Chapter 152: A Thief Has Broken In

At the rear of the column, Wang Wenxiu led his troops in a hurried march, still two miles away from the battlefield.

The soldiers of the artillery platoon from the camp were already clearing the field.

Moans of agony echoed everywhere.

As Liu Chengzong passed through the outskirts of the battlefield, where corpses littered the ground, the artillery guards were escorting banner troop prisoners who were carrying the wounded.

In a shallow stream that barely covered their ankles, Old Thief Cao sat atop a four-wheeled Red-Barbarian cannon carriage, his face smeared with blood. Leisurely chewing on a strip of dried horse meat, he held a porcelain tobacco pipe adorned with blue-and-white spring-palace motifs, using it to tamp down the tobacco bit by bit.

This was Master Huo’s pipe.

On the day they breached Huo Family Fortress, this cracked pipe had been confiscated by the soldiers, and Liu Chengzong had casually handed it to Cao Yao.

Seeing him approach, Cao Yao leaped abruptly from the cannon carriage, a look of immense pride on his face as he gave a thumbs-up to the men behind him. "General, wasn't that a clean fight?"

"Truly clean. Sit down. It will be a while before the cavalry returns from the pursuit."

With a word of praise, Liu Chengzong dismounted and asked, "What happened to your face?"

Cao Yao wiped his face with the back of his hand and shook his head. "Hit by a crouching-tiger cannon, just plain bad luck. The enemy let off a few bangs; my men were all fine, but a stray shot bit a piece of flesh right off my cheek."

He was lucky; the enemy had fired from a greater distance, and the wound was located on his cheekbone.

Had it been just a fraction higher, he would have been a one-eyed dragon hereafter; had the cannons fired a moment later, another entire rank of their men would have perished.

Liu Chengzong let his red horse graze by the stream, walked over, sat down beside the cannon carriage, and handed him a handkerchief to wipe himself. "When we get home, your sister-in-law is going to scold me for ruining your looks while you were out with me."

"Oh, stop it. I'm not like Lin Wei, who relies on his face to make a living."

Cao Yao let out a laugh, then beckoned to a musketeer who was running past with a weapon. Borrowing a match cord, he lit his pipe and continued, "This was just the first match. Let me fight two more, and I'll be able to lay out every formation of combined infantry and artillery, large or small."

"Forget it. If you fight two more, you won't even have a body left."

"Hmph..."

Cao Yao waved a hand, his tone entirely relaxed. "This was the hardest battle. I fought them this way because I saw they were easy to handle. The artillerymen are up front right now calculating how many men were killed by cannonballs. In the next battle, we open fire from a hundred paces."

Good grief, hearing this old thief was actually crunching data, Liu Chengzong raised his thumb in admiration. "Brother Cao, you were just born a few years too late. Born a bit earlier, you'd be Qi Yuanjing!"

"And you would have been Tan Zili if you were born a few years earlier." Cao Yao pulled the pipe from his mouth and spread his hands. "We were all born too late, what can be done about it?"

Liu Chengzong said, "Tell me what's on your mind."

"Fifty paces, a hundred paces, a hundred and fifty paces. The crouching-tiger cannon is loaded with gravel, the pearl-spouting cannon with six-mace iron scatter-shot, and the breech-loading fowling piece with three-mace iron scatter-shot."

Cao Yao extended three fingers, matching them to the distances in turn, and calculated, "At each distance, three types of cannon, corresponding to five, six, seven—well... nine types, corresponding to nine types of enemy casualties."

A smile surfaced on Liu Chengzong's face. He had originally thought Cao Yao's hands were just itching for a fight, but he hadn't expected him to be searching for patterns with such rigorous discipline.

He, too, had considered close-range fire from firearms.

However, the era was wrong, the weapons were wrong, and the enemy was wrong either.

A close-range volley by a firearms squad could inflict heavy casualties, but with an insufficient number of firearms, they lacked the capability to shatter the enemy. Furthermore, at closer ranges, they were highly vulnerable to an enemy countercharge.

Most of the time, the winning strategy is determined by the enemy's shortcomings.

The Ming border troops of this era studied the drill manuals published by the Ministry of War, written by Qi Jiguang.

During Qi Jiguang’s tenure guarding Jizhou, the requirements for the wagon-train musketeers and artillerymen were to fire five hundred and twelve No. 4 breech-loading fowling pieces in succession, pursuing sustained firepower through extreme discipline.

This was because the Mongols generally did not engage the Ming army in positional warfare.

"Once I calculate it out and see which cannon is best, we'll use that one exclusively from then on, firing at the most optimal distance."

Cao Yao put it very simply. "I hope it's the pearl-spouting cannon; this thing is lightweight and durable. The breech-loader is also good, but far too heavy. As for the crouching-tiger..."

The old thief raised a finger to point at his own cheekbone. "Since it didn't kill me, I reckon those meant for piercing armor aren't all that effective."

The crouching-tiger cannon had a high trajectory; it shot far, but not in a direct line, and its projectiles were light, making it less effective against armored enemies than other artillery pieces.

Instead of following up on that topic, Liu Chengzong asked, "Do you know where I most want to go upon entering Shanxi?"

"The Prince of Yonghe's Mansion or the Prince of Qingcheng's Mansion in Fenyang City?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "There is no grain in the princely mansions; the grain is in the outer princely manors. Shaanxi has suffered a crop failure this year, so grain is crucial, but I want the ironworks even more. There are ready-made tools there, and we can cast a batch of cannons ourselves—cannons that suit us best."

"What kind of cannons?"

A look of reverie appeared in Liu Chengzong's eyes. "A small, Red-Barbarian-style cannon weighing under two hundred catties, four hundred catties including the carriage, pulled by two mules, and with enough firepower for field combat."

By utilizing modular designs for each part of the cannon barrel, making the areas that required thickness thick and the areas that didn't slightly thinner, the artillery could achieve lighter weight and greater durability for the same firepower.

Consequently, for the same weight, the firepower would naturally be greater.

Cao Yao narrowed his eyes, wiped the blood from his face once more, and grew extremely excited. "You just wait. Once we cross the Lüliang Mountains, let me roam about. I'll haul back a few bronze statues. Let's not use iron—let's use copper."

The demands were quite high indeed.

Liu Chengzong smiled and nodded, seeing the cavalry returning in formation from pursuing the enemy, herding hundreds of prisoners before them.

Zhong Bao, who led the mounted troops, rode over, dismounted, and bowed. "General, a few dozen still got away. They burrowed into the mountains and we couldn't catch them."

"It's no matter. Send some men to the village near the town gates of Pu County and ask what the military discipline of this banner garrison was like while they were stationed there."

"As long as they didn't commit atrocities that angered both gods and men—" Liu Chengzong paused, suddenly patted his pocket, and said, "If they're willing to surrender, take them in; if they aren't willing, then... Brother Cao, do you have any silver?"

"Silver? How much do you need?"

"Three or five taels, a dozen taels would do."

"Easy!"

As he spoke, Cao Yao hopped down from the cannon carriage, handed the pipe over, crouched down to grope around inside the carriage of the Red-Barbarian cannon, strained to lift the breech-tail, and presently extended a hand. "Is this enough?"

Two flattened, ten-tael silver ingots.

Liu Chengzong was dumbfounded. "You put silver under the cannon?"

Cao Yao claimed it was to bring good fortune—some superstition whose origin even he didn't know.

"Those who are willing to follow can eat and drink their fill; but for those who have families in the military colonies, we won't force them. Give each man one tael or sixty, seventy cash for travel expenses. Make it clear to them: we used to be soldiers too, and none of it is easy right now. Let them go home."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

If that was the case, why chase them in the first place?

Yet matters were sometimes bafflingly peculiar. Not chasing them and chasing them only to let them go yielded ostensibly the same result, but practically, for those who were released and those who knew of the affair, it made all the difference.

Had the imperial court been able to issue military pay, Liu Chengzong would never have done this.

It only required a tiny sum for travel expenses to ensure that the next time troops were mobilized, everyone would still bravely enlist to pad the numbers for the generals and officials, and eagerly surrender once the fighting started.

Night had fallen, and Liu Chengzong scattered his scouts out for ten miles, making camp where the government troops had encamped.

In the middle of the night, Zhong Bao stood outside the tent, reporting that the retainers sent to Pu County had returned, bringing back information on how this garrison from the Pingyang Guard had behaved in Pu County.

"They were stationed at Qiangou in Pu County for two days. Old Woman Du said they took apart her family's door panels to sleep on and didn't put them back right when they left. They looted four bundles of dried grass meant for feeding mules to pave the ground, and they even wanted to lead the mules away, but Old Woman Du saw them, so they stopped."

"And Old Man Mi from the West Village said two banner soldiers stayed at his house, and when they left, they stole his cotton trousers and didn't even leave his old, ragged ones behind; and Old Man Chen's nephew had a corporal under Centurion Song who agreed to pay four cash of silver per night to sleep with his wife for two nights, but when he left, he only gave five cash."

Having finished, Zhong Bao glanced at Liu Chengzong and said in a low voice, "Their discipline is passable."

Liu Chengzong smacked his lips, pondered for a moment, and nodded. "Alright, they're just a bunch of scoundrels, nothing too serious."

He could distinctly sense Zhong Bao heave a heavy sigh of relief.

Early the next morning, Liu Chengzong had the prisoners brought out—over six hundred men. Borrowing some more money from Zhong Hu and the others, he scraped together seventy taels of silver and registered them on the spot.

Indeed, very few people were willing to follow him.

They hadn't wanted to turn bandit in the first place, and now the bandits were letting them go and even handing out money—who would become a bandit under those conditions?

In the end, fourteen men stated they no longer had families in the guard garrisons, and becoming bandits wouldn't implicate their relatives in military conscription, so they chose to join, being assigned to various platoons.

The rest all collected one tael of silver from Liu Chengzong and re-entered the prisoner camp.

Before each man left, Liu Chengzong exhorted them: "Don't plague the common folk on your way back. If you run out of grain, come back; I'll provide a few days' food for you. If you don't wish to follow me, that's fine too—eat your fill for a few days before returning."

They couldn't leave just yet; Liu Chengzong broke camp and departed, leaving behind the porridge cooked in the camp so they could all have a bowl, pack up the remaining grain, and only then speak of leaving.

Subsequently, the troops dashed at full speed toward Daning County, then pursued the enemy to Yonghe County, making almost a full circle before catching up with another detachment of government troops through sheer marching speed.

This detachment of government troops was not nearly so well-behaved.

Refusing entirely to engage in a pitched battle, the moment Wei Qianer's scouts were spotted northeast of Yonghe County, the entire army scattered and bolted in a wild, frantic dash.

This threw Cao Yao into a towering rage. The mounted platoons of various detachments pursued and accepted surrenders all the way, chasing them north-eastward along small mountain paths all the way to Shilou County.

By the time they reached Shilou County, only a little over four hundred men remained of this banner garrison. Having discarded their armor and weapons along the way, they were now a complete routed mob.

The city of Shilou did not dare to open its gates to them, and after a desperate sprint of nearly twenty leagues, they had exhausted every ounce of strength.

In the end, they formed a battle array outside the shallow moat, backing against the drawbridge.

Pursuing them was still Zhong Bao, who found himself utterly helpless against this bunch.

Though his contingent of mounted troops had initially been quite large, he couldn't stop these banner soldiers from surrendering en masse all the way and shedding weapons and armor, leaving armaments and armor strewn everywhere.

Surrendering meant he had to assign men to watch them, and the scattered weapons further increased the difficulty of guarding them.

By the time he reached Shilou, his vanguard consisted of a mere fifty-odd horsemen.

The two sides stood locked in a standoff by the Longquan waters outside Shilou city until, an hour later, Liu Chengzong arrived with his main force. "Tell them, Shilou County isn't going to feed them anyway. Come with me, have a full meal first, and we'll talk."

Nobody listened.

Later, seeing that the city of Shilou had no intention of sending troops out to fight, Liu Chengzong simply ordered his men to bring over the cooking pots they had picked up along the road, fetch water from a nearby village, and toss in some of the dried horse meat the combat troops carried on their persons.

They boiled a pot of horse meat soup.

Once the eating and drinking commenced here, the banner troops could no longer hold out.

After the meal, they followed the usual ceremony of surrendering and being released. They were from the Pingyang Guard as well, and when passing through Daning County, Liu Chengzong had also sent men to inquire about them.

Their conduct was much the same as the Pu County banner troops—another bunch of old scoundrels.

However, Liu Chengzong had gained experience this time, having Chengyun send over some silver in advance to repay the squad leaders, and the terms for releasing the prisoners remained identical.

He was quite pleased with this battle. The banner troops had suffered a defeat without many casualties, and everyone's spirits were far from gloomy.

Only Shilou County was frightened out of its wits. Initially, seeing only a few dozen horsemen, they had been reluctant to burn the wolf-smoke beacons; later, when more men arrived, seeing that Liu Chengzong had no intention of besieging or attacking the city, they still didn't quite dare to light the beacons.

Only after the bandits marched south did they finally heave a sigh of relief, sending men out of the city eastward to convey a message to Li Shi'en, who was garrisoning Kulong Pass, reporting that southern bandits had crossed the border to besiege the city, but had left after failing to take it.

Perhaps due to the retribution for lying, just one night after Shilou County dispatched that false report of a siege to Li Shi'en, Shilou County was truly besieged.

Amidst a sea of banners bearing the character "Chuang," the Magistrate of Shilou on the city wall felt like crying without tears, wishing nothing more than to replace his mouth with one that hadn't been cursed with such ill omens.

Gao Yingxiang led several dozen horsemen southward, growing more and more bewildered the further he rode.

At first, passing through two villages that had been burned to the ground, he had muttered to himself: *This Lion Liu told me to maintain strict military discipline, yet he destroyed the villages himself?*

However, continuing further south, the situation changed drastically.

These villagers weren't afraid of bandits at all!

Upon seeing them, the common folk acted as though they hadn't seen them.

Naturally, while the bandits marched along this road, the peasants simply shouldered their nightsoil buckets and took the parallel path.

Some even followed right behind them carrying iron implements.

At first, this made Gao Yingxiang quite apprehensive, but he soon realized the villagers were merely trailing a hundred paces behind, picking up horse manure.

He had never seen such a thing back in Shaanxi!

Hard put to describe his feelings, Gao Yingxiang felt not a shred of joy; instead, a surge of irritation welled up in his heart.

He had seen people terrified, and he had seen people adoring; whichever it was, it felt agreeable to him.

Fifty-odd fully armored horsemen, plus Tatars from Mongolia—over a hundred and sixty horses—and they couldn't even scare you into kowtowing, calling them grandfathers, and begging for mercy? At least show some respect and dive into the mountains, wouldn't you?

What was this business of being completely ignored?

The King of Chuang found it unacceptable in his heart. It was like that passing the first village, and it was still like that passing the second.

When people were still trailing behind the column picking up horse manure at the third village, he couldn't hold back any longer, signaling a horseman to turn back.

"Hey, old man, stop right there and don't move!"

The old man jumped in fright, pinched a flattened piece of horse manure with his iron tongs, pointed it at the mounted bandit, and demanded, "You—what are you doing?"

It was the old man's first time encountering such a situation as well—this bandit actually spoke to people!

"Aren't you afraid of us? You've been picking up horse manure behind us all this time!"

The old man stared blankly for a good long while before slowly furrowing his brow and asking in a small voice, "Good heroes, which company are you from?"

"Never you mind which company I'm from... I asked you a question, aren't you afraid of us?"

The old man countered with a question of his own: "General Liu?"

The mounted bandit shook his head.

"Border troops?"

The mounted bandit shook his head again.

"Banner garrison?"

The mounted bandit shook his head once more.

The next instant, the old man tossed away his iron tongs and his wooden basket for horse manure, bolted on flying feet toward the village, shedding his straw sandals as he ran, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Flee to the mountains quickly, the bandits have broken in!"