Chapter 1357: The Difficulty of Attack and Defense

But the real reasons they had held out until now were two: one was the mid-battle arrival of the Pi Island Dongjiang Garrison's elite troops, and the other was the intermittent but steady flow of personnel and supplies coming in from Shandong.

Although Dengzhou Prefecture was already under the Zhao Family Army's control, and the Deng-Lai Garrison on this side had long since been disbanded, the military and civilian population here from Liaodong was huge. There were still steadfast, hot-blooded men willing to charge back into Liaodong to fight, and even more people willing to donate military funds, provisions, and fodder to support the war — some even volunteered to procure their own boats.

Under a tacit policy of turning a blind eye, and with "enthusiastic patrons" contributing money, manpower, and effort, the Ming army in Jinzhou had managed to hold on all this time.

But now, they could hold no longer. Their previous persistence was only because the Jianzhou Jurchens had not focused their attention here. Once the Jianzhou Jurchens got serious, the situation immediately became arduous and bitter.

"Get the relief troops up here from the rear! The Tartars' second wave is about to charge!"

"Brothers, don't go soft! If you go soft, you're the one who dies. Kill a man and you get to live. If you don't kill, we all die!"

Officers and squad leaders ran among the men, roaring encouragement. The walls of Jinzhou City were already battered and broken. The defensive moat below had been completely filled in; corpses and siege equipment had even buried the base of the wall. But looking at the clothes and hairstyles of those bodies, they were all Han commoners. And in the distance, the Jianzhou Jurchens were driving another huge mass of wailing Han civilians forward in a charge.

The terrain here was far more open and flat than Pi Island, so the Jianzhou Jurchens could keep throwing captives forward to die.

"The Tartars are getting desperate. These last few times they've sent in real Tartars. The brothers can't hold them!" Liu Xingzhi roared, his face covered in grime. After the battle at Dongjiang Garrison, everyone had a new understanding of the Jianzhou Jurchens' combat strength. Whenever real Tartars took the field, their ferocity and bravery were something no one but the Xuzhou men could withstand.

The Liu brothers — Liu Xingzuo, Liu Xingxian, and the others — were of one heart. They naturally understood what Liu Xingzhi was trying to say. Liu Xingzuo said in a muffled voice, "There are still boats now. We can board them and head to the islands. The Tartars definitely can't pursue. Jinzhou can't supply a large army with provisions anyway. Once the Tartars withdraw, we'll come back!"

"You worthless cowards! You want to run? If you're going to run now, why did you follow us here in the first place!" Hearing this, Kong Youde nearby instantly flew into a rage and stepped forward ready to fight.

Among the younger men, Kong Youde was sturdier than most and his martial skill was outstanding. The moment he moved to attack, the Liu brothers immediately stood shoulder to shoulder to face him. Some even put their hands on their sword hilts. Not far away, their respective personal troops also began to gather. In this era, the troops belonged to their commanders; if the officers fought above, their men would naturally follow below.

"Wretches! The enemy is at the gates and you still want to fight among yourselves!" Chen Jisheng roared in fury.

Chen Jisheng had been a Deputy General in the Dongjiang Garrison. After arriving in Jinzhou, his status was originally only slightly higher than Jinzhou's Regional Commander Zhang Pan. But some time ago, during a battle with the Jianzhou Jurchens, they had captured some of the enemy's Han troops. Given Zhang Pan's nature, as long as they were Han civilians, he considered them family and wanted to treat them well and recruit them. Chen Jisheng, however, had experience from Pi Island. He sent men to keep those captives under strict surveillance and made corresponding arrangements. This led to an argument between Zhang Pan and Chen Jisheng.

As it turned out, during the fierce defense of the city, those very Han troop captives who had been recruited and claimed to have repented turned traitor at the critical moment. If not for the arrangements Chen Jisheng had made, the defensive line might well have collapsed. But because of those arrangements, they had instead gained a slight advantage. Because of this incident, combined with Chen Jisheng's previous status, he was able to turn from guest to host and take overall command.

Regarding the argument between the Liu brothers and Kong Youde, Zhang Pan had a different view. He said, quite philosophically, "The situation being what it is, those who don't want to leave are pledging their loyalty to the Great Ming. Those who want to leave are preserving some seeds for our Liaodong Garrison. We have boats, after all. No one will be forced..."

"We cannot leave! We brothers already fled from Pi Island. If we flee from here too, how could we face Marshal Mao? Even less could we face the tens of thousands of our fallen countrymen!" Chen Jisheng said sternly. When they withdrew from Pi Island, they already knew the cause was lost, and they had some idea of the fate awaiting the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians of the Pi Island Dongjiang Garrison.

In all these days since arriving in Jinzhou, not a single person who escaped from Pi Island could sleep. They often woke with a start in the night, either roaring in fury or sobbing in grief. They were all consumed by guilt. Precisely because of this state of mind, no one wanted to flee a second time.

"Master Chen is right! We can hold! Kill a few more Tartars to be worthy of Marshal Mao, worthy of our Liaodong countrymen!" Kong Youde roared in anger. The troops around Zhang Pan also nodded. The Liu brothers muttered a few words and fell silent.

"What are you all clustered up here for, growing mold? The Tartars are about to come up! Get to your positions and kill the enemy!" Zhang Pan bellowed. The crowd scattered.

The Jianzhou Jurchen troops below the city walls did not just drive the Han civilians forward in a reckless, heedless charge. They knew that would only waste lives. All the defenders on the wall could see were cart after cart of shields — wooden planks and frames nailed into sloped surfaces, pushed forward by men behind them. Some of the wooden boards were covered with sandbags and cotton quilts.

Under such protection, arrows, logs, and stones could hardly do any damage. And there was no way to tell which cart sheltered Han commoners and which sheltered Jianzhou Jurchens. They might even be mixed together in disguise. Although they would still have to abandon the shield carts to assault the city walls, without taking casualties along the way, the attacking force could easily mass at the base of the wall, making it extremely difficult for the defenders to cope.

Moreover, as this back-and-forth dragged on, the logs and stones available on the wall to hurl down were being massively depleted. Firearms and arrows had to be used sparingly. One day, sooner or later, they would not be able to hold.

"The Tartars have gone to the port!" someone shouted at the top of his lungs. The defenders all glanced over indifferently, then turned back to face the enemy. The boats at the port were leaving one after another. Every time they fought, the Jianzhou Jurchens would try to blockade the port, but every time the fighting stopped, they were forced to pull back. The turning space near the docks was too small; caught in a pincer between reinforcements from the ships and the garrison inside the city, they simply could not hold.

There were suitable docks for mooring near Jinzhou, but there were even more stretches of rocky shoals and mudflats. Such terrain was very inconvenient for launching an attack. Reinforcements from the ships often had to charge forward through chest-deep seawater, and there was no critical choke point to block or intercept them.

"The Tartars are digging trenches and building a camp over there again!" someone else shouted. The defenders on the wall reacted with the same indifference. The Tartars naturally knew that the sea route was the key to sustaining the Jinzhou garrison. They had tried several times already to set up fortifications there to cut it off, and each time they had been driven back by the combined forces from the sea and the city. But the Jinzhou garrison fought harder each time, and the casualties they suffered grew heavier and heavier.

The Jinzhou garrison naturally knew the coast was vital. But if they held the coast and lost Jinzhou City, the result would be total annihilation. Everyone understood the trade-off. Although they had seen the boats leave port many times, in these recent instances, no one expected the men on those boats to return. Everyone from Dongjiang Garrison was inside Jinzhou City. The strength on the boats was purely volunteer militia. Others were helping out of a sense of duty; they truly could not ask for more.

The shield carts had already reached the base of the wall. Almost without pause, Jurchen archers darted out from behind the cover of the shield carts and shot directly up at the top of the wall. Jinzhou City was never a place of high walls and deep moats; shooting arrows onto the wall was not difficult. Although the defenders had instinctively...

Even raising shields and seeking cover, they could not achieve one hundred percent defense against the volleys of arrows shooting up from below. Screams rang out from the wall, but the defenders as a whole did not move. Yet the moment the archery below paused even slightly, they immediately began to counterattack. The Jianzhou Jurchens, however, had their own response: this time they deployed even more archers.

That perceived pause was a trap. Just as the defenders on the wall prepared to counterattack, another dense volley of arrows shot up from below. This time, the screams were just as dense, and some men even toppled straight off the wall.

"The Tartars' scaling ladders are coming up! Push them back!" someone roared an order. From between the shield carts, men began rushing forward carrying scaling ladders and all manner of siege equipment. The defenders on the wall ignored the arrows, leaning out to hurl down logs, stones, and javelins. With the height of the wall, even these primitive weapons had sufficient killing power. The Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers shooting below — those quick enough ducked back behind the shield carts; those a little slower were smashed and wounded.

But correspondingly, the casualties among those defenders who leaned out, fearless of death, were even more horrific. Large numbers were struck by arrows and fell screaming from the wall.

More roars and furious curses erupted. The north-facing gate of Jinzhou had opened, and nearly a thousand Ming government troops charged out. At their head were over twenty stout warriors clad in heavy armor. The others also wore some degree of protection, wielding greatswords and long spears as they rushed toward the shield carts.

Seeing this force charge out, the Jianzhou Jurchens were well prepared. A unit immediately moved to meet them. The soldiers in this unit all carried heavy blunt weapons — either great hammers and long axes, or the iron maces used by the Jin Kingdom during the Song-Jin transition period. These weapons were specifically meant for smashing armor.

But the armored Ming soldiers at the front kept close together, their long spears thrust forward, with archers and other troops coordinating behind them. They simply pushed forward, making it very difficult to approach. The Jianzhou Jurchen unit roared repeatedly but could not close in. Some of the more impatient ones hurled their heavy weapons, but these were either deflected by the spears or dodged. Even if one did strike armor, it only made the wearer stagger slightly — it could not stop them at all.

Beyond this, the Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers also drew their bows to shoot. But facing Ming troops encased head to toe in armor, even expert marksmen found it difficult. Since when did the Ming army have such armor? The men were practically iron barrels. But by now, the Jianzhou Jurchens understood: the Ming army only had these twenty-odd sets, brought over from Pi Island. Every set they destroyed was one less.

Among the nearly a thousand Ming troops who had charged out, there were also archers. This combination of ranged and close-quarters combat gave the Jianzhou Jurchens a major headache. The battlefield below the wall was not that wide to begin with; large forces could not be piled on. The shield carts used for cover and the detritus of battle further carved the terrain into fragmented pieces. As a result, the nearly a thousand Ming troops, using their superior armor to carve a path, overturned the shield carts one by one. Without the shield carts' cover, the Han civilians forced to attack the city fled first. The newly surrendered Han auxiliaries, whose will to fight was weak, followed suit. The Jianzhou Jurchen archers, poor in close combat, did not dare to hold their ground alone. This wave of attack could only retreat.