Chapter 935 777: Modified Stone-Throwing Cannon

Night fell.

Yuan Xing and Jiang Chai rode through the city inspecting it, and when they passed the county government, six severed heads were hanging beneath the archway before the county government gate. They were all grain merchants and salt merchants who had taken the chance to jack up prices, killed by Yuan Xi as a warning to everyone.

Yuan Xing reined in at the county government gate and looked inside.

He saw the county government brightly lit, Yuan Xi sitting in the main hall issuing orders, with more than twenty village chiefs standing below the hall awaiting assignments. Outside the hall, another seven or eight people, guilty of some unknown offense, were kneeling and waiting for their fate.

The next moment, he heard Yuan Xi say expressionlessly, "Those who disturb my army's morale, drag them all out and behead them."

Yuan Xing watched as the Anti-Japanese Army dragged away the kneeling men outside the hall to be beheaded; their cries of injustice were cut off abruptly, and the thud-thud-thud of heads hitting the ground sounded without pause.

Jiang Chai sighed. "Back when we first entered the Imperial Academy, Ah Xi was so timid he didn't even dare speak loudly. If Doctor Li just glared at him once, he'd be so on edge he couldn't sleep the whole night. Now he chops off a dozen heads without batting an eye."

Yuan Xing laughed. "Haven't you changed too? The first time I led you lot to Pingkang Square, when a singer leaned a bit closer to you, your face and neck went red like a cooked river prawn."

Jiang Chai shook his head. "I haven't changed."

Yuan Xing was taken aback. "What?"

Jiang Chai said calmly, "I still go red now."

Under Yuan Xing's astonished gaze, Jiang Chai flicked his reins and continued forward on patrol. When they reached the South City wall, the two of them dismounted and climbed up.

Jiang Chai watched as the able-bodied townsfolk inside the city tore down bricks and tiles from their houses, turning the blue bricks into stones to drop, and sawing the house beams into sections of rolling logs, stacking them neatly under the battlements.

He stood behind the crenellations, looking off into the distance at the pirates setting up camp and encircling the entire Jingjiang County within their siege. "My defending a city has always been theory on paper; you're the one with real experience… If anything is lacking, tell me quickly."

Yuan Xing was amused. "Rare to see you being modest for once."

Jiang Chai said evenly, "Arrogance is a great taboo for soldiers. You and I, who lead troops, must keep clear in our hearts that one mistake from a General means countless lives. Face, compared to the lives of the infantry, isn't worth mentioning."

Yuan Xing leaned on the battlement, gazing toward the pirates' camp, and joked casually, "You're starting to have a bit of the bearing of a famed general of the realm."

Jiang Chai replied calmly, "I've had that for a long time. Enough nonsense—hurry up and talk about what's lacking."

Yuan Xing recalled, "When I was at Maomen Pass, more than half the infantry under me were killed or wounded, and I could only pull the civilian laborers hauling grain and fodder up to the walls. They'd never been trained; their hands shook when they held weapons. Once the Imperial Three Camps got up on the walls, they collapsed at the first blow. You have to give them time to see blood… And even if they do see blood and survive the first three days, whether they can be of real use is another matter: some men rouse a blood-born courage, some have their hearts go dead and turn into turtles shrinking into their shells."

Jiang Chai frowned. "I've used civilian laborers too; I have a sense of it. Out of this thousand-strong Anti-Japanese Army, only about thirty percent can be heavily relied on."

Yuan Xing smiled slightly and went on, "The Anti-Japanese Army and the able-bodied youths conscripted from the county are the same. In the first three days you can't let the pirates rush up onto the walls and fight hand-to-hand. Don't be afraid of wasting falling stones, rolling logs, or tung oil; get through those first three days first."

Jiang Chai nodded. "Got it."

Yuan Xing thought for a moment, then reminded him again, "You can't always think of relying on the walls. Walls can collapse. They might dig tunnels to come through, or they might pile up earth to scale the walls. On the eighth day when I was defending Maomen Pass, it never crossed my mind that a section of wall would collapse. The unlucky previous Right Martial Guard Commander died in that battle. We used four hundred lives to plug that breach."

Jiang Chai mused, "Build shelters inside the city, then put up a low wall?"

Yuan Xing nodded. "Exactly. It's no easy matter for the pirates to maintain those two hundred Cavalry. If they're using their Cavalry here, it means they've come with the determination to break the city. If there's no low wall inside, and those two hundred Cavalry charge in, even I would have to avoid their edge."

Jiang Chai assented, "I'll go handle it in a bit."

Just then, Yuan Xing saw from afar that the pirates were driving civilian laborers forward by more than a hundred paces, and were actually digging trenches at a distance of eighty paces from the city, preparing to pitch camp.

Yuan Xing let out a cold laugh. "Damn it, setting their camp this close—why don't they just pitch it right on my face?"

He turned and beckoned to a member of the Anti-Japanese Army. "Bring me a bow. Not a Japanese Bow, a hard bow."

The Anti-Japanese Army soldier fetched a hard bow, and Yuan Xing, sighting on the pirates behind the laborers, nocked an arrow and loosed.

The feathered arrow whistled out, but after barely more than eighty paces it began to lose force, veering askew and thudding into the ground in front of the pirates. The pirates burst into loud laughter, mocking him from afar.

Dozens of Rangers took off their pants and shook their bare asses brazenly at the city wall.

Yuan Xing felt a bit embarrassed. He glanced at the hard bow in his hand and nocked another arrow. But this time he pulled too hard; with a creak, the hard bow snapped in the middle.

"What a piece of junk," Yuan Xing cursed. "Get me another bow, I'm gonna nail those bastards to the ground."

Jiang Chai raised his hand to stop him: "These rural hunting bows made by those scholars, even if you've got a thousand catties of strength, they can only shoot that far. Save your strength."

Yuan Xing said angrily: "I just can't swallow this."

Jiang Chai picked up the broken hard bow from the ground: "The Anti-Japanese Army only has a few dozen hard bows in our hands. They can't stand you abusing them like this; we still need them to defend the city."

Yuan Xing muttered a curse, pointing at the pirates and conscripted laborers eighty paces away: "In a siege, the able-bodied men have to be split into three shifts so they can rest in turns, then mass together when the pirates come. Otherwise they'll be exhausted. Now the pirates have set their camp within eighty paces. They can grab ladders and charge up at any time, leaving you little time to redeploy your troops... If the Anti-Japanese Army had even a hundred decent hard bows, would they dare be this arrogant?"

Jiang Chai said calmly: "Even if we had bows, we don't have that many arrows."

Yuan Xing thought for a moment: "How about we open the gate and the few of us rush them while they haven't fully settled? Defending a city doesn't mean just sitting tight. A night raid now and then keeps their camp on edge and wears them out reacting."

Jiang Chai waved the Anti-Japanese Army soldiers back, then turned to Yuan Xing: "Just defend the city honestly. Right now I'm the Anti-Japanese Commander—you just follow orders."

Yuan Xing chuckled: "Why so tense? With Godfather and that man here, you really think they'll let the pirates break in? Even if they've got more men, if the few of us really want to pull out, they can't stop us."

Jiang Chai suddenly straightened his face: "Can they be by your side forever? A person only has so much fire in his life. Win a battle and you gain that battle's morale; lose one and you lose that bit of spirit."

Yuan Xing looked at Jiang Chai's serious expression and sighed: "I know. You've been dreaming of winning a proper battle."

Jiang Chai walked to the crenelation, leaned on the rammed-earth wall, and gazed toward the pirates: "I went to Shangjing to study when I was fourteen, first to the Imperial Academy, then to the Martial Arts Hall. I thought once I finished my studies I could make my mark in the Jing Dynasty, saw myself as a famed general of the realm. Who could have guessed that the skills I studied for ten hard years had nowhere to be used, that my very first time leading troops I was sent as cannon fodder, and even the merit I earned was wiped out by Yuan Cheng... Back when I was fourteen, I never could've imagined that my first campaign as a commanding general would be helping the Ning Dynasty people fight pirates."

Yuan Xing's eyes rolled: "Plenty of people are like you, that's why they went under Lu Jin's banner. Why didn't you?"

Jiang Chai snapped: "All of Shangjing knows you and I wear the same pair of pants. You and Lu Jin don't get along—how could I go to him? If I threw in with him, what would people think of you?"

Yuan Xing chuckled: "You've got some loyalty, kid. Don't worry, once we're back in the Jing Dynasty I'll make proper arrangements for you lot. The Vice Commander of the Right Martial Guard—I'll keep that for you."

Jiang Chai glanced at him: "Working under you, doing your dirty work—you think you deserve me?"

Yuan Xing rolled his eyes: "Being born well is a skill too. If you're not convinced, you can choose a good womb next life."

Jiang Chai let out a cold snort: "If it's to serve as your Deputy General, I'd rather stay in the Ning Dynasty and follow Godfather in rebellion."

Yuan Xing stroked his chin: "Is Godfather really going to rebel... Hey, where is Godfather anyway?"

Jiang Chai recalled: "Godfather just went to find the carpenters in the city. Said he wants to build a few Stone-Throwing Cannons, different from the ones we've used before."

Yuan Xing was puzzled: "Stone-Throwing Cannon? That's something the attackers use; we don't need that for defending. Even if we somehow manage to build one or two, this thing is good for smashing walls, but not much use against a few thousand pirates. Either that or you use it to hit their Stone-Throwing Cannons... but the pirates didn't bring any, did they?"

Jiang Chai thought for a bit: "Godfather has never led troops or fought battles. It's understandable he doesn't know this; he's not all-knowing."

Yuan Xing pondered: "I think he probably can't build one anyway. Never mind whether Jingjiang County has craftsmen who know this craft, just finding a two-zhang-long long arm is already tricky. And even if you found a suitable arm, this county city doesn't have the iron bolts sturdy enough to link the long and short arms to the base frame and withstand a Stone-Throwing Cannon's strain."

Jiang Chai turned and walked down from the wall: "We'll know once we take a look."

The two of them wandered back and forth inside the city, asking more than a dozen people before they finally found where Chen Ji had gone.

When they reached the carpentry workshop, they saw Chen Ji and Old Ears squatting side by side on the ground, scribbling and sketching. Next to them sat a strange wooden triangular frame as tall as a man, no clue what it was for.

Yuan Xing and Jiang Chai didn't rashly step forward to disturb them, but whispered from a distance: "Is that the Stone-Throwing Cannon? How far can a little frame like that possibly throw a stone?"

Jiang Chai also hesitated: "Maybe they're just making a model first? Once it works, they'll build a bigger one, so they don't waste timber?"

"That's possible," Yuan Xing eyed the odd frame by the wall and came up with a new doubt: "But this thing doesn't even have a base. How's it supposed to hurl stones?"