Chapter 401

Several muffled thuds sounded as something hit the ground. Huang Shan poked his head out of the trench to take a look, then leaned his hoe against the trench wall, sat down, and panted heavily. His position was in the middle of the earthen walls of the two opposing sides, and they were using trenches to close in on Dengzhou Town.

They had been digging trenches for several days, and their losses were heavy. At first, they didn't know how to dig properly and just went straight forward. During the day, Dengzhou soldiers' muskets made it impossible to stay there, so they kept improving. At night they dug laterally, gradually figuring out a method: advance straight at night, go lateral during the day. They were about to reach the horse-blocking ditch.

But the progress wasn't fast. If it ever seemed too fast, the Niu Lu Erzhen would actually make them stop, to avoid becoming the section Dengzhou Town focused its attacks on. In recent days, Dengzhou Town continued sporadic raids and sabotage, with counterattacks concentrated on the Bordered Yellow Banner's position. Those stone-throwing catapults fired at irregular intervals. Abatai had already lost more than half his men, but if other positions got too close, they too would suffer fierce attacks from the enemy. So their own Niu Lu had also learned the trick: don't be the bird that sticks its head out.

Huang Shan said to Zhang Zhongqi, who was supervising nearby, "Master, if we dig any further forward, the Dengzhou soldiers will be able to throw porcelain grenades at us from inside the horse-blocking ditch."

"I know that." Zhang Zhongqi glanced behind him. The main earthen wall there was already fifteen chi high, surpassing the earthen wall of Dengzhou Town opposite. But when exchanging fire, at seventy paces they could only fire in an arc, while the enemy could fire directly, giving them no advantage in a fight. And the enemy's artillery was very active. Right across from them was one of the enemy's watchtowers with several Frankish breech-loading cannons on it. If anyone carelessly exposed themselves, the other side would fire a few rounds. Being hit by a several-ounce iron ball was also terrifying. Zhang Zhongqi had personally seen a man from his own village lose half his body to one. It was the first time he had ever found Frankish cannons so frightening. The last time he encountered Zhang Chun's wagon formation, he hadn't felt the sound of the Frankish cannons was this terrifying.

"Keep your wits about you," Zhang Zhongqi said to Huang Shan. "If we break through this Lushun, the Ezhen might just raise your banner or something. That's how your master here got his."

"Thank you, Master, for your favor. Your humble servant will certainly work hard." Huang Shan diligently brushed the dirt off Zhang Zhongqi's clothes, then took out a gourd and offered Zhang Zhongqi water.

Suddenly, a shout rang out from the Dengzhou battle line opposite. It was clearly a loud voice, speaking in Chinese. Though it sounded somewhat muffled, the voice carried far.

"Han brothers digging the trenches! Don't throw your lives away for the Tatars. Dig a little further forward, then run into the horse-blocking ditch. When you see a place with a white flag, lie flat on the ground and wait for our Han soldiers to come and take you in. Come over and live as upright men, with food and clothing. Once you reach Dengzhou, you'll get land. When Liaodong is recovered in the future, every family will also get one hundred mu..."

"Huang Shan, don't listen to their nonsense. Our heads are shaved—one head is worth fifty taels. If you go over, they'll definitely chop your head off. There's not a single good thing in Dengzhou Town."

The voice outside continued shouting, "Official announcement from Lord Chen of Dengzhou Town: Anyone who surrenders voluntarily will absolutely not be beheaded by Dengzhou Town. Here are a few Han brothers captured in the Battle of Fuzhou. They are now serving as auxiliary soldiers in Lushun. Their performance this time has been outstanding, and their future prospects are bright. I'll let them speak to everyone."

Zhang Zhongqi sneered, "Fake. Don't believe it..."

A loud voice rang out, "Fellow bondservant brothers! I am Bai Youwu of the Plain Blue Banner. I just fled to Dengzhou Town a few days ago. Over here, we have white flour steamed cakes and Wendeng incense to smoke. The soldiers are so good there's nothing bad to say. Think about the life you live under the Jianzhou bandits—worse than pigs and dogs. If you can bring over the head of a Jianzhou bandit, the reward is one hundred taels per head, and you'll get land in Dengzhou immediately..."

Zhang Zhongqi was instantly speechless. This Bai Youwu was a bondservant from their own Niu Lu. A few mornings ago during roll call, he had suddenly vanished. They thought he'd been blown away by cannon fire, but it turned out he had fled to the other side. It was the first time Zhang Zhongqi had encountered warfare like this. Although the bondservants in the trench all remained silent, Zhang Zhongqi could keenly sense the shift in their mentality. Especially the reward of one hundred taels of silver for killing a Jianzhou bandit immediately made the supervising archers in the trench tense up. Their hands all moved to the hilts of their swords.

The people shouting from the opposite side came one after another. Some were captured in the Battle of Fuzhou, others in the Battle of Jinzhou. All were bondservants, each with a name and surname. Zhang Zhongqi didn't recognize most of them, but that first one, Bai Youwu, was absolutely genuine. Zhang Zhongqi recognized the voice as indeed his. These people cursed the Later Jin soldiers fiercely, recounting the tragic fates of their relatives, friends, wives, and children. Most of it was true. By the end, they were crying and cursing at the same time, and even Zhang Zhongqi recalled many past events.

The last one to come up nearly made Zhang Zhongqi's jaw drop. It was Bakshan of the Bordered White Banner, the former Bordered White Banner Bayara Commander. He was someone Zhang Zhongqi looked up to with boundless admiration, yet he had also surrendered to Dengzhou. He shouted repeatedly in the Jurchen and Mongol languages. Zhang Zhongqi could only understand a little. It was roughly inciting the Jurchen soldiers from tribes like Yehe, which had been conquered by Jianzhou back then, digging up again the massacres of those tribes by the main Jianzhou tribe in those years.

The Later Jin battle line was silent. Only a few Boshoku and Bayara were cursing and shouting, but their curses were utterly insipid. The other supervising archers in the trench glared fiercely at the bondservants, whose expressions varied. Zhang Zhongqi was also somewhat afraid. Those bondservants with wives and children in Liaodong were manageable, but the ones he feared most were like Huang Shan—a bachelor with no ties or worries. If he really turned ruthless, there was no guarantee he wouldn't do something desperate. Thinking of this, Zhang Zhongqi edged closer toward the archers.

"Bah! That dog thing has no shame. The Great Khan treated him so well, yet he went and surrendered to the Nikans." Huang Shan cursed toward the other side. "Master, your slave wishes he could go and slaughter his entire family."

Zhang Zhongqi said fiercely, "Why would you need to go? In a couple of days, the Great Khan will send someone to slaughter his whole family."

Huang Shan was filled with righteous indignation. "Master, your slave thinks his whole family should be brought to Lushun and killed right in front of that Bakshan. That would serve as a warning to those fence-sitters."

Zhang Zhongqi patted Huang Shan approvingly. "Work hard. Even if Lushun can't be broken, you can always earn merit when we go inside the passes later. Once your banner is raised, you can live a good life. Don't believe the lies of Dengzhou Town."

"Your slave absolutely does not believe them. Your slave only listens to you, Master," Huang Shan said firmly.

Just as he finished speaking, another cannon shot sounded from the center. Huang Shan looked up. A stone projectile soared into the air and fell toward the Bordered Yellow Banner's position.

With a splat, a supernumerary soldier of the Bordered Yellow Banner was crushed heavily into the earth by a stone projectile two chi in diameter. His upper body was completely covered by the stone ball. A paste-like red mixture flowed out from underneath.

The surrounding bondservants screamed and wailed in alarm. One of them suddenly jumped up and ran frantically to the top of the earthen wall, standing upright and shouting wildly at the opposite side. A volley of gunfire rang out from across the way. The bondservant's whole body shuddered, and he fell backward onto the earthen wall. The other side didn't stop. The surrounding Frankish cannons fired round after round at the soldier's corpse, sending dirt flying everywhere around the body. The musketeers also fired two volleys, only stopping when the bondservant showed no further sign of movement.

"Master, we can't keep fighting. Dengzhou Town is biting us and won't let go. Along the entire line, our section is getting hit the hardest. Your slave's Niu Lu has only thirty armored soldiers left. Last night, two bondservants ran off, and before leaving, they chopped off a supernumerary's head. Today they're still over on that earthen wall showing it off. That supernumerary's older brother killed three bondservants in a row. This... if this goes on, we'll all be dead without even fighting. Dengzhou Town is vicious."

A Niu Lu Erzhen was weeping and complaining before Abatai. Abatai's face was iron-blue. The Bordered Yellow Banner color of his camp was like a magnet. Dengzhou Town stared at it relentlessly, concentrating its fiercest counterattacks there every day, while ignoring the two White Banners beside him. Of his six Niu Lu, over five hundred armored soldiers and supernumeraries, only a little over two hundred remained. Two Niu Lu Erzhen had been killed. Every Niu Lu under him was crying out in misery. And the other surrounding Niu Lu seemed to have been scared stiff; their trench-digging progress never exceeded that of the Bordered Yellow Banner. Abatai felt he was completely fighting Dengzhou Town alone.

He left that Niu Lu Erzhen and returned to his shelter. It was built close to the earthen wall, expanded right inside the trench. The top was reinforced with two layers of thick logs from dismantled shield carts. Someone who didn't know better would think it was a WWI artillery shelter. Under the threat of the enemy's stone projectiles and the porcelain grenades thrown at close range at night, this group of Later Jin soldiers had invented all sorts of bizarre shelters. Even dugouts on the sides of the trench had appeared, big enough for two people to crouch in. If Chen Xin were standing here, he would surely sigh at the creativity of the masses.

"What the hell kind of war is this?" Abatai hurled the porcelain bowl from the table violently onto the ground. Huang Taiji neither sent him reinforcements nor pulled him back. If he had to hold on a few more days, there wouldn't be many soldiers left in his six Niu Lu.

A burst of musket fire came from overhead, followed by a chaotic sound of footsteps. That was the Ujen Cooha taking advantage of the lull in artillery fire to go up and shoot. E'er Dengbu, another Niu Lu Erzhen nearby, moved over. He was also full of worry. "Master, we just dug to the horse-blocking ditch. Half our men are gone, and more than half the bondservants too. How are we supposed to get through this year when we go back?"

Abatai's face was dark, and he said nothing. E'er Dengbu shooed everyone else away, then struck a fire stick and lit a Wendeng incense stick for Abatai. Abatai inhaled the smoke. A dizzy feeling spread through his head, and the pressure seemed to lessen momentarily. This Wendeng incense was smuggled in from Korea. In Later Jin, it cost the equivalent of forty wen per pack. Huang Taiji had rebuked these ministers many times, saying they were losing their ambition to material pleasures, but civilian sales were still huge. Especially on the battlefield, where soldiers were under immense mental pressure, getting a single cigarette was not easy. The supernumeraries of each banner responsible for transporting grain were all selling it privately. Every time they brought grain, they smuggled some along, and the price had soared to two qian of silver per pack.

Abatai knew this stuff was produced right across from them. He wondered what their price was. He heard that even surrendered bondservants could smoke it. Just separated by this one trench, the price difference was heaven and earth. Sometimes he even felt like running up onto the earthen wall to ask the other side.

"You think I want to be stuck holding this position? I went to see the Eighth again today, and he still won't allow a withdrawal. He just says no banner has retreated, and if the two Yellow Banners retreat first, it'll give others a handle against us."

"Our two Yellow Banners are really..." E'er Dengbu shook his head. "In the three battles at the pass, Dalinghe, and against the Chahar, our various banners also lost a lot. When has the Great Khan ever replenished us? Instead, he keeps establishing new Niu Lu. The old two White Banners only had thirty-one Niu Lu, but since they were changed to the two Yellow Banners, it's now sixty-one Niu Lu. He says the banners must be equal, so he keeps creating Niu Lu for his trusted followers. Twenty or thirty households is also a Niu Lu, and then he fills them with people. Our six Niu Lu only see men leave, never enter. Your slave has heard that men like E'ersai now don't listen to you, Master, only to that Haoge..."

"Enough," Abatai cut him off. "If we don't capture something, the Great Khan won't let us leave. This can't be delayed. Have you gotten the gunpowder or not? What does Zhu Shiyin say? Is he going to give us the gunpowder or not?"

"He says gunpowder is not easy to procure and requires the Great Khan's nod."

Abatai sprang to his feet. Bang! His palm slammed onto the small table. The crude tabletop nearly collapsed from the blow. "Even a Han dog dares to give me the runaround? Where is he?"

"Not far behind. He had his bondservants dig a special pit to hide from the cannons."

"Lead the way!" Suppressing his fury, Abatai, with E'er Dengbu and their guards, headed straight for the Ujen Cooha position. Two Ujen Cooha soldiers stood guard at the entrance. Seeing E'er Dengbu, they moved to block him. E'er Dengbu stepped forward and kicked both of them down. Abatai strode directly into the dark tunnel.

Inside, it was filled with smoke; they were also smoking Wendeng incense. Seeing it was Abatai, Zhu Shiyin stood up with a smile, pulled out a cigarette, and was about to offer it. Clang! A scabbard sounded, and a sword was pressed against his neck.

"Sev-Seventh Beile, wh-what is the meaning of this..."

"Are you giving the gunpowder or not?"

Zhu Shiyin's face twisted bitterly. "I'll give it. Your slave will give it right away."

"Have it moved to my earthen wall."

"Your slave will order it moved at once." Zhu Shiyin was so frightened his legs trembled. "What else does the Seventh Beile want?"

"Transfer two hundred Han soldiers to me. Load ten thousand of your bird gun lead balls, twenty balls per bag, and mix five taels of gunpowder into each bag. Also, give me a length of match cord for each bag."

"Seventh Beile, you want to make grenades? But that match cord can't be used for bird guns. For bird guns, the match cord must burn as fast as possible; for grenades, it must burn as slowly as possible. They are completely different."

Abatai lifted the blade and gently patted Zhu Shiyin's face with it. "I don't care how you do it. By tonight, I want usable grenades. Otherwise, I'll chop your head off first." (To be continued...)