Chapter 97: Surrendered

"Sir, the Qing dogs are about to scale the wall and run!"

Not long after the fire was lit, Song Erniu, a squad leader who had once been a standard-bearer in the forward camp, saw ladders suddenly being propped up against the rear wall of the Li residence.

Though only a bit of the ladders showed, and a careless eye would never have noticed, Song Erniu saw them clearly.

He had not seen anyone's head appear over the ladders, but he judged that the Qing troops inside were trying to scale the wall and flee, so he ordered his men to stand ready while he hurried over to report to Zhou Shixiang.

Hearing Song Erniu's report, Zhou Shixiang gave a cold snort and waved a hand at him. "They won't get away. Pass on my order: the engineer battalion will watch the main gate; all other squads will hold the courtyard wall in sections. The moment anyone inside shows his head, kill him!"

"Yes, sir!" Song Erniu answered with a roar and led several of his men off to relay the order to the squads.

After Song Erniu left, Zhou Shixiang saw that the fire was not large, and there was little flammable material around the Li residence. The courtyard walls were all built of brick and stone, so there was no way to make the fire burn much bigger in a short time.

The flames were not yet at their eyebrows, so the Green Standard troops inside would not be forced out.

Zhou Shixiang did not want to waste time on these Green Standard remnants. An idea came to him, and he ordered men to fetch water and sprinkle it on the fire.

Once the water was poured on, the flames immediately weakened, but in their place thick smoke, white streaked with yellow, rose churning from the fire. The wind fed the smoke, and in an instant the sky above the Li residence was blanketed in it.

"If they won't surrender, then choke these bastards to death!"

Ge Yi saw the thick smoke pouring into the courtyard, heard the Green Standard troops inside shouting and yelling, and even faintly heard someone coughing violently. He was thoroughly delighted.

Because Zhou Shixiang had issued strict orders, he did not dare slack off. He led his men, long spears in hand, watching the wall in front of them intently.

The moment any Green Standard soldier dared show his face, they would thrust at him without a word and see whether these bastards surrendered or not.

Over at the main gate, the engineer squad transferred from the engineer battalion stood watching the gate as if facing a great enemy, each man clutching a thunderclap bomb.

The squad leader had asked Zhou Shixiang whether they should simply attack with thunderclap bombs, but Zhou Shixiang knew that while the bombs were fine for killing Qing soldiers, they could not blow open a gate.

The bombs were made of bamboo, the powder charge inside was insufficient, and the blast was not powerful enough to destroy the Li residence's great iron gate.

Unless they carried out an explosion like the one that had destroyed the Luoding city wall — but that was clearly even less acceptable, because it would consume far more gunpowder.

The camp's current stock of thunderclap bombs was small. In Zhou Shixiang's eyes, every single one was a treasure.

With no resupply of gunpowder to be had, each one used was one gone forever. And Xinxing was only the first threshold on the road south to Xiangjiang — it was not even worth calling a nail.

If they used too many here, the battles ahead would be impossible to fight. After all, the Taiping Camp's current strength was far inferior to the Qing army's, and even weaker than a Green Standard force of equal numbers.

To win the battles ahead and successfully bring the Taiping Camp to Xiangjiang, they would have to rely on the thunderclap bombs, which were more lethal than bows and firelocks. Therefore, if they could avoid using them, they would; if they could use fewer, they would use fewer.

They absolutely could not squander them.

Zhou Shixiang rejected the proposal to blow open the gate with thunderclap bombs.

He ordered the engineer squad merely to keep close watch, and if they found the Green Standard troops charging out through the main gate, they were to throw two or three bombs to shatter their resolve to break out.

The final resolution of the fight would still depend on broadswords and long spears.

Outside, the Taiping Camp was setting fires, trying to blow the gate, and holding the wall. Inside, the Green Standard troops had no peace either.

Even before the fire started, most of the soldiers had wanted to surrender; now that the fire was burning, even more did. But Company Commander Zhao Shiyu had been persuaded by the men from Zhaoqing and had ordered preparations for a breakout.

He led several officers and his personal guards to suppress the soldiers who wanted to surrender. Had he not feared that pressing these men too hard would spark a mutiny, soldiers like Song Liu, who shouted the loudest, would have been killed long ago.

The breakout plan Zhao Shiyu devised was to scale the wall and run, because he knew the Ming troops outside the main gate were certainly prepared and would not let them escape at leisure, whereas going over the courtyard wall offered a much better chance of getting away.

Zhao Shiyu's reasoning was that the Li residence, covering several dozen mu, was simply too large; the Ming troops could not possibly hold every inch of wall, and their attention was concentrated on the main gate.

Therefore, as long as they moved fast enough, they could get over the wall and out of Xinxing before the main Ming force discovered them. Once out of the town and into the woods, the Ming troops would have no way to deal with them.

The breakout preparations were complete. Including the ladders already in the Li residence, more than ten ladders in all had been secretly propped against the inside of the courtyard wall.

Zhao Shiyu was just about to give the order to break out when white smoke drifted over the wall from outside, and in the blink of an eye the courtyard was blanketed in thick smoke.

The weather was hot, the men were anxious, and then the thick smoke struck suddenly — the misery of being caught in it can well be imagined. The smoke did not discriminate: officers and soldiers alike coughed loudly, tears streaming from their eyes.

Song Liu, who had wanted to surrender all along and had no wish to die for nothing alongside these officers, seized the chance to shout again: "Brothers, don't hang yourselves to death with the officers! If they won't surrender, we will!"

"The smoke's too thick — I can't take it, I can't hold on!"

"We surrender, we surrender! Go open the gate, quick!"

Some soldiers, utterly unable to bear the choking smoke, turned and rushed to the front to open the gate and surrender.

"Second Master, the men can't hold — we must get over the wall now!"

Xiong Yingfu saw things turning bad, grabbed Steward Xiang, and ran for the ladders. Steward Xiang was frantic too. Truth be told, everyone in this courtyard could surrender — but he absolutely could not!

Even if he had ten thousand mouths and ten thousand brains, the single fact that he was a steward of the Prince of Jingnan's household was enough to cost him his head and kill any thought of begging for mercy. What was more, he, Xiang, was a bannerman!

A Han Bannerman, true, but a bannerman all the same! Since the Great Qing entered the pass, no one had ever heard of a bannerman surrendering, nor of a bannerman who surrendered and lived!

Xiang, his eyes barely still open, saw soldiers shouting about opening the gate. In desperation, he grabbed Zhao Shiyu and yelled: "What are you standing there for? Get me out of here!"

"Ah?"

Zhao Shiyu jolted, answered reflexively, and then supported Xiang toward the ladders. By now he could no longer worry about the soldiers going to open the gate and surrender. If they did not get over the wall quickly, everything would be too late.

The smoke in the courtyard was growing thicker. If they did not get out soon, even if the fire did not burn them to death, the smoke would choke them to death.

Most of the soldiers had run to the front courtyard to open the gate and surrender. The only ones left were a few officers, Zhao Shiyu's personal guards, and the men from Zhaoqing.

"Cough, cough..."

Steward Xiang reached the ladder, already unable to bear it, and lay gasping at the foot of the wall. The others were no better off; all of them were creeping forward bent at the waist. They had no choice — if they did not, they could not get any air.

Xiong Yingfu was choking badly too, but he still dragged Xiang along, one hand steadying the ladder and the other pulling Xiang up onto it. "Second Master, you go first!"

"Right!"

Xiang gave Xiong Yingfu a grateful look, struggled to the ladder, and put one foot on the first rung — then suddenly pulled it back. He pointed at one of Zhao Shiyu's personal guards and ordered: "You go first!"

The guard was startled and glanced at Zhao Shiyu. When the latter nodded, the guard quickly covered his mouth and climbed the ladder. But the moment his head poked over the top, before he could even see what was outside the wall, he let out a scream and fell backward.

With a thud, the guard's body slammed heavily to the ground. Xiong Yingfu beside him jumped in fright. Squinting, his heart seized — the guard's chest had been pierced through by a long spear, leaving a great hole from which blood was now gushing.

"Sir, the wall is lined with Ming troops outside — the men can't get out!"

The officers with Zhao Shiyu stared blankly, at a loss. Zhao Shiyu panicked too. The Ming troops outside the wall were prepared; the breakout could not proceed.

What to do? If they did not break out, they would choke to death in the smoke or roast in the fire. If they did break out, they would be skewered on long spears.

As everyone stood in alarm, Jiang Dahai, who had all along refused to surrender, suddenly said: "Sir, perhaps we should surrender. If this goes on, the men will all choke to death!"

"This..."

Even Jiang Dahai wanted to surrender. Zhao Shiyu's heart sank to the bottom, and he too began to waver toward surrender. After all, he had no wish to choke to death in the smoke either.

"No surrender! Even in death, no surrender!"

Seeing that Zhao Shiyu was entertaining thoughts of surrender, Steward Xiang shouted in desperation: "Everyone charge together! There aren't many Ming troops out there!"

The words had barely left his mouth when someone behind him yelled: "Charge your mother!" The next moment he felt his arm seized, as if pinned by something.

"What are you doing?"

The seizure of Steward Xiang threw Xiong Yingfu and the Zhaoqing merchants into great alarm.

Zhao Shiyu was equally shocked. Staring at Jiang Dahai in disbelief, he cried: "Dahai, what are you doing?"

Jiang Dahai said through gritted teeth: "Sir, as long as we have this steward of the prince's household, our lives are safe!"

"You mean—?"

Zhao Shiyu stared at Steward Xiang for only a few seconds, then abruptly made up his mind. Under Xiang's furious glare, he shouted toward the outside: "We surrender! We surrender!"