Chapter 248: Huang Degong Is a Traitor!

Fighting a night battle! And after marching several dozen li in the daytime, without resting properly, going straight into battle against an enemy that has waited at ease — a night battle at that!

Such a way of fighting was beyond even Zhao Zhilong's imagination, let alone Huang Degong's, who had his troops arrayed at Linggu Temple on Bell Mountain!

His 3,000 household retainers might perhaps be used this way, but the rest of his troops absolutely could not be used like this — otherwise, if they did not mutiny, there would still be a flood of deserters. Night fighting is very hard to control; in the pitch dark, if the men below ran off, the officers could not even see it!

Unless it is an army of extremely high morale and strong cohesion, night battle is impossible. And after a long march, without rest, going directly into a night battle — that is basically the standard of household retainers, and not ordinary household retainers at that, but only the "battle-hardened retainers" among retainers could be used this way.

And Zhu Cilang came to Nanjing with nearly 20,000 men of the Hard-Working New Army... If all of them could reach the level of "battle-hardened retainers," then what would be the point of fighting for the tens of thousands of Capital Camps troops inside Nanjing?

Zhao Zhilong, now knowing he had been betrayed by the villain Zuo Maodi, could only strive to save himself. Ignoring the burning glares of Zhang Shenyan and Han Zanzhou, he laid out the entire disposition of the Nanjing army in full detail.

The Nanjing side had roughly formed a crane-wing formation. The right wing of the crane-wing formation was placed at the Great Sacrifice Altar, numbering between ten and twenty thousand, all Nanjing Capital Camps troops, so Zhao Zhilong did not even know the exact number. In addition, there was a small elite force that Zhu Guobi had brought from Huai'an, serving as the core of the troops.

The Nanjing Capital Camps were rotten from top to bottom! On paper there were forty thousand men, but in reality it was unknown whether there were even twenty thousand. As for how many could actually fight, only Heaven knew.

Although for this rally to the throne, Xu Hongji had taken the lead in donating money, and had also made the Nanjing nobles, meritorious officials, and merchants contribute, raising over a million, and had distributed several hundred thousand taels. But how much of this money could actually be put to real use, and how much effect it could produce, Zhao Zhilong had no confidence either.

The left wing of the crane-wing formation was placed on Bell Mountain, arrayed at Linggu Temple, numbering 6,000 men: Ma Shiying's 3,000 Guizhou troops and Huang Degong's 3,000 household retainers. The left wing was smaller in number than the right wing, but its fighting strength was far greater.

This crane-wing formation also had a center, at the Xiaoling Guard city. There were placed the household retainers of the various Nanjing noble and meritorious families, with the Xu family retainers as the core, along with the troops of the Xiaoling Guard. The total was about 5,000 men; their fighting strength could not compare with the 6,000 on the left wing, but was somewhat stronger than the right wing.

In addition, the main force of Xu Hongji and his son Xu Yunjue would be set up in the barbican of Chaoyang Gate. About 12,000 Nanjing Capital Camps troops and 1,000 Xu family retainers would be concentrated along the line of the Chaoyang Gate barbican.

The remaining Nanjing Capital Camps troops and the household retainers of the various Jinling families would be separately deployed at the other twelve gates of Nanjing's inner city and the two water passes.

If the "armed remonstrance" failed, they would hold Nanjing and wait for Zuo Liangyu to come to the rescue.

They had thought it through quite thoroughly! But Zuo Liangyu probably would not make it in time, because Zhu Cilang would not give these Nanjing nobles that much time.

The battle for Nanjing would be over by around noon tomorrow!

Having clarified the disposition of the Nanjing nobles' side, Zhu Cilang had also finished his dinner. He wiped his hands on his own robes, stood up, and shouted loudly: "Feng Sizhong, arm Us!

Cao Youyi, go and assemble the infantry officers and men. We shall address them!"

Then he turned his head to Zhang Shenyan and said: "Master Miaoshan, would you like to see the army of the Great Ming's restoration?"

"The reincarnation of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor! Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years! Ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

The cheers shook heaven and earth. The 6,400 soldiers of the four infantry brigades had by now finished their dry rations. Every man had donned cloth-faced iron armor and a red battle jacket, and under the leadership of their officers they stood in formation in the rice paddies near the Mei family mansion, raising their weapons to the sky and cheering!

Sixteen battalion squares and sixty-four banner lines were now drawn up in order, and before each battalion square great bonfires had been lit for illumination.

It was now past the hour of xu, and the sky had grown dark. But the weather was fine — a bright moon hung in the sky and the stars were like a sea; truly a good night for fighting a night battle.

More than a hundred cavalrymen clustered around Zhu Cilang as he galloped past the front of each formation. At the very front, a stout man who had been a Guard of the Great Han carried the banner reading "The Reincarnation of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor." At the sight of this banner, all the officers and men cheered wildly as if possessed!

"Wicked delusion! Wicked delusion..."

Zhang Shenyan, held under guard by Chen Shifang with several palace guards and attendants, stood in the shadows, watching the mad scene before him. His whole body trembled, and he kept muttering "wicked delusion."

Han Zanzhou, his face ashen as death, stood motionless with his eyes closed, looking like a man awaiting execution.

Zhao Zhilong could not even stand; he sat down on the ground and wept!

He had clearly been a loyal subject working undercover, yet he had been sold out by Zuo Maodi, and now he had become a traitorous minister trying to atone for his crimes through service. His life was over...

The cheering gradually subsided. Zhu Cilang no longer galloped about, but halted his horse before the 6,400 infantrymen of the Hard-Working New Army.

These 6,400 New Army troops, together with the 3,200 cavalrymen who had already dispersed to occupy their positions, were the essence of the Hard-Working New Army!

Although on paper the Hard-Working New Army already had six land divisions, each division — not counting temporarily hired civilian laborers — having a complement of nearly 8,000 men, making a great army of 48,000 in total.

But of these, the ones that had truly formed combat effectiveness were just these 9,600 elite troops in six brigades. In particular, the combat soldiers of the four infantry brigades among these six brigades of the New Army were all equipped with matchlock muskets and bayonets! And they also had paper cartridges of fixed-load ammunition.

If the matchlocks they were equipped with were not still fired by matchcord, this level of equipment could have fought in an eighteenth-century European war. But their tactics were still those of the Dagu Fort days — let the enemy come close, open fire, fire a few volleys, then charge! If there was any improvement, it was probably the more complete "skirmisher tactics."

That is, in each infantry brigade a few "sharpshooters" were selected to form a banner unit directly under the brigade command. They were equipped with better-made turtledove-foot matchlocks, along with deerskin bullets and high-quality gunpowder, to serve as snipers, specifically to shoot down enemy officers.

As for other "advanced tactics," they were beyond what Zhu Cilang could solve. Even if he had heard of some smoothbore-era tactics, he did not know how to organize them.

To be able to have several thousand musketeers, in battalion and banner units, form into lines and columns and advance, and also to fire at close range and launch bayonet charges or meet enemy cavalry with a bayonet wall — that was already the limit of what Zhu Cilang could achieve.

Moreover, such relatively simple tactics could only be deployed on flat terrain; once they encountered complex terrain, they could not be organized at all.

But for dealing with the weak troops of Nanjing, such tactics and equipment were more than enough!

When the New Army soldiers had all fallen silent, and all around the ranks of several thousand men not a sound could be heard, Zhu Cilang shouted with all his strength: "Brothers of the Hard-Working New Army, there are men now who refuse to give you land and wives! What shall be done?"

The hundred-odd guards behind Zhu Cilang were all specially chosen for their loud voices. They repeated his words exactly, word for word, so that the several thousand men heard them clearly.

"Kill!"

A heaven-shaking roar suddenly exploded.

They had rendered such great service, had worked so hard to escort the Crown Prince south, and some had even abandoned their family property in the north. Was it not all for the land and young wives of Jiangnan?

Now they had arrived at Nanjing, and there were actually people who refused to give... Then why hold back?

"Right! Kill them!" With a clang, Zhu Cilang drew his sword and pointed at the darkness to the west. "The enemy is at the Great Sacrifice Altar!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The cry for battle rose up and shook the fields!

The morale of the officers and men present had risen to a pitch beyond all measure. Never mind the Nanjing nobles — even if the Tartars came, they would fight them to the death!

Zhu Cilang nodded with satisfaction and said in a low voice: "Wu Sanfu?"

"This subject is here!" Wu Sanfu had long since arrived at Zhu Cilang's side.

"It is entrusted to you! First take the Great Sacrifice Altar, and at the same time keep an eye on Huang Degong on Bell Mountain."