[{"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-537":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},1205826,1561,"Chapter 537: River Water and Blood Water (Part 2)","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-537",537,"\u003Cp>The roar of artillery came wave after wave. In Zhao Xuan’s cannon formation, white smoke already hung thick, and the acrid reek of gunpowder filled the nostrils.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After each shot, the bore-swabbers nervously cleaned the barrels, the constant hiss of steam rising from every cannon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet now the cannon camp used silk cartridge bags, and each of the various red-barbarian cannons in the artillery camp had fired at least ten rounds without the barrels showing any sign of overheating. The goose-feather priming tubes were also extremely handy to use, far better than powder fuses, much to Zhao Xuan’s satisfaction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the bombardment, the observation officers of each basic salvo unit used their artillery scopes, constantly shouting out data over the deafening roar of the guns, while their assistants, holding spyglasses, rapidly verified the figures. Once the targets were confirmed, the aimers of each crew forcefully cranked the iron handles at the cannon tails, adjusting the elevation of the muzzles, preparing to fire again!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The artillery apprentices of the cannon camp, serving as logistics troops, hurried back and forth, carrying shot and powder bags from the ammunition carts, and seized this rare live-combat opportunity to carefully study how real battle differed from the theoretical learning of past days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan’s cannon camp belonged to the Center Camp. On the hill where the artillery formation stood, the sun-moon-and-waves banner with its gold-brocade border loomed in and out of the smoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Likewise looming in and out were the soldiers of the artillery camp, ceaselessly working their guns. Their movements were tense yet orderly, every action well-drilled, displaying to the outside world the bearing of the East’s finest artillery troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Satisfied, Zhao Xuan withdrew his gaze from his own position and looked to the left, several li away, at that other Jingbian Army artillery position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From that direction too came an unbroken roar of cannon, dense smoke shrouding the area. Their guns likewise bombarded the pontoon bridge on the left and the Qing cavalry reinforcements on both banks of the river at close range. They also gave supporting fire to a Jingbian Army cavalry-and-infantry position on the opposite bank ahead and to the left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the Jingbian Army cavalry sortied, Zhong Xiancai’s Right Guard White Tiger Camp and Han Chao’s Rear Guard Black Tortoise Camp — several thousand Class-A troops from the two camps — sortied as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were all mounted infantry, possessing horses and extremely rapid mobility. Their mission, besides forming up to shield the artillery camp, was to seize key terrain on the opposite bank, securing vital forward positions for the Ming army’s present strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That position on the opposite bank at this moment was a riverside ridge held by the Rear Camp’s senior general, Han Chao, who had personally led his camp’s Class-A troops to occupy it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The southern foot of this ridge pressed close against the river, and not far to its right lay a small pontoon bridge. Two li further to the right was one of the two great pontoon bridges over the Nüer River.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seizing this ridge would heighten the Qing army’s anxiety and concern on the north bank, making them believe the Ming army’s main thrust might be moving toward Baimiao Fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through Zhao Xuan’s spyglass, that battlefield swirled with dust and smoke. Rolling waves of Qing cavalry charged the ridge incessantly, and the crackling pop of bird guns could be faintly heard even from here. Wave after wave of battle cries rose without end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jingbian Army artillery position on the south bank kept bombarding that direction with multiple cannons, scattering and breaking up each successive wave of Qing cavalry assaulting the ridge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, he could see batch after batch of Qing reinforcements arriving in a steady stream, the dense, cold gleam of their spear-blades seemingly visible even from this distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Tatars have too many troops and horses. I hope the infantry formations get here quickly!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan thought with some worry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Qing reinforcements surged forward like a flood, under the ferocious pounding of Zhao Xuan’s various artillery positions, the Qing cavalry crossing the river suffered grievous losses. In the river water beside the many pontoon bridges, there was nothing but flesh, blood, and severed limbs, along with dense clusters of wailing wounded men and horses. The blood shed by the Qing soldiers crossing the river seemed to dye the very water red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The riverbank shoals were relatively soft, and many iron balls that struck there merely churned up some black-yellow mud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But just a little way from the bank, the ground was iron-hard from years of drought and scorching sun. The ricochet of the cannonballs was superb; shrieking shot plowed into the massed Qing cavalry, effortlessly carving out one bloody alley after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a cannonball struck a pontoon bridge just as a large wave of Qing cavalry was crossing, the effect was even more pronounced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the artillery barrage, the Qing cavalry had already fallen into disorder, and after crossing the various pontoon bridges, their formations were still loose — the perfect moment to strike an enemy mid-crossing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What awaited them were the Jingbian Army cavalry, the Xuanfu Garrison cavalry, and the Datong Garrison cavalry, all arrayed in strict formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time and again, just as a fresh wave of their reinforcing cavalry crossed the river and before they could form ranks, the tide-like Ming cavalry on the opposite side came surging forward, throwing them into chaos, scattering them, or simply driving them straight into the river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was no case of burning one’s boats. Under the repeated charges of the Ming cavalry, many men and horses of the various Manchu and Mongol banners drowned in the chaos. The southern bank of the Nüer River was littered with floating corpses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, with the opposite bank in chaos, follow-up reinforcements could not push across, or if they did, it was meaningless. In a very short time, the Ming army’s westward-advance strategy had achieved tremendous results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the Qing reinforcements kept growing in number. They possessed a multitude of horses and flexible mobility. If the Ming infantry could not quickly keep pace, the garrison cavalry fighting bitterly on the riverbank and the open fields would find themselves in ever greater danger!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On Twin Peaks Mountain, Weng Adai, Third-Class Meile Zhangjing of the Manchu Plain Blue Banner, watched with a chill in his heart. The Plain Blue Banner soldiers beside him were likewise ashen-faced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was too brutal. The casualties among the warriors were too great!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weng Adai sighed: “I knew it — if the main army tries to cross the river to help, many men will die!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked out. All around Twin Peaks Mountain, the din of battle shook the heavens. Li Fuming, Regional Commander of Shanxi, was personally leading his garrison cavalry in a furious, blazing fight against the Qing troops rolling down from Breast Peak Mountain. It seemed the defending troops on the mountain had already reacted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, Huang Taiji’s dragon banner was rapidly shifting from the eastern side of Breast Peak Mountain to the western side, accompanied by the banners of the Gabshihiyan Superha Camp troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, because the section of the Nüer River west of Breast Peak Mountain was difficult to cross, masses of Qing cavalry were crossing via the section north of the mountain, then charging down its western slopes to join the ranks of the reinforcements on the south bank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that direction, Weng Adai could see a Jingbian Army artillery position — a massive battery of over a hundred cannons — ceaselessly bombarding his own Qing troops streaming west just north of Twin Peaks Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their firepower was extremely fierce and their rate of fire rapid. The many Qing cavalry moving along the mountain’s edge near the riverbank fell continuously, men and horses alike, under their cannon fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, around that artillery position were deployed some arquebusiers and armored spearmen. When the position was first set up, these armored troops had simultaneously dug trenches around it, forming an anti-cavalry ditch. Though not deep, it was already effective at impeding cavalry advances.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not far behind these trenches were arrayed the position’s numerous medium and small Frankish swivel guns, firing solid shot at long range and canister at close range. Combined with the fine bird-gun marksmen, the firepower was extraordinarily fierce.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those charging cavalry, without shield-carts, without cover, died one after another, utterly pointlessly, under the swift and fierce assault of their guns and cannons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weng Adai heaved a long sigh, hating that artillery position to the marrow of his bones, yet utterly helpless. He had once tried sending some troops down the mountain to attack it, but before they could even get close, a volley of canister shot struck them, costing him quite a few men and horses, and he had been forced to withdraw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only that, but in the open ground west of Twin Peaks Mountain, between it and the artillery position, numerous Jingbian Army cavalry stood in formation. When his own troops descended the mountain and returned, they were struck on the flank by these cavalry and lost still more men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this setback, Weng Adai no longer spoke of going down the mountain, hoping only to hold the ridge. But as he gazed southward, the Ming infantry formations were already faintly visible. It seemed there was little hope left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Numbly, he watched the foot of the mountain. There, in the zone between the north side of the mountain and the Nüer River, yet another wave of reinforcements was directly shattered and scattered by the Jingbian Army artillery position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then nearly a thousand Jingbian Army cavalry, arrayed in tight formation, charged into them with a thunderous roar. In the blink of an eye, these scattered Qing cavalry were routed by the Jingbian Army horsemen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the panic, some were even driven headlong into the river — one could well imagine the fate awaiting these landlubbers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking around in every direction, it was the same for the many Qing cavalry who had crossed the pontoon bridges. The southern bank of the Nüer River seemed to have become a slaughterhouse where Ming cavalry butchered Qing cavalry. Everywhere lay corpses and wounded, men and horses alike. Weng Adai was speechless. The brave and invincible Great Qing iron cavalry had come to such an end. Truly, there was nothing to be done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And after all this time, the many reinforcements had not managed to secure a single foothold on the north bank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though still more reinforcements came rolling in, in the haste and confusion they held no advantage over the Ming cavalry. Once the Ming infantry formations arrived — especially when those Shenjiying cannons of theirs came up and began using those terrifying poison shells and ash shells — holding his own Twin Peaks Mountain would be nothing but a dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After silently asking heaven why, Weng Adai stared for a long time at the Jingbian Army artillery position in the open ground below the mountain, and finally forced out a single sentence: “How can their cannons keep firing so long without stopping? Don’t they burst their barrels? How strange!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the double-hour of Chen exactly, through his spyglass, Zhao Xuan at last saw the Great General’s enormous banner, its staff two zhang high, appear before his eyes on the open field to the south. Behind that great banner came one after another of the fluttering, passionately fiery sun-moon-and-waves banners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One orderly formation after another advanced resolutely in this direction. Gazing from afar, he seemed almost able to hear the heavy tread of their marching feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan relaxed. Although his artillery position had effectively blocked the Qing cavalry from crossing, the pressure was still immense, and the garrison cavalry on the river’s south bank were all locked in bitter combat with the Qing cavalry. The Great General’s infantry formations arriving was just what was needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the Jingbian Army infantry arrived, presumably the infantry formations of the Xuanzhen Army and the various Datong forces would also arrive in succession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, he did not dare hope that the other troops could arrive together with the Jingbian Army infantry — they simply did not have that marching capability, nor did Yang Guozhu’s new army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, his heart swelled with pride. From west of Huangtuling to the bank of the Nüer River was a distance of over twenty li. His own army, setting out at the beginning of the Chen hour, clad in armor and marching at double time, had covered this distance in half a shichen. The title of the Great Ming’s strongest army was well-deserved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to look at the opposite bank of the river. Stretching to the horizon’s edge, wave after wave of black tide still surged from the wilderness beyond. On the pontoon bridge ahead and to the right, Qing reinforcements were again packed tight, their armor and banners all white with red borders — it seemed to be the troops of the Tatar Bordered White Banner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they aren't Manchu Eight Banners, they're Mongol Eight Banners — they definitely aren't Han Eight Banners, those don't have this many cavalry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan lowered his telescope and bellowed, \"Lads, give those Tartars on the bridge a nasty one!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the Jingbian Army gunners in the artillery position were exhausted, they still howled wildly at the sound, every man's morale soaring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xuan was satisfied. Then he roared, \"Jia-position gun group, prepare for volley fire!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At once the Company Commander in charge of that sector bellowed, \"Prepare for volley fire!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately the gunners under his command briskly traversed their pieces — twenty 6-pounder red-barbarian cannons, their dark, dense muzzles all trained toward the pontoon bridge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Volley fire meant not only that the cannons fired simultaneously, but also that the impact points of the shells had to fall within the same area, with very little margin for error.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary gunners could hardly meet such a requirement, but for the Jingbian Army artillerymen trained with an enormous quantity of rounds, it was a matter of routine.\u003C\u002Fp>",2344,"2026-06-03T14:05:53.320Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","ead46f07ee39cf79519b6101d8d873c358b10788df344597e4ecf2e219f9199a","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-538","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-536",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]