Chapter 260: Filling the Trenches

The deafening roar of fire lances never ceased. It seemed the entire perimeter of the earthen wall around the Xuan-Da encampment was shrouded in dense smoke.

Though the winter wind bit fiercely, it could not disperse the acrid stench of gunpowder and blood. Along the banks of the Haoshui River, warriors of both Ming and Qing fought with reckless abandon. The plan to use Great Ming commoners to fill the trenches had failed; those Eight Banner soldiers had no choice but to use shield carts, crude wooden shields, and their own flesh and blood to contend with the Great Ming fire lance soldiers behind the earthen wall.

The Qing troops had already devised a plan beforehand: avoid the Ming army's cannon lanes and focus the main assault on the low walls and trenches on each face. First and foremost, they had to fill the several trench lines in front of the earthen wall.

After the morning's assault, they had gained experience. In front of the five cannon lanes on each face of the encampment, they kept all their war carts and wooden shields far away, stopping at least two hundred paces back. Although the Ming army's red-barbarian six-pounder cannons and great Folangji cannons still fired solid shot from time to time, smashing these shield carts, the Qing casualties were greatly reduced compared to facing the terrifying canister shot.

And to be honest, the many cannons of the Xuan-Da army were also loaded with canister shot and arrayed in strict formation, preventing Qing troops from charging in through the lanes. Only the five red-barbarian six-pounder cannons in the Shunxiang Army's position fired a few rounds from time to time.

Amid the stirring war drums, dense masses of Qing soldiers in various armor clustered before the low wall and trench. Under the protection of war carts layered with leather, the support troops and servants of each banner continuously darted out from behind the carts, hurling the mud sacks in their hands into the trench behind the first low wall.

The Shunxiang Army fire lance soldiers behind the earthen wall kept aiming and firing at these men, knocking down one after another who flashed out from behind the war carts. The Qing archers behind the carts desperately provided covering fire. However, the first low wall was seventy paces from the earthen wall. At this distance, the Qing arrows lacked power; they could not pierce the iron breastplates, and taking a few arrows in the body was of no consequence. Even arrows striking the soldiers' arms could not break through the chain mail underneath.

Fewer arrows were aimed at the fire lance soldiers' arms; most were shot at their chests and faces. At first, some fire lance soldiers instinctively flinched when they saw Qing arrows flying toward their faces. But after the arrows struck their faces, they fell away harmlessly, utterly unable to pierce their iron masks.

Sometimes a thunderous roar sounded as some Qing archers fired their large-tube rockets captured from various parts of the Great Ming. With the morning's experience, all the soldiers knew the Tatars had rockets. Upon hearing the sound, they quickly ducked below the wall, thus evading the dozens of wildly flying rockets.

After all, the Qing soldiers looked down upon the Great Ming's rockets. Therefore, they did not use many rockets in their army, and their firing frequency was low.

The fire lance soldiers gradually relaxed. Aside from the rockets, they paid no heed to the incoming arrows, merely aiming with focus, picking out a Tatar soldier, and pulling the trigger. They fired volley after volley, knocking down archers and support troops and servants clad only in cotton armor.

These men were carried away by the support troops who crept up behind them, the ground strewn with their blood and filled with their agonized cries and howls.

The dense war carts before the low wall were also struck with loud cracks, sending leather and wood splinters flying. These war carts in the front row were all of the fine shield-cart type, with wheels to push them and mantlets in front, wrapped in thick cowhide and iron sheeting, even doused with water to increase protection. Yet the mantlets wrapped in thick iron sheeting and leather were still left with one large hole after another under the Shunxiang Army's fire lance assault.

……

The trench behind the first low wall was still easy to fill. After paying a certain price in casualties, Yoto's Plain Red Banner of the Eight Banner Manchus, attacking Wang Dou's defense line, still used earth sacks to fill that trench, now filled with blood and entrails.

Immediately, behind the fine shield carts, crude large shields bundled together from rough wood or nailed together from several thick door planks were jointly lifted and pushed by the support troops of the Plain White Banner using poles. They crossed the first low wall and advanced densely toward the trench before the second low wall.

Looking from the earthen wall, dozens of these wooden shields were pushed forward by the Qing troops across the entire defense line, and no one knew how many men followed behind them.

After the Qing troops pushed forward these dozens of crude wooden shields, in front of the different low walls and trenches on each lane, they immediately formed arcs of several shields each to guard against flanking fire. Then, under the protection of these wooden shields, dense ranks of support troops and servants carried earth on shoulder poles, using the soil to fill and stamp flat the original trench. To prevent the Ming army from digging the trench again, they also brought water and poured it into the trench, freezing it as hard as iron.

Not only that, to prevent the Ming army from digging new trenches on the flat ground between these two low walls, a Jalangga of the Plain Red Banner even directed the water-carrying support troops to pour water on the ground. Truly, they took great pains. Fortunately, the Haoshui River was right beside them, so they had so much water to pour, though one wondered how many water carriers they had to arrange.

The Jalangga also attempted to direct men to dig away the first low wall. Unexpectedly, after that earthen wall was built, water had been poured all around it, freezing it incredibly hard, like a thick cement wall. Trying to dig it away was truly difficult.

Someone suggested pouring hot water on it to soften it, but the Jalangga rejected the idea. Setting aside how many men it would take to heat water, in the freezing winter weather, the hot water would only cool rapidly and freeze, making that low wall even more solid and harder.

With such results before him, the Jalangga was still satisfied. As long as they advanced step by step, they would eventually reach the earthen wall a few dozen paces away.

……

The Qing troops' rapid filling of the first trench surprised the defender Wen Fangliang. Clad in fine iron armor and a large red cape, with his tall figure, he looked like an exceedingly handsome young actor, yet carried an air of cynical irreverence. It was how he had attracted his many concubines at home.

But now his face was full of worry as he watched the Qing troops' movements from the earthen wall, surrounded by his guards.

The fire lance soldiers beside him, under the command of officers from each company and squad, fired volley after volley at the Qing soldiers outside the earthen wall.

Now most of them were firing at will. From time to time, Qing support troops filling the trenches and archers darting out from the sides of the wooden shields were hit by them. At this distance, even Qing soldiers in heavy armor could not withstand the shots of the Shunxiang Army's fire lance soldiers, let alone those support troops and archers, most of whom wore cotton armor without iron plates. Once hit, a thick mist of blood burst from their bodies, and they rolled on the ground in unbearable agony.

The Shunxiang Army's fire lances were so powerful that not only did they send splinters flying from the wooden shields, but sometimes they even broke through the weak points in the thin seams between the rough wood of the shields, knocking down the Qing soldiers behind them and creating a great sense of insecurity.

Yet although the Shunxiang Army's deafening fire lance volleys never ceased and Qing casualties continued, their advance remained resolute. At this distance of sixty paces, the threat from the Qing archers slightly increased. Once they closed to fifty paces, or even forty or thirty paces, the threat from their archers would be far greater.

"The Tatars have grown cunning and patient, coming up with this clumsy method. Their advance is slow, but very effective. How can we stop their advance?"

Wen Fangliang pondered silently in his heart.

At some point, Wang Dou had also come to his side, contemplating the same question.

……

While this was the situation on the Shunxiang Army's front line, it was even more severe on the two wings of the Xuan-Da encampment defended by Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei.

Each of their camps had a thousand firearms soldiers and cold-weapon soldiers, with three-eyed guns making up the majority. Those three-eyed guns had an effective range of only thirty paces. Now the Qing troops were not charging recklessly like in the morning, but were filling the trenches under the heavy protection of war carts and wooden shields.

There were seven low walls and trenches. Their three-eyed guns would only have effective firepower after the Qing troops had filled three or four trenches, and even then only against the Qing support troops and servants. Even at thirty paces, the three-eyed guns posed little threat to Qing archers clad in cotton armor.

And once the distance closed to thirty paces, the Qing archers posed an even greater threat to them instead.

The Qing troops attacking in the afternoon were also much smarter than in the morning. They completely avoided the flat cannon-protected lanes. They also avoided the small gaps in the formation defended by Folangji cannons and crouching-tiger cannons, where there were only trenches and no low walls.

In the blink of an eye, the Qing troops before the formation had filled two trenches, and layers of wooden shields were advancing toward the third low wall and trench. The three-eyed gun soldiers in both camps could only stare at each other in dismay, each as anxious as ants on a hot pan, not knowing what to do.

Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei were also worried and could only order their matchlock soldiers to fire.

But with the matchlocks used in their two camps, the cold wind gusted in repeatedly. The priming powder in the flash pans of many matchlocks was constantly blown away by the wind. Those matchlock soldiers pulled the trigger several times, but their matchlocks would not fire, causing them to break out in cold sweat from anxiety. They had to hurriedly take priming powder from their powder flasks and refill the pans.

This situation was still manageable fighting from behind trenches; if they were in field formation, they would be finished. The anxious shouts, curses, and urgings of the officers beside them rang out continuously, making them even more flustered.

On the right-wing defense line of the Xuan-Da encampment defended by Shanxi Regional Commander Hu Dawei, one matchlock soldier had, countless times, continuously taken lead balls from his lead pouch and stuffed them into the barrel, not forgetting to ram them hard with his ramrod.

The priming powder of his matchlock had been blown away by the wind many times, but this time it finally ignited. The match cord lit the priming powder in the flash pan; a puff of flame erupted, followed by a loud bang. The matchlock soldier was seen with his head and face covered in blood, clutching his head and face and screaming miserably. He had loaded too much gunpowder into the barrel, and stuffed who knows how many lead balls inside; the matchlock had burst its barrel on the spot.

The poor matchlock soldier's eyeballs were blown out. Seeing his horrific state, the surrounding matchlock soldiers turned ashen, examining their matchlocks again and again, becoming even more hesitant to fire. The three-eyed gun soldiers were even more thankful they were not using matchlocks.

Hu Dawei, who had been silently gazing at the enemy situation beyond the earthen wall, was alerted. He ordered several of his retainers and a physician in the camp to carry the matchlock soldier away for treatment. As the matchlock soldier was carried away, he cried out repeatedly toward Hu Dawei: "Commander, this lowly one has failed you."

His personal army commander, Hu Zichen, who was a nephew from his own clan with the rank of Mobile Corps Commander, was a short, stocky man clad in iron armor, full of brute strength. He rushed up anxiously and shouted to Hu Dawei: "Commander, the Tatars are filling the third trench. This cannot go on."

Gritting his teeth, he said hatefully: "Let me lead some men out to charge and fight for a while."

Hu Dawei shouted: "Not permitted! Hold fast behind the trenches. The lives of our brothers must not be wasted recklessly."

He pondered briefly, then said to Hu Zichen: "Go to the Viceroy and request reinforcements. Ask him to send some fire lance soldiers up. The Viceroy's Personal Battalion has over a hundred Lumi muskets and self-igniting fire lances; they should be able to fight in this cold wind."