Chapter 332: Laizhou City

The Laizhou Prefectural School, the highest institution of learning in Laizhou Prefecture, was now the temporary yamen of the Deng-Lai Governor, and Sun Yuanhua was stationed here.

At this moment, Sun Yuanhua was sitting in the signing room, his face full of worry. The tea on the table was already cold.

After escaping from Dengzhou, Laizhou had become the most crucial location under Sun Yuanhua’s control. Whether the rebellion could be contained within the three eastern prefectures, whether the rebel army would become another uncontrollable “roving bandit” force, and finally, whether Sun Yuanhua’s personal future and even his life could be turned from danger to safety, all depended on whether this Laizhou city could be defended.

In the past few days, Sun Yuanhua had been racking his brains every day to plan the city’s defense. However, things were not easy.

As the governor of Deng-Lai, he was not like the governors of the Qing Dynasty who could appoint prefectural and county officials and manage the civil affairs of a province. He was more responsible for military affairs. Sun Yuanhua’s own official rank was only a fourth-rank Censor-in-Chief. The appointment title of the governor was “Governor of Deng-Lai, assisting in military affairs.” He did not even have the additional title of Vice Minister of War. Compared to Yuan Keli, who had also served as the governor of Deng-Lai with the title of “assisting in the eastern expedition and managing military supplies,” his power was much smaller. In the Qing Dynasty, he would have been at the level of a Dengzhou military intendant, with little say in interfering with local personnel and financial power. He could not be compared to Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong who had already been dismissed and arrested by the court.

In terms of rank alone, the prefect of Laizhou, Zhu Wannian, was also a fourth-rank official like him. If this prefect was not on good terms with him, he could completely feign compliance while acting in opposition, or even ignore him.

Fortunately, Zhu Wannian was a man with a good sense of the overall situation and was also quite capable. Since Sun Yuanhua entered Laizhou, everything had been following his lead. The magistrate of Ye County, Hong, was also a man of good character and ability. For a time, everyone worked together in harmony, raising grain and pay, training militia, and the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city was greatly boosted.

However, the defensive forces in the city were still very weak. Including the original garrison, military households, defeated soldiers scattered from the Deng-Lai area, and newly recruited militia, the entire garrison of Laizhou was only three thousand men.

Among these people, there were very few professional soldiers who could fight. Although there were some capable soldiers among the military households, most of them were vulnerable and even lacked complete equipment, a purely scarecrow force. Most importantly, he lacked experienced and battle-hardened generals to lead the troops. Although garrison officers like Bai Zhongren were loyal and brave, they had no experience in battle. Therefore, Sun Yuanhua had been trying to mobilize fresh troops to enter the city to assist in the defense.

However, so far, no troops had come to reinforce Laizhou. Although Huang Long had promised to send troops, it was still unknown when they would arrive. Sun Yuanhua had been worrying about this day and night. Bad news came one after another. First, Huang County fell, and then news came from Jinan: Yu Dacheng had been dismissed and charged. The former Shandong Wude Military Intendant, Xu Congzhi, had taken over as the governor of Shandong.

The latter news particularly disturbed him. In terms of the seriousness of the problem, Yu Dacheng’s crime was far less than his own. If even he was dismissed and charged, his own fate would probably not be much better.

Although Yu Dacheng could not be considered his political ally, he had been quite helpful after the fall of Dengzhou, and they had cooperated well. If another governor of Shandong were to be appointed, he might not be so easy to talk to.

Sun Yuanhua knew of Xu Congzhi, but his specific character and whether they could work together in harmony were all question marks. Moreover, once the court decided to launch a suppression campaign, Xu Congzhi, as the governor of Shandong, would inevitably have to come to Laizhou to command the strategy. The two sides would have a problem of cooperation.

Sun Yuanhua had been on the front lines in Liaodong for many years and knew the importance of colleagues. In the Ming Dynasty, countless officials and generals had been killed by their colleagues.

Unfortunately, he had now lost all his staff in Laizhou, and even the secretary who wrote for him had been found for him by Yu Dacheng. Now, when he wanted to find someone to discuss countermeasures, he was completely alone.

It was too late to recruit staff, and besides, his own safety and future were uncertain, so no one would be willing to be his staff.

As for the officials and gentry who participated in the defense of the city, they were only concerned with how to defend Laizhou and did not care about the future of Governor Sun.

Even though he had a thousand anxieties, he could only hide them in his heart. In this predicament of internal and external troubles, Sun Yuanhua became more and more devout in his religion. Since God had used the Australians to save him from the abyss of eternal damnation, perhaps Laizhou city and his own safety could also be saved.

Although he was still somewhat wary of Master Lu and the others, after thinking about it, the only ones who could help him now were them. Thinking of this, he cheered up and prepared to write a letter to Master Lu, asking him to come to Laizhou in person or send someone to meet with him to discuss important matters.

Among the team of servants that Lu Wenyan had assigned to him, someone had specially brought a pigeon cage. Even writing letters was done by a special person. Master Lu had Cheng Lingsu continue to serve him, and if he wanted to write a letter, he would have Cheng Lingsu write it for him. Originally, Sun Yuanhua would not have written such a confidential matter himself—if it were lost, it would be a great disaster.

Every time Cheng Lingsu contacted Qimu Island, she used a kind of potion. After writing, it was just a blank piece of paper. This was not uncommon. Sun Yuanhua knew about alum writing, but even watching Cheng Lingsu write, he could not understand it. She was not writing characters, but symbols.

Just as he was about to call Cheng Lingsu to write for him, Sun Yuan came in and reported, “There are militia from Lujiazhai in Pingli Dian coming to defend the prefectural city…”

Sun Yuanhua waved his hand, “Let them go to Prefect Zhu’s place first. Tell them not to worry about grain and pay. I will naturally inspect them tomorrow.” Recently, Laizhou Prefecture had been recruiting militia from all over, and militia had been arriving from all over, so he did not pay much attention to it.

“Reporting to your excellency, the leader of the militia said that he was entrusted by Master Lu of Qimu Island to bring you a letter…”

Sun Yuanhua’s spirits lifted, and he quickly said, “Please, come in!”

The visitor was a young man of about thirty, wearing a cotton-padded six-in-one hat and a cotton robe. But seeing his tall and strong body, the sideburns faintly visible under his hat, and the way he walked with a gust of wind, Sun Yuanhua immediately concluded that this was a Kun thief!

However, when the other party opened his mouth, it was in the Laizhou dialect. “This commoner, Lu Zeyang, deputy commander of the Lujiazhai militia in Pingli Dian, pays his respects to your excellency!” With that, he bowed deeply.

Just from this demeanor, Sun Yuanhua knew that the other party was definitely a Kun thief.

It was just that Lujiazhai in Pingli Dian was a relatively large village in the local area, and the Lu clan, although not gentry, was a large native clan. They had lived in this place for nearly a thousand years, and there had been famous figures in every generation. Especially in the Song Dynasty, there had been prime minister-level figures such as Lü Mengzheng and Lü Yijian, so they had a lot of influence in the local area.

How did this person manage to assume the name of Lujiazhai? And this name made him puzzled: Lu Yang did not look like this. That was clearly a handsome young man.

“Please rise, brave warrior,” Sun Yuanhua raised his hand. “Your surname is Lü… hmm? Lü Yang?”

“I am Lü Zeyang, not Lü Yang,” the visitor said loudly. “I am a native of Laizhou!”

It turned out they were not the same person. Sun Yuanhua thought to himself, how many Kun thieves are there here? This Lü Zeyang spoke the Laizhou dialect and claimed to be from Lujiazhai in Pingli Dian. He must have been lurking here for some time.

He had not expected the Kun thieves to have laid such a situation under his nose without a sound! Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but be secretly shocked.

But the other party had come with troops, which showed that Master Lu was very concerned about the safety of Laizhou. He immediately nodded and smiled, “Brave warrior, you are indeed from a famous family. How many men have you brought this time?”

“One hundred elite militiamen.”

Sun Yuanhua was slightly disappointed. What could a hundred men do? However, the other party was strong and powerful on Qimu Island, so these hundred men were naturally elite. It was not a small supplement to have a hundred elite men.

Perhaps sensing the other party’s thoughts, Lü Zeyang added, “The hundred militiamen I have brought are all equipped with muskets. You can rest assured, sir!”

Sun Yuanhua had seen the cannons on the ships on Qimu Island, and after the Battle of Chengmai, he had managed to obtain the blueprints of the Kun thieves’ firearms through various channels. He also knew that the Kun thieves’ firearms were extremely sharp, especially their muskets, which were a hundred times better than the Ming muskets. Hearing that they all had muskets, he was slightly relieved.

Afterward, Lü Zeyang presented Sun Yuanhua with a letter. When he opened it, the letter contained some ordinary words. After a moment of surprise, he immediately understood and ordered someone to call for Cheng Lingsu to translate the letter first.

The beginning of the letter was not special. First, it told him that Lü Zeyang had been sent this time to jointly defend Laizhou, and that the Qimu Island side would definitely do its best to ensure the safety of Laizhou. Seeing the following, Sun Yuanhua’s eyelids twitched. The letter said that a few days ago, they had wiped out a group of rebels who had “fled” from Huang County, killing more than a dozen rebel generals, including Mao Chenglu, and more than two thousand rebel soldiers. The heads of the main generals, the captured documents, seals, and flags had all been transported to Laizhou with Lü Zeyang, and he was asked to make good use of them.

Sun Yuanhua couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t help but read it carefully from top to bottom again. After confirming that there was no mistake, he suppressed his emotions and asked, “Is it really so?!”

“There is absolutely no falsehood,” Lü Zeyang nodded. “What is said in the letter is all in my cart…” Fearing that the other party would not believe him, he added, “You must have seen General Mao, sir…”

“I trust you!” Sun Yuanhua could no longer suppress his excitement. He stood up and walked back and forth for a few steps. This victory had come at a very timely moment! At present, the Deng-Lai area was in a state of gloom. A beautiful victory would not only boost morale, but also greatly increase his chances of being exonerated in the court.

Master Lu was not only capable, but also very trustworthy. Sun Yuanhua’s impression of the Kun thieves rose greatly. He even had a good impression of this impostor, Commander Lü.

He said in a low voice, “Words cannot express my gratitude. I will never forget your kindness!”

Lü Zeyang nodded, “You are too kind, sir. I only hope that you will be promoted step by step and live a long life!”

Sun Yuanhua smiled slightly and said loudly, “Brave warrior Lü, where do you plan to be stationed? What are your requirements? As long as I can do it, I will do my best.”

Lü Zeyang thought to himself that Lu Wenyan was right. These heads were indeed what Sun Yuanhua needed most. He then proposed to be stationed independently.