Chapter 168: The Defense of Guangzhou

The task force halted at Humen. After passing Humen and Hengdang, it would only take three or four days of continuous sailing to reach the outskirts of Guangzhou. But Chen Haiyang was in no hurry to appear before the walls of Guangzhou. According to the established plan, his main tasks were to “show off military might” and “pacify and appease.” The goal of showing off military might had been fully achieved; now the focus was on “pacifying and appeasing.” First, they needed to give the people of Guangzhou and the residents along the Pearl River enough time to spread and absorb the news of Humen’s fall.

The task force began to form many small detachments, each consisting of about one hundred men, equipped with small artillery, and accompanied by civil affairs personnel and surveyors. These small detachments would travel on sampans and “long dragons” along the spiderweb-like network of inland waterways and river branches to the various villages and market towns along the Pearl River, collecting “reasonable burdens” and posting notices to create a great show of force. Of course, at the same time, they would severely punish any village that attempted to resist them.

Due to a shortage of marines, Shi Zhiqi, who was in charge of this operation, drafted some sailors to reinforce the small detachments. A large portion of the navy’s sailors were former pirates, not only familiar with the waterways of the Pearl River but also experts at this kind of work. In the past, they had followed the “chiefs” of various gangs on small boats deep into the inland rivers, plundering and kidnapping everywhere.

The news of Humen’s fall reached Guangzhou on the same day. For a time, the entire city was in an uproar. The Prefect of Guangzhou hurried to see Li Fengjie, asking if he should immediately close the city gates.

Li Fengjie was greatly shocked. He had not expected Humen to fall so quickly. With Humen lost, it would only be a matter of two or three days before the Kun thieves reached Guangzhou. The thought of the Kun thieves attacking Guangzhou made his face turn pale.

“Don’t close the city gates for now. It will shake the people’s confidence!” Li Fengjie calmed himself down. “You and the magistrates of Nanhai and Panyu, send more men to the city gates and step up inspections to prevent the Kun thieves from sneaking into the city!”

“Yes, I will see to it at once!”

The only armed force Li Fengjie had at his disposal was his own governor’s guard. But the governor’s guard had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Chengmai. The one thousand men he had sent out were either killed or captured at Chengmai or were trapped in Qiongshan. Not a single one had returned so far. The governor’s guard now had less than seven hundred men available for combat. Fortunately, these men were the elite of the governor’s guard, and Li Fengjie had treated them well. They were a force he could rely on in a critical moment.

Li Fengjie was not worried about defending Guangzhou. Guangzhou not only had strong city defenses but also a large population. If necessary, he could conscript tens of thousands of able-bodied men to man the walls in an instant. Besides the governor’s guard, there were also the troops of the coastal defense commander Xu Tingfa and some scattered units in and around Guangzhou. In addition, there were the garrisons in Guangzhou and the surrounding areas. Although these garrisons were dilapidated, they could still muster a thousand or so men for battle. The Guangzhou garrison was very famous at the time and was often sent out to fight against the Miao and Yao peoples throughout the Ming Dynasty.

These forces, when gathered, numbered three to four thousand men, enough to form the core of Guangzhou’s defense. But as the Governor of Guangdong, he had to consider not only Guangzhou city but also the various counties and villages along the Pearl River. If the Kun thieves were to slaughter and plunder too excessively, he would be impeached by the censors, which he could not afford.

Li Fengjie summoned the officials and advisors in the city to discuss countermeasures. The general consensus was to strengthen Guangzhou’s own city defenses and enhance the self-defense capabilities of the villages and towns along the river.

When Liu Xiang was active in the Pearl River Estuary, the Guangdong authorities had already stepped up the implementation of the baojia system in the Pearl River Delta, encouraging local gentry to organize and train local militias for self-defense. Public offices had been established in each county, with the county magistrate serving as the overall commander and reputable and willing local gentry as deputy commanders. The government would lend cannons to the villages and towns that organized militias, and each village was also allowed to cast its own cannons. Watchtowers and barriers were built at various crossroads and river mouths, equipped with gongs to sound the alarm. A multi-village joint defense system was also stipulated. If one village was in trouble, the neighboring villages had to send their militias to help. As for the necessary funds, they were borne by each village: some came from donations from the gentry and prominent families, some from levies on all villagers. A few counties simply added a surcharge to the land tax to cover the county’s militia expenses.

This system had been implemented since the beginning of last year and was now beginning to show results. Most officials believed that the Kun thieves were unfamiliar with the terrain and would not dare to venture deep into the various inland rivers along the river. The villages along the Pearl River had always been the most active in setting up defenses and training militias, and Xu Tingfa’s navy was still largely intact. The Kun thieves would not be too rampant.

He Chengzong proposed: defending the river is better than defending the city. The Kun thieves have strong ships and powerful cannons, but they are few in number and dare not stray far from their ships. Therefore, there is no need to worry about them attacking Guangzhou by land. As long as the government forces defend the Pearl River section by section and cooperate with the local militias, they can gradually wear down the Kun thieves’ morale and eventually force the enemy to withdraw from the Pearl River.

From Humen to Guangzhou, there were many strategic points on the Pearl River that could be defended, of which Wuyong was the most important. He Chengzong suggested concentrating most of the troops at Wuyong, hastily building sandbag forts, and deploying a large number of cannons, sampans, and “long dragons.”

“Wuyong controls the vital hub of the provincial river. If our army defends here, we can advance into the Pearl River to support the defenses along the river, and retreat to ensure the safety of the provincial capital. It is of utmost importance.”

He Chengzong vigorously promoted his theory of certain victory at Wuyong. Most officials and advisors agreed with him. But Xu Tingfa, who had witnessed the powerful firepower of the Kun thieves firsthand, objected.

“The defense of Guangzhou must be strengthened,” Xu Tingfa said. After his defeat at Humen, he was temporarily stationed at Huangpu. The core of his forces was still intact—the main force had always been the navy, and the navy had only lost some ships awaiting repair in the Battle of Humen. The main ships and personnel had all withdrawn. He had sent people along the river to rally the scattered soldiers. The soldiers who had fled from the Humen Garrison and other places had gradually returned in the past few days, and he now had nearly two thousand men under his command again.

“The villages and towns along the river can at most protect themselves; they cannot stop the Kun thieves from advancing on Guangzhou. As for Wuyong, what do you gentlemen think of it compared to Humen?” Xu Tingfa said.

The Humen forts had been built since the Wanli era and had been extensively repaired and prepared in the past year. Neither the strength of the fortifications nor the number of cannons could be compared to the Wuyong forts, which were still on the drawing board and would be hastily built.

Even such a fort, defended by 2,000 soldiers, had collapsed in less than a day of fighting. The psychological impact on Xu Tingfa was enormous. He saw very clearly that with their current quality and weapons, the government forces were no match for the Aussies, who had strong ships and powerful cannons.

Therefore, Xu Tingfa’s suggestion was to defend Guangzhou to the death, concentrating most of the available forces in the city itself, building additional forts on Yuexiu Mountain, and stationing heavy troops at Dongsheng Temple in the east of Guangzhou and Fenghuang Gang in the west.

As for the other key points along the provincial river, such as Liede, Pazhou, and Qinzhou, it was not important whether they were defended or not, because hastily built forts could not possibly withstand the enemy’s artillery fire and would only increase casualties.

Only Guangzhou city itself, with its high walls, deep moats, centuries of fortification, and countless able-bodied men as support, could probably hold out against the Kun thieves’ fierce attack.

“Are we to let the Kun thieves’ gunboats sail straight to the foot of our Guangzhou city walls?” Li Xijue said with dissatisfaction. He was now attending the meeting as a representative of the Governor-General’s office—Wang Zunde was, after all, the supreme military commander of the two provinces, and all military officials in Liangguang were under his command. It was one thing for Li Fengjie to bypass the Governor-General to discuss peace, but it was impossible to bypass him to fight a war.

Li Xijue had witnessed the Kun thieves’ firepower, so he could somewhat understand Xu Tingfa’s fear of battle. But while he understood, he couldn’t help but despise the man, thinking him a coward who was unwilling to fight to the death.

But he couldn’t be too harsh in his tone. Firstly, when he fled from the Humen Garrison a few days ago, he had been at the forefront, clinging to his horse’s neck. Secondly, the only decent force around Guangzhou now was Xu Tingfa’s coastal defense command. He had to be a little more polite.

Xu Tingfa suggested that instead of building useless sandbag forts everywhere that would be vulnerable to the Kun thieves’ artillery fire, it would be better to choose narrow and silted sections of the provincial river leading to Guangzhou and sink wood and stones to block the channel, while at the same time laying wooden rafts and iron chains across the river.

“The Kun thieves’ ships are mostly modified, with a lot of military equipment on board, and have a deep draft. If we block the river, the enemy ships will fear running aground or hitting reefs and will not dare to venture deep into the provincial river.”

But Xu Tingfa’s suggestion was rejected by Li Fengjie. Firstly, he did not want the Kun thieves’ ships to appear at the foot of the provincial capital—it would give people in the capital a handle against him. Secondly, he believed that Xu Tingfa’s claims of the Kun thieves’ “strong ships and powerful cannons” were exaggerated. Whenever they lost a battle, the officials and military commanders in charge would always describe the enemy as being twelve times more powerful, and there were often many falsehoods in their words. Li Fengjie was an experienced local official; how could he not know this trick? He dismissed Xu Tingfa’s suggestion as a sign of a military commander’s “fear of battle” and paid it no mind.

The final decision of the governor’s yamen meeting was to strengthen the defense of the inland rivers and at the same time to train more local militias to “bolster their might.” To this end, a general militia bureau was established in Guangzhou, inviting enthusiastic and capable local gentry to handle militia affairs. In addition, all prefectures and counties in the Pearl River Delta were ordered to quickly establish militia bureaus and implement the baojia system.

Xu Tingfa was to guard Wuyong, the strategic chokepoint for entering Guangzhou’s inland rivers. He immediately began to hastily build sandbag forts at Wuyong and install 18 Hongyi cannons. At the same time, following Xu Tingfa’s suggestion, several old ships filled with sand and stones were sunk at Wuyong, Liede, Ershawei, and other places to block the channel, and civilian laborers were hired to drive wooden stakes into the narrow sections of the river. As for the long iron chains to block the river, they could not be found anywhere, so people were sent to Foshan to have them forged overnight.

1,200 soldiers were stationed at Wuyong. All 40 of Xu Tingfa’s naval vessels were concentrated near Wuyong, ready to be deployed as reinforcements at any time. At the same time, sandbag forts were hastily built at key points along the provincial river, such as Qinzhou, Pazhou, Liede, Ershawei, and Dahuangjiao, and Hongyi cannons were installed.