Chapter 179: 177. Captured

Fei Yinggong had also arrived. He now commanded five hundred troops, all archers, temporarily assigned to the naval force for joint training.

Rushing to reinforce Mount Gujian this time, they had not used the large four-hundred-liao ships, only small and medium warships of fifty, one hundred, and two hundred liao.

They were faster!

The fleet, without unfurling its sails, came with the current against the wind, approaching at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Put ashore ahead, put ashore ahead!"

Yang Jiamo cried out in terror. He knew they would certainly be overtaken and absolutely could not be surrounded on the water.

Still half a li from the Fengcheng county seat, the government troops' boats put ashore early, attempting to flee diagonally toward the south city gate rather than the west gate beside the docks.

"Get out of the way!"

The guard-station soldiers still tried to scramble off the boats first, but the household retainers shoved them all aside. Shoving and shoving, the retainers suddenly raised their butchering blades and began hacking down the guard-station soldiers blocking the path, instantly cutting them down until they collapsed in rout.

Several hundred household retainers swiftly disembarked. Abandoning all the plundered goods and wealth, they clustered around Yang Jiamo and fled toward the county seat.

Mount Gujian ignored these official boats and guard-station soldiers, leading the naval force straight for the Fengcheng County docks.

Li Zheng, Huang Shun, Huang Yao, Jiang Dashan, and Fei Yinggong each led five hundred men swiftly ashore, deploying in a formation poised to seize the county seat.

Yang Jiamo, already with his household retainers, had rushed to outside the south city gate. In person, he roared furiously, "Open the gate! I am Regional Commander Yang Jiamo — open the gate at once!"

The situation had erupted so suddenly that the Fengcheng County Magistrate was still on his way over, yet the officers and soldiers guarding the city had already shut the gates.

Yang Jiamo was so enraged that smoke seemed to pour from his seven orifices. He could only lead his troops in a dash around the city, swiftly shifting toward the eastern side.

At the same time, Yang Jiamo dispatched forty household retainers to cover the rear.

Though few in number, they were all armored soldiers, enough to block the streets and buy precious time for the main force to enter the city.

But cover the rear, my ass!

Seeing two or three thousand rebels charging toward them, the household retainers tasked with covering the rear immediately fled.

County Magistrate Xie Longwen finally ascended the city gate tower and ran along the wall following Yang Jiamo, shouting as he ran, "A basket, a basket! Quickly, haul Regional Commander Yang up!"

In history, Xie Longwen did leave his name in the annals, but only a single line. It went roughly: when famine struck Fengcheng, the County Magistrate failed to provide adequate relief, was beaten severely by enraged commoners, resigned and returned home, and later died of his injuries.

Yang Jiamo also roared as he ran, "Open the gate at once! My household retainers can hold it!"

Several hundred iron-clad elite troops, once inside the city, would certainly not collapse and flee; they could most likely hold the city gate.

But Xie Longwen dared not take that gamble. He shouted, "Regional Commander Yang, get into the basket quickly! We'll pull you up first, then talk!"

Yang Jiamo's lungs were nearly bursting with fury. "Open the gate this instant, damn you! The rebels are about to catch up!"

Xie Longwen shouted back, "The rebels have already caught up! If I open the gate, the rebels will surely seize the chance to storm in. That is exactly how the previous Fengcheng County Magistrate died for his country!"

"Can the two even compare? My household retainers are crack troops!" Yang Jiamo stamped his feet in desperation.

Xie Longwen said nothing more, but thought to himself: If your troops are crack troops, how could they have been chased all the way back by rebels?

Facing the lowered basket, Yang Jiamo did not choose to flee for his life. Instead, he turned around and led his household retainers into battle.

These several hundred household retainers were Yang Jiamo's very lifeblood!

If forced to choose between his own son and his household retainers, he would, without the slightest hesitation, cut down his son and choose to preserve these several hundred retainers. Once his retainers were gone, his future prospects were gone too; henceforth, he would be nothing but meat on another's chopping block.

This was a street outside the city. Li Zheng, leading five hundred soldiers, quickly formed ranks and advanced after catching up.

Huang Yao and Jiang Dashan led men around via another street, seeking to encircle these frontier-army household retainers.

Fei Yinggong and Huang Shun, each leading five hundred archers, formed ranks and prepared to shoot.

They wielded infantry heavy bows and ordinary arrows. Compared to the retainers' soft bows and long arrows, although their rate of fire was slower and accuracy lower, their range was greater and their power far more lethal!

Huang Shun still wanted to keep advancing but was directly blocked by Fei Yinggong. This fellow was precisely gauging the archery range.

I can shoot you, but you cannot shoot me.

"Draw bows — loose!"

The one thousand archers split into two waves, firing in rotation.

The household retainers raised their arms horizontally to shield their faces and necks, simply enduring the long-range assault. Though they appeared to be shot full of arrows like hedgehogs, only two unlucky ones fell; all the rest were completely unharmed.

Their cotton armor, embedded with iron plates and wire, simply did not fear arrows — to say nothing of the mail armor worn underneath.

"Shoot back!"

At Yang Jiamo's single command, several hundred household retainers, actually braving the rain of arrows, drew their bows, nocked arrows, and began returning fire.

But what they now faced were regular soldiers who had trained for two full years.

All wore leather armor and padded jackets. The spearmen and wolf-brush bearers all sheltered behind the sword-and-shield men. Not only did they have wooden shields for cover, but the wolf-brushes, as they whirled, could also deflect some of the arrows.

At last, Huang Yao had circled around to the other flank and also began advancing in formation.

As for Jiang Dashan, he was still in the midst of circling around. Once he reached his position, they could surround the government troops from three sides.

"Kill!"

Yang Jiamo made a snap decision. Before the rebels could complete their encirclement, he charged with all his men straight at Li Zheng, seeking to smash one rebel force first.

These household retainers had no formation to speak of. They were cavalrymen to begin with and had hardly trained in infantry combat formations.

They simply relied on their full-body armor, gripping their waist sabers and charging forward.

Their waist sabers were also different — thinner and lighter than infantry sidearms. These blades were meant for chasing down routed troops on horseback.

"Wolf-brushes!"

The wolf-brushes, over three meters long, formed the first line of defense.

The household retainers shielded their necks and faces with their left arms and charged straight into the wolf-brush formation. This divine weapon against light infantry, when faced with iron-armored soldiers, had its power drastically reduced, and the retainers swiftly hacked their way in.

"Level spears!"

The spearmen began stabbing in a frenzied flurry. The rattan-shield men, also crouching behind their shields, drew their waist sabers and hacked at the enemies who had charged in.

The fastest household retainer took a spearhead to the chest and another to the belly. The spear tips pierced the cotton armor but were successfully stopped by the mail underneath. The man was still swinging his blade and charging forward. Zhao Han's troops all wielded ordinary spears. To deal with such iron-armored soldiers, they needed specialized armor-piercing line-spears, but those demanded even higher standards of forging craftsmanship.

"Stab their calves!"

Li Zheng bellowed.

Underneath they wore chainmail inner shirts that only reached the crotch. The outer cotton-armor battle skirts also stopped just above the knee — this reduced weight and made mounting and dismounting warhorses easier.

The long-spear men began stabbing at calves. The leather armor over the shin bone could not stop it, and in quick succession more than twenty household retainers were jabbed to the ground.

But more and more retainers surged forward, their bodies nearly slamming into the shields. They too had no opening, unsure where to swing their blades, and could only use the momentum of the charge to try to smash the shield formation apart.

The household retainers' weapons were simply not made for assaulting a solid line — those sabers were thin and light.

Yang Jiamo's mind went blank. When plundering the countryside, the terrain was so poor that his retainers could not exploit their strengths. But this was a street and alley fight — several hundred ironclad elites, and they could not break through an equal number of rebels?

In Yang Jiamo's fixed impression, they ought to have broken through in a single charge!

Seeing Huang Yao leading troops to attack from behind, and himself about to be caught in a pincer, Yang Jiamo abandoned his retainers, turned and rushed to the base of the wall. He cast a resentful glance at the County Magistrate, then with nimble hands and feet settled himself into the basket.

That damned County Magistrate, those city-defending soldiers — if they had opened the city gate at the very start, Yang Jiamo and all his retainers could have gotten inside.

Even when they later circled to the east gate, they could still have entered the city. With ironclad elites blocking the gateway, how could the rebels possibly have forced their way in?

Seeing Yang Jiamo fleeing in the basket, Fei Yinggong, afraid the government troops would not understand, immediately shouted in the official tongue: "The rebel general has fled! The rebel general has fled!"

Since the two sides were locked in close combat, the thousand archers no longer dared to loose arrows. Now they followed Fei Yinggong in shouting: "The rebel general has fled! The rebel general has fled!"

Only their official-tongue shouting was not quite standard, carrying too heavy a Jiangxi accent.

But it was enough. Their own general fleeing, and facing a pincer attack from front and rear — these household retainers instantly lost all will to fight and one after another laid down their weapons and begged to surrender.

Only two officers who ran fast also took the basket and were hauled up.

The household retainers he had painstakingly accumulated over more than ten years, now senselessly reduced to just two — Yang Jiamo's heart was dripping blood. He glared viciously at the County Magistrate: "You've done well. Very well. Very well!"

Xie Longwen steeled himself and argued: "The rebels were pursuing too closely. Had we opened the gate, the rebels would certainly have seized the chance to charge in."

"Charge your mother!"

Yang Jiamo seized Xie Longwen by the lapels: "With several hundred of my armored men blocking the gate, how could the rebels possibly have charged in!"

Xie Longwen was a proper jinshi degree-holder, and now anger rose in him too: "This official bears the duty of defending the territory and will permit no mishap whatsoever."

Had the other man not been a civil official, Yang Jiamo would very much have liked to hurl him off the wall.

A rank-seven civil official was still a civil official.

Since he could not vent his rage on the County Magistrate, Yang Jiamo could only take up his bow, aim down from his elevated position, and shoot at Li Zheng, who was in the midst of receiving surrendering troops.

Thwip!

Li Zheng collapsed at the sound. The soldiers around him panicked and dragged their Company Commander far back out of range.

The arrow had pierced through Li Zheng's left cheek, knocking out two of his back molars, and now wobbled grotesquely where it was lodged in his face.

Yang Jiamo turned and aimed at Huang Yao on the other side. Shooting in the alleys had been difficult, but from atop the wall, picking a target was very easy. Huang Yao instinctively raised his arm to block and was struck in the left forearm by an arrow; he hurriedly ducked behind a wooden shield.

This bastard really was a crack shot!

Fei Yinggong stepped forward a few paces, mingled among the long-spear men, and swiftly returned a shot.

He did hit his mark, but unfortunately the arrow lodged in the cotton armor and could hardly do Yang Jiamo any harm.

Xie Longwen thought this was effective and asked: "General, why not continue shooting?"

Yang Jiamo could not be bothered to answer. He merely stepped back a little and said: "You think about how to defend this city!"

Xie Longwen fell silent, resentment filling his heart. Had Yang Jiamo not plundered the rebels' territory, how would these rebels have ever come to besiege the city?

Outside the city, the household retainers were ordered to strip off their armor. Their weapons were also confiscated, and they were taken beyond the moat and bound.

Several hundred sets of iron armor and cotton armor!

This kind of chainmail was, to be precise, linked armor. The Treatise on Military Preparedness called it "steel-wire interlinked armor"; Joseon and the Manchu Qing called it "chainmail." It was made by stringing together iron-wire rings the size of copper coins.

The technique for drawing wrought iron into wire had existed as early as the mid-Ming.

Fei Yinggong looked at the armor strewn across the ground and instantly turned red-eyed with envy, thinking he would go back and beg Zhao Han for a set.

By the banks of the Gan River, the fleet from Ancient Sword Mountain had never even fought a proper battle.

After disembarking the soldiers at the dock, they had turned back and surrounded the government troops' boats. Once surrounded, they discovered that not only had the guard-station soldiers on board all fled, but even the boatmen had slipped away, leaving behind only three empty boats by the riverbank.

Not exactly empty boats — they were loaded with coin and grain, most of it looted from the homes of the gentry!

Soon, Ancient Sword Mountain received word. He immediately dispatched sailors to go outside the city and haul away the captured armor and weapons.

Surround Fengcheng County.

(End of chapter)