Chapter 408: The Corner

The bondservants in front screamed in terror as the Later Jin soldiers behind drove them to the edge of the trench. With no way out, the bondservants scrambled over the earthen mounds to cross the trench. The passage formed by the mounds was not wide, and the Later Jin soldiers behind advanced at breakneck speed, pressing in with long spears and great blades. Those who could not cross in time howled in despair as they leaped into the deep trench bristling with sharpened stakes and iron caltrops. Those impaled on the stakes did not die at once, their cries harrowing and pitiful.

The bondservants who made it across the trench fled in blind panic, scattering to both sides. They jumped into the small ditch in front of the parapet below the earthen wall. Two explosions sounded from within, and in an instant several bondservants were swallowed by white smoke. The bondservants behind continued to leap into the small ditch, utterly oblivious even when iron caltrops pierced the soles of their feet.

The Mongols behind were also forced across the trench by the armored soldiers. Carrying iron-tipped poles, they used earth-filled sacks to fill the small ditch in front of them, drew their waist sabers to cut down the bondservants fleeing in chaos, and used their corpses as material to fill the trench. Then they thrust the five-to-six-chi-long iron-tipped poles into the parapet, five or six men rocking the wooden shafts together to make large chunks of soil fall away from the parapet. (Note 1) There were no longer any Dengzhou soldiers behind the parapet; these Dengzhou soldiers had already withdrawn along the parapet toward both flanks, retreating through the passage back behind the earthen wall.

The crowd surging across the trench grew larger and larger, spreading along the small ditch toward both flanks. Later Jin armored soldiers scrambled over the trench like ants. The remaining Mongols continued digging at the base of the wall. Dengzhou soldiers on the earthen wall leaned out to fire. From the earthen walls on the two flanking acute-angled oblique lines, volleys of arquebus fire also rang out continuously, spraying puffs of blood mist among the massed Later Jin soldiers. No place was safe.

Two thunderclap bombs were hurled down from the earthen wall. These iron-cased thunderclap bombs were extremely heavy and could not be thrown past the main trench, but they could roll down along the earthen wall. The violent explosion blasted the Mongols in front into a spray of flesh and blood, throwing the chaotic area below the earthen wall into utter disorder. The bayara warriors overseeing the battle bellowed furiously, strictly forbidding anyone from retreating.

Zhang Zhongqi was at the rear of the first wave and had not yet crossed either of the two passages. The smoke from the explosions ahead drifted over, blurring the area by the trench into a haze. Just then, another volley rang out from the earthen walls on both flanks. Zhang Zhongqi collapsed at the sound.

Several armored soldiers raised long wooden poles with two fire bombs dangling from them. After lighting them, they pushed them forcefully over the earthen wall, where they exploded on the other side. Then a row of short ladders was set against the earthen wall. The armored soldiers below the wall, gripping their smooth sabers and ladder-climbing sabers between their teeth, began scaling the wall. The men below pressed down on the ladders with all their might to keep the Dengzhou soldiers from toppling them. From the trench behind, a large mass of armored soldiers surged forth. Many bows also entered the horse-blocking ditch, their arrows aimed at the Dengzhou soldiers on the acute-angled oblique flanks. The sound of bugles blared from the Dengzhou city wall. They seemed to have realized this was the main direction of the Later Jin assault and were sounding the alarm to the other sectors.

The earthen wall resounded with earth-shaking battle cries. Spearheads thrust and retracted ceaselessly. The Later Jin soldiers brandished round shields and ladder-climbing sabers to parry. Those who were lucky enough to survive the first round of thrusts leaped into the parapet atop the earthen rampart and engaged the Dengzhou soldiers in close-quarters combat. Armored soldiers from the rear streamed in continuously, scaling the wall along the ladders. Both sides fought a bloody melee atop the earthen wall. As time passed, the Mongols finally dug through and collapsed two sections of the earthen wall. The last wave of armored soldiers and bayara warriors leaped onto the trench and charged madly toward the breaches in the earthen wall.

Huang Shan hid in the horse-blocking ditch, a Mongol corpse weighing down on him. Clusters of bayara warriors in gleaming silver-white armor ran past not far from him. The sounds of gunfire and cannon, great drums, conch horns, and bugles rang out everywhere. The ever-present threat of death made his whole body tremble involuntarily, and a whimpering sob escaped his lips.

After a long while, he finally steadied himself somewhat, stopping his body from shivering. His field of vision happened to cover the passage on the eastern side. Not far from there was a Dengzhou cannon emplacement that had struck the Later Jin soldiers many times before. This time it seemed to have been hit by a red-barbarian cannon and had not fired once. After it fell silent, that spot became the focal point of the Later Jin assault. Those gleaming sets of armor swayed in the smoke, hacking and thrusting fiercely at the two sections of the earthen wall. One figure after another fell. Sometimes, a few red figures even appeared — the Dengzhou soldiers Huang Shan had glimpsed from afar — but in the blink of an eye they were driven back by the bayara and armored soldiers. The sound of bugles from within was urgent. Often there would be a burst of volley fire, followed by a unified shout, and then the armored soldiers would be beaten back once more.

Armored soldiers from other sectors continued to scale the earthen wall via ladders. More and more armored soldiers poured in through the breaches. Another group of over two hundred armored soldiers and bayara warriors emerged from the trench on the Later Jin side, surging across the middle ground like a flood. Watching wave after wave of Later Jin soldiers vanish atop the earthen wall, Huang Shan clenched his fists. He did not even know for whom he was anxious.

An endless stream of Han troops and true Jurchen soldiers passed through here continuously. The true Jurchen soldiers on the flanks also noticed the breakthrough here and spontaneously converged on this point. The Mongols widened the breaches more and more. From the Later Jin battle lines at the rear, bugles and conch horns sounded, clearly signaling that more men were being redeployed here. In the distance along the battle line, the crackle of gunfire and cannon was like frying beans. He had no idea how the battle was actually going. If it was like this everywhere, then Lushun might well be taken.

Some scattered armored soldiers fled back through the passage, but before they could cross the trench, they were shot dead by the bayara guarding it. Several men who looked like bosoku appeared on the wall, howling to stop the soldiers from fleeing. Just then, a group of over three hundred Han troops arrived. Carrying a strange type of bird gun, they climbed onto the earthen wall and fired a ragged volley, then stood atop the wall reloading and firing. Men were constantly hit by the opposing side, tumbling down the earthen wall to become corpses at its base.

The battle cries within shook the heavens, and plumes of white smoke rose continuously from behind the earthen wall. Huang Shan could only imagine the slaughterhouse hell within. As Huang Shan's mind raced with wild thoughts, several thunderous cannon blasts sounded from behind the Lushun earthen wall, followed by that strange bugle call. A tide-like roar of charging and killing erupted from within. Huang Shan's mouth hung open as he watched more and more figures appear on the earthen wall. It seemed they were about to be beaten back.

A fresh force of armored soldiers was thrown in, this group numbering as many as five or six hundred. They did not approach via the trench but advanced directly across open ground, quickly reaching the edge of the trench. The Mongols there were piling corpses into it, widening the filled section even further. This group of Later Jin soldiers ran past Huang Shan in a dense mass. Cannon fire from the surrounding area and the Lushun city wall was directed here. Iron balls danced through the crowd, sending severed limbs flying. Urged on by the bayara, the armored soldiers ran for their lives, none sparing a glance at their surroundings.

Red figures appeared on the earthen walls on both flanks. They attacked along the wall, aiming to cut off the Later Jin soldiers' passage. The newly arrived armored soldiers rushed onto the earthen wall, using their bows to suppress those Dengzhou soldiers. The dense thrumming of bowstrings was like a passing swarm of bees.

Cannon fire from within the earthen wall sounded one volley after another. Several times after the blasts, rows of armored soldiers and Han soldiers on the earthen wall toppled down, piling up at the base of the wall, writhing and wailing.

Huang Shan buried his head. There was nowhere he could go now. Retreating would mean being cut down by the bosoku and bayara in the rear lines. Advancing was a hell of carnage. The bondservants who had come with him were nearly all dead or wounded. Even the Mongols had suffered more than half casualties. He had not seen any sign of Zhang Zhongqi since. It seemed he had been in the first wave to assault the earthen wall and had fallen before the trench, likely shot dead by an arquebus. Huang Shan felt no particular sorrow in his heart, but he was certain that advancing meant certain death. So now Huang Shan could only hide here playing dead. If discovered by the armored soldiers, he would also be beheaded. It was like hanging in mid-air.

Suddenly, someone tumbled in beside him. Huang Shan was so startled he nearly cried out, but a hand clamped over his mouth. When he looked over in terror, he found it was Zhang Zhongqi.

"You're not dead?" Huang Shan asked, stunned.

Zhang Zhongqi panted heavily, lying on his side in the horse-blocking ditch. He rubbed his hand on the Mongol's wound several times, then smeared the blood on his own face. He whispered to Huang Shan, "You dog of a slave hid yourself well. Your master here nearly got done in. Lucky for me I'm quick-witted. When the Dengzhou soldiers fired their guns, I played dead too. It was all I could do to crawl quietly here."

At Lushun, as night was about to fall, the last sliver of light remained in the sky. A thin haze of gunpowder smoke lingered over the battlefield. Thousands of corpses lay strewn around the battered and broken earthen wall. Dying wounded soldiers groaned lowly, making sounds like the muted cries of wild beasts.

A corpse in the horse-blocking ditch stirred slightly. A head emerged from beneath the body. Zhang Zhongqi wiped the blood and grime from his face, panting as he raised his head to look around. On the Dengzhou earthen wall, some blurry figures were moving about; they seemed to be clearing away corpses.

After a full day of bloody battle, although the Later Jin soldiers had damaged the earthen wall in many places, they had ultimately failed to achieve a breakthrough. Especially here where Zhang Zhongqi and the others were, the Later Jin had committed a large number of troops. Both sides had seesawed back and forth at the breaches, with continuous reserves thrown into the fight. Zhang Zhongqi estimated that the true Jurchen, Han, and Mongol troops committed exceeded two thousand, not even counting the bondservants. At the very least, the fifty or sixty bondservants from their niru were basically all dead.

Before dark, the Ming army committed combat engineers here. The Later Jin soldiers, spent and at the end of their strength, could not withstand this unit so fierce in close combat and were finally driven back out of the earthen wall, retreating in disarray. The Dengzhou soldiers had fought almost like madmen. Zhang Zhongqi saw with his own eyes a Dengzhou soldier clutching a thunderclap bomb leap from the earthen wall into the midst of the retreating Later Jin soldiers, dying together with five or six of them. After seeing that, he completely lost hope of taking Lushun.

"Huang Shan, let's go. We'll crawl back. Take it slow."

Huang Shan poked his head out from behind and asked Zhang Zhongqi in a low voice, "Master, if we go out now, what if the Dengzhou soldiers catch us?"

"They've been fighting all day and probably lost a lot of men themselves. After a battle, they have to reassign men and so on. They won't have time to come here for a while."

Huang Shan pulled at him. "Wait a bit longer. It's not fully dark yet. Once it's dark, the Dengzhou soldiers won't be able to shoot us with their arquebuses."

Zhang Zhongqi swatted his hand away. "It's almost completely dark. If we go back too late, our masters will get suspicious. You crawl in front. While you're at it, feel around on the road for any silver on those armored soldiers."

Zhang Zhongqi was about to crawl out of the horse-blocking ditch first when a heavy, ragged breathing suddenly came from behind him. Zhang Zhongqi instinctively looked back. A ladder-climbing saber stabbed fiercely toward him. Zhang Zhongqi twisted his body violently and grabbed the hand holding the blade. A man lunged onto him, pressing down on him. The icy sharp edge pierced his skin, sinking a short section into his chest.

"Hah—" Zhang Zhongqi howled under his breath, straining with all his might against the ladder-climbing saber to keep it from going deeper. Huang Shan's contorted face appeared before his eyes, that face smeared with sweat, blood, and mud, looking hideous and terrifying in the last lingering rays of the setting sun.

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