Chapter 711 - Occupation of the Bogue
The troops about to "climb the mountain" were merely a ten-man reconnaissance squad. No one had expected that when they emerged from the smoke and appeared at the foot of Wu Mountain, they would trigger a complete collapse among the government troops on the summit. By the time this ten-man team reached the peak, the command camp that had housed over six hundred men stood completely deserted. Tents, flags, and military equipment lay scattered everywhere.
After the expeditionary force occupied Yaniangxie Island, Chen Haiyang ordered operations temporarily halted. The government troops gained a brief respite. Scattered soldiers lucky enough to avoid capture managed to flee to the Bogue Garrison. Of the original garrison troops, some had retreated into the compound itself; the naval ships had withdrawn to Dahu Mountain Island.
Seizing either Dahu Mountain or the Bogue Garrison would be child's play. Chen Haiyang ordered the fighting stopped because darkness was approaching. He had no desire to become entangled in a chaotic night battle with the Ming forces, adding unnecessary casualties.
The Fubo Army established an observation post on Wu Mountain to keep watch over the Bogue Garrison below. The garrison's position had become extremely perilous. From Wu Mountain, one could overlook the entire compound. Setting up a few field artillery pieces would render the whole garrison untenable. Such violations of basic military common sense were evident everywhere in this battle.
China's military institutions, technology, and tactics had clearly stagnated by the late Ming. The transmigrators had experienced this firsthand during the Bogue engagement.
The navy had now gained full confidence in its military strength and technology. The Ming government had no navy worth speaking of, and land defenses had proven equally worthless.
Looking down from the mountain, the entire Bogue Garrison blazed with lights and rang with voices. After observing for some time, Shi Zhiqi concluded the compound was in complete chaos—they would probably scatter entirely before midnight.
"If they scatter, they scatter—saves us the trouble of attacking tomorrow." Chen Haiyang sat in his newly erected tent, studying the map. "We'll take the Bogue Garrison first thing tomorrow morning. There's a Taiping Market in front of the garrison—try not to harm the civilians' lives or property."
"Understood!"
"Of course, that's assuming they behave. If they come to attack us, no need for courtesy."
Chen Haiyang planned to move the mortar boats and sampans to Sanmen Channel the following day to support the marine assault on the Bogue Garrison. Sanmen Channel lay between the garrison and Wu Mountain. Once Wu Mountain fell, Sanmen Channel became the garrison's sole barrier. In Xu Tingfa's contingency plans, a sandbag battery was supposed to be built at the channel entrance—but construction had not even begun. The battery site held only a dozen soldiers guarding building materials, and they had already fled. The flotilla of small vessels passed easily through Sanmen and entered the channel, heading straight for the Bogue Garrison.
On September twenty-first, after a night's rest, the marines quickly crossed Sanmen Channel by sampan. They formed up before Taiping Market. The market's inhabitants hurriedly dispatched several elders bearing gifts, begging the army not to attack.
"We will supply everything the army needs with all our strength." The old men kowtowed repeatedly at Shi Zhiqi's feet. "Please, great king, restrain your men..."
"I'm no king." Shi Zhiqi thought that having a few pretty girls kneeling and begging at his feet would be another matter entirely—but these old men doing so was too much. He immediately declared in a righteous tone: "We are the proper Fubo Army! We've come here to demand justice from the Great Ming officials of Guangdong. Rest assured! As long as you do as we say, we won't harm a blade of your grass or a twig of your trees!"
The old men offered up another round of profuse thanks. Shi Zhiqi ordered them escorted to Chen Haiyang—he had specialized civil affairs personnel to communicate with the locals.
"Report, Leader!" The scouts sent to reconnoiter came running back. "The garrison is empty!" He caught his breath. "It's deserted!"
"Did you search the surroundings?"
"We did! No sign of the enemy anywhere. We caught a few wounded soldiers left behind. They said the main force scattered and fled starting at midnight. Commandant Xu didn't even try to stop them—he just took his personal guards and ran."
Shi Zhiqi scratched his head. "He certainly was decisive! Just up and left."
The Bogue Garrison's earthen fortifications that Xu Tingfa had painstakingly built now stood completely abandoned. Everyone—Xu Tingfa, Li Xijue, Fan Wencai, and the rest—had fled during the night. Massive quantities of ordnance, grain, ammunition, armor, and flags remained behind. Even the Red Barbarian cannons transported with such difficulty had been abandoned. Large stores of gunpowder and shot sat in place—not even set afire. Such indifference to military supplies made Shi Zhiqi click his tongue in disbelief.
Behind the Bogue Garrison had stood a workshop for manufacturing gunpowder and casting cannonballs. Now it too fell into marine hands. Besides capturing large quantities of finished gunpowder, they found massive stores of saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, and other raw materials. Additionally, they captured over 200,000 jin of metals including lead and pig iron—a rich haul indeed.
The two hundred-odd craftsmen and their families residing near the workshop were all taken prisoner. The fleeing troops had simply forgotten about them.
The engagement at Dahu Mountain lasted even less time. Chen Qian's ten warships withdrew upriver without offering battle. After an hour of alternating bombardment by mortar boats and special-service boats, Dahu Mountain Battery was completely crippled. Marines landed on Dahu Mountain Island, dismantled the guns, and swept up stragglers. Military operations in the Bogue region concluded entirely before noon on September twenty-first. Government casualties numbered one thousand killed with six hundred captured. The expeditionary fleet alone had captured 140 guns of various sizes. Additionally, twenty-two naval vessels and small craft awaiting repair were seized.
The expeditionary force's total casualties stood at two dead and thirty-one wounded. Ten ships had been hit, but none qualified as even lightly damaged. The only significant consumption was ammunition. During the two days of combat, each of the mortar boats' large-caliber mortars had fired fifty shells—even counting the reserves stored on Hong Kong Island, each gun now had only six shells remaining. The special-service boats had also expended considerable ammunition.
"We're becoming this timeline's U.S. military. High investment, high logistics." Chen Haiyang sighed as he reviewed the report from his logistics staff officer.
Modern, thermal-weapon armies consumed more than ten times what medieval armies did. Chen Haiyang had fought two battles at the Pearl River Estuary and expended two-thirds of the fleet's total ammunition tonnage.
He set about establishing a temporary supply line from Hong Kong Island to the Bogue. Using captured sampans, long-dragons, and other small vessels for transport, supplies flowed continuously from Hong Kong to the Bogue. Ever since the navy had swept the pirate gangs from Lantau, the maritime patrol system they had established had greatly improved security throughout Lingding Bay. The deployment of fast, agile patrol boats had caused the clumsy, poorly armed pirate ships to vanish. The supply line required only a few armed escorts.
Captured materials were shipped along this same route to Hong Kong Island, there to await transshipment back to Lingao—some were used on the spot. Building materials left at the incomplete battery sites were likewise transported to Hong Kong for use. As for the batteries, barracks, and other structures, most that the fleet did not need were demolished by prisoners. The salvaged building materials were similarly sent to Hong Kong.
"Demolish all buildings we don't need!" Chen Haiyang ordered.
Thus Shi Zhiqi became demolition team leader, daily herding prisoners to tear down structures. Except for a few of the better barracks—temporarily preserved, disinfected, and converted to billets—all buildings were razed level.
Chen Haiyang planned to use the Bogue as a temporary base. He refurbished the jetties at the foot of Wu Mountain for fleet vessels to berth and refit. He himself moved headquarters to the summit of Wu Mountain.
He then received Taiping Market's inhabitants. The terrified civilians brought gifts: fifty taels of silver, two loads of cane sugar, and ten dressed pigs. Chen Haiyang ordered them accepted. He had the civilians elect liaison officers and announced the "Reasonable Burden"—essentially a levy on the people. It could also be called taxation. The Executive Committee considered it precisely that. Though the Pearl Delta region could not be brought under direct rule in the short term, the Central Administrative Council believed they could begin collecting "Reasonable Burden" immediately.
Zheng Zhilong collected navigation taxes at sea. And Qing-era pirates had long collected various "fees" along the Pearl River—levied on villages as well as on transport vessels and trading houses navigating the river and coasts. Anyone refusing to pay faced brutal retaliation. At their most brazen, the pirates even maintained semi-public tax collection agencies in Guangzhou specifically for collecting "fees." What the transmigration faction was doing amounted to essentially the same thing, just with somewhat gentler, more presentable methods.
According to the Reasonable Burden regulations, when transmigration faction personnel and vessels passing through Taiping Market needed to requisition local labor and materials, the value of requisitioned goods and labor could be offset against the village's Reasonable Burden quota. If requisitions exceeded the quota, the transmigration faction would pay the excess at market price.
As for the quota itself, after considerable haggling, it was set at thirty-five taels annually. Since the villagers had already presented fifty taels, Chen Haiyang generously announced that this year would be exempt—the count would start the following year. "Reasonable Burden" could also be paid in rice or other goods at market rates. Given Taiping Market's economic level, this quota was not oppressive—if they could buy peace with a bit of money, the villagers were willing to accept.
The Financial Supervisory Ministry hoped this expedition would establish a preliminary taxation system over the Pearl River's riparian villages, opening a second tax-source region beyond Hainan—especially for the Pearl Delta's abundant agricultural products, materials the transmigration faction urgently needed.
Current tax revenues were naturally negligible, but they served to constantly remind the Pearl Delta villagers of the transmigration faction's existence and power.
(End of Chapter)