Chapter 59: Inspecting the Stone Bridge

Outside the Yongding Gate of the capital city of Beijing, in the southeastern suburbs.

Moving a little over five li further south from the defense sector of Xuanfu Garrison Regional Commander Yang Guozhu lay the defense sector of Battalion Commander Zhang Yan. They were also deploying their defenses along the Liangshui River, except that along their stretch, two small stone bridges spanned the river.

The camp of Zhang Yan's battalion was set up in an abandoned village fortress about two li behind the northern stone bridge, located to the southeast. To escape the ravages of war, the fortress had long been empty and devoid of human presence.

Although the village fortress was severely damaged, compared to the surrounding villages, it was considered relatively well-preserved. Quite a few houses were still usable, and the fortress walls were largely intact, standing over a zhang in height. While there were some breaches, they could be reinforced with obstacles such as chevaux-de-frise.

The crucial point was that this abandoned village fortress closely bordered the official highway leading to the capital on its left, positioning it precisely at a strategic choke point of the highway, and it was not far from the stone bridge over the Liangshui River to the east.

Zhang Yan immediately occupied the location to establish his encampment. He dispatched an infantry sentinel post to garrison the stone bridge, with prearranged signals of smoke by day and fire by night. At the same time, scouting cavalry patrolled back and forth constantly. In the event of harassment by enemy Tartar cavalry, reinforcements could be dispatched at any moment from the highway, making it exceedingly convenient.

Compared to bivouacking in the open fields, occupying a ready-made village fortress naturally saved a great deal of trouble. It was convenient and prompt, and the defense was much more robust, allowing them to make use of the dilapidated courtyard walls as well as the fortress perimeter itself.

Except for the various sentinel posts stationed outside, the remaining force of nearly two thousand men, along with grain, provisions, and military equipment, had all been moved into the camp within the village fortress.

At the same time, a large number of Zhang Cheng's scouts were dispatched to reconnoiter the enemy situation in the surroundings and urgently survey the topography and terrain of the area. They generally operated in units of squads, with each rider equipped with two horses as they went out on reconnaissance.

About two li or more to the south of the village fortress where Zhang Yan had camped, not far from the western side of the Liangshui River, stood an earthen hillock. Atop it sat a long-abandoned beacon tower, which presumably had been damaged during the ninth year of the Chongzhen reign and had never been repaired, remaining abandoned ever since.

Although the beacon tower was already dilapidated and ruined, its remnant structure still stood over two zhang high, allowing one to ascend to observe the surrounding situation, as well as to emplace guns and cannons to defend the vital forward stone bridge.

Moreover, the surrounding dozens of zhang of beacon walls remained basically intact, making them perfectly suited for garrisoning and defending the stone bridge.

On the southern side of the abandoned beacon tower wound an official highway, over three zhang wide and deeply etched with age-old cart tracks. Following the official highway eastward for about ten zhang brought one to the second stone bridge of Zhang Yan's defense sector.

Within a radius of several li, this was the only highway that remained reasonably passable; the rest consisted entirely of farmland or river canals. While infantry and cavalry could still weave through the empty fields, pulling wagons and baggage trains necessitated taking the official highway.

An infantry sentinel post was likewise stationed at this stone bridge.

Unlike the northern stone bridge, their tactical situation here was somewhat more favorable. They only needed to place chevaux-de-frise, deer antlers, and caltrops on the stone bridge to obstruct the enemy Tartar cavalry, and then leave a squad of soldiers on garrison duty while the rest of the men could retreat into the encampment set up within the abandoned beacon tower.

The proportion of firearms equipped by these two infantry sentinel posts guarding the stone bridges was very high. The proportion of matchlock muskets within the sentinels reached as high as fifty percent, and they were equipped with three No. 3 Fojingji breech-loading swivel guns and three Huzun crouching tiger cannons, making them fully capable of holding a stone bridge firmly.

Zhang Cheng's cavalry thousand-man battalion was also heavily equipped with firearms. Due to the extreme urgency of the military situation when they marched in to reinforce the sovereign, the bulk of their military equipment and supplies had arrived in Changping together with the infantry thousand-man battalion following closely behind. This included ten No. 3 Fojingji guns, thirty No. 4 Fojingji guns, thirty Huzun crouching tiger cannons, and various other firearms and ammunition.

Qi Jiguang's *New Book of Military Efficiency* explicitly records five types of Fojingji cannons.

Among them, the No. 1 gun is eight to nine chi long, firing a one-catty shot with one catty of gunpowder; the No. 2 gun is six to seven chi long, firing a ten-liang shot with eleven liang of gunpowder; the No. 3 gun is four to five chi long, firing a five-liang shot with six liang of gunpowder; the No. 4 gun is two to three chi long, firing a three-liang shot with three and a half liang of gunpowder; and the No. 5 gun is one chi long, firing a three-qian shot with five qian of gunpowder.

This had formed a complete series of equipment ranging from large to small.

Furthermore, the *New Book of Military Efficiency* not only provided scientific and detailed regulations for the manufacture of the aforementioned types of Fojingji cannons, but also explained the specific uses for different Fojingji guns. For instance, the No. 1 and No. 2 guns were primarily used as naval artillery, the No. 3 gun was mostly utilized for fortress defense, the No. 4 gun could accompany armies on campaign, and the No. 5 gun, owing to its portability, was largely issued as general equipment for individual soldiers.

Zhang Cheng's forces had brought along a vast quantity of Fojingji guns and Huzun crouching tiger cannons upon entering to guard the capital region and reinforce the throne.

The reinforcement troops from the Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi Three Garrisons were deployed in this manner along the Liangshui River line, starting from ten li south of the capital's Yongding Gate and extending all the way south, setting up defense sectors to ward off the harassment of the Tartar cavalry in the eastern suburbs of the imperial capital.

…………

Rising early in the morning, Zhang Cheng inspected his own camp as was his routine.

Though dilapidated, the abandoned fortress was fortunately quite spacious. The encampment of his cavalry thousand-man battalion was situated close to the side of the official highway. There were several large residential courtyards here; their buildings being severely damaged, they were simply torn down and converted into horse stables.

Catching sight of Zhang Cheng from afar, Hu Dake hurried over and said, "Commander, the wind is growing colder by the day. You ought to put on more layers."

Zhang Cheng said to him in a steady voice, "Dake, remind the brothers out on reconnaissance to be extremely careful of the Tartar cavalry and make sure they don't get bested."

"Pass up a chance for easy gains? That would make us bastards!" Hu Dake said with a cheeky grin. Seeing that Zhang Cheng's expression held no trace of displeasure, he continued, "Commander, those Tartars are terribly slippery, even more elusive than river loaches; they aren't easy to catch."

Zhang Cheng said, "Catch them if you can, but don't force it..."

Just as he reached this point, the sound of hoofbeats echoed. It was a personal guard of Zhang Yan sent to summon Zhang Cheng to accompany Zhang Yan on an inspection of the encampments.

Zhang Cheng gave Hu Dake a few more parting instructions, then led Chen Zhong and several personal guards away in haste.

Zhang Yan was already fully armored and chatting with Infantry Major Liang Song. Zhang Cheng hurried forward, cupped his fists in salute, and said, "Thousand-man commander Zhang Cheng pays his respects to the General."

Zhang Yan glanced at his nephew and said in a deep voice, "You must remind your subordinates that when conducting reconnaissance, safety is paramount. They must not engage in reckless skirmishes with the Tartar cavalry."

"Understood, Uncle," Zhang Cheng acknowledged.

Zhang Yan took the reins from his personal guard, swung into the saddle, and said, "Let's go, let's take a look at the two stone bridges."

Zhang Cheng spurred his horse to follow behind Zhang Yan, while the nearby Infantry Major Liang Song rode alongside and said to him, "Little Commander, you've managed to harvest a few Tartar heads these past few days."

Zhang Cheng smiled and said, "Heh, you old tiger, you're getting impatient. When the opportunity arises, I'll let the Tartars witness the tiger's might of my big brother here."

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the northern stone bridge. Liang Song's infantry thousand-man battalion's vanguard outpost was garrisoned here. They had erected chevaux-de-frise at this end and in the middle of the stone bridge, while the bridge deck was strewn with caltrops. At a distance of thirty paces from the stone bridge, a chest-high earthen wall had been piled up, extending from both sides all the way to the edge of the official highway. Two No. 3 Fojingji guns and two Huzun crouching tiger cannons were mounted atop the earthen wall, their barrels already aimed and pointed directly toward the bridgehead.

As for the official highway, heavy wagons were dragged across it to block the way. No earthen wall was built here precisely to facilitate the passage of our scouting cavalry going back and forth. With two layers of chevaux-de-frise combined with the heavy wagons, it should be fully sufficient to block the enemy Tartar cavalry.

About three hundred paces away from the stone bridge lay a piece of elevated ground right beside the official highway. The vanguard's tents were pitched there, surrounded by chevaux-de-frise and earthen walls, with over twenty tents neatly lined up within.