Chapter 484: Xinghe Must Be Retaken

Grand Preceptor Arutai. Prince Ning of the Ming Dynasty, Arutai. These two titles represent two distinctly different eras.
Although Arutai had never witnessed the glory of the Yuan Dynasty’s rule over the land, every elder had reminisced about those bygone days in those cold leather tents, beside those animals emitting various odors, and on the bellies of those light-skinned grassland women, longing for the fertility and prosperity of the Central Plains. Thus, despite being driven into exile by the Ming army in his youth and facing a powerful Ming emperor after finally seizing power, Arutai never gave up his desire to restore his kingdom.
It was snowing heavily outside, and even the temporarily set up military tents could not shield them from the howling cold winds, so everyone was wrapped in thick sheepskin coats. Arutai’s sons, Shiniyegan and Abuzayan, sat on the left, wearing golden belts that distinguished them from ordinary generals. Ardataiji of Khorkhin, who enjoyed great favor with Arutai, sat on the right with several Khorkhin generals, also carrying a prominent gold knife. Though not seated in the center, his position was on par with Arutai’s.
“To restore our strength, we had to show submission to the Ming emperor and offer tributes. But now that we’ve regained our strength, we can no longer bow to our enemies! The three Oirat tribes have installed the impure Wei Yalatai as their leader and even plan to ally with the Ming emperor against us. If we don’t fight now, our khanate will become an Oirat khanate! Two years ago, when our strength wasn’t fully restored, we still managed to defeat the Taiping tribe. Now, we can even take Xinghe!”
Since Arutai had long declared his intention to be made the Great Khan of all Mongolia, Ardataiji immediately voiced his agreement. His generals also spoke out in support. In contrast, most of the tribal chiefs on the left appeared hesitant. Seeing that the chiefs were unwilling to make a decisive move, Shiniyegan glanced at Serben, who had been mocked after yesterday’s defeat. But Serben remained silent. Forced to act, Shiniyegan stood up abruptly.
“Father, Xinghe isn’t a key stronghold for the Ming army. We can take it in a day or two!”
Arutai replied without hesitation, his voice firm: “Then I’ll give you a day or two!”

When these weighty words were spoken, although many inside the tent disapproved, no one voiced opposition in the end. Soon, the people from Horqin and several tribal chiefs from the main force got up and left. Full of confidence, Shiniyegan also went out to arrange the siege, while Abuzayan said he needed to make some preparations to ambush scouts coming from the south and quietly slipped away as well. Seliben, who had also planned to leave, was surprised when Arutai asked him to stay, feeling uneasy.

“Have you told anyone about the intelligence we obtained earlier?”

Seliben felt uneasy under Arutai’s sharp gaze like that of a falcon. It took him a while before he replied, “I haven’t mentioned it to anyone.”

Hearing this answer, Arutai’s expression immediately softened. “We have a total of 15,000 to 16,000 men this time, while Xinghe Fort, including those military households carrying supplies, has less than 2,000 people. Moreover, Xinghe Fort has been neglected for years with few replacements, so they definitely can’t resist us. If we can seize the tens of thousands of bushels of grain and stored gunpowder in Xinghe Fort, we can survive this winter without worrying about the three Oirat tribes. However, it seems there are also divisions within the Ming army—someone would voluntarily leak such important information to us. Adding a few more supply troops and laborers won’t stop us.”

Seeing Seliben’s face turn pale and then red, Arutai remembered the cold words and mockery from those tribal chiefs after their defeat the previous day, so he comforted him, “Ignore those old men. They’re already old and only think about protecting themselves and living safely. They’ve long lost the spirit of the great Yuan people! I have to keep them for now. As long as you earn more merits and suppress them, who fears they’ll look down on you again? Shiniyegan is young and full of energy—leave the siege to him. You take 5,000 cavalry to scout the situation around Wanquan. If possible, charge in and crush their hopes of getting reinforcements!”

“Understood!”

Zheng Pingyuan had served in Xinghe for many years and had hardly ever encountered Tatars invading in snowy weather, let alone such a fierce assault. The Tatars’ tactics were simple and brutal; leveraging their numerical advantage, they each carried soil to build a tall mound about a hundred steps away from the west wall, then used that height to shoot a deluge of arrows at the city. Soon, a group brought up siege engines, dozens of ladders, and even two cannons. The soldiers defending the walls had to constantly raise their shields to ward off those sudden, deadly arrows; even though the artilers rotated in groups of three, their copper cannons grew increasingly hot; the archers took turns fighting, until everyone’s arms grew heavy from exhaustion.

Zheng Pingyuan, who was personally overseeing the defense on the west wall, saw waves of Tatars charging forward recklessly and could think of only one thing: They were mad! These insane Tatars truly intended to capture this place! If Xinghe were Kaiping or Wanquan, there would be no need to worry, but this was just an earthen city built during the Hongwu era, patched up over the years with minor repairs. Even though his predecessors had repelled the Tatars countless times, this time… this time they might truly not be able to hold on!

“Zheng Pingyuan!”

Suddenly hearing this call, Zheng Pingyuan snapped out of his thoughts and saw several bodyguards protecting Wang Huan. He rushed over in a few steps. At that moment, he didn’t care about hierarchy and shouted loudly, “General Wang, weren’t you supposed to be defending the east wall? Why did you abandon it and come here? If Xinghe falls, none of us will be able to escape!”

At that moment, the explosions of cannons, the cries of horses, the whizzing of arrows, the dull sounds of swords and spears piercing flesh, along with countless shouts and screams, filled the entire wall with a deafening noise. Wang Huan couldn’t hear Zheng Pingyuan’s voice at all, so he pulled him over and shouted into his ear.

“There’s Lord Xiao Zhang leading troops there! I’ve calculated that each wave of Tatars consists of about 1,500 men, and we can only send around 500 men up the walls at a time. But after several attacks, our reserves are almost exhausted. We can’t keep fighting like this! The Tatars are utterly mad this time—their losses are at least three times ours. Why are they still charging forward so recklessly?”

This old general must be insane—why was he still worrying about such things at a time like this!

Zheng Pingyuan wished he could pull Wang Huan by the ear and tell him there was no time to think so much at the moment. Yet, just then, he suddenly heard the Tatars surrounding the city shouting in unison. Having spent long time on the frontier, he could understand some Mongolian. After discerning what they were saying, his already heavy heart sank even further.

“Shiniyegan, Shiniyegan, Shiniyegan!”

Zhang Yue on the east wall also heard those deafening shouts clearly. Though he couldn’t understand them, he still saw the figure surrounded by a dozen bodyguards in the distance. Presuming it must be an important figure among the Tatars, he glanced at the powerful bow in Peng Shisan’s hands before dismissing the idea. But the next moment, he remembered that they had brought two boxes of the latest divine arrows and guns produced by the Armory this time, in addition to the Divine Machine Arrows.

Before he could speak, Peng Shisan reminded him, “The distance is about four hundred paces right now. After all, we Tatars once ruled the Central Plains and know their tactics—shoot the horses first when fighting, capture the leader first when capturing enemies. So they won’t charge recklessly. With at least five hundred paces between us now, even the greatest archers throughout history would be helpless. But while he’s directing the attack later, why not try out these Divine Machine Arrows and divine guns we brought?”

Zhang Yue nodded, but said, “The range of the Divine Machine Arrows isn’t enough. Besides, they were already given to Zhou Bailing and the others earlier. Now only two boxes of divine guns remain. These newly made guns have a range of three hundred fifty to four hundred paces, but their accuracy still can’t compare to that of bows and arrows. Even if fired in succession, the chance of hitting them is too low. Let’s take them out first and act according to the situation later.”

By the time the fighting between the attackers and defenders reached its peak, the snow had already stopped. The Mongol troops attacking the city temporarily retreated, but a new batch was ready to launch an attack. The snow-covered walls and ground were now stained with various colors—black from mud, white from blood, rusty from weapons… Along with the discarded weapons and corpses on both sides, it was a horrifying sight under the red sun. Seeing those dense groups of Tatars, many soldiers on the walls felt a profound sense of helplessness.

How much longer could they hold out like this?

Just then, the dispute between Wang Huan and Zheng Pingyuan finally came to an end. Though he found it too risky, faced with relentless waves of attacks, Zheng Pingyuan had no choice but to accept Wang Huan’s proposal—to send a team out to open the gates and strike while the enemy was attacking fiercely. The goal wasn’t to kill the enemy but to destroy those siege engines. As for cannons… the cannons of that era were still not good enough for siege warfare.

Undoubtedly, this was a near-certain death sentence, so Wang Huan ordered Zheng Pingyuan to defend carefully and then stopped paying attention to the defenses on the city walls, leading a few of his personal guards down from the walls. Despite the bitter cold, the intense battle situation meant that even those on standby didn’t dare rest. They stamped their feet on the open ground to warm up and grabbed something to eat, many of them being soldiers in the bright red uniforms of the imperial army, their clothes stained with blood—unknown whether it was their own or someone else’s.

Just as he was about to call everyone together, he saw Zhang Yue’s two followers approaching quickly from the other side, with two soldiers carefully carrying a box behind them. When they got closer, he asked what was going on. Lian Sheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained in a low voice, “Commander, when we set off from the capital, the armory gave us some extra new weapons. The divine arrows and divine guns are meant for defending the city. When we opened the box just now, we found half a box of grenades. It’s said that once the fuses are lit, they explode in a short time. Our lord said it’s better to try everything possible—send someone out of the city to destroy those siege engines.”

Wang Huan was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Great! I was just worried about lacking effective weapons—now they’ve come to us! Go back and tell your lord to defend the west wall well. We can’t afford to lose Xinghe!”