Chapter 850: Shunzhi's Great Battle with Shi Kefa — Part Two

On the fourth day of the first month, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, the Ming army's bombardment began. Twelve 3-pounder battalion guns were pushed onto the snow south of Guanyin Hall, less than three hundred paces from the Qing positions, and stone shot weighing three pounds was hurled round after round onto the Qing troops' heads. The reason for using stone shot was that the Qing firearms battalion had built fortifications against the broken walls of Guanyin Hall, and the defenders were all crouched behind those works, so they could not be swept by ricocheting iron or lead balls. The Ming army simply used stone cannonballs, relying on the fragments that flew apart when the stone balls shattered to kill and wound the Qing troops. The cannonballs all struck with great accuracy, and one could see stone chips flying everywhere across the Qing positions at Guanyin Hall, dust and smoke churning in chaos. From time to time Qing officers and men were struck by flying stone fragments and let out miserable shrieks.

But they still held their positions and showed no sign of disorder. And their own cannon fire began its counterattack at once: three guns almost identical to the Ming army's 3-pounder bronze battalion guns were pushed onto carefully constructed firing platforms, and immediately opened fire on the Ming artillery positions.

Qi Yuanbi realized at the very first moment that he had underestimated the Qing firearms battalion! They had clearly been trained by Western military advisers as well, and the unit's fighting spirit was extremely strong, absolutely not inferior to the Ming army's — which was only to be expected, since these were second- and third-generation Manchu warriors whose fighting spirit had not yet begun to decline.

Moreover, the Qing standing army was very small in number — how many men did the firearms battalion even have? Of course it was easy to train them rigorously.

By comparison, the Ming army's huge new-model forces could not help being somewhat ragged. Never mind that the Zhu Emperor had spent these years diligently cultivating officers, with the Military Academy and the remedial classes. Relative to the enormous number of several hundred thousand men, the excellent officers the Military Academy and remedial classes could supply were truly limited, and a considerable portion of them had gone to the artillery, engineers, and cavalry, so the infantry did not have all that many good officers. Apart from a few elite regiments, most of the Ming infantry were simply units meant to be spent in attritional warfare!

So Qi Yuanbi already knew that Huang Degong's adopted son could not take Guanyin Hall with a single regiment... but that did not matter. Huang Degong had brought eight regiments; they would fight in rotating waves, and they would take Guanyin Hall in the end!

And besides, the Qing troops inside Guanyin Hall were only small fish. The Great Qing Emperor inside the city of Tianjin was the real whale!

If they could use Guanyin Hall as the center and fight a decisive battle, smashing the main Qing force advancing from Tianjin, then the next step would be the possibility of surrounding the Shunzhi Emperor!

At that thought, he said loudly to a staff officer beside him: "Send someone to urge Commander Huang to bring up his main force at once. We are going to fight a great battle between Zhuangqiao Village and Guanyin Hall!

"Also, send someone to inform Grand Commander Shi: say that the Qing emperor has come out and stationed himself at Tianjin Garrison... and that the main force around him has already sortied! Request the Grand Commander to advance on Tianjin immediately! A true man, a great man, wins undying merit — now is the moment!"

"Yes!"

"Your Majesty, spare me! Great Khan, spare me! This slave was confused for a moment — this slave was frightened out of his wits by the southern barbarians' great army..."

On the fourth day of the first month, near noon. Within the Great Qing Emperor's temporary residence at Tianjin Garrison, Manzhuxili, the prince of the Khorchin Left Wing Middle Banner, was kowtowing to Shunzhi like a pestle pounding garlic.

He was in a wretched state now: his armor and official robes had been stripped off, he had been trussed up with ropes, and it seemed he had also been beaten — his nose was bruised, his face was swollen, and his head was split open, not from being struck by anyone, but from his own kowtowing.

But at this moment he could not care about the pain in his head; he simply kowtowed with all his might... because if he did not keep kowtowing, his head would be of no further use. The Shunzhi Emperor had already issued an imperial decree: at the third quarter of the hour of noon, he was to be led out and dispatched with a single stroke of the blade. By then his "head" would be a "waste head."

So he had to seize the time and strive to save himself. And the only way to save himself was to kowtow and play pitiful, kowtowing while casting glances at Wu Keshan, who stood beside the Shunzhi Emperor — Brother, save me!

Wu Keshan was frantic too. With Bumbutai not present, his words as uncle and father-in-law carried little weight... and he was not much of a talker either! This matter needed someone glib and persuasive.

At that thought, he scanned the great hall — why were they all big dumb louts? Where had Sonin gone?

Just as he was thinking of Grand Secretary Sonin, Sonin actually arrived, trotting in at a run.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Sonin came panting for breath, sweat beading all over his forehead. "Shi Kefa has most likely taken the bait. Shi Kefa's great army is advancing toward Zhuangqiao Village and Guanyin Hall, northeast of Cangzhou, and is about to walk right into the encirclement we have laid for him!"

"Truly?" The Shunzhi Emperor was instantly excited. "Sonin, is the intelligence reliable?"

Sonin "Suo Yuanzhi" was of course guessing! Nothing was reliable at present; without guessing there was no way to fight a war. Of course, one could not guess out of thin air — that would be too unreliable. One still needed some intelligence gathered from all sides as a basis.

"Suo Yuanzhi" glanced at the kowtowing Manzhuxili and said to the Shunzhi Emperor: "Your Majesty... if the military intelligence reported by the Prince Consort is true, then this time we should be able to trap the southern army's main force. According to our investigation, Shi Kefa is moving with the army. As long as we catch the southern army's main force, Shi Kefa most likely will not escape."

Wu Keshan immediately seized the opportunity and asked loudly: "Manzhuxili, is the military intelligence you reported true?"

It certainly was not true!

How could it possibly be true? When Manzhuxili fled the battlefield, everything was in complete chaos. He himself had lost all sense of direction, and when he blundered headlong into Jobotai's firearms battalion, he had thought he had run into a great Ming army. In such a state, how could he possibly know the actual situation on the battlefield?

But he did not dare let go of this life-saving straw! So he gritted his teeth and lied to the Shunzhi Emperor.

"Your Majesty, this slave truly blundered head-on into the Ming army's main force. The torches they carried stretched into several long dragons, with no end and no boundary — there must have been twenty or thirty thousand men, at least twenty or thirty thousand..."

"Then there can be no mistake!" The Shunzhi Emperor nodded heavily, and a trace of a smile finally appeared on his face. "Good, it will most likely succeed! Sonin, Wu Keshan, how many men do we still have on hand who can be moved?"

Wu Keshan said: "This slave still has five thousand men not yet committed, and I have also gathered up some soldiers who fled back from defeat — I can scrape together another fifteen hundred."

Sonin said: "Your Majesty, within Tianjin Garrison city there are still four thousand infantry, plus several hundred of Your Majesty's imperial guards."

Shunzhi thought for a moment. "Gather up all the men and be ready at any moment to follow Us in a sortie!"

"Yes!" Sonin acknowledged.

Wu Keshan pointed at the kneeling Manzhuxili and said to Shunzhi: "Your Majesty, why not count Manzhuxili in as well... let him serve as a common soldier. If he can kill a few southern barbarians, it may lighten his crimes somewhat."

"Yes, yes, yes, let this slave lighten his crimes somewhat!" Manzhuxili wept and kowtowed as he spoke, until even Shunzhi could not bear to watch.

"Very well!" Shunzhi snorted. "We shall spare your life for now. Follow your brother and prepare to atone for your faults through merit! If you fail to win merit, when We return to Beijing, We shall still have you executed!"

Manzhuxili let out a huge breath of relief. Once back in Beijing, he could beg the Empress Dowager, his sister, to save his life...

At that same moment, Shi Kefa also knew that the Shunzhi Emperor had strolled out of Beijing!

This was truly beyond all expectation!

And moreover... it was also a heaven-sent opportunity!

After fighting wars for so many years, Shi Kefa had learned that these "newborn calves" sometimes gave you a thorough beating, and sometimes were quite easy to catch — warfare was also a matter of talent! If one encountered a newborn calf like Li Shimin, then one was in deep trouble!

If Shunzhi was only an ordinary calf, then this was an opportunity... what if they actually caught him? Even if they did not, bottling him up in Tianjin Garrison would be extremely advantageous.

Shunzhi was the Great Qing Emperor. If they surrounded him in Tianjin Garrison, then the strategy of besieging one point to strike the reinforcements would be devastating! All the Qing troops in Northern Zhili would have to come to his rescue, and then they could be beaten one by one. Once they were all killed, would not everything within the Great Wall be taken at once?

At that thought, Governor-General Shi immediately said to Tian Qingyi, who was traveling with him: "Guard Commander Tian, how many men can be thrown at Tianjin right now? And how many days can the army's provisions hold out?"