Chapter 1336: A Cruel Test

The Jianzhou troops left to hold this side were also cheering; their victory cheers seemed like a provocation aimed at the fortress, yet they dared not shout too loudly, afraid of angering the men here into coming out for another round. The troops left behind even withdrew farther away—after all, these people were already turtles in a jar, with no way to run.

"They won't dare fight once it's dark. If they want to fight, we'll keep them company!" Zhao Song said coldly. The company commanders and the selected refugee leaders below all felt considerably reassured.

Around suppertime, a continuous stretch of torches could be seen coming down from the mountain, stopping a few hundred paces from the fortress. They could be seen felling trees to pile up bonfires, using captured military supplies to pitch tents, and then splitting off troops to head for the beach holding position.

"One group on the high ground to the north, one group on the beach to the east—a force of about three thousand, cutting off our path to Pi Island." Zhao Song stood on the hastily built earth-and-timber fortifications, surveying the scene. The darkness of night obscured many details, but what needed to be seen could still be seen.

Zhao Song's expression was heavy as he looked outside, but when he turned around, his face was relaxed. He shouted loudly, "Tonight we add an extra meal. Everyone put your strength into making these fortifications solid—tomorrow we'll make the Tartars bleed from the head! Don't look at how rampant they are; they won't be strutting for long. Sooner or later, we'll wipe them out!"

Whether the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the fortress believed Zhao Song's words was another matter, but seeing the oppressive posture of the Jianzhou Jurchens bearing down on them, even without urging, their enthusiasm for building fortifications greatly increased. This was to protect their own lives—there could be no slacking off whatsoever.

Luo Chen, who had been unable to get a word in, now offered a suggestion: for the night's labor, watches, and duty shifts, each squad must maintain a fixed headcount. At set intervals, gongs would be struck for a roll call. Anyone unrecognized was to be seized immediately. At night, people might come near the fortress seeking help—these could be taken in, but must be held in isolation to prevent spies from infiltrating.

Over a hundred truly reliable able-bodied men from Pi Island had already been drawn out and were being taught to load ammunition and handle firearms. Others were sharpening bamboo poles and wooden sticks from the storehouse and hardening them over fire—these could also kill in battle. However, inside and outside the fortress, materials suitable for bamboo spears and wooden spears were scarce; at most, another hundred or so men could be equipped. Those two seagoing ships, besides purchasing grain and military supplies, also needed to buy weapons. The Goryeo people's weapons were crude and shoddy, but they could still kill. The advantage the Zhao Family Army had over other forces was that, although they could not currently rely on force to simply seize goods, they were not short on silver. Buying at high prices was always an option.

Amid this silent, busy activity, wild laughter and wailing cries suddenly came from the two Jurchen camps—the desperate, agonized screams of women. Some voices were very young. Accompanying these cries was unbridled laughter. The Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers were violating the captured people of Pi Island.

Hearing these sounds, the Zhao Family Army men, from top to bottom, burned with fury, glaring outside and grinding their teeth. In contrast, the gathered Pi Island commoners were very silent. Only the womenfolk outside the fortress walls wept quietly.

"Heaven-cursed Tartars!"

Compared to the numbness and helplessness of the Pi Island commoners, the Zhao Family Army soldiers were intensely provoked by the sounds outside. Every man was enraged, aching to charge out and hack the enemy to pieces. Zhao Song gripped the wooden shaft of his long halberd, clenching and relaxing his hands over and over in a repeated motion. He took several deep breaths and said hoarsely to Luo Chen beside him, "Old Luo, go calm the men down. If anyone's head gets hot, you enforce military law!"

Zhao Song practically ground these words out through clenched teeth. Luo Chen's expression beside him was equally grim, though he was somewhat calmer than Zhao Song. In a bitter voice, he said, "In the past, within the passes, I heard how wretched the common people brutalized by the Tartar invaders were. Seeing it with my own eyes today, I know what I heard wasn't even a hundredth of it. I wonder when Lord Jin will send a great army to save these tens of thousands from fire and water!"

After speaking, Luo Chen strode quickly toward the Zhao Family Army's night-watch company. Without concealing his voice at all, he said, "Brothers, going out now would be falling right into the Tartars' cunning trap. If we go out, we'd just be throwing our lives away. We must protect these several thousand civilians. Tomorrow, we'll hold these fortifications and fight them to the death. Even if we die, we'll take more of them with us!"

Zhao Song's daytime address had already laid out the bottom line, and he didn't care about taboos here—he spoke very bluntly. Yet the soldiers below could take such words to heart, and the situation gradually stabilized. Only one squad commander, utterly unable to contain his fury, stood atop the fortification wall and roared at the enemy, "You mongrel bastards, the Zhao Family Army will slaughter every last one of you sooner or later!"

The moment he shouted, he saw a figure rise up a few dozen paces from the fortifications. Instinctively knowing this was bad, he covered his head and face with both hands and jumped backward. The sharp whistle of an arrow cutting through the air rang out—a bow had been fired. In the night, there was little accuracy to begin with, and since the enemy had acted preemptively, the arrow didn't hit the squad commander, only landing on the ground a few paces in front of him.

"The man's about eighty paces out. Be careful." A musketeer narrowed his eyes. At this distance, with this visibility, a musket simply didn't have that kind of accuracy. At this range, there was no need to fire either.

According to the specifications for the hastily built fortifications, it was very difficult for enemies outside to wound those inside with bows. Although someone had crept close enough to be discovered only at this distance, it was impossible to scale this defensive breastwork without being detected. At that point, several long weapons and firearms would be there to greet them.

Punishment for the impulsive squad commander was immediately issued from Zhao Song: "Thirty strokes of the army rod—record it!" This interlude also made the Zhao Family Army and the Pi Island commoners all feel a chill. They had been consumed by anger and grief, never imagining the Jianzhou Jurchens had crept so close. Everyone felt a lingering fear. The company and squad commanders, however, remained composed. They had long understood this: as long as they acted according to regulations, nothing would go wrong.

Though the fortifications had been laid out in haste, they were built according to what was taught in the academy. The defense had no blind spots, and the temporarily mobilized civilian laborers could bring their fighting strength to bear. That moment of rashness that nearly got someone hurt wasn't because the fortifications had a flaw, but because the squad commander hadn't followed regulations and proper procedure.

After the arrow was loosed, there was no reaction from within the fortifications. The Jianzhou Jurchen troops outside began advancing further, but at around forty paces, there was a shallow ditch. The ditch was very shallow and couldn't stop a man from crossing, but crawling over it was impossible—it would inevitably make noise.

Beyond this ditch was the area illuminated by the lamps on the outer wall of the fortifications. Bonfires were lit at intervals, and from here, it was still over thirty paces to the outer wall. Once past the ditch, the only option was to rise and charge—there was no other choice.

The able-bodied men guarding the outer perimeter of the fortress were extremely tense. Several times they tried to poke their heads out to see where the enemy had crept to, but were stopped by stern reprimands. They were only allowed to observe through the gaps in the low wall, pay attention to sounds outside, and react according to prior instructions.

The soldiers and civilians of Pi Island were terrified to the extreme of the Jianzhou Jurchens. In their minds, the Jianzhou Jurchen troops came from the White Mountains and Black Waters, moving like ghosts and striking like gods—utterly impossible to fathom by ordinary reasoning. What if the enemy crept up soundlessly...

They didn't have to wait long in fear and breathless tension before there was movement outside. The Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers had already appeared in the firelight. The moment they saw this, many people were so frightened their movements froze stiff. They couldn't even think to send a signal or pass the message along.

Fortunately, there were Zhao Family Army soldiers at every point to oversee the fighting. Seeing this, they calmly and unhurriedly blew their whistles.

Whistles sounded from every position. The musketeers who had been waiting in readiness near the fortress immediately stood up and, following their pre-assigned formations, ran toward where the whistles had sounded.

Their position was in the covered shelters between the inner and outer perimeters. All that night, the soldiers had kept the match cords on their musket serpentines glowing red and burning. The outer wall was not very high—someone outside would need to jump and clamber up, while those inside had earthen steps to stand on. After all, this outer wall had been built with the labor of over four thousand people; though hastily done, its scale was not lacking.

The soldiers could open fire the moment they mounted the earthen steps. Pi Island was mountainous, with uneven terrain everywhere. There weren't many places where an attack of any significant battalion strength could be launched, nor many places where one could hide in the dark and approach. After constant elimination and selection, it became clear that the positions needing defense were only those few. They could then concentrate their forces on those key points.

A bow cannot always be held at full draw; even half-draw requires a pulling motion. A musket, however, only needs the trigger pulled. The lead ball flies far faster than an arrow.

Under the flickering light of bonfires at night, no one should think about accuracy—just fire in the general direction. And the Zhao Family Army knew where people would be charging up; the Jianzhou Jurchens, however, did not know where the defenses inside were positioned.

Muskets cracked chaotically, screams rang out, and then everything quickly fell silent. The temporarily constructed defensive position had been assaulted, but the Jianzhou Jurchens did not press the attack further. Even the cries of the wounded quickly subsided—the gravely wounded were given a quick end, and the lightly wounded were carried away.

"... We must still keep a careful watch tonight, but we should be able to get some unbroken sleep. The Tartars now know we have defenses ready; they won't make any rash moves tonight..."

"... Those beasts really are full of cunning tricks—violating the women to make us restless and agitated, trying to lure us into attacking. Seeing it was useless, they stopped immediately..."

Zhao Song spoke briefly to the company and squad commanders. No matter how ferociously savage and brave the Jianzhou Jurchens were, no matter how devoid of humanity, they were still an elite force brimming with sharp fighting spirit. And they were not merely barbarian Tartar invaders who relied solely on savage courage and brutality—their military law was harsh, they advanced and retreated with discipline, and their equipment was ample.

The Jianzhou Jurchens also knew they would have to fight a hard battle against the Xuzhou fortress, so of course they would not let their soldiers run amok. The reason for such unbridled, brazen provocation was nothing more than a trick to lure the enemy out.

"Brothers, don't harbor any wishful thinking. The Tartars have gone to such elaborate lengths to set this up—they're definitely going to hit us with everything they've got. They didn't just come to finish off Dongjiang Garrison and then leave." When Zhao Song said this, his face bore a bitter smile, but also resolution. In a situation like this, not fighting to the death was no longer an option.

The brothers Zhao Song and Zhao Wan had started out as horse traders, so their temperaments were quite lively—very different from the steady, solemn style of the Zhao Family Army's officers at every level. They also spoke more than most.

"The Tartars and Dongjiang Garrison share a hatred deep as the sea—they'll certainly want to wipe them out completely. But they didn't come just for revenge. The Tartars are here to eliminate a threat to their own flank. Only by destroying Dongjiang Garrison in the east can they then freely move their forces west and north. By taking in the people of Pi Island and fighting a bitter battle with the Tartars, we've become a new threat. They'll surely want to settle this once and for all!"

All the saved drafts accumulated at the start of the month are completely exhausted, and now things are busy to the point of flying—I can only push on.