Chapter 581: The Battle of the Daling River (Part 2)

The cold, harsh land of Liaoxi, the vast northeastern wilderness, the rolling cavalry columns, and the sky-blotting mass of routed soldiers behind them... all of this together formed the final act of this great battle at the end of 1631.

Li Jichun rode at the very front of the formation, leading the way.

His Lordship Li's panic was not born of a fear of death, but rather the urgent need to quickly reposition and contact his subordinates, so as to seize the initiative in the coming fight.

Thanks to the continuous stream of telegrams beforehand, and the sand-table exercises conducted with his staff officer team, Li Jichun now possessed an exceptionally clear picture of the battlefield situation.

If, before the battle, a certain someone had still harbored some reservations about the preliminary work, Li Jichun now had not a shred of doubt: everything that happened today had been predicted by those telegrams concerning the battle-situation projections!

And so, His Lordship Li was the first to execute a tactical relocation. According to plan, he needed to contact the ambush troops in the rear at top speed. That way, Spring Thunder Camp might just stage a 'dragging knife stratagem' in this grand drama of rout and flight, and haul home a huge prize.

So where were the ambush troops?

When reporting in earlier, Li Jichun had claimed to have 500 elite cavalry. Yet when he entered the pass, he had a full 900 subordinates... The remaining 400 got scattered on the road? A joke — those men had been left behind on the battlefield's rear to seek out the pre-designated positions!

Thus, at the very first moment of the great rout, Li Jichun's unit, positioned at the southernmost edge of the battlefield, began its flight at full strength, in full kit, and in strict formation. Since the entire army had two horses per man, the 500-man relocation force moved with incredible speed, and in no time they reached the foot of West Mountain.

West Mountain, located east of Jinzhou, was a mountainous area formed by White Grass Peak, Four Peaks, and other summits, situated precisely between the upper and middle reaches of the Daling River.

In other words, the site of the great battle between the Ming and Jin armies was actually not far from West Mountain — it lay right between West Mountain and Dalinghe Fort. During the earlier advance, the main army had also skirted past West Mountain. Therefore, when Li Jichun's unit now fled from east to west, they quickly arrived at the foot of West Mountain.

"Whoa... All troops, halt!"

As the earth-shaking shouts of slaughter behind them grew more and more distant, the main force of Spring Thunder Camp, having crossed a stretch of wildland, now faced a vast pine and birch forest at the foot of West Mountain. Perhaps having received the four-word maxim 'When facing a forest, do not enter,' Li Jichun immediately reined in his horse and raised his hand, commanding his troops to stop.

In truth, 'When facing a forest, do not enter' was only one reason. The real cause for Spring Thunder Camp's halt was that this place was the first contact point Li Jichun had arranged with the follow-up unit.

"Contact him, quickly!"

General Li, panting heavily, didn't even wait for his horse to steady itself before shouting loudly: "It's somewhere nearby — contact Feng Shiming for me at once!"

Feng Shiming was one of the earliest officers of the Guard Battalion. Being somewhat older, he had been dispatched to Hebei by headquarters the previous year, becoming a member of Li Jichun's staff officer team and serving as Spring Thunder Camp's adjutant. For this force-splitting operation, it was Feng Shiming, skilled in reconnaissance and mapping, who was responsible for leading the remaining 400 soldiers in the rear.

The signalman at the core of Li Jichun's side, carrying a military telegraph set on his back, immediately switched on the device upon hearing the order and attempted to establish contact with Feng Shiming's unit.

Hearing the 'beep-beep' sounds emitted by the iron box, Li Jichun, anxious at heart, subconsciously flicked his horsewhip, constantly scanning the surrounding terrain.

The Assistant Regional Commander's face full of agitation was not without reason. Though he still didn't understand the principles of electromagnetism, he did know that walkie-talkies were prone to poor communication in mountainous conditions — and this was precisely what Li Jichun feared most.

After Spring Thunder Camp had previously arrived at Jinzhou, based on prior projections and combined with terrain data from field reconnaissance, all staff officers, including Li Jichun, had unanimously concluded: assuming a Ming defeat and that Huang Taiji had set an ambush in advance, the ambush troops would certainly be positioned at West Mountain.

West Mountain's position was critically important. This mountain range, spanning over twenty kilometers in circumference, together with Dalinghe Fort, sandwiched the bulk of the Ming army in between. At this moment, any routed Ming soldier wishing to flee back to the nearest stronghold, Jinzhou, would absolutely have to pass by West Mountain.

And at that time, the routed troops, having already fled westward in panic for ten or twenty li, exhausted, their horses spent, having discarded their armor — suddenly seeing Later Jin cavalry charging out ahead... The image was too beautiful to contemplate.

Li Jichun reckoned that if he were the one placing ambush troops, he would also choose West Mountain.

And this deduction was the source of his current burning anxiety: according to the pre-arranged plan, after Li Jichun's unit departed for battle, Feng Shiming's unit would lie hidden in the West Mountain area, doing their utmost to scout out the possible positions of Later Jin ambush troops.

Therefore, Li Jichun, having fled to the foot of West Mountain, now urgently needed to contact Feng Shiming's unit to obtain specific intelligence on the enemy ambush troops that very likely existed.

This was also the reason he would not enter the forest: who knew what lurked within? Spring Thunder Camp's advantage lay in firearms; unless Li Jichun's head was kicked by a donkey, he would never rashly order his troops into the woods.

Yet heaven did not grant his wish. Despite the Assistant Regional Commander's extreme anxiety, after five minutes of operating the set, the signalman still failed to contact Feng Shiming's unit.

Due to the distance, the battlefield shouts that had earlier reached Li Jichun's ears had now faded into a faint, muffled roar. But after five minutes had passed, Li Jichun felt the roaring sound growing clearer. He knew that the vanguard of the main Ming army he had left behind was now approaching West Mountain.

This ominous judgment made Li Jichun feel as if he could smell the acrid stench of burning corpses, and with a sudden jolt, he immediately gave the order: "No more waiting — go around the forest and move out!"

At this moment, the identities of hunter and prey could shift at any time. Spring Thunder Camp's mere 500 men, attempting to snatch chestnuts from the fire, would, stripped of their information advantage, instantly become the prey — a state of extreme danger.

Assistant Regional Commander Li was well aware that as the battlefield behind them drew near, if they didn't leave now, it would be too late. He was deeply worried that he had already entered the attack range of the enemy ambush. If enemy cavalry burst out from the roadside the next moment, Li Jichun would not be the least bit surprised.

The reason the ambush troops hadn't charged out yet was perhaps because they were indeed too far away and out of attack range; more likely, it was because the main Ming force had not yet arrived, so the ambushers held back and refrained from striking.

The blurred identities of hunter and prey forced a certain someone to order his troops to abandon the first contact point and continue advancing toward Jinzhou.

In truth, this order was also within the contingency plans.

The strategic requirement Li Jichun had received beforehand from the General Staff was: prioritize self-preservation, and secondarily consider ambushing the enemy to temper the troops. In other words, even if they gained no advantage today, Li Jichun had to bring his unit back intact. Thus, seeing that the situation was turning unfavorable, Spring Thunder Camp's main force immediately headed for Jinzhou.

Worldly affairs are unpredictable, ever-changing and impermanent.

Just as Spring Thunder Camp's 500 cavalry rounded the pine and birch forest and the ridge behind it, the signalman on horseback shouted in startled delight: "Contact established!"

Equally surprised and overjoyed, Assistant Regional Commander Li reined in his horse, directly grabbed the handset, and, disregarding communication protocols, shouted in plain speech: "Feng Shiming, Feng Shiming, report your position!"

Feng Shiming's voice quickly came through the walkie-talkie.

The ability to use voice communication proved that the straight-line distance between the two sides was not far. And indeed, after restoring contact, Li Jichun learned that Feng Shiming's unit was just beyond the two ridges ahead, on a small hilltop about five li away.

As for the unit both sides were concerned about... Feng Shiming explicitly told Li Jichun: the Later Jin ambush troops not only existed, but were positioned right between those two ridges.

This was also the reason Feng Shiming's unit had chosen to halt at their current location: they could monitor the Later Jin force and launch an attack at any moment.

Hunter and prey had once again swapped roles. In that moment, the old hand Li felt his blood surge... his adrenaline boiling; he knew his moment of glory was about to arrive.

After once more asking in detail about the enemy's terrain, scale, equipment, and other particulars, the next moment, Assistant Regional Commander Li gave the order: the entire army was to advance at a steady pace and prepare for battle!

When Gūwalgiya Wotu heard the report that the enemy vanguard was about to pass by the valley mouth, he smiled contemptuously. Sitting arrogantly on a rock, Wotu was unmoved by the military intelligence: "Where has the main Ming dog force reached?"

"Reporting to the Ejen, still ten li away."

"Why bother with this lot? Let them pass!"

"As commanded!"

Gūwalgiya Wotu was a man of the Plain Yellow Banner. As a direct-line member of the great Jurchen clan, the Gūwalgiya, the thirty-year-old Wotu was already one of the few Jalai Ejen under the Plain Yellow Banner — a man of high rank and great authority.

And for this campaign against the Ming dogs, the Great Khan Huang Taiji, who had always treated Wotu with favor, had assigned him an important task: ambush.

Wotu understood this was the Great Khan's grace toward him. Ambushing fleeing enemies was a task with no danger and one that made it easy to capture important enemy figures and valuable goods — truly the best assignment imaginable.

Thus, Wotu was very diligent, determined to handle the task the Great Khan had entrusted to him well: he brought his own five subordinate Niru, along with 500 elite soldiers the Great Khan had specially squeezed out for him before the battle, and made a wide detour before the battle began, entering from the northern side of West Mountain.

By today, Wotu's force of a full 2,000 elite cavalry had been lying in ambush in this stone gully at the foot of West Mountain for an entire day and a half.

Now, the time for harvest had come.

And so, when Wotu received an early report of cavalry resting their horses in the woods five li away, he was utterly unmoved: the news of the Ming army's great rout had already been relayed here via wolf-smoke signals from the battlefield. Thus, when the lookout post at high altitude came to report, Wotu knew that this several-hundred-strong cavalry unit must be Guanning cowards fleeing ahead of time.

Toward such cavalry, Wotu had not the slightest interest. These cowards were useless in battle but peerless at running away; they'd rest their horses a bit and then slip off — not worth his effort.

Just as expected, after resting their horses for only a short while, that group of cavalry started up again, rounded the woods, and retreated along the mountain's base toward Jinzhou.

After about another quarter-hour or so, this group of panic-stricken, fleeing cavalry began to pass by the valley mouth where Wotu's unit lay hidden, the rumbling of their horses' hooves reaching Wotu's ears.

"Something's wrong!"

Wotu, a veteran of a hundred battles, felt his hairs stand on end in that moment: the hoofbeats coming from outside the stone valley were both orderly and unhurried, still slowly decelerating and reining in their force — this was exactly how Jurchen warriors handled their horses before encircling prey during every autumn hunt.

A quick ad, the 【Source-Swap Artifact APP. huanyuanshenqi.】 is honestly pretty good, worth installing — after all, it has many book sources, a complete library, and updates fast!

"Mount up, mount up, draw your knives!"

Just as Wotu abruptly rose and opened his mouth to roar, a string of sharp, shrill bone-whistle blasts came from the high-altitude lookout post.

Yet the Later Jin cavalry in the valley no longer needed the warning, because the hoofbeats, suddenly turning urgent, blatantly exposed the newcomers' purpose — a cavalry surprise attack!