Chapter 172: Section 29: Collapse

The moment the order for the cold-steel charge was given, the Later Jin army had already opened several shallow breaches in the Ming army's left-wing battle line. The Heavy Armor Soldiers and battle troops mounted behind the line were pouring in through those breaches, and the Ming left wing was already on the verge of collapse. Without a doubt, once they had shattered the Ming left wing, the Later Jin army would roll laterally along the torn gap and strike the Ming central battle line.

Zhang Feimao had suggested placing a group of auxiliary troops behind the left wing to draw attention, but Huang Shi believed that the enemy commander, especially someone like Hong Taiji, would never make the mistake of dividing his forces. The several thousand auxiliary troops to the rear would be a target they ignored; the top priority would certainly be to cut down Huang Shi's command banner and annihilate the Ming combat troops. Once the Ming battle troops scattered, the auxiliaries would be nothing more than meat on the platter.

The Ming troops suppressed by the Heavy Armor Soldiers inflicted almost no casualties on the enemy. The Vanguard Battalion used layer after layer of battle lines to absorb the Later Jin charge, bitterly holding together a complete defensive line. The muscles on Zhang Feimao's face twitched violently as he gnashed his teeth and sent every unit in his hands toward that direction.

"For the late General Zhang." Zhang Feimao roared.

No one would ever doubt Zhang Pan's blood and valor. The soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion also raised their arms and shouted: "For General Zhang." Then they advanced toward the left wing without hesitation, where the Ming troops were bleeding without cease.

Zhang Feimao's eyes were already red. His lips trembling, he cupped his fists to Huang Shi and said: "My lord Huang, rest assured, my Vanguard Battalion will hold the left wing."

Huang Shi also said solemnly: "I have never doubted it."

On the front, the Ming troops were breaking into the Later Jin defensive line. Behind him, He Dingyuan kept looking from the left wing to the center and back, growing more and more restless. Huang Shi fixed his gaze on the gradual advance of the central Ming troops and said quietly to the subordinate general behind him: "Do not be impatient. The moment for the cavalry to move has not yet come."

Pangzeer was fighting the hardest battle of his life. He stared fixedly at the enemy before him, roaring furiously again and again. But his opponents all wore uniform curved metal masks. Above them, apart from the cold gleam of metal, there was no expression at all. Their eyes were hidden deep within the dark metal slits, bright but utterly lifeless. That gaze gave one a gray feeling — yes, that was it, a gray sensation. Pangzeer confirmed this feeling to himself as he retreated two steps to evade several thrusting spear blades, then nimbly twisted aside and used his rattan shield to block a vicious stab from the right. He was jolted back another step. Having narrowly escaped death, he let out an exultant, defiant roar. The row of icy masks opposite him remained utterly expressionless; only countless spear blades thrust at him again...

Although Pangzeer was a Bayara soldier of the Plain White Banner, most of the battle troops in his niru were infantry. Today, after Hong Taiji pulled all the Plain Blue Banner cavalry to the flank, he and his niru master had been left in the center, standing behind Manggūltai awaiting orders. Then came the shocking news — the Ming troops had swept away the elite Plain Blue Banner front line the moment they clashed, and under cover of artillery fire had shattered the central battle line! He immediately set out with the entire niru. Their order was to drive the Ming troops back again.

Just now, when he reached the center, he saw that the battle line had already ruptured. Large numbers of Ming soldiers clad in iron armor were pouring in continuously. He looked at the opposing Ming troops' masks, clearly made of iron, and abandoned any thought of shooting arrows straight at their faces. Perhaps the opponent's lower body was an easier target, but after gauging the opponent's speed and position, he had no choice but to give up that tempting idea, draw his broadsword, and take the rattan shield from his back. The moment he finished this motion, the Ming troops were already charging before his eyes, and a shimmering expanse of cold spear blades bore down on him.

The several Heavy Armor Soldiers charging at the very front were attacked from multiple sides simultaneously. Pangzeer watched them being skewered into hornets' nests before his eyes. At that moment, he and another man tried to push forward using the corpses as cover, but the opposing long spears immediately braced against the corpses, followed by round after round of thrusts from the rear ranks. The most successful man merely managed to shear off two spear blades embedded in a corpse. But that strongman paid the price at once, dying with spear holes all over his body.

Now his own side no longer had any long spears, because all the comrades who had held long spears were already dead. They might manage to stab one opponent, but then, as they pulled out their spear, they would be punctured into sieves by the swarming long spears. Every Ming soldier who fell was replaced at once. The rolling, continuous thrusts came like wave after wave, as if they would never end. The Ming troops opposite beat a maddeningly disorienting drum rhythm. With every step forward, they would always thrust strangely to the right. This despicable trick had already caused several brave warriors to die inexplicably.

A few Heavy Armor Soldiers, on a sudden whim, tried to roll under the forest of spears, but a row of long spears from the Ming rear ranks immediately stabbed down at the ground in unison. This entire row of spear blades extended like the teeth of a wild beast, and like a wild beast's mouthful of fangs, they snapped shut upon the earth simultaneously. There was absolutely no chance to evade. This practiced motion was as if performed by a single man. Pangzeer felt that the opponent seemed to have anticipated this situation and was simply waiting for them to use this move.

The Later Jin warriors fell back again and again. Pangzeer took one last look at a corpse on the ground a few steps away, then his gaze was cut off by countless enemies. That corpse was his elder brother's. His elder brother, like him, was a warrior of the Iljia clan. His elder brother was also the only Later Jin Bayara soldier so far to slay an enemy with his own hands. At that time, his elder brother had rolled straight forward on a wild inspiration, evading the spear blades from all directions without a fraction of error. Pangzeer saw it clearly: just as his elder brother raised his blade against the enemy soldier directly in front, that enemy soldier suddenly turned right and thrust — and was effortlessly killed by his elder brother.

At that moment, Pangzeer's blood boiled. Just as his exultant shout was about to burst from his lips, he saw his elder brother's body freeze, then slowly kneel to the ground. A sharp spear-blade tip had emerged from the back of his helmet. The blood that had just boiled throughout Pangzeer's body turned ice-cold in an instant. The murderer who killed his elder brother also wore a steel mask, but Pangzeer could see that he merely lowered his eyelids to observe the corpse, then raised his head and strode forward a great step, still with that indifferent, gray feeling.

The time Pangzeer and his brother's killer stood face to face, eye to eye, was but an instant, yet to him it felt as long as ten thousand years. In the eyes opposite, he saw no excitement or passion, only a corpse-like coldness — Come, let me slaughter you with my own hands, and cut off your head to sacrifice to my elder brother.

Just when he thought the murderer opposite was about to thrust at him, that Ming soldier suddenly turned to the right. In a flash of lightning, Pangzeer also wrenched himself to the right, barely managing to block a bolt of lightning aimed at his right ribs. At the same time, he exhaled and shouted, leaping again to the right, once more evading the bare blade rushing straight at him.

Before he could catch his breath, another long spear stabbed at him viciously. Pangzeer desperately squeezed backward, retreating two steps to evade that spear blade, then fiercely squeezed backward again to dodge two more long spears. He now bitterly regretted not carrying a long spear himself; otherwise, he would not be beaten so helplessly unable to retaliate. Another comrade beside Pangzeer screamed and fell. Now everyone around him was shoving backward.

Pangzeer had trained bitterly day and night in broadsword and shield, for he knew this was the source of his livelihood and survival. His swordsmanship was well-known throughout his niru — no, throughout the entire Plain White Banner. The formation was still retreating continuously. One after another, Heavy Armor Soldiers fell around him. Some were younger than Pangzeer, some were more agile, and some were even stronger than him. The reason he had not yet fallen was that he had already thrown away the broadsword he took such pride in, and was now gripping his rattan shield with both hands, struggling bitterly to hold on.

He calculated the Ming troops' patterns in his mind. When a spear thrust came from the right, a long spear would inevitably stab from the front as well. He had to block the one on the right with all his strength, because it could thrust farther, but he also had to retreat diagonally one step at the same time, or a great gaping wound would open in his left side... Only, after Pangzeer strenuously parried another round of thrusts, he could not help thinking: just how long must he hold out before this ended?

A sharp pain suddenly shot from the hollow of his left thigh. Pangzeer was shocked — how could an attack come from that direction? It should not be possible. His body, losing balance, knelt to the ground. A long spear had already pierced his throat. Blood gushed from his mouth. Only then did he realize that there was no one left around him, and so he was now the target of every spear.

"I want to see what kind of warrior can kill me..." Pangzeer used all his remaining strength to lift his head slightly. That Ming soldier's face was hidden behind the cold mask. In the murderer's eyes there was no excitement; that gray, hazy feeling was already very familiar. The murderer lowered his eyelids and looked down at him one last time from above. This gaze also felt very familiar.

Then a chill at his throat — the murderer pulled out the spear blade and left without looking back. Pangzeer, all strength gone from his body, collapsed face down onto the ground. Countless feet trampled over him. Every person who entered his vision wore a steel mask and had eyes that gave one a gray feeling.

He had begun hunting in the mountains at the age of seven. At eighteen, he had fought a great bear alongside his kin. After twenty, Pangzeer had served the Plain White Banner for nearly fifteen years, countless times staking his life against enemies on the battlefield, accumulating combat experience again and again from the thin line between life and death, and how many times had he relied on these skills to escape the grasp of the death god? The final battle of Pangzeer's life was also his most wretched battle. From beginning to end, he had no chance to swing his blade even once... not even a chance aimed at empty air.

A nimble messenger rode up at a gallop, bringing his horse to an abrupt halt sideways before Huang Shi: "Reporting to my lord, our army has slain nearly three hundred and is pressing hard upon the very banner of the Jianzhou slave chieftain."

The Later Jin troops in the center were retreating step by step, and their battle line had begun to fracture. Hong Antong could no longer contain the excitement in his heart. He spurred his horse forward two steps, stretched out his arm to point at the already disintegrating Later Jin defensive line, and said with delight: "My lord, all fifteen niru of the Jianzhou slaves' center have collapsed. This is a great victory, my lord."

"Just a little bit more, and it will be within our grasp." Huang Shi once again turned his gaze to the left wing, where the Ming troops were also beginning to show signs of breaking apart.

Zhang Feimao stepped forward resolutely: "My lord Huang, so long as I, your humble subordinate, am here, the left wing is as secure as Mount Tai."

"Good. Then I must trouble you, Superintendent Zhang."

"Your subordinate obeys." Zhang Feimao drew his saber and waved it in the air: "My lads, follow me and kill the Jianzhou slaves! Kill the Jianzhou slaves!"

Zhang Feimao led his thirty retainers toward the left wing. The retainers of a Ming general were all the pride of the army. Huang Shi estimated that with these thirty retainers present, they could match two hundred men. At the same time, Huang Shi saw the great banner of the Plain Blue Banner begin to slowly shift backward. The moment for the final general assault had arrived: "Mobile Corps Commander He."

"Your general is here." He Dingyuan at his side had long since grown impatient from waiting. He asked urgently: "May I ask, my lord, are we to intercept the Plain Red Banner? Surely we are to strike the Jianzhou slaves' left wing?"

A central breakthrough rolling up the right wing might trap and surround a portion of the Plain Red Banner's niru for annihilation. Huang Shi had not failed to consider this temptation, but it would likely take too long, and moreover...

Huang Shi shook his head decisively: "No. Our army is mostly infantry; we cannot give the Jianzhou slaves a chance to rally. Mobile Corps Commander He, do you see that great banner of the Plain Blue Banner? Go and fetch it for your general."

The horses of his cavalry were the same as the Later Jin army's warhorses — all were Mongolian horses weighing two to three hundred jin, not the great six- to seven-hundred-jin beasts like Arabian horses. Such mounts could only carry a few pieces of light armor, which was why Huang Shi refused to commit his cavalry to breakthrough combat. He hoped the cavalry's pursuit would prevent the Later Jin army from exercising unified command and from reassembling to fight again. After all, cavalry were called "troops of dispersal and reunion," and their battlefield mobility far exceeded that of infantry.

"Your general obeys." He Dingyuan crossed his arms, and with two ringing clangs drew both his waist sabers. He led the cavalry troop straight toward the great banner of the Plain Blue Banner. All two hundred cavalrymen of the troop followed He Dingyuan in a great shout: "Kill Manggūltai! Kill Manggūltai..."

In their field of vision, the great Plain Blue Banner retreated continuously, its speed growing faster and faster. The Ming infantry in the center had already punched through the Later Jin battle line and were beginning to split apart and roll toward both wings, which just happened to leave a passage through which the cavalry troop surged.

The same scene was unfolding on the Ming right wing, though here the protagonist was the Plain Red Banner opposite. Its great banner was also retreating without pause. The central command banner had long since withdrawn; if they did not leave now, they might not be able to leave at all.

"Right wing, press forward! Do not let the Jianzhou slaves withdraw intact."

Originally, both sides had been fighting here listlessly, but now the fighting suddenly intensified. The soldiers on the Ming right-wing battle line surged forward with war cries, while the banners of over ten Later Jin niru shifted backward together. Although they still attempted to withdraw slowly, as their formation loosened, basic archery cover had vanished. The Ming troops swiftly charged across the distance between the two armies. The five hundred men of the Vanguard Battalion deployed on the right wing, using their shields as cover, slammed headlong into the rearguard of the opposing Later Jin troops.

At the same time, the central battle line had already curved around. Among the hundreds of Later Jin soldiers scattering and fleeing in all directions, many rushed to the Plain Red Banner's position seeking shelter, charging into their own side's retreating columns. Behind them came the ironclad heavy infantry pressing step by step, harrying the banner of Boorjin Hiya of the Plain Red Banner so relentlessly that they could not halt their steps.

The Later Jin left-wing niru, having lost unified command, also had no heart to continue the fight and retreated in a single mass. When the soldiers fighting on the front line saw that no support was coming while the Ming troops grew ever more numerous, they too lost their courage, turned, and fled after their own niru banners, which further exacerbated the chaos of the entire army. Under pressure from the Ming on two sides, the entire Later Jin left wing quickly went from a defeated retreat to a routed retreat, and from a routed retreat to a headlong rout.

Large numbers of Later Jin cavalry on the right wing began abandoning the wounded and the auxiliaries to flee the battlefield. Relying on the mobility of their horses, the vast majority of the cavalry escaped the battlefield before the Firefighting Battalion rolling over from the center could close the encirclement. Great quantities of armor and weapons were abandoned. The several hundred Later Jin auxiliaries who had been following behind the battle line also threw down the supplies in their hands and retreated. Three niru even left their banners behind for the Ming troops.

In the end, however, one niru was trapped by the Ming troops at the seashore. Including auxiliaries, there were over two hundred men. These soldiers of a horse-riding people, finding themselves with no way out, actually abandoned their horses, stripped off their armor as they ran, and leaped into the sea. The Firefighting Battalion soldiers, forbidden to remove their armor or change weapons without orders, all stood on the shore watching. But those five hundred Vanguard Battalion soldiers, their eyes already blood-red from the slaughter, scrambled to pick up the weapons the Later Jin had discarded from the ground and shot them into the sea, regardless of whether they knew how to use a bow.

Moments later, several dozen Later Jin warriors, including some Heavy Armor Soldiers, were shot dead in the icy water. The Vanguard Battalion soldiers had always harbored bitter, deep hatred against the Later Jin, and after several years of war, the enmity had become irreconcilable. Thinking of their own families in Lüshun, whose fates were unknown, they could not even wait for the Later Jin soldiers to freeze to death or drown on their own. Those Vanguard Battalion soldiers who were good swimmers stripped themselves stark naked, clenched daggers between their teeth, and chased them into the freezing sea...

Meanwhile, the officers of the Firefighting Battalion attempted to begin reforming their units. The arquebusiers on the left wing received orders to immediately retrieve their firearms, while the heavy infantry continued to pursue the defeated and fleeing enemy. The Plain Red Banner before them had already been routed beyond any semblance of a unit, but they absolutely could not give Boorjin Hiya a chance to rally his forces.

At this moment, on the Ming left wing...

The Vanguard Battalion on the left wing had five infantry units totaling fifteen hundred men. The Vanguard Battalion was renowned within the Lüshun army for its willingness to fight, and it was also one of the few elite units among the Liaodong border forces. Previously, they had been repeatedly driven back by Hong Taiji, but time and again, the officers and their personal guards rallied them and counterattacked, stubbornly dragging down the Later Jin army's advance.

Now the Vanguard Battalion on the left wing had suffered over three hundred casualties, and more than half of its officers and their personal guards had died in battle. Thus, the Ming left wing could hold no longer. Right before Huang Shi's eyes, they began to collapse. Behind the formation, there were almost no officers left to rally them. The Vanguard Battalion officers who had not fallen in battle had all gathered with their retainers and personal guards under Zhang Feimao's banner and were still continuing to resist.

Large numbers of soldiers threw down their weapons and retreated in panic. As they ran, these men began discarding their helmets and armor...

"Adjust the central battle line. First Company and Second Company, all units rotate left." Huang Shi issued the order. The command banner sent out orders continuously, and the banners of each Squad Commander began to signal acknowledgment, some sooner, some later. Across the battlefield, the vast Ming battle line began to slowly change formation.

Huang Shi once again gazed toward the center and the right wing. The Ming troops were about to drive the enemy, who had cast aside their armor and helmets, from the battlefield — the outcome is surely decided now? Very well, let us see what other tricks you can still pull, Hong Taiji.