During the days of waiting for a reply from the pirate chieftain Wang Chu, Pei Shaohuai was not sitting idle.
First, he drafted a memorial to submit to the court, requesting the transfer of more than thirty warships from the Taicang shipyard, ranging in size from five hundred to two thousand units of timber.
The trouble was, distant water cannot quench a fire at hand. The capital and Fujian were separated by several thousand li; even with riders pushing at full gallop, a memorial and its reply would consume a month or two in transit. Furthermore, the warships would need to ride the north winds of autumn and winter to sail from Taicang down to Shuang’an Prefecture.
By that reckoning, Jiahe Guard could not receive the warships at the earliest until the following spring.
The ninth and tenth months were the “minor surge” season for Japanese raider incursions. Pei Shaohuai calculated that the raiders would most likely strike. With only three months remaining and the Taicang warships out of reach in time, he would have to make do with what was at hand.
Pei Shaohuai intended to “gather materials on the spot.”
Both vessels and seafarers were to be found within Shuang’an Prefecture itself, ready and waiting.
——
On this day, Pei Shaohuai summoned the Qi clan head of Tong’an City, the Bao clan head, the Chen clan head of Nan’an City, and the Twenty-Seventh Elder of the Qi clan, and invited them all to the yamen to discuss a matter of importance.
The three clan heads had not yet arrived at the yamen when, by chance, Yan Chengzhao’s carriage reached there first.
Yan Chengzhao had come to find Pei Shaohuai, also to discuss the matter of defending against the Japanese raiders.
In the office chamber, steam rose from tea. The two men sat side by side across the tea table. It was plain from looking at him that Yan Chengzhao had spent long days under the fierce sun and sea winds — his complexion was a shade or two darker, the coldness tempered out of him, replaced by something harder and more resolute.
One could well imagine how rigorous the recent drilling at Jiahe Guard had been.
“Why is Prefect Pei so certain the Japanese raiders will definitely come to harass Shuang’an Prefecture in the autumn?” Yan Chengzhao asked.
“His Majesty dispatched us both to Shuang’an Prefecture to pilot the opening of maritime trade — this is common knowledge throughout the court. Such a thing could be concealed from minor clans and small officials, but it cannot possibly be concealed from powerful families and senior officials in the prefectural government.” Pei Shaohuai replied.
Shuang’an Prefecture was set to open maritime trade. It made sense that the Qi and Bao clans of a small county would know nothing of it. But powerful families like the Chen and Lin of Zhangzhou Prefecture and Quanzhou Prefecture — families that funded the grooming of later generations and disciples into court office and maintained close ties with prefectural governments and even the Provincial Administration Commission — how could they not know of something this significant?
Pei Shaohuai continued: “His Majesty has long wished to open maritime trade, yet it has been impeded time and again. Before the imperial edict even reaches the prefecture, local troubles break out — now a sudden eruption of civil unrest, now a Japanese raider incursion… Does Commander Yan think the world is really so full of coincidences?”
As long as disorder was stirred up, there was a pretext for suspending the opening of maritime trade.
Yan Chengzhao understood what Pei Shaohuai was alluding to. He nodded: “Prefect Pei has a point.”
Repeated “coincidences” could only be deliberate.
After a moment’s reflection, Yan Chengzhao said: “It seems what the court intends by ‘opening maritime trade’ is not what they want by ‘opening maritime trade.'”
“Precisely — the Commander has seen through to the heart of it.” Pei Shaohuai elaborated: “As long as ship taxes are paid, anyone may put out to sea for trade, filling the coffers of Da Qing — that is the court’s ‘opening of maritime trade.’ What the powerful clans and noble families want by ‘opening maritime trade’ is for their own trade with foreign nations to go unobstructed, while no one else can move in to compete for a share of their profits.”
In plain terms, the official-merchant class and the powerful noble families wanted to keep an iron grip on the trading ports and pocket the full profit for themselves.
Knowing that Pei Shaohuai intended to open maritime trade in Shuang’an Prefecture, they would naturally do everything in their power to make the place ungovernable and volatile.
Japanese raider incursions were the most effective means to that end — and also the most covert.
The elite troops Yan Chengzhao had brought with him were no ornament, and with the additional soldiers recruited in recent months, he had considerable confidence in his capabilities. He said: “As long as the Japanese raider ships dare approach the shore, I will see that every last one of them goes in and does not come out.”
“I want to destroy them at sea.”
Yan Chengzhao thought for a moment that he had misheard, and turned his head to look at Pei Shaohuai, a question in his eyes. Jiahe Guard’s warships and seafarers were not sufficient to sustain a naval battle.
The elite troops brought from the capital were better trained for land warfare.
“I want to destroy the Japanese raider ships at sea.” Pei Shaohuai repeated it once more, then explained: “Quelling disorder in one place on land for one time is manageable. Quelling the disorder of raiders moving back and forth at sea is vastly more difficult.”
The Japanese raiders were unpredictable in their movements, adept at evasion and flight across the water — this was one reason they were so hard to suppress.
When Da Qing guarded the south, the raiders harassed the north. When Da Qing tightened its blockades, the raiders simply waited for the moment defenses slackened before striking again.
On land there are borders. On the sea, there are none.
In Pei Shaohuai’s view, Da Qing’s shipbuilding technology was more advanced than that of surrounding foreign nations, and her warships were larger, more stable, and more solid. There was no reason to fear a naval engagement.
“Does Commander Yan not wish to go and meet the Japanese raiders’ mysterious ‘sorcery’ for himself?”
Folk accounts claimed that Japanese men practiced sea sorcery — that they came and went without trace, could summon wind and call up waves. Each retelling grew more embellished, and with each embellishment came greater fear.
Yan Chengzhao’s eyes brightened. The desire to prevail kindled in him a keen interest, and the “sorcery” struck him as something genuinely intriguing.
He understood what Pei Shaohuai was aiming for with a naval battle. One decisive victory would accomplish several things at once: it would win the hearts of the people; it would shatter the dread with which ordinary folk regarded the Japanese raiders; and it would serve as a warning to those powerful clans quietly stirring up trouble from the shadows. The opening of maritime trade thereafter would proceed far more smoothly.
He asked: “Has Prefect Pei already formulated a plan?”
As they were speaking, the sound of the yamen’s main gate opening reached them from outside — the clan heads of Shuang’an Prefecture’s three great families had arrived. Bao Bantou was leading them toward the council chamber.
Speak of the fox and there he appears.
“Would Commander Yan care to join us in the council chamber?” Pei Shaohuai extended an invitation.
“No need.” Yan Chengzhao preferred to be alone. He said: “I will stay here and listen.”
“Can you hear from here?”
“I can hear.”
Pei Shaohuai gave a slight bow, left Yan Chengzhao to make himself comfortable, and rose to make his way to the council chamber.
——
In the council chamber, the three clan heads looked at one another in turn, none of them able to guess what business the Prefect had summoned them for today.
Uncertain of the official’s temperament, they were uneasy.
The Twenty-Seventh Elder was the oldest, and the most composed. He said by way of reassurance: “In my view, though the Prefect looks young, his character is not poor — he understands the hardships of common people. As long as you have done nothing against heaven and decency, what is there to be timid about?”
“Putting out to sea for trade is after all something the court has expressly forbidden,” said the Bao clan head.
He was afraid the Prefect would use that against them as leverage.
The Twenty-Seventh Elder let out a dismissive sniff and asked in return: “He didn’t press the matter with you before, and now he’s called you here specifically to press it? Is that what you think?”
The Bao clan head had no answer to that.
Shortly, Pei Shaohuai came in wearing his round-collar official robe, without his black official’s cap, and said with a smile: “Forgive me for keeping the elders waiting. My apologies.”
Very courteous. His manner was warm.
After the pleasantries over tea, Pei Shaohuai came to the matter at hand, asking: “Has this year’s ‘fishing boat’ haul been plentiful? Are the granaries at home full of rice? Enough to last the year?”
Everyone present understood that “fishing boats” did not mean fishing boats, but merchant ships disguised as fishing vessels that had smuggled their way home, bringing back foreign goods from the South Seas — and grain.
The three clan heads replied in carefully oblique terms, honestly enough.
The rice jars in the clan members’ homes were all full.
Pei Shaohuai then said with feeling: “When this official first arrived here, I went to observe the ancestral hall ceremony of the Qi Clan Hall. What moved me most was seeing how, at the distribution of sacrificial meat after the ceremony, orphaned children who had lost their fathers and aged elders received larger portions of pork and mutton — and not a single member of the clan raised a voice of objection. That is a very good way.”
“We are grateful for my lord’s praise. The Qi Clan Hall will certainly continue to uphold this practice,” said the Qi clan head.
With the atmosphere sufficiently warmed, Pei Shaohuai shifted his tone: “Yet as long as Japanese raider incursions persist, such settled and peaceful days can never last for long. The ‘minor surge’ is approaching, and the Japanese raiders will soon be upon us again. We must find a way early to protect the rice jars in our people’s homes.”
He said it plainly: “The time has come for the elders to lend their strength.”
The three clan heads exchanged glances, and after a moment the Qi clan head spoke on their behalf: “We are willing to be of service, my lord. We can pool funds to help the authorities resist the Japanese raiders.”
They then waited for Pei Shaohuai to name a sum.
Pei Shaohuai shook his head with a smile and said: “This official does not want your silver.”
At these words, all three clan heads were struck silent with surprise.
Beside them, the Twenty-Seventh Elder gave a sniff and muttered in a low voice: “Told you he wouldn’t be making that kind of demand. You simply refused to believe me.”
“What is it my lord wishes us to do?”
Pei Shaohuai asked: “I take it each of the clans has carpenters among its members?”
“We all do.”
He asked again: “The sailors aboard the returning ‘fishing boats,’ having spent years riding the crests of waves — are they not quite skilled at ‘fishing’?”
“Born by the sea. Their abilities are respectable.”
Pei Shaohuai asked last: “When the north winds rise in the twelfth month, that is when the ‘fishing boats’ will set out again — is that right?”
The Qi clan head hesitated for a few moments, then chose to answer honestly: “My lord is correct.”
From the seventh month through to the twelfth, the crew rested briefly while members of the clan purchased goods from various parts of Fujian, waiting for the south winds to turn before putting out once more — year after year, an unbroken cycle.
“It is not silver this official wants. What I want is men and ships.” Pei Shaohuai said plainly. “I want to send the carpenters to Taicang Prefecture to learn ship repair. I want to borrow the cargo ships for conversion into warships, and I want to borrow the clan sailors to serve as the fleet’s crew.”
He added: “You may be easy on that score — fighting is Jiahe Guard’s affair. The sailors need only handle the vessels.”
Brief as these few sentences were, their implications ran deep.
This was no small matter. The faces of all three clan heads fell; every one of them showed signs of hesitation and reluctance, and none could bring themselves to give an immediate answer.
“Spineless, the lot of you.” The Twenty-Seventh Elder limped forward and stepped out. He said: “If the Prefect does not find me too much of an old encumbrance, count this old man in. If I end up lying useless on the deck, throw me overboard to feed the fish — I’ll have no complaint.”
In this world there were the cautious and the faint-hearted, but there were also those who were brave.
The Qi clan head asked tentatively: “My lord, would you be willing to give us a little time to go back and consult with the clan, and then give my lord an answer?”
Only then did Pei Shaohuai produce his second set of words. He asked: “I trust all three clan heads have visited Yuegang in Zhangzhou Prefecture?”
Yuegang: south of Jiahe Island, on the southern bank of the Jiulong River’s mouth, adjoining Shuang’an Prefecture. The small island was encircled by water on all sides and curved like a crescent moon; with its many islets, it was easy to conceal from authorities, ideal for the sheltering and concealment of vessels conducting smuggling trade. It had become the premier destination for merchant vessels running contraband.
Pei Shaohuai recited: “‘Its market town, the finest under heaven, was known in ancient times as the Little Suzhou-Hangzhou of Yuegang.’ Who could have imagined, a mere decade or two ago, that a small bay like that would now rival Suzhou and Hangzhou in prosperity?”
He turned to face the Chen clan head of Nan’an City and asked: “If this official is not mistaken, the Chen family of Nan’an City and the Chen family of Zhangzhou Prefecture should share some ancestral connection?”
They had been one family long ago. Now the Chen of Zhangzhou were a great and powerful clan, while the Chen of Nan’an could only look on from a distance.
Much the same could be said of the Qi and the Bao.
It was Yuegang that had enriched one whole side of the region.
“Since this official issued the order placing Wuyu Island within the fishing zone, Shuang’an Bay has had no patrol vessels sent out to intercept. The number of ‘fishing boats’ at the Jiulong River mouth has only been growing.” Pei Shaohuai said. Each evening when dusk fell, the vessels slipping in from Wuyu Island were by no means limited to those belonging to the Qi, Bao, and Chen families alone.
Yuegang was merely well-suited to evading interception. Shuang’an Bay, by contrast, had no interception to evade.
All one needed to do was take down the mast.
People naturally seek advantage and avoid harm. Once word spread that such a place existed, ships would naturally choose to put in at Shuang’an Bay of their own accord.
Two layers of meaning lay within Pei Shaohuai’s words. First: Shuang’an Bay would surpass Yuegang going forward, and it would bring prosperity to those around it — but to whom it would bring that prosperity depended on the choices made here. Second: with other ships already putting into the bay, Pei Shaohuai’s options were not limited to the Qi, Bao, and Chen families alone.