Episode 23
Scene 1: Fujian, navy camp at the coast
Shi Lang is walking together with Yao Qisheng and some navy officers to inspect the coastal artillery positions. Shi Lang politely tells Yao Qisheng that he has not been to Fujian for more than ten years and he therefore relies on the expertise of Yao Qisheng to inform him about the current military situation. Yao tells him that Taiwan and Penghu are separated from the mainland only by a narrow strip of water. Fujian has a coastline of more than 2,000 li [1/2 mile] and has 260 harbors and five important prefectures that serve as headquarters of military commands. There are 10,000 troops stationed at Fuzhou, another 1,000 at Funing and Xinghua each. The most important navy base is Quanzhou prefecture with the majority of the navy vessels stationed in Jinmen and Xiamen. Zhangzhou also has a marine corps. Yao further explains that traditionally the Qing dynasty has been enthusiastic about the development of the army, but neglected the navy. Because the coastal cities were undefended, the Prince of Yanping conquered Jinmen and Xiamen and seven prefectures along the coast. Yao continues to tell Shi Lang that since the pirates [Ming loyalists] have withdrawn to Taiwan they have faced many problems. On the one hand, the regent Zheng Kezang and the Prince of Yanping have died, on the other hand, the government faces financial problems and the population is suffering. The strength of Taiwan is based only on Liu Guoxuan and the 30,000 soldiers and 300 ships under his command. Liu is ready to fight till death but basically only interested in maintaining the status quo. Feng Xifan has a dominant position in Taiwanese politics and yearns for independence. Therefore, Yao advises that they have to stop Feng and that they should try everything to negotiate the reunification of the country. Shi Lang then requests Yao Qisheng to send a diplomatic note to Taiwan declaring that the Qing military is ready for war. The message should be clear that this threat is not directed against the patriotic people of Taiwan but against the fraction seeking independence. After General Taichang has told them that Colonel Huang Chaoyong is a good, generous soldier with self-esteem and an acquaintance of Liu Guoxuan, they decide to send him on that diplomatic mission.
Scene 2: Taiwan, Royal Palace
Tang Taifei discusses the new situation of Shi Lang’s appointment as commander-in-chief of the navy in Fujian together with the ministers and highest-ranking military commanders. Tang Taifei says that she expects future negotiations to become very difficult. Liu Guoxuan is even more pessimistic. He equates Shi Lang with war adding that the Zheng regime missed the opportunity to accept the good terms granted by the Qing in previous negotiations. Now it is almost impossible to negotiate further. Tang Taifei expresses that she still harbors the hope that Shi Lang’s navy can be stopped by the dangerous natural conditions of the Taiwan Strait and by Liu Guoxuan. She appoints him governor-general of Penghu with extraordinary rights and sole military command. Thus, she makes him solely responsible for the defense of Taiwan. The next topic is what to do with Shi Shizong. Hong Xu wants to kill him, but most of the other officials want him to stay as hostage in Taiwan in order to put pressure on Shi Lang. Tang Taifei protects Shi Shizong, because Haikui is fond of him. Feng Xifan then decides that Shi Shizong will be kept as hostage for the time being. He can still be killed later if necessary. Feng then proposes to cooperate with the Dutch in order to use them against the Qing. This leads to another controversy. Fu Weilin passionately rejects the proposal, because the Dutch were foreign aggressors who had colonized Taiwan for more than 30 years. However, Tang Taifei follows Feng Xifan’s advice and orders him to start negotiations with the Dutch. She also assigns two more military commanders to Liu Guoxuan’s troops in order to strengthen the Penghu defenses.
In the court yard of the Navy Office, official residence of the commander-in-chief of the Fujian navy, Wan Zhengse and Lahada discuss about Shi Lang’s powerful position and what it means to them. Wan Zhengse is very worried about Shi Lang’s new role, but he emphasizes that the emperor has ordered a joined military command structure, so Shi Lang will not be able to act without their consent.
On the 7th day of the 10th month of the 20th year of Kangxi rule, according to the moon calendar [November 16, 1681]. Meeting of the Fujian officials (governor-general Yao Qisheng, governor Wu Xingzuo, Manchu general Lahada, and commander-in-chief of the army Wan Zhengse) to welcome Shi Lang who has come to inspect the Xiamen navy schwadron. They tell Shi Lang that they are well-prepared and hard-working, even though they lack funds. Asked for his strategy to conquer Taiwan, Shi Lang refuses to provide insight; he simply says that he has not got any. He wants to see the troops immediately even though the other officials do not want him to hurry.
The officers, among them Yao Qisheng and Shi Lang, ride horses to reach the navy camp close to the coast. Yao wants them to take their time and drink tea, but Shi Lang urges to see the troops. He asks Yao about a soldier called Lan Li who had won fame as a very brave man, which Yao strongly affirms. He tells Shi Lang that Lan Li now serves under major-general Zhan Liuqi.
Scene 6: Xiamen, navy base
The officers reach the coast and see Zhan Liuqi and others drinking alcohol. Shi Lang orders to throw the drunken Zhan Liuqi into the sea in order to sober him up. Then they go to see the ships, but Zhan’s ship is almost not navigable. Yao is obviously very ashamed of the situation and tells Shi that he has never inspected the Xiamen navy, but that the schwadrons in Haicheng and Tongshan will be better. From a distant location a man shouts that he wants to kill the corrupt official Zhan. A soldier informs Shi Lang that the caller is an inmate in the prison of the navy base.
Scene 7: Xiamen, navy base
Lahada, Wu Xingzuo and Wan Zhengse discuss what to do. They fear that Shi Lang will report to the Emperor, but then Wan says that Shi Lang will not tell anything, because he has to protect Yao Qisheng. Yao Qisheng was his patron and without supporting him, he, Shi Lang, would be seen as a very cold-hearted man. They are angry because it seems that Shi Lang thinks he has the responsibility and right to decide alone.
Yao Qisheng, Shi Lang and Wu Qijue head toward the prison to meet the inmate. They order the gatekeeper to open the door, which he first refuses. Finally, Shi Lang and Yao Qisheng enter the prison cell to see a man sitting at a table. The inmate tells them that he does not believe any of the corrupt officials, the only exception being Yao Qisheng. Shi Lang asks his name and he is surprised to know that the prisoner is Lan Li himself.
Haikui is in her room when somebody knocks at her door. When she opens and sees Jin Hangchen, she wants him to leave immediately, but he refuses. She tells him that he should go to his new master. Since he does not leave, she confronts him with her opinion that he is responsible for the death of her brother, because he accused her brother to be the head of the intrigue against Tang Fei. He says that he is very sorry, but that he had no choice. If he had not obeyed Feng Xifan and Tang Fei, they would have killed him. He could not tell Haikui right away, because she was away on Penghu. He tells her that she should trust him. Even if someone wanted to kill him, he would not betray her. However, she does not believe him. Then Jin says that if he were not so good to her and her friends, they would be dead already. He accuses Yao Yun and Shi Shizong of being spies of the Qing because they visited military facilities in the harbor and drew a map of them. Haikui is still very angry and tells Jin Hangchen to be quiet. She says that if he had any real evidence he would have sold their lives to somebody. After Jin Hangchen has left the room, Haikui opens the wooden box underneath the bed and looks at the map she had taken secretly from Yao Yun and Shi Shizong. She tears it apart in two pieces but then puts it back to its place without destroying it further.
Shi Lang goes along a wall where there is an official announcement reading: “To reopen the sea is good for the country and its people”. He arrives at the Xiamen Hostel. Wu Ying (courtesy name Wu Weigao) comes out and greets Shi Lang expressing his joy about Shi’s appointment as commander-in-chief of the navy. Shi Lang replies that he has heard of Wu’s outstanding perfomance as a navy commander during the recapture of Xiamen and wants to rehire him. Walking into the court yard of the Hostel, Shi tells Wu about the desolate situation of the Qing navy. The troops are not well prepared; they are not enthusiastic about their task. Shi Lang hopes that Wu Ying joins the armed forces again, because he himself needs him and so do the Emperor, the other Generals, Fujian, Taiwan and 30,000 soldiers. Wu is afraid that Lahada and Yao Qisheng, who have removed him from his former post for disobediance, will not accept the reappointment. However, Shi Lang promises to take care of everything in order to make it possible that Wu Ying can return to build an unbeatable navy. Wu Ying then affirms to join forces with Shi Lang.
Shi Shizong brings some flowers which he puts in front of Haikui’s door without knocking. When he tries to leave the scene, the door opens and Haikui tells him to take his flowers away, since she does not want them. She then invites him in and asks him why he has not shown up for so many days. He tells her that he was waiting that someone would capture him. Haikui tells him that he is in great danger and she does not understand why he did not run away. If someone betrayed me, he answers, he would run away, but if it is Haikui who betrayed him, he would stay, because Haikui has always been very nice to him. She tells him that she almost has betrayed him and Yao Yun, but she didn’t because of her feelings towards him.
Shi Lang, Wu Qijue and other officers in the middle of local peasants and fishermen. Wu Ying comes to see them. He salutes and reports that he has organized a small high-speed sqadron with 20 fast ships, 300 marines and 20 different fire weapons on each ship. Shi Lang uses the situation to tell the people that this is the first step and soon they will reconquer Taiwan, then the people can go fishing again. They ride on their horses to their Navy base, where soldiers in file await them ready to mount the ships. Shi Lang asks Wu Ying whether the tasks is clear. Wu replies that the task is to attack vessels and some of the smaller bases of the Zheng fleet in the Taiwan Strait and on the Penghu Isles. The sqadron sets out on the campaign.
Shi Lang, Wu Qijue and Lan Li talk at the Fujian navy base near Xiamen. Lan Li tells them that during his service ten supply vessels sank because of a typhoon. Lan Li had warned his commander Zhan Liuqi that there will be a typhoon. However, his commander replied that the vessels had to depart under all circumstances even if it would rain swords. Lan Li then tells him why they forced him to go to the sea despite of the bad weather: They hoped that the ships would sink in order to destroy evidence. The ships did not transport grain, but bags full of chaff. Lan Li tells the surprised Shi Lang that he found out the sham, when he realized from the low displacement of the vessels that they were too light for a load of heavy grain. Therefore, he opened some bags and saw that it was just chaff. Lan Li tells Shi Lang and Wu Qijue that it was certainly Zhan Liuqi, who then put all the responsibility on Lan Li. He also shows them the probable place of the wrecks on a map. Shi Lang tells Lan Li not to tell anybody about it and he decides that they will go to lift the wrecks on the very next day in order to prove the accusations against Zhan. Shi Lang asks for the weather and Lan Li tells him that he is certain that it will be good weather with a calm wind and sea. Shi Lang is surprised to listen to such a certain weather forecast, but Lan Li then tells him that he had made his living as a pirate for many years and knows the sea very well. Wu Qijue tells him to come with them to the sea the next day.
In the evening, Shi Lang meets his wife and his daughter Aman. Aman wants to put together a female battalion consisting of 500 soldiers and 50 ships. Shi Lang is very skeptical since he has never heard of a female battalion, but Aman promises him that they won’t engage in battle, they rather will help with logistics. They don’t need government funds, since they rely exclusively on volunteers. Many families are without men, because they cannot work as fishermen at the closed coast and therefore had to move to other locations to find a job. Moreover, some of the men went to Taiwan to find employment as a soldier. Therefore the women hope that the coast will be open again and the families can reunite. The women know the sea very well. Yao Qisheng has already promised his support and Wu Qijue offered to help training the recruits. Shi Lang is still not quite convinced, but nilly-willy accepts his daughter’s proposition.
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