Chapter 1068 - Borrowing Troops to Suppress the Rebels
Finally, Sun Yuanhua boarded the Type 901 gunboat Daishuang.
Though her hull was not substantially larger than the biggest special service boat, her construction, equipment, and overall design bore little resemblance to those vessels born from Chinese civilian craft. The rigging in particular stood out—where the special service boats employed improved Sino-Western hybrid configurations, the Daishuang carried a Barquentine rig. Sun Yuanhua studied it for some time and found the ship's form somewhat reminiscent of the European-style sailing vessels missionaries had shown him, though it appeared lighter and more graceful than European designs.
Sun Yuanhua had never encountered the adage that "an aircraft with superior performance must be beautiful," yet he instinctively sensed that the Australians' ship possessed capabilities far exceeding European vessels.
What left the deepest impression was the 130mm Grenshiel "Giant Cannon" aboard the Daishuang. When the canvas was drawn back and that bottle-shaped, gleaming weapon stood revealed before his gaze, Sun Yuanhua suddenly understood that every "Heavy Weapon of the State" he had ever seen now seemed pale and powerless by comparison.
The 68-pounder carronade had certainly given him a shock, but his knowledge of artillery told him that a short-barreled cannon, however massive its shot, could not achieve great range.
But this "Giant Cannon" combined an enormous caliber with a long barrel—power and reach united in one piece. What amazed him even more was that despite its tremendous weight, the cannon could rotate freely with ease—without manual labor. At Lu Yang's command, several sailors sprinted to their gun positions. Someone manipulated a brass lever, turned a handwheel, and a strange, low-pitched whirring sound emerged from beneath the deck. The heavy cannon began to rotate.
Without warning, thick white steam erupted from beneath the deck and within the gun carriage. Sun Yuanhua startled backward. A gust of sea breeze passed, dispersing the vapor quickly, and he watched in clear view as the cannon rotated left and right, elevated and depressed, all under the manipulation of a few sailors. Agile as a chopstick between fingers.
This one warship alone is worth ten fleet ships of the Navy! Sun Yuanhua thought. No wonder the Australians roam the seas uncontested!
"Such a giant cannon," he said, "rotating freely without manpower—how is this possible?"
"This is the power of water and fire." Lu Yang offered a simple explanation of the steam engine's principles—the version from One Hundred Thousand Whys—using the common phenomenon of steam lifting a kettle lid during cooking to illustrate the power of pressurized vapor.
Sun Yuanhua listened with intense concentration. The principle of the steam engine was simple enough, but transforming that principle into usable power was no simple matter. He did not pursue how the steam moved the cannon—presumably this was a secret art of the Australians, never to be revealed casually to outsiders.
"And what is this?" Sun Yuanhua approached the enormous funnel amidships. Fishing nets and tarpaulins wrapped it from view.
"A chimney."
"A chimney?" Sun Yuanhua marveled. "Of such size?"
Every large ship had a stove, certainly, but he had never heard of one so massive as to require an installed chimney.
"Precisely," Lu Yang said. "Since we harness the power of water and fire, this chimney becomes necessary."
"So beneath this deck lies a great stove?"
"Sir has guessed correctly. A great stove indeed—and a pot of water."
This only intensified Sun Yuanhua's curiosity. He could not fathom how a massive stove could be built within such a rocking environment, or how a pot of water could rest upon it. Surely the water would spill the moment the ship set sail?
While he puzzled over this, a small boat emitting black smoke and white steam appeared sailing across the bay.
Large patches of floating ice covered the interior of Longkou Bay. A Dafa launch was ferrying laborers to manually break ice on the frozen surface, maintaining the channel's clearance.
Sun Yuanhua suddenly noticed that this small craft moving through the bay possessed neither sails nor oars. He could not suppress his astonishment—he had long heard that Australian ships could move without wind or paddle, and now seeing was believing. Observing the black smoke and vapor rising constantly from both the boat and its chimney, comprehension struck him.
"This boat moves freely upon the sea," he said. "I suspect it also employs the power of water and fire you mentioned, does it not?"
"Sir is correct." Lu Yang admired him silently.
"And this ship here—though it carries sails, it too can sail without using them?"
"Yes," Lu Yang confirmed. "The power of water and fire can drive cannons, propel ships, and accomplish many other things beyond imagining."
Sun Yuanhua sighed deeply. "Truly the skills of gods and ghosts."
"Is Sir not renowned for his mastery of Gewu—the Investigation of Things?" Lu Yang observed. "The Way of water and fire is also the study of Gewu."
On the return journey to the stockade, a phrase suddenly leapt into Sun Yuanhua's mind: Borrowing troops to help suppress!
The other party had openly displayed their warships and cannons. He understood this was a deliberate hint.
After his capture in Dengzhou, he had abandoned all hope for his future. Given the Emperor's consistent style in handling such matters, even if Kong Youde released him out of old sentiment, even if he managed to return to Court through the intercession of his teacher Grand Secretary Zhou, he could hardly escape death.
Originally, he had prepared himself to die. But now he had been rescued again—Dengzhou had fallen only two or three days ago, and neither the Imperial Court nor local authorities would have received precise intelligence yet.
A man in desperate circumstances, offered the faintest glimmer of hope, will seize upon it with fierce determination to survive. Sun Yuanhua immediately recognized that a tremendous opportunity was materializing before him.
If he could lead troops to defeat Kong Youde and recover Dengzhou, even if he could not retain his Governorship, at least the possibility of future reinstatement remained.
As for the other party being "Short-haired Thieves"—this gave him slight pause. But clearly they too preferred to conceal their true identity, else why bother constructing this manor under an assumed name?
Back in the stockade, Jean Nicholas invited him to attend morning Mass. The service was held in a simple large shed on the island, attended mainly by new converts among the refugees. Since Lu Wenyuan was already Catholic, he accompanied them.
After the service, Sun Yuanhua conversed at length with Jean Nicholas. The priest expressed concern about his current circumstances, indicating that Sun's failure in Dengzhou would not only endanger himself but could also deliver a tremendous blow to the propagation of the Holy Church in China.
Sun Yuanhua understood the implication perfectly. The Jesuits' missionary work in China relied heavily upon upper-class scholar-officials. Among such Christian converts who could be called "high officials," he was one of the very few. His mentor Xu Guangqi was already in his declining years, exhausted from the labor of calendar reform. Sun Yuanhua himself represented the missionaries' last great hope.
Then Jean Nicholas spoke at length about the Australians' piety toward the Church—how the Church had achieved an unprecedented harvest in Hainan with Australian support. He noted with great regret that if the leader of the Australians were a Christian, the Pope would surely canonize him.
Under the Jesuit priest's guidance, Sun Yuanhua's inclination toward "Borrowing Troops to Help Suppress" solidified into intent.
However, much remained to be clarified. First among his concerns: how many troops could the Australians deploy? Sun Yuanhua knew that Dengzhou faced Liaodong across the sea, and the local area was impoverished. Once Kong Youde occupied Dengzhou, he had grain, pay, and weapons at his disposal. With a banner raised, tens of thousands would flock to his side without delay.
The majority of those tens of thousands would naturally be people seeking nothing more than food and survival. But among them would be no shortage of local soldier-ruffians and veterans of the old Dongjiang forces.
Though these troops lost more battles than they won against the Tartars, by Great Ming standards they ranked as "strong soldiers." Especially with Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde, and the other veteran Liaodong generals who had received Western firearms training in Dengzhou at their head. If it truly came to battle, only elite border troops transferred from the Shanhaiguan region could hope to match them—forces hastily assembled from elsewhere would be no match.
The vast store of firearms and gunpowder in Dengzhou City further augmented their combat power. And then there were the warships in the Water City. This was what troubled Sun Yuanhua most.
If those naval vessels fell entirely into rebel hands, they would gain the ability to maneuver freely across the sea. The Dongjiang Army at LĂĽshun and the Liaodong islands could coordinate with the Dengzhou rebels at any time via the sea route.
When that happened, the rebel momentum would roll ever larger like a snowball. And if the rebels could not hold their position, they might well take to the sea and defect to the Tartars. The Dengzhou-Laizhou defensive line the Court had painstakingly constructed over ten years would collapse utterly.
Facing such formidable enemies, Sun Yuanhua could not rely on his meager forces in Laizhou and Qingzhou—even with troops dispatched by Shandong Governor Yu Dacheng, he had no chance of victory.
He did not expect rapid reinforcement from the Court. Northern military resources were stretched thin. Even if the Court approved an expeditionary force immediately, deployment would require at least three or four months.
His plan was straightforward: defend Laizhou and Qingzhou at all costs, preventing the rebel chaos from spreading. Request Australian naval assistance at sea to prevent the rebels from colluding with the old Dongjiang forces in Liaodong.
If the old Dongjiang troops could not cross the sea to reinforce Kong Youde, and if the rebels could not take Laizhou and Qingzhou, they would be trapped in Dengzhou. The grain stores there could sustain them for perhaps half a year. Once that period elapsed, internal discord would beset them without a fight having occurred. Whether through amnesty or massive imperial suppression, the task would be half as difficult for twice the result.
Sun Yuanhua placed little hope in Australian ground forces—on the island he had seen only village braves. Even if some Australian soldiers existed here, they could number at most two or three hundred. Even with legendarily excellent firearms, such meager numbers would not even fill the gaps between rebel teeth.
The Australian navy was a different matter entirely. With the warships they had shown him, blockading Dengzhou would be as easy as turning a hand. Neither the Dongjiang Navy nor the Dengzhou Navy possessed vessels that could oppose them. If battle truly came, it would be—as the saying went—like crushing dry weeds and rotten wood.
Yet making this determination was not easy. The Australians were "Short-haired Thieves" who had clashed with Court forces in the past. Though they had so far confined themselves to commerce and revealed no greater ambition, their inexplicable kindness toward him demanded suspicion.
(End of Chapter)