Chapter 456: Support

"Our artillery really aren't household retainers, and neither am I." Yang Guangdi answered in all seriousness.

At the mouth of East Street, Manda'er stood holding his bow between two Iron Armor Soldier banner teams. Diagonally ahead was the cannon squad led by that Company Commander Zeng, and not far to the north were fifty or sixty Qing cavalry.

Yang Guangdi's answer left him utterly confused; he could no longer tell who exactly were the household retainers.

Manda'er scraped his shoe sole hard against the ground; it was caked with congealed blood. The spot where he now stood was precisely where the Qing troops had dismounted and assembled earlier, twenty-some paces from where they had been shelled.

Scattered across the ground were fragments of human bodies, most still wrapped in remnants of clothing. Silver scale armor plates lay everywhere, and around them were over twenty unattended, riderless horses.

That small cannon was right beside him. Having passed through the scene of the earlier bombardment, its wheel was covered in bloodstains, and a nail head on the right wheel still had a length of small intestine snagged on it.

The expected fierce battle had not occurred. The two small cannons had swept through and destroyed the White Armor ranks like dry twigs, the Qing assault vanishing like smoke. The surviving troops fled the street, retreating several dozen paces north before halting to reform their ranks.

Of the fifty-some remaining Qing troops, seven or eight were White Armor Soldiers. Their formation was in chaos; some were covered in blood, sprawled across their saddles shrieking in pain. Most had not even drawn their bows.

A third Iron Armor Soldier banner team emerged from the street, extending the line further along the western edge. The second bronze cannon was arrayed on the right flank of this banner team. The entire formation had the two cannons interspersed among the three Iron Armor Soldier banner teams.

In the past, if he had faced these Qing troops alongside infantry, Manda'er would have been extremely tense, ready to flee at any moment — especially now without a horse, he would have been even more on edge. But now, mixed in among a mass of Iron Armor Soldiers and artillery, he felt surprisingly relaxed, not a trace of fear, as if there were no worry at all about being defeated.

From the south came the muffled thunder of hoofbeats. A small squad of cavalry skirted wide around the outside of the infantry formation — likely the Qing's first wave of vanguard troops. Judging by their direction, they intended to link up with the Qing forces outside the town. Behind this Qing cavalry squad came a large contingent of Anqing cavalry.

The uniforms of the scout cavalry were dark, but the regular cavalry wore a vivid red, even brighter than the red padded jackets of the Ming Army. Seen from afar, they looked like a sheet of dancing flame on the horizon, and now, in pursuit of the Qing troops, their momentum was overwhelming.

A round of shouting came from the cannon squad. They had just begun loading when disorder broke out among the Qing troops opposite. First a few Tartars pulled their horses aside to dodge, then the chaos spread to other positions, and soon the Qing troops were a tangled mass.

Both cannons roared at once. The scattered Qing formation instantly collapsed, fleeing in panic toward the north. The small Qing cavalry squad that had just arrived did not dare linger at the sight and also fled northward. When they had arrived, their ranks had been passable, but now they too had become a rout. Over a short stretch of road, two wounded Qing soldiers tumbled from their horses. After hitting the ground, they struggled to their feet, desperately chasing after their mounts, but soon collapsed again.

A shouted command came from ahead. The three Iron Armor Soldier banner teams advanced in unison. Though they moved at a marching pace, to Manda'er's eyes it was as if the earth itself were shaking.

From the rear, the cavalry First Division came rolling in, skirting around the outer flank of the Iron Armor Soldiers to pursue the fleeing Qing troops.

"Scout cavalry, find horses to ride!"

The Banner Commander's voice rang out. Yang Guangdi hastily called the other two over, and they ran to the riderless horses to find temporary mounts. The Qing warhorses were of excellent quality. To Manda'er, every one of them looked good, and he switched three times in a row. He had been about to switch a fourth time, but another batch of scout cavalry arrived at Cross Street and snatched up all the remaining horses.

Once mounted on horseback, they were no longer light infantry. Back in their accustomed mode of combat, they felt a much greater sense of security.

Manda'er clutched his queue and said to Qin Jiuze beside him, "Qin Shu, seems like fighting alongside these Southern Troops, killing Tartars is easy."

Qin Jiuze gave a snort. "Killing Tartars is never easy."

"Qin Shu, that head you took in the fourth month — there were over twenty Tartars. Ten of us from the Point Scout Squad went out, drew them off and split them twice. You found an opening to take the head, and still got chased over ten li by the Tartars before you got just that one head."

Qin Jiuze rubbed the scar on his cheek and did not pick up the topic. At that moment, the Iron Armor Soldiers' heralds called a halt. The Iron Armor Soldiers sat back-to-back on the ground in groups; those still standing propped themselves up with their weapons. The cannon squad began packing up their equipment, lashing the rammer staffs, shot-turning staffs, and other gear onto the cannon cart. Only the bore-cleaner was still busily at work, trying to use the cleaning rod to continue cooling the cannon.

The Anqing cavalry rolled past in waves. From the Qing forces to the north came the sound of gongs being struck. This signal was much the same as the Ming Army's — the sound of gongs, meaning halt and withdraw.

The Qing had abandoned the rescue of their troops surrounded inside the market town, but this also meant that the Qing chief commander was still outside the town; otherwise, he could not have issued orders.

The cavalry First Division, their morale soaring like a rainbow, surged northward. The scout cavalry, having received no order to pursue, could only remain in place, each man inspecting his new warhorse.

Horses are intelligent animals and likewise observe their new masters. Manda'er's mount twice tried to walk east on its own. Manda'er pulled his left hand back tight against his waist, wrenching the horse's head around, then spurred it a few steps west. After repeating this several times, the mount finally began to grow docile.

"Qin Jiuze! Manda'er!"

The two turned and saw it was the Banner Commander. Manda'er hurriedly said, "Your orders, sir."

The Banner Commander waved a hand. "You two will not take part in the fighting to come. Go at once to the relay post and await orders at Commander Chen Qian's position."

"What business at Commander Chen Qian's?"

"We've captured quite a few True Yi alive. Lord Pang himself gave the order, transferring you two who speak Mongolian to interrogate them at once."

When Manda'er heard the words "Lord Pang," an inexplicable panic seized him. "What does Lord Pang want us to ask them?"

"Their banner affiliation, their assigned company company, their commanding general officer, troop and weapon counts, horse and carriage counts, the number of people they've swept up, the amount of grain they're carrying, their attack objectives and routes, and so on. These matters concern Qing troop movements. Lord Pang wants the intelligence report in an hour — there must be absolutely no carelessness."

At the southern crossing of Thirty-Li Post, the Iron Armor Soldiers on standby sat on both sides of the post road. Most had already removed their auxiliary armor; only three in ten remained in full battle gear.

Qin Jiuze and Manda'er followed Yang Guangdi through the Iron Armor Soldiers' street. Because Yang Guangdi had previously served as a relay horse rider and was fairly familiar with the Thousand-Leader Headquarters, the Banner Commander had assigned him to bring the two over.

They had searched all the way from Cross Street, passing through the southern streets. The lanes and alleys ran with rivers of blood. The bodies of Qing troops and Anqing Battalion soldiers lay intermingled; the Anqing soldiers were in the process of sorting them. Along the way they also saw a few Tartars still alive, but all were gravely wounded and looked to be at death's door — likely unable to answer any questions. Most of the soldiers were hacking heads off corpses and collecting armor, weapons, and gear. Many Qing troops had already been stripped bare, their heads taken, leaving only a headless, naked body.

The three first found the relay post where the Thousand-Leader Headquarters was located, but the captives were not there. The advisory staff did not know where the captives had been taken either. The advisor told them to look for Commander Chen Qian at the Earth Temple. Only when they reached the Earth Temple did they learn that the captives had been escorted from outside town to the City God Temple at the southern end, so they set off again for the south end of the market town.

This had already delayed them nearly a quarter of an hour; only half the time Lord Pang had demanded remained. The market streets at the south end were even more chaotic, filled not only with troops who had fought but also with support personnel arriving.

On the road at the village's south end, over a hundred carriages were arrayed — mostly four-horse hitches, with a smaller number of two-horse hitches — tended by civilian laborers from the various fortified villages and those hired by Anqing. For every ten carriages there was one soldier from the supply battalion acting as overseer.

These carriages had come up from He Village to the south. Upon arrival, they were turning around on the spot. Turning a horse cart around was backbreaking work; often the carriage had to be unhitched first and maneuvered by hand. The road was a mess, a cacophony of curses and shouts mingling together. The drivers of two carriages had even started brawling.

The three, pressed for time, were blocked by those carriages and could only walk along the road searching for the City God Temple where the captives were held. Soldiers carrying wounded men kept passing by. Outside a large residence at the southern crossing, a middle-aged man in a cotton-padded jacket with a white vest over it was examining injuries. Around him stood a group of people similarly clad in white outer garments. As soon as the man in the white vest examined one, that man was sent off on a carriage.

Another wounded man was carried over. His left forearm was swollen, and he was groaning in a low voice, his face deathly pale.

"This one's arm is broken..." The man in the white vest squeezed the swollen area. The wounded man let out a shriek, his legs kicking wildly; two men could barely hold him down.

"Not shattered — moderate injury. Send him to the City God Temple. Once it's splinted, put him on a cart and send him directly to Tongcheng Post Station, inside the postmaster's office."

"This one's guts are spilling out. See how deep the wound is. I can't treat this — send him to Shen Dafu."

"This one's bone is shattered — send him to Shen Dafu too... The gate with the stone lions at the north end of He Village, that's where Shen Dafu has set up. Don't worry, he won't die. Whether he can still walk depends on how good his luck is."

"This shoulder wound — treat it here at the south end. Take off his jacket. This jacket of yours is so filthy, are you waiting for an external pathogen to invade? Check whether his shoulder bone is damaged. If the shoulder bone is uninjured, apply the Flesh-Regenerating Ointment. Write down everyone's names clearly; the various divisions will come check later, and they won't know where the men were sent otherwise."

Following this man's triage, the wounded were either carried onward or lifted onto carriages heading south. These carriages were all spread with cotton quilts; those with light injuries even had a quilt laid over them.

The two had previously been fighting alongside the scout cavalry the entire time. The nature of their work was much like that of point scouts — often sleeping in the open, with no support to speak of. Moreover, ever since joining the Anqing Battalion, they had been constantly chased by Tartars, only now catching their breath. Before this, they had not even seen Pang Yu's Central Army, much less known that the wounded could be transported sitting on carriages, with such thick quilts laid out beneath them.

Manda'er was even more curious about those people in white, having no idea what their role was. The soldiers and officers bringing the wounded were all very docile in front of these white-clad figures. Even when Iron Armor Soldiers came, whatever the white-clad men instructed, they silently obeyed without a word.

The three dodged the turning carriages as they continued forward in search of the City God Temple. Fortunately, the temple was not far from the triage area. Inside the temple gate, lightly wounded soldiers covered the ground; many were already bandaged, yet still some occasionally thrashed and shrieked in pain.

Heading further in toward the main hall, a small squad of Iron Armor Soldiers stood guard at the entrance. Divided into two Squads of Five, they stood beside the two lopsided stone lions at the gate — apparently Lord Pang's personal guard. Yang Guangdi had no time to look closely before he spotted the intelligence advisor from the Cavalry Thousand-Leader Headquarters and a chief clerk from the Advisory Room. He hurried over to ask where the captives were.

The chief clerk sized up Manda'er and Qin Jiuze, then questioned Yang Guangdi about their background. Once he confirmed they were from the Xuan-Da Border Army and spoke Mongolian, he told the three that there were roughly twenty captives. He had them wait a moment, then turned and went into the main hall.

During the wait, Qin Jiuze and Manda'er let their eyes roam, searching for where those captives might be.

A moment later, the chief clerk came back out and said to the three, "Lord Pang wants you to go in and conduct the interrogation."

Manda'er's knees went weak, and he dropped to the ground with a thud.