Chapter 128

The Ming soldiers once again withdrew their guns and stood firm, resuming their attack posture. The blood flowing everywhere across the ground had turned the earth into red mud, and the Later Jin warriors not yet dead rolled and struggled in this mire, choking out their last breaths.

The horn signals commanding from behind the Later Jin army lines abruptly ceased in that instant, as if an invisible pair of scissors had cut them clean off. The Later Jin soldiers staggered backward; even veteran Jurchen warriors of many years had never faced such slaughter.

Attacking the shieldless flank along the right oblique line is what some places call heavy infantry right-wing phobia. However, in the feudal era that relied on individual martial valor, this tactical maneuver was accomplished by flanking around the side — soldiers still instinctively attacked the enemy closest to them who posed the greatest threat. After the embryonic form of modern armies emerged in the eighteenth century, long weapons relying on the frontal right-thrust tactic could easily crush short-weapon charges — it was simply one-sided slaughter. Shield and short weapon thus withdrew from the stage of history... They could not defend against firearms, nor against long spears, so what use were they? Better to have a two-handed sword or a pistol. (This book has Huang Shi discover this inadvertently while watching He Baodao perform at Lüshun, but without overall training, this move cannot be played.)

This was the capability that team spirit brought to modern armies. Relying on it, various flexible tactics could be generated and the army controlled with high efficiency. For example, when it was discovered that the enemy's attention was heavily tilted to the right wing, and some Later Jin soldiers had the courage to attempt the dangerous move of walking sideways — trying to counter the right-thrust tactic — the front-line commander of the Firefighting Battalion could exploit this weakness with ease to attack from behind, rather than rigidly adhering to the frontal right-thrust method.

Coordination, organization, discipline — viewing the entire army as a single whole rather than relying on individual combat strength. The excitement in Huang Shi's heart was hard to express in words — the modern army, this war machine in human history that slaughtered countless people, had finally followed me across time and space to arrive in this era... Do not think that just because the modern army wields cold weapons, your feudal armies stand any chance.

Slap, slap...

One blade after another fell ceaselessly to the ground. Some Later Jin soldiers, as they retreated, simply collapsed sitting on the ground, their mouths hanging open as they stared dumbly at the inconceivable battlefield before them, utterly unaware that they had already lost control of their bowels and bladder.

When this beast of war, the modern army, first extended its claws and bared its hideous, bloodthirsty, ferocious face, it was not only the Later Jin soldiers who were terrorized. The soldiers who had seen battle scenes at Lüshun were mostly in the front ranks and the cavalry, so the archers behind the Ming army were all new recruits. They too stared blankly at the slaughter before them, their arms dropping one by one, the bows and arrows in their hands falling to the ground.

The new recruits in the two rear ranks of the gun formation were also pale-faced. A few soldiers could no longer maintain their state of alert; they propped themselves up with one hand on their guns, covering their mouths and desperately trying to stop themselves from vomiting.

Huang Shi, his face taut, pointed his riding whip forward. The guards beside him immediately struck the drum three more times.

"Entire army, forward — eyes."

The veterans in the Ming front ranks uniformly faced straight ahead. Although their breathing had become rapid and heavy, the painful memories of whippings during training still suppressed the soldiers, preventing them from letting out excited shouts.

"March — forward."

The drumbeats sounded one after another. The officers of the Firefighting Battalion issued continuous commands. The Ming army advanced in formation with guns leveled. Most of the Later Jin soldiers stumbled backward as they retreated, their shields and blades dropped all over the ground. The horn signals behind their lines never sounded again.

Those Later Jin soldiers sitting on the ground stared with blank, dull eyes, forgetting even to cry out before the long spears stabbed into their bodies. Occasionally one or two Later Jin soldiers let out inhuman howls and charged forward brandishing their blades without any proper form, but they too were speared to death in the blink of an eye.

The Ming army advanced shoulder to shoulder without haste. The Later Jin soldiers scrambled and crawled back to the barricades before their horn sounded once, but it was already meaningless. Soldiers tripped by the barricades fled backward on all fours. The Ming army saw only the backs of their enemies now, each one clawing at the comrades ahead to run faster.

"Fire the signal." Seeing that the moment had come, Huang Shi gave the order. The guards hurriedly signaled to the cavalry in the rear.

Using infantry to rout the enemy, then using well-rested cavalry to pursue — in theory, this maximizes the use of the horses' stamina to achieve battlefield results.

When the rain-like sound of hoofbeats rose behind them, the officers of the Firefighting Battalion immediately shouted: "Left and right, disperse."

Watching He Baodao lead the cavalry sweeping past before his eyes like a whirlwind, Huang Shi's warhorse stirred restlessly, snorting and stepping forward two paces. He reined it in forcefully. Behind him, Hong Antong could not help but cry out: "My lord."

"Never mind me. It is very safe here." Huang Shi turned his head and looked around at the personal guards behind him: "All of you, go." He smiled and said loudly: "Go, all of you, go."

"At your command, my lord." Hong Antong drew his saber in one motion, a flash of cold light slicing through the air: "Thank you, my lord."

Several personal guards also drew their blades in unison, pressed their horses' bellies, and all joined He Baodao's cavalry unit. Huang Shi's order to the cavalry was to pursue the foremost enemy troops, ignoring those who had fallen behind — the infantry would naturally follow up and finish them off.

Huang Shi turned his head and saw that Wu Mu was still in a daze. His mental state was somewhat worrying, so Huang Shi lightly nudged him: "Eunuch Wu, fighting a battle and being a bodyguard are rather different, aren't they?"

"Hmm?" Wu Mu made a sound like sleep-talking, then suddenly shouted as if waking from a dream: "Different, different, truly so very different."

After trotting past the obstacles, the cavalry immediately began to accelerate. With the impact of the horses combined with sabers swinging left and right, the fleeing Later Jin troops fell like wheat in the blink of an eye. After the cavalry passed, the Ming infantry formed up again and advanced, ceaselessly delivering finishing spear thrusts to the enemy on the ground. No one broke ranks on their own to collect heads. The drumbeats still rumbled on. Some of the new recruits in the rear ranks had collapsed on the ground, vomiting violently, but others struggled to their feet, grabbed their guns, and ran forward to rejoin the formation.

"Banner Officer Chen, why didn't you explain clearly to me earlier? This fighting a battle is clearly nothing like what you said." Wu Mu wiped the corner of his mouth. He had just realized that drool had run all down his chin and hurriedly wiped it clean. Feeling embarrassed at his loss of composure, he glared fiercely at Chen Ruike beside him, accompanied by a heavy nasal sound: "Hm?"

"This, this..." Chen Ruike had never seen such a scene either. He stammered and stuttered for a long time: "This humble officer, this humble officer has watched the Imperial Guard drills, they did not, did not..."

"We are not the Imperial Guard." Huang Shi came to his rescue: "We are a frontier army, the Liaodong frontier army."

"My lord, how should we deal with the Han troops of the Jianzhou slaves?" After the battle ended, some Han troops had successfully surrendered alive. Zhao Manxiong pointed at this group of dejected captives and asked Huang Shi how they should be handled. Huang Shi rode forward and swept his gaze over them. The men had all been tied up, and they looked to be bound very securely.

"Leave not a single one. Take their heads and go."

"At your command."

Instantly, a clamor of weeping and pleading for mercy rose from below. Each man desperately professed that he had been forcibly conscripted.

Wu Mu cautiously called out: "Hold a moment." His status as Army Supervisor gave him some objections to killing captives.

"Eunuch Wu, please speak." Huang Shi's tone was as courteous as ever.