Chapter 169: Section 26: Relieving the Siege

On the twenty-first day of the first month of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, Changsheng Island welcomed another early morning.

The horses were being laboriously pulled onto the small boats. To help them board the seagoing vessels, each small boat had been specially fitted with a gangplank. By the time the sky was fully bright, about fifty horses still remained on the shore. Hong Antong stood beside Huang Shi with the inner guard. He glanced at the sky and then gazed toward the old camp, asking in a low voice, "My lord, shall I go and urge Mobile Corps Commander He to hurry?"

Yesterday, the various company officers had already set out with large contingents of troops, and the artillery unit had also departed under Deng Ken's leadership. Today was the last batch — and the most troublesome — the horse unit. The final batch of baggage would be transported away as well.

In the past, He Dingyuan would always set out with the first group, but this time he hemmed and hawed, saying that since the horse unit would leave last, he wished to leave with the last group as well. Huang Shi thought it over briefly and agreed to his request, but he himself would certainly leave with the very last group, as there were still matters at the Changsheng Island old camp that needed to be handed over. Fortunately, there was still Wu Mu, the Army Supervisor, who had already left first with two Embroidered Uniform Guard officers. In any case, the army's temporary halt point was Jinzhou, which had a sturdy fortress for defense, and there were no large Later Jin forces nearby.

"Let's wait until the horse unit has all boarded the ships first. We'll wait a little longer." Huang Shi thought with some envy of He Dingyuan's current situation — having a woman who cared for him personally draping his battle robe over his shoulders.

For a military officer like He Dingyuan, the Firefighting Battalion had granted some convenience: his wife had been allowed to spend the last night before the expedition with him at the old camp.

Just as the auxiliary soldiers began loading the final batch of baggage onto the small boats, Huang Shi, who had been craning his neck in anticipation, finally saw He Dingyuan emerge from the old camp, with a woman following closely half a step behind him.

He Dingyuan walked toward Huang Shi holding his helmet. He stopped ten meters away and said to his wife, "I'm going." Then he turned around, put on his helmet, and while tightening the chin strap, asked, "My lord, I have not come late, have I?"

"No, you are very punctual." Huang Shi pressed his lips together and said flatly, "Let us board the ship."

"At your command, my lord." He Dingyuan answered in a ringing voice. He strode forward two steps, then hesitated and paused. Finally, he turned his head once more and said, "Take care of the child in your belly. I'm going."

Lady He, with her eyes lowered and a demure expression, responded, "Rest assured, Master. Your servant wife respectfully bids you farewell on your campaign."

Huang Shi's impression of Lady He was very favorable, an impression that had begun the very first moment he laid eyes on this woman. After the mid-Ming period, hereditary military households had begun to imitate the extravagant great clans, binding their daughters' feet one after another. By the late Ming, half the daughters of military households also had bound feet — Huang Shi's own former fiancée, for instance, had been one. But He Dingyuan's wife had natural feet. Huang Shi felt this was because the Gansu-Shaanxi border army had fought bitterly against foreign tribes for two hundred years, and the Qin Army officers had not yet been infected by the culture of luxury and indulgence.

Huang Shi turned and walked toward the small boat, with He Dingyuan only half a body length behind him. The two of them and the personal guards further back stepped in unison with heavy, measured footfalls. The clangor of the armor on their bodies still could not drown out Lady He's gentle, beautiful voice: "Your servant wife respectfully wishes my lord that your banner may open to victory and your horse arrive at success…"

The woman's voice in the wind murmured on, reciting the words that a military officer's principal wife believed she ought to say. Huang Shi inwardly cheered at this: "Truly worthy of a military household's daughter." He recalled the late Ming history of his previous life: whether against the Ordos, against the Mongols, against the Qing army, or against the peasant armies, the Qin Army was the undisputed number one elite force of the Ming Empire. The Qin garrison was known for "eating the least pay, fighting the bitterest wars."

At the decisive battle of Jinzhou that determined the fate of Ming and Qing, the Liaoxi military officers led by Wu Sangui took their private troops and left first without even a word of warning. The Guanning Army, having fled the battlefield, returned to Ningyuan completely unscathed, but this triggered the utter collapse of the Ming army's hundred-thousand-strong camp. That unprecedented marvel of a hundred thousand troops routing without firing a single arrow had never been heard of in Chinese history. Amid the rolling flood of southward fugitives, only thirty thousand Qin troops stood immovable. Later, the momentum of a few hundred Qin troops launching a desperate assault was enough to make the Imperial Bodyguard of the Plain Yellow Banner of Hong Taiji's personal camp flee in terror, forcing Hong Taiji to nearly draw his own blade. After the danger passed, Hong Taiji raged: losing a battle is one thing, being overrun is one thing, fleeing is one thing — but to flee without even knowing to sound an alarm, can such men even be called imperial bodyguards? It was a pity the Qin troops were simply too few. If the one hundred thirty thousand troops Hong Chengchou led had all been Qin troops, then it would certainly have been Hong Taiji weeping his way back to camp.

Just as Huang Shi's right foot stepped onto the gangplank, a sudden shriek came from behind him: "My lord."

Huang Shi turned back in astonishment and saw Lady He, that heroine among women, running swiftly over. The young woman knelt before Huang Shi's feet without even lifting her skirt, her impassioned voice turning into a woman's sorrowful plea: "My lord, for the sake of the child in my womb, I beg you to look after my husband well."

"Nonsense!" Before Huang Shi could speak, He Dingyuan erupted in fury. He waved his arm violently, tracing a wide arc above his wife's hair bun. "What did your family teach you? What did I teach you? Go back at once, don't disgrace yourself here!"

The young woman trembled in fright and bowed again: "Your servant wife has spoken out of turn and made a fool of herself before my lord." She rose and timidly retreated two steps, biting her gently trembling lip, a glint of tears already shimmering in her eyes.

Huang Shi turned around to face He Dingyuan's wife squarely. He pulled aside He Dingyuan, who stood there with a shifting expression, and made him stand to one side. "Sister-in-law, Brother He is like my own flesh-and-blood brother, Huang Shi. Please set your mind at ease. Go back and rest well."

"Your servant wife thanks my lord."

He Dingyuan said impatiently, "Go on, go on, don't disgrace yourself any further, or my reputation will be utterly ruined by you."

The rough He Dingyuan shooed his wife away and boarded the seagoing ship with Huang Shi. As the two of them leaned on the ship's rail and gazed out, Huang Shi suddenly sighed: "To know there is someone at home who worries about you — how wonderful that is."

"Women have long hair but short sense. I have made a fool of myself before my lord." After He Dingyuan finished speaking, Huang Shi turned his head to look at him, his expression seeming to be a smile yet not quite a smile. This made He Dingyuan's face flush red at once. "A woman's view, truly… truly… ah." He Dingyuan shook his head and sighed deeply. When he looked up and saw Huang Shi still staring at him with that peculiar expression, his face instantly turned even redder. Finally, he could not help but give a rueful laugh and said in a low voice, "It is very wonderful. Ah."

The Assistant Regional Commander and his Mobile Corps Commander were silent for a while. Then the Mobile Corps Commander broke the silence again, hesitatingly saying, "My lord, I have a request to make of you."

"I do not wish to hear it." Huang Shi knew what He Dingyuan wanted to say and also knew it was feudal superstition. But right now, he too detested hearing unlucky words. No one in the army liked hearing such things. Huang Shi added, "Whatever you have to say, wait until we return to Changsheng Island."

Yet He Dingyuan began to ramble on: "My lord, when I was very young, my family told me that since I was born into a military household, I should not think of dying of old age in bed. Of my clan elders, seven or eight out of ten perished on the battlefield. Therefore, I have long been prepared to have my corpse wrapped in horsehide…"

Huang Shi stared straight ahead, silently using his ears and heart to listen to He Dingyuan's rambling. At first, he had wanted to cut off He Dingyuan's chatter, but then he thought of how He Dingyuan had followed him all this time since Guangning — eating coarse-grain flatbread, chewing on wild-picked greens, drinking boiled salted alfalfa soup, and only occasionally eating pork during festivals. He had even once teased He Dingyuan for grabbing spare ribs with his hands to gnaw on and finally snatching the bones to suck out the marrow, looking like a hungry ghost reincarnated.

For all this long, long time, he had not let He Dingyuan live a single good day or enjoy a single day of comfort. Although Huang Shi had only been joking without malice at the time, thinking back on it now, he could not help but feel guilt in his heart, and so he could not bear to interrupt He Dingyuan's outpouring.

"…As a military officer, I do not know what tomorrow may bring. Besides, after the first of the month comes the fifteenth. I beg you, my lord, to look after my child." He Dingyuan gritted his teeth and, in a hoarse voice, spoke of something Huang Shi had strictly forbidden: "If that day truly comes, I earnestly beseech my lord to condescend to take my child as your adopted son. After he comes of age and establishes his own family, he may return to his ancestral line. I also beg you to raise him into a dignified military officer and not let him disgrace the family tradition of my He ancestors."

Huang Shi merely sighed but said no word of reproach. Encouraged, He Dingyuan took this as tacit consent. "If it is a girl, I beseech my lord to take her as your adopted daughter and to choose a capable son-in-law to marry into the family for me, so that mother and daughter will have someone to rely on… If, if the child dies young… then please arrange an adoption to continue my line for me, so long as the incense offerings are not cut off."

Why does this sound more and more like settling final affairs? Huang Shi felt that He Dingyuan was truly being somewhat fussy and sentimental today. No wonder they say women are like wood and men like earth — marriage is not merely a matter of the flesh; even the souls begin to blend. Now, He Dingyuan had something in his heart to tie him down.

Today, He Dingyuan also felt he was being a bit inexplicable, unconsciously pouring out all the hidden worries he had kept deep in his heart. But the words had already been spoken. Seeing Huang Shi remain silent, he called out in a low voice, "My lord," and then pressed the still-silent Huang Shi a step further, his voice trembling slightly: "Has my lord granted my request?"

At that moment, scenes from the time since he had first met He Dingyuan flashed before Huang Shi's eyes: an unruly, untamable common soldier in Guangning who had come to join him out of loyalty during the expedition to Liaodong, fighting bravely all along the way; the night of Kong Youde's sneak attack, when he had fiercely brandished his spear and stood in front of Huang Shi; the battle at Lushun, where he had cut down enemy generals and seized their banners…

These images made Huang Shi blurt out: "Brother He, you have always done very well, extremely well. I have indeed owed you much." He was on the verge of granting He Dingyuan's request, but a mysterious fear suddenly arose, making the atheist Huang Shi change his words: "But I will not agree to this request. You will raise your own sons and daughters yourself."

The moment these words left his mouth, Huang Shi inexplicably felt a weight lift from his heart. The faint worry that He Dingyuan's earlier words had placed in his chest seemed to be blown away by the sea breeze in an instant. Huang Shi exhaled with relief, and when he spoke again, his tone became very light and brisk, the words coming out like a prophecy: "Brother He, you will surely glorify your ancestors' door with your own hands, fill your household with honor, and bring blessings to your descendants. Of this, I am deeply convinced."

The tone and wording of this passage even startled Huang Shi himself. It stirred a memory hidden deep in his heart: four years ago in Guangning, someone had also predicted Huang Shi's fate with the same certainty of a fortune-teller. After describing Huang Shi's meteoric rise, that fortune-telling fellow had also concluded with "Of this, I am deeply convinced." — If the prophecy is to come true, Brother He, then this is what I, Huang Shi, promise you.

Jinzhou Fortress was finally in sight.

Youth had already become a hallmark of the Dongjiang Army. Before him now were two more young Dongjiang officers kneeling on one knee before Huang Shi, their respectful tones carrying a measure of admiration and reverence: "Your humble officer Li Chengfeng, Dongjiang Garrison Commander with the concurrent title of Regional Military Commissioner, in command of Jinzhou Fortress, pays his respects to Lord Huang." This Jinzhou garrison commander had a dignified and handsome appearance, a man of fine bearing.

"Your humble officer Zhang Feimao, Dongjiang Regional Military Commissioner with the concurrent title of Mobile Corps Commander, commanding the Vanguard Battalion, pays his respects to Lord Huang." The commander of the Vanguard Battalion was short and stocky. Sturdy he certainly was, but not the least bit fat.

The Vanguard Battalion had already attempted to relieve the siege of Nanguan. Huang Shi discovered that the road from Jinzhou Fortress to Nanguan was slightly longer than he had originally imagined. Those damned Ming maps were far too imprecise. The two points were roughly twenty-four or twenty-five li apart, but in between lay about four thousand Later Jin troops, nearly half of whom were combat soldiers.

"What is the state of the Jianzhou slaves' encampment?"

"In reply to Lord Huang, our Jinzhou has been blocking the slaves' supply route all along. No baggage has gotten through, so they have only some crude tents, with no sturdy ramparts or trenches."

"So if our army wins a field battle, the siege of Nanguan will be lifted."

Zhang Feimao murmured in a small voice, "Lord Huang sees clearly."

Inside Nanguan Fortress, there were only a little over five hundred combat soldiers, yet they were covering more than seven thousand auxiliary soldiers, making it fundamentally impossible to break out on their own initiative. What pleased Huang Shi was that their morale had probably not yet collapsed, so the combat soldiers had not abandoned the auxiliary soldiers to risk a breakout — though of course, it might also be that they lacked the strength to break out. But this also indicated that Nanguan was at least still maintaining basic military discipline and order, and had not yet reached a state of panicked madness. Thus, there was still a chance.

"The Jianzhou slaves captured Lushun Fortress three days ago. From Lushun to Nanguan is over a hundred li, and the road is very difficult. It would take cavalry roughly a day and a night to cover, but the slaves need to transport the baggage from Lushun. Without that baggage, they cannot take Nanguan. Moreover…" Huang Shi gave his subordinates a bleak smile: "After breaching Lushun, the slaves will inevitably rape, slaughter, and pillage, which will also delay them by a night or half a day. Therefore, the twenty-third is the final deadline. We will set out tomorrow morning to relieve Nanguan, then fall back to defend Jinzhou."

Huang Shi had not brought his staff officers this time. The technology and communication methods of the late Ming could not support the urgent operations of a staff department. This time, Huang Shi had to make all decisions on his own authority: "The entire army will rest well tonight. Tomorrow, Li Chengfeng will defend Jinzhou Fortress with two hundred men. The remaining combat soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion and the Firefighting Battalion will strike together. The main force of the slaves should not have time to return. Even if they can, it should only be a small number of elite cavalry, which our army is fully capable of engaging."

In the early hours of the next morning, the entire city of Jinzhou Fortress was bustling as all the military households were mobilized. Since horses were scarce, every draft animal had to be requisitioned. The plow oxen, mules, and donkeys hidden away by the military households went without saying. Li Chengfeng had even wanted to drag out the dogs to pull carts. Discovering that this was truly impossible, he was filled with regret: "Had I known, I would have slaughtered them all yesterday, so the soldiers could have eaten more meat. Ah, it's too late now that we're about to march."

The able-bodied women of the Jinzhou Fortress military households were also mobilized. In the end, nearly two thousand auxiliary soldiers were scraped together. Some pulled carts with ropes alongside the draft animals, some pushed single-wheel or two-wheel wooden handcarts, and still others carried the armor and packs of the combat soldiers on their shoulders. Deng Ken's artillery unit also marched along unburdened. These six bronze cannons were the envy of the Vanguard Battalion. They dispatched over a hundred auxiliary soldiers to carefully tow the cannons, following at the rear of the column.

The combat soldiers then formed up and set out as well. During the march, the Firefighting Battalion officers and men carried only their pikes or firelocks, with their helmets slung behind their backs. The horse unit, fully armed, marched at the very front of the column.

The journey of a little over ten li was completed with ease. The horse unit at the front swiftly spread out into a long line. Just as Huang Shi was about to order the foremost infantry to don their armor, a messenger from the vanguard commander He Dingyuan came galloping up: "Reporting to my lord, the Jianzhou slaves are retreating."

Thus, the entire army continued to advance in marching formation. Huang Shi, leading his guard unit, spurred his horse to catch up with the vanguard. Zhang Feimao also followed closely behind Huang Shi with his personal guards and retainers. When they reached the front of the army, He Dingyuan first shot Zhang Feimao a fierce glare, then inclined his body toward Huang Shi on horseback and said, "Not two thousand combat soldiers — just over a thousand armored men! The slaves also have over two thousand auxiliary soldiers, with almost no horses. The moment they saw the banners of our Firefighting Battalion, they swiftly withdrew."

Zhang Feimao dared not speak and merely shrank his head back. He Dingyuan then stopped looking at him and asked, "My lord, shall we pursue?"

In the distance, the banners of the Later Jin army remained orderly, but their presence blocked the Firefighting Battalion's scouts, forming a screen over the military situation. Huang Shi pondered for a few seconds, then gave the order: "The entire army will continue to advance. We may halt once we reach the flank of Nanguan. So long as we cover our allies' withdrawal to Jinzhou, it is already a victory." He had briefly wondered whether, knowing the Later Jin army would withdraw so easily, it might have been worth transporting some grain here. But this thought lingered only a moment before Huang Shi dismissed it upon seeing the crude state of Nanguan Fortress. With the baggage and grain from Lushun, the Later Jin army only needed to construct siege equipment, and the unfinished Nanguan would be relatively difficult to hold. The Nanguan garrison had long since spotted the Ming army's vast column and quickly sent men out to make contact. Huang Shi ordered that there be no disorderly flight; they were to form up neatly and leave under the leadership of their commanding officers. Whichever unit formed up first would leave first. The women who had come from Jinzhou were to return immediately. The combat soldiers inside Nanguan were handed over to Zhang Feimao to rejoin their unit and would serve as the rearguard alongside the Firefighting Battalion.

Including the auxiliary soldiers who had followed from Jinzhou, it took great effort to finally get the more than nine thousand Ming auxiliary soldiers into order. The nearly five thousand combat soldiers of the two battalions then slowly followed, withdrawing behind the enormous column.

Those several thousand Later Jin troops silently watched the Ming army bustle about for the entire morning. Huang Shi attempted several times to drive them off the battlefield but failed each time. They followed the Ming army at a distance, neither closing in nor pulling away. He Dingyuan suggested using cavalry to charge their formation and tie them down, then sending in the infantry for a full-scale attack. But Huang Shi was unwilling to expend his precious cavalry, nor did he wish to be drawn further south. So he rejected the suggestion — the Firefighting Battalion's cavalry was simply too few, which was extremely inconvenient.

At noon, the Ming army had slowly pulled away from Nanguan Fortress. The Firefighting Battalion's horse unit, originally the vanguard, had now become the rearguard. He Dingyuan once again inclined his body and asked, "My lord, shall we burn Nanguan?"

"No need. The slaves will burn it anyway. Let them burn it. If they don't, we can save some effort when we rebuild Nanguan Fortress next time."

As the Ming army slowly withdrew, the Later Jin troops quietly followed. Suddenly, they surged toward Nanguan, and as the foremost men rushed into the town, they let out fierce war cries.

He Dingyuan and Zhang Feimao both narrowed their eyes, watching the movements of the Later Jin army. Wu Mu, who was accompanying the operation, could no longer hold back and voiced the doubt in his heart: "What are the Jian slaves doing?"

Huang Shi, as if waking from a dream, burst into loud laughter: "Isn't it just that old trick of leaving an opening when besieging a city? They've been waiting all along for us to burn the city or retreat. It seems the Jian slaves don't intend to let us finish these twenty-odd li from Nanguan to Jinzhou in peace."

Amid Huang Shi's unrestrained laughter, the people around him turned deathly pale one after another. His laughter undiminished, Huang Shi flicked his horsewhip, pointing south through the air: "The main force of the Jian slaves must be within ten li, at most no more than fifteen li away, lying hidden. Once our army leaves Nanguan, if we burn the fort, that would be the signal for them to attack. Now, although our army has not burned the fort, that only lets us travel safely for less than five li more — there are still over ten li to go."

Everyone gazed toward Nanguan Fort. Signal flares were rising into the sky one after another...

"Since General Huang has seen through the Jian slaves' cunning scheme, why not give the order to speed up the march?" Wu Mu had barely shouted this when Zhang Gaosheng behind him tugged at him. Wu Mu rolled his eyes and coughed awkwardly: "I spoke out of turn, spoke out of turn."

Given the road conditions of the late Ming, if the army were let loose and these fourteen thousand men all tried to run a marathon, most would likely collapse from exhaustion before reaching Jinzhou. And once military discipline crumbled, they would inevitably trample one another. Even among the Firefighting Battalion's combat soldiers, only the cavalry might escape safely; the remaining infantry, even if not overtaken, would run themselves to death. Of the battalion's two thousand infantrymen, perhaps not one in ten would survive.

Wu Mu had merely been momentarily startled and lost his composure. Once he recovered, he pressed Huang Shi again: "What plan do you have?"

Huang Shi laughed loudly three times: "Eunuch Wu flatters me. I have no talent for stratagems — I never relied on cunning schemes to fight my battles." From Liaoyang to Shaling, and then through the expedition to Lushun, Huang Shi increasingly felt that he was utterly unworthy of playing tricks before the heroes of this age. He decisively shouted to the personal guards beside him: "Pass the order — the entire army halts."

Upon hearing this command, Wu Mu also understood Huang Shi's intent: "Can it only be this way?"

Huang Shi spoke only two brief words: "It can." Once the troops had all stopped, he called out again in a ringing voice: "Pass the order — combat soldiers don armor and form ranks!"

— Strategically, I, Huang Shi, have already been utterly defeated. My opponent anticipated my every move, while I remained oblivious... But no matter what, the final outcome of war must be decided by tactics and combat, must it not? Hong Taiji, today I will show you the true strength of my Firefighting Battalion.