Chapter 167: The Occupation of Humen

The unit sent up the mountain was a scout squad. No one expected that their appearance at the foot of Wushan, amidst the smoke of battle, would trigger a total collapse of the government troops on Anniangxie Island. By the time the 10-man reconnaissance team reached the summit, the main camp, which had once housed over six hundred men, was completely empty. Tents, flags, and military equipment were scattered everywhere.

After the task force occupied Anniangxie Island, Chen Haiyang ordered a temporary halt to the attack. The government troops got a brief respite. The scattered soldiers who were lucky enough not to be captured all fled to the Humen Garrison. Of the original garrison troops in the Humen area, some retreated to the Humen Garrison, and the naval vessels withdrew to Dahushan Island.

Capturing either Dahushan or the Humen Garrison would be an easy task. Chen Haiyang had ordered a halt to the fighting because night was falling. He did not want to get into a chaotic battle with the Ming army after dark and suffer unnecessary casualties.

The Fubo Army set up an observation post on Wushan to monitor the Humen Garrison below. The position of the Humen Garrison had now become extremely dangerous. From Wushan, one could overlook the entire garrison, and with a few field guns, the whole place would be untenable. Such violations of the most basic military common sense were common in this battle.

The military system, technology, and tactics of China had clearly stagnated by the late Ming Dynasty. The Elders had a clear understanding of this during the Battle of Humen.

After this battle, the navy had full confidence in its military strength and technology—the Ming government had no navy to speak of, and now it was proven that their land defenses were equally vulnerable.

Looking down from the mountain, the entire Humen Garrison was brightly lit and filled with the clamor of voices. After observing, Shi Zhiqi believed that the situation in the garrison was chaotic, and the entire army would probably collapse before midnight.

“Let them collapse. It will save us the trouble of attacking tomorrow,” Chen Haiyang said, looking at the map in the newly erected tent. “We’ll take the Humen Garrison tomorrow morning. There’s a Taiping Market in front of the garrison. Try not to harm the lives and property of the common people.”

“Understood!”

“Of course, that’s on the premise that they behave themselves. If they attack us, then we don’t have to be polite.”

Chen Haiyang planned to move the bombardment boats and sampans to the Sanmen Waterway the next day to support the marines’ attack on the Humen Garrison. The Sanmen Waterway was between the Humen Garrison and Wushan. With Wushan lost, the Sanmen Waterway became the only barrier for the Humen Garrison. In Xu Tingfa’s operational plan, a sandbag fort was originally supposed to be set up at the entrance of the Sanmen Waterway. But construction had not yet begun, and there were only a dozen or so soldiers guarding the building materials at the fort site, who had now fled. A flotilla of small boats easily passed through Sanmen, entered the Sanmen Waterway, and headed straight for the Humen Garrison.

On September 21st, after a night’s rest, the marines quickly crossed the Sanmen Waterway on sampans and formed up in front of the Taiping Market. The people of Taiping Market quickly sent out several elders to present gifts, begging the army not to attack Taiping Market.

“We will do our best to provide everything the great army needs,” the old men kowtowed at Shi Zhiqi’s feet. “We beg the great king to restrain his subordinates…”

“I am not a great king,” Shi Zhiqi thought, it would be one thing if a few beautiful women were kneeling at his feet begging for mercy, but he couldn’t stand a few old men doing it. He immediately said righteously, “We are the upright Fubo Army! We are here to seek justice from the Ming officials of Guangdong. Rest assured! As long as you do as we say, we will not harm a single blade of grass or a single tree of yours!”

The old men thanked him profusely. Shi Zhiqi immediately ordered them to be escorted to Chen Haiyang, where there were specialized civil affairs personnel to communicate with the local natives.

“Report to the Detachment Commander!” The scout sent to reconnoiter returned. “There’s no one in the garrison!” he panted. “It’s an empty fort!”

“Have you searched the surrounding area?”

“We’ve searched! No sign of the enemy. We caught a few wounded soldiers left behind in the garrison. They said the main force scattered and fled in the middle of the night. Commander Xu didn’t stop them; he just ran off with his personal guards.”

Shi Zhiqi scratched his head. “He’s quite straightforward! Just up and left.”

The earthen fortress of Humen, which Xu Tingfa had painstakingly built, was now empty. Xu Tingfa, Li Xijue, Fan Wencai, and all the others had fled during the night, leaving behind a large amount of military equipment, grain, ammunition, armor, and flags. Even the Hongyi cannons that had been transported with great difficulty were all abandoned. A large amount of gunpowder and cannonballs were left where they were, without even an attempt to set them on fire. This casual abandonment of military supplies astonished Shi Zhiqi.

Behind the Humen Garrison, there was a workshop for making gunpowder and casting cannonballs, which now also fell into the hands of the marines. Besides a large amount of finished gunpowder, they also captured a large quantity of raw materials for making gunpowder, such as saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. In addition, they captured over two hundred thousand jin of metal materials such as lead and pig iron, a rich harvest.

More than two hundred craftsmen and their families living near the workshop were all taken prisoner. The government troops had simply forgotten about them when they fled.

The battle at Dahushan lasted even shorter. The ten warships led by Chen Qian retreated upstream without engaging. The Dahushan fort was also completely paralyzed after being bombarded by bombardment boats and special service boats for an hour. The marines landed on Dahushan Island, dismantled the cannons, and rounded up the scattered soldiers. The military operations in the Humen area were all over by noon on September 21st. The government forces suffered 1,000 casualties and 600 were captured. The task force captured 140 large cannons alone, as well as 22 naval vessels and small boats awaiting repair.

The total casualties of the task force were 2 dead and 31 wounded. Ten ships were hit, but none were even lightly damaged. Only the ammunition consumption was enormous. The large-caliber mortars on the bombardment boats had each fired fifty rounds in two days of fighting. Even including the shells stored in Hong Kong, each gun had only six rounds left. The ammunition consumption on the special service boats was also considerable.

“We’re almost becoming the US military of this timeline. High investment, high logistics,” Chen Haiyang sighed, looking at the forms sent by the logistics officer.

The consumption of a modernized, gunpowder-based army was more than ten times that of a medieval army. Chen Haiyang had fought two battles in the Pearl River Estuary and had already consumed two-thirds of the total ammunition tonnage carried by the entire fleet.

Chen Haiyang began to establish a temporary supply line from Hong Kong Island to Humen. The supply line was undertaken by captured sampans, “long dragons,” and other small boats, continuously transporting supplies from Hong Kong to Humen. Since the navy had cleared out the pirates from Lantau Island and established a maritime patrol system in the Pearl River Estuary, the maritime security in the entire Lingdingyang area had greatly improved. The use of high-speed, flexible patrol boats had also made the clumsy and poorly armed pirate ships disappear. The supply line only needed a small number of armed vessels.

The captured materials were also transported to Hong Kong Island on this route to await transfer back to Lingao—some were used on the spot. The various building materials left at the several unfinished fort sites were also all transported to Hong Kong for use. As for the other forts, military camps, and other buildings, except for a small part left for the fleet’s use, most were dismantled by the prisoners, and the building materials were also sent to Hong Kong for use.

“Dismantle all the houses we don’t need!” Chen Haiyang ordered.

So Shi Zhiqi became the demolition team leader, driving the prisoners to tear down houses every day. Except for a few better military barracks that were temporarily preserved and disinfected to serve as temporary barracks, all other buildings were razed to the ground.

Chen Haiyang planned to use Humen as a temporary base. To this end, he repaired the jetties at the foot of Wushan for the fleet to dock and rest. He himself moved his headquarters to the top of Wushan.

He then received the people of Taiping Market. The trembling commoners presented gifts—fifty taels of silver, two piculs of cane sugar, and ten dressed pigs. Chen Haiyang ordered them to be accepted. He asked the people to elect a liaison and at the same time announced the “reasonable burden”—this so-called reasonable burden was actually a form of extortion from the people, though it could also be called a tax. The Senate considered it a tax. Although the Pearl River Delta region could not yet be brought under their direct rule in the short term, the Central Political Council believed that they could start levying the “reasonable burden” from now on.

Zheng Zhilong collected navigation taxes at sea, and the pirates of the Qing Dynasty had always collected various “fees” in the Pearl River, both from villages and from transport ships and trading houses sailing on the Pearl River and along the coast. Anyone who refused to pay would face cruel retaliation. When the pirates were at their most rampant, they even had semi-public tax collection agencies in Guangzhou, specifically for collecting “fees.” The transmigrator group intended to do roughly the same, but the methods and degree would be a bit more moderate and refined.

According to the regulations of the reasonable burden, when the transmigrator group’s personnel and ships passed through Taiping Market and needed to requisition labor and materials on the spot, the requisitioned materials and labor could be offset against the village’s reasonable burden payment. If the requisition exceeded the amount of the reasonable burden, the transmigrator group would pay for the excess at market price.

As for the amount of the reasonable burden, after some bargaining, it was set at thirty-five taels of silver per year—since the villagers had already sent fifty taels of silver, Chen Haiyang generously promised to waive this year’s payment and start from the next year. The “reasonable burden” could also be paid in rice and other goods at market prices. For the economic level of Taiping Market, this amount was not large—if they could buy peace with a little money, the villagers were willing to accept it.

The Ministry of Finance hoped that through this expedition, a primary taxation system could be formed in the villages along the Pearl River, opening up a second source of tax revenue outside of Hainan—especially the various agricultural products that the Pearl River Delta was rich in, which were much needed by the transmigrator group.

The current tax revenue was of course negligible, but it could constantly remind the villagers of the Pearl River Delta of the existence and power of the transmigrator group.