long pondered for a moment, then looked at Shang Kexi and solemnly issued a military order, "Tomorrow, you will go to Ku Niang Island and inquire when their gunboats will arrive in Liaohai. This will help our Dongjiang garrison attack the Dengzhou rebels."

"I obey your command!" Shang Kexi responded loudly.

(End of this chapter)