Chapter 477: Change Course

The post road at Tongcheng Post was packed with soldiers, mules, and carts. Many common folk stood along both sides of the street, and some children chased and scuffled among the wagons. Garrison Inspector soldiers with white-painted helmets kept pulling them away.

Inside the City God Temple, civilian laborers and soldiers bustled in and out, loading all kinds of supplies onto newly arrived carts. The main body of the military hospital would also move north. Even if the Qing army turned north from Shandong and withdrew beyond the passes, the journey was still around a thousand li. In Pang Yu's judgment, once the Qing army headed north, their marching route would no longer be untraceable — on the contrary, it would be easy to determine. The Qing army was now carrying a large population and many carriages, at least several times the scale of when they came, and their overall mobility had sharply declined.

As long as the follow-up relief troops arrived, the Ministry of War would not simply let the Qing army exit the passes unchallenged. Fierce fighting was certain, so Anqing Battalion brought the military hospital along as well, to prepare for combat.

Inside the God of Wealth Hall, which mainly housed the lightly wounded, only a dozen or so remained. The rest had either returned to their units or been transferred to Dong'e County.

"During the night battle that day, you loosed one arrow at a Tartar with a banner in the middle of the enemy squad, crept to the squad's rear and loosed another arrow at an Eastern Invader in the front squad, drawing the enemy into firing at each other. After that, you went east, and when you came upon a haystack outside a village, you set it alight to scatter the Tartar pursuers."

A clerk sat on a stone slab, an inkstone placed beside him. He looked up and questioned Yang Guangdi.

Yang Guangdi nodded repeatedly. The clerk thought for a moment and asked again, "That Tartar — he wasn't some sort of Zhangjing or the like, was he?"

"A Zhangjing doesn't carry a banner. At most, he was a elite guard."

Yang Shisan, lying nearby, said lazily, "Some Boshiku and Fende Boshiku carry banners too."

The clerk glanced at him without a word, then lowered his head and wrote a few more strokes. He handed over the register. "Check it, and if it's correct, make your mark."

Yang Guangdi took it and pretended to look it over. He could not recognize most of the characters inside, but he still nodded with an unchanged expression, as if he understood it perfectly.

This was the army's combat record. Ordinary soldiers did not need to make one, because they fought in massed formations and an individual's record was meaningless. At the very least, it was done after battle by those of Banner Commander rank and above. The army's advisors could not write many characters either; the task mainly fell to the Clerk Officers and the clerks assigned to each division's Central Army.

For the scout cavalry, the team leader used to keep the records. This time, everyone who had operated independently had to be recorded. The clerk had missed this earlier and made a special trip today to fill in the gap. This was also Yang Guangdi's first time doing such a task.

The clerk passed over the brush and ink. Yang Guangdi knelt on one knee and crookedly signed his name. Yang Guangdi's writing was unpracticed to begin with, and this time he still had wounds on his body — he could not bend down, so he wrote with his hand suspended in the air. It looked even uglier than drawing circles and crosses.

The clerk said with some disdain, "Plenty in the army can't write their names. If you can't write, don't pretend you can. Just make a cross or a circle."

Yang Guangdi dared not argue, but neither did he heed the clerk's talk of crosses and circles. He stubbornly wrote out his full name.

The clerk clearly did not consider this common soldier's record very important. His face was full of impatience. Without waiting for the paper to dry, he carelessly put it away, did not bid Yang Guangdi farewell, and simply turned and walked out.

Yang Guangdi tried to stand up. The pain from his two arrow wounds made the corners of his mouth twist, but fortunately it was still bearable. Both arrows had entered the flesh at relatively shallow angles, so the wound surfaces were large, but they were only flesh wounds. After several days of recuperation, he was already much better.

Inside the hall, a few people from the military hospital were changing bandages for the wounded. The dozen or so lightly wounded remaining here had to wait for Shen Dafu to come for a final check and determine whether they would move with the army or be transferred to Dong'e.

Their Banner Commander Chen Bin was also there. Originally, he could have been transferred to Dong'e, but last night the Central Army relayed an order from Lord Pang. Chen Bin was appointed Scout Cavalry Centurion, to assume the post once his wounds healed. No reason was given, but everyone could guess: of all the scout cavalry Banner Commanders, every one had either died in battle or gone missing — only Chen Bin survived. And so Centurion Chen insisted on staying. Only, he still could not speak, and riding a horse was awkward. On the march, he would need to lie in the military hospital's carriage with a sedan compartment.

Centurion Chen beckoned Manda'er over and told him to pack his equipment, then went into the courtyard himself to look at the newly issued mount.

The day they charged beneath the city wall, it was Manda'er who had ridden carrying Centurion Chen. During these nearly ten days of recovering from wounds, whenever Manda'er was not up on the city wall, he was here looking after him, and had clearly become Chen Bin's personal soldier.

As Manda'er packed, he said to Qin Jiuze, who stood by the back door, "Qin Shu, you absolutely must come with us. The people in the Advisory Room say that this time, when we go to Linqing, we'll be attacking the Tartars together with other garrison forces. Our scout cavalry has so few men — if you don't come, I'll have no peace of mind."

Qin Jiuze stood at the back door. His injury was on his right buttock, deeper than Yang Guangdi's wound, but his ability to endure pain was stronger than Yang Guangdi's. By the third day, he was already able to walk around inside the hall.

"This bit of an arrow wound is nothing." Qin Jiuze deliberately lifted his foot a little higher and leaned against the doorframe of the rear hall door. Just then, a sharp, piercing cry came from the inner courtyard.

Qin Jiuze closed the hall door, turned back, and shook his head. "The light ones won't die either way, the heavy ones are dead and at peace — what's to fear are the ones neither light nor heavy, who can't die cleanly."

Yang Guangdi knew he was talking about those people in the rear courtyard. Among them were some with bellies ripped open and some with injured eyes. They could not die right away, but neither could they be saved. These severely wounded men endured tremendous agony and had wailed in the rear courtyard for days. Now, nearly all were dead; only two remained.

Manda'er said uneasily, "Qin Shu, it's settled then."

Over on the other side, Yang Shisan snorted. "Whether you can go or not is up to that Shen Dafu. My shoulder wound still isn't right — I still need Shen Dafu to take a careful look."

Manda'er hurled the clothes in his hand to the ground, sprang to his feet, and raged, "Yang Shisan! I'll help you out with one more cut and guarantee you a trip to Dong'e!"

Yang Shisan pointed a finger straight at Manda'er. "You ungrateful Tartar — I'm the one who dragged you up onto the city wall. Come at me with that blade and try it; we'll see who goes to Dong'e."

The other soldiers in the hall caught the different accents of these men and knew they were Border Army troops recruited this time. They all watched the excitement from the side, chatting among themselves in the Anqing dialect.

Qin Jiuze said indifferently, "All of you came from Xuanfu — what's there to quarrel about? The Doutang of the Xuanfu troops was killed by the Tartars. Are you afraid you haven't lost enough face, or what? You're still letting people laugh at you."

The two men glared fiercely at each other for a moment, then turned away and packed their own things. Qin Jiuze, as if nothing had happened, went to the hall door and sat on the threshold.

Yang Guangdi did not want to pay any attention to those two either. He went over to Qin Jiuze and said, "Qin Shu, I hear this Shen Dafu also came from Xuanfu, the same place as you. Have you seen her before?"

Qin Jiuze waited a moment, then said, "I've heard of a woman from the Shen family who treats metal wounds, over around Yanghe. Some General Officers said her family's trauma department is formidable, but I've never met her. Saving so many people this time — you could even call her a living bodhisattva. It's just that, well, a woman is always inconvenient. Tell me, does this Lord Pang not know whether he's wounded himself or what? Those who say they're wounded, it's one thing to examine them. But I'm willing to go fight — why do I still need to be examined?"

Yang Guangdi nodded. "Good thing my wounds are on my back and leg, nothing serious. Qin Shu, your wound is just in an awkward spot. Changing the dressing is fine, since the doctors are all men, but for examining the wound, it's only…"

Qin Jiuze gave a dry cough. Before he could speak, the back door creaked open. The two turned their heads to look and saw the female doctor already walking into the hall.

The Clerk Officer from the Cavalry Chief-of-a-Thousand Department followed behind her. He shouted loudly, "Off with your clothes and trousers! The doctor will examine the wounds. Those who need to recuperate go to Dong'e, and those who need to fight Tartars go to Linqing."

……

"A message has come from Liu Zhongtang: do not go to Linqing. Change course and go to Dezhou."

On the third day of the first month of the twelfth year of the Chongzhen reign, outside the market town of Weijiawan, Pang Yu received the order token delivered by Tu Dianli outside the Central Army's main tent.

Coming from Tongcheng Post, although it was the Spring Festival season, the lands they passed through were scarred and devastated, like a living hell on earth.

Perhaps due to the urgency of time, Chiping County seat — which in the original history had been breached — was spared, but Boping County was still broken through. The villages and market towns along the official road were not spared a single one; everywhere were broken walls, ruined fragments, and piled corpses filling the roads.

Weijiawan town was also a scene of utter chaos. A place that a month ago had been a bustling spot on the Grand Canal had now become a realm of ghosts. Many corpses remained in the streets, lanes, and houses.

Anqing Battalion did not have the manpower to clear such a large market district, and, worried that the corpses would cause an epidemic, they dared not enter the town and could only camp outside its walls. Weijiawan was already very close to Linqing. The scout cavalry had already encountered Hou Gongji's mounted scouts at Dai Family Bay; the other party had been preparing to scout toward Gaotang Prefecture. According to the Liao Garrison scouts, large bodies of Qing troops were still active in Gaotang Prefecture.

At present, Pang Yu and the Advisory Room's understanding of the Qing army was that it was not much different from the Roving Bandits. Considering logistics and plunder, the Qing army would not turn around and retrace its old path, so Weijiawan was relatively safe. But as long as they had not joined up with the main army, Pang Yu could never set his mind at ease.

Just as they were about to reach Linqing, they received such an order letter. Pang Yu read it carefully. Liu Yuliang first briefed them on the situation: Sun Chuanting had been appointed Supreme Commander for Relief and Suppression, and all relief troops except those under Gao Qiqian were under his command. Sun Chuanting judged that the Qing army's movement pointed north and planned to intercept them at Dezhou. This at least matched Pang Yu's own judgment.

But the order letter made no mention of Jinan, nor did it assess the width of the Qing army's marching front. It seemed that in the movement Sun Chuanting had identified, the Qing army was simply heading north from Linqing via Gaotang Prefecture.

What followed were instructions for the new assembly point. Liu Zhongtang's meaning in the letter was that Anqing Battalion was not to enter Linqing city at all, but to pass by outside the city and go directly to Dezhou, hinting that they should avoid any dealings whatsoever with the Liao Garrison.

Pang Yu frowned as he finished reading. He looked up and said to Tu Dianli, "Why did Sun Doutang come to Linqing to assemble, only to go off alone to Dezhou in the end?"

Tu Dianli said in a low voice, "Liu Zhongtang's letter did not say. The oral message brought by the Relay Horse said that Sun Doutang determined the Jurchen Slaves's movement was headed north, so he went directly to Dezhou to cut ahead. But Supervisor-in-Chief Gao told Sun Doutang to come to Linqing, combine forces, and attack, so Sun Doutang went. Originally, the newly transferred Liao Garrison Regional Commander Wu Xiang was under Sun Doutang's command. After arriving at Linqing, Wu Xiang went over to Supervisor-in-Chief Gao's side on his own and no longer obeyed Sun Doutang's orders. Sun Doutang had no recourse, so he took the other troops and went to Dezhou. It seems… he is in the same position as Lu Doutang was, unable to fight alongside the Liao Garrison."

"So the current strategy is that the Supreme Commander cuts ahead while the Grand Supervisor pursues from behind?"

Tu Dianli wiped his forehead. "This subordinate feels it only looks that way. The Supreme Commander and the Grand Supervisor are likely each fighting their own war. Sun Doutang can do nothing about the Liao Garrison, so he had no choice but to hand Wu Xiang's forces over to Gao Qiqian. If our Anqing Battalion goes to Dezhou, we will be following the Supreme Commander's subordinates into battle with the Tartars."

Pang Yu lowered his head and looked at the map's annotations. Because the scout cavalry had lost their combat effectiveness, Anqing Battalion had no grasp of the situation. They had previously guessed that the Qing army was returning north in a left and right wing, but what route each wing was taking could only be clarified through battlefield reconnaissance.

Pang Yu, just like Lu Xiangsheng a month ago, had lost track of the Qing army. He could not engage the Tartars alone and needed to assemble with other relief troops. Whether the Liao Garrison or the Qin Army, they should still have some scouting capability. Pang Yu wished to fight alongside them, but he also feared being used as cannon fodder.

"Liu Zhongtang is accompanying the army with a sum of military pay allocated by the Ministry of Revenue. The Relay Horse said it is in silver specie."

Pang Yu turned his head in astonishment and looked at Tu Dianli. From the moment he led his troops on the rally to the king campaign, neither the court nor any local prefecture or county had ever mentioned supplying military pay. Although Pang Yu was not short of funds, he had not planned for the campaign to last this long when he set out. His silver specie had long been exhausted, and he was now relying on financing from the Boat Dock Master. He had never expected to receive back pay. That Liu Yuliang had specifically instructed the Relay Horse to mention the military pay likely meant he intended to treat Anqing Battalion as his personal troops.

"Deputy Commander Wu's Clerk Officer gave the Relay Horse some perks. The Relay Horse said that Sun Doutang wrote a private letter to Liu Zhongtang, mentioning that the Liao Garrison could not coordinate, and that all the rally to the king units had been short of pay for varying numbers of months. He implored Liu Zhongtang to be sure to bring the silver specie to Dezhou and on no account let the Liao Garrison seize it en route, or else it would be difficult for the relief troops to give battle."

Pang Yu's expression shifted. He had yet to meet the various rally to the king units, but he could already feel a thick, decaying atmosphere. There was no talk of coordination among the units at all — it was simply a matter of piling up numbers. The character of a makeshift, thrown-together troupe was very strong.

This was already the Chief Grand Secretary of the Cabinet; Pang Yu could not possibly hope for a higher level. After a long moment, he asked in a low voice, "What do you think — should we go to Dezhou or not?"

Tu Dianli had been waiting beside him for a long while and said quietly, "This subordinate believes that if we must choose between the two places, Linqing and Dezhou, then we go to Dezhou. Liu Zhongtang said there is ready silver, and he will also supplement some for our Anqing Battalion. Here in Linqing, it's all Liao Garrison and Shanyong..."

Pang Yu closed his eyes for a moment. "Go to Dezhou. Link up with Liu Zhongtang as quickly as possible."