[{"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-707":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},1205996,1561,"Chapter 707: Bombardment","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-707",707,"\u003Cp>Fierce, brutal combat erupted abruptly. From the hour of the Serpent to the hour of the Horse — nine in the morning to one in the afternoon — the roving bandits launched several advances and retreats against the Ming army formation. Each time they seemed on the verge of breaking through, yet in the end they were beaten back. Then they would attack again, and again be repulsed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The front, right, and rear wings were the bandits' main points of assault. In these three directions, the bandits densely massed large siege equipment — shielded carts, covered assault wagons, wooden screen carts, and pointed-tip battering rams. One trebuchet after another was also moved forward. Cao Bianjiao concentrated all his cavalry, first seizing the opportunity when the bandit foot soldiers massed behind the famine troops. Striking on his own initiative, catching them off guard, he routed multiple waves of famine soldiers in advance and destroyed countless pieces of equipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandits then swarmed forward again with foot soldiers. Behind each wave of famine troops followed masses of shield soldiers, archers, and spearmen. When the Ming cavalry attacked the famine soldiers, the bandits shot dense volleys of arrows, mowing down a vast swath regardless of friend or foe. Then spear formations locked in battle, blades and shields clashed in melee. Cao Bianjiao suffered heavy losses, and the cavalry fell back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thereafter, the fighting on the three wings bogged down into a grinding stalemate. Under the cover of shielded carts and other equipment, their famine foot soldiers pressed in layer upon layer. Though the musketeers inflicted casualties on them, the kills grew fewer and fewer, while the bandits' arrows and firearms brought ever more death and injury to the musketeers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more hand-to-hand combat raged on the three wings, the more frequently the spearmen and cavalry had to sally forth. Cao Bianjiao also adopted the tactic of having musketeers follow closely behind the spearmen into battle. Though this expanded the results, the musketeers often became entangled in the melee, and unnecessary casualties — violating musketeer doctrine — mounted. After all, they were a ranged combat arm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao's army formation sank into continuous attrition. After he had returned his troops from Yongcheng, his force numbered about seven thousand. By now, casualties had reached a staggering thirty percent. Of those who remained, every man bore multiple wounds, large and small.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Cao Bianjiao personally led the cavalry into battle, on his left arm — he knew not which bandit had slashed him — though his armor had protected him, afterward he still felt waves of throbbing pain. The bone might be cracked. On his body, too, were numerous arrows, thick as clumps of grass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the New Army, the spearmen's losses were especially severe; casualties had already exceeded forty percent. The only comfort was that musket powder and shot were still plentiful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen had marched south, they had received as a gift from Wang Dou five thousand Eastern Road muskets and three hundred thousand rounds of Weijin ammunition. Though they had been in continuous use, the remaining supply was still ample. But if the cold-weapon troops were annihilated, the remaining musketeers alone would be a single pillar unable to support the whole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Near noon, the bandits brought up a row of trebuchets at the rear wing. Without any warning, they loosed a shower of stones upon the melee of struggling men ahead. Dozens of New Army musketeers and spearmen were crushed or maimed on the spot. A great wave of bandit spearmen, sword-and-shield men, and famine soldiers were likewise smashed into indistinguishable mounds of bloody pulp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, these stone-hurling bandits were annihilated by the combined efforts of both enemy and friend. Having provoked universal fury, they were first hacked down by the bandit soldiers who had turned back from the front, and then trampled by the routing mob into a patchwork of high and low meat paste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, on the left wing, this area bordered the river. The riverbank here was somewhat uneven and difficult to traverse, yet the dense, frenzied famine soldiers still scrambled over one another to charge straight across from the opposite bank. They had been promised that after this battle, any who did not retreat before the recall gong would all be promoted to foot soldiers. They were shot down in waves by volley fire, dying in the river. Corpses piled layer upon layer in the stream. Blood bubbles, one after another, rose from the river water that had already been crimson to begin with.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, on this wing, a large force of horse troops was deployed, with many elite cavalry selected from the Chuang Camp, Ge-Zuo alliance, and Cao Camp. Even Luo Rucai's nephew, Wang Long, personally led three thousand elite cavalry into the fray. They forded the river to attack, but were likewise shot down in waves by volley fire, dying in the river. Dead and wounded horses toppled in droves. Horses drenched in blood, spurred by the smoke and thunderous roar, thrashed and bolted wildly all across the river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Can it be that even this cannot be taken?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the battle ahead, Li Zicheng and the others on the high platform at the rear all had faces the color of dead men. The Ming army's tenacity exceeded their expectations. They watched the army formation engulfed in a tide of men. Each time, it seemed a single gust of wind would blow it over, but when they raised their eyes, the great banner bearing the character \"Cao\" still flew high in the cold wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fighting had gone on too long. Their own casualties were too many. Even if most of the dead were worthless famine soldiers, they were still human. And being human, they felt fear. Once the frenzy passed, they would be afraid, they would lose heart. When the time came that they feared the Ming army more than they feared their own blades, they would no longer be controllable and would scatter in all directions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He murmured under his breath, \"The court's New Army, the court's New Army... Seven hundred thousand men, and they cannot handle a mere five thousand of them?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he muttered, Old Hui, Ma Shouying, could not help but step forward. A man regarded by the roving bandits as \"full of stratagems and cunning,\" and by the authorities as \"repeatedly deceitful, treacherous, and unrepentantly wicked,\" even Ma Shouying had never witnessed a battlefield of blood and flesh like the one before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the roving bandits, he was a figure of some standing. When Gao Yingxiang was alive, he had been honored as \"Master Strategist.\" After Gao Yingxiang's death, when the roving camps sank into a low ebb, he had united Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong, and others with two hundred thousand men to deal a severe blow to Zuo Liangyu, flaunting their might before Kaifeng Prefecture, and was even acclaimed as alliance chief and General Master of the Table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the peasant army, his status was very high. He was resourceful and cunning, a veteran of many campaigns. But the situation before him now left him bewildered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never fought a battle like this. What he excelled at was using weakness to overcome strength, luring the enemy deep, overt surrender and covert betrayal — such tactics. Zuo Liangyu was considered fierce and cunning, but he was even more cunning. He had once goaded Zuo Liangyu into leading his troops deep, surrounded him completely, and nearly drove him to an unsuccessful suicide attempt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this kind of hard-against-hard...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Shouying could not help but step forward and urge, \"Chuang King, let us fight no more. Withdraw the troops.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes, withdraw the troops.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Jin, the Left Golden King of the Left-Ge Five Camps; Liu Xiyao, the World-Changing King; and Lin Yangcheng, the World-Chaos King, also chimed in with a cacophony of voices. Only He Yilong, the Eye-in-the-Leather King, stared with his ox-like eyes and said nothing, though he clearly had no desire to continue fighting either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Rucai brooded in silence. Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo remained speechless, their thoughts unreadable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng looked again. It was well that Liu Zongmin and the others, though their faces were grim, still supported him. But clearly, the dead and wounded among their own subordinates chilled their hearts just the same. The New Army's combat strength was too great. Their own losses were too heavy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Damn it all, let's just leave...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Yilong finally spoke, slashing his hand down emphatically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Attack again!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His words had barely faded when Li Zicheng barked out coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, \"We cannot leave. If we leave today, in the days to come, there will be no place left for us in the Great Ming!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pointed forcefully toward the Ming army and shouted, \"A mere five thousand New Army soldiers, and they make seven hundred thousand of us flee? Count how many more New Armies the court has! Chen Yongfu, Hu Dawei, Tang Tong, Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and finally, Wang Dou!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, \"If we are defeated today, we can forget about attacking Kaifeng. In the future, when we encounter the New Army, our brothers will have no choice but to clutch their heads and scurry like rats! The court is, after all, the court. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Their New Army will be trained in an endless stream. They have offered us amnesty many times before. With a strong army in hand, such good fortune will not come again. If we do not fight today, there will come a day when we cannot escape the moment of being sliced into a thousand pieces!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shouted decisively, \"We must fight! Only by destroying Cao Bianjiao here today, by destroying their New Army, can our righteous army have an ever more blazing future!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Keep fighting!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fight! Throw every man in. When those in front die, those behind go up. They are not three-headed, six-armed demons. There will be a moment when they can hold no longer.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fighting having reached this stage, the generals of the Chuang Camp had no choice but to support their Regional Commander, and they spoke out one after another to back Li Zicheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Niu Jinxing stroked his long beard and said slowly, \"In war, one drumbeat rouses the spirit, the second sees it wane, and by the third it is exhausted! A spent crossbow bolt cannot pierce even thin Lu silk. The Ming army is already weary. We need only exert more effort, and we will surely bring their formation down!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, after a fierce and heated dispute, the bandits steadied their resolve and launched an even more frenzied assault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao sat his horse. All around, the tide of men stretched like a sea. The bandits' attacks grew ever more frenzied. Under the cover of layer upon layer of shielded carts and other equipment, they surged forward in waves, their faces twisted. Long spears, great blades, clubs — it seemed inexhaustible. Arrows fell like a violent storm, and rockets shrieked and burst with explosive cracks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above the army formation, the sky was filled with the varied trajectories of flying fire arrows, the shrill, mournful screams of the rockets in flight. Some bandits also hurled fire pots. New Army soldiers, set ablaze, would howl and throw themselves upon the enemy, perishing together with them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On all sides of the formation, breaches had already opened in many places. Dense swarms of bandits surged in. Then the Ming soldiers would continuously rally their strength, organize, and plug these breaches. Around the formation, the fallen corpses were already too many. The wounded, trampled underfoot, let out shrieks of unbearable agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandits had reached their final frenzy. His own side had suffered nearly fifty percent casualties. He strained his eyes toward the Chuang bandits' position. He was not a man to resign himself to waiting for death. He had planned to strike directly at the bandits' central grand formation — capture the ringleader first to capture the bandits. But the bandit horse and foot soldiers over there were simply too many. He had led the cavalry in several charges, but no matter what, he could not break through. Instead, he had nearly been trapped within their heavy encirclement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not that government troops had never been trapped in a heavy bandit encirclement before. But unlike in the past, this time the bandit horse troops were too numerous. Had they not possessed tens of thousands of horse troops — even if encircled by hundreds of thousands of famine foot soldiers — Cao Bianjiao believed he would have long since broken through and escaped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Boom!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The right wing had broken again. Amid frenzied shouts, an unknown number of bandit soldiers poured in. Dense thickets of long spears gleamed with a cold metallic light at the Ming soldiers within the formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A burst of explosions from three-eyed guns. Thick white smoke and fierce flames belched forth. Over two hundred three-eyed gunners from the Main Battalion urgently rushed forward, raised their weapons, and fired at the bandits before them. In each of their three-eyed guns, every barrel was loaded with three or four lead balls, the priming powder connected by a single fuse. Several hundred men fired all three barrels simultaneously. Seven or eight hundred lead projectiles burst out. Before their eyes, countless mists of blood rose, and the poorly protected bandits toppled in neat rows, a vast swath cut down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At close range, the three-eyed gun's power was considerable. The lead balls smashed into their bodies, tumbling wildly through livers, guts, and intestines, churning everything inside into a chaotic mess. The internal pressure then caused the wounded men's blood to spray violently from the wound exits. Arrows of blood in every shape and form scattered before everyone's eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several hoarse, exhausted howls. The tumbling crowd piled up even higher right before them. But the dense forest of long spears behind still surged in. Many of them seemed still to be in a state of near-deafness caused by the three-eyed gun's unique thunderous roar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These brave three-eyed gunners of the Main Battalion, after firing their guns, brandished them like hammers, smashing the bandits before them to the ground one by one. Blood and brain matter flew. But when used as cold weapons in close combat, the three-eyed guns were inherently disadvantaged against dense spear thickets, because they required too much space to swing. A long spear needed only to thrust forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many of these three-eyed gunners, originally cavalrymen, were thus skewered to the ground by the dense long spears before them. Yet at the cost of their own casualties, they bought time for the assault-team warriors of the Main Battalion behind them to surge forward. At this breach, a savage melee of hand-to-hand combat began once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao, mounted on his horse, abruptly seized his bow. A sharp arrow was already nocked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thwip!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The arrow flew. A bandit who looked to be a minor leader clutched his throat and collapsed to his knees, struggling desperately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bowstring hummed. Like lightning, Cao Bianjiao loosed another arrow. Another bandit picket officer had his brain pierced through by the shaft. He had just opened his mouth when the arrow shot straight in through it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao suddenly shifted direction. The arrow's force was fierce. A bandit leader did not even have time to scream. The sharp arrow pierced his forehead and carried him backward, toppling him over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shot left and right. In the blink of an eye, he had slain many.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Cao Bianjiao leaped from his horse, seized his own cavalry lance, and suddenly charged toward the bandits. The ever-dwindling number of personal guards around him also followed closely behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He let out a great shout, exerted force and shook, the spear shaft vibrating fiercely; he swept it across ruthlessly, and several fleeing bandits before him were swept until they vomited blood. As one bandit soldier faced Cao Bianjiao’s sweeping strike, he still tried to block it rigidly with his long spear, but the spear shaft struck, the spear tip hitting him squarely in the face; he clutched his face, a bloody mess of flesh, and howled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao turned his hand again, the spear tip thrust straight out; with a “puchi” sound, it viciously pierced into a fleeing bandit’s eye, driving straight through the back of his head. Fresh blood mixed with white brain matter sprayed out. His hand shook again, like several plum blossoms, and several fleeing bandits clutched their own throats with agonized effort…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air was thick with the smell of blood. Most of the arquebusiers were fighting with their own waist sabers; they no longer had time to form firing ranks. The fleeing bandits had entered their final frenzy, seeming to breach the line again and again, only to be plugged, then breach it again, and be plugged once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After firing his three-eyed arquebus, Yang Shaofan used it like a wolf-tooth club; he had no idea how many fleeing bandits’ skulls he had smashed. He too was wounded in many places, his usual gentle and calm demeanor gone, his expression fierce and ruthless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His adjutant Sun Yutian fought not far away, wielding a Green Dragon Crescent Blade. While shouting fiercely as he battled, he laughed heartily: “Satisfying, satisfying! By the wives of those who keep harlots, this is truly satisfying!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His body was already covered with wounds, yet he still fought ferociously without pause. Suddenly a long spear was hurled at him, piercing through his body. Sun Yutian froze, then suddenly let out a roar, gripping his long blade and charging forward with a furious bellow, fixing his eyes on the head of the bandit who had thrown the spear, and hacked down viciously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A rain of blood shot skyward; that bandit’s head, still wearing a dazed and terrified expression, flew into the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Yutian coughed blood and laughed: “Your mother’s head! You dare throw a spear at this old master? Die first!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laughing loudly, he swayed, and just like that, laughing, he fell to the ground and died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching his adjutant die in battle, Yang Shaofan felt grief and fury, yet for some reason a trace of fear was born within him. He had ambitions that filled his chest; he could not die now. I am the second Wang Dou! Yang Shaofan let out a furious roar, and the wolf-tooth three-eyed arquebus in his hand smashed down ruthlessly; the head of a fleeing bandit before him burst open on the spot from his strike…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faced with the fierce resistance of the government troops, the besieging fleeing bandits slowly awoke from their frenzy. They hesitated, they grew afraid. Only then did they realize just how many of their own had died, how many fellow villagers, how many brothers, how many men from the same prefecture and county, all ultimately become meaningless corpses on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crowd grew chilled with fear, hesitating; many began to retreat step by step, their expressions twisted, as if unwilling to look upon the scene before them any longer, a scene that would jolt them awake from a nightmare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in the rear, the men of the bandit camp stood dumbstruck. Li Zicheng muttered to himself, no one knew what he was saying; the words were chaotic and meaningless. Perhaps he himself did not understand what he was saying either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zongmin let out a heavy breath. He stepped forward and said, “Chuang Wang…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just at that moment, the news everyone had long awaited arrived, and a burst of wild laughter suddenly erupted from the high platform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems the fleeing bandits are about to retreat.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the cheering shouts of the officers and men, Cao Bianjiao breathed a sigh of relief. Although the surrounding fleeing bandits still pressed densely around them, they clearly had no will to fight left. After today’s battle, they had lost all their fighting spirit; it seemed they would soon withdraw and leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, deep within his heart, a hidden worry lingered in Cao Bianjiao and would not go away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, a burst of cheering erupted from the bandit troops on the army’s right flank. Cao Bianjiao looked over in alarm, and for the first time felt his hands and feet turn ice-cold, his whole body trembling. He murmured, “As expected, the fleeing bandits had hidden artillery. They’ve brought it up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking around at the officers and men, these warriors who had survived by sheer luck, every face was drained of color, as if the will to fight that had sustained them had entirely vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blow after blow came in waves; the arrival of the bandit artillery became the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Many soldiers who had faced the bandits in a fight to the death without retreating now began to sob and weep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother Ting’e, what do we do? What do we do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A fellow villager wept to Tang Ting’e.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Ting’e’s tightly clenched fists showed bulging veins; he ground his teeth and said, “There will be a way. Commander Cao will surely have a way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Imitating the artillery defense methods used during the Battle of Songshan, Cao Bianjiao urgently issued orders. The troops immediately used hemp sacks and earth bags to hold soil, to shelter the army formation. But how could a small number of hastily made earth bags possibly shelter the entire formation?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao had considered seizing the cannons. But the bandits’ artillery positions were protected in front and on the flanks by layer upon layer of infantry and cavalry, and his own losses were severe. How could he seize the cannons?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the officers were equally at a loss, watching helplessly as the fleeing bandits set up cannon after cannon. A casual count showed over a hundred pieces. Even if there were no red-barbarian cannons among them, a hundred breech-loading cannons of various sizes were still a deadly threat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, the fleeing bandits opened fire. Like a series of thunderclaps, plumes of white smoke rose from their artillery positions a li away. Then countless large and small cannonballs came howling in, shrill screams rising one after another. Even if their accuracy was low, sheer numbers overwhelmed everything. The howling, hurtling cannonballs struck the army formation, sending up sprays of severed limbs, flesh, and blood. Fragments of baggage, armor, and weapons flew up together with the rain of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soldiers struck and grazed by cannonballs screamed at the top of their lungs. Seven hundred thousand fleeing bandits could not break them; these warriors, survivors of a hundred battles, each possessed an iron will, but they could not withstand the power of artillery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boom!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cannonball fired from a large breech-loading cannon bounded in; the several-jin ball hurtled through. Clouds of blood mist surged up, along with shattered weapons dancing chaotically. Amid the sickening sound of shattering bones, Tang Yanfu was violently thrown to the ground. He looked at himself: his entire right leg had been severed by the cannonball, the ghastly white bone exposed, with some shreds of flesh still clinging to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cried out, “Brother Ting’e…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the intense agony made him roll on the ground. Tang Yanji and several fellow villagers threw themselves on him, pressing desperately on his wound. But the blood gushed out like a fountain; no matter how they pressed, they could not stop it. Coal Blackie murmured, “What do we do? What do we do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tears in his eyes, Tang Ting’e grabbed Tang Yanfu’s collar forcefully and said, “Afu, hold on! Don’t forget, you still have your mother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Yanfu cried out, “Brother Ting’e, I’m done for. If you survive and return, don’t forget to take care of…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, another booming roar sounded. Filth and internal organs showered over everyone. An arquebusier beside them had been struck in the body by a cannonball; as if hit by a speeding automobile, his entire body was torn into pieces, internal organs and intestines scattered all over the ground. Only the head and the chest area remained somewhat intact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Ting’e let out a great roar, flinging a piece of intestine far away from his body, then desperately wiped the filth from Tang Yanfu’s face, only to find his eyes staring wide open; he was already dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Ting’e cried out to the heavens, his voice filled with unbearable anguish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good, good, good!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In contrast to the Ming army’s side, the fleeing bandits’ side was full of laughter and cheerful chatter. Li Zicheng and the others had already descended from the high platform and were simply riding their horses, watching from not far behind the artillery as those Chuang camp gunners—basically all former Ming army artillerymen who had surrendered—incessantly fired upon Cao Bianjiao’s formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These surrendered Ming army gunners, usually well-fed and well-treated in the Chuang army, enjoying treatment comparable to the old camp, now, especially under the watchful eyes of the various leaders, exerted every ounce of their strength and displayed all their skills, firing frantically, round after round.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They basically worked in teams of three: one aimed and ignited, one extracted the spent breech chamber, and one inserted a fresh breech chamber, cycling without pause. Of course, some breech-loading cannons also had iron clasps to seal the gas; as long as one paid attention to preventing gas leakage, breech-loading cannons indeed fired much faster than red-barbarian cannons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the side of Cao Bianjiao’s formation shrouded in smoke and dust, with large and small cannonballs constantly howling over, everyone in the bandit camp laughed heartily. Watching the government troops take cannon fire was simply satisfying. Their earlier gloom and disputes were completely swept away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The men of the Ge and Zuo camps also changed their tune at this moment. Ge Liyan, He Yilong, laughed loudly: “Thanks to Chuang Wang’s persistence, the righteous army has this moment. Old He, I am ashamed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Hui Hui, Ma Shouying, said: “Chuang Wang achieves what others cannot; his mind is resolute. This alliance chief is truly worthy of the title.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zuo Jin Wang, He Jin; Gai Shi Wang, Liu Xiyao; Luan Shi Wang, Lin Yangcheng; and others also voiced their agreement in succession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng laughed heartily: “It is also thanks to the united efforts of all the leaders that we have this moment of satisfaction!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time the Chuang army fired their cannons, the surrounding bandit troops cheered like the tide. Everyone’s spirit and morale returned. Watching that side, Li Dingguo sighed: “Several hundred thousand troops, and in the end, we still have to rely on firearms.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Kewang felt the same deeply, saying: “Yes, firearms. Brother always feels that warfare is becoming more and more different. In the future, we must also have arquebuses, and even more so, we must have cannons.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the front, while Li Zicheng felt joy, he also breathed a heavy sigh of relief in his heart. Regarding the earlier arrangements: to numb Cao Bianjiao and the others to the greatest extent, the Chuang camp had concentrated all their collected cannons in Haozhou, quite far from the battlefield at this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Added to the fact that the roads were difficult to travel at this time, even the breech-loading cannons, which were much lighter than red-barbarian cannons, moved just as slowly. The battlefield also shifted constantly, so these breech-loading cannons moved even slower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, where the roads were difficult, men’s legs and horses’ legs could pass with ease, but cannons could not; they had to travel along official roads. Taking a single wrong fork in the road was a huge hassle. The situation on the battlefield also did not allow the righteous army to wait leisurely. Had it not been for these several days of bitter fighting, which delayed Cao Bianjiao’s advance to the greatest extent, perhaps they would have broken out of the encirclement and fled long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For today’s affair, he could be said to have taken painstaking efforts. Not only were the cannons protected by heavy troops all along the way, but to prevent Wang Tingchen, who had broken out earlier, from seizing the cannons, he had concentrated twenty thousand cavalry to deal with them. Fortunately, all this had yielded results. Heaven’s will still stood on his side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s that sound?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Tingchen suddenly reined in his horse and listened carefully. Slowly, his expression changed: “This is bad! It’s cannon fire—the cannon fire of the fleeing bandits!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly looked around at his exhausted officers and men and shouted, \"Marshal Cao is being bombarded by the bandit rabble — we must go reinforce them at once!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the seventeenth, after Wang Tingchen broke through the encirclement, he reached Xiayi that very day. He then set about fortifying the city while sending men to Kaifeng to request aid, but given the efficiency of officialdom at the time, plus the shortness of time, there had been no response from that side yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Li Zhenpei, Prefect of Guide Prefecture, though greatly alarmed by the news, immediately agreed to Wang Tingchen's envoy and was willing to dispatch troops to Mamuji to provide support. Any farther, and his subordinates would not dare go — even the two Counts could hardly withstand the sharp edge of several hundred thousand bandit troops; how would their own mere local garrison dare plunge deep into a heavy encirclement?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, to go that far was already quite rare. After arranging matters at Xiayi, Wang Tingchen, anxious about Cao Bianjiao's safety and his own new army camp, could not afford much rest. On the eighteenth, he led his own cavalry to keep skulking outside the bandit camp, seeking a good opportunity to link up with the surrounded army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only, the Chuang bandits clearly had their own deployments. Their twenty thousand troops clung tightly to him, and especially with the final addition of two thousand from the Old Camp, they became even harder to shake off. Though he led his troops in attacks everywhere, the results were always meager. In the repeated fighting over several days, his casualties only mounted, and the loss of horses was especially severe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Li Guo, nephew of the Chuang bandit, was leading those twenty thousand troops a few li away, eyeing him covetously like a tiger watching its prey. Young as he was, he was exceedingly cunning; with his scout riders deployed everywhere, their own traces were always quickly discovered by him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What Wang Tingchen worried about most was the possibility of the Chuang bandits' artillery. He searched everywhere, but entangled by Li Guo, he could never find its traces or a chance to destroy it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, his greatest worry had come to pass after all, and he was burning with frantic urgency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Wang Tingchen's order, his officers and men all agreed without hesitation. Only one trusted general hesitated a moment and urged, \"Grand Marshal, we cannot go. Marshal Cao is already deep in a heavy encirclement. Even if we go, it will be of no help, and I fear it may also...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Tingchen flew into a rage. His horsewhip cracked down on the man, leaving a stripe across the trusted general's face that instantly turned red and raw, blood seeping out. The trusted general only looked at him stubbornly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Tingchen's anger slowly subsided. He sighed and said, \"Marshal Cao and I are as close as hands and feet, as dear as brothers. How can I watch him die and not save him? Those brothers who will not go, I do not blame. Those who dare — all of you, follow me!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a great shout, he lashed his horse and rode out first. His cavalry followed close behind, and that trusted general who had been struck kept just as tightly by Wang Tingchen's side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The howling never ceased. The Chuang army's cannon fire came pounding like a rainstorm, and the shots grew ever more accurate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom! Another cannonball struck beside Vice Regional Commander Sun of the Zunhua Garrison. Before his eyes, several figures were blown apart in a spray of flesh and blood. A spearman stumbled and fell at his feet, half his shoulder blasted away. He screamed hoarsely but did not yet die, rolling beside Vice Regional Commander Sun, a mangled mass of flesh and blood, only wailing in agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vice Regional Commander Sun watched all this helplessly. He wept aloud, \"...My soldiers... my soldiers...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao's scalp went numb, his mind a complete blank. He watched helplessly as the bandit rabble fired their cannons, his soldiers who had narrowly survived dying one after another in wretched agony, and he himself had no way to stop it. At the thought, a pain tore through him as if his heart and lungs were being ripped apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Vice Regional Commander Sun's anguished expression, Cao Bianjiao's face turned pale. Brother Wang had entrusted his new army camp to him, and it had come to this — how could he face him and give an account?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He steeled his heart, resolutely raised his horse lance, and shouted, \"Charge! Charge forward!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just at that moment, from the bandit rabble's position, long, drawn-out horn calls sounded, answered from every side, and then the rolling of hooves came like rushing thunder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the Chuang bandits massing all their mounted troops — nearly forty thousand riders surging toward the army formation like a tide. Behind the mounted troops came countless infantry, and behind them, an endless dark mass of famine refugees. The tide of men and horses flooded across the great earth like a torrent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the mere blink of an eye, the bandit rabble's forces overwhelmed the Ming army's formation. Cao Bianjiao's square formation no longer had any power to resist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Grand Marshal, go quickly!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some of his subordinates crowded around Cao Bianjiao and helped him onto his horse. Amid the human tide on all sides, Cao Bianjiao turned his head to look back. His men were either fleeing for their lives or fighting bitterly where they stood, and then one by one they died. A saying suddenly welled up in his heart: \"The compassionate do not command troops!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had he known it would end like this, it would have been better to abandon the new army that day — perhaps he could have preserved more troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet how difficult it was to make himself abandon his soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What is meant by \"the compassionate do not command troops\" — it is this bloody, this cruel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I did nothing wrong, Cao Bianjiao told himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as he turned his head back, two streaks of bloody tears streamed down from his eyes. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>〖∷Fast Updates∷∷Plain Text∷〗\u003C\u002Fp>",5812,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","d48cda12b7be71113403a02a5f1f01ab9d15d08ec77bbab50b8ada9449f2dd93","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-708","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-706",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]