Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 352 Don't be afraid, technical adjustments

By late May, the number of ships and more than 3,000 people gathered in the waters off the coast of the state had reached 300.

With such a large-scale operation, the news could no longer be kept secret.

At this moment, the officials who were sharing the benefits of the Fang family were also dumbfounded. How could Fang Guozhen have gathered so many people and ships?

But that's not a problem.

The court's biggest worry was not being able to find the rebels' hiding place, and what it feared most was the rebels playing hide-and-seek with the government troops, rather than a head-on battle. After all, by this point, all the rebels who refused to accept the amnesty had been eliminated—no matter how messy or difficult the suppression process was, just ask yourself if you won.

On May 25th, Fang Guozhen's main fleet split into various locations, and all the coastal islands along the Wenzhou-Erlu River were seized by him—almost without firing a single shot.

Meanwhile, some ships sailed north to Qingyuan and south to Fujian, plundering the coast while recruiting impoverished fishermen and salt producers into their ranks. The primary activity was robbery; the latter gained limited spoils, but they did manage to occupy some sparsely populated islands, some of which even lacked fresh water. Inside the prefectural city, the Vice-Chancellor, Duoerzhiban, had assumed supreme command.

His first order was to close the five city gates in broad daylight.

Thanks to the special nature of the prefecture, this city wall, which was first built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was not demolished at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty. This is because nearly half of its length was built along the Chengjiang River (Lingjiang River), so it was both a city wall and a river embankment.

The rest of the city was built either along the mountain ridge or along the river, and overall the defensive position was excellent. If the defending soldiers were united, how could the attackers possibly win? Of course, for the Yuan Dynasty, it was really unlikely to expect the defending army to be united.

The second order was to deploy troops along the city walls and mountain ridges.

The third order was sent to the troops stationed in various places along Wen'er Road, instructing them to move closer to the city to avoid being scattered and defeated one by one.

After doing all this, Duo'er personally climbed the city wall to look out over the Chengjiang River.

Small-scale fighting has already broken out on the river.

The seven or eight ships of the coastal Wanhu Prefecture saw Fang Guozhen's troops sailing upstream from afar, immediately turned their bows, rowed quickly, and sailed upstream. Their actions left behind some of the conscripted able-bodied fishermen.

These people stared blankly at Fang Guozhen's fleet, which was charging towards them menacingly. After a volley of arrows, they turned tail and ran, disappearing into the pine and bamboo forests on the shore.

Fang's soldiers sent men to gather the abandoned boats while swaggering ashore.

On the opposite mountain stood a camp, facing the city across the river, forming a strategic defensive position.

There were three thousand-household garrisons of the Baojia Wanhu Prefecture stationed on the mountain, with a total number of men and horses... well, I don't know, I'm not kidding, I really don't know how many soldiers there were. Fortunately, these men did not collapse at the first encounter. When they saw people charging up the mountain, they used the terrain to their advantage and fired a volley of arrows down.

When the attackers saw that there was someone defending the mountain, they did not insist on attacking and took the two unfortunate wounded men down the mountain.

The fleet on the river continued to swagger about, seemingly unconcerned about being cut off.

Duo'erzhiban wasn't stupid. A quick thought told him that Haimen Port had most likely been occupied by Fang Guozhen's men, though he didn't know what methods they had used. "Don't panic!" Duo'erzhiban looked around and sneered, "The thieves dare not come ashore. They can only wreak havoc on the river and sea. I will slowly gather my navy and capture them all at once."

Upon hearing this, everyone realized that Fang Guozhen's men had indeed not come ashore much. Their clothing and weapons were a motley crew, and the people on the boat included both old and young people, making them look rather disorganized. They were far inferior to the fierce and strong men under Cai Luantou, so there was indeed no need to worry too much about them coming ashore.

As long as the coastal garrison launches an attack, everything will be alright!

The events that occurred in the prefecture were deliberately suppressed for several days until the first day of June, when the Left Chancellor, Duo'er, had already crossed the river and arrived in Yangzhou, when the news was finally sent to the province.

To be honest, the whole state gave them face, and Fang Guozhen also gave them face.

He only sent boats up the Chengjiang River on the 16th to show off his power, but he didn't openly declare a rebellion, not even issuing a proclamation. Meanwhile, Duo'er had only been away from Hangzhou for a day.

For the next nine days, Fang Guozhen stopped showing off his power and instead focused on gathering manpower and collecting supplies, remaining very quiet.

The two sides officially went to war around May 25th.

However, on the other hand, no sooner had Duo'er left than Fang Guozhen rebelled. If someone with ulterior motives seized upon this, it could cause some trouble. Of course, there's room for explanation: it was entirely due to the misbehavior of his subordinates that forced Fang Guozhen into rebellion. If Duo'er were still alive, this would never have happened. In short, this chaos in Jiangsu and Zhejiang truly has nothing to do with Duo'er.

After he left, the top official in Hangzhou became Pingzhang Zhengshi Dashi Tiemuer.

As for whether the court will send another Left Chancellor, Right Chancellor, or even Chancellor, no one knows. A provincial chancellor "is in charge of all matters concerning money, grain, military equipment, farming, grain transport, and important military and national affairs," wielding immense power over both military and political affairs. Therefore, "the appointment of a chancellor is sometimes made and sometimes not, and the selection of a candidate is carefully considered, so such a position is often left vacant."

To be honest, Dashitemur would rather the higher-ups send a prime minister, so he would have less responsibility, but unfortunately, that's not the case. There's no other way; he has to bite the bullet and do it himself now.

He immediately summoned the Left Chancellor Manzi and the Right Chancellor Hububuhua for questioning.

Another councilor from Hangzhou, Su Tianjue, also arrived. He was a newly appointed official, replacing the former Daotong (a person from Gaochang) who had left for the capital. "Duo'er has misled me; he's incompetent!"

Dashitemur's very first sentence defined the nature of the matter.

"Jiao Ding and his ilk have bullied me; they are greedy!"

The second sentence carried a hint of annoyance.

As the provincial governor, he certainly didn't want such a major event as a rebellion to occur during his tenure, but now it had happened, and he was clearly going to be implicated. The Left Chancellor, Manzi, seemed even more furious than Dashi Temur.

Before leaving, Duo'er couldn't stand his pestering any longer, so she agreed to entrust him with the task of preparing provisions, equipment, and laborers. Clearly, these supplies and personnel were prepared to deal with Shao Shuyi of Zhejiang West, not some worthless Fang Guozhen.

The barbarian felt that he had been tricked by Duoerzhiban and the military and political officials of the state, so he chimed in, "Your Excellency, what's the point of keeping such officials who don't know the big picture? They should be recalled to Hangzhou and imprisoned."

"No!" Right Chancellor Hu Buduhua and Councilor Su Tianjue exclaimed almost simultaneously.

Dashitemur glanced at Su Tianjue with surprise.

This person just arrived, and we haven't had time to assign him any tasks yet. His only job recently is to draft an article titled "A Record of Dredging the Canals in Hangzhou by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces," praising Duo'er and him. We summoned him today just to attend the meeting; we didn't intend to ask for his opinion.

But since he was a Vice Minister of State Affairs, he couldn't turn a blind eye, so Dashitemur asked, "Boxiu, what's your opinion?"

Su Tianjue, who was fifty-four years old at the time, cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Rewards and punishments are the great power of the state, and the discipline of the court rests on them. Once the legal system is established, it should be handled according to the rules. Even if Jiao Ding and the three commanders are guilty, their crimes should be investigated first before any action is taken. How can they be so hastily imprisoned?" He paused slightly, and seeing that everyone was looking at him, he continued, "Furthermore, Fang Guozhen has gathered a crowd at sea, which is tantamount to rebellion. At this critical moment, how can we act rashly? Wouldn't that dampen the spirit of the royal army and embolden the enemy? Since things have come to this, it would be better to send someone to the prefecture to investigate the cause and effect and examine the gains and losses of coastal defense. That is the proper course of action."

Su Tianjue's meaning was clear: the deed was done. Although Fang Guozhen had not openly raised the flag of rebellion, he had only demanded the heads of Li Daweng and Chen Tong, but anyone with eyes could see what he was doing.

At this critical juncture, stability should be the priority. Having arrested Jiao Ding, should we also arrest the Darughachi? Having arrested those two, should we also arrest and punish the several commanders and deputy commanders? Doing so would likely cause the front lines to collapse, only benefiting Fang Guozhen. In fact, Dashi Temur thought the same thing; otherwise, he wouldn't have resorted to insults but instead directly ordered the arrests. Hearing Su Tianjue's words, he immediately nodded and said, "Bo Xiu's words make a lot of sense. Even if we were to settle scores, it shouldn't be at this time. Therefore..."

He glanced at the barbarians and said, "Then let Duo'er take overall command, mobilize the coastal garrison and the official and civilian ships of Qingyuan, Wenzhou, Zhou, and Ningde to attack Fang Guozhen."

Although the barbarian was glanced at by Dashi Temur, he didn't care and reminded him, "Lord Pingzhang, why can't we offer amnesty to Fang Guozhen? It's just a matter of throwing away the heads of Li Daweng and Chen Tong in exchange for Fang Guozhen serving the court. What's wrong with that? I think it would be better if Fang Guozhen were willing to lead his troops to western Zhejiang to assist the court in suppressing Shao Shuyi, then his crimes could be pardoned."

"Absurd!" Dashi Temur finally couldn't hold back and rebuked, "The court just pacified Li Daweng a few years ago, and now it wants to bind him and send him to Fang Guozhen. What kind of behavior is this? Where is the court's authority? If this is done, Cai Luantou, who was just pacified, will also be suspicious. He and Fang Guozhen have a blood feud over the killing of his brother."

The barbarian was speechless.

Hubuhu chuckled from the side, "That's certainly true. If I were Li Daweng or Cai Luantou, I would have rebelled the moment I caught wind of it. Even Fang Guozhen probably wouldn't have believed the court's offer of amnesty."

"I reckon Fang Guozhen doesn't want to be recruited yet," Su Tianjue suddenly said.

"Oh? Why do you say that, Bo Xiu?" Da Shi Te Mu Er asked in surprise.

"Fang Guozhen's rebellion was probably not well-prepared, and he suffered considerable losses of land, houses, and property," Su Tianjue said. "If we simply accept his surrender, the confiscated property will not be recovered, and he will surely try to make up for it elsewhere. Pingzhang Mingjian, it is time to send a decree to the prefectures and counties along the coast, instructing them to guard the coastal borders carefully and not let the rebels succeed. As for quelling the rebellion, it is actually not difficult. I have heard that Fang Guozhen has acquired a large number of lands, houses, and shops, and he also controls the maritime trade and the grain and salt trade. I observe that he has no great ambitions, and we can appease him sooner or later. There is no need to worry."

Dashi Temur nodded repeatedly, then glanced at the barbarian and said, "Boxiu's words are truly wise and insightful. Have your men withdraw from Jiangyin; lest they cause trouble and lose their lives. I'll also speak to them in the south. They're always investigating cases; in the end, it's always Yi Yi who suffers. Enough of this. That's settled then, Boxiu. Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Su Tianjue cupped his hands in greeting and suggested, "From what you just heard from Manzi Gong, Shao Shuyi seems to be a powerful figure in western Zhejiang? Perhaps we could send someone to ask him, in a tactful manner, if he'd be willing to come to the prefecture to help suppress Fang Guozhen, just to test his willingness. We can be polite in our words; if he's unwilling, that's fine. We can discuss it further after Fang Guozhen is pacified. As for the south, we should also be polite to them, since we're all working hard for the country."

Dashi Temur then remembered that Su Tianjue had also served as an imperial censor in Nangan, and immediately had a plan.