Chapter 492: Heads

64060, created on 2013-1-17

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But just at that moment, Jirgalang, Hooge, Ajige, and the others received an urgent report from their scouts: the Ming army had come out to relieve the siege.

The force coming to plug the gap and rescue Wu Sangui's men was still the Ming state's strongest army, the Jingbian Army, and leading them was none other than the Loyal and Brave Count Wang Dou, whom they bitterly hated.

Moreover, their sortie was overwhelmingly powerful. Not only did they swiftly halt the wave of routing troops, but their cavalry also rapidly swept around to both flanks, as if intending to swallow in one gulp those elite riders who had gone in pursuit of the fleeing soldiers.

"This is bad!"

Jirgalang's face changed drastically: "Those pursuers are scattered everywhere, with no formation or order. How can they be a match for their cavalry battle arrays?"

He looked further toward Wu Sangui's wagon fort: "If the Ming general Wu Sangui seizes this chance to send out his elite cavalry for a pincer attack, those brave warriors in pursuit will face disaster."

Hooge and the others' faces changed; they clearly also realized this terrible outcome. In the cold-weapon era, not only infantry but also cavalry required strict battle formations and ranks.

Ajige bellowed: "Prince Zheng, we must quickly dispatch our elite cavalry to support them, or even press forward with the whole army to smash the Jingbian Army's approaching cavalry."

Jirgalang shook his head: "The Jingbian Army is not like other Ming forces. To think we could smash them in a short time—how could it be so easy? Their infantry battalions have already caught up. If we get entangled in a melee, how can we exploit the advantage of our Great Qing iron cavalry? Fighting a tangled battle with them would only be pointless attrition."

Then his expression relaxed slightly. He saw ahead that their own tide-like elite cavalry were fleeing back. They were indeed veterans of many battles, knowing to flee quickly when the situation turned bad. Even if some cavalry were enveloped by the Jingbian Army, the losses presumably would not be great.

Still, the Qing generals' faces remained grim. After routing Bai Guangen, each had become somewhat overconfident, causing their troops to pursue too far, and as a result, a portion fell into a state of being enveloped and pincered by the Ming army. Even if the bulk of the troops fled back and the final loss was only a few hundred riders, to each of them, it was unbearably painful.

Hooge said angrily: "Prince Zheng, are we just going to watch helplessly as our warriors are enveloped and annihilated? Should we not at least send some troops to support them?"

Jirgalang hesitated, because he saw that Wu Sangui over at the wagon fort was already stirring restlessly. If they sent supporting troops and Wu Sangui suddenly led his cavalry in a heavy strike from the flank and rear, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Although they could also strike Wu Sangui heavily from the flank, getting entangled with each other would mean abandoning the advantage of their own iron cavalry. The gain would not be worth the loss. And who would win was unknown—too many variables. This was not something the cautious Jirgalang wished to see.

Then he sighed: "Wu Sangui has indeed moved out. Order the gongs sounded to withdraw the troops!"

From here, one could clearly see that the horns sounded from Wu Sangui's wagon fort, and countless cavalry surged out from his fort in rolling waves. Leading them were Wu Sangui's two thousand elite cavalry retainers. Their objective was very clear: to coordinate with the Jingbian Army cavalry and completely encircle the pursuers who had not yet escaped.

Those Great Qing elite cavalry who had not escaped and were pursuing the routed Jizhen troops were finished. Surrounded by over ten thousand Ming cavalry, and especially with the Jingbian Army infantry battalions pressing closely from behind, they had little chance of breaking through the encirclement.

The Qing generals' faces were grim. It seemed that relying on Wang Dou's momentum, many Ming generals became bold and reckless. Not long ago, Wu Sangui had been shrinking inside his wagon formation, not daring to move at all. But the moment he saw Wang Dou emerge, he actually led several thousand cavalry and took the initiative to attack!

Thus, besieging Wu Sangui's wagon formation had become meaningless. Amid the sharp clanging of bronze gongs, the tide-like Qing cavalry withdrew, and immediately the area around Wu Sangui's wagon fort was empty and desolate, leaving only the traces of chaos everywhere.

Beneath the gold-threaded dragon banner, Jirgalang, Hooge, Ajige, and the others gazed forward. From that direction, the faint but continuous sounds of bird guns and hand cannons could be heard, mixed with the sound of some artillery, as if they were slaughtering the Great Qing warriors within the encirclement.

Seeing that very few of the elite cavalry warriors could escape, every Qing man ground his teeth in fury.

And over two li ahead, large swathes of Jingbian Army cavalry came rushing, occupying some undulating hilly high ground on the right. More and more surging wave-like sun-and-moon flags appeared, gathering together. Their fiery red armor, their fiery red horse manes—it seemed as if the whole space between heaven and earth was a single blazing red color.

Finally, amid the roaring shouts of "Ten thousand victories!", an enormously huge great banner appeared before the eyes of Jirgalang and the others. Then dense war wagons were pushed forward, and behind the war wagons, one after another of strict and orderly infantry square formations, countless wave-like sun-and-moon flags billowing.

Jirgalang's heart grew heavy. He had crossed hands with Wang Dou at Julu, and even then the Shunxiang Army had been extraordinary. Now Wang Dou's power had expanded, with tens of thousands of elite troops. This opponent had become even more troublesome. Today's battle required caution; otherwise, the outcome would be the loss of troops and generals.

Among the Eight Banner Mongols, Enggetu, the Plain Red Banner commander, and Buyandai, the Bordered Red Banner commander, wore somewhat uneasy expressions.

As early as the Battle of Tongzhou in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, and the Battle of Julu, they had crossed hands with Wang Dou. The painful experience of those years was still fresh in their memory. Having to fight Wang Dou again, they could not help but feel disquiet in their hearts.

And among the Qing generals present, Zhunta, the acting Bayara banner commander of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner, and Tulai, the Bayara banner commander of the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner, had also crossed hands with Wang Dou and were equally cautious at heart.

Only Hooge and Ajige still wore expressions of arrogant defiance, dismissive of the Jingbian Army's arrival.

These two had never crossed hands with Wang Dou. Although they both acknowledged that the Jingbian Army was extraordinary and not comparable to ordinary Ming forces, they had even greater confidence in the iron cavalry under their own command, especially having just slain Bai Guangen moments before.

Suddenly, a stir ran through the Qing troops, because from in front of the Ming army's war wagons, several dozen Jingbian Army night scouts clad in deep red short-body armor rode out. Behind their horses, they all dragged half-dead Qing soldiers with ropes.

Those night scouts laughed wildly, galloping and shouting only around their own formation. And dragged by their horses, each of those Qing soldiers let out utterly wretched howls of agony.

The Qing soldiers were both shocked and furious. Although they often tormented and humiliated captured Ming soldiers and civilians, seeing their own warriors tormented in this way was far more shocking than when they did the tormenting. For a moment, the high spirits the tens of thousands of Qing cavalry had felt when they routed Bai Guangen vanished completely.

Suddenly, they raised an even greater uproar, because in front of the Jingbian Army's war wagons, a tall, large cart was pushed out.

On that large cart stood a pole. On the wooden pole, a Bayara officer with a dejected expression was tied up high.

Many people shouted: "It's a Plain White Banner Bayara company commander."

"It's Maise, Namdulu Maise. He's been captured by the Ming army!"

Jirgalang's expression was extremely grim. Hooge and Ajige were even more so, their eyes splitting with rage, storming with fury.

Ajige in particular bellowed: "Prince Zheng, I shall immediately lead the Plain White Banner warriors to attack. We must recapture our banner's captured warrior!"

Ajige Nikan, the acting Bayara banner commander of the Plain White Banner, was also filled with righteous indignation and likewise requested battle, wanting to teach those reckless Jingbian Army soldiers a lesson.

Although Ajige Nikan was young, not yet thirty at this time, within the Qing state he was renowned for his martial valor, often leading the banner as the vanguard and routing the enemy.

Just in April of this year, the Jinzhou Mongol officer Nomuqi and others secretly surrendered to the Qing troops. Ajige Nikan detected this, took advantage of the night to approach the city, fought fiercely to support Nomuqi and the others in coming out, and was praised by Huang Taiji as a youth capable of killing the enemy. He was appointed acting Bayara banner commander of the Manchu Plain White Banner, promoted to the substantive rank of first-class Assistant Regional Commander, and further rewarded with four hundred taels of gold.

That Maise was likewise a Bayara officer of the Plain White Banner. Seeing this with his own eyes, how could Ajige Nikan endure it?

Seeing the crowd's righteous fury, Jirgalang roared: "None of you shall act rashly!"

He said: "The Han people have a saying: a general does not raise troops out of anger. Wang Dou is deliberately trying to provoke us. We must not fall for it! We should carefully discuss how to engage the Jingbian Army in battle."

But how could Hooge, Ajige, and the others listen? Bellowing, they were about to lead their troops to attack. Just when Jirgalang was about to lose control, several riders came rolling in from the rear.

Galloping close, it turned out to be the Emperor's favored minister, the Board of Revenue Vice Minister Inggūldai, accompanied by several Gabsihiyan warriors.

These Gabsihiyan warriors were equivalent to Huang Taiji's imperial guard, the predecessor of the later Qing state's forward camp. They were even more elite than the Qing state's Bayara. Each wore a helmet with flying plumes and carried a two-chi flying-tiger square flag on their back, with a fox tail on the pole. They were all Gabsihiyan squad leaders.

Inggūldai galloped close and shouted: "By His Majesty's decree, with Wang Dou's army, you must not lightly speak of reckless battle. You must take cautious probing as the priority. Anyone who dares disobey this decree shall be executed!"

Regarding the battle southeast of Huangtuling, Wang Dou and the others had observation pole carts and telescopes, allowing them to see far in all directions. But Huang Taiji on Mount Rufeng, and Dorgon and the others on Huangtuling, also had telescopes, and being on high ground looking down, they could see the general disposition of the Ming army very clearly.

As soon as the Jingbian Army moved out, Huang Taiji paid close attention. In his overall plan, because the Ming army had just arrived at Songshan, the time for a decisive battle between the two sides had not yet come, so Huang Taiji focused mainly on probing.

By now, Huang Taiji already had a good idea of the general combat strength of the various Ming army units. Only the Jingbian Army still required careful consideration. Therefore, this battle had to be fought in order to see the Jingbian Army's true strength, but there must be no reckless battle, lest troops be wasted in vain.

Among the various banner generals in that area, only Jirgalang was prudent. But Hooge and Ajige were unruly and intractable. Huang Taiji feared Jirgalang would be unable to keep them in check, so he sent Inggūldai to supervise the battle. Indeed, Inggūldai arrived at just the right moment. One step later, and Ajige and the others would have moved out—reckless and rash, with no telling how great the losses would have been.

Because Inggūldai brought Huang Taiji's decree, everyone present had no choice but to respectfully obey the imperial will.

Inggūldai was effectively an imperial commissioner. With his strong support for Jirgalang on the scene, the prudent Prince Zheng was able to fully take charge of this battle against the Jingbian Army.

"It's almost noon!"

Sitting astride his horse on a hill, Lin Jugen, the Squad Commander of the First Company of the First Battalion of the Jingbian Army cavalry camp, looked at the sun overhead and thought to himself.

The sun was growing ever stronger. Wearing this thick armor under the blazing sunlight, he felt exceptionally hot and parched.

The water in the coconut-shell canteens on their saddles had been refilled several times already. Each time the fire soldiers brought water over, everyone gulped it down, each man desperate to drain an entire canteen dry. The men were all right, but the horses were suffering — looking at the horses between their legs snorting heavily, every touch coming away slick with sweat, Lin Jugen couldn't help feeling a pang of heartache.

He gazed toward the distant Qing army positions — a sea of banners, the armor colors of the various Tatar banners.

He could see that from their side came wave after wave of clamorous noise, yet no one sallied forth to attack.

"They really can endure it!"

Lin Jugen thought to himself.

He looked to the army's right flank, where before the dense ranks of war wagons, the Night Scout brothers of the Sharp Sentinel Battalion were thoroughly tormenting those captured Tatar soldiers. And watching the man on the large wagon ahead to the right, Lin Jugen's eyes revealed boundless hatred.

His own company of cavalry had been the first to clash with those Plain White Banner Bayara. After that brief and brutal battle, although they had slain those Bayara Tatars and captured that wounded Bayara Jalacingga, the brothers within his company had suffered nearly twenty casualties.

These were all his life-and-death brothers. Some, through the medical officers' frantic efforts, might perhaps keep their lives, but most were maimed. Still others had lost their lives forever — how could Lin Jugen not be furious?

He swore he would make this Plain White Banner Tatar leader taste every torment under heaven before dying, make him unable to live and unable to die.

When it came to tormenting men, the Sharp Sentinel Battalion's officer Wen Daxing was the most skilled. Lin Jugen decided to ask Assistant Regional Commander Wen to help him with this matter.

At this moment the ground between the two sides' positions was quiet. The Qing cavalry besieging Wu Sangui's wagon camp had all withdrawn, leaving an empty wilderness between them, along with some traces of the earlier battlefield. Occasionally some Tatar scout riders would gallop toward the Jingbian Army's front to reconnoiter...

Yet compared to the dense forward scout forces of before, they were far fewer. Lin Jugen reckoned it was because the Tatar troops on Huangtuling and Mount Rufeng could look down from their heights and pass intelligence to them, so they no longer needed many forward scouts.

Looking across at his own side, it was the same — no Night Scouts had ridden out to scout before their own lines anymore.

Now the army used observation-pole wagons, with specially designated signalmen holding thousand-li mirrors, standing high on the tall lookout platforms. On flat open ground, they could see the surrounding area for ten to twenty li; even in hilly, low-ridge terrain, they could survey a very wide area.

How could the signalmen with thousand-li mirrors atop the observation-pole wagons not clearly see the enemy's movements and dispositions from several li away? Was there still any need for forward scouts?

So with the equipping of observation-pole wagons and thousand-li mirrors, the old practice of needing Night Scouts to close in on the enemy lines for close reconnaissance had gradually faded away.

Even though the Sharp Sentinel Battalion had followed the Grand General into battle, there were not many Night Scouts with the army at present. Most of them, under Wang Dou's orders, had scattered to all four directions around Jinzhou to reconnoiter enemy movements.

They split into small squads, crossing the Xiaoling River and the Nüer River, scouting enemy movements at places like Jinchangbao, Shahebao, Mount Zijing, and Mopan Mountain. Some even crossed the Daling River and went as far as Yizhou and other places to reconnoiter.

"When will the Tatars make their move?"

Many Jingbian Army soldiers shared the same thoughts as Lin Jugen. Past his company of cavalry arrayed in strict readiness, further back, there was one tight cavalry battle formation after another. To the cavalry's right, layer upon layer of infantry, crimson banners fluttering, past the infantry, finally reaching the main army.

"It seems the Qing troops are far more cautious than before!"

Wang Dou gazed into the distance at the great Qing army formation. Even with such humiliation dealt to them, they remained unmoved — it seemed he had met his match, and the battles ahead would be hard-fought.

Since the ninth year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou had faced the various Qing banners and never failed to prevail, partly because they had underestimated him. Now that both sides took each other seriously, fighting would depend on tenacity and will.

At this moment, Wang Dou's main army force had gathered Guo Yingxian's one thousand Xuanzhen cavalry, Wang Zheng's five hundred Datong Army cavalry, and Li Yunshu's five hundred Shanxi Army cavalry — the latter two being the personal subordinate commanders of Regional Commanders Wang Pu and Li Fuming.

Fu Yingchong's Shenji Battalion was also here. However, it was not until Wang Dou had scattered the routed troops, enveloped and annihilated the Qing cavalry, and reached the southeastern front line that Shenji Battalion Forward Battalion Vice General Fu Yingchong finally brought his Shenji Battalion up.

The main reason was hauling those cannons, which had slowed his pace.

Heavy cannons weighing several thousand jin required multiple oxen and horses to drag, and transferring them from the various artillery positions was no simple matter.

Transporting the large numbers of rocket wagons, mortar cannons, and other sharp weapons had also cost Fu Yingchong tremendous effort, but fortunately they had finally arrived.

At this moment beside Wang Dou, Army Supervisor Zhang Ruo, Ming generals Guo Yingxian, Wang Zheng, Li Yunshu, and others all had joy written across their faces. Wu Sangui was also nearby, his face equally unable to suppress delight.

When the Jingbian Army had swept around and pursued the Qing cavalry as they fled back repeatedly, he had seized the moment and led five thousand cavalry out to attack, and indeed had reaped no small harvest, cutting down as many as ninety-three Tatar heads.

He gathered his five thousand cavalry on the Jingbian Army's right flank, then immediately hurried to the main army to pay his respects to Wang Dou. After all, Wang Dou had come to his aid, and both in sentiment and in reason, Wu Sangui ought to come and express his thanks.

At the same time, he also had in mind to discuss how those captured heads of the Jingbian Army might be distributed, because he knew that Wang Dou's head count was certainly greater than his own, and it would be even better if some could be shared with him.

Under the expectant gazes of Wu Sangui and the others, Zhang Ruo received the statistical report from Jingbian Army Chief Inspector Chi Dacheng and announced with restrained dignity that in the envelopment battle, the three generals Guo Yingxian, Wang Zheng, and Li Yunshu had respectively taken thirty-five, eighteen, and twelve heads.

And the Jingbian Army had taken a total of four hundred and seventy-eight heads of Tatar soldiers from various banners, including forty-eight captured, and even one slave-thief Bayara Jalacingga...

"A great victory in the first battle!"

Zhang Ruo finally could not hold back his laughter: "In this envelopment, all forces together have taken nearly seven hundred heads! I, the Army Supervisor, shall certainly report this triumph to His Majesty, to honor the bloody battle achievements of you all!"

"The Jingbian Army took four hundred and seventy-eight heads, captured forty-eight men, and also one slave-thief Bayara officer!"

Wu Sangui bit his lower lip. He had thought his own haul was considerable, but compared to Wang Dou, it was truly like a small witch before a great wizard.

Wang Dou smiled faintly. After the great army had enveloped and trapped the Qing cavalry that had failed to flee in time, he had deployed musketeers and cannons, which was how in a short time, with minimal casualties, they had taken so many heads.

Now within the Jingbian Army, merit and reward were no longer counted by heads — they had their own set of rules — but of course being able to take heads was still better. Tatar heads in the Great Ming meant money and rank, and their uses were extremely broad.

Seeing everyone's expectant expressions, Wang Dou said, "In this envelopment battle, Elder Brother Guo, General Wang, General Li, and Brother Daya all rendered meritorious service, and Supervisor Zhang also performed great merit. Of the Jingbian Army's five hundred-odd heads, I, the Count, have decided to keep only two hundred. The remaining heads, after this battle, will be distributed one by one to all of you!"

Not only were Zhang Ruo, Guo Yingxian, and the others overjoyed, but even Fu Yingchong exclaimed in delighted surprise, "I get some too?"

Wu Sangui gave a light cough and thought to himself, no wonder everyone wants to fight alongside Wang Dou — this man is simply generous. Several hundred heads, and he gives them away without blinking, even giving me a share.

Although Wu Sangui's feelings toward Wang Dou were complicated, he had to admit that Wang Dou's breadth of spirit was indeed broad. Fighting alongside him, one's heart was at ease, and the martial valor within could be brought out to its fullest.

Watching the generals whispering among themselves, discussing endlessly, even Army Supervisor Zhang Ruo's hand stroking his long beard trembled somewhat, his earlier restrained dignity completely gone.

Clearly, Wang Dou's promise of heads had a tremendous impact on him.

Then Wang Dou's expression grew solemn. He waved his hand, and the staff officers of the command camp pulled over a large wagon.

On the large wagon was actually placed a sand-table terrain map of this area, drawn in extremely fine detail.

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