Chapter 346: The Agreement

Lu Zeyang realized he had also overlooked the problem of food shortages. The grain in Laizhou city could only supply the entire military and civilian population for about six or seven months. Given the speed at which the court dispatched troops, it would be at least three or four months before a large force arrived to suppress the rebellion. And whether they could win in a single battle and lift the siege was still unknown.

Both Sun Yuanhua and Xu Congzhi were well aware of the court’s actual operational capabilities and were prepared for a protracted battle. As for local officials like Zhu Wannian and Magistrate Hong, they also needed to maintain sufficient grain reserves to keep their areas peaceful, so none of them would be willing to allocate grain to Lu Zeyang to feed the refugees.

“Fortunately, we only took in over five hundred people. Otherwise, it would have been a real joke!” Lu Zeyang thought. The rebels were now pressing the city hard. If he had sheltered several thousand refugees in the four suburbs, he would have either had to fight to the death to protect them or watch them be slaughtered by the rebels, rendering all his efforts useless.

Lu Zeyang painfully realized that using Laizhou as a local refugee center was contingent on the siege being lifted. Otherwise, refugees would never come to a place where both sides were fighting. Besides, with the fighting in Laizhou so intense now, it wouldn’t matter even if he claimed there were mountains of rice and flour here.

But he was very unwilling to give up. He had already decided to trick Fan Shier’s conscripted labor team and their families into leaving with him. Fan Shier cooked excellent Jiaodong local cuisine, which satisfied his Laizhou stomach far better than the food from the Senate’s canteens in Lingao. Lu Zeyang was already planning to bring Fan Shier back as his private chef—he would have to make him sign an unbreakable contract…

While he was lost in these thoughts, Fan Shier and the others assumed he was devising a master plan and dared not make a sound.

Just then, a messenger came to report that Zhang Tao requested a meeting.

“Please!” Lu Zeyang said, standing up to greet him. Although Zhang Tao was a dismissed vice-general, he was still the commander of the south gate and a trusted subordinate of Sun Yuanhua. Whether from the perspective of the small-scale defense of Laizhou or the larger situation in the Jiaodong region, this man needed to be handled with care.

Although Zhang Tao had been stripped of his vice-general rank, a military official’s title was not particularly valuable in the first place. Since he was allowed to remain in his post, as long as he won a battle, there was a chance of reinstatement. In the frequent wars of the late Ming, military officers rose through the ranks quickly: Zuo Liangyu was just a minor, unranked officer in the early Chongzhen era, but in just over a decade, he became a regional warlord with over a hundred thousand troops. So, Zhang Tao was not worried about his future.

He knew from Sun Yuanhua that this time they had received strong support from the Deer Villa Master of Qimu Island. The fact that he and Sun Yuanhua were allowed to “remain in their posts to atone for their crimes” in Jiaodong was thanks to the Deer Villa Master’s secret maneuvering. Therefore, he was very polite to this “Militia Commander Lu,” who was connected to the Deer Villa Master.

Seeing such a high-ranking official arrive, Fan Shier had long since hidden himself in fear. Zhang Tao exchanged a few pleasantries with Militia Commander Lu, complimenting him on his “well-disciplined army.” Lu Zeyang responded with a few humble words. Seeing that the vice-general was speaking in polite formalities, he knew he was wary of others being present and immediately dismissed everyone else.

Only then did Zhang Tao speak. First, he expressed Sun Yuanhua’s gratitude to the “Deer Villa Master,” and then his own.

“…If not for the Deer Villa Master’s tireless efforts this time, let alone the court allowing us to atone for our crimes with meritorious service, I fear even our heads would not have been spared,” Zhang Tao said in a low voice. “Great kindness cannot be repaid with words. In the future, if there is any need for my assistance, I will do my utmost to repay this debt!”

Lu Zeyang quickly replied, “You exaggerate! You exaggerate!” He thought to himself that such fine words were usually a prelude to trouble. While having Sun Yuanhua, Zhang Tao, and their ilk remain in Jiaodong was greatly beneficial for future work, it also meant they would be increasingly drawn into the official power struggles of Shandong, which might not be entirely a good thing.

Sure enough, Zhang Tao’s next step was to convey Sun Yuanhua’s intentions. He hoped Lu Zeyang could speak to the Deer Villa Master and try to procure a batch of “Australian” guns and cannons.

Lu Zeyang was taken aback. This Sun Yuanhua was truly a “Westernization-faction” member of the Ming Dynasty. He was still a disgraced official, his newly trained army had been wiped out, and yet he was already thinking about acquiring foreign guns and cannons.

Although exporting weapons to various parties was a decided next step in their trade policy, the export of the Fubo Army’s own equipment was strictly forbidden. No matter how much the Senate supported Sun Yuanhua, they couldn’t sell him Minié rifles and Napoleonic cannons.

Weapons that could be sold were already under development, so this shouldn’t be a major problem. Especially the Nanyang-style rifle, which was a revolutionary weapon compared to the Ming’s current pathetic matchlocks and three-eyed guns. However, the Ming was such an excellent “transport captain” (i.e., they lost equipment to the enemy easily) that the Planning Commission was very worried that selling weapons to the Ming would ultimately affect the sales of weapons to the Manchus.

However, Sun Yuanhua was currently retained in his post as a disgraced official. It was still uncertain whether he could continue as the governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou. If he lost his army, he would lose the annual military budget of 800,000 taels. As a governor without local administrative power, where would he get the money?

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Lu Zeyang’s mind. Zhang Tao, a veteran of officialdom, could tell from Lu Zeyang’s expression what he was probably thinking—this was to be expected. He then said in a low voice, “Militia Commander Lu need not worry. Please just inform the Deer Villa Master that Governor Sun has already sent people to the capital. There is still much that can be done in Jiaodong in the future.”

Lu Zeyang nodded but wasn’t entirely convinced. In his view, Sun Yuanhua had already lost all his capital. If not for the Senate’s maneuvering, he would have been beheaded long ago. And now he was already thinking of a comeback.

But this was not his concern. Let the Executive Committee worry about it. He nodded and said, “I will certainly pass on the message!”

The two chatted for a while longer, discussing the future course of the war. Zhang Tao was quite worried. Since the rebels had set up camp outside the city on the third of the second month, they had been besieging it for over ten days. Although there had been a great victory at the south gate, the defenses at the other gates were under great pressure. Yang Yufan was a veteran general with his personal guards as a core force, and he felt he could still hold his gate. In contrast, Wang Daochun and Xu Congzhi mostly commanded local garrison soldiers and conscripted laborers from the city. Although they fought bravely, they lacked combat experience and suffered heavy casualties. They had only managed to maintain morale because Wang Daochun and Xu Congzhi personally braved the arrows and stones to direct the defense from the city walls.

As for the south gate, if not for Lu Zeyang’s victory, which had broken the rebels’ spirit, the Laizhou defense force under Zhang Tao’s command would have been utterly useless.

“Without reinforcements, I fear this city of Laizhou is in grave danger,” Zhang Tao said. “Who knows when Commander Huang’s reinforcements will arrive!”

“They will surely arrive in the next few days.” Lu Zeyang knew from history that Huang Long’s reinforcements should be arriving by sea in Laizhou within a few days. A thought suddenly struck him: since the reinforcements were coming by sea, it meant the ice at ports like Haimiao had already thawed. Otherwise, the reinforcements couldn’t land.

This meant the time had come to establish a pier at Hutouya in Laizhou. Once a fort was established at Hutouya, it could attract nearby refugees who dared not seek shelter in Laizhou.

But this would inevitably mean dividing his forces. It was impossible for Lu Zeyang to split his small force into two. The only option was to get men from Qimu Island—Lu Wenyuan and Zhu Mingxia had been raising troops locally and had already organized a sizable local militia. Using a small number of regular troops combined with the militia to set up a fort at Hutouya as a refugee transit point should not be difficult.

However, under the current circumstances, it was impossible to build another refugee camp at Hutouya. The only way was to have the ships wait for the people, filling one ship at a time and sending it off, like a minibus service.

After the rebels’ defeat at Qimu Island and their solid loss at the south gate of Laizhou, the mission of the northern detachment had temporarily become simpler: turn the area around Qimu Island into an impregnable fortress and ensure that Sun Yuanhua could hold Laizhou.

Zhu Mingxia didn’t want to provide too much protection to the surrounding areas, as that would mean Qimu Island would no longer be the only choice for refugees. Following the Executive Committee’s intentions, he created a map in the Ming style. This map marked where to attack and where to bypass on the Jiaodong Peninsula.

When he released the four hundred captured soldiers from Mao Chenglu’s unit, he called over a few of the leaders and ordered them to deliver a message to Kong Youde. He also gave them the map.

The message was simple: “We are all people with our own businesses. You carry on with your great rebellion, and I’ll defend my Qimu Island. It’s best we don’t interfere with each other and keep our distance.” The letter also specifically reminded Kong Youde to follow the map’s instructions and not attack the forbidden areas, otherwise, he would immediately capture Huang County and cut off the communication line to Laizhou.

Zhu Mingxia was confident that Kong Youde would obediently follow the letter’s demands and avoid the forbidden areas. This would have little impact on Kong Youde himself. Mao Chenglu’s remnants would surely have a lifelong memory of the Fubo Army’s firepower. The artillery had harvested batches of rebels in an instant; they didn’t even have a chance to fire their own cannons. As long as Kong Youde wasn’t an idiot, he would consider accepting the terms of the letter. The letter also subtly conveyed another important message to Kong Youde—that the Australians were open to negotiation and not implacable enemies.

Lu Wenyuan was skeptical about whether Kong Youde would accept the suggestion and asked what they would do if he ignored the threat in the letter. Zhu Mingxia made a crushing gesture in the air and said, “Then we’ll crush his balls.”

After the captured Liaodong soldiers were released and sent back to Dengzhou, there was no news for a long time. It was only after Lu Zeyang’s great victory at the south gate that a reply came from Dengzhou. They brought a letter from Kong Youde. After reading it, Zhu Mingxia smiled, tossed the letter to Lu Wenyuan, and told him to read it too. Lu Wenyuan was shocked after reading it.

“Kong Youde wants to form an alliance with us?”

“That’s right. In Kong Youde’s eyes, we have few men but excellent firearms. Their weapons are poor, but they have numbers. If the two combine, they can carve out a territory and become a regional hegemon.”

“Do we accept or refuse?” Lu Wenyuan quickly assessed the potential benefits and drawbacks of this proposal.

“Of course, we refuse outright,” Zhu Mingxia said.