Chapter 411: The Prisoner Camp

"Brother Huang, come have a steamed cake — I picked one up for you." Bai Youwu called out loudly, handing a cake over to Huang Shan.

Huang Shan's face was still smeared with blood and mud, unwashed. He took it nervously. Steamed cakes were what later ages would call mantou. The fragrance of white flour wafted up, and saliva kept welling in Huang Shan's mouth. Somewhat apprehensively, he raised his head and looked at Bai Youwu before him.

"The first meal is all fine white flour. After this, who knows when they'll hand out another — mostly it'll be mixed-grain cakes, but you won't go hungry." Bai Youwu sat down beside him and began gnawing on his own mixed-grain cake.

Seeing Bai Youwu start eating, Huang Shan lowered his head and took a small bite. The steamed cake was so delicious. Huang Shan could not remember when he had last eaten one — perhaps during the New Year the year before last, when he still had an older brother living in the same village. Huang Shan himself had never married, so he spent that New Year with his brother's family. As if in the blink of an eye, he was now a thousand li away in a strange place called Lüshun, a place he had never heard of before, while his brother's entire family had died on the road to Liaodong.

He took tiny bite after tiny bite, savoring the deliciousness of the steamed cake, as tears streamed silently down his cheeks.

This was a small encampment on the west side of Lüshun's water fortress. The soldiers who had surrendered were all temporarily housed here. A simple earthen wall surrounded the area, with torches stuck into its base. Some Dengzhou soldiers sat atop the wall. Huang Shan knew they were guarding against infiltrators among the bondservants. These Ming troops were neither fierce nor friendly; the way they looked at the bondservants was a bit strange, but Huang Shan still felt he had come to the right place.

When he had crawled to the edge of the trench, he had shouted loudly. After making clear he was surrendering, he was permitted inside the earthen wall. Two soldiers forced him to the ground, searched him, bound him, then escorted him inward.

As Huang Shan walked, he looked around. There were soldiers on watch atop the earthen wall, and a few more heading toward the cheval-de-frise ditch. They carried firelocks — those were the ambush troops, meant to prevent night raids by the enemy.

Below the earthen wall were some thatched sheds. On the side near the wall, a breastwork provided cover, and rows of soldiers sat leaning against it. Behind the straw shelters, many people were coming and going, holding torches and turning over the corpses on the ground. Bodies lay strewn everywhere, even denser than in the middle zone — most were Later Jin soldiers who had breached the earthen wall from here during the day. As these auxiliary soldiers searched, they all removed the helmets from the dead. Whenever they saw a rat-tail queue, they cut the head off with one stroke. When they found the body of a Dengzhou soldier, they carefully collected it; if the limbs were shattered, they wrapped them in cloth, then laid them out neatly near the second earthen wall.

At the entrance to the second earthen wall, Huang Shan was handed over to a man in a white helmet who looked like an officer. That man, accompanied by two sturdy soldiers, brought him behind yet another earthen wall. In front of this second wall there was also a trench, deeper and wider than the first. Behind it, the layout was roughly the same, though there were fewer soldiers, and some men who looked like auxiliaries were boiling water and cooking.

When they reached a dugout shelter, the white-helmeted Ming soldier questioned him closely about his identity. Upon hearing that he was from the same niru as Bai Youwu, he summoned Bai Youwu to identify him. Only after confirming his bondservant status did they untie his ropes, and two soldiers brought him here.

In the blink of an eye, Huang Shan had crossed that earthen wall which had seemed forever impassable, arriving beside Lüshun Fortress, which he had gazed at countless times. Everything felt like a dream — until he ate the steamed cake, and its sweet flavor brought him back to reality.

Huang Shan let his gaze wander. Around him were many bondservants who had surrendered in the preceding days — about three hundred or more here. Among them were even a dozen or so Mongols, huddled in their own group, wolfing down food. Huang Shan only glanced at them briefly. Mongols held a slightly higher status than Han Chinese in the Later Jin, but in substance they were still bondservants; when their masters killed them, there was no difference. So Huang Shan had never thought much of these people before.

Most of those who had surrendered voluntarily looked relaxed, eating their own food without concern. Some who knew each other chatted in low voices, letting out cheerful laughter. As long as it was not too loud, the surrounding soldiers did not interfere.

As he ate, Huang Shan watched those few who were laughing and talking. Slowly, a smile crept onto his face as well. In his heart was a sense of safety he had never felt before — no one would suddenly come to beat or kill him. His eyes grew lively again. After rolling his eyes around, he put on a smiling face and asked Bai Youwu, "Brother Bai, how did you get over here?"

Bai Youwu said with some pride, "That day I was at the very eastern edge of our niru. The niru ejen had us digging his hiding dugout wider. I took the chance while dumping earth to slip down the earthen wall and crawl over along the ground by the cheval-de-frise ditch. Couldn't go into the ditch — there were iron spikes in it. At the time I thought, even if the Dengzhou soldiers cut me down, so be it, I'd die and be done with it. Better than living like something neither human nor ghost among the Jianzhou bandits."

"Brother Bai, what about your wife?"

"Died a few days before I left. Worked to death." Bai Youwu gulped down some water after speaking, then handed his coarse ceramic bowl to Huang Shan. As he did, he continued, "If she hadn't died, I really wouldn't have dared to run. Only after coming over did I learn that these soldiers are all heavenly troops and heavenly generals. But guess what — just a year or two ago, they were nothing but refugees and farmers. They followed Lord Chen into battle and became heavenly troops and heavenly generals. I never imagined soldiering could be like this. That training officer said, first you go to the road-building crew to build roads or work as a miner. Once you pass the assessment, you can become a soldier. I've made up my mind — from now on, I'll be a soldier, killing Tatars for Lord Chen."

"Training officer?"

"That Officer Zhang who came to speak just now — the one who talked kindly. I hear he's a retainer of Chief Training Officer Lord Huang, something like a bayara. They say he just arrived at some other bureau, and we'll still be under his authority in the future. I came early, so back then Lord Zhang said to me, 'Bai Youwu, your name is well chosen. In a couple of years, you'll surely have a house and a wife.'"

Bai Youwu imitated Lord Zhang's expression, his face full of smiles.

"Brother Bai, you're truly a brave man." As soon as Huang Shan heard that Bai Youwu was acquainted with Lord Zhang, his manner grew even more respectful. He immediately tore off half of the steamed cake in his hand and offered it to Bai Youwu. "Only a few of us ran out from our niru. From now on, I'll need Brother Bai to look after me. Back in the village, I always thought you were a loyal and honorable man, Brother Bai. It's just that those Tatars kept such a tight watch, I never got to exchange more than a few words with you. But that heroic spirit of yours — I've always admired it deeply."

Bai Youwu glanced left and right. Seeing no one paying attention, he swiftly took the half cake, bit into it, and then said quietly to Huang Shan, "Let me tell you, brother — what Dengzhou values most is military merit. If you don't want to fight, working in peace is fine too. Right now, entering a Dengzhou garrison farm gets you ten mu of land, two dou of grain per mu — enough to live on. But soldiering is still better. In the future, in Liaodong, it'll all be a hundred mu of land. You've seen Lüshun. The way things are going, those Jianzhou bandits will be beaten to death sooner or later. When Liaodong is retaken someday, with your hundred mu of land to farm, wives will come flocking to you."

Huang Shan's face was wreathed in smiles. As he looked at Bai Youwu, hope glimmered in his eyes. Two other bondservants from the same niru also edged closer. They naturally felt a sense of kinship and began chatting warmly among themselves in low voices. This group of bondservants, still wearing their queues, were already envisioning a bright future, or joining together to curse someone from their old niru. Huang Shan talked the most. The few of them chatted until the second half of the night. After they had together cursed the most vicious fende bosoku, they could no longer resist their drowsiness. Bai Youwu went to get a few blankets, and they squeezed together to sleep in one of the dugout shelters.

"Get to sleep early. Tomorrow these soldiers will take you to bathe and cut your queues. Everyone must be respectful to the soldiers." After this reminder, Bai Youwu turned over and was soon snoring in sleep.

All around, snoring rumbled like thunder, and the campfires outside slowly died out. Huang Shan exhaled a comfortable breath. There was a slight chill in the night air. The blanket was a bit damp and had some fleas, but this was infinitely better than his situation in Zhang Zhongqi's household, where he could only sleep in a pile of wool grass. In Huang Shan's heart, this was the most beautiful night since he had left his homeland — at least he did not have to worry about surviving tomorrow.

Subconsciously, he looked toward the north, thinking of that Zhang Zhongqi who had spared him. He wondered whether Zhang had managed to keep his life after returning. If the Later Jin continued their attacks, Huang Shan was certain Zhang Zhongqi would not survive past tomorrow.

"Live on." Huang Shan murmured in the darkness.

The night passed quickly, and another dawn arrived. That night, the auxiliary soldiers of Dengzhou Garrison had been ceaselessly busy, occupied with cleaning the battlefield and repairing the defensive lines.

At the center of Lüshun stood the Left Assistant Regional Commander's residence of Dengzhou Garrison — the hub of Dengzhou Garrison's operations in Lüshun, housing the Fourth Battalion headquarters and the various Dengzhou departments stationed there. The large compound was brightly lit. Department heads, mounted couriers, and staff officers came and went, handling their respective affairs at each department. The path before the inner courtyard gate was sparsely traveled. Soldiers of the guard detachment stood before the spirit screen; only senior officers could enter. Inside, the war council room was arranging post-battle matters and defensive deployments.

Chen Xin, yawning, emerged from behind the spirit screen. He was staying temporarily inside to make it convenient for officers to request instructions at any time. He had been handling military affairs and visiting the wounded all evening, then slept for two watches in the latter half of the night. Near dawn, he had forced himself to rise.

Though somewhat weary, Chen Xin was in excellent spirits. During the previous day's fighting, there had been two particularly critical moments. On the east side of the second earthen wall, he had personally witnessed the assault by the Plain Blue and Bordered Yellow Banners. The earthen wall there had already been seized by Later Jin troops. The defending pikemen had been pushed back to the front of the second wall, and follow-up Later Jin soldiers poured in like a flood. The two sides seesawed back and forth between the two earthen walls. Liu Po's army successively committed a Mandarin Duck Formation company, two pike square companies, combat engineers, and a detachment from the First Battalion's First Brigade. Field artillery from the surrounding area also rushed to assist. Both the four-pounder and eight-pounder guns demonstrated mobility far superior to that of the red-barbarian cannons. After fierce fighting, they finally drove the enemy out of the earthen wall.

Chen Xin had been observing the battlefield from an artillery position behind the second earthen wall the entire time. At the most critical moment, he had briefly thought Liu Po's army might fall back to defend the second wall, but Liu Po's performance this time was outstanding. His counterattacks were extremely resolute, showing not the slightest inclination to treat the first line of defense as a position to be abandoned.

The performance of each unit also displayed the caliber of a professional army. It was the first time Chen Xin had viewed a battlefield from the perspective of an observer, without having to constantly consider his own responses. The Dengzhou Garrison he saw was exceedingly valiant. There were still many shortcomings, mainly in the coordination between different arms, but overall, he was immensely proud.

After yesterday's battle, Chen Xin was certain that Huang Taiji could not take Lüshun, so his mood was very cheerful. Now it was just a matter of whether Huang Taiji was still willing to persist. At the doorway, he sent for Liu Po and Huang Side to meet him. The three of them, accompanied by their guard detachments, toured the defensive lines together. Although Chen Xin was also rather exhausted, at such times the commanding general had to set an example and remind all officers and men that they could not yet relax. At the same time, he needed to go to West Guanshan to observe Later Jin movements, and then confirm the main tasks for the day. (To be continued.)