Conrad's Last Campaign (10 page)

As I watched the troops go by, I glanced down at my breastplate. The ball had penetrated the armor but didn’t have enough left to get through my chain mail. I was going to have one damned big bruise and it felt like something was broken. I was going to have a hard time swinging a sword with that arm.

When I saw that the insertion was going well, I headed for the barracks. I wanted to be where the most Mongols were. The battle plan pretty much ended after we got into the city. This was a smash and bash, kill the bastards raid. The lances had their orders, most to go to the barracks, others to assault the city center and so on, but we didn’t know enough about the city to make a clear plan. It really came down to, find ’em, bash ’em, kill ’em

Sir Gorski had peeled off as we charged and headed east with the last four thousand men. Their job was to sweep the yurts and pastures on the road clear any threat of a counter attack, and then join us in the city.

It worked as well any battle plan does.

At the barracks, the mounted infantry had dismounted and was firing into the barracks. Dead Mongol guards littered the doorways and courtyards, but there was return fire from muskets and bows. Fortunately, the Mongols were nice enough to build wooden barracks. I claimed executive privilege to deliver the first incendiary on Silver’s back. My arm hurt like hell when I threw the bomb, and I damned near missed but I was followed by a long line of knights with burning presents. Within minutes, we had twenty barracks buildings blazing.

When the fires were going good, I headed back to the gate. I never did really enjoy butchery, even when it was necessary, and this was not a prisoner taking day.

Back at the gate, the troops were still coming through. Other than our men and dead Mongols, this side of the city was deserted. I could hear steady fire as the Wolves continued to sweep the inner walls. Apparently, none of the Mongol cannon got off a shot. Sporadic gunfire echoed all around me.

I decided it was time to visit city hall. Perhaps I could register my complaints about their treatment of Poles with the proper authorities. I had to sheath my sword and take up my Sten gun. My arm was just too sore to swing a sword. A couple of times, I had to remind troops that we did
not
kill traders, blacksmiths, and shop keepers but they were generally pretty well-behaved.

The administration building was one of the few stone buildings in town. We couldn’t burn it and we needed at least a few of the inhabitants alive. I was too late to join in the assault. The first troopers on the scene had just burst through the doors and captured or killed everyone before they realized they were under serious attack.

They had gathered the captives on the street in front of the building. While I was looking them over, troopers brought in several prosperous and important looking prisoners. We weren’t looking for prisoners, but the richer Mongols would be questioned. One particularly large fellow was dressed in rich furs and still wore a gold embossed breastplate. The troopers said that this was Batu, one of the head guys. They said they had jumped him as he left his bedroom and still had a damned hard time. To his credit, he was bleeding from several wounds and still had to be both bound and restrained. He didn’t go easy.

We found a large room with a city map on the wall, set up a temporary headquarters, and sent messengers out to tell the officers where we were. Our lightning raid had conquered the city in a matter of minutes, but it would take hours to clear out the remnants of resistance.

As reports came in, we identified the foreign enclaves and sent troopers out to guard the ones that were staying neutral and close out the ones that were resisting. Here, we would take prisoners, and rape was not allowed. We probably missed a few and would have to apologize to a few foreign powers later – if we ever got back to Europe.

It was more important to send excess troops to the docks to protect the warehouses and organize fire fighting where necessary. This looked like a battle, but it started as a shopping trip and we needed the contents of those warehouses. The troops were given orders that no one was to enter the warehouse and that no one would be allowed to leave with any merchandise. Boats were also forbidden to leave.

By ten, we were able to hold our first staff meeting. As I sat at the desk, a combat medic stripped my armor and began a painful examination. The first report was from the commander of the Wolves. “It took us over two hours sweep the walls. Most of the wall standers were Chinese troops who were impressed by the Mongols. As we agreed before, we let any Chinaman who dropped his weapons leave the battlefield. They didn’t want to be here, and we didn’t want to waste ammunition. By the time we had cleared the first mile, the other positions were deserted. One position was commanded by a real hardass who managed to get his piece turned around and got off one shot in our direction. He took out a nice civilian house before he croaked.

“We control the entire perimeter of the city; our men man all the gates.”

“How about the barracks?”

“Komander Jazinski, your grace, representing Baron Krol. The baron was unable to come in person.

“The battle is still in progress. Most of the Mongols were still asleep when we hit them and we fired most of the buildings. At first it was a turkey shoot. We finished them off as the fled the buildings and most of them were too smoke addled to get off a shot, but there were about a hundred barracks buildings and we couldn’t get to all of them before they woke up. We now control the perimeter but a few thousand have broken out of the buildings and set up a perimeter of their own.

“They learned that they couldn’t pierce our armor and developed some new tactics. From inside the buildings or on the roofs, they aim for the face or joints on our troops. When they are out of arrows, they change to their muzzle loaders. They saw that a shot to the head with a large-caliber ball will kill a man even if his armor is intact, so they concentrate on head shots. We’ve lost about fifty killed and two hundred wounded so far and we will have to charge them before dark or lose them. We will lose more men when we do.”

I signaled to the komander of artillery. “We don’t have our artillery, but there is a lot of Mongol ordinance on the walls, and most of your men used muzzle loaders before we got the new cannons. Get everyone you can find, impress civilians if you have too, and get some of the Mongol cannon pointed at those barracks. Most of even loaded already. A hundred rounds of cannon fire could soften them up nicely and make the clearance project easier. Go now! We’ll have to finish the briefing without you. Sir Jazinski will give you your targets.

“Before you leave, Sir Jazinski, in your opinion, does Sir Krol need reinforcements?”

“No, your grace. He has a dozen companies with him and the casualties have been light. There is no more room in either the frontline or reserves to use more men effectively.”

“Who knows what’s happening on the streets?”

A Knight glanced around for a moment and then stood. “Lord, I think I can address that as well as anyone.

“The streets are as calm as could be expected with a battle going on. These people are aware of what happens to losers in Mongol wars. Those that aren’t cowering in their homes or running over the tundra are packed into churches or mosques, praying and waiting for death. My men are avoiding contact with civilians where possible because of their terrible panic. I suggest that we give them several hours to calm down before we begin house to house.

“A few of the Chinese police put up a resistance, but as soon as they realized that they could surrender, they all went home or over the hills, except for the few that we held on too for to give us directions

“Early on, Sir Ryszard’s command found an area of rich homes surrounding two rather modest palaces flying personal flags. The baron, as commander on site, determined that it was best to engage immediately, so they split into ten-man groups and stormed the houses, with larger groups assaulting the palaces. They killed about sixty Mongols, but even when it was Sten gun to sword, these boys are tough. They report fifteen wounded and ten dead. There were also a number of civilian casualties as it was hard to tell combatants from non-combatants.

“The area is secure. You have Batu as a prisoner and the man purported to be his brother lies dead in bed. A good Mongol now.

“The baron could not break away from his command to report here personally, as he is still engaged in combat. Unfortunately, it was not obvious that the region to the east of the palaces was devoted to residences for the permanent garrison and civil servants. Unfortunately, these people had sufficient warning to act.

“Most of their fighting men exited the palisade and rode east, probably planning to get reinforcements and counter attack. The others formed a battle group in one of the compounds. While the baron prefers direct action, he is mindful of your order to limit our casualties, so he has surrounded the compound with riflemen and is whittling away them away rather than doing a frontal assault. Time consuming, but effective.”

I interrupted, “I appreciate the baron’s concern with casualties, as no man’s life should be wasted, warrior or not, but perhaps he could speed up the battle by burning the bastards out or bringing over some of the Mongol cannon to hit the compound.”

“The baron is aware of those possibilities, but the Mongols are sheltering their families behind them. Burning or blasting would kill more women and children than enemy warriors.”

“So what? They’re Mongols.”

“My lord, they are also children and women. To kill them needlessly would be against the Warrior Oath that you yourself wrote. It is neither kind nor fatherly to kill children.”

I could feel my temper rising again. This day was not going well. I planned to spend a good part of it joyously swinging my sword at the worst bastards in the world. Instead, the only fight I had was with a gate guard and my arm hurt too much to swing a sword. I was stuck here listening to the people who had the real fun – and now my army didn’t want to kill Mongols!

Sir Ryszard was one of few of the old nobility who actually believed in chivalry. His rank entitled him to command a battalion but he had accepted the leadership of a single komand in order to join the fight against the Mongols. He was a man who stayed faithful to his wife, his god, and his country no matter where he was. He was a competent warrior, a natural leader, and a man who made my teeth ache.

My jaws were so clenched that I had a hard time speaking, “You will tell the baron that he has three hours to reduce that compound or, by the God Above, I will burn and bombard it to rubble, no matter who is in it, and if we end up having a few less breeding age Mongols in the world, I will personally have a hard time finding tears for them.”

He was scuttling out the door as I asked, “Has anyone heard from Sir Gorski?”

I spent another twenty minutes listening to reports and sending out orders, before my patience ran out. The medic had bandaged my broken ribs and taped extra padding over the one foot wide bruise on my chest.

This battle was not going to pass me by, but I wasn’t sure where to go. The only good fighting was at the barracks, but someone needed to look over the dock area and see what the island fort was doing. The docks won out.

When the medic finished bandaging me, I had him help me back into my armor. It hurt like hell where it pressed on my right side and chest, but it was the price of command, so I rested my right arm on the back of my shield, and led my lance out to the docks.

A few people scurried from place to place, probably checking on family members or businesses, and small groups of our warriors were on the move. I saw a few Mongol and Chinese corpses, but there were fewer bodies no the street than usual in a battle zone, probably because of a speed of our attack didn’t give the enemy time to spread out. In one store front, our surgeons were tending wounded soldiers.

I always found that odd about battles. In every battle that I have been in, there were hot spots and cold spots. I could be battling overwhelming odds in a fight to the death, so weary I was ready to lay down and die, and two hundred yards away, things would be so quiet a knight could enjoy a little wine and cheese. I could hear the fighting at the barracks, but here it was a stroll around town.

There were soldiers at the waterfront, and they weren’t ours – or Mongols. In front of a couple of warehouses, men in crimson uniforms stood with crossbows, pikes, and a few muskets. They were Italian guardsmen working for the merchants. As we went by, a knight banner yelled out to them, “Get off the street, you idiots, there’s a war going on!”

At the waterfront, one of my komanders had four of his six companies of mounted infantry dug on the beach in facing the river front. He kept two of his companies mounted and placed well out on the flanks, almost out of sight, in case the fort commander tried to bypass the beach.

The komander smiled when he saw me at his side, and handed me his field glasses. “Your grace, I think that you are just in time. After all of these hours, it looks like the morons in the fort are trying to find out what all the gunfire is about.”

Sure enough, three boats were setting out from the fort. Each seemed to hold ten fighting men, the standard Mongol squad. “Have you any orders, your grace, on how to handle this?”

I shook my head. “You seem to be doing well, but I might suggest the Lost Legion tactic. The only thing scarier than seeing your buddies get blown to hell, is to never know what happened – to have them just disappear. Your men are so well dug in that the fort may not have seen them yet. You might pull back your men from the beach as soon as you can tell where they are going to land and then take them out of sight of the fort.”