Chapter 237: Firewood

On the twenty-seventh day of the tenth month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Liaodong land lay frozen for a thousand li, snowflakes swirling in the air. Behind the earthen wall, cooking smoke curled up from the Later Jin army's main camp. Yet within three li outside Dalinghe city, all was bleak and desolate. The watchtowers that had once held firm had been taken one by one, leaving only broken walls and shattered ruins. Some of those watchtowers were now garrisoned by Later Jin troops, who raised Later Jin banners of every color atop the walls.

Left Regional Commander Zu Dashou's brows were tightly knit, his expression grim as he gazed at the desolate scene below the city. A group of Later Jin cavalry rode slowly two li away, holding aloft the banners of Ming army Mobile Corps Commanders and Vice Regional Commanders, continuing their war of demoralization.

Since the siege began in the eighth month, Zu Dashou's performance had been, it should be said, fairly good. He had repeatedly sent troops out to fight small-scale engagements with the Jianzhou Bandits. In the last ten days of the eighth month alone, they had killed two Later Jin vice generals, three Mobile Corps Commanders, and several Niru Ejen, inflicting over five hundred casualties on the Later Jin troops. But after the Ujen Cooha joined the battle, they successively captured the outer watchtowers. Even the most fortified Yuzizhang Tower held out for only three days before Assistant Regional Commander Wang Jing surrendered. The large stores of grain inside the various watchtowers also became provisions for the Later Jin army.

The grain stored in the city was enough to last until the third month, but what broke Zu Dashou was that he had no firewood. At the start of the defense, he had calculated every possible detail, yet never imagined that in the end he would be trapped by the cheapest of things — firewood.

The Liaodong winter was bitterly cold. At the time, Zu Dashou had focused only on hauling grain into the city, never thinking to store enough coal and firewood. Now that winter had arrived, without firewood to cook food or keep warm, the entire city's soldiers and civilians were severely affected. The originally high morale in the city had plummeted because of this trivial problem.

The Guanning Army dug three feet into the ground throughout the city, searching out every piece of wood that the Later Jin army had torn down in previous years. But that did not last long. After the watchtowers outside the city fell, the Later Jin troops controlled the city's perimeter. They harvested or simply burned all the brushwood near the city gates, leaving only what was near the watchtowers to lure the Guanning Army out to cut wood, then ambushed those Ming troops. After the Later Jin army built the earthen wall and occupied the watchtowers, the Guanning Army had instead become the besieging party. In this way, the Guanning Army had to trade lives for cheap firewood. Eventually, Zu Dashou could bear it no longer and halted all sorties out of the city.

"There are also some useless gun shafts that can be burned as firewood."

Zu Dashou's eyes remained fixed on the southwest, as if hoping a miracle might appear there. But he himself did not believe that Wu Xiang in Jinzhou could defeat the Jianzhou Bandits. The Ming army banners the Jianzhou Bandits flaunted below the city walls also told the story.

The Ming army in Jinzhou had sallied out three times in total. After Qiu Jiahe took part in the second, he refused to go out again, merely pressuring Wu Xiang and Song Wei to send troops. Wu Xiang had no choice but to march out once more. After the previous two "strategic advances," he was now a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow. The entire army had no morale to speak of. The moment they spotted Later Jin scout cavalry, they turned and fled in panic. As a result, fewer than a hundred Later Jin troops wildly pursued over three thousand Guanning armored cavalry. Fewer than a hundred were cut down, but over three hundred Guanning soldiers fell from their horses and were trampled to death.

Sun Chengzong, considering that the city had sufficient grain and fodder, submitted successive memorials to Chongzhen requesting the deployment of the Wendeng Battalion and the Shizhu troops. Thus, the Battle of Changshan, which historically had the heaviest losses, had not yet occurred.

In the early stages of the siege, Zu Dashou employed one cunning scheme after another. The Later Jin troops did fall for quite a few of them, losing several hundred men and horses. But Huang Taiji soon repaid Zu Dashou in kind. After routing the third Ming relief force, he had some bondservants put on Ming army uniforms, hoist Ming army banners, and raise a great clamor in the southwest. The Later Jin army's various camps sent troops southwest to meet the battle. Zu Dashou indeed took the bait, hastily leading his troops out to coordinate from within, only to be thoroughly beaten by the Later Jin's true elite troops lying in ambush. His forces suffered devastating losses; even his armored infantry were cut down by half, essentially losing their combat effectiveness.

After that episode, Zu Dashou became extremely cautious. Over the past two months, his retainers had suffered heavy losses. Moreover, the Later Jin troops outside the city had gained experience, fighting only from behind their earthen walls and trenches, giving the Guanning Army not the slightest opportunity.

Zu Kefa, behind him, said in a low voice, "Foster Father, Hong Taiji has shot another letter urging surrender. Will Foster Father read it?"

"No." Zu Dashou exhaled a puff of white breath. Huang Taiji would say nothing more than the usual nonsense about Heaven blessing the Great Jin and drawing the border at Liaodong, then explain that Amin's massacre of the city was his own decision and that he would never mistreat Zu Dashou, and so on.

He Kegang, hearing this, said with admiration, "The Junior Tutor is wise. Setting aside the great divide between Chinese and barbarians, speaking only of talent and strategy, this subordinate observes that Hong Taiji is a man unlikely to achieve great things. He took Yongping but immediately returned to Liaodong, unable to shed the bandit nature of the Jianzhou thieves. The troops left in Yongping were poorly deployed, and they wantonly slaughtered the city's people. In the eyes of the world, he is nothing more than a butcher, hardly an enlightened lord worth entrusting oneself to."

Zu Kefa lowered his head and said nothing. Zu Dashou merely nodded slightly and continued his inspection along the city wall. In the various open grounds, Ming soldiers huddled together in tight masses. Many wore civilian clothes they had looted over their armor, yet even so, they still shivered uncontrollably. When he reached the barbican, he descended the city stairs and returned inside Dalinghe city.

Inside Dalinghe city, there were only a few buildings; most of the area was filled with tents and dugout shelters. When the Later Jin army had last destroyed the place, they had burned down all the houses. This time, the Guanning Army had been busy repairing the walls, using most of the building materials for the fortifications. After the severe cold arrived, they could only dig the dugouts deeper. Now that the temperature had dropped further, the ground was frozen solid, making even digging extremely difficult. Because there was no fuel for warmth, many of the laborers at the very bottom had frozen to death.

Not far ahead of him, several soldiers were stripping clothes off the laborers. Under the threat of sabers, the laborers could only remove their own outer garments. The soldiers snatched them and put them on themselves. In Zu Dashou's view, such open robbery was not a crime, as long as it maintained the army's combat effectiveness. Right now, these troops in Dalinghe city were the elite of the Guanning Army, naturally far more valuable than the laborers.

When he reached his headquarters, a group of retainers was chopping up saddles, extracting the wooden frames inside. Zu Kefa said quietly, "There are still over a thousand saddles, but we must keep some for breaking out. We can't chop any more."

"How are the horses?"

"No fodder, so they can only eat pure grain. There's enough to last another month. If the siege isn't lifted by then, we'll have no choice but to slaughter them."

Zu Dashou sighed. Huang Taiji's method of warfare was something he had never anticipated. Now that the earthen wall was complete, his own cavalry was essentially useless. Breaking out with Dalinghe's own strength was already impossible.

With the situation as it was, aside from hoping for relief from Jinzhou, the thought of surrender had drifted through Zu Dashou's mind many times like a specter. He estimated that his subordinate generals were likely thinking of it to some degree as well.

Ever since military operations had reached a stalemate, the Later Jin had continuously shot letters or sent captured Ming generals to urge surrender. But from the perspective of self-interest, the Later Jin could not offer him anything. The current Guanning Army had the Liaodong military tax and land. Zu Dashou himself possessed vast tracts of farmland around Ningyuan, with tens of thousands of tenant farmers. He was the overlord of Liaodong; even Sun Chengzong dared not pressure him.

Huang Taiji adopted the tone of an enlightened lord, but his letters urging surrender never mentioned anything concrete, only saying that offices would be granted according to merit. If he surrendered, he would certainly be escorted back to Liaodong by the Later Jin army. At most, he would be allocated some land and then attached to one of the banners, completely reduced to a vassal of the Eight Banners. How could that compare to the comfort of his current life?

Therefore, as long as there was a sliver of hope, he was unwilling to surrender to the Later Jin. Although the Later Jin troops outside the city displayed some captured Ming army banners and claimed to have annihilated the main force of the Guanning Army, Zu Dashou could see that there were at most vice regional commander banners, indicating that the Ming army's main force had not been defeated. So hope still remained.

He Kegang said with full confidence, "Junior Tutor, while we endure hardship, the Jianzhou Bandits are no better off. Observe their camp: every day, bondservants are dragged out and buried. From Shenyang to Dalinghe is several hundred li; in winter, if three to five out of ten grain shipments arrive, it is considered fortunate. Furthermore, their red-barbarian cannons pose no great threat. Their artillerymen do not know the proper method of firing. The day before yesterday, when attacking the south wall, one of their cannons burst. Secondly, their cannons are large but their shot is small. This subordinate found an iron ball on the south wall weighing only seven jin, yet their red-barbarian cannon weighs at least five thousand jin. This shows their cannon-making is crude. A seven-jin cannonball does very little damage to our walls. As long as we hold firm, Lord Sun will come to our rescue."

Zu Kefa said coldly, "Relying on Wu Xiang and Song Wei?"

He Kegang was momentarily speechless. He turned to Zu Kefa and said, "Wu Xiang and Song Wei both routed the Jianzhou Bandits at the great victory of Zunhua and Yongping. Why could they not lift the siege? At Shanhai Pass, there are still several thousand White Rod troops. If they join forces and come, there should be strength enough for a battle."

Zu Kefa retorted, "We also took part in the Zunhua-Yongping victory. At that time, the Jianzhou Bandits were but a lone army, besieged on three sides by our hundred-thousand-strong force. Now the Jianzhou Bandits have come with the entire nation's strength, backed by Liaodong. How can the present compare to then?"

He Kegang glared angrily. "In the face of battle, how can one allow such indecisive wavering? The Jianzhou Bandits are uncivilized savages, cruel by nature. If we cannot fight, we can flee or withdraw, but we must never speak of surrender…"

Zu Dashou listened to the two argue. The first thing that came to his mind now was that Wendeng Battalion. Although he found Chen Xin disagreeable, he knew that when it came to fighting ability, this Wendeng Battalion and the White Rod troops were the strongest. If they could come, then there would truly be hope.

……

The Wendeng Battalion that Junior Tutor Zu so ardently hoped for had only just set out now. They did not take the difficult route through Huangxian and Zhaoyuan, but instead detoured through Qixia, and after reaching Laiyang, headed west toward Pingdu Department.

Kong Youde's force followed behind them, already a day's distance away. Both Kong Youde and Chen Xin held the rank of Assistant Regional Commander. For this march, Sun Yuanhua had not arranged a command relationship between the two armies; they were to act independently.

To Kong Youde's surprise, after setting out, Chen Xin had sent someone to contact him, expressing that they could strengthen communication en route and provide some assistance. Kong Youde knew of Sun Yuanhua's predicament and had been wavering over whether to defect to Lu Zhi. But Sun Yuanhua had indeed shown him the kindness of recognition and patronage. As far as he knew, as early as the end of the second year of Chongzhen, Sun Chengzong, in light of the Liu Xingzhi incident, had warned Sun Yuanhua to be wary of Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng. At the time, Sun Yuanhua had also said, "These cunning fellows cannot be sent east again." Yet in the end, he had still placed these men in important positions. So Kong Youde always harbored a sense of gratitude toward Sun Yuanhua. As for Chen Xin, Kong Youde actually also had the inclination to attach himself to him, because the Wendeng Battalion's rise had been extremely swift and fierce, and Wendeng had always treated the Liaodong refugees very generously.

Regarding this change in Chen Xin's attitude before and after departure, Kong Youde believed that Chen Xin's behavior in Dengzhou had been a deliberate show for Lu Zhi, and that his attitude after setting out was his true stance. So he readily agreed. Wendeng's relay riders came once a day to maintain contact with them.

But the improvement in Chen Xin's attitude was limited to this. Kong Youde hinted several times that he hoped to share some grain and fodder, but received no response. Neither side marched quickly. After reaching Laiyang, the Wendeng Battalion camped for a day, then continued advancing. From the seat of Laiyang County eastward to the county border was ninety li; from the county border to the seat of Pingdu Department was one hundred and eighty li.