Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 70 My lord, we also want to eat, but alas, all we have is thin porridge!

"Mao Wenlong! Do you really think I wouldn't dare impeach you? You say His Majesty and the court are unjust, but you don't even look at the rubbish in your memorial!"
"You claim to have 150,000 troops, so why haven't you pacified the Jurchens? If you really had 150,000 troops, would we have let the Jurchens besiege the island?! Your Dongjiang Town probably can't even find 150,000 men, can it? How can His Majesty trust you like this? How can the court allocate funds to you like this?!" Yuan Keli raised his eyebrows and glared at Mao Wenlong.

Mao Wenlong seemed to sense some kind of suppression and shrank back, but he still said defiantly, "I just want more money and grain! I really can't make ends meet in Dongjiang Town! We used to be able to do business with the Koreans, but now that Korea has been occupied, what can I do? Am I supposed to live off the few grains of food we dig out of the ground?!"

"Sigh..." Yuan Keli sighed slightly, his tone softening as he said, "I will report your difficulties to His Majesty. It's not that His Majesty doesn't value you, otherwise he wouldn't have sent this old man to see you. Besides, how old are you? Why are you jealous of Man Gui? Aren't you ashamed? Alright, the artillery positions on this mountain are useless. Withdraw them and move them to the front!"

"Move forward?! These hundred or so cannons are the culmination of my years of hard work. What if the Jurchens seize them if we put them in front? No way! Let's move them up the mountain a bit more and fire upwards to bombard the Jurchens' rear!" Mao Wenlong shook his head vigorously.

"Can you kill the Jurchens by throwing stones? These cannonballs are already weak and ineffective when they hit the shield wagons, and you still want to move them back?! Pi Island is almost gone, and you still can't bear to part with your hundred or so cannons?!" Yuan Keli said with exasperation.

“You don’t know the cost of firewood and rice until you’re in charge of the household…” Mao Wenlong muttered, but in the end he listened to Yuan Keli’s advice and ordered the artillerymen to move their cannons to the front line.

The breech-loading cannon was a mother-and-daughter cannon. The daughter cannon was a smaller, thinner barrel that was loaded with gunpowder and ammunition and then inserted into the mother cannon. After firing, the valve was opened, and the empty barrel was pulled out from behind the mother cannon to be replaced with a new daughter cannon. This gave it the advantage of a higher rate of fire compared to a breech-loading cannon.

After the breech-loading cannons moved forward, the shells bombarding the shield wagons became even more powerful. In an instant, the battlefield erupted with cannon fire, many shield wagons were destroyed, and splinters of broken wood exploded in all directions, killing and wounding many slaves and servants pushing the wagons.

The Jurchen offensive paused for a moment. However, their good fortune was short-lived. The Jurchens had been holding back for so long, waiting for this very moment! They lifted the leather coverings on the supply wagons, revealing the breech-loading cannons hidden beneath.

"Boom!"

The Jurchen artillery roared, unleashing a barrage of shells equal in number to those of the Dongjiang army, hurtling towards their positions. The artillerymen of Dongjiang Town watched helplessly as the shells hurtled towards them, trying to escape, but how could a man outrun artillery fire?

A series of crackling sounds rang out—the sound of artillery vehicles being destroyed. Some artillerymen, unable to dodge in time, were grazed by shells and instantly turned into a pile of minced meat. The Dongjiang Army's artillery positions were instantly reduced to chaos. Fortunately, this round of shelling did not ignite the gunpowder and cause a secondary explosion; otherwise, the consequences would have been even more unimaginable.

"Damn it, that damned Yuan Chonghuan! Didn't he boast about his consecutive victories over the Jurchens? What's with all these cannons that the Jurchens captured?!" Mao Wenlong cursed angrily, his teeth almost grinding to powder.

"kill!!!"

The Jurchen elite drove their slaves and servants into battle, using them as cannon fodder to deplete the Dongjiang army's arrows and ammunition; the artillery and arrows that followed continued relentlessly, completely disregarding the lives of these cannon fodder.

The battle between attackers and defenders, which began with last night's raid and has continued until now, has finally reached the point of close combat.

On the Dongjiang Army's positions, the Tiger Crouching Cannon unleashed its power, each shot scattering countless lead pellets, iron slag, and gravel, causing the cannon fodder at the front to fall in droves. However, under the Jurchen's brutal military system, they had nowhere to retreat and could only continue charging forward, stepping over the corpses of their comrades.

With a deafening roar, a tiger-squatting cannon exploded, delivering a heavy blow to the soldiers of Dongjiang Town.

Under the cover of the Jurchen shield wagons, the two sides were already very close. The tiger-squatting cannons could only fire a few rounds before the enemy rushed to the front lines. The cannon fodder's weapons were rudimentary; some were even unarmed. The Dongjiang army's pikemen began their mopping-up operation, their six-meter-long spears smashing down, directly splattering the enemy's brains; their pikemen's spears could pierce through the enemy ranks. The Dongjiang army's defenses were impenetrable, yet the enemy seemed endless.

Some of the cannon fodder spoke Korean, which the soldiers of Dongjiang Town couldn't understand. They had long faces and were babbling something incoherently, as if they were begging the Ming army to give way and let them live.

The soldiers of Dongjiang Town, who had fought against the Jurchens for years, were not so naive. Showing mercy on the battlefield would have dire consequences. If these cannon fodder were allowed to breach the position, their wives, children, and elderly parents would suffer.

However, as the soldiers of Dongjiang Town slaughtered this group of cannon fodder composed of Korean slaves, surrendered Ming soldiers, Mongols, and wild Jurchens, they felt somewhat listless, and their strength was being rapidly depleted.

This senseless massacre lasted a long time, until sunset. The Jurchens sounded their gongs, and the cannon fodder retreated like a receding tide, leaving behind only a vast expanse of corpses, some warm, some frozen. Throughout the entire battle, the Jurchen elite forces did not join the fray.

Although they successfully repelled the Jurchens, the group was not very happy. The soldiers were hungry, thirsty, and exhausted.

"Lieutenant General Shen, let's change shifts. I'll take the night watch tonight," Deputy Commander-in-Chief Chen Jisheng said to Lieutenant General Shen Shikui.

Behind him, a large contingent of soldiers took over his comrades' posts and began repairing the position, striving to restore the devastated battlefield to its former state. They knew that the greatest test would come at night.

The difference between the Jurchens and the Mongols lies here. The Mongols often came in large groups on horseback, their sole purpose being to plunder. They would fight if they could win, and run if they couldn't. As long as they held their ground against the first attack, they were basically safe. The Jurchens, on the other hand, were more patient than the Mongols, especially skilled at prolonged sieges, slowly torturing the defenders to death!
In fact, the most dangerous battle took place last night. The Jurchens launched a night attack while the garrison on Pi Island was celebrating the Lantern Festival. Fortunately, the sentries were dutiful and gave timely warnings; otherwise, Pi Island would likely have fallen. One moment they were celebrating, the next they faced death; the hatred the Pi Island soldiers felt for the Jurchens is unimaginable.

Around New Year's Day, the days in Liaodong are short and the nights are long, with a difference of nearly two hours. As night fell, Yuan Keli carried a carp-shaped lantern that didn't look like a carp into the military camp.

His bright red official robe with pheasant embroidery looked completely out of place here, and the soldiers were quite frightened when they saw this official visiting.

"No need for formalities! You have been fighting and toiling all day, so continue with your meal and don't mind me. I'm just taking a casual stroll and looking around." Yuan Keli said to the surrounding soldiers, supporting the centurion who was about to kneel.

Seeing that the official was so kind, one of the soldiers mustered up his courage and said, "Sir, we also want to eat, but all we have is thin porridge! Could you please ask the court to allocate more money and grain?"

Yuan Keli walked to the earthenware jar where the food was served, scooped up the contents from the bottom of the jar with a ladle, and looked closely at it through the lantern. Sure enough, it was just a thin porridge made of various grains mixed with a small amount of rice.

He brought the gourd ladle to his lips and took a sip. The coarse grains choked him, and the stale rice had a strange taste. He suppressed his nausea and forced himself to swallow the porridge. This was because he saw that the soldiers were drinking this thin porridge with great relish, and after finishing, they stuck out their tongues and licked the bottom of the bowl clean.

"I will certainly report to the court and request the money and grain for everyone," Yuan Keli solemnly promised.

(End of this chapter)