Chapter 2625: Getting on the Boat

Li Guangyuan watched in stunned amazement. Our Great Ming truly possesses such divine talents, he thought. If we could gather more of these extraordinary individuals and deploy them as our vanguard, we would surely be invincible. The great cause of driving out the Kun invaders may yet succeed!

Upon arriving at the mansion, Li Guangyuan arranged for his guests to rest in a side courtyard. After everyone had washed, changed clothes, and refreshed themselves with herbal tea, a servant arrived to summon them. "The Master has prepared a banquet in the outer study. He invites everyone to attend."

They followed the servant to the study, where Li Guangyuan was already waiting at the courtyard gate to welcome them. After the customary exchange of courtesies, he seated Monk Haixiang in the place of honor. The gathering proved lively—conversation flowed as freely as the wine. Luo Hetu, an enthusiastic drinker, regaled them with tales of fighting alongside Luo Heying at the bloody battle of Sanliang years ago. The others punctuated his story with appreciative remarks. When talk turned to the tale of Qingxia, sighs and laments filled the room. All agreed that if everyone under heaven possessed such courage as that young woman, why should they fear the Kun bandits would not be crushed?

The men found easy rapport with one another. Wine was poured and repoured until the lamps were lit. By then Luo Hetu had drunk himself into a stupor, and two household servants escorted him back to the side courtyard to sleep it off. Only Li Guangyuan, Luo Heying, and Gou Xunli remained at the table. Li Guangyuan ordered the remnants of the feast cleared away and replaced with delicate snacks and freshly brewed tea of the new harvest. Then, at last, they turned to the matter at hand.

"Master, Brother Lin—with the Kun bandits raiding Guangzhou Prefecture again, proclaiming titles and establishing their own institutions, do you think they intend to entrench themselves in this corner of the realm? Or do they plan to march their armies northward and contend for the Central Plains?"

"The Qiongzhou Kun forces won't retreat," Luo Heying answered first. "But to say they'll march north to contest the Central Plains? That's equally far-fetched—I doubt they can even swallow the fat morsel that is Guangdong."

He smiled and lifted his cup—not tea, but Australian Water that had been chilled in well water. He stroked his beard, now damp with the beverage. Australian Water was wonderfully cooling and cleared internal heat, especially when chilled. The refreshment put him at ease, and he continued: "The Kun bandits have been distributing bogus official positions throughout the prefectures, departments, and counties. They clearly intend to govern the Two Guangs. Their new decrees emerge one after another—I've even heard they're conducting Civil Service Examinations again. They've set their hearts on occupying this southern corner of the sky."

This was hardly a remarkable insight. Even Li Guangyuan, who lived in rural seclusion and rarely ventured into the city, had gleaned the current situation from travelers and visitors. The Kun occupation of Guangnan was already a settled reality—if it weren't, he would never have risked wading into these murky waters.

"...Yet advancing northward would present ten thousand difficulties. The Kun forces employ tactics entirely different from roving bandits. Roving bandits use impressed peasants and rabble as their vanguard, with their elite troops behind. Their momentum appears terrifying—they can sweep through three or five counties in a single uprising and claim a hundred thousand followers. But the Kun forces use only soldiers they've trained themselves. Whenever they intend to attack somewhere, they first concentrate their elite troops in one location. Combined with the fearsome power of their firearms, even if the government musters a million soldiers, they cannot prevail."

These insights were not originally Luo Heying's own, but intelligence gathered from conversations with a certain Righteous Gentleman Huang years ago. Though Luo Heying had met this Gentleman Huang only once, the two had recognized kindred spirits in each other. Gentleman Huang had faced the Kun forces in actual combat with real blades and spears. His accounts of Kun military practices were far more reliable than anything offered by this Monk Haixiang sitting nearby, who styled himself a "Kun Affairs Expert."

After speaking, Luo Heying studied Li Guangyuan's expression to gauge whether his words had been too discouraging—whether he might seem to be praising the enemy while dampening their own resolve. Seeing hesitation flicker across Li Guangyuan's face, he quickly tempered his assessment: "That said, though the Kun army is formidable, their numbers remain few. Even if every soldier were made of iron, how many nails can one hammer from that? These Two Guangs span thousands of li, with great mountains rising range upon range. There are also countless Liang, Dong, and Yao peoples—tribes who have never submitted to imperial authority. Now that the Kun have arrived, they'll only seize the opportunity to create chaos. And throughout the region, many Righteous Gentlemen of the Court are raising troops. The Kun forces are stretched thin, dividing their strength everywhere. They already show signs of exhaustion."

These words were not lies. Since capturing Guangzhou in 1635, endless pacification campaigns had unfolded across the Two Guangs. Northern Guangdong especially had blazed with resistance like a prairie fire. However, after a full year of security operations in 1636, the situation had greatly improved. Though scattered fighting continued in many places, nowhere did conditions approach the perilous state that had prevailed from late 1635 through early 1636, when local authority had hung by a thread.

But Li Guangyuan, situated in Dongguan County—one of the Senate's "Key Governance Areas"—received little news from distant regions. He had heard vague rumors of unrest, but the actual state of affairs remained beyond his comprehension. He could only listen as the two men spun their theories.

Gou Xunli eagerly added his voice: "Brother Luo speaks truly. Though the Kun bandits claim descent from the Former Song and bear a superficial resemblance, they have long been steeped in barbarian ways—cutting their hair short, wearing strange garments, practicing Kun rites and customs. They are absolutely not Chinese (Zhonghua). Their numbers are few. Since landing, they have bewitched ignorant country folk and attracted followers with promises of profit, but they possess no righteous cause. True righteousness resides with our Great Ming. The Kun forces may appear ferocious, but in truth they fear our Great Ming greatly. When former Commander He suffered defeat in the campaign against the Kun, the surrendered soldiers taken by the Kun were all sentenced to hard labor and bitter toil to break their spirits. This poor monk encountered some of Commander He's soldiers who had returned from Qiongzhou to Guangzhou Prefecture. They all reported that the Kun drove them mercilessly. One often hears how roving bandits and the Eastern Barbarians recruit surrendered soldiers to fill their battalions—but the Kun do not. Not because they cannot, but because they dare not. In the prefectures and counties the Kun have invaded, there are scoundrels among the scholars who have collaborated with them. Yet the Kun dare not employ even these turncoats. Instead they confine them in 'Study Classes' and teach them barbarian learning. Only after graduating through Kun learning examinations are they granted petty minor positions. While Kun learning possesses various ingenuities, its benefits lie entirely in industry and commerce. It is nothing like our China's Way of Confucius and Mencius—vast and magnificent, spanning a thousand years of history above and below. To rule all beings under heaven through the learning of industry and commerce is to follow a divergent path. This truly proves the saying that Hu barbarians possess no hundred-year fortune. The Kun people must know this themselves. Therefore they fear the Righteousness of our Great Ming!"

Since escaping from Guangzhou City, this was the first time Gou Xunli could express his convictions so freely. The speech left him exhilarated. He glanced at Li and Luo, finding them still carefully pondering his essay on the Distinction between Hua and Yi. Pleased with himself, he hastily reined in his galloping rhetoric. "When this poor monk was in Lingao, I observed the Kun training their troops. Their methods do possess certain advantages. Though their soldiers are many, they move as one body responds to the mind, with strict and solemn commands. However, each soldier the Kun train costs enormously—provisions, wages, weapons, easily ten times what we spend on our own troops. The Kun value commerce and fund their military from trade profits. Lamentable that our Great Ming's merchants, bewitched by petty profits, have colluded with them and opened channels of exchange. Little do they realize that today's wealth becomes tomorrow's sword raised against them."

Here Gou Xunli suddenly noticed Master Li leisurely sipping his Australian Water with evident contentment. Was this very Australian Water not also transported by merchants? Yet this gathering of "Anti-Kun" gentlemen accepted it without the slightest qualm. The absurdity was indescribable. He felt a flash of secret shame and indignation. But he was a guest, after all, and could hardly criticize his host. He merely raised his teacup to take a sip, swallowing his frustration along with it.

Li Guangyuan's mind was churning with calculations. He was unwilling to raise troops against the Kun rashly. First, his resources were limited—merely a few hundred long-term workers from his manor households. Should the Kun forces dispatch a punitive expedition, Li Family Enclosure would be reduced to ashes in an instant. The arrival of these capable individuals had given him a measure of courage, but it was not yet enough to make him commit.

Li Guangyuan's motivations for opposing the Kun were complex. Part of it stemmed from the property losses inflicted by the Kun's "Clarifying Fields and Acres" campaign. Part was resentment over losing face when close relatives and trusted retainers had been arrested. But most critical was the desire for official status that burned deep in his heart.

Indeed. This local patriarch, despite his considerable power, his flourishing clan, and his substantial wealth, had yet to produce a single Provincial Graduate (Juren). In terms of the entire county, his family could only be counted as "Big Household"—they could not yet claim the title of "Gentry" (Jinshen).

Without prominent official rank, the Li family of Dongguan always stood a head lower than others. In dealings with established gentry, they could never gain the upper hand. Matters that others could resolve with a single name card cost Li Guangyuan large handfuls of silver.

He had, of course, invested in the proper channels—funding examination preparation and encouraging clan children to study. But though the Li clan's lineage stretched back generations, their true rise had only begun with Li Guangyuan's father. Achieving a breakthrough in the imperial examinations would take time they did not yet have.

This was why he paid such attention to alternative paths. When the Imperial Academy opened up donations, he had purchased an Imperial Student (Jiansheng) position for clan children—though this was a far cry from proper examination rank.

A few days ago, an old acquaintance had visited specifically to hint that the Court was preparing a counteroffensive. If Li Guangyuan could "raise troops in response," official rank would not be a problem. It was then that Li Guangyuan made his decision to get on the boat.

Luo Heying interjected a comment here and there while carefully observing Li Guangyuan's expression. He understood that although Li Guangyuan had "gotten on the boat," the man remained indecisive, still looking both ways like a rat at a crossroads. He needed something to steel his resolve.

Suddenly, as if just remembering, Luo Heying said: "Brother Li, I've brought you some unusual books this time."

He called for his personal servant boy to fetch them. Li Guangyuan received a book and noted the exceptionally fine paper quality. The cover bore a striking illustration: a silver-armored warrior gripping a falchion, a powerful bow slung across his back, mounted on a black horse. The horse reared with forelegs raised, neighing proudly amid swirling wind and snow that filled the sky. The warrior's bleak killing aura seemed to leap from the painting and strike one's face along with the painted blizzard. Beside the illustration ran a line of elegant running script: "Heavy Snow Buries Bow and Blade." Below it, in smaller bold characters: "History of Great Ming's Governance of Liaodong." Looking more carefully, he noticed five Song-typeface characters reading "War History Research"—their stark intensity somehow transforming the scene's atmosphere into something more ominous. In his initial captivation with the warrior portrait, he had overlooked them. Beneath these characters were smaller words: "Liaodong War Situation Special Album." The table of contents listed: "Impact of the Deng-Lai Rebellion on Liaodong," "Brief Analysis of the Eight Banners System," "History of Huang Taiji's Ascension to the Throne"... Li Guangyuan shook his head as he read. Such a magnificent painting of a general riding forth to the frontier, ruined by these scrawled characters.

Monk Haixiang recognized the book at once. "Is this the Kun people's War History Research?"

Luo Heying feigned surprise. "You've read this book, Monk Haixiang?"

"It circulated through Guangzhou Prefecture and the Jiangnan region last year. My Academic Society colleagues and I studied it together."

"Then please, sir, enlighten us with your analysis."

Monk Haixiang did not decline. He selected the key points and summarized them while Li Guangyuan listened, idly flipping through a few pages and skimming the contents.

(End of Chapter)