Chapter 285: The Battle of Changshan

In the second month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the siege of Dalinghe had already lasted six months. The supervising censors of the capital's circuits scrambled over each other, and the memorials impeaching Sun Chengzong and Qiu Jiahe piled up higher than a man. Sun Chengzong finally could no longer withstand the pressure from Chongzhen and the Ministry of War, and sternly ordered all Liaodong garrison forces to assemble at Jinzhou. The troops drawn upon included, besides the two main Guan-Ning forces under Song Wei and Wu Xiang, the Yongping military defense circuit's Zhang Chun contingent, as well as troops from Beizhili's Changping, Miyun, Baoding, Tianjin, and other places. But the White Rod Army that Sun Chengzong most desired was not permitted to join the battle.

The Ministry of War and Chongzhen still vividly remembered the taste of entire armies being annihilated time and again. The nine thousand White Rod troops garrisoning Shanhai Pass were the last barrier the capital could rely on. Although Qin Yiming wished to join the battle, they were still unable to take part in the Dalinghe relief campaign, just as in the original history. And judging by the later performance of the Guan-Ning Army, this decision was entirely correct. Wait, the total force was nearly fifty thousand men. Because the relief operation dragged on for so long, Vice Regional Commander Zuo Liangyu of Changping and Vice Regional Commander Yang Yufan of Tongzhou, who had not originally participated, were also drawn into the grand army. And another person affected by Chen Xin's butterfly wings was Chen Xin's old superior, Zhou Hongmo. Because of his military merits in the second year of Chongzhen and effective bribery, he had been transferred to the position of Assistant Regional Commander of Linqing and was not serving in Yongping, thus escaping his original fate of becoming a Han traitor.

The grand army assembled at Jinzhou. The Later Jin cavalry scouts from Dalinghe, only forty li away, roamed everywhere, closely monitoring this Ming force. Under Sun Chengzong's urging, the Ming army of over fifty thousand men crossed the Lesser Ling River, set up camp, and then had to continue advancing cautiously. Abandoning the official road, they took a southeastern route to bypass Changshan, preparing to relieve the siege from the southern gate of Dalinghe. After passing Changshan, the Jianzhou Bandit cavalry spread across the fields. The Ming army quickly formed defensive formations, arraying firearms and cannons on all four sides and standing ready in strict formation.

The Later Jin elite troops came out in full force. The two sides faced off twenty li south of Dalinghe. The Later Jin soldiers, who had also been pent up for an entire winter, were brimming with fighting spirit. Digging trenches and squatting in pits outside the city walls in the wind was not their accustomed way. From the old chieftain's first uprisings in the battles of Fushun and Qinghe, they had always come and gone like the wind, leaving as soon as they had looted. When the battle of Ningyuan failed, they swiftly withdrew. This new mode of warfare filled them with complaints.

Taketan was one of those who complained. On this campaign to Dalinghe, the Later Jin had a great number of horses, and there was not enough fodder nearby. Especially during the coldest months of the twelfth and first, the provisions and fodder shipped from Shenyang were intermittent, and they had to travel great distances to gather dry grass.

After enduring an entire winter, his horse had also grown much thinner, which pained him greatly. Moreover, there had been no decent plunder this time. Now that a large number of Ming troops had finally come out of the city, naturally everyone was roused.

The Ming grand formation was a cacophony of shouting men and neighing horses, with banners like a sea. Among them were dense war wagons formed into square wagon forts, looking quite imposing. Some Later Jin cavalry bypassed the front, filling the surroundings of the Ming army with roving horsemen, shrieking and galloping outside bowshot range, creating psychological pressure on the Ming troops of being surrounded.

Taketan stared at the distant, ocean-like mass of Ming troops, searching for a long while. Not spotting that Wendeng Battalion, he could not help but feel relieved. As for the other Ming troops, he felt they were all his war spoils, things he urgently needed.

The Later Jin soldiers' horses and weapons were all self-provided. Plundered supplies were generally concentrated in the hands of the nobility above the niru level. Before the Jisi campaign, roughly twenty to thirty percent of armored soldiers had no horses. After the breakthrough campaign, the Jianzhou Bandits' prestige among the Mongols greatly increased, allowing the number of horses to grow. But if an ordinary soldier needed a horse, he still had to trade his own possessions for it, either silver or bondservants. The taxes within the banners were also borne by them. The gap between rich and poor grew ever wider, and even among the true Jurchens there were always scattered desertions. If they wanted to strive for a better life, the only path was through military merit. This was a channel of advancement the Later Jin provided them, and it was the main reason Later Jin soldiers were willing to fight to the death.

For ordinary bondservants, there was also the channel of being raised into the banners to change their lives, and they were very willing to go onto the battlefield. Zhang Zhongqi led over a dozen bondservants, pushing three shield carts behind the main formation. He issued each bondservant a weapon; the simplest was just a wooden club.

Zhang Zhongqi's Plain Blue Banner belonged to the Left Wing's four banners, the others being the Bordered Yellow, Plain White, and Bordered White. They were arrayed on the left wing as well. Before him was an endless line of cavalry formations. Just as the shield carts were steadied, the Later Jin drums and horns sounded in unison. Herdsmen from the various Outer Mongol tribes surged forth under the leadership of their respective taijis, and dust rose everywhere across the broad battlefield.

The Later Jin cavalry scattered around the perimeter began their attacks simultaneously. They split and regrouped, galloping back and forth in small groups, making a show of closing in. The Ming grand formation immediately could not hold back. After the first panicked soldier fired his gun, thousands upon thousands of firelocks and cannons fired at once. White smoke spread across the battlefield, and iron shot filled the air.

The harassing Later Jin troops swiftly turned, circling the grand formation a hundred paces out. The moment the gunfire ceased, they immediately accelerated to close in on the Ming army. Using their horses' speed, they loosed volleys at forty to fifty paces at the Ming grand formation. Dense arrows tore through the sky, falling like raindrops onto the smoke-shrouded Ming grand formation. But the Ming troops directly facing the left wing unexpectedly managed to fire a second volley quickly, knocking down a batch of roving cavalry. The Ming troops on the right wing were slightly more flustered but still steadfastly resisted those roving horsemen. Both sides suffered casualties, the Ming losses being greater, but their battle line did not waver. The Later Jin also did not sound the gongs to recall their troops, and the fighting gradually intensified.

Ahead, the shouts of killing shook the heavens, but the Later Jin main formation was stern and strictly disciplined. They were arrayed neatly by niru, with no one making a clamor. Zhang Zhongqi also dared not speak, nervously observing the battlefield through the gaps between the cavalry. It seemed these Ming soldiers had some real ability, and he began to worry somewhat. Ever since he had twice encountered the Wendeng Battalion, he had been constantly afraid that some unheard-of, formidable Ming army would suddenly appear again.

The cavalry battle continued for a quarter of an hour. The Ming army's firepower began to weaken, and in several places cannons even burst on their own. Casualties among the Ming troops on the battle line grew increasingly heavy, screams gradually became denser, and the battle line showed signs of wavering.

At the position of the Khan's banner, signals were waved. The banners of the left and right wings responded and then relayed the signals in succession. The Later Jin troops in the front line dismounted one after another. Zhang Zhongqi's niru ejen sent Taketan over to relay the order: advance the shield carts.

Zhang Zhongqi drew his chipped and battered old smooth saber, waved it with an air of authority, and the emaciated bondservants shouted work chants. The three shield carts, pushed by over a dozen bondservants, began to move with creaks and groans.

Hundreds of shield carts surged forth in succession through the gaps in the cavalry. As a veteran, Zhang Zhongqi directed those greenhorn bondservants, making them line up their three shield carts with the others. Upon hearing the drum roll, he loudly shouted and urged them to push toward the Ming army.

Zhang Zhongqi meticulously carried out his duty, keeping his three shield carts as aligned with the others as possible. Behind the shield carts were several rows of armored soldiers and reserve youths carrying foot bows, advancing under the leadership of the bosoku and niru ejen.

By this time, most of the Ming army's cannons were overheated, and their breech-loading swivel guns had exhausted their ammunition and were still being reloaded. They could only return fire with those often-bursting bird guns and three-barreled guns, almost all of which were blocked by the sturdy shield carts.

Once the engagement dragged on, the accuracy of the inferior bird guns was appalling. The musketeers, who rarely drilled in peacetime, had an even slower rate of fire. Chaotic operation and powder charges caused more and more bird guns to burst, and many soldiers no longer dared to use them, further weakening firepower. The smoke from their firing in front of the formation obscured their vision, and they only heard the continuous blasts of the Later Jin horns, which added an unknown terror.

But the part of the battle line facing the left wing was a Ming wagon fort. This unit was extremely disciplined. They employed their firearms methodically, continuously striking the Later Jin wagon formation. The reports of the breech-loading swivel guns never ceased, and there were also the continuous arcing volleys of foot bows. Archers behind the shield carts were hit from time to time.

The roving cavalry gradually cleared the front, shifting to harass the rear of the Ming army. The Later Jin archer formation advanced in strict order to seventy paces. With a great shout from the niru ejen, Zhang Zhongqi hurriedly stopped. His shield cart was hit twice by small shot from a breech-loading swivel gun, but fortunately the power was not strong, and the cart, covered in oxhide and cotton quilts, withstood it.

Over five thousand Later Jin archers raised their composite bows. At the sound of a conch horn, arrows like a swarm of locusts flew across the sky toward the dense Ming military formation. Before the first wave had even landed, the second wave soared into the sky. Under the cover of the shield carts, the Later Jin troops calmly loosed about ten volleys. Tens of thousands of light arrows fell upon the Ming rear formation in a short time, and the dense formation caused the Ming troops heavy casualties.

The Ming soldiers in the front ranks had shields for defense, but those in the rear ranks had practically only a single layer of clothing. Their inferior protection could not withstand a single blow from the light arrows painstakingly crafted by the Later Jin. Swathes of Ming soldiers struggled and collapsed, the formation filled with screams, and the battle line fell into great chaos. Only the wagon fort remained steadfast. They ceaselessly bombarded the Later Jin army with red barbarian cannons and breech-loading swivel guns, inflicting considerable casualties on the Later Jin forces. Many archers also darted out between the flanking wagons, exchanging fire with the Later Jin soldiers regardless of their own losses.

Just as the arrow shower ended, the Later Jin attack drums sounded. Tide-like heavily armored death soldiers, wielding long weapons, charged out from behind the shield carts and rushed the Ming army in strict formation. Zhang Zhongqi's position was at the edge of the wagon fort. After waiting for the mounted White Armor Soldiers to pass through the shield carts, he loudly berated the other bondservants, ordering them to pick up their crude weapons and follow behind the formation.

A battle cry erupted directly ahead. The death soldiers launched their charge under the guidance of the niru banners. Only scattered firelock shots returned from the Ming formation; all that remained were the shouts of officers. Zhang Zhongqi could understand that they were ordering the soldiers to fight desperately. The Chinese spoken with a non-local accent suddenly stirred a strange emotion in his heart.

The front quickly fell into fierce combat. Zhang Zhongqi watched those violently swinging weapons, his mouth dry and tongue parched, having already forgotten about striving for military merit.

The mounted White Armor Soldiers galloped under the leadership of a juwan da. With a roar from the juwan da, a group of White Armor Soldiers immediately accelerated and charged into the front. Zhang Zhongqi saw their figures plunge straight into the enemy formation.

Suddenly, a series of violent explosions erupted from the wagon fort on the left. The Later Jin soldiers who were assaulting the wagon fort collapsed in swathes. A type of cannon he had never heard before fired in rapid succession. It seemed to have the rate of fire of a breech-loading swivel gun, but it fired nothing but grapeshot. This cannon was indeed a breech-loading swivel gun, but the largest type, a thousand-jin breech-loader. These cannons had not fired until the Later Jin soldiers charged close. The Later Jin troops before them suffered grievous losses, and their formation was thrown into utter chaos. The Later Jin soldiers behind actually dared not press the assault on the wagon fort and shifted direction toward where Zhang Zhongqi was, charging at the Ming troops without the cover of a wagon fort.

Zhang Zhongqi hurriedly ducked behind several bondservants. He was afraid the cannons over there would fire his way. He thought again that inside that wagon fort might be another powerful Ming army, and this time they might lose again.

Just then, a tidal wave of cheers rose from the right wing. Zhang Zhongqi's view was blocked by the front ranks, and he did not know what had happened. But in the blink of an eye, the armored soldiers directly in front of him also shouted joyfully, and their speed of advance rapidly increased.

The panicked howls of tens of thousands of Ming soldiers shook heaven and earth. Victory had arrived in an instant. The thunder of hooves rumbled from the Later Jin rear formation. The Great Khan had dispatched several reserve cavalry units. They bypassed the battlefield and raced toward the road the Ming army would have to take to retreat to Jinzhou.

"We've won, we've won." Zhang Zhongqi excitedly said to the group of bondservants. He had not fought many battles, but he knew that if only the wagon fort remained, no matter how formidable the Ming soldiers inside were, they could not defeat tens of thousands of Later Jin warriors.

Zhang Zhongqi cautiously glanced toward the wagon fort. On the great banner over there was the character "Zhang." This was one of the few characters he recognized, because his own surname was also Zhang. As for the characters "Zhongqi," they had been changed for him by a timid licentiate who had once also been a bondservant, in the hope that he might survive because of them. Sure enough, Zhang Zhongqi had survived, but that licentiate had long since starved to death.

"Also a man surnamed Zhang. I wonder if we share the same ancestor." Zhang Zhongqi thought this for no particular reason.

"Zhang Zhongqi!!" Taketan's voice came.

"Your slave is here!" Zhang Zhongqi reflexively answered promptly.

Taketan laughed heartily. "That barbarian Regional Commander Wu has run off again. Otherwise it would have been more trouble. Immediately take your men back to push the shield carts. We'll deal with that wagon fort. When we capture the bondservants, I'll give you one."

"Rest assured, Master. Your slave will go at once and help Master slaughter those southern barbarians." Zhang Zhongqi beamed with delight. He hurriedly and respectfully finished his reply, then drove the group of bondservants back to push the shield carts…