Chapter 404: Decisive Battle (Part One)

At the hour of Mao, just as the sky began to brighten faintly, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu led their personal guards in a swift dash into Luoyang.

Soon after, inside the branch administrative office of Luoyang City, Wang Dou sat in a room with the Prince of Fu, Zhu Yousong, and the Military Defense Vice Commissioner Wang Yinchang. The great hall was packed to capacity, filled with all the various civil and military officials of Luoyang City, who had been hastily summoned from every part of the city at Wang Dou's request.

Setting aside the matter of Liu Jianyi and the others from the previous night, Wang Dou came straight to the point, stating that the moment for a decisive battle with the roving bandits had matured, and he was resolved to lead the Shunxiang Army out of the city, join forces with the troops under Military Commander Chen, and fight the bandits in the open field, hoping for the Military Defense Commissioner's support.

"The bandits have suffered a great defeat in their assault on the city, their army's morale is already lost, their internal collaborators failed last night, and coupled with our troops raiding their camp, the bandits' provisions and fodder are cut off and their army's spirit is shattered — this is a golden opportunity that comes once in a thousand years."

Wang Dou, whose words never failed to astonish, revealed in a single breath that the masterstroke at the Jianshan camp the previous night had been the work of the Shunxiang Army.

Like a stone cast into a pond, this immediately stirred tremendous waves throughout the hall. Everyone buzzed with discussion, all of them excited; even those who knew nothing of military affairs understood that no stratagem was more vicious than cutting off the grain supply. The area where the Chuang bandits had stockpiled their provisions and fodder had been raided, so at this moment they must be stricken with panic — it was indeed the perfect moment for a decisive battle.

Zhu Yousong laughed and said, "So last night's night raid on the bandit camp was the work of General Wang — no wonder the commotion was so great."

The former Minister of War, Lu Weiqi, also said excitedly, "May I know which officer of your esteemed army led the camp raid?"

"Wen Fangliang, Company Commander Wen."

"Company Commander Wen is deep in perilous territory, fighting alone — our forces must dispatch reinforcements at once."

"Your Excellency sees clearly. Our army marching out of the city immediately for a decisive battle is the best support we can give Company Commander Wen."

Wen Fangliang had succeeded in his surprise attack and seized the strategic ground at Jianshan. The troops under his command were all veterans forged in battle at Shunxiang Fort since the ninth year of Chongzhen, most of them possessing five or six years of battlefield combat experience.

With the formidable musketeers and spearmen under his command holding Jianshan, even under assault by tens of thousands of roving bandits, they could hold out for several days without a problem.

Of course, if they remained an isolated force without relief and the roving bandits attacked in endless waves, breaking out and escaping would be possible, but then the raid would also end in failure. Therefore, Wang Dou needed to march the entire army out of the city for battle and smash all of Li Zicheng's forces in one blow on the open field.

Marching out of the city for battle quickly became the consensus among everyone present. Regarding troop strength, aside from Wen Fangliang, all of Wang Dou's remaining forces in Luoyang — over five thousand — would join the battle, and the three units of troops originally defending Luoyang would also be fully drawn out. Chen Yongfu would leave five hundred soldiers to defend the North Pass, while his remaining two thousand troops would likewise join the battle.

Thus the main force would number over seven thousand. Such a force would have been considered substantial before the eighth year of Chongzhen, when the roving bandits of that time were very easy to fight. Even seven thousand ordinary government troops would have been enough to rout over a hundred thousand roving bandits on the open field.

But times had changed. From the eighth year of Chongzhen onward, the peasant army's combat strength had undergone a qualitative transformation. Hong Chengchou had once stated in a memorial: "In earlier times the bandits fled to evade our troops; now they face our troops and give battle, laying ambushes left and right and rotating their attacks in succession — hence the difficulty of exterminating them. Every bandit has a fine steed, some riding two horses, while government troops are three-tenths mounted and seven-tenths on foot — hence the difficulty of pursuing them."

At present, government troops might perhaps be able to fight three times their number of roving bandits, and that only when the starving conscripts made up the majority of the bandit force. In Henan Prefecture, government troops were now losing far more than they won, with cities and towns falling one after another. Now Li Zicheng's forces were "massive" — including his old camp, he had four to five thousand elite cavalry, twenty to thirty thousand infantry, and over a hundred thousand coerced starving conscripts. Which local government force in Henan would dare to fight Li Zicheng in the open field?

However, Wang Yinchang and the others were still full of confidence in Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu. With the combat strength of the Shunxiang Army and the Vanguard Battalion, seven thousand against two hundred thousand should be no problem. Especially now that the roving bandits' morale was shattered, an open-field decisive battle was unlike a siege assault — the bandits would be prone to panic and rout.

Zhu Yousong was full of confidence in Wang Dou. He merely asked one question: "In this open-field decisive battle, are General Wang and General Chen truly confident?"

After receiving Wang Dou's affirmative reply, Zhu Yousong said no more.

Seeing Wang Dou's expression, and perhaps sensing an opportunity to gain some advantage, Wang Yinchang also wanted to bring some Luoyang garrison troops and local militia to join the battle, but Wang Dou firmly dissuaded him.

Their best support would be to defend Luoyang City well and ensure the rear remained secure. Wang Shaoyu still had over two thousand garrison troops under his command, but Wang Dou worried that if he took them onto the battlefield, his unit might stage the farce of scattering in a single stampede, so he dispensed with that idea.

For the site of the open-field decisive battle, Wang Dou planned to set it on the eastern bank of the Jian River. Both sides of this stretch of river were densely packed with all manner of camps and shanties, extending for over ten li in length and breadth. Stationed there were all the various camp chieftains closest to Li Zicheng. If he advanced in formation against them, unless they wanted a total collapse, they would have no choice but to array their forces and face him in battle on the open ground east of the Jian River.

And at the foot of Mount Mang, twenty li north of Luoyang City, as well as along the banks of the Luo River south of the city, although many Chuang Army troops were also stationed there, most of them were the camps of Henan local bandit leaders like Yi Dougu, Waguang, and Li Jiyu.

Now that the Chuang Army's morale was shattered, each faction was looking out for its own interests. If he attacked Li Zicheng's own core camps, whether these local bandit chieftains would come to the rescue was questionable. If they did not, he would be spared from dealing with tens of thousands more roving bandit "troops."

If they did come to the rescue, Wang Dou did not think an extra few tens of thousands would have any impact on the overall situation. They might only approach from the east and the north, forming an encirclement of his main army on the open field. But those starving people clutching long spears and wooden clubs — Wang Dou did not care about their encirclement.

His primary opponents, in the end, were still Li Zicheng's several thousand elite cavalry and his twenty to thirty thousand infantry.

After the council, the Shunxiang Army and the Vanguard Battalion mobilized. Whether the Shunxiang Army and Vanguard Battalion troops inside Luoyang City or the forces at the North Pass, unit after unit donned their full battle gear and assembled in the area between the North Gate and the North Pass.

Standing atop the North Gate tower, watching the morning glow slowly emerge as company after company of soldiers clad in iron armor and padded cotton armor marched through the gate and gradually massed into formation outside the city, Wang Dou's heart swelled with heroic passion — this was his army.

Beside him, Chen Yongfu was likewise glowing with anticipation, full of expectation for this battle. He had already received a hint from Wang Yinchang that he would be recommended for the post of Henan Regional Commander in the future. If he routed the roving bandits in one battle, securing that Regional Commander position would be assured.

Also beside the two men were the Prince of Fu, Zhu Yousong, the Military Defense Vice Commissioner Wang Yinchang, the Luoyang Garrison Commander, the Prefect of Luoyang, and a dense crowd of local officials. They had all come to wish victory and see them off. In their hearts, of course, each of them hoped that Wang Dou would win this battle in a single stroke, for then Luoyang City would truly be safe and sound.

Outside the city, the formations slowly swelled. Li Guangheng's cavalry company had already assembled in the field. His nearly one thousand cavalry were drawn up in strict and orderly formation, every man clad in padded cotton armor, the front-rank cavalry gripping lances, the rear ranks wielding sabers. As the cold wind blew, the red tassels on his riders' helmets and the fiery red manes of their horses streamed and flew, matched by the round red shields on each man's left arm, seeming to form a single expanse of fiery, deathly crimson.

Also assembled were Gao Shiyin's mounted infantry company, the three infantry companies of Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, and Gao Xun, and all the remaining Night Scouts led by Wen Daxing.

Zhao Xuan had also assembled his artillery company. Ten great Hongyi cannons, along with thirty-five large General Folangji cannons captured from the Chuang Army, were all hauled out and arrayed neatly before the formation, their muzzles dark and gaping, exuding a murderous aura.