Chapter 109

The entire great hall fell into a silence as deathly as the grave.

Huang Taiji, who had been nearly despairing, suddenly sprang up from his dragon throne as if springs were installed beneath his buttocks.

A hint of relief constantly surfaced in his eyes.

"Heaven protects Great Qing, Heaven protects Great Qing!"

"Zhu Youjian, you have indeed become muddle-headed and senile!"

Huang Taiji immediately fixed his gaze tightly on Nikan and asked,

"How many Ming troops have come? Where are they now?"

Nikan bowed his head and said,

"Reporting to my lord, the exact number is unclear; they should have crossed the river from upstream of Dalinghe. The scouts closest to Shengjing have already explored an area fifty li from the city!"

Hearing this, Huang Taiji could not help but nod repeatedly.

"Good, good, it is good that they have come; what I fear is that they would not come!"

Having spoken, Huang Taiji casually picked up the hat resting on the imperial desk and said to himself,

"Mr. Fan, shall we resist now, or withdraw directly?"

Fine beads of sweat seeped onto Fan Wencheng's forehead.

Looking at Huang Taiji somewhat awkwardly, he said in a low voice,

"Your Majesty, we must fight; it is better that we fight... at the very least, we must give an account to the Eight Banners sons of our Great Qing."

It was impossible for the Qing troops to simply flee the moment the Ming army arrived, was it?

Huang Taiji's face grew gloomy as he said in a low voice,

"Good! Dorgon and Jirgalang, you two shall accompany me out of the city to meet this band of Ming troops."

"Dodo and Ajige, you shall take the women and children in the city and return to Xingjing immediately!"

"Yes!"

Since Huang Taiji had prepared a contingency plan beforehand, the entire Shengjing city had already achieved the state of burning the bridges and clearing the fields.

As soon as the Ming army showed any intention of invading.

The remaining Eight Banners soldiers and brave men within the city would immediately abandon the fields of Shengjing, take the wealth plundered over the past few decades from inside the passes, retreat to Hetu Ala, and then wait for an opportunity to return with renewed strength.

Having spoken, Huang Taiji led the soldiers of the Plain Yellow Banner and the Bordered Yellow Banner out of Shengjing in a grand procession.

And just eighty li outside Shengjing, a Ming army of about five thousand, composed entirely of light cavalry, was staring tensely in the direction of Shengjing... Three.

91, The strategic endurance of Great Ming versus Great Qing!

Cao Bianjiao, at the very front of the formation, frowned tightly and instructed the soldiers behind him.

"When you see the Tatars later, you must listen to my orders as General."

"You must listen clearly!"

Cao Bianjiao repeatedly instructed the soldiers around him.

They must listen clearly to the battle orders.

Several Personal Guards beside him looked at Cao Bianjiao in confusion and asked,

"General, it is not that we brothers are afraid of death, but what can so few people do?"

"Exactly, the Tatars have killed so many of our brothers; my mother even sent a letter saying she does not expect me to return alive, only that I kill a few more Tatars."

"..."

After the Battle of Xingshan.

Everyone from top to bottom throughout Great Ming had already ground their teeth in hatred toward the Tatars in Liaodong.

Only the orders from the Ministry of War had become ambiguous.

Cao Bianjiao alone had personally written over a dozen Memorial to the Throne filled with typos requesting battle to the capital.

Yet all of them were returned by the Ministry of War.

The reason was only one.

Insufficient preparation.

What exactly counts as sufficient preparation!

The granaries at Shanhai Pass are already piled high; if there had been half this amount of provisions during the Battle of Sarhu back then, the war would not have ended up like that!

It was only after the orders for this campaign came down that Cao Bianjiao realized: was the court truly unprepared?!

They simply did not want to fight!

Cao Bianjiao, with a dark face, said in a low voice,

"Stop talking nonsense! Listen carefully to my orders later; do whatever I tell you to do!"

"Yes!"

Before the words had even faded.

A scout from afar galloped over on horseback at full speed.

"General! The Tatars are here! It is the Plain Yellow Banner and the Bordered Yellow Banner!"

Hearing this, Cao Bianjiao immediately became alert.

He waved his large hand decisively.

"The rear army becomes the front formation!"

"The rear army shall follow me to meet the Tatars!"

The soldiers around him were stunned upon hearing this.

"Is this a new military strategy learned in Jingcheng?"

"Yes, General, when we meet the Tatars, why should we show our backs...?"

"Is this that so-called Mobile Corps Commander tactics?"

"..."

Cao Bianjiao, still leading over a thousand cavalry, marched straight toward Huang Taiji's troops.

Clearly, Huang Taiji had also noticed Cao Bianjiao's forces.

He gave a low order:

"Dorgon, go and make a gesture toward him. As soon as the gong sounds, withdraw immediately; we are preparing to retreat!"

"Yes!"

Dorgon immediately led dozens of Eight Banners soldiers, snarling and clawing, charging toward Cao Bianjiao.

As the two armies drew ever closer.

The arrows from the surroundings also naturally grew sparse.

On the distant hillside, Huang Taiji stared fixedly at Dorgon's movements.

Just as the two armies first made contact.

Huang Taiji and Cao Bianjiao issued military orders almost simultaneously.

"Sound the gong!"

"Retreat!"

Hearing the orders, the Ming troops and the Qing troops were both stunned at almost the same moment.

Then, almost everyone saw that the two forces, which had been on the verge of hand-to-hand combat, suddenly, as if someone had farted in the middle of the battlefield, were blown apart from each other.

"General, why are we running?"

Cao Bianjiao, riding his horse, too lazy to pay attention to the infantry behind him, roared fiercely:

"If we order you to retreat, retreat at once!"

"Quickly throw away all the useless stuff!"

"No need for the great banner or the signal flags anymore! You little rascals, do not throw away the gunpowder! Oh, you can throw away the fire-starters."

"Shout along with us."

"Great Ming has lost! Great Ming has lost!"

The Personal Guards around him, numb, followed right behind Cao Bianjiao, just about to open their mouths.

They heard the Qing soldiers behind them shout with hoarse, desperate voices:

"Great Qing has lost! The Han people are attacking!"

Hearing this, the corner of Cao Bianjiao's mouth twitched slightly.

"Damn it, you can't win the fighting, but you can't even win the shouting?! Put all your strength into it for me! Shout!"