Chapter 431: Caught Off Guard

Sun Chuanting, watching the battlefield from atop a tower cart, saw the critical situation on the right flank and immediately ordered the Qin army grenadiers on standby to rush over in support.

At the same time, Dorgon, who had likewise climbed high to observe the formations, gave a single command, and the Qing archers, who had been fearful of being struck by the Ming army's Folangji cannons, also hurried forward, preparing to deliver a fatal blow against the White Pole troops.

Just as the Qing left wing, where the two White Banners were stationed, launched its attack on the Ming army, the two Red Banners in the center and the two Blue Banners led by Abatai on the right wing also opened up their offensives simultaneously.

Meanwhile, the west gate of the Ming army's baggage camp five li away suddenly burst open. Zhang Yuan led the remaining three thousand-plus men out through the west gate at a rapid march—two thousand spearmen forming the vanguard and over a thousand musketeers the rear—advancing to meet the three thousand men of the Han Army Banner who had been assigned to keep watch outside the camp.

Facing the formidable musket formation of the Ming center, the Qing army still employed their traditional tactics: two hundred shield carts as the vanguard, two thousand archers distributed on the left and right, Jiang Youcheng commanding the remaining two thousand-plus musketeers in front, several dozen White Armor soldiers as the spearhead to tear open the Ming formation, with the main body of troops following behind.

This formation was clearly designed for a war of attrition—sending the Joseon musketeers forward to exchange fire with the Ming troops, then seizing the brief gap while the muskets were being reloaded for the White Armor soldiers to charge the formation.

Filled with fear and trepidation, the Joseon musketeers, who had already suffered one disastrous defeat, steeled themselves and shuffled forward behind the shield carts.

They all understood that the Qing archers on both flanks were not there merely to shoot at the Ming army—if they dared to hold back from advancing, those archers would cut them down without mercy.

With both leading Mobile Corps Commanders already dead, the terrified Jiang Youcheng had no choice but to step forward and take personal command.

In order to preserve his own life, he deliberately begged several thick shields from the two Red Banners and ordered his personal guards to raise the shields and protect him.

Just as the booi bondservants were pushing the shield carts to within a hundred-odd paces of the Ming formation, the two Folangji cannons behind the musket square let out earth-shaking roars one after another.

Two cannonballs slammed viciously into the dense cluster of shield carts. Five or six carts were destroyed by the projectiles, and for a moment wood splinters and dirt flew everywhere as the screams of the booi bondservants rose to the heavens.

Under the cursing of the supervising Qing troops and the watchful eyes of the archers on both sides, the booi bondservants gritted their teeth and continued pushing the carts forward, while Ming cannonballs rained down into the crowd without pause.

The Joseon musketeers behind the shield carts stepped nervously over pools of shredded flesh and blood on the ground, picked their way around the wreckage of shield carts, suppressed the overwhelming urge to turn and flee, and crept forward trembling with fear.

Amid the ceaseless thunder of cannon fire and the baptism of falling projectiles, the booi bondservants felt as though they were enduring the longest, most agonizing stretch of their lives—a mere hundred-odd paces seeming like an endless journey with no destination in sight.

At last, after losing several dozen shield carts and over a hundred lives, the front-rank booi bondservants finally pushed the shield carts to within forty paces of the Ming army, with those behind gradually following up.

At the command of the niru janggin leading the Qing archers, the booi bondservants set down the shield carts, turned, and fled desperately back along both flanks, while those who had not yet reached the designated range could only wait in place.

Seeing that the shield cart formation was complete, the Qing archers began to concentrate toward the center, preparing to use the cover of the carts to launch an attack on the Ming musketeers.

For it must be understood that although musketeers possessed overwhelming offensive capability, their defensive power was extremely weak.

The cotton armor they wore was utterly incapable of withstanding the Qing heavy arrows, whether fired in high arcs at close range or shot directly.

Because of the shield carts' obstruction, musket balls could not pose any threat to the Qing troops, while the archers could shoot over them in high arcs. Once such a one-sided situation developed, the Ming musketeers would quickly collapse.

Just at that moment, a long-drawn-out horn blast suddenly sounded. The Ming musketeers turned as one and strode rapidly backward, quickly withdrawing from the battle formation.

Seeing the entire Ming force retreat beyond bow range, the janggin leading the formation was momentarily at a loss, and the archers who were gathering toward the center wore looks of utter bewilderment.

Before the Qing army could react, two hundred grenadiers clad in mail armor rushed up from the rear formation.

Under the astonished gaze of the Qing center troops, they sprinted to within a dozen-odd paces of the shield carts, then swiftly split into several small squads, lit the Thunderclap Bombs in their hands with burning matchcords, and—with no command given—a volley of black, smoking iron lumps came hurtling over.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Explosions rang out one after another in a continuous roar, and in an instant billowing dust and smoke shrouded the area around the Qing shield carts so completely that even the agonized screams of the Qing troops behind the carts were drowned out.

The Thunderclap Bombs the Ming army now used were a new model that had undergone several rounds of improvement.

Each Thunderclap Bomb's iron casing was thinner, the bomb body correspondingly reduced in size, and the weight had been cut from the original three jin to around two jin—a weight that was far more conducive to the grenadiers throwing them over greater distances.

With the original three-jin Thunderclap Bombs, the farthest any grenadier could throw was a little over twenty paces; after the weight was greatly reduced, every grenadier could throw to a distance of over thirty paces, and the stronger soldiers could even reach forty paces.

Because consideration had to be given to leaving firing positions for the archers, the Qing shield carts were also arranged in two rows.

Combined with the width of the battlefield, the hundred-odd carts in the front row were arrayed in a single line, and the archers were still in the process of assembling behind the carts, completely unable to inflict casualties on the Ming troops in time. These factors stacked together provided the grenadiers with the most favorable opportunity to strike.

From the sudden withdrawal of the Ming musketeers to the grenadiers' swift arrival and commencement of throwing, the entire sequence took no more than a few dozen breaths.

This utterly unexpected turn of events left the Qing army, accustomed to traditional methods of warfare, completely unable to mount a timely and effective response—and the final result was, of course, that they suffered a grievous loss.

After the grenadiers had each hurled five Thunderclap Bombs in the space of a moment and turned to withdraw, the area before and behind the Qing shield cart position was already a scene of utter devastation.

As the dust and gunpowder smoke slowly dispersed, what came into view before the Qing archers in the rear ranks and the Joseon musketeers was a hellish scene.

Apart from the dozen-odd carts on the two flanks, the shield carts in the middle had been almost entirely destroyed.

Within twenty paces behind the shield carts, not a single living thing could be found.

Everywhere lay severed limbs and broken arms of Qing soldiers. Blood on the ground, mixed with human entrails and brain matter, had pooled into puddles of gore. The bodies of Qing archers had been blasted into fragments, beyond all recognition.

This sudden catastrophe had killed at least five hundred Qing soldiers.

And those Qing troops who had been somewhat closer to the blast zone fared little better.

Many were struck by the porcelain shards, iron nails, and iron fragments packed into the Thunderclap Bombs—these sharp projectiles, spreading at tremendous speed, were no less lethal than arrows.

Apart from these unfortunate souls caught in the blast radius, even more Qing soldiers were left dazed and reeling from the thunderous explosions that had gone off right beside them, and many had already suffered damage to their hearing.

This battlefield tactic, which surpassed anything the Qing army had ever conceived, produced an extremely shocking effect and achieved excellent results in terms of casualties inflicted.

And so the Qing center's offensive collapsed completely in a very short span of time.

Now their first task was to clear the battlefield, carry the bodies back, and then move aside the wrecked shield carts blocking the front of their position before they could launch another round of attack.

Nor was the attack of the two Blue Banners on the Qing right wing going smoothly.

Because their overall combat strength was inferior to that of the two White Banners, despite deploying nearly a hundred White Armor soldiers, the two Blue Banners' advance made little headway against the stubborn resistance of the six formations of White Pole troops.

The two armies had fallen into a bitter, evenly matched struggle.

At this moment, the Qing army had not the slightest inkling that a tremendous danger was already creeping silently upon them.