Chapter 162: Attack and Defense (I)

Since the East Gate faced Guangzhou directly, was the spot where the Taiping Army had set off their explosives, and had also been the main gate defended by Yunlong and Wu Jinzhong when they held Xinhui the year before, Zhou Shixiang transferred two more squads of guards to Ge Zheng and ordered Liao Ruixiang to organize three hundred able-bodied men of Xinhui to help defend it.

Because the West Gate was blocked off by the Qing army and faced the Tan River, making it the least likely place for the Qing to take the city, Zhou Shixiang had Shao Jiugong, centurion of the Xiongwei Battalion and defender of the West Gate, pull another squad of men to the East Gate, and several of the dozen-plus cannons originally on the West Gate were also moved to the East Gate.

Including more than ten red-barbarian cannons, Xinhui had over seventy cannons of various sizes, which required a great deal of powder. Fortunately, the Han Banners had stockpiled large quantities of gunpowder in the city the year before, so there was no worry of running short.

Zhou Shixiang, a man of later times, knew little about the artillery of this age, and only learned a bit after several terrified Han Banner captives explained it to him. Generally speaking, most of these cannons fired solid shot.

Only six of the red-barbarian cannons had the "bursting" effect of later times, but even that was not the kind of bursting where the shell casing split apart to kill the enemy.

Instead, the bore was packed with large numbers of lead balls and small iron pellets, and after firing, the range was not as far as that of solid iron shot, reaching only one or two li. In appearance, this kind of shell was rather similar in effect to a shotgun.

The bronze cannons came in all shapes and sizes: some fired shot weighing a few catties, others were big fellows that fired shot weighing over ten catties, and there were even crouching-tiger cannons dating from the early Ming.

In addition, large pole guns could also be used as small cannons at close range.

Exploding shells were indeed the artillery Zhou Shixiang wanted, but the reality was that he had neither the ability nor the technology to improve these cannons.

So he settled for the next best thing and could only hope that these cannons would inflict the same enormous casualties on the Qing army at Guangzhou as they had on Li Dingguo's army the year before.

Apart from artillery, the Taiping Army had made use of essentially every means of city defense available to a garrison of this age: boiling liquid, rolling logs, falling stones, lime, and chain-swinging blades were all fully prepared.

Even the large vats the Qing troops had originally placed in the city were manned for listening, and ample water sources were prepared at various points. If listening detected tunnelers, they would dig down and pour water in.

The water could also guard against fire arrows falling into the city and starting a great blaze.

The men sent into the nearby mountains to search for Ming army remnants had not yet returned, so for the time being the Taiping Army could get no more manpower.

Zhu Er led the cavalry out every day to scout beyond the walls, focusing on the direction of Guangzhou, but the cavalry did not dare go too close to Guangzhou, because Qing scouts had already been sighted.

The horsemanship of Zhu Er's men was poor, and they could not match the Qing scouts in combat, so they usually retreated as soon as they spotted them. Even when they encountered only a few Qing riders, the cavalry could do nothing to them.

Fortunately, the Qing scouts had no interest in tangling with this small Taiping cavalry force, being mostly intent on gathering intelligence, so the two sides had no real engagements.

When word of the Qing scout cavalry's activity reached Zhou Shixiang, he had no doubt that the Qing army from Guangzhou was about to advance on Xinhui.

The various defensive preparations were urged forward with increasing urgency, and everyone clenched their fists waiting for the Qing attack.

To be sure, many among them harbored doubts or fear, but under the city-wide mobilization and the Taiping Army's iron grip, any dissent was temporarily suppressed. Only when the Qing truly appeared would they know the outcome.

The Qing army from Guangzhou arrived two days later than Zhou Shixiang had expected, but when he saw the Qing forces outside the walls, he was no longer surprised by their "tardiness." Clearly, the Qing army at Guangzhou had long since received word of Xinhui's fall.

They had reorganized their forces in the shortest possible time and brought up large quantities of siege equipment.

At a glance, the green banners of the Green Standard, the bordered blue banners of the Han Banners, the plain yellow banners of the Han Banners, and the great banners of the Governor-General's and Governor's standard battalions stretched thick and dense.

Li Fuguo, formerly a Battalion Commander of the Green Standard at Gaoyao and now a probationary centurion of the Guard Battalion, could not help crying out in alarm when he saw the banners raised across the way: "The Governor-General's standard is there — could the Governor-General of Guangdong have come in person to lead the troops?"

Shao Jiugong gave a snort at this. "With the two feudatories of Pingnan and Jingnan around, the Governor-General of Guangdong doesn't amount to a fart. This time, eight or nine chances out of ten, it's that old bastard Shang Kexi himself!"

The Taiping Army officers on the wall all turned grim at these words, and even Zhou Shixiang could not help a jolt.

Though in ordinary times they spoke of that old bastard Shang Kexi with utter contempt, now that the man actually appeared before them, they could not help feeling a certain pressure. This man was not to be compared with the Qing commanders they had encountered before.

In terms of military experience, the old bastard had come out of decades of bloodshed. In terms of reputation, though every Han gnashed his teeth at him, at the Qing court the old bastard was a genuine hero of the southern conquest, one of only two remaining Han feudatory princes.

If Shang Kexi truly had come in person, this battle might well be a fight to the death.

The Qing army launched its assault on Xinhui the moment it arrived, and the direction they chose for the attack was none other than the East Gate. Amid the blare of horns, some two thousand Green Standard soldiers charged toward Xinhui.

The Green Standard soldiers and officers at the very front were all clad in double armor, and officers with rank wore iron armor over that.

Among the Qing ranks, besides several hundred Green Standard soldiers carrying scaling ladders, there were also several hundred men pushing shielded carts. In addition, there were several square formations within the crowd, and inside those formations were all archers.

At the very rear of the Green Standard troops, over a hundred Han Banner cavalrymen urged their horses slowly forward.

These Han cavalrymen were there to enforce discipline: if they saw any Green Standard soldier ahead turn back, they would immediately ride forward and cut him down.

Because they knew there were cannons on the walls of Xinhui, these Han Banner cavalrymen enforcing discipline did not dare press too far forward, and as they rode they kept glancing up at the battlements.

The two thousand-odd Green Standard soldiers on the attack were not unaware that Xinhui had cannons on its walls, but at this moment their courage was high.

These Green Standard troops, most of whom had once been Ming soldiers, looked down utterly on the Taiping Army inside the city and did not believe they had the ability to hold Xinhui. And with the Han Banners enforcing discipline behind them, they were all in now.

Cannonballs might be blind, but only cowards died of bad luck. As long as a man moved fast, the cannonball would not hit him.

"Fire!"

Ge Zheng gave the order with a sweep of his hand once the Green Standard soldiers entered the range of the red-barbarian cannons.

"Open fire!"

At first, the Han Banner captive gunners did not move when they heard the order. Only when the Taiping Army swordsmen beside them drew their blades did they, terrified, snatch up the already-prepared burning torches and touch them to the fuses protruding from the powder chambers.

Once the fuses caught, the gunners' faces looked as wretched as if their own parents had died.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The eight red-barbarian cannons on the East Gate belched fury, and the shells howled from the muzzles, flying toward the distant Qing troops. The piercing shriek of the cannon fire was ear-splitting.

With a thunderous crash, one shell struck a shielded cart squarely, blasting it to pieces on the spot. Splinters flew everywhere, and a wooden wheel shot into the air, then slammed back to the ground with a crack, shattering into a heap.

The several Green Standard soldiers pushing that cart were blown apart, heads separated from bodies. As lead balls, iron shards, and stones flew, dozens of Green Standard soldiers were killed or wounded, and within a radius of several zhang, the ground was a scene of carnage.

Screams rose one after another. Many Green Standard soldiers were hit directly by cannonballs, their bodies blown into who knew how many pieces, hands and feet flying through the air — a horrifying sight.

Those Green Standard soldiers not killed outright wished only that they had died sooner, writhing on the ground in agony and shrieking piteously. Those whose eyes had been blasted blind clawed frantically at their own eyes, but they could no longer see.

The shattered eyeballs were pulled out by their fingers and stuck to their palms, until gradually even they could no longer tell what they were.