Chapter 103: Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fortress, Chapter 103: Ascending the City

Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fortress, Chapter 103: Ascending the City

Everyone above and below the city watched the projectiles fired from those several Frankish cannons.

Four fiery iron balls, trailing faint wisps of smoke, flew far off toward the Qing troops.

With a thunderous boom, one iron ball struck a shield cart far away, blasting it to pieces and sending splinters flying in all directions. Some Qing soldiers behind that shield cart, seeing the cannonball about to hit, had already scattered and fled in terror.

But then miserable screams rang out — the fragments sent flying when that cannonball pierced the shield cart wounded several nearby Qing soldiers from a distance. There was even one unarmored Qing soldier or camp follower whose body and face were stabbed full of sharp wooden splinters, blood streaming, and he was knocked to the ground by the shock.

He did not die immediately, but only rolled on the ground, shrieking in agony.

It was estimated that this Frankish cannonball wounded at least three or four Qing soldiers in the vicinity.

"Excellent!"

Cheers thundered across the city wall. Han Zhong slapped his thigh heavily and bellowed, "Well struck, damn well struck!"

Wang Dou also smiled and nodded. This cannonball was both accurate and vicious, and it had bolstered their own side's morale and fighting spirit!

But that round of cannon fire yielded only this result — the remaining three cannonballs all missed. Only one iron ball struck the ground, bounced a few times, and from a distance smashed the wheel of a single-wheeled cart following behind. That iron ball's momentum was not yet spent; it bounced once more and slammed heavily into the head of a Qing camp follower behind it. The iron ball embedded itself in his skull, and brain matter spilled across the ground.

"Reload!"

The artillery squad officer on the city wall saw this result from afar and was far from satisfied. He loudly ordered the gunners to reload.

Each Frankish bronze cannon at Shunxiang Fortress had three gunners: one burly man who unloaded and loaded the charges, one aimer, and one firer. There was also a squad leader leading a file of pikemen standing guard behind them. Upon hearing the order, the unloaders of the several cannons immediately used iron rods to thrust into the iron handles of the sub-chambers and removed the sub-chambers from the mother barrels.

The Frankish bronze cannons consisted of mother barrels and sub-chambers. Each cannon came with several sub-chambers, pre-loaded with powder and shot, similar to later-era breech-loading cannons, and their rate of fire was quite fast. Only because they were prone to gas leakage, their range was not very far. These several Frankish bronze cannons at Shunxiang Fortress had a range of only about three hundred paces.

After the several unloaders removed the sub-chambers, they picked up another sub-chamber placed beside them and inserted it into the large, elongated slot at the rear of the mother barrel, then used a concave iron rod to hammer it down, aligning the mouths of the sub-chamber and mother barrel flush.

These several Frankish bronze cannons had trunnions on both sides of the barrel and were mounted on iron-wood carriages, allowing the barrel to be raised or lowered to adjust the firing angle. By now the Qing troops had already advanced to within a hundred and several tens of paces. After the loaders had properly seated the sub-chambers, the aimer for each cannon immediately sighted along the front and rear sights fitted to the barrel, squinting with one eye, and adjusted his aim at the distant Qing troops.

The aimers of each Frankish bronze cannon finished their adjustments one after another, and each man stood at attention.

The artillery squad officer watched the Qing shield troops pressing ever closer. He again waved the command flag in his hand and shouted the order: "Fire!"

The firer for each cannon immediately took out a red-hot long iron hook and touched it to the touchhole.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The four Frankish bronze cannons fired in succession.

But then miserable screams came from the city wall. One firer was clutching his face, kneeling on the ground and shrieking without end.

It turned out that for one cannon on the city wall, named "Invincible Third General" at position jia, because the sub-chamber and mother barrel were not tightly mated during loading, the fiery gas violently leaked out, jetting over ten feet. The firer standing beside this cannon was instantly struck by disaster. His head and face were caught by the fiery blast, and the scalding gas raised countless huge blisters on his head, face, and body. In particular, his right eye was directly scalded and burst — it was probably beyond saving.

That cannonball, due to the gas leakage, was also fired feebly and fell to the ground after traveling just over a hundred paces.

For a moment, the entire city wall was shocked by this sudden incident. The squad leader behind that cannon rushed forward and roared at the loader: "Look at the fine mess you've made!"

In daily training, the veteran gunners had always warned these new gunners that when loading the sub-chamber, the mouths of the sub-chamber and mother barrel must be mated tightly, with not a hair's breadth of difference in their circular diameters. Only then could the shot fly far and the fiery gas not leak. Otherwise, not only would the cannon fire weakly, but especially if the fiery gas leaked outward, it could sometimes jet out several zhang and scald the nearby gunners.

That loader had trained many times in daily drills, but in the panic of facing the enemy, he had actually forgotten this point.

Shunxiang Army's first casualty was caused by their own man.

Wang Dou also saw this situation from the gate tower. He said flatly, "The wounded soldier — help him down for treatment. That loader — lock him up!"

At Wang Dou's single shouted order, auxiliary soldiers formed from several able-bodied men inside the fortress immediately carried over a stretcher made of wooden planks and bore the wounded firer down for treatment. Inside the fortress, Wang Tianxue had already organized a medical team specifically to treat soldiers wounded in battle.

Two burly military discipline soldiers under Provost Chi Dacheng also instantly rushed over and escorted the loader down. That loader's face was full of shame. He dared not raise his head to look at the reproachful gazes cast at him by the surrounding soldiers, but only hung his head dejectedly as he followed the two escorting soldiers down.

With this unexpected lesson, all the gunners became even more alert.

By now, the results of another round of firing from those four Frankish bronze cannons had emerged. Aside from the cannon that had malfunctioned, which fired only a hundred paces, another iron ball struck a shield cart and wounded several unarmored auxiliary soldiers. Even an armored cavalryman behind the shield cart was stabbed by a sharp wooden splinter that flew at him. The splinter pierced through the two layers of heavy armor on his body and stabbed into the area over his heart. This armored cavalryman knelt straight down on the ground and died just like that.

Yet another iron ball struck the horse ridden by a Heavy Armor Soldier, directly smashing a huge, bloody, mangled hole in the horse's head. That warhorse let out only a single neigh before tumbling to the ground, pinning the Heavy Armor Soldier beneath it.

The last iron ball did not hit any target, but bouncing and skipping along, it smashed a single-wheeled cart and rolled into and broke the legs — both large and small — of two Qing camp followers coming up behind, leaving them rolling on the ground and shrieking in agony.

By now the Qing troops were advancing even closer, so the firing of those four Frankish bronze cannons ended there. Wang Dou sighed inwardly. At this time, the effect of cannons was still too limited — better at frightening men than hitting them. However, to the several officers on the gate tower, the results from these two rounds of Frankish bronze cannon fire were still significant: they had caused about ten Qing casualties and wrecked two of the Tatars' shield carts and one single-wheeled cart.

Finally, on the city wall there were also two small bronze cannons, muzzle-loading. Their power was not great, and their range was only a hundred paces.

These two small bronze cannons were not mounted high on iron-wood carriages like those Frankish bronze cannons, but were simply set on small four-wheeled carts. In front of each cannon, a firing port had also been opened in the city wall, through which they fired outward.

Each of the two small bronze cannons had two gunners. By now the powder inside the cannons had long been tamped firm, and the touchholes were also filled with powder. Besides one cannonball each, some stones and iron pellets had also been stuffed into the cannons. The artillery squad officer shouted an order. Forcefully waving the command flag in his hand, he bellowed: "Fire!"

"Boom! Boom!" Two reports rang out.

The two small bronze cannons belched flame and smoke, and miserable screams came from outside the city.

Just at that moment, the stirring beat of war drums suddenly rang out from the main Qing formation. The Qing troops below the city shouted in unison. They raised their banners and charged forward with wild cries.

"Steady, steady! Wait for the central army's signal before opening fire!"

Han Zhong strode back and forth along the city wall. As he watched the movements of the Qing troops below the city, he bellowed at his subordinates.

Han Zhong and Sun Sanjie had already descended from the gate tower to personally command their respective sentry companies in battle on their assigned sections of the city wall. Only Lin Daofu, Provost Chi Dacheng, along with Han Chao and Wen Fangliang, remained with Wang Dou's central army staff on the gate tower to observe.

At this moment, at the crenellations and parapets on the barbican, and on the sections of the city wall to the left and right of the city gate, every crenel was densely packed with Shunxiang Army arquebusiers from Han Zhong's Left Sentry and Sun Sanjie's Rear Sentry. They braced their arquebuses, simply aiming at the charging Qing troops.

They all wore armor, some even iron armor. Shunxiang Fortress now possessed over two hundred and fifty sets of iron armor in total, with over one hundred and eighty more sets originally in the storehouse. Because Han Zhong's Left Sentry and Sun Sanjie's Rear Sentry were the first to engage in battle, in order to reduce casualties, Wang Dou had ordered Han Chao's Right Sentry and Wen Fangliang's Front Sentry, who were not participating in the battle, to give up the armor in their own units for these two sentries' soldiers to use.

The two sentries, including standard-bearers, guards, and officers, totaled over five hundred soldiers. Shunxiang Fortress had over four hundred and thirty sets of armor, so besides the two hundred pikemen of the two sentries, each and every one clad in iron armor, the remaining two hundred arquebusiers were also allotted some iron armor, and most also had cotton armor or leather armor for protection.

Since close combat had not yet begun, the hanging screens for defense against arrows at each crenel on the city wall had been temporarily moved aside to facilitate the arquebusiers' shooting.

At this moment, on Han Zhong's Left Sentry side, hearing the shouts of the Qing troops outside drawing nearer and nearer, many soldiers' faces were pale. The Tatar soldiers had a fearsome reputation, unlike the bandits and mountain brigands each man had killed before. The psychological pressure each man faced when confronting the enemy was no small matter.

However, Shunxiang Army's daily training was strict, and military discipline was stern and deeply ingrained. Especially the Shunxiang Fortress city defense martial law recently decreed: in battle, those who turn back shall be bound and beaten! Those who move without orders shall be bound and beaten! Those who, upon seeing the enemy, make loud clamor, and those who are wounded and cry out in alarm and flee, shall all be dealt with according to the law for shrinking back in the face of battle and made a public example!

Provost Chi Dacheng led his military discipline squad on constant patrols, so although life and death hung in the balance, every man still stood solemnly and uttered not a word.

The four squads of soldiers of the Left Sentry, except for a few squad officers observing the enemy situation through the lookout holes in the parapets, were all standing before their squad banners beside their own straw-mat sheds at this moment. The sentry's one hundred iron-armored pikemen stood in two ranks holding their pikes — one rank to strike and kill, the other rank to serve as reinforcements depending on the situation. The arquebusiers of each squad were likewise divided into two ranks: one rank braced their guns on the crenels and aimed, while the other rank stood behind holding their arquebuses, waiting for their turn to fire. They carefully watched the matchcords in their hands, guarding against them burning out or going out.

Not only them, but the auxiliary soldiers in each combat squad — formed from the able-bodied adult males of the fortress, who would hurl rolling logs and stones and pour down boiling filth — also crouched quietly beside their equipment, clenching their teeth and not uttering a single word.

The city wall was utterly silent, with only the fierce sun beating straight down upon it.

The various officers and soldiers wore thick armor, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down every man's face, yet no one moved to wipe them away.

Han Zhong watched the Qing troops drawing nearer and nearer from the parapet. He too sucked in a tense breath and muttered unceasingly, "Lads, keep steady now!"

Han Zhong reckoned that the Tatar soldiers had long since discerned that the city gate was offset to the left of the barbican, because there were as many as fifteen shield carts being pushed toward this side. Not far behind the shield carts, there were also numerous Tatar soldiers and camp followers, wearing cotton armor or unarmored, pushing seventy or eighty single-wheeled carts heaped with mud and stones and such, to be used to fill the trenches and moats before the city. Behind these single-wheeled carts, there were also a dozen or so Tatar camp followers carrying several crude scaling ladders, following the single-wheeled carts forward.

The shield carts pushed forward, the Qing soldiers' war cries thundering. In the blink of an eye, the Qing troops outside the city had already charged within fifty paces. At that moment, a long swan call sounded from the central army section on the gate tower.

Han Zhong pointed his long saber forward and bellowed, "Fire!"

From the barbican to the left-side city wall, among the many crenellations, guard posts, and projecting bastions, the first layer of fifty musketeers from the Left Sentry was deployed.

They fired in unison, the muskets roaring together, spewing out a great mass of flame and smoke.

For a moment, the thunder of musket fire resounded through the clouds.

However, the front and upper sections of those dozen-odd Qing shield carts were shielded by thick wooden planks, which were further covered with heavy leather and cotton quilts. Although Shunxiang Fort's new-style muskets were formidable and could pierce Qing cotton armor at fifty paces, they could not penetrate the shield carts. The volley from Han Zhong's fifty musketeers struck the leather and cotton quilts on each cart with loud slapping sounds, bullets flying everywhere and flagpoles snapping one after another, yet the Qing death soldiers and archers crouching inside the shield carts remained unharmed.

The dozen-odd Qing shield carts still rushed forward rapidly.

Han Zhong cursed loudly several times and shouted, "Second layer of musketeers, forward! Hit those unarmored Tartars behind!"

Immediately, the first layer of musketeers withdrew and rapidly began loading their fixed paper cartridge ammunition.

The second row of musketeers stepped forward, aiming at the Qing soldiers and attendants who were pushing single-wheeled carts and continuously following behind the shield carts. Sun Sanjie on the right-side city wall made the same assessment of the situation and issued the identical order.

"Fire!"

The musketeers atop Shunxiang Fort's walls fired another volley. Except for a few muskets that misfired, dozens of muskets fired together at the Qing attendants behind the shield carts.

From outside the city came a chorus of utterly wretched screams — this time, they must have hit their marks!

After two volleys of musket fire, the top of the wall was now filled with thick, drifting white smoke, obscuring visibility.

Han Zhong loudly ordered a ceasefire, and the squad officers of each unit also shouted, "Cease fire, cease fire!"

The musketeers of every squad halted and waited to observe the results.

The choking smell of gunpowder smoke drifted across the wall top, mingled with the rank stench of fresh blood. Under the blazing sunlight, it was an indescribable odor.

They could see clearly now. Outside the city, the Qing attendants who had advanced within sixty paces — over a dozen of them had been knocked to the ground, many with bodies a bloody mess, rolling on the earth and shrieking in agony.

Shunxiang Fort's new-style muskets could pierce cotton armor at forty to fifty paces and still possessed considerable lethality at sixty paces. Against men who wore no armor or only cotton armor without iron plates sewn in, their power was immense. For a moment, those Qing attendants pushing single-wheeled carts all crouched behind their carts, hesitating to keep charging forward.

From within the Qing shield carts ahead came a clamor of noise as well. Clearly, the Qing soldiers hiding inside and behind the shield carts had not anticipated that the Ming army's muskets on the wall would be so ferocious.

Another order rang out. The first-layer musketeers who had fired earlier had already finished loading their fixed paper cartridge ammunition. After the second-layer musketeers withdrew, they in turn stepped forward. But by now, the shield carts ahead had already rushed within twenty or thirty paces. As this layer of musketeers opened fire, a batch of Qing soldiers clad in cotton armor darted out from within each shield cart. Bowstrings twanged, and the first wave of over twenty sharp arrows came flying toward the crenellations on the wall.

Screams rose from both above and below the wall. Several more Qing attendants were hit, and the foremost shield cart was penetrated, with someone inside seemingly wounded. But in that sudden assault by the Qing troops below the wall — with the musketeers standing at the crenellations firing densely outward, and the Qing archers shooting with deadly accuracy — in that single instant, more than ten musketeers on Han Zhong's section of the wall were struck by Qing arrows.

Wu Zhengchun's unit of Squad A, Left Sentry Company A, was positioned on the first bastion several dozen paces from the city gate. The newly appointed squad leader Wu Zhengchun was directing his squad's musketeers in combat when he suddenly heard the whistle of an incoming projectile. He dodged swiftly, and the sharp arrow flew past his ear. But a musketeer beside him was struck in the right eye by an arrow. The force of the arrow was so great that it hurled him backward, and he tumbled to the ground.

Zhong Xiancai, the newly appointed Squad Commander of Left Sentry Company A, was moving back and forth directing his unit. He had just reached a section of crenellated wall when several sharp arrows shot in through the crenel ahead. One musketeer was hit in the neck. Although an iron-plated collar blocked it, the arrow's momentum was fierce, and the arrowhead still drove deep inside, blood gushing forth.

In particular, another musketeer, though clad in iron armor, was struck in the face by four arrows. He screamed terribly and toppled backward onto the ground.

Among the dozen-odd musketeers hit, those wearing iron armor fared better. As long as the arrows did not strike vital areas like the face or eyes, even if they were hit in the chest or elsewhere, the arrows mostly could not pierce the armor, and even if they did, the wounds were not fatal. For those musketeers wearing leather or cotton armor, however, the situation was grave. Several had arrows driven deep into their chests, and their lives were likely beyond saving.

The Qing archers' shots were especially vicious and uncannily accurate. They struck either the face, the neck, or the eyes, making the mortality rate among the hit musketeers quite high. From this single volley of arrows alone, of the dozen-odd musketeers struck, perhaps half would lose their lives.

Han Zhong himself narrowly escaped injury. As he peered outside the city, two sharp arrows flew toward him. One razor-sharp arrow whistled past his ear and landed far away in the street behind the wall. Another arrow struck him in the left chest. Fortunately, he was clad in iron armor, and the iron plates at that spot were very thick. The incoming arrow barely pierced through but did not reach his flesh.

Still, the force of that arrow slammed into him, making him gasp heavily. He crouched down and bellowed, "Musketeers, fall back, fall back!"

"Auxiliaries, hang the suspended shields!"

Another wave of sharp arrows flew in through the various crenels. Another four or five musketeers and able-bodied auxiliaries who could not dodge in time were shot to the ground, screaming in agony.

The remaining arrows sailed over the city wall and fell far into the city.

From both the left and right sides of the city wall came the urgent shouts of officers, ordering the musketeers to take cover.

The rate of fire and accuracy of muskets were far inferior to those of bows. Engaging them in a shootout put their own side at a severe disadvantage.

This was especially true for the troops of the Rear Sentry led by Sun Sanjie. Although the Qing soldiers attacking their right-side city wall were fewer, most of their men were new recruits. Despite rigorous training, they lacked the tempering of real combat. Their side also suffered a volley of arrows, and caught off guard, they sustained nearly ten musketeer casualties.

In the mere blink of an eye, the Shunxiang Army atop the wall had already suffered over twenty casualties.

From Wang Dou's gate tower, urgent orders also came in rapid succession, telling the musketeers to take cover and to immediately hang the suspended shields and soft barriers at the crenellations.

……

The auxiliaries on the city wall bent low and hurriedly carried the suspended shields or soft barriers to the crenellations, blocking the incoming arrows from outside the city. They also lifted buckets of water and splashed it over them. These suspended shields and soft barriers had covering frames on the front and top, draped with old wadded quilts. Once soaked with water, they could effectively stop the sharp arrows fired from outside the city.

After each suspended shield blocked a crenel, the wall top dimmed slightly as the sunlight on one side was blocked. Only the sound of *thwack thwack* could be heard as dozens more sharp arrows struck the various suspended shields, but blocked by the cotton quilts, the arrows could not penetrate.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. These suspended shields and soft barriers were indeed the most essential items for defending crenellations. Without such equipment, soldiers could not hope to stand before the crenels.

Large groups of medical auxiliaries, formed from the able-bodied men of the fort, carried stretchers up from below the wall. They bore the wounded soldiers down from the wall top for treatment and collected the bodies of the fallen. All along the way, the blood of the fallen and wounded soldiers stained the wall top. Looking at the blood on the ground and hearing the cries of their wounded brothers, everyone on the wall realized that the hardship of this battle would exceed their expectations.

At this moment, the officers and musketeers of every squad and company on the city wall were peering at the movements outside the city through the observation holes in the crenellated parapets or through small gaps hollowed out in the suspended shields. They saw that the Qing shield carts below had halted twenty paces from the city wall. Many Qing soldiers were emerging from the shield carts. Some used the shield carts for cover, while others stood brazenly outside the carts, but every one of them had bows drawn and arrows nocked, staring intently at the movements on the wall.

On the Left Sentry's section of the wall, Han Zhong roughly estimated that there were probably around one hundred and fifty Tartar combat soldiers. Judging by their banners and armor, they were at the very least armored horsemen of the Qing army, each clad in two layers of heavy armor. In particular, several who looked like squad commanders and platoon commanders wore bulging layers — estimated to be three layers of heavy armor.

One man who appeared to be a company captain wore even more bulging layers. Around him, to his front, sides, and rear, were Heavy Armor Soldiers, about thirty-odd men, each holding heavy shields, with tall red tassels on their helmets and clad in double layers of heavy armor. Beside each group of Heavy Armor Soldiers stood a burly man in bright armor with a red tassel, a small slant-tipped yellow banner stuck into his back.

Behind the Qing shield carts, one after another, the single-wheeled carts pushed by Qing attendants, laden with earth and other materials, came rolling forward, pressing close to the trench in front of the city wall.

At the foot of the city wall on both sides of Shunxiang Fort's south gate, outside the moat, were placed chevaux-de-frise, abatis, caltrops, and the like. These were vital defensive lines for Shunxiang Fort's walls, and the Qing soldiers absolutely could not be permitted to easily destroy and fill them.

By now, Wang Dou's central army section on the gate tower had clearly discerned the movements below the wall. From the tower came the stirring beat of war drums and orders, instructing the musketeers of each squad to fight freely, to fire outside the city, and to prevent the Qing soldiers from filling the moat and scaling the wall.

At the same time, the war drums from the main Qing formation beat with even greater intensity. The two sides began exchanging fire from above and below the wall.

The crack of muskets and clouds of smoke rose continuously. The musketeers of each squad on the wall thrust the barrels of their muskets through the observation holes in the crenellated parapets and through the firing loopholes below, firing outward without pause. Simultaneously, Qing arrows came flying in without cease. Some arrows, at cunning angles, could even slip through these two types of openings, inflicting casualties on the musketeers atop the wall.

The angles from the observation holes above the crenels and the firing loopholes below were narrow, making shooting awkward. One musketeer from Left Sentry Company B, frustrated that the suspended shield blocking the crenel made shooting difficult, slightly shifted one suspended shield aside. Before he could fire, as many as ten powerful arrows came flying at him at once. Eight sharp arrows struck him in the face, and he immediately screamed and tumbled to the ground.

Seeing this, no musketeer dared to move the suspended shields again.

Since the Qing soldiers had not yet filled the moat and scaled the wall, the flanking firepower from the guard posts on the several bastions could not be brought to bear either.

Firing outward through the observation holes and loopholes made it difficult to catch the enemy. But whenever a shot landed, given the power of Shunxiang Fort's muskets, even if the Qing soldiers below wore two layers of heavy armor, they were instantly knocked to the ground. Even if they did not die immediately or their heavy armor was not breached, the immense force of the musket — the heavy bullet slamming into them — meant that all that power had to be absorbed by the body. Those Qing soldiers who were hit had their bones instantly shattered and lost all ability to move.

Screams and muffled groans came from above and below the wall from time to time. By rough estimate, another dozen-odd Qing soldiers outside the city had been struck by Shunxiang Fort's muskets, among them several combat soldiers who were about to scale the wall and fight. On the wall, several more musketeers had been hit by Qing arrows, either in the face or in the thigh.

Though the fighting was not yet intense, it was exceedingly bloody. The medical auxiliaries simply ran back and forth, constantly carrying the wounded soldiers down for treatment.

Outside the city, the Qing company captain, under the heavy protection of his elite troops, merely gazed at the direction of the wall top with a solemn expression. He had not expected the Ming army's firearms on the wall to be so formidable — it greatly exceeded his expectations. Before even reaching the wall top, his own side had already suffered over thirty casualties. Although the majority were unarmored attendants, it still pained his heart. These men were all warriors of the regiment who had fought for many years — to think they would die here.

Moreover, many of his own brave warriors, though clad in heavy armor, had still been pierced through and died miserably under the Ming army's firearms. This was something unprecedented. It stirred a sense of foreboding in his heart, a premonition that capturing this small fort might not be so easy after all.

……

By the afternoon, after suffering another thirty-odd casualties, the Qing attendants finally cleared a stretch of ground beneath the city wall to the left of the south gate. They removed the chevaux-de-frise, abatis, caltrops, and other obstacles from that area and even filled in a section of the moat. Then, the sound of disorderly footsteps arose as three crude, long scaling ladders were brought toward the wall.

Zhong Xiancai, the Left Sentinel Squad Leader in charge of this section of the wall, saw clearly through the observation hole in the battlement. He suddenly bellowed, "Prepare the rolling stones!"

Immediately, several auxiliary soldiers in that squad responsible for hurling rolling logs and stones nervously carried a few stones and placed them onto the throwing scoops of several small catapults beside the battlement. Zhong Xiancai gave the order: "Release!"

Over a dozen stones were hurled down from the wall, crashing heavily outside the city wall. Instantly, a chorus of agonized screams rose from below.

However, one scaling ladder still came leaning over and had already hooked onto the top of the wall.

Zhong Xiancai shouted again, "Prepare the golden juice!"

Immediately, two more auxiliary soldiers each used an iron rod to laboriously lift a large cauldron from a fire pit. Inside boiled bubbling fecal liquid, its stench assaulting the heavens.

At the same time, a rising and falling chorus of voices rang out from every squad: "Spearmen, prepare!