Chapter 108: Volume 3: Defender of Shunxiang Fortress, Chapter 108: The Small Fort

Only when the Jalangga Commander had tired of beating him did the Niru Commander weep and plead: "It is not that your slave was incompetent, but that the Ming army was too cunning. A tiny Battalion Commander's city, yet it concealed no fewer than three thousand elite troops, all of them able-bodied young men. Your slave observed their outstanding combat skills and fears they were all Ming state retainers and the like."

"With a mere few hundred troops, your slave besieged a sturdy city defended by several thousand Ming retainers... This, this is a defeat beyond the fault of battle!"

At this, the Niru Commander wailed aloud. After his crushing defeat, the tiny castle he had once scorned had now become, in his telling, a high, thick, and impregnable fortress.

Beside him, several officers of various ranks, their bodies covered in wounds and also prostrate, chimed in: "Indeed, indeed! The Ming troops inside the city were certainly no fewer than several thousand. In particular, their firearms were devastatingly sharp — even heavy shields and layered armor offered no protection. Your slaves have never seen firearms like theirs before."

Their faces all bore expressions of lingering terror: "It was too ferocious. Our warriors, clad in two layers of heavy armor, were still pierced by their firelocks and died one after another in agony."

The men in the tent whispered among themselves. The Jalangga Commander asked doubtfully, "Are their firearms truly so formidable? And there were several thousand Ming state retainers inside the city?"

The Niru Commander swore by heaven and earth that his words were true. He then looked toward another Niru Commander beside him, a man in his forties with a lean, sinewy face and a pair of mouse-whisker mustaches.

That Niru Commander cleared his throat and spoke: "Your slave believes what Ning'erjia has said is indeed the truth. That fort could not possibly have held only a few hundred men. Given the lax combat readiness of Ming garrison forts, if there had been only a few hundred troops, their effective fighting strength would have been halved, and they could not have produced such ferocious gunfire. More importantly, our warriors had already scaled the wall. By all reason, the Ming army should have broken and fled the moment the wall was breached. Yet they dared to fight our warriors in bloody hand-to-hand combat atop the wall. If they were not Ming elite retainers, they could never have shown such fierce courage!"

He then mused, "That day when we captured that Ming scout cavalryman, we already felt he was extraordinary. Without years of campaigning as a retainer, he could not have been so calm and composed. Looking again at that Battalion Commander's city, with a new fort built to its west, it must be that at some point the Ming state transferred a senior general to garrison it. Your slave estimates there may not have been three thousand elite troops inside, but between one and two thousand retainers is likely. What puzzles your slave is: this place is no strategic stronghold — why would they station such heavy forces to defend it?"

Hearing this, all the officers in the tent agreed it made sense. The Jalangga Commander, too, was drawn in by his words. This Niru Commander had always been regarded as the brains of the Jalangga, and had even presented a concubine to this Jalangga Commander, so the commander usually held him in high regard.

Now the Jalangga Commander fell into deep thought, stroking his broad, flat face and fiddling with his long, thin queue — the coin-and-rat-tail pigtail — as he paced back and forth in the tent.

The prostrate Niru Commander Ning'erjia cast a grateful glance at the one who had spoken for him, Niru Commander Niugulu. Niugulu shot Ning'erjia a meaningful look and sighed inwardly. What could he do? They were in-laws — his own son had married Ning'erjia's daughter. If he did not speak for him, for whom would he speak?

In this battle, Ning'erjia had taken with him several dozen elite armored cavalry from his Niru, and many had died in the aftermath, cutting his heart like a knife. But for the sake of their family ties, he could hardly say anything.

After pacing back and forth several dozen times, the Jalangga Commander roared: "Are we to suffer such losses — our troops destroyed, our warriors dead — and simply let it go? If we leave just like that, where is the face of our Great Qing? How will this Jalangga ever hold its head up within the Banner again?"

Silence fell over the tent. Shunxiang Fortress was not easy to attack. The southern wall was as it was, and the other walls were even harder to assault.

They had long since sent scouts riding around the entire Shunxiang Fortress. Besides the south gate, there was also a west gate. But the ground there was pitted and uneven, full of countless large craters. Attacking the west gate from that side would likely be even more difficult than attacking the south gate. Just filling in those earthen pits before the gate, under fire from the wall's firearms, would cost who knew how many casualties.

Finally, Niru Commander Niugulu spoke: "Your Excellency Yanzha, the scouts have already reported back. In the vicinity of this Battalion Commander's city, there are still several small forts with households inside. We can feign attacks on those small forts to force the Ming troops in this fort to come out into the field to rescue them. If they cower inside and refuse to emerge, we shall take those small forts one by one and slaughter every soldier and civilian within, to vent our hatred."

"If they do come out to fight us in the field, our Great Qing warriors are peerless in open battle and will surely cut them down to the last man."

Hearing Niugulu's words, all the Qing officers in the tent acclaimed it as a brilliant plan, praising him as a reincarnation of Kongming. Niugulu, stroking his two mouse-whisker mustaches, smiled with unconcealed pride.

The Jalangga Commander also roared his approval: "That is what we shall do. Tonight we make camp and rest. Tomorrow we shall storm those small forts and slaughter them, leaving neither fowl nor dog alive!"

Inside Shunxiang Fortress, Wang Dou emerged from the place where the wounded were being treated. He had already instructed Wang Tianxue to do his utmost to save the injured. The bodies of the fallen soldiers were also to be properly laid out and enshrouded; after the battle, they would be buried together in a unified ceremony. Later, their spirit tablets would be gathered into the fort's Shrine of Loyalty, to receive offerings of incense and sacrifice.

The widows and children of these fallen soldiers would thereafter be able, by roster, to receive monthly grain pensions issued by Shunxiang Fortress. No matter how hard things became, Wang Dou would support their families for life.

As evening approached, Wang Dou went up onto the wall again. The Left Sentry and Rear Sentry troops defending the wall were now rotating with the Right Sentry and Forward Sentry troops. The two sentries that had fought were relieved to rest, patrolling and standing by inside the fort. Han Chao's Right Sentry troops took over the defense of the south gate and the wall to its left, while Wen Fangliang's Forward Sentry troops defended the wall to the right of Shunxiang Fortress's south gate.

In this battle, the Left Sentry and Rear Sentry had suffered seventy-four casualties. Apart from the wounded, the fallen soldiers from both sentries were replaced by outstanding able-bodied young men drawn from each company's auxiliary troops, bringing both sentries back to full strength. These new soldiers would have no time for training now; they would have to grow quickly through the crucible of brutal warfare.

Wang Dou inspected the wall and said to Lin Daofu, Han Chao, Wen Fangliang, and the others who came to greet him: "How goes the rotation? Are the defensive equipment and supplies sufficient?"

Wen Fangliang smiled and said: "Rest assured, my lord, the men's morale is high. With the example of the Left Sentry and Rear Sentry brothers before them, the brothers who have taken over are all itching to have another fight with the Tartars."

Wang Dou said: "Very good. But do not slacken — maintain vigilant defense!"

Everyone respectfully acknowledged. Wang Dou saw that the wall, under the busy hands of the fort's auxiliary troops, had already been swiftly cleared in a short time. The straw sheds of each sentry and company had been re-erected. The newly rotated eight companies of the Right Sentry and Forward Sentry were all resting inside the sheds, talking and laughing loudly, discussing nothing but the day's battle.

Seeing Wang Dou approach, they all rose to their feet. Wang Dou told them to rest and prepare for battle, then, surrounded by his officers, simply walked back and forth inspecting both sections of the wall.

Large quantities of rolling logs and stone missiles were being hauled back onto the wall — those that had been cleared away, along with newly made chevaux-de-frise, were once again placed at various points along the wall. Looking outside the fort, beyond the moat there were also numerous chevaux-de-frise, caltrops, and the like. Before the crenellations and parapets on the wall, many wooden barriers had also been set up. Each panel of these wooden barriers was five chi wide and five chi high at the battlement, with numerous large wooden spikes and iron barbs loosely fastened to them — ideal for preventing night raids and scaling attempts.

Not only that, but on the horizontal poles of every straw shed on the wall, lanterns hung high, illuminating the wall in bright light. Each company was also equipped with wooden clappers, drums, gongs, and other items to sound the alarm at any moment. The soldiers in every straw shed slept in their clothes. At night, each shed also had to dispatch men to patrol the wall and sound the night watches.

Under such tight defenses, any Qing attempt to steal the city by night would likely end up like trying to steal a chicken only to lose the bait.

The sky darkened further. The Qing army's main camp, several li outside the city, was dotted with points of lamplight. Wang Dou mused: "Could we send some men out of the city at night to raid their camp?"

Han Chao, beside him, said in a low voice: "My lord, the slave brigands are not like those local bandits. Their camp defenses are strict and vigilant — I fear there is no opening to exploit. In my humble opinion, we should hold the city firmly and focus on careful defense."

Everyone around agreed, and Wang Dou nodded as well. He said to them: "After the evening meal, summon all officers from company commander and above in the sentries to assemble at the gate tower. There is much we need to review and summarize from today's battle."

That night, the south gate tower of Shunxiang Fortress was brightly lit. All officers from company commander and above of the fort's four combat sentries gathered there. Everyone spoke freely, discussing nothing but the successes and failures of the day's battle. Clerk Feng Dachang recorded the proceedings at the side.

Wang Dou had organized many such candid discussion sessions, and each one gave people a sense of novelty. Here, there was no distinction of rank; everyone could boldly voice their own views and insights. Thus, people vied to speak, eager to express their opinions. In Ming armies elsewhere, hierarchy was rigid — how could subordinates ever dare to speak freely?

They began by discussing how to deal with the Qing troops' shield carts. Everyone present gnashed their teeth in hatred at these shield carts, under whose cover large numbers of Qing troops had charged straight to the base of the wall. Yet apart from artillery, there seemed to be no other good solution. Even artillery was hard to aim accurately and seemed to have little effect.

A company commander from Sun Sanjie's Rear Sentry said: "Your humble officer has an idea. We could prepare a large number of pottery jars, fill them with fire oil, and hurl them to smash against the shield carts, then follow up with thrown torches to set them ablaze. That would surely burn those slave brigands into roast pigs."

Everyone laughed, but many were unconvinced. In truth, many had already thought of this method. One man immediately said: "The slave brigands' shield carts all stop twenty or thirty paces from the city wall. At such a distance, can the fire jars even hit them? Besides, the slave brigands have many shield carts. To burn them all, how much fire oil and how many fire jars would we need? Even if we collected all the oil and pottery jars in the fort, we could not make many fire jars. Furthermore, even if a fire jar hits a slave brigand shield cart, from several dozen paces away, can a torch be thrown accurately onto it?"

The company commander's face flushed red as he cried: "If we don't try, how do we know it won't work?"

Everyone laughed again. Wang Dou also smiled and nodded, instructing Clerk Feng Dachang to record this suggestion. If it proved effective in actual combat, this company commander would be commended for it.

Seeing Wang Dou's encouraging expression, everyone grew even more enthusiastic. They then discussed the timing of the firearms soldiers' volleys — a lesson learned at a very bitter cost, as it had caused heavy casualties among the first wave of troops. Everyone unanimously agreed that before the Qing shield carts were destroyed, blindly firing outward was essentially ineffective.

It was better to fire outward from various points on the wall when the Qing troops were filling in the moat or scaling the wall; the effect was actually more pronounced and could greatly reduce casualties among their own troops. Someone suggested that while hanging suspended shields over the crenellations were effective at blocking arrows, they made firing outward inconvenient. Perhaps some auxiliary troops could be assigned to hold shields upright at the crenellations, which would make it much easier for the firearms soldiers to fire outward.

This suggestion was also recorded. Wang Dou sighed inwardly. It was a pity that Shunxiang Fortress was only a small place and had no crouching-tiger cannons. Although the crouching-tiger cannon had a range of only twenty or thirty paces, when the Qing troops attacked the city, it would absolutely mow them down in swathes. Such crouching-tiger cannons were only available in any number at department cities and guard cities; Shunxiang Fortress had none.

Next came how to deal with the Qing scaling ladders. The methods proposed were countless and bizarre. Someone suggested using ramming poles and forked staves to brace against and topple the ladders, throwing the slave brigands on them to their deaths. Someone immediately retorted that the slave brigands' scaling ladders all had iron hooks at the top; as soon as they leaned against the wall, they were firmly hooked onto the parapet — how could they be toppled? The several ladders used during the day had been exactly like that.

Moreover, if they encountered the slave brigands' ladder carts, equipped with protective shields, windlasses, grappling hooks, and capable of being raised and lowered, using ramming poles would be even more impossible. But this possibility was immediately refuted by someone else: such cumbersome, massive ladder carts would be easy targets for artillery — one shot, one hit — so the slave brigands certainly would not use them.

Still, ramming poles and forked staves had their uses. The moment a scaling ladder was first leaned against the wall, if some quick-handed, sharp-eyed men on the wall used ramming poles to strike and push with combined force, they might topple the ladder and crush the brigands beneath. This suggestion was also recorded.

One company commander had formerly been a monk. Somewhat sheepishly, he said: "Your humble officer once made a living at a temple, where my daily task was to strike the bell. Perhaps we could construct some wooden-framed ramming poles on the wall, similar to those in temples. After the slave brigands set up their scaling ladders and just as they poke their bodies over the wall, we could use these ramming poles to knock them off the wall."

Everyone burst out laughing, praising his idea as novel. His suggestion was also recorded. However, his method was only suitable for a small number of scaling ladders. If the Qing troops below suddenly raised several dozen ladders at once, those wooden frames would likely be too cumbersome to move in time.