Chapter 160: Blasting Open the City Wall

In July of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng led a half-million-strong army to lay siege to Kaifeng for the second time.

In August, Sun Chuanting accepted the critical assignment, preparing to mobilize a thirteen-thousand-strong force across seven routes to break the siege of Kaifeng. These forces included Yutian Regional Commander Cao Bianjiao, Jizhou Regional Commander Bai Guang'en, Shandong Regional Commander Liu Zeqing, Shaanxi Regional Commander He Renlong, Zuo Liangyu, Meng Ruhu, and Datong Regional Commander Wang Pu.

Wang Pu set out from Datong, advancing directly on Kaifeng through Taiyuan Prefecture, Zhangde Prefecture, and Weihui Prefecture.

The three armies of Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guang'en, and Liu Zeqing, stationed in Shandong, advanced on Kaifeng from Lanyang via Yuncheng and Caozhou.

Sun Chuanting personally led the elite forces of the three towns—Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and Meng Ruhu—out of Tongguan Pass, advancing on Kaifeng along the Yellow River. The three separate forces agreed to rendezvous beneath the walls of Kaifeng at the end of September to jointly strike the roving bandits.

Sun Chuanting's strategic vision was sound, but it was far too wishful.

As early as in Datong, Wang Pu had told Sun Chuanting that the imperial court's treasury was currently empty and funds and provisions were severely lacking. Advancing rashly to suppress the roving bandits without adequate logistical support was unwise. Even if the regional commanders of various towns reluctantly agreed to dispatch their troops, the result would not only fail to exterminate the bandits but would actually fuel their momentum.

Facts proved that Wang Pu's judgment was accurate.

The first to experience problems was precisely the western route army personally commanded by Sun Chuanting. Due to the lack of grain and forage supplies, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and Meng Ruhu had no choice but to unleash their troops to plunder. This immediately led to disaster; the Guanzhong troops had wretched discipline, robbing not only the wealthy but sparing neither impoverished common people, wantonly slaughtering the innocent and arbitrarily violating women. Sun Chuanting naturally could not tolerate such atrocities, resulting in a fierce conflict between generals and commander. The western route army, in which Sun Chuanting had placed such high hopes, disintegrated on its own before even reaching Kaifeng. Zuo Liangyu used the pursuit of Zhang Xianzhong as an excuse to lead his army south to Xiangyang, while He Renlong and Meng Ruhu also used the pursuit of Liu Zongmin as an excuse to withdraw their forces back to Guanzhong.

Immediately following this, trouble broke out in the eastern route army of Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guang'en, and Liu Zeqing. Because of a shortage of provisions and pay, a mutiny broke out when the army reached Caozhou. Liu Zeqing's Shandong troops almost completely deserted overnight, and the elite forces of Cao Bianjiao and Bai Guang'en's two towns also suffered massive desertions, leaving the three of them with no choice but to temporarily station themselves in Caozhou.

Only Wang Pu's force experienced no major issues, but upon advancing to Fengqiu on the northern bank of the Yellow River, Wang Pu did not dare to continue southward. This was because Li Zicheng's half-million-strong army was right on the southern bank of the Yellow River; if Wang Pu dared to cross the river, he would undoubtedly fall into the roving bandits' heavy encirclement.

The roving bandits of this era were no longer the roving bandits of a few years prior. Ever since they had gathered a group of talents such as Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Li Yan, the roving bandits had undergone earth-shattering changes. Moreover, after years of campaigning east and west and annexing the elite forces of Luo Ruchai and the Five Camps of Ge and Zuo, Li Zicheng now commanded a battle-hardened elite army.

What was even more fatal was that this elite force did not number ten or twenty thousand, but several hundred thousand!

No matter how brave and skilled in battle the Firearms Corps was, Wang Pu would never dare use a mere four thousand men to hard-fight Li Zicheng's half-million-strong army!

In orthodox history, the reason Li Zicheng was defeated at Yipianshi by the allied forces of Wu Sangui and Dorgon was actually not because the roving bandits lacked elite status. In fact, after capturing Guanzhong, the equipment of the roving bandits was already extremely sophisticated, and their combat effectiveness closely approached that of the Manchu Eight Banners. If the two armies engaged in a head-on decisive battle with equal numbers, the Manchu Eight Banners might not necessarily secure certain victory.

The reason Li Zicheng was defeated at Yipianshi was entirely due to his excessive carelessness.

The vast majority of Li Zicheng's elite troops were scattered across Henan, Guanzhong, Shanxi, and the capital region. He had brought fewer than one hundred thousand troops to Shanhai Pass, a force roughly half the size of the combined armies of Wu Sangui and Dorgon. Had Li Zicheng been able to concentrate all the elite troops scattered across various locations, crushing the hundred-plus-thousand allied forces of Wu Sangui and Dorgon would have been as easy as turning over one's hand.

Outside the walls of Kaifeng, in the roving bandits' grand encampment.

Li Yan strode into Li Zicheng's main tent, cupped his fists in a salute, and said, "Great King, the Firearms Corps is fully prepared."

A piercing gleam flashed in Li Zicheng's single eye. He waved his hand toward Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and the crowd of rebel generals standing in solemn rows on either side, and said in a resonant voice, "Let's go, everyone, let's go take a look."

Li Zicheng strode out in the lead, followed by the crowd as they arrived at the drill ground.

On the drill ground, three thousand rebel soldiers had formed neat ranks. Unlike other rebel forces, what these three thousand rebel soldiers held in their hands were not spears or broadswords, but uniform matchlock firearms—that's right, matchlocks!

This matter had to be recounted from the beginning.

***

After Li Yan returned to Henan from Shaanxi, Li Zicheng had originally intended to have him killed in secret. Fortunately, thanks to Song Xiance's strenuous efforts to protect him, Li Yan managed to survive. Of course, Song Xiance had his own selfish motives for protecting Li Yan; because Li Yan was a man of substance, keeping him alive would serve as a check against the strategist Niu Jinxing.

Li Yan was unaware that he had almost been killed by Li Zicheng. Upon returning to Henan, he immediately began vigorously lobbying Li Zicheng to establish a Firearms Corps. After Li Yan spoke of it frequently, some of Li Zicheng's generals grew tempted, and with Song Xiance fanning the flames, Li Zicheng finally gave his consent.

Li Zicheng allocated five thousand old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers to Li Yan, and drew one hundred thousand taels of silver from the wealth accumulated over the years to provide Li Yan for purchasing firearms and ammunition.

Hong Niangzi utilized her connections within the underworld, using the one hundred thousand taels of silver to purchase nearly ten thousand matchlocks and several hundred thousand catties of gunpowder and lead shot from the garrison troops of the Southern Zhili, Henan, and Shandong provinces. The military discipline of the garrison forces in Southern Zhili, Shandong, and Henan had degenerated to the absolute extreme; as long as they received silver, they did not care where this batch of firearms flowed.

The only regret Li Yan felt was that these matchlocks were all matchlock muskets. Compared with the firearms of Wang Pu's Firearms Corps, they were not only clumsy but of extremely poor quality. Out of ten thousand matchlocks, fewer than three thousand were actually usable. Combined with the items previously captured by the rebel army, they barely managed to assemble a force of three thousand.

By mid-August, Li Yan's Firearms Corps was finally formed. After more than a month of shooting training, it was now taking shape, lacking only the test of actual combat.

When Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Tian Jianxiu, Li Guo, and the other generals took their seats on the reviewing platform, Li Yan strode to the front of the platform, raised his command flag, and waved it from side to side. The two thousand old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers rejected from the Firearms Corps carried two thousand wooden puppets onto the drill ground, forming a battle array one hundred paces directly in front of the three thousand Firearms Corps soldiers.

Li Yan raised the command flag in his hand once more. A rebel leader at the front of the array flipped his hand, drew his waist saber, and shouted harshly, "First squad... prepare!"

The two thousand old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers quickly withdrew.

The first rank of five hundred rebel soldiers raised the matchlocks in their hands. Five hundred matchlocks were raised in a neat line, their dark muzzles aimed squarely at the puppet array ahead.

Li Yan swept his command flag downward. The rebel leader at the front of the array swung his waist saber down in tandem while roaring sternly, "Open fire!"

Five hundred rebel soldiers pulled their triggers simultaneously. The matchcord clamped in the trigger was pressed into the priming pan, and the gunpowder within hissed as it burned, rapidly detonating the powder inside the barrels. With a continuous, deafening roar of explosions—*boom, boom, boom*—a blinding flash of light erupted simultaneously from the muzzles of the five hundred matchlocks arrayed in a line.

A flurry of sharp clattering sounds instantly echoed from the puppet array ahead as over a hundred wooden puppets toppled to the ground.

Li Zicheng rose abruptly to his feet, staring fixedly at the three thousand Firearms Corps soldiers on the drill ground below. A look of sheer disbelief flickered in his single eye; with such a dense volley of gunfire, even an immortal would undoubtedly die. If the wooden puppets ahead were replaced with imperial government troops, this single volley alone would probably slaughter over a hundred men!

Before the reviewing platform, the command flag in Li Yan's hand rose once more.

Another rebel leader flipped his hand, drew his waist saber, and let out a fierce, ringing roar, "Second squad... prepare!"

The second squad of five hundred rebel soldiers quickly stepped forward two paces, then uniformly raised the matchlocks in their hands. The dark muzzles once again formed a neat line, while the first rank of five hundred soldiers who had just finished firing quickly retreated to the very rear of the formation, beginning the tense process of reloading their ammunition.

After all six volleys of collective fire were completed, Li Zicheng, escorted by a throng of rebel generals, arrived before the battered and crooked puppet array. Amidst the pungent smell of saltpeter smoke, it was evident that the two thousand wooden puppets had been riddled with countless holes by the lead shot. Over a distance of nearly a hundred paces, wooden boards several inches thick had actually been completely pierced through by the lead shot.

With such penetrating power, no armor could possibly withstand it!

If these two thousand wooden puppets had been imperial Ming soldiers, they would likely have been completely wiped out after these six volleys!

" Terrifying, simply terrifying!" Song Xiance praised at the opportune moment. "If the Great King commands thirty thousand such matchlock troops under his banner, destroying the Ming Dynasty would be nothing more than lifting a finger."

Li Zicheng remained silent, having yet to recover from the immense shock.

Strategist Niu Jinxing, however, demurred dismissively, "Though these matchlocks are formidable, we cannot manufacture them ourselves. If we purchase them from the Ming garrison troops, the price is far too exorbitant. To build a thirty-thousand-strong matchlock corps, how much silver would that require? With that amount of silver, we could recruit hundreds of thousands of troops."

***

Li Zicheng raised his hand abruptly and declared decisively, "No matter how much silver it costs, the Matchlock Corps must be expanded!"

Li Yan said, "Great King, there is something this subordinate does not know whether to speak of or not."

"Speak your mind freely."

The tone of Li Zicheng's speech was much more courteous now.

Li Yan said, "Almost all the matchlocks we were able to buy have already been bought up. Those we cannot buy cannot be obtained no matter how much silver we spend. Furthermore, the matchlocks used by these garrison troops are of excessively poor quality. This subordinate has witnessed far more superior firearms—longer, lighter, with greater range, stronger lethality, and a faster reloading speed than the matchlocks we currently use."

"Oh?" Li Zicheng said in a deep voice, "Are you referring to Wang Pu's Firearms Corps?"

Li Yan nodded and said, "Our Firearms Corps employs a six-stage firing method, and after a volley is completed, there must be a considerable interval during which other troops must protect the Firearms Corps. However, Wang Pu's Firearms Corps can employ a three-stage firing method, allowing them to conduct continuous shooting in wave after wave!"

Li Zicheng asked, "Are you implying that we must acquire the firearms used by Wang Pu's Firearms Corps?"

Li Yan replied, "Great King, the firearms used by Wang Pu's Firearms Corps are simply unobtainable by us—at least not right now. Therefore, we can only manufacture them ourselves!"

Niu Jinxing scoffed, "Easier said than done. Who is going to manufacture them? Can you, Li Yan, manufacture them?"

Li Yan answered, "This subordinate certainly cannot manufacture them, but inside Kaifeng City sits the imperial government's Directorate of Ordnance, and the craftsmen within that bureau can make them! Great King, this subordinate earnestly implores you not to breach the Yellow River and not to flood Kaifeng."

Li Zicheng's brow furrowed tightly in an instant.

"Well, well!" Niu Jinxing cried out loudly. "After circling around and around, it's finally come back to breaching the dikes and destroying the city. Li Yan, this is a city-breaking strategy devised by the Great King himself. What ulterior motive do you harbor by obstructing it at every turn? Are you trying to saddle the Great King with the infamy of poisoning the common people while you, Li Yan, reap the pristine reputation of cherishing the populace?"

"Great King," Li Yan urged anxiously, "if we use the waters of the Yellow River to flood Kaifeng, not only will countless common people be killed or injured, but other than an abandoned city, the Great King will gain nothing at all. Why won't the Great King try the city-breaking strategy this subordinate spoke of? Burying gunpowder at the base of the city walls can genuinely blast the city walls open. Back then, the Jianzhou Jurchens blasted open the city walls of Datong in precisely this manner."

"Nonsense!" Niu Jinxing retorted sharply. "The city walls of Kaifeng are so tall and thick; can they really be blown open with just tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder?"

"Great King," Li Yan pleaded anxiously, "this subordinate is willing to stake his head on it as a guarantee!"

Hearing this, Li Zicheng could not help but be moved.

Song Xiance seized the opportune moment to advise, "Great King, regardless of whether General Li Yan's offered strategy for breaching the city proves effective, there is no harm in trying it out. If it fails, flooding Kaifeng later will still not be too late."

Hearing this, Li Zicheng nodded and said, "Then let us give it a try. You, Li Yan, shall take full charge of this matter."

Hearing this, Li Yan was overjoyed and said, "This subordinate obeys the command!"

Between Niu Jinxing's brows, however, a cloud of darkness quietly gathered. Glancing at Song Xiance, then at Li Yan, he suddenly felt a sense of unprecedented crisis. Song Xiance and Li Yan showed faint signs of forming an alliance, and Li Zicheng no longer seemed to trust him as much as before. His own situation was growing delicate...