Illumine Lingao (English Translation)
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Chapter 2091 - Xiong Wenchan's Predicament

"The largest vessel has remained at Zhaoqing and has not proceeded upriver," the courier reported, his voice tight with urgency. "Two paddlewheel steamships are moored outside Fengchuan."

Xiong Wenchan dismissed him with a wave. He ordered his servants to summon his staff, then sank into his armchair and closed his eyes. That the pirates had pursued so swiftly came as no surprise—dawdling was never the Australian style. They moved with lightning speed in all matters. With momentum behind them, they would waste no time lingering along their route. They would sail straight upriver and strike Wuzhou.

Anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of the Two Guangs' geography and military arrangements understood that Wuzhou was the lynchpin binding Guangdong to Guangxi—the key position the Australians must seize, and therefore the place he must defend.

Should this city fall, not only would Guangxi's gateway be thrown wide open, but any future court counteroffensive into Guangdong would become as difficult as ascending to heaven itself. The Emperor would never forgive such a failure. Xiong Wenchan knew all too well that His Majesty possessed a foul temper and executed high officials with disturbing frequency. Beyond hanging himself and dying with the city, he had no other options.

At this thought, cold sweat broke across Xiong Wenchan's back. Time was slipping away—he must devise a plan, and quickly.

Since the pirates had taken Guangzhou, he'd dispatched agents to the capital laden with gold and silver to lavish upon court grandees. This extravagance served two purposes: first, to buy himself time—ideally, a transfer out of this nightmare posting; second, to gauge the court's attitude toward the pirates and determine whether his "conciliation" strategy faced insurmountable obstacles.

The endeavor had already cost him enormous sums—not that he was unattached to money. During his tenure as Fujian Governor, he'd accepted massive bribes from Zheng Zhilong. But compared to his official cap and his very life, money meant nothing. Keep the cap, and gold and silver would flow in again naturally enough.

Xiong Wenchan neither wanted to fight nor possessed any talent for it. As Fujian Governor, he'd pacified Zheng Zhilong through negotiation and largesse. Later, as Governor-General of the Two Guangs, the court had expected him to perform the same miracle with Liu Xiang and those pirates based at Lingao. The court had cast Xiong Wenchan as the capable minister who could pacify the tumultuous Fujian-Guangdong coastal waters—but this mission far exceeded his abilities.

The likes of Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang, even the Portuguese—these sea raiders who dominated the Fujian-Guangdong waters were, for the Ming, merely skin ailments. This judgment wasn't entirely wrong, for what these factions sought was only wealth. But the Australians—like the Jurchens before them—had proclaimed their own dynasty name, transforming themselves into an enemy state.

Conciliation had always been premised on a balance of power. Xiong Wenchan had pacified Zheng Zhilong by leveraging all of Fujian's fiscal resources and military might. Though Zheng Zhilong ruled the seas of Fujian and Guangdong, he lacked the strength to conquer Fujian Province itself. Accepting pacification had been his wisest choice, and thus Zheng became Xiong's chess piece, his enforcer on the waters. Xiong had been more than happy to supply and bolster this particular enforcer.

He had managed to win over Zheng Zhilong, but he could not win over the Australians. They weren't Central Plains natives—they possessed neither hometown sentiments nor local ties; he couldn't appeal to feelings of native place. As for wealth, they were already rich as nations; even the Two Guangs' entire fiscal reserves couldn't match their coffers. As for ceding territory—their appetites were far greater than Zheng Zhilong's, who'd been satisfied with controlling Zhangzhou Bay and its lucrative trade.

What price could he, Xiong Wenchan, possibly offer to make these Australians accept peaceful pacification?

The only thing that could bring the pirates to the negotiating table was a victory on the battlefield.

But such a victory was easier dreamed of than achieved. He understood the situation with perfect clarity: whether in open battle or defending a fortress, government forces were simply no match for the pirates. Even with his current superiority in numbers, he had precious few chances of winning.

Some among his staff and officers held optimistic views—believing Wuzhou's walls were formidable, provisions ample, and the garrison of over ten thousand men, backed by all of Guangxi's resources, could hold out for a year or more provided court funding arrived on schedule. Others advocated the opposite course entirely, adamantly opposing any defense of the city. They pointed out that Guangzhou too had been "strongly fortified with many troops," reinforced by numerous gun batteries along the river below Humen to provide layered interception—yet in the end, none of it had stopped the pirates from reaching the city walls. Their proposal was to abandon Wuzhou immediately and retreat to Guilin.

Neither argument struck him as reliable.

"Master, the gentlemen have arrived..." his attendant whispered, interrupting his brooding. "They await your pleasure."

Xiong Wenchan opened his eyes. "Show them in."

His staff was large and varied, but this was a council of war—sycophants and shameless flatterers weren't welcome. Only those with genuine strategic and military ability had been summoned.

As the staff entered the hall and prepared to offer formal bows, Xiong Wenchan coughed and waved the courtesy aside. "With the war situation so perilous, we can dispense with formalities. Be seated—let's get to business."

"Yes, sir."

The staff took their seats on both sides according to precedence. Xiong Wenchan summarized the most recent courier reports and concluded: "I expect the pirates will attack Wuzhou within a matter of days. Do any of you gentlemen have countermeasures to propose?"

The staff glanced at one another, murmuring quietly but offering nothing substantive. Xiong Wenchan had witnessed this particular scene far too many times. Even when they did venture advice, there was nothing new: his advisors either suffered from what he privately termed "Australia-phobia"—paling at the mere mention of Australians—or knew only how to flatter, offering nothing remotely constructive. His ears were perpetually filled with two types of voices: "We cannot beat the Australians, Your Excellency—we must flee!" and "Your Excellency's transcendent genius will surely crush the Australians beneath Wuzhou's walls."

Only Chang Qingyun was somewhat reliable. At least he could articulate clearly how formidable the Australians were and offer sensible, pragmatic strategies. Xiong Wenchan had initially wanted to hold Zhaoqing, but Chang had bluntly stated that Zhaoqing could not be defended—though at Antelope Gorge there might be a chance to destroy the Australian fleet with fire-ships. Moreover, he had advised early on that Xiong transfer both the Eastern and Western Mountain Anti-Yao Garrison Commanders to Wuzhou. This had at least provided him with a substantial, combat-capable core force in the city.

Xiong Wenchan turned his gaze expectantly toward Chang Qingyun's face.

Chang seemed to have anticipated this. He waited a moment longer, and when no one else ventured a plan, he cupped his hands respectfully. "Your Excellency, I have someone to recommend—a man who claims to possess a strategy to defeat the pirates."

"Oh?" Xiong Wenchan's spirits lifted immediately; the other staff members stirred with surprise. "Who is this person? Bring him to me at once."

"This gentleman is surnamed Chang, given name Pu, courtesy name Junbin—a man of South Zhili. He is distantly my kinsman. He formerly served as the magistrate of Enping County. After the city fell to the pirates, he escaped and fled here. He claims to have a stratagem that can break the pirates and wishes to present it to Your Excellency personally."

Xiong Wenchan knew the name Chang Pu in passing—Enping being a county under Zhaoqing's jurisdiction—but he wasn't personally familiar with the man. In the Ming system, governors-general typically handled only military and strategic affairs; a county magistrate fell under the Provincial Administration Commissioner's jurisdiction and had little direct interaction with him.

This man had been a county magistrate who had lost his city, yet had neither died fighting nor committed suicide in atonement—and now he came offering strategies? Xiong Wenchan secretly sneered at the presumption.

Still, scorn aside, he was now desperate enough to try anything. Besides, hearing what County Magistrate Chang had to say cost him nothing. He readily agreed. "Very well! Send for him at once."


That same afternoon, news that the Fubo Army was about to reach the city walls spread like wildfire throughout Wuzhou. The entire city tensed with dread. Ming soldiers stationed there had long heard tales of the Fubo Army's prowess and now faced the imminent battle with mounting terror. Wuzhou's civilians, though they'd heard the Fubo Army maintained strict discipline and didn't harm the innocent, understood that warfare inevitably brought collateral suffering—looting, displacement, fire. As for the officials, they lived in a state of constant, gnawing fear.

Outside Wuzhou's outer residential district stood a grain warehouse engaged in the transshipment of Guangxi rice to Guangdong. Seated in the counting house was the warehouse's manager, a man named Luo Yangming. A native of Sanshui, he had arrived in Wuzhou several years prior to establish a grain trading business—a common enough practice in these parts. After a few successful years of trade, business had flourished. He'd made considerable money, built both a warehouse and a proper residence, brought his family up from Sanshui, and even taken a local concubine. In essence, he had fully settled here.

Everyone in the district knew him simply as a successful grain merchant. In truth, Luo Yangming was an intelligence operative of the External Intelligence Bureau, operating under the "Mountain and Sea Routes" intelligence system. He'd been ordered to establish deep cover in Wuzhou years before the campaign began.

His work had two primary objectives: first, to manage legitimate grain trade operations and facilitate the transshipment of grain to Lingao through clandestine channels; second, to gather local intelligence and develop networks of informants in preparation for the Council's eventual Northern Expedition.

The first task had posed no difficulty whatsoever. He was a merchant's son; his family had operated a rice shop in Sanshui for generations. He was thoroughly familiar with every aspect of the grain trade, possessed extensive connections, and found it easy to establish himself. The second task proved equally manageable. Medieval societies possessed weak counterintelligence awareness and even weaker detection techniques. For someone properly trained in intelligence tradecraft, whether establishing deep cover or conducting active reconnaissance, neither presented insurmountable challenges.

(End of Chapter)

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