Chapter 190: Sharing the Burden

Du Wenhuan was in Yanchuan.

After receiving the transfer order from Yansui Grand Coordinator Hong Chengchou, he was furious.

How could he possibly be happy about it? Compared to Wang Jiayin, he actually preferred dealing with Liu Chengzong.

Liu Chengzong was at least just a "half-border-army" force, but Wang Jiayin had a full border-army force.

Along the border line, you couldn't even tell who was whose man anymore.

Du Wenhuan found it baffling — what on earth was that Li Zhao thinking, provoking him?

Everything had been perfectly fine. Wang Jiayin took his men to raid Shanxi, came back and paid tribute to the border forts all around, and after paying tribute, he stayed put in the mountains, well-fed and well-supplied.

The bandits kept quiet, the border fort officers got their fill, the border troops went out on one raid and then returned to camp — it was clearly an industry chain that pleased everyone.

This autumn, when the Tatar raiders invaded again, once he beat them back, Du Wenhuan was planning to resign on grounds of advanced age.

After serving the imperial court his whole life, now that all the great undercurrents were surfacing, even if he, Du Wenhuan, ground his own flesh and bones to paste and plastered them onto the border wall, he still couldn't solve so many problems for the court.

Better to just go straight back to his hometown in Kunshan.

But now, look at this mess — Wang Jiayin to the north, Liu Chengzong to the south, each with forces no smaller than a Regional Commander's.

True, their troop strength wasn't as large as a Regional Commander's on paper, but a border garrison's Regional Commander had to station troops to defend the frontier — the men he could actually mobilize and move around numbered only a few thousand.

A few thousand men — which one could they beat?

He'd originally planned to join up with He Huchen, let that unlucky sod from Ningxia take the lead against Lion Liu, while he blocked the rear and dealt with one of them first.

But now, wonderful — he had to go deal with Wang Jiayin himself.

Du Wenhuan didn't want to deal with him, so his northward march was very slow, and he even left men behind to keep watch — in case He Huchen drove Liu Chengzong out of Yellow Dragon Mountain, he would immediately turn his troops back.

Unfortunately, after waiting several days, Liu Chengzong never came out.

For some reason, Du Wenhuan suspected He Huchen might have sent Lion Liu a few gifts as well.

This kind of situation was especially infuriating.

They already had nothing to work with — just fortify and clear the fields, cordon off the entire Yan'an Prefecture, and starve them out. Done.

Yet they still insisted you go suppress the rebellion.

What's more, this was no ordinary rebellion.

Word came from the north: Hong Chengchou had dispatched Vice General Yin Tixin and also Bai Yiqing to launch a punitive expedition, but Wang Jiayin was no fool who only knew how to hole up and defend — he dared to fight in the open field.

Though he didn't gain any advantage, he didn't suffer a major loss either. The field battles were indecisive, and he withdrew back into Fugu City.

The name Fugu itself sounded tough.

That county seat lay in the deep mountains at the easternmost edge of Shaanxi, with the Yellow River tributary Gushan River to the west and the Yellow River to the south. The county seat was south of a high mountain, with cliffs on three sides — just getting into the county seat was extremely difficult.

If they didn't even lose in open field battles, defending a siege was even less of a worry — not to mention Wang Jiayin had just come back from Shanxi with money and grain.

Du Wenhuan turned it over and over in his mind. If he went on this campaign, there was only one outcome: Wang Jiayin would be eating and drinking well in the city every day, while his own men drank the northwest wind by the Yellow River.

Once their provisions ran out and Wang Jiayin sallied forth, he wouldn't be able to hold him off either.

So after mulling it over, he couldn't go.

But not going required a pretext. Even for a veteran like him, a specialist in slacking off for seven or eight years, he couldn't think of a suitable reason to refuse the campaign against Wang Jiayin.

Lion Liu he could still refuse — after all, Liu wasn't in the Yansui Regional Commander's defense zone. But this Wang Jiayin was raising hell right in the eastern part of Yansui Garrison, leaving Du Wenhuan unable to come up with a reason to refuse.

While his troops were stationed at Yanchuan, Du Wenhuan racked his brains and came up with two methods.

The first was for Wang Jiayin to voluntarily run out of the Yansui Garrison defense zone.

Get him to cross the river — cross the Yellow River into Shanxi. Then it would no longer be Yansui Garrison's problem, and even Hong Chengchou couldn't interfere.

The second would be for Du Wenhuan himself to be tied up by matters at hand and unable to go.

For instance, if Lion Liu turned back, or if the swarm of bandits that went to Shanxi returned.

But that latter idea treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Besides, Lion Liu wasn't much easier to deal with than Wang Jiayin. The first one was still more suitable.

In the end, Du Wenhuan devised a ploy. He summoned Wang Zuogua, deliberately made him wait outside the tent, and inside loudly discussed the attack on Fugu County with his subordinate officers — saying that when attacking Fugu, he feared nothing except Wang Jiayin fleeing back to Shanxi.

Then he called Wang Zuogua in, gave him a few instructions about the march, and told Mobile Corps General Li Mingfu to keep a looser watch.

Sure enough, Wang Zuogua fled that very night with a dozen or so men.

Du Wenhuan clapped his hands in great delight. That same night, he divided Wang Zuogua's thousand-strong following among his subordinate officers.

Bam — a thousand bandits eliminated for the imperial court.

In theory, the fleeing Wang Zuogua would deliver the news to Wang Jiayin, and then Wang Jiayin would relocate into Shanxi. The matter would be considered settled.

But sometimes, when people hope for two things, getting one is wonderful — getting both is not necessarily so wonderful.

On the very night Du Wenhuan swallowed up Wang Zuogua's forces, Yanshui Pass sent word to Regional Commander Du: "The bandits who went into Shanxi are about to return!"

They were right on the opposite bank of the Yellow River.

According to the garrison at Yanshui Pass, from the direction of Yonghe County in Shanxi, a vast force of over ten thousand bandits had appeared in recent days, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The defending officer at Yonghe Pass, Fu Renxi, could not hold them off and could only fall back to defend the pass itself, sending word to Yanshui Pass to warn them — the bandit force was even larger than these ten thousand troops.

What ill intent could Fu Renxi possibly have?

He just wanted to scare the Yanshui Pass garrison into fleeing, so that Gao Yingxiang and the Lion Camp's work sentries could hurry back to Shaanxi and lend Lion Liu a hand.

But with Du Wenhuan right there, you could lend the Yanshui Pass garrison ten thousand guts and they still wouldn't dare run.

Well, wasn't this wonderful — they'd drawn Du Wenhuan right to them.

Gao Yingxiang's troops were already preparing to cross the river when Yanshui Pass risked sending a man into Yonghe Pass to inform Fu Renxi that Du Wenhuan had led his army into Yanshui Pass.

Fu Renxi was so alarmed he hurriedly contacted Gao Yingxiang: "Hold off on crossing the river. Yanshui Pass just sent word — Yansui's Regional Commander Du is inside the pass with several thousand troops."

Gao Yingxiang pondered it over, then decided to lead his troops across the river anyway.

Fu Renxi was stunned. "Why, Chief Gao? You can't beat Du Wenhuan — he holds the pass defenses."

Gao Yingxiang stared at Fu Renxi with his tiger-like eyes for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "You say your name is One Box of Gold. I don't know how Lion found such a good ally as you, but I'll remember your loyal warning. I'll repay you when the chance comes."

"But I can't let you take the loss this time. Regional Commander Du already knows Gao is about to cross the river. Yanshui Pass sent word to tell you — if I don't cross now, wouldn't that be harming you?"

Fu Renxi froze for a moment, his regard for Gao Yingxiang soaring in his heart.

He then heard Gao Yingxiang continue, "While it's dark, I'll take some men across the river to have a look. I must ask Brother Casket of Gold for a favor."

"Of course, Chief Gao, please speak."

"Brother Casket of Gold is a local from these Yellow River banks." Gao Yingxiang couldn't help but smile when mentioning 'a local,' then his expression turned serious. "From this bank to the opposite shore, how wide is the river?"

Fu Renxi had thought Gao Yingxiang had some major request. Hearing it was just this, he relaxed and laughed, "Chief Gao has asked the right person for this. The pontoon bridge on this river is one hundred and eighty paces long."

Gao Yingxiang nodded, cupped his fists, and said, "Many thanks. Now I have a clear idea."

That very night, Gao Yingxiang's main force deployed along both the east and west banks of the Yellow River. On the east side, they piled up an earthen platform over a hundred paces long and five chi high; on the west side, they pushed up a few scattered low mounds.

This left Fu Renxi on Yonghe Pass utterly baffled.

But it didn't matter if he was baffled. Soon after, Gao Yingxiang's troops advanced. The main force remained on the east bank, while Gao Ying'en was ordered to lead over two thousand elite soldiers across the river.

His most elite surrendered tribal soldiers, after crossing the river, stayed east of the low mounds.

In the latter half of the night, the garrison on Yonghe Pass came to report to Fu Renxi that Gao Yingxiang's men had pushed several cannons onto the earthen platform on the east bank.

This piqued Fu Renxi's great curiosity, and he simply crawled out of his bedding and climbed the pass to see.

He thought to himself, these roving bandits actually know how to use cannons?

In Fu Renxi's mind, among the many leaders in Shaanxi, only Liu Chengzong could be said to use cannons.

After all, those fierce men of the Lion Camp were like wolves and tigers, and they had indeed acquired two Hongyi cannons, playing with artillery even more impressively than the government troops.

As for other leaders, Fu Renxi had truly never considered them using cannons.

Even when the garrison told him Gao Yingxiang had dragged a bunch of cannons to the riverbank, he was still laughing inside. Hadn't Chief Gao just asked him how wide the Yellow River was?

He knew Gao Yingxiang had built a long embankment on the east bank, but he never imagined what Gao Yingxiang intended to do with it.

He didn't even think in the direction of cannons at all.

Light, small cannons like the Gushing Pearl or Crouching Tiger couldn't hit anyone across the Yellow River. Besides, even if Gao Yingxiang had General Cannons, he wouldn't need to dig a hundred-pace-long embankment.

But when Fu Renxi stood atop the pass fortress and looked, he was dumbstruck.

He immediately ordered the gate opened and men to rush out.

Under the moonlight, the waist-high earthen embankment was lined with uniform double-wheeled cannon carts.

The wheels were large but very narrow, made of iron by blacksmiths from Xiangning. The central wooden gun carriage was crafted by artisans from the Work Sentinel, and the bronze cannon fixed atop it was cast by the Work Sentinel's master, Shi Chengwo.

The soldiers standing below the earthen embankment had not lit torches. Gao Yingxiang stood on the embankment, gazing toward the opposite shore. It was pitch black; he could see nothing.

When Liu Chengzong sent word to Shanxi, the newly cast two-hundred-jin Lion Cannons were already complete and entering the final polishing stage.

A total of forty-seven cannons had been cast in two batches, but eleven were flawed and were melted back down into copper ingots. Shi Chengwo planned to continue casting after reuniting with Liu Chengzong.

The intent of Liu Chengzong's message was to warn Gao Yingxiang not to blindly return to Shaanxi, lest he run headlong into the advancing government troops.

But Gao Yingxiang did not see it that way. Master Gao believed Liu Chengzong was asking for reinforcements, and he felt he absolutely had to return to Shaanxi to lend a hand.

As soon as this batch of cannons was finished, he immediately mustered his forces and surged up from Pingyang Prefecture like a dark tide, sweeping through Xi Prefecture like locusts and heading straight for Yonghe County.

Along the way, he also helped Liu Chengzong test the condition of the double-wheeled cannon carts. The large iron wheels worked extremely well, and the cannon's weight was just right.

It was exactly at a weight a single donkey could pull running across the fields. A cannon team with four mules and five men could easily cover a hundred li a day on the official roads.

Truth be told, Gao Yingxiang had been itching to try them for a while.

Last month in Shanxi, before the cannons Shi Chengwo had promised to cast for him were even ready, he had borrowed a few to test his skills against the Pingyang Guard's banner troops.

Honestly, with a few of these things, Gao Yingxiang felt he was over eighteen thousand times more formidable than last year.

In the end, the cannons didn't even get their turn on the field. His sheer troop strength scared the Pingyang Guard's banner troops into staying behind their gates. He only fired a few shots when attacking a manor in the outskirts later, which wasn't satisfying at all.

Today, hearing that Du Wenhuan was on the opposite side—it wasn't that Gao Yingxiang was getting cocky, but he truly, desperately wanted to fire a volley with thirty-six cannons.

Even if it was just this once.

Gao Yingxiang's plan was simple: send Gao Ying'en to attack Yanshui Pass. They definitely wouldn't take it, but it would wake the government troops. Maybe they'd get angry and give chase.

Those dirt mounds built on the opposite bank were something Shi Chengwo learned while watching the Loyal and Unified Army use cannons in Sanyuan County; they were simply range markers.

Once the government troops ran past those markers, the cannons could open fire.

Seeing him so excited, Shi Chengwo was a bit worried and said, "Chief Gao, these cannons on flat trajectory can only reach the river water near the bank. If we adjust the muzzle, the power won't be great."

In the mountains of Xiangning, Shi Chengwo had tested the flat-trajectory and elevated-trajectory ranges of these two types of cannons.

The Small Lion Cannon had a flat range of one hundred and seventy paces and an elevated range of five hundred paces.

The Large Lion Cannon had a flat range of one hundred and ninety paces and an elevated range of six hundred paces.

The ranges weren't very far, but the power was decent. At a hundred paces, if aimed accurately, a bowl-thick tree trunk would snap upon being grazed.

When firing canister shot, both cannons had a range of beyond ten paces but within a hundred paces.

The only difference was that the Large Lion Cannon held one hundred and sixty canister balls, while the Small Lion Cannon held one hundred.

Although Shi Chengwo did not participate in battle, running around with the Lion Camp had let him witness quite a few artillery engagements.

He did not share Gao Yingxiang's imagined vision of thirty-six cannons firing in volley and blasting the enemy to pieces from several hundred paces away.

That was not realistic.

He more agreed with, and more looked forward to, the way Cao Yao used cannons.

Integrating these light cannons into the infantry battle line, face-to-face with the enemy, within the fifty-pace range of volleying bows and arquebuses, in a grand square formation duel two hundred paces wide, a single volley would cripple the enemy formation.

Shi Chengwo believed that this was the true destiny of the Small Lion Cannon.

To safeguard this advantage, when ordering the cannon wheels from the blacksmith, he had specifically requested three small handles on the side of the wheel, precisely to make it easier for infantry to push the cannon while advancing.

To truly achieve the effect Gao Yingxiang desired, Shi Chengwo believed, one still needed the big fellows he had cast in Sanyuan County.

Those fifteen-hundred-jin divine devices could send a seven-jin iron ball over four hundred paces on a flat trajectory, blasting through seven or eight men with one shot, leaving a trail of blood wherever it struck.

Twenty of those things lined up in a row could reduce a Battalion Commander's entire unit to just a few men in one salvo.

But these little things now didn't have that kind of power; hitting three men would be considered lucky.

Gao Yingxiang didn't care about any of that. He was just itching for action. Standing on the earthen embankment, he waved his hand dismissively and said, "It's fine. At worst, we fire one volley and run."

He really thought so — as long as he could hold the pontoon bridge, the worst that could happen was simply not being able to return to Shaanxi.

But wasn't the whole point of his coming here to help share Liu Chengzong's burden? Since Du Wenhuan was here, pinning Du Wenhuan down at Yanshui Pass still counted as lightening the load for Liu the Lion.

Gao Ying'en and Du Wenhuan did not make him wait long.

Du Wenhuan did not want to stir up trouble with Wang Jiayin and Liu Chengzong — not out of cowardice, but because one cannot make bricks without straw.

Fighting those two required mobilizing sufficient troops; without grain or pay, engaging them was just throwing soldiers away for nothing.

But it was only those two that Du Wenhuan preferred not to touch. Others held nothing to fear.

Gao Ying'en's troops had barely appeared not far east of Yanshui Pass when Du Wenhuan mustered his men and rode out of the city.

It scared Gao Ying'en into fleeing for the riverbank at once.

One fleeing ahead, the other chasing behind, their torches blazing like two fiery dragons racing all the way to the banks of the Yellow River.

Gao Yingxiang laughed with delight, clapping his hands. "Master Shi, let them see our cannon!"

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