Chapter 135: Clash of Arms Beneath Tongyuan Fort

The commander defending Tongyuan Fort, Tong Shouyue, had a splitting headache — being dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn was just too goddamn miserable.

That son of a bitch Mao Wenlong must have lost his mind; first thing this morning he brought his whole army to this godforsaken place, Tongyuan Fort, surrounded it so tight not a drop of water could get through, and then had the gall to swagger up beneath the pass and shout challenges, completely ignoring the fact that the fort had already lit its wolf-smoke alarm — could he really have some hidden confidence, not afraid of being encircled and annihilated by the Great Jin army?

Headache or not, though, Mao Wenlong's challenge could not be ignored.

After all, that military manual the Old Khan distributed back in the day, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, did say that before two armies clash, champions must duel; they don't go in for champion duels anymore, but you still can't just show yourself a coward, right?

Mao Wenlong, seeing the defending commander Tong Shouyue standing atop the walls of Tongyuan Fort, reined in his horse, raised his whip and pointed it at Tong Shouyue, shouting: "You Jianzhou dog — if you open the pass and surrender, your old man here will spare your life.

If not, once the fort falls, you can count on it: not a chicken or a dog will be left alive in this whole town!"

Tong Shouyue was actually angered into laughter by Mao Wenlong's wild arrogance.

Tongyuan Fort, as the gateway fortress for the Liaoyang and Benxi region, already had a substantial garrison, and once the wolf-smoke was lit, it would take no more than two days for reinforcements to come swarming in — where did Mao Wenlong get the confidence that he could break Tongyuan Fort?

Though confident he could hold out not just two days but two months, Tong Shouyue took no chances. The Three Kingdoms had taught him: Zhuge Liang went his whole life undefeated in war solely because he laid his plans with meticulous caution.

After once again sending men to inspect and confirm the city's defenses were sound, Tong Shouyue shouted back: "Mao Wenlong, back when you were in Dongjiang, our waters never crossed yours — coming here, aren't you just tired of living?

Once our Great Jin heavenly troops arrive, I fear you'll be ground to dust in an instant!"

Hearing Tong Shouyue, the defender of Tongyuan Fort, clumsily imitating the speech patterns from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mao Wenlong simply laughed and said: "In that case, I'll make a wager with you — do you dare accept?"

Tong Shouyue asked curiously: "Speak, then, let's hear it."

Mao Wenlong said: "You and I are both men who lead troops. Your Tongyuan Fort is besieged, and the Jianzhou barbarians must come to its rescue — the fastest reinforcements from Liaoyang cannot arrive before sunset tomorrow afternoon.

Therefore, I wager with you that before sunset tomorrow afternoon, I can break this Tongyuan Fort of yours."

Tong Shouyue replied disdainfully: "What's there to wager on? Wait until you've actually broken the fort, then we'll talk."

Mao Wenlong said: "Good slave, don't be in such a hurry to refuse.

If before sunset tomorrow I can break this fort of yours, you will lead the people inside to honestly surrender to our Great Ming, and then help me persuade the nearby Lianshan Pass to surrender as well — I will absolutely not kill the innocent indiscriminately.

Otherwise, it'll be a scene of not a chicken or dog left alive. If I cannot break your fort, look at all these provisions and weapons behind me — I'll dump them all here for you, and flee for my life back to Dongjiang.

How about that?"

Though Tong Shouyue was single-minded, he was no fool, and immediately sneered: "Barbarian dog, you think I'm stupid? If you break the fort, this fort's fate will certainly be no better than Liaoyang City's.

If you can't break the fort, by the time our Great Jin heavenly troops arrive, that will be your moment to flee for your life — how would you possibly take all these things with you? Won't they still end up being mine?"

Seeing that Tong Shouyue was utterly impervious to persuasion, Mao Wenlong, in a fit of shame and rage, immediately ordered his army to storm the fort.

As the gateway to Liaoyang and Benxi, Tongyuan Fort had close to three thousand garrison troops inside.

As for defensive materials like battering logs and rolling stones, there were enough for over ten thousand men to use for three to five days, let alone a mere three thousand or so.

What's more, there were plenty of booi aha inside — if those men were set to brewing up some "golden juice," the whole of Tongyuan Fort, while perhaps not as secure as Mount Tai, would certainly be as steady as Qipan Mountain.

But Mao Wenlong had come on this expedition traveling by night and resting by day, so the siege equipment he brought was naturally far from sufficient.

There were plenty of trees and such nearby, but if they started felling and building on the spot, the Jianzhou reinforcements would probably arrive before they finished — and then wouldn't it all just be left behind as a gift for the Jianzhou barbarians?

Watching from morning to noon, and from noon to evening, yet still unable to take one tiny Tongyuan Fort, Mao Wenlong furiously lashed the allied army generals who had failed in the assault a few times with his whip, drove them aside, and then shouted toward the walls of Tongyuan Fort: "Just you wait — tomorrow I'll give you something to remember!"

Tong Shouyue, however, roared with laughter: "Han dog, didn't you say you'd break the city? Your grandpa's right here — come on, then!"

Having discovered during the defense that the Ming army's attacks were utterly useless, even pathetically weak, with every Ming soldier cowardly and afraid to die, not a single man daring to vie for the vanguard, each one dodging at the first sign of danger, the scornful Tong Shouyue no longer even called Mao Wenlong by name, but simply addressed him outright as "Han dog."

Mao Wenlong said bitterly to the Ming general beside him: "Zhongming, tomorrow — tomorrow we must take this Tongyuan Fort! I'm going to flay that Jianzhou dog alive!"

That Ming general replied: "Rest assured, Grand General — tomorrow I will personally lead the troops in the assault and will certainly take Tongyuan Fort."

And so both sides ceased hostilities for the night.

But Mao Wenlong, habitually underhanded as he was, kept sending men throughout the night to beat drums and set fires beneath the walls of Tongyuan Fort — whether it did any good or not, the point was simply to deny the people inside Tongyuan Fort any decent rest.

When dawn broke the next day, after the men had eaten, Mao Wenlong once again appeared beneath the walls of Tongyuan Fort. The Ming general whom Mao Wenlong called Zhongming indeed personally led the army in the assault, positioning himself with his personal guard at the rear to oversee the battle.

With this, the defending Tong Shouyue felt the pressure redouble. The Ming troops now attacking the city were nothing like the feeble, weak force of the day before; it was as if they had drunk deer's blood, every man howling as they swarmed up the walls like ants, utterly heedless of life and death.

After all, Mao Wenlong had brought more men, while Tong Shouyue had relatively few troops available to defend the city — he had even dragged the stronger booi aha up onto the walls to help, yet casualties still mounted steadily. Tong Shouyue grew more and more frantic.

Had these damned Ming troops taken some wrong medicine? They showed none of the cowardice and fear of death they'd displayed yesterday — it was as if they'd been swapped out for a completely different batch of men.

Suddenly recalling something, Tong Shouyue abruptly raised the telescope he had gone to great pains to acquire and normally treasured beyond measure, and peered toward the northwest. He saw two earthen dragons, from far to near, rolling in.

Tong Shouyue's heart surged with wild joy. So it wasn't that the Ming troops had stopped fearing death — they simply wanted to break the city before reinforcements arrived.

Otherwise, once noon came, this Mao Wenlong would likely find he couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

His mind now completely at ease, Tong Shouyue simply ordered his men to pass the word: relax a portion of the city's defenses, give the Ming troops the false impression that the city was about to fall, and lure them into pressing the assault.

By the time it was approaching noon, the Jianzhou reinforcements were already visible to the naked eye. Mao Wenlong was now riding a tiger and could not dismount — if he retreated now, he would very likely be pursued and cut down by the Jianzhou forces nipping at his heels.

His one sliver of hope was to break the city before the Jianzhou reinforcements arrived, and then hold out relying on its walls.

To be continued. Also, recommending the tyrant's in-law's work, "Conquering the Primitive World" — a shut-in too lazy to even boil water for instant noodles goes back to primitive society... just thinking about it is terrifying!

(End of chapter)