Chapter 362: Despicable

Cannonballs gouged up great swaths of earth, bounced twice, and smashed into the trench amid the sound of splintering timbers.

Tang Tong leaned back against the earthen trench, tilted his face up and shut his eyes tight, letting out a long breath. He didn't care about the wrecked gun carriage; an idle thought just rose in his mind — if he made it through this battle alive, he was definitely going to find a good wife and have a whole brood of children.

This was the first campaign of his life to experience heavy artillery trading bombardments.

Tang Tong's time in the army was very short; he had only joined up around the time Liu Chengzong followed his elder brother and left Fish River Fort.

He was from Jingyang in Xi'an Prefecture, a place where people generally did not enlist, because the Jingyang, Sanyuan, and Hancheng region was a major commercial hub, the wealthiest area in the Northwest — common folk could make a better living doing almost anything else than being a soldier.

In the early years of this great drought that was just beginning to sweep the realm, northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong, due to different climatic conditions, played different roles, and the people on the land met different fates.

Tang Tong's family had fertile fields and tea houses, and their own horse-caravan tea trading company. He joined the army precisely because Yang Yao, Wang Wenxiu, and that bunch of mutinous border troops from Guyuan came to plunder Weibei, and later came Wang Zuogua's peasant army — the region had boiled over into utter chaos.

With everyone feeling imperiled, Tang Tong, who had studied martial arts and letters since childhood, stepped forward, leading his family's hired guards to defend the village. Later, he simply took those guards and joined Zhang Quanchang's unit.

Although Tang Tong was now an officer of Yansui Garrison, before this he had always been with the Guanzhong army. The hardest hurdle for a soldier is going from common soldier to Squad Commander; at that stage, as a frontline commander, the mortality rate is extremely high.

Many men got stuck at the position of Hundred-Commander and died there.

But because the timing and location of Tang Tong's enlistment were both very favorable, within his first two years in the army, he had already leaped over that hurdle thanks to help from a benefactor. His benefactor was not some high official or prominent noble of Guanzhong, but a rebel king from northern Shaanxi, called Wang Zuogua.

If one could say that Liu Chengzong fed and raised Yan'an Mobile Corps Commander Yang Yanchang, then Wang Zuogua nursed Tang Tong through the adolescence of his military career.

In the eyes of government troops, the early rebel kings of northern Shaanxi each had very distinct territories and personalities: Lion Liu was fierce in battle, Gao Yingxiang was skilled at hiding, Wang Jiayin gnawed relentlessly at the northern border wall, and Zuogua Zi would even sell his own head to worm his way south to Hancheng.

The most important mission of Tang Tong's first two years in the army was defending Hancheng.

The first time Wang Zuogua attacked Hancheng, Tang Tong was still a common soldier; by the time Wang Zuogua's third attack on Hancheng was over, Tang Tong was already a Squad Commander.

So although Tang Tong later crossed swords with various peasant army factions from northern Shaanxi, his breadth of experience as a Mobile Corps General was far, far inferior to his colleagues at Yulin.

He had never seen a battle where two armies faced off and bombarded each other with artillery for an entire day.

For others, this was a grueling campaign, but for Tang Tong, it was a rare and precious learning opportunity.

He watched as the Marshal's Headquarters concentrated twelve heavy cannons, using precise volleys to pick off their heavy cannons exposed outside the trenches one by one, using seven-jin shot to destroy gun carriages and bend barrels.

He also watched the government army's Heaven's Will General Cannons, arrayed in dispersed horizontal lines, firing communal master-and-grape shot in alternating volleys, suppressing the artillerymen on the wall so hard they couldn't lift their heads.

Relying on communal master-and-grape shot and trenches, the government troops forcibly neutralized their range disadvantage, pushing the battle line forward until, across the Huang River, their falconets could bombard the earthen fort.

The terrifying artillery duel lasted two full days. Just as Tang Tong was crouched in the trench, clutching the life-saving talisman his mother had begged for him and praying that the artillery duel would never end, You Shilu's messengers scurried through the trenches, bringing word that the Commander-in-Chief was summoning the officers for a council of war.

Though the cannonade shook heaven and earth, pounding hearts and livers until they quivered, the government troops had the protection of trenches and the Marshal's Headquarters had the advantage of the earthen fort's height. Both sides traded four or five hundred rounds a day, yet very few men actually died from it.

Still, what was meant to come could not be avoided.

As soon as Tang Tong withdrew from the front line and headed for the main army command tent in the rear, he saw on the road pock-faced soldiers pushing shielded assault carts toward the front, and weakened soldiers breaking out in pox gathering toward the isolation camp. He knew then that the time for the general assault was near.

In the clearing before the main command tent, the three Garrison Commanders addressed the officers of every rank. On the table lay several cannonballs of different sizes.

You Shilu said that the Marshal's Headquarters' artillery had been firing volleys at a decreasing rate since the afternoon, and the cannonballs retrieved from the front line were all one-jin shot fired from falconets, with only a few three-jin shot among them.

The three Commanders-in-Chief unanimously agreed: the moment of opportunity had come.

It was not that the three Garrison Commanders believed Liu Chengzong had run out of cannonballs — Liu Chengzong, who held most of Hehuang, would not lack for cannonballs; at most, there was a problem with his supply transport.

In fact, compared to Liu Chengzong running out of cannonballs, the three Garrison Commanders were more inclined to believe that they themselves were the ones running out.

Because the government army was indeed short on cannonballs. The communal master-and-grape shot brought with the eight Heaven's Will General Cannons amounted to only ninety-six rounds, and had been completely expended the day before.

As for the real reason Liu Chengzong's rate of fire dropped, Tang Tong thought it was very likely because he felt he was taking a loss. In this artillery duel, both sides would feel they were taking a loss on ammunition.

At the start, the General Cannons fired communal master-and-grape shot and the Marshal's heavy cannons fired seven-jin shot. After a full day of firing yesterday, by today, the General Cannons were firing retrieved seven-jin shot, and the Marshal's heavy cannons were firing retrieved three-jin grape and one-jin master shot, occasionally even blasting out a spray of cluster grape.

A complete role reversal.

To the government army, rather than a sign that Liu Chengzong was out of ammunition, this looked more like Lintao Garrison Commander Wang Cheng'en had invaded Hehuang and cut Liu Chengzong's supply line.

To deal with Commander Wang of Lintao, Liu Chengzong had split his forces. Just yesterday, several thousand Tatar cavalry had gone roaring off to the west — powerful proof of this.

Was this not a moment of opportunity?

The three Garrison Commanders rubbed their hands in anticipation and gave the order for a full-frontal offensive from Hedong against Hexi.

Tang Tong, as one of the officers who had retreated in the previous engagement against Yang Yao's cavalry, was assigned to Zhang Hongye's northern assault force.

Hearing this mission, his heart turned colder than the weather in the twelfth month.

The Huang River bent several times at Hezui, putting almost the entire Hedong area on the river's southern bank.

Whether attacking from the southern stone bridge opposite the earthen fort or crossing the river from Hedong, they would face interdiction by the Marshal's Headquarters. The advantage, however, was that the battlefront was wide enough everywhere — except in the north.

In the north, they could cross the river at their leisure behind their own lines, but launching an assault on the Marshal's Headquarters after crossing would be even harder than defeating Yang Yao's cavalry head-on in open plains.

Because there, to the north lay steep, unscalable mountain slopes, and to the south stretched the hundred-pace-wide Huang River, with only a single country dirt road and a riverbank less than a hundred paces wide in between.

Two falconets firing grape in alternating volleys could seal off the entire route. Tang Tong listened, frantic with anxiety, yet the disgraced Mobile Corps Commander Zhang Hongye dared not so much as let out a fart, merely accepting the order with a dejected air.

Mobile Corps General Li Fuming, however, being a veteran Mobile Corps General of Yansui Garrison, explained the situation to You Shilu: the northern route was clearly terrain easy to defend and hard to attack. Cavalry could not move fast, infantry would be easy targets. Holding it would be easy, but taking it would be immensely difficult. He requested the Commander-in-Chief to reconsider.

You Shilu was very understanding, but refused to change the order... Who wasn't facing difficulties? The army south of the river had to seize the stone bridge under heavy enemy interdiction — wasn't that difficult? Or was it easy for the army in Hedong to force a crossing of the Huang River with cowhide rafts and warhorses?

This was the situation they faced. If they could not coordinate with the Lintao army now, the window of opportunity would vanish in an instant. If that led to the Lintao army's defeat, who could bear such responsibility?

Besides, the soldiers were already breaking out in pox. They had to fight a battle no matter what. Otherwise, it wouldn't do for only their own men to be pox-ridden while Liu Chengzong's army remained untouched.

While the government troops in Hedong were making large-scale maneuvers under cover of dusk, Liu Chengzong was inside the earthen fort, tallying the cannonballs the tribal soldiers had retrieved.

Just as You Shilu had anticipated, Lion Liu's ammunition was indeed not plentiful. Two days of ninety-four volleys had depleted half his cannonball reserves.

But after retrieving spent shot, Lion Liu was thrilled to discover that his cannonball reserves, far from decreasing since the start of the battle, had actually increased.

The communal master-and-grape shot the government army fired — master shot, grape, and even cluster grape — because they were all lead projectiles, were not only usable in his own firearms and cannons, but could even be quickly melted down and recast into the calibers he needed.

Whether arquebuses, heavy arquebuses, wall guns, or cannons — all of them could use it.

Lion Liu thought to himself, if he'd known the government army fought with this stuff, he wouldn't have had his men bring lead ingots. Damn heavy things.

Hearing the horn calls sounding from the wall, Liu Chengzong hurriedly ran up onto the fortifications and saw the government troops making massive maneuvers throughout the river valley. A smile couldn't help but spread across his face.

In Lion Liu's view, this had to be because he had withdrawn the Mongol contingent, causing the government army to misread the battle situation.

However, he did not think it was because Xie Erhu had gone west, but rather believed it was the result of him transferring all the Mongol troops to the western sector.

In truth, the government army had not detected Liu Chengzong moving Mongol troops west to assist in battle. Ridiculous as it was to say, although Liu Chengzong's transfer of Xie Erhu westward for battle support was done openly and brazenly, because it happened during the day when the government troops were all heads-down digging trenches, they missed this piece of intelligence.

On the contrary, it was after the tribal soldiers of the Marksmanship Camp who had been inoculated broke out in pox, when Liu Chengzong completed a covert maneuver of his positions under cover of dusk, that — because visibility was poor at dusk and the artillery's accuracy dropped so they did not fire — daring government scouts spotted it.

Liu Chengzong had been keeping careful track of when the Shooting Hunt Camp's tribal soldiers broke out in pox; in his mind that was the benchmark for when the government troops would break out, and he had always estimated the government troops would attack before the outbreak — but they never did, even after the outbreak, which left him somewhat regretful.

Originally, sending Yang Yao out was meant to take a bite out of the government troops' morale, but he never expected Yang Yao's combat performance to be so ferocious that it instead outright intimidated the government troops into paralysis.

Now, seeing the government troops finally making a move, Liu Chengzong was overjoyed. He ordered the Shooting Hunt Camp to garrison key points everywhere and designated Yang Yao's cavalry camp as the reserve force, ready to be thrown into the battle line at any moment.

Immediately afterward, he fell into bewilderment. He summoned Yang Yao, Huang Shengxiao, Basang, and the other commanders to confer... The government troops' movements looked like they intended to launch a full-scale offensive along the river, yet the current situation was entirely unsuited for a decisive battle.

Dusk was already falling. The Marshal's Manor army held the advantage of terrain. Simply crossing the Huang River would mean the government troops paying an enormous price. Even if their positions were swapped, Liu Chengzong could not guarantee he would not be beaten back before nightfall.

A general assault ought to begin in the morning, at the very least.

The several commanders shared the same bewilderment. They concluded that the government troops were not launching a general assault.

But if it was not a general assault, then what objective did the government troops' offensive aim to achieve? No one knew.

After a moment's thought, the men's faces hardened, one after another, into vicious glares: Those bastards are planning to poison the water!

To be honest, Liu Chengzong had considered that the spread of smallpox during the course of war was unavoidable, but he had never imagined smallpox being deliberately used as a weapon.

Realizing it belatedly, Yang Yao shook his head and said, "The Marshal is still too kind-hearted. They are utterly despicable."

"Me, kind-hearted? You've got that wrong. It's not that I'm kind-hearted."

Liu Chengzong gave a light laugh, but his expression gradually turned icy cold. "To us, smallpox is merely human pox — a pox that man can overcome. To the government troops, it is an inescapable seasonal pox sent by heaven. In that case, we can only harness heaven's mandate and use it. They are kind-hearted too."

Yang Yao shook his head, wanting to say more, but behind Liu Chengzong, Fan Sanlang's face was stern as she said, "General Yang, the Marshal taught me that in wartime, the greatest mercy is to adopt the best tactics to win at any cost, and to end the war as quickly as possible."

Liu Chengzong glanced approvingly at Sanlang and nodded slowly. "That is exactly what I mean. We are at war — kill or be killed. Whatever tactics the enemy uses, save the accusations of despicable conduct for after the victory. No matter what you say, dead men cannot talk back."

For Liu Chengzong, although he had never thought of using smallpox to infect the enemy, that was because the smallpox had not broken out on his side. His people's human pox was all minor smallpox, which had little infectious capability. Even if the enemy were infected, they would only catch the minor form.

It was not that he refused to use this tactic; in his strategy for this war, he had likewise factored the smallpox the government troops might contract as one of the considerations for weakening the enemy.

One could even say that a large part of the reason the government troops could not solve their smallpox problem was because of him.

If not for his army, which could cross the Huang River and strike at any moment, the government troops could have calmly inoculated their pox seedlings and waited until their soldiers were immune to smallpox before fighting this battle fairly.

But where on a battlefield does fairness ever exist?

"The enemy choosing this tactic is to our advantage. Huang Xiao, move the heavy cannons down from the city wall. Keep the pack horses harnessed to the guns and get them far away. Give the Frankish breech-loading cannons to the Shooting Hunt Camp... They are doomed to fail in their tactical objective."

As they spoke, the heavy cannons roared to life again. Horn calls rose and fell in waves. Soldiers waved flags of every color in the twilight, relaying intelligence that enemy troops were emerging from their trenches at every point.

The government troops were attacking along the entire line. Even east of the river, government soldiers were throwing cowhide rafts into the Huang River, preparing to cross, and cavalry was moving north, looking as if they intended to strike along the footpath at the base of the mountain.

This further solidified Liu Chengzong's suspicion that the government troops intended to spread poison. Under normal circumstances, with a breakthrough only at the stone bridge, it would be very difficult for the government troops to breach his defensive line.

Only by attacking along the entire line could the government troops possibly achieve local troop superiority on the battlefield and engage his army in close combat.

After all, with the Mongol troops having withdrawn to the west, the Marshal's Manor army did indeed suffer a disadvantage in battlefield troop strength. He had only ten thousand men, yet he had to deal with twenty thousand enemy soldiers.

That said, this was not a major problem for Liu Chengzong. By having Huang Shengxiao's men take the heavy cannons with them, he was already prepared to retreat westward if the situation turned sour. If it truly came to that, he would pull back west and throw Xie Erhu and the Mongol soldiers of Ahaidaiching's tribe, who were preparing for inoculation, into the fight as well.

"Their plan to infect me with smallpox is doomed to be a pipe dream."

As Liu Chengzong spoke, he could no longer suppress a smile. He spread his hands. "Every single soldier I have on the front line has already had smallpox!"