Chapter 1344: A First Test of Strength

Sails like clouds and masts like a forest — in the early morning sunlight, over thirty large ships floated inside and outside Pi Island's harbor, like fortress-cities drifting on the sea.

Though he had longed for this moment, when Zhao Song actually saw it, he still couldn't quite believe his eyes. He rubbed them and saw the Zhao Family Army's war banners flying from the masts — they had really come!

Zhao Song's eyes instantly blurred. He brandished his long halberd, wanting to shout and cheer, but found he couldn't make a sound — in his excitement, he had lost his voice. The plucked-string music was still drifting over, and immediately an angry curse rang out: "You foreign devil, stop playing that thing! Keep plucking cotton over there and I'll throw you into the sea!"

The plucked-string music stopped abruptly. The people inside the fortress positions probably had a reaction much like Zhao Song's — only now could they finally cry out. Cheers erupted at last, shaking heaven and earth. The Zhao Family Army soldiers laughed heartily, while the able-bodied men of Pi Island still found it unbelievable. Xuzhou had actually sent people, and so many large ships at that. We're saved. We can escape.

Once he calmed down a little, Zhao Song looked toward the Jianzhou Jurchen camp opposite. The Jianzhou Jurchen troops naturally knew they couldn't let the fleet reach shore — they had to mount a blocking attack no matter what. They had assumed no ships would come, assumed the troops in this fortress were an isolated force. Who could have imagined ships really would come, and so many of them?

Before, it had been the defenders of Pi Island's Cloud Mountain Navigation Fortress who had to block a landing; now it was the Jianzhou Jurchen's turn to do the same. What made it even more troublesome for them was that the harbor and dock area lay within the fortress's defensive perimeter — seizing it would cost them enormous effort.

"All companies to your positions! Hold off the Tartar attack! Victory is almost ours — once we hold them off, it'll be time for our revenge!" Zhao Song bellowed from the fortress. Below, answering cheers rang out. Everyone already knew their assigned positions for the defense.

Meanwhile, Luo Chen was over there shouting orders for each squad to clear the docks. There were fortifications and obstacles built there too, which would certainly slow the main force's landing. In the Jianzhou Jurchen camp opposite, turmoil was already stirring. Banners waved, the camp gates swung wide, and Eight Banners soldiers were rushing out at a quick march to form ranks. They knew it would be hard to break through, but they had no choice — if they let the fleet land unopposed, it would be a dead end.

The fleet at sea had already begun its maneuvers. Two large ships were nearly at the docks, but their speed was slow. They had lowered skiffs ahead of time to clear away wreckage and debris from the water. The other large ships were in no hurry to dock, lowering their skiffs first. Zhao Family Army soldiers without armor could be seen climbing down the rope nets hung over the ships' sides, picking up weapons in the skiffs, and rowing toward shore.

Everyone cheered without stopping, even when their voices went hoarse. Seeing these great ships and the dense mass of skiffs, every person knew victory was at hand — no, every person knew revenge was at hand. So it really was possible to slaughter every last one of those enemies across the way, to slaughter those beasts who didn't treat Han commoners as human beings!

The large ships docked at the pier. Over there, the Jianzhou Jurchen troops had already charged to the outer wall. Though victory was imminent, the fighting between attacker and defender remained brutal. The defenders had almost no ranged weapons left, while the Jianzhou Jurchen had ample bows and arrows. When the two sides clashed, the defending foot soldiers had to endure arcing arrow fire. Even though the men at the very front were all armored, the casualty rate was still high.

The arrival of reinforcements had certainly boosted morale, but no one wanted to die just as help arrived. To die at this moment, when victory was finally here, would be too bitter. As soon as battle erupted, the previously impregnable outer-wall position was breached. Fortunately, once inside the position, the chaotic close-quarters fighting and the fortifications provided cover from arrows — that was the only reason the situation didn't collapse entirely.

Seeing this scene, Zhao Song cursed furiously. To have the brother units witness such a disgraceful sight — all the bitter toil of the past twenty-plus days had been for nothing. Utterly humiliating.

The two large ships that had docked quickly cleared the pier, then began lowering gun carriages and mounts, assembling the cannons right there on the dock. The guns they could handle this way were all two-pounders, and ammunition and everything else was sent down with them. The power of a two-pounder cannon was admittedly limited, but these two ships unloaded ten cannons and their gun crews in total.

Once the cannons were assembled, Luo Chen hurriedly arranged several squads of able-bodied men to help. Under the gun crews' direction, they pushed the cannons into firing positions. Then the crews began loading ammunition. Light cannon ammunition was light, easy to carry, and the entire loading procedure was remarkably fast. Before long, all ten cannons were loaded.

They adjusted the muzzle angles slightly. At this moment, there was no need for precise aiming — just lobbing the shot over the defenders to smash into the other side was enough. The Jianzhou Jurchen formations were very dense; in their rush to block the landing force, they had committed enormous strength in a single push.

"Fire!" someone shouted. The cannons roared. The report of two-pounder cannons wasn't particularly earth-shaking, and this wasn't a volley — the noise here was even drowned out by the sounds of battle.

The cannonballs screamed through the air and plunged into the utterly unprepared Jurchen army formation. When the roughly two-jin metal projectiles came down, Jurchen foot soldiers — whether holding shields or wearing armor — had no way to stop the force of those balls. Struck in the upper body, the upper body was torn apart. The shot continued forward, carrying away the bodies of the soldiers behind without the slightest hindrance, then struck the ground, bounced off the earth long since trampled hard, and sheared off the limbs of everyone along its path. When it finally stopped, the trajectory of the cannonball was a road of blood.

And it wasn't just one shot. And they didn't fire just one round. After the first shot warmed the barrels, the loading and firing rate of the two-pounder light cannons quickened. And Pi Island's frigid climate allowed the barrels to cool even faster, which made the intervals between shots even shorter.

When all ten cannons had finished firing, those ten cannonballs had completely shattered the Jianzhou Jurchen assault. Over a hundred casualties meant little to a force of over three thousand men, but morale had plummeted drastically. The defending garrison's cannons had already given them terrible headaches. They had assumed that once the defenders ran out of firearms, they wouldn't have to worry so much, assumed the defenders' firearms were just a fluke. They never imagined the reinforcements would have even more firearms, even stronger firearms. How could they keep fighting this?

Seeing this, Zhao Song, who had been stifled for so long, was wild with joy. Brandishing his long halberd, he simply shouted: "Fire! Fire!"

Luo Chen, busy over there coordinating the reception, heard this. He was startled for a moment, then laughed, pumping his fist and shouting: "Fire! Fire!"

Zheng Xiao'er stared blankly at everything before his eyes. Struggling desperately on Pi Island, thinking they were trapped in a hopeless dead end, never believing the revenge that the Xuzhou men described and hoped for — yet it turned out to be real. The moment reinforcements arrived, they swept everything aside like dry twigs. So it wasn't about blade-to-blade combat after all. So there were more firearms. So the Great Ming — no, so Xuzhou still possessed such mighty strength. First he was stunned, then he felt awe, and finally he couldn't help but join in the shouting: "Fire! Fire!"

More and more people within the fortress position joined the shout. Some were laughing as they yelled, some were crying as they yelled, some were so overcome their faces flushed bright red. Everyone was shouting: "Fire! Fire!"

Spurred on by the crowd's cheers and acclaim, the gun crews of those ten cannons grew more and more energized. Shouting as they pushed the guns forward, they halted, loaded, and fired. Cannonballs fell incessantly into the Jianzhou Jurchen ranks. The Jianzhou Jurchen vanguard fell back; they had intended to observe, but when the cannonballs dropped, another swath of death and injury followed. They could only retreat further. The Jianzhou Jurchen troops didn't even dare withdraw from the battlefield — if the full strength of those thirty-odd large ships came ashore, they would have nowhere to flee, total annihilation.

They didn't want to retreat, but the cannons forced them back. To stay was to die. In the face of cannonballs, no matter how fierce and brave you were, there was no resisting. No one wanted to hold firm amid the screaming and shrieking. They could only fall back, only keep falling back, until finally it became a rout. The maximum range of a two-pounder cannon was only a little over three hundred paces. Before long, within a distance of three hundred-plus paces, not a single Jianzhou Jurchen soldier remained — only corpses and wounded men. The wounded howled in agony, but no one dared come to their aid.

The Jianzhou Jurchen troops didn't even dare form ranks outside. They had already seen those ten not-so-large cannons being pushed out, drawing closer and closer to them. Light cannons like these could maneuver on the battlefield; when they encountered corpses or hollows, a few men could exert their strength and move them. The Jurchen general commanding this time had even wanted to capture these Xuzhou firearms and take them back to copy, but had never succeeded. That was also one of the reasons they had kept up the siege until now — the Xuzhou men's firearms were simply too covetable.

"Battalion Commander, shall we pursue?" Seeing the Jianzhou Jurchen defeated, the soldiers and able-bodied men all asked excitedly. Zhao Song did not agree. The most urgent thing now was not to expand the victory, but to receive the fleet as it came ashore. As long as the landing proceeded smoothly, victory was assured.

Over four hundred men had already come ashore. They did not rush to form ranks, but instead helped transport the supplies that followed: the armor they wore, fire lances and ammunition — all of this had to be brought ashore first. A stout man clad in iron armor was issuing orders over there. Zhao Song walked over quickly. The stout man said a few words to the people beside him, then hurried forward to meet him.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, you've worked hard! Master Jin asked me to bring you a message: this time you have rendered great merit. You are the glory of our Xuzhou! The glory of our Zhao Family Army!" The armored stout man and Zhao Song exchanged military salutes, then spoke.

Hearing these words, Zhao Song swayed. He opened his mouth to speak, but his lips trembled and no words came. He turned his head to look around — at the ruined fortress position, at the gaunt, haggard, exhausted soldiers and able-bodied men. He felt a surge of heat rush to his eyes and stood there, dazed, on the verge of tears.

But this time, Zhao Song did not weep. At a moment like this, a soldier of the Zhao Family Army should not weep. He lowered his head, raised it, and took deep breaths, finally steadying himself. Then, in a muffled voice, he said: "So it's Vice Commander Qi who's come to the rescue. This has saved the lives of several thousand commoners on Pi Island!"

The newcomer was Qi Erkui, Vice Commander of the Haizhou Garrison Regiment and Commander of the Salt Patrol Brigade. Years ago, he had clashed with Zhao Jin over the private salt trade; now he had become a military officer guarding a region.

Qi Erkui had already seen the brutal devastation of the Pi Island harbor battlefield, and seeing Zhao Song and his subordinates' hardship and heartache, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion. Still, he said with a smile: "It's not just our regiment that came — the Maritime Instruction Regiment is here too. Battalion Commander Zhao, let's go kill some Tartars together!"

Thank you, everyone.