Chapter 418: Blocked by Water

"Squad Commander, what do we do? Why are they setting fires?"

"How the hell should I know? I don't care why he's setting fires — fire means people. Follow me and kill Tatars." The hatred from years ago was still so vivid. Chen Ying had just vented his fury, and now he immediately regained a bit of spirit.

That squad leader hurriedly urged, "Maybe you should rest first."

"Rest my ass. Help me up. We charge. All brothers of the Second Bureau, charge with me!"

Chen Ying bellowed. The Dengzhou soldiers gathering around him all howled in response. Some didn't even know which detachment they belonged to, having run over at the sound of whistles in the heavy fog. The bloody battle just moments ago had roused their fighting spirit. Those whose weapons were damaged grabbed whatever they could off the ground and followed Chen Ying as he ran toward the firelight.

That squad leader supported Chen Ying, the two of them like conjoined infants. The group of Dengzhou soldiers had no formation whatsoever. Many weren't even holding weapons they were used to. Just like that, they charged forward noisily like street hooligans. On the way they ran into a small group of Later Jin soldiers, who were also running back toward the firelight. A few impatient musketeers opened fire, killing two Later Jin soldiers, and then those Jianzhou bandits fled and vanished from sight.

Ahead rose a chaotic clamor of shouts — all in unintelligible barbarian tongue. Chen Ying let out a great roar and led the charge toward the sound, over a hundred Dengzhou soldiers behind him.

From the white fog ahead, several arrows suddenly whizzed out, flying at the Dengzhou soldiers in a ragged, disorderly volley. Many arrows passed high over their heads and disappeared behind them. Seven or eight Dengzhou soldiers were shot down.

The distance was short. The Dengzhou soldiers roared in unison and swarmed forward. They had run less than twenty paces when they collided with a group of Jianzhou bandits. The musketeers among them fired a volley as usual, and both sides plunged into another chaotic melee.

Before Chen Ying's eyes, figures came and went. That squad leader had disappeared somewhere. Chen Ying's head was dizzy, waves of nausea rising from his stomach. Finally, with a retch, he vomited, throwing up everything he had eaten that morning.

While he was vomiting, Dengzhou soldiers kept charging out of the white fog, madly attacking the Later Jin troops before them. The Jianzhou bandits fell back step by step. Moments later, the sound of gongs signaling withdrawal rang out from within the firelight, and then from farther away as well. It seemed the Later Jin army was about to retreat.

Ahead, men shouted and horses neighed — no telling what was going on. When Chen Ying led his remaining men to the Later Jin camp, they were blocked by the trench outside the encampment. Inside, flames blazed fiercely, and all around was filled with every kind of noise. The thick smoke from the fires thickened the white haze before them. Chen Ying led his men around the trench for a while but found no passage. For a moment, he had no idea what to do.

Two hundred paces north of this small Dengzhou detachment, Huang Taiji was heading north amid a cluster of Goshiha. Some White Armor Soldiers were setting fire to tents along the way to block the Dengzhou pursuers.

Huang Taiji still had no idea what had happened. His original plan had been to begin withdrawing before dawn, setting tents ablaze to block the main road. But this heavy fog had made him change his mind. He intended to use the poor visibility to have his main force leave camp and lure Chen Xin out in pursuit, then draw elite troops from each banner to deal Dengzhou a heavy blow. As long as he could throw the Dengzhou army's formation into chaos, he could inflict major casualties on them, break their momentum, and then withdraw at his leisure. The basis for this decision was the confidence gained from annihilating Du Song in the fog at Sarhu years ago. This plan benefited everyone, so all the banners unanimously supported it, and Huang Taiji personally took command.

To this end, each banner first sent out some skirmishers, preparing to lure the main Dengzhou garrison army into attacking and lead them step by step into the ambush zone. But before the banners' signals could be sent, a force of Ming troops suddenly appeared not far from Huang Taiji — and this area had originally had the heaviest defenses, with not only Plain Yellow Banner scouts but also troops drawn from the Bordered Blue Banner.

As for how those men had found such a huge gap on a foggy day, no one knew. Judging only by the shouts of battle ahead, it seemed a large force was attacking. The armored soldiers who fled back exaggerated the number of Ming troops. Huang Taiji had no choice but to have fires lit and summon the ambush troops to come to the rescue. And then Chen Ying's reckless assault came crashing in. In the heavy fog, neither side knew the other's true strength. Under the pressure, Huang Taiji could only order a retreat. Each banner canceled the ambush plan, setting fire to tents as they withdrew.

When Chen Xin received word that the Later Jin camp was on fire, the knot in his heart tightened even further. He knew absolutely nothing of Huang Taiji's plan. Dai Zhenggang's messengers had come twice, only saying that fighting had been ongoing at the front, but because of the visibility, it was unclear how many troops the enemy had. They said only some areas saw intense fighting, while elsewhere it was mutual probing.

Chen Xin was as utterly confused as the weather itself. He still dared not commit the entire army. The fog before his eyes filled him with a fear of the unknown.

After the Later Jin camp caught fire, reports from the vanguard came back in waves. The Later Jin soldiers before them were all disengaging. In the chaos, many detachments lost contact. Even Dai Zhenggang, at the front line, did not know the battle situation. Later, the staff officers Chen Xin sent out could not even find Dai Zhenggang's position.

Since the commander dared not make a decision, those staff officers also dared not take the initiative. Liu Pojun imagined many possibilities, but his imagination could not deduce the current situation.

Chen Xin smoked one cigarette after another. He desperately wanted to deal the Later Jin troops a heavy blow. If he were just a general, taking a risk would be acceptable. But as the de facto leader of a separatist power, he had more to consider. In terms of risk and reward, if a rash attack failed, he might lose the most important fruit of the Lushun defensive campaign — the morale of nearly twenty thousand combat and support troops.

Cigarette butts littered the ground. The firelight from the Later Jin camp was faintly visible through the fog. Chen Xin still had not made up his mind. Finally, another message came from Dai Zhenggang, saying that the Later Jin troops had set fire to several camps on the southern side. The blaze was huge and had blocked the passage roads. The Later Jin main force had probably already retreated. Many detachments of the Dengzhou vanguard had lost contact, and he was leading men to find a way through the Later Jin camp area.

After wrestling with himself in his mind for another half quarter-hour, Chen Xin could finally bear it no longer. He ordered Zhu Guobin to lead the cavalry out. The Long Qibing were still held back, and those square-formation soldiers, who fundamentally lacked skirmishing capability, remained inside the earthen wall.

From the north came gust after gust of wind. Thus they waited for news, until the beginning of the wu hour, when the fog slowly began to disperse. Visibility reached thirty paces. Chen Xin could wait no longer and sent out the Long Qibing. A moment later, the sea breeze gradually picked up, and the fog dispersed even faster. The main Dengzhou army filed out through the passages in the earthen wall, hastily formed ranks outside the wall, and then hurried north.

After marching about three li, sunlight spilled down from overhead, and the surrounding landscape grew clearer. Chen Xin, with his guard unit, bypassed the infantry and rushed toward the battlefield. Corpses lay scattered in disarray on the ground — from both sides. The red of the Dengzhou cavalry appeared one li away. Their formation was chaotic. Chen Xin's early deployment of them had achieved nothing. They had become quite disordered after marching just a few li and were now regrouping.

In the field of view, there were also some Later Jin cavalry running about in confusion — apparently men who had gotten lost during the retreat. Now that the heavy fog had lifted and they saw the main Dengzhou army approaching, they hurriedly found their bearings and fled. Some scout riders from the cavalry battalions pursued and attacked from behind.

Chen Xin had no time to bother with them. Dai Zhenggang's vanguard was also in disarray. This battle was chaos against chaos, which had a greater impact on the pursuing Dengzhou garrison. The main camp to the north billowed thick smoke, with flames still visible everywhere. The Later Jin encampment stretched north along the Lushun River. Now it was being set alight layer by layer. The smoke and fire blocked the Dengzhou pursuit route. The official road was screened off by the blaze. Several teams of Dengzhou scout riders carefully threaded their way between camps. The places the Later Jin troops normally used for passage were also piled with obstacles, now likewise ablaze. When Chen Xin ran near the camp wall, he could feel the heat wave.

Chen Xin's face was grim. Huang Taiji had lost many tents, but he had used the fire to block Dengzhou's pursuit. Chen Xin was certain there were also cavalry serving as a rearguard, who would burn as they retreated, preventing the fires across the entire camp from dying out at the same time, thus blocking the Dengzhou army for even longer. The Later Jin camp on the eastern side stretched all the way to the mountain terrain, making it impossible for cavalry to bypass.

"Send infantry around the camp area through the mountains. Let the cavalry find their own way through and hold them up. Any later and the Jianzhou bandits will have run out of sight." Chen Xin gave the order to Liu Pojun. Liu Pojun quickly dispatched the Third Battalion's Mandarin Duck Formation Company Commander unit. The cavalry also finished regrouping and sent out many small teams to move in and out of that sea of smoke and dust.

Seeing Chen Xin's grim expression, Liu Pojun consoled him: "My lord, the Jianzhou bandits fled with only light cavalry, abandoning all their baggage and tents. The losses to them can already be called severe. They have no supplies. We can still chase down and kill some along the way."

"The Jianzhou bandits definitely made preparations at Jinzhou. There should be grain stored there." Chen Xin drew a breath. The air was thick with the smell of burning cloth of all kinds. The mountain infantry and special service teams he had sent to Fuzhou had been quite effective in their raids. The Later Jin had transferred another two thousand armored soldiers from central Liaodong, led by a Beizi of the Bordered Blue Banner, to reinforce the escort operations near Fuzhou.

The Jianzhou bandits had even mobilized men in their fifties. Their heavy troops were all in Liaodong and Liaonan, dealing with Dongjiang and Dengzhou. The central Liaodong region was basically emptied, with only Sahaliyan's several hundred men and a small number of Han troops at Niuzhuang to defend the long Sancha River. Fortunately, the Liaodong garrison, as usual, dared not make a move. Zu Dashou kept frantically sending alarms to Jingshi, claiming that tens of thousands of Later Jin troops could besiege Jinzhou at any moment, incessantly demanding military pay and arms.

The harder they hit the Jianzhou bandits this time, the less chance they would have of coming to Liaonan again. Dengzhou had already demonstrated its ability to stand against the Jianzhou bandits independently, and had even dared to pursue and attack. In future dealings with the Liaodong garrison, this would give them the advantage.

But given the situation before him, the Jianzhou bandits had used the heavy fog and the great fire to break contact. Relying on the mobility of their cavalry, they could flee back to Jinzhou in a single day. After all, the distance was only one hundred twenty li.

Chen Xin sighed. "Huang Taiji has guts. He let the bondservants and those without horses leave first, while he himself stayed behind with the elite troops to steady the Jianzhou army's morale. Now it all depends on Muchangyi. That river isn't so easy to cross. Has there been any unusual movement at Muchangyi these past two days?"

Liu Pojun said in a low voice, "A special service squad was sent there. A few days ago they reported a large number of bondservants at Muchangyi. Contact was lost two days ago. Yesterday an additional scout team was dispatched. They sent men back overnight to report that the defenses there are tight, with Jianzhou White Armor Soldiers everywhere in the mountains."

Chen Xin's brow furrowed even tighter.

Muchangyi. Zhu Guobin, leading the pursuit, halted one li from the riverbank. On the riverbank lay the corpses of over two hundred Later Jin soldiers, along with over a hundred dead and wounded horses. Behind him were roughly two thousand cavalry and Long Qibing, and further back, the infantry who had force-marched to catch up.

The Dengzhou army had opened a path through the smoke, extinguishing the fires along the way. The main force pursued the Later Jin army along the official road. The Dengzhou cavalry had been well preserved during the siege, and their horses' stamina far exceeded that of the Jianzhou bandits who had come from afar.

The roadside was filled with kneeling, surrendering bondservants, totaling around two thousand. They were all Aha who had been left at the very rear. Facing the Dengzhou cavalry, they lacked the strength to flee and could only choose to surrender. The Dengzhou cavalry had overtaken many straggling Later Jin soldiers along the way. Most of these Later Jin soldiers were elites from various banners who had lost their direction during skirmishing and only went to catch up with the main force after the fog lifted. Most of these Later Jin soldiers were cut down; a small number fled into the mountain forests and wilderness. The Dengzhou army could not spare the effort to hunt down these scattered stragglers and pressed on in pursuit all the way to Muchangyi, a key point fifty li from Lushun.

Zhu Guobin caught up with the Jianzhou rearguard at the riverbank. Two waves of charges cut down over two hundred Jianzhou soldiers. But he quickly noticed something unusual in the river. The Later Jin troops on the opposite bank had also formed their ranks. If he rashly charged across, it was very likely that part of his cavalry would be cut off from the southern bank by the current and annihilated by the enemy cavalry. He sent men to investigate and discovered that the Later Jin troops had built a dam upstream.

Chen Xin hurried to where his command flag was, raised his telescope, and observed. Outside the post station at Muchangyi on the opposite bank were about three thousand Later Jin cavalry. Huang Taiji's great banner was prominently among them. However, their formation was also somewhat disordered — clearly they had regrouped in haste. They seemed to be waiting for the Dengzhou troops to cross the river.

Zhu Guobin said to Chen Xin, "The Jianzhou bandits built a dam upstream. The riverbed is already dry. Their cavalry crossed easily."

"Has the upstream started releasing water now?"

Zhu Guobin shook his head. "Still unknown. The special service teams' reconnaissance of Muchangyi has never gone smoothly. So this is what the Jianzhou bandits were building here."

Today, Chen Xin had encountered setbacks for the third time. First the inexplicable heavy fog, then the fire barrier, and now the water barrier. It was clear that Huang Taiji had planned this retreat for a long time. Apart from the heavy fog, which was accidental, the burning of the main camp and the water barrier were both Huang Taiji's designs. He had also specially sent men to strengthen the defenses at Muchangyi. The reconnaissance ships Chen Xin had dispatched found a large number of Later Jin troops there, and a landing operation would have had little chance of success.

This place was an even more critical point than Nanguan, because of its narrow terrain and the river barrier. In the various war games of the Military Orders Bureau, this was always where they inflicted heavy damage on the Later Jin army. Some had also raised the possibility that the Later Jin might build a dam, but in the end Liu Pojun believed that as long as they clung tightly to the Later Jin's tail, that dam would not be of much use. If they released water to flood, they would drown the Later Jin troops along with them.

Who could have known that Huang Taiji would add a fire barrier in front, thereby widening the distance? The heavy fog caused chaos in the Dengzhou garrison. At the final moment, Chen Xin had failed to hold back and hastily sent out the cavalry, which achieved nothing and instead threw the cavalry and Long Qibing into disorder as well.

Chen Xin conducted a self-review in his mind. The Dengzhou garrison still lacked experience in this kind of large-scale battle. The staff officer system had already shown its advantages in planning, but the moment such an emergency arose, the staff officers were all out of ideas. It still fell to Chen Xin to make the call off the top of his head.

"How do you plan to deal with this?"

Zhu Guobin replied, "Your subordinate has sent all the detachments of the Long Qibing dismounted. They are already advancing upstream."

Chen Xin shook his head. "These three thousand cavalry retreated from Lushun. In the mountain valley defile to the east, there must be troops waiting to receive them — the forces of Yoto that were previously stationed at Muchangyi, waiting for us to cross the river so they can pincer our cavalry."

As the two were speaking, the sound of roaring water came from upstream. A tidal surge came rushing down, crashing into sheets of spray in the riverbed. The water quickly filled the riverbed. From the distant Later Jin cavalry formation rose the sound of gongs. They turned in sequence and departed through the defile between the two mountains at Muchangyi. In the end, only five hundred White Armor Soldiers remained, clustered around Huang Taiji's great banner. They held the rear, and only after the other armored soldiers were far away did they unhurriedly spur their horses and gallop off.

Chen Xin looked at the force of the water in the river, which showed no sign of abating. Staring coldly in the direction of that great banner, he said, "You're lucky this time." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian to cast your votes and monthly tickets. Mobile users please read at

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