Chapter 535: Crossing the River

Old White Ox: Went to Xiamen, then on to Shanghai, and now I’ve finally made it back.

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As the Ming army left camp and assembled, the Qing troops beneath Jinzhou’s walls likewise emerged from their camp and deployed into formation.

Qing formations large and small, their banners of every color streaming, spread across the north and west sides of Jinzhou, and also across the south side beyond the Xiaoling River.

By this time, Jinzhou city itself had long been hemmed in tight by palisade walls and trenches; just like the arrangements at Huangtuling and Rufengshan, the palisade walls and trenches in the open ground several li outside Jinzhou were also of the two-trench, three-wall design.

One main wall with a deep trench, plus two slightly shallower small trenches; in front of the first trench, thick wooden stakes were driven in everywhere, with ropes tied to the stakes and bells hung from them, and at night, hunting dogs were posted beside many of the stakes.

Because it was on flat open ground, these palisade walls and trenches were actually dug and built even higher and deeper than those at Rufengshan and Huangtuling; the winding main wall, together with the trench in front of it, encircled the entire city of Jinzhou for several dozen li.

In particular, on the side of this main wall facing the city, countless crenellations had been built, allowing the besieging troops to hold the wall from behind them with ease.

Because the three trench lines were not far apart and all lay within the striking range of Qing bows, arquebuses, and other firepower, it was extremely difficult for the Ming troops inside the city to charge out.

Moreover, behind the main wall lay the great camps of the Qing banners, and in front of those camps, low walls and trenches had likewise been dug, so that the siege of Jinzhou was effectively backed by four layers of barriers.

In addition, a large number of hunting dogs were posted in front of the trenches as guards; these Manchurian native dogs were exceedingly alert, and whenever they heard the bells ring at night, they would all start barking at once, so that Ming night raids often turned into empty talk. Zu Dashou inside Jinzhou had tried to break out countless times, but could never break through the Qing siege lines.

Furthermore, the Qing siege was so tight that not a breath of wind could pass through, making it hard for the defenders to leave the city to gather firewood. In fact, Jinzhou currently had ample provisions and fodder, but firewood was in short supply; the defenders had long since torn down houses and removed doors to use as cooking fuel, and as things developed further, even many war carts had been chopped up for firewood.

Not only that, after the Qing army withdrew en masse from Mount Shimen and other places, on the east and north sides of Jinzhou, several li from the Nüer River, an arc-shaped palisade wall likewise rose from the ground, also of the two-trench, three-wall design, but with an even higher palisade wall and even deeper trenches, and every trench was thickly set with sharp wooden stake traps.

And at that location, many cannons of the Han Banner Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp were emplaced atop the high earthen wall, their range covering most of both banks of the Nüer River. If Ming troops tried to cross the river there to bring relief, they would have to face these fearsome defensive measures.

If the Ming army crossed the river from the Baigu River section, apart from facing the charges of the Manchu and Mongol Eight Banner iron cavalry camped on Mount Liangjia and along both banks of the Baigu River, the cannon fire of the Han Banner Ujen Cooha Camp could also strike them from the flank.

It goes without saying that if Wang Dou had not changed his attack strategy, the open ground on both banks of the Nüer River and on the east and north sides of Jinzhou would certainly have been strewn with Ming corpses, their blood drained away in that place.

In particular, the terrain on the south bank of the Nüer River was narrow, with many ridges and little flat ground, so troops could not be deployed in strength; they could only stand and helplessly endure the ravages of the Qing artillery on the opposite bank, using piecemeal reinforcement tactics to ferry troops across bit by bit.

……

The Qing army’s deployment was strict and precise; they cut across the main roads and stretched their camps in an unbroken line, and when they spread out their battle formations, it seemed as if the entire open ground outside Jinzhou was covered by an ocean of their banners and armor. Every banner stood in tight array, waiting for the Ming army to cross the river.

The dragon banners of the Han Banner commanders-in-chief, marked with the crescent moon, streamed in the wind; beside the eight gold-threaded dragon banners stood a tall banner bearing the Taiji diagram, and beneath these banners, the commanders-in-chief of each of the Eight Han Banners, along with Kim Ja-jeom, the Right State Councilor of Joseon, were gazing out toward the Nüer River.

The spot where they stood was an earthen wall east of Jinzhou, not far from the Nüer River; at that moment, the crenellations of that earthen wall were densely packed with numerous Eight Banner Han troops, whose attire was hardly distinguishable from that of the Manchu soldiers, and also Joseon armored soldiers wearing the same red studded cotton armor with trident rods atop their helmets.

Most of these Han Banner armored soldiers carried arquebuses; after Huang Taiji established the Han Eight Banners, the total number of Han Banner companies reached over one hundred and sixty, with a population of over thirty thousand, more than the Mongol Eight Banners.

These registered individuals all counted as soldiers or reserve soldiers; the numerous bondservants and slaves were not counted among the company population.

Nor did they have the right to participate in battle; at most, they served as wartime laborers, doing the hard labor of transporting provisions and fodder, digging trenches, making equipment, and feeding horses. Only if they worked hard might they be selected to join the Han Eight Banners.

At this time, the Han Banners had roughly eighteen thousand arquebusiers, distributed among the various Han Banners, with the remainder being sword-and-shield men and spearmen. The most powerful single force was a unit of over three thousand arquebusiers under Kong Youde, which had once clashed with the Shunxiang Army at Pinggu.

Apart from these Han Banner and Joseon soldiers, the massive artillery park of the Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp was also deployed entirely on this side.

Including the Tianyou Zhuwei Grand General cannons cast by the Later Jin in earlier days, some cannons Kong Youde had brought from Dengzhou, and the Shenwei Grand General cannons later cast by the Qing state, the Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp now possessed over one hundred and fifty large and small red-barbarian cannons in total.

Over the years, they had also captured quite a few breech-loading swivel guns and other pieces from the Ming army; for instance, a few days earlier, when the Qing army fought Bai Guangen’s Jizhen troops, they captured numerous war carts and several hundred breech-loading swivel guns of various types in a single engagement. However, due to a shortage of gunners, these captured swivel guns and other pieces had always lacked men to use them and had been piled up in warehouses gathering dust.

Even so, because the Qing state had quite a few Portuguese gunners, and over the years the red-barbarians, represented by Eduardo, had trained Qing gunners, and in earlier days Kong Youde had also taken with him the Great Ming’s most elite artillery force, built from scratch by Sun Yuanhua and the Portuguese, the strength of the Qing Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp could not be underestimated.

Had Wang Dou not appeared, given this unit’s familiarity with gun regulations, gunner’s scales, quadrant instruments, and the use of artillery, no Ming artillery unit could have been their match.

In fact, when the Qing army entered the Pass, Kong Youde’s artillery unit rendered tremendous service in the Qing state’s sieges and conquests.

The learning ability of a rising power bloc is always fearsome; only days before, the Ming army had begun piling sandbags and earth bags in front of their cannons to protect against gunfire, and now these Qing gunners had already learned to do the same in a very passable manner.

High platforms had been raised one after another on the earthen wall. On those platforms were placed the Qing army’s heavy Shenwei Grand General cannons, and in front of each cannon, earth bags were stacked in layers, so that even if Ming cannon fire struck, it could effectively prevent damage to the gunners and the cannons.

Banners of every kind rustled in the wind; standing here, one could clearly see the situation on the opposite bank of the Nüer River and the movements on the Ming side, and wave after wave of Qing scout riders constantly brought back detailed intelligence about the Ming troops across the river.

Kong Youde was the only one among the Han Eight Banner commanders-in-chief who possessed a telescope. He held the telescope with a swaggering air, gazing out toward the Nüer River from time to time.

Through the telescope, the Ming troops on the south bank of the river were densely packed; not only did their formations cover the riverbank area, but some of the gentler ridges were also filled with their men and horses.

From their banners, one could tell that the first troops to cross the river were Ma Ke’s and Tang Tong’s Shanhai and Miyun armies.

River crossing and beach landing are in fact a series of very complex tactics that demand considerable organizational ability from all sides; it was evident that Ma Ke and Tang Tong lacked this ability, and everything they displayed was in chaotic disarray.

Because every pontoon bridge on the Nüer River had been burned down by the Qing army, the river surface was now crowded with numerous Ming boats — large boats, small boats, and many little skiffs — which were rowed to the opposite bank by civilian laborers and boatmen, then lined up row by row, covered with planks, and linked together with iron chains and ropes.

Civilian laborers and craftsmen, swarming like ants, either carried planks back and forth or felled trees on the spot, splitting some trunks into planks; the materials for building the pontoon bridges were a motley assortment, even including door planks. Shouts of command, yelling, and roaring made the Nüer riverbank as bustling as a great market fair for a time.

To cover the civilian laborers and craftsmen building the bridges, it was clear that the Ming army had deployed some warships of the Longwu Naval Division from Juehua Island. These warships sailed back and forth, ferrying batch after batch of Ming troops ashore, and then these men formed some disorderly battle arrays on the riverbank and nervously stood on guard.

There were only a few places along the Nüer River where landing was convenient; in some shallow-water areas where the warships could not reach the shore, small skiffs were lowered from the warships, and each boat carried members of the Ming army’s death squads, all holding large blades and shields.

After they came ashore, they too were a motley sight — some cursing and grumbling, some shouting and yelling, and some who had grown up deep inland were so terrified just from the boat ride that their hearts pounded; after disembarking, they lay prone on the ground and did not stir for a long while.

Then, under the roaring of their officers, they reluctantly formed a defensive guard line by the riverbank.

On the whole, the river crossing of Ma Ke’s and Tang Tong’s units proceeded slowly; after a long while, they still had not sorted anything out, and after a good stretch of time, the men who had crossed were still sparse and scattered, making up only a tiny fraction of their total number.

Watching their unhurried manner, even the Qing troops on the opposite bank grew anxious on their behalf.

Some Qing scout riders and the cannons of the Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp occasionally attacked the Ming troops while they were building pontoon bridges and crossing by boat, but the cannonballs that came howling over basically missed nine times out of ten.

In truth, Eduardo, the commander of the Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp, had once made a detailed survey of the geography and terrain on the north bank of the Nüer River; just as at Huangtuling, markers had been set up every few dozen paces for the riverbank sectors, and the camp’s gunners only needed to fire according to the markers — the accuracy could not possibly have been this low.

This was also the Qing army deliberately holding back, lest the Ming troops suffer heavy casualties while crossing and be scared off so that they would not cross again. Yet they also could not miss every single shot, for that would make the Ming troops suspicious and might likewise cause them to stop crossing.

When the Qing army attacked, the breech-loading swivel guns on the Ming naval warships also opened fire in return, and some breech-loading swivel guns within Ma Ke’s and Tang Tong’s garrisons on the shore also opened fire to provide cover.

Because of Ma Ke’s and others’ insistent demands, Fu Tingfu, the Mobile Corps Commander of the Divine Machine Battalion who had originally been supporting Ma Ke and the others, once again led a portion of his troops, with twenty mortars and fifty rocket carts, to support the river-crossing units. However, Fu Tingfu had grown shrewd; he absolutely refused to cross the river first, and only set up his cannons on the ridges to the rear to bombard the small groups of Qing cavalry that pressed close.

On the whole, these Ming cannons could hardly pose a threat to the Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp on the earthen wall or to the harassing Qing cavalry. The Qing artillery camp, out of strategic considerations, also mainly fired to intimidate, and the cannon fire from both sides caused very few casualties to either.

Watching the sluggish movements of the Ming troops through his telescope, Kong Youde gave a cold snort; had it not been for the Emperor’s strict order, their own Ujen Cooha Artillery Camp could have delivered a fierce cannonade and routed the Ming troops on both banks of the Nüer River, sending them fleeing in collapse.

At the same time, he felt regret in his heart that Wang Dou’s Jingbian Army had not yet appeared by the Nüer River; otherwise, under their own devastating cannon fire, they would certainly have given his army a bitter taste and greatly vented the foul grudge from that year at Pinggu. To be continued...