Chapter 463: Reinforcements

Boom— the cannons roared.

Liu Chengzong watched his own cannonball slam into the Jiayu Pass battlements and let out a silent sigh in his heart.

His call for the garrison to surrender was mere routine; slaughtering sheep and cattle before the pass was only to sap the defenders' morale. Deep down, he knew better than anyone that the Jiayu Pass garrison would not surrender.

Since the founding of the Great Ming's Nine Border Garrisons, there had indeed been many major defeats, but never a civil official who surrendered without a fight — and among border generals who surrendered without a fight, there had been only one: Li Yongfang, the Mobile Corps Commander of Fushun.

Jiayu Pass carried the halo of never having been breached since its construction. The garrison here could not possibly surrender to him so easily. Liu Chengzong, himself a former border soldier, trusted the professional integrity of these old comrades.

But what he truly hadn't expected was that the defending commander up on Jiayu Pass was just as hard-headed. The Marshal's Army stewed meat outside the pass, partly to flaunt their wealth and provisions — and in response, the Jiayu Pass commander set up huge cauldrons on the wall, hung sheep from the gate tower, and slaughtered and butchered them right there on the spot.

Both sides ate a hearty meal. One side mobilized in force, the other brimmed with soaring morale. A bitter fight was unavoidable; they could only communicate through cannon fire.

The two sides traded several salvos of heavy artillery. Liu Chengzong, atop the earthen mound, watched through his telescope for a moment, then turned to Cao Yao and said, "It seems Suzhou truly has no shortage of gunpowder. Jiayu Pass's artillerymen are firing accurately and fast — they're well-trained, all of them quite skilled."

Cao Yao, also peering through a telescope, grunted in acknowledgment, then nodded. "Their cannons are a bit inferior. The court has never valued northwest attack-and-defense cannons. Up on the pass, the only pieces that can trade fire with us are four Invincible Great Generals and twelve Great Generals. Once we suppress those, we can bring up the light cannons to tear down the sheep-and-horse wall."

Ming-dynasty cannons always had a variety of designations, but by the Chongzhen reign, large cannons were classified by use into three types: battle cannons, assault cannons, and defense cannons.

Battle cannons were field guns, mostly relatively light. Assault cannons had shorter caliber-to-bore ratios, divided into direct-fire and curved-fire, and were siege cannons. Defense cannons were heavier, and the distance from the touchhole to the trunnions was only half the distance from the trunnions to the muzzle, making the barrel slope downward — designed for plunging fire from the wall.

But cannons with this clear classification were mostly deployed on the militarily pressured Liaodong front and the Xuan-Da defense line. The cannons at Jiayu Pass were all old relics from the Qi Jiguang era.

The Ming army of that era had no need to assault cities. The largest field guns were nothing more than Qi Jiguang's Invincible Great General and Ye Mengxiong's Great General Cannon. The former, in its standard specification, was a 1,050-jin breech-loading Frankish cannon; the latter was a 1,000-jin forged cannon.

These two old cannon types were the main heavy artillery of Jiayu Pass. Liu Chengzong was no stranger to them either — Li Bei had used smaller versions of these very things to fight him at Yan'an Prefecture.

Yet no look of delight appeared on Liu Chengzong's face. Gaining the upper hand in an artillery duel at one li outside the pass was entirely within his expectations.

The Marshal's Headquarters had comprehensive production capability in artillery. When attacking the Eight-Cornered City held by Taiji Choktu, they had even cast cannons on the spot outside the city walls. They also had veteran gunners from the Ming army and a self-sufficient gunpowder production base.

Advanced equipment, ample gunpowder, thorough training, specialized personnel — the Marshal's Headquarters had no reason to lose the artillery bombardment phase.

What truly worried him was the assault on the city itself, because Jiayu Pass was a formidable stronghold he needed to breach quickly. He could not afford to besiege it for months.

Attacking Jiayu Pass was not only a shock to Gansu but also a means of flaunting military might before Oirat nobles like Baatur Khong Tayiji. The four battalions under Liu Chengzu — two Tianshan Garrison battalions and two Mongol battalions — could only remain at Jiayu Pass for one month.

After one month, they had to set out for the Tianshan Mountains. Otherwise, the four Tianshan battalions' own carried provisions would run out, and they would have to start eating into the provisions of Liu Chengzong's main five battalions.

The moment these men began eating the main battalions' grain, it would declare Liu the Lion's Gansu campaign plan a total failure, and they would have no choice but to return to Qinghai the way they came.

Thus, Liu Chengzong's anxiety stemmed mainly from the scale of the reinforcements heading for Jiayu Pass.

The Marshal's Headquarters held the advantage in the artillery duel. Prolonged bombardment could weaken the defensive fortifications to the greatest extent, gaining an edge for the next phase of the direct assault.

But at the same time, this was a double-edged sword. Relying on bombardment to degrade the defenses required a great deal of time, and reinforcements from east of Jiayu Pass would arrive one after another, bringing trouble for the assault.

Still, at least for the moment, the situation did not look bad.

Liu Chengzong signaled to Cao Yao and said, "Let's go down. The garrison's cannons can't reach us. They'll get desperate soon — an overcharged load could send a ball our way."

Having fought the Ming army many times, Liu the Lion had come to understand the habits of Ming gunners. These fellows would casually double the powder charge, and sometimes it was quite terrifying.

Cao Yao readily followed suit. As he descended the mound with Liu the Lion, he asked, "How do you plan to breach the pass?"

"The usual way. First tear down the sheep-and-horse wall, then use cannonballs to knock off all the battlements on the gate fort and the suspended wall. If we can take the gate fort by direct assault, that's best. If not... if not, we'll just have to storm the suspended wall. Get inside first, then figure things out."

The "suspended wall" Liu Chengzong referred to was the Great Wall sections north and south of Jiayu Pass that connected the cliffs and crags to the high mountains and desert. Crossing into the pass over the Great Wall was relatively easier, but it still couldn't avoid the encirclement of the Jiayu Pass gate fort itself.

Therefore, Liu Chengzong planned to trade artillery fire for the rest of the day, send men to breach the suspended wall tomorrow, and then thrust cavalry into Suzhou to block the reinforcements from the east.

Having said this, Liu Chengzong descended the earthen mound and ordered the messenger beside him: "Send word to the Tianshan Garrison and the Dzungar Battalion. Order them to advance to the front of the formation, and at six hundred paces from the wall, construct ten earthen mounds four zhang high, spaced one li apart from south to north."

The walls of Jiayu Pass were three zhang high. Liu Chengzong needed to build earthen mounds four zhang high outside the city in order to see the horse track on the other side of the wall. The battlements on the outer side of the horse track were the positions the artillery needed to concentrate fire to destroy.

As for having his elder brother and those four Oirat battalions do the earthwork, it was because they didn't need to participate in the battle. Their presence on the battlefield was merely to swell the numbers. Saving their strength served no purpose, so having them dig earthworks and trenches could at least be considered not wasting provisions.

The foremost virtue of the Marshal's Headquarters was this: so long as a person was alive, provisions must absolutely not be wasted — because every mouthful of grain that person ate was saved only because someone else in this world had starved to death in their place.

In truth, however, at this very moment, it was Ding Guodong on the other side of Jiayu Pass who felt this truth more keenly.

Before opening fire, the Marshal's Army had slaughtered seventy-two sheep outside the pass. This was nothing to them, because it was precisely the marching rations Liu Chengzong had prepared for the Marshal's Headquarters troops. They had eaten this way the entire journey from the various garrison-pasture camp stations.

In fact, because they had left the pasturelands of the garrison-pasture camps, their supply of livestock had already diminished. During the march, anyone could eat live animals, but outside Jiayu Pass, only the troops preparing for combat could get fresh meat.

To maintain morale on this long-distance campaign, Liu the Lion had spent a fortune. The eight Qinghai garrison-pasture camps would face a lean period in grazing for the next two years.

But for Ding Guodong, the Mobile Corps Commander of Jiayu Pass, it didn't look that way. The enemy was slaughtering sheep and cattle outside the pass — such an obvious provocation and insult. He couldn't show weakness, so he immediately sent men to commandeer over thirty sheep from nearby herders and slaughtered them on the spot.

He bought them — he spent money. It was just that he wanted to buy, and the herders didn't want to sell, still counting on these animals to bear lambs. So it was a forced purchase.

Ding Guodong had no other choice. Jiayu Pass was extremely well-stocked with defensive equipment; the biggest vulnerability was the men. Once the soldiers lost morale, there would be nothing left.

He could have requisitioned livestock from Suzhou Garrison, but that would take half a day to arrive. And the most critical issue was that buying thirty head of livestock at Jiayu Pass was something he could afford, but requisitioning livestock from Suzhou Garrison was a price he could not pay.

These lambs, at market price, were only thirty or forty taels of silver. But once the various relief columns arrived, if he requisitioned livestock again, the number needed would be far greater.

Seeing the Marshal's Headquarters' artillery pinning the garrison troops on the wall so they couldn't raise their heads, and even the artillerymen's return fire slowing by half a beat, Ding Guodong was nearly frantic with anxiety.

The Pass-Defending Battalion Commander Hei Chengyin was also beside himself with urgency. Hunched over, he ran all the way behind the battlements and said, "General, the Foolish Khan's cannons are fearsome. If we keep trading fire like this, the cannons on the pass will sooner or later be smashed. Let me lead light cavalry out of the city to destroy a few of his guns!"

"You must not play the foolhardy hero!"

Ding Guodong grew agitated the moment he heard this. Pointing at Hei Chengyin, he said, "You stay put on the pass. Do not dare leave the city. Their cavalry is just waiting for you to come out!"

He could recognize it: the enemy artillery position outside the city was an open conspiracy. That row of brass cannons was blatantly superior in performance to the antique guns on the wall, precisely meant to lure them out of the city to destroy the guns.

This was the consistent style of Ming military men: Here's your grandfather's head — come and take it if you've got the skill.

"Then, General, do we just watch as they smash all our cannons to pieces?" Hei Chengyin said urgently. "We have to think of something!"

The cannons on the pass were all fine pieces capable of firing one li, even two li. But for accurate shooting, the range was only one hundred, two hundred, three hundred paces. Beyond that distance, they couldn't hit precisely.

Moreover, the enemy had piled up earth in front of their gun emplacements. Hei Chengyin had no idea what material that earth was, but even if a blind cat stumbled upon a dead rat, cannonballs hitting it simply couldn't penetrate.

The reverse was not true. Those thousand-jin heavy cannons outside the city, firing a single salvo at five hundred paces, could knock off at least two of their battlements. Once the battlements were shattered, the gun emplacements had to be moved. Moving like this, sooner or later a cannon would be struck and damaged by a cannonball.

Not to mention that their cannons were indeed all advanced in years. In this artillery duel where the few faced the many, the stress of overheating was far too great for the sixteen old generals on the pass.

"Think of something — what is there to think of? The relief troops are long overdue."

Ding Guodong cursed under his breath. The encampments of the relief columns were a damn thirty or forty li from Jiayu Pass. The two armies had been facing off and exchanging cannon fire for half a day — if his grandfather were still alive, he'd have arrived by now even leaning on a cane.

"Hold on. Hold on until they assault the walls, then kill their momentum in close combat." Ding Guodong said to Hei Chengyin, "Don't let the Marshal's Headquarters look down on us border garrison troops."

They held no advantage in the artillery duel, but in close-quarters combat atop the wall, Ding Guodong had full confidence — at least within three days — that he could send the Marshal's Headquarters home with broken wings.

Hei Chengyin also thought this was feasible. He waved over Company Commander Huozhe Hazhi and said, "Have your men fetch the naphtha. Don't lower the portcullis at the gate. When a few hundred of them charge into the barbican, set it ablaze and burn them to death!"

That was one way to do it.

Ding Guodong reckoned that the enemy troops had just arrived and their morale was at its peak. If they could win a victory at the barbican and take the edge off the enemy's spirit, a fire attack would be the most fitting.

Because the most abundant specialty product of the Jiuquan region was petroleum, called rock-brain oil in this era.

Jiuquan was the first city in ancient China to apply petroleum in defensive warfare. In the first year of the Xuanzheng reign of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou, the soldiers and civilians of Jiuquan used petroleum to burn the siege engines of the great Turkic army, thereby turning peril into safety.

In the Ming dynasty, the existence of deep wells enabled better petroleum extraction capabilities. Jiuquan had a whole series of specialty products derived from petroleum, such as lampblack ink from burned petroleum, lamp oil for illumination, waterproof and anti-corrosion paint, asphalt, lubricating oil for cart and chariot axles, and fierce-fire oil for the battlefield.

Fire attack was the Jiayu Pass garrison's advantage.

Ding Guodong did not reject the proposal to burn the assaulting troops to death in the barbican, but he gave Hei Chengyin a very clear yet baffling order: "Unless the relief force arrives, do not unleash the fire."

But Hei Chengyin understood. With great solemnity, he performed a military salute and said, "Rest assured, General. This humble officer understands. We don't have to use it, but we must let them know we have fire oil."

In truth, the Jiayu Pass garrison had no desire to fight the Marshal's Manor at all. They were indeed well-trained, but apart from the officers, few men on the wall had personally experienced war. To the garrison, war was merely a romanticized frontier poem.

The Gansu border troops did endure hardship. Provisions and fodder arrived late here, and they often went hungry. But the Hexi Corridor suffered only desertification, not severe drought. What they experienced was merely the treatment the Yansui and Xuanda border troops had received during the Tianqi reign—nothing too serious.

Nor did they possess the iron-hearted ruthlessness born of those drought years in northern Shaanxi, where whether soldier or bandit, one had to kill to survive.

In their view, the border troops and the Qinghai Marshal's Manor had no past grievances or recent enmity. Soldiers attacking and defending a city were merely serving their respective masters—they had no choice. But when it came down to it, the soldiers on both sides were all men of Shaanxi. Going back to the Tianqi years, they might well have stood in the same military formation at Huamachi during the autumn defense.

The general gives an order, and the common soldier attacks cities and seizes strongholds. If he earns merit, it's good luck; if he dies, it's bad luck. War always brings death, and a soldier eating the army's grain is mentally prepared for that. But they could at least choose how the enemy died.

Hei Chengyin could understand. He had proposed using fierce-fire oil because at a critical juncture, he could not let his own men die. But putting himself in the other's shoes, blade slashes, spear thrusts, gunshots, cannon bombardments—none of that mattered. The one thing he absolutely did not want was to be poisoned or burned to death... Death was death, but that was a miserable way to go.

So he could treat fierce-fire oil as the final defensive measure before the city fell. To him, this war was already a tragedy of brothers fighting brothers.

But Ding Guodong was a commander who had risen from the ranks of common soldiers. His thinking held no such sympathy. He was utterly dispassionate; this was merely an account to be tallied on an abacus.

If the relief force arrived, Jiayu Pass could hold. Burn what needed burning, blast what needed blasting with poison smoke and explosives—any way of fighting was fine. If he earned battle merit, he could gain promotion and wealth, and his brothers could eat something decent.

Government troops fighting rebels—that was perfectly just and proper.

There was only one reason he refused to use fierce-fire oil. If the relief force did not arrive and they went all out with every weapon, striking with ruthless ferocity, they would burn away all sentiment born of the same roots in a single blaze. And if Jiayu Pass still fell in the end, where would the rebels, seething with fury from top to bottom, vent their rage?

They would massacre the city.

And that was the problem right here. Where was the relief force?

The cannon fire atop the wall still boomed. Several fast horses bearing signal flags galloped from the direction of Suzhou. They raced to the pass fortress, found Ding Guodong, and prostrated themselves, reporting: "General Ding, the relief force... the relief force cannot come."

"They...?"

Ding Guodong was so choked up he could not speak. He heard the messenger cavalryman say: "Several thousand enemy troops have charged into Ganzhou, passed Gaotai, and raided Maying Fort. The blade of their advance points straight at Suzhou. Adjutant Zhao assembled troops this morning to rush east to reinforce the Golden Buddha Temple. The Jinta Temple Fort outside the pass to the north has also been besieged by Tatar troops. Suzhou has only seven hundred soldiers left. They say for three to five days, there will be no relief force."