Chapter 198: Section Fifteen: Exchange of Fire

Shang Keyi and Zhang Pan stared at Li Yunrui, furious but not daring to speak. Zhang Minghe, however, felt he had a better rapport with Huang Shi and hastily cupped his fists in salute: "Lord Huang, I am willing to lead my own troops in a swift pursuit. Lord Huang can follow with the main army — then nothing can possibly go wrong."

Shang Keyi, afraid that Zhang Minghe would steal all the credit, also hurried forward and shouted: "Lord Huang, in your clear judgment, I too wish to go."

Just as Huang Shi was hesitating, Jin Qiude also weighed the pros and cons. Seeing Zhang Minghe and Shang Keyi volunteer for battle, he chimed in: "My lord, since the two generals show such high fighting spirit, I believe we can do as they suggest — my lord can lead the main army and follow behind."

Having worked with Jin Qiude for so long, Huang Shi naturally understood exactly what Jin Qiude was thinking: if they ran into an ambush, the allied troops would bear the first wave of the attack. If there was no ambush, no matter who took the heads, as long as it was the Left Wing's army, Huang Shi would get the credit. Victory would be a joy for all; defeat would be Shang Keyi and the others' fault.

The Firefighting Battalion behind them had already arrived nearby. Huang Shi hesitated no longer and decisively gave the order: "I have made my decision. The pursuit of the fleeing Jianzhou slaves shall proceed in this order: Mao Dusi's unit, Zhang Mobile Corps Commander's unit, then the Firefighting Battalion and the Vanguard Battalion, with the Rock Battalion as the rear guard."

The three outside generals who received the order immediately cheered:

"Lord Huang, in your clear judgment! I accept the order."

"Lord Huang, in your clear judgment! I accept the order."

The orders were swiftly transmitted. The logistics soldiers and combat soldiers of the Firefighting Battalion worked together, carrying over the wheelbarrows and armor bundles. While they were busy, the allied troops behind them also began moving out one after another. These lightly equipped pursuit units marched directly off the official road, bypassed the section with roadblocks, and continued advancing. Their baggage would be left behind in Fuzhou under protection. Shang Keyi and Zhang Pan also departed one after another with their own troops.

Jin Qiude used flag signals to inquire about the situation on the other side of the Fuzhou River. Deng Ken's artillery unit had not yet crossed the river, and Shang Kexi's subordinates along with large amounts of baggage and auxiliary troops were still using the three pontoon bridges. He asked hesitantly: "Has my lord decided not to bring the cannons?"

"Yes. The gun carriages and ammunition wagons are too heavy. If the road surface were good, they could still keep up with the troops, but with the official road in this state, plus the river crossing, they probably won't make it across within an hour." Huang Shi quietly watched the progress of the Firefighting Battalion and Rock Battalion's logistics troops, and without turning his head, he ordered: "Jin Qiude and Li Yunrui, both of you stay behind and speed up the intelligence and staff work."

The two men answered in unison: "At your command."

Huang Shi nodded and explained to his subordinates: "I am not afraid of any ambush on the other side. The complete niru of the Fuzhou Red Banner probably number only a dozen or twenty at most, and the Bordered White Banner still has to cover Gaizhou. So even if there is an ambush, what can they do to me?"

Jin Qiude and He Dingyuan shouted together: "My lord sees clearly."

"My lord sees clearly." After echoing this, Li Yunrui stubbornly insisted on one more point: "The Jianzhou slaves' Bordered Blue Banner is undoubtedly still in Liaodong, but there has been no news of their Two Yellow Banners for a long time."

"With Lin Danhan there, the Two Yellow Banners would not dare leave Liaobei in autumn." Seeing that the Firefighting Battalion was about to finish reorganizing and set out, Huang Shi immediately tugged the reins and moved forward, not forgetting to smile at Li Yunrui: "This is called strategic vision — you wouldn't understand."

Huang Shi and He Dingyuan were both leading their horses on foot. According to the Changsheng Army's new marching regulations, all cavalrymen of the Firefighting and Rock Battalions, except for the scouts rotated out on patrol, had to lead their horses while marching. This was to conserve the horses' strength so they could respond to emergencies at any time. Since the regulations did not specifically state that this rule did not apply to Huang Shi, he led his horse on foot just like everyone else. Over the years, everyone on Changsheng Island had grown accustomed to Huang Shi's unorthodox and peculiar behavior, so no one made a fuss about it.

But Zhang Minghe, watching from the side, felt his eyes were about to pop out again. He hurriedly dismounted, intending to walk along with them, but after hesitating a moment, he still did not move his feet. In the end, Zhang Minghe secretly made up his mind to stick with his own Vanguard Battalion and not get too close to Huang Shi when there was no need.

After Huang Shi left, Zhang Minghe heard Li Yunrui asking Jin Qiude: "Why is my lord so certain that the Two Yellow Banners would not dare leave Liaobei right now?"

Jin Qiude laughed: "Lin Danhan claims to command four hundred thousand bowstrings — that's bragging, but he should still have a hundred or two hundred thousand herders under him. The western barbarians may be so poor they have nothing but bows and arrows, but if they can't beat the Jianzhou slaves' armored soldiers, can they not beat unarmed commoners? The Jianzhou slaves' Two Yellow Banners have over seventy niru — keeping them in Liaobei is not too many at all."

"Hmm. Lord Jin sees clearly. It's just that without confirmed intelligence, I can't help feeling somewhat uneasy."

"If we had confirmed intelligence for everything, what would we need the staff team for? We might as well merge it all into your military intelligence team."

As the two talked and laughed, they raised their hands together to salute the marching Firefighting Battalion. Originally, the Great Ming's rules had been laid out in great detail — for example, a squad officer had to kowtow twice to a Squad Commander, and a Squad Commander had to kowtow twice plus bow once to a battalion officer, and so on. But on Changsheng Island, Huang Shi had abolished all these cumbersome kowtow procedures. Huang Shi had plagiarized the military salute from his previous life and established the Changsheng Island military salute. Although the lower-ranking officers no longer received kowtows from the soldiers, they also no longer had to kowtow to their superiors all day long. And starting this year, Huang Shi had added a regulation requiring all officers to salute marching troops — Huang Shi believed this would help enhance the soldiers' sense of honor.

Zhang Minghe naturally could not understand what they were doing. What Jin Qiude and Li Yunrui had just said had frightened him badly — discussing one's direct superior behind his back was a grave offense in his Vanguard Battalion. Although Zhang Minghe had not yet built up sufficient official authority, certainly no one in the Vanguard Battalion would dare discuss him in public.

In Zhang Minghe's heart, the thought even stirred of reporting this to Huang Shi. He glanced again at Jin Qiude and Li Yunrui. Around those two were several of Huang Shi's internal guard soldiers, but those guards paid no heed to Jin and Li's words, still busy directing traffic. So Zhang Minghe abandoned the idea of currying favor.

As a feudal army, the Ming army relied primarily on harsh punishments to intimidate the common soldiers, making them respect and fear their superiors. The most serious crimes — such as desertion, complaining about officers, or fleeing before battle — were punishable by death by slicing, heart extraction, or liver extraction. Relatively major offenses — such as missing roll call, farting too loudly or too foully, making noise in camp, or kowtowing with insufficient reverence — all resulted in being dragged out and beheaded. Lesser offenses — such as disheveled uniform and armor, forgetting rain gear, or giving irrelevant answers — were punished by ear cropping. Other corporal punishments included nose slicing, face slashing, bone cutting, and arrow piercing. These corporal punishments were further graded by severity in actual execution — for example, arrow piercing was divided into several levels from one arrow to five arrows...

In recent days, as the Dongjiang Left Wing assembled, the commanders of each unit knew that a great battle was imminent. To tighten military discipline, they had all begun a killing spree. Every day, several men were butchered outside each command gate, and the commanders always had their entire battalions come to watch the executions, using this to intimidate potential malcontents. Although Huang Shi did not practice this himself, he had gone to observe several times. After Deng Ken accompanied him once, he again sighed deeply: "The soldiers of the Great Ming are truly the most enduring soldiers in the world."

Those soldiers sentenced to ear cropping or nose slicing accepted their punishment without a word of complaint, then casually wrapped the wound with a cloth and went back to work. Soldiers with arrows pierced through their cheeks never made a sound from start to finish, and when paraded through camp, they could still walk briskly. Afterwards, Deng Ken exclaimed to Huang Shi that if he had known beforehand that being a Ming military household was such a dangerous job, he would still rather be a private secretary.

Even among the allied troops now fighting alongside the Changsheng Army, there were large numbers of disabled men missing ears and noses, and soldiers with arrow-piercing scars on their faces were beyond counting. These corporal punishments that left permanent marks had been entirely abolished on Changsheng Island. Huang Shi believed that such corporal punishments severely damaged soldiers' sense of honor and collective identity. He held that every visible scar on a soldier's body should come from the enemy, and should be a soldier's pride, not his shame. Furthermore, the corporal punishment of face-slapping had also been abolished by Huang Shi as a humiliating punishment. The only corporal punishments now retained on Changsheng Island were two: the leather whip and the military rod. Anyone who dared use unauthorized punishment would face the harshest penalties from the Changsheng Island Military Justice Division.

Even after the Rock Battalion had finished moving its baggage, the Vanguard Battalion still had not completed its preparations to march. So Wu Mu made an immediate decision and ordered the Rock Battalion to set out first, with the old man himself bringing up the rear behind the Rock Battalion.

Huang Shi and He Dingyuan led their horses and walked side by side on the right side of the official road. The Ming troops on both flanks had already spread their scouts out to five li. Good news kept coming from the front: one hill and forest after another had been safely checked, and Zhang Pan's vanguard was about to catch up with the fleeing Jianzhou slaves.

"It seems there is no ambush ahead." Huang Shi sighed with some disappointment, his expression turning desolate.

He Dingyuan saw Huang Shi's regret and could not help asking: "Does my lord wish there were an ambush? Is my lord worried that the credit will not be enough?"

"I do somewhat wish we would run into an ambush. And I think Li Dusi makes a very good point — enemy situations that have not been scouted cannot be called certain." Huang Shi idly slapped his own leg with the riding crop in his hand, shaking his head and sighing repeatedly: "But it is not for credit. If I were only thinking of myself, I would never have ordered the pursuit. It is for Lord Sun."

He Dingyuan was even more puzzled, and his voice suddenly rose: "For Lord Sun?"

"Yes. The Liaoxi army has not fought a battle in nearly five years. Those in command of the Guanning Army are all long-legged generals — otherwise they could not have survived the repeated defeats at Liaoyang and Guangning. And Marshal Ma... ah, Marshal Ma is eager to earn merit; I fear he may be too impatient." Huang Shi felt that Sun Chengzong's greatest problem was that he did not understand the importance of veterans. He suspected that Sun Chengzong believed that equipping an army with luxurious gear made it a strong army: "Now there are always people at court urging Lord Sun to advance on Liaoyang, but the Guanning Army's one hundred sixty thousand troops are all farming military households. Among them, those who have seen a battlefield number not even a thousand — probably not even five hundred. This is not an offensive; it is suicide!"

He Dingyuan recalled the equipment he had seen at Shanhai Pass, and his heart was again filled with both sorrow and envy. He savored the meaning in Huang Shi's words: "So my lord hopes to deal the Jianzhou slaves a heavy blow here?"

"Yes." Among the tens of thousands of men here, only Huang Shi knew that Sun Chengzong had designs on Yaozhou, and he also thought the location was indeed well chosen. Huang Shi had always believed that as long as the Guanning Army could fight one or two victorious field battles, establish a psychological advantage over the Later Jin, and be tempered by the fires of war, then the Guanning Army, armed to the teeth, would sweep across the Later Jin with ease. Ever since Huang Shi had hesitantly decided to become a second Qi Jiguang, he had been pondering how to coordinate with the Liaoxi offensive: "The Jianzhou slaves can only mobilize the Bordered Red and Bordered White Banners at most. Even if they could bring their full strength — which they can't — what could they do?"

He Dingyuan burst out laughing at these words, his face full of disdain and self-satisfaction: "Never mind that we now have an entire wing — as long as my lord's Changsheng Army is here, as long as those defeated remnants of these two banners dare to come, as long as they dare to fight us head-on..." At this point, He Dingyuan swung his empty right sleeve fiercely: "We can smash them in one blow."

"Exactly." Huang Shi thought the same in his heart, which was why he had been intent on using the attack on Fuzhou to wear down the fighting strength of these two banners. He hesitated for a moment, then said to He Dingyuan: "I have thought it over. After we recover Fuzhou, I will write to Lord Sun and tell him I am willing to serve as Provincial Military Commander in charge of Liaoxi military affairs."

"My lord..." He Dingyuan was so moved he hardly knew what to say.

"We don't even need to go to Liaoxi. We can just draw two artillery battalions and two iron cavalry battalions directly from Lord Sun. I will use the Firefighting and Rock Battalions as the vanguard, and I will also get these several battalions of the Dongjiang Left Wing from Marshal Mao. Then I will lead them straight to take Gaizhou, and then Haizhou. After two battles, the new recruits in those four Guanning Army battalions will all be veterans. Their confidence against the Jianzhou slaves will be established..." At this point, Huang Shi suddenly stopped and sighed, a pained look faintly appearing on his face: "As for how Marshal Mao and my Dongjiang colleagues see me — I'll let it be. Call me a petty man, call me ungrateful — I serve the nation with a single heart and a clear conscience."

He Dingyuan fell silent for a moment, and only after a long while did he say with difficulty: "My lord sees clearly."

Huang Shi smiled faintly: "In this way, the realm will be spared additional taxes, Lord Sun will have his wish fulfilled, and you can return home in glory. As for me, the court has already promised me five Battalion Commander in hereditary fief — placed in Liaonan, that is one hundred thousand mu of land. That is enough for me."

Before Zhang Pan could catch up with the enemy troops, those ten niru had already abandoned the Han civilians and fled. They were clearly afraid that if they got stuck to the Ming vanguard, they would not be able to get away. The Ming troops at the front were pacifying the commoners while sending riders at full gallop to report the victory to Huang Shi and ask whether to continue the pursuit. Just as Huang Shi was inquiring about the state of the fleeing enemy, columns of wolf smoke suddenly rose from the rear, and countless pyrotechnic signals shot straight into the clouds — these indicated that the rear unit had encountered an emergency of the utmost urgency.

Huang Shi and He Dingyuan stared at each other in shock, then swiftly mounted their horses and gazed southward. During this time, even more pyrotechnic signals rose into the sky — it seemed the rear-guard unit had launched every communication tool they possessed into the heavens in one breath.

"Whole army, halt." Huang Shi's order was transmitted with lightning speed.

"Halt."

"Halt."

"Rear unit, become the vanguard." Huang Shi's second order was issued.

"Whole army, about — turn."

The column that had just been snaking northward along the official road came to an abrupt stop, then swiftly turned around. At this moment, the messenger ordering Zhang Pan and the other units to halt the pursuit had not yet reached the vanguard.

"Move out." Huang Shi gave a great shout, pressed his horse's belly, and sped southward in a cloud of dust: "Full speed advance."

"In step — march."

The formations of the Firefighting Battalion and the Rock Battalion were like a long serpent. As the order passed through, the serpent's body convulsed violently as if jolted by electricity. Under the sunlight, the densely packed human heads upon it quivered and shimmered like scales. The serpent's head turned toward Fuzhou and slowly accelerated... kept accelerating... and finally began racing southward along the official road at top speed.

The auxiliary troops of the Later Jin army were working frantically. Around them, scouts galloped past without pause, relaying military intelligence one report after another.

"They're coming so fast." After hearing the report, Daišan stood dumbfounded — the field fortifications before him were not even fully deployed yet.

Huang Taiji still wore that unhurried look, a smile still hanging on his face: "It just means there was no time to dig trenches; everything else is already in place."

"It's all the fault of that Vanguard Battalion — they marched far too slowly." Manggūltai could not help cursing. By the time they estimated the bait force had already been caught, the Vanguard Battalion still had not passed the planned ambush site. The Later Jin army was forced to mobilize in force and launch a frontal assault. Fortunately, the Ming rear guard retreated north at top speed and merged with the main force, so not too much deployment time was lost.

……

Huang Shi observed the Later Jin battle line before him. The dense banners indicated at least fifty niru, and they even came from six different banners with no unified command.

"My lord, Rock Battalion has finished donning armor."

"My lord, Firefighting Battalion has finished donning armor."

"Good." Huang Shi surveyed the surrounding terrain — hills and forests everywhere. If the enemy cavalry exploited the chaos to raid friendly forces, there could be serious trouble: "Rock Battalion, fall back and form a circular formation with Mobile Corps Commander Zhang and the others. Shield the baggage and civilians in the center."

"Firefighting Battalion, follow this official road." Huang Shi held his palm vertically before his eyes to sight along it, then thrust his arm straight forward, chopping toward the Later Jin center deployed on the road: "First Company on the left of the road, Second Company on the road, Third Company on the right of the road. Fourth Company and Fifth Company follow behind Second Company. Attack in column formation and cut into the enemy line."

"At your command, my lord." The messenger ran off at top speed.

"Assemble the mounted units of Firefighting Battalion and Rock Battalion. Keep them by my side and await orders."

"At your command, my lord."

After the Battle of Nanguan, Huang Shi had wanted to request more iron armor, but during this period everyone was busy with factional strife and no one paid him any attention. So Huang Shi had no choice but to strip the iron armor from the cavalry and arquebusiers. Now the two thousand five hundred pikemen of the two battalions all wore iron armor, but the one thousand five hundred arquebusiers and four hundred cavalry had regressed back to leather armor.

Huang Shi's Assistant Regional Commander banner tilted slightly forward. From all five infantry companies of Firefighting Battalion rose the sound of uniform drums. Standing in the battalion's Second Company, Song Army Supervisor shouldered his arquebus and marched with his comrades, heads high, toward the enemy. They halted eighty meters from the Later Jin battle line. Standing amid the rain of arrows, the iron-clad pikemen showed not the slightest panic; they were as calm as if they were standing in sunlight, enjoying the sea breeze of Changsheng Island.

The company commander, hands clasped behind his back, counted each volley of arrows that came. Only after a dozen or so soldiers had fallen did he call out calmly: "Arquebusiers, step forward."

Arquebusier Squad Commander Song Army Supervisor strode forward together with his brothers. He expertly set up his arquebus, bent down to carefully aim it ahead, then blew his whistle sharply.

Bang.

Bang.

One volley followed immediately by another, and after three successive volleys, Song Army Supervisor had reloaded his arquebus. He blew his whistle and strode forward, planted his arquebus, and swept a glance at his comrades around him. Once he saw everyone was ready, the whistle sounded another sharp, short blast.

The Ming troops, firing as they advanced from eighty meters out, soon raised a belt of gunsmoke twenty meters wide across the battlefield. The return fire from the Later Jin archers opposite grew weaker and weaker, because at such a distance they had to shoot every arrow with full strength just to inflict any harm, and so their stamina quickly began to fail.

After both sides had suffered over a hundred casualties each, the Ming battle line finally pushed forward to within fifty meters of the Later Jin line. The Later Jin archers retreated one after another. The Later Jin army had erected many rattan shields and wooden planks on the field; the archers slipped behind them in a flash.

The Ming troops fired repeatedly from where they stood at the dense mass of rattan shields and planks. Wood splinters flew from the opposite side, and before long, shield after shield was shattered to pieces under the sustained fire. But behind each layer of shields lay yet another layer; no one knew just how many rattan shields the Later Jin army had brought.

Zhang Minghe was at this moment dejectedly reporting the events to Huang Shi. Upon seeing the Later Jin main force charging from ten li away, his Vanguard Battalion had instantly lost its will to fight. The soldiers, amid the curses of their officers, had retreated like the ebbing tide. Fortunately, the Later Jin army seemed to have no intention of pursuing them and instead immediately halted to prepare the battlefield, so Zhang Minghe's troops suffered almost no losses and had now been placed inside Rock Battalion's circular formation.

Huang Shi was of course deeply dissatisfied with the Vanguard Battalion's performance. If they had only managed to delay the enemy a little, he could have rushed back in time and would not have allowed the Later Jin army to deploy so methodically. Gazing at the Plain White Banner's great standard opposite, Huang Shi sighed: "I never imagined that without General Zhang Pan and General Zhang Feimao, their Vanguard Battalion could not even obey orders and halt on command."

Zhang Minghe's face flushed scarlet and he hung his head. Huang Shi, his face taut, watched the arquebusiers' futile shooting and barked in a deep voice: "All troops, advance! Cold steel assault!"

Song Army Supervisor drew his dagger and watched his comrades bearing long pikes march past him in step to the drumbeat. The iron-armored soldiers had already lowered their face masks; as they marched, they leveled their pikes. The enemy ahead had ceased shooting and seemed ready for hand-to-hand combat. The Ming troops advanced cautiously, slowly forming up, on guard against the enemy suddenly bursting out from behind the rattan shields and planks.

At the sound of a long horn blast from behind the enemy formation, the rattan shields and wooden planks were pulled up from the ground in unison. Attached to wooden poles or hemp ropes, they were all dragged to the rear by the Later Jin soldiers. What followed was an unbroken, continuous sound of bowstrings releasing…

"Two thousand sets of iron-spiked chevaux-de-frise locked into chains, covered with brambles, topped with twelve-foot cheval-de-frise spears, and behind them heavy defensive crossbow engines." Daišan twisted his mouth into a self-mocking smile: "All these years of capturing them from the Ming, they've just sat in the storehouses. Never once did we imagine there would come a day when we'd be the ones using them."

Manggūltai also gave a dry laugh: "A pity Father Khan melted down all the bronze cannons and traded them for grain. Otherwise it would be even more perfect."