Chapter 41: Bombarding Li Zicheng (Seeking Favorites, Seeking Recommendations)

Li Zicheng's adopted son Li Shuangxi sat astride a chestnut warhorse, leading two hundred cavalrymen as he escorted two bedraggled Ming princes. He stood on open ground a hundred paces from Fucheng Gate, squinting as he surveyed the top of the wall.

Escorting two spineless princes certainly did not require two hundred men — Li Shuangxi alone would have been more than enough. So the reason Li Shuangxi had brought two hundred men was not to escort anyone, but to seek an opportunity to "shout at the city."

"Shouting at the city" was, in fact, a method of attacking a city. Instead of fighting, one used intimidation or inducement to break the city open. To carry out a "shout at the city" operation, one had to get close to the enemy's walls, and one had to approach on the premise that the enemy would not fire cannon or muskets. Otherwise, with cannon and musket fire roaring all around, who could hear what you were shouting? For that reason, "shouting at the city" was normally done at night.

Today, however, was an exception. The shouting at the city and Du Xun's entry into the city were both part of the psychological-warfare plan proposed by Gu Junen, and could be carried out simultaneously.

As long as the Chongzhen Emperor still harbored illusions about peace talks, Li Shuangxi could send his men forward to shout. They would use rich rewards to entice the defending officers and soldiers, while at the same time putting on a show of force to intimidate them. And Du Xun could make contact with the officials and eunuchs inside the city to proclaim the Roving King's benevolence.

With both prongs working at once, Beijing, already gripped by panic, would surely fall without a fight!

At the thought of breaking open Beijing, Li Shuangxi felt an indescribable pride! The Roving King had no son of his own, only a nephew, Li Guo, who was actually a few years older than the Roving King himself. And who would inherit the throne after the Roving King passed on was still undecided.

If Li Guo died before the Roving King, then compared with Li Guo's sons, he, the adopted son and "heir apparent in name," might well have a chance at the succession — after all, Li Shuangxi was no child the Roving King had picked up off the street. He too was a younger kinsman of the Roving King, only with blood ties a bit more distant than Li Guo's...

Perhaps he, Li Shuangxi, would one day be the Grand Ancestor Emperor of the Shun!

"Brothers of the Roving Army..."

Just as Li Shuangxi was imagining how he would one day become the Grand Ancestor Emperor, half a body in full armor suddenly thrust out from behind the crenellations of the Fucheng Gate arrow tower, shouting at the top of its lungs: "This humble officer is Zhu Chunchen, Commander of the Capital Camps! Eunuch Du has already entered the palace to see His Majesty. Our two sides are no longer fighting — soon we shall serve in the same court... Might I now ask the two princes of Qin and Jin to step forward and speak?"

It worked! Li Shuangxi was beside himself with glee. Beijing was as good as taken! The court officials were truly foolish — so easy to deceive!

He waved a hand and said to those around him: "Take the two princes of Qin and Jin forward, up to the edge of the moat."

The cavalrymen following him were all old hands at shouting at cities, and had long been itching to move. At his order, they roared their assent and spurred their horses forward.

Li Shuangxi, however, did not take part in the shouting himself. He was the future Grand Ancestor Emperor of the Shun, after all, and had to mind his dignity. So he merely watched the Fucheng Gate tower with a smile.

Just as the Shun cavalrymen shouting at the city spread out in a line and drew near the moat, but before they had a chance to shout, the Ming Commander of the Capital Camps suddenly thrust out half his body again, this time holding up some object in his hand, and bellowed: "The traitor Du Xun has been executed! We, the officers and men of the Capital Camps, swear to defend the Ming realm to the death! Long live the Great Ming..."

What? What was going on? Du Xun had been killed?

Li Shuangxi could scarcely believe his ears, and before he could react, a new turn of events unfolded.

From between the crenellations of the wall, some three hundred pitch-black "fire-stoking sticks" suddenly thrust out!

Those were... muskets!

Li Shuangxi turned pale with shock and was about to order a retreat. But it was already too late — three hundred muskets roared almost as one!

These were not the shoddy muskets made in Beijing, but first-rate muskets that Zheng Zhilong had ordered from Guangdong — not that they had cost much, of course, but the goods were absolutely excellent! Not only would they not burst their barrels, their gas seals were quite good as well. Their only drawback was recoil so heavy that they had to be braced on a stand or a wall crenellation to shoot accurately.

And so the first volley from these three hundred turtledove-foot muskets knocked down forty or fifty of the Roving Army's veteran camp soldiers! Some of them were hit in the body, and that was as good as certain death — the caliber of a turtledove-foot musket was enormous! One shot left a fist-sized bloody hole, and there was no need even to attempt rescue. The others had their warhorses shot out from under them and went tumbling to the ground, man and horse together.

"We've been tricked — run for it!" The words had barely left Li Shuangxi's mouth when something even more terrifying happened.

From the top of Fucheng Gate suddenly came a roar as if heaven were collapsing and the earth splitting apart!

Boom-boom-boom, boom-boom-boom...

Six red-coated cannons had fired at once!

At this, Li Shuangxi even forgot to flee. He spun around and stared nervously toward the yellow felt canopy behind him. He saw several small black dots streak across the sky at a speed visible to the naked eye, then plunge down hard in front of the yellow canopy, then suddenly bounce up and sweep forward. One of them seemed to strike the canopy itself, collapsing one corner of it. Another cannonball passed through the ranks of the Roving King's imperial guard drawn up beside the canopy, and in an instant mowed down more than a dozen rows of men!

"Victory! Victory..."

The soldiers on the wall raised a cheer!

Though they did not support the Ming — some even rather looked forward to Li Zicheng's arrival — for the sake of a hardship allowance of one tael of silver a day, shouting a few times was still obligatory.

Besides, Li Zicheng might very well have been killed! If that were truly the case, they would have to go on being good soldiers and good subjects of the Great Ming!

"A pity!" Zhu Cilang, holding up a telescope, saw the chaos in front of the yellow felt canopy, and also saw a large crowd of men shielding a fellow in a red cloak as they ran toward Diaoyutai.

There was no need to ask — this "red cloak" was surely the Roving King, Li Zicheng. From the speed at which he ran, it was clear he was unhurt.

"Rewards!" Zhu Cilang then shouted at the top of his voice. "Five taels for each cannoneer! Two taels for each musketeer! One tael for each man supervising the muskets!"

Although Li Zicheng had not been killed, the first salvo had indeed struck the canopy! Failing to kill Li Zicheng was only because the cannonballs were inadequate — had there been explosive shells, Li Zicheng would likely have been in grave danger. Still, this round of bombardment ought to give Li Zicheng a good fright and teach him that Beijing would not be easy to take.

"Bang-bang-bang..."

Another round of musket fire rang out — this was the eunuch musketeers' second volley. The prepared cartridges had clearly increased their rate of fire, allowing them to get off another volley before Li Shuangxi's men withdrew to a safe distance. The results this time were much smaller — only a dozen or so men knocked down, most of them cavalrymen who had earlier been thrown badly when their horses were killed or wounded. Still, it pained Li Shuangxi beyond measure. Those were all veteran camp soldiers! Losing even one grieved him, and this time he had lost several dozen. It was truly infuriating.

But Li Shuangxi soon had no time for grief, because the six red-coated cannons on the Fucheng Gate arrow tower fired again! Another six solid shot came tumbling through the air, tracing arcs across the sky, then slammed down hard among the Shun officers and men milling in confusion around the yellow felt canopy. Whether they had hit the Shun Emperor Li Zicheng, no one could tell.

If his foster father Li Zicheng were dead, where was he supposed to go to be the Grand Ancestor Emperor of the Shun?

Worried for Li Zicheng's safety, Li Shuangxi wheeled his horse and galloped back. When his men saw him flee, none of them had any desire to linger beneath the walls of Beijing either, and all followed in flight — completely forgetting that they were still escorting two captured Ming princes!

The two princes, Zhu Cunji and Zhu Shenxuan, were truly blessed with great luck. Captured by Li Zicheng, they had not been killed, and then they had been dragged beneath the walls of Beijing to endure half an incense stick's worth of gunfire. Both men were paralyzed with terror, so frightened they even forgot to dodge the bullets, and just sat on the ground wailing. In the end they emerged completely unscathed — they were both wearing the everyday robes of princes, and the Jing Army soldiers firing from the wall recognized them, so naturally no one aimed at the two of them.

But the two pampered princes had been so frightened their legs had turned to jelly, and they could not even walk on their own. In the end, several Capital Camps soldiers were lowered from the wall in a basket, carried them across the moat by head and feet, loaded them into the basket, and hauled them up into Beijing.

This time, Zhu Cilang had won his first battle! Not only had he killed several dozen elite roving-bandit soldiers and executed the traitorous Du Xun, he had also rescued two useless good-for-nothing princes. Thinking of it, he felt positively brilliant and heroic!

But Li Zicheng outside Beijing did not know that there was now a brilliant and heroic Crown Prince inside the city. He only thought he had been outmaneuvered by Zhu Chunchen...

(End of Chapter)