Chapter 1069: Now It's Nikan's Turn! (Please Subscribe)

"Tuhai! Tuhai, what nonsense are you spouting!"

Before Tuhai could finish, Biliktu was already roaring: "What do you mean, split the army into three columns? Is the Prince a fool like Yang Hao? Even if the Prince hasn't fought many battles, aren't there still Nikan, Yue Le, Tantai, Leng Sengji, Zhandai, Ganglin, and Ebilun? Which one of them isn't a veteran commander with a brilliant battle record? With them leading the charge, why should we fear ten thousand elite Ming troops?"

Tuhai only shook his head and said nothing.

Biliktu went on: "And the Prince's three-sided ambush isn't the same as splitting into three columns. The three ambush forces are close together. One blocks the northern road, checking the Ming army's line of advance. One lies in ambush to the east, ready to strike the enemy's flank and drive them toward the Liao River. And one is our own brave men of the Elite Cavalry Camp, tasked with circling behind the enemy. The three forces together number more than sixty thousand. Five against one — how could we possibly lose?"

"Five against one, and with every advantage of terrain — how could we possibly not win?"

Hearing Biliktu put it that way, Tuhai was momentarily at a loss for words. For he too knew that Duoni's dispositions could not possibly go as badly wrong as Yang Hao's had. And the Ming army should not be able to detect Duoni's intentions, because the troops that had followed him south all believed Duoni had already returned to Shenyang.

By all rights, Duoni's three-sided ambush ought to have been absolutely foolproof!

But the Ming troops that had landed at the mouth of the Liao River were simply too strong — strong beyond all reason!

"Tuhai," Biliktu said, seeing Tuhai fall silent, and finally let out a breath of relief. "Come, come with me to see the Prince. And once you're before the Prince, don't go saying the wrong thing! With a great battle at hand, the Prince will not tolerate anyone shaking the army's morale." He paused. "The men who came back with you are a bit few. Just say they were scattered during the retreat. As for the Ming army's fighting strength, mention it briefly and that's enough."

At these words, Tuhai felt a cold wind on the back of his neck. Fortunately Biliktu was a true friend. Otherwise, if he had gone before Duoni and blurted out the whole truth, wouldn't his head have been cut off to set an example?

Words, indeed, must not be spoken carelessly!

"Tuhai, from what you say, this Ming force really is strong!"

Some thirty or forty li east of the Liao River, inside a fort called Gucheng Village, Tuhai finally met Duoni, who was in a state of high excitement. And once before Duoni, he did not dare tell the whole truth — that would have been irresponsible toward his own head; nor did he tell a complete lie — that would have wronged his own conscience.

So Tuhai gave a half-truth, half-lie: on the one hand he stressed the Ming army's ferocity; on the other he concealed his own losses, saying only that they had been ambushed during the retreat and the unit scattered.

Feigning defeat to lure the enemy was never easy in the first place; being scattered by the enemy and having a feigned defeat turn into a real one was a common enough occurrence. Duoni was of course deeply dissatisfied, but he could not kill Tuhai for it. Otherwise, who would take on such dangerous assignments in the future?

"They really are strong." Tuhai knelt on the ground, so ashamed he could not lift his head — because he had feared death, and disgraced his ancestors!

"My Prince," Biliktu chimed in from the side, "this slave suggests ordering Prince An to dig trenches and raise ramparts around the Eastern Depot Fort and adopt a defensive posture. First blunt the Ming army with defense, then have Prince Jingjin deliver a flank attack. The Ming army will surely not withstand it. Then this slave, together with Zhandai and Tantai, will lead the Elite Cavalry Camp in a charge, and we are certain to rout the Ming army."

Duoni nodded. "Yue Le excels at defense; digging trenches and raising ramparts will surely work. Nikan excels at fierce assault; striking the enemy's flank cannot go wrong. Their two forces each have more than twenty thousand men — combined, four times the enemy. There is no way we can fail to win! It is settled!"

He raised his voice: "Further, transmit Our princely decree: the survival of our Great Qing and the homes of all our troops rest upon this single battle! Defending home and country, we must advance and not retreat! After victory, We shall share wealth and honor with all the troops!"

Sharing wealth and honor was impossible, because there was no wealth left. But sharing hardship was still possible!

If Duoni won this battle, he could still share hardship with his men. If he lost — then it truly would be the end!

While Duoni was adjusting his dispositions and preparing to deal the Ming army a head-on blow, Qin Mingtao and Li Shaowen had already recalled their scattered units and were regrouping around a manor called Wangtian Village on the east bank of the Liao River.

The reason Qin Mingtao and Li Shaowen were regrouping was not that they had detected an ambush ahead, but that they believed they had already annihilated Tuhai's force — the fish had happily devoured the bait, hook and all, so of course it was time to doze comfortably for a while.

So Qin Mingtao ordered signal rockets fired to recall the troops, and also ordered the unit left holding Liangfangkou Pass — one infantry regiment plus a large baggage train — to march north and link up. At the same time he sent out small reconnaissance parties to probe northward. Trained from childhood, the Nine Border youths who had undergone six years of year-round 997 training were all familiar with light infantry tactics and could certainly serve as scouts. Moreover, north of Wangtian Village stretched vast seas of wheat, highly favorable for concealing the reconnaissance of small infantry squads.

And just as the soldiers of the Young Guard Division were searching north of Wangtian Village, the first heavy snow of the year finally fell across the Northeast. And it fell with exceptional fury! In just one day and one night of heavy snow, heaven and earth were a single expanse of white. The wheat that had not been harvested in time, due to the shortage of hands and the fighting between the two armies, was all frozen dead and rotting in the fields, becoming fertilizer to nourish the soil. The sea of wheat quickly became a snowfield. The cold wind swept over it, whipping up snowflakes not yet frozen solid, a vast mist-like blur that cut visibility still further. The rivers large and small across the Northeast also began to freeze, and even the broad Liao River was no exception — a single night of bitter cold was enough to set a thin layer of drifting ice floating on its surface.

Although the young soldiers under Qin Mingtao had lived for six years in the relatively warm climate of Yingtian Prefecture, before this expedition Emperor Zhu had prepared clothing sufficient to withstand the bitter cold of the Northeast. Moreover, during their time at Laoshan-Pukou, these youths had undergone extensive field acclimatization training every winter. Especially after snow fell north of the Yangtze, their field training became even more frequent — sometimes they even marched through snow to the north of the Huai River and stayed out in the snowfields for an entire month!

So these young soldiers could now fully adapt to the early winter of the Northeast. But whether they could still adapt when the truly harsh deep winter arrived was very hard to say.

Therefore the time left to Qin Mingtao, Zhang Shaowen, and the others was running short. If they could not fight a few more battles before mid-October and push the front to the Liaoyang area, then the Ming army on the northeastern front would truly have to prepare to winter over.

He was in a warm room with a stove burning, head down writing a memorial to report to Emperor Zhu, far away in Tianjin, on the just-concluded Battle of Kongjia Fort. The memorial was written in plain vernacular — Emperor Zhu had forbidden the army from using classical Chinese for reports and orders. Within the entire Marshal's Office system, everything was to be in plain vernacular, and reports and orders were required to be free of ambiguity.

Thus the senior Ming generals, whose classical Chinese was limited, needed no secretaries — they could write memorials to Emperor Zhu themselves.

The memorial had just been finished, and he was checking for miswritten characters, when the door was suddenly pushed open. After a gust of cold wind, Chief of Staff Li Shaowen was already standing before Qin Mingtao.

"Division Commander, another great army of the eastern barbarians has been spotted!"

Qin Mingtao's head snapped up: "Where? How many?"

"East of Niuyayi. Numbers unknown, but at least around twenty thousand, mainly infantry!"

It turned out the Young Guard Division's scouts had found Nikan's force!

"Did you engage them? Any prisoners taken?"

Li Shaowen nodded. "Prisoners were taken, but not brought back. According to what interrogation revealed, that force is led by the eastern barbarians' false Prince Nikan, with some twenty-odd jalan. They were originally marching north to return to Shenyang, but at Kalahe Fort they suddenly turned, and then arrived east of Niuyayi to await orders."

"What are they up to?" Qin Mingtao was somewhat puzzled. "Why aren't they acting together with Tuhai? Their chances would be better that way."

Li Shaowen laughed. "Duoni must be some pampered son of privilege who doesn't know how to fight — giving orders blindly!"

"That's right!" Qin Mingtao laughed. "Then let's put in a bit more effort and swallow this eastern barbarian force. Then we'll go to Haizhou Guard to winter over!"

(End of Chapter)