Chapter 130: On the Yalu River

As for which part of the Dongjiang army would rebel, in the view of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, there were many suitable candidates, and the most suitable was Shang Kexi, one of the “Three Vassals.”

Although Shang Kexi was ranked among the Three Vassals along with Kong Youde and Geng Jingzhong, they had little connection other than coming from Dongjiang. Shang Kexi inherited his father’s position. His father was once a guerrilla commander under Mao Wenlong. After his death in battle, Shang Kexi inherited his troops and was promoted to deputy general, stationed on Guanglu Island. In terms of factional alignment, he was considered to be in Huang Long’s camp. Historically, when Kong Youde and others fled to the Liaodong Sea, Huang Long intercepted the rebels, and Shang Kexi also contributed a lot.

When the Manchu Qing broke through Lüshun, hundreds of Shang Kexi’s family members were killed. Logically speaking, he had a blood feud with the Manchu Qing, but he took the initiative to cross the sea and surrender to the Qing in the second year after Kong Youde’s surrender. Although historical records say that the main factor that caused him to surrender to the Qing was the attempt by his successor as the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang, Shen Shikui, to lure and kill him, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau believes that his surrender to the Qing was the outbreak of long-term dissatisfaction. And after he surrendered to the Qing, several other Dongjiang generals also surrendered, which shows that the dissatisfaction of Dongjiang with the court had reached a tipping point. From this point of view, it did not require much assistance for the main generals of Dongjiang to surrender to the Qing; it was only necessary to follow the trend.

The Foreign Intelligence Bureau decided to start with the discord between Shen Shikui and Shang Kexi.

For the several Yuanlao on the Haitian, who would surrender to the Manchu Qing was the work of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, and they had another important task to perform.

The Haitian gradually approached the mouth of the Yalu River. According to the map, they were already in the Dadonggou sea area at the mouth of the Yalu River, which was about fifty kilometers away from Zhenjiang Fortress.

Although Mao Shisan claimed to be a military household of Zhenjiang Fortress, the real Zhenjiang Fortress was never under the jurisdiction of Dongjiang Town. Zhenjiang Fortress was only briefly recaptured after Mao Wenlong’s great victory, and it was retaken by the Later Jin in less than ten days. Since then, although Dongjiang had been entrenched in Korean territory and repeatedly crossed the river to harass, it had never recaptured Zhenjiang Fortress.

On the Yalu River in 1633, after the Dingmao invasion and the execution of Mao Wenlong, the garrisons and farming households of Dongjiang Town had virtually ceased to exist. Military households like Mao Shisan of Zhenjiang Fortress were all stationed on the islands at the mouth of the Yalu River.

“Lower the navigation boat, full ship on first-level alert!”

With this order, the Haitian lowered a small boat and then slowly entered the Yalu River at a speed of three knots under the guidance of the small boat. The lower reaches of the Yalu River had good navigation capabilities. In 1910, a 1000-ton ship could still sail directly to the coast of Sinuiju. The Haitian, with a full-load displacement of only a few hundred tons, would have no problem sailing to the river surface of Zhenjiang Fortress as long as it proceeded with caution.

The river was wide, but the siltation was quite serious, and there were many large and small islands distributed on the river surface. Most of these islands were once the garrisons and farming fields of the Dongjiang Army. During Nurhaci’s time, the Later Jin had launched several sweeping operations to drive out the garrison soldiers and burn the crops. Now these islands have become completely uninhabited, with only abandoned fields and dilapidated houses.

The two banks of the Yalu River were also a scene of devastation. In the past, there had been a fairly dense population and large areas of cultivated land here.

Due to Dongjiang’s harassment tactics, the Later Jin had moved all the residents along the coast of Zhenjiang Fortress inland. Therefore, except for the vicinity of a few Later Jin garrisons, this place had become deserted. It had become purely a military garrison area. As for Sinuiju in Korea on the opposite bank, it had also been plundered and emptied by the Manchu Qing during the Dingmao invasion and had become a lifeless place.

The Haitian was soon discovered by the various Later Jin fortresses on the shore after entering the mouth of the Yalu River. Black smoke began to rise from the beacon towers. Xue Ziliang could see people and horses moving around the fortresses through his binoculars.

Zhenjiang Fortress soon appeared in sight. The history of Zhenjiang City is very long. It is the old site of Laiyuan City in the Liao Dynasty, the seat of Posu Prefecture in the Jin Dynasty, and the seat of Posuo Prefecture in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, it was called Jiuliancheng because its old site had “nine surrounding camps.” In the 24th year of the Wanli reign (1596), in order to strengthen the border defense of Liaodong, the Ming court “newly built a city on the old site of Jiulian.” In October of the same year, the Changdian defense commander was changed to a guerrilla commander and moved to this city, to coordinate with the Kuandian staff officer’s camp. Because the purpose of building this city was to guard the eastern fortress and protect the safety of the river and sea, it was named “Zhenjiang” (Suppressing the River).

It is backed by Zhendong Mountain to the north, borders the Hengdao River to the west, is separated by the right branch of the Ai River to the south, and is adjacent to the Yalu River to the west, with Uiju in Korea on the opposite bank. Its strategic position is very important. It is not only a transportation hub between the Ming and Korea, but also a strategically important support point for the defense of Liaodong, protecting the four guards (Jin, Fu, Hai, Gai) to the south and looking after Korea to the east.

Looking through the binoculars, the scale of Zhenjiang Fortress was quite impressive. The whole city was square with a perimeter of 1040 meters. All defense facilities were complete, and the watchtowers were heavily guarded. After the Later Jin drove out the Dongjiang Army and reoccupied this place, they stationed 300 Manchu soldiers and 1000 Mongol soldiers in Zhenjiang, with 4 Manchu and Mongol officials each, which could be called a heavy defense. As soon as the Haitian appeared, the four gates here were closed, and they were on high alert.

That night, the Haitian docked and anchored on a deserted island in the middle of the river opposite Zhenjiang Fortress.

According to the map, the island should be Dazhi Island in Korea. For safety, the marines went ashore to search. There were no people on the island, but there were traces of cultivation, so the Dongjiang Army had probably farmed here before.

The island was littered with white bones, especially on the river beach facing Uiju in Korea, where the white bones almost covered the beach. In August 1624, the Later Jin launched a surprise attack on the Ming army who were farming and harvesting grain on the island. The Ming soldiers were terrified and fled in panic. More than 500 were beheaded, and the rest of the Ming army scrambled for boats to cross the river, and most of them drowned. The bones all over the ground were left by the Dongjiang army and people at that time.

“How tragic,” Huang Hua said, standing on the desolate river beach. He seemed to be lost in some kind of deep thought.

“We’re finally going to deal with the wild boar skins,” Wang Ruixiang patted Huang Hua on the shoulder and said meaningfully, “You know what they are. It’s up to you now.”

Huang Hua took a deep breath, “No problem. I’m a businessman.”

Considering that the garrison and defense officials of Zhenjiang Fortress would inevitably take action the next day, whether it was to fight or send an envoy, the ultimate purpose of the Haitian’s visit was to land Huang Hua and establish contact with the Later Jin. Therefore, Huang Hua had to be prepared to land the next day.

The gifts and trade samples prepared for Huang Taiji and others were all stored in the cabin. The most eye-catching among them was a gorgeously decorated Western-style two-handed heavy sword.

“It’s a really good sword. I just don’t know if Huang Taiji can appreciate it. It’s like casting pearls before swine,” Wang Ruixiang couldn’t help but draw the sword. “I hope this deal is worth it…”

The sword itself was not unusual. It was just made of tool steel and cold-forged with machinery. However, its shape and decoration were extremely luxurious. Not only were the hilt, guard, and scabbard inlaid with gold and silver, but even the blade itself was inlaid with various decorations. These were all made by the skilled craftsmen of the Zimingzhai.

Originally, some Yuanlao wanted to put some radioactive luminescent material on this “Sword of the King” to make Huang Taiji die sooner, but considering that radioactive elements were not easy to process, it was not cost-effective to set up a special production line for such a sword. If something went wrong, they would be the first to go.

“How can Huang Taiji hold this thing?” Huang Hua couldn’t help but ask. He was a little worried about whether his gift would suit the customer’s taste.

Wang Ruixiang said nonchalantly, “He doesn’t need to hold it himself. He can just have his attendants carry it.”

“I don’t think he’ll like it…”

“Hehe, this sword is just a foot in the door. Once you present the samples you brought, he will definitely treat you as an honored guest, and maybe even give you a hug of greeting,” Wang Ruixiang said.

The trade goods prepared for the Manchu Qing took a lot of thought. The economic situation of the Manchu Qing was very difficult. The domestic production level was low, and they were in a long-term state of material shortage. Prices were soaring, and apart from ginseng and fur, they could hardly produce any major trade goods. And these things were of little significance to the Yuanlao Senate, except as re-export trade goods.

As for the horses, various metals, and population that the Yuanlao Senate most urgently needed, although the Manchu Qing had the ability to supply them, they were after all strategic materials that the Manchu Qing itself also needed.

Due to the material shortage and lack of sufficient means of payment, Huang Taiji had always been very strict with import and export trade. Goods that were not related to people’s livelihood and national use were basically prohibited from being imported. The tobacco that the commercial department had considered before was just one example.

As for the luxury goods and consumer goods for the upper class of the Eight Banners, the demand could be roughly met by plunder and a small amount of imports. It was obviously difficult for the Yuanlao Senate to sell them in large quantities.

For the Manchu Qing, the goods they needed to import most were grain, followed by iron products and cloth. And these goods, the Yuanlao Senate itself also had a great demand for, and some even had to be imported in large quantities.

After many discussions between the Planning Institute, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, the final decision on export goods was mainly cloth, paper, and salt, with the addition of tea, strong liquor, and finished medicines tailored to the characteristics of the Later Jin.

In addition, after discussion, the Yuanlao believed that in view of the extremely conservative foreign trade of the Manchu Qing, in order to make the Manchu Qing relent and be willing to sell its own urgently needed materials, they must come up with something genuine to impress its high-level officials.

Therefore, in the product catalog to be presented to Huang Taiji, the last column “weapons” listed goods that they could not refuse. Some of these goods were appearing in the export product catalog for the first time.

The weapons to be exported to the Manchu Qing, after repeated deliberation, in addition to the bows and arrows produced on Jeju Island, also included armor made in Lingao.

Because the Eight Banners had few people but strong combat effectiveness, the Manchu Qing attached great importance to the protection of soldiers. All Eight Banners soldiers wore heavy armor, and some even wore double armor. It was much better than the inferior iron armor equipped by the Ming soldiers. There were many examples of them being hit by more than a dozen arrows in battle without being harmed. They even had considerable protection when facing the inferior light firearms of the Ming army.