Chapter 400: The Battle Begins

Sure enough, it was exactly as Zhang Yuan had predicted.

Considering that the Ming army's muskets could be fired through the gaps between the camp palisade logs, and that the booi bondservants could not withstand even a few volleys, let alone destroy the palisade, Yoto did not order the Qing army to risk an attack that afternoon. Instead, he planned to wait until nightfall to dismantle the palisade and then gather his troops to attack the next day.

After night fell, over a thousand Han Chinese booi bondservants, under the watch and protection of the Qing army, surged forward with axes and large saws to the palisade on both sides of the Ming army's north gate and began breaking apart the logs — yet the Ming troops inside the camp showed no reaction whatsoever.

Nearly a third of the Ming palisade logs were buried underground. Due to a shortage of iron, most of the tools in the bondservants' hands had gone dull from lack of timely repair, and digging out a single thick log took a very long time.

At first, fearing the Ming army would send out troops to stop them, the bondservants worked in the dark, which made the whole operation extremely slow — after nearly a full shichen, they had only dug out a few dozen logs.

Later, seeing that the Ming army showed no sign of movement, Kong Youde simply ordered torches lit so the working bondservants could speed up their progress with better visibility.

This measure worked as expected.

With greatly improved visibility, the pace of the entire demolition operation quickened at once.

Two shichen later, the northern palisade was completely cleared away, and the Ming army's entire defensive line lay fully exposed to the Qing army's view.

After ordering the Qing troops and bondservants to fall back and rest, Kong Youde hurried to Yoto's tent to report completion of his mission.

Just past the chen hour the next day, as sonorous horn blasts rang out across the fields, fifteen hundred Bordered Red Banner soldiers marched out of camp and formed ranks under the command of a jalan janggin. From another camp, three thousand Han Banner troops also marched out and took formation beneath the banner of Zhishun Prince Shang Kexi.

Before long, three thousand Han Chinese bondservants, driven by the shouts and curses of over a hundred Qing soldiers, gathered in a disorderly mass from one side toward the front of the Ming camp.

A commander of the Han Banner troops shouted a few words at the front of the bondservant column, then turned and left. The column began to move slowly forward, heading straight for the Ming camp two li away.

On each flank of the bondservant column rode a hundred Qing cavalrymen holding blades and bows as overseers — any who tried to flee the field would be mercilessly cut down by these battle supervisors.

At the very front of the three thousand bondservants were over a hundred shield carts, pushed by several hundred Han Chinese who had been specially selected and had already been assimilated into the Eight Banners.

For various reasons, these Han Chinese displayed a high degree of identification with and sense of belonging to the Eight Banners in their daily conduct, yearning to acquire banner-man status. They were routinely used to control their own former countrymen, and treated Han Chinese even more harshly than the banner-men themselves.

Because Yoto had promised these several hundred men in advance through Kong Youde that if they performed outstandingly today, they would be elevated into the banners upon returning to Shengjing, becoming members of the Han Eight Banners and earning the respectful address of "Banner Master" from their former countrymen.

Having received their master's promise, this pack of Han Chinese scum was as energized as if injected with stimulant. Filled with visions of one day becoming masters themselves, they set foot upon a road of no return.

After the bondservant column moved forward, the Bordered Red Banner and Han Banner troops on both flanks began to advance slowly, intending to seize the right moment to pounce and join battle with the Ming army.

The two originally isolated artillery platforms now exposed in front of the Qin army camp had been transformed into something like fortresses.

Twenty paces in front of the platform bases stood two low walls with openings in the middle, with a hundred musketeers seated behind each wall awaiting orders. The brick-and-earth bases widened outward from the ground on both sides, each constructed with a small platform one man tall, holding one tiger-crouch cannon and two gunners apiece.

This arrangement formed a three-tiered, three-dimensional fire network — combined with the six hundred musketeers behind the low walls extending all the way to the palisades on both flanks, and the twenty tiger-crouch cannons placed in front of the low walls, it was more than enough to make the Qing army smash itself bloody.

In order to support Chen Yong's force defending the western camp, Zhang Yuan also ordered a large gap cut into the wooden palisade separating the two camps, and had several landmines buried in advance along the passage between the camps.

If any Qing scout cavalry tried to probe forward through the middle again, they would certainly be blown sky-high, men and horses alike.

On the broad artillery platform on the left, Zhang Yuan was intently watching the movements of the Qing forces on both sides. Two personal guards stood at his right — one holding a shield, a long saber at his waist, and a brass horn hanging from a strap around his neck; the other held two triangular flags of black and red in his hands, a longbow slung on his back, and a quiver full of three-edged arrows hanging at his waist.

In the center of the platform, a Folangji cannon already loaded with ammunition pointed diagonally forward. A brass brazier filled with charcoal burned fiercely, a pair of fire tongs set to one side. The master gunner was estimating the distance between the Qing army and the platform by eye, while the two loaders watched his back with slight tension, waiting at any moment for his command.

A moment later, the leading thirty-odd shield carts poured chaotically through the former camp gate, but Zhang Yuan did not issue the order to attack — he did not even spare the group of bondservants a single glance.

Seeing that the Ming troops behind the low walls had not risen to prepare their shots, someone shouted out, and the bondservants pushing the front carts suddenly roared and surged forward with a burst of speed, while those following behind also roused their spirits and rushed up with shouts.

The Qing infantry on both flanks, at the sound of the command, also quickened their pace and charged toward the low walls.

"Ready!"

At Zhang Yuan's command, the gunner swiftly reached out, grabbed the fire tongs, and thrust them into the brazier. The cold iron tongs, in the fiercely burning fire, turned orange-red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Fire!"

The master gunner pulled the tongs from the charcoal brazier and pressed them onto the fuse at the rear of the Folangji cannon. The rapidly burning fuse, like a fire serpent, twisted its body with a faint hissing sound, then vanished in an instant.

With a thunderous "BOOM," the one-jin cannonball shot forth, flying along the already-aimed barrel toward the Qing vanguard on the right flank.

Immediately after, the Folangji cannon on the right platform also roared — the second battle between Ming and Qing, long prepared by both sides, had officially begun.

The bondservants charging ahead pushing the shield carts were startled by the thunderous cannon fire, their steps involuntarily slowing for a moment, and the entire clamor and shouting of the rear column was also frightened into silence.

Upon realizing the cannonballs were not falling toward their own side, the several dozen shield carts picked up speed again and charged forward.

The two cannonballs landed in the Qing formation one after another. After each struck a Qing soldier, they hit the ground and bounced forward several times, only stopping after inflicting several more casualties.

Immediately after, "BOOM! BOOM!" — explosions rang out in rapid succession, followed by a chorus of screams. Amidst the billowing smoke, severed limbs and broken arms flew through the air mixed with splintered wood from the shattered shield carts.

The bondservants pushing the front shield carts had stepped on the landmines the Qin army had buried about forty paces in front of the low walls.

Before the Qing forces on both flanks could react, the gunners on the two platforms had already swiftly cleaned the residue from the priming pans and cannon bores.

One loader quickly rammed the powder charge and cannonball into the bore, using a wooden ramrod to seat them at the bottom. The gunner sprinkled priming powder into the pan and inserted the fuse, while the other loader swiftly swapped in a fresh chamber for the Folangji cannon and forcefully sealed the vent. The gunner then lit the fuse with the tongs, and the second cannonball flew toward the Qing army with another thunderous roar.

Under the continuous thunder of the Folangji cannons, the Qing troops dispersed in orderly fashion yet still advanced forward, while the bondservants, who had been scared out of their wits by the landmines, ground to a halt.

Even with the enormous temptation of becoming banner-men, and the servants that would come to wait on them afterward — if they lost their lives, what pleasure would there be left to enjoy?

The diehard Eight Banner bondservants at the front began to hesitate. The dozen or so companions killed or wounded by the explosions lay right beside them, and the several overturned shield carts seemed to proclaim their own fate.

With sharp "whizz-whizz" sounds, several of the hesitating cart-pushing bondservants were pierced through the head by flying arrows and crashed heavily to the ground, dead.

"Keep moving forward! Retreat and die! Advance and be richly rewarded!"

The shouts of the supervising Qing soldiers on both flanks rang out.

Turning back to see the powerful bows drawn taut a few dozen paces behind them, the bondservants at the front raised their cart shafts in unison and charged forward with gritted teeth.