Chapter 583: Crossing the River in the Same Boat

The battle in the nameless stone gorge ended quickly. No matter how elite a cold-weapon unit is, when soldiers find themselves being blasted by firearms with no way to strike back, they are certain to collapse rapidly.

Of course, if the Wotu Tribe wanted to flee, Li Jichun could not stop them. Time was tight, and the Manchus' rear path was wide open — they could leave whenever they wished.

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So Assistant Regional Commander Li, standing atop a small hill, could only watch the remaining enemies in the valley turn around and escape.

With a brief sigh, Li Jichun swiftly issued orders: First, Feng Shiming's unit, responsible for the rear ambush, was to immediately turn back and rejoin the main force.

Second, quickly chop off some Manchu heads to take along.

Why emphasize speed? Because the Ming Army's "forward element" was just then passing outside the valley, followed by the "main body," and further behind them was the Later Jin main army. So Li Jichun's unit was now racing against every second, not daring to delay for even a moment.

After receiving the order, the troops moved fast, hastily lopping off a few heads at their feet before mounting up and relocating.

Assistant Regional Commander Li had long since passed the green years of living by the head count.

Here with the Transmigrator, heads were useless; military merit was assessed based on mission completion. And on the Great Ming side, since Spring Thunder Camp's current strategic goal was to develop covertly and build infrastructure, there was no need for the Yongping Assistant Regional Commander to "swim against the tide" in this great rout.

If he really brought back a huge pile of heads, Li Jichun would immediately be flagged by the Great Ming high command as the sole shining figure in the darkness, which conflicted with the previously arranged undercover script.

When the time came, Assistant Regional Commander Li, bearing great merit, would very likely be "entrusted with heavy responsibilities" by the court — and that was also not allowed. Because an Assistant Regional Commander Li who had chopped Tartar heads would, nine times out of ten, be sent by the court to the Shanhai Pass One Line to guard against the caitiffs... But who was at Shanhai Pass? The Guanning Generals Group.

Sent there, he could forget about getting anything done; every day would be spent tearing at each other with the military strongmen.

So, at least in the Dalinghe Campaign, Assistant Regional Commander Li had no need for Tartar heads to vie for military merit.

The reason he conveniently chopped some heads to take back today was to guard against any sudden future contingencies: in a disaster like a great rout, the law cannot punish the multitude, but what if the court went crazy and decided to investigate, intending to kill a chicken or two to scare the monkeys? Then he could use the heads to atone for his faults with merit.

This routine, General Li was all too familiar with — a Grand Master-level figure in atoning for faults with merit.

No more words after that. Everyone, escape.

When it came to escaping, Assistant Regional Commander Li was certainly not one to yield to others. This time, the Old Man once again led the way out of the valley at the head of the column.

Just as they exited the Valley Mouth, the soldiers of Spring Thunder Camp beheld a grand panorama of every kind of routed soldier in full flight. The fastest among them were teams of cavalry; close behind were clusters of war soldiers; further back, spreading across the hills and plains like ants, were the Auxiliary Soldiers.

The rout was, for a time, extremely brutal. From the main Battlefield to the West Mountain Valley Mouth was already over a dozen li; along this escape route, the Ming Army had left countless corpses, not to mention many wounded soldiers and those who could run no more, helplessly collapsed by the roadside awaiting death.

The fate of these people needed no asking. Although the current Later Jin regime needed captives to serve as bondservants, that treatment was for the healthy. The wounded could not possibly receive timely treatment, so awaiting death was the only outcome.

After exiting the Valley Mouth, surveying the situation left and right, Li Jichun shouted and led his troops at a rapid march. Not long after, the unit reached another Mountain Pass ahead. After waiting a short while, the rear unit led by Feng Shiming emerged from the mountains.

Once the two forces merged, they formed a pointed-arrow formation and merged into the great southward tide of desperate flight.

Since it was a full-army rout, whatever order the ranks should have had was utterly gone. So as soon as Spring Thunder Camp officially began its escape, gunshots rang out from time to time — there were too many motley Stray Soldiers and Wanderers blocking the road, and Assistant Regional Commander Li had to fire as he went, simultaneously roaring: "Those who block me die!"

In this way, the soldiers of Spring Thunder Camp fought bravely; amid the overall disastrous defeat, they ambushed and routed a unit of Tartar cavalry, perfectly completing the objective set at their Departure.

Striving valiantly to be first, Lord Li did not know that this time, he had created history.

Historically, the Ming Kingdom's army that sortied beyond the pass this time, including Zu Dashou's unit trapped in Dalinghe Fort, could be said to have suffered Total Annihilation; very few managed to flee back to Shanhai Pass.

After the Ming Kingdom experienced this campaign, its elite field army corps was wiped out completely. The subsequently rebuilt forces utterly lost the confidence to fight the Manchu and Mongol armies. This was also a major reason why Wu Sangui would later open Shanhai Pass and surrender to the Qing: they couldn't win — couldn't win since their fathers' generation — they were simply beaten into terror.

But in this plane where the Transmigrator existed, history underwent a small change.

Due to the Surprise Attack by Li Jichun's unit, the Later Jin blocking force failed to intercept the Ming Army at the critical moment, thereby producing a Butterfly Effect: One Part of the Ming Army escaped the battlefield.

The Ming troops who escaped with their lives numbered around 30,000 in total, which could be considered preserving One Part of the field main force... Those who could escape mostly had horses, and those with horses were certainly the core fighting strength.

Additionally, due to the butterfly's existence, a group of Ming Kingdom generals, including Zhang Chun, also managed to avoid the fate of capture. After all, these generals all had good horses and personal guards; without a blocking force, their ability to escape was far stronger than that of ordinary soldiers.

Two days later, as the Yongping Vice General, riding hard with three horses per man and never looking back, passed through the gates of Shanhai Pass, the grand and vigorous 1631 strategic counteroffensive beyond the pass thus came to a full stop.

As for Zu Dashou, still gnawing on thigh bones in Dalinghe Fort... he was already a Corpse. Although historically Comrade Zu Dashou would hold out for another month or so before surrendering, at this moment, from top to bottom, from the Ming Court to the Later Jin, everyone knew that Zu Dashou was beyond saving; opening the city was only a matter of time.

Overall, although tens of thousands of defeated troops escaped back, which could be considered preserving some inner substance, Chongzhen and the group of Fortification School ministers who advocated "building strong forts and fighting dull battles" beyond the pass were thoroughly slapped in the face this time.

These people finally understood one thing: for every step the battle line advanced, the resources expended grew exponentially.

But understanding was already useless. Relying on tens of thousands of Ming troops whose courage was shattered, in the days to come, the Ming Court could only shrink back along the entire line, struggling to maintain the battle line at the Jinzhou One Line.

As for counterattacking, that was no longer to be dreamed of.

Too many things were lost in this battle — not just troops and supplies, but most importantly, that bit of morale the Ming Kingdom had accumulated since the Later Jin's invasions was beaten away once more...

Lacking strategic foresight and having not half a clue about the army's combat Capability, Chongzhen and the civil official clique would once again have to swallow the bitter fruit of strategic adventurism. Historically, after this Dalinghe Fort campaign, Sun Chengzong was soon attacked by officials of rival factions and had no choice but to submit a memorial requesting retirement due to old age, and was driven back to his Old Home.

Of course, in this plane, although Old Sun was still forced into retirement, the Chongzhen Emperor was not yet in complete despair: if all else failed, he could always play his trump card.

What was the trump card? Cao Zhongchen in the south!

However, whether Chongzhen would make this move in the future, no one could say, for history up to today had already changed too much. And the Chongzhen Emperor was no longer the youth of before; he had learned to strike balances, learned suspicion, and learned the ruler's arts of statecraft.

More importantly, under the guidance of some "people of insight" by his side, Chongzhen now clearly understood the harm of military provinces — if he truly let Cao Zhongchen destroy the northern caitiffs, what would the court bestow then? A different-surname kingship? Could they really grant that? A single piece of white silk? Would the military strongman accept that?

Therefore, until the day there was no way out, it was estimated that the Emperor would not again invite that great worm from the south to come north.

As the saying goes, nothing is coincidental if not for the story.

At the very moment the Yongping Assistant Regional Commander slipped through the city gate of Shanhai Pass, far away at the easternmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula, Dengzhou City welcomed a visitor through its gates.

Dengzhou, near the later-generations' Weihai. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, as the military Threat from the Bohai Sea area increased, the court gradually placed importance on the Maritime Affairs defense of the Shandong Peninsula. Thus Dengzhou transformed from a small county into a Water Army stronghold: "At the time, Deng and Lai prefectures both bordered the great sea and were vital routes for Goryeo and Japan's Traveled Back and Forth; without establishing a prefectural administration and increasing troop garrisons, it would be insufficient to guard them."

By the Late Ming, since Dengzhou also shouldered the heavy responsibility of cross-Bohai Supply to the Dongjiang Garrison, the court established the post of Denglai Governor to oversee all matters concerning Liaodong.

October 25, 1631, afternoon.

At the Official Dock behind the Dengzhou Naval Gate, banners fluttered. Judging solely from the Official Robes arrayed on the dock, every civil and military Dayuan in Dengzhou City had arrived in full.

Such a grand scene naturally was not for receiving ordinary guests: currently dropping anchor slowly within the naval city were massive ships numbering as many as twenty vessels.

From the moment they entered the city, so many massive ships had crammed the naval city's water surface completely full.

The arrivals were none other than the northbound reinforcement fleet dispatched from the Guangdong New District.

The reinforcement fleet consisted of two Gunboats, two Escort Ships, and sixteen large merchant vessels. The fleet Commander was Sha Zhengming, the earliest Transmigrator to enter the Ming Dynasty's military officer system, while the actual person in charge was Zhang Zhongqi, one of the Northern Trio.

In fact, as early as two months ago, after the meeting concerning the Dalinghe Campaign concluded, the reinforcement fleet had organized personnel and supplies and set out.

However, along the way, the reinforcement fleet stopped and started, occasionally trading some goods on the side, so the journey was not fast. It was not until the day before yesterday that the fleet, possessing mechanical power, arrived in the waters off Dengzhou.

After reaching the waters off Dengzhou, the fleet dropped anchor for another day. Only after Zhang Zhongqi, who had set out from Tianjin, came aboard did they contact the Dengzhou authorities to request entry into the city.

So, what was the attitude of the Dengzhou side towards the arrival of the reinforcement fleet?

Four words can describe it: "Welcomed by the whole city."

The "whole city" here encompassed at least three Dengzhou power blocs: Sun Yuanhua himself was one, Kong Youde and the other local armed forces were another, and the largest group — the native merchants and residents of Dengzhou — naturally counted as a third.

With the welcome of these three power blocs, the grand welcoming ceremony that appeared at the Water City docks today made perfect sense.

The reasons why every faction was so eager to greet the visitors will be told later. For now, let it be said that when the largest gunboat had steadied at the dock, the first to disembark was none other than the recently promoted by one rank, wearing a Vice General's python robe, towering and powerfully built unlike any Ming man — General Sha Zhengming.

And Governor Sun Yuanhua of Denglai, who had originally been sitting in an official's armchair, had by now already risen and stepped forward to greet him, exchanging salutations and pleasantries with Sha Zhengming.

Once all the official courtesies had been observed, the introductions followed: Governor Sun presented the civil and military officials of Dengzhou to Vice General Sha one by one.

The next moment, when the introductions reached a young Assistant Regional Commander, a deeply meaningful smile appeared on Vice General Sha's face. He reached out, grasped the young man by both arms and shook them a few times: "General Kong, I have long looked forward to meeting you. This time, you and I must pull together through thick and thin!"