[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army":3,"chapter-a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-290":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","A Little Soldier of the Late Ming Border Army",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1205579,1561,"Chapter 290: Breaking the Encampment","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-290",290,"\u003Cp>It could be confirmed that the Plain Red Banner Qing army encampment had no cannons. The Xuan–Da army attacked from three directions. Wang Dou's Shunxiang Army and Yang Guodong's Supervisory Battalion attacked the southern face of the encampment, Yang Guozhu attacked the western side, and Hu Dawei together with Xu Yue'e attacked the northern side. The eastern side, which bordered the Liuli River, was left unattacked, serving the purpose of leaving an opening when besieging a city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou climbed onto his command chariot, the Yuánróng Chariot, to survey the scene. The chariot's platform was nearly three meters high, giving him a very clear view of the battle unfolding ahead. It was surrounded by guardrails and shield boards, making it extremely safe. There was also a canopy overhead to protect against sun and rain — very well designed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This chariot had been damaged in certain places during the Battle of Julu, but after the Xuan–Da army withdrew to Zanhuang to rest and regroup, it had been repaired and restored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking out from the war chariot, Wang Dou saw that Supervisory Battalion Company Commander Yang Guodong and Shunxiang Army First Division Company Commander Han Chao had already led their troops forward in advance, serving as the first wave of assault forces. Ahead of them, one hundred single-wheel war chariots, each pushed by a logistics soldier, rumbled forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the front and right-side shafts of these war chariots, sturdy shield boards had been inserted, effectively protecting against incoming arrows. In addition, Wang Dou had also provided Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei with sixty single-wheel war chariots each.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan's artillery company: the gunners dragged twenty-five medium-sized Frankish breech-loading cannons and four six-pounder red-barbarian cannons, following behind the main army. This was the first wave of Wang Dou's initial assault deployment. The Qing encampment's front palisade wall was just over three hundred paces long, which could only permit this many troops to deploy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking further to the right of the main formation, four thousand civilian laborers were strenuously digging earth, filling various sacks and even clothing and cloth with soil, urged on by Sun Sanjie leading his logistics troops. Once the civilians had filled the sacks, two thousand trench-filling stalwarts hoisted the earth onto their shoulders and, guided by the logistics soldiers, strode valiantly and spiritedly in pursuit behind the main army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The one hundred single-wheel war chariots advanced in a single line. To the beat of drums, the Shunxiang Army First Division arquebusiers and the Supervisory Battalion arquebusiers followed closely, clutching their arquebuses. Behind them came two divisions of pikemen and sword-and-shield men, marching in orderly ranks. They soon closed to a distance of one hundred fifty paces from the encampment. Han Chao shouted, \"Halt advance.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Halt advance…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the officers' successive shouts of command, the tidal wave of Han Chao's and Yang Guodong's advancing troops came to a stop, massing in a dense black press before the palisade wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao and Yang Guodong exchanged polite courtesies for a moment, then the two rode out ahead of the ranks. From horseback, Han Chao could see through the gaps in the chariots ahead that the Plain Red Banner Qing soldiers on the palisade gate and wall were arrayed in strict formation, awaiting the attack. Their intensely nervous expressions were clearly visible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qing archers on the palisade tower and protective wall, over ten feet high, were densely packed. Han Chao estimated that their single-row numbers would not exceed five hundred men; after all, the length of the palisade wall was only so much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Directly ahead of Han Chao was the encampment gate, topped by a tall palisade tower and fitted with a drawbridge. In front of the gate was a deep trench, with a passageway about twenty paces wide ahead of it, flanked on both sides by low walls and trenches. There were two more passageways like the one in front of the gate, one to the left and one to the right, each temporarily fitted with a small palisade gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the Qing army's defensive arrangement. Yang Guodong and Han Chao exchanged a glance, both seeing the sneer of contempt on the other's face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guodong laughed heartily. \"They say 'trying to draw a tiger and ending up with a dog' — now this Company Commander understands what that means.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Our army has numerous cannons. Can their palisade walls, made of timber, withstand the bombardment of our great army's artillery?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao also smiled. \"Our army advanced with the speed of a sudden thunderclap, giving them no time to complete any of their defensive preparations. Such an encampment cannot withstand a single blow!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heroic sentiment surged in his heart. He glanced back at his own troops. The division's arquebusiers and pikemen stood in silent solemnity. Though the weather was bitterly cold, they stood motionless. On many faces, barely suppressed excitement and bloodlust were evident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of his three company's soldiers, except for Gao Xun's new company, the remaining two companies were veterans who had fought bloody battles against the Qing in the ninth year of Chongzhen. Even the officers within Gao Xun's company were the elite survivors of the old army after the Battle of Julu. Although some newly trained recruits had recently been added to the company, under the army's strict and solemn atmosphere, their nervousness was negligible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao's gaze swept past the Garrison Discipline Officer Huang Shibian beside him. Huang Shibian's face remained expressionless, his cheeks blown bluish-purple by the cold wind, making his countenance even more fearsome. The Pacification Officer Li Jinpei sat mounted on horseback; in this bitter cold, his three-stranded long beard was already frozen into a patch of white. Even so, his face still maintained his trademark genial smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was Han Chao's great army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cold wind howled past, whipping up their red cotton sheepskin-lined coats and red cotton sheepskin-lined cloaks. Within the army, a dazzling, billowing expanse of fiery red surged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Begin!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao passed down the order. The war chariots and troops ahead parted to both sides. Zhao Xuan directed his gunners, who came huffing and puffing, pushing the cannons forward. In Wang Dou's central army main formation, the mules and horses that pulled the cannons had long since been unhitched; these several dozen cannons were all pushed forward by hand by the gunners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under Zhao Xuan's direction, the four six-pounder red-barbarian cannons and twenty-five Frankish breech-loading cannons were pushed to the front of the army. They were arrayed in a single line, their dark, dense muzzles adjusted level and aimed at the Qing encampment over a hundred and several tens of paces ahead. The Plain Red Banner Qing soldiers on the palisade wall were utterly helpless, watching helplessly as the Ming army raised its cannon muzzles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan, awe-inspiringly majestic, wore a large red cape and directed over seventy gunners in their bustling work. The remaining two hundred-plus members of the artillery company were also a motley, devilish crew, each draped in a red cotton sheepskin-lined cloak. Equipped with arquebuses and sabers, they stood in formidable ranks behind the gunners who were firing the cannons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Zhao Xuan was busy, the logistics soldiers pushed the war chariots forward, arranging them in a line with the cannons to guard the flanks of these twenty-nine artillery pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gunners loaded gunpowder and projectiles. The Supervisory Battalion's gunners had already been placed under Zhao Xuan's command. They deftly loaded gunpowder, inserted cartridge blocks and grapeshot. Only the six-pounder red-barbarian cannon aimed directly at the palisade gate used a single large cannonball. This cannon fired a test shot first. With a thunderous boom, a searing hot large iron ball spun whistling toward the palisade tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao watched that cannonball howl across. The palisade tower collapsed in a large swath with a crash. The Qing soldiers atop it screamed and tumbled down. The Qing soldiers on the palisade walls on both sides likewise shrieked and dodged. At such close range, how could timber-framed palisade gates and towers withstand cannon bombardment?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fire!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan's uniquely hoarse, straining shout rang out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blinding flashes of fire erupted one after another. Amid deafening cannon roars, wave after wave of iron balls howled toward the Qing encampment. The several red-barbarian cannons in particular each fired over a dozen large and small projectiles in a single blast, smashing cluster after cluster against the Qing army's palisade gate and walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At such close range, with the cannons leveled for direct fire, the accuracy was astonishing. Those timber-framed wooden walls and gates collapsed section by section under the cannonball bombardment, as if made of paper paste. One gaping hole after another appeared. The Qing soldiers on the protective walls were blasted into a spray of blood and flesh…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the iron balls smashed through tree trunks, the projectiles also tore through their bodies, sending severed limbs and fresh blood flying everywhere. The collapsing, scattering wood splinters also inflicted massive casualties upon them, the debris mixed with thick mist of blood…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wooden planks stacked between the two rows of tree trunks collapsed from time to time. Those Qing soldiers either fell off, or scrambled and crawled, crying and leaping down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A volley of large and small projectiles from the six-pounder red-barbarian cannons howled over, striking squarely on the palisade gate made of solid timber. Over a dozen projectiles, mixed with flying splintered wood, burst through the palisade gate and shot straight through, carving bloody alleyways through the Qing soldiers behind the gate…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the billowing gunpowder smoke, Zhao Xuan's shouted orders to fire continued unceasingly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four six-pounder red-barbarian cannons fired four volleys of projectiles in succession before stopping. The twenty-five medium-sized Frankish breech-loading cannons fired six volleys continuously. The army's twenty-nine cannons fired nearly two hundred large and small projectiles in one breath before pausing to cool down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the white smoke dispersed, everyone clearly saw the state of the encampment before them. Not a single section of wooden wall remained intact. Everywhere were large, shattered, collapsed holes. Between the broken tree trunks and planks were wedged the mutilated corpses of Qing soldiers, their bodies, entrails, and severed limbs just hanging everywhere like that…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a booming crash, Zhao Xuan jumped in fright. He looked carefully: it was the heavy, tottering drawbridge on the palisade tower that had finally crashed down, firmly settling over the trench in front of the palisade gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not help but curse angrily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cannot withstand a single blow!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Supervisory Battalion Company Commander Yang Guodong sneered. He could see the Qing soldiers on the protective walls crying and fleeing in panic, many clutching their heads, wanting to leave this dangerous place. Their morale was utterly shattered; they were likely about to collapse in rout. He said to Han Chao beside him, \"Company Commander Han, it seems our great army has no need to fill the trenches. Under the cover of the war chariots, we can just enter the slave encampment through the three passageways!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao's eyes were deep and brooding. He shook his head slightly. \"Though the slave rebels are terror-stricken, they still have fighting strength. The passageways are narrow; our forces cannot deploy effectively. We will follow the original plan and fill the trenches first!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, the two soon heard the angry curses and shouted orders of officers from within the Qing encampment. Looking through the collapsed sections, they could also see the figures of Plain Red Banner bayara warriors inside. They executed some deserters and shouted to supervise the remaining Qing soldiers as they continued mounting the walls to fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao passed the order: \"Civilians fill the trenches, arquebuses provide cover!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers' shouts rose and fell in succession: \"Civilians fill the trenches, arquebuses provide cover…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heart-pounding war drums sounded. The war chariots advanced layer by layer. Dense ranks of arquebusiers followed behind the chariots, advancing all the way to the space between the first low wall and trench in front of the palisade wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fill the trenches!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the shouted command of Logistics Company Commander Sun Sanjie, the two thousand trench-filling stalwarts hoisted earth sacks and charged forward with desperate cries, throwing the earth sacks they carried one by one into the trench. At the very front of the two thousand stalwarts, Wu Daben and Chen Xu and others charged foremost. After throwing their earth sacks, they swiftly ran back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Daben and the man beside him seemed to possess an extremely high knack for dodging arrows. However, at present they faced no danger whatsoever. Given the range of the Qing archers, they would have to fill at least the first three trench lines before the Qing arrows could reach their bodies, not to mention the dense arquebus cover fire provided by Shunxiang Fort and the Supervisory Battalion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their five hundred-plus arquebuses fired incessantly, sending wood splinters flying across the protective walls, with the agonized screams of Qing soldiers sounding continuously. At a hundred paces, the Shunxiang Army's arquebuses already had lethal effect. The Supervisory Battalion's Lumi arquebuses had an even longer range of one hundred fifty paces, both accurate and deadly. Of their five squads, three were arquebusier squads, possessing over a hundred Lumi arquebuses. These Lumi arquebusiers, clad in red cotton armor, kept the Qing soldiers above pinned down so they could not even raise their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The arquebusiers fired in overlapping diagonal volleys, both preventing the Qing soldiers on the protective walls from showing their heads and leaving space in the center for the civilians to fill the trenches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound of arquebus fire was incessant. White smoke already shrouded the area before the palisade wall. The two thousand trench-filling stalwarts, running back and forth, quickly filled the first trench. By this time, not a single man had been struck by an arrow. When word spread back, the area where the captured commoners of Zhongdaitun were gathered erupted in excitement. Everyone was cheering: \"General Wang is about to break through the Tartar main camp.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou, watching clearly from within the central army main formation, said: \"It seems by noon, we can break through the slave rebel encampment.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also sent orders for Wen Fangliang to enter the battle, leading his troops to follow behind Han Chao. Once Han Chao attacked into the encampment, he was to follow closely and enter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The central army drums also sounded. Amid the rousing war drumbeats, the logistics soldiers shouted as they lifted the single-wheel war chariots one by one over the low walls. The single-wheel war chariots weighed less than three hundred catties, and the low walls were only half a man's height. Without using the passageways, it was easy to lift them directly over the low walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qing army had only five trench lines, with each space between low walls being twenty paces wide. By the time the war chariots closed in on the second low wall and trench line, they were only eighty paces from the encampment. At this distance, the Shunxiang Army arquebusiers' fire could already penetrate Qing armor, let alone the Supervisory Battalion's Lumi arquebuses, while the Qing army's bows only had lethal effect at fifty paces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Shunxiang Army and Supervisory Battalion arquebusiers exploited the range advantage of their firearms, using the war chariots as cover, and kept the Qing soldiers on the palisade wall so suppressed that not a single one dared show his head. Even if they counterattacked, their palisade wall had long since been wrecked by cannon fire, and their arrows came sporadically and scattered, utterly without power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The trench-filling heroes running back and forth used earth bundles to fill the second trench as well. The Shunxiang Army’s layered war carts pressed forward to just before the third low wall and trench, sixty paces from the stockade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A large mass of Plain Red Banner heavy armor and Bayara soldiers surged out from the stockade gate into the passageway. On this twenty-pace-wide front, ten war carts had already advanced to within fifty paces of the gate. Behind the carts, ten ranks of Shunxiang Army arquebusiers were arrayed in order, thirty men per rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those Plain Red Banner heavy armor and Bayara soldiers charged forward with frenzied shouts, each gripping a thick leather shield, and some even carrying iron shields.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the moment they burst through the stockade gate and stepped onto the drawbridge, the arquebusiers in that passageway fired at them from behind the war carts. Amid the deafening crack of arquebus fire, their shields were shattered and split one by one, then their heavy armor was breached, and one after another they fell rolling to the ground, shrieking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The front-rank arquebusiers focused solely on firing. Once they discharged their pieces, the rear-rank arquebusiers immediately passed their own arquebuses forward. The ten ranks rotated in succession, ensuring the gunners’ fire never slackened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From behind the war carts they kept pulling their triggers at the charging Qing heavy armor troops. Great billows of gunpowder smoke belched forth. To the charging Qing soldiers, the long, lethal muzzle flashes ahead never ceased; they could not close within twenty paces of the war carts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those few dozen paces — neither wide nor long — became a death zone for the Qing troops. Amid the arquebus fire, the ground piled thick with their dead bodies and the wounded who had not yet died… At last, no one charged out anymore. Before them, only the acrid reek of gunpowder smoke and the thick stench of blood remained…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The same scene unfolded at the other two passageways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao and Yang Guodong exchanged a smile. “Slave-thieves — not worth a single blow!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shift, shift, shift…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan directed the artillery crews, hauling the twenty-nine cannons forward to just before the third low wall, all concentrated on the left side of the stockade gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this sixty-pace distance, they depressed the muzzles as low as possible and fired a single salvo at the wooden wall ahead. In the deafening roar of cannon fire, a broad stretch of the wooden wall ahead was swept away and collapsed. Splintered wood and shattered debris flew everywhere, mixed with more blood and severed limbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless terrified Qing soldiers tumbled and leaped from that section of the stockade wall. Clutching their heads, they fled screaming, triggering a chain reaction all around. No one had the will to resist any longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re routed!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao saw it clearly. “Pass the order — war carts, advance!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the beating of war drums, the densely packed war carts in the three passageways pushed forward. Surging behind them like a tide came the shouting warriors of the Shunxiang Army and the Viceroy’s Personal Battalion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the dense mass of Ming troops pour into the encampment, Yue Tuo, standing atop the wall of Gaocun Fort at the camp’s center, turned ashen as death!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The stockade… broken just like that?”\u003C\u002Fp>",3144,"2026-06-03T14:05:36.780Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","c05ccd3369c64884e07a98e7dc689a7f8dbe5ed30bba09156a516dc62920f563","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-291","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-289",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]