Chapter 202: 200: Attack and Defense

The enemy was too numerous, and Lion Mountain too small. Huang Yao voluntarily tightened the defense line, holding only the critical points above the mid-slope, so that Zhu Xieyuan's twenty-eight thousand government troops could not fully deploy.

"Hey, there's a treasure here," squad captain Chen Fugui shouted. "Picket Commander, I've found a treasure!"

Xiao Zongxian's face darkened as he barked, "The government troops are already attacking the mountain — what are you fooling around for?"

Chen Fugui pried out a chunk of stone the size of a chicken egg, the section of cliff face collapsing as he did so, and said excitedly, "Picket Commander, this is heaven-fallen meteoric iron — it can be forged into a divine weapon and presented to the Regional Commander."

"Really?" Xiao Zongxian leaned in, curious.

"I've been smithing for over ten years — think I'd mistake it?" Chen Fugui was a blacksmith by trade. "The old-generation smiths all say there's meteoric iron all over the southwest of Fengcheng. During the Zhengde reign, it smashed tens of thousands of houses."

That was surely a distorted tale. The truth was that in the eighth year of Zhengde, a meteor shower occurred. Some of the meteors struck the county seat, igniting homes and burning down over twenty thousand buildings.

Hu Dinggui came running over from nearby: "Heaven-fallen meteoric iron? Let me see, let me see!"

"Get back there and guard your own section properly!" Xiao Zongxian barked at once.

Hu Dinggui laughed. "The government troops have only just started climbing. It'll be a while before they get up here. When the time comes, we'll just stake our lives on it."

Chen Fugui also said with a grin, "Exactly — think we'd let the government troops break through?"

These Great Unity soldiers truly had no fear of death. Surrounded by nearly thirty thousand government troops, they could still chat and laugh.

Hu Dinggui — an orphaned tenant farmer.

Chen Fugui — from a hereditary artisan household.

They had already gained a new life and would never go back to their old days. If the government troops wanted to take their land, they would have to take their lives first.

……

At the foot of the mountain.

Zhu Tongqi drew his sword and shouted, "Brothers, that rebel Zhao wants to divide up our fields — what do you all say to that?"

"We won't allow it!" the soldiers roared in unison.

"If he wants to divide up our fields, then we'll fight him to the death!" Zhu Tongqi cried with all his might.

"To the death, to the death!"

Zhu Tongqi was in fact no great landlord, but a descendant of the Prince of Ning and grandson of Zhu Jinlian, Prince Jianding — a bona fide member of the Ming imperial clan.

He had originally held a noble rank (Bulwark Lieutenant), but had voluntarily renounced it to sit the civil examinations as a commoner. In history, he would pass the provincial exam the following year, earn his jinshi in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, and rise to Supervising Secretary of the Office of Rites by the end of Chongzhen's reign.

A man who could renounce his noble rank to take the examinations — when faced with rebels rising in revolt, he would naturally volunteer for military service to serve the dynasty, seeing this as an opportunity to distinguish himself.

The three thousand local braves under his command, however, were mostly sons of great clans, small landlords, and freeholding farmers.

In ancient times, information was extremely isolated. Although Zhao Han had already circulated The Great Unity Collection in Nanchang, clearly setting forth the land-redistribution policy, some people deliberately distorted it. Through rumor and misrepresentation, the small landlords and freeholding farmers of the various counties of Nanchang Prefecture all believed the rebels meant to seize every last bit of their land.

Zhao Han had developed peasant associations in these areas ahead of time and worked hard to publicize the land policy, but most small landlords and freeholding farmers refused to believe it.

"Follow me — attack the mountain!"

Zhu Tongqi led his force charging up the slope, the local braves behind him surging with morale. They would defend their land to the death.

Roughly six or seven thousand government troops began assaulting the mountain from all sides — the terrain prevented any larger number from deploying, so six or seven thousand committed to battle at once was already the limit.

"Rocks away!"

Xiao Zongxian bellowed.

Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui hurriedly directed their men to shove stones rolling down the slope.

A single large boulder bowled over at least five or six government soldiers; eight great stones sent down killed or wounded over fifty at once. Such scenes played out in many places across the mountain.

Among the three thousand local braves under Zhu Tongqi, several hundred instantly broke, turning and fleeing for their lives down the mountain.

"Battlefield supervisors — forward!"

Zhu Xieyuan was in overall command at the mountain's foot. At his single order, the supervising squads on every front advanced, cutting down and driving back the routed troops to resume the assault.

Zhu Xieyuan turned to look behind him, where the rebels' five thousand reinforcements were positioned. He too had seized favorable ground, waiting for them to come to the rescue, so that he could destroy them all together.

The assault on the mountain lasted an entire afternoon without gaining an inch of progress.

However, the defending rebels' rolling stones and logs were nearly exhausted.

Two li beyond the mountain's foot, Li Zheng frowned and said, "Are we just going to watch Old Huang get besieged like this?"

"What's the hurry? This is only the first day," Fei Yinggong said. "It'll take at least two or three days, until the government troops show signs of fatigue, before we have a chance to seize on a gap. Everyone return to camp and hold your positions. If we linger here, I fear this Governor-General will split his forces for a night raid on us."

Watching the rebel reinforcements withdraw far into the distance, Zhu Xieyuan felt somewhat helpless. These rebels were far too cautious.

Zhu Xieyuan gave the order: "Inform the entire army — I will have drums beaten throughout the night. Tell them not to be alarmed when they hear the drums, and to sleep and rest honestly!"

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

At the first watch, before the soldiers on either side had yet slept, the sound of government drums suddenly rose from all around.

Huang Yao ordered his men to stay vigilant, all of them rousing their spirits and guarding against a night raid by the government troops on the key positions.

At the second watch, the drums sounded again.

The soldiers on both sides were jolted awake. Not only the rebels on the mountain, but even the government troops below were left frightened and jittery.

At the third watch, the drums sounded once more.

The rebels on the mountain dared not sleep — or rather, they remained in a half-sleeping, half-waking state, weapons in hand, ready to join battle at any moment.

As for the government troops at the mountain's foot, they had instead grown settled. They knew it was their own side's drums, and that it was the rebels who ought to be suffering headaches now.

The fourth watch.

Du-du-du-du da-da du da du-du-du…

Before the drums could even sound, the charge horns suddenly blared from the mountain. Countless government soldiers scrambled up in terror; some of the local braves even made to flee. A full third of the camps below fell into chaos.

"Don't panic, don't panic — it's the rebels' harassment tactic!"

"Beat the drums!"

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

No one was getting any sleep tonight. When they rose the next morning, the soldiers on both sides had bloodshot eyes.

Li Zheng and Fei Yinggong, after daybreak, brought the reinforcements over once more, watching the battle from two or three li away. They, by contrast, had slept very soundly, every man alert and full of vigor.

Today, the government troops rotated in fresh units for the assault; the units that attacked yesterday could rest.

Wheel tactics, exhaustion tactics — Zhu Xieyuan meant to wear down the rebels on the mountain.

Wan Huaxin, of the Nanchang Wan clan, whose family held over ten thousand mu of good land.

Leading more than a thousand of his clan soldiers, he threw himself into storming the mountain with reckless abandon. If the rebels wanted to divide the land, they would have to trample over his dead body first.

Zhu Xieyuan felt that Jiangxi's military officers were useless, so he simply appointed capable gentry sons, giving them temporary command of the local braves they themselves had recruited. Wang Tingshi, among them, was briefly given command of two thousand local braves as well.

Wan Huaxin's three assaults were all beaten back, with over a hundred local braves killed or wounded; there were faint signs of collapse.

His unit was immediately rotated out, and the xiucai Deng Guilin led his self-recruited local braves into the attack.

A whole morning passed with no progress, but the rebels on the mountain had now truly run out of rolling stones and logs, including the supplies they had frantically gathered through the night.

Without even giving the rebels time for their midday meal, Fan Laijian, Zhang Pinyuan, and other sons of great clans filled their bellies ahead of time and led their local braves in another frenzied assault on the mountain.

Huang Yao, his eyes red, said: "Every picket and squad, send one-third to eat and sleep. No matter how fiercely they attack below, you must sleep! Don't waste the Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyers — wait until the government troops bunch up and close in, then throw."

The Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyer was a porcelain-cased bomb, and Huang Yao had only a little over two hundred of them.

Fan Laijian led his men charging up the slope and shouted with wild joy: "The rebels are out of rocks! Follow me — charge!"

Hu Dinggui had been allotted only five Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyers. He kept reminding the soldiers under him: "Let them get close before you throw, let them get close before you throw — throw into the thick of them. Wait a little longer, wait a little longer… now! Throw the Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyer!"

They threw only one — they had to conserve them.

The porcelain-cased bomb's fuse was lit and it was hurled into the mass of government troops.

Another seven or eight steps and they would close with the rebels. Fan Laijian seemed to see the hope of victory.

"Boom!"

The Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyer burst without warning, blasting three local braves off their feet on the spot. Porcelain shards flew, wounding seven or eight more, and Fan Laijian himself was injured in the waist.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"

The local braves nearby began coughing and their eyes streamed with tears. The area of effect was not large, really — the chili powder only smoked a dozen or so men.

"Kill!"

Hu Dinggui suddenly burst from the crude fortifications, leading his entire squad of thirty men straight at the three-hundred-odd local braves. Beside him, Chen Fugui likewise hurled a Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyer and, following Hu Dinggui's example, launched a counter-charge.

They had long since taken off their puttees, soaked them in water, and tied them over their mouths and noses to ward off the chili powder.

There was a pool on the mountain, and a spring as well, so they had no worry of running out of water.

Hu Dinggui leveled his spear and stabbed one local brave dead, then worked with the soldiers under him to spear another. Before he could thrust a third time, the three-hundred-odd enemies before him had already collapsed in utter confusion and were fleeing down the mountain, shrieking in terror.

In truth, the local braves' casualties were not heavy; they had been driven off purely by fright.

Another xiucai named Cheng Jiqing brought his own clan's local braves forward to cover them, and at the same time the battle-supervision squads advanced as well.

"Pull back!"

Hu Dinggui pursued for twenty-odd steps, and after spearing a fourth enemy dead, immediately called his whole squad to withdraw.

"His mother's — my eyes got smoked too," one of Hu Dinggui's soldiers complained, rubbing his eyes despite himself. The more he rubbed, the more the tears would not stop. "Gotta tell the propaganda officer — have him report back that they shouldn't put chili peppers in this damn thing."

"Cut the chatter," Hu Dinggui shouted. "Watch for the right moment and throw another Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyer!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyers were exploding everywhere. Every unit launched counter-charges in turn, and for a time the local braves were so shattered that none dared attack the mountain again.

Zhu Xieyuan could only offer heavy rewards, while spreading the word that the rebels meant to seize their land and property.

These great landlords, small landlords, and freeholding peasants all took up their weapons and attacked the mountain once more — but the household slaves and tenant farmers mixed among them had little stomach for the fight.

On the second day of the mountain assault, the Ten-Thousand-Man Destroyers were exhausted.

Li Zheng's and Fei Yinggong's relief troops still watched from afar and did not come over to help.

That night, the mingled din of drums and bugle calls kept both mountain and foothills from any peaceful sleep.

"Kill!"

In the fourth watch, government troops and rebels launched night raids at almost the same moment. Each side scored some kills, but neither achieved much.

The third day: the mountain assault continued.

The government troops were many and could rotate their rest; the Great Unity Army's rest periods were far shorter.

Both sides were exhausted, but the Great Unity Army's soldiers were worn down far worse.

"Kill!"

On the afternoon of the third day, government troops finally broke into the fortifications. Hu Dinggui successfully repelled two assaults.

"Squad captain!"

"Old Chen!"

Chen Fugui, a blacksmith by trade, had his belly pierced through his cotton armor. After beating back the government troops, he clutched his wound and laughed: "Ha! I'm fine — I can fight one more round yet!"

(End of chapter)