Chapter 702 - Aftermath
Chen Haiyang established three outposts on Lantau Island. The first was built on the southern coast, directly controlling the Sham Shui strait—the fleet would use this location as an anchorage for the assault on the Pearl River.
The second outpost was placed at Kap Shui Mun on Lantau's northeast, facing Ma Wan Island across the water. This was the western entrance to Victoria Harbour and a vital passage from the South China Sea to the Pearl River Estuary. Shortly after the expeditionary fleet landed on Hong Kong Island, they had secretly stationed an observation post here. Now Chen Haiyang formally organized it into a full outpost to monitor this critical location around the clock.
The last was built on Tai O Island.
Tai O was Lantau's earliest developed settlement. Not only was it the island's main population center, but it also had salt pans. For a time, it had been Hong Kong's primary salt supplier. Historically, the place was known for salt production and salt smuggling.
This island lay extremely close to Lantau proper—so close that the strait between them could be crossed by simple ferries. The maritime location was superb. The Portuguese had once attempted to establish a colony on Tai O as a trading port with China. But their defeat in the Battle of Tuen Mun crushed that ambition entirely.
Now the Australians had arrived.
Shi Zhiqi brought the marines ashore at Tai O in landing craft. Most of Tai O's villagers were Tanka—fishermen and sailors all. Quite a few had been pirates or dabbled in piracy on the side. Some locals were among those killed or captured from the pirate ranks. Now, hearing that the crop-heads who had annihilated Zheng Bao's great pirate band had arrived, everyone was terrified. Yet no one dared resist. After urgent deliberation, they selected several village elders to receive the visitors.
"The houses here look somewhat like ethnic minority dwellings," Shi Zhiqi remarked, observing the stilt-style shacks built half over water along the shore.
"These are stilt houses. A local specialty," Le Lin explained. "Tai O is called the Venice of Hong Kong. When visiting Lantau, this place is a must-see. The seafood is excellent."
The topic of seafood failed to arouse any interest among the transmigrators. Eating seafood had become routine.
The marines brought forward the village envoys. The Tanka, in both dress and dialect, differed considerably from local Cantonese. Shi Zhiqi naturally couldn't understand them, but the Lingao regime's navy counted quite a few Tanka among its ranks. Communication was established without difficulty.
The envoys presented gifts: fifty taels of silver and various odds and ends of gold and silver—a gesture of submission. Shi Zhiqi offered polite remarks and ordered the gifts accepted. He assured them that so long as they obeyed the Australasian Song regime's orders obediently, their safety would be guaranteed, and the local villages wouldn't be disturbed.
The inhabitants of Lantau Island—whether Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, or Tanka—were mostly fishermen, boat workers, and sailors. Chen Haiyang knew from historical research that since the 10th century, they had lived a half-fisherman, half-pirate existence in these waters. Pirates generally made excellent sailors, and while these locals had "pirate connections," they represented a prime source of naval recruits. Moreover, he simply lacked the manpower to "reform civilian affairs" here for the time being. His policy guidance for local matters was therefore lenient. He took no harsh measures against the people of Lantau and nearby islands, hoping to avoid provoking undue hostility. His only demand was that each village hand over any scattered pirates. Of course, they certainly wouldn't surrender their own relatives and neighbors—but they wouldn't extend such consideration to outsiders.
Under Shi Zhiqi's orders, the Tai O villages appointed liaison officers to attend meetings on Hong Kong Island every ten days as required. There was also the matter of "reasonable burden"—both the provision of fish and seafood and the unpaid conscription of labor and boats. This policy extended to all villages on Lantau Island.
The outpost built on Tai O was located at a site the villagers called "Fan Kwai Tong"—Foreigner's Pond. This was precisely where the Portuguese had once built their fort in preparation for opening a trading post. Remains from over a century ago were still visible: stone blocks and rubble from fortifications and buildings, unrecognizably rusted iron implements, and even a few ship fragments lodged among the rocks.
Several days later, Wen Desi, Chen Haiyang, and the other transmigrators led the expeditionary force's military and civil affairs personnel in holding a solemn ceremony on Tung Chung beach. Facing the sea, they set up an altar and performed rites honoring Emperor Duanzong of Song. In the final tempestuous days of the Southern Song, the small fugitive court had visited Lantau twice, making brief stops at Tung Chung. Emperor Duanzong was said to have died somewhere on Lantau's northern shore. Since the Lingao regime proclaimed itself heir to the Yashan remnants, this gesture served to demonstrate its "legitimacy."
An army infantry company stood in formation. Twelve special-service boats lined up in the harbor. Each transmigrator stood with due solemnity; though there was no kneeling or kowtowing, every bow reached ninety degrees. Then Wen Desi read the sacrificial address—said to have been composed by a transmigrator with a Bachelor's in Chinese from some university and a Master's in History. It was not only parallel prose but peppered with obscure characters requiring a Kangxi Dictionary to decipher. Wen Desi stumbled through it with difficulty before finally completing the ceremony.
After the rites concluded, the entire army fired three volleys. Then the special-service boats in the bay fired three salutes. Smoke rolled and the spectacle was impressive.
The Battle of Lantau thoroughly eliminated any other pirate bands' designs on the Pearl River region. Since even Liu Xiang gave the Australians a wide berth, and the reckless Zheng Bao had been utterly destroyed, everyone gained a deeper appreciation of the crop-heads' strength. Pirates virtually vanished from the area.
Geographically, Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island, and the mainland formed an almost enclosed inland sea. This inland sea was now entirely under the expeditionary force's control. The Ming navy at Tuen Mun and Nantou in Xin'an made no move to challenge Australian maritime supremacy. The Nantou garrison had cancelled its naval patrols entirely.
Another consequence of the Battle of Lantau was that Chen Haiyang had to postpone his timeline for entering the Pearl River to commence full-scale operations. He had too many fruits of victory to digest. Prisoners and captured ships filled Base 852 to capacity; he needed more provisions, craftsmen, and soldiers to cope. He therefore requested further reinforcements from Lingao—otherwise the expeditionary force lacked the manpower to simultaneously develop Hong Kong Island and conduct harassing operations in the Pearl River.
Just guarding the 2,000 prisoners and several hundred migrants from Lantau required at least a full company.
The army promptly dispatched two infantry companies on its own initiative. Though the navy wasn't entirely pleased with army involvement, Hong Kong couldn't possibly remain the navy's exclusive domain. The army's reinforcement at least shared their operational burden.
With the arrival of army forces, civil affairs and engineering personnel also streamed in on supply-carrying special-service boats. They built docks and a simple ship repair yard, erected warehouses and barracks, installed steam engines, and expanded the purification camp using prefabricated kits—upon completion, this camp would hold 5,000 people.
Chen Haiyang ordered the sailors to work intensively on repairing vessels captured from the pirates—especially the small, shallow-draft sampans and long-dragons, which would prove extremely useful in inland-river landing operations. With such craft, soldiers could be delivered to virtually any landing point without worrying about water depth.
Hong Kong Island's base became a hive of activity, with noisy construction sites and laboring workers everywhere. In the waters around Hong Kong Island, steam-powered landing craft patrolled ostentatiously, proclaiming who was master of these seas.
Chen Haiyang's naval strength grew further. From Lingao he received four Type II single-masted patrol boats. These were newly launched improved iron-ribbed, wooden-hulled ships that balanced Lingao industry's current production capacity and material supply. Each displaced 150 tons and carried 18 guns. Though not ideally suited for operations in the navigationally complex inland waters of the Pearl River, they were formidable assets for controlling the Pearl River Estuary, capable of effectively monitoring all key sea passages around Hong Kong Island. This freed sufficient forces to enter the Pearl River for combat.
The forces designated for Pearl River operations comprised five squadrons of 20 special-service boats, one squadron of single-masted patrol boats, one landing craft squadron, and a temporarily organized "Small Boat Brigade" using captured pirate sampans and long-dragons. About a dozen of the better-condition large vessels seized from the pirates were fumigated with drugs and pressed into service. Chen Haiyang assigned crews and marines to these ships after making minor modifications. They would primarily serve as transports for captured supplies and prisoners during operations.
Survey vessels dispatched by Chen Haiyang, escorted by patrol boats, went ahead to conduct actual measurements of depth and terrain at the Pearl River Estuary—the 21st-century navigation charts obviously differed greatly from 17th-century reality. Chen Haiyang certainly didn't want ships running aground before battle even began—that would damage both his and the navy's reputation.
Everything being done at Base 852 couldn't escape the Ming patrol posts along the coast. Though they took no action, warnings of an imminent large-scale crop-head invasion soon reached Guangzhou and Zhaoqing.
While Zhaoqing remained mired in an uninspiring neither-war-nor-peace state, in Guangzhou, at the Provincial Governor's yamen, arrangements for offering tribute to the Australians were proceeding urgently. Leading the peace negotiations was Guangdong Provincial Governor Li Fengjie. After receiving news of the military defeat, he had swiftly convened his advisors and trusted officials in secret deliberation. They agreed that in the wake of this defeat, Guangdong must quickly distance itself from responsibility. Of course, the memorial had to be dispatched promptly.
Li Fengjie's grand sedan was carried down a main street lined almost entirely with government offices. The street was usually quiet, with only clerks, runners from various yamens, and officials' servants hurrying about. Now, in the summer midday heat, it was even more deserted.
Note: "Lantau Island" is the modern name; it is used here for readability.
*The location where Portuguese occupied "Tuen Mun Island" is disputed. However, the Portuguese did construct certain structures on Tai O Island.
**Tung Chung has been a pirate anchorage since Ming-Qing times. The famous Qing-era pirate Cheung Po Tsai fought fierce battles with Qing naval forces at Tung Chung; the Qing forces failed to take it. After the Daoguang reign, to suppress pirate activity, the Qing constructed a fort there. The fort remains today within a Tung Chung school.
(End of Chapter)