Chapter 162: The Tartars Are Still Ferocious (Fifth Update — Monthly Tickets, Monthly Tickets)

When Yu Daren launched the stampeding oxen to create a traffic accident, the Manchu's foremost warrior Duolong was also walking his horse across the pontoon bridge. However, his position was further back, so he was not rammed by the wild oxen in the first instant. Thus he had time to react, and immediately ordered the Bayara warriors following him to form a spear wall on the pontoon bridge!

Whether stampeding oxen or fire oxen, they could only frighten the fake Tartars of the Plain Yellow Banner's Han troops. In the eyes of the Bayara warriors, they were nothing more than a pile of beef!

Those forming the spear wall were all so-called red-armored soldiers, every one of them stocky and strong men. Facing the sudden upheaval, they showed not a trace of panic, merely raising their lances and calmly forming ranks. It was as if the chaos ahead, the stampeding oxen and horses, and the Plain Yellow Banner Han soldiers falling into the water did not exist at all.

Meanwhile Duolong and ten white-armored Bayara stood behind the spear wall formed by the red-armored Bayara, every man holding a cavalry lance, simply watching the front with expressionless faces.

The red-armored Bayara in front were all crouching, so they did not block their line of sight, allowing them to clearly see the stampeding oxen and horses drawing closer and closer.

Duolong raised his lance with his right hand, and at the same time lifted his left arm, leaning his upper body back in the motion of hurling a javelin. Then with a furious roar, his body surged forward, his right arm swung, and the lance left his hand, tracing an arc through the air, piercing through the wind and rain-mist, and then without the slightest deviation, it slammed into one of the stampeding wild oxen. The ox was impaled through the body by the lance, and under its own momentum it charged forward a few more steps, then collapsed headfirst.

Immediately after, several more cavalry lances were hurled with great force, all as if they had eyes, striking the remaining stampeding wild oxen.

The stopping power of a lance was nothing a bow and arrow could compare to — even a wild ox could not withstand a lance piercing through its body!

The "traffic accident" that had cost the Plain Yellow Banner Han troops over two hundred men was thus easily resolved by the Manchu's foremost warrior Duolong and the Bayara warriors under his command. Real Tartars, after all, were far more ferocious than the fake Tartars of the Eight Banners' Han troops!

"Retreat! Retreat!" Yu Daren had already seen the Manchu warriors' skill at hurling lances to kill oxen, and immediately knew he was no match for them, hastily ordering a withdrawal.

By this time the ropes on the southern side of the pontoon bridge had already been cut — Yu Daren had arranged men at the southern end of the bridge beforehand, ready to sever the ropes at any moment. However, the ropes on the northern side were still tied, so the southern end of the bridge floated eastward with the current, already detached from the southern bank. Yu Daren and his men now had no way to reach the southern bank via the pontoon bridge.

Fortunately, Yu Daren had previously arranged two fast boats on the water to pick up himself and Scholar Tian, so now one of the fast boats pulled up alongside the pontoon bridge and carried Yu Daren and his dozen or so men away.

Duolong also saw the Ming soldiers in red battle robes boarding the small boat. With a strange cry, he grabbed his bow and arrows and charged along the pontoon bridge. He loosed arrows as he ran, but the bowstring, saturated with moisture, had gone somewhat slack and could not exert full force. The arrows flew out weak and limp, unable to penetrate the cloth-faced iron armor of Yu Daren and his men. The Manchu warriors were so furious they howled in rage.

And Yu Daren had been thoroughly terrified by these Manchu warriors. Even after reaching the southern bank, his heart was still pounding wildly. Seeing Scholar Tian, soaked through and wiping himself off, he asked urgently, "Scholar, what do we do? The Tartars are too fierce — they've seized the pontoon bridge!"

The scholar narrowed his eyes, watching the pontoon bridge drifting northeastward across the water, and said, "We must have drowned two or three hundred Tartars too, right? A pity we didn't get any heads — I wonder if the higher-ups will acknowledge the credit?"

"What time is this to be thinking about heads! The pontoon bridge was made from grain-transport boats! Now that the bridge is seized, the grain boats have fallen into Tartar hands!" Yu Daren said. "With these grain boats, the Tartars can cross the river!"

"No need to fear, no need to fear. Dismantling the pontoon bridge and then ferrying across by boat will take them at least a couple of hours, won't it?" Scholar Tian said. "By then Dagukou and Haisha Island will be on full alert. And besides, we managed to drown two or three hundred Tartars — that's a great merit no matter how you count it! Come, let's go to Dagukou and report our achievements to Marshal Wu!"

"Report achievements?" Yu Daren shook his head repeatedly. "The grain boats have all been taken — do the two of us really have any merit?"

"Of course we do! We killed two or three hundred Tartars! That's a great merit! Tartars — they're nothing special after all!"

Marshal Wu was Wu Guoyong, Wu Xiang's adopted son, the one who made his final appearance in the Battle of Tianjin Garrison, leading a thousand Guanning cavalry to thoroughly rout Li Guo.

After the Battle of Tianjin Garrison, the cavalry Wu Guoyong had brought were all absorbed into the Hard-Working New Army by Zhu Cilang. However, he was not allowed to continue commanding them; instead, they were all incorporated into the Central Division, becoming subordinates of Wu Sanfu, who concurrently served as the Central Division commander.

As for Wu Guoyong himself, he was appointed commander of the Right Division — after the Battle of Tianjin Garrison, Zhu Cilang carried out a round of personnel adjustments based on each general's performance in the campaign.

Among them, Wang Ran and Wang Qi, because of their poor performance in the battle for the southern city when Chen Yongfu broke through the walls, were slightly demoted and appointed as brigade commanders. Wu Guoyong, because of his merits and because he had brought his troops over to join them, was promoted to division commander.

At the same time, the commanding officers of each division and brigade were also adjusted. Li Ruolian was transferred to serve as Left Division commander; Tang Laosi, who had killed Tang Tong and brought his troops over in surrender, became the Left Division's Assistant Regional Commander. Wu Guoyong took over as Right Division commander, and Qin Mingtao, who had distinguished himself by leading troops to protect the imperial presence outside the temporary palace at Tianjin Garrison, was exceptionally promoted to Right Division Assistant Regional Commander.

The Central Division commander was concurrently held by Wu Sanfu, the Hard-Working New Army's Guard Commander — this arrangement was also a clever move. On one hand, it displayed trust in the Wu family, while at the same time it served to absorb and digest the thousand Guanning cavalry that Wu Guoyong had brought.

Additionally, it imperceptibly lowered Wu Sanfu's status. Because after the Central Division was established, the Hard-Working New Army's command office lost many of its directly subordinate units. Moreover, after the New Army's Left Division was transferred to Dengzhou and Laizhou, the Left Division in practice broke away from the New Army command office and came under the direct jurisdiction of the Grand Marshal's Office. And the Right Division's independence was only a matter of time. When that happened, the Hard-Working New Army would go from being one army to three armies, and Wu Sanfu would be just one of three commanders.

As for the Central Division's other three brigade commanders, they were respectively Vice Division Commander Wang Zhou, Hao Yaoqi of roving-bandit origin, and Chen Yidao, the head of Zhu Cilang's personal guard.

In other words, three of the Central Division's four brigades were not in the Wu family's hands.

And the eight brigade commanders of the Left and Right Divisions were Wang Ran, Wang Qi, Tang Laosi, Qin Mingtao, Zhu Guoyong, Qu Huajie, Sun Fugui, and Wang Guoyong. Among them, Wang Ran, Sun Fugui, and Wang Guoyong were of Wu-family household-retainer origin; Qu Huajie was an officer of the Guanning Army — Wang Ran was the steward Wu Xiang had brought to Beijing, Qu Huajie was a Guanning Army battalion commander who had arrived at Tianjin Garrison together with Wu Guoyong, and Sun Fugui and Wang Guoyong were young household retainers Wu Xiang had brought to Beijing, who were exceptionally promoted by Zhu Cilang to brigade commanders because of their bravery in battle — the exceptional promotions were, of course, meant to bestow favor and win them over. If these two lads were clever enough, they would know they ought to pledge themselves to the Crown Prince.

When news of the Tartar raid reached Dagukou, where the Hard-Working New Army's Right Division was stationed, Division Commander Wu Guoyong had just returned from Haisha Island. He had gone to Haisha Island to drink at Wu Sanmei's wedding banquet — although Wu Sanmei was only the third-ranking selected consort by Zhu Cilang's side, to the Wu family at Dagukou, Sanmei was in fact the Crown Prince's principal consort!

When word that the Tartars were coming reached the city of Dagukou, where the right division of the Hard-Working New Army was garrisoned, Division Commander Wu Guoyong had just returned from Sea Sand Island. He had gone to Sea Sand Island to drink at Wu Sanmei's wedding feast — although Wu Sanmei was only the third-ranked selected consort beside Zhu Cilang, to the Wu family of Dagukou, Sanmei was in fact the Crown Prince's principal consort!

Wu Guoyong was happy along with them and drank a few extra cups. By the time he returned to the division command office, he was staggering as he walked.

Just then, a frantic voice suddenly rang in his ear: "Division Commander, the Tartars are attacking!"

Just then, a frantic voice suddenly rang out beside his ear: "Division Commander, the Tartars are attacking!"

Wu Guoyong broke out in a cold sweat of terror, half sobered by the shock. Rubbing his eyes, he saw Vice Division Commander Qin Mingtao already fully armored, standing before him like a door god.

"Old Qin, did you hear that?" Wu Guoyong asked, his breath reeking of alcohol. "Someone seems to have said the Tartars are coming."

"Division Commander, the one who said the Tartars are coming — that was me!"

"Ah, Old Qin!" Wu Guoyong waved a hand. "Why make such a joke? A man scaring a man can kill someone!"

"Division Commander!" Qin Mingtao stamped his foot. "This subordinate is not joking — the Tartars really have come! They've already reached the north bank of the Wei River and seized quite a few grain boats. They'll be attacking soon!"

"What?" Wu Guoyong was drenched in cold sweat, the alcohol driven out of his body along with the perspiration. He stared wide-eyed at Qin Mingtao, barely able to speak. "Quick, quick, quick — close the city gates, prepare for battle, and send someone to Haisha Island to report!"

"What?" Wu Guoyong broke out in a cold sweat, the alcohol driven out of his body along with his perspiration. He stared wide-eyed at Qin Mingtao, barely able to speak. "Quick, quick, quick — close the city gates, prepare for battle, and send someone to Sea Sand Island to report!"

(End of Chapter)