Chapter 417: Gao Hongtu, Unafraid of Cold Water — End

The most terrifying moment of a cavalry charge is the instant of impact. Hundreds or even a thousand warhorses, in tight formation, slam into the enemy at full speed. The combined weight of man and horse, multiplied by the speed of the gallop, produces a colossal force of impact. Before the age of the steam engine, this force was perhaps one of the greatest powers humanity could effectively control.

Infantry crouched on the ground could only rely on dense formations and long pikes to resist these charging cavalrymen, who came on like monsters. If their formation was not tight enough, if their hearts were not steady enough, and if they lacked sufficient firepower to disrupt the enemy's charging ranks, the result was usually a catastrophe of horrific casualties.

Now the Shandong militia troops standing in the first line were suffering exactly that disaster. Their formation had been somewhat loose to begin with, and after being swept by seven or eight thousand arrows, they were barely holding on. Their morale had collapsed to the breaking point, and even Li Dakai personally leading the execution squads forward could do little to help.

Before the impact arrived, some of the militia soldiers' feet were already shuffling backward uncontrollably. At that very moment, hundreds of galloping warhorses slammed into the crumbling defense line with a thunderous crash.

The line disintegrated in an instant. Although one or two hundred pikemen fought to the death, using their ten-foot pikes to pierce the chests of dozens of warhorses and kill many fierce Eight Banners soldiers, the remaining several hundred iron cavalry still swept over them like a flood, utterly submerging them.

The warhorse itself was a weapon — trampling hooves and crashing chests could both inflict fatal wounds. And the lances in the hands of the Eight Banners soldiers were even deadlier instruments of slaughter. At the moment of impact, all of this became unstoppable, magnified by tremendous speed.

The Shandong militia's battle line was shattered in a single charge.

Once broken through, the saber-work began.

The ferocious Eight Banners soldiers would not withdraw immediately after completing a charge, because their skill in close combat far exceeded that of any enemy they faced. The soldiers of the Shandong militia, their formation collapsed, were utterly incapable of resistance and retreated in panic and terror. The archers behind them did not even have pikes, and had no way to resist the mounted Eight Banners soldiers, so they could only flee backward together.

At that moment, the blare of charging horns and the thunder of war drums once again resounded above the Qing cavalry formation. Then came the thunder of hooves and earth-shaking battle cries — another wave of Qing cavalry charges had begun.

This time it was again a two-wave coordinated attack, horse archers in front and shock cavalry behind, but the target was a different section of the Ming line that had not yet collapsed. The previous charge had only destroyed a section of the line three or four hundred paces long, without causing a general rout. Since close combat was still ongoing at the breach, Dodo had simply shifted to another section of the line to continue the assault.

If he could break through a few more sections, he could drive that old fellow Gao Hongtu into the Tu River to feed the fish.

"Kill the Tartars! Divide the land! Kill the Tartars! Divide the land!"

Just as Dodo thought victory was within reach, a roar like a mountain avalanche and a tidal wave suddenly erupted from the rear ranks of the Ming army.

The Ming counterattack had actually begun.

The target of the counterattack was the several hundred Eight Banners soldiers who had just broken through the Ming first line. While they were busy cutting down fleeing Ming soldiers, Gao Hongtu — already standing at the edge of the Tu River with no ground left to retreat to — gritted his teeth and offered the pikemen and sword-and-shield men holding the second line a reward of "one hundred mu of land for every man."

In a Shandong now littered with corpses across the countryside, one hundred mu of land was not really much of a reward. But the peasants' deep longing for land took effect, and roused everyone's fighting spirit once more.

And there was only one condition for receiving that reward: drive back the Qing soldiers and escort Governor Gao safely back to Jinan. If Gao Hongtu jumped into the Tu River, no one would be left to distribute land to a bunch of poor peasants.

The Eight Banners "heavenly soldiers," in the midst of their gleeful slaughter, were startled by the sudden roar. A few even stopped mid-stroke, looked up, and glanced around, wondering what was happening.

What appeared before their eyes was a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives. Several hundred sword-and-shield men, shields raised in one hand and javelins held high in the other, came charging forward with a great shout — they were going to throw javelins!

Have these people gone mad? We're still locked in close combat here! Both sides are mixed together and you're throwing javelins? You Nikan are so ruthless you'd even kill your own people!

"Throw!"

The Ming officer leading the charge gave a single shout, and several hundred javelins went flying through the air with a fierce whistle.

This was not aimed throwing — this was saturation fire. Several hundred javelins rained down blindly, and in one volley dozens of Tartars were finished off. Roughly the same number of Shandong militia soldiers were also killed or wounded by friendly fire, and dozens of warhorses had their bodies pierced through.

The one-sided slaughter descended into chaos. Everyone was stunned senseless, and all fled backward together — the Ming soldiers ran toward the Tu River, while the Qing soldiers ran toward the main formation where Dodo stood.

Meanwhile, Dodo had just directed two cavalry units to break through another section of the Ming line using the combined tactics of horse archery and shock charges, and was feeling quite pleased — when he saw his own brave warriors being driven back.

What was going on? Had the Eight Banners warriors lost their courage? Dodo was somewhat annoyed, and sent his white-armored guards to drag over the company commander who had led the charge for questioning.

After hearing the report, he too drew in a sharp breath.

Throwing javelins into a melee where both sides were mixed together — these Ming soldiers really were willing to go all out, damn them.

"Summon Cao Zhenyan!" Dodo gritted his teeth and sent someone to fetch Cao Zhenyan, the commander of the Hongyi cannon company.

Because he already knew that this bloody battle was far from over. The advantage, of course, lay with the Qing army, but the Ming troops were not collapsing at the first touch. Their fighting will and combat effectiveness reminded Dodo of the White Pole soldiers at the Battle of the Hun River.

Against such an enemy, relentless frontal charges alone would not work. The only option now was to use cavalry charges to seize their shield carts, drive them to the riverbank, and then finish the battle slowly with Hongyi cannons and arrows.

Victory, in the end, would belong to the Great Qing.

"Boom — boom — boom —"

Li Chengdong, who had fought his way smoothly all the way to the Ren-zi Fort on the Tu River and was about to enter the town, suddenly heard a sound like rolling thunder in his ears. He looked up at the sky. It was already light, a clear blue expanse without a single cloud for ten thousand li.

Li Chengdong asked those around him, "Did any of you hear thunder?"

"Regional Commander, that's not thunder — it sounds like Hongyi cannons!"

"Hongyi cannons? They've all broken out, so why are they still firing?" He hurriedly turned back to look west, and suddenly saw many "old peasants" — helmets discarded, armor thrown off, running barefoot in panic — coming in groups along the official road.

What was going on?

A battalion commander of scholar background, one of Gao Hongtu's disciples, came weeping to Li Chengdong's horse, grabbed his reins, and said, "Regional Commander, we have fallen into the Tartar caitiffs' ambush! My teacher's main force is surrounded at the Tu River — his life hangs by a thread!"

What? Gao Hongtu's life hanging by a thread? What was to be done?

Li Chengdong was also somewhat stunned, and for a moment did not know what to do. One of his trusted confidants stepped forward and said to him, "The Governor is surrounded by the Tartar caitiffs' main army — the odds are grim. Regional Commander, you would do better to gather your men, withdraw to the prefectural city of Jinan, and make plans from there."

"That cannot be!" Gao Hongtu's disciple cried out. "Without my teacher, Shandong still has the Prince of Lu, and still has Left Militia Commander!"

That was true.

Without Gao Hongtu, there was still Zhu Yihai, and still Zuo Maodi. With a single edict from Zhu Cilang, either one of them could succeed as Governor of Shandong and take over Gao Hongtu's militia and territory.

So Li Chengdong's dream of controlling Jinan Prefecture as a warlord was pure fantasy. Moreover, of the two thousand several hundred men who had followed him out, only a little over four hundred were his household retainers — the rest were Shandong militia. With just over four hundred men, even as a traitor he would only rank as a battalion or company commander.

"This... this..." Li Chengdong was truly in a bind.

If he did not rescue Gao Hongtu, he would have no future either — Gao Hongtu still owed him a Tai'an Prefecture.

But if he went to rescue Gao Hongtu, he might well get himself killed in the process.

The battalion commander suggested, "Regional Commander, why not call up the two thousand garrison troops at Ren-zi Fort, gather some of the militia who have escaped, and assemble five thousand men to rescue Governor Gao?"

"Five thousand men won't be enough!" Li Chengdong still shook his head.

"Regional Commander, we can ford the Tu River and strike at the Tartar caitiffs' forces on the north bank — perhaps we can succeed!"

This battalion officer had sharp powers of observation; even while fleeing, he had kept an eye on the situation across the Tu River. He had noticed that the Qing forces on the opposite bank were spread very thin, stretched out over more than ten li, and were not all Eight Banners troops — more than half were infantry, likely Green Standard soldiers.

"Good!" Li Chengdong was overjoyed. "That's what we'll do. Let's go rescue Governor Gao together!"

"Governor, take cover from the cannon fire!"

Boom — boom —

By this time Gao Hongtu had been driven into the Tu River itself — not into the deep water, but into the shallows near the bank, where the water only reached his knees. He was now barefoot, still wearing a heavy cloth-faced armor, with an iron helmet on his head. Two of his personal guards beside him kept pulling him down into the water — not to drown him, but to make him crouch in the water to avoid the cannonballs.

The Qing army's ten Hongyi cannons were all set up and firing at the seven or eight thousand Ming soldiers who had been squeezed to the riverbank and formed into a crescent formation of long pikes.

At the same time, many Eight Banners soldiers came forward pushing shield carts (captured ones), firing volley after volley of arrows from behind their cover.

The Shandong militia had already suffered catastrophic casualties. The survivors could even use corpses mixed with mud and sand to pile up a circular breastwork.

But now that things had come to this, the Shandong militia under Gao Hongtu were still holding out stubbornly — and they had no choice but to hold on, for their families were all in Jinan Prefecture, all under Gao Hongtu's "protection."

Moreover, many of the scholars in the ranks had signed that accursed "Proclamation Against the Hu Barbarians," and now the blacklist was clutched in the hands of the Great Qing's gold-touching Prince, Dodo!

If they did not fight to the death, Dodo would follow the list, seize the men, and dig up their graves!

So in the intervals between the Qing cannonades, the scholars in the army raised a clamor to hearten and cheer the old peasants.

"Hold out a while longer — reinforcements will be here soon."

"The Prince of Lu's troops will arrive any moment!"

"Left Militia's fifty thousand troops are already on the road."

"Governor-General Shi's Confucian Temple holy soldiers are coming soon — they are divine men whom neither blade nor spear can pierce!"

The shouts reached Gao Hongtu's ears, but he had already despaired. Where were any reinforcements?

"It is over, over. I never thought that I, Gao Hongtu, wise all my life, would now bring ruin to the realm through the use of troops. Well, so be it — if I cannot succeed, then I shall die for the cause!"

Having spoken these words of despair, the lofty Governor suddenly shook off the two personal guards holding him, then turned and walked into the Tu River.

The Tu River was not deep, and could not drown Gao Hongtu. But on the opposite bank, quite a few Green Standard soldiers stood ready with bows, blades, and spears, waiting to win merit!

If Gao Hongtu went charging over there, could it end well? He would either be shot dead or taken alive.

The two personal guards protecting him grew frantic, and chased after him, shouting, "My Lord Governor, my Lord Governor, the water is cold, the water is cold."

Gao Hongtu even answered them: "I do not fear it, I do not fear it — this official does not fear cold water!"

While he was not fearing the cold water, the Qing Green Standard soldiers holding the opposite bank of the Tu River suddenly fell into disorder, crying out and scattering in every direction.

Seeing this, Gao Hongtu was rather puzzled. Could it be that his own righteous aura had frightened off those eastern barbarian Green Standard troops?

While he was still bewildered, his two personal guards had already pounced on him and seized him, and one of them was shouting: "We are saved, saved! It is Regional Commander Li's great army coming to rescue us!"

(End of Chapter)