Chapter 455: Target: Zhu Cilang! (Third Update)

The commotion of more than two thousand armored soldiers hacking away at each other in a tangled mass was tremendous, and it quickly drew the attention of the higher-ups.

On the Tartar side was Aljin, the candidate for the foremost Manchu warrior and a Jalangga of the Plain Blue Banner. When he learned that the vanguard had already surrounded over a thousand elite Ming armored men, he naturally assumed they must be some sort of extraordinary crack troops — armored soldiers! At the very least, household-retainer grade. On this battlefield, needless to say, they had to be the personal guards of that Crown Prince, Zhu Cilang!

So Aljin did not hesitate, and led the remaining four jalans — nearly three thousand Eight Banners soldiers — to reinforce the jala commanded by Muchen up ahead.

Meanwhile, Tian Qingyi's superior, Wang Zhou, assumed that Tian Qingyi's two battalions had run into Eight Banners Han troops... Real Tartars were impossible — real Tartars were too formidable! How could Tian Qingyi's two battalions possibly hold out? Of course, the enemy could not be Green Standard either; Green Standard troops could not be pressing Tian the xiucai's two battalions so hard.

So the enemy could only be Eight Banners Han troops — most likely the death-squad rearguard!

Why did he hold this view? Because the Eight Banners booi on the main front line at Great Spear Ridge had already collapsed! Twenty-four 3-pounder cannons had bombarded for half the night, firing over a thousand stone and iron shot, riddling the eastern slope of Great Spear Ridge with craters. From the moment the first rays of dawn appeared at the edge of the eastern sky, the Ming army had begun fording Clear Stream Creek and launching a counterattack against the Qing troops on the opposite bank.

At the first blow, the Eight Banners booi on the far bank went wailing and howling up the hillside... They had been forced by Hooge to serve as cannon fodder for most of the night — true cannon fodder. The twenty-four cannons had pounded away without end, and had long since shattered their spirits!

But the fact that they dared flee up the hillside also showed that the Eight Banners troops holding the line had already shifted position... Clearly, they had run!

At this, he too believed Tian Qingyi's earlier judgment: the Tartar main force had long since left the eastern slope of Great Spear Ridge, and had forded Clear Stream Creek and fled along the official road. Of course, they could also flee along Clear Stream Creek, but the official road to Chishui lay on the east bank of the creek. If they did not take the official road, the Qing army's marching speed would slow, making them easy to catch.

It was precisely on this judgment that Wang Zhou, while sending a man to report to Zhu Cilang, mustered five battalions — twenty-five hundred men in all — to reinforce Tian the xiucai, leaving only one battalion of five hundred to hold the position.

The twenty-five hundred men led by Wang Zhou and the three thousand led by Aljin reached the battlefield almost simultaneously.

Because Aljin had already seen that the two armies on the battlefield were locked in a tangled melee, and that the terrain was not open enough for a cavalry charge — and because the enemy also held large numbers of "white staves" — he simply ordered his men to dismount and join the fight with bows, swords, shields, and horse-lances. As a result, Wang Zhou again mistook them for Han troops. Although Wang Zhou was a veteran of the Valiant Guard Camp, he had not fought the Tartars much. He could not clearly distinguish true Manchus from Han troops, and naturally assumed that those fighting on foot were most likely Han troops. So he was unafraid, and directly commanded his five battalions to launch an assault. He personally led two battalions to break through the encirclement that had just formed around Tian Qingyi's force, while the rest collided with the numerically superior Manchu soldiers.

Because the Manchu soldiers Aljin had brought this time all carried horse-lances and had also formed a spear wall, this time it was two spear walls crashing together. Casualties instantly became horrific; corpses from both sides piled the ground, and the soldiers coming up behind trampled over the dead and kept fighting. The Manchus still held the upper hand, but the five battalions Wang Zhou had brought held back the Manchu assault by virtue of their sturdy armor and rattan shields.

Both sides once again fell into a stalemate!

Faced with a deadlocked, ferocious battle, Wang Zhou and Aljin made the same decision: send up the line for reinforcements!

Wang Zhou's superior was now none other than Zhu Cilang, the Ming Army-Soothing Crown Prince. At this moment, he had already "netted" a big fish: the force of more than four thousand men under Murima, which had been making a flanking maneuver from the south!

Aljin, who had been flanking from the north, had been cautious himself and sent men to probe — only to run into that newborn calf Tian the xiucai, who had simply attacked him as a rearguard Han traitor. Murima was not so careful; his main force surged forward in a mass and charged right up to the Ming lines. But his luck was no better: he slammed straight into a solid formation made up of two improvised New Army infantry regiments. Bow against bow, pike against pike, they clashed for several rounds, and gained nothing but a field of corpses and two or three hundred wounded. Moreover, he was treated as a big fish and attacked by Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanfu — Zhu Cilang felt that the front was no longer a problem. The twenty-four 3-pounder cannons had displayed their might, and there were still twenty model battalions. What problem could there possibly be?

The right wing also seemed to have no problem... According to Wang Zhou's initial report, Tian the xiucai had fought the Tartars to a standstill with just two battalions, so clearly it was no large Tartar force.

So Zhu Cilang did not take the enemy situation on the right wing seriously, and instead began laying out the encirclement and annihilation of the Qing troops on the left wing!

At this moment he still had four cavalry battalions, four model battalions, and one guard battalion in hand. The guard battalion could not be moved; what he could use were the four cavalry battalions and the four model battalions.

So Zhu Cilang dispatched his own four cavalry battalions and one model battalion — five battalions in all, nearly twenty-five hundred men — to Wang Ran, the Guard Commander of the Rear Division, ordering him to lead them in a flanking maneuver against Murima's right wing.

At the same time as he ordered Wang Ran to flank, Zhu Cilang received a report from Wang Qi, the Guard Commander of the Center Division in charge of the front, saying that the Tartars on Great Spear Ridge were spent, and requesting an immediate counterattack.

After discussing it with Wu Sanfu, Zhu Cilang approved Wang Qi's plan and ordered him to act at his own discretion.

Just when the situation on the front and left wing was excellent and a great victory was at hand, the right wing — which had looked quite stable — suddenly developed a problem.

The two regiments commanded by Wang Zhou seemed to have become locked in combat with four or five thousand Eight Banners troops...

They were said to be Han troops, but no matter how one looked at it, the situation seemed somewhat critical!

"Thousand Years, perhaps we should call back Wang the Bearded's five battalions." Wu Xiang's reserve force was a bit small, and he could not help feeling uneasy — he was now protecting the Ming Army-Soothing Crown Prince, the de facto number one man!

If anything went wrong, the Chongzhen Emperor would seize power back — and then what would become of the Wu family?

"Wang the Bearded is on the verge of success!" Zhu Cilang shook his head. "Even if we only devour a thousand Tartars, that would still be a rare great victory! The situation to the north still looks manageable... Sanfu, why don't you take two model battalions to reinforce them."

"Thousand Years," Wu Sanfu shook his head, "you would have only one guard battalion and one model battalion left at your side..."

"That is enough!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "With Sun Fugui on guard, nothing will go wrong."

Sun Fugui came from the Wu family's household retainers. Father and son had served the Wu family for two generations; his father had been killed by Tartars while following Wu Xiang into battle, making him the descendant of a loyal martyr.

They were "original followers" who had been with Zhu Cilang since Beijing. From the breakout from Beijing onward, they had taken part in nearly every battle, accumulating a great deal of merit and hardship. Yet Zhu Cilang had never regarded them as his most trusted confidants — because they were always old retainers of the Wu family. It was not until Zheng Chagu entered the palace, and Wu Sanmei bore a daughter, that this began to change.

After Sun Fugui completed the "short-term training course" of the first class of the military academy, he was given an important post and made a squad-leader guard — that is, the commander of Zhu Cilang's guard battalion. This was a post with limitless prospects!

Zhu Cilang paused, then added: "There are still several battalions by the Clear Stream River. They are being gathered up now, and can be transferred over shortly."

Wu Sanfu thought it over, and it seemed reliable enough, so he obeyed Zhu Cilang's order and took two model battalions to reinforce Wang Zhou.

And at that very moment, two or three li east of the battlefield where Wang Zhou and Aljin were fighting, in a sparse wood, Hooge and the two Jalangga of the Plain Blue Banner, Luotuo and Yierde, were leading some three thousand Qing cavalry and infantry without any banners, creeping silently toward the place where Zhu Cilang's standard was planted.

It turned out that Hooge had already abandoned those repeatedly defeated, badly mauled booi slaves and Han troops, quietly left Great Spear Ridge, and led the Bayara soldiers of the Plain Blue Banner and other elite Tartar troops across Clear Stream Creek — and had, without anyone knowing, circled around behind Zhu Cilang's great army!