Chapter 395: Why Aren't the Hongyi Cannons Working?

Boom, boom, boom.

It was the roar of the Hongyi cannons, a sound so tremendous it seemed to shake the very earth. Cao Zhenyan, a booi of the Plain White Banner, felt his heart leap into his throat at the repeated thunder.

To be clear, he was not the one being shelled. He was a company commander of the Plain White Banner's Han Chinese Hongyi artillery unit, and the ten Hongyi cannons now firing were all operated by the Han soldiers and booi bondservants under his command.

In his position, he ordinarily had no reason to be so frightened. The Hongyi cannons used by the Great Qing were of sturdy quality and rarely burst their barrels. Moreover, Cao Zhenyan was a veteran gunner who had worked this trade for many years and long since mastered the cannon, so he was not about to ruin one through mishandling.

But now, although neither the cannons nor the gunners had any problem, the shells they fired seemed to have lost all their force, striking feebly against a round fort of mud-filled sacks several hundred paces away without producing any effect at all.

What in the world was going on? A mighty Hongyi cannon could shatter a stretch of brick-and-stone city wall with a single shot — so why could it not batter down a pile of rotten mud sacks now?

This was impossible!

Could it be that because the prince wanted to dig up the grave of the Sage Confucius, the Sage had grown wrathful and sent down his divine power, breaking the cannon's might? What was to be done?

Besides, he had given Dodo his personal guarantee, yet after all this time the Hongyi cannons had pounded away and the round fort remained unchanged. If the prince lost his temper, would Cao Zhenyan's head be parted from his body?

Dodo, too, was stunned by the scene before him. In his line of sight, several black specks flew toward the round fort several hundred paces away at speed visible to the naked eye. More than half flew high, passing over the fort and vanishing to who knew where. But the remaining three or four black specks struck the outer wall of the round fortress dead-on — and then nothing.

What was going on?

This campaign against the Ming was proving somewhat inauspicious. Not only had the Nikan leeks all fled, but even the Hongyi cannons could not display their power. Ten Hongyi cannons had been bombarding an earth fort that looked utterly crude since yesterday evening, and after all this time there was still not the slightest effect.

What exactly was inside those hemp sacks? They could even withstand Hongyi cannon fire?

"Cao Zhenyan, what is the meaning of this? Not the slightest effect? Why are your Hongyi cannons not working? They aren't damaged, are they?"

At Dodo's question, Cao Zhenyan was so terrified he nearly had a heart attack. He hurriedly ran to kneel before his master's horse. "Replying to my master, this slave does not know what is happening. This slave's Hongyi cannons are all in good order — none are damaged!"

"If they aren't damaged, why can't they batter down an earth fort?" Dodo roared.

"This, this... Perhaps, perhaps the spirit of the Sage Confucius in heaven has shown his divine might, and will not let us attack Qufu?"

"Why would that be?" Dodo asked.

"Perhaps he fears the prince will dig up his grave." This Cao Zhenyan had a quick tongue and actually blurted out the matter of the grave-robbing. Who knew how the rumor had spread? In any case, the story that Dodo and Hooge were going to dig up the grave of the Sage Confucius had spread far and wide on the Qing side. Some treated it as a joke, while others actually half-believed it.

Crack! Dodo's horsewhip lashed straight across Cao Zhenyan's face.

"You dog of a slave, what nonsense are you spouting?" Dodo was nearly bursting with rage.

Since when had he ever dug up a grave? He was a prince! A prince born noble, who had nearly become emperor of the Great Qing — would he go grave-robbing?

"Prince, spare me! Prince, spare me!" Cao Zhenyan knew he had let his tongue slip, and kowtowed frantically, begging for mercy.

Dodo truly wanted to cut down this loose-tongued slave with one stroke, but if he killed him, there would be no one left to command the Hongyi cannons.

"Get out, get out, get out!" Dodo told him to get out, but his hand still lashed out two more strokes of the whip before he felt somewhat relieved of his anger. Seeing that his master had stopped beating him, Cao Zhenyan fled like a rat clutching its head.

Dodo had no mind to bother further with such a fool. It was the defenses of Qufu before him that gave him a headache!

"Heluohui!" Dodo summoned his deputy. "What do you think we should do?"

"My prince, since bombardment is useless, we had better storm the city!" Heluohui said. "Send in the Green Standard troops of Liu Liangzuo, Xu Dingguo, and Wu Weihua. It is time they risked their lives!"

Dodo frowned. These Green Standard troops were certainly willing to risk their lives — the question was what they would be paid with.

The Qing army's rule was that once a city was breached, it was open to looting. And the city before them was Qufu!

"My prince," Heluohui said, seeing that Dodo still hesitated, and urged him again, "Attack. It is only a supporting fort — how much wealth can be inside? As for the main city of Qufu, it seems it cannot be taken by direct assault either."

Dodo thought it over and found the reasoning sound. "Men! Summon Liu Liangzuo, Xu Dingguo, and Wu Weihua!"

The three traitor chieftains all came before Dodo, every one of them eager and ready for action.

Qufu!

That was the domain of the Duke of Yansheng's family. The Duke of Yansheng's house had enjoyed inherited wealth and honor for over a thousand years, and to say their riches rivaled a kingdom was no exaggeration at all.

If the city were breached, it would be a windfall. The Sage Confucius's grave could not be dug up, of course, but the Duke of Yansheng's family wealth would naturally have to be offered up to the Great Qing. If the three of them could just skim a little, it would be enough to feed them for several lifetimes.

Dodo looked at the three traitors, rubbing their hands and ready for a grand undertaking, and could not bring himself to pour cold water on them. There had been no spoils to be seen the whole way here, and the men below were all eyeing Qufu! If the city really was breached, he could not stop them from looting. Not that he feared anyone's resentment, but he feared that if he stopped them this time, next time no one would risk their lives.

"Each of you will send out two thousand picked troops to attack that earth fort. You have half a day to prepare shield carts and scaling ladders. The assault begins tomorrow at dawn!"

"Zha!"

The three traitors all dropped to one knee and answered loudly.

At that same moment, atop the walls of Qufu, Shi Kefa heard the roar of the Hongyi cannons abruptly cease, and he too let out a great sigh of relief.

"My lord, Fort C is essentially intact. The Tartars' Hongyi cannons have been of little use!"

Shi Dewei quickly reported the latest casualty figures to Shi Kefa.

The earth-and-wood fortress he called Fort C had miraculously withstood the Hongyi bombardment — though in truth this was only to be expected. The fort's outer wall was built in three layers. The inner layer was a ring of logs driven upright into the ground, forming a circle, with an opening left only on the side facing Qufu. The middle layer was a zhang-wide mound of loose earth — not rammed earth, but simply the soil dug from the surrounding trench heaped up. The outer layer was sandbags piled wide at the bottom and narrow at the top — stacked this way, the sandbags formed an inclined slope. The shells fired by the Hongyi cannons positioned several hundred paces away actually traveled in an arc, following a parabola, meaning they came down from above. They could of course smash through the sandbags without difficulty, but their impact was absorbed by the soft, loose earth, and they could not bounce up again to cause further damage.

Therefore, bombardment by ten Hongyi cannons alone could never possibly break the defense of this kind of "sandbag fortress" — even if Dodo had ten times as many cannons, it would do little good!

However, these sandbag fortresses were not tall enough, only a little over a zhang, and because the outer wall was sloped, they were easy to climb. Nor could they produce overlapping fields of fire like a bastion fort. Thus, against a direct infantry assault, they were actually not easy to defend.

In fact, building these nine round forts on the outskirts of Qufu was the work of amateurs. Building these forts was not even as good as constructing another ring of bastion forts outside Qufu.

But amateurs had their own amateur way of fighting!

"Dewei," said the amateur Shi Kefa, stroking his beard and looking thoroughly confident, "since the Tartar caitiffs cannot batter us down with cannon, their next move will be a direct assault. Immediately select three thousand dare-to-die soldiers from my headquarters battalion and the Kong family's clan troops, and prepare the crouching-tiger cannons and turtledove-foot matchlocks. Be ready to sally forth and counterattack at any moment."

"Your son understands!" Shi Dewei paused, then asked, "May I ask how much reward should be given to each dare-to-die soldier?"

"The first battle must end in victory," Shi Kefa said. "Officers and men alike, give each man five taels of silver. We won't count heads either — as long as victory is won, give another ten taels. The silver will come from the Kong family treasury!"

(End of Chapter)