Chapter 329: Bondservant Soldiers

()ps: Seeking monthly tickets.

On the side by the Fuzhou River, over two thousand infantry hastily formed ranks amid the officers' curses in Chinese. The river flank was densely packed with arquebusiers; behind the formation flew a large black banner. On the western side stood a pike-and-shot formation similar to Dengzhou's, with a Kong-character Regional Commander flag fluttering before it. Kong Youde, Li Jiucheng, and others stood beneath the flag, observing the Ming army opposite.

"What is the Third Beile trying to do?" Li Jiucheng's face was full of malice. The Wendeng troops opposite filled him with both hatred and fear. Although they had now been redesignated as Dengzhou Garrison, their disciplined style had not changed in the slightest.

Kong Youde's face was cold and he said nothing. Mang Gurtai had ordered them to attack the Wendeng square formation directly, without transferring a single Manchu soldier. Just looking at the dense thicket of pikes opposite, Kong Youde knew it would be a disaster; he had deep personal experience of the Dengzhou soldiers' ferocity. The Tianyou Army numbered twelve hundred men, and one thousand had come this time. Neither Kong Youde nor the others had placed their retainers in the main formation; they were still accustomed to keeping their retainers close to protect their own lives.

Back when Hong Taiji had demanded they imitate the Dengzhou Garrison, during these months since arriving in Gaizhou, Kong Youde had drilled for months. The original Dengzhou troops were mostly firearms soldiers, relatively skilled in operating arquebuses. The pike was not a difficult weapon to practice, and they also used very long pikes. The remainder were all arquebus squads, equipped with the Japanese swords they had brought from Shandong. They had only seen Chen Xin's pike square from a distance, supplemented by descriptions from a few soldiers who had faced it. But those soldiers had been in great panic at the time, and each account differed slightly. As for how it was organized, trained, and commanded, they were uniformly clueless.

The two men could only improvise a square formation thirty men across and twenty deep, placing the other musketeers on the flanks, giving it a rough resemblance to Chen Xin's pike formation. But the biggest problem was they lacked sufficient bondservants. The soldiers still had to farm their own land, so they could only drill once every five days. This was already the limit. Thus, Kong Youde's greatest hope was to campaign alongside Hong Taiji and capture enough bondservants to exploit. Unfortunately, this time they were again left behind in Gaizhou. When the Sheng Gate was breached, Li Jiucheng had been in the bell tower; he only saw his son's banner fall. Fleeing Dengzhou that night, he still harbored a hope that Li Yingyuan would rendezvous with them somewhere, but he never appeared all the way to Pingdu. Finally, he learned the news from a few soldiers of the personal battalion who had fled to Pingdu. Later, in Gaizhou, he heard that Li Yingyuan had been beheaded in Jingshi.

This time Li Yingyuan had strongly demanded to go to Fuzhou, so Kong Youde left Chen Guangfu to assist in defending Gaizhou, while Kong Youde and the other man led one thousand troops. Following Mang Gurtai to Fuzhou, he had confidence in the Manchu soldiers' strength, and this was Liaodong's home ground. Li Jiucheng harbored a personal desire for revenge. Best of all would be to slay Chen Xin on the spot and vent his spleen properly. Unexpectedly, the moment they reached the battlefield, they witnessed the Bordered White Banner's rout.

By all rights, he should be fighting these men before him to the death. But at this moment, he was utterly unwilling. If Mang Gurtai had committed fully, their three thousand men charging together might have broken the Ming square formation. But now, lacking the close-range archery of the Jianzhou troops, he had no confidence whatsoever. More importantly, he knew his own men very well: they were all defeated remnants of the Wendeng Battalion. Chased by the Wendeng Battalion through Denglai like stray dogs, in constant, unending terror, that kind of fear was not easily dispelled. Though they were still arrayed as a battalion now, once battle was joined, anything could happen.

After a long pause, Kong Youde said, "The Third Beile has given the order; not attacking is out of the question. The enemy is all infantry; even if we can't win, we won't all be wiped out. You go steady the left flank; I'll lead the central force." With that, he turned and went to the rear of the formation. Li Jiucheng cursed under his breath and spurred his horse toward the left flank.

Several dozen of Mang Gurtai's White Armor Soldiers rode to the rear of the formation, acting as a blocking detachment. Moreover, a dozen or so concentrated near Kong Youde's Regional Commander banner, their monitoring intent unmistakable.

At that moment, Tobohui's seven hundred cavalry thundered out of formation, charging along the western side toward the rear. Then a conch horn sounded from the back formation. The two Han units were about to advance. Li Jiucheng could not help but glance to his left.

On the left, by the Fuzhou River, were the Ujen Cooha. Twelve hundred of them had come this time. These bondservant soldiers could not even be fully outfitted with cotton armor; most were emaciated. On ordinary days, forming ranks and firing cannons was passable, but in a real fight—though the name Ujen Cooha sounded formidable—in Li Jiucheng's eyes, they were not even a match for the Dongjiang army.

The Ujen Cooha used a black banner and were often called the Black Banner troops by the Eight Banners nobility of the Later Jin. Hong Taiji appointed Tong Yangxing as Gūsa Ejen. Additionally, to distinguish him from those Regional Commanders with honorary titles, Tong Yangxing was also granted the title of Amba Janggin, meaning general supervisor. Below him were six Jalan Ejen, all Han Chinese, each controlling a varying number of households, several hundred apiece. Even the personnel relations of these mid-level cadres remained within the Manchu Eight Banners; their posting to the Ujen Cooha was considered a temporary assignment.

The Ujen Cooha had sixteen hundred mobile troops and sixteen hundred garrison troops. The garrison troops could only defend local forts and such, likely unable to defeat even Chen Xin's settlement protection squads. The mobile troops had somewhat stronger combat capability. Although called the Black Banner, the Ujen Cooha did not have independent personnel units; the Han soldier companies below still belonged to the Manchu Eight Banners' jurisdiction. They only formed an independent army during campaigns, similar in nature to the Mongol left and right wings.

This time, Tong Yangxing was gravely ill and had remained in Shenyang to recuperate. Leading the troops was Shi Tingzhu. Shi Tingzhu was also a Jalan Ejen under Tong Yangxing, with the honorary title of Vice General. But he held another post: Elite Soldier Ejen of the Ujen Cooha. Hong Taiji's implementation of the Six Ministries aimed to promote military organization. As a newly established unit, the Ujen Cooha had its troop types designated from the start. The men Shi Tingzhu led were the elite soldiers originally under various Han officers—their retainers and able-bodied soldiers—making him the second-ranking figure within the Ujen Cooha. The ordinary Ujen Cooha soldiers were called foot soldiers, led by Foot Soldier Ejen Zhu Shichang. This man was originally a Ming garrison commander at Zhenjiang who surrendered to the Jianzhou bandits after Liaoyang fell. He also had a younger brother, Zhu Shiyin. Both had been promoted for their merits in urging the casting of cannonballs and the procurement of gunpowder during the Battle of Dalinghe.

For this expedition, twelve hundred men were selected from the Ujen Cooha mobile troops. Shi Tingzhu led two hundred elite soldiers, and Zhu Shichang led one thousand mobile troops. The elite soldiers used cold weapons, while the mobile troops were entirely equipped with firearms and waist sabers.

What Li Jiucheng had not expected was that Shi Tingzhu feared the Dengzhou Garrison even more than he did. Last year on Shenmi Island, Shi Tingzhu had narrowly escaped death. Hiding in the mountain forests, he was nearly captured several times by Ming troops searching the hills. Finally, with the help of two bondservants, he clung to a log and floated back to shore. That experience was etched into his bones. He had seen the Ming army's pike formation on Shenmi Island. Now, being ordered to charge directly at it, his legs were trembling.

Moreover, Li Jiucheng had not misjudged the combat capability of these bondservant troops. From the Ujen Cooha to the Han Eight Banners before entering the pass, they were only passable with artillery. In face-to-face formation battles, they had no notable performance. Hong Taiji both used the Han and guarded heavily against them. Whenever the Han army's numbers swelled, he would find some trivial matter to punish the Han officers, then split the Han army. From one banner, it was split all the way to eight banners. Shi Tingzhu was of mediocre ability, greedy for wealth and afraid of death. His sole virtue was handling matters with extreme caution, submitting meekly to Hong Taiji's every whim. Thus, he safely survived the Later Jin's repeated political struggles, finally dying only in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi.

Now, the drumbeats gradually rose. The Jalan Ejen and Niru Ejen below led the foot soldiers toward the Ming square formation a li away. The Ming formation was dense. The front line was not long. The Later Jin's two thousand infantry included many arquebusiers, spaced about three chi apart, making their line much longer. The Ujen Cooha were responsible for the frontal assault, while the Tianyou Army would attack the Ming square formation from the flank.

The Later Jin musketeers had large and small powder flasks, priming flasks, and bullet pouches hanging from their bodies, with coils of match cord wrapped around their hands. As they walked, they had to constantly mind the match cord. Once they started moving, the sound of bottles and jars clinking against each other was everywhere, and their formation gradually became disordered.

Shi Tingzhu dispatched Zhu Shichang, Li Guohan, Li Yangeng, and others to separately command the foot soldiers' center and two wings. He himself led the elite soldiers, cautiously sheltering behind the formation. In truth, none of them knew how to fight with arquebusiers. Still, the dense layers of arquebusiers before him gave Shi Tingzhu some sense of security, and from horseback, he could observe the Ming army's situation opposite.

The Plain Blue Banner's cavalry was passing by the flank of the Ming square formation, at a distance of two hundred paces, beyond the range of firearms. Just as the vanguard had galloped past, the square formation suddenly spouted two plumes of white smoke. An iron ball struck the Later Jin cavalry column, sending several horses flying in pieces and causing a brief chaos, but it had little effect on the overall cavalry formation. The cavalry swiftly passed the flank and plunged into the battlefield behind.

The Ming cavalry charged and clashed repeatedly. By now, their losses neared three hundred men, and both men and horses were greatly exhausted. Not daring to face the fresh Later Jin cavalry again, they retreated southward under the guidance of a bugle call. The Plain Blue Banner cavalry pursued them all the way. The Ming army's four square formations were now encircled by the Later Jin troops.

Dorgon dispatched some rallied Bayara to harass the Ming square formations from the rear, then planted his own banner on the western side to regroup the routed troops. But the Bordered White Banner's foot soldiers had fled all over the hills and plains; many had panicked and fled into the hilly areas, making it impossible to rally them for the moment. The cavalry, however, had mostly survived, though their organization was badly scattered and they had temporarily lost command. But for Dorgon, as long as he could lead the men away, that was enough.

After the Plain Blue Banner cavalry moved out, two Ming detachments returned to the square formation from the battlefield, successively arriving in front of the formation to line up.

Shi Tingzhu instinctively ducked his head and jumped off his horse. The Goshiha beside him were baffled. A trusted aide came over and loudly asked, "Master, why aren't you riding?"

Shi Tingzhu cursed under his breath, "The enemy's guns and cannons are fierce. All of you, dismount. Don't..." Two cannon blasts cut off his words. A series of cracking sounds came from the left front. Several helmets and arquebus fragments flew into the air, followed by earth-shattering screams. The Goshiha stared blankly for a moment, then flipped over and jumped off his horse as well...

"Let me borrow the telescope again." Beside the four-pounder cannon on the outer flank of the left wing, Zhong Laosi asked the gun captain to borrow the telescope. His field of view was filled with enemies carrying firearms. He glanced hastily, then returned it to the gun captain, muttering curses under his breath, "Are the Jianzhou bandits courting death? Why are the front lines all arquebusiers? And those on the west side even dare to imitate our pike formation."

His Second Company was positioned on the western side. The opposing Tianyou Army spread out their line, seemingly preparing to advance from the flank. The front was another thousand-odd arquebusiers. His pressure was far greater than that of the First Company by the Fuzhou River.

The artillery fired another salvo. Zhong Laosi had no time to observe the effect. He spurred his horse back to the rear formation, exchanged a few words with the Company Commander. The Company Commander hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded. Zhong Laosi raced back to the front line, summoned the two detachment flag leaders, and asked them, "How many men do you have left?"

"Thirty-one." "Twenty-seven."

Hearing these two numbers, Zhong Laosi felt a slight pang in his heart, but his face remained expressionless. He said to the two men, "The enemy is all musketeers. They outnumber us. If they get close and fire a volley, we'll come out the losers. The Fourth Company detachment will deal with the Black Banner troops; the Third Company will handle that square formation on the west side. Advance seventy or eighty paces. Keep your formation very dispersed. After the first volley, fire at will. See how good the Jianzhou bandits' volley fire is. If they charge, you retreat. If they don't charge, trade shots with them. Fight like those skirmishers. When their fire gets heavy, you can crouch down, then rise and fire after they've shot."

"Yes." The two flag leaders had no superfluous words. As the most flexible troop type, they were shuffled around by various lords, and their losses were now considerable. However, Dengzhou's discipline was ironclad; once a military order was formally issued, there was absolutely no room for bargaining.

The two detachments left the square formation and advanced to the front. They spread out very widely, with two or three paces between each man. The four-pounder cannons continued firing, shells constantly passing over their heads. They stopped when they had advanced to seventy paces out. The Jianzhou bandits opposite were about a hundred paces away.

The commander of the Fourth Company detachment looked carefully. The enemy seemed to have only cotton armor. Under the artillery barrage, their formation was already in chaos. Some places were bunched together in clumps, while others were sparse and scattered. Some soldiers were shouting in panic. At this moment, they were halting to reorder their ranks. Some officers were cursing loudly, seemingly in Chinese.

A flicker of contempt crossed his mind. He immediately issued a loud command. Thirty soldiers raised their guns in unison.

"Fire!" The commander pulled the trigger at the same time. Eighty percent of the thirty-one flintlocks discharged. Just as they opened fire, a sudden string of cracking explosions erupted from the opposite side, and white smoke billowed along the enemy line. The commander jumped in fright. He turned his head to look, only to find that only two of the thirty-one detachment soldiers had been wounded.

Amid the smoke opposite, there was a cacophony of shouts. The commander had no idea how many his side had actually hit. He only saw red muzzle flashes flickering continuously; some were even aimed at the sky.

"Crouch down!" The commander still decided to take cover. The thirty soldiers half-crouched and began reloading, their speed noticeably slower than usual. Some lead bullets pattered onto the ground around them. The Jianzhou bandits' lead shot seemed utterly harmless at a hundred paces. The detachment soldiers were also very nervous. Some, unaccustomed to reloading while crouching, stood up again to load. Once loaded, they fired a shot toward the enemy, then began reloading again. Just like in their usual shooting drills, they mechanically repeated each step. The tension, paradoxically, pushed them entirely into a state of inertia. Their rate of fire was surprisingly high, reaching the training standard of three rounds per minute—a feat difficult to achieve on the battlefield.

Over on the Tianyou Army's side, there was also a continuous string of explosions. The detachments began trading shots with the Later Jin troops. The Tianyou Army's line also halted. The musketeers on their two flanks were firing with great enthusiasm.

Gunpowder smoke hung thick before the formations. Those Ujen Cooha were still continuously producing new clouds of smoke. The detachment soldiers could only see blurry enemy silhouettes and fired unceasingly into the smoke. Scattered red flashes came from within the smoke, but after the first volley, their subsequent shots came at very long intervals. For a long time, not a single shot emerged. Occasionally, there was the flash of a barrel bursting, drawing agonized screams from the vicinity.

After the Later Jin troops halted in place, the two four-pounder cannons increased their rate of fire, maintaining a fixed angle and firing continuously. Iron balls howled through the white smoke before the formation, carving out trails of emptiness as they smashed repeatedly into the bondservant army's ranks. From within the smoke, wails of despair rose to the heavens.

Zhong Laosi rode swiftly back to the Company Commander and loudly said, "Company Commander, these Ujen Cooha are all rabble. They're far inferior to those true Jurchen of the Jianzhou bandits. If we send two platoons to charge, these troops will certainly collapse."

The Company Commander shook his head firmly this time. "I must secure the ford. This is Lord Zhu's strict order."

"The Jianzhou cavalry has gone south. As long as we rout these two infantry units to the north, who can threaten the ford? Leaving two platoons is enough to hold it. The enemy is handing us heads on a platter; it'd be a sin against heaven not to take them."

"No. Return to your command post. Stop running around like a fool. The Jianzhou bandits might only possibly collapse. We've already suffered three hundred casualties. We have only nine hundred men here. I cannot take the risk."

Zhong Laosi panted heavily a few times, shot the Company Commander a resentful glare, and turned back toward the square formation. Just then, he saw the special duty squad running past the flank. They carried bows in their hands and had flintlock guns slung on their backs—all picked up from the musketeers who had just been killed or wounded.

Zhong Laosi knew they had spotted an opportunity for easy pickings. He shouted at the buck-toothed man passing by, "You bastards have it good, going wherever you damn well please to fight. When you're done, remember to return my firelocks."

The buck-toothed man recognized this Zhong Laosi. He turned his head, grinned, and hurried toward the detachments' position. They pressed even closer, to seventy paces, and fired volley after volley with the flintlocks.

Zhong Laosi turned back to glance southward. The harassing Bayara that Dorgon had sent out also seemed to fear the firelocks. They kept a hundred paces away, lofting light arrows in a high arc. Most of the arrows wobbled feebly toward the rear, falling to the ground before even reaching the Ming square formation.

"The Jianzhou bandits have lost their nerve. One charge could rout that infantry. Those two hundred cavalry to the north are blocked by the routed troops and can't play a role. This will force the Jianzhou cavalry in the south to return for support, and then Wang Zhangfu can come up." Zhong Laosi muttered to himself in a low voice. He suddenly raised his head and shouted at the bugler and drummer, "Sound the call! Our company will charge on its own!"

The bugler, who was attached to him, had heard the Company Commander's stance. He shook his head repeatedly. His own guards also urged, "Squad Commander, have you forgotten what happened in Dengzhou? You'll be shot for attacking without orders."

"Give it to me." Zhong Laosi spurred his horse forward to snatch the bugle. The bugler backed away repeatedly, and the guards blocked him. Just as Zhong Laosi was about to forcibly take it, the Company Commander headquarters' military judge happened to pass by. He said loudly to Zhong Laosi, "Squad Commander Zhong, return to your command post."

"Return your mother. The Jianzhou bandits are about to run. What's the point of going back?" Zhong Laosi cursed furiously.

The military judge's eyes bulged. "Squad Commander Zhong, I am the military judge of the Company Commander's headquarters. If you continue with such insolent talk, don't blame me for being impolite. Thousands of Jianzhou bandits are attacking, and instead of holding your command post, all you can think about is the Jianzhou bandits about to run..."

From the north suddenly came an earth-shattering howl. Under another salvo from the four-pounders, the Ujen Cooha finally collapsed. The Bayara in the rear beheaded fleeing soldier after fleeing soldier, but ultimately could not stop the panicked bondservant troops. Facing the tide of routed soldiers fleeing madly toward them, the Bayara dared not block them either and hastily retreated to the rear flank.

"They really collapsed." The military judge stared blankly at the battlefield.

"No, there's still that unit." Zhong Laosi pointed to the west. That Later Jin unit had stopped advancing. It stood its ground, firing volley after volley at the detachments to its front and flank. Their proficiency with firearms far surpassed that of the Ujen Cooha.

Zhong Laosi lashed his horse's rump with his whip and rushed back to the Company Commander. "Give me one platoon. I'll go rout that infantry unit."

"Fine. Deploy one of your own units. After routing them, do not stray far from the ford."

"Why so agreeable this time?" Zhong Laosi asked, puzzled.

The Company Commander pointed east. Zhong Laosi followed his gaze and saw Chen Xin's Regional Commander banner appear in the east, already past the Langu River and hurrying toward the ferry crossing.

The Later Jin troops to the south spotted the Ming army's eastern reinforcements approaching, abandoned their harassment of the southern infantry, and hurriedly retreated north. Dorgon also stopped rallying his routed soldiers, and his banner began withdrawing north. (To be continued.)