Chapter 1078 - Crisis on Qimu Island

Though no one openly questioned Kong Youde, he could already feel a miasma of distrust permeating those around him.

This was a dangerous signal. The army was a place where killing came as easily as cutting grass, and this was doubly true in a rebel army born of chaos. In troubled times, human life was cheap—a trivial reason could lead to death. And nothing was more despised than a man who straddled two boats.

Li Jiucheng had shown no outward suspicion toward him. Yet the excessive displays of trust from Li Jiucheng and his son in recent days seemed to confirm his darkest fears—they had already begun to suspect him.

It had to be said: this was a very dangerous signal.

Difficult. How could he possibly prove his innocence? Kong Youde heaved a deep sigh.

He certainly trusted his own loyal subordinates, but they numbered only a few hundred. If most of the generals came to believe he harbored disloyalty, those few hundred men would simply be buried alongside him.

Were it not for his considerable prestige among the Dongjiang veterans in Dengzhou, were he anyone else, he might have been killed already.

How to regain everyone's trust had become the most pressing problem Kong Youde now faced.

For this reason, he had been forced to demonstrate by every possible means that he harbored no second thoughts. He had voluntarily vacated his original residence to dispel any suspicion of sheltering Sun Yuanhua.

Fortunately, a few days prior, they had received an intelligence report: Sun Yuanhua had suddenly appeared in Laizhou and officially begun attending to administrative duties and organizing the city's defenses. This had done much to clear Kong Youde of suspicion. However, the mystery of how Sun Yuanhua had escaped remained unsolved, and so Kong Youde's position was still somewhat delicate.

Laizhou had now been reorganized under Sun Yuanhua's direction until it was tight as an iron barrel. Spies also reported that Yu Dacheng, who had previously been dispirited and cloistered in his yamen chanting sutras, had suddenly rallied after Sun Yuanhua's arrival. He had not only dispatched reinforcements but also transported large quantities of grain and military supplies to Laizhou.

The implications were clear: Sun Yuanhua's stance on "appeasement" was shifting. The advantages the rebels had gained through professed willingness to negotiate were slipping away. In particular, their original plan to have Sun Yuanhua continuously pen letters expressing their "willingness to accept appeasement"—thereby delaying court suppression efforts while they expanded their power—had now completely collapsed.

What followed was inevitable: the rebels would face the court's military response. Time waits for no man; the window remaining to them was shrinking rapidly. At the military council two days prior, all had agreed: they must take Huang County immediately and besiege Laizhou as soon as possible.

Capturing Huang County would secure Dengzhou. Occupying Laizhou would grant the army greater room to maneuver—the ability to advance to attack or retreat to defend. Otherwise, sooner or later, they would find themselves strangled between the mountains and the sea by government forces.

Yet to further confuse the court and embolden those ministers who advocated appeasement, it remained necessary to continue expressing the sincerity of "accepting appeasement." Though Sun Yuanhua had escaped, they still held a group of officials. These people were useless to keep, so at yesterday's military council, it was decided to release them all—Song Guanglan, Zhang Tao, Wang Zheng, and others. At the same time, they would carry a letter jointly signed by the principal rebel generals, expressing their desire for appeasement.

Because Kong Youde had maintained relatively good relations with the Dengzhou officials, this task had fallen to him. On the surface, this suggested trust—a vote of "no suspicion." But in reality, Kong Youde knew, he had still not cleared himself of the accusation of colluding with Sun Yuanhua.

There was no foolproof plan at present. He could only take things one step at a time. Matters have not yet reached the point of showdown, Kong Youde thought, but I must capture Laizhou as soon as possible.

While he was lost in contemplation, a personal guard arrived to report that Grand Marshal Li Jiucheng had summoned him to a military council.

"Return and inform the Marshal I shall attend immediately." Kong Youde issued the order. He knew today's council would certainly address the deployment of troops against Laizhou.

They had already captured Huang County a few days prior—taking it had required almost no effort. But attacking Laizhou was another matter entirely. The Ming garrison there was limited, and ordinarily the assault would not have been difficult. But now that Sun Yuanhua had entered the city, its defenses would inevitably be greatly strengthened. With him presiding over Laizhou as Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, and with Shandong Governor Yu Dacheng coordinating his efforts, the provincial army would certainly be mobilized to reinforce the city.

"Come—bring my armor!" he called.

A personal guard approached. "Today is not a formal assembly for roll call. Is armor truly necessary?"

"Of course it's necessary!" Kong Youde declared loudly. "One must not slight a military council either."

He allowed his guards to dress him in full armor. Save for the absence of bow and quiver, his appearance matched the formal "Bow and Quiver Ceremony." Though Kong Youde was Vice Marshal, his prestige in the army second only to Li Jiucheng's, he remained scrupulously careful, never betraying a trace of arrogance, always maintaining the humble bearing of a subordinate.

Fully armored now, he departed the yamen. A fine Mongolian horse had already been prepared for him. Kong Youde vaulted into the saddle and rode to the Grand Marshal's Mansion surrounded by his guards.

The streets of Dengzhou had fallen into silence. Those moving along them wore soldiers' uniforms; occasionally there were commoners pressed into labor for the rebels, but few made any noise. Kong Youde and his retinue rode down the center of the road. People scattered from their path.

The Festival Hall in the former Governor's Yamen now served as the Festival Hall of the Grand Marshal's Mansion. From the main gate onward, fully armored guards and warriors stood in rows.

Kong Youde, resplendent in his armor and bearing an air of martial vigor, strode through the second gate. He passed between two ranks of solemn, silent guards whose swords, spears, and halberds gleamed in the light. Bowing as he walked, he entered the Festival Hall and knelt approximately five chi from the official desk, announcing his rank in a ringing voice:

"Vice Grand Marshal Acting for Heaven, Kong Youde, pays his respects to Your Excellency!"

Li Jiucheng nodded with a smile. "Please rise."

The Festival Hall had filled with the principal rebel generals. Most had attained ranks of Regional Assistant Commander or Mobile Corps Commander in Dongjiang Town; all commanded core troops of their own.

After capturing Dengzhou, the rebels had incorporated local Dengzhou soldiers and remnants of the Southern soldiers, conscripted large numbers of able-bodied men from among the local Liaodong commoners, and absorbed many local bandits and desperadoes. The army had swelled to tens of thousands. Yet the truly reliable and battle-worthy troops remained the original Dongjiang veterans.

The rabble could serve only as cannon fodder to bolster their apparent numbers. They fought well enough when the wind was at their backs, but the moment they encountered hard fighting, they would collapse into soft eggs. Therefore, Li Jiucheng and the others had dispatched men early on, carrying pay silver seized from Dengzhou, to the various islands of the Liao Sea to induce Dongjiang generals to lead their troops in "raising the great banner together."

These men might not excel at fighting Tartars, but crossing the sea to Shandong to fight government troops was well within their capabilities.

This recruitment effort was proceeding smoothly. Several Dongjiang generals had already expressed their intention to join the uprising.

But at today's military council, beyond the planned attack on Laizhou, a new situation had emerged.

Mao Chenglu, dispatched to Huang County, had sent a messenger back with a report: a large force of village braves was currently active within Huang County's territory. They were aggressively gathering refugees around the county seat. Rebel troops sent to seize refugees had already clashed with them—and suffered significant losses.

The previous day, rebels pursuing a group of several thousand refugees whom the village braves had taken had fought a battle at Baimatang. Not only had they failed to prevail, but they had suffered four or five hundred casualties. The survivors had routed back to the county seat.

"Whose village braves are so bold?" Kong Youde was genuinely surprised. Village braves typically focused on "protecting their territory and keeping the peace," rarely taking the initiative to provoke. They concerned themselves only with the safety of their own stockade. Moreover, given the rebels' current military power and their abundant firearms, ordinary stockades had no recourse but to surrender at first sight and submit to whatever was demanded of them.

"It's a stockade near Longkou," Li Jiucheng said. "Chenglu reports they have firearms—very powerful ones."

Kong Youde lost his composure. "It's Master Lu of Qimu Island!"

Li Jiucheng raised an eyebrow. "You know of this?"

"Yes." Kong Youde nodded. "This Master Lu is a Southerner and believes in the Lord of Heaven, as Governor Sun does. Sun therefore looked upon him with special favor from the beginning and once allocated him a considerable quantity of weapons and gunpowder."

It was not surprising that Master Lu had established a stockade on Qimu Island—everyone was doing so these days. But why would he seek to gather refugees on such a large scale?

The land around Longkou was hardly fertile; he could not be recruiting refugees to reclaim wasteland. Besides, in this season of turmoil and chaos, in the depths of winter, there was absolutely no possibility of land reclamation.

The only explanation was that they, like the various folk religious sects throughout Shandong, were preparing to exploit the great chaos in Dengzhou to raise their own banner of rebellion.

In ancient times, anyone intending to revolt always began by coercing the populace and sheltering refugees. The rebels had razed stockades and burned houses throughout Huang County partly to collect as much grain and property as possible and strengthen their position by clearing the countryside, but also partly to coerce large numbers of refugees into their ranks for army expansion.

Did this Master Lu harbor similar designs? The generals in the Festival Hall exchanged glances.

If so, the situation had become considerably more complicated. These generals had been in Shandong long enough to know something of the province's folk religious sects. They understood perfectly well that once believers were incited, they became fanatically devoted. If this Master Lu truly launched an uprising under the banner of "responding to the tribulation" within Huang County's territory, the rebels would need to expend considerable effort to suppress it.

"This stockade must be destroyed as soon as possible," Geng Zhongming declared. "Once they rise up, our attack on Laizhou becomes far more difficult."

"The Laizhou matter cannot be delayed either," Li Jiucheng said. "If we don't take Laizhou, none of us brothers will sleep soundly in Dengzhou. We'll proceed on two fronts: one to attack Laizhou, and another to destroy this 'Master Lu' with all haste."

Li Jiucheng decided immediately to reinforce Mao Chenglu with three thousand elite soldiers, ordering him to attack Qimu Island at once and breach the stockade. As for Master Lu and his followers, anyone with a foreign accent was to be killed entirely. If the locally-accented refugees in the stockade refused to obey orders, they too were to be killed entirely—to prevent future complications.

Because the enemy possessed many firearms, Li Jiucheng decided to allocate a portion of artillery to Mao Chenglu as well.

(End of Chapter)