Chapter 408: The Qing Soldiers Are Coming

The Qing soldiers are coming!

In the faintly discernible light of early dawn, square-fronted shield carts suddenly appeared far off in the line of sight. At the same time, the dense sound of footsteps and hoofbeats came rumbling over, growing louder and denser, like rolling thunder, merging into one continuous roar. There was no need to say it — the Great Qing's heavenly troops were attacking!

Although later generations of the Qing liked to boast about winning the realm by bow and horse, and about Manchu mounted archery being this or that, in reality the Manchu Eight Banners fought mainly in a "cowardly style." They rarely galloped on warhorses while shooting arrows — that was the Mongols' specialty. The Manchus were not a nomadic people; though they could shoot from horseback, they did not make their living that way.

Their most common tactic was to have booi bondservants push shield carts in front, with Eight Banners soldiers dismounted and following behind with bows, and often they would also bring along Han or Joseon matchlock troops. In a large-scale battle, they would even drag out Hongyi cannons for field combat!

And the true advantage of the Eight Banners soldiers was not bow and horse at all, but rather that one soldier served many roles — archery, riding, and melee combat were all covered by a single Eight Banners soldier, and he was quite good at every killing skill. On the Ming side, cavalry, archers, matchlock troops, saber-and-shield men, pikemen, and so on each had their own specialty, and few men could master more than one skill.

To put it more broadly, the Eight Banners soldiers combined projection, shock, and melee into one, while the Ming army kept the three separate.

Therefore, when fighting in formation, the Eight Banners could easily form a relative advantage in firepower and numbers. Their combat strength was already far superior to the Ming army's, and with a relative numerical advantage on top of that, naturally their heavenly troops were invincible.

In today's battle, known as the "Battle of the Tu River," the roughly 13,000 true Manchu Eight Banners soldiers Dodo committed were precisely this "three-in-one" troop type. Five thousand of them, carrying eight-strength bows, were now following behind more than three hundred shield carts pushed by booi bondservants. Moving together with them were also about eight hundred Eight Banners Han matchlock troops. These matchlock troops were equipped with quite good-quality matchlock muskets or turtle-foot muskets, wore cotton armor, and advanced in dispersed formation ahead of the shield carts.

There was also one niru of Eight Banners cavalry scattered across the battlefield, tasked with searching for Ming cavalry and ambushes. However, since the Shandong militia army had almost no cavalry, and Li Chengdong and Ma Degong refused to send night patrols far out, these mounted Eight Banners soldiers discovered nothing and engaged no one.

In addition, nearly twenty thousand Eight Banners and Green Standard infantry were behind them as a reserve, waiting to launch the second and third waves of attack.

"Enemy attack! The Tartars are coming!"

A shrill cry suddenly rang out within the Ming army's great wagon-fort formation!

Then more, even shriller cries rose in response, and from the tall, simple watchtowers came the piercing sound of gongs and drums. The soldiers and officers resting in the camp were all startled, some rushing out of their tents, others simply leaping up from the open ground. Most of these soldiers and officers were militia, with little training time and no real combat experience before. Now, caught by a Qing attack, how could they not panic? The camp instantly fell into chaos.

Fortunately, Gao Hongtu's Shandong militia followed a path of combining new and veteran troops. The leaders were not only sons of local gentry strongmen, but also many veterans from the Shandong Governor's standard army served as the backbone, holding the situation together.

Gao Hongtu did not treat them poorly either — he gave each of them three hundred mu of land in Jinan Prefecture, and their families were all gathered to live in Wohu Mountain City on Mount Tai. Wohu Mountain is part of the Mount Tai range, close to the city of Jinan Prefecture; below its slopes lies a broad, fertile valley, so it became Gao Hongtu's main camp. A Wohu Pass was built at the mountain mouth, and Wohu Mountain City was built on the northern slope of Wohu Mountain.

If Jinan Prefecture city ever fell, Gao Hongtu would withdraw to Wohu Mountain City and hold out against the Qing while gnawing on roasted sweet potatoes.

The officers at every level, drawn from veteran backbone troops, quickly recovered from their panic and shouted orders, directing their men into position.

Although the Shandong militia army also referenced the organization of the Self-Reliant New Army, it had its own characteristic: a great many archers. Taking the hundred-man banner as a unit, archers made up about fifty men, while pikemen and saber-and-shield men together made up fifty. Matchlocks and siege-breaker cannons were organized separately into firearms battalions, and each brigade consisted of one firearms battalion and three infantry battalions.

However, the Shandong militia had simply been established too recently; weapons and armor had not had time to be forged, so there were not enough Kaiyuan bows (a composite bow with a relatively soft body) to go around. Most archers therefore used wooden bows or bamboo bows. Under the officers' direction, they deployed in disorder behind the shield carts, formed ranks, and prepared to meet the enemy.

The gunners and musketeers of the firearms battalion also took their positions. The siege-breaker cannons had long since been formed into a wagon fort together with the shield carts, so the gunners went directly to the front line, while the matchlock troops set their three-eyed guns in the gaps between pairs of shield carts.

Zhang Mingzhen had also reacted long since, and shouted orders at the top of his lungs: "Pass on this officer's command! Every damn one of you hold your ground! Firearms troops are not to open fire without orders! Any damn man who dares retreat half a step — off with his head!"

Most of the personal guards behind him acknowledged and went off to relay the orders. Zhang Mingzhen, surrounded by his remaining guards, strode toward a raised platform at the front built from earth bags, taking in the entire battlefield.

Under the faintly brightening sky, who knew how many shield carts, arrayed in a single line, pressed slowly forward, giving one a suffocating feeling.

Suddenly, Zhang Mingzhen caught sight of a flash of firelight. Then came a crackling, popping sound, like beans being stir-fried.

That was the Qing army firing their matchlocks!

"At that distance, how could they hit anything? It seems the Qing army is nothing special after all!" Zhang Mingzhen was muttering to himself, when a roar erupted in his ears and smoke filled his vision!

That was the Ming army's siege-breaker cannons and three-eyed guns opening fire! It turned out the Qing matchlock troops' indiscriminate shooting was meant to lure the Ming firearms into firing beyond effective range.

"Damn it! Stop the wild shooting!" Zhang Mingzhen's face turned ashen, and he shouted at the top of his lungs.

But his voice was drowned out by the crackling roar. The matchlock troops and artillerymen of the Shandong militia were almost all new recruits, now nervous to the point of death; lured by the Qing soldiers, how could they possibly resist opening fire?

Even if they could not hit anything, hearing the sound to bolster their courage was good enough!

Heluohui, riding beside Dodo, watched the flashes of firelight ahead and said to Dodo with a smile: "My Prince, the southern barbarians' firearms troops are the same as ever. It seems today's battle will not take much effort."

His words were certainly not idle talk. Although the Ming army's firearms were mostly unreliable, in many past engagements with the Ming army, it was still these firearms that could truly inflict a certain number of casualties on the Eight Banners soldiers.

For example, at Dagukou and at Qufu City, it was only when the Ming army's firearms were used properly that they managed to kill a certain number of Eight Banners warriors.

But the Shandong militia army before them clearly still could not make good use of its limited firearms.

Dodo also laughed: "Effort or no effort, we are certain to win. Pass the order: have the Han matchlock troops close to within fifty paces before firing."

"Zha!"

Several red-armored soldiers behind Dodo received the order and galloped forward.

At this moment, the Qing army's matchlocks, whether turtle-foot guns or matchlock muskets, all had some lethality within fifty paces. The Ming army's three-eyed guns, however, could not be effective at under twenty paces, and even the siege-breaker cannons had fairly limited power at fifty paces. Moreover, the Qing matchlock troops were not in dense formation at the moment, but operating as skirmishers — bombarding them with cannon was truly a waste of ammunition.

In addition, the siege-breaker cannons and three-eyed guns had two rather fatal flaws. First, they were troublesome to load, making it difficult to fire repeatedly in a short time.

Second, both the cannon barrels and gun barrels were cast from pig iron, making them prone to bursting. Once things got hectic, accidents were frequent — for example, loading a bit too much powder would blow the weapon apart!

Therefore, in actual combat, the Qing army often used the trick of luring the enemy into opening fire. After a few exchanges, the Ming army's firearms would disable themselves by more than half.

(End of Chapter)