Chapter 425: Joseon Musketeers

"These soldiers—are they not the troops the eastern barbarians seized from Joseon? I have heard that Joseon's army is famed for its firearms, but never did I think I would see their formation only today. Joseon has long been a vassal of our august Ming. During the Wanli years, had our august Ming not dispatched a great army to rescue them, they would long since have been destroyed by the Japanese pirates! Now they give no thought to their suzerain's aid and grace, and actually send troops to aid the tyrant in his evil! Such ingratitude is worthy of death!"

Sun Chuanting lowered the telescope from his face and spoke with anger to Qin Liangyu beside him.

At the center of the great Ming formation, standing atop a watchtower built by the Ordnance Directorate that could hold several men for high viewing, Sun Chuanting and Qin Liangyu each held a single-tube telescope, observing the Qing army's disposition from on high.

Facing the menacing main force of the Qing army, the Ming army had arrayed itself in a massive defensive formation.

On the left and right flanks, running east-west, were placed cheval-de-frise barriers that completely shielded the Ming army within—these had been built from trees felled nearby by several thousand civilian laborers.

The cheval-de-frise line was not only several li deep, but its width also extended a full hundred and fifty paces to the east and west. If the Qing army wished to attack the Ming flanks from either side, the first problem they faced was how to break through these tens of thousands of cheval-de-frise barriers; otherwise they could not possibly launch an attack on the Ming from the flanks.

The Ming rear formation was also heavily defended—four thousand White Pole troops, two thousand cavalry, and two Folangji cannons protected the line of retreat tightly.

This great cheval-de-frise formation not only blocked the Qing cavalry's charge, but also kept the Eight Banners infantry outside.

What was worse, to prevent the Qing from sending booi bondservants to destroy these barriers, the Ming had built ten gun platforms along each side of the cheval-de-frise line, running lengthwise.

These broad platforms of rammed earth were built every two hundred paces, with the Folangji cannon muzzles all pointing outward, placing both flanks of the entire cheval-de-frise square entirely within effective range.

If the Qing army wanted to dismantle the barriers, at two hundred paces they would face the strike of solid shot from the Folangji cannons.

To dismantle such a vast cheval-de-frise formation, men could not avoid clustering densely. If solid shot came crashing down, a single ball could kill or wound at least a dozen or more men. In such a situation of being beaten without the ability to strike back, very few could endure the bombardment.

If the Qing managed to dismantle the barriers down to around a hundred paces, the Folangji cannons could immediately switch to grapeshot for slaughter.

Each cannon would spray out over a hundred shot at once. Before these high-speed projectiles, even if the Qing troops wore three layers of heavy armor, it would be useless.

If they braved the heavy casualties and continued forward, they would enter the range of crossfire from the nearby gun platforms.

Moreover, two thousand archers and crossbowmen of the White Pole troops were deployed on the left and right flanks respectively. Wherever Qing troops gathered, these archers would arrive within a very short time to inflict mass casualties on the Qing.

Calculated at each man's limit of drawing eight to ten times, at minimum eight thousand long arrows and crossbow bolts would fall upon the Qing troops—an extremely terrifying number.

In the age of cold steel, when opposing sides suffered a one-time loss of two-tenths of their men, the army would lose its will to fight. Even if the Qing troops' fighting spirit were ever so fierce, casualties of three-tenths would send them into rapid rout.

Even calculated at the lowest hit rate of two-tenths, eight thousand arrows would bring the Qing more than fifteen hundred casualties. Under the combined long-and-short-range strike of cannon and bow, no army could withstand such enormous losses.

To guard against any contingency, the Ming had also deployed two thousand White Pole troops inside the cheval-de-frise square.

These White Pole troops could sit and rest while the Qing attacked, and if that almost impossible scenario of the Qing breaking through the cheval-de-frise line occurred, the rested White Pole troops would take the field and calmly reap heads.

Because even if the Qing charged into the formation, their strength would be nearly exhausted.

In an age before firearms were widespread, fighting was extremely physically draining—especially for a traditional cold-steel army like the Qing.

Wearing heavy armor and wielding weapons weighing several jin, it was impossible to fight an enemy for long periods under immense fear and tension.

Men are, after all, not machines. With strength exhausted, facing an opponent no weaker than oneself, the only path left was to be mercilessly slaughtered.

At the center of the cheval-de-frise square, six thousand of Qin's musketeers were divided into two square formations, each with five hundred men per row, six rows in total, with roughly thirty paces between the two squares.

Two thousand spearmen, ten men to a row, were arrayed behind the musketeer squares, ready to step forward and cover the musketeers' retreat at any moment.

Commanding these five thousand musketeers was the Joseon Regional Commander Jiang Youcheng, past forty. He had been selected to lead these musketeers to Jianzhou after Dorgon led the Two White Banners to breach Joseon's western capital of Pyongyang, forcing the Joseon king Yi Jong to present grain and supplies and to contribute five thousand musketeers as auxiliary troops.

Although Jiang Youcheng bitterly hated the Eight Banners' atrocities of burning, killing, and looting on Joseon soil, circumstances were stronger than men. Facing the Eight Banners' formidable force of arms, he could only, like the vast majority of soldiers, swallow his anger and obey orders.

When he heard that this time they would march south to fight the Great Ming's official army, Jiang Youcheng's heart was filled with extreme conflict.

As a vassal state of the Great Ming, for two hundred years Joseon—in official systems, military systems, culture, even language, clothing, and every other institution and custom—had modeled itself upon and copied the Great Ming's regulations in every way. From the king on down, nearly everyone held reverence for the Great Ming, the Celestial Dynasty.

The Great Ming's culture had a profound influence on all of Joseon, and from the founding ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang onward, the Ming had given enormous support and assistance to Joseon in every aspect.

Setting aside distant matters, take Japan's armed conquest of Joseon during the Wanli years: had it not been for the Great Ming's official army fighting with utter disregard for their own lives, driving the Japanese forces off the Korean peninsula at the cost of heavy casualties, Joseon would very likely have been destroyed long ago.

But now he himself was to lead soldiers into battle against the suzerain state—this filled Jiang Youcheng's heart with both guilt and helplessness.

Yet by now there was no way to change this fact.

Less than two li behind him were several thousand Eight Banners elite watching with hungry eyes, while a hundred-odd paces ahead was the Great Ming's official army standing in strict readiness. The situation was now like an arrow already nocked—it had to be loosed.

"Load the powder and shot!"

Jiang Youcheng gave the order with an expressionless face, and the bugler beside him blew his horn.

The Joseon musketeers, arrayed in the same formation as the Ming army, began their tense bustle. The only difference was that each row of Joseon musketeers numbered four hundred men—a hundred fewer than the Ming's.

He gazed at the Ming army ahead, orderly in formation and silent with solemnity, and felt a sense of ill omen. A thought suddenly rose unbidden in his mind: this time, he feared, he was going to die in the Great Ming!

The Joseon musketeers, who had never experienced such a great battle, were clearly terrified to the extreme.

The loading procedure that could be completed in a few dozen breaths during daily drill took a full hundred-odd breaths this time. Many soldiers' hands trembled incessantly as they sprinkled powder into the flash pans, spilling much of it onto the ground.

Jiang Youcheng took this scene in, and his heart turned to ice.

"Ignite the match cords!"

After all the soldiers had finished loading, Jiang Youcheng gave the order again in a loud voice.

The short horn call sounded once more. The musketeers pulled small jars from their bosoms, blew the hidden embers inside to life, and lit their match cords.

"Advance!"

At Jiang Youcheng's command, the two Joseon Mobile Corps Commanders each led their square formations forward.

The muskets and powder of the Joseon musketeers were unimproved, with an effective range of only around forty paces. Following their usual drill, they had to advance into range before halting to open fire.

What they could never have dreamed was that the Ming army opposite, though also using muskets, had range and power that far surpassed the old-style muskets that had never advanced.

The present-day Great Ming still led Joseon by far in every respect, still an existence that Joseon could only gaze upon from behind.

To lag behind is to be beaten.

The Joseon musketeers who had turned their backs on their suzerain had finally set foot upon a road of no return.