Chapter 402: Utter Defeat

After the hundred grenadiers had hurled two rounds of Heaven-Shaking Thunder, the area before the low wall was already shrouded in billowing smoke and dust, and Li Sanwa seized the moment to lead his unit over.

Taking advantage of the gap left by the arquebusiers of Hu Dabang's unit as they withdrew, the first rank of two hundred arquebusiers from Li Sanwa's unit quickly spread out in a line along the low wall, raised their guns, and aimed forward. At Li Sanwa's bellowed command, his personal guards blew their trumpets—a short, piercing blast that stabbed at the eardrums—and two hundred Ming arquebuses fired at once.

The gunners manning the tiger-crouch cannons had suffered heavy casualties under the Qing army's arcing arrow fire—of the forty gunners, more than twenty were killed or wounded. The remaining dozen or so gunners who had not yet managed to withdraw, seeing that reinforcements had arrived, found their courage greatly bolstered. Acting on their own, they paired up two to a group and, at the same moment Li Sanwa's arquebusiers fired their first volley, hurriedly completed loading their ammunition.

Amid the thick smoke and dust, several tiger-crouch cannons roared in succession, tongues of dark-red flame flashing at the muzzles and vanishing in an instant. Several hundred pellets swept through the yellow earth and black smoke like a gale, flinging everything in their path to the ground.

As the second squad of Ming arquebusiers discharged their guns, the Folangji cannons on the gun platform, having finished cooling, roared once more—but this time the trajectory of their shot extended into the distance.

The Qing army had been defeated—and utterly so.

In the strictest sense, it had been a rout.

The Qing troops, who had seen victory within their grasp, had been completely shattered by the sudden Heaven-Shaking Thunder, volleyed arquebus fire, and tiger-crouch cannons.

Under the heavy casualties, the soldiers of the Chinese Banner were the first to flee in panic. The Qing troops of the Bordered Red Banner, though suffering equally grievous losses, relied on their tenacity and tried to continue the charge.

But with the leading janggin and several niru janggin already killed in action, the entire formation thrown into chaos, and visibility severely obstructed, they were ultimately forced to withdraw from the fight in frustration.

The Folangji cannons were precisely what was chasing the retreating mass of the Qing army.

Under the three-dimensional assault of the Ming army's long-, medium-, and short-range firearms, the Qing army—still predominantly armed with cold steel—finally tasted the bitter wine brewed by the gap in weaponry.

A gentle breeze blew, and the smoke and dust gradually dispersed. Within thirty paces before the long low wall, Qing dead and wounded lay piled upon one another, severed limbs scattered everywhere, blood dyeing the entire stretch of ground a dark red. From time to time, the wails of gravely wounded Qing soldiers who had not yet died came drifting over—the whole scene was one of utter carnage.

"Camp Officer Qian, send word to summon five hundred militiamen. Hurry and clear the battlefield—throw all the Jianzhou barbarian corpses far away! The wounded soldiers are to receive emergency treatment and then be sent to the baggage camp!"

Amid the intermittent thunder of the Folangji cannons on both sides, Zhang Yuan descended from the gun platform with his personal guards, and several Battalion Commanders and Qian Jie hurriedly gathered around.

Qian Jie acknowledged the order and left to carry it out.

Though ordinarily he was not required to take orders from Zhang Yuan, this was wartime now, and as a member of the Qin army, he too had to obey the commands of his superior officer.

"Liu Shun, your unit is to take over the first defensive line immediately and hurry to repair the damaged fortifications! Banli, go personally to the western camp to see what the situation is! Send the sentries up to the gun platform to observe the enemy—if the Jianzhou barbarians move their troops, report at once! All soldiers are to rest in place and eat!"

Liu Shun clasped his hands in salute, acknowledged the order, and turned to make his arrangements.

"Hu Dabang, go deal with your wound first. Afterwards, come to my tent together with Liu Shun! Li Sanwa, come with me and wait for the two of you!"

Zhang Yuan looked at the long arrow lodged in Hu Dabang's shoulder and said with a grim face.

Hu Dabang wore a look of utter dejection. Enduring the pain in his shoulder, he made a salute and headed toward the rear camp.

After giving his orders, Zhang Yuan cast a glance toward the Qing army's position. Seeing no movement from the enemy, he led his personal guards toward his own tent, with Li Sanwa following behind, wearing a smug expression.

If he had not ordered the grenadiers to charge up when he saw the situation turning bad just now, the first defensive line might well have been broken through by the Qing army—and then Zhang Yuan, out on the gun platform, would have faced dire consequences.

Back inside his tent, Zhang Yuan removed his helmet, stopped the guard who moved to help him unbuckle his mail armor, and walked over to the seat, plopping himself down. "Bring Li Sanwa a stool! And bring two more to set aside!"

One of the guards obeyed and fetched three folding stools from a corner of the tent. Li Sanwa took one and sat down happily in the seat of honor at the lower end.

"Hantou, get some food and water! The two of you eat as well!"

The guard named Hantou acknowledged and left, while another guard also stepped out of the tent, hand resting on his sword hilt, standing watch outside the tent flap.

"Assistant Regional Commander, how many more days must we hold here? The Jianzhou barbarians have lost two battles in a row, but in the end they simply have too many men. Our unit has taken no small casualties today as well. We can hold out another day or two, but any longer than that, I fear we won't be able to endure!"

Once seated, Li Sanwa looked at Zhang Yuan and asked tentatively.

"Let's see how the situation develops before deciding! If we can hold, we hold; if we can't, we fall back to the baggage camp. Our promotions and rewards all depend on how many Jianzhou barbarian heads we can take! If we can kill plenty of Jianzhou barbarians, won't Governor-General Sun also have glory on his face?"

Zhang Yuan kept one hand propped on the armrest of his seat while the fingers of his other hand drummed against it, looking at the tent entrance as he spoke.

The Ministry of War had not issued him an order to hold for a set number of days. As long as he could exhaust enough of the Qing army's cannon fire, his few thousand men could withdraw at any time to the baggage camp and help the Yongwei Camp strengthen its defenses.

But Zhang Yuan wanted to inflict heavy casualties on the Qing army, gather enough battle merits, and only then retreat.

Ever since being promoted to Vice Regional Commander, he had long harbored hopes for the position of Regional Commander—which was only one step away.

But without dazzling achievements in battle, this Vice Regional Commander post might well be the peak of his life.

Though the Ministry of War, when issuing him his operational plans and missions, had informed him of all their speculations, and he knew the Jianzhou barbarians would certainly send troops to attack the baggage camp, he had not expected them to come in such overwhelming force this time.

Since he had a strong army at his back to rely on, if he didn't seize this opportunity to build up his war record, when would he?

After the two had chatted for a while, Liu Shun and Hu Dabang, whose wound had been bandaged, entered the tent one after the other.

"Sit!"

Zhang Yuan straightened himself in his seat and gave the order.

Liu Shun clasped his fists and sat down, but Hu Dabang wore a look of deep shame and remained standing in place without moving.

"Oh, Hu Dabang, putting on airs now, are we? I tell you to sit and you won't—could it be you're planning to sit in my seat here!?"

"This subordinate nearly ruined everything today! I feel I've let you down, Assistant Regional Commander—I have no face to sit!"

"Enough, enough! Don't put on such womanly airs! Just sit down! Today's situation was also a mistake in my own deployment, which is why the Jianzhou barbarians nearly broke through! After the first engagement, I also underestimated the enemy—I thought the Jianzhou barbarians were much the same as those roving bandits. I never expected them to be so ferocious! Even with such heavy casualties, they still charged straight ahead! And those archers of theirs are formidable too! Our brothers were killed and wounded in great numbers today—we must find a way to break their arrow formation!"

Hearing Zhang Yuan's words, Hu Dabang's shame lessened somewhat, and he awkwardly sat down on the folding stool.

Recalling the scene from just now, Zhang Yuan still felt lingering fear.

Standing at the high vantage point, he had watched helplessly as the death-defying Jianzhou barbarians surged forward, and by the time he wanted to come down from the gun platform, it was already too late.

Cursing both his own faulty deployment and Hu Dabang's incompetence, he had also prepared himself to die in battle—until he saw Li Sanwa directing the grenadiers to rush over and stun the Qing army, and only then did he let out a great sigh of relief.

"Assistant Regional Commander, how should we fight next?"

Liu Shun looked at Zhang Yuan and asked.

"Today's battle has proven that our fortifications are still quite effective. In a moment, arrange for the militiamen to raise the sandbags a bit higher, and have the arquebusiers rest their guns on top to fire. That way, with two layers of sandbags for cover, even if the Jianzhou barbarians fight their way up close, wearing armor they won't be able to climb over in a hurry—which buys us enough time to decide whether to retreat or fight! Also, hoist down the Folangji cannons from the four gun platforms and build four wider gun platforms behind the first low wall. With that done, what does it matter how many troops the Jianzhou barbarians have?! Additionally, prepare several large iron spikes—if an emergency arises and the cannons can't be moved away, seal the touch holes with the spikes, so even if they capture them, they won't be able to use them!"