Chapter 102: Demand

The June weather was already very hot. A few cicadas sang of summer in the trees along the road, and even the passing breeze seemed warm. Scattered among the wheat fields on either side of the main road, some farmers weeding paused their work to watch this side of the road with curiosity. On the main road sat six squads of combat soldiers in order, their ranks utterly silent save for the occasional sound of canteen lids being opened and closed. Just then, a horn sounded. Zhou Shao'er, sitting on the ground, did not move, but the other seated soldiers stirred in disorderly confusion — some stood, some sat back down and looked around. After a flurry of chaos, Zhou Shao'er saw Squad Commander Lu by the roadside, whip in hand, cursing as he personally beat his personal guard. Listening to the slap of the leather whip on flesh, the soldiers on the ground immediately quieted down again.

That personal guard had mistaken the signal, confusing the march-starting horn for the bugle call. There was no bugle command while seated, so the soldiers were all at a loss. Zhou Shao'er, however, had memorized them clearly, so he stayed seated and did not move. For a bugler who blew the wrong call like this, in wartime, Lu Chuanzong could already have taken his head.

In order to train more flag and bugle signalers, Chen Xin had assigned three support soldiers to each platoon. When a platoon carried out independent combat operations, these men served as drummers and buglers, giving the soldiers more chances to practice. But the Ming army's drum and bugle signals were extremely complex, and many still could not memorize them. These new recruits, besides their formation drills, now had one more reason to get beaten.

After giving that personal guard a thorough thrashing, Lu Chuanzong issued the order again. The guard, drenched in sweat and looking utterly tense, pulled the horn from behind his back, put it to his lips, and blew a single note. A deep, drawn-out horn blast rang out. This time everyone understood. The entire platoon's soldiers stood up in unison, producing a clatter of weapons bumping against canteens and powder flasks. Zhou Shao'er padded his shoulder with thick cloth and used his blade-staff to hoist the carrying basket onto his shoulder.

Immediately after, the drumbeat started. After three beats, the entire unit advanced. This time it was the slow march cadence, twenty paces per drumbeat. Zhou Shao'er still preferred the tight cadence of one pace per beat; it had more rhythm to march to.

Most of the farmers near Weihai had seen these soldiers who liked to march. These soldiers seemed not to harass the common folk. They all came to the roadside, sizing up this orderly army like spectators at a show. A few children frolicked along behind the column. Their gazes made a sense of pride well up spontaneously in Zhou Shao'er. The thin red training uniform he wore was very handsome — a short, front-buttoned style, secured at the waist with the Ming army's leather belt (Note 1), plus the wide lapels and white buttons. Everyone looked exceptionally sharp.

Zhou Shao'er's First Killer Squad usually served as the Blue Team in adversarial training against the new recruits. After squad-level training ended in May, the combat soldier companies had been continuously deploying to strike at bandits around Weihai Guard. Six or seven bandit mountain strongholds had already been broken. According to the combat briefing Huang Yuan gave today, their target was a bandit gang at Ai Mountain, a group numbering only around a hundred men.

They marched all the way until afternoon, when the two forward scouts rode back. After muttering with Lu Chuanzong for a moment, the march drum changed, switching to the tight cadence of one pace per beat. The entire platoon's soldiers followed the drumbeat as their pace quickened. The column soon entered mountainous terrain. The mountain path was shaded by green trees, and everyone immediately felt cooler. After entering the mountains, one Killer Squad detached from the main force to open the way ahead. Zhou Shao'er's First Killer Squad was placed at the very rear of the march, serving as a reserve in case of ambush.

They encountered no bandits along the way. Half a shichen later, a narrow pass appeared ahead. A stone wall had been built atop the pass, with over a dozen bandits on it. The moment they saw government troops, they began shouting wildly and threw down some rocks. At a single command from Lu Chuanzong, the three firearms squads formed up on a slightly level area below the pass. Of the three firearms squads, two had arquebuses and one had Banjiu foot guns. The first volley was a simultaneous salvo from all three squads. After a burst of explosions, the mountain path was filled with smoke.

The stone wall was struck with loud cracking sounds. The bandits all hid behind the wall and were not hit, but their shouts grew even more panicked. After the first volley, the three squads took turns reloading. Every time a bandit showed his head, one squad would fire.

Seizing the bandits' confusion, the Third Killer Squad split into two files. The lead file, shielded by the long-shield soldier, charged toward the pass. The remaining file followed close behind. The lead long-shield soldier was originally a mountain dweller. Clad in iron scale armor, he did not even glance back to see if anyone was following. Without pausing for a moment, he charged swiftly upward. Only one bandit poked his head out and saw him, throwing down a rock, but the sturdy long-shield soldier deflected it with his rawhide-covered long shield. Right after, he stormed onto the pass.

The moment the long-shield soldier burst into the pass, he turned left, clearing the passageway, his right-hand saber raised high, and vanished behind the stone wall. Zhou Shao'er had just reached the base of the pass. Watching from below as the four squadmates behind the long-shield soldier lagged slightly by two steps, he could not help but mutter anxiously under his breath, "Faster, faster." Zhou Shao'er had a very good memory. This long-shield soldier was a newly added troop type, replacing one of the original two round shields — one man per squad. The shield was larger than the round shield, able to cover the entire body, and was covered with several layers of rawhide, making it extremely sturdy. In offensive combat, the long-shield soldier's sole duty was to press forward; protection relied entirely on the others. If he died and the file achieved no other great merit, all four would have to pay with their lives for his. Once the long-shield soldier died, the fate of the others was decided by the military judge.

So long-shield soldiers were all chosen from men of great courage and physical strength. Such a man would inevitably drag the entire file into charging forward with reckless abandon.

Fortunately, the four behind him understood this point clearly too and followed desperately. From behind the stone wall came a burst of sounds of slaughter and agonized screams. Then the second file also charged up. A moment later, the squad leader emerged from behind the stone wall and waved his flag-lance.

Zhou Shao'er let out a breath of relief. The other squads climbed onto the pass one after another. As Zhou Shao'er passed through, he stole a quick glance. Seven or eight bandits lay dead on the ground. The Third Squad had only one blade-staff soldier wounded. The support soldiers had dragged the bodies aside and were using their head-taking knives to sever heads. Two heads had already been cut off, blood pooling on the ground. Some new recruits, seeing this, vomited as they walked.

Vomiting all the way, they arrived before a small mountain stronghold. The stronghold was not large, also built with stone walls. The main gate was made of tree trunks bound together. Some bandits scurried about on the stone wall in panic; from the sounds within, the inside was already in utter chaos.

Lu Chuanzong ordered the firearms squads to continue firing volleys. The Third Killer Squad from earlier went to chop down trees, and before long they had fashioned a battering ram. This time, the assault squad was switched to the Second Killer Squad, with the First Killer Squad in support.

The Second Squad carried the battering ram to the main gate and charged forward with a great yell. When they were still a dozen or so paces away, a group of bandits appeared on the wall, raising stones ready to hurl down. At a shout from the squad leader, the Second Squad immediately halted. Behind them, the arquebuses fired a volley. Several bandits were hit, and the rest hurriedly ducked down. The Second Squad retreated back to their starting point, then yelled and charged again. Just like the previous time, before the bandits could throw their stones, several more were shot dead.

On the third charge, no bandit dared show his head. The Second Squad no longer stopped. With a boom, they slammed into the main gate. The wooden gate creaked and groaned noisily but was not broken open. The Second Squad's leader peered through a gap between the tree trunks of the gate and saw over a dozen bandits inside bracing against it.

The squad leader thrust his flag-lance through the gap and stabbed wildly, killing or wounding one or two. From inside, two long spears on wooden shafts thrust back out. The Second Squad had to pull back slightly. Several bandits appeared on the walls on both sides and swiftly hurled down a few rocks. Two soldiers were injured by the stones, and the Second Squad had no choice but to retreat again.

Lu Chuanzong cursed a couple of times and called over the Killer Squad flag captain, ordering him to take his own squad and another squad of arquebusiers to scale the wall from a different direction.

The flag captain, upon receiving the order, came to the First Killer Squad and commanded, "First Squad, begin donning armor!"

Zhou Shao'er was a support soldier and had no armor. He could only watch as the others took off the cotton armor from their backs. The cotton armor used by the First Squad soldiers was Ming army equipment requisitioned from Dengzhou — a type of short surcoat without the long apron-like thigh skirts. It was also front-buttoned in style, with armor studs but no armor plates. It was lighter than the iron-reinforced cotton armor, but its protective power was far inferior.

The soldiers of the First Killer Squad all began to gear up, pulling on their armor coats and securing them across the chest with armor straps, while the leather belts were fastened at the waist. Once they were fully geared, the flag captain led the two squads around to the left flank.

Zhou Shao'er followed at the rear of the column. The two squads moved quietly through the woods. When they rounded to the stronghold wall on the western side, a few bandits were just climbing over the wall to escape. The flag captain did not order the firearms to shoot. After the bandits left, the arquebusiers set up two human ladders against the wall. Zhou Shao'er saw Huang Yuan be the first to step on someone and climb up. After poking his head over the top to observe briefly, he jumped into the stronghold. Following him, two saber-and-shield men and a tangba soldier also entered. By the time Zhou Shao'er went in last, the First Squad had already formed two Small Three-Talents formations.

The moment Zhou Shao'er landed, he held his blade-staff horizontally in his hands, felt the raised nub on the shaft, aligned its direction, and stood behind the left file of the formation. Inside, some scattered bandits and their families, seeing people enter, shouted and fled elsewhere.

Once the firearms squad had also scaled the wall and entered, the flag captain gave the order, and they fought their way toward the stronghold gate. Rounding several thatched huts, Zhou Shao'er glimpsed through a gap that thirty or forty bandits were all concentrated at the main gate.

The arquebusiers rushed to the front and fired a volley at the twenty-some bandits clustered at the gate, killing several. From outside, a burst of battle cries also rang out. Attacked from front and rear, the bandits' will to fight evaporated in an instant. They scattered in a rout, fleeing in all directions.

Zhou Shao'er followed behind the left file. After helping everyone open the main gate, they charged into the stronghold to kill. Once the main gate was broken open, there was virtually no resistance. The able-bodied bandits had either been killed or had fled over the walls, leaving only the old, the weak, and women.

Zhou Shao'er, just as in the previous two bandit suppression operations, had not killed a single person. After mopping up the stronghold, he was assigned to chop off heads. Lu Chuanzong happened to be nearby. The Killer Squad flag captain came to report that the Second Squad had three wounded, and Zhou Shao'er heard Lu Chuanzong grumble, "If only we had cannons. Just the cannons on the ships — one shot and this wooden gate would be gone without a trace."

Huang Yuan, nearby, overheard and interjected, "I've seen those cannons too. They're far too heavy. How could they be carried up a mountain? Even dragging one to the base of the mountain, who knows how many horses it would take. Horses are so expensive. Zhu Guobin pestered Mister Liu for so long and only managed to buy twenty-some."

Lu Chuanzong grunted in acknowledgment. For Zhu Guobin's twenty cavalrymen, Liu Minyou had only budgeted twenty horses, each bought from Wendeng for over twenty taels of silver. Every day, besides grazing, they also had to eat several jin of fodder. Later, when it was discovered that a few could not travel far, Zhu Guobin went to Liu Minyou many times before managing to buy a few more. Every day he fed them and bathed them. The way Zhu Guobin acted, he wasn't treating them as beasts of burden — he was practically treating them like revered ancestors. Every time they deployed troops, a few cavalrymen were always sent out as scouts, but they never entered the mountains. Apart from being a bit faster, Lu Lvzi did not see much use for them.

Unwilling to say more about the cavalry, he simply complained, "When Lord Chen gets back, I'll have to talk to him. If we're going to fight bandits, we need some kind of small cannon to blast open gates."

Having said this, he looked at the sky and added worriedly, "It's already June. I wonder if Lord Chen's trip is going smoothly. Why hasn't he returned yet?"

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Note 1: The Ming army's leather belt is almost identical to the modern military belt, available in both prong-hole style and the officer's spring-clip style. Seeking recommendations, seeking bookmarks.