Chapter 1793: Bombarding Hong Taiji, Part Three

On the map, the disposition of the entire army under Zhu Youjian's command had already been marked out with small flags.

This map was not in the traditional style of the Ming army; Zhu Youjian had ordered it made in the style of the Nanjing Military Academy. Apart from his young personal guards, everyone else found it somewhat unfamiliar.

After nearly a year of training, Zhu Youjian's staff corps had begun to take shape — his fifty-odd years of emperor training had indeed taught him real skills. He had not only cultivated a peerless martial art (the black gun), but had also thoroughly digested what the Military Academy had to offer. Now he was fully qualified to serve as a teacher of generals and train a batch of future famous commanders for the Great Ming.

And those who studied the art of war under him, apart from the hundred-odd young personal guards, were his teachers Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, Sun Chuanting, and Lu Xiangsheng. Whose teachers? Well, whoever they were, he was the one responsible for teaching them!

But Zhu Youjian's learning was too vast — how could it be taught in a single year? So his teachers and students alike had only learned a little of the surface.

Moreover, what he taught his teachers and what he taught his students were not the same.

What the four teachers mainly studied was the "Taizu Long Spear Square" — of course he could not call it the "Spanish Square," because if he did, these four jinshi-born feudal bureaucrats might not be willing to learn it. So Zhu Youjian simply called the Spanish Square the Taizu Long Spear Square!

This was the formation the Exalted Emperor Taizu had used to fight the Mongol cavalry! In those days, Taizu had used long spears as a fortress, firearms to slay the caitiffs, sword-and-shield men to guard the formation, and cavalry working in coordination with the spear fortress, each covering the other, to deal fatal blows to the overweening Mongol-Yuan host.

And although this Taizu Long Spear Square had long been forgotten by the increasingly decayed Ming army, the formation diagrams left behind by the Exalted Emperor Taizu were still preserved in the palace, so it could be restored!

As for Zhu Youjian's personal guards, because they followed him every day, they learned far more. They studied not only the "Taizu Long Spear Square" and the "Taizu Cavalry Assault Formation," but also the "Taizu March Mapping Method," the "Newly Compiled Cavalry Firearm Method" (the black gun art), and the "Newly Compiled Infantry Firearm Method."

In short, after learning these arts of war, they might not necessarily become famous generals, but every one of them had become very good at stabbing people in the back.

And the map now laid before Zhu Youjian had been drawn by Hei Wentao, Cao Bianjiao, and the other young personal guards according to Zhu Youjian's instructions. It could not be called especially precise, but it allowed one to grasp the army's disposition at a glance.

The army under Zhu Youjian's command now totaled about 56,000 men: about 10,000 cavalry before the tent, 20,000 Datong troops, 6,000 from the new Capital Camps, 4,000 Xuanfu troops, 13,000 Yanshan and Miyun troops, 2,000 military household troops from Xing and Hui prefectures, and about 1,000 artillery troops before the tent.

This great army was now divided into two parts. Gao Hongtu, Zhao Shuaijiao, and Sun Zushou led the 13,000 Yan-Yun troops encamped on both banks of the Rehe, protecting the civilian laborers there as they continued building the city.

Meanwhile, Zhu Youjian, Man Gui (commanding the Datong troops), Hei Yunlong (commanding the Xuanfu troops), Lu Xiangsheng (commanding the new Capital Camps), Sun Yuanhua (commanding the artillery), Zhu Chunchen (commanding the military household troops of Xing and Hui prefectures), and the rest led the remaining 43,000 men on a loop through the Luan River valley, then entered the open banks of the Kuan River, advancing all the way to the upper reaches of the Kuan River, to the area around the long-abandoned Fuyu Guard city. There they faced Hong Taiji's great army, entrenched at Qingcheng — originally the Ming's Xincheng Guard city — across a river called the Hamulin.

The 43,000-strong army now following Zhu Youjian had already deployed on the ground of Fuyu Guard. Whether an army of tens of thousands can fight, an expert can tell at a glance from how it deploys — if tens of thousands huddle together in one mass and dare not spread out, then it certainly cannot fight.

An army that can fight will generally spread out wide. Beyond the main camp where the main force is concentrated, it will set up many strongpoints, seizing key terrain and road junctions to screen the main force and protect the supply lines. At the same time, elite cavalry will screen the perimeter, driving off and destroying the enemy's scouts and patrols. Usually, before the main-force battle begins, the enemy has no idea of the condition or exact position of one's army (the approximate position, of course, cannot be hidden).

But the exact position and deployment must not be revealed, otherwise one is easily surprised — if the opponent is not that strong, then they will be forced to shrink into a ball, with no screening, no cover, exposed stark naked, and having to worry at every moment about being raided, having their rear cut off, or being surrounded.

This is what is meant by: one skilled at defense hides beneath the ninefold earth; one skilled at attack moves above the ninefold heavens!

And on the Hamulin River battlefield in the second year of Chongzhen, the Ming army and the Later Jin army were clearly opponents of the same caliber.

Both sides could "hide," and neither had the ability to force the other to voluntarily contract.

And the Hamulin River became the dividing line between the two forces.

South of the Hamulin, Zhu Youjian's tent-front cavalry held complete superiority, making it very difficult for Later Jin troops crossing the river to reconnoiter and approach the Ming army's main camp at Fuyu Guard city.

But north of the Hamulin, the night raiders Zhu Youjian sent out had also suffered several setbacks — even the tent-front cavalry, in individual combat power, was still far inferior to the Later Jin cavalry. South of the Hamulin, on ground where the Ming army held the advantage, they could use the "black gun ambush" tactic against the Later Jin cavalry, but once across the Hamulin, it was very difficult to lay ambushes.

And the second killer move of the black-gun mule troops that Zhu Youjian had known in his previous life — night fighting — the tent-front cavalry could not yet learn, because they had no flintlocks!

At night, using matchlocks would give away one's position!

Inside Zhu Youjian's imperial tent, the generals attending him were all gathered around the map table. They all understood Zhu Youjian's calculations perfectly. Zhu Youjian was now building a city on the Rehe while also building one at Fuyu Guard. At the same time, he was using the Luan River's high-water season to transport grain from Yongping Prefecture to the Rehe and Fuyu Guard — clearly intending to stand off against the Later Jin army.

Because the Later Jin army's supply line was longer. Although they had the Liao River waterway, the Later Jin side did not have enough boats to make use of it, so the Liao River route was of no use at all, and their logistical transport was naturally difficult to the extreme.

And the Later Jin army's military farms at Mameng Mountain had only just begun; they could not possibly support the consumption of so many troops and civilian households at Mameng Mountain and the Hamulin.

So Zhu Youjian's original plan was to wear down the enemy's provisions — to compete in supply at the Mameng Mountain–Hamulin line against the Later Jin army. Even if it took a year or half a year, once the opponent was exhausted, victory would follow.

A victory won by exhausting the enemy's provisions might not look impressive, but it would still secure the old territory of Daning Guard — the fact that the seat of the old Beiping Regional Military Commission and the fief of the Prince of Ning had both been at Daning Guard already showed the value of this land.

Once Daning Guard was in hand, the Ming army would hold a great advantage in the Yanshan region! Even if Hong Taiji came out of the Yanshan a third or fourth time, he would be unable to reverse the decline.

But last night, Zhu Youjian had received an urgent report sent from Xuanfu by the Grand Princess of the Uriankhai, informing him that Ligdan Batur, as if he had taken some wrong medicine, had already led 20,000 cavalry through the Thousand-Li Pine Forest and was advancing toward the Huang River valley!

"Ligdan Batur is absolutely no match for Hong Taiji. This rash advance to the Huang River is very likely to end in a crushing defeat." Zhu Youjian shook his head. "And once he is defeated at the Huang River, Hong Taiji's situation will open up! Because a pack of Mongol fence-sitters will in all likelihood swing over to Hong Taiji. Then Hong Taiji will cross the Thousand-Li Pine Forest and advance on the Bashang grasslands, and we will no longer be able to keep grinding on at the Mameng Mountain–Hamulin line!"

That Hutudun Khan would actually dare cross the Thousand-Li Pine Forest was somewhat beyond Zhu Youjian's expectations, and it had thrown his deployment into disarray — he now worried that Hong Taiji, encamped at the Mameng Mountain–Hamulin line, would draw off his best troops and march north to the Huang River for a decisive battle with Ligdan Batur.

And once Ligdan Batur was defeated, Hong Taiji would be able to advance west of the Thousand-Li Pine Forest!

If things went worse, and Ligdan Batur died in battle on the banks of the Huang River, it was hard to say whether his Chakhar tribe would not split into several pieces.

And once the Chakhar tribe split, Hong Taiji might absorb part of it to strengthen his own power.

Zhu Youjian paused, then said resolutely: "Therefore We intend to advance on the Hamulin River and seek a decisive battle on its northern bank! We... absolutely cannot allow Hong Taiji's main force to march north to the Huang River!"

(End of Chapter)