Chapter 122: How Many Wu Sanguis Are There, Exactly? (Please Add to Favorites, Please Vote)

Over a thousand white felt hats surged around Li Guo, before and behind him.

Beneath those felt hats were more than a thousand soldiers of the Shun army's Old Camp, the rear camp commander's personal standard troops, all of them seething with frustration, crowding around the rear camp's General-in-Chief Li Guo as they fled the battlefield in panic.

It truly was both panicked and aggrieved, and what was more, their hearts were full of unwillingness and defiance.

These Old Camp soldiers had tasted defeat before — they had lost battles far worse than today's, more times than they could count! But never had they lost a battle more unjustly than this one.

A full two thousand Old Camp elites! And cavalry at that! If they had been able to deploy in open battle, they would have had nothing to fear even from tens of thousands of Zhu-bandit troops. Even if they could not win, could they not have ridden away at leisure, relying on their horses?

But who could have imagined that Wu Sangui would be so cunning, and that Tang Tong, for some unknown reason, would actually turn back and defect to the Zhu bandits right on the battlefield, joining with Wu Sangui to lay a trap and stab them viciously in the back. Had that wretch Tang Tong lost his mind? The Shun were on the verge of taking the whole realm — how could he still betray them? And besides, had not Beijing fallen to the Zhu precisely because he defected at Juyong Pass? If he had held out there for another ten days or half a month, Wu Sangui's great army would have entered the city. Could the Roving King have won the realm?

For the Ming's number-one traitor to turn back again — had he gone completely mad?

But Li Guo had no time just then to puzzle over Tang Tong's thinking. As he fled, he craned his neck toward the southern wall of the Tianjin garrison.

Over there the sky was still lit by towering flames, and faintly came the sounds of slaughter and the roar of muskets and cannon — clearly, the Zhu-bandit troops inside the southern wall of the Tianjin garrison were still fighting to the death!

How were these Zhu-bandit soldiers so stubborn? The wall had fallen and still they would not give up, fighting Chen Yongfu all the way until now, with the sun nearly setting.

"My Lord! The pontoon bridge — the pontoon bridge seems to be lost!"

Someone suddenly shouted in Li Guo's ear. Startled, he quickly turned his gaze toward the pontoon bridge ahead.

Li Yan's great banner and the Shun army's "Roving" war flag had already vanished. In their place flew a dragon banner and a commander's standard!

The pontoon bridge had already been seized by the Zhu bandits?

This truly frightened Li Guo!

No matter how great the losses on the north bank of the Wei River, they would not affect the outcome of the battle for Tianjin. As long as Chen Yongfu could take the southern wall of the Tianjin garrison, the victor of this great battle would still be he, Li Guo.

The Zhu Crown Prince and Wu Sangui, no matter what, could not possibly hold out in the northern city of the Tianjin garrison. Most likely they would abandon the city and make for Dagukou. Once they reached the Dagukou seaport, they would simply wait for a favorable wind and sail across the sea to Denglai.

Even if they did not leave, the Chongzhen Emperor and Zhu Cilang, bottled up in Dagukou, could no longer threaten Beijing.

Dagukou was too far from Beijing — over three hundred li — with the Tianjin garrison sitting in between.

Thus the Shun army could next concentrate its strength against the Zhu-bandit troops at Yongping, or against the Manchus coming from the east and north.

As long as they could fight the Manchus to a standstill, the Shun's hold on the realm would be secure.

But if the Zhu-bandit troops on the north bank of the Wei River crossed the river to reinforce southern Tianjin, Chen Yongfu would most likely be defeated! And if he were defeated, the Tianjin garrison would fall entirely under Zhu-bandit control.

Then the Shun, entrenched in Beijing, would face the peril of the eastern barbarians to the north and the Zhu bandits to the south.

If the Shun could not hold Beijing, the consequences might be even worse than if they had never come to Beijing in the first place!

"No!" Li Guo gritted his teeth. "We have to destroy that pontoon bridge! Brothers, all of you follow me — for the Shun's realm, fight the Zhu bandits to the death!

After this battle, the Tianjin garrison is yours to run wild in!"

"Fight them to the death!"

"Kill the Zhu bandits, sack Tianjin!"

With Li Guo offering up the Tianjin garrison as reward, the flagging morale of the Old Camp soldiers was instantly roused.

In truth their losses had not been great. Earlier, when "Tang Tong" and "Wu Sangui" had ambushed them below the earthworks, they had lost two hundred men, and the brigade led by Li You had been ambushed beneath the rampart held by the Tang family troops, losing over a hundred more.

The two defeats together cost only a little over three hundred men, and during the pursuit by Wu Sangui, several dozen stragglers had also lost their lives. All told, nearly four hundred gone — no small number, but Wu Sangui's Yi cavalry had still been underestimated by Li Guo.

In flight they were swift, but in pursuit they were sluggish. His own cavalry's warhorses were long since exhausted; at best they could manage a fast walk now. At that speed, even infantry might catch up. Yet the Wu family's Yi cavalry could not catch them, and were being left farther and farther behind.

These "Yi soldiers" were clearly afraid to die! Old Wu's family had raised a pack of good-for-nothings.

"My Lord! A thousand-odd riders to the northwest — they seem to be heading for the pontoon bridge as well!"

At that moment someone else reported the latest change on the battlefield to Li Guo. Today's battlefield was truly chaotic. Not only were the Shun and Ming armies locked in a disorderly melee, but inside the Tianjin garrison there was also a confused band of volunteer troops, and outside the city a cavalry force of unknown origin was hovering about.

Incidentally, the trap laid earlier by Wu Sanfu had actually been meant for this unidentified cavalry. But no one had expected that this cavalry would merely circle the edge of the battlefield, while Li Guo, leading two thousand riders, would blunder headlong into the trap.

And now, for some reason, this cavalry had turned and was heading toward the pontoon bridge.

Whose men were they?

"Whose men are they, exactly?"

Zhu Cilang was standing on the platform above the cabin of the Grand Dragon Head, holding a telescope and peering at the large body of cavalry rapidly approaching in the distance, his brow deeply furrowed.

The demoness Red Lady had now been captured, Li Yan's force had been scattered, and the pontoon bridge had been seized.

Victory was in sight — so how had a thousand-odd cavalry suddenly appeared out of nowhere? They were fresh troops! And judging by their marching formation, they were not much inferior to the Great Han Generals — clearly an elite force.

A thousand elite cavalry was a force capable of turning the tide of battle!

"No banners, and no uniform battle jackets — but their formation shows they are clearly well-trained troops!"

Cao Youyi was also holding a telescope and looking them over again and again, commenting as he watched, his tone grave.

"Hmph, whoever they are, We have a way to deal with them!" He lowered the telescope, his face brimming with a confident smile.

In truth, what way did he have? Nothing more than the two great red-barbarian cannons firing grapeshot — provided the enemy, like Li Yan and Red Lady, foolishly came close enough to be blasted.

If the newcomers merely operated around the pontoon bridge, blocking the Ming troops north of the Wei River from crossing, there was nothing Zhu Cilang could do.

"Commander Cao, Fleet Master." Zhu Cilang turned and glanced at Cao Youyi and Shen Tingyang. "Go and arrange for the soldiers on all ships other than the Grand Dragon Head to land at the Wei River docks. Then have the north gate of the Tianjin garrison's southern city opened, and find a way to move my Imperial Father, Imperial Mother, and Wu Xiang onto the ships."

Zhu Cilang had just finished making his worst-case "damage-control arrangements" when the unidentified cavalry came to a halt four or five hundred paces north of the pontoon bridge, and then spread out into assault formation in groups of forty or fifty riders, forming more than twenty such groups in all. From a distance it looked disorderly, but anyone who understood cavalry warfare could see at a glance that this band of horsemen was not to be trifled with.

This cavalry had planted itself squarely in the path of Li Guo and his men. Li Guo's cavalry had been dashing about the battlefield for most of the day; though they had not been running the entire time, their horses' strength was spent, and they could no longer charge.

So Li Guo did not dare approach this band of riders of unknown origin. He halted at a distance, gathering his men and barely forming them into a dense array, while sending Li You forward to ask who they were.

Just as Li You spurred his horse forward, a commander's great banner was suddenly raised by this cavalry that had come from nowhere.

And when Li Guo saw that banner, he was instantly stunned. For clearly embroidered on the flag were the words: "Liaodong Regional Commander, Earl Who Pacifies the West"!

The men ahead were actually Wu Sangui!

But the force pursuing from behind also flew Wu Sangui's banner?

How many Wu Sanguis did the Great Ming actually have?

Just as Li Guo stood stunned, the cavalry of the "Wu Sangui" blocking his path had already sounded the horn for the attack.

(End of Chapter)