Chapter 40: The Great Battle 4

In the main tent of the Tianxiong Army camp, Lu Xiangsheng sat behind the large desk at the head, with Wu Dading still standing guard behind him holding a blade. Zu Kuan, Li Chongjin, and other Liaodong generals stood on the left side of the tent, while Yang Maogong, Zhao Libin, and other Tianxiong Army generals stood on the right.

Lu Xiangsheng spoke: "In today's battle, every one of our men fought with valor and vied to be first, utterly defeating the roving bandits and slaying countless numbers! I have already memorialized the court to record merits for all of you, which will also somewhat ease His Majesty's worries! If nothing unexpected happens, the roving bandits will not accept today's defeat and will surely gather their elite troops to challenge us! I have already sent Night Scouts back and forth to probe the bandits' movements. Gao Yingxiang has repeatedly defeated government troops in recent years and is proud and arrogant. Seeing that our forces are few, he should come with heavy troops, vainly attempting to defeat or even rout us. Generals, if you have any countermeasures, speak freely!"

The generals on both sides immediately began discussing among themselves.

Yang Maogong was the first to step forward, cupping his hands and saying: "Regional Commander, although the roving bandits outnumber us by dozens of times, the only ones with real fighting strength among them are the Dashing King's ten thousand or so elite cavalry. The other various bandit factions have few true elites under their command. Moreover, the bandits are not of one mind—no faction will stake everything they have in a desperate fight with our army. If the bandits come, the Dashing King's main camp will be their core force. What we need to worry about now is only the bandits' cavalry; the rest are not worth fearing!" Having said this, Yang Maogong turned his head and glanced at Zu Kuan and the others across from him.

How could the Liaodong generals opposite fail to understand his meaning? Zu Kuan had long been arrogant and overbearing. His family had formed marriage alliances throughout Liaodong, and with the decline of the Li Chengliang family, the Zu family's influence had become the greatest among the Liaodong government forces, which was how Zu Kuan had developed such a temperament.

This time, when Chongzhen ordered the Ministry of War to transfer him to the interior to suppress bandits, he had been most reluctant. In his heart, the three thousand men under his command had already become his personal property, and he was unwilling to charge into battle for the court again. Only after his father, Guanning Regional Commander Zu Dabei, had persuaded and sternly ordered him did he grudgingly come to serve under Lu Xiangsheng.

In his heart he had always looked down on civil officials. As the realm grew increasingly chaotic, the status of military men who held blades had gradually surpassed that of civil officials. But this was still the Zhu family's realm after all, and the Liaodong generals had received imperial favor for generations—they did not yet have the audacity to openly defy the court's authority.

He had not expected that the first battle after entering the Central Plains would be a great victory, nor had he expected that Lu Xiangsheng, a high minister of the court and a civil official, would actually charge at the front. This also earned Zu Kuan's deep admiration, so he restrained himself considerably in Lu Xiangsheng's presence.

After hearing Yang Maogong's words, he stepped forward, saluted Lu Xiangsheng, and said: "Regional Commander, we're all rough men who only know how to charge and fight. We don't understand any schemes or stratagems. General Yang says the bandits opposite have cavalry and that they can fight—didn't we already fight them this morning? Didn't one charge settle it? If the bandits come, however we fight, I'll take whatever orders the Regional Commander gives! Whether he's the Dashing King or the Dashing Emperor, in this old Zu's eyes they're just a bunch of dead men walking!" Having said this, he raised his head challengingly at Yang Maogong and looked at him askance. Yang Maogong turned his face away, pretending not to see him. Zu Kuan gave a satisfied snort and returned to the ranks.

Lu Xiangsheng smiled: "With fierce generals like General Zu, why worry that the roving bandits won't be destroyed! However, the bandits are powerful in numbers, so our army should avoid their sharp edge, strike at their weak points, and defeat them at the smallest possible cost. After all, the bandits are numerous, and wiping them out in one stroke is impossible. The purpose of this campaign is to inflict heavy casualties on the bandits' elite troops, then drive them into the mountains. Afterward, we will proceed to Ruzhou. The soldiers have been campaigning for a long time and need a good rest. I also need to write a memorial to His Majesty, reporting the current situation of the bandits' growing strength, and request that His Majesty increase military pay and provisions and expand recruitment, so that we may exterminate the bandits as soon as possible and restore a peaceful place for the people of the Great Ming!"

At this point, Lu Xiangsheng paused, then, his smile fading, continued: "General Zu, you will take out two thousand cavalry. General Li, your unit will dispatch one thousand cavalry. The three thousand cavalry will be divided into units of one thousand each, and will circle around to the bandits' two flanks and rear respectively. When the bandits come to attack our main camp, I will rely on the camp fortifications, using strong bows and hard crossbows to blunt their momentum. When the enemy's spirit flags, the camp will fire signal cannons, and then you and I will launch a charge from all four sides simultaneously, routing the bandits' infantry and trapping their cavalry in the chaos of the fleeing troops! If nothing unexpected happens, this will be another great victory! Remember this, generals: after routing the bandits, do not be greedy for glory. Having been defeated twice today, I expect the Dashing bandit will be terrified and will retreat into the mountains to recuperate. Our army's provisions are also running low, so proceeding to Ruzhou after this battle is a move of necessity. When our army is strong with horses and well-supplied with provisions, we will go seek out the Dashing bandit and exterminate him in one stroke!"

Hearing this, all the generals cupped their hands and accepted their orders. Lu Xiangtong hurried into the main tent, came before the large desk, knelt on one knee, cupped his hands, and reported loudly: "Reporting to the Regional Commander, this humble officer has detected signs that the bandits are gathering. The numbers are not yet known. I have come specially to report!"

Lu Xiangsheng nodded and instructed: "I understand. Continue investigating and report promptly!" Lu Xiangtong acknowledged and left.

Lu Xiangsheng then ordered the generals to return to their camps and prepare, dispatched additional Night Scouts to search and keep watch in all directions, ordered the three thousand cavalry to depart half an hour later, and had the Tianxiong Army infantry inspect their weapons, prepare their bows and crossbows, then rest in place while awaiting the bandits' arrival.

From the time Gao Yingxiang ordered the various bandit factions to march out and attack the government troops, a full two hours passed before the bandits, after all sorts of chaos, finally finished assembling.

By now it was nearly the hour of wei (1-3 PM). Seeing this situation, Gao Yingxiang frowned deeply, but these were not his subordinates, and he had no authority to discipline other men's troops.

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong arrive belatedly riding a yellow-maned horse, he gave a cold snort. His dislike for Zhang Xianzhong surged sharply, and he began considering whether to find an opportunity to kill Zhang Xianzhong and absorb his subordinates.

But on his face was a spring breeze of warmth as he laughed heartily: "Just now someone said that Brother Zhang was afraid of the government troops and wouldn't dare come! Haha! I didn't believe it. I know that the famous Yellow Tiger is a true hero—how could he fear the government troops! And see, Brother Zhang has indeed come! Hahahaha!"

Zhang Xianzhong felt contempt in his heart but wore a smile on his face: "I went personally to select men for battle and chose only the strongest and most capable fellows, so I came a bit late. I hope the Dashing King won't hold it against me!"

Gao Yingxiang laughed loudly: "Rare is Brother's sincerity! Since everyone is assembled, let us set out now. I've already sent out scouts. I'll lead three thousand cavalry at the head. Are the various chieftains willing to follow me?"

The various bandit leaders all shouted their assent noisily.

Gao Yingxiang rode a black horse, holding the reins in one hand and waving the other forward, shouting: "Out!"

Then he lightly kicked his horse's flanks with both legs, and his mount took the lead at a trotting pace. The bandit leaders followed closely on horseback, then the three thousand cavalry started moving, and behind them tens of thousands of infantry, amid the shouts of their respective commanders, marched in disorder toward the Ming army camp.

Along the way, dust rolled thickly, scouts galloped back and forth, continuously reporting the situation ahead. Half an hour later, the Ming army camp appeared in the sight of Gao Yingxiang and the others.

Gao Yingxiang and the others reined in their warhorses. He raised one hand, and his personal guards beside him blew horns. The three thousand or so riders all halted, while behind them, several hundred paces away, tens of thousands of bandits came surging up with shouts and clamor.

Gao Yingxiang turned and gave a few instructions. Yidougu Huang Long wheeled his horse around and, with a few personal guards, galloped toward the bandit forces in the rear. As he passed the cavalry formation, Huang Long shouted a few words, and the three thousand cavalry split into two groups, riding off to both sides to make way for the infantry behind.

The Ruyang area lay in the heart of the Central Plains—an endless great plain with extremely open terrain. Otherwise, Gao Yingxiang's force of several hundred thousand could never have deployed.

Huang Long did not pause his horse but continued riding toward the approaching infantry column, only reining in his warhorse when he was a few hundred paces from the frontmost of his own five thousand infantry.

Guotianxing, who led these five thousand infantry, galloped over, reined in before Huang Long, and shouted loudly: "Huang Laosan, what are you doing here? Waiting for me?"

Huang Long laughed: "If the Dashing King hadn't sent me, do you think I'd be here because I miss you?"

"Pah! You bastard, if you missed me, I'd rather be dead!" Guotianxing cursed with a laugh.

Huang Long grinned and continued: "Ahead is Lu the Butcher's camp. The Dashing King sent me to tell you: halt and reform your ranks, gather up the archers from all the factions and put them at the very front. Our main camp's infantry will lead the assault, and the various factions' infantry will follow at the rear. I understand the Dashing King's thinking—he wants our lads to fight a good battle and show those bastards who've come over what we're made of!"

"That works. I'll send men to pass the orders right away. Whether he's Lu the Butcher or Ma the Butcher, we'll send them straight to meet the King of Hell, hahaha!"

"Then I'll head back to the Dashing King's side. Old Han, we'll be counting on you in a bit!" Having said this, Huang Long turned his horse with his personal guards and rode back to the front formation, while Guotianxing went off to arrange his men and assemble the ranks.

Returning to the front, Huang Long finished reporting to Gao Yingxiang when suddenly a shrill trumpet sound rang out from the distant Ming army camp.

Then the camp gate opened, and a Ming general riding a tall horse, fully armored and equipped, was the first to gallop out of the camp, with one rider flanking him on each side.

Then, rank after rank of Ming soldiers wearing red mandarin-duck battle jackets and eight-plate iron helmets filed out in neat formation.

The three leading Ming riders galloped to a distance of several hundred paces from Gao Yingxiang and the others before stopping and looking over in their direction. The Ming soldiers behind them, under the command of their respective Battalion Commanders and Company Commanders, quickly converged toward the three riders and then formed up in formation about a hundred paces behind them.

In about a quarter of an hour, nearly five thousand Ming soldiers had formed a neat square formation with archers in front, sword-and-shield men on the flanks, and spearmen in the rear. Then squad after squad of cavalry galloped out of the camp and split into two groups to protect the infantry's flanks.

Gao Yingxiang and the others were inwardly shaken. By comparison, their own forces had not even finished forming up after half an hour, while the enemy had already arrayed themselves and were waiting in a short time. Comparing the two, superiority and inferiority were immediately apparent.

Gao Yingxiang's eyes rolled, and he let out a ha-ha laugh, saying: "The government troops always put on these shows! But war isn't won by whoever puts on the fancier show—it's won by hard fighting blade to blade and spear to spear! With just these few thousand men, one charge from us and they'll collapse, haha!" The bandit leaders behind him all voiced their agreement.

Only Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang wore grave expressions and said not a word.

Gao Yingxiang turned to look back—his own forces were still in chaos.

He shouted angrily: "What the hell is that Guotianxing doing! Yidougu, go pass my order again! If it's not done in a quarter of an hour, I'll whip him myself! Go!"

Huang Long acknowledged the order and galloped off to the rear once more. After the better part of half an hour, he finally returned together with Guotianxing, followed by a dense mass of archers. Close behind came several thousand infantry under Gao Yingxiang's command, marching forward in barely passable formation, while the so-called elites scraped together by the various bandit factions still followed behind in complete disorder, shouting and bickering.

Huang Long and the other man reined in their horses a few paces from Gao Yingxiang. Guotianxing cursed and complained: "Dashing King, apart from our own archers, there aren't even a few of these donkey-bastards who know how to draw a bow. I divided them up and searched for ages before scraping together a hundred or so. Adding our own, that's eight hundred-something in total! And these useless archers didn't bring many arrows either—the ones with the most have five, the ones with fewer have two or three. There's nothing I can do about it!"

Gao Yingxiang glared at him in dissatisfaction and said: "Share some of our arrows with those who have too few. We're all brothers in righteousness—what's ours is theirs. Once you've distributed them, form up quickly! Archers advance to meet the enemy, halt and hold formation when in range and start shooting, then fall back to both sides when your arrows run out! Infantry charges forward, cavalry protects the flanks. There are only a few thousand government troops opposite us—with this many men, one fierce rush will smash right through them! Guotianxing, you command the archers. Huang Long, you lead the charge! Go!"

The two acknowledged their orders. When Guotianxing's archer contingent came up, he took a few personal guards and began organizing the formation. Several men holding horsewhips, cursing and lashing with their whips, worked with great effort before barely managing to form the eight hundred-some archers into a crooked square formation.

Guotianxing drew his blade and shouted loudly, then spurred his horse forward with his personal guards, the archers following close behind, advancing toward the government troops five hundred-some paces ahead. The formation, which had never been orderly to begin with, fell into chaos again after only a few dozen paces. Gao Yingxiang and the others watched with furrowed brows.

Zhang Xianzhong rode his horse up before Gao Yingxiang and said: "Dashing King, something's not right. The government cavalry seems too few in number!"

Gao Yingxiang was startled for a moment, then laughed: "I already scouted this long ago. The government cavalry numbers only three to four thousand riders. This time they've brought out only about two thousand, just to protect their infantry. The rest are probably afraid to come out—seeing how many of us there are, they're worried they won't be able to retreat back to camp quickly if a fight breaks out! Old Zhang, do you see? The government troops haven't moved far from their camp. They must want to have a hard fight with us, to blunt our momentum, and then they'll retreat back to their camp and defend it. The government camp is well fortified! If we were to assault it directly, we'd surely take heavy losses. He's betting that I won't attack his camp head-on. Apart from that little hill in front, there's no place for an ambush around here. Don't worry—those Liaodong barbarians must be hiding inside the camp!"

Zhang Xianzhong replied: "What the Dashing King says makes sense, but we should still be careful. Lu the Butcher has a fearsome reputation—he's not easy to deal with!"

Gao Yingxiang nodded: "Brother speaks sense! I'll send out more scouts right away to search in all directions and guard against whatever tricks the government troops might be up to!"

Having said this, Gao Yingxiang beckoned two personal guards, gave them a few instructions, and the two galloped off separately toward the cavalry on each flank.

Lu Xiangsheng sat on his horse, watching the bandit archers surging forward in disarray, and immediately ordered five hundred government archers forward to meet the enemy.

Yang Maogong waved the triangular red flag in his hand five times. The five hundred front-rank archers stepped out, forming up in a three-front, two-rear formation, and marched past Lu Xiangsheng toward the bandits with long strides.

Seeing the small government unit leave the main formation, Gao Yingxiang immediately ordered flags waved to send his own cavalry out to cut down this small detachment.

But the government troops were prepared. When Gao Yingxiang's cavalry saw the signal and began moving forward slowly, the Liaodong cavalry on both flanks simultaneously advanced slightly. Seeing this, Gao Yingxiang could only order his cavalry to halt.

The bandit archers opposite, seeing the government troops advancing toward them, many began to panic. Some bandits turned and tried to run, some cried out in alarm, some drew their bows and loosed arrows.

Guotianxing's face turned green with rage. He spurred his horse over and with one stroke of his blade chopped off the head of a bandit trying to flee. A jet of blood sprayed from the neck of the headless bandit. The severed head rolled a few steps on the ground before stopping, its face frozen in a terrified expression, eyes wide open, mouth agape—a truly horrifying sight.

The bandits were instantly cowed, and the scene fell silent.

Guotianxing's face twisted savagely as he raised his blade and bellowed, "Whoever the hell runs again, my blade isn't vegetarian! Reform ranks!"

The two sides were several hundred paces apart. The government troops would march a few dozen paces, halt to reform their formation, then continue onward — moving with great swiftness.

By the time the bandits had barely formed two ranks of four hundred men each, the government troops had already closed to about a hundred and fifty paces.

Under Guotianxing's threats, the bandits steeled themselves and advanced to meet the enemy. When they were a hundred paces from the government troops, the bandit archers halted and refused to go a single step further.

Seeing that the government troops had entered bow range yet still showed no sign of stopping, Guotianxing immediately roared the order to loose arrows, then wheeled his horse and withdrew to one side with his personal guards.

The bandit archers nocked and loosed their arrows at the government troops one after another.

Though a hundred-odd paces was within bow range, by the time the arrows descended their force was spent and their killing power negligible. Moreover, the bows the bandits used were not standard-issue longbows — some used short-tip bows, some hunting bows, some cavalry bows.

Of the first volley of over eight hundred arrows, only a third landed among the government ranks. Most were deflected by the soldiers' iron helmets, and the few that struck their bodies could not penetrate the mandarin-duck combat jackets lined with iron plates. Only a few unlucky souls were hit in the arms, and even then the wounds were shallow.

The few government soldiers who were hit gritted their teeth and bore the pain, continuing to march forward as before.

Seeing the government troops still advancing with long strides, the bandits grew even more panicked. Many loosed their arrows without even aiming, hurrying to shoot off what they had — some had not even drawn their bows fully, releasing at half draw.

After the bandits had loosed four volleys, the government troops closed to a distance of about seventy paces. Only a little over fifty men had been wounded out of action; these fifty-odd men automatically fell to the rear of the formation, while the rest shifted quickly, their ranks still neat and orderly.

A leading Company Commander shouted an order, and the government troops halted, beginning to nock and draw. As the Company Commander blew his whistle, amid a ripple of bowstrings, over four hundred iron arrows hummed up into the sky in a slanting arc, and in an instant they were above the bandits' heads.

Having lost their upward momentum, the iron arrows turned nose-down under the weight of their heads and plunged fiercely toward the ground.

Amid a chorus of agonized screams, the three-edged arrowheads slammed viciously into the bandits' heads and shoulders.

These bandit archers were almost entirely without armor, their heads wrapped only in cloth turbans — how could they withstand the blow of three-edged arrows capable of piercing armor?

Many of those struck in the head died without even a grunt, the sharp arrowheads driving several inches straight through their foreheads, killing them on the spot.

Those hit in the shoulders or arms also lost their fighting ability at once; some had their arms pierced clean through by the three-edged arrows, and from their mouths came screams that sounded scarcely human.

In the space of a mere dozen-odd breaths, the government troops loosed four volleys. Apart from the dead and the wounded who had collapsed, the remaining bandits who had recovered their wits fled screaming in every direction — of the eight hundred-odd bandit archers, fewer than two hundred escaped.

At this moment a short blast of the trumpet sounded from the government camp. The five hundred archers who had been engaged turned and withdrew. A thousand spearmen stepped forward to cover them, while the cavalry on both flanks also shifted slowly, guarding against any sudden charge by the enemy horse against these archers.

After a moment, the archers who had sallied out returned to the main formation, and the wounded were carried back into the camp for treatment. This small-scale exchange of archery fire was over.