Chapter 442: Blood Flowing Stream (Fourth Update)

What Hooge saw from the hillside of Daqiang Ridge was the scene of the Ming army camped at Shigu Mountain shifting camp toward Qingliu Pass.

Behind Qingliu Pass lay Chuzhou city, and the pass also blocked the official road from Fengyang Prefecture to Yingtian Prefecture. A small number of Ming troops had originally been stationed there, but they were not enough to withstand Hooge's great army. If Hooge recklessly broke through Qingliu Pass, Chuzhou, Hezhou, the Jiangbei region of Yingtian Prefecture, and Yangzhou Prefecture could all suffer terrible devastation.

Therefore, after Zhu Cilang reached Shigu Mountain, he decided to shift camp first, seize the defile at Qingliu Pass, and then figure out how to deal with Hooge.

This camp movement was risky. A large body of troops would have to pass below Daqiang Ridge in marching formation, and at any moment they could be struck by the Qing troops on the ridge.

But Hooge did not attack while Zhu Cilang was shifting camp. On the one hand, it was because the forces under Zhu Cilang were numerous and presented a magnificent military appearance. A full fifty-six thousand well-equipped troops, in battalion columns, passed below Daqiang Ridge in succession.

On the other hand, during the move Zhu Cilang had arranged for units to provide alternating cover. On both the north and south sides of Daqiang Ridge, he successively deployed attack formations and set up quite a few three-pounder battalion guns.

If Hooge really dared risk an attack, he was guaranteed to gain not the slightest advantage!

Yet Hooge remained as still as a mountain.

"Excellent! No alarms, no dangers."

Inside the government office at Qingliu Pass, Zhu Cilang, who had just directed the troops in completing the camp movement, wore an expression of ease as he said to his generals: "The Tartars do not dare come down the mountain. Clearly they are afraid of us. It seems the Tartars up on the mountain do not have much confidence either!"

His words were bold enough, but his true state of mind was far less relaxed than he appeared.

Hooge's establishment of camp on Daqiang Ridge had something of the air of a guest seizing the host's role!

If he were truly allowed to gain a firm foothold on Daqiang Ridge and build mountain forts and ramparts, then the passage from Chuzhou into Fengyang Prefecture would be blocked. And over at Fengyang Prefecture city, relying on the bastion fort and stockpiles within the city, Zhu Chunchen could hold out for a year or two without any problem.

But what about after a year or two?

If the Qing army could block Daqiang Ridge, take Fengyang Prefecture city by siege, and at the same time build another fortress on the banks of the Chi River between Fengyang Prefecture city and Daqiang Ridge,

then it would be very difficult for Zhu Cilang to cleanly drive Hooge's army out of Huainan!

"The camp movement is complete!" Zhu Cilang looked at Li Yan, Wu Sanfu, Shi Rui'en, Hao Yaoqi, Wang Qi, Wang Ran, Chen Yidao, and the other generals seated in the main hall, and frowned slightly. "Right now we stand undefeated, but we have not yet won! Gentlemen, if you have any ideas, speak up!"

"Your Highness," Li Yan said, "we could build forts in front of Qingliu Pass and on Huangfu Mountain, and force the Tartars off Daqiang Ridge."

Wu Sanfu frowned and said: "That is a safe method, but it would take too much time."

Li Yan said: "Even if it takes a month or two, as long as it works, that is enough."

Wu Sanfu nodded and said: "That is true."

Zhu Cilang frowned slightly. He could sense that both Li Yan and Wu Sanfu were somewhat wary of battle — it was because they could not win in the field that they were so keen on building forts!

At most there were twenty thousand Tartar caitiffs on Daqiang Ridge now, while Zhu Cilang had fifty-six thousand men in hand, well equipped and well trained. What was there to fear?

"Your Highness, gentlemen, I do not agree with meeting the enemy with forts!" At last someone unafraid of the Tartars spoke up. This man was the foreign general Shi Rui'en. "I believe we should seek a decisive battle. Our strength is twice the enemy's, but our mobility is far inferior to theirs. Therefore we should seize every opportunity for a decisive battle and resolutely engage the enemy in one.

And the fact that the Tartar army is camped on Daqiang Ridge gives us just such an opportunity for a decisive battle! If we do not firmly seize it now, once they resume maneuvering, it will be very hard to catch them."

"But the Tartars are on the mountain!" Wang Ran, a division commander of Wu family retainer origin, reminded him. "They hold the high ground, and they have also built field fortifications."

Shi Rui'en stroked his golden beard and shrugged: "They are only some low hills. They cannot stop our soldiers. Moreover, the enemy's advantage lies in cavalry, which cannot exert its power on hills.

I think we can launch a night attack!"

"A night attack?" Zhu Cilang raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Shi Rui'en nodded. "The vanguard division can be assigned the night attack. The vanguard division's offensive power is extremely strong, its morale is high, and its officers and men are eager for battle. They can fully display their greatest combat strength in night fighting."

Night fighting required officers and men to maintain extremely high morale and initiative, especially when attacking at night an enemy like the true Manchu of the Eight Banners.

Shi Rui'en continued: "Because the Tartar caitiffs are a tribe of limited numbers, the total number of able-bodied men who can serve as soldiers is under one hundred thousand. Therefore, once they suffer heavy casualties in a night battle, they will certainly seek first to break contact, and then reform their lines on terrain favorable to cavalry charges."

That seemed to make some sense!

The true Manchu could not afford to die! Zhu Cilang's elite troops were roughly obtained at the price of fifty mu of land per man. The land he now held amounted to nearly fifty million mu, which could be exchanged for one million soldiers. Trading three lives for one, he could wipe out three hundred thirty thousand Tartars!

The Tartars did not have that many men to trade!

"And we," Shi Rui'en paused, "can deploy two more divisions to the east of Daqiang Ridge, with their backs to Shigu Mountain, formed beforehand into great squares, waiting for the Tartar caitiffs to come down the mountain!"

Brilliant!

Zhu Cilang's eyes lit up at once: "Good! An excellent plan. General Shi, I will give you two divisions to launch a night attack from the west and south sides of Daqiang Ridge. The other two divisions will follow Us to form ranks east of Daqiang Ridge. North of Daqiang Ridge is the Chi River. If the Tartars come out of the mountains from the north, then all four divisions will pursue together and drive them toward the Chi River!"

The Chi River was not deep, and in some places it could be forded, but in other places the water was deeper, and fording there carried risk.

If Hooge's great army crossed the river in panic while being pursued by Zhu Cilang's four divisions, their losses would certainly not be small!

"What do you all think?" Zhu Cilang swept his gaze around the hall, taking in the expressions of the four division commanders.

Wu Sanfu and Li Yan were no longer frontline commanders. The four division commanders were the generals who directly led the troops. If they lacked confidence, the battle would be hard to fight.

"Your Highness!" Hao Yaoqi was the first to speak. "This subject believes the plan is feasible!"

Chen Yidao said: "This subject is willing to lead troops with Commander Hao to night-attack the Tartars on Daqiang Ridge!"

"Your Highness, this subject is willing to follow Your Highness into the field!"

"This subject is also willing to go to battle!"

"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly, then turned his gaze to the military advisor Li Yan and the Model Army Regional Commander Wu Sanfu.

Li Yan's brows were slightly furrowed, as though he had been pondering and weighing Shi Rui'en's plan all along. "Your Highness, you are a person of ten-thousand-gold worth. You must not lightly go to the front."

Wu Sanfu also said: "Let this subject and the military advisor take Your Highness's place at the front."

"That will not be necessary!" Zhu Cilang waved his hand. "We have the protection of the Exalted Founder Emperor. Mere Tartar caitiffs cannot harm Us!"

Daqiang Ridge was not some lofty mountain range, nor a single isolated peak, but a stretch of low hills, with several small valleys among them. There were many routes in and out, at least seven or eight. Although it was not easy to defend completely, it was advantageous for a large army stationed there to move in and out. If the Qing army were given two or three months to carry out construction, they could turn the place into a major strongpoint suitable for a large army's long-term occupation.

But Hooge did not have that much time, and he did not intend to remain long on Daqiang Ridge. So he had only hastily laid out the camp, setting up palisades at the entrances and exits of the seven or eight routes. He had also cleared a hilltop bare as a place for the great army to bivouac, and posted guards and sentry posts on several key heights.

At this moment he was on one of those heights, facing Qingliu Pass from afar, watching the great Ming camp below the pass ten li away. He had been watching for more than two hours, and even as the day drew toward dusk, he showed no sign of leaving.

"My Prince, it is getting late. We should return."

Oboi's voice sounded behind Hooge. The sun on this hilltop was fierce! After an afternoon of sun, Oboi was nearly turned into "Oboi jerky," and his stomach had long been rumbling!

But for some reason the Prince just stood there in the sun, staring blankly!

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