Starting from 1618 of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 125 First Encounter with Dengzhou

Shen Shi (3-5 PM).

Dengzhou Tongpan Yamen (Prefectural Office).

Lu Yan stood in the second hall of the yamen, looking around.

This is a three-courtyard house. The front hall served as the office, the second hall as the meeting place, and the back courtyard as the living quarters. The courtyard wasn't large, but it was kept fairly clean. A few withered banana trees grew in the corner, and several lanterns hung under the eaves, looking quite old.

"Sir, this is the magistrate's office."

The man leading the way was a middle-aged man in his forties surnamed Qian, a clerk in the government office. He was bowing and had a fawning smile on his face as he walked and introduced the place.

"After the former prefect was transferred, the yamen was empty for more than half a year. We've cleaned it inside and out. Sir, please take a look. If there's anything you're not satisfied with, we'll fix it up."

Lu Yan nodded without saying anything.

He walked to the table in the second hall and reached out to touch the tabletop.

A thin layer of dust settled on my fingertips.

"Has it been cleaned?" Lu Yan asked casually.

The clerk's face stiffened, and he quickly forced a smile.

"This...this dust just settled this morning. It's windy by the sea, so there's a lot of dust. We'll wipe it clean again, everyone..."

"No need," Lu Yan waved his hand. "You may leave."

"Yes, yes, yes, sir, please feel free to call me whatever you need."

The clerk bowed and scraped as he withdrew.

After he walked away, Shen Qing came out from behind the screen.

"Master, this clerk Qian is from the Li family."

"I know," Lu Yan said. "He's been sizing me up, his eyes darting around, clearly trying to figure me out."

"What does the employer plan to do?"

"Not much to do," Lu Yan said. "Let him see. Let him report to the Li family. I want to see how the Li family will respond."

He walked to the window and opened it.

Outside the window was a narrow alley, and at the end of the alley, one could vaguely see people coming and going on the main street. In the distance, the sound of waves crashing on the shore could be heard, faint and indistinct.

"Shen Qing, what was your first impression of Dengzhou?"

Shen Qing thought for a moment and said:

"chaos."

"How exactly is this chaos happening?"

"The city's defenses are lax, military discipline is poor, and officials are negligent," Shen Qing said. "When I entered the city, I specifically observed the guards at the city gate. Those soldiers were all listless, their weapons rusted, and their armor tattered. These weren't soldiers guarding the city; they were clearly beggars."

"Anything else?"

"The same goes for patrols on the streets. I saw several patrolling constables walking unsteadily; they were clearly drunk. What can they possibly find out on patrols like that?"

Lu Yan nodded.

"You're right. The military equipment in Dengzhou is indeed in a terrible state of disrepair."

He turned around, walked to the desk, and sat down.

"But this is also an opportunity."

"Chance?"

"Yes," Lu Yan said. "The military's neglect means no one is in charge. No one in charge means there are loopholes to exploit. I came to Dengzhou ostensibly to oversee warship construction, but in reality..."

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"In fact, I want to turn the Dengzhou navy into my own navy."

A glint flashed in Shen Qing's eyes.

"The master is brilliant."

"What's so clever about it?" Lu Yan waved his hand. "It's called 'taking advantage of a weakness.' However, this can't be rushed; we have to take it slowly."

He stood up and straightened his clothes.

"Let's go out for a walk. I want to see for myself what Dengzhou is really like."

……

Half an hour later.

Dengzhou City, East Street.

Lu Yan changed into casual clothes and walked down the street with Shen Qing and two guards.

Dongda Street is the most bustling street in Dengzhou, lined with shops on both sides, their signs and banners displaying a riot of colors. The street is teeming with pedestrians, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares and haggling fill the air.

Lu Yan walked and observed.

"This is a cloth shop, that's a rice shop, and further on is a pawnshop..." he said in a low voice. "Judging from the signs, they're all long-established local businesses."

"Yes," Shen Qing said. "Most of these shops are owned by the Li family, or are related to the Li family."

"How did you figure that out?"

"The characters on the signboard," Shen Qing pointed to the signboard of a fabric shop. "Look, sir, this '福' (Fu, meaning good fortune) character is written in a very special way; it has an extra dot on the right. This is a secret mark of the Li family. All businesses owned by the Li family, or shops under their protection, will have this mark on their signs."

Upon closer inspection, Lu Yan confirmed it was true.

He walked around the street and found that at least half of the shops had this secret mark on their signs.

"The Li family's power is greater than I imagined," Lu Yan said.

"Yes," Shen Qing said. "The Li family has been operating in Dengzhou for three generations; their influence is deep-rooted. The merchants in the city are either members of the Li family or their vassals. It's almost impossible to do business in Dengzhou without dealing with the Li family."

Lu Yan nodded and said nothing more.

They continued walking, crossing East Street, and arrived at the dock in the north of the city.

The dock was bustling with activity.

A dozen or so ships of various sizes were moored in the harbor, some loading cargo, some unloading, and some repairing sails. The dock was piled high with goods—grain, cloth, salt, ironware… Workers chanted as they carried the goods on and off the ship.

"This is Dengzhou's commercial port," Shen Qing said. "Ships come and go every day, transporting goods to Liaodong, Korea, and Japan."

Looking at the scene before him, Lu Yan secretly made plans in his mind.

Dengzhou's geographical location is indeed exceptionally advantageous.

Starting from here, with favorable winds and currents, you can reach the Liaodong Peninsula in three to five days. Heading east, you can reach Korea and Japan. Heading south, you can reach Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian.

This is a golden route.

No wonder the Li family was able to make their fortune through maritime trade, and no wonder the imperial court wanted to establish a navy here.

"Where is the navy's camp?" Lu Yan asked.

"It's in the east of the city, near the sea," Shen Qing said. "Shall I take you there, sir?"

"Walk."

……

East of the city, the naval camp.

Lu Yan stood outside the camp, watching from a distance.

The camp was quite large, surrounded by a wooden fence, with several rows of barracks and a drill ground inside. The drill ground was empty, with only a few soldiers wandering around.

Next to the camp was a small harbor with more than a dozen warships moored there.

Most of these warships were Fujian-style ships and sand barges, their hulls mottled and masts askew, clearly showing signs of long-term neglect. Several ships had torn sails that fluttered in the sea breeze.

"This is the Dengzhou Navy?" Lu Yan frowned.

"Yes," Shen Qing said. "The Dengzhou Navy nominally has fifty warships and three thousand sailors. In reality, fewer than twenty warships are usable, and fewer than one thousand sailors are combat-ready. The rest are vacancies."

"Empty quota?"

"It's just embezzling salaries," Shen Qing said. "Naval officers would report non-existent soldiers, collect the court's pay, and pocket the money. This kind of thing was all too common in the Ming Dynasty's army."

Lu Yan sneered upon hearing this.

"No wonder Liaodong was in such a state of chaos."

He looked at the dilapidated warships and secretly made plans in his mind.

Although the Dengzhou navy is in disrepair, its foundation is still intact. With enough money, talent, and time, it can be completely rebuilt.

His mission in Dengzhou was "warship construction".

This is a great opportunity.

"Let's go back," Lu Yan said.

"Isn't the owner going in to take a look?"

"No rush," Lu Yan said. "Today is just for observation and to get a feel for things. We'll make our real moves once we've established a firm foothold."

He turned and walked back, already planning his next move.

The situation in Dengzhou was more complicated than he had imagined.

The government was corrupt and incompetent, the navy was in disarray, and the Li family held absolute power.

This is a mess.

But it is also an opportunity.

Turbulent times produce heroes.

The more chaotic things are, the more opportunities there are.

……

evening.

The backyard of the magistrate's office.

Lu Yan sat in his study, with a map of Dengzhou in front of him.

Zhao Changying, Shen Qing, and Hu Jingshui sat on either side.

"I've taken a walk around today, everyone, what are your thoughts?" Lu Yan said.

Zhao Changying spoke first:

"Dengzhou's defenses are practically nonexistent. The city walls have fallen into disrepair over the years, the soldiers defending the city are sparse, and they don't even have decent weapons. If the enemy were to attack, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to hold out for even a day."

Hu Jingshui continued:

"The Li family monopolizes commerce in Dengzhou. I inquired today and found that nine out of ten major merchants in the city are related to the Li family. If we want to do business in Dengzhou, we can't do without the Li family."

Shen Qing concluded by saying:

"The officialdom in Dengzhou has also been infiltrated by the Li family. My subordinates have observed that at least half of the clerks and runners in the yamen are Li family spies. It seems that nothing the master does can escape the Li family's notice."

Lu Yan nodded after listening.

"You're all right. The situation in Dengzhou is indeed complex. But the more complex it is, the greater the opportunity."

He pointed to the map and said:

"The power structure in Dengzhou can be roughly divided into three parts."

"The first problem is the government. Prefect Zhou Wenyuan is old and senile, and his real power has been usurped by his subordinates. The Assistant Prefect, the Sub-Prefect, and the Magistrate each manage their own areas and are not subordinate to each other. It's a disorganized mess."

"The second issue is the military. The Dengzhou Garrison and the navy, nominally under the court's control, each had their own agendas. Garrison officers were drawing salaries without working and exploiting their soldiers, while naval commanders were involved in smuggling and trafficking. They were a bunch of parasites."

"The third group is the Li family. The Li family is the local tyrant of Dengzhou, with immense power that infiltrates every aspect of the government, the military, and the business world. They are the real decision-makers."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three of them.

"If we want to gain a foothold in Dengzhou, we must break this pattern."

"How do we break it?" Zhao Changying asked.

"Divide and conquer, defeat them one by one," Lu Yan said. "The government is like loose sand, we can win them over; the army is like parasites, we can bribe them; the Li family is a local tyrant, we can..."

A cold smile appeared on his lips.

"You can fight."

Afterwards, Lu Yan met with several powerful figures in the Dengzhou government. Xu Yupei, the deputy commander of the Dengzhou garrison, was a military officer in his forties who had reportedly obtained his position through connections in the capital. He greeted Lu Yan with an overly polite and obsequious smile. Zhou Tingfang, the clerk in charge of records, was not talkative, but his eyes kept glancing at Lu Yan, as if he were weighing something. Meng Zhaoxin, who traded salt at the docks, also sent a visiting card, saying, "I have long admired the esteemed Prefect's reputation."

Lu Yan noted down the names of these people without saying anything more.

……

Lu Yan settled down in the Tongpan Yamen and began to familiarize himself with official duties.

However, he soon discovered that the clerks and runners in the government office were only paying lip service to him.

The official documents he received were all trivial matters; truly important matters were never handled by him.

He sent someone to check the accounts, but the accountant said, "The accounts are being organized." He sent someone to inspect the accounts, but the bailiff said, "We don't have enough manpower."

Lu Yan knew perfectly well that the Li family was behind all these people.

He remained calm and collected, pretending to be sidelined, outwardly busy with social engagements, but secretly observing the situation.

……