Chapter 98: Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fort — Chapter Ninety-Eight: An Army Never Seen Before

Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fort — Chapter Ninety-Eight: An Army Never Seen Before

“Kill the Tatars!”

Xie Yike and five men charged down from the hillside.

Xie Yike charged at the very front. Behind him, the four Night Scouts also spurred their horses forward together, every one of them brandishing weapons and shouting with desperate fury.

“Kill the Tatars!”

The five men charged swiftly, dust billowing. The sudden attack startled the several Qing soldiers on the flat ground below the slope. But once they got a clear look at Xie Yike and his few men, they could not help but fly into a rage — a mere five Ming troops dared to attack their six Qing soldiers?

Though startled, they did not panic. Under the command of that Qing squad leader, they hastily donned their helmets while rapidly retreating toward their horses.

A distance of a hundred-odd paces, charging downhill at the speed of horses, took only ten-some seconds. Very quickly, Xie Yike and his men had already closed to within twenty-some paces of the Qing soldiers.

“Sou sou!” Several twangs of bowstrings sounded, and several heavy arrows came shooting toward Xie Yike and his men.

Those several Qing armored cavalrymen were indeed veterans with extremely rich combat experience. In that short span of time, four of them had already taken bows in hand and each loosed an arrow.

Xie Yike dodged the arrow coming straight at his head, but two Night Scouts behind him let out muffled groans, each struck in the chest by an arrow. They tumbled from their horses and crashed heavily to the ground, and several horses let out shrill neighs.

The Qing army’s cavalry bows and infantry bows did not shoot very far, but their arrowheads were large and heavy. The arrowheads were tipped with armor-piercing hammer-point steel that would not curl even when striking stone; their armor-breaking power was strong, and they penetrated extremely deep. When struck by their arrows, the bleeding would not stop, and one would quickly lose combat effectiveness.

The two Night Scouts wore only leather armor. The infantry-bow arrows had sunk deep into them, striking precisely at the heart. It was clear they could not survive.

But by then Xie Yike had already charged up. With a great roar, he hurled his throwing axe. It spun through the air with a whirring sound, and a Qing soldier let out a loud, miserable scream, both hands clutching his neck as blood sprayed ceaselessly from between his fingers. Xie Yike’s throwing axe had sliced through his neck guard and deeply slashed his throat open.

Xie Yike’s horse charged past in front of the Qing soldiers’ horses and wheeled around. The two remaining Night Scouts behind him pressed the charge forward. From about ten paces away, one fired a crossbow bolt at the Qing soldiers, and the other hurled his javelin with all his strength. A muffled groan, and the pitiful, shrill neighing of a horse. The Night Scout’s crossbow bolt struck a Qing soldier in the left arm. That Qing soldier wore concealed armor, with iron leaves wrapped inside his cotton armor, so the crossbow bolt could not penetrate deeply. The Qing soldier had sustained only a light wound and still retained his combat ability.

The other Night Scout’s javelin, however, struck the horse in front of a Qing soldier. The javelin stabbed deep into that horse’s body. The horse, not yet dead, fled with a pitiful neigh, causing the other horses to scatter and flee in all directions as well.

Xie Yike and his men charged into the distance, then reined in their horses and turned back. At this moment, there were three of them against five Qing soldiers. The squad leader gave an angry roar, raised the tiger-spear in his hand, and directed the several Qing soldiers to charge forward and engage in close combat. Their horses had run off, so they could only fight on foot. But this squad leader believed that even on foot, these few audacious Ming troops were no match for them.

“Kill the Tatars!”

At that moment, however, Wen Daxing and Huang Guoxiang, each leading two Night Scouts, came charging swiftly from the hillsides to the left and right. They swept past the several Qing soldiers at a distance of only a few paces, firing their hand cannons at them, or hurling javelins, or throwing their throwing axes.

With a miserable scream, a Qing soldier was stabbed through the heart by the javelin Wen Daxing threw, the sharp javelin pinning him dead to the ground. At the same time, several Qing soldiers threw their whirling broad knives. The spinning blades flew swiftly. One Night Scout on Wen Daxing’s side had his throat slashed open, blood spraying as he tumbled from his horse.

A Night Scout beside Huang Guoxiang had his leather armor sliced open by a whirling knife, which stabbed deep into his chest. He fell from his horse, blood pouring out profusely; he too was unlikely to survive.

Huang Guoxiang spurred his horse through, pulled the trigger on a Qing soldier. With a boom, a flash of fire erupted from the hand cannon in his hand. That Qing soldier was blasted to the ground, blood seeping from his chest. But clutching his chest, he struggled to his feet. The power of the hand cannon, even at close range and penetrating his cotton armor, still left him with the ability to move. The other Night Scout beside Huang Guoxiang followed up by pulling the trigger on another Qing soldier, but the short musket in his hand misfired.

On Wen Daxing’s side, another Night Scout fired his crossbow bolt at the Qing squad leader. The bolt struck the squad leader’s body. That armored cavalry squad leader staggered, but very quickly began roaring again. Though wounded, he had not lost his combat effectiveness.

Huang Guoxiang and Wen Daxing galloped to Xie Yike’s side. The seven Night Scouts gathered together. Wen Daxing called out, “Chief Xie, what do we do?”

The combat effectiveness of these several Qing soldiers had exceeded their expectations. Even though their own side had launched a surprise attack, and though they had scored some kills, they had also lost several men. This exchange ratio was chilling.

The enemy was a tough bone, not easy to gnaw on!

Xie Yike gritted his teeth and said fiercely, “If we don’t kill all these Tatars and capture a few live ones, our losses will be too great. We fight to the end.”

He looked at the remaining men. Though all their faces were pale, every one of them nodded with firm resolve.

In the current situation, they had no choice but to dismount and fight on foot.

At Xie Yike’s shouted order, the Night Scouts all took down long spears, trident-spears, staff-spears, and other weapons from their horses, and began encircling the several Qing soldiers.

Among the six Qing soldiers, two were confirmed dead, and three were wounded to varying degrees. One was completely uninjured. Of the eleven Shunxiang Fort Night Scouts, four were wounded or dead. Seven against four — they still held a certain advantage, especially since several of the enemy were wounded.

However, the several Qing soldiers were all armored cavalry veterans with extremely rich combat experience. Among the men on Xie Yike’s side, apart from a few former retainers, the rest were at most soldiers who had begun training in the seventh year of Chongzhen. Although their training had been grueling, their battlefield combat experience was far inferior to these several Qing soldiers. Even Wen Daxing and Huang Guoxiang, those two former Shunxiang Fort retainers, could not match these Qing soldiers in combat ability.

Seeing Xie Yike and his men encircling him, that Qing squad leader revealed a cruel smile on his face. That these few Ming troops dared ambush them and even dared to come forward and fight surprised him. But their achievements would end here. He would kill them all and let them know the might of the Great Qing soldiers.

Although he had been struck by a crossbow bolt, he moved freely. Raising his tiger-spear, he simply directed the remaining Qing soldiers to meet the attack. That Qing soldier with the crossbow bolt in his left arm held a large saber in his right hand. The Qing soldier whose chest had been shot by Huang Guoxiang no longer clutched his still-bleeding chest but instead raised a long spear, gritting his teeth — truly fierce and brave. The only uninjured armored cavalryman carried a heavy battle-axe.

The four Qing soldiers all advanced with savage grins.

Xie Yike and his men had all originally been common soldiers from Jingbian Fort or Shunxiang Fort. Every one of them had undergone harsh formation or thrusting-technique training. Although they had been selected into the cavalry unit, that former mutual coordination, that tacit understanding of fighting together as a group, was ingrained in their very bones and seemed to have become an instinctive reaction.

Unconsciously, they formed a single line, each holding their long spears, trident-spears, staff-spears, and other weapons before them, merely staring intently at the several Qing soldiers pressing toward them.

Xie Yike’s young face flushed bright red. He panted heavily, then suddenly let out a great cry: “Kill the Tatars!”

The seven Night Scouts all began to shout at the top of their lungs, venting all their fear of the enemy and all their terror of death.

Screaming, the seven men charged forward in a line. At the same moment, the four Qing soldiers also charged forward together.

Very quickly, the two sides collided.

“Kill!”

Xie Yike and his men thrust their weapons forward in unison. At the same time, the several Qing soldiers stabbed downward or hacked downward with the sabers, spears, and long axe in their hands.

But then something the Qing soldiers had not expected happened. Regardless of who had the initiative, these several Ming troops, facing the hacking blades and axes coming down on them, neither dodged nor evaded. Nor did they parry. They simply thrust their own weapons forward with all their strength. The several Qing soldiers were stunned. Such an army, such a method of fighting — in all their years of military service, they had never encountered it.

In their past experience, even the most daring fighters among the Ming army would still dodge or parry. That way, their own well-honed battlefield skills could be brought into play. Moreover, as long as they killed the first few fierce and courageous ones, the remaining Ming troops would collapse and let themselves be chased down and slaughtered. These Ming troops before them… For the first time, fear flashed in their eyes. They were merely bandits who had entered the pass to plunder; they were not actually willing to perish together with the enemy.

But it was already beyond their control. Miserable screams rang out one after another. That Qing soldier with the crossbow bolt in his left arm and the large saber in his right hand — although he charged forward and hacked his saber onto the shoulder of the Ming soldier opposite him, that Ming soldier’s long spear had simultaneously stabbed into his heart. That Ming soldier might not necessarily die, but he himself was certainly going to die.

When he fell to the ground, his eyes were still wide open, as if he had encountered the most inconceivable thing in the world.

And that Qing soldier carrying the long spear, with blood ceaselessly seeping from his chest — his long spear stabbed into a Ming soldier’s lower abdomen, but his own lower abdomen was likewise stabbed by his opponent’s long spear. Not only that, Wen Daxing’s spear-staff had also been added into his chest. At this moment, he no longer needed to worry about whether his chest was still bleeding, because he died on the spot.

And that only uninjured armored cavalryman among the Qing soldiers — with one axe blow, he cleaved a Shunxiang Fort Night Scout in two. But at the same time, two weapons also stabbed into his body, breaking through his cotton armor and thrusting all the way into his chest. This armored cavalryman let out a loud, miserable scream. Involuntarily, he dropped to his knees, stared blankly at the sky with lifeless eyes, and then slowly died.

And that Qing squad leader — he faced Xie Yike and Huang Guoxiang. He thrust the tiger-spear in his hand toward Huang Guoxiang, and Huang Guoxiang simultaneously thrust toward him. But his tiger-spear was caught and locked by Xie Yike’s trident-spear. The Qing squad leader’s tiger-spear stabbed into Huang Guoxiang’s left arm, while Huang Guoxiang’s long spear had already stabbed straight in through his right ribs. The Qing squad leader let out a roar, suddenly felt all strength drain from his entire body, and dropped to his knees.

Huang Guoxiang, his eyes red and his teeth clenched tight, was about to withdraw his spear and stab again, but Xie Yike stopped him: “Keep one alive.”

…

The battle was brief and brutal. After the Qing squad leader was taken alive, Xie Yike looked across the battlefield. The ground was everywhere covered in blood and corpses, both enemy and their own. Of the eleven Shunxiang Fort Night Scouts, six had been killed in action one after another, one Night Scout was gravely wounded, and Huang Guoxiang was lightly wounded. The only ones left unscathed were Xie Yike, Wen Daxing, and one other Night Scout.

Of the six Qing soldiers, five had been killed and one taken alive.

Staring blankly at the corpses on the ground, Xie Yike suddenly burst into loud wailing: “The brothers are all dead.”