Ning Chen set down his bowl and chopsticks and said mildly:
“It’s about half a month from the frontier to Mangzhou.”
“Which means the Grand Tutor had word that the Empress was granted death several days before we took Mangzhou.”
“He brought a hundred thousand men to Mangzhou on his own authority, with no imperial edict. That alone is proof enough that he has rebelled.”
Pan Yucheng asked, curious. “Then why did he bring only a hundred thousand?”
Ning Chen said, smiling, “Because when he set out with the army, he did not yet know we had already taken Mangzhou.”
“A hundred thousand men, plus the Left Chancellor’s twenty thousand, is a hundred and twenty thousand in all… and Mangzhou is easy to hold and hard to take. That should be enough to stand against Great Xuan’s army.”
“And going back ten thousand steps — even if it is not enough, they can still fall back to the frontier… the hundred thousand he left behind are his own way out.”
Pan Yucheng inclined his head slightly.
“The Grand Tutor should know the state of Mangzhou by now.”
Ning Chen made a sound of acknowledgment. “We have scouts. So does the Grand Tutor.”
“So what do we do now?”
Ning Chen said, smiling, “Meet the soldiers with generals, meet the flood with earth.” (TL Note: A set phrase — answer whatever comes with whatever it takes.)
“Mangzhou is easy to hold and hard to take, and we have better than thirty thousand men. As long as we don’t force a stand-up fight, we should be able to hold out a while.”
“The memorial I sent to the capital a few days ago laid the situation out for His Majesty and asked him to send troops… but until they arrive, it is on us alone.”
Ning Chen finished. His brow was drawn tight and he sounded troubled.
“There’s only one thing worrying me now — that the Grand Tutor learns we’ve taken Mangzhou and brings up the other hundred thousand.”
“We can hold out against a hundred thousand for a while… against two hundred thousand, I’m afraid Mangzhou won’t stand more than a few days.”
Pan Yucheng said, low, “How long do you reckon before reinforcements come?”
Ning Chen thought it over. “A month. A month at the latest.”
Pan Yucheng smiled bitterly. “If the Grand Tutor really does bring up the other hundred thousand — two hundred thousand men — can we hold out a month?”
Ning Chen said it slowly, one word at a time. “Hold or not, we hold… even if it comes down to the last man. Mangzhou cannot fall, or Great Xuan is finished.”
Ning Chen looked at Lei An. “How long before the Grand Tutor’s army reaches Mangzhou?”
Lei An said, “Three days at the most.”
Ning Chen thought a moment. “We still have time to get ready.”
“Lei An, go tell Yuan Long to get rolling stones, timber and tung oil ready, and put every man of the musket battalion up on the wall.”
“Old Pan, go tell Mu Anbang to bring his men into the city and prepare to meet the enemy.”
Lei An and Pan Yucheng took their orders and were about to leave when Ning Chen called Lei An back.
“Send someone to tell Yuan Long. I have another job for you.”
“Yes!”
Lei An ran out, gave the order to send word to Yuan Long, and ran back in.
Ning Chen said, low and hard, “Send men to take control of every private powder shop in the city. I need gunpowder, as much of it as we can get.”
“Tell the shopkeepers we will pay them afterward… have them make powder as fast as they can, and we buy up every bit of it.”
“And requisition canvas, hemp rope and small wooden barrels from the baggage train… as much as you can get.”
“The moment everything is ready, send it straight to the Governor’s residence, no delays… and keep the musket battalion on standby at all times.”
Lei An bent forward. “Yes, this officer will see to it now.”
Once Lei An had gone, Ning Chen let out a bitter laugh.
Two thousand muskets were nowhere near enough to stop the Grand Tutor’s hundred thousand men, and it might yet be two hundred thousand.
If only they had cannon.
But the cannon had not been cast yet.
And even if they had been, there was no time to get them from the capital to Mangzhou.
So Ning Chen had thought of something simple to make and enormously destructive: satchel charges.
By the afternoon Lei An had brought in a large quantity of gunpowder, canvas, hemp rope and wooden barrels.
Ning Chen sent for the men of the firearms battalion.
Then he showed them how to make the satchel charges.
The thing was easy enough to make.
Loose gunpowder only burns. Packed tight, it explodes.
Wrap the powder in canvas on the inside and hemp cloth on the outside, press it down hard, tie it tight with hemp rope, and leave a fuse. That was all there was to it.
The barrels worked the same way. Hoop the outside of the barrel with iron, pack the inside full of powder, seal the lid, and leave a fuse… and that was a powder keg.
The finished satchel charges and powder kegs went straight to the north gate.
Before anyone noticed, night had fallen.
Ning Chen found himself wondering why nobody in this world had ever come up with anything this simple.
Maybe the idea had never occurred to them, and they thought gunpowder was only good for firecrackers and fireworks.
Just as in his last life, where China worked out gunpowder first and it became the weapon the Western powers used to burn and kill and plunder their way in.
Ning Chen was still turning it over when a flash of light off to one side made him look around without thinking.
One glance, and his whole head went numb with shock.
One of the musket battalion soldiers had lit a torch.
Ning Chen moved like a cheetah, closed the distance in a few bounding strides, and kicked the man, torch and all, clean off his feet.
Then he was on the torch in an instant and stamped it out.
“Are you trying to get us all killed?”
Ning Chen roared it, pointing at the soldier sprawled on the ground.
The soldier scrambled up clutching his stomach in fright, dropped to his knees and said, shaking, “General Ning, I… it was so dark, I forgot myself… spare me, General, spare me…”
“You blockhead. You want to blow every one of us to pieces? How did you ever get into the musket battalion? What did Yuan Long teach you? You don’t have a lick of sense.”
Ning Chen was nearly out of his mind with rage.
A whole courtyard full of gunpowder — one spark and there would not be enough left of anyone here to bury.
“Take this blockhead away. Thirty strokes of the rod, and he never sets foot in the musket battalion again.”
The soldier was dragged off.
Ning Chen’s temper had not cooled. “How does the firearms battalion end up with a blockhead like that? One spark and this whole residence goes flat, and not one of us leaves enough behind to bury.”
“I’ll let you die on a battlefield. I will not have you die because one of our own was stupid.”
The men of the firearms battalion all looked badly shaken. They had been frightened out of their wits a moment ago.
The first lesson for anyone in the firearms battalion was that wherever there is gunpowder, fire never comes near it.
“Anyone else who is careless like that, don’t blame me for showing you no consideration.”
“Somebody fence this place off… I don’t want to see one spark within a hundred meters.”
Ning Chen gave the order and had the whole area cordoned off.
Even so he was not satisfied, and he posted several men whose only job was to watch it… in case someone got lost in the work and did something stupid.
Once that was arranged, Ning Chen cleared out fast.
God damn, that had been terrifying.
Ning Chen went to the north gate.
The soldiers were hauling rolling stones and timber up onto the wall.
Ning Chen found Yuan Long, told him what the soldier’s stupidity had nearly cost them, and tore into him with everything he had.
Yuan Long was chewed out until he could not lift his head.
“How are you training your men… if this were not a time we needed every hand, I’d punish you along with him.”
Once he had finished with Yuan Long, Ning Chen got down to business. “Remember. Every satchel charge and every powder keg is stored separately, under heavy guard.”
“Keep the tung oil stored apart too… and get as many rolling stones and as much timber as you can.”
(End of Chapter 256)