Yang Ge made a beautiful timing difference.
There were spies of Prince Ning everywhere in Jiangzhe. If he went to the Jiangzhe Prefectural Office to manage artillery and soldiers too early, Prince Ning’s residence would immediately take countermeasures.
Whether it was dispatching soldiers from Ninghai’s three defenses to interfere,
or passing messages to the Japanese pirates on the sea...
Undoubtedly, both actions would escalate the intensity of this surprise attack, making an already difficult battle even more so.
According to the famous Canyon Relativity Theory, our advantage, their advantage, equals no advantage.
Our advantage and their disadvantage are needed to exert suppression...
Now that Yang Ge was managing artillery and soldiers in the Jiangzhe Prefectural Office during the last two days before Grain Rain, even if the news leaked, Prince Ning’s residence wouldn’t be able to react in time.
It’s worth mentioning that although nearly half of the artillery kept by the Jiangzhe Prefectural Office was sadly rusted due to poor maintenance, Yang Ge still found the outcome somewhat satisfactory, including the unexpected joy of recruiting two thousand soldiers. It was just on the cusp of his threshold — any more, and he would have had to consider how to deal with the possibility of internal strife between the soldiers and the Ming Sect rebels.
Before leaving, he spoke casually to Yang Tiansheng, but in his heart, he had already prepared for the worst.
Artillery is not easy to get, in any place storing artillery within Wei, it’s difficult to arrange for their deployment!
The common folk would even face execution for hiding armor or crossbows, let alone manipulating heavy artillery?
And Yang Ge, not to mention being an imperial envoy, he wasn’t even a legitimate commander of the Imperial Bodyguard now.
He lacked the command tablet of the Imperial Bodyguard, the embroidered uniform, and the Gold-Inlaid Ox-tail Saber.
If Chen Du had been the slightest bit tougher and demanded Yang Ge prove his identity, Yang Ge would have been at a loss.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have called for Gu Tong and others to don the uniforms and make a big entrance into the Jiangzhe Prefectural Office, as it was all about taking people by surprise!
Kill someone?
If it came down to being serious...
Yang Ge swinging his saber would only kill one person.
But acting recklessly with artillery would kill an entire family register.
Any official would choose such an easy score.
Luckily, it was uncertain whether Chen Du was too afraid to die or whether the deep-set impression of Yang Erlang as the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard and the imperial envoy was too influential. Yang Ge’s lies hadn’t even been carefully crafted yet, but Chen Du had already taken the initiative to understand.
More likely, Chen Du was feigning ignorance... Did it matter whether Yang Erlang was the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard and the imperial envoy? Not really; if something went wrong, they could just accuse Yang Erlang of issuing false imperial decrees and assuming the role of the envoy. Either way, it would be Yang Erlang who took the fall, not Chen Du.
Yang Ge had also considered this possibility.
But he didn’t care.
He had killed Geng Jingzhong with a single blow; was he afraid of Chen Du accusing him of issuing false imperial decrees and assuming the role of an envoy?
To be honest, although Yang Ge had never met Emperor Xiping face to face...
The two actually shared an unspoken understanding.
Emperor Xiping used Yang Ge as his weapon to do things he wanted to do but couldn’t conveniently handle himself.
Yang Ge also used Emperor Xiping as his weapon to do things he wanted to do but couldn’t justifiably handle himself.
If something went wrong, Emperor Xiping would deny all knowledge with ease: ’I know nothing; it has nothing to do with me; if you have a plan, go ahead; if not, just die.’
Once done, Yang Ge would also deftly pass the blame to Emperor Xiping: ’The dirty tricks I’ll take up; publicly, go find whoever you need to...’
Just like the situation in Jiangzhe.
Did the Emperor sitting in Ziwei Palace really know nothing?
Geng Jingzhong had been dead for over a month; how could he still be oblivious?
If he truly opposed Yang Ge’s actions in Jiangzhe, he wouldn’t need to do much; just disseminating the decree that stripped Yang Ge of his official position to Jiangzhe would ensure that he could no longer borrow his imperial authority.
But Emperor Xiping didn’t do that...
He simply appointed Wei Heng, the newly appointed head of the Western Factory, to haggle with Shen Fa in the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner’s office, all the while acquiescing to their underhanded collusion right under his nose.
This might just be the essence of turning a deaf ear and a blind eye, unable to take charge.
And Yang Ge was very clear about where Emperor Xiping’s tolerance toward him ended.
At least, he was certain that if one day Emperor Xiping decided to get rid of him, it definitely wouldn’t be because he bypassed procedures to kill these corrupt officials.
...
Yang Ge took thirty-five carefully selected red cannons and over six hundred cannonballs, along with two thousand recruits, by boat through the waterways and out of Hangzhou Bay to the east.
After a day and a night, the fleet arrived at Hushan, then abandoned the ships to travel by land, rushing toward Jintang Island located in the northwest corner of Zhoushan...
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Another day and night of forced march later, Yang Ge finally reached Nansha Bay just before dawn on the day of Grain Rain, joining with Yang Tiansheng and the others who had arrived there earlier.
"Second Master!"
Wei Xin, who had come to greet them, rushed forward and seized the reins of the vigorous horse Yang Ge was riding, greeting him with a clasped fist.
"Where’s Yang?"
Yang Ge, holding his treasured cold moon saber, dismounted.
Wei Xin, looking uncertain, glanced at the two thousand soldiers behind Yang Ge and replied in a low voice, "Second Master, my...my lord is still organizing the brothers to set up traps!"
Yang Ge glanced at the dawn light just starting to break on the horizon: "Has there been any word from Wang?"
Wei Xin: "A messenger came by boat across the sea at midnight, reporting that the Japanese pirates will land at noon..."
"Noon?"
Yang Ge nodded: "There’s still time... Zhou Fu!"
"Your subordinate is here!"
A tall man wearing armor dismounted, stepping forward with a salute.
This man was the commanding officer of the two thousand recruits, a third-ranking military official.
Yang Ge: "Quickly arrange for the brothers to set up pots for cooking, rest while there’s time, then take Chief of the Cannoneers, Qin, and walk the ground with me!"