Chapter 582: The Battle of Daling River, Part Three

At the news of an enemy attack, the Later Jin cavalry, who had been in a resting state, immediately scrambled madly onto their horses.

It must be said, an army that has experienced countless battles and is in its ascendant phase is still extremely outstanding in terms of tactical competence.

Even in this sudden, race-against-time moment, the cavalry in the valley still spontaneously adjusted into position: those at the front engaging the enemy mounted up urgently, while the rear ranks helped each other don armor, preparing for a second heavy charge.

Just as the Later Jin light cavalry were about to burst out of Shixiakou, the rumbling of hoofbeats also drew near from afar, turning around a bend on the opposite side.

At this moment, both sides finally came face to face.

From the perspective of the Later Jin cavalry, the incoming enemy that had abruptly charged before them seemed to be merely a commonplace group of Great Ming officers and soldiers: leather helmets on their heads, red padded jackets on their bodies.

But this was only the surface.

If one looked closely at the details, this cavalry unit from the Ming state was not so Ming-like after all. Not only were the newcomers in neat formation with excellent mounts, but their weapons and equipment were completely different from ordinary cavalry... Most importantly, this cavalry unit radiated intense killing intent, nothing at all like the appearance of routed, homeless dogs after a defeat.

Killing intent, in fact, is more of a spiritual demeanor expressed through restraint; it is not, as laymen believe, that a fierce face and loud shouting constitute killing intent.

The incoming enemy was the same. Apart from taut faces and practiced horse-control movements, they made no superfluous noise. In the long, narrow canyon, only the roaring hoofbeats and the biting cold air rushing toward them remained. This cold, hard, and monotonous scene, accompanied by the imminent slaughter, was exceptionally suffocating.

The surprise attackers brought immense pressure to the Later Jin cavalry rushing out of the narrow pass. However, when Wotu, charging at the very front, saw the incoming enemy at first glance, he drew a sharp breath and, disregarding his momentum, suddenly yanked the reins with great force, causing his warhorse to rear up and let out a long neigh.

What caused Wotu to rein in so urgently was not killing intent, but the opponent's bizarre formation.

The line formation.

The most important formation in the era when firearms supplanted cold weapons: the line formation.

At this moment, Wotu saw an unheard-of "line": right before him, about seventy or eighty paces away, at the canyon bend, a seemingly thin line formation formed by several rows of cavalry. Like a stick, and also like a wall, it turned the corner in this bizarre, orderly fashion.

This method of turning in ranks, when described, seems not complicated—simply the inner circle shortening its stride while the outer circle lengthens. In later generations, this is a group movement even elementary school students are familiar with, as it is often used in sports meets.

But in the seventeenth century, this formation suited for firearms was beyond the comprehension of cold-weapon troops. Do not think that ancient elite cavalry could execute formation drills; that is all nonsense from TV dramas.

True cold-weapon cavalry, since ancient times, have always charged in a mass/swarm style, fundamentally unable to form a line formation... because it was useless.

Cavalry line-formation charge tactics only emerged after the popularization of firearms, with the battlefield demand for volley fire, with more advanced military organization capability, and with conditions for long-term professional training—a tactic of mutual slaughter contesting discipline: two walls colliding, killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of your own. This cruel tactic is sustained by a high degree of organizational discipline and is completely beyond the adaptive range of old-style armies.

Of course, the elite cavalry of Spring Thunder Camp today were not here to engage in line-formation melee with the enemy. What the Manchus failed to notice about this so-called surprise attack was that, although the incoming enemy seemed ferocious, their horses' advancing speed was actually not fast.

Consequently, when the wall-like formation turned the corner and faced the enemy cavalry head-on, the speed of these several walls decreased once more, almost to the point of a slow trot.

At this very moment, the lightly equipped Later Jin light cavalry began to jostle and squeeze their way out of the narrow valley mouth.

At this very moment, the Jalai Ejen Wotu, struck by inexplicable terror as if by clairvoyance, reined his horse to a rearing halt.

At this very moment, a tremendous human voice began to echo between the mountain walls on both sides: "Front row, prepare, aim, fire!!"

The next moment, neat white smoke gushed from the formation, and the Later Jin light cavalry who had just surged out of the valley mouth immediately had men and horses toppled, mowed down in swathes... The narrow valley mouth was blocked.

Previously, for the sake of concealment, the Later Jin force had deliberately chosen a rocky valley with a wide belly and narrow mouth, flanked by lush vegetation, to set their ambush. Since it was an ambush valley terrain, the mouth was necessarily narrow, which now caused the Later Jin cavalry's tactical deployment to be disadvantageous.

Now trouble had come: the valley mouth was blocked.

The internal reason the valley mouth was blocked was its narrowness, while the external reason was the opponent's dense firearm bullets.

The small book pavilion xiaoshuting. that book friends used before is already dead; now basically everyone is using the source-switching artifact app huanyuanshenqi..

After the first wave of gunfire was unleashed, the riders on horseback instantly thrust their short-barreled cavalry carbines backhanded into the gun holsters behind their waists. Immediately after, with a practiced draw, the soldiers had the spare guns on their other side in hand.

By this time, the excellent warhorses, having undergone long-term training, had already slowly come to a halt at their owners' cues. Then, the second round of gunshots rang out.

After the second round of gunshots, even greater chaos appeared at the valley mouth: more of the large-bodied horses were hit, and the dead and wildly bolting wounded horses made it impossible for the following cavalry to quickly charge out of the valley.

From this moment on, victory and defeat were already decided: once the charging capability was neutralized by the corpses of men and horses, then before an opponent with advanced firearms, the Later Jin warriors had no other way out but to be shot dead from a distance.

The third round of firearm volleys soon began.

Under the scorching sun and military rods of days past, the soldiers of Spring Thunder Camp, who had endured rigorous training, finally brought what they had learned in training into full play in today's real battlefield scenario.

As a soldier finished shooting, while his left hand passed the empty gun backward, his right hand simultaneously received a loaded firearm passed forward by the comrade behind him. The entire process flowed like water, and accompanied by the ceaseless sound of volley fire, empty guns were continuously passed from front to back, the whole process smooth as flowing water, without any sense of obstruction.

In war, one side's fluidity represents the other side's blood and flesh. As the battle continued, the Later Jin cavalry, ceaselessly trying to charge out of the valley mouth, were ceaselessly struck down.

Very soon, the corpses of men and horses at the valley mouth piled up into a slope. The following cavalry, stepping on these irregular obstacles, had to expend effort just to pass through smoothly, let alone charge.

Seeing the situation turn favorable, Li Yingguan immediately raised his small megaphone and directed the cavalry wall to slowly advance another 50 meters. At this position, only a few dozen meters from the valley mouth, it was convenient to switch from the previous volley fire to scattered fire. Volley fire was no longer needed now; seeing someone appear on the slope, precise strikes would suffice.

Suddenly subjected to an unheard-of firearm assault, the Manchu and Mongol warriors in the valley fell into chaos. They had grown accustomed to the old Ming army's battle patterns and were at a loss facing the newly emerged mode of warfare.

However, the highest commander on the scene, Gualjia Wotu, was beginning to understand a bit by now.

In that great battle when the Later Jin army previously invaded the Ming state, the majority of the main raiding force had withdrawn beyond the passes.

After that, the variable occurred where the forces of Amin and Shuotuo were devoured by the transmigrator.

The influence of this variable on the newborn Later Jin regime was extremely far-reaching.

In the aftermath, to cover up the truth, the Later Jin high command, who had ascertained some of the facts at the time, quickly unified their propaganda line regarding this matter: Amin's division heroically covered the retreat, was besieged by countless Ming armies coming to the king's rescue, and finally, with ammunition exhausted and food gone, gave their lives in loyal service to the state. Amin Beile, banzai!

This was the most reasonable explanation, and the one most convincing to the lower-ranking officers and soldiers.

Yet regarding the matter of Amin's division being annihilated, Gualjia Wotu, as a member of the Later Jin high command, was able to receive accurate intelligence transmitted from inside the passes. Therefore, although Wotu had never personally encountered that legendary unit, the moment he first saw Li Jichun's division, he sensed something was wrong.

Perhaps this was precisely why his lucky star shone brightly, a flash of inspiration, his mysticism skill points maxed out, allowing him to rein in at the cliff's edge and save his own skin: the instant his horse reared up, its belly was hit by several shots. After man and horse fell, because Wotu's calf was pinned under the horse's body and he could not stand upright, he thereby dodged the subsequent rounds of gunfire.

But what use was dodging the gunfire?

Wotu, rescued by his trusted followers in a flurry, now propped on his injured leg, could only give the order to continue organizing infantry charges.

This was the only order he could give as the commander... If he did not give this order, what order was there to give? Was the whole group supposed to turn tail and flee? If so, the colossal blame for letting the Ming routed army escape would fall on him, Wotu, alone.

Therefore, although Wotu had privately realized that, due to the appearance of this bizarre fresh force, the battlefield interdiction mission he had received earlier was likely doomed, for the sake of his own interests, he now had to make his troops charge out—either to victory, or to die to the last man for the Khan to see—absolutely no turning tail and fleeing.

Thus, after the first wave of battle, following only a brief pause, large numbers of Later Jin soldiers charged out of the valley with battle cries.

What they encountered was a dismounted infantry gun formation arrayed in three postures—prone, kneeling, and standing—to meet the attack.

This time, the cold-weapon troops had made adjustments. Habitual adjustments that had always been invincible in the past: assault samurai wearing three layers of armor and wielding heavy shields.

Unfortunately, what these valiant samurai did not know was: on a certain day one year ago, the samurai under Amin and Shuotuo had also charged the same armed force using the same equipment.

And so the charge failed shamefully once again. The slow-moving heavily armored samurai, under the volley fire of industrialized rifled gun barrels, had no chance whatsoever of charging before the enemy.

The lead bullets fired by the percussion cap guns were packed with kinetic energy. A heavily armored samurai struck was like being smashed by a great hammer; even if the bullet did not penetrate the armor, the kinetic energy was still transmitted into the internal organs, causing the samurai to vomit blood and lose the ability to act.

After the second wave of charges, a tall mountain of corpses had piled up at the valley mouth. By now, the Great Jin samurai hiding in the valley had completely lost their confidence. And at this very moment, faint, indistinct noise came from outside: the main Ming army force had been routed and was currently passing by the mountain pass.

Realizing that the interdiction mission was already a complete failure, Wotu looked at his own Banner troops in the valley, already scared out of their wits, and could not help but grit his teeth, issuing the most correct order for the moment: hold fast and await reinforcement.

Misfortunes never come singly.

Just as Wotu gave the order, urgent alarm bone whistles sounded from the rear of the valley. Immediately after, the lookout who had sounded the alarm, before everyone's watching eyes, fell from the high altitude and was dashed to death right in front of his own men.

The next moment, plumes of white smoke began shooting out from the forest on the slope above the valley. And the Later Jin Banner Troops below collapsed at the sound.

Seeing the surprise attack striking the tail of his column, a sudden inspiration struck Wotu at that moment. He slowly turned his head... Sure enough, atop that corpse mountain several meters high, one row of gun barrels gleaming with metallic light slowly emerged.