Chapter 215: The Siege of Zhenyuan

The siege wagon rolled forward.

From the earthen hill, cannons roared — hundreds of iron pellets tore through the drifting gunpowder smoke, flew over two hundred paces, and splattered against the rammed-earth wall.

Li Laochai, a white cloth bound around his head, gripped a small golden mace in each hand and held a shield before him as he stood at the very front of the ranks, gazing up at the two-zhang-high wall as he strode boldly forward.

The booming of his own side's cannons rattled his very liver.

Li Laochai's men were even more terrified; his adopted son, following close beside him, asked, "Da, with the cannons behind us firing nonstop, how are we supposed to storm the city?"

"It's fine. Grand Marshal Liu knows how to storm a city — just follow orders."

He said that, but Li Laochai's heart still fluttered with lingering fear. He swallowed hard and asked the Lion Battalion officer standing nearby, "Squad Leader Huang, those cannons won't hit us by mistake, will they?"

Huang Shengxiao, who had been promoted to cannon-squad captain, shook his head, raised a hand to grip the arrowhead hanging at his neck, and said nothing.

He knew that red-barbarian cannon was firing low; its grapeshot could only reach two hundred paces, and they were already nearly two hundred and seventy paces out. If a few more rounds came, he couldn't say for sure whether they'd be hit by mistake.

Still, even if a cannonball from behind did strike them, it would at worst be an accident — by the time the iron pellets flew this far, they had little power left.

The real threat was the defenders' weapons.

The Lion cannons by the riverbank continued their methodical bombardment of the walltop; volley after volley of grapeshot hammered the battlements, punching holes into the rammed-earth wall as the defenders crouched behind the parapets, too afraid to raise their heads.

This was Li Laochai's first battle since merging forces, and he hoped to earn some merit.

The merger itself, truth be told, still puzzled him. After witnessing the Lion Battalion's fighting strength, Li Laochai had concluded that throwing in his lot with Liu the Lion was a way forward.

That was why he had wholeheartedly made himself a tool, scraping together three thousand dan of grain and fodder to settle his debt, and then lingered at Lion Bay, refusing to leave.

His original plan had been to curry favor through the Liu family patriarch, have Fourth Master put in a good word for him, and get Liu the Lion to take him in.

After all, his own band fell far short of the Lion Battalion in both fighting strength and discipline.

But he never imagined that Fourth Master would directly absorb him into the Yu Battalion, break up his men, and give him only the establishment of a squad leader.

That aside, though, he really had learned quite a lot.

Take storming a city, for instance. Back when he and Tian Jin'an had besieged Heshui, they'd built over seventy long ladders, lined an entire face of the wall with them, and sent two thousand-man companies swarming up like ants.

They'd been battered witless by rockfalls and rolling logs and couldn't climb up at all.

Here, after merging, Grand Marshal Liu's battalion headquarters had given him just one order: lead his unit to the southern end of the east gate, cover a siege wagon as it raised its ramp to the walltop, form a hundred-man company as the first to ascend, and feign an assault on the wall.

The remaining four hundred men were to wait off to the side with three long ladders, supported by grapeshot from the cannons behind, doing their utmost to keep the defenders on the wall from pouring arrows down on them.

Liu Chengzong had told him that a long ladder with scant protection was not meant to be thrown directly against a city wall.

You had to wait until friendly forces had blasted a gap in the defenders above, and wherever no enemy remained, that was where you set the long ladder.

Storming a city, too, was divided into several complex waves.

In the first wave, Zhang Tianlin at the north gate, along with Little White and Little Black, and Zhong Hu's Lion Battalion unit at the south wall, would all hold back from the assault.

The main attacking force consisted of Li Laochai on the southern section outside the east gate and Feng Rang on the northern section, each side equipped with several long ladders and one siege wagon.

In this first wave, both the northern and southern sections were tasked with a feint attack.

Assigned to the southern section of the wall, Li Laochai had at first been deeply resentful. A feint attack — wasn't that just throwing lives away?

But Liu Chengzong had said no, a feint attack was not throwing lives away; its purpose was to pin down the enemy, so casualties were likely to be lighter. It was during the breakthrough that casualties would be heaviest.

Bang! Bang!

Several firelances cracked. The siege wagon was nearing its designated position; atop it, the cannon-squad musketeers on three sides, wielding cut-down three-eyed guns, were already exchanging fire with the enemy on the wall.

They took a direct volley of arrows and massed arquebus fire from the defenders on the walltop.

The defenders, battered by cannon fire until they could not lift their heads, overreacted the moment they saw the siege wagon extend its scaling ramp.

Amid a string of hissing gunpowder fuses, they ignited a divine-machine rocket cart. As thick smoke billowed up from the walltop, over a hundred rockets shot out of the haze, spraying wildly toward the siege wagon.

The shrieking of the rockets made every hair on Li Laochai's body stand on end. He stood with his men before the lower ladder of the siege wagon.

Li Laochai had no choice; he had to lead the ascent himself. His men had never seen such a frenzied bombardment of artillery and rockets, and their morale was shattered — even if they climbed up, they would only retreat again.

Huang Shengxiao stood beneath the siege wagon, unfurled the blue flag coiled in his hand, and waved it toward the artillery by the riverbank.

Soon, the Lion gunner responsible for this section of the wall waved a flag in reply and said to Li Laochai, "Squad Leader Li, ascend!"

Li Laochai nodded heavily, turned to the hundred-man vanguard company, and bellowed, "The Grand Marshal's order: the first five men onto the wall, if you want grain, a hundred dan reward; if you want silver, five hundred taels! Follow me!"

With that, in the lull after the divine-machine rocket cart on the walltop had emptied its one hundred and eighty rockets, he turned, raised his great shield, and climbed the ladder.

The soldiers behind him followed step by step, each holding a shield in one hand as they scaled the ladder.

Just then, the defenders at a gap in the wall pushed a light general cannon to a crenel. Two men, one on each side, lifted the flatbed gun carriage, aimed it downward, and fired.

Li Laochai watched helplessly as the muzzle swung toward him and shouted, "Jump!"

He was the first to leap from the side of the scaling ramp.

Some soldiers behind him had no time to jump. With a thunderous boom, dozens of grapeshot pellets sprayed down at an angle, instantly blasting several assault infantrymen off the scaling ladder.

Li Laochai had jumped a moment too late; a hole was punched through his shield, and an iron pellet tore a chunk of flesh from his leg. He regrouped with several soldiers who had also leaped from the ramp at the rear of the formation, still shouting hoarsely, "While they're reloading, storm it!"

But right after, from a projecting flanking wall, several defending archers and crossbowmen loosed a volley of arrows from the side, once again knocking soldiers off the scaling ladder.

Then a fresh divine-machine rocket cart was hauled to a crenel by several defenders. They lit the fuse, propped it up, and angled it downward.

Rockets, some flying true and others tumbling wildly, shot chaotically below the wall. Huang Shengxiao fired his gun and dropped one defender who was carrying the rocket cart; the cart jerked upward and sent its remaining twenty or thirty rockets streaking toward the riverbank.

But it was too late. Below the wall, Li Laochai's unit had already been scattered by the rockets flying in all directions and could only regroup.

The first-wave assault on the southern section of the wall had been thoroughly repulsed.

The situation on the northern section was much the same; Feng Rang's soldiers were equally unable to breach the firepower net woven by the defenders' firearms with mere flesh and blood.

Yet atop the earthen hill, Liu Chengzong, who had been watching the enemy's movements from his commanding height, now revealed a smile of relief.

He lowered his telescope and said to those beside him, "The defenders on the south wall have already shifted troops to the east wall. Zhong Bao, go south and signal your brother. Have the Center Squad begin their assault on the south of the city."

"Sanlang, take a few men and relay the order: tell every unit that once they gain the wall, they are to secure full control of it. Anyone who loots without authorization will be beheaded."

"Shipan, take thirty household guards in heavy armor, blend into Li Laochai's unit on the southern section of the east wall, and storm the city. Once on top, push north. Shiyou, wait below the wall. For every five paces your brother advances, set a long ladder at a gap and climb up."

The Han brothers cupped their fists and accepted the order. Liu Chengzong then asked, "A hundred dan of grain or five hundred taels of silver as reward — which do you two want, grain or silver?"

"I want grain."

"I want grain."

The two brothers demanded grain in unison. Liu Chengzong smiled. "Fine. Breach the wall and open a gap — that will be the reward."

The brothers' faces lit up with joy. They clasped their fists. "Many thanks, Grand Marshal!"

"Wear your armor properly and keep your shields up. Watch out for the firearms on the wall."

The two men acknowledged the order and descended the earthen mound. They led their personal troops in adding a layer of mail beneath their cotton armor, then each took up his weapons and led the unit to join Li Laochai's newly regrouped assault force.

Cao Yao had seen through the truth of the Divine Mechanism arrows on the wall. Those rockets were terrifying in sound and fury, their trajectories flat — but there was a problem.

When the soldier moving the rocket cart was struck down by Huang Shengxiao, the rockets streaked in a line across the northern bank of the moat, reaching maximum speed above the water, then immediately lost their momentum.

In the end they slanted down into the moat, or else fell at a speed the artillerymen could catch with their hands as the rockets landed beside them.

Together with the red-barbarian cannon's long-range scattered shot, it made for a well-matched pecking contest between two fledglings.

Cao Yao clapped his hands. "Not too bad. Well-made, but probably manufactured a few years ago — the saltpeter's gone off."

Liu Chengzong thought that "saltpeter gone off" was something you said about leather, but he understood — it meant the rockets had expired.

It should have been a deadly threat, but the artillerymen had no other options. Those with shields raised them; those with weapons used them to parry; those with nothing ducked, twisted, and dodged. When all else failed, they just caught them with their bare hands.

And some really did catch them.

The arrow tail clutched in a man's hand, the powder in the front cartridge not yet burned out, the saltpeter gone bad — it sputtered and smoked in fitful bursts.

Li Laochai's troops had already broken in morale, but then the scattered bandits turned their heads and saw the riverside artillerymen clutching rockets as if holding Liu Guoneng himself. In an instant, their fear of those sputtering rockets vanished.

In the blink of an eye, they turned back into the fierce bandits who had once terrorized Yanqing.

At last they were able to regroup. Those with bows loosed arrows at the wall; those with firearms blazed wildly at the battlements. And with the riverside lion cannons firing two well-timed shots, they seized back the momentum once more.

By the time the Han brothers arrived with their household troops in mail over cotton armor, the army's morale was thoroughly steadied.

Han Shipan came up and let loose a blistering tirade. "Why aren't you using the wooden screens? Isn't this just throwing lives away?"

Li Laochai's leg burned with searing pain. Far from making him fearful, it only filled him with fury. He tore off his headscarf and hurled it to the ground.

"Your daddy's! Today I don't care what it takes — I'm earning that hundred dan of grain!"

He abandoned his shield, stuffed his two melon hammers into his lower back, picked two men to shield him from the front, and scaled the ladder bare-handed, gritting his teeth as he charged up again.

Han Shiyou slipped into the assault cart, crouching inside with his bow. Using the two wooden doors as cover from the arrows and bullets on the wall, he waited for the right moment, loosed a hidden arrow, then ducked back down.

His arrows were vicious and lethal — broad-headed, five-fen pincer arrows. Striking the neck, they seemed ready to shear a man's head clean off. A few shots were enough to terrify the defenders on the wall into staying hidden.

The wooden screen carts below the wall were finally in place. Several household troops braced the main beam, suspending the wooden screen before the scaling ladder to shield against arrows and shot from the front.

Boom — a cannon on the wall fired. This time it did not penetrate the wooden screen, but the blast sent the suspended screen snapping backward violently, sweeping one of the soldiers shielding Li Laochai off the ladder. He crashed to the ground, half-dead.

Li Laochai saw he was only a few steps from the top. He drew his two golden melons from his lower back, gripped them in his hands, and pointed down at the wall, cursing. "Get that wooden door out of my way!"

The moment the wooden screen was pulled aside, Li Laochai burst from the ladder — and came face to face with the wide-eyed defenders trying to shift the general cannon. He stepped onto the muzzle and leaped, bringing a melon hammer smashing into a defender's face and sending him sprawling. "You dumb melon!"

But the glory lasted only a second. Several short spears thrust at him, nearly skewering Li Laochai on the battlements. Luckily his leg was wounded; when he landed he couldn't hold himself up and dropped straight to his knees, giving all the gentlemen a New Year's kowtow — and that was how he dodged those spearheads.

The spear-wielding defenders all froze. What... what was he here for?

They had never seen anyone storm the wall and start by kowtowing.

In that single moment of stunned hesitation, Li Laochai's fierce bandits poured through the breach in a stream, swinging blades and hammers as they leaped into the defenders' formation on the wall, cutting down the nearby defenders in seconds.

Right after, a cannon boomed from the flank. The soldier holding the match was petrified — he had no idea why the cannon had ignited. The blast not only knocked down Li Laochai's men one after another, but also sent several defenders sprawling.

Li Laochai let out a yelp. This time he truly could not stand up again.

When Han Shipan led his troops onto the wall, the area around the breach had been so devastated by that cannon blast that barely anyone was left standing.

All he saw was Li Laochai, butt sticking up, blood still seeping from his rear, dragging himself along the ground on his elbows with a melon hammer in hand, crawling over to each downed defender and smashing them with a blow.

On the southeast section of the wall, defending troops were massing to both north and south. But Zhong Hu's unit on the south wall had also fought their way up. Han Shipan immediately gave the order to spread the formation and push east.

From the assault cart, Han Shiyou shouted, "Brother! Seize that Nest of Bees!"

Han Shipan heard his brother's voice and followed the direction he was pointing from the assault cart. There, on a projecting barbican wall nearby, a Divine Mechanism arrow cart sat all alone, surrounded by several arrow-riddled corpses. The defenders had already fled east.

He immediately led his men to capture that Nest of Bees, grabbed a torch, pushed it to the south side, and fired it at the massing defenders.

Amid the rising smoke, over a hundred rockets shot wildly across the wall, blanketing forty paces in smoke and dust.

Given the powder charge of Divine Mechanism arrows, the rockets should have cleared at least a hundred paces of the wall. Han Shipan was so furious he kicked the arrow cart over, cursing. "Shoddy, corner-cutting junk!"

Still, it scared the defenders there badly enough. They threw down their weapons and fled toward the south wall. Someone dropped a torch that ignited a powder keg, turning himself into light atop the wall.

Zhong Hu's unit on the south wall vaulted over the parapet and made straight for the horse path leading to the east wall, trapping the defenders trying to flee down from the wall. With no other way out, the defenders lost the courage for a fight to the death. Starting with the first man who laid down his weapon, over a hundred men surrendered en masse.

At the gap Han Shipan had torn open, one long ladder after another was raised against the wall. More and more assault troops climbed up unthreatened, forming battle lines atop the wall.

Feng Rang's unit on the northern section of the east wall likewise coordinated assault carts and wooden screens. After the southern section of the wall fell, they easily broke through a gap on the wall, then charged swiftly toward the inner gate tower like wolves and wild boars, cutting the defenders' lines apart and turning the barbican into an isolated island.

Several soldiers chasing fleeing defenders charged down from the wall. No one knew what happened, but a chain of explosions erupted in the empty barbican. Amid the showering clods of earth, a cloud of smoke rose from the barbican.

The man who truly sealed this battle's victory was Li Laochai, butt sticking up as he dragged himself to the horse path leading down from the wall.

He used his own backside to trip the county magistrate, and dragged down the fleeing county instructor as well.

When Han Shipan caught up, all he saw was Li Laochai smashing his golden melon hammer again and again into the flagstones beside the magistrate. "Still running? Still running? I'll teach you to step on me, you dumb melon!"