Chapter 869: What? The Great Qing Is Gone! (Eleven)

Faster! Faster! Faster! Go faster, damn it!

Zhandai could already make out the Ming artillery position through the choking smoke! He saw the Ming gunners swinging their thick barrels around, aiming at his side, and still stuffing things into the pitch-black muzzles — damn it, they were loading canister shot!

The Qing artillery had made great progress by now, so Zhandai of course knew the Ming gunners were loading terrifying canister shot into those barrels! Twelve-pound canister! A single round held at least a hundred or more lead balls — nine twelve-pounders could spew out over a thousand lead balls in one volley!

If they got off two volleys, Zhandai didn't even dare imagine it. All he could do now was lash his warhorse with his riding crop for all he was worth, to make it run faster, faster still!

But no matter how brutally he abused his mount, this fine Mongol horse simply could not pick up speed. You couldn't blame the horse — the main problem was that Zhandai was simply too big, and he was wearing forty jin of chainmail.

Zhandai was one of the Manchus' renowned baturu, a bodyguard to Dorgon — could a man like that be small? The fellow weighed at least one hundred seventy or eighty jin, and with the chainmail, helmet, lance, saber, iron mace, eight-li bow, two pouches of arrowheads, horse tack, and assorted other gear, he was well over two hundred fifty jin. And the Mongol horse he rode weighed at most a bit over seven hundred jin — so even whipped to tears, the horse simply couldn't run fast!

Zhandai wasn't the only one riding his horse to death. Those bayara soldiers who refused to strip off their chainmail and were still carrying a pile of gear were all at odds with their mounts too, beating their horses for dear life. They had no choice — the Ming troops across from them had already finished loading canister, and were about to open fire. Could chainmail stop canister from a twelve-pounder? It didn't seem likely!

Boom—

Zhandai saw a flash of fire before his eyes, heard rolling thunder in his ears — it truly was as if the earth shook and the mountains swayed!

He was still galloping, which meant his precious life was still his for the moment. But he didn't dare glance left or right, for fear of being terrified by the scene of carnage before him.

A single lead ball from a Hongxing 3rd Year matchlock could blast a Manchu baturu in two layers of heavy armor into a bloody pulp — now with twelve-pounder canister, wouldn't it blow a man to pieces?

But Zhandai, who dared not look back, was terrified anyway, because through the smoke he could dimly make out the Ming gunners, nimble and quick, loading again.

Can't you slow down a little?

You're killing people! What a sin each cannon blast is — you'll go to hell for this!

"Amitabha, Boundless Heavenly Venerable, Sage Confucius protect me, Heavenly Father and Supreme Emperor protect me!" Zhandai was at his wit's end; he could only pray to every god and Buddha.

Boom—

Another earth-shaking roar. Zhandai's ears rang, stars swam before his eyes, and his nose and mouth were filled with the choking stench of gunpowder smoke.

But apart from that, Zhandai felt no discomfort anywhere — no pain, no itch. That meant Amitabha, the Boundless Heavenly Venerable, Sage Confucius, and the Heavenly Father and Supreme Emperor had all done their part.

He collected himself and stared intently ahead. Through the thick smoke, he could already see the Ming gunners scattering, running as fast as rabbits — clearly no good soldiers, any of them!

"Long live the Imperial Uncle of the Great Qing!"

Lance in hand, Zhandai shouted at the top of his lungs. His warhorse seemed to sense its master's spirit too, neighing loudly, and broke into a full gallop, charging forward. In the blink of an eye it had cleared the sandbag breastworks and burst into the Ming artillery position.

The Ming gunners had all fled with astonishing speed, every last one of them slipping away into the two infantry squares deployed behind the artillery position — and the front ranks of those two squares were all musketeers! Hongxing 3rd Year matchlocks with fixed bayonets were already leveled, and the match cords were already lit!

How can there still be muskets? You finish with the cannon and then you shoot guns too! This is just bullying!

The moment he saw those muskets, Zhandai knew things were bad, and he shouted urgently: "Amitabha, Boundless Heavenly Venerable—"

Just as the last syllable of "Boundless Heavenly Venerable" left his mouth, Zhandai saw a row of muzzle flashes ahead, felt something slam violently into his chest, then a burst of searing pain, and then he pitched headfirst off his horse and crashed heavily to the ground.

Pain shot through his chest and back at the same time, breathing became desperately difficult, and everything before his eyes blurred — but his hearing was still there. Gunfire, cannon fire, shouting, screaming, the pounding of hooves on the ground all merged into one din.

Finally, he heard the sharp clang of metal striking metal. Was someone sounding the gong?

Sound the gong and withdraw!

The last sound Zhandai heard was the signal for the Qing army to retreat!

Because the main camp behind Imperial Uncle Dodo was under attack by the Ming "black-gun mule soldiers"! And Yue Le's infantry could hold no longer either — they had been defeated by the forty-eight battalions of infantry under Gao Jie and Qin Mingtao using human-wave tactics. And Nikan, who had been sent on the flanking maneuver, had run straight into an infantry regiment of the Ming 15th Division; though not routed, he was powerless to break through.

The elite cavalry under Zhandai had withstood two volleys of canister and endured a round of musket fire, but they had exhausted their momentum and were now locked in bitter close combat with the Ming infantry. Even if they could spike the cannons' touchholes, it would do no good now.

Dodo knew he had lost the Battle of Deshengdian. The Great Qing — was finished!

But Dodo had no intention of giving up in despair, because the end of the Great Qing did not mean the end of him, Aisin Gioro Dodo.

He still had the fertile lands beyond the Pass, still had two or three million subjects, still had an army of tens of thousands, still had the two vassal states of the Mongols and Joseon, and still had Spanish aid.

So he still had the capital to hold on. Even if he could not be Emperor of the Great Qing, he could fall back and become Khan of the Great Jin. And if that failed, he could even submit to the Great Ming as a vassal!

"Go and call Yue Le back for me!"

The first order Dodo gave after descending from the watchtower was to bring Yue Le back.

He had watched from the high platform for nearly a full day, and had of course seen that Yue Le was a rare military talent. Though defeated now, it was a glorious defeat — so he had to take Yue Le back beyond the Pass and entrust him with heavy responsibility.

"Withdraw to camp!" His next order was to pull back to the main camp.

This was the advantage of drawing up formation outside the camp gate — if all else failed, they could still shrink back inside and hold out for a while. As long as they held until dark, they could shift toward Beijing.

"Send another order to Nikan," Dodo continued. "Order Nikan to lead his troops across the canal and feint toward Tianjin Garrison. Tell Nikan that under no circumstances is he to enter Tianjin — cross the Wei River near Dagu Fort, then head north to Jieshi Mountain!"

The third order was for Nikan. Nikan still had several thousand cavalry in hand, just right for crossing the canal and then moving toward Tianjin Garrison, to draw Shi Kefa's black-gun cavalry into pursuit.

Shi Kefa would certainly not want Nikan's cavalry to rescue the Shunzhi Emperor trapped in Tianjin Garrison — that was a big trapped fish!

After making these arrangements, Dodo returned to his own camp first, escorted by the remaining uncommitted cavalry of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion.

By this time, the Qing camp was still full of public and private booi, all thrown into chaos by the Ming black-gun troops' attack.

Seeing Dodo return, these panicked booi slaves quickly settled down.

Dodo immediately issued another order: "Every booi slave who took part in the battle is to be raised to banner status, and all will be granted land once we return beyond the Pass!"

He could not afford to worry about fiscal revenue or whether the Eight Banners soldiers below would still have booi to use — if he couldn't get through the crisis before him, he was a dead man!

Meanwhile, the battle outside the Qing camp had reached its final stage!

First, the Qing infantry and artillery collapsed across the entire line. After Yue Le withdrew from the fight, the troops below completely fell apart and became targets for the numerically superior Ming forces to hunt down.

Then the several thousand Qing Vanguard Battalion and Valiant Cavalry Battalion horsemen facing Wang Qi on the Ming left flank withdrew from the fight. They were all cavalry, while Wang Qi had infantry, so naturally he could not stop their retreat.

Finally, the seven thousand Vanguard Battalion and Valiant Cavalry Battalion horsemen under Nikan crossed the Grand Canal and went thundering off toward Tianjin Garrison — seemingly headed straight for the Shunzhi Emperor!

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