Chapter 492: No Move Surpasses Having a Move

The aftershocks of the great wave rolled and spread beyond the Marshal's Manor — not only in Taozhou, but in Gansu as well.

On the sixteenth day of the fourth month of the seventh year of Chongzhen, at the great siege camp outside Gaotai City, the main force personally led by Liu Chengzong had already besieged Gaotai City for twenty days.

In these twenty days, Yang Jiamo's army had sallied out of the city six times — sometimes forming up in large formations with their backs to the walls to offer battle, other times sending out small squads to destroy the siege engines being built.

But without exception, all six counterattacks were driven back fruitlessly under the assault of six thousand-jin cannons and sixty lion cannons.

On the fourteenth day of the siege, the Ming army's fifth sally even withstood the cannonade, but the commanding officer was wounded by a counter-charge of infantry under covering fire and was carried back into the city in utter disarray.

After that, the defenders on their sixth sally became birds startled by the mere twang of a bow — the moment the cannons roared, the craven government troops fled back into the city, utterly losing the ability to counterattack beyond the walls.

This enormously boosted the morale of the Marshal's Army. Men believed the moment for storming the city had come, and officers from every camp vied to request battle, yet Liu Chengzong avoided any mention of a direct assault, instead ordering the camps to calm their agitation and prepare patiently.

Every few days at the siege camp he would convene a council in his tent, letting the commanders of each camp freely discuss methods of assaulting, defending, and field battle, showing not the slightest sign of urgency.

By dusk of the twentieth day of the siege, even Cao Yao, who had been at Liu Chengzong's side all along, could no longer sit still. After hastily gulping down thin congee in his tent, he sent word to be announced and entered the central command tent. Seeing Liu Chengzong drinking congee, he asked, "Commander, are you truly not the least bit worried about He-Huang?"

Liu Chengzong, sitting cross-legged on a tiger skin, raised his head to glance at him, then continued slurping several mouthfuls of rice congee. He wiped the bowl clean with a piece of lamb-fat flatbread and ate it, and only then did he hum comfortably a couple of times, let out a breath, and smile. "Elder Brother is getting anxious?"

The news widely circulating among the Ming army — that Tri-Border Supreme Commander Hong Chengchou had captured Zhuanglang Garrison and was advancing on He-Huang — was no longer a secret in the Marshal's Army. The vast majority of the rank-and-file did not believe it, but officers at the rank of Regional Commander were generally half-convinced.

Cao Yao still bore the title of Deputy Regional Commander from when he had garrisoned Kangning Prefecture, the highest official rank among the Marshal's Army's campaigning generals. Although he did not personally command troops, he knew the capabilities of the Marshal's Manor's garrison forces very well.

For him, the news that Zhuanglang Garrison City had fallen to the Ming army required no doubt at all — it was only a matter of time. The idea that the Mongol-Tibetan allied forces could withstand the Ming army's heavy troop concentration was the false report that needed doubting.

Therefore, Cao Yao sighed very naturally. "I am anxious for you. You ought to be more anxious than I am."

"That's exactly right — I ought to be more anxious than anyone else in the entire army." Liu Chengzong said, "You have one wife in He-Huang; I have ten wives in He-Huang. If I'm not anxious, what are you all so anxious about!"

At these words, Cao Yao understood at once. Clearly, Liu Chengzong held the same attitude as he did toward the news of Zhuanglang Garrison City's fall — both regarded it as a certainty.

Watching Liu the Lion, as if nothing were the matter, gesture for him to sit down before him and even take a leather pouch to pour a bowl of milk tea and push it toward him, Cao Yao could only sit cross-legged on the tiger-skin mat, lean forward, and ask, "What are you thinking?"

Liu Chengzong grinned soundlessly, then said, "There are too many problems in my mind that I cannot solve. If I got anxious over every single thing, I would have died of anxiety back in the second year of Chongzhen, just after we walked out of Yuhe Fort."

Having said this, his face resumed a serious expression. "I've thought it over. There's no move to make."

"Eastward from here the road stretches over a thousand li, with seven more great cities and a hundred forts, all on the vital routes. We could break through, but it would take over a month. Our army's grain will run out on the twenty-fourth of the fifth month; slaughtering donkeys and mules would only stretch it to the end of the sixth month."

Liu Chengzong spoke these words rapidly and coherently; clearly this sequence had been repeated in his mind countless times. Only then did he ease his breath slightly and continue, "If we bypass the cities and march, our rear route will be severed, making it difficult to requisition grain from Suzhou. If we rush to the Zhuanglang River, we will arrive exactly out of grain. Even if He-Huang has defensive troops, unless the Ming army in Ganzhou is eliminated, we will be trapped in between."

"I believe the Marshal's Manor troops are accustomed to long expeditions. Even if the grain route is cut and we suffer pincer attacks, they could probably still fight their way out. But lacking cannon, ammunition, army provisions, and medicine, even under the most optimistic estimate, heavy losses among veteran officers and elite soldiers would be unavoidable. And would the war end just because we returned to He-Huang?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "The court will not extinguish the furnace and put out the fire just because they won one battle. Without an army, we cannot hold He-Huang even if we return. We could only retreat to Kangning, and then Kangning would be hard-pressed to be peaceful. A victorious army finds everyone surrendering at the mere sight of its banners; a defeated general finds only news of rebellion everywhere."

Cao Yao had been very anxious at first, but after hearing Liu Chengzong's words, even though they painted a doomsday-like picture for the Marshal's Manor, his inner urgency gradually faded.

He believed in the man before him. What he needed to confirm was only that this man had truly and seriously considered this matter.

Because just like every critical moment in the past, as long as Liu the Lion was seriously considering something, in the end he would surely lead them out along a path to survival — a path to survival better than anyone else's.

With that reassurance in his heart, he no longer needed to ask Liu the Lion what his plan was. He raised his bowl, drank the milk tea, and prepared to rise and take his leave, saying, "I understand. The Commander already has a settled strategy in mind."

"No need to rush off — it can hardly be called a settled strategy." Liu Chengzong reached out to stop him. "It is merely following the established sequence, unaffected by a secondary front. We are the main force. Even if He-Huang is taken, if we win, the whole board wins."

"The sixty thousand shi of grain from Suzhou will be fully requisitioned by the end of the fourth month, enough for three months' use. Huang Shengxiao's unit will finish casting new thousand-jin assault muskets in seven days, which will be transported to Gaotai in two days. Therefore, the direct assault on Gaotai will be in ten days. After that, we take Ganzhou before the seventh month, equalize the land and distribute fields, and the autumn grain will suffice for winter preparations. In early winter we take Liangzhou, then march out of Gulang Gorge to complete the encirclement."

Having said this, Liu Chengzong gestured emptily within the tent toward the direction of Gaotai City. "Gansu's Regional Commander and a Deputy Regional Commander are besieged inside this city. Once the cannons arrive and we destroy Yang Jiamo, the capture of the key towns of Ganzhou and Liangzhou is just a matter of days."

Cao Yao nodded slowly, his expression extraordinarily complex — not because Liu Chengzong's plan was particularly ingenious, but because this had been their plan all along, a plan known to every Regional Commander in the army.

What made his expression complex was this: planning something based on one's own conditions and putting oneself in the situation is easy — anyone in the world can do it. But executing a plan is hard, and fulfilling the conditions to execute a plan is even harder. Amidst the clamor and din of chaotic information, holding firm to one's conviction and executing the plan is harder still.

Yet Liu Chengzong showed no self-satisfaction at his firm conviction. On the contrary, he did not consider himself a man of iron will.

Even if his heart were iron and stone, his parents and wives were all in He-Huang. If there were any way to fly his army back to He-Huang as a formed unit, he would abandon the territory conquered in Gansu without hesitation and fly back to He-Huang, even if the cost were returning this war to its starting point.

It was only after careful consideration and meticulous planning that he confirmed leading the troops back on foot could not return the war to its starting point, but would instead incur losses even greater than a defeat in He-Huang — and thus he had passively entered a sage's moment of detachment... If losing He-Huang was unavoidable, then they would simply recover it anew.

By now, Cao Yao had fully accepted Liu Chengzong's plan strategically and his interest was piqued. He narrowed the topic to tactics and asked, "There is one more thing I do not understand. Since the defending commander was wounded by our troops, although six heavy muskets are a bit few for bombarding the battlements, the Marshal's Army's morale is high and the men are eager, and Gaotai is only a small city — barely sufficient. Why not take it by storm as quickly as possible?"

Behind Liu Chengzong hung a map of Gansu. He turned to glance at it and said, "In these twenty days of siege, I have observed that the Marshal's Army's experience in assaulting cities is extremely deficient."

In truth, it was not exactly deficient, because in this matter, everyone was just novices pecking at each other.

The Ming army's enemies did not hold cities, but the officers had read many military manuals — they were armchair strategists. The Han troops of the Marshal's Manor, born from the Ming army, were much the same, except they had stormed a few cities, which could be called following the book by rote.

As for the Marshal's Manor's several branch forces, the tribal troops had rich experience in assaulting and building cities, but their offensive and defensive technical level remained stuck five hundred years in the past. For the Mongol troops of Outer and Inner Mongolia, assaulting cities was the stuff of myths and legends.

The Four Oirat Tribes under the Marshal's Manor needed to be listed separately in this matter. The entire Oirat confederation still had not a single city to this day. What was assaulting a city or defending a city — before they met Liu Chengzong, it was all hearsay.

The little wooden forts that South Russian exiles built at the Oirats' doorstep were considered impregnable fortresses.

In the entire Northwest, the man with the richest experience in large-scale field battles was Liu Chengzong himself, but he was no good at assaulting cities. The most experienced man was probably Li Zicheng and Yao Zhangru, who was stirring up trouble in northern Sichuan. By now, the various peasant armies, not counting forts and stockades, had already stormed nearly a hundred prefectural, subprefectural, and county cities.

Of course, if counting purely by the number of cities taken, and excluding cheating, Wang Jiayin, who had repeatedly farmed experience on cities like Fugu and Hequ, would probably be the boss.

But Liu Chengzong was very confident in himself. "The next several battles in Gansu will focus on assaulting cities. If we train up siege methods unmatched under heaven, taking all of Gansu and cutting off Long will be just a matter of days."

Cao Yao, uncharacteristically, grinned and blurted out an idiom: "Having obtained Long, gaze upon Shu!"

"We can gaze."

Liu Chengzong smiled with great satisfaction, but immediately afterward he shook his head. "And we can also not gaze. After all, fighting in Gansu can hone our siege skills, but it cannot train our mountain-opening skills. Sichuan is a fine place, but grain and troops are hard to move in and out, and it would demand too much energy and be too vast. Its importance is somewhat secondary compared to Guanzhong."

As he spoke, Liu the Lion used his hand like a blade and chopped along the grain of the tiger skin. "Take Guyuan — cut off Long!"

He then raised his hand eastward and chopped three times from north to south. "Enter Guanzhong. Guide, Yulin, Tong Pass — take all of Shaanxi!"

Cao Yao let out a dumbfounded laugh. He paused, then reacted. "Commander, that Shaanxi of yours is a bit large — it includes the Tianshan Mountains, Ü-Tsang, and the Inner Mongolia region. In that case, adding Sichuan doesn't matter either; after all, they're all west of Shanzhou in Henan."

Liu Chengzong also laughed. A Shaanxi that includes Sichuan — so you're drawing the Shanzhou Meridian west of which everything from the North Pole to the South Pole is included?

Laughing aside, Liu Chengzong still did not alter his strategic vision. He did not answer the question about Sichuan, but simply said with a serious expression, "There are too many cities in between, countless great cities and mighty passes. So strengthening our siege capability — now is the best time."

"Since we've come to this, I need Elder Brother's help with this matter."

Cao Yao knew at once that Liu Chengzong was about to issue an order. His expression immediately changed. He stood up, clasped his fists, and said, "Commander, give the order."

"Temporarily conscripting civilian laborers to rush the construction of wooden mantlets, nested ladders, and battering rams is still too slow. I intend henceforth to establish a post of Siege Engine Centurion under each camp's Regional Commander, staffed with twelve civil, wood, metal, and iron craftsmen. In wartime, they may recruit civilian craftsmen and laborers to expand to a hundred men, serving as siege engine advisors during assaults. This will enhance a Regional Commander's capability during a siege."

"In addition, under each Brigade Commander, establish a post of Divine Engine Chiliarch, staffed with a hundred metal and gunpowder craftsmen. In wartime, they may recruit civilian laborers to expand to a thousand men. The requirement is familiarity with casting cannons, able to cast heavy cannons on-site at the siege camp — assault cannons heavier than the thousand-jin battle muskets."

When Liu Chengzong spoke of the Siege Engine Centurion, Cao Yao had little reaction. But upon hearing about casting assault cannons heavier than the thousand-jin cannons, he blurted out, "Then they won't be able to keep up with the army on the march."

The Marshal's Manor's cannons had always come in two specifications: the lion cannon, pulled by two mules, and the thousand-jin cannon, pulled by four horses. Using three materials — iron, bronze, and iron wrapped in bronze — they derived six types of cannon with two categories of power and range, but slight differences in weight, durability, and cost.

The guiding principle of cannon casting was to move with the army. The thousand-jin cannon was practically the heaviest cannon possible under this principle.

Liu Chengzong nodded: "Without marching alongside the army, the red-barbarian-style thousand-catty war gun has ample advantages in field battles, but when assaulting a city, the defenders atop the walls stand higher than our artillery positions. Its range and power offer no marked advantage over the thousand-catty General Gun, or even the slightly lighter General Guns."

The siege artillery he wanted was not the kind of large-caliber stone-shot cannon pushed up close to pound city walls. Against Ming city walls, which were universally faced with grey brick over a rammed-earth core, hoping to collapse them by firing solid shot was unquestionably a pipe dream.

The artillery's key targets would still be the city gates, the battlements, the defensive weapons on the wall, and the simple reinforced structures.

But the increase in weight meant such a cannon could hardly maneuver with the army any longer — this was a problem Liu Chengzong had already recognized the moment the idea of casting heavy cannon on the spot arose.

After all, a thousand-catty war gun already required four horses to pull it on the march; a single gun crew, counting two spare horses, needed six. Losing two horses to exhaustion on the march was considered an acceptable loss.

For a cannon of two or three thousand catties, the total weight including its carriage would nearly double. The transport cost for such a massive piece would skyrocket. Making Liu the Lion use several dozen horses to slowly, leisurely haul a single cannon — he could not bear to part with that.

Liu Chengzong said: "In the past we lacked materials, but after taking Gansu that problem disappears. Even if the iron stock is dispersed among the troops and carried separately, we can still cast it once we reach the siege camp. Whether the iron cannon weighs two thousand, three thousand, or even four thousand catties, it's only a difference in materials — none of them are easy to march with anyway."

"These craftsmen — that will require you, elder brother, to recruit and gather."

Amid Cao Yao's stunned, wide-eyed stare, Liu Chengzong described the coming era, after the fall of Gansu, when the Marshal's Headquarters would enjoy unprecedented abundance in copper and iron.

"Ideally, the cannons should still be cast in bronze. A large assault gun cast in iron can only be tossed onto the wall as a defensive piece after use — recasting it is too difficult, and battlefield conditions won't allow it. A bronze cannon can be melted down into ingots, divided up, and carried along with the army. But if there isn't enough copper, iron will do."

"Cast on the spot at the siege camp, used on the spot. We could even use iron shell molds instead of clay molds for the cannon molds — it won't matter if the casting quality is a bit inferior."

Finally, Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said: "These are not field guns to march with the army. There's no need to agonize over whether they're iron clad in copper and can fire a thousand times, or bronze and can fire eight hundred, or cast iron and can fire six hundred. Cast fifty three-thousand-catty Eastern Expedition Generals on the spot. So long as each can fire a hundred times without bursting, no man will be able to stand on the walls of any strong city before us!"

Good evening!