Chapter 456: Who Is Going to Die? (Fourth Update)

When the morning light of the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month in the eighteenth year of Chongzhen spread across the battlefield on both banks of Qingliu Creek, the night-long engagement seemed to have reached its end.

Atop Daqiang Ridge on the west bank of Qingliu Creek, the great banner of Hao Yaoqi, Guard Commander of the Model Army's vanguard division, had already appeared!

The more than two thousand men personally led by Aisin Gioro Bahana, commander of the Manchu Plain Blue Banner, had held out bitterly through the night and were now utterly annihilated. Fewer than two hundred Eight Banners soldiers remained, escorting Bahana as they broke out northward just before dawn. Though he fled in crushing defeat, Bahana's performance in this battle had actually been quite outstanding!

With a force of only a little over two thousand, using favorable terrain and the cover of night, he had laid five decoy positions and held back the Ming Model Army of more than twenty-two thousand men for an entire night.

Of course, that achievement was also due to the caution of Hao Yaoqi, Shi Rui'en, and Li Yan — this was the Model Army's first battle! This army, which had fully adopted Western tactics and equipment, still faced many doubts even within the Hard-Work New Army system. So Hao Yaoqi and Shi Rui'en did not dare take too many risks.

Just as cautious were Wang Qi and Qin Mingtao. The two of them were responsible for the front of the Ming army's main formation on the east bank of Qingliu Creek, holding twenty model battalions and twenty-four 3-pounder cannons — and Feng Sizhong had those twenty-four 3-pounders dancing.

If the two of them had possessed Wu Sangui's caliber, they would have launched a counterattack. With twenty model battalions and twenty-four 3-pounders, they could long since have beaten the bluffing Hooge flat.

But these two were only of bodyguard origin; their real experience of leading troops in battle had only begun after following Zhu Cilang in the breakout from Beijing. Inexperienced and limited in ability, their courage was naturally small... Facing wave after wave of Qing attacks, they adopted a strategy of steady defense above all.

Although they killed and wounded large numbers of Eight Banners Han troops and booi at very little cost, they also gave Hooge the chance to adjust his dispositions at leisure.

Similar problems also appeared with Wang Zhou, Tian Qingyi, Wu Sanfu, and Zhu Cilang.

All of them suffered from the same defect: insufficient command ability! Even Wu Sanfu, the most battle-experienced among them, had never commanded an army of more than twenty thousand in the field, nor had he ever commanded a large force against Tartars of comparable numbers.

Thus the new army, though it had introduced Western methods, foreign officers, the "997" system, and last-place elimination, had attained a very high standard of discipline and training — arguably not inferior to the contemporary armies of the Western powers. Yet the Model New Army's operational command was very poor; to call it stiff and clumsy would not be an exaggeration.

This stiffness and clumsiness naturally did not escape the eyes of Hooge, who was observing the battle from high ground. With his exceptionally rich battlefield experience, Hooge immediately produced a countermeasure: abandon the front, tie down both flanks, and circle around the rear. He deliberately cast aside the already-shattered Han troops and booi, while ordering Murima to make a great show of force and, after drawing the Ming army's attention, shift eastward. He also ordered Arjin to fight while retreating, shifting northward. Finally, together with Oboi, who had just woken, he led three thousand elite Eight Banners soldiers quietly across Qingliu Creek to circle behind Zhu Cilang's main force.

And as the sky began to brighten, the originally very tight Ming formation had imperceptibly become very loose.

Of the twenty model battalions originally deployed at the front, fourteen had already charged across Qingliu Creek and up Daqiang Ridge, crushing the Han troops and booi abandoned by Hooge, and had linked up with Hao Yaoqi's force, which had crossed over Daqiang Ridge.

On the right flank, Wang Zhou and Tian Qingyi, reinforced by the two model battalions led by Wu Sanfu, quickly gained the upper hand and drove Arjin's troops back step by step. The two sides' battle groups shifted steadily northward, moving four or five li north in less than a single hour.

On the left flank, before Wang Ran, division Guard Commander of the Hard-Work New Army, could bring his four cavalry battalions and one model infantry battalion into position, Murima had already halted his attack and begun shifting eastward — in fact, even without Hooge's order, Murima would have shifted, because he had long guarded against being encircled, having sent out many scouts and picket riders on his own left flank and rear. So as soon as Old Wang Whiskers' cavalry drew near, Murima stopped attacking and began to move.

The two regiments of the new army facing Murima immediately sallied out, trying to tie him down, but instead were drawn eastward for several li by Murima.

In this way, the originally very tight Ming battle line not only became very loose, but also split into three battle groups far apart from one another — on Daqiang Ridge a great mass of men were clearing the battlefield and mopping up the surviving traitor soldiers; the two regiments and two battalions commanded by Wu Sanfu, Wang Zhou, and Tian Qingyi were driving the Tartars under Arjin back in steady retreat; and the mixed infantry-cavalry force led by Wang Ran, together with the two regiments on the left flank, were straining to pursue the dozen-odd niru under Murima.

As for Zhu Cilang's central army, under the protection of the bodyguard battalion, it was slowly moving toward the east bank of Qingliu Creek — His Highness the Crown Prince intended to move his central army up onto Daqiang Ridge once the fighting there was completely finished.

The six model battalions originally arrayed along the Qingliu Creek line, under the command of Tang Laosi, Assistant Regional Commander of the central army division, moved northward, preparing to pursue the fleeing Qing troops.

In addition, one infantry battalion originally belonging to the reserve was broken up for use. The pikemen, under the command of Battalion Commander Chen Zhong, formed a three-rank open pike formation, screening the east side of Zhu Cilang's central army. Of the remaining two hundred forty musketeers, forty were heavy musket men stationed together with the pikemen; the rest were dispersed into a dozen-odd squads, spread out in a somewhat sparse stretch of woods behind the Ming army to serve as sentries.

Yin Yun, born into the Tianjin Guard military register and a veteran of several years as a musketeer under Cao Youyi, was one of the musketeers sent out on sentry duty. The heavy matchlock musket in his hands gave him full confidence. Though this musket was a product of the government-run Nanjing Armory, its quality was extremely reliable. At delivery, the master craftsman who had made it had personally demonstrated it before Yin Yun's eyes — proofing a musket was not only a technical task, but also a matter of conscience. Both skill and conscience were indispensable, and Yin Yun's skill was beyond question: an old musketeer who had handled seven or eight different kinds of firearms, he certainly knew good from bad.

And as for his conscience... it had made a great discovery at the proofing! For according to regulations, the veteran soldier responsible for proofing a batch of muskets would take one from the batch he had inspected for his own use. Which one he took was not decided by himself, but drawn at random by his model battalion's battalion commander.

Thus Yin Yun could not only guarantee that the musket in his hands would not burst, but also that, under normal performance, it could accurately hit a man-sized target at a hundred paces!

If any Tartar scout cavalry really appeared among the sparse trees ahead, he guaranteed he could send one to the west with a single shot!

"Tartar cavalry!"

A matchlock musketeer operating together with Yin Yun suddenly shouted — according to Battalion Commander Chen's order, heavy musketeers like Yin Yun had been attached to the matchlock squads, two heavy musketeers per matchlock squad, and then dispersed and concealed along the edge of the woods.

Yin Yun, who had been sitting with his back against a large tree, head lowered as he fiddled with his musket, hastily jumped up, leaned against the trunk, and peered into the woods. At a glance he saw several riders in blue clothing approaching at an unhurried pace.

The Hard-Work New Army's battle jackets were all red; no one wore blue. So these cavalrymen, without a doubt, had to be soldiers of the Tartars' Blue Banner.

"Light the match, load..."

The matchlock squad leader in command called out in a strangled whisper.

Yin Yun took a deep breath, then took out his flint and began lighting the matchcord. The loading procedure for a heavy musket was extremely cumbersome; from lighting the matchcord onward, more than thirty steps were required to complete it. Even an old hand like Yin Yun had to busy himself for a while.

And by the time he had completed the entire loading process and set the musket on its rest, the cavalry before his eyes were no longer a mere handful of riders, but too many to count!