Chapter 179: Attack and Defense (Seventeen)

"Southern barbarian, prepare to die!"

Shi Tingyu climbed onto the wall and, relying on his great strength, cleaved aside the Taiping soldier blocking him with one blade, yet he did not press forward to finish the man off. Instead he stepped back, turned, and hauled up the personal guard right behind him.

That guard was a fierce veteran too; the moment his feet touched the ground he raised his blade to shield his captain's flank, cutting down two Taiping soldiers with long spears in quick succession.

Behind that crenel there had originally been seven or eight Taiping soldiers, but now only three remained — two hacked to death, one forced back.

On top of that, Shi Tingyu's ferocity was hard to withstand, and for a moment a gap opened there, allowing two more of his household retainers to climb up.

In the Qing camp, Shang Kexi watched through his spyglass as Shi Tingyu seized the wall. Delighted, he asked those around him, "Who is the man on the wall?"

Shang Zhixin did not recognize him. Ban Zhifu said hurriedly, "Reporting to Your Highness, that is Shi Tingyu, a company captain of the banners."

"Shi Tingyu?" Shang Kexi thought of something and asked, "Could he be of the Shi family of Buha?"

Ban Zhifu nodded. "Exactly — a man of the Shi family of Buha."

"The Shi family of Buha are all warriors indeed!"

Shang Kexi laughed heartily.

"In the ninth year of Chongde, I followed the Grand Ancestor with the General Who Guards the Sea to attack the Ming and fought the Ming troops west of the Daling River.

With my own eyes I saw the General Who Guards the Sea cut down the Ming Vice Regional Commander Liu Yingyuan amid ten thousand troops, and a young Shi shot dead the Mobile Corps Commander Cao Degong with an arrow.

Today I see another man of the Shi family bravely scaling a stout city, unstoppable in his advance — truly, a tiger father does not..."

Shang Kexi had meant to say "a tiger father does not beget a dog of a son," but then he reflected that Shi Tingyu and the General Who Guards the Sea, Shi Tingzhu, both bore the generation character "Ting," so they could not possibly be father and son.

He changed his words and asked Ban Zhifu, "What is Shi Tingyu's relation to the General Who Guards the Sea?"

Ban Zhifu smiled. "Reporting to Your Highness, this Shi Tingyu is the General Who Guards the Sea's cousin."

In that age, a male of the same generation who shared a great-grandfather but not a grandfather, and was younger than oneself, was called a cousin; if they did not share a grandfather, he was a more distant cousin; if they shared a grandfather, he was a closer cousin.

In other words, this Shi Tingyu was a clansman of the same generation as the General Who Guards the Sea, Shi Tingzhu.

Hearing this, Shang Kexi nodded slightly, understanding in his heart. Though this cousin was a clansman, the relation was after all distant — otherwise why would a man of the Buha Shi family be serving in his army?

One must know that the Buha family had held the post of commander of the Jianzhou Left Guard as far back as the Chenghua reign of the Ming. Later they adopted Han customs and changed their surname to Shi.

The current family head, Shi Tingzhu, had been a Garrison Commander at Guangning in the Wanli reign, and his younger brother Tianzhu had been a Battalion Commander — in seniority they were far older than he, the Prince of Pingnan.

In the second year of the Ming Tianqi reign, after the Later Jin army occupied Guangning, Shi Tianzhu first went out with the scholar Guo Zhaoji to pay respects to the Grand Ancestor Emperor.

The next day he entered the city and persuaded his elder brother Shi Tingzhu to surrender.

From then on the entire Shi family became subjects of the Later Jin, and the Grand Ancestor Emperor granted Shi Tingzhu the hereditary post of Mobile Corps Commander, putting him in charge of the surrendered troops.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Grand Ancestor Emperor led a great army against Dalinghe City. The defending commander Zu Dashou, hard-pressed, sent his nephew Zerun to shoot out a letter seeking surrender, and the man who served as go-between was Shi Tingzhu.

For his merit in persuading Zu Dashou to surrender, Shi Tingzhu leaped to high rank among the Han troops. At the time Tong Yangxing was the Ujen Cooha Angbang Janggin, with Tingzhu as his deputy.

After Tong Yangxing died, Shi Tingzhu became Angbang Janggin and commanded the Han troops.

In the fourth month of the first year of Shunzhi, Shi Tingzhu followed the army through the pass and defeated Li Zicheng. In the fifth month, together with the Gusa Ejen Bayan and others, he pacified the bandits of Changping.

In the sixth month, he and the Gusa Ejen Bahana led troops to pacify the commanderies and counties of Shandong. In the seventh month, he moved his forces to join the Gusa Ejen Yechen in taking Taiyuan.

Shanxi and Henan were entirely pacified. When the army returned, he was granted five hundred taels of white silver and promoted to First-Class Angbang Janggin.

In the fourth year, he was changed to First-Class Jingqini Hafan. In the sixth year, he followed the campaign against the rebel general Jiang Xiang and recovered Hunyuan, Taigu, Shuozhou, and Fenzhou.

In the twelfth year, he was appointed General Who Guards the Sea, stationed at Jingkou.

Shi Tingzhu held the high post of General Who Guards the Sea, and as early as the Chongde reign he had been personally selected by the Grand Ancestor to enter the Manchu Plain Red Banner. His son Shi Huashan was also a son-in-law of the imperial clan.

Therefore, compared with the Prince of Pingnan, Shang Kexi, who came from the Han Bordered Blue Banner, Shi Tingzhu was nominally the master and Shang Kexi the servant.

With the Shi family holding such standing in the banners, Shi Tingyu had nevertheless set aside his own family's powerful backing and come to serve as a company captain in his army. The reason, Shang Kexi understood, was simply that he was not close enough to the main line.

The Buha Shi family had so many sons and younger kin that Shi Tingzhu had his hands full merely promoting his own nephews, let alone any spare strength to pull up a collateral-line kinsman.

And since this dynasty had only just entered the pass, it valued martial merit over civil accomplishment; a banner youth who wanted a future could only earn it in the army.

As for why Shi Tingyu did not serve in the Manchu Eight Banners but came under the Pingnan command, presumably it was because he could not gain preferment in the Manchu banners.

Moreover, the Manchu Eight Banners had scarcely moved since the sixth year of Shunzhi, so winning military merit in them was hard, whereas his own Han Bordered Blue Banner had been campaigning continuously since marching south, making it naturally easy to earn merit.

Having thought this through, Shang Kexi no longer minded. In any case, Shi Tingzhu had old ties with him, and now that the man was General Who Guards the Sea holding Guakou, he would simply do well by his Shi family kinsman.

Besides, "I am never harsh in employing men. When a man renders service, I am never stingy with reward.

If this Shi Tingyu can take Xinhui, I shall guarantee him a deputy lieutenant general!"

Above a company captain was a colonel; above a colonel was a deputy lieutenant general. In the Manchu banners, a lieutenant general was a Gusa Ejen, and a deputy lieutenant general was a Meiren Janggin — the former of the first rank, the latter of the second rank.

To leap from company captain straight to deputy lieutenant general — such a reward could not be called anything but generous.

As he was thinking this, the situation on the wall suddenly changed drastically.

After Shi Tingyu gained the wall, he forced the Taiping soldiers back step by step, and the number of his household retainers who had climbed up reached eight.

These retainers had long been beaten into a bellyful of rage by the Taiping soldiers; now that they were finally on the wall, how could the long blades in their hands be slow!

After a bout of hacking and slashing, more than a dozen corpses lay on the ground — some Taiping soldiers, some Security Regiment men.

Among them was a squad leader whose ribs had been cut through by a diagonal blow; he lay there, blood welling from the wound in his chest, clearly beyond saving.

The dozen or so Taiping soldiers from the Tremor-Slaying Battalion and the Guard Battalion who had closed in from both flanks were cowed by these Qing troops' ferocity, and not one dared advance.

Just as the battle seemed about to turn with this breach, Shi Tingyu's chest pounded wildly: the first merit in breaching the city was about to fall to him!

Unexpectedly, from several zhang away someone suddenly roared: "To shrink from battle is death a hundred times over!" The words had barely faded when a young rebel officer charged out, blade raised.

After a few strides he cut down a rebel soldier who stood frozen in terror. The blow was so fierce that the blade lodged in the soldier's body and could not be pulled free.

In his urgency the rebel officer abandoned the blade, snatched up a long spear, and came straight at him.

The rebel officer in Shi Tingyu's eyes was of course Zhou Shixiang. Seeing the Qing troops climb onto the wall while the Tremor-Slaying Battalion and Guard Battalion soldiers before him dared not advance, Zhou Shixiang was furious and vexed.

Blood surged up in him, and with one swing of his blade he cut down one of his own soldiers on the spot, then picked up a long spear and charged at the Qing officer who had gained the wall.

Of Zhou Shixiang's dozen-odd personal guards, only two remained now. Both were drenched in blood, their faces so covered that one could not tell their ages at all. Their commander was charging forward; how could the two of them lag behind? Both raised their blades and followed.

"Southern barbarian, you court death!"

Shi Tingyu narrowed his eyes. Zhou Shixiang's face bore little blood, and his features looked rather delicate, which made Shi Tingyu feel contempt. With an angry snort, he too moved to meet him.

Zhou Shixiang held the spear in one hand, and the roar from his mouth was louder than Shi Tingyu's. Seeing the long spear in Zhou Shixiang's hand about to thrust, Shi Tingyu instinctively swung his blade to chop at it.

But he wore double armor; though it had saved his life while scaling the wall, it made movement extremely awkward. Had he not relied on brute strength, he likely could not have held out at all.

Now, having spent much of his strength in the earlier fighting, even lifting a foot felt impossibly heavy. Zhou Shixiang wore no armor; though he too was utterly exhausted, his movements were far quicker than Shi Tingyu's.

As Shi Tingyu raised his blade, the long spear was already thrusting at his face and chest.

Shi Tingyu wore two layers of armor, so seeing Zhou Shixiang thrust at his chest, he was not afraid in the least. With a savage grin, he made to bring his blade down on Zhou Shixiang's neck.