NCCnovel Chapter 543 The Tartars Are Coming
Chapter 543 The Tartars Are Coming
The earthwork for the bastion has been largely completed, and the surface has been reinforced with bricks and cement. Although it is not as sturdy as some city walls that are built with heavy bluestone blocks at the base, rammed earth walls with glutinous rice juice, and covered with blue bricks, it is much stronger than ordinary city walls, and the construction and time costs are much lower.
Unfortunately, Dengzhou didn't have 10-jin field guns, and machine guns couldn't be manufactured in this timeline either, Liang Xiaoming thought with regret. Otherwise, even tens of thousands of men wouldn't be able to take down this fortress. Judging from the situation, it seemed that there was no better way than a long-term siege.
Thinking about the siege, Liang Xiaoming slapped his forehead and prepared to discuss with Su Hongtu whether they should ask Lin Tianming for enough food to store in the bastion for emergencies. It wasn't that he was prescient and anticipated the risks, but rather that out of the meticulousness of an engineer, he wanted every step to be scientific and reasonable, rather than considering whether it was cost-effective or necessary.
Su Hongtu didn't question whether doing this was meaningful; he simply estimated a month's worth of rations based on the number of soldiers: "Our soldiers train hard, and each person needs at least a pound of coarse rice a day. The Independent Regiment has four infantry battalions plus a cavalry battalion, totaling more than 5000 men. They need at least ** hundred shi of rice to fill their stomachs in a month."
Upon hearing this, Liang Xiaoming made a decision: "Then it's more or less, a thousand shi of grain. I'll go ask Lin Tianming for it."
Inside the governor's office, Lin Tianming was somewhat amused and exasperated. He looked at Liang Xiaoming, who was looking very serious, and said, "General Liang, the amount you mentioned is not even enough to cover the combined rations and pay allocated by the imperial court to all the troops in Dengzhou and Laizhou. I can only guarantee you 500 shi of grain per month—we can't let the other troops starve, can we?"
Liang Xiaoming shook his head: "Five hundred shi is not enough. Lord Lin, you are the governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou and Liu Ye's father-in-law. You should help us both publicly and privately. How about this, give us all the military rations allocated by the court. Also, don't pay our salaries in silver. Convert them into grain and give us a total of one thousand shi. That way, we can offset the difference and it won't put you in a difficult position."
Lin Tianming summoned his advisor in charge of allocating funds and provisions. The advisor quickly calculated and said to Lin Tianming, "Your Excellency, even if we convert all the pay for General Liang's troops, it won't be enough. Right now, one shi of grain costs at least three taels of silver. After deducting the original cost (Note 1) and the court's allowances (Note 2), there's not much left after all the layers of deductions. At most, it's only a little over seven hundred shi. Even if Your Excellency is willing to allocate some from the fire tax collection of various prefectures and counties to make it eight hundred shi, it's still far from the one thousand shi that General Liang mentioned..."
Lin Tianming pondered for a moment, then said to Liang Xiaoming, "General Liang, I know about your relationship with Xiao Ye. You two are as close as brothers, we're all on the same side. Let me be frank with you: the military camp you set up is only a few miles from Dengzhou. It can be stationed there for a long time for convenient training, but it's not an isolated island with inconvenient transportation. There's no need to collect a thousand shi of grain every month. Be more flexible, don't be so rigid. After all, the governor's office is responsible for allocating military rations to Dongjiang and other places. If the grain shortage is too large and we can't keep up with the flow, we'll be impeached by the censors. How about we collect eight hundred shi first, and if it's still not enough by the end of the month, we can find a way to get some from other places? What do you think?"
After thinking for a moment, Liang Xiaoming realized that eight hundred shi of grain would be barely enough, as Su Hongtu had suggested. He nodded and said, "Then let's take eight hundred shi for now." He then got up, took his leave, and departed.
After he walked away, Lin Tianming shook his head and said to his advisor, "My son-in-law is a very shrewd and diplomatic man, far more so than many who have spent years in officialdom. Why is his brother so rigid in his actions? It's one thing to abandon the military camps in the city and waste money and supplies to build a stone fortress outside the city, but now he's even bringing a month's worth of rations and staying in that fortress. Does he want to cut all ties with us? He's so self-righteous when demanding military rations, completely forgetting that he's the General of Dengzhou and under the jurisdiction of this governor!"
Since the matter involved the governor's son-in-law, the staff member couldn't comment rashly and could only offer vague words of comfort: "Governor, please calm down. General Liang is an honest man who does practical things, and he has his merits. Besides, even if you don't care about the monk, you should consider the Buddha. For the sake of the Earl of Pingnan, as long as his request isn't excessive, it's best if you grant it to him..."
Lin Tianming sighed: "Who told him to be Xiao Ye's man? Go and check the accounts and allocate 800 shi of grain to him."
Neither Lin Tianming nor Liang Xiaoming expected that this seemingly unnecessary action would play a crucial role two days later.
When the grain arrived at the new military camp, Liang Xiaoming was directing men to install 6-jin (3 catties) mountain guns on the various protruding corners of the bastion. Although the power of the mountain guns was not quite commensurate with the size of the bastion, it was better than nothing. Liang Xiaoming looked at the "small" mountain guns with some regret, thinking that it was a pity that building a cannon-casting arsenal was too troublesome, and training craftsmen could not be done overnight. Otherwise, it would be perfect to cast a dozen or twenty 10-jin (5 catties) field guns or even coastal defense guns on the spot.
Just then, the sound of thunderous hooves approached from afar, indicating that a sizable cavalry force was drawing near. Liang Xiaoming chuckled, "It must be Ma Wei and his men returning from wiping out the bandits." He had a soldier hand him a pair of binoculars, and sure enough, Ma Wei was right in front of them.
He was about to put down his binoculars and lead his men out of the city to meet them when he sensed something was off from that glimpse. He quickly raised his binoculars again to examine them closely: Ma Wei and the cavalrymen behind him looked exhausted, many of them were injured, and their expressions were serious, and they seemed somewhat... nervous?
Something's not right. It's not unusual to be injured, but after defeating the bandits, he shouldn't look like this!
Liang Xiaoming called Su Hongtu to the city wall and handed him the binoculars. "Take a look," he said, "I don't think Ma Wei looks like he's returning in triumph."
Su Hongtu glanced at him for a moment and immediately said, "General, quickly order the entire regiment to be on alert—Ma Wei is being pursued by a considerable number of men. The ones who could put him in such a sorry state are definitely not bandits!"
Liang Xiaoming was taken aback. He looked through the binoculars again and sure enough, there was a large cloud of dust some distance behind Ma Wei and his group, with figures moving vaguely in the distance.
A cavalryman broke away from the main force and galloped ahead to deliver the message. Just as he reached the fortress, his horse neighed in despair, its front legs buckled, and it collapsed to its knees. The cavalryman jumped off before his horse fell, ran desperately to the city walls, and shouted, "My lord, the Tartars are here! Close the gates immediately!"
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Note 1, Note 2: The grain and salary distributed to various places in the Ming Dynasty were divided into two parts: the commuted tax and the original tax. Simply put, the original tax was the land tax collected in kind, while the commuted tax was converted into other goods (such as silk) or currency (silver) instead.