Chapter 403: Thunder Warfare

"Night raid!" The retainer immediately drew his waist saber and rolled down the dirt wall with Huang Side beside him. On the Dengzhou garrison's dirt wall, over ten torches were lit at once and hurled far out toward the direction of the shouting and killing. A four-pounder on the defense line fired first, spraying over seventy grapeshot pellets like a rainstorm forward. By the muzzle flash, scattered figures of Later Jin soldiers appeared ahead.

They did not light torches but kept shooting heavy arrows at the dirt wall. After Dengzhou's first volley of firearms, large numbers of figures surged onto the passageway and the dirt wall behind. Holding torches, they howled as they charged the Dengzhou defense line.

Officers behind the dirt wall barked continuous orders. Rows of pikemen stood up. The detached force serving as the night reserve rushed over from the west side, ready to fill gaps in the line. Behind the second dirt wall, a red signal flare rose, marking the position for the center section's commander, Zhu Guobin.

Dengzhou's musketeers were already experienced. They did not fire all at once but took turns shooting. Huang Side had no night-fighting experience. He stared at those muskets, and moments later his vision was entirely covered by lingering bright spots. Above his head came a chaotic thumping, and dense light arrows fell swishing like raindrops. Huang Side hid in the grass shelter, panting heavily. He had taken part in many campaigns, but every time he had stayed in the rear watching the excitement. Being directly on the front line was a first. The retainer said to Huang Side, "My lord, you should move further back."

"No, no." Huang Side's voice trembled. "This official shall stay right here and watch our Dengzhou garrison's warriors..."

Before he finished, the four feibiao guns beside him fired one after another. The half-buried cannon blasts made the ground rumble and shake. Huang Side's head spun with dizziness, his mouth dry and tongue parched, unable to continue.

"Boom!" A dazzling burst of firelight erupted in front of the dirt wall, followed by several more explosions in quick succession. The Later Jin soldiers charging at the front had stepped on landmines. Wails and howls filled the air. Dengzhou soldiers kept issuing commands. On the Later Jin dirt wall, the crack of arquebuses was unceasing. All kinds of sounds mingled together.

The auxiliary soldiers who had been waiting below the dirt wall also rushed up. Wearing thick leather gloves, they grabbed caltrops from their waist pouches and hurled them wildly outward. Others kept throwing torches outside. The two piles of firewood stacked in the horse-blocking trench were ignited. In the firelight, the figures of the Later Jin soldiers became slightly clearer.

Shadows moved within the horse-blocking trench. The Later Jin soldiers at the front were like headless flies, scurrying chaotically in the trench, from time to time blown skyward by triggered landmine bombs. The Later Jin soldiers behind, however, were very nimble. Holding torches, they used the curvature of the horse-blocking trench to advance closer, using those panicked soldiers ahead as cover from gunfire.

Screams rose continuously from the horse-blocking trench. Torchlight flickered everywhere, leaving bright trails across the black night. The Later Jin soldiers running wildly at the front had practically detonated all the landmine bombs. The Later Jin soldiers behind followed closely, hurling bags trailing sparks from their hands.

Several flashes burst with a bang on the Lvshun dirt wall. The surrounding Dengzhou soldiers fell screaming. Huang Side's head was hammered into a buzzing ring. He felt a numbness in his arm. His mind went completely blank. Both legs trembled so badly he could not even stand. He collapsed, sitting on the ground.

A whooshing sound came from ahead. A thunder bomb landed in the grass shelter, its fuse still flickering with sparks. Huang Side pointed at the thunder bomb but could not cry out, only managing a continuous "Ah! Ah!" The retainer beside him let out a great shout, rushed over, grabbed the thunder bomb, and hurled it back over the dirt wall. From outside it was thrown back again. The thunder bomb still had not exploded. The retainer, not knowing to stamp out the fuse, simply followed his habitual thinking and threw it out once more. Finally, it exploded with a boom outside the wall.

The soldiers of the Lvshun garrison also began to retaliate with porcelain grenades. The trained grenadiers had powerful arms. The porcelain grenades fell like rain. Thunder bombs trailing sparks flew back and forth, exploding above and below the dirt wall. The Dengzhou soldiers held the advantage. The surrounding falconets and muskets also provided fire support at the same time. Those Later Jin soldiers were constantly knocked to the ground. Lit thunder bombs landed right in front of them and exploded. These hastily manufactured fuses were extremely unreliable. Some burned extremely fast and exploded before they were even thrown.

Others were so slow they made people frantic with anxiety, flying back and forth over the dirt wall several times without exploding. Both sides were like playing a deadly game of pass the parcel. Porcelain grenades and Later Jin thunder bombs exploded one after another. At the peak, five or six detonated at once, the sound shaking all of Lvshun. Soldiers on both sides hurriedly rose to watch this grand fireworks display at the center from a distance.

Huang Side was still on the front line of this unprecedented thunder warfare. He had always hidden in the rear during battles, yet he had inadvertently taken part in the first thunder battle between Ming and Jin, and what was more, even his guards happened to be absent.

In such an exchange, the Dengzhou garrison also suffered considerable losses. The dirt wall was already littered with wounded musketeers. The pikemen waiting behind the dirt wall also took many casualties. Their formation was dense, and whenever a fire grenade landed in the right spot, it was almost certain to hit someone.

The reinforcing detached force reached the dirt wall and fired continuous volleys forward. The garrison troops hurled porcelain grenades. Combat engineers entered the breastwork below the dirt wall and used blunderbusses to shoot at every moving shadow. Many of the Later Jin grenades could not be thrown out and instead exploded among their own men nearby. These Later Jin soldiers were also caught in crossfire from the surrounding watchtowers and field artillery. Their morale finally collapsed, and they fled in panic back toward their own defense line.

Only then did Huang Side catch his breath. He patted the back of the figure in front of him. That retainer had been shielding him with his body the entire time, which moved Huang Side considerably. The retainer quickly turned around and supported Huang Side. "Chief Indoctrination Officer, my lord, let this humble one help you back into the city to rest."

"No, no. An indoctrination officer at this moment must comfort the soldiers, make them, well, not panic." Huang Side suddenly straightened his back and puffed out his chest. He stood up in agitation and walked about everywhere, praising those soldiers at the top of his lungs, afraid that others might not know he was there.

Only a moment later, Zhu Guobin arrived hurriedly. He brought a group of staff officers and military officers. The company commander defending this section held a captured fire grenade. Several of them gathered around to discuss. Huang Side also squeezed over.

He heard the company commander saying, "This subordinate just examined it. Inside there are about a dozen or so arquebus balls and a few taels of gunpowder. The fuse cord is not very well made."

Zhu Guobin asked, "Are casualties heavy?"

"Mostly wounded. A dozen or so who were hit in the head by lead balls died. The Later Jin soldiers' grenade throwing was very chaotic. The first wave was somewhat more accurate. More than half of the later ones exploded among their own."

Zhu Guobin said fiercely, "The Jianzhou bandits' sneak attack failed. The Bordered Yellow Banner's losses must be considerable. Send one hundred combat engineers, plus two attached detached forces. Launch a counterattack immediately."

"Lord Zhu has arranged it well. This official was here the entire time just now and saw that the Jianzhou bandits indeed suffered heavy losses. A counterattack is timely." Huang Side shouted loudly. The content had little substance, but it let these officers know he had been present.

Zhu Guobin nodded faintly at him. Several officers immediately left to organize. The bonfires behind the Lvshun dirt wall were lit. Auxiliary soldiers and medics moved back and forth carrying the wounded. Several squads of combat engineers laid planks over the trench and entered the pitch-black horse-blocking trench. The counterattack could begin at any moment.

Huang Side had also achieved his goal. In the past, Dai Zhenggang and Zhu Guobin always said he was timid, considered him a sycophant who hid in the rear whenever fighting started. This time they would finally see him on the front line. He prepared to return to the city immediately to rest. He had suffered severe psychological trauma tonight and needed to go back for some psychological repair.

In front of the second dirt wall, he ran into Chen Xin. Chen Xin had heard the dense explosions and had come in the middle of the night to inspect the battlefield. Huang Side abandoned the idea of going back and hurried over to greet him, recounting the fierce battle just now with embellishment and exaggeration.

Chen Xin listened, then patted Huang Side encouragingly on the left arm. Suddenly he sensed something wrong. He brought it before his eyes and looked by the firelight. "Side, are you wounded?"

"Wounded?" Huang Side felt his left arm. With an "Ah ya!" cry, he fainted.

A quarter of an hour later, another round of night fighting erupted on the Bordered Yellow Banner's dirt wall opposite. These two rounds of combat had used a large quantity of explosives. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers were startled awake. Officers on both sides urged their soldiers to heighten their vigilance. Over at the Bordered Yellow Banner, firelight flashed continuously; the fighting appeared extremely intense.

The attack by the Dengzhou combat engineers lasted only half a quarter of an hour. They did not cross the Later Jin trench either. After a simple assault, they withdrew.

Abatai was thirty paces behind the dirt wall. The light of a torch beside him reflected on his face, revealing neither joy nor anger. This distance was outside the range of blunderbusses but within direct bowshot, and the dirt wall could effectively screen fire from the opposing dirt wall. It was the zone the Later Jin soldiers had concluded was most suitable for activity.

Erdenbu looked at Abatai and said in a low voice, "Master, this battle has caused quite a commotion. I fear everyone in Lvshun has heard it."

"Otherwise, why would I use gunpowder? With just our six niru, there is no way we can break in. But if the commotion is sufficient, I will have something to say to Old Eighth. Tomorrow they should finally let us withdraw. That cur Kong Youde has not moved at all. Every banner has complaints. Replacing us is only right."

Erdenbu sighed. "It sounds strange even to hear it. That we should have such a day, relying on this kind of method to save our lives."

Abatai said calmly, "Tonight's attack was not entirely fruitless. In that first wave of ours, we threw in quite a few fire grenades. The Dengzhou soldiers counterattacked fiercely. The men behind panicked and lost their routine. Not many could even throw theirs out. It seems these so-called combat engineers are not easy to train. Using our armored soldiers for this is too wasteful of manpower."

"We could use surplus males. Throwing fire grenades is better than shooting arrows, especially in places like Dalinghe and Lvshun."

Abatai said in a low voice, "After tonight's fight, our six niru need not think about fire grenades or arrows. It will be good enough just to keep our niru from being swallowed by others."

Erdenbu understood this master's difficulties. The other beile had conflicts among themselves, but when facing Abatai, they seemed to form one camp. It was precisely because Abatai was born of a concubine. Everyone naturally looked down on him, treating him as a second-class citizen among the beile. This campaign was the same. The most vicious battles all fell on Abatai. No one around lifted a finger to help.

Abatai let out a long sigh. Erdenbu carefully consoled him. "Master, do not be disheartened. This slave will follow you all his life. Our six niru will stick together. Others cannot swallow us."

Abatai said in a low voice, "This Dengzhou garrison before us has already become a great enemy of our Great Jin. Do not just look at their blunderbusses, automatic firearms, and cannons. Just observe that their commands are unified, their maneuvers swift, and their coordination effective. Clearly, military orders flow smoothly through all units. Officers and soldiers have absolutely no selfish motives. The entire army acts as one body. On this point alone, we cannot compare. Now I dare say it outright: Lvshun absolutely cannot be taken. Whether we can deal with this Chen Xin depends on whether Old Eighth's estrangement scheme works."

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