Chapter 41: Section Six

After the Guangning Army's central and vanguard forces joined up, they immediately deployed into a do-or-die battle formation. The resounding drumbeats rolled across the land and soared to the heavens. The Ming cavalry under Sun Degong and other commanders was split into two wings, with Sun Degong himself commanding the left wing, while the right wing was reinforced with a thousand Guanning cavalry led by Zu Dashou.

Tens of thousands of Ming infantry formed the center. The long-weapon soldiers marched at the very front, and behind them, the sword-and-axe troops, led by their officers, all drew their blades and rhythmically beat their shields, shouting fierce work chants as they followed.

The Later Jin army and the Ming army gradually closed in on each other. Both sides raised their command banners. In this era without radio, armies of tens of thousands were commanded entirely by flags. Every officer watched his superior's banner and then used his own flags to direct the officers and soldiers under him.

As the Regional Commander's six-span red banner waved gently, the Ming Vice Regional Commanders and Assistant Regional Commanders adjusted their marching pace, using their flags to issue orders to the various Regional Military Commissioners and Garrison Commanders.

Sun Degong's three-span Assistant Regional Commander flag then swayed as it issued orders. Huang Shi, watching it, smoothly relayed the commands, and the personal guards behind him immediately hoisted his own one-span Regional Military Commissioner flag high.

Although Huang Shi lacked officers under him, under the full control of Yang Zhiyuan and Jin Qiude, there was no disorder. Zhao Manxiong hid at the very rear of the unit, vigilantly keeping soldiers and personal guards in front of him.

The Ming center was a dense block of heavy infantry, with cavalry screening both wings. Tens of thousands of men stretched out into a long battle line. As the center of the formation continuously pushed forward, the Regional Commander's banner soon drew level with Huang Shi's position.

A standard central-breakthrough formation. Huang Shi had never imagined that tens of thousands of men arrayed in a single line would stretch so far. Looking toward the center from his position at the rear of the formation, it was a sea of banners, and the conspicuous six-span Regional Commander's flag had shrunk to the size of a toothpick.

The Later Jin center halted its advance while both wings continued forward. The full-moon formation the Ming army had adopted was designed to counter the enemy's mobility advantage. As long as the center broke through to the Later Jin commander's banner first, the Later Jin army would have no choice but to retreat; otherwise, they would lose command cohesion and fight as scattered individuals. And if the Later Jin retreated to regroup, aside from the boost to Ming morale, all the wounded from both sides left on the field would fall into their hands.

Conversely, if the Later Jin wings managed to outflank and reach the rear of the Ming command banners before the Ming center broke through, the Ming army would suffer a catastrophic defeat.

Huang Shi and his men were, of course, on the left wing. Sun Degong sent a personal guard to summon him over: "Huang Shi, once the battle begins, you are to immediately lead your troops away from the Ming army, charge over to the Great Jin side, and then turn your coats."

"Turn our coats?" Huang Shi, utterly astonished, nearly shouted out: "Turn our coats right on the battlefield?"

"Yes. Tie a red cloth around your head, like this. When the Great Jin see men wearing red cloth, they'll know they are my people." As Sun Degong spoke, he pointed at the red square of cloth tied around his own forehead.

"Then what about my men? There's no time to convince them now." Huang Shi's thoughts were a bit jumbled. This plan clearly did not match the historical record.

Sun Degong gave Huang Shi an odd look. "What time do you think it is? Why worry about the men you don't trust? You and your trusted aides tie on red cloth, go over to the Great Jin side, then turn around and shout, 'Those who abandon their weapons will be spared!' The Ming army will inevitably fall into chaos and confusion, and there will be a pause. With me turning coat and attacking from the rear, chaos will naturally ensue. As for the rest, the ones you don't trust, it doesn't matter if they all die. As long as we win this battle, the Guangning Army is finished."

"That's it?"

"Simple, isn't it? Haha." Sun Degong laughed smugly. "The battlefield changes in an instant. Your action only needs to make the Ming army freeze for a moment. This is a stratagem personally set by the Khan. I kept it secret until now to tell you. Hurry up and get ready."

"Yes, I understand," Huang Shi replied reluctantly, but couldn't help asking one more question: "And what about you, my lord?"

"I will shout from behind the lines that the Ming army is defeated, adding chaos on top of chaos." Sun Degong answered without a moment's hesitation: "You create disorder at the front, I create disorder at the rear."

That part, at least, was correct. Seeing Huang Shi still deep in thought, Sun Degong urged him: "Hurry up and go prepare!"

"Yes, your subordinate will go at once." Huang Shi answered somewhat distractedly.

Unexpectedly, Sun Degong burst out laughing: "Little Huang, I reckon this is the last time you'll call yourself my subordinate. Once this battle is over, I'll arrange your marriage."

"Thank you, my lord." Huang Shi expressed his thanks, then added: "But your subordinate hasn't decided on a date yet."

"Haha, I can't wait any longer. Forget it, whether it's auspicious or not, I'll just pick a date for you."

"Thank you, my lord."

"Be extremely careful. Be extremely careful not to hesitate on the battlefield. Once you've shouted, quickly get behind the Great Jin army lines, or you'll be in danger once the chaotic fighting starts. Remember this, remember this." Sun Degong added one final sentence: "I don't want my daughter to become a widow who never even saw her groom."

It took Huang Shi only half a minute to return to his cavalry unit. He felt this arrangement was wrong. Sun Degong shouting that the battle was lost from behind the Ming lines — that was correct. But he did not recall any battlefield defection happening.

This would indeed create a huge local advantage. A single defection would trigger widespread chaos. But all those defecting on the battlefield were Sun Degong's men. Wouldn't that draw suspicion? It was impossible that not a single man out of tens of thousands of Ming soldiers would escape. Then how would Sun Degong start his uprising in Guangning? Could it really be that not a single one would escape?

"Brother Huang," a shout interrupted Huang Shi's reverie. It was Fei Liguo, riding over with a red cloth tied around his head. He glanced at the red cloth on Huang Shi's head with a face full of smiles and winked slyly at Huang Shi.

"Brother Fei," Huang Shi forced a smile: "Brother Fei, are you with me on this too?"

"Yes." Fei Liguo returned a smile of tacit understanding: "Same mission."

Fei Liguo was Sun Degong's trusted confidant. It seemed this arrangement was indeed correct.

Yet Huang Shi's brow furrowed involuntarily, tighter and tighter. If this went ahead, there would be no way for him to claim he knew nothing of Sun Degong's conspiracy.

"Aren't you going to have your men tie on their red cloths?" Fei Liguo seemed ready to give the order to his own men.

"We'll tie them on right before we reach the front. It's too conspicuous now." Huang Shi, his mind full of worries, answered offhandedly, and inadvertently let his inner complaint slip out: "It's too rushed. You never know what's in a man's heart. What if one person shouts out and throws everything into chaos? I'll wait until the very last moment anyway."

"True, then I'll wait a bit longer too." Fei Liguo also abandoned the idea of notifying his men immediately.

"I'm going to get ready." Fei Liguo suddenly realized he was still beside Huang Shi and hurriedly rode off to direct his flag-bearers.

By now, having reached their designated positions, the Ming and Later Jin armies had halted and were facing off. Huang Shi was still pondering how to get through the immediate crisis. After the Ming army collapsed, he could indeed proceed to Guangning, but with so many people having witnessed his actions, there would be absolutely no way to explain it to the Ming court.

If he really did this, he would have no choice but to throw in his lot wholeheartedly with the Later Jin.

"But first, let's get through the immediate crisis." Huang Shi ordered his soldiers to tie on their red headbands and cast one last glance at Sun Degong's banner, which was still positioned not far behind him.

"What are your orders, my lord?" Jin Qiude, the first to finish tying his headband, asked impatiently.

"In a moment..." Huang Shi was about to speak, but felt this plan was truly too dangerous. If defeated soldiers fled back to Guangning first, Sun Degong shouting that the battle was lost could be explained, but his subordinates defecting on the battlefield could never be explained away. And Sun Degong was indeed going to return to Guangning to rebel — Huang Shi remembered this part of history clearly.

"Wait," Huang Shi's shout shattered the silence before the battle lines. He spurred his horse and, ignoring the astonished looks of the surrounding soldiers, rode over to Fei Liguo's side.

"What is it? Keep your voice down." Fei Liguo was startled. He had just been about to order his men to tie on their red headbands. He grumbled softly in displeasure: "What are you doing over here? Go back to your post."

Huang Shi asked anxiously: "Has Lord Sun ever been this rushed before?"

"What?"

"Brother Fei, you've followed Lord Sun for many years. Lord Sun is not a careless man, is he?"

"Of course not." Though Fei Liguo's eyes showed some confusion, he answered without hesitation.

Huang Shi said nothing more. He turned his head and called out to Zhao Manxiong and the others, "Follow me." Then, right in front of a vast number of dumbfounded Ming soldiers, he circled around the flank and began riding toward the rear.

Just as Huang Shi's men were spurring their horses to follow, the Ming battle drums began to sound. The Ming soldiers on Huang Shi's flank stared at him blankly, but Huang Shi was unmoved. Without a moment's hesitation, he charged toward the direction of Sun Degong's banner, shouting at the Ming soldiers in front of him, "Make way, make way."

His eyes fixed on Sun Degong's banner, Huang Shi drew his saber and, without turning his head, gave a loud shout: "All men, draw blades."

History had changed.

But in the next instant, Huang Shi saw Sun Degong's banner topple within his field of vision. At the same time, a cloud of dust rose from behind the lines, accompanied by hoarse shouts: "Defeated! We're defeated!"

By the time Huang Shi reached the rear, he could see in the distance that the central army's eight-span red banner, the Regional Commander's great banner of Chen Qu, had already crashed to the ground. Without the guidance of the banners, Huang Shi had no way of finding Sun Degong among the tens of thousands of men. Panicked cries were beginning to drift up everywhere.

Huang Shi reined in his horse dejectedly and murmured to himself: "Was Chen Qu killed by Sun Degong's treachery? With the Regional Commander's great banner lost, every man in this Ming army of tens of thousands believes at this moment that the other defense lines have already collapsed. And the Guangning army has lost all command. From this moment on, every Ming officer and soldier will begin retreating on his own and fighting as scattered individuals."

"History has indeed changed. But it wasn't changed by me, Huang Shi. It was changed for me, Huang Shi. Changed to kill me."

"Wh-what is going on?"

At some point, Fei Liguo had also led his men over and caught up.

Huang Shi gave a cold snort. Without a word, he rode west. His men hurriedly followed. Behind them were Fei Liguo and his men. And further behind them, on the battlefield, heaven-shaking slaughter cries now erupted.

Ahead of them, a unit of cavalry dragging a banner with the character "Zu" was also fleeing, disappearing into the distance with astonishing speed. Their position indicated they had left the battlefield even earlier than Huang Shi and Fei Liguo's group. And their banner still flew proudly, the thousand-strong cavalry maintaining excellent formation.

Even while galloping at full speed, Fei Liguo could not help himself at the sight: "What is this?"

"The famed Liaoxi general Zu Dashou!" Huang Shi gave another cold snort. No matter how hard he spurred his horse, the Guanning Army ahead kept pulling farther and farther away.

During the Battle of Guangning, Zu Dashou had demonstrated his breathtaking skill at retreating before the enemy, withdrawing his entire unit intact from the battlefield — and he had launched his withdrawal even earlier than Sun Degong, who was secretly colluding with the Later Jin.

Huang Shi's thoughts turned venomously to the Dalinghe relief battle ten years later:

Tens of thousands of Ming troops from Zhejiang, Lianghuai, and Sichuan attempted to rescue twenty thousand trapped Guanning soldiers. Zu Dashou's nephew — Wu Sangui — at the very moment before engagement, suddenly ordered the Guanning Army on the right wing to turn and withdraw. The forty thousand Ming reinforcements sent to Liaodong were annihilated to the last man, and Zu Dashou had no choice but to surrender — that was the first time.

And twenty years later, Zu Dashou and tens of thousands of Guanning troops were besieged at Jinzhou. Hong Chengchou led the Qin Army — the Ming dynasty's final strategic reserve — to save them, and the decisive Ming-Qing strategic battle unfolded at Songshan. Once again, Wu Sangui and Wang Pu suddenly fled the field with the Guanning Iron Cavalry, causing the hundred-thousand-strong Ming army to collapse in chaos, the Qin Army to be wiped out, Hong Chengchou to be defeated and captured, and his maternal uncle Zu Dashou to surrender yet again.

Wu Sangui had certainly proven his bloodline and his family's supreme art — the retreat skill and mobility he displayed were in no way inferior to Zu Dashou's today. For Zu Dashou, this could be considered two repayments for one.

A hundred-thousand-man army collapsing in chaos — an eternal marvel. And both times, the Guanning Army emerged without a scratch, while their allies traveled ten thousand li to Liaodong to relieve them and took the blame every time. Without Yuan Chonghuan around, these bastards of the Guanning Army really knew how to play their games.

But he had no more time for such associations.

"Guangning — it must not fall." The persistent absence of Sun Degong's banner made Huang Shi burn with impatience; his subordinates' horsemanship was truly wretched.