Chapter 42: Pushing the Plot

“Once Zheng Sen returns to them, although he himself has no power, he is a banner that can be used to rally support. Moreover, he is a child who is easily manipulated. There will certainly be ambitious men who will support him. At that time, the situation of the entire Zheng clan will not be as simple as a Three Kingdoms period in Zhangzhou Bay, but more like the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods,” Jiang Shan analyzed.

“He’s just an eight-year-old child. Is it necessary to make things so complicated?” Wen Desi voiced his objection at the meeting. “Do we need to be so tender with the natives?”

Jiang Shan replied in a respectful yet dignified tone, “Letting Zheng Sen go will throw the enemy into chaos. Keeping him in our hands will throw ourselves into chaos.”

“There are quite a few ‘bleeding hearts’…” Director Wen commented, but he did not object further.

The order to release Zheng Sen had just been transmitted to Kinmen Island. Xu Ke, as the frontline head of intelligence and political security, was also in full support of letting Zheng Sen go. Like many other Transmigrators, he felt that killing an eight-year-old child was simply unjustifiable.

However, Xu Ke believed that the release should not be a simple one. Otherwise, the Zheng clan, the Ming dynasty, and the various coastal powers would see it as a sign of weakness, a sign that the Senate was afraid of the Zheng clan. Therefore, the release had to be conditional, for example, by collecting a ransom. This was the planned course of action for the other captured family members.

Now that someone was willing to risk their life to rescue him, it was even better. It saved them the trouble of demanding a ransom. They might as well go with the flow and let them escape.

Xu Ke decided to give them a little help. Whether they could escape or not would depend on their luck and ability. If the escape failed, then the “problem” would be solved in a logical way, and no one would have anything to say.

As he was contemplating this, someone brought him a summary report of the dead, wounded, and captured Zheng clan members of mid-to-high level. The General Staff currently required solid evidence for the death records of important enemy figures, preferably a body or a head that could be identified, or at least cross-referenced oral testimony from multiple sources on both sides.

According to this policy, they had already compiled a list of mid-to-high-level personnel of the Zheng clan killed in Operation Overlord. At the top of the long list of the slain was Zheng Zhilong’s brother, Zheng Zhihu. This renowned “bravest warrior” of the Zheng army, known for his “dragon’s wisdom and tiger’s courage,” had fought to the last moment in the defense of Kinmen Island. Even after his personal guards and household retainers were all killed or had fled, and he himself was wounded by gunfire, he refused to retreat and was finally killed by the bayonets of the swarming marines.

Below Zheng Zhihu on the list was Zheng Zhilong’s clan cousin, Zheng Zhipeng, who was killed in the fire ship battle. Besides these two, several other less famous members of the “Eighteen Shiba” were also on the list.

After them was a list of the main Zheng army commanders, many of whose names were familiar to Xu Ke. In the original timeline, some of them had later surrendered to the Qing and turned their swords against their former comrades. Others had followed Zheng Chenggong north to Nanjing and west to Taiwan, either dying in battle or passing away with regret… Behind each name was a story that could be written about at length by a historian.

Now, all of that would no longer exist. They had become just a cold string of names on a battle report. Xu Ke couldn’t help but sigh.

As for Zheng Zhilong himself, there was still no conclusive evidence to prove his life or death.

However, Zhang Tumu, who had arrived from Kaohsiung yesterday, had already exhumed the headless body and taken fingerprints. Xu Ke had also sent men to Zheng Zhilong’s residences in Anping and Zhongzuosuo to try to lift fingerprints from his personal belongings for comparison.

It wouldn’t be long before the identity of the mysterious headless body was known. Xu Ke was ninety-nine percent sure that it was Zheng Zhilong.

He looked at the timetable on his desk. A full week had passed since D-Day. The “special search” operations in Anping, Big and Little Kinmen, and Xiamen Island were also nearing their end. The captured gold, silver, and valuables had all been shipped out. By interrogating prisoners and offering rewards for informants, the Planning Commission’s special search teams had uncovered dozens of hidden treasure caches in Anping and other places, seizing over 170,000 taels of gold and silver and 100,000 strings of cash.

A few days ago, an engineering unit with metal detectors had been sent from Lingao to specifically scan the residences and offices of important Zheng clan members in Anping and other locations for any more hidden caches.

The search operation had now moved on to bulk goods. The Planning Commission’s special search teams, with a spirit of “nothing in the world should be wasted,” began a large-scale search and transport of less valuable bulk goods. Even the dilapidated boats abandoned in the harbor were not spared. They were all given minor repairs and then towed away in convoys. These boats were all taken to Hong Kong to be dismantled and used as materials for new ships.

Starting next week, the expeditionary force of Operation Overlord would begin to gradually withdraw. Within a week, all prisoners and local civilians would be transported to Kaohsiung for resettlement. Before then, they had to arrange for Zheng Sen’s escape.

He considered for a moment, then rang the bell for his orderly and had him summon the naturalized cadre responsible for the informants in the officer POW camp and the labor camp to receive his orders.

“Young Master.”

“Call me Fukumatsu,” Zheng Sen corrected, stopping Tōtarō’s address. “Speak quickly,” he whispered.

“Yes!” Tōtarō nodded excitedly. He had heard rumors that the Kunzei were about to leave and that they would take all the prisoners with them before they left. Tōtarō decided that there was no time to lose and that the rescue should be launched immediately.

He had originally planned to use a “switch” tactic, but had to abandon it because he couldn’t find a reliable boy in such a short time. After discussing it with a few Japanese mercenaries, they decided to act immediately and use a combined internal and external approach to break out.

They had observed the perimeter of the “A” section beforehand. The camp was enclosed by two fences. The outer one was a bamboo fence made of sharpened bamboo poles, and the inner one was a barbed wire fence.

The bamboo fence was easy to break. They had hidden sharp blades, and Honda was also a master swordsman, so cutting through the bamboo fence was not a problem. The difficulty was the inner wire fence. Not only was it covered in barbs, but it also had bells attached that would ring at the slightest disturbance. However, they soon found a way to overcome this. Wang Dachui suggested digging a trench under the wire fence and crawling through.

But this seemingly simple plan had an insurmountable obstacle: there were sentries patrolling between the two fences. A two-man patrol walked the path between the fences. No matter where they started digging, they wouldn’t have enough time to dig the trench, get the person out, and then fill it back up before the patrol came around again. And if they didn’t fill it up, the sentries would immediately discover it, and their escape would be impossible.

They also considered killing the sentries, but there were several watchtowers around the “A” section. Although they were very simple, the sentries on top had a clear view of everything below, making it difficult to avoid detection.

No matter how they planned it, they could not be sure they could get Fukumatsu out without a sound.

Just as they were at their wits’ end, things suddenly took a turn. Ning Liujin, who had been coerced into participating in this operation, said that he had found a suitable boy in the labor camp who was willing to act as a substitute for the young master and switch places with him in the “A” section, but he wanted fifty taels of silver for his parents.

“What do his parents do?”

“They’re just local people on the island. His father is sick and can’t work,” Ning Liujin stammered, his words tumbling out. “They just had another baby, so there are many mouths to feed. That’s why he came to the labor camp to work. I saw him looking sad all the time, and he works very hard. He’s probably short on money…”

He then gave the boy’s name, but Tōtarō and his men had no impression of him. There were many people in the labor camp, from various backgrounds. Some were not from the POW camp but were local people who had been hired to work for money.

“This is a matter of life and death. Is he willing?” Wang Dachui asked, toying with the wakizashi in his hand. “Are you trying to trick us, boy?”

“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare…” Ning Liujin’s face turned pale. “If it’s not possible, then forget it…”

“Tell me,” Tōtarō said, stopping Wang Dachui. “Why is he willing?”

“My lord, this is trading a life for fifty taels of silver,” Ning Liujin said with a bitter smile. “Why wouldn’t he be willing? If he dies, his whole family can live. Besides, he might not necessarily die.”

Tōtarō pondered for a moment, then suddenly drew his wakizashi and lunged, stabbing past Ning Liujin’s ribs. Ning Liujin let out a sharp cry, and a foul smell filled the air as he lost control of his bowels.

However, the tip of the blade had not pierced his body, only his clothes, grazing his skin as it passed through. Although it was a close call, not a single hair on Ning Liujin was harmed.

Ning Liujin collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably, unable to speak a word.

“Did you report us to the Kunzei?”

“No… no… I wouldn’t dare…” Ning Liujin kowtowed repeatedly.

“Bring that boy to me tonight,” Tōtarō said. “I want to question him myself.”

That night, Ning Liujin did indeed bring the boy. Tōtarō saw that his height and build were similar to Fukumatsu’s, but his skin was dark and rough, clearly from a poor family. Fortunately, the switch would happen at night, so this difference should be able to fool the sentries.

When asked his age, he was much older than Fukumatsu, already eleven. He did indeed speak with a local accent. Tōtarō was half-convinced by Ning Liujin’s words. He questioned the boy repeatedly, using both threats and deception, but the boy’s story remained the same as what Ning Liujin had said.

Tōtarō was still suspicious. He called Honda over to discuss whether it was a trap.

Honda’s answer was simple: “If Ning Liujin had reported us, we and young master Fukumatsu would already be finished. Since we are not, we might as well take the gamble.”