Chapter 619: Heavens! Even Shi Kefa Knows How to Command Troops Now!

How could Shi Kefa, Governor-General of the Seven Provinces' Military Command of the Great Ming, bearing the concurrent title of Minister of War, and enfeoffed as the Zhongmu Earl for his service in overcoming adversity, possibly not know how to command troops?

If he did not know how to command troops, how could he have become Governor-General of the Seven Provinces' Military Command?

Ever since that campaign in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when he led his army north to rally to the throne, he had been commanding troops, training troops, and employing troops without pause, and had even built up from nothing the Qufu Trained Army, one of the six northern garrison armies of the Great Ming.

In more than three years of military life, Shi Kefa, relying on strong walls and crack troops, had fought the eastern barbarians in deadly combat some thirty or forty battles in all. Though he could not claim to have fought a hundred battles, among the civil officials leading troops on the Ming side he was second to none.

And he had not been fighting roving bandits or local bandits — the opponents in those thirty or forty battles, great and small, were all full-strength eastern barbarians!

These were the eastern barbarians who had captured Hong Chengchou and killed Lu Xiangsheng!

He, Shi Kefa, had fought those terrifying eastern barbarians for three full years, and first of all had not been killed — even now he was still warm and breathing!

Secondly, he had not let the eastern barbarians capture him — he was still Governor-General of the Great Ming!

Thirdly, his army had not been annihilated. Though he had suffered quite a few defeats, the Qufu Trained Army still existed, and it was growing braver with every battle!

Fourthly, Qufu City had not fallen either! Moreover, he had broken the eastern barbarians' Yishui camp and Yanzhou prefectural city several times!

Therefore, in the histories to come, Shi Kefa, Supreme Commander Shi, would without question be the very model of a scholar commanding troops, the Confucian commander who restored the Great Ming.

This Confucian commander, reining in his horse atop a rise by the banks of the Si River, was at this moment frowning deeply as he watched a vast army, almost impossible to see from end to end, pour ceaselessly out of Ziyang City, tramp across the frozen Si River, and head north.

Shi Dewei and several staff officers from the army attended him. From time to time dispatch riders galloped past, loudly reporting military intelligence, while the staff officers took out their notebooks to record it, exchanged opinions in low voices, and then had Shi Dewei report to Shi Kefa.

"My lord, the eastern barbarians in the Yishui camp have also marched out. Commander Li is leading his cavalry to block their vanguard!"

Shi Kefa laughed coldly. "Just as I expected! This marshal knew Dorgon would not be so easily fooled."

Shi Dewei offered a flattering remark: "My lord is wise."

Shi Kefa said with a smile, "Go and pass the order to Commander Liu: have him deploy the wagon formation within Ningyang County."

"Yes!"

Shi Dewei answered loudly, then beckoned for the dispatch riders.

As a Confucian commander who knew how to use troops, Shi Kefa naturally knew how to use wagon formations to shake off the pursuit of enemy cavalry.

The speed of wagon troops was of course slow. Not only did Shi Kefa lack sufficient mules and horses, but even if he had horses to pull them, they could not outrun cavalry.

But the great Confucian commander Shi did have a method for dealing with Dorgon: he would detach a portion of the side-box wagons to form wagon formations, and leave behind a small number of one-catty cannons and cavalry inside the formations to put on a show of strength.

The Qufu coalition army, the Shandong militia, and the Denglai militia (Zuo Maodi's army) had all been tempered by now, and Dorgon did not dare treat them as raw recruits and weak troops to be brushed aside casually. Once they formed a wagon formation, Dorgon would have to bring up cannons to bombard it.

And deploying artillery, bombarding repeatedly, destroying the wagon formation, and then launching an infantry and cavalry charge all took time. If one were careful, it would take several hours!

From Ziyang to the Dawen River was only a little over eighty li. If the army marched through the night, leaving behind two or three wagon formations along the way and abandoning a few hundred side-box wagons, that would probably be enough to get through.

If that were still not enough, then they would leave behind some cavalry working with small units of wagon-camp troops to cover the rear — the wagon-camp troops were all mixed squads, roughly thirty men per squad, composed of a blend of musketeers, pikemen, sword-and-shield men, and archers. Such a configuration, without side-box wagons to rely on, could not fight a pitched battle. But used as skirmishers, they were better than the model-army infantry organized by battalion, and if combined with some cavalry and three wagon formations putting on a show of force, they would leave the pursuing Dorgon somewhat dazed and confused.

The sound of cannons and muskets rang out sporadically, never ceasing entirely. The cries of battle, the beating of gongs and drums, the thunder of warhorses' hooves and their neighing, rose and fell in an unending clamor.

On the north bank of the Si River, beginning on the afternoon of the twenty-second day of the eleventh month, the vanguard of the Qing army surging out of the Yishui camp collided with the rear guard of the Ming army withdrawing from Ziyang City. Fierce fighting erupted along the entire front across the broad plain!

First the cavalry and infantry squads of both sides locked in combat — cavalry charging one another, muskets and bows exchanging fire — and then dismounted Manchu warriors and Ming wagon troops fought tangled together in a melee.

The ones with the advantage were of course the Qing troops. The warriors of the old Eight Banners were, after all, far superior to the militia of the Shandong garrisons! Yet this advantage did not reach the point of crushing resistance like dry weeds and rotten wood.

Shi Kefa's musket purchases had all been made through the "imperial merchant" Shen Tingyang. Though the fellow was a merchant, he was far more honest than the various "directorates" formerly managed by the Ministry of Works and the palace attendants — a greatly loyal merchant!

The muskets he sold to the Qufu militia were mainly the three-monme barrels obtained from Japan and the turtledove-foot matchlocks produced by the Dengzhou ironworks. The former not only rarely burst their barrels, but could also take a double charge of powder. Although the powder charge even when doubled could not compare to a Spanish light matchlock, it was enough to pierce three layers of heavy armor worn by Manchu warriors at a distance of thirty paces!

And the Qufu militia's musketeers wore cloth-faced iron armor, which could protect them from massed archery fire.

The pikemen and sword-and-shield men who bore the brunt of close combat mostly wore long-bodied iron armor — all good equipment discarded by the Kenan New Army (which was then popularizing splint armor and plate armor) and now issued to the Qufu militia. Warriors clad in such armor were called the "Iron Man Army," every one of them a big, strong fellow. When charging they all shouted, "Confucius the Sage protects us, blades and spears cannot pierce us!" — every one of them fearless in the face of death!

After a round of contests with this elite rear guard, Dorgon's Nine Banners crack troops became somewhat hesitant, and after running into the wagon formation ringed by side-box wagons, they did not dare attack rashly. They had no choice but to haul up the red-barbarian small cannons and one-catty cannons and bombard methodically. Though such tactics guaranteed victory, the speed of the pursuit slowed considerably.

When night fell, the battlefield on the south bank of the Dawen River was still a chaos of cannon fire, musket fire, battle cries, and screams. And a hundred forty or fifty li to the north, within the great Wolong Valley of Mount Tai, Zhu Cilang rode on horseback, advancing with the staff officers of the Grand Marshal's Office and the cavalry and wagon columns of the imperial guard through the dim moonlight. Though most of this party had horses, only a very few were still in the saddle; the great majority walked on their own two legs like infantry.

Ahead of and behind them were the Guard Division and Vanguard Division of the model army, along with two ironclad cavalry regiments, all likewise advancing on foot. The reason for this was to conserve precious horse strength — warhorses were extremely delicate animals, and overuse could cause injury or even cost them their lives.

Even when carefully cherished, they were not a "durable asset." Under normal circumstances, a warhorse could serve well for only three to five years.

And it had now been nearly four years since Zhu Cilang's regime moved south.

In those four years, apart from one or two hundred fine horses from across the sea (mainly folded-ear horses), the Southern Ming had obtained almost no qualified warhorses.

The Southern Ming did have ways to buy horses from the north, but among them there were almost no fine horses that could serve as warhorses, and even horses that could serve as military draft horses (folded-ear horses could make do) numbered only a few.

Therefore, when the Shandong campaign was halfway through, Zhu Cilang had issued an order to strictly protect the horses.

But no matter how much they were protected, once this mobile campaign was over, the number of warhorses and draft horses in the Southern Ming army would inevitably drop sharply. If that traitor Dorgon kept maneuvering, Emperor Zhu's crack troops would probably be fine, but his inferior horses would likely be worked to death in great numbers!

In the darkness, three dispatch riders galloped at full speed, sparing no horseflesh, and arrived before the Emperor's column, where they were stopped by the lead guard Lu Renjia and his men.

Lu Renjia ascertained the situation, then immediately galloped up before Zhu Cilang's horse: "Your Majesty, Shi Kefa reports that the Shandong armies have engaged the main force of the eastern barbarians. They are fighting while retreating toward the Dawen River."

Zhu Cilang drew a sharp breath, then called back over his shoulder. Several staff officers who had been walking their horses immediately swung into the saddle.

Zhu Cilang said, "Pass the order to all units: increase the pace of march. We must reach the Dawen River front before nightfall on the twenty-fourth!"

(End of Chapter)