Chapter 1264 - The Push
"Once Zheng Sen returns to them, he'll have no strength of his own—but he'll be a banner around which others can rally. Moreover, he's a child, easily manipulated. Ambitious men will certainly flock to support him. At that point, the Zheng organization won't simply become a 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' confined to Zhangzhou Bay—it will devolve into something more akin to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods." Jiang Shan laid out his reasoning.
"Is all this complication really necessary for an eight-year-old?" Wen Desi voiced his objection at the meeting. "Must we be sentimental toward the indigenous people?"
Jiang Shan replied in a tone both respectful and resolute: "Releasing Zheng Sen disrupts the enemy. Keeping him in our hands disrupts ourselves."
"Quite a few people with 'Madonna Complex' around here..." General Wen remarked, but he ceased to object.
The directive permitting Zheng Sen's release had just reached Kinmen Island. As the officer responsible for intelligence and political security on the front line, Xu Ke welcomed the decision with both hands. Like many Elders, he felt that killing an eight-year-old child was simply unjustifiable.
However, he believed the release should not be straightforward—otherwise, the Zheng organization, the Ming Dynasty, and various coastal powers would interpret it as weakness, as if the Senate feared the Zheng family. The release needed conditions attached, such as demanding ransom. That was how they planned to handle the other captured family members.
Now, however, someone was willing to risk their life to rescue him. Even better. It saved the trouble of negotiating a ransom. Why not go with the flow and let them succeed?
Xu Ke decided to lend them subtle assistance. Whether they ultimately escaped would depend on their luck and skill. If the attempt failed, the "trouble" would resolve itself naturally, and no one could object.
As he pondered this, an orderly brought in a summary of the deaths, injuries, and captures among the Zheng organization's middle and upper ranks over the past several days. The General Staff currently required solid evidence for death records of important enemy figures—preferably a corpse or head for positive identification, or at minimum cross-referenced oral testimony from multiple sources.
Under this policy, they had compiled a roster of Zheng organization leaders killed in Operation Overlord. At the top of the long list was Zheng Zhilong's brother, Zheng Zhihu. This foremost warrior of the Zheng army—famed for "Dragon's Wisdom and Tiger's Courage"—had defended his position to the last in the assault on Kinmen Island. Even after his personal guards and servants were killed or fled, and he himself was wounded by gunfire, he refused to retreat. He was finally bayoneted to death by swarming Marines.
Below Zheng Zhihu was Zheng Zhipeng, a clan cousin of Zheng Zhilong killed in the fireship battle. Several lesser-known members of the Eighteen Chi also appeared on the list.
Following them came a batch of Zheng army generals' names. Xu Ke recognized many. In the old timeline, some had later surrendered to the Manchus and fought against their former comrades; others had followed Koxinga north to Nanjing, west to conquer Taiwan, and either perished in battle or died with regrets. Behind every name was a story that historians could fill volumes with.
Now all of it would cease to exist. They had become nothing more than cold strings of characters on a battle report. Xu Ke could not help but sigh.
As for Zheng Zhilong himself, there was still no conclusive proof of life or death. However, Zhang Tumu, who had arrived from Kaohsiung yesterday, had exhumed the headless corpse and taken fingerprints. Xu Ke had also sent men to Zheng Zhilong's residences in Anping and the Zhongzuo Garrison to lift fingerprints from personal items in his private chambers for comparison.
Before long, the identity of the mysterious headless corpse would be confirmed. Xu Ke was ninety-nine percent certain it was Zheng Zhilong.
He consulted the schedule on his desk. Exactly one week had passed since D-Day. The "Special Search" operations in Anping, Greater and Lesser Kinmen, Xiamen Island, and surrounding areas were drawing to a close. The seized gold, silver, and valuables had all been shipped out. Through prisoner interrogation and informant rewards, the Planning Agency Special Search Team had unearthed dozens of hidden hoards in Anping and elsewhere, yielding an additional 170,000 taels of gold and silver and 100,000 strings of cash.
A few days earlier, an engineering unit equipped with metal detectors had been dispatched from Lingao specifically to conduct surveys at the residences and government offices of key Zheng figures in Anping and other locations, searching for any remaining secret caches.
The search operation had now shifted to bulk goods. Fueled by the principle that "nothing in the world should be wasted," the Planning Agency began a comprehensive sweep of less valuable commodities. Even dilapidated hulks abandoned in the harbor were not spared—they were patched up and towed away by tugboat teams. These vessels would all be taken to Hong Kong, dismantled for timber, and used in new construction.
Starting next week, Operation Overlord's expeditionary force would begin a phased withdrawal. Within a week, everyone—prisoners and local civilians alike—would be transported to Kaohsiung for resettlement. Before then, Zheng Sen's escape had to be arranged.
Xu Ke thought for a moment, rang for the orderly, and summoned the naturalized cadre in charge of both the regular prisoner camp and the labor camp informants to receive a new assignment.
"Young Lord—"
"Call me Fusong." Zheng Sen stopped TĹŤ TarĹŤ from using the title, whispering, "Speak quickly."
"Yes!" Tō Tarō nodded with excitement. He had caught wind that the Vagabonds were preparing to withdraw and would take all prisoners with them. Time was of the essence—the rescue had to proceed immediately.
Originally, they had intended to use the "substituting a plum for a peach" method, but they had given it up when no reliable boy could be found on short notice. After much deliberation, the Japanese mercenaries concluded that delay spelled doom. They would launch an inside-outside coordinated breakout.
They had already surveyed the perimeter of Camp Alpha. The camp was protected by two barriers: an outer bamboo fence of sharpened poles and an inner barbed-wire fence.
The bamboo fence could be destroyed easily enough. They had hidden blades, and Honda was a master swordsman—cutting through posed no problem. The barbed wire, however, bristled with iron barbs and had bells strung along it that would jangle violently at the slightest disturbance. Still, they devised a countermeasure: Wang Dachui proposed digging a trench beneath the wire with shovels and crawling under.
Yet this ostensibly simple scheme encountered an insurmountable obstacle: sentries patrolled the corridor between the two fences. Pairs of guards walked the path continuously. No matter where they began digging, they would lack the time to excavate the trench, extract the person, and refill it before the sentries completed their circuit. Leave the hole open, and it would be discovered instantly—and then escape would be impossible.
They also considered killing the sentries. But several watchtowers ringed Camp Alpha. Though rudimentary, the elevated guards had clear sightlines over everything below. Concealing such an act would be extremely difficult.
No matter how the men planned, they could not be confident of extracting Fusong silently.
Just as they were on the verge of despair, something changed. Ning Liujin, whom they had coerced into the operation, said he had found a suitable boy in the labor camp—one willing to serve as the Young Master's double and enter Camp Alpha to swap places. His only demand was fifty taels of silver for his parents.
"What do his parents do?"
"Just civilians on the island. His father is sick and can't work," Ning Liujin stammered, trembling so badly he could barely speak. "The family recently had another baby—too many mouths to feed—so the boy came to the labor camp to earn money. I noticed him looking miserable all the time and working hard. Probably desperate for cash..."
He mentioned the boy's name, but Tō Tarō's group had no recollection—there were many people in the labor camp from diverse sources. Some were not even transfers from the prisoner camp but island civilians who had answered the recruitment call to earn wages.
"This is a beheading offense. He's willing?" Wang Dachui toyed with the wakizashi in his hand. "Are you trying to screw us, kid?"
"I wouldn't dare..." Ning Liujin's face went white. "If it doesn't work, just forget it..."
"Tell me," TĹŤ TarĹŤ said, halting Wang Dachui. "Why is he willing?"
"Master, this is exchanging a life for fifty taels of silver." Ning Liujin forced a bitter smile. "Why wouldn't he be willing? His death could save his whole family. Besides—he won't necessarily die."
Tō Tarō was silent for a moment. Then, without warning, he drew his wakizashi and thrust it at Ning Liujin's ribs. Ning Liujin screamed, and a foul stench arose—he had lost control of his bowels.
But the blade's tip did not pierce flesh. It only pierced his clothing, grazing the skin as it passed through. Though missing by a hair's breadth, Ning Liujin had not lost so much as a single strand of hair.
He collapsed to the ground, convulsing, unable to utter a word.
"Did you inform the Vagabonds?"
"No... no... I wouldn't dare..." Ning Liujin kowtowed frantically.
"Bring the boy tonight," TĹŤ TarĹŤ said. "I will question him personally."
That night, Ning Liujin did indeed bring the boy. Tō Tarō saw that his height and build were similar to Fusong's, though his skin was dark and rough—clearly a peasant background. Fortunately, the swap would occur at night; the differences should be enough to fool the sentries.
Asked his age, the boy turned out to be considerably older than Fusong—already eleven. But he spoke fluent local dialect. Tō Tarō half-believed Ning Liujin's story. He interrogated the boy repeatedly, alternating threats and tricks, but the boy's account remained consistent with what Ning Liujin had told them.
TĹŤ TarĹŤ remained skeptical. He called Honda over to discuss whether this might be a trap.
Honda's answer was simple: "If Ning Liujin had informed on us, we and Young Master Fusong would already be finished. Since we are not finished, we might as well gamble."
(End of Chapter)