Chapter 1438: Mobilized by Wealth

On one side lay the sea — the offshore ice was thick, but riddled with cracks. On the other, mountains rose and fell, making movement difficult. Both were dead ground, utterly impassable. Add the snowfield that hindered any action, and once battle was joined, only two choices remained: advance or retreat.

"According to the scouts, the Tartars have cannons fit for storming fortifications too. We can't hide the fact we have cannons from anyone. Since battle is joined, and the roads in and out of both camps have been swept clean, this fight won't be stop-and-start. It will only end when one side is dead."

Chen Sheng spoke with blunt directness. Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others had also been invited over. From the very start until now, they had been listening with mouths agape. From the warning not to underestimate the enemy to this kind of stark simplicity — none of it followed the usual protocol for council in the command tent.

"Infantry form the stronghold, firearms are the arrows, cavalry are the cannon. All cavalry concentrate and stand by for my orders. Each independent battalion holds the camp and awaits orders. The remaining regiments form ranks to meet the enemy. Artillery deploys for engagement according to the drill manual!"

The men bowed and accepted their orders once more. Chen Sheng pressed his hand on his saber hilt and concluded in a low, heavy voice, "Gentlemen, after this battle, the Entry Lord will have no foes left. The great enterprise can be achieved. We have received the Entry Lord's immense grace — we must advance without fear!"

"Advance without fear! Ten thousand deaths we shall not refuse for the Entry Lord!" the officers answered in one voice.

Chen Sheng nodded and waved a hand. The officers each went to their posts to lead their units. At this point, Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others did not act on their own, but remained waiting for Chen Sheng's arrangements.

"You will stay in camp..."

"General Chen! Our hatred for the Tartar slaves runs deeper than the sea. We are willing to serve as common soldiers, to charge and kill at the front, and would sooner die than refuse!" Before Chen Jisheng could speak, Zhang Pan stepped forward and declared with fervent resolve.

Five officers from the Dongjiang Garrison had been permitted to attend as observers: Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi. To an outsider, it looked as if Chen Sheng had picked five men at random, but no one knew that these five names had been circled by Zhao Jin himself. Within the Zhao Family Army, there was some confusion too — with so many famous generals and important ministers in the Ming army, they could not understand why the Entry Lord valued these few unremarkable, marginal figures.

With Zhang Pan having declared his stance, the younger men behind him all bowed and asked to fight. Chen Jisheng, however, hesitated briefly before saying with a wry smile, "I am willing to follow the General's arrangements."

As a surrendered general, he no longer had so much hot blood to boil. Chen Jisheng was older and saw things more clearly than the others.

Chen Sheng smiled and nodded. "There will be a time for you to take the field — but not this time. Watch from the rear. See how the men of Xuzhou kill the enemy!"

Within the deployment zone cleared by the Zhao Family Army, the Third Regiment of the First Brigade had already marched out and was forming up and standing guard there. Civilian laborers from the heavy transport battalion were driving carts and horses out and had begun erecting observation towers.

Liaodong had no shortage of timber. Enough stockpiles had been prepared over the past days. Log after log was fitted, joined, and hammered tight, and soon an observation tower nearly three zhang high was complete.

The most urgent task for the soldiers of the Third Regiment now was to protect this tower. Four soldiers climbed upward. Once at the top, they used ropes to haul up the prepared bundles and equipment. Inside the bundles were sable-fur coats and hats; the equipment consisted of flags of different colors.

Standing high up, buffeted by the freezing wind, one naturally had to dress thickly. As for the different-colored flags, they were for transmitting flag-signal messages.

Looking into the distance at the opposing Jianzhou Jurchen forces, cavalry detachments were already riding out from camp to screen and patrol. Marching and deploying for battle in wartime was the most perilous phase — on the one hand, one wanted to seize the chance to raid the enemy and gain an advantage; on the other, one feared being raided by the enemy. Thus, precautions had to be taken early, while also observing what dispositions the enemy was making.

The Fengpei Reinforced Regiment had two arquebusier companies and four pikeman companies marching out from camp. They were escorting the Zhao Family Army's cannons, one by one. Heavy cannons of twelve-pound shot and above would be placed in separate artillery positions. Nine-pounder cannons had their own positions. Six-pounder cannons and those below were configured separately. The carts and horses hauling the six-pounder and smaller cannons and their ammunition stayed very close to the guns they towed. A dedicated supply company was also assigned, so that the gun carriages could be hitched to oxen and horses at any moment for rapid maneuver.

While the cannons were being arrayed, the cavalry company of the Zhao Family Army's Provisional First Division began riding out from camp, patrolling the perimeter of the position to stand guard. The various infantry regiments began marching out and forming ranks.

The last to emerge from the camp was the Second Cavalry Regiment, clustering around Chen Sheng and the battle flag of the Provisional First Division. The red Zhao character on the flag billowed and snapped in the wind.

Once the great banner halted, the soldiers guarding the artillery positions and the observation towers each returned to their units. Regiment by regiment, they arrayed themselves across the field in the most standard formations.

From each regiment's arquebusier companies, all but one were left behind on guard; the other three were concentrated and drawn up at the front of the great formation. In front of the pikeman infantry, they formed a loose human wall, rank after rank. Officers and NCOs began dressing the ranks and inspecting the firearms and ammunition in the soldiers' hands.

The First Division's four regiments were deployed in a single line across the front. The two regiments of the Fengpei Reinforced Regiment were in the rear line. Six infantry regiments formed the main battle formation.

The artillery was positioned forward on the right flank. The six cavalry companies and the troopers of the Second Cavalry Regiment were behind the artillery position. The commanding general, Chen Sheng, was among the cavalry ranks, and the great banner was there as well. Across the formation, three more observation towers had been erected. The soldiers atop them had all raised their flags and begun waving them ceaselessly to send signals.

Whatever Chen Sheng's considerations, Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others were not left behind in the camp. They were brought out to join the battle. They had been issued weapons and armor, but instead of being placed at the front to charge, they were assigned to a cavalry company.

The Zhao Family Army cavalrymen maintained a cold politeness toward Chen Jisheng and his group. But anyone with sharp eyes could see this was surveillance. This kind of open, undisguised precaution, however, left Chen Jisheng, Zhang Pan, and the others unable to muster any real anger.

In a battle of this magnitude, every sprout of danger naturally had to be nipped. Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan's group were said to be secure, but if they stirred up some trouble inside the main camp, and the troops saw chaos erupting in the rear, morale would waver and cause a great disorder. Better to keep them under watch within the cavalry unit — if they tried anything, they could simply be cut down on the spot.

"It's only reasonable. If it were our side, we'd probably just kill everyone first and talk later!"

They chatted and joked idly, not taking it to heart. What Chen Jisheng and the others cared about more was the battle itself. No matter what, they did not want the Zhao Family Army to lose. But seeing the enemy's military strength and troop numbers, several times their own, no matter how much confidence they had in the Zhao Family Army, they dared not speak of any certainty.

"If we really lose this time, we'll just die in battle alongside them. The world is vast, but we brothers will have nowhere left to go!"

"Cut the unlucky crap."

After the pointless chatter, they turned their attention back to the battle formation itself. In their eyes, the Zhao Family Army's way of fighting was far too rigid, too inflexible, too dead.

"This is using men as a city wall, letting the enemy come and assault it to fight it out, then inflicting casualties on them. They can't fight like this every time. What if the enemy sees through it?" Someone could not help but sigh, only to be fiercely glared into silence by the Zhao Family Army cavalrymen around him.

Once the Zhao Family Army finished deploying, the position quickly fell silent. Every man was preparing with tense orderliness. At that moment, from the direction of the Jianzhou Jurchen main camp, the sound of drums, horns, and clamor began to rise. Once tens of thousands of men began to move, the noise truly shook heaven and earth.

Yet compared to the silence of the Zhao Family Army, that clamor only made the hearts of the men on this side more settled. For a moment, they became even quieter.

Chen Sheng raised his head to look at the sky. The sliver of sunlight that had pierced through the clouds at dawn had vanished again. It was still overcast.

"The Han dogs are troublesome. Let no clan begrudge the lives of its own slaves. Win this time, and there are countless slaves for you inside the Pass. If anything goes wrong this time, I need not tell you the consequences."

Before the great army of the Jianzhou Jurchens moved out, Amin and Jirgalang summoned all officers of the Meiren-i Janggin and Company Commander level to the command tent and gave them this blunt and direct briefing.

By this stage of the fighting, much information could no longer be concealed. What only a handful had known before was now known by dozens, by hundreds. They knew how urgently the Great Khan and the Beile were pressing them.

The company commanders and niru commanders of the Bordered Blue Banner lineage all had their own reckonings. They knew that their lineage was, after all, separated by a layer from the other banners. If any fault occurred, the punishment they bore would be harsher than that for others. Moreover, similar news had come from the Plain Red Banner troops led by Yoto. Hearing that the Great Khan's own direct lineage, the Plain Red Banner, was being pressured in the same way, everyone understood the gravity of the matter. No one dared to be lax.

Though Amin and Jirgalang were still in charge now, after this battle was over, another Beile might well come to settle accounts and enforce military law. When that time came, everything would be finished.

"Beile, rest assured! Even if our bones are ground to dust, we slaves will press forward bravely!" someone took the lead and shouted, and the others roared in response.

A company commander close to Amin added, "Please set your mind at ease, Master. Herding one sheep is herding; herding a flock is herding too. No matter how many Han dogs, they're all just pigs and sheep. We'll go slaughter them to our hearts' content and come back!"

With someone cracking a joke, the atmosphere finally lightened a little. Amin's brows shot up, and he was about to erupt in fury, but his younger brother Jirgalang, at his side, tugged him back and subtly shook his head. Amin swallowed his rage, forced out a thin smile, rapped his knuckles against his own armor, and said in a gruff voice, "The Han dogs have plenty of good things over there. Once we win this time, every man ought to get himself a set of armor like this. Wearing this out is a mark of prestige, and it's mighty useful on the battlefield."

The men looked up, gazing at the suit of armor Amin wore. During the bitter battle at Pi Island, a few sets of armor produced in Xuzhou had been captured and sent to Shenyang as the most important spoils of war, to be shared by the Great Khan and the several Beile.

High-quality wrought iron from the Xuzhou reverberatory furnaces, plates forged by water-powered stamping machinery, then joined with rivets and cords — this was currently standard issue in most of the Zhao Family Army's brigades and regiments. Yet this armor, mass-produced in Xuzhou, had become a rare treasure among the Jianzhou forces.

The most reliable armor the Jianzhou Jurchens currently possessed was cotton armor. Layers of cotton and leather, repeatedly hammered and compressed, were stacked piece by piece with iron plates embedded inside and fastened with iron studs. The more elaborate sets required a suit of chain mail to be worn underneath before donning the outer armor. Layered up like this, it weighed thirty to forty jin on the body, making movement extremely cumbersome.