Chapter 547: By the Xiaoling River (Part 1)

The dark, gleaming cannon barrels ceaselessly spat shells of varying calibers toward Yang Xingling, one thunderous roar after another. The troops of Shi Tingzhu, Zu Zerun, Wu Shoujin, and others had already launched multiple assaults on Yang Xingling. The tactic they employed was simple: bombard with cannons, then charge with infantry!

The booming was like thunderclaps from a clear sky, and gunpowder smoke hung thick in the air. When the Qing army shelled, the defending troops on the mountain refused to show weakness, firing back fiercely with their own cannons in rapid succession.

Because the Han army's cannons were positioned over a li away, and although the Jingbian Army's falconets could not reach them, the Divine Machine Battalion's small mortars and Divine Fire Flying Crows could still strike them. Thus, the mortars deployed on Yang Xingling returned fire from time to time, also launching Divine Fire Flying Crows toward the Han Eight Banners' positions.

Fu Yingchong had reinforced Yang Xingling with thirty small mortars and nearly a hundred Divine Fire Flying Crows. What the Divine Machine Battalion soldiers loved most and excelled at was bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Since the Qing army's small red-barbarian cannons posed little threat to the mountain ridge, they grew cocky again, whooping as they periodically shot poison smoke, lime shells, and even solid iron balls down the mountain.

Although the mortars on the mountain were small mortars, the solid iron balls they fired were actually under ten catties. Those large mortars had always fired large iron balls or large stone balls of fifteen to twenty catties. Even when fired from a great distance, they still struck terror into the hearts of the Han Eight Banners below the mountain.

Amidst the mutual shelling, they also achieved results. One small mortar fired a stone ball of about eight or nine catties, successfully striking a shield cart of the Han Army Plain White Banner, felling several Han soldiers near the cart and sending the surrounding Han troops scattering in panic.

Especially when the mortars fired poison shells and lime shells, they posed a considerable threat to dense formations. These poison smoke shells did not need to hit a specific target; they only needed to be aimed at a general area. After the poison shell exploded, the spreading toxic smoke could trigger waves of panic within the Han army ranks.

Therefore, although Shi Tingzhu, Zu Zerun, and the others below the mountain used dozens of red-barbarian heavy cannons to continuously bombard Yang Xingling, they posed little real threat to the Jingbian Army on the mountain. Instead, it was the mountain ridge's mortars and Divine Fire Flying Crows that successively achieved results.

One Divine Fire Flying Crow was a case of a blind cat bumping into a dead rat. It happened to land squarely on one of the Han army's cannons, blasting several Han artillerymen to pieces, leaving no intact corpse.

At the same time, the remaining gunners and laborers were set ablaze, screaming and scattering in all directions. The flash of the explosion also ignited the nearby gunpowder, causing even greater casualties. The cannon's carriage and wheels were sent rolling far away.

Actually, this Divine Fire Flying Crow was originally aimed dozens of paces to the right of this cannon. Unexpectedly, a sudden gust of wind blew the flying crow back off course. One could only lament the poor luck of these Han Banners soldiers.

After another round of shelling, the previously silent rear camp of the Jingbian Army on Yang Xingling seemed to come alive.

Large numbers of rear-camp soldiers wearing bowl helmets and red coats trimmed with black emerged from behind the earth carts. Many soldiers holding long spears also came from behind the mountain onto the ridge, peering down the mountain.

They saw below the mountain that another wave of the Han Eight Banners' offensive had begun. Large numbers of Han troops and Korean troops, shielded by earth carts and shield carts, were pressing in like the tide.

Amidst shouted orders, the Jingbian Army arquebusiers behind each earth cart gripped their matchlocks tightly, steadily resting the barrels on the earth carts tilted on their sides. Everyone's expression was somewhat solemn. Thanks to adequate logistics supply and the perfection of military discipline, these former Ming troops had all improved their combat effectiveness considerably compared to their time in the Great Ming.

Compared to facing Manchu and Mongol bows, the days of one-sided slaughter against these Han troops were over. In particular, their matchlocks had also successively inflicted some casualties on the mountain-defending soldiers.

The fact that the second-rate Tatars' arquebus bullets also posed a threat made the mountain-defending Jingbian Army grind their teeth in hatred. But so what if the second-rate Tatars' matchlocks were a threat? As Jingbian Army men, they feared no one!

During their advance, the mortars and Divine Fire Flying Crows on the mountain ridge caused some confusion and casualties among the Han infantry formation, but they still pressed forward.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

When the Qing army was about a hundred-plus paces from the mountain ridge defense line, the fifty-five medium and small falconets of the Jingbian Army, positioned here and tightly flanked by numerous earth carts, successively erupted with deafening blasts. Countless canister shot and lead pellets burst forth, and on the side of the Han army's earth carts and shield carts, plumes of blood mist rose, accompanied by the crackling and popping of impacts on the earth carts and shield carts.

It was impossible for their earth carts to completely block the Jingbian Army's canister shot, and their shield carts found it even harder to withstand the canister bombardment.

When the Qing army pressed even closer, the Jingbian Army behind the earth carts fired fiercely in volleys with their matchlocks. The Han troops on the other side likewise returned fire in volleys from behind cover. Both sides closed to within forty to fifty paces and exchanged fire, the sound of volleys unceasing. In front of each side's earth carts, dense clouds of white smoke erupted.

It was foreseeable that, under various factors, the Han Eight Banners were no match for the Jingbian Army in a firefight, even against the second-class troops it was the same.

Although they had more arquebusiers, during the exchange of fire, more of them fell to bullets. Coupled with the Jingbian Army artillerymen desperately firing canister shot, sure enough, before the spearmen could even engage, they once again could not hold on and retreated in defeat with shrieks of alarm.

Watching some groaning, wounded rear-camp soldiers being carried down from the front, Han Chao's face was grim as water. He ordered a unit of first-class army spearmen to pursue and attack. The shrill sound of the swan-whistle rose, and hundreds of first-class army spearmen, leveling their long spears, charged madly down the mountain with battle cries...

"All of you are useless trash!"

Seeing his side routed once again, Shi Tingzhu's eyes were bloodshot. He was already going berserk. How many Jingbian Army troops were actually engaged at Yang Xingling right now? Their arquebusiers numbered less than a thousand; the rest were reserves. How many times greater was his own troop strength?

With such an advantage, attack after attack, and they still couldn't break through even the first line of defense on the mountain ridge? Shi Tingzhu could foresee Huang Taiji's disappointment. He had placed high hopes on the Han Eight Banners, yet this small-scale skirmish had yielded such a result. If the two main armies clashed in a pitched battle, what would it be like?

Losing the Emperor's favor, Shi Tingzhu could foresee the status of the Han Banners in the Qing state. He roared, "Attack again!"

The battles at Yang Xingling and Shuangzi Mountain had reached a stalemate. At this moment, under Huang Taiji's strict orders, Kong Youde's artillery camp had already begun moving toward the Great Floating Bridge, intending to shift to the riverbank area.

Zhao Xuan lowered his telescope and said through gritted teeth, "Very good, Kong Youde's cannons have finally been pulled up. Within the range of my artillery camp, just wait for your death!"

He sent a man to report to Wang Dou: "Our camp is determined to engage the slave cannons in battle. I request the Grand General to await news of our division's victory."

Wang Dou sent a man back to reply: "Of this, I have absolutely no doubt!"

Zhao Xuan gave the order: apart from leaving five red-barbarian three-pounder cannons in the main cannon formation, the remaining twenty-three six-pounders and fifteen three-pounders were all to be moved to the Great Floating Bridge area.

At the same time, on the small cannon formation side, similarly leaving five red-barbarian three-pounders, the remaining ten six-pounders and twelve three-pounders were ordered by Zhao Xuan to converge. He decided to concentrate sixty large and small red-barbarian cannons from the camp to show those second-rate Tatars some color.

At the Great Floating Bridge side, there were also twenty-five Grand General falconets. These cannons, besides firing canister shot, could also fire five-catty cannonballs. Thus, Zhao Xuan's artillery camp had a total of eighty-five cannons of various types.

Not far to the left was the Divine Machine Battalion's Divine Might Grand General cannons. If the distance between the two sides was beyond one li, that side still had their rockets and mortars, and a large number of Divine Fire Flying Crows that could reach a portion of their cannons.

In an artillery duel between the two sides, it remained to be seen who would prevail.

The military situation was as urgent as fire; whoever seized the moment would achieve victory. After Zhao Xuan's order was issued, large numbers of Jingbian Army artillerymen and logistics soldiers urgently harnessed the cannons and ammunition carts.

Numerous artillery camp observation officers rode swiftly to the vicinity of the Great Floating Bridge to determine in advance advantageous deployment positions for their own side, likewise estimate the possible deployment zones for the second-rate Tatars' cannon formation, and then measure the distance targets between the two sides beforehand.

Looking over at the Qing troops, it was the same. Edwardo, the artillery officer of the Ujen Choooha Camp, urgently dispatched observation officers, intending to find advantageous deployment positions before their own cannons arrived.

At this time, the Qing army's seventy Grand General heavy cannons were angled toward the Jingbian Army's cannon formation, some distance from the Great Floating Bridge. However, they had originally left twenty Divine Might Grand Generals whose direction was not far from the Great Floating Bridge, used to suppress the Divine Machine Battalion's cannons.

Although these cannons were also three li away from the Ming army's cannon formation on the opposite bank and needed to move toward the riverbank, their movement speed was much faster than those seventy heavy cannons.

However...

Because the Jingbian Army's twenty-five Grand General falconets were deployed at this side of the Great Floating Bridge, although their solid shot could only reach just over one li, once the cannons were hauled over and got within one li, their threat would still be considerable.

Therefore, considering the safety of the follow-up cannons, Kong Youde ordered these cannons not to move, and at the same time ordered them to bombard the Jingbian Army's falconets near the riverbank.

As for the Divine Machine Battalion's cannon formation, because Kong Youde's artillery camp was moving, Fu Yingchong had again ordered a change of direction. By now the cannon formation was already in chaos. The complex war situation made the Divine Machine Battalion gunners, who were used to firing fixed cannons from city walls in the past, feel it difficult to adapt.

"The bandit slaves' cannons will certainly be set up there!"

At the Great Floating Bridge section, the terrain rose slightly upward from the riverbank. On a slope by the riverbank, several observation officers of the Jingbian Army's artillery camp were in urgent discussion. One of the observation officers pointed to a spot on the opposite bank and stated with certainty.

The remaining observation officers basically agreed with his view. Like this side, that area on the opposite side was similarly open terrain, with an unobstructed view of the topography on both sides of the riverbank. It was also near the Great Floating Bridge, making it a good place to set up cannons.

And their own side's cannons, after estimation, were still decided to be set up beside these Grand General falconets, with the red-barbarian six-pounders in the center, and the three-pounders and Grand General falconets on the two wings.

These observation officers were all observers for the basic twenty-cannon volley units of the artillery camp, possessing rich artillery knowledge. With their affirmation, the subsequent cannon formation layout would be set up here, more or less. However, to be cautious, they still calculated repeatedly with their telescopes and gunner's quadrants.

While they were urgently measuring, the Qing army's twenty Divine Might Grand Generals had already opened fire, bombarding those Grand General falconets. But at a distance of several li, wanting to hit those cannons arrayed in a line was easier said than done. The shells they fired either fell short or overshot.

The several observation officers not far from that cannon formation likewise turned a deaf ear. Although a few heavy solid cannonballs whistled past a dozen or so paces away from them, they still focused on their own discussion.

Of course, they were within the range of the Qing army's fire. The enemy's cannons had great momentum; without some psychological fortitude, it would probably be difficult to hold firm on this side.

While the Qing army's twenty heavy cannons were bombarding, Zhao Xuan had already pulled a large number of cannons from the camp to the Great Floating Bridge side. Finally, the cannons from the small cannon formation also arrived. Zhao Xuan ordered the cannons to be set up. The well-trained gunners quickly laid out the position. Eighty-five large and small cannons were arrayed in a line, their thick muzzles pointing toward the sky.

Looking again at the Ujen Choooha artillery camp on the opposite bank, their large herd of oxen and horses, pulling those heavy cannons, were still straining desperately on the road.

A smug expression appeared on Zhao Xuan's face: "Heavy cannons, so what? Drag you to death!"

Light and heavy cannons each had their pros and cons. Zhao Xuan increasingly felt that in terms of battlefield mobility, his own cannons far surpassed those heavy cannons of the Han Banners.