Chapter 391: Stewing Meat on the City Wall

Xiong Tingbi glanced back at Li Guangrong and said half-jokingly, "I told you long ago to read more military texts, but you never listened. Look at you now — what kind of schemes are these you're proposing?"

Hearing this, Li Guangrong's face immediately showed an awkward expression. He said hesitantly, "Please enlighten me, Marshal."

"The reason for striking while the enemy is unsettled or launching night raids is mainly to boost our own morale and sap the enemy's. We do this chiefly because we don't have enough men to hold the city."

"But are we short on men in the city right now? Are our weapons and equipment poor? Why should we go out and launch sneak attacks? What's the benefit? If we win, all we've done is kill a few of Wild Boar Skin's men. In our war against Wild Boar Skin, is killing a few men enough to turn the tide? Not at all."

"And if we go out and lose? What happens to our morale then? When winning brings little benefit and losing brings enormous harm, why would we do such a thing? It's like a gambler betting money — I stake ten taels of silver and can only win one; but if I lose, I lose all ten taels. Why would I take that bet?"

"Tell the men to keep a strict watch tonight. If anyone in the city stirs up trouble, kill them on the spot without mercy. As long as our city stays calm, Wild Boar Skin can dream all he wants about breaching Shenyang — he'll never do it in this lifetime!"

Li Guangrong listened with some embarrassment and finally forced out a reply: "Yes, Marshal."

With a glance at Li Guangrong, Xiong Tingbi walked straight down.

After a couple of steps, turning past the stairway, Xiong Tingbi beckoned over a trusted subordinate and said in a low voice, "Have someone keep an eye on Li Guangrong. If he makes any unusual move tonight, report to me at once."

The subordinate gave Xiong Tingbi a puzzled look, and though he didn't quite understand, he nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, Marshal."

At a time like this, Xiong Tingbi wasn't necessarily suspicious of Li Guangrong — it was just that his behavior today had been too out of the ordinary.

Li Guangrong kept urging Xiong Tingbi to go out and fight, even coming up with such a terrible idea as a night raid. If Li Guangrong wasn't stupid, then he was up to something bad.

Although Xiong Tingbi and Li Guangrong had a good relationship, when it came to matters of great importance, personal ties meant nothing. If Li Guangrong truly did something, the losses would be unimaginable.

Xiong Tingbi had no intention of letting one man ruin everything — this concerned not only his own life, but also the city of Shenyang and the Great Ming's entire strategy in Liaodong.

He had to be careful — not a single mistake could be allowed.

After the subordinate acknowledged and withdrew, Xiong Tingbi continued on his way down.

He had made up his mind: tonight he would hold his position at the gate tower, ensuring that not a single problem arose and not a single piece of information leaked out.

Li Guangrong was still standing on the tower, watching Xiong Tingbi's departing back, and shook his head helplessly.

He let out a sigh and looked at the sky. He was feeling a bit hungry — he might as well go eat first; after eating, he still had to make an inspection round before he could rest.

In truth, Li Guangrong was already somewhat dissatisfied with Xiong Tingbi.

In Li Guangrong's view, the Ming imperial army already had the strength to fight Wild Boar Skin head-on. But Xiong Tingbi seemed to have been scared out of his wits, spending his days only defending the city and never once thinking of going out to attack.

Even if the imperial army couldn't annihilate Nurhaci, they could still deal him a heavy blow. But since Xiong Tingbi had already said they couldn't leave the city, Li Guangrong couldn't very well violate military orders.

In a room below the city tower.

Wei Chao was sitting in a chair, slowly turning a string of prayer beads in his hand.

Beside Wei Chao sat a middle-aged man — none other than Zhao Wuji, the Chiliarch of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in Liaodong.

Wei Chao and Zhao Wuji could be considered brothers in misfortune here in Liaodong. For the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the situation in Liaodong was also a matter of utmost importance.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, I take it?" Wei Chao looked at Zhao Wuji and said slowly, "If there's anything unusual, you must tell me at once. Here in Liaodong, we're on the same side."

Zhao Wuji glanced at Wei Chao, a smile immediately spreading across his face as he said, "Rest assured. We know what we're doing — we won't disappoint you, Eunuch. Besides, there are no more troublemakers left in Shenyang. Our Marshal here is very particular about such matters — who knows how many people he's had arrested."

In truth, though Zhao Wuji wore a smile and spoke in a relaxed tone, he was extremely tense inside.

Shenyang had always been a key location in the Embroidered Uniform Guard's espionage operations.

Ever since his attack was thwarted, Nurhaci had sent countless infiltration attempts into Shenyang, never giving up on his desire to stir up trouble in the city.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard dared not be the least bit careless, fearing any mistake. But these matters, Zhao Wuji would not tell Wei Chao. Though the two appeared cordial, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the eunuchs were well matched, some things simply could not be said.

Giving Zhao Wuji a deep look, Wei Chao nodded.

That night, Shenyang was fairly peaceful — nothing major happened.

The next morning, after dawn broke, Shenyang revived from its slumber.

Xiong Tingbi stepped out of his room and breathed in the cool air, feeling refreshed all over.

Glancing at the subordinate who had come to report, Xiong Tingbi asked with a grave expression, "Nothing unusual on Li Guangrong's side?"

"Reporting to the Marshal, no. Yesterday after he left the city wall he went to eat, then made an inspection round on the wall before returning to sleep." The subordinate said hurriedly.

Xiong Tingbi nodded, his expression relaxing somewhat as he let out a sigh of relief.

Xiong Tingbi had only been somewhat concerned about Li Guangrong — it didn't even amount to suspicion. Since nothing had happened, that was naturally for the best; if something really had happened, Xiong Tingbi would have felt terrible about it in his heart.

After eating a simple meal, Xiong Tingbi walked out.

As he stepped outside, Xiong Tingbi came face to face with Li Guangrong.

Li Guangrong wore a gloomy face, looking as if everyone in the world owed him a string of cash.

Seeing his expression, Xiong Tingbi knew something was wrong.

"What's happened?" Xiong Tingbi looked at Li Guangrong and asked with a smile.

"Marshal, those Wild Boar Skin bastards are simply too outrageous!" Li Guangrong said with a mix of helplessness and indignation. "They're right there cooking their meals out in the open, without the slightest guard against us — it's obvious they look down on us."

Hearing this, Xiong Tingbi's face showed no anger at all — instead, it grew even more solemn.

At this moment, Xiong Tingbi could already be certain that Nurhaci's arrival here was clearly meant to lure him out of the city. From Nurhaci's actions at the foot of the walls yesterday, the intent to deliberately draw him out was all too obvious.

Seeing Li Guangrong's indignation, Xiong Tingbi understood that Nurhaci's tactics were still having an effect. But the more that was the case, the less he could leave the city.

Glancing at Li Guangrong, Xiong Tingbi said, "Come, let's go up to the city wall and take a look."

"Yes, Marshal." Li Guangrong acknowledged and immediately led the way with excitement.

The two soon arrived atop the city wall.

Gazing out from the wall, they could clearly see what the men on the other side were doing.

Just as Li Guangrong had said, these men were cooking their meals with utter impunity, clearly looking down on the army in the city. Their swaggering postures seemed to say: You don't dare come out and fight us.

After taking a look, Xiong Tingbi instructed Li Guangrong, "Pass the order down — have the cooks stew some meat this morning. Bring the big cauldrons up, and bring the meat up too. We'll stew meat right here on the city wall."

Hearing Xiong Tingbi's words, Li Guangrong's jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

Just moments ago, Li Guangrong had thought their Marshal was about to lead them out to battle — who could have imagined he would say something like this.

All that excitement for nothing!

Stewing meat on the city wall was obviously meant to show those Wild Boar Skin bastards. You're eating? Well, we're eating too; and not only are we eating, we're eating better than you.

That was exactly Xiong Tingbi's intent — if both sides were cooking on the city walls and no fighting started at all, Xiong Tingbi was confident he could out-eat them to death.

Is this a contest of who has more food?

Let's see who can hold out longer.

Damn it, I'll outlast you even if it kills me.

Soon, someone brought up a large cauldron, and meat was brought up as well. Wood was placed over the fire, and water in the iron cauldron quickly came to a boil. After seasonings were added, large chunks of meat went into the pot to cook.

Before long, the aroma spread across the city wall and drifted downwind.

Nurhaci stood on the hilltop, smelling the fragrance of stewed meat, his expression utterly sour.

He could naturally see what the Ming army was doing on the city wall. Those fellows were simply boiling meat to eat, and the fragrance had drifted all the way over.

"Father Khan." Amin came to Nurhaci's side and said, "The Ming army won't take the bait."

"Then we eat. After we finish eating, we attack the city." Nurhaci said with a grim face.

Standing on the city wall, Xiong Tingbi held a large bowl, gnawing on a big bone, and said to Li Guangrong beside him: "Find some people with loud voices, have them go over there and shout for me — shout that there's meat in the city, and if they've got the guts, come on in and eat."

Li Guangrong glanced at Xiong Tingbi and quickly replied, "Yes, Marshal."

Soon, soldiers with loud voices were found.

A group of them stood in a row on the city wall and shouted toward Nurhaci's side: "There's meat in the city! If you've got the guts, come on in and eat!"

They shouted over and over, growing more gleeful with each call, and their laughter carried across — the mockery was all too obvious.

Nurhaci was also eating at this time. Hearing the Ming army's shouts, his heart sank.

He had still underestimated this Xiong Tingbi. This Black Bear truly stopped at nothing, completely unlike the civil officials of the Great Ming he had known before.

"Father Khan." Seeing that his father's expression was not good, Amin called out cautiously.

"It's fine." Nurhaci waved his hand and said: "Have our cannons prepared. After we finish eating, we attack the city — first, we'll fire a round with the cannons."

Whether it was breaking through Tieling or Kaiyuan, Nurhaci had captured many cannons in his previous battles. Nurhaci had once served in the Ming army, so he naturally understood firearms very well.

This time, Nurhaci had also brought his cannons — thirty-six in total. Some of these were captured in battles large and small, while others were copies made by captured and enslaved craftsmen of the Great Ming.

Though the number of cannons was not great, their power was extraordinary when attacking a city — this was also where Nurhaci's confidence lay this time.

If he could not lure Xiong Tingbi out of the city, then he would use the cannons to launch a forceful assault.