Chapter 407: Filling the Trench

On the battlefield outside Lüshun city, dense gun flashes and cannon fire flickered along the line. Once the Later Jin's red-barbarian cannons revealed their positions, they immediately aimed at the Dengzhou field artillery emplacements opposite and opened fire. The Dengzhou garrison's cannons also returned fire toward the direction of the cannon flashes. The Later Jin troops had dug away a section of earthen wall during the night; the side facing the Dengzhou garrison still retained part of the wall, supported by timber. They then secretly transported the red-barbarian cannons into the firing positions, camouflaging the area with earth mounds, banners, and other items, evading reconnaissance from West Official Mountain.

The Later Jin's cannons and shot production were both inferior to those of the Dengzhou garrison. The windage of their shot made their accuracy far worse than Dengzhou's, but the long barrels and heavy weight characteristic of naval guns gave their shot higher muzzle velocity and more stable firing. Of the Later Jin's cannons, eleven had been captured at the battles of Dalinghe and Changshan, mostly nine-pounder and twelve-pounder guns. They had manufactured twelve of their own "Heaven-Blessed Aiding Might Grand General" cannons, which mainly fired seven-jin shot. During firing in the previous period, one had burst, leaving twenty-two, dispersed along the entire line to strike Dengzhou's breastworks and gun emplacements.

Dengzhou's first volley of musketry and cannon fire rang out on cue. The bondservants in the front row fell in swaths like mown grass. Those remaining pressed forward under the coercion of a small number of Later Jin troops. A few paces from the Dengzhou trench, they piled up earth bags. At the trench behind them, groups of Mongol soldiers passed earth bags up from the bottom of the trench to the surface, letting the bondservants continue carrying them.

The Dengzhou garrison immediately opened up with full firepower. Every firearm that could be brought to bear was firing. The three heavy-weapons banner companies, which had been silent until now, fired indiscriminately toward the Later Jin earthen wall. Thirteen thousand fire arrows streaked across the sky, their white smoke trails filling the heavens. The roar of gunfire and the shriek of rockets were deafening. The blasts of thunder-crash bombs thrown by both sides merged into one continuous roar, making it nearly impossible to distinguish individual explosions. Every weapon of this era where cold and hot arms intermingled performed together on this stage.

The fighting was fiercest in the central section of the line. Both the Ujen Cooha and the Heaven-Blessed Army were equipped with large numbers of arquebuses, including over three hundred self-igniting firelocks, and had the highest density of artillery. Both sides produced vast quantities of smoke. Vision was a blur. Countless bondservants ran within it like ants, struggling for a faint chance of survival.

Scattered among the bondservants were spare troops and armored soldiers. They howled loudly, supervising the bondservants, brandishing their blades and frantically hacking down those whose spirits collapsed or whose strength gave out, forcing the other bondservants to erupt with the desperate potential to survive. A few paces from the Dengzhou trench, they piled up one earth mound after another. Bondservants killed by gunfire became part of the mounds themselves. Among the layers of stacked earth bags were the corpses of bondservants, a head or a foot protruding here and there, like a grotesque performance-art tableau.

More and more Mongols appeared in the horse-stopping ditch. Under the coercion of the Bayara, they trampled over the bondservant corpses, used the shallow horse-stopping ditch for slight cover, and exchanged fire with the earthen wall using their bows. At close range, the accuracy of bows increased greatly. The horse bows these Mongols used could not pierce armor, but a hit to the face was still lethal.

The Dengzhou garrison soldiers, relying on the cover of the breastwork, still held the advantage. The high rate of fire of bows could not be brought to bear against the breastwork; they could only rely on the archery skill of these Mongols to contend. Dengzhou's porcelain thunder-crash bombs and fire thunder-crash bombs flew out continuously. The piled-up Later Jin corpses along the line lay strewn across the ground, and screams rose and fell unceasingly from the horse-stopping ditch.

The Mongols suffered heavy losses before the two tiers of firearms, but the earth mounds slowly grew taller. Later Jin armored soldiers began reaching the earthen wall. These forces, with the most tenacious will to fight, used fire thunder-crash bombs and infantry bows. The greatest threat to the Dengzhou garrison was the fire thunder-crash bombs. Both sides hurled them at each other across the short distance, and losses began to mount.

Thirty paces away, a thunderous boom. A section of wall brick shattered into countless fragments, clattering against the crenellations behind. Small brick shards sprayed dozens of paces away. The guard soldiers swiftly raised their square shields, screening around Chen Xin. Chen Xin was still observing the battle line. The hiss of cannon shot tearing through the air still lingered in his ears. The hand holding his telescope did not tremble in the slightest, as if the cannon fire had not occurred beside him.

"My lord!" Liu Pojun said anxiously in a low voice beside him. "Your subordinate requests that my lord descend from the city wall."

"Mind your own affairs," Chen Xin replied coldly. "The Tatars' red-barbarian cannons cannot hit me."

"The Tatars have three cannons aimed at this section of the wall. They must have seen my lord's command banner. Your subordinate requests that my lord withdraw from the city wall."

Chen Xin lowered his telescope, turned his head to look at him, and said, "I told you, you need a firmer will."

"The Dengzhou garrison needs my lord's will even more." Liu Pojun did not back down this time. "Your subordinate requests that my lord go to the second defense line, for the sake of the entire Dengzhou garrison. Moreover... with my lord on the city wall, your subordinate cannot concentrate his mind on command."

Both men spoke very quietly, their voices drowned out by the cacophony of explosions around them. The surrounding guards did not notice. Chen Xin stared at him for a moment. Liu Pojun kept his head slightly lowered; though he said nothing, his attitude was extremely resolute. During this brief standoff, two more cannon shots flew over. One passed high over the parapet; the other struck the city wall twenty-some paces away. The wall trembled slightly a few times. The surrounding guards were all very nervous. Facing cannon shot, even if they were willing to block it, they could not.

Chen Xin suddenly laughed, shook his head, and said, "Daring to express the true thoughts in your heart is also a form of courage. But my view is that in war, no place is truly safe. The battlefield is thick with smoke; they will soon be unable to aim..."

"Please understand, my lord. Your subordinate requests that my lord descend from the gate tower because my lord is more important than Lüshun. The Later Jin have suddenly moved their red-barbarian cannons forward; the city wall is no longer secure. Your subordinate will be so bold as to say one thing: if any harm comes to my lord, Huang Taiji will have won without winning, and it will greatly damage the overall situation for Dengzhou. Please trust your subordinate, my lord. This general guarantees he will hold the defense line firmly." Liu Pojun's heart was anxious, but his tone grew increasingly resolute. "As long as my lord is unharmed, even a defeat at Lüshun is a victory. The Jianzhou bandits are already showing signs of decline. Your subordinate requests that my lord not take this useless risk."

Chen Xin rubbed his own chin. It seemed Liu Pojun's words made sense. His own role in Lüshun was more that of a spiritual commander; he rarely interfered in specific military affairs. The current Dengzhou garrison was entirely different from contemporary armies, including those of the Europeans. Every unit formation in Dengzhou could fight independently. The army's organization was strong; desertion and defection basically never occurred. Their sense of honor and degree of organization surpassed that of Europe. Yet his own thinking still followed the old path of past confrontations, always believing that the commander must personally boost morale. In reality, it was not necessarily worth taking such a risk; the benefits and risks were not proportional.

"You make a valid point." Chen Xin nodded and raised his voice to Liu Pojun: "Director Liu, you will take overall command here. I am going to see the wounded officers and men."

Liu Pojun acknowledged loudly. He watched Chen Xin's party disappear at the city wall stairs, then let out a long breath, stood up, and looked again at the battlefield before him.

Zhang Zhongqi gripped his smooth-bore saber and bellowed loudly, forcing the second batch of bondservants who had just come up to continue carrying earth bags. At every volley, he hid behind the silhouettes of the bondservants. The bondservants around him died in droves, yet he remained unharmed.

Their Niru had built two sections of earth mound. The bondservants needed to fill the trench at those two points to serve as assault channels. The bondservants were now filling the trench right in front of them. Behind the earth mound, which was half a man's height, hid quite a few armored soldiers and Mongols. Some spare troops crouched behind the mound, continuously throwing fire thunder-crash bombs. Other Mongols and archers exchanged fire with the enemy using their bows, drawing the fire of the Dengzhou soldiers.

A Dengzhou field cannon on the right side boomed like thunder. The bondservants in that direction fell in a swath. Zhang Zhongqi shuddered. The Dengzhou soldiers' cannon fire was truly fierce. They had exchanged fire with the red-barbarian cannons for a while at first. The Later Jin had also imitated Dengzhou's method and made earth-bag cover. The accuracy of field cannons could not accomplish the task of counter-battery fire, so they soon shifted their targets back to the Later Jin soldiers on the front line. The grapeshot they fired came like a rainstorm; it was what Zhang Zhongqi feared most.

Huang Shan's figure flickered in the smoke. Zhang Zhongqi saw him and two other bondservants, each carrying an earth bag on their backs, heading toward the Lüshun trench. Before they reached the position of the earth mound, one fell. Ahead, two bright explosions flashed. The three Mongols there fell screaming. Huang Shan charged into the thick white smoke, then rushed out again a moment later. Behind him, firelight flickered on the Dengzhou earthen wall. The Dengzhou soldiers' firearms fired raggedly. The other bondservant beside Huang Shan also fell.

Zhang Zhongqi glanced left and right. Of the two spare troops supervising the battle just now, one was dead, and the remaining one had already run to the earth mound. With no one supervising this stretch, he immediately jumped down into the horse-stopping ditch and dragged a nearby Mongol corpse over to shield himself from the direction of the fighting.

When Huang Shan ran past him, Zhang Zhongqi grabbed Huang Shan's clothes and dragged him into the horse-stopping ditch. Huang Shan's face was covered in moisture; it was impossible to tell if it was sweat or tears, mixed with streaks of black mud and bloodstains.

"If you want to live, quickly strip this Tatar's armor," Zhang Zhongqi said, starting to pull the cotton armor off the corpse. He hoped Huang Shan would survive—not only because Huang Shan was his most important asset, but also because Huang Shan had just saved his life.

"You're a Tatar too," Huang Shan said dully.

Zhang Zhongqi slapped him across the face. Huang Shan came to his senses slightly. Seeing Zhang Zhongqi stripping the clothes, he hurriedly came to help. As Zhang Zhongqi stripped the armor, he observed his surroundings. Bondservants were still coming and going. Many had suffered mental collapse and were wailing on the ground. Those running were constantly cut down by gunfire. This short stretch of a dozen or so paces was covered with bondservant corpses.

Several new armored soldiers emerged from the Later Jin trench. Drawing their blades, they drove a fresh batch of bondservants to charge forward. Then the armored soldiers followed behind, cutting down those who lost their minds or were wounded.

Amid the chaotic scene, they did not notice the two men in the ditch for the moment. Zhang Zhongqi quickly finished putting the cotton armor on Huang Shan and asked him in a low voice, "Is that trench up ahead filled or not?"

"Almost... almost full," Huang Shan answered in a panic.

"Then play dead here," Zhang Zhongqi whispered. "Once it's filled, they'll charge the wall. There's a group of armored soldiers behind, and the Plain Blue Banner's Bayara also chose this spot. They're going to charge the earthen wall. The remaining bondservants will definitely be forced by them to rush the front. If you don't want to die, lie down here."

In this relatively safe corner, Huang Shan regained his senses. His eyes darted around wildly. After surveying his surroundings, he said, "What about you, Master?"

"I naturally know how to save my own skin. You dog-slave got lucky. I felt like doing a good deed, keeping your dog life so you can go back to farming." After cursing him out, Zhang Zhongqi took advantage of a batch of bondservants passing by, raised his blade, and went back outside, driving the bondservants along the horse-stopping ditch.

He did not wait long before he heard the voice of their Niru's Boshoku. He was arranging for an armored soldier to go back and notify the next group of troops. It seemed the trench was basically filled.

Zhang Zhongqi hurriedly cleared the path to the earth mound. Soon, over a hundred armored soldiers emerged from the trench. Carrying ladders, they surged out, driving the remaining bondservants to run toward the Dengzhou trench. Any who lagged behind were cut down without exception.

Zhang Zhongqi still wanted to stay where he was. An armored soldier of the Bordered Yellow Banner, blade in hand, came running toward him. Zhang Zhongqi hastily merged into the crowd, following behind the armored soldiers. The Later Jin soldiers at the earth mound threw their last few fire thunder-crash bombs. Two exploded on the Lüshun earthen wall. The white smoke on the battlefield was already extremely thick. The Later Jin soldiers roared in unison and charged toward the two assault channels behind the bondservants.

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