Chapter 1323: Not That Simple

"At most we can give you two hundred more spears and a hundred blades — we've got no surplus left ourselves!" The Zhao Family Army's reply was crisp and clean, without the slightest hesitation. Before Li Jiucheng had arrived, they had already grasped the general situation of the battle. Old ties weren't even worth mentioning, but the principle of shared fate — when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold — they understood that perfectly well.

The fortress gates swung open, and bundles of spears and blades were carried out. Li Jiucheng offered solemn thanks below; the other side could have refused outright, yet they handed them over so readily, which showed they had indeed thought things through thoroughly. Without the iron armor that shielded every vital point, and without sharp firearms, Li Jiucheng was still somewhat disappointed at heart, but he knew having something was always better than having nothing.

The gates closed, and only then did the able-bodied men of Pi Island step forward to haul the supplies away. At that moment, Battalion Commander Zhao Song shouted down from the top of the wall: "When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold — you'd do well to think hard on that principle yourselves!"

A man who could kneel before a crowd, Li Jiucheng — a Mobile Corps Commander of Dongjiang Garrison — was not about to be flustered by Zhao Song's pointed barb. He answered with solemn gravity, then left with the men carrying the weapons. But once they were beyond the Cloud Mountain Trading fortress perimeter, Li Jiucheng's face darkened considerably. In a muffled voice he said, "Send extra men to keep watch on Xuzhou. They never dared speak so brazenly before, but now they've gotten insolent."

"The government troops here are a good deal stronger than the ordinary government troops on land and inside the passes. No skimming of army rations, and they're nursing deep grievances and bitter hatred, so their morale and courage are kept up quite well. But when it comes to actual fighting, they're very ordinary — they don't really understand coordination, and their sense of advance and retreat is nothing special. If the Tartars hadn't taken such heavy losses in the naval battle today, they probably would have been pushed straight ashore. Some say there weren't many real Tartars who landed; if there had been more real Tartars, this battle would have been far more dangerous."

"I've seen their daily drills too. Apart from Mao Wenlong and the men around the other chieftains who practice martial arts regularly, the other battalions are lucky to get two drills a month. The rest of the time they're all busy farming. The ones sent into enemy territory who manage to come back alive are decent, but that's just individual combat. The Tartars advance and retreat with real discipline; their battle skills and coordination are excellent — probably from fighting so much, and they haven't let their drills slip either."

"Still, if the fighting goes on like this, it'll be very hard for the Tartars to land on the island. Now that they know the Tartars' tricks, the Dongjiang fleet won't make any mistakes. In a sea battle, ships have far too great an advantage over rafts. And though Goryeo is lying low, they're still helping the court. Goryeo has plenty of ships, but they haven't let the Tartars get hold of a single one."

Reports kept coming in, and Zhao Song called together all the company commanders and squad leaders who weren't on duty to discuss them. Zhao Jin placed great emphasis on discussions like these, believing that what one learned in the martial school and academy was only the starting point, battlefield application was reinforcement and consolidation, and only through post-battle discussion and analysis could one achieve full mastery. What one person failed to see, others might; by reminding and supplementing each other, their progress would be immense.

In fact, one company commander had already taken several squad leaders to observe the battle earlier. The Pi Island men keeping watch on Cloud Mountain Trading were too preoccupied to care — fewer than ten men watching from a distance couldn't affect anything. Besides, Luo Chen had sent clerks out with favors, so they tacitly permitted it. The Pi Island men simply couldn't understand: if you didn't want to get involved, why go to the trouble of watching? Just to see the excitement?

The people on Pi Island had no way of knowing, of course, that Zhao Jin had sent this soldier battalion with many purposes in mind, one of which was to learn as much as possible about the inner workings and combat strength of the Jianzhou Jurchen Eight Banners. The establishment of Cloud Mountain Trading was also for this reason. No one had ever imagined the Jianzhou Jurchen would send a full army to attack the island directly, but this was a precious opportunity, and Zhao Song and his company commanders were certainly not going to let it slip by — which was why the men they sent out to observe were of increasingly higher rank.

After they returned, what they had seen was written down by the trading company's clerks, and then everyone discussed it. The conclusions of their discussions were also recorded and sent back. This was the greatest gain from their current presence on Pi Island.

The reason they had been so blunt in answering Li Jiucheng just now was precisely because they had reached a conclusion after observing the battle: the tens of thousands of men of Dongjiang Garrison amounted to nothing more than this — their combat strength was truly not worth mentioning. And yet even this strength was still superior to most of the government troops on land inside the passes, which showed just how weak those forces had become.

"Battalion Commander, these tens of thousands of able-bodied men, this critical position of Pi Island — and it's all in the hands of these Dongjiang Garrison incompetents, who even dared to scheme against us. Why don't we just seize it ourselves? Master Jin would surely reward us, and maybe we could even become our own independent district!" one company commander boldly declared.

It was only because this particular company commander had, through a tangled web of connections, managed to claim some distant kinship with the Zhao family and was regarded as part of the Zhao clan that he dared speak so. No one else would have ventured such words. Zhao Song laughed, reached out and swatted the back of the company commander's head, then scolded him with a grin: "You've clearly never been beaten with the military rod, daring to act first and report later."

With that one sentence, everyone understood his stance. Zhao Song cleared his throat and spoke: "The farther we are from home, the more we must obey orders. Aren't we already our own independent district? You academy graduates just have overgrown ambitions. But given the current situation, once the messenger ship returns, or perhaps after the second wave of ships returns, a decision will have to be handed down!"

The men's expressions turned solemn. The faint shouts of battle from the northern shore could be heard, the sky-shaking war cries of the Ming army and the Jianzhou Jurchen. Imagining the scene of fierce combat, listening to the observers' detailed accounts — every man there longed to take part, especially since the enemy was the Tartars. Yet knowing they might truly enter the fight, none of them could feel at ease. Though this too would be a battle, they all vaguely sensed that once it began, it would be unlike any fight the Zhao Family Army had ever fought before.

"Master Jin often says, as soldiers we must think, but not overthink. You may know what is and why it is, but the order takes precedence above all. Why are we pondering so much? Protect ourselves, stay whole, and wait for the order to come!" Zhao Song said with a smile. These words eased the men considerably, and smiles surfaced on their faces.

Zhao Song was just about to assign men to guard duty and observation when he noticed Luo Chen sitting off to the side, brooding with a dark expression. The pause startled Luo Chen out of his thoughts. He glanced at the relaxed expressions of Zhao Song and the company commanders, hesitated, and then said: "I don't know much about military strategy, but the Tartars are veterans of countless battles. Today's naval assault was fought far too stupidly."

The moment he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room sank into silence. Zhao Song froze at first, then clapped his hands together sharply and raised his voice: "It was too clumsy! Crossing the sea on rafts like that — isn't that just a suicidal tactic? And with such a tactic, they only sent a little over five thousand men. They couldn't possibly wear us down. Thank goodness you pointed this out, Old Luo. We're still young, we didn't think deeply enough!"

Inside the Cloud Mountain Trading fortress, everyone was struck with awe. Before they could even decide whether to warn the Dongjiang Garrison commanders, more news arrived from the northern shore: the Jianzhou Jurchen's third wave of attack had begun. Once again, it launched stupidly from directly opposite the northern shore. Just then, the lookouts on the hilltop sent out an urgent signal. According to the prearranged signals, everyone immediately understood: an enemy attack had also been launched from the northeast of Pi Island. The land opposite that position was not far from Pi Island either.

What they had realized here, Mao Wenlong and the other Dongjiang Garrison leaders had realized as well. It was not that they were particularly clever or brilliant in strategy and tactics; they had simply fought the Jianzhou Jurchen for so many years that they knew the dangers intimately. One wrong step could mean utter annihilation, so they had to consider every possibility. There were several directions from which the land was suitable for launching an attack. Besides the area directly opposite the northern shore, there was also suitable landing ground directly opposite the northeast.

Building rafts was far easier than building ships. The Jianzhou Jurchen had raided the nearby Goryeo villages and stockades, and had likely even broken through several walled towns, so they certainly had no shortage of manpower. Two days of labor had accumulated a sufficient number. Having lost so many rafts in the first two attacks, they were now surging forward once again in a vast, sweeping tide.

The Dongjiang Garrison fleet had learned its lesson. They absolutely would not close in and get tangled with the enemy rafts, and they would not repeat the mistakes of the two previous engagements. Moreover, they had erected temporary wooden walls along the gunwales, which could block the enemy's arrows and make boarding difficult. The ships formed up in lines, covering each other, never overreaching in reckless pursuit of glory, and once they engaged the enemy, they fought fast and decisively.

Under these conditions, the Jianzhou Jurchen, who could no longer pull any new tricks, were completely outmatched. One raft after another was set ablaze and overturned. Only when there were no more enemies on the rafts before them would the shielding plank walls be lowered. The soldiers would then use their long spears to kill the enemies swimming in the sea, granting them no chance of survival. Once again, Han Chinese and Goryeo men were among those charging at the front, and their cries in the sea were the same.

But this time, the Dongjiang Garrison soldiers felt not a shred of pity. Anyone coming from the land was to be killed without exception. Who knew whether these wailing Han people from the Liao garrison had already surrendered to the Tartars? A moment's soft-heartedness could mean your own death — everyone could reckon that account clearly enough.

When the other large raft force departed from the shore on the land, everyone from Mao Wenlong down to the more thoughtful officers in Dongjiang Garrison breathed a sigh of relief. The Tartars had finally used their hidden tactic. They had known the enemy wouldn't keep hammering mindlessly at a single point. It was good that they had played their hand. As long as they were at sea, Dongjiang Garrison's combat strength feared nothing.

The Dongjiang fleet, now fighting with method and discipline, quickly annihilated the force charging toward the northern shore and began intercepting the one on the western shore. This time the Jianzhou Jurchen had a new trick: the rafts were piled high with flammable firewood and straw, steered by a handful of death-sworn warriors who rowed them straight at the Dongjiang Garrison ships, intent on mutual destruction. But this tactic was easy to counter. The ships could dodge with ease, and could even use long poles fitted with iron caps to push the rafts back toward the Jurchen's own fleet. Fire ships were indeed effective, but these were no ships.

The Jianzhou Jurchen knew full well the prowess of the Dongjiang Garrison navy. This time they did not press forward with reckless valor. The moment they saw this line of attack was ineffective, they immediately pulled back, not daring to come forward and entangle further.

Cheers rang out once more from the shores of Pi Island, and even the Dongjiang Garrison chieftains breathed easier along with them. The day's fighting should be over. The Jianzhou Jurchen on land surely still had the strength to fight on, but night was falling. A night battle at sea posed extreme danger to any side, and the Jurchen, unskilled in such warfare, would obviously not make that mistake.

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