Chapter 564: Ertai Shan

Zhu Guobin received Chen Xin's order on Xu Shan. Although he was the Mobile Corps Commander of the Second Brigade, he still directly led the Fourth Battalion. The Second Brigade's Sixth Battalion had been split into three parts: two square-formation company-commander units were deployed respectively at Guo'erpu and in the passage through Shidaokou Shan on the eastern flank of the battlefield, ensuring the security of the rear and the flank, while the Sixth Battalion's First Company was transferred by Chen Xin to Zhuanzi Village.

The forces he now commanded were the Seventh Battalion and the Fourth Battalion on the right wing. The Fourth Battalion had been formed by splitting the original Fourth Mixed Battalion from the early days of occupying Liaonan. Despite personnel turnover over the years, it remained the strongest battalion in Liaonan. The Seventh Battalion had been established during the most recent expansion. Its backbone consisted of auxiliary soldiers who had fought in the Battle of Lüshun. These soldiers had received basic training while serving as auxiliaries and reserves, and they also possessed battlefield experience from Lüshun, making them excellent mobilization troops. After being reinforced with drawn non-commissioned officers and officers, a new battalion was established. Following half a year of intensive training, it had become a qualified product off the Dengzhou army's assembly line.

The Later Jin banners facing them bore the flags of the Plain Blue and Bordered Blue Banners. Zhu Guobin gave a faint, cold sneer. Huang Taiji still had his selfish motives. Judging from his deployment, Huang Taiji's most personally loyal Two Yellow Banners and Two Blue Banners were positioned in the defensive sector, while the Two White Banners and Two Red Banners were on the attacking right wing, clearly likely to suffer greater losses.

North of Xu Shan, Ertai Village was less than half a li from the foot of the hill. The force that had attacked Ertai Village in the morning was Hooge's Plain Blue Banner. Now, the Bordered Blue Banner's Ujen Cooha were already garrisoned inside, along with some true Jurchens from the two Blue Banners. Arrayed behind and to the flank of Ertai Village were roughly four thousand cavalry of the two Blue Banners, and about five hundred men from the Mongol right wing. This Mongol unit had not appeared in previous intelligence, and Zhu Guobin believed they had only just arrived on the battlefield.

East of Xu Shan there was a passage that could be used to bypass the hill, but behind Xu Shan lay Yulinpu. The Fourth Battalion had been garrisoned there for quite some time, and Chen Xin had long ago designated this area as a pre-planned battlefield. Trenches and earthen walls had been dug facing the eastern side of Xu Shan. After the bitter cold set in, water was poured over them to form ice, making them impassable for Later Jin cavalry or infantry.

Inside Yulinpu, there was also a reserve square-formation company-commander unit and three hundred soldiers from the Fuzhou Garrison stationed there. This reserve company-commander unit came from Wendeng. Except for using crouching-tiger cannons as their artillery, their pikes and firelocks were identical to those of the combat troops. Although their formation and maneuverability were not strong, their defensive training had been especially intensified before the battle. After watching them drill, Zhu Guobin was not overly worried about the defense of Xu Shan's eastern side.

"Lord Chen demands that we project overwhelming momentum. The battalion artillery company will accompany us, and the First Company-Commander Unit's heavy weapons flag unit will be fully committed." Zhu Guobin summoned his staff officer and issued the order. A rider waved a command flag at the central army position. Moments later, at the foot of the hill, the Fourth Battalion's battalion flag acknowledged. Subordinate units issued verbal orders to dress ranks. Soon, the beat of drums and the sound of brass whistles rose, and the front ranks of the Fourth Battalion's two square-formation company-commander units began to advance.

The two company-commander units formed a total of eight company squares. The front rank of each unit consisted of two companies from one si, under the command of a squad commander. The basic composition of each square was two hundred and fourteen men. Each company square had ninety-six pikemen and ninety-six musketeers, plus one detached flag unit. Behind the four squares, a mandarin-duck formation si of over four hundred and fifty men was deployed. The forward formation was commanded by the Fourth Battalion's deputy battalion commander.

The Dengzhou Garrison's first wave of attack against the Later Jin left wing committed over fifteen hundred troops, including three four-pounder battalion guns, four crouching-tiger cannons, four eight-pounder guns from the battalion artillery company, and one heavy weapons flag unit.

As the squares advanced, the pikes stretching across the field began to sway, like a sea wind passing through a forest. Behind this forest of pikes were the mandarin-duck formation squads organized by combat group, with the attached field artillery carts following behind the formation, pulled by horses.

Shortly after the four squares in the first line advanced, the four squares in the rear line also began to move forward.

At that moment, an operations staff officer approached and saluted. "Mobile Corps Commander, my lord, Lord Chen has transferred an additional cavalry company-commander unit to the right wing, placing it under the Second Brigade's command, but he has ordered the rocket troops redeployed to the left flank. The rocket company will withdraw after finishing this salvo."

Zhu Guobin furrowed his brow. After observing the Later Jin deployment, he believed that the right wing, where Xu Shan was located, needed to shift from defense to offense. Chen Xin reinforcing the right wing with cavalry was necessary, but he did not understand why the rocket troops were being withdrawn. Zhu Guobin glanced at the dense, dark mass of Later Jin cavalry on the left wing. Those horsemen still had not moved. After a moment, he nodded. "Understood."

A shrieking sound came from Xu Shan as over twenty trails of white smoke soared into the air, leaving crooked traces across the sky. Hooge's gaze followed those trails, watching the rockets with their long wooden shafts plummet down, kicking up puffs of snow powder in the snow around Ertai Village. Then, in some places, dazzling balls of fire erupted.

Hooge, the Banner Lord of the Plain Blue Banner, glanced at the flags on Xu Shan. There was a red Vice Regional Commander's identification banner bearing the character Zhu. That must be Zhu Guobin. He had heard this man was a Liaodong native, formerly just a military household near Haizhou who had fled by sea to Dengzhou and was among the earliest to follow Chen Xin. Since the Dengzhou Garrison landed in Liaonan, the opponent Later Jin had faced most often was not Chen Xin, but this Zhu Guobin. He had long been garrisoned at Jinzhou and Lüshun and was highly skilled in cavalry warfare. Hooge had been deeply impressed by him during the Battle of Lüshun.

The Dengzhou squares remained orderly even while advancing. About thirty paces ahead of the formation was a line of soldiers in a looser formation. Hooge had observed He Changjiu's training. These were the detached troops that every Dengzhou square company possessed. Their combat style was flexible. They used socket-bayonet flintlock muskets, wore only cotton armor in winter, and could perform multiple roles including reconnaissance, vanguard, screening, and regular attacks. Chen Xin called them light infantry. In pitched battles, they often served as skirmishers, engaging the enemy ahead of the main formation and screening the approach of the square infantry.

Interspersed among each company's skirmishers were two mandarin-duck formation combat groups, each of twenty-four men. They likewise served in the vanguard role for the squares, providing cover for them.

The sound of hoofbeats came from beside him. Hooge turned his head to see Jirgalang riding up. Jirgalang shouted to him, "Seventeen or eighteen hundred Dengzhou soldiers, and the second wave is the same number. Just now we also spotted a mounted unit of several hundred men."

"And those larger bronze cannons." Hooge pointed toward the flanks of the Dengzhou infantry formation. Jirgalang followed his gaze. Indeed, on each flank there were two horse-drawn cannons, a size larger than the four-pounders he had seen before. In fact, these eight-pounders had first appeared as early as the Fuzhou offensive. Later, the raids on Gaizhou had been primarily cavalry operations, and these infantry units had mostly advanced no further than the Qingsha River, so Jirgalang had never seen them.

"Why put the cannons on the flanks?" Hooge mused, stroking his chin. "We always place ours in the center, in front of the formation."

Jirgalang could not figure it out either. To his mind, the front was where it was easiest to hit people. Why would the Dengzhou Garrison place their larger cannons on the flanks?

"This Dengzhou Garrison is full of tricks. Even cannon placement has some learning behind it." Jirgalang said in his rough, booming voice, "Beile Hooge, you are the commander of the left wing. Tell us how we should fight."

Hooge observed for a moment, then said, "Uncle Liu, you hit their left flank, and I'll hit their right. After we rout their forward formation, we'll drive the fleeing soldiers to break through their second line. If they collapse quickly, we'll seize the momentum and take Xu Shan."

"I hear that Yulinpu behind it has been dug into a maze of ditches and channels by the Dengzhou Garrison. Taking Xu Shan might not be of much use to us."

"We'll set up cannons on Xu Shan. Then the Dengzhou Garrison won't be able to form up on the ground near Yulinpu. We'll squeeze them into one mass, and not a single one will escape."

Hooge was filled with a surge of heroic fervor, recalling the many great massacres in Later Jin's history against Ming armies. Those slaughters held no danger whatsoever; under the effect of collective panic, the Ming troops were utterly incapable of fighting back.

Jirgalang shot Hooge a glance. He knew Hooge's mentality best. Hooge was decent enough in both warfare and personal conduct, but he was usually hesitant in daily matters, yet overly reckless on the battlefield, lacking long-term vision. There was a degree of distrust toward him among the nobility. Many did not regard him as the Banner Lord of the Plain Blue Banner, but merely as Huang Taiji's son. Therefore, Hooge always harbored a sense of defiance in his heart, longing to achieve a heaven-shaking feat of merit.

Jirgalang lowered his voice and cautioned, "Beile Hooge, it will suffice if we hold Ertai Village securely. Whether we take Xu Shan or not does not matter, but absolutely no mishap can occur on the left wing."

Hooge nodded. By now, the Dengzhou skirmishers had reached within a hundred paces of Ertai Village. Two cannon shots boomed from within the village, sending out two iron balls weighing just over three catties each.

In the direction of the more distant Zhuanzi Shan, several smoke trails flew across the low, overcast sky, streaking toward those dense ranks of cavalry. Moments later, the Later Jin cavalry dispatched a detachment toward the western side of Zhuanzi Shan.

Hooge tugged at his collar and said, "The Great Khan is about to begin his assault on the Dengzhou Garrison's left wing. We need to hit them harder here."

Jirgalang nodded. The two men each led their goshiha back to their respective flanks behind and beside Ertai Village. The four Dengzhou Garrison squares advanced steadily. Suddenly, flags waved, followed by the sound of a gong. The entire army shouted in unison and came to a halt. They were now only one hundred and fifty paces from Ertai Village. Officers moved between the ranks, ordering the troops to dress formation. The artillery following behind swiftly passed through the gaps between formations, rapidly lowered their gun carriages, and removed the tools for cleaning the bores from the carriages, completing their firing preparations at high speed.

Two cannon booms thundered, but the shots did not come from the Dengzhou Garrison. They flew from the ruins of Ertai Village, fired from Later Jin's own imitation bronze three-catty guns. One of the two shots struck the Dengzhou battle line. Hooge even saw limbs flying through the air. The power and psychological shock of cannonballs far surpassed that of cold weapons.

"Let you have a taste of being shelled too." Hooge laughed smugly. (To be continued.)

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