Amid the repeated thanks of the gate-recapturing soldiers, Wei’s men lifted the dead and supported the wounded, leading them out of the tunnel.
One group entering, one leaving. The two bodies of troops passed shoulder to shoulder, filled with mutual respect. One side thanked them profusely, the other responded with constant “no trouble, no trouble”.
“Strike!”
Just as the gate troops were pouring out gratitude, Wei suddenly bellowed the order.
Strike? Strike what?
Hadn’t you already started helping carry the dead and support the wounded? The gate soldiers were utterly bewildered.
They were bewildered, but their counterparts were not. Almost simultaneously, those carrying corpses whipped out hidden daggers and stabbed viciously downward. Those supporting the wounded flicked blades from their sleeves and slashed across exposed throats. The rest drew long swords from their waists and hacked at every gate soldier passing by, showing no mercy whatsoever.
At such close range, against such numbers, the gate troops were caught completely unprepared. In a single clash, more than half were slaughtered.
By the time the survivors managed to draw their weapons and fight back, each faced three, five, or even more foes.
Two fists cannot contend with four hands, let alone six, eight, or ten. Within moments, Wei’s men wiped them out.
Of course, as they died the gate soldiers shouted at the tops of their lungs that Wei had turned traitor, desperately passing news of the betrayal onward.
But it was already too late.
The instant Wei gave the order to strike, he had also commanded the city gates to be flung open once more. “Quickly, open the gates wide! Welcome the Japanese pirates in! When the time comes, silver and women, you may take as many as you wish!”
With creaking groans, the gates swung open again.
“Sugoi! As expected of Xu-san, truly magnificent! The gates have actually opened a second time!”
Seeing the gates part once more, Matsura Shigenobu could not help raising his thumb to Xu Hai in endless admiration.
“Once the clan lord extends his power into the Ming, conquering the southeast, Xu-san will unquestionably claim the greatest merit. The clan lord rewards and punishes clearly; he will surely bestow enormous honours upon Xu-san.”
Ryūzōji Takaakira saw from this coup just how vital Xu Hai was and took the chance to bind him closer to their lord.
For now, their campaign in the Ming still depended heavily on Xu Hai, even though they now possessed coastal maps of the southeast.
Only a Ming person truly understood Ming people; only a Ming person knew best how to fight Ming people. They needed merely to keep Xu Hai under control. As for rewards, the Ming territories were vast and rich; whatever Xu Hai helped them seize would be more than enough. A few crumbs leaking through their fingers would suffice to satisfy him.
“To serve the clan lord is Xu’s honour.” Xu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly.
Once the gates stood fully open, the three leaders waved their arms grandly and ordered their pirate forces to charge inside at once.
This time, Songjiang prefectural city was theirs beyond all doubt.
“Disaster! Listen, something has gone wrong below! Hundred-Household Wei has betrayed us! He has gone over to the pirates! That traitor to be cut a thousand times has opened the gates and is letting the pirates in!”
The troops atop the wall heard the dying shouts of the gate soldiers. Looking down, they saw it was true: Wei had turned traitor, slaughtered the gate defenders, thrown the gates wide, and the pirates were already howling as they surged forward.
“Hurry, retake the gate! Do not let them inside!”
“Damn it! Get down there fast, seize the gate back!”
“It’s over. Wei brought seven or eight hundred men with him when he defected. They have many crossbows. Our troops cannot break through quickly. No good, the pirates are already inside. We are too late!”
The wall troops organised a counter-attack, but Wei had prepared for exactly that. He had brought large numbers of bows and crossbows. Dense arrow storms inflicted terrible casualties on every counter-charge; several attempts failed to break through.
Soon the pirates poured in from outside. Once they began slaughtering unchecked within the walls, the counter-attacking defenders fell into utter despair.
The pirates were a hundred times more savage than Wei’s turncoats. They carved through the defending ranks like a whirlwind, their swords reaping life after life.
“It’s finished, finished. The pirates are inside. Songjiang Prefecture is lost!”
Watching ever more pirates flood through the gate tunnel, the defenders’ faces filled with despair.
As long as the walls held, they could barely keep Songjiang city. Without the walls, facing the pirates blade to blade, they were no match at all. Seeing the pirates slaughter in all directions with ferocious abandon, what little courage they had scattered to the winds.
Especially these common soldiers, poor as church mice, unable to afford houses inside the city, with wives and children living in villages outside the walls. They had no family within the city, no burning need to defend Songjiang to the death.
“What?! That dog of a Wei, whose nine generations should be exterminated, has actually defected to the pirates and opened the gates, letting them in?!”
Prefect Han of Songjiang was not on the wall. Following the principle that a gentleman does not stand beneath a perilous wall, he directed the defence from the safety of the prefectural yamen.
Urgent reports from the front arrived one after another. Sitting in the yamen, he calmly adjusted deployments according to each dispatch, sending reinforcements, allocating supplies, conscripting able-bodied civilians. If not exactly relaxed, everything proceeded in good order.
Though casualties among the wall-protected defenders actually exceeded those of the pirates outside, it did not matter. What counted was holding the city.
When news first came that the civilians bearing rewards had revealed themselves as pirates and assaulted the gate, Prefect Han had only felt a brief tension. He was not overly worried, for he had contingency plans in place. Governor Hu had already sent warning that pirates had infiltrated Songjiang city, so Han had prepared accordingly.
And indeed, when the pirate infiltrators temporarily seized the gate, the contingency troops he had readied reacted instantly, retaking the gate and crushing the threat inside the tunnel before closing the gates once more.
But when the report reached him that Hundred-Household Wei had betrayed them, turned to the pirates, seized the gate, opened it wide, and admitted the pirate horde, Prefect Han’s vision went black. The world spun, his legs gave way, and he could not even steady himself against the table. With a heavy thud he collapsed full-length onto the floor.
This betrayal was something he had never foreseen. Who could have imagined a key officer would lead his entire command in defection to the enemy, seize the gate, open it, and let the pirates flood in!
The consequences were catastrophic, and he had no plan for it.
The moment the news struck, Prefect Han felt as though a musket ball had blown his head apart. Darkness swallowed him, the room whirled, and he crashed to the ground.
“My lord Prefect! My lord!”
“Come quick, someone! The Prefect has fainted…”
“Sir, wake up…”
His personal guards frantically lifted him, some pinching the philtrum, others shouting for help.
The entire yamen dissolved into utter pandemonium, clerks and officials running about like headless flies.
