Chapter 1737: This Khan Will Avoid the Strong and Strike the Weak!

The bed crossbows and explosive flying spears Shi Kefa used against the shield carts were not actually anything new — the Ming dynasty's vast arsenal had long contained similar weapons. If Zhu Youjian had not been uneasy about handing over Hongyi cannons and general's cannons to Shi Kefa, his militia army most likely would never have resorted to such things. Because they had no artillery, Shi Kefa's Zunhua militia had no choice but to improvise, and so they dug this marvelous combination of bombs, flying spears, and bed crossbows out of old records.

The "explosive flying spears" loosed from the bed crossbows streaked through the air, flying straight at the shield carts a few dozen paces ahead.

Most of the men pushing the shield carts were booi bondservants — and not because they had been forced; every one of them had volunteered in hopes of winning wealth and rank.

The riches won in the last assault on Da'ankou and Longjing Pass were plain for all to see — the booi who had taken part were now all banner soldiers and masters. The booi who had not joined or had not gotten their turn were all sick with envy. That Squad Leader Zhang, who by a single moment's hesitation had failed to go up Da'ankou with Fan Wencheng, was one booi bondservant eaten alive by regret. If he had gone with Fan Wencheng that time, his status now would be that of a banner soldier!

So when another chance to win merit came this time, he was determined not to let it slip. To get himself into the shield-cart teams, he had even gone specially to beg Fan Wencheng.

Fan Wencheng naturally agreed at once — to him the matter was no more than lifting a finger, because his elder brother Fan Wencai had been assigned to command ten shield carts and seventy or eighty booi, so slipping Squad Leader Zhang in was all too easy. Even though Squad Leader Zhang was young and weak, Fan Wencai still found him a lighter shield cart and set him to pushing it together with seven other booi.

On the shield cart there was not only the wooden shield, but also several sacks of sand and a few round shields.

The sand was for filling in pits — the very horse-trapping pits that had undone Duolongduo and the others. Now they had all been covered over and restored to their original state, waiting to go on trapping men and horses.

Hong Taiji of course could not allow any more Eight Banners warriors to be trapped, so he ordered the booi pushing the shield carts to fill the pits — under a rain of arrows and javelins!

And those round shields were for protecting them. When the time came, they were to hold the round shields over their heads and fill the pits for the Great Jin State!

Those who could fill the pits, then screen the Eight Banners troops behind them as they advanced to the Ming army's crescent formation, and finally survive — they would naturally rise above their station, raised from booi bondservant to a full soldier of the Eight Banners. From then on they would be true Tartars of the Eight Banners!

At the thought of the glory that came with becoming a Tartar, Squad Leader Zhang's frail body suddenly filled with inexhaustible strength, and together with the other booi bondservants he pushed the shield cart rumbling forward.

Bang! A great crash sounded, and the shield cart shuddered — a crossbow bolt must have struck the cart's great shield.

Squad Leader Zhang looked up anxiously at the cart's great shield. The great shield seemed to have withstood the crossbow bolt's blow, safe and sound!

"Squad Leader, don't be afraid," said the man in charge of this shield cart, a Mongol booi named Batu, who could also speak Chinese and had long known Squad Leader Zhang. He loudly reassured him, "Our shield carts are sturdy — even the southerners' crouching-tiger cannons can't move them."

"Boom—"

Batu had not even finished speaking when the great shield of the cart under his charge suddenly burst apart with a tremendous crack, splitting into several large pieces that flew in every direction. One of the pieces came tumbling straight at Batu's head, and without the slightest deviation, smashed right into it! A head that big, and it had looked solid enough, yet when that great chunk of wood struck it, it burst with a splat — right before Squad Leader Zhang's eyes, it shattered like a watermelon! Brains and blood sprayed out together, splashing all over Squad Leader Zhang's face. And the moment Batu's head shattered, his body lost all control, flailing and lurching toward Squad Leader Zhang. A man with half his head crushed came lunging at him like that, and Squad Leader Zhang was instantly terrified out of his wits. He turned to run, but before he had gone a few steps, someone he did not know grabbed hold of him. Squad Leader Zhang looked up and saw it was Fan Wencai.

Fan Wencai did not stand on courtesy. He swung his arm in a full circle and dealt him a great slap across the face. "What are you running for? Get back there and push the cart!"

"But — but the great shield—" Squad Leader Zhang, now slightly more clear-headed, tried to explain, and caught another slap.

"But what? The Great Jin State's military law is as firm as a mountain. If you want to live, get back there!"

Only when Fan Wencai roared at him did Squad Leader Zhang remember that the Great Jin State did indeed have military law!

The Great Jin State was strict in both rewards and punishments — desertion in the face of the enemy meant certain death!

At that thought, he forgot his fear and hurried back to push the cart. Shield or no shield, as long as you were pushing, the Eight Banners soldiers would not shoot arrows at you!

Fan Wencai had indeed saved Squad Leader Zhang's life, for the Eight Banners soldiers supervising the battle behind them had already begun shooting down the booi who fled.

The Later Jin had risen to such heights, and naturally there was merit in their ways. Among them, a relatively fair division of spoils and relatively clear rewards and punishments were the Later Jin's two great "institutional advantages."

The death penalty for desertion was not reserved for booi alone — the Eight Banners death-soldiers behind them likewise could not retreat without orders, or they would be cut down by the Eight Banners' elite troops!

In battle formation, the Eight Banners enforced military law level by level — the death-soldiers pressed the booi, the elite troops pressed the death-soldiers, and all could only advance, never retreat, unless orders to withdraw came from above.

And the man at the very top of the Great Jin State had by this time been stunned by the exploding crossbow bolts — so it could be done this way! His shield carts had been broken just like that? How had the Liaodong crowd never thought of such a simple method?

"Boom—"

Another burst of explosions — the Ming army's crescent formation had just loosed a second wave of exploding crossbow bolts. The previous wave had destroyed only part of the shield carts; seventy or eighty remained, still advancing. So Shi Kefa ordered a second wave of exploding crossbow bolts — and then a third wave, and a fourth!

Four volleys in all, firing more than four hundred exploding crossbow bolts, and consuming two-thirds of the stockpile inside Zunhua county town. But they also destroyed most of the shield carts. The shattered wooden shields flew in every direction, incidentally killing or wounding one or two hundred booi bondservants, and before the Later Jin army's lines, wails and cries rose in a single din! The remaining twenty or thirty shield carts that had not been hit also ground to a halt. The booi pushing them dared not desert, but they had no strength left and could not push the carts any farther.

But Shi Kefa's side had no more exploding crossbow bolts to keep firing, and began shooting ordinary crossbow bolts, their targets shifting from the shield carts to the Eight Banners death-soldiers.

These were crossbow bolts loosed from bed crossbows!

The distance between these Eight Banners death-soldiers and the bed crossbows was no more than a bowshot. For crossbow bolts, whose range far exceeded that of ordinary bows, at this distance no matter how many layers of armor you wore, they would pierce straight through you.

Yet the Eight Banners soldiers were fierce and brave after all. Facing the ceaseless crossbow bolts, they did not retreat so much as half a step, but instead took out their bows and returned fire.

The Eight Banners soldiers were all warriors "equipped for several forms of battle" — that is, each man mastered multiple combat skills: they could shoot, ride, and fight hand-to-hand. One soldier could serve as several! And their archery was by no means poor — fast and fairly accurate — and they soon inflicted considerable casualties on the Zunhua militia.

The Zunhua militia opposite them were far inferior. They were divided into five major troop types: saber-and-shield men, pikemen, archers, crossbowmen, and gunners. The saber-and-shield men could only throw javelins; the pikemen had no missile capability at all; the archers and crossbowmen were basically useless in close combat; the gunners, at least, could fight hand-to-hand — they were all equipped with shields, and after firing their three-eyed guns they could use them as clubs. But Shi Kefa had not sent the gunners out of the city, so today the fighting around the crescent formation was done by the saber-and-shield men, pikemen, archers, and bed-crossbow crews. Of these, only the archers and crossbowmen could trade shots with the Eight Banners soldiers. And the only ones who could truly deal a fatal blow to the Eight Banners soldiers were the one hundred twenty bed crossbows. Every volley from the bed crossbows could bring down fifteen or twenty Eight Banners soldiers!

To be brought down by a bed crossbow was nine chances in ten of death, and the one who survived would very likely be a cripple!

This way of fighting was trading lives!

"Sound the gong and withdraw!" Seeing that Shi Kefa's crescent formation seemed to have an endless supply of crossbow bolts, Hong Taiji had no choice but to give the order to retreat. As the gong signaling withdrawal rang out, Hong Taiji let out a somewhat regretful breath and said to those around him: "This Khan means to avoid the strong and strike the weak. Zunhua is strong, so this Khan will go to Yutian. If Yutian is also hard to take, this Khan will go to Jizhou. If Jizhou fails, then Pinggu."

(End of Chapter)