Chapter 692: Battered Heads and Bloody Faces

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For these Mongol troops from beyond the frontier, they were unwilling to expose their cavalry nakedly to the defending Ming firearms, for the ferocity of the Jingbian Army's firepower was well known, and some among them had witnessed it firsthand.

Yet without the covering suppression of cavalry bows, how could those wooden shields advance smoothly?

At this moment, the bulk of their forces had gathered outside "Yuanyang Fort" to cut off supplies and seize the fort, but time was pressing — they had to take it before Jingbian Army reinforcements arrived. Moreover, the frontier barbarians were poor at constructing siege equipment, and with time so short, shield carts were out of the question, let alone other assault devices. They could only fell some timber and lash together crude wooden shields to block the firelocks.

Experience had proven that the army's leather shields, iron shields, and the like could hardly withstand the bombardment of Jingbian Army firearms. Shields plated with extremely thick iron could do so, but such heavy shields — who in the army could lift and carry them?

Wooden shields were still workable. However fierce the firelocks, they could hardly penetrate thick, heavy logs. Of course, if a shot struck a weak point in the wooden shield, or the gap between two timbers, it could still hit the men behind — but this already greatly reduced casualties among the soldiers.

To the east and not far to the northeast of the fort lay mountainous terrain. Although the defenders had felled many trees, vast dense forests still remained, providing abundant raw material. So the attacking Mongol cavalry, after hastily constructing some wooden shields, dismounted in part.

Many more men in the rear were still working feverishly to build additional wooden shields, felling thick logs and lashing them together.

The main point of their assault was the eastern palisade of the fort — exactly as Han Chao had envisioned when establishing the fort. After all, the objective conditions dictated it; if not attacking here, where else could they attack?

Battle cries shook the heavens. On this side, several thousand cavalry had turned into infantry, straining forward with heavy wooden shields in desperate advance, row upon row, some three hundred shields in all, each a zhang in length. Behind the wooden shields were masses of armored archers.

In addition, ahead of them, swarms of cavalry harassed vigorously, circling the fort with agility, suppressing and provoking with arrows from a hundred paces, from scores of paces.

Without regard for accuracy or power, if merely blanketing with volley fire, the cavalry bow, aided by the horse's momentum, could still shoot quite far.

The defenders mostly ignored the Mongol cavalry's attacking mounted archery. After all, the enemy horsemen could not break through the palisade, nor could they cross the trench. The arrows they shot from horseback merely lodged shallowly in the palisade; those falling from above were blocked by the wooden shelters overhead.

From the fort's establishment in early August until now, "Yuanyang Fort" had grown ever more complete. The newly built wooden shelters behind the palisade were one example — their roofs laid with thick planks, slightly slanted and extending beyond the palisade, they effectively protected against arrows.

They hid behind the palisade in silence. Only when the Tatar cavalry charged too close, under their officers' command, would a sudden volley of orderly firelocks erupt, knocking down men and horses in swathes.

Some Mongols, indulging in wild fancies, even shot fire arrows. But the raw logs were heavy with moisture, and the tiny sparks carried by the arrowheads could not ignite them at all; the defenders could not be bothered to respond.

At this time, the fort was defended by Company Commander Huang Wei, who had fought alongside Tian Qiming at the Stone Bridge battle years ago and was still an officer under Tian Qiming's battalion.

He stood on the second floor of a wooden house on the hillock, raising a telescope, simply surveying the enemy forces outside the fort.

From below, the sounds of killing and cannon fire surged into his ears, even carrying the scent of gunpowder smoke. Beside him, the officers of the company headquarters were likewise gazing outward, though the morale officer had gone to rouse the troops, and the provost officer had gone to supervise and inspect.

"It seems the main force of the Guihua City Tatars is concentrated here. They endured so long and finally could endure no more. A tiny fort, yet the troops gathered outside number at least twenty thousand — it seems their resolve to take the fort is great indeed."

An advisor behind him, looking at the dense mass of enemy troops outside the fort, murmured to himself.

"In all past campaigns beyond the frontier, what the Tatars excelled at most was cutting off supplies and blocking roads. But are the forts of our Jingbian Army so easily assaulted? These Tatar soldiers beneath Yuanyang Fort are bound to batter their heads bloody. Best if they keep dragging on outside the fort until our great army arrives and nets them all in one sweep!"

Another advisor chimed in, his tone brimming with confidence. Since the fort's establishment in early August, by now, not only was the fort stoutly constructed, but the grain and fodder within were piled like mountains, providing excellent assurance for the army at the front.

This was also the first military fort erected by the Western Expedition Army. Both its symbolic and practical significance were profound — no wonder the Tatar cavalry's main force, braving danger, made this fort the first target of their attack.

But they had miscalculated. Though they numbered twenty thousand, and the defenders of this fort were but a single battalion, they would still be made to batter their heads bloody.

This was also Huang Wei's inward calculation. He did not fear the Tatars assaulting the fort; if he could tie down the Tatars, that would be best of all. Yet the Tatars were cunning, and he feared they had noticed this too. Likely they would not linger long — at most a day or two without success, and they would abandon the fort and depart.

However, having endured so many days and then suddenly striking out to seize supplies and take the fort, today's fighting was bound to be fierce.

While observing this side, he also paced to various parts of the wooden house, surveying the enemy situation around the entire fort.

Near the fort, the brush and weeds had long been cut down and burned away. Densely packed, only enemy troops gathered.

At present, the Tatars assaulting the eastern palisade of the fort were the most numerous, and the wooden shields erected there were also the most. The two fort gates, north and south, had relatively few attackers — about a thousand men each. Since the fort's west side was not far from the river, only a scattering of roving cavalry galloped there.

Therefore, in defense, the troops deployed on the fort's east side were also the most numerous.

Inside the wooden house of this very building, a dozen or so arquebusiers likewise aimed their pieces through the embrasures at the enemy.

This battalion had eight hundred combat soldiers and four hundred arquebusiers. Of these, two hundred arquebusiers were deployed to defend the fort's east side — a hundred of them arrayed behind the palisade, the remainder concentrated in several wooden houses, distributed across their upper and lower floors.

They were about a dozen paces from the palisade and had not yet opened fire with their pieces, preparing to deliver a Changling Mountain-style volley of three-tiered firepower from above and below when the Tatars drew closer.

Apart from this, the battalion's pikemen, of no immediate use in this kind of fort defense, were employed as grenadiers.

In the Battle of Jinzhou, the Jingbian Army's "ten-thousand-man enemy" grenades had achieved tremendous success. Thus the Western Expedition Army had likewise transported large quantities of them, and "Yuanyang Fort" was especially well-stocked. They were being carried out crate by crate, ready to be hurled fiercely when the enemy drew near.

There were also some non-combat personnel — such as the battalion's supply troops, cooks, and wagon drivers — who also held bird guns, ready to join the fight at any moment.

As Huang Wei observed, the Mongol army, like a vast ocean, besieged the fort, while ahead, the Mongol cavalry ceaselessly blanketed the area with volley fire from their bows.

Yet wave after wave of their arrows, pouring down like torrential rain, could not penetrate the palisade, and even those that fell on the wooden shelters behind merely made a pattering sound, posing no threat to the defenders. On the contrary, quite a few men and horses were struck down by the firelocks fired in return.

Noticing this, and to avoid wasting precious cavalry strength in vain, the sound of conch horns finally came from the rear. The Mongol cavalry withdrew, leaving only the advancing wooden shields, pressing forward desperately in dense, layer upon layer.

The five red-barbarian cannons on the fort's hillock kept up a continuous bombardment, producing rolling clouds of thick smoke that the autumn wind then blew toward the southeast. They had successively destroyed many wooden shields, shattering the lashed timbers while hurling severed limbs and broken arms into the air.

At present, the Jingbian Army's artillery battalion used silk powder bags, firing rapidly and requiring a long time before needing to cool. Their power was not merely doubled — the roaring, thunderous cannons churned up gale after gale of bloody wind and rain. All along the way, the Tatars advancing with wooden shields screamed unceasingly.

Yet still they pressed on despite the casualties, shield after shield, entering the dead zone of the red-barbarian cannons' field of fire.

"The Tatars are paying a heavy price."

The artillery battalion's unit officer behind the cannons frowned and murmured.

His face was already stained black and white by the gunpowder smoke. On the earth before him, fallen arrows stuck like weeds. On his left arm, one still hung askew, unnoticed — he merely stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Too many men is also a factor."

The guard squad leader beside him concurred.

Now the artillery battalion already had dedicated guard soldiers. "Yuanyang Fort" retained five red-barbarian cannons, with fifty men — gunners, loaders, powder handlers, and so on — along with one squad of guards.

This guard squad leader also had several arrows hanging from his person, about to fall. He paid them no mind and could not even be bothered to pull them out.

The artillery battalion unit officer grunted, abruptly dropped his hand, and glared: "Move the cannons to the embrasures by the palisade and fire canister!"

Just at that moment, a messenger from the company headquarters came running, conveying Huang Wei's order for the artillery battalion brothers to move the cannons to the palisade and blast the enemy's wooden shields with canister.

The artillery battalion unit officer laughed heartily and said, "Truly, heroes see things alike."

With an imposing sweep of his hand: "Clear the bore, add powder, load canister!"

The dismounted Mongol troops, bearing their wooden shields in dense, overlapping layers, had finally advanced to within a hundred paces of the palisade. This area was still littered with some corpses of men and horses from the earlier mounted archery, their blood and flesh sticky as paste. A nauseating stench of blood filled the nostrils, mingled with a strange smell of gunpowder smoke drifting through the air.

The defenders ahead showed not the slightest movement. The Mongols behind the shields could not see the situation inside the fort; they only sensed that between the man-high wooden palisades, some dark, somber bird guns protruded from the firing ports, chilling to behold. Looking up, they saw that in the wooden houses on the hillock behind the palisade, more bird guns were likewise aimed at them.

Many hearts pounded with dread, yet this was no time for hesitation. The great drums in the rear had already sounded. The shield-bearing Mongols roared in unison and, straining with their wooden shields, charged forward.

They advanced to within fifty paces, and still the Ming troops did not stir. At this moment, a command rang out from their own side, and the ceaseless twang of bowstrings followed. The Mongol archers behind the shields loosed their arrows with all their might toward the wooden palisade. As the distance closed, the arrows they shot grew ever more numerous, truly like a torrential downpour.

The pattering sounds were like hailstones and raindrops. In the blink of an eye, the palisade and wooden shelters on this side were bristling with arrows like hedgehogs.

The defenders still did not stir. The Mongols behind the shields could not see the results of their arrows either, but every man simply shot with all his strength, using the effort to mask the terror in his heart.

They drew closer, thirty paces away, when suddenly a sharp swan-like cry rang out, and a volley of firelocks roared in unison — three distinct tiers of white smoke, front, middle, and rear, billowed into the air. Ahead, a mist of blood sprayed up from behind the wooden shields, and an unbroken stream of startled shouts and agonized screams burst forth, mingled with the thud of bodies collapsing to the ground; some of the wooden shields even toppled over.

The ferocious bullets punched through the gaps and weak points of the wooden shields, dealing a devastating blow to the men behind them. The firelock soldiers in the wooden huts, in particular, firing from their elevated positions, could even hit those crouching behind the shields. Chaos erupted among the rows of shields.

The sudden strike stunned many of the Mongols. They had never experienced the fighting at Mount Changling and were utterly unaccustomed to this kind of battle where death rained from above. Though the volley came from no more than two hundred firearms, it filled them with immense terror — even those hiding in the rear rows were hit. What kind of stronghold was this?

Before they could recover, gaps like doorways opened at certain points along the palisade, and the dark muzzles of several cannons poked through. Then they roared — cannon blasts like sudden thunder, carrying thick, dense clouds of white smoke, and finally countless grapeshot pellets came howling forth.

The sounds of wooden shields shattering and collapsing rang out without cease, mingled with an unbroken chorus of snapping bones and rupturing flesh. Misty sprays of blood burst in every direction. A single red-barbarian cannon could be loaded with at least a hundred lead balls; five such great cannons firing at once sent hundreds, even thousands of lead balls tearing through the air.

They howled over, and in an instant, the Mongol troops behind the wooden shields were battered into a wretched heap of dead and wounded...

The surviving Mongol troops no longer knew what they were feeling. Dazed and reeling, they pressed forward again, only to hear a chorus of Han voices shouting from behind the palisade: "Ten-thousand-man slayers."

Then, to their horror, they saw a mass of dark, round objects hurtling down at their heads from above... (To be continued...)

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