Chapter 449: Position

Twenty li west of Chiping, Dingjiakuai.

Yang Guangdi and Qin Jiuze hid behind a rammed-earth wall over two hundred paces from the official road.

The Banner Team's task was to return to Chiping County town, but just as they arrived here they received new orders — the defensive position had been changed to Double Temple Pu. The Banner Commander left the two of them at Dingjiakuai because Yang Guangdi could annotate maps, and he also gave Yang Guangdi the precious telescope. Their mission was to observe the Tartars' marching condition.

Dingjiakuai lay on the border of two counties. From Boping to Chiping was only thirty li; the two county towns were very close, so later generations abolished one county's division. In the Ming dynasty Dingjiakuai belonged to Chiping, but it was actually closer to Boping County town, only about ten li away.

This mission carried a certain danger. If the Tartars occupied Shitoupu, Yang Guangdi and Qin Jiuze would have no official road left to take. If by any chance the First Cavalry Company failed to hold Double Temple Pu, the two of them would be trapped ten li behind enemy lines.

The place where the two hid was not a village, but a few households living in isolation, some distance from the official road. It was already evening, and the likelihood of Qing troops leaving the official road to search was relatively low. From the official road it was very hard to see the situation at this position, but with the telescope's help, the two could clearly see the enemy.

Qin Jiuze had gone out earlier to check the paths. There was a small road heading south. If they really were cut off, after nightfall the two planned to first escape via that road, then turn toward the east side. This was flatland country — armies needed the official roads, but scattered soldiers would not be trapped to death, so Qin Jiuze showed no sign of panic.

The light on the official road was dimming. Quite a few Anqing Cavalry came and went on the road, along with some fleeing commoners, but no Tartars had been seen yet, so Yang Guangdi merely extended the telescope without using it to observe.

"Qin Shu, keep watch a while. I'll go feed some fodder beans."

Qin Jiuze was taken aback. Yang Guangdi had already handed over the telescope. He hurriedly received it with both hands, and Yang Guangdi went out the doorway.

Qin Jiuze held the telescope, somewhat at a loss. A cold sensation came through his hands. He looked down — this was the first time he had seen a divine weapon of the same style as Lu Doutang's from so close. The telescope was divided into three sections; on the middle section there were four raised characters. Qin Jiuze only recognized the one character "white" and had no idea what they spelled when put together.

After standing dazed for a moment, Qin Jiuze carefully raised the telescope, placed the large end before his eyes, thought for a moment then tilted his head, and placed the small end before his eyes instead.

His eye slowly drew near the lens. Qin Jiuze recoiled as if shocked by lightning. Only after a good while did he lean in again. This time he adjusted to the lens. In the lens, the official road over two hundred paces away seemed pulled right before him.

The corner of Qin Jiuze's mouth curved up slightly. He began slowly rotating it, aiming at a tree not far away. Even the wrinkles on the tree trunk were utterly distinct.

Footsteps came from the doorway. The corner of Qin Jiuze's mouth snapped back down. He hurriedly aimed the telescope at the official road. Just then a group of Anqing Cavalry was passing along the road. Their formation was somewhat disordered; several horses collided, one cavalryman was shoved off the official road, and an officer at the rear was shouting.

Yang Guangdi returned to his previous position. Qin Jiuze handed the telescope back to him. "Your household's cavalry is here."

This time Yang Guangdi began observing in earnest. For the cavalry to be in such a state meant the Tartars were already not far.

After a while, another twenty-odd Anqing Cavalry arrived. Several horses among them had arrows stuck in their rumps. One rider also had an arrow in his right shoulder; he used his left hand to pull his right arm, preventing the arm from swinging.

Qin Jiuze said calmly, "This Company lost at least ten men."

Yang Guangdi replied, "The Second Cavalry Company."

"Apart from your household retainers, most of these mounted men have never been in battle. They won't get any advantage against the Tartars."

"I'm not a household retainer…"

He had just spoken half the sentence when Qin Jiuze suddenly raised his hand. Yang Guangdi immediately aimed the telescope toward the west side.

Two riders appeared in the telescope. They wore chain mail, polished to a bright shine as well, but without face armor. Their helmets were nearly identical to the Ming Army's. Both men gripped the horse reins with one hand; the other hand grasped the bow body, an arrow pinched between their fingers.

Then more cavalry appeared behind the two men. They came along the official road, their mounts constantly blowing white vapor, clearly having expended considerable horse strength as well.

The column continued forward. Riders wearing heavy armor appeared in the ranks. The column's flank was fully displayed before the two men.

Yang Guangdi spoke as he watched. "Dingjiakuai, visual confirmation of enemy troops. First wave of forward scouts totals thirty-seven men, five Bright Armor Tartars, forty-three horses brought, thirty-plus bows, two three-eye guns, one bird gun."

As Yang Guangdi spoke, Qin Jiuze repeated it once, and then Yang Guangdi repeated it once more.

Qin Jiuze's expression showed some impatience. Among these Southern Troops there was no shortage of such tedious procedures. What could clearly be explained in two sentences they insisted on prattling about for ages, which greatly annoyed him.

Yang Guangdi began annotating on the map register. That map register was also very crude, drawn when they were heading to Linqing, marking only the market towns where they camped. At the start it did not even have the place name Dingjiakuai.

Qin Jiuze glanced down from time to time at the characters Yang Guangdi wrote, along with some strange symbols he had never seen before. Although Qin Jiuze was illiterate, he still knew those symbols were certainly not proper characters. He had no idea what schemes these Southern Troops were up to now, and his eyes kept sizing up Yang Guangdi's face.

The first group of Qing troops disappeared into the market town. Only a moment later, a second group of Qing troops appeared on the western official road. This group numbered around two hundred; the sound of hooves rumbled thunderously.

This time Yang Guangdi could not count them all. Without blinking, he roughly estimated the enemy's numbers.

"Dingjiakuai, visual confirmation of enemy troops. Second wave of forward scouts approximately two hundred ten men, two hundred thirty-plus horses brought, nine-tenths carrying bows, thirty Bright Armor Tartars, one hundred fifty Dark Armor Tartars, the remainder unarmored."

The Qing troops thundered past on the official road, swaggering with an arrogant air. Clearly, for this kind of pursuit operation, their mood was very relaxed. Yang Guangdi, as one of the pursued, experienced the complete opposite. These two days had been not merely tense; what Yang Guangdi felt more was frustration and exhaustion.

By now most of the Tartars had marched into the Dingjiakuai market town. Yang Guangdi faintly heard shouting from the tail of the column. The telescope immediately shifted to the column's tail. Yang Guangdi's hand suddenly froze.

Behind the last three Qing troops' horses dragged long ropes, and behind them dragged people. Yang Guangdi looked closely — they seemed to be wearing Anqing Battalion cavalry uniforms. Two of them were already motionless, their clothing and flesh and blood mashed together, dragged by the horses, bouncing and jolting along the official road like cloth sacks.

One had probably just been captured. The mounted Tartar spurred his horse, dragging that cavalryman and accelerating eastward. Instantly, even more harrowing screams rang out on the official road. The cavalryman's head repeatedly knocked against the stone slabs, violently bouncing up and down. His body writhed. Moments later he was dragged into the market town by the horse. Yang Guangdi's line of sight was blocked; he could only hear the screams gradually fading away eastward.

Yang Guangdi's chest felt as if blocked by something. Though the Tartars were all now screened by the market town, his telescope remained raised for a long time.

After a long while, Qin Jiuze's voice said softly, "Yang Guangdi, you lot can't beat the Tartars like this. If you're going to run, run faster."

"Qin Shu, we can beat them." Yang Guangdi lowered the telescope and raised his head to look at Qin Jiuze. "We fear no one. The Ranger Cavalry are the cavalry that crush the vanguard and tread the ta bai. There is no enemy we cannot defeat."

"If you can beat them, why run this far."

Yang Guangdi nodded, as if steeling himself. "The people from the Martial Academy say that last year during the raid on Erlang Town, Lord Pang only learned that over a hundred thousand Roving Bandits had come after he had already landed. At that time no one thought they could win, but Lord Pang said that as soldiers, what one must first discuss is not victory or defeat, but only whether we ought to go. Erlang Town was a place we ought to go, so we went, and we defeated over a hundred thousand Roving Bandits. When the time comes to fight, Lord Pang will certainly fight."

Qin Jiuze silently watched the youth before him. A spirited gleam flickered in Yang Guangdi's eyes.

After a moment, Qin Jiuze shook his head and said, "Note this down. When the Tartars passed the market town, the Bright Armor troops did not dismount, and the Dark Armor troops did not circle around to check for ambushers."

Yang Guangdi quickly nodded. Qin Jiuze looked at the official road. "In the past when Tartars passed market towns, the Bright Armor Tartars would dismount. If there were Mongols, they'd dispatch Mongols to circle the village; if no Mongols, then the Dark Armor would circle the village to scout. Now you can tell the Banner Commander: the Tartars are underestimating the enemy and are careless."

"That Battalion Commander Chen is a capable man. Let's see if he can seize some advantage."

…

Late at night on the eighteenth day of the twelfth month, Lepingpu, thirty li south of Chiping. Heading south from Chiping was the direction toward Dong'e. Every ten li there was a relay post; the ten-li post was Xinglongpu, and the thirty-li post was Lepingpu. The Anqing Battalion's Central Army was encamped here.

Because it lay on a main post-road artery, market towns of a certain scale had formed around the relay posts. Thirty-Li Post was situated midway between Chishan Post and Tongcheng Post, thirty li from each. Relatively more people stopped here to eat and rest, so it was more prosperous than the other relay posts, and the market town was somewhat larger in scale.

Now every street entrance in Lepingpu was blocked solid with carriages, each assigned one cannon, with Heavy Armor Soldiers guarding the perimeter.

In the relay post's main hall, Tu Dianli pointed to a spot slightly above Chiping. "Among the commoners fleeing south today there were rumors that Tartars appeared at Gaozhuangpu, ten li from Chiping toward Gaotang Prefecture. The First Cavalry Company dispatched a Banner Team to Gaozhuang; they discovered no Tartars whatsoever, nor any other Government Troops. Confirmed as a rumor."

"On the southern route toward Dong'e, no traces of Tartars discovered. Encountered a relay horse on the road from Dongchang Prefecture to Jinan, who claimed the Tartars had reached the prefectural city and that he was going to seek reinforcements." Tu Dianli pointed to Boping in the west. "The Tartars pursued as far as Boping. Judging from their itinerary, last night they already crossed the river from Chujiaquan. Today they reached Double Temple Pu on the west side of Chiping at the farthest. Since nightfall was imminent, they did not engage us in battle. That unit then returned to Boping, leaving forward scouts at Dingjiakuai, ten li from our Rear Guard and fifty li from the Central Army. This group of Tartars used horses to drag to death several soldiers of the First Cavalry Company."

Apart from Chen Rulie, who was at the front line, all the other officers were present in the hall, including Zhuang Chaozheng. He shifted his body upon hearing this.

"As soon as the Tartars arrived today, they began scaling the walls to attack Boping. The cavalry heard cannon fire even as they were retreating; it is unknown whether the city was taken. Chen Rulie has Ranger Cavalry lying in ambush at Dingjiakuai to observe. The Tartars are wildly arrogant in their pursuit. On the march they pass through market towns without dismounting, do not circle villages to inspect, and go straight through using the main village road. When encountering woods, they do not even send out Copy Troops to stand guard. Based on reconnaissance, the Advisory Room assesses that the Tartars have won victory after victory since entering the pass, and have also smashed the pursuing Xuan-Da Army. Their morale is currently soaring, but they are underestimating the enemy and are careless."

"What is the Advisory Room's recommendation?"

"Counterattack their forward scouts to prevent them from pursuing too closely, and advance to south of Dong'e as quickly as possible to evade the Tartars' front edge."

Pang Yu stood up and gazed intently before the map for a long time. The marked arrows were still roughly the same as yesterday, but extended further eastward. The directions of Gaotang Prefecture and Dongchang were already beyond the Ranger Cavalry's scouting range and could only be estimated.

The Tartars' pursuit speed was extremely fast, ten li closer than estimated yesterday. In fact they had already reached Double Temple — twenty li closer.

Pang Yu swept his gaze across the people in the main hall. Even Zhuang Chaozheng, the most tenacious in his impression, had a weary look on his face. Under continuous pursuit by the Qing troops, everyone's mental spirit was highly strained. And this was the relatively safe Central Army; the cavalry of the Rear Guard were under even greater pressure.

"Gentlemen, what have we come here to do?"

The hall fell silent for a long moment. Pang Yu slowly circled the table, his eyes sweeping over everyone. "We are Government Troops who have come to the rescue, to save the thousands of common people being trampled by the Tartars."

Wu Dacai raised his eyes and watched Pang Yu speak with earnest attention.

Pang Yu's tone was calm, and his steps were steady. "In the span of two days, we withdrew our forces from Wei County on the very front line all the way to Chiping. All units suffered no major losses. In a retreat, this is a considerable success. It depended first on the Advisory Room's correct judgment, which bought us the time to withdraw. Record one merit for the Advisory Room."

A look of relief appeared on Tu Dianli's face. In truth, before the Tartars advanced east this time, the Advisory Room's predictions had been almost entirely wrong. At least they had finally gotten one right.

"A retreat is not a rout. It is to fight under better circumstances. We need to determine when and where those better circumstances are." Pang Yu pointed to Wall Ridge. "First, know the enemy. Review how the Tartars advanced and deduce their method of operations. The Tartars breached the border in two routes. Why two routes? The captives have consistently stated it is always divided into Left Wing and Right Wing. The Left Wing took Qingshan Pass, the Right Wing came through Wall Ridge. Judging by the direction of their advance, the Tartars strictly adhered to this formation. That is to say, their basic method of operations is to split into two routes, and after entering the border, to encamp in two separate locations. This official still agrees with the Advisory Room's judgment: they were seeking an opportunity for a decisive battle with the Xuan-Da forces, to eliminate the mobile Relief Troops in advance."

Tu Dianli nodded repeatedly, expressing his approval of Pang Yu's words.

"With a decisive battle not achieved, the Qing army combined camp and moved to Baoding. There, they immediately split into two routes again, still arranged according to the positions of the two wings. Thus, one route headed for Zhending, the other for Hejian. The Xuan-Da forces pursued the Right Route toward Zhending, while the Liao Garrison pursued the Left Route." Pang Yu traced lines in the air with his finger. "That is to say, every time the Qing army splits its forces, it invariably does so according to left and right. There is a considerable gap between them. The distance between the Central Armies should be between one hundred fifty and two hundred li. Why do they keep such a wide gap? Because their host is enormous. One or two roads alone cannot deliver so many troops. At the same time, they expand the range of their plundering and use multiple roads to move their forces. This dictates that the gap will not be small."

Everyone in the room listened intently, and the fatigue on their faces lessened considerably.

"Before dividing their forces, the commanders of the two routes would certainly determine an assembly point in advance. Only then could they formulate their respective march plans. Now we can be certain that Wei County was the assembly point the Tartars had previously set. That is why Dorgon's route at Linqing halted there and did not move—it was waiting for the route from the west side to arrive." Pang Yu tapped Wei County. "Now the situation has returned to that of Baoding. After assembling, the Tartars have divided their forces once more. Based on the previous pattern, we can determine that it is still the Left and Right Wings, with the gap between the two Central Armies at around two hundred li."

Pang Yu's gaze was resolute, his face full of confidence. "Referencing the approximate distance of the first division, the Tartars' assembly point should be between Cangzhou and Tianjin. The assembly time is roughly one month. Thus, they can assemble around the twentieth of the first month, and then exit the border before the rivers thaw in the second month. As for the current overall situation, the Tartars have divided into multiple routes again at Wei County. The distance between the Central Armies of the Left and Right Wings is at least over one hundred li. The Fourth Banner within each wing will still split into separate marching routes, and even each banner may divide into multiple smaller bands. This is because they have already annihilated the Xuan-Da Army, and the Liao Garrison dares not give battle. Another point: the Tartars' ability to move so precisely and rapidly through Northern Zhili means they certainly have a large number of guides and place great emphasis on intelligence. Therefore, they know there is no strong army in Hedong, and they have determined that the direction from which the other Relief Troops are coming is the Shaanxi Border Army and the Central Plains Army to the west."

Pang Yu's finger moved to Linqing. Zhuang Chaozheng rose to his feet involuntarily. Seeing this, Wu Dacai hurriedly stood up as well.

"Once they cross east of the Grand Canal, all the Relief Troops will be positioned on the Tartars' west side. The Tartar host is no longer as agile and swift as when they first entered the border. The whole body has become bloated and enormous. To protect the rations, pay, and captives they have seized, they will focus their defense on the Hexi direction, while the Vanguard continues to strike eastward against unprepared prefectures and counties. This official judges that the Tartars have massed their Rear Guard heavily, while the Vanguard has spread out across a broad front and scattered in all directions. After two days of pursuit, they are already extremely dispersed and cannot regroup in a short time. Moreover, they have grown arrogant and reckless from successive victories. Between the vanguard and the rear are the baggage and captured people of each banner. And our position," Pang Yu patted the map and said calmly, "is right here in Hedong, a place they pay no attention to. What is pursuing us is only a small portion of the Tartars' scattered Vanguard."