Chapter Sixteen: Seeking Benefits

  The Zhu Yin ship arrived in Dengzhou seven days later, and Chen Xin and Song Wenxian paid their respects to Sun Guozhen. Sun Guozhen indeed looked haggard, but he still gave Song Wenxian a letter written for the commander of Weihaiwei, instructing him to take good care of Chen Xin.

  It is estimated that Chen Xinyi's reputation has not yet reached Dengzhou, and Sun Guozhen does not know how hard he worked in the anti-Chongzhen party. However, even if he knew, he would not dare to give Chen Xinyi a hard time now. Wei Zhongxian had already hanged himself, and the eunuch parties in various places have retreated and are behaving themselves, tucking their tails between their legs.

  Chen Xing was still very respectful to him, but Chongzhen trusted Wei Zhongxian quickly, and the handling of the rebellion case was slow. Sun Guoding had not been convicted for a day, so he was still the governor of Dengzhou, so what should be done now is still what should be done.

  Zhong Dao-tai also wrote a letter to the commander of Weihaiwei, he was not very clear about the situation in Beijing, and he was slightly worried that the eunuchs would fall from power. Recently, he had also planned to send someone to Beijing to make inquiries, so it was even more likely that they would use silver at this time, therefore he was very polite to Chen Xin.

  Chen Xin suggested leaving his wife in Dengzhou, and Zhong Daotai was even more pleased, saying he would send a servant to help take care of her. Zhong Daotai wanted to send someone to keep an eye on her, but Chen Xin had already anticipated this, saying they would first put her up at Song Wenxian's house, and after Song Wenxian helped buy a suitable residence, then they could trouble Zhong Daotai to send over a servant.

  Chen Xin finished talking about Xiao Jia Hua's affairs and considered it a handover of the hostage, then asked Zhong Dao Tai for some military supplies.

  Zhong Dao Tai asked, "I don't know what kind of military equipment Commander Chen wants. If it's cannons and the like, there's no need to even mention it - neither the Navy nor the Dongjiang Garrison have enough to spare. Those three small red Western-style cannons on your ship, if I hadn't intervened, someone would still be trying to take control of them."

  "This humble official knows, this humble official wants some swords and guns and gunpowder."

  Zhong Dao-tai let out a sigh of relief. Hai Fang-dao was in charge of the armory, and these things were all he had to worry about. "What does Chen Qian-hu want?"

  Chen Xin handed over a list, and Zhong Dao read it while reciting, "Two hundred fat coats, two hundred nets boots, thirty long knives, thirty long guns, thirty rattan shields, thirty waist knives, thirty iron whips, twenty bows, five thousand arrows, iron armor..."

  Zhong Dao-tai looked up at Chen Xin after finishing reading and said, "The bow and arrow are going to Weihaiwei, there is no iron armor, I'll give you ten quilted armors, the fat jacket and net boots are not available, everything else can be given to you." Chen Xin was just casting a wide net, catching as many fish as he could, Zhong Dao-tai handed the list to a personal soldier behind him, instructing the soldier to go to the armory to retrieve the items and send them to the Fushun ship. This time, Chen Xin also planned to set sail with the Fushun ship, anyway, he had hostages now, so Zhong Dao-tai didn't bother with it.

  After arranging this matter, Zhong Daotai was unwilling to talk with Chen Xin again and sent him off with tea. Chen Xin and Song Wenxian took Xiao Jia Hua to Song Wenxian's home. Xiao Jia Hua was dazed and asked about the new house all along the way. Song Wenxian was very resistant to this young lady living in his own home, but Chen Xin repeatedly requested, saying that he had no time to buy a yard. Song Wenxian could only pinch his nose and agree, hoping to help Chen Xin buy a good yard soon and send away this lady.

  After arriving at Song Wenxian's home, Song Wenxian called his wife and children to meet Chen Xin one by one. Chen Xin had a wife, two concubines, and four children, with the eldest son already sixteen years old. On his first visit to the Song family, Chen Xin gave each child two taels of silver. The Song family's house was a two-story courtyard, and Xiao Jia Hua was arranged in the third wing room on the west side of the second floor. Everyone was very satisfied, except for Xiao Jia Hua, who kept complaining that she hadn't been given a room in the main building.

  The two men planned to leave in the afternoon, and Scar had already gone to gather a few sailors nearby to get the Fuku ship moving. After lunch at Song's house, they left and Song Wenxian led the way east into an alley, arriving at a courtyard door, which he knocked open, revealing Wang Yong standing before them, with Chen Xin following behind Song Wenxian into the courtyard.

  After Wang Yong closed the door, his face sank and he said to Song Wenxian: "Mr. Song, Mr. Chen, you instructed me to pay attention to Han Bin, and indeed something is not quite right with him. After returning last time, he has been drinking and gambling every day, losing at least a thousand taels of silver in the past few months. Every night, he goes to the Meng Chun Brothel to visit prostitutes."

  Song Wenxian and others have always been worried about Han Bin, who is in Dengzhou and is clear about the Zhu Yin ship. If he goes to Haifeng Island and talks nonsense, it will cause a lot of trouble. He may even split more shares to gain control of the sea trade. Now that both big men are using silver, if they find out that Han Bin has robbed the Zhu Yin ship, they might come to extort him. Looking at Han Bin's current state, he doesn't seem like someone who wants to retire from the world, but rather like a time bomb waiting to go off.

  Song Wenxian said in a low voice: "It's really hard to say what this person will be like. Has he ever said anything about what he wants to do?"

  Wang Yong recalled: "But I haven't heard of it."

  Song Wenxian and Chen Xin exchanged a glance, after all, this person has been on the ship for many years, now it's just eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, if he is killed, it seems unreasonable. Song Wenxian turned his head and said: "Wang Yong, you keep an eye on him every day, if there is any unusual movement, quickly inform me, if I am not here, go to Weihai to find Chen Qianhu."

  "I understand."

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  Song Wenxian and Chen Xin returned to Shuicheng together, called up three teams of trackers and boarded the Fuship. The scar-faced man brought over Wang Zugui and several others, who were delighted to see Chen Xin, having shared life-and-death experiences together, their feelings were naturally different.

  Zhong Dao-tai's personal soldiers soon brought Chen Xinyou the cold weapons he wanted. Thirty long knives, ten flagpoles, thirty long spears, thirty round shields, thirty waist knives, thirty iron clubs, thirty clasp knife sticks, ten iron-pointed flat shovels, ten beheading knives, five large axes, ten cotton armors, three hundred catties of gunpowder, two thousand catties of raw iron. Except for the rattan shield being replaced with a round shield, everything else was according to Chen Xinyou's requirements. Chen Xinyou had no confidence in the Ming army's firearms, and originally there were seven or eight bird guns on the Fuchuan ships, plus Tang Zuoxiang said he could manufacture fire lances, so he simply didn't want any firearms at all.

  Zhu Guobin arranged for three teams of sailors to hoist the sails, requiring them to finish within a minute. Following Chen Xin's instructions, he didn't guide them and let them figure it out themselves. The three teams gathered together to discuss for half a day, trying several times. Two teams finally managed to hoist the sails, while one team failed and was collectively punished with 100 push-ups. Chen Xin noticed that there were already one or two people among them who could take charge. After the sails were hoisted, everyone didn't delay, and the Fu ship and Zhu Yin ship successively exited the water gate, entered the Bohai Sea, and headed towards Weihaiwei.

  Zhu Guobin asked Chen Xin beside him: "Sir, shall we appoint a captain to lead the way?"

  Chen Xinyan shook her head, "It's not time yet, I have my own arrangements in Weihai."

  Zhu Guobin knew that Chen Xin had made up his mind and no longer tried to persuade him. Seeing the regular army weapons on the deck, he was itching with impatience and hastily picked a team of people, issuing them arms. The dockworkers had never held arms before and curiously examined them in their hands.

  "Sir, we didn't bring wolf forks. What about using knives instead for the two empty spots?" Zhu Guobin, who had some knowledge of the Mandarin Duck Formation, came over to discuss with Chen Xin.

  Chen Xin wielded a long knife, this was a real long knife, the blade length exceeded five feet (1.6 meters), adding a guard and handle made it over two meters long, the blade wasn't wide, looking like an extended Gujia knife, weighing two kilograms eight taels. "The hilt isn't for cavalry use, we don't have horse heads to strike, temporarily not needed, the wolf's fang is also unwanted, too big and too long, inconvenient, let's exchange it for a long spear, we're going to Weihai, there are many mountains around, temporarily the long spear and long knife are more useful." He said, handing the long knife over to Zhu Guobin.

  Zhu Guobin took the knife and made a few familiar gestures, with a lot of murderous intent. Qi Jiguang modified the Mandarin Duck Formation after he went to Ji Town to train soldiers, and there were many changes, so the "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" and "Lian Bing Shi Ji" that Chen Xing saw were different. Qi Jiguang finally completely separated the cold and hot weapons, using them in coordination during battles, similar to the infantry formation ideas of European contemporaries. Those who used cold weapons were called killers, adopting the Mandarin Duck Formation, canceling the gun sticks, long knives, and bird guns in the southern Mandarin Duck Formation. Added large sticks and long spears, because the north did not produce bamboo, so wolf forks sometimes replaced with long spears, large sticks and long spears were all to better restrain the northern nomadic cavalry, long spears were far away, large sticks were used to hit horse heads and faces, or deal with heavily armored enemies. The large sticks used by the cavalry were not convenient for double-handed swings, so a knife blade was added in front, which is now the clipper pole on the boat. Chen Xing thought it could be tried, so he also got some.

  Chen Xin is currently heading to Weihai, which is mainly mountainous. Chen Xin inquired with Zhong Dao today and found out that there are many mountain bandits and thieves around Weihai. These people have only a small number of horses, let alone heavy armor; they may not even wear decent clothes. Therefore, long knives would be more intimidating.

  Zhu Guobin arranged the first team of soldiers on the deck, with two round shield soldiers in the first row, each equipped with a waist knife and a round shield. The second row consisted of two long spear soldiers, the third row also had two long spear soldiers, the fourth row had two halberdiers, and finally two long swordsmen. Zhu Guobin was just trying it out for now, as the squad leader and the platoon commander were not yet settled, so they couldn't determine a formal formation.

  The team leader is usually equipped with a flag gun and a waist knife, and has one fire soldier. The fire soldier belongs to the cooking and miscellaneous group, and every combat soldier can call him at will. Chen Xin is quite entangled in this fire soldier role. The fire soldier uses an iron-tipped flat fork, which can carry more supplies and reduce the physical consumption of the main combat soldiers. However, Chen Xin thinks that if it's close-range inner line combat, you can completely do without this fire soldier. If it's outer line combat, one fire soldier can't carry much supplies anyway, seemingly wasting a soldier.

  Chen Xin initially helped Zhou Shao'er carry the iron pot, not only to win people's hearts but also to cultivate friendship among soldiers and officers in the army. The existence of this fire soldier role made there a second-rate person in the team, which went against his own ideas. However, after thinking about it, Qi Ye had fought for decades and set up the formation, so he reluctantly kept this half-baked idea.

  "Zhou Shifa, what formation did Qian Fugui use before?" Chen Xin asked Zhou Shifa beside him, seeking some opinions. This man had been a house servant and had also beheaded people. Chen Xin brought him along as a bodyguard. In addition, he selected a relatively strong one from the porters, named Nie Hong, and added Haigouzai and Zhang Dahui, making a total of four personal soldiers.

  "Sir, Vice General Qian's troops are over three thousand, but half of them are empty names on the payroll. He has also hired over three hundred personal bodyguards, most of whom have horses. However, they don't follow any standard military organization or equipment, and just use whatever weapons they're used to using. As for the remaining half of the troops, their monthly pay is also deducted, barely enough for them to get by. If we were to go into battle, it would be up to us bodyguards."

  Chen Xing curiously asked: "That last time when you were summoned to Shanhai Pass, how did Vice General Qian manage to gather all of you?"

  "Just grab some beggars and vagrants on the road, or find some local thugs before departure, and count them in when we arrive. In the past, Deng Ke Mountain also came to make up for the numbers twice."

  "Hmm." Chen Xin nodded, it would be strange if such a team could beat Jian Nu. At present, the formation of this Mandarin duck array lacks long-range firepower, he planned to turn Zhu Guobin's entire team into musketeers. In his own team, only Zhu Guobin and Zhou Shifa could shoot arrows. Training an archer takes at least half a year, and it takes two or three years to become proficient. Moreover, height, arm length, and strength are all required. He didn't have the energy to train them, so musketeers were necessary. As soon as they arrived in Weihai, he would let the craftsmen start making muskets.

  Chen Xin's most important opponent in his heart was Hou Jin. These Tartars were almost renowned in the Ming Dynasty, and just their reputation could scare off half of them. Seeing their braids would scare off another half. He remembered that Zhu Guobin came from Liaodong and turned to ask him.

  "Guo Bin, what kind of soldier were you in Liaodong before? Have you seen the Tatars fight?" Chen Xin asked about Zhu Guobin's background for the first time. Zhu Guobin was obviously a former professional soldier and could read and write. Previously on the sea ship, everyone's backgrounds were unclear, so it wasn't easy to ask. Now that Zhu Guobin was willing to be his subordinate, he could naturally ask him questions.

  "Sir, I participated in the Liaoshen Campaign. At that time, I was a night watchman and my unit was only over ten miles away from the Zhejiang Army. I went to the area near the Hun River battlefield. When I arrived, the Sichuan Army had already retreated back to the north bank."

  Chen Xindong's expression changed as he asked: "Guo Bin actually witnessed the Battle of Hun River. What was it like at that time?"

  Zhu Guobin's expression turned nostalgic: "The Tartar army was well-disciplined, their soldiers were fierce and fearless. At the time, the Zhejiang troops' gunfire shook the sky, but the Tartars used their cavalry to lure them into shooting, exhausting their ammunition. Then, the Jinzhou troops attacked from all sides, with arrows flying like locusts. During the charge, the heavily armored long spears were at the front, while the lightly armored short spears were at the back. The commanders and white-armored soldiers pressed forward in formation, with strict orders and not a single soldier retreating. After breaking through the enemy lines, the Zhejiang and Sichuan troops continued to fight to the death. Their tenacity in battle was unmatched, even by the Tartars. They were the best Ming dynasty army I've ever seen... every time I think about it, I feel guilty for not being able to do more for them."

  Zhu Guobin stopped talking, Chen Xin had some understanding of the Battle of Hun River, because the Ming court deliberately publicized it, and it was widely spread among the people. He just didn't expect to have a witness by his side. Chen Xin listened to this bystander's account, feeling heavy in his heart. Before the Liaoshen Campaign, who could have imagined that Shenyang would not be able to hold out for even one day? The Zhejiang army and the Stone Pillar army were the elite troops of the Ming dynasty, famous outside, yet they were completely annihilated, dealing a huge blow to the morale of the Ming army. The combat effectiveness of the Jian Nu army was indeed formidable during its rising period.

  Chen Xin asked curiously: "What happened later? How did Guo Bin escape?"

  "The Zhejiang and Sichuan armies were defeated, everyone was scared out of their wits, the officers led the way in fleeing, the troops under them scattered, although I had the heart to fight the enemy, but didn't want to die for nothing, so I seized two horses and returned to my hometown in southern Liaoning. When I got back, my family had all fled, after searching for some time, I couldn't find them anywhere. Unexpectedly, the various fortresses surrendered quickly to the Jin slaves. I thought of going to western Liaoning but it was already impassable, so I made a wooden raft with a few people and set out to sea, planning to go to Dengzhou. Halfway through, a big storm came up, the wooden raft broke apart, everyone else died at sea, I hugged a piece of wood and was rescued by Zhao Dong's family, then... you know what happened next."

  Chen Xindian nodded, every Liaodong person who escaped, behind each one is a history of blood and tears. Countless people did not want to be slaves and drifted out to sea, countless people died at sea, and more than 20,000 righteous civilians who escaped to the Yalu River and refused to be slaves jumped into the river and died.

  Zhu Guobin sighed at last: "I don't know what happened to my family later, whether they ran away or not."

  "Don't worry, we'll always have a day to fight back."

  Zhu Guobin gazed out at the direction of Liaodong in the north, a determined look on his face: "Of course, Jian Nu has only tens of thousands of troops, although our Great Ming is currently at a disadvantage, there will come a day when we can destroy them."

  Chen Xinzhen let out a long sigh, at this time probably no one would think that Jian Nu could dominate the Central Plains, because Hou Jin had always behaved more like an organized group of horse thieves, and in fact it was indeed so, if the Great Ming had not been exhausted by internal strife, these barbarians would not have had the opportunity.

  Chen Xin led a few people to practice weapons and formations on the deck in the following days, while training the three small teams of soldiers. On the fifth day, in the afternoon, the two ships passed by Liugong Island and arrived at Weihaiwei City.