Chapter 322: The Qimu Island Crisis

Although no one had openly questioned Kong Youde, he himself already felt a sense of distrust spreading around him.

This was a very dangerous signal. The army was a place where people were killed like flies, and it was even more so in a rebellious army. In chaotic times, human life was cheap, and people could be killed for a trivial reason. Not to mention that “straddling two boats” was the most hated thing.

Although Li Jiucheng did not show any suspicion of him, the recent excessive trust expressed by Li Jiucheng and his son seemed to confirm his view—Li Jiucheng and his son had already begun to suspect him!

This was undoubtedly a very dangerous signal.

It was difficult. How could he prove his innocence? Kong Youde sighed deeply.

He certainly trusted his own close subordinates, but they were only a few hundred people. If most of the generals believed that he had ulterior motives, these few hundred people would only be buried with him.

If it weren’t for his reputation among the old Dongjiang subordinates in Dengzhou, if it were someone else, he might have already been killed!

How to gain the trust of the masses had become the biggest problem Kong Youde was now facing.

For this reason, he had to try his best to show that he had no ulterior motives, including voluntarily moving out of his original residence to avoid the suspicion of hiding Sun Yuanhua.

Fortunately, a few days ago, they had received a report: Sun Yuanhua had suddenly appeared in Laizhou and had officially begun to handle affairs and arrange the city’s defense. This greatly cleared Kong Youde’s suspicion—but how Sun Yuanhua had escaped was still an unexplained matter, so Kong Youde’s situation was still somewhat delicate.

Now Laizhou had been fortified like an iron bucket by him. And the spies also reported that Yu Dacheng, who had been listless and hiding in his yamen chanting sutras, had suddenly become invigorated after Sun Yuanhua appeared in Laizhou. Not only had he sent reinforcements, but he had also transported a large amount of grain and military equipment to Laizhou.

Obviously, Sun Yuanhua’s “pacification” attitude was changing—the convenience they had gained from “pacification” after raising the banner of rebellion was being lost. In particular, the original plan to use Sun Yuanhua to write letters to the court to constantly send the message of “willing to be pacified,” thereby delaying the court’s suppression and expanding their power, had completely failed.

Next, the rebel army would inevitably face the court’s suppression. Time was running out, and they had less and less time. At the military council the day before yesterday, everyone agreed that they must immediately take Huang County and besiege Laizhou as soon as possible.

The capture of Huang County was to ensure the safety of Dengzhou, and the occupation of Laizhou would give the troops more room to maneuver as soon as possible, so that they could advance to attack and retreat to defend. Otherwise, they would sooner or later be trapped between the mountains and the sea by the government forces.

However, in order to further confuse the court and let the ministers who advocated for pacification speak up, it was still necessary to continue to express their sincerity in “being pacified.” Although Sun Yuanhua had escaped, they still had a group of officials in their hands. These people were useless to keep, so at yesterday’s military council, it was decided to release all of them, including Song Guanglan, Zhang Tao, and Wang Zheng. At the same time, they were asked to carry a letter jointly signed by the main generals of the Dengzhou rebel army to express their “sincerity in being pacified.”

Because Kong Youde had a better relationship with the Dengzhou officials, this matter was handed over to him. Kong Youde thought to himself: on the surface, this was a show of trust in him—”no suspicion,” but in fact, he had not yet cleared himself of the suspicion of colluding with Sun Yuanhua.

However, there was no perfect plan at the moment, and he could only take it one step at a time. Kong Youde thought to himself that things had not yet reached a decisive point, but he must capture Laizhou as soon as possible!

While he was lost in thought, a personal guard came to report that Grand Marshal Li Jiucheng had summoned him for a military council.

“Go back and report to the Grand Marshal that I will be there shortly,” Kong Youde ordered. He knew that today’s military council was definitely to discuss the matter of sending troops to Laizhou.

A few days ago, they had already captured Huang County—it took almost no effort to capture Huang County, but it was hard to say about attacking Laizhou. The Ming army in Laizhou was limited in number and was not difficult to attack originally, but now that Sun Yuanhua had entered the city, the city’s defense would inevitably be greatly strengthened. With him sitting in Laizhou as the governor of Deng-Lai, and with the cooperation of the governor of Shandong, Yu Dacheng, it was needless to say that the Shandong army would be mobilized to reinforce Laizhou.

“Someone, bring my armor!” he shouted.

A close general came over and said, “Today is not a formal assembly. Do you need to wear armor?”

“Of course I do!” Kong Youde said loudly. “A military council cannot be taken lightly.”

He then had his personal guards help him put on his full armor. Except for not wearing a bow and arrow, it was almost the same as the “ceremonial armor.” Although Kong Youde was the deputy marshal and his prestige in the army was second only to Li Jiucheng, he was very careful and never showed any signs of arrogance, completely maintaining a low profile as a subordinate.

He was now fully armored and in high spirits. He strode into the second gate, passed between two rows of silent and solemn guards with shining swords and halberds, bowed and entered the council hall, knelt down about five feet from the desk, and announced his title in a loud voice:

“Deputy Grand Marshal Kong Youde, who acts on behalf of heaven, pays his respects to the lord!”

Li Jiucheng nodded and smiled, saying, “Please rise.”

In the council hall, the main generals of the rebel army had all gathered. Most of them were former generals in the Dongjiang garrison who had reached the rank of colonel or major and had a group of basic troops under their command.

After capturing Dengzhou, the rebel army had incorporated the local Dengzhou soldiers and the remnants of the southern soldiers. They had also conscripted a large number of able-bodied men from the local Liaodong people and had taken in many local bandits and desperadoes. The size of the army had suddenly expanded to tens of thousands, but the truly reliable and combat-effective troops were still the former Dongjiang subordinates.

The motley crew could only be used as cannon fodder to boost morale. They were fine in favorable battles, but they would lose their nerve in a tough battle. Therefore, Li Jiucheng and others had long sent people with the pay captured from Dengzhou to the various islands in the Liaodong Sea to recruit the Dongjiang generals to “raise the banner together.”

These people were not very good at fighting the Tartars, but there was absolutely no problem in crossing the sea to Shandong to fight the government forces.

This activity was currently proceeding very smoothly, and some Dongjiang generals had already expressed their willingness to join the rebellion.

But at today’s military council, besides the originally planned attack on Laizhou, there was a new situation.

Mao Chenglu, who had been sent to Huang County, had sent someone back to report that a large group of militia was currently active in Huang County, and they were actively recruiting refugees around the county seat. The rebel forces sent out to plunder the refugees had already clashed with them, and most importantly, they had suffered a considerable loss.

Yesterday, the rebels pursued several thousand refugees who had been taken away by the militia and fought a battle with the militia at Baimatang. As a result, not only did they not gain any advantage, but they also suffered four or five hundred casualties, and the rest of the troops all fled back to Huang County.

“Whose militia is so bold?” Kong Youde was quite surprised. The militia generally focused on “protecting the territory and pacifying the people” and would not take the initiative to provoke. They only sought to protect their own village. And with the current military power of the rebels and the large amount of firearms they possessed, ordinary villages had no other way to deal with them except to surrender at the sight of them and let them do as they pleased.

“It’s a village on the Longkou side,” Li Jiucheng said. “Chenglu said they have firearms, and they are very powerful.”

Kong Youde blurted out, “It’s Master Lu of Qimu Island!”

Li Jiucheng asked, “What? You know.”

“That’s right,” Kong Youde nodded. “This Master Lu is from the south and, like Governor Sun, is a believer in God. So Governor Sun treated him with special favor and once gave him a lot of weapons and gunpowder.”

It was not surprising that Master Lu had set up a village on Qimu Island—everyone did that in those days. But why did he recruit refugees on a large scale?

The land on the Longkou side was by no means fertile, so he could not be looking for refugees to open up wasteland. Secondly, in this time of war and chaos, and in the middle of winter, there was no possibility of opening up wasteland.

The only possibility was that they, like the various folk religious sects on the Shandong side, were preparing to take advantage of the chaos in Dengzhou to raise a banner and rebel!

In ancient times, anyone who wanted to rebel would always start by coercing the people and taking in refugees. The rebels’ large-scale destruction of villages and burning of houses in Huang County was, on the one hand, to gather as much food and property as possible and clear the fields, and on the other hand, it also included the consideration of coercing a large number of refugees and expanding the army.

This Master Lu also had such a plan?! The generals in the council hall immediately exchanged glances.

In this way, things became difficult. These generals had been in Shandong for some time and knew a little about the folk religious sects in Shandong. They knew very well that the incited believers were extremely fanatical. Once this Master Lu really raised the banner of “responding to the calamity” in the Huang County area, the rebels would have to spend a lot of effort to suppress them.

“This village must be destroyed as soon as possible,” Geng Zhongming said. “Once they rise up, it will be difficult for us to attack Laizhou!”

“The matter of Laizhou cannot be delayed either,” Li Jiucheng said. “If we don’t take Laizhou, we brothers won’t be able to sleep soundly in Dengzhou. We must do both at the same time! One way to attack Laizhou, and the other way to destroy this Master Lu as soon as possible!”

Li Jiucheng immediately decided to give Mao Chenglu another three thousand elite troops and let him immediately attack Qimu Island, destroy the village on the island, and kill all the people with foreign accents, including Master Lu. The local refugees in the village who refused to obey orders would also be killed—to avoid future trouble.

Because the other side had a lot of firearms, Li Jiucheng decided to give Mao Chenglu another part of the artillery.