Chapter 100: Volume Three: Shunxiang Fort Garrison Commander – Chapter One Hundred: Worth It

Volume Three: Shunxiang Fort Garrison Commander – Chapter One Hundred: Worth It

The eighth day of the seventh month, ninth year of the Chongzhen reign. Early morning.

Xie Yike, Wen Daxing, and the others, having fled into the mountains yesterday, had been racing along mountain paths. Heading west all the way, passing through many mountain villages, then through Luanzhuang of Wubao, they finally crossed the Dongfang River in the early morning and entered the territory of Shunxiang Fort.

Xie Yike had suffered an arrow wound, but he still sat on his horse without a sound, only his expression utterly exhausted. Blood had long soaked through the clothing and armor on his back. Though the arrow shaft had been broken off, the arrowhead could not be pulled out, lest the bleeding become unstoppable.

A dozen or so paces ahead of Xie Yike, Wen Daxing scouted the way forward, returning from time to time to report the situation to Xie Yike. Beside and behind Xie Yike were over ten warhorses, some belonging to Shunxiang Fort itself, some seized from the Qing troops, carrying the bodies of several fallen night scouts, as well as the captured Qing soldier Zhuanda.

At the very rear, night scout Li Youde carried the wounded night scout Ma Ziren, simply following closely. Ma Ziren was too severely wounded and had long been unconscious.

After crossing the Dongfang River, the suspended hearts of Xie Yike and his men finally relaxed. They were home, safe at last.

Once his mind relaxed, Xie Yike felt even more unable to hold on, swaying unsteadily on his horse as if about to fall.

Three li from the fort, at a junction on the way into the fort, Xie Yike saw Wen Daxing speaking urgently with several ambush soldiers who had jumped out from a roadside hiding place. Then these ambush soldiers cried out in alarm and rushed toward Xie Yike and the others.

After the Qing troops invaded at the end of the sixth month, Wang Dou had appointed ambush officers, stationing ambush soldiers at several junctions on all four sides of Shunxiang Fort, divided into shifts. Each shift covered a few watches, equipped with fire arrows, lanterns, yellow flags, and other items. If Qing troops invaded, they were to immediately launch three fire arrows and wave the yellow flag to report back; upon seeing this from the fort wall, the defenders would immediately mount the wall and prepare defenses.

The ambush soldiers at this junction were under the command of a squad leader named Chen Shoufu. After rushing over and seeing the bodies of several night scouts, he drew a cold breath: "So many brothers fallen in battle—ah! And they've even captured a Tartar leader."

He ordered the squad of soldiers under him to help Xie Yike and the others back to the fort. They also led those horses back.

The group arrived at the south gate, lowered the drawbridge, and entered the fort. Inside the fort, soldiers and civilians busy preparing for battle all gathered around, pointing at the supported Xie Yike and his men in shock, saying repeatedly: "How tragic—more brothers have died in duty."

At this moment, the Qing soldier Zhuanda had already regained consciousness. Tied onto the horse, he strained to straighten his body while studying the scene before him with bewilderment.

Seeing his Qing soldier attire and the thin, long queue like a golden coin rat's tail trailing behind his head, the fort residents crowded around, pointing at him and cursing: "Damned Tartar."

From time to time, several women shrieked and lunged forward, clawing at his face.

The Zhuanda roared furiously, shouting and yelling, glaring at everyone with vicious eyes. Over the years, the brutality of the Later Jin soldiers had struck deep into people's hearts. Seeing him like this, some women and children grew afraid and involuntarily stepped back.

Wen Daxing swaggered along at the front. He was uninjured, so he walked on his own. He turned around, strode over, and delivered a heavy slap to the Zhuanda's face, shouting: "Dog Tartar, you still dare to be rampant inside the fort?"

He struck left and right, slapping the Zhuanda a dozen or so times until blood flowed from his mouth and nose and stars swam before his eyes.

The Zhuanda roared and raged even more. When had he ever suffered such utter humiliation before? Blood dripped from his mouth and nose as he simply howled without stopping.

Wen Daxing looked at the top of his head and sneered: "Fine scalp—my hands are itching again, Old Wen."

Suddenly, the people on the street parted, saying one after another: "My lord is coming."

The Zhuanda raised his head and looked. He heard continuous footsteps ahead as a large group of people came this way, quickly arriving before Xie Yike and the others.

The Zhuanda looked: among this group, a large crowd of armored Ming officers clustered around a young Ming commander, not yet thirty, tall and powerfully built, with sharp eyes and an imposing bearing as he looked around. The guard soldiers following behind him were all tall and fierce, holding gleaming long spears in their hands.

Suddenly, the Zhuanda let out a loud roar. He recognized it—the silver-white iron armor worn by that young Ming commander was precisely the protective armor of his own elder brother. Two years ago, his brother had entered the pass and died in duty. He had never imagined that his brother's armor would fall into the hands of this Ming man. He glared viciously at Wang Dou, his eyeballs seeming about to pop out.

Seeing this Qing soldier shouting and yelling, glaring at him as if he wanted to devour him, Wang Dou glanced at him indifferently. Han Zhong beside him cursed angrily, strode forward, and shouted: "Dog Tartar, what are you yelling about?"

He punched him heavily in the face, cursing: "Just wait—I'll cut you slice by slice!"

The Zhuanda had already been wounded the day before and had traveled for a whole day. After being slapped a dozen or so times by Wen Daxing just now and then punched heavily by Han Zhong, he passed out for a time.

Xie Yike broke free from the support of several soldiers, threw himself at Wang Dou's feet, and wailed loudly: "Brother-in-law, all my brothers are dead!"

Wang Dou looked at him and frowned: "A fine man—what are you crying for?"

"Warriors fight on the battlefield; being wrapped in horsehide is their destined end!"

After a moment, he said gently: "You have worked hard this time. Your scouting has merit. Go rest and treat your wounds first. After treatment, report the full account to me."

He looked at Xie Yike's group. Before setting out, there had been eleven men; now only four remained, and two of them were wounded—a clear sign of how fierce the battle had been.

He looked at Wen Daxing: "What is your name?"

A flash of joy crossed Wen Daxing's eyes. With a sound, Wen Daxing had already dropped to one knee, clasped his fists, and said loudly to Wang Dou: "Night Scout Second Squad Superior Soldier Wen Daxing, reporting to the Garrison Commander, my lord."

Wang Dou patted his shoulder: "I will remember you. Well done."

He also asked the name of the night scout Li Youde, then walked before the bodies of the several night scouts. He stood in silence for a long moment, then bowed slightly to the bodies. Everyone beside him also saluted together.

Wang Dou raised his head and said heavily: "The fallen brothers must be properly encoffined. After the battle, we will hold a joint memorial and sacrifice!"

Lin Daofu beside him gravely assented.

Wen Daxing and Li Youde went to the military camp to rest. Wang Dou rewarded these two heroes who had returned from killing the enemy with fine wine and good meat.

Xie Yike and the night scout Ma Ziren were helped into the battalion commander's official hall, where Wang Tianxue personally bandaged and cleaned their wounds. Since Wang Tianxue had come to Shunxiang Fort, he had trained more medical apprentices and developed many wound-treatment medicines.

Wang Tianxue was lazy and gluttonous, and loved wine as much as life itself. Fortunately, he did not neglect his proper duties, and his medical skill was brilliant, so Wang Dou let him keep the post of Shunxiang Fort medical officer.

The night scout Ma Ziren had long been unconscious, so treating his wounds was at least straightforward.

However, when Wang Tianxue extracted the arrowhead from Xie Yike's shoulder and back and cut away the arrow sore, Xie Yike let out bursts of harrowing screams that could make the hearer weep and the beholder grieve. In the end, he nearly passed out.

Fortunately, Xie Yike pulled through. After Wang Tianxue washed his wound, applied medicinal powder, and bandaged the wound, he let out a breath and said: "Alright, it's done."

He looked at a sharp, small three-edged arrowhead in the tray before him, shook his head, and cursed: "What vicious Tartars."

This type of arrowhead was always used by Qing scouts. Once it struck a person's body, the wound was the largest and the hardest to treat.

Fortunately, Xie Yike's arrow wound was not deep into the flesh, the wound was not old, and there was no infection. After cutting away the surrounding rotten flesh, bandaging it was enough. From then on, the wound would be cleaned with light salt water daily and the dressing changed. It was estimated that the wound would heal within ten days—this was also because the Qing bows and arrows were too vicious. With ordinary arrows, the wound would heal in three to five days.

While Xie Yike was being treated, his sister Xie Xiuniang also heard that her younger brother was wounded and could not help but weep.

Wang Dou simply comforted her, saying Xie Yike was fine. Xie Xiuniang was about to give birth and needed peace and care; Wang Dou could not let her worry.

After his wound was bandaged, Xie Yike lay prone on a wooden board. Though utterly exhausted, he still struggled to recount the entire matter from beginning to end.

Finally, with a tearful voice, he said: "Brother Huang was captured—it's clear he won't survive either."

A large group of fort officers gathered around Wang Dou. The fort inquisitor Chi Dacheng said coldly: "That Huang Guoxiang was captured—could he leak intelligence about our fort?"

Xie Yike cried out: "Brother Huang is not that kind of man!"

Wang Dou shouted: "Silence! When your superior has not asked you, where do you get the right to interrupt?"

He looked at Han Chao. Han Chao affirmed: "I agree with Brother Xie. I know this soldier Huang Guoxiang. His entire family died under the Tartars' blades. He ordinarily hates the Tartars to the bone and would absolutely never betray our brothers in the fort."

Wang Dou nodded. He then questioned Xie Yike in detail about the circumstances of the battle at that time, every single detail.

From the battle results, at that time, their side had eleven men; in the end, six were killed and two wounded. The Qing troops had six men; five were killed and one was captured alive.

With this outcome, Wang Dou was still satisfied.

Those Eight Banners soldiers were warriors who campaigned year-round; their daily life was battle. Every single one of their soldiers had gone through countless engagements large and small, and their battlefield experience was extremely rich — especially those armored cavalrymen and such, each man with at least eight years or more of combat experience.

Moreover, the Eight Banners troops were now in a rising phase, a time when the army’s fighting spirit was at its peak. Looking at the fighting strength of the Eight Banners troops, they were nothing special across the whole span of Chinese history — the Xiongnu, Turks, Rouran, Jurchens, Mongols, and other tribes all had fighting power fiercer than theirs.

Unfortunately for everyone else, the Eight Banners troops were born lucky, emerging at the end of the Ming. It cannot be denied that in the East of that era, they were an exceptionally crack force.

Among our own men, apart from a small portion who had trained for two years, the rest had mostly undergone only a year or half a year of rough training, and the great majority had never experienced bloody combat — even some of the retainers originally from Shunxiang Fort were the same.

To achieve this exchange ratio under the present circumstances — this result was already extremely outstanding.

In Wang Dou’s original estimate, if in field battle his ordinary troops could achieve a two-to-one exchange ratio against the Eight Banners soldiers, he would have considered it worthwhile. In the future, if his ordinary soldiers could achieve a one-to-one exchange ratio against the Eight Banners soldiers, then victory would be firmly in his grasp.

Relying on his troop-training system, he could continuously produce large numbers of combat-capable soldiers, whereas every elite Eight Banners soldier lost was one less forever. Although Shunxiang Fort now lacked population, and Baoanzhou also lacked population, the Great Ming did not lack population. As long as there was a steady stream of manpower replenishment, the officer corps remained unchanged, and the training system remained unchanged, he could again raise an army of the same kind and possess soldiers who could keep fighting.

In the future, if it came to that, his army could afford to lose a hundred thousand men, but whether it was the Chuang bandits or the Manchu Tatars, neither of their core armies could afford to lose a hundred thousand men.

If it truly reached a war of attrition, no one could outlast him.

And based on Wang Dou’s understanding of history, although the Eight Banners soldiers were utterly vicious and their individual combat ability was outstanding, their tolerance for casualties in large formations was not high. Wang Dou had studied historical materials in later generations: the Eight Banners troops were said to be invincible when ten thousand strong, yet their casualty tolerance was less than six percent, and that was under conditions where lower-level officer casualties were not heavy.

Back then, Mao Wenlong with over ten thousand men faced over five thousand men of the Eight Banners’ Plain Red Banner; at that time the Plain Red Banner suffered only a little over three hundred casualties, and then they collapsed. When the Qing troops marched south, beneath the walls of Yangzhou and beneath the walls of Retainer, the Eight Banners troops were often over two thousand strong and would collapse after suffering just over a hundred casualties.

But his own Shunxiang Army, to protect their homes, to protect their wives and children, atop the walls of Shunxiang Fort, could endure at least thirty to fifty percent casualties.

If they wanted to attack his Shunxiang Fort, it would depend on whether these bandits had the resolve to trade lives for it.

……

From Xie Yike’s account, Wang Dou also saw that the hand cannons and crossbow bolts his Night Scouts used were not very effective against the Qing soldiers’ cotton armor; instead, the javelins had performed brilliantly. It seemed he needed to think carefully about the ranged weapons the Night Scouts used.

Also, the Qing troops had already crossed the Yang River and were entering Baoanzhou territory in large numbers; within a few days they would reach the base of Shunxiang Fort.

It seemed the bitter battle was about to begin.

Before the battle, gathering more intelligence on the enemy was also good.