Chapter 1341: No One Came

The Zhao Family Army on Pi Island exploited their firearms to the fullest — nearly every lead ball wounded or killed an enemy. They even retrieved spent shot from the battlefield, until the Jianzhou Jurchen troops caught on.

At the start, the great bows and heavy arrows the Jianzhou Jurchen prided themselves on were almost useless. Only when the Zhao Family Army finally ran out of ammunition did those weapons begin to tell, but in a fortress position full of obstacles and cover, the killing power of bows and arrows was still very limited.

Often the Jianzhou Jurchen would charge in, the first wall couldn't hold, and no one would stupidly stay there to be surrounded and overrun — they would fall back, giving each other space. That retreat opened up room for the long spears to thrust. Crossing the first wall meant jumping down, a brief pause, and even the tightest formation would fall into disorder, coordination would falter. The Zhao Family Army troops inside the fortress would usually launch a counterattack and charge at that very moment — it became a prime chance to kill the enemy.

By now, the colonels and company commanders of the Plain Red Banner and Bordered Blue Banner, even as they winced at their own losses, all felt they had to fight on. If an enemy like this wasn't rooted out, the future threat would likely be greater than Dongjiang Garrison. Besides, after fighting to the death this long, a blood feud deep as the sea stood between them — they had to annihilate them to sate their hatred.

But annihilation proved impossible. Though the outer positions had been broken, the battlefield was compressed, and the force that could be committed per unit of area was even smaller. What the Jianzhou Jurchen high and low hadn't expected was that those Pi Island able-bodied men had quickly gained the ability to fight — with long spears and wooden pikes, they could hold their own against the elite of the Jianzhou Eight Banners.

Fighting like this was maddening. A bunch of raw recruits leaning on each other, just thrusting from a distance using the length of their spears, and somehow they could hold the line. If it were Zhao Family Army soldiers doing it, everyone would accept it, but these were the Pi Island able-bodied men they'd taken in. From Liaodong Garrison to now, whenever the Jianzhou Jurchen banners appeared, the Ming government troops had all scattered and fled. These militia and trained braves should only have collapsed, only trembled in terror, mere pigs and sheep beneath the blade — yet now they dared to clash head-on like this.

The real trouble was the Zhao Family Army. Though they numbered only a few hundred, they were the decisive force on this battlefield. Everyone had thought that without their firearms, these Xuzhou men would be tigers with their teeth pulled — but they were still just as hard to deal with. This narrow positional assault was never suited for deploying large formations; four or five hundred men was about the limit. Whenever the battle seemed about to shift, those Xuzhou men would appear in units of a hundred.

The iron armor on their bodies was fine stuff — blades, spears, and arrows all struggled to wound them. Add to that tight formations and practiced coordination, and those hundred men on the battlefield were worth a thousand, rampaging unchecked. Their spears and halberds killed and wounded, while the weapons swung at them often did little harm, leaving only a white scratch.

After a battle, it often took four or five Jianzhou Jurchen lives to trade for one Xuzhou soldier — and even that required breaking their formation and dragging them into a chaotic melee.

"... Where have we ever seen men who fight like this? We thought they just relied on that long spear in their hands, but when you chop the shaft in two, he pulls out a blade and keeps fighting. The Ming have so many cowards — how did they produce so many iron-willed men..."

But as the fighting dragged on, the Jianzhou Jurchen no longer relied solely on blade and spear. They began using weighted iron hammers and iron maces, weapons meant specifically for smashing open armor. Though such weapons suffered heavy losses against the long-spear phalanx, at least they could now inflict casualties.

And though the advance was agonizing, they were still advancing. Though killing was hard, they kept killing. The encirclement shrank tighter and tighter, the positions required more and more fieldworks and obstacles, and it grew harder for the Zhao Family Army soldiers to form complete formations — their fighting strength began to wane.

By now, the Zhao Family Army had fewer than three companies left, and the able-bodied men just over a thousand. Yet both sides recognized one thing: this force of under two thousand was far stronger than at the start. Back then, those several thousand able-bodied men had no fighting capacity to speak of; now, every man could fight.

There was an even greater miracle: eighty percent of the women and children they'd taken in at the beginning were still alive. Though some had died of illness, though they couldn't eat their fill each day, the Pi Island women and children inside the fortress were still alive. This was one reason the Pi Island able-bodied men fought to the death — their families were right behind them. If they retreated, their homes would be destroyed and their families lost.

Holding out this long had to do with the complex terrain, with the supplies those two sea vessels had brought in, and with one conviction: hold on for twenty days, and Xuzhou would send reinforcements. Then they could slaughter every last Tartar before them and vent their fury.

The weather had turned cold. The Jianzhou Jurchen troops had pushed close enough that the only defensible terrain the Zhao Family Army could rely on now was the fortress itself. Though it was sturdy and strategically placed, it couldn't withstand a siege by so many. On this battlefield, the Zhao Family Army soldiers and the able-bodied men they'd taken in had no more room to maneuver — they could only fight head-on. And now the Jianzhou Jurchen could commit large forces in a single wave.

The two ships had been burned by the Jianzhou Jurchen's fire attacks, launched without regard for cost. The Pi Island Yunshan Trading House's supply line from the outside was severed. Though the Jianzhou Jurchen were utterly helpless at sea, and their several attacks with boats and rafts had failed, the decisive battle would now be fought on land.

It was already the twenty-first day. There was still no sign of the fleet on the sea. Xuzhou's reinforcements had still not come. The Jianzhou Jurchen's general assault was about to begin.

Though it had only been twenty-one days, the Pi Island able-bodied men's foot drill formations were already quite orderly. Once they understood that such a phalanx could keep them alive, under the threat of death, everyone learned fast. Many of them wore Zhao Family Army iron armor, stripped from the bodies of fallen soldiers — the Jianzhou Jurchen were scrambling for it too. Wearing armor greatly improved their chances of survival, but the obligation was just as great: they had to stand in the front ranks and fight.

Yet the able-bodied men had no resistance to this; on the contrary, they vied to be first. At the start they may have been afraid, but after more than ten days of bloody battle, no one was thinking of survival anymore. Killing one more Tartar was always a good thing.

"Brothers, after fighting this far, I, Zhao Song, have nothing left to say. When the Tartars come, we fight them to the death. I'll say the same old thing: if we die, someone will avenge us. Someone will slaughter them all!" Zhao Song stood outside the fortress and roared hoarsely.

Below, silence answered him. Every face bore a look of grim, fierce resolve. By now, no words held any meaning — there was only one path left, and that was to fight to the death. Zhao Song's shouting voice was short of breath, his armor filthy and battered, pitted and scarred, his helmet even had a hole punched through it. His face was a mess of wild whiskers, his eyes completely bloodshot.

"When the fighting starts, no matter the terrain, we still form ranks and resist. Don't think about retreating into the stockade — with this many of us packed inside, we'd die even faster. You think the Tartars won't use fire?"

Those charred black corpses on the battlefield were from the Jianzhou Jurchen setting fires. The weather had grown colder but couldn't yet be called bitter winter. Rotting corpses would be a great harm to both sides, so the Jianzhou Jurchen burned them, while the fortress side threw the bodies into the sea.

After shouting a few words, Zhao Song began issuing orders. Each unit silently and practicedly moved into position. The original Zhao Family Army companies numbered less than three full ones now, but the able-bodied men they'd taken in had been reorganized into twenty companies, commanded by Zhao Family Army soldiers. It had to be said, the Zhao Family Army's foot drill training was remarkably quick.

Luo Chen, who had always worn a long gown, was now armored on his upper body, a long blade in hand, his face just as grimy. His expression was far calmer than when the siege had first begun.

Once everyone was in position, he drew close to Zhao Song and asked, "With our two thousand or so men, can we hold out another ten days?"

Hearing this, Zhao Song shook his head and said gruffly, "Don't apply the accounts of the past days to now. You think because we lost a hundred or so each day before, it'll be the same going forward? We've been pushed back to this point — the Tartars can now swing at us freely. It's very possible we'll lose more than half in a single day, then get bottled up in this stockade and wiped out."

"Is Master Jin just going to abandon us?" Luo Chen lowered his voice and asked.

"He won't leave us in the lurch. The reason help hasn't come yet — one, the ships haven't arrived; two, he truly can't manage it. Both are things we can do nothing about." Zhao Song spoke simply and directly.

Luo Chen sighed, wiped a hand roughly across his face, and said, "I thought this was a path to great wealth and rank — never imagined I'd be throwing my life away here. The glory of following the dragon will have to be enjoyed by my children and grandchildren."

Zhao Song stared at the Jianzhou army formation several hundred paces away, where banners had begun to wave, and said gruffly, "I've never thought about wealth or rank. The moment I picked up this long spear, I knew I'd be hard-pressed to die at home."

Drums and shouts could be heard rising from the Jianzhou army formation. The formation began to slowly advance. The atmosphere in the fortress position grew even quieter. From inside the fortress, a child's cry rang out, but it was quickly muffled.

Luo Chen, standing behind Zhao Song, sighed again and said quietly, "We've already given knives to the people inside. If it truly comes to the last resort, the women will kill the children first, then end themselves. They won't go to the Tartars to suffer."

"That's for the best," Zhao Song said in a hoarse voice.

Just then, they heard the lookout high above shouting: "A ship is coming! A ship is heading our way!"

Though the Jianzhou Jurchen were extremely weak in naval warfare, the Zhao Family Army could deploy only limited forces at sea — they could only keep a close watch and respond at any moment. Hearing that a ship was coming, everyone looked over. Because the alert only said "a ship" — if it were a fleet, the report would certainly have been different — everyone merely glanced. Many did so out of vigilance; even more out of a kind of hope, wondering: could this be the reinforcements sent by the Zhao Family Army?

Once they looked, all were disappointed. There was only one ship, and a crude little boat at that. Such vessels were used by the Jianzhou Jurchen to communicate with the mainland.

The great army was about to attack — a messenger boat like this couldn't affect the larger situation. The Zhao Family Army soldiers and able-bodied men inside the fortress position all readied themselves for battle. Whether or not they could read the military situation, everyone had a basic realization: even if they survived today, they probably wouldn't survive the day after.

That string was already drawn taut, braced for the coming mountain of corpses and sea of blood...

Thank you, everyone.