[{"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-699":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},1205988,1561,"Chapter 699: Indeed Lethally Sharp","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-699",699,"\u003Cp>At mid-shen hour (around four in the afternoon), on the opposite bank of the river, at a place called Zhujia Gully, Cao Bianjiao led the main army of Yutian Garrison, together with the new battalion soldiers of Zunhua Garrison, into a great battle against Liu Zongmin and forty thousand horse bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The terrain opposite Cao Temple Village was dry and flat, favorable for large-scale cavalry assaults, but because Xiang River lay to the left and the just-crossed tributary Qiulong River to the right, cavalry in this area could not maneuver in wide flanking arcs either; both sides could basically only fight head-on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after Cao Bianjiao arrayed his troops and began advancing, the roving bandit camp sounded its bleak horns. The first wave, about ten thousand horse soldiers, rode out under the command of Chuang General Yuan Zongdi. They moved slowly at first, gradually picking up speed, until at last they surged like a flood bursting a dike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ming army continued forward until the two sides were only one li apart; then, at a bugle call, they shouted \"Mighty!\" in unison and halted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao gave the order to prepare for battle. Amid the beating of assembly drums, each small formation arrayed itself neatly and stood solemnly on the open plain. Finally, with a clash of cymbals, the drums ceased. The formations were spaced over a hundred paces apart, each arrayed on four sides, defended by pikemen and arquebusiers, with officers and banner-and-drum men positioned in the center. At the central army position, cavalry were stationed to protect the command and the baggage train.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao reined in his horse on a slightly raised slope, raised his spyglass, and gazed out quietly. The bandit cavalry had already spread across the field; by their look, these were Chuang troops. Their horse soldiers mostly wore felt caps, while the Ge and Left Five Camps mostly wrapped red scarves around their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He watched the front. Though they were not the equal of the eastern caitiffs, the bandit cavalry's charge still carried imposing momentum. When men surpass ten thousand, the very edge of sight is filled; even an infantry charge of over ten thousand is awe-inspiring in sound and fury, let alone horse soldiers. They spread out even wider, creating an even greater show of force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao heard the breathing of those beside him grow somewhat heavy; in truth, his own heart was also a little tense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, this concave-convex formation had not been tested in large-scale actual combat, and moreover, once battle was joined, much of the initiative lay in the hands of the squad commanders and company commanders in each small formation. Whether they could actually win, Cao Bianjiao himself was far from certain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But once battle began, such thoughts were meaningless. The horse soldiers' speed was very fast; even if the roving bandits' horses were not as good as the eastern slaves', they still needed no great length of time to charge to the front of the formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed in the blink of an eye, the dense black mass of horse heads surged to the formation front, then poured into the gaps between the small formations. The crack of arquebuses erupted one after another, and battle was joined in an instant...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a tide, the Chuang cavalry submerged the Ming army's position. As a subordinate general who had followed Li Zicheng for many years, Yuan Zongdi was not only rich in daring and courage but also extremely steady in combat, deeply trusted by Li Zicheng. Historically, he served as the Right Camp General of the Dashun Army and was enfeoffed as \"Marquis of Mian\"; in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, when attacking Luoyang, he had even served as Regional Commander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before battle, he had also carefully pondered Cao Bianjiao's dispersed formation. He guessed that Cao Bianjiao's intent was to bring his own side's firepower advantage into full play, while at the same time changing the great square formation's excessive unwieldiness and the inconvenience of moving dense formations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, this dispersed formation was much more flexible, forcing his own side to fight a major battle to delay their marching pace. However, Yuan Zongdi did not believe this dispersed formation was without flaws: its firepower was spread thin, and each unit fought on its own, making them easy to defeat in detail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Scouts had long since reported the situation: each small Ming formation had no more than one company of troops, with pikemen and arquebusiers each making up half. In such a small formation, that meant only one hundred arquebusiers, divided among four sides, leaving only twenty-five men per side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each side was further divided into several ranks; even if divided into only three ranks, one side could fire no more than eight matchlocks at a time. Setting everything else aside, if one concentrated several hundred men, even over a thousand, to charge one small formation, there was no reason it could not be broken through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the Ming side seemed to have realized this problem as well. Some of their small formations on the outer perimeter were not just one company but basically two companies combined into one formation. Even so, each side had only fifty matchlocks; divided further into ranks, each side could fire no more than fifteen or sixteen matchlocks at a time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuan Zongdi felt that if his own side used superior numbers to gnaw away a few of Cao Bianjiao's small formations, they could nibble first and then swallow whole. Cao Bianjiao's dispersed formation was not unbreakable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only, what followed gave Yuan Zongdi his first unforgettable memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ten thousand horse troops Yuan Zongdi led charged in several echelons. This was basic cavalry tactics: wave after wave, surging endlessly like the tide, putting immense pressure on the infantry formation. He himself led some elite riders at the very rear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His attack was also directed at the face of the volunteer army's position; both sides could be called the front.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, like the great square formation, Cao Bianjiao's dispersed formation had no real front or rear, left wing or right wing. Wherever the enemy cavalry attacked, any side was the front; it was a great four-square position, and even though composed of many small formations, its nature was the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuan Zongdi's plan was to have his men withstand the firepower and charge straight at each small formation, breaking through them one by one. His instinct told him that if they became bogged down among Cao Bianjiao's dispersed formations, the situation would not be good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The idea was fine, but reality would not oblige him. Yuan Zongdi was shocked to discover that the horse soldiers ahead of him, the moment they charged, charged straight into the gaps between the formations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did he realize with a start: when had the Ming army's small formation arrangement changed somewhat?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each side still had arquebusiers and pikemen in three or four ranks each. The front rank of arquebusiers remained unchanged, but two ranks of the pikemen originally in the rear had run to the front of the arquebusiers, then crouched on the ground, raising their long pikes upright like hedgehogs, frightening the charging Chuang camp horses so they dared not approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, their horses were mostly not fierce chargers; horses instinctively fear bright, sharp objects. Apart from a few spirited warhorses, the remaining horses, without waiting for their riders to control them, veered away on their own and charged into the gaps between the small formations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sudden change caused the tidal wave of Chuang cavalry to pour into the gaps between formations, where they were then cut into scattered fragments by the small formations, their momentum gone. What followed was the beginning of their nightmare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What greeted these Chuang riders was the Ming army's fierce volleys, mostly fired fiercely at the flanks of the men and horses entering the gaps. Caught off guard, men kept screaming and falling from their horses. This disorientation accompanied them from entry to exit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfamiliar with the concave-convex formation, the Chuang camp horse soldiers still instinctively, unthinkingly, poured in in an endless stream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they entered the gaps between formations, one small formation after another opened fire. The crack of volleys came one after another; the thick gunpowder smoke belching from each arquebus quickly blanketed each square formation, then swiftly shrouded the entire position. The battlefield was filled with acrid smoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dense gunpowder smoke, men around them fell from their horses one after another. The Chuang riders who had entered finally came to their senses. Many of them cried out in terror; this unprecedented experience filled them with fear and unease. For the first time, they felt that no place on the battlefield was safe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They felt that in this Ming army position, there was simply no distinction between front and rear; it seemed bullets came from front, back, left, and right, leaving them at a loss for what to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing bullets fired from all directions, many men milled about like headless flies, trying to find a safe spot for themselves, or desperately controlling their equally terrified and restless horses, struggling to keep from being thrown to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many camp unit leaders also discovered in alarm that they could not find their soldiers. The moment they galloped into the formation, they instinctively raced along the open gaps, twisting and turning this way and that, until in the end soldiers could not find their officers and officers could not find their soldiers. It was utter chaos; many picket units lost all organization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zongmin had ordered the attacking troops to press forward bravely: if any turned back, those behind were to kill them. Now that many picket units had lost even their organization, this was out of the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the Ming army's arquebuses did not cease; volley after volley fired from the formations further intensified the Chuang army's chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the gaps between formations, many Chuang riders shouted instinctively; all kinds of noise mingled together. Chuang camp men and horses were constantly struck down by bullets; each lead ball, carrying immense kinetic energy, struck their bodies and tumbled within, bringing them tremendous agony. Still more terrified horses, drenched in blood, reared and bolted madly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unknowingly, more and more Chuang riders fell. Many died with eyes wide open, their expressions filled with indescribable terror and panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gurgling blood flowing from their corpses quickly softened the dry, hard earth; blood ran everywhere, finally seeming to merge into streams. The strange odor of gunpowder smoke mingled with blood drifted everywhere...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Yuan Zongdi entered the formation, what he saw was this scene of chaos and misery. Watching the horse soldiers the volunteer army had painstakingly gathered fall one after another, watching valiant riders dash about and shout like headless flies, he could not help but let out a furious, unwilling roar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In an instant, indignation, despair, and dejection surged into his heart. These tangled emotions turned Yuan Zongdi's face crimson; his body, mounted on horseback, trembled faintly. His chest felt so stifled it was unbearable. Finally, his expression twisted into one of ferocity, and from his mouth came a roar more venomous than any curse: \"Why is it like this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heart that Cao Bianjiao had held tight finally relaxed. The concave-convex formation against cavalry was indeed lethally sharp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He watched within the formation. Although countless Chuang riders circled around each small formation, and quite a few had also gathered before his own central command position, their units were in chaos and they had no experience dealing with this kind of formation; they were merely milling about senselessly and posed no real threat to his own side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking again at his own battle formation, although the gunpowder smoke obscured his view, he could tell that every formation was calmly and unhurriedly firing, and each volley struck down quite a few roving bandits, men and horses alike, their shouts turning to wails. Their men and horses were too densely packed; few shots missed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Cao Bianjiao also saw that some fierce and courageous Chuang riders tried to control their horses to charge the formations. However, the two ranks of pikemen crouching before each formation mostly deterred those horses from approaching, and then the arquebusiers seized the chance to fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In each of their small formations, on all four sides, two rows of pikemen crouched on the ground, facing the Chuang riders galloping past ahead, striving to raise their long pikes and deter the roving bandits' horses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The arquebusiers behind them had the first rank responsible for shooting, while the rear ranks were responsible for loading the fixed paper cartridge ammunition, employing the firearm relay tactics of the Divine Machine Battalion. In this way, their own side could both attack and defend, and indeed achieved great success.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, the decision to use this tactic was only made after Cao Bianjiao discussed it with his commanders upon reaching the Qiulong River.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they first used the concave-convex formation, Chuang riders harassed them frequently. Some of their harassing horse soldiers charged into the formation, and then some warhorses rushed straight at the small formations. Horses fear sharp objects but do not understand the danger of firearms, and thus posed a threat to the formations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In using the concave-convex formation to meet the enemy, this was what Cao Bianjiao worried about: what if the roving bandits concentrated their forces and fiercely attacked each formation? After all, each small formation had too few men and too weak firepower, firing only a few matchlocks per volley, which likely could not stop a fierce assault by the roving bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was his personal general Yang Shaofan who proposed that, aside from increasing the number of men in some formations, pikemen should be placed in front of the arquebusiers — just as sword-and-shield men screened pikemen. To avoid obstructing the arquebusiers' fire, the pikemen would crouch when the enemy approached, but the long pikes in their hands could still intimidate the roving bandits' horses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, this proposal proved workable.\u003C\u002Fp>",2351,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","b4cc52227b7893da7296231d481cc20455137a1b1e0bd4891719b8e478b2c601","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-700","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-698",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]