Chapter 214: Supervisor of Qingping Pasturage

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News of the roving bandits' approach had persisted for five days now.

Zhenyuan County Magistrate Xu Zongxian leaned on the parapet, gazing out at the sky-covering banners of the endless military formation beyond the city walls, his brow tightly furrowed.

He had long known the roving bandits were coming; over these past few days, gentry fleeing from the river valley into the city had brought intermittent intelligence.

The bandits built stockades in the valleys, felled forests for timber, stirred up the common people in fields and villages to denounce the great households, resorted to vigilante justice, attacked forts and destroyed stockades, burned debt contracts and loan receipts, distributed land and grain to tenant farmers and long- and short-term laborers, and deceived the people's hearts.

But Xu Zongxian had never imagined the roving bandits would dare assault the city.

County magistrate was his first official post after passing the provincial exam, assigned by the Ministry of Personnel; his term was already up, and he was only awaiting evaluation.

A close friend from the same examination year who had entered the Imperial Academy wrote some time ago, saying that in the Northern Metropolitan Region, because the Later Jin had invaded, various places had official vacancies of differing degrees, and urged him not to cling to the county magistrate rank.

Even going to a prefecture in the Northern Metropolitan Region as an eighth-rank clerk would be far better than being a county magistrate in Shaanxi.

Xu Zongxian wrote back saying he was not afraid of roving bandits, telling his examination-year friend that Shaanxi's situation was indeed a bit difficult, but not so bad as to scare off an imperially appointed official.

What were Liu Wu, Liu Liu, Han Chaozai, but starving people gathering a mob?

His Zhenyuan, even now, still had several thousand residents within the city, and over ten thousand commoners outside the walls; he could protect the people under his governance, and the people could likewise protect him.

Moreover, as a border garrison town, the county armory was fully stocked with all manner of weapons, the city walls were high and perilous, and even with only five hundred defending troops, he could block an attack by five thousand from the east.

As for starving people gathering a mob, the more that came, the easier it would be to hold.

If a hundred thousand came, he would not even need to defend; dragging things out two days would mean victory.

But it was only when he was woken this morning that Xu Zongxian realized not all Shaanxi's bandit groups were like Liu Wu, Liu Liu, and Han Chaozai's mobs of starving people.

Outside the east gate of Zhenyuan City, Wei Qian'er rode out alone from the ranks, carrying a shield as his horse trotted across the stone bridge over the moat.

He looked at the tightly shut city gate twenty or thirty paces away, and at the hastily assembled defenders on the wall drawing their bows full, and shouted: "We outnumber you ten to one! Surrender quickly and the people will remain safe and undisturbed. If you dare loose a single arrow, when the Grand Commander's cannons roar in unison, do not blame us for harming the people's lives!"

Across the moat, the great Liu banner with its red field and gold border fluttered.

Xu Zongxian looked toward the orderly cavalry formation beneath that banner, every man clad in red cotton armor, and at the cannons arrayed by the riverbank; fear could not help but rise in his heart.

He withdrew his gaze, searching the faces of his private secretaries, clerks, and the county instructor on the wall, and asked: "Where is the Supervisor Cui Cong?"

The Supervisor was named Cui Cong; he had originally been an official managing horse administration for the Shaanxi Court of the Imperial Stud in Pingliang Prefecture, with a rank even higher than the county magistrate, but later, after too many warhorses died, he was demoted to Supervisor of the Qingping Pasturage.

In the first two years, the county could not collect its apportioned taxes; after the old Chief Clerk passed away, no one took up the Chief Clerk post, the Patrol Inspector was also gone, and Xu Zongxian had not requested a new Patrol Inspector from the court; later, he simply dismissed the patrol troops and the militia outright, so basic defense all relied on the Grace Troops of the Qingping Pasturage to handle.

Therefore, in Zhenyuan County, Supervisor Cui Cong was the only military talent Xu Zongxian could rely on.

He asked all the clerks, but no one knew where Cui Cong had gone, making Xu Zongxian as frantic as an ant on a hot pan.

Seeing the magistrate's urgency, a county clerk had no choice but to ask the militia who were assembling on the wall under the command of the military section clerk; finally, someone said: "Sir, Supervisor Cui seems to have gone to the county armory!"

The county armory?

Xu Zongxian had originally wanted to ask Cui Cong whether to fight or surrender, but now, with one look toward the county armory, he already knew Cui Cong's answer.

One after another, dust-covered divine engine rocket carts were pushed out from the county armory, carried to the top of the wall in bundles by laborers Cui Cong had assembled; only then did a Grace Troop cavalryman ride up the horse ramp onto the wall, gallop past the barbican, and relay the message: "Sir, Supervisor Cui asks you to first stabilize the enemy, stall for time, he will be here shortly."

Afterward, Grace Troops drove mule carts fully loaded with gunpowder into the east gate barbican, using shovels and picks to pry up the barbican's floor tiles and stone slabs, digging a tunnel.

Cui Cong arrived belatedly with over a dozen county school students, rode his horse up the wall, glanced down below, surveyed the defenders on the wall, and asked the magistrate: "Sir, you... haven't done anything?"

Xu Zongxian was utterly baffled by this question: "I was waiting for you!"

Cui Cong closed his eyes with a hint of helplessness; this magistrate was good in every way, except he knew nothing of military matters.

Several days ago, upon first hearing that bandit troops had entered the river valley, he had proposed that the magistrate's yamen should discuss the matter of defending the city, but the county gentry and officials all believed the bandits would not dare assault the city.

He was not even in the same bureaucratic system as the county officials, so he had to let it go, going himself to the county armory to inventory weapons and equipment, and contacting the county school students to have them prepare for city defense.

Zhenyuan, in earlier years, had often suffered plunder by northern raiders who breached the border walls, so in military affairs, the local students understood the stakes better than the rotating officials.

At this moment, Xu Zongxian grew panicked and asked: "Supervisor Cui, the bandits are at the city gates, what should we do?"

Just then, a Grace Trooper came running along the northern wall and reported: "Sirs, on the plateau outside the north gate, over a thousand bandit troops are arrayed in formation; they have seized more than three hundred pasturage horses."

"Those utter bastards!"

Cui Cong cursed, waved his hand, and asked: "Any casualties among the Grace Troops?"

The sources of the herdsmen troops in the Pasturage Horse Court were complex, including reassigned troops, penal troops, and conscripted troops; in practice, they were mainly divided into Grace Troops who came as penal conscripts and unit troops drawn from the guard battalions.

But by this time, the guard battalions had so many deserters that they could not even keep up with conscription arrests, and had long been unable to spare anyone; thus, the horse-herding troops of Qingping Pasturage were all Grace Troops, and furthermore, not even penal conscripts, but basically all recruited refugees.

Because Qingping Pasturage managed many horse farms, selecting suitable land from them for growing grain, the drought had also greatly impacted them.

Speaking of which, this matter was also strange; the drought meant the Grace Troops did not have enough grain rations, and every time Cui Cong submitted a request, he could never get troop grain.

Later, he changed his strategy, no longer seeking grain from the army, but instead telling the Three Border Supreme Command and the Pingliang Branch Court of the Imperial Stud that the pasturage horse fodder was insufficient, and he could always get beans.

And the beans were especially plentiful, for as everyone knows, in terms of food consumption, one horse equals eight men, and the number of warhorses in Qingping Pasturage was five times that of the Grace Troops.

So Cui Cong's Grace Troops ate fairly well, making it a very enviable job in drought-stricken Zhenyuan County.

"A few men were detained, but they did not use their weapons; they told us to come back and relay the message, saying that if we surrender and open the city, not a single official or commoner will be harmed."

Hearing that the men were unharmed, Cui Cong breathed a sigh of relief, but then became anxious about potential gains and losses.

Once word spread that the bandits did not kill, this city would be even harder to defend.

After all, defending a city was never a matter for one person or a few people.

It required the officials, the army, and the commoners within the city to reach a consensus on the issue of fighting to the death.

But from the current look of things, that requirement would be very hard to meet.

The magistrate asked him what to do; Cui Cong pondered countless chances for victory in his mind, and finally took a deep breath, his gaze resolute, and asked: "Parent-Magistrate Xu, I can delay the enemy for half a day. Could you and your colleagues evacuate the entire population of the city westward?"

Xu Zongxian was greatly astonished and blurted out: "Evacuate the entire population westward?"

"Yes, evacuate the entire population westward. The city's commoners and merchants need only travel sixty li west to enter Guyuan territory. Transport the weapons and military grain into the southwest fortress; I can defend it to the death there and await reinforcements."

Looking at the astonished expressions of the people on the wall, Cui Cong sighed inwardly.

It was very difficult for him to explain the problems of city assault and defense to these officials ignorant of military affairs, so he could only say: "Zhenyuan City has a circumference of over four li, with more than seventeen hundred battlements, and I have only five hundred Grace Troops."

This city was very tall and sturdy, and its terrain was extremely strategic, but Cui Cong believed that leading his five hundred Grace Troops with weapons and provisions to retreat to the fortress southwest of the city, even without a moat there, would be easier to defend.

A city wall is a permanent military formation, but it requires a field army of corresponding scale to maximize its defensive effectiveness.

Besides, they had a defensive objective — what was the purpose of defending against the enemy?

"The Three Border Supreme Commander has already entered Ningzhou. If the bandits have reached here, there are only two possibilities: either Ningzhou has fallen into their hands, or the bandits dared not attack Ningzhou and instead advanced on the troop-deficient Guyuan."

Cui Cong explained, "If we hold Zhenyuan to the death, the city's civilians can only enter, not leave — consumption will be enormous. The battlements are numerous, and preparing the city gates requires conscripting laborers. Once attacked, it will surely be breached."

"If the bandits occupy Zhenyuan, they will still advance westward. Guyuan has no troops to defend it. By then the bandits will be plundering everywhere, and our crimes will be exceedingly grave — I fear we will hardly escape death."

Cui Cong pointed toward the southwest fortress and said, "If I hold out for half a day, Magistrate Xu can evacuate the civilians, store the troops' grain, weapons, and equipment in the fortress, and once the civilians have withdrawn, I will lead five hundred Favor Army soldiers into the small fort. That fortress has only one hundred and seventy crenels."

"Moreover, it leans against the mountain wall to the west. Even if the bandits besiege it day and night, I will have sufficient troops to defend in shifts. As long as the fortress still stands, the bandits will not dare bypass me. Holding out and awaiting reinforcements — whichever side's relief troops arrive first, whether from east or west of the river valley — we can preserve Guyuan. There is nothing worth looting in Zhenyuan County town. Within a few days, the bandits will withdraw on their own."

Cui Cong clasped his fist and said, "This is the only chance of victory I can see."

To the officials in the city, these words sounded entirely different.

He was envisioning this battle with his eyes on the three territories of Guyuan Department, Pingliang Prefecture, and Qingyang Prefecture.

Once the battle ended, this city would still return to their hands.

Most importantly, Cui Cong's primary duty was horses. As long as most of the horses remained, whether the city was lost or not, he bore no culpability.

Thus he alone had not considered Zhenyuan City. But everyone on the city wall was an official of Zhenyuan County — if this city fell, their guilt would be a fate worse than death.

The men looked at one another. Defending the city to the death at least preserved a name for loyalty and righteousness. Abandoning the city to relocate — even if this battle could ultimately be won — their official careers would be finished.

The first to speak was the county Instructor, who flatly refused: "Magistrate Xu, there are enemy troops east and north of the city right now. Who can guarantee there are none to the west? To rashly leave the city is to risk total defeat. Better to defend to the death and await reinforcements — that way there is still a sliver of hope."

The Revenue Office clerk also said, "If the battlements are many, we will conscript militia. The villagers understand loyalty and righteousness; they will defend to the death."

Xu Zongxian added, "This city cannot be lost, and the Favor Army cannot leave. We can only defend to the death. Defending a city does not depend on its height or perilousness, but on the hearts of the people within. If we are united as one, the bandits cannot possibly breach the city. If all of you are fearful and trembling, then even a city as impregnable as metal and boiling water cannot be held."

Having spoken, the magistrate turned to Cui Cong: "Supervisor Cui, you know military affairs best. Consider this matter with a defense to the death in mind."

At this point, Cui Cong knew his suggestion was useless. Besides, the Instructor had a point — if there were enemy troops to the west as well, his plan could not be carried out.

He bowed with clasped hands to those around him and said, "Magistrate Xu, colleagues, since we have resolved to defend to the death, I believe the most urgent task now is for us to unite, take stock of the defending troops, divide them into five units, and arrange the four-sided defenses."

"Assign one defending officer to each side, prioritized by urgency: the most critical is the East Gate, next the south wall, then the North Gate, and least critical, the West Gate."

After Cui Cong finished and everyone nodded one by one, he continued: "Magistrate Xu, you will lead a reserve force in the city center to coordinate. If any of the four sides sounds the alarm, dispatch reinforcements. If the walls are secure, then conscript civilians, prepare provisions, transport weapons, and stockpile timber, oil, military rations, and night soil."

Xu Zongxian knew his own abilities did not lie in military affairs and felt Cui Cong's reasoning was sound. He nodded to him first and said, "We will follow Supervisor Cui's proposal."

Only then did he turn to the people around him, bow with clasped hands in a full circle, and say, "You have all heard. Supervisor Cui is from the Ministry of War. If the city falls, he can still take the imperial horse herds away. We are all local officials. If Zhenyuan falls, none of us can escape the court's punishment."

He then proceeded to arrange the four-gate defenses, assigning the most critical East Gate to Cui Cong, and the remaining three sides to the Instructor and two county licentiates who had read military texts.

At that very moment, the earthen mound Liu Chengzong had been building outside the city was completed.

The mound stood two chi higher than the city wall. He climbed it and peered through his telescope, seeing officials in brightly colored official robes gathered atop the gate tower.

He also saw that quite a few defensive weapons had already been placed on the city wall.

Realizing the chance of this city collapsing without a fight was now slim, he ordered the flagman to wave the signal, recalling Wei Qian'er from below the wall. He called Cao Yao up onto the mound and handed him the telescope.

"Brother Cao, what are all those things on the wall?"

Cao Yao took the telescope, looked, and grinned. "Isn't that a nest of beasts in official finery?"

Liu Chengzong said, exasperated, "I didn't ask you to look at the people. Look at the defensive equipment. I've never used those things and don't recognize them."

"Those carts are Divine Mechanism Arrows. There are bowl-mouth cannons on the wall. The wooden crates are Hundred Tigers Racing — also rockets. And there are general cannons... You'll have to get down from here soon. Both the rockets and the cannons can reach this spot."

Liu Chengzong said in surprise, "Rockets can shoot that far? I fired one at Fish River Fort, and it flew thirty paces before shooting up into the sky."

"They can. It depends on how they're made. The powder must be packed tight, and the hole must be drilled straight and true. Once the fire exits the hole, it flies straight. If the craftsman doesn't pack the powder tight and doesn't drill the hole straight, then it flies wildly."

Cao Yao turned his head and said, "We don't know how the rockets inside the city were made, so it's best to be cautious. Still, I see that nest of beasts in finery is all clustered on the gate tower at a nice distance... Let me try. Haul the Red Barbarian cannon up the mound and bombard the gate tower?"

Liu Chengzong gauged the distance — roughly two hundred-plus paces. He raised an arm, pointed at Cao Yao, and asked, "The one in the blue robe is the magistrate. Can you hit him?"

Cao Yao shook his head decisively. "Give me a Wind-Chasing Musket and I can shoot him dead. Asking me to aim a cannon at a single man is asking too much."

As he spoke, he called for the artillerymen to push the Red Barbarian cannon up the spiraling dirt path of the mound. "A seven-catty solid iron ball definitely won't work, but if we fire grapeshot and spray it over, I reckon we can mow down that whole area."

"Spray them. After that, send two siege carts across the bridge on the east side for a feint. The south side will be the main assault."

Moments later, just as the officials on the gate tower were about to disperse, Cao Yao set up his prized treasure on the earthen mound, aimed at the gate tower, and fired a thunderous shot that shook the entire mound in a cloud of dust.

Chaos erupted on the city wall. The artillery positions arrayed in a line along the moat roared in unison, shell after shell pounding the wall and pinning the defenders down so they dared not raise their heads. Only then did the vast army push their siege carts across the moat.