Chapter 1102 - The Agreement

Lü Zeyang realized he had also overlooked the issue of grain shortages. The grain reserves inside Laizhou city could only sustain the entire military and civilian population for roughly six or seven months. Given the pace at which the court mustered and dispatched troops, it would be at least three or four months before a substantial relief force arrived—and whether they could lift the siege in a single engagement remained far from certain.

Both Sun Yuanhua and Xu Congzhi were well aware of the court's actual operational capacity and had accordingly prepared for a protracted siege. As for local officials like Prefect Zhu Wanxing and the county magistrate, who needed to maintain order in their territories, they also required sufficient grain reserves. None of them would willingly allocate provisions for Lü Zeyang to support refugees.

"Fortunately I only took in a little over five hundred people—otherwise this would have become a farce," Lü Zeyang reflected. With the mutineers pressing their assault so fiercely, if he had gathered several thousand refugees across all four suburbs, he would either have had to fight desperately to protect them, or else watch helplessly as the mutineers slaughtered them—rendering all his collection efforts pointless.

A painful realization dawned on him: if Laizhou was to serve as a refugee collection center, the siege had to be lifted first. Otherwise, refugees would never flee toward an active combat zone—especially when the fighting was this intense. Even if someone told them there were mountains of rice and flour here, it wouldn't help.

Still, he was unwilling to give up entirely. He had already decided that when the time came, he would spirit away Fan Shi'er's militia crew along with their families. Fan Shi'er was an excellent cook of Jiaodong countryside dishes—far more satisfying to Lü Zeyang's Laizhou palate than the food from Lingao's Executive Committee cafeteria. He was already planning to bring Fan Shi'er back as his personal chef—he'd have to make him sign an indenture contract...

While he was lost in these idle thoughts, Fan Shi'er and the others assumed he was deep in strategic contemplation. No one dared make a sound.

Just then, a messenger arrived to report that Zhang Tao requested an audience.

"Show him in," Lü Zeyang said, rising to greet him. Though Zhang Tao had been stripped of his vice-commander rank, he remained the South Gate commandant and one of Sun Yuanhua's core subordinates. Whether viewed from the perspective of Laizhou's defense or the broader situation across eastern Jiaodong, this was a man worth cultivating.

Zhang Tao had been cashiered as vice-commander, but military ranks in general weren't worth much. Since he had been allowed to remain at his post, one victory could restore his fortunes. In the chaos of the late Ming, military officers rose quickly—Zuo Liangyu had been a minor, unranked officer at the start of the Chongzhen era, yet within just over a decade he commanded over 100,000 troops as a regional warlord. So Zhang Tao harbored no great worries about his future.

He had learned from Sun Yuanhua that this operation had received tremendous support from Manor Lord Lu at Qimu Island—including the fact that he and Sun Yuanhua had been allowed to remain in Jiaodong to "atone through service," which owed something to Lord Lu's behind-the-scenes efforts. He was therefore very courteous toward this "Battalion Commander Lü" who came from Lord Lu's organization.

When Fan Shi'er saw such a senior officer arrive, he was so intimidated that he slipped away. Zhang Tao exchanged pleasantries with Battalion Commander Lü, then lavished praise on his "excellent command of troops." Lü Zeyang offered modest responses in return. Seeing that Vice-Commander Zhang was speaking only in polite generalities, he understood the man was uncomfortable with others present and ordered everyone else to withdraw.

Only then did Zhang Tao speak openly. First he conveyed Sun Yuanhua's thanks to "Manor Lord Lu," then expressed his own gratitude.

"...Were it not for Lord Lu's strenuous efforts on our behalf, far from being permitted to atone through meritorious service, we might not have kept our heads," Zhang Tao said quietly. "Such great kindness speaks for itself. From now on, wherever this general can be of use, I shall repay it with all my strength."

Lü Zeyang hastily replied, "You're too kind! Too kind!" He thought to himself that generous words at the outset usually heralded some request. Sun Yuanhua and Zhang Tao's remaining in Jiaodong was certainly advantageous for future operations, but from another perspective, their side would become increasingly entangled in Shandong's bureaucratic struggles—in some ways, not entirely a good thing.

Sure enough, Zhang Tao's next move was to convey Sun Yuanhua's wishes: he hoped Lü Zeyang would speak to Manor Lord Lu about arranging a shipment of "Australian" firearms and artillery.

Lü Zeyang was taken aback. Sun Yuanhua truly was the Ming's quintessential Westernizer—still a criminal under indictment, his new model army already annihilated, yet already scheming to obtain foreign guns and cannons.

Though exporting weapons to various parties was already a planned next step for trade, the Fupo Army's own equipment was absolutely forbidden for export. However much the Committee supported Sun Yuanhua, there was no possibility of selling him Minié rifles or Napoleonic field guns.

The weapons that could be sold were already under development, so that shouldn't pose a major problem. The Southern Seas pattern rifle, in particular, was revolutionary compared to the Ming's abysmal fowling pieces and three-eyed guns. The only concern was that the Ming, which functioned as a "supply sergeant" for its enemies, was so efficient at losing equipment that the Planning Committee worried selling weapons to the Ming would ultimately affect the export market to the Qing.

However, Sun Yuanhua was now on probation. Whether he could continue as Dengzhou-Laizhou Governor remained uncertain. Without an army, the 800,000 taels annual military budget would vanish. And as a governor without local administrative authority, where would he find the funds?

In a flash, countless thoughts raced through Lü Zeyang's mind. Zhang Tao, an experienced official, could read from Lü Zeyang's expression roughly what he was thinking—this was only to be expected. He added softly: "Battalion Commander Lü need not worry. Please simply convey to Manor Lord Lu that Military Commissioner Sun has already dispatched agents to Beijing. Regarding the Jiaodong situation, there may yet be possibilities..."

Lü Zeyang nodded, though he remained skeptical. In his view, Sun Yuanhua had already gambled away his capital. Without the Committee's intervention, he would have lost his head long ago. Yet here he was, already planning a comeback.

Still, this wasn't for him to decide—let the Executive Committee worry about it. He nodded: "I shall certainly convey the message."

---

The two chatted further about the military situation. Zhang Tao was rather anxious. Since the mutineers had established their camp outside the city on the third day of the second month, they had been besieging it for over ten days. Despite the victory at the South Gate, the other gates were under severe pressure. Yang Yufan was a veteran general with his personal guards as a core force; his defense of the West Gate seemed sustainable. By contrast, Wang Daochun and Xu Congzhi commanded mostly local garrison soldiers and civilian militia. Though they fought bravely, they lacked combat experience and suffered heavy casualties. Only because Wang Daochun and Xu Congzhi personally braved the arrows and stones to command from the walls did morale hold.

As for the South Gate—without Lü Zeyang's victory that had broken the mutineers' momentum, Zhang Tao's Laizhou defense forces alone would have been utterly inadequate.

"Without reinforcements, I fear Laizhou's prospects are grim," Zhang Tao said. "Who knows when Commandant Huang's relief force will arrive."

"It should be any day now," Lü Zeyang replied. According to history, Huang Long's relief force should arrive by sea within the next few days. A thought suddenly struck him: if the reinforcements were coming by sea, that meant the ice around Haimiao Harbor and elsewhere must have broken up. Otherwise, the relief force couldn't land.

If so, the time was ripe to establish a pier at Hutouya near Laizhou. Once they set up a fortified outpost at Hutouya, they could attract refugees from the vicinity who dared not approach Laizhou.

But this would necessitate dividing his forces. The handful of men under Lü Zeyang couldn't possibly be split between two locations. Qimu Island would have to supply the manpower—Lu Wenyuan and Zhu Mingxia had been recruiting locally and had already organized a sizable militia. Using a small contingent of regular troops augmented by militia to establish a stockade at Hutouya as a refugee transfer point should present no difficulty.

However, given current conditions, establishing another refugee camp at Hutouya was impossible. They could only use a "ships waiting for people" approach—letting refugees board directly and departing as soon as a ship was full, like a minibus route.

After the mutineers' defeats at Qimu Island and again at Laizhou's South Gate, the Northern Expedition Detachment's mission became temporarily simpler: fortify Qimu Island and its surroundings into an impregnable stronghold, and ensure Sun Yuanhua could hold Laizhou.

Zhu Mingxia had no intention of extending too much protection to the surrounding areas—doing so would mean Qimu Island would no longer be refugees' only option. Following the Executive Committee's directives, he had a map produced in Ming-era style, showing which areas could be attacked and which must be bypassed across the Jiaodong Peninsula.

When releasing the four hundred combat prisoners from Mao Chenglu's force, he summoned several of their leaders and ordered them to carry a message to Kong Youde. He also gave them this map.

The message was simple: we're all men with stakes in this. You pursue your rebellion; I'll defend my Qimu Island. Best if we don't come to blows—let's keep our distance. The letter also specifically reminded Kong Youde to follow the map's requirements, avoiding the prohibited zones. Otherwise, they would immediately capture Huangxian county seat and sever the supply line to Laizhou.

Zhu Mingxia was quite confident Kong Youde would obediently comply with the letter's demands and avoid the forbidden areas. This wouldn't significantly affect Kong Youde himself. The survivors of Mao Chenglu's force would never forget the Fupo Army's firepower—artillery had mowed down wave after wave of mutineers before they'd even had a chance to fire their own cannons. As long as Kong Youde's head wasn't caught in a door, he would consider accepting the letter's terms. The letter also subtly conveyed another important message to Kong Youde: the Australians could be negotiated with—they weren't implacably hostile.

Lu Wenyuan expressed doubts about whether Kong Youde would accept the proposal, asking what they would do if he ignored the threat. Zhu Mingxia made a grabbing motion in the air: "Then we crush his balls."

For a long time after the captured Liaodong soldiers were released back to Dengzhou, there was no word. Only after Lü Zeyang's great victory at the South Suburb did a response arrive from Dengzhou, bearing a letter from Kong Youde. After reading it, Zhu Mingxia laughed and tossed the letter to Lu Wenyuan. Lu Wenyuan was astonished.

"Kong Youde wants to ally with us?"

"Exactly. In Kong Youde's view, we have few men but superior firearms. They have inferior weapons but numbers. If combined, they could establish themselves as regional hegemons."

"Do we accept or refuse?" Lu Wenyuan rapidly assessed the potential benefits and drawbacks.

"We reject it outright, of course," Zhu Mingxia replied.

(End of Chapter)