Chapter 866: What? The Qing Is Gone! — 8

We won?

Isn't this a bit too sudden?

Watching the battle from the high platform in the rear, Dodo could hardly believe his eyes. He had been prepared to wait until the infantry commanded by Yolo got a sound thrashing from the Ming army, then send his cavalry around to envelop the Ming left flank!

But what was wrong with this Ming army? How had they collapsed so easily?

Could it be that he, the Brave Prince, was truly that formidable in battle? Or was this a feint?

"A feint! It must be a feint!" Dodo was already shouting. He was the Brave Prince — did they think he was so easily fooled?

Nikan stood beside Dodo, also craning his thick neck to watch. Hearing Dodo cry "a feint," he smiled and said, "The Imperial Uncle is wise. But even if it is a feint, we need not fear — our cavalry has not yet moved! Let us see what trick those fellows can produce."

Infantry was not the main strength of Dodo's army; the Vanguard Battalion cavalry, the Elite Cavalry Battalion, and the Bayara cavalry were the true main force!

The main force had not yet been committed, so using the less valuable infantry to probe the Ming army's hand was all to the good.

With that thought, Dodo suppressed the urge to sound the gong for withdrawal, raised his telescope, and continued watching the battle.

Through the telescope he saw that the Ming musketeers, who moments ago had been bristling with killing intent and ready to shoot down the Qing troops, were now running as fast as rabbits — clearly veteran old soldiers who were very good at running away.

The pikemen who had been positioned behind the musketeers had their formation broken up by these flight-savvy old veterans. The pikes they carried were one zhang three chi long — clearly meant for stabbing cavalry! If they could have held formation, they might still have been able to deal with the Qing infantry. But now they were all scattered, and against the Qing sword-and-shield men they had no chance at all — if they didn't run, they were done for!

Could it be that the Ming army was not feigning defeat, and had truly been caught off guard when Yolo seized the opportunity?

Just as Dodo was uncertain, the retreating Ming troops had already halted their collapse. It turned out that after running more than three hundred paces, they had run into the Ming rear formation — in this era, the most common infantry array was based on square or line formations, arranged into a front and a rear grand formation. Some cannons were placed in front of the forward formation, and some cavalry were placed on the left, right, or rear of the two formations.

But the Ming deployment Dodo faced today was a little strange: the distance between their front and rear formations was too great — over three hundred paces — and there was no sign of their cavalry anywhere.

Something about all this just didn't look right!

Just as Dodo kept feeling something was off, the routed soldiers of the Ming front formation had already streamed in disorder through the rear formation and begun reforming several dozen paces behind it.

Meanwhile, in front of the Ming rear formation, quite a few 3-pounder cannons had been set out — these were the very guns that had originally been placed before the front formation, withdrawn before the Qing musketeers advanced. There had originally been 36 of them; 3 had been damaged in the earlier artillery duel, leaving 33, and now all of them were loaded with canister shot. They fired a fierce volley at the pursuing Qing troops, knocking men and horses sprawling, and immediately steadied the line.

The Qing troops, pounded by cannon fire, also ended their charge, falling back two or three hundred paces before beginning to reform. The Qing infantry's rear formation, along with 87 cannons, was also being hauled forward by horses — these cannons were the true fighting strength of the Qing infantry!

While the Qing troops were redeploying, the Ming cannons kept firing furiously — this time using cheap stone shot, but still with considerable accuracy. The cannonballs fell continuously among the Qing infantry. Though they were only 3-pound stone balls, there were simply too many of them; every impact overturned several Qing soldiers. Most terrifyingly, some of the balls bounced up and then flew rapidly for a stretch at a height of five or six chi above the ground — the flesh-and-blood bodies of soldiers in the path of such a flying stone ball were instantly pierced through! And after punching through one burly Qing soldier wearing who knew how many layers of armor, these wildly ricocheting stone balls still had force enough to smash through a second and a third body.

The Qing troops, hammered by Ming artillery, were on the verge of chaos and collapse, but Yolo was no pushover. He personally led the veteran Manchu battle-supervisors, holding the line at the rear with all his might, and beheaded several dozen men in succession before barely steadying the formation.

But the price was worth it!

Because the Qing army's eighty-odd 3-pounders had seized the opportunity to deploy. Although eight more guns were hit and lost to Ming cannon fire during the process, the remaining more than eighty cannons were still set up on the forward line, a little over two hundred paces from the Ming infantry.

This firepower was no joke — it completely exceeded normal density, reaching the point of surplus. The reason it had not been able to show its power before was that the distance from the Ming infantry formation had been too great, so it could only be used to trade fire with the Ming artillery deployed forward.

But now Yolo had made his infantry and artillery deploy under the enemy's fire, thereby closing the distance!

Once the firepower of more than eighty 3-pounders was brought to bear, it was something the Ming army's ten-thousand-odd infantry and thirty-odd 3-pounders simply could not withstand.

Probably terrified by the sheer number of Qing cannons, the Ming side began retreating again before the Qing guns could even collectively take aim and open fire.

Yolo was also prepared. Seeing the Ming troops retreating in disorder, he sent out all of his more than 2,000 musketeers and more than 2,000 archers, who chased after the Ming troops and delivered a volley of musketry followed by a shower of arrows, throwing the retreating Ming formation into complete chaos. It looked as though they could no longer regroup — many Ming pikemen even threw away their one-zhang-three-chi pikes!

"We've won, we've won!" Nikan, standing beside Dodo, was already getting excited. "Imperial Uncle, let this slave take the cavalry and charge their formation! These twenty thousand or so men — we'll bag the lot of them for sure!"

Dodo still could not quite believe he had won so easily, and kept feeling there was a trick; he was just at the point of hesitation. Then, at the edge of a large stretch of woodland to the left rear of the retreating Ming troops, a row of muzzle flashes suddenly appeared, and then eight or perhaps nine black dots were hurled forth, flying toward the pursuing Qing troops at a speed visible to the naked eye. Because the distance was rather great and the targets were moving, most of the shots went wide, but one black dot still landed in the middle of a large cluster of Qing soldiers, instantly knocking down several men. Then the black dot bounced up and swept across through the crowd, carving out a bloody alley through living flesh!

"That's no 3-pounder!" Dodo drew a sharp breath. "Have the southern barbarians hauled out Hongyi cannons for a field battle?"

"Imperial Uncle," Nikan reminded him, "these must be the cannons they had prepared for bombarding the Tianjin garrison! Who would have thought they'd use them on us here!"

Dodo nodded. "That must be it! But where there are heavy guns, there must be heavy troops — it seems there are troops lying in ambush in that woodland! This is probably Shi Kefa's hidden move, is it not?"

As if to prove Dodo's brilliance and martial prowess, no sooner had he spoken than large numbers of musketeers and pikemen charged out of the woods, forming a dozen or more Maurice-style squares, and advanced against the Qing flank.

"Imperial Uncle!" Nikan could no longer contain himself, and again loudly begged for battle. "Give this slave 8,000 Vanguard Battalion cavalry, and this slave will go deal with the ambushers on the southern barbarians' left wing."

Dodo smiled. "8,000 Vanguard Battalion cavalry probably won't be enough. I'll add 6,000 Elite Cavalry Battalion horsemen — take the cavalry of both the Plain Red and Bordered Blue banners, and I'll also detach 12 3-pounders for you. Remember, no reckless charges. First let the 3-pounders cover the dismounted Vanguard Battalion troops as they go up and attack with muskets. Once their formation is broken up, then use the Elite Cavalry Battalion to charge."

"Zhe!"

Nikan answered with a shout, performed the dachian salute, and was about to descend from the watchtower to move troops when a dense burst of musket fire suddenly rang out from the direction of Desheng Marsh on Dodo's left wing.

Nikan stopped and turned back to look at Dodo. Dodo waved a hand and laughed, "Go on — fight well! Don't worry about Desheng Marsh. It should be the southern army's cavalry getting ambushed by Murima."

I had been worrying about the southern army's cavalry all along; now the stone in my heart has finally dropped!

I'll send another 3,000 Elite Cavalry to support Murima, and that will be enough. In a chaotic fight in the woods, what counts is valor — and that is what we old Eight Banners men do best!"

Nikan loudly flattered him: "The Imperial Uncle is sagacious!"