Chapter 622: Battle Raging on Two Fronts

Donggo Dulei received Dorgon's order inside Niujiazhuang. He was the fifth son of Donggo Hohori, one of the Five Great Ministers of the early Qing, and his mother was a daughter of Nurhaci. While Nurhaci was alive, this grandson of his was greatly favored — not only did his career advance smoothly, but he was also allotted two niru of the Plain Red Banner, which placed him among the princes and dukes of the Eight Privileges. But from the time Hong Taiji took power, his luck began to turn sour. When they attacked Joseon, he was punished because his troops looted in Hanseong. In the fourth year of Chongde, when they attacked Jinzhou, he was punished again because his troops shrank back. That same year, his subordinates reported that when they had entered the pass to attack Jinan, he had secretly dug up the treasures stored in the Ming Prince of De's mansion, and he was sentenced to death. Hong Taiji hypocritically spared his life, but stripped him of everything. It was not until the eighth year of Chongde that he was restored to office as a gūsa ejen — though those two niru were gone.

But people whom Hong Taiji disliked often found a way to rise again once they came under Imperial Ama Dorgon. So Dulei had gained quite a few benefits from Dorgon, been enfeoffed as a Second-Class Count, and his position within the Plain Red Banner was now rock-solid.

He was therefore deeply grateful to Dorgon, and at critical moments he was willing to exert himself to the death — and Dorgon, knowing this fellow's temperament, had given him the most difficult task of all!

He was now commanding fifteen niru of the Plain Red Banner plus four niru of the Plain Green Banner, holding Niujiazhuang. Looking down from Turtle Mountain, his force was very far from Dorgon's main camp, and not close to the Qing troops at Lizhuang either — from any angle, it looked somewhat isolated.

After receiving Dorgon's order, Dulei immediately mustered two niru of the Plain Red Banner and half a niru of the Plain Green Banner and moved out to meet the enemy.

The Ming army's "Maurice battalions" were very strong against cavalry, but the garrison troops of Huang Degong and Li Chengdong were, after all, not the Kexin New Army.

The latter had been trained by foreign officers hired at great expense by Zhu Cilang, and officers at every level had been trained at the Nanjing Military Academy. Moreover, their firearms were better — they had already begun large-scale replacement with Spanish light matchlocks! And the soldiers of the first-line units (organized into seven model divisions) all wore splint armor, so Qing arrows could hardly hurt them.

The troops of Huang Degong and Li Chengdong had only learned a semblance of the "Maurice formation." They could fight, but marching under harassment from Qing cavalry was somewhat difficult for them.

Fortunately, Li Chengdong's two lancer cavalry battalions were no pushovers either. Seeing that the Qing cavalry were not numerous, they immediately charged forward with howling battle cries.

Of course, they could not perform the so-called wall charge — they were not that formidable. They simply rode in groups of a few dozen, and after closing to a distance of a little over one li to two li, they charged with lances couched. For now, they still had some distance from Dulei's men and had not yet begun their charge, but they were already shouting their slogan: "The Sage Confucius protects us — blades and spears shall not pierce!"

Though they were not the Qufu trained troops, they were still believers in Confucius. After dying in battle, every one of them would be a great Confucian scholar!

Dulei had spent the past few years in Shanxi suppressing the Third Prince, and had never seen Ming troops so fierce. He was startled for a moment. Fortunately, the niru janggin of the Plain Green Banner accompanying him was Shang Kexi's younger brother, Shang Ke'ai. He had fought the Qufu Army, the Tai'an Army, and the Huaibei Army until he was sick of it, and knew their "one-axe trick." So he hurriedly said to Dulei, "Gūsa ejen, we should withdraw at once! The southern army's lancers are formidable."

"What?" Dulei was taken aback, then glared fiercely at Shang Ke'ai — whose face was sun-darkened and stubbled with a scruffy beard, and not the least bit "lovable" — and said, "How can us Manchu warriors fear Nikan cavalry?"

Shang Ke'ai was momentarily speechless, not knowing what to say.

How could he be afraid of Ming cavalry? He simply did not want to clash head-on with them. Ming cavalry were not a "three-axe" affair but a "one-axe" business — their mounted archery was poor and their horsemanship mediocre; they simply relied on a full suit of good armor to play at the couched-lance charge. Their splint armor was not only sturdy but also relatively light. So the burden that splint-armored Ming cavalry placed on their horses was considerably lighter than that of Qing cavalry wearing cotton armor plus mail, and therefore, at the start of an engagement, they could often charge at high speed.

But they were one man to one horse, whereas Qing cavalry — especially the old Eight Banners — had two or even three horses per man.

So veterans like Shang Ke'ai, who had clashed with Ming lancers many times, all knew to first avoid their edge, wear down their horses' strength, and then remount and engage — that way they could steadily gain the upper hand.

"Company Commander Shang, you take your men and charge first. This lord will hold the line behind you!" Dulei most despised cowards who feared death, so he immediately assigned Shang Ke'ai the job of a "death soldier."

Resigned to his bad luck, Shang Ke'ai had no choice but to steel himself and lead his two hundred-odd cavalry forward.

On the Ming side, the commander was Li Chengdong's adopted son, Li Yuanyin. He and these Plain Green Banner cavalry of Shang Ke'ai were old opponents, and he was familiar with their tactics. Seeing them come forward today, he was briefly startled, then immediately reacted. Pointing his lance forward, he shouted, "The Sage Confucius protects us — charge with me!"

At this moment, the dozen or so cavalry squads under his command had already divided into three waves — front, middle, and rear — during the advance. Upon receiving the order, they immediately began to accelerate forward, first at a canter, then at full gallop. Amid the rumbling of hooves, more than three thousand hooves kicked up a skyful of snow powder — it truly had the air of shaking heaven and earth.

Shang Ke'ai also went all out, leading his Plain Green Banner horse troops in a charge as well, also in groups, and soon they crashed into the Ming cavalry groups. Because neither side's formation was very dense, the collision was not terribly bloody. After the first wave of impact, only a small number of cavalry were knocked from their horses; most passed by shoulder to shoulder.

However, because the Ming troops were more numerous and divided into three waves, while Shang Ke'ai's cavalry had only one wave, the Plain Green Banner cavalry — thrown into disorder and slowed in the first collision — suffered badly in the second and third collisions with their opponents. They were sent tumbling, men and horses alike, losing nearly one hundred and eighty riders.

Dulei's Plain Red Banner horse troops did not charge the formation. Instead, operating by niru, they split into two columns to attack the flanks of the Ming cavalry — not in head-on collision or melee, but with mounted archery. The Ming cavalry all wore splint armor, which was very sturdy and not much afraid of arrowheads, but their warhorses were unarmored. So under the concentrated volleys of Qing arrows, they suffered some losses — at least a dozen riders were shot down, and many warhorses were wounded, feathered arrows sticking from their bodies.

But because Shang Ke'ai's cavalry had already been shattered, Dulei did not dare continue fighting Ming lancers who outnumbered him two to one, and had no choice but to fall back toward Niujiazhuang.

And having beaten off the Qing cavalry's blocking action, the large Ming flanking force was able to continue pressing toward Niujiazhuang.

At the same time, on the front of Turtle Mountain, the Ming troops also launched a desperate counterattack against the Qing artillery position.

Shi Kefa dispatched a Qufu Army wagon battalion (without wagons), commanded by Shi Dewei, to charge from the left flank of the Qing artillery position. At the same time, he pulled out a dozen or so 3-pounder guns and one-catty guns and opened fire on the Qing artillery position from another direction.

The wagon soldiers, dismounted from their war wagons, formed a large pike formation, somewhat like a Spanish tercio. Its core was the pikemen of the wagon battalion, formed into a square. Arquebusiers and archers relied on the pike square, while sword-and-shield men surrounded the square, screening its movement.

No sooner had this huge square begun to move than it came under heavy bombardment from the Qing cannon! Three-pounder balls punched gap after gap in the Ming square. Some balls even bounced up and flew through the Ming formation, knocking down everything in their path.

But the fighting will of the Qufu Army was extremely strong, and their formation was not very dense. Moreover, after prolonged firing, the Qing cannon barrels had all grown hot and could only fire at a reduced rate. In addition, they were advancing from the left flank of the Qing artillery position, so the firing angles of many guns were blocked and could not be brought to bear. Thus the Qing bombardment failed to drive them off.

The Plain White Banner gūsa ejen commanding on the front line, Tatara Ajigenikan, had no choice but to order part of the cavalry arrayed behind the artillery position to dismount and join the fight alongside the arquebusiers guarding the guns.

(End of Chapter)