Chapter 117: Assault on the City

Ten thousand Qing troops assembled and formed their ranks below the new city. Just as Bohetuo was about to order the assault, his father Abatai arrived with the main army.

After hearing what had happened, Abatai immediately slapped Bohetuo across the face and said, "You stupid fool! The barbarians are utterly cunning — how could you believe that?"

Bohetuo was furious and deeply resentful. He said, "Father, I want revenge! Please let me attack the city!"

Abatai waved his hand, telling him to go ahead and take his revenge. Abatai too wanted to kill the Ming crown prince, to wash away the shame of thirty thousand Great Qing warriors lost.

Zhu Cilang heard that the Tartars had brought another great army. He personally came to the city wall and looked down through a telescope. About two li away, the Qing army's great formation stretched with banners fluttering, a sea of people. At the center flew a large blue banner edged with red, embroidered with a giant python.

From the embroidery on the banner, Zhu Cilang already knew that the Qing forces were led by a commandery prince or a Beile. The banner was blue, so it should be Abatai of the Plain Blue Banner.

Abatai was Nurhaci's seventh son. This year he had just been elevated to the title of Doroi Rayo Beile. Because he was born of a lesser consort, he was greatly neglected — his own father, the old slave, ignored him, and his eighth brother Hong Taiji ignored him as well.

When Hong Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and fixed the hereditary noble ranks of the clan, the twenty-something Dorgon and Dodo, along with the younger generation like Hooge and Yoto, were all made Princes. Even trash like Ajige was made a commandery prince. But Abatai, at forty-seven, remained only a Beile.

Although the fine title "Rayo" (meaning "wealthy" in Manchu) was added before the rank of Beile to show distinction, compared to a Prince, the rank of Beile was still two full grades lower.

If your relationship with your boss is bad, what good are brothers? That Prince Zheng, Jirgalang, was originally a nephew of the old Khan Nurhaci. After his father and brother rebelled, he still enjoyed trust and high appointment. After Hong Taiji became emperor, he was even made a Prince of the First Rank, Prince Zheng. Who could blame that — he had been thick as thieves with Hong Taiji since childhood!

Abatai had always harbored resentment toward Hong Taiji and was deeply dissatisfied. It wasn't just about rank — the main thing was that Hong Taiji pushed things too far. Being afraid of his own wife was somehow a crime! He even charged Abatai with "being controlled by his wife" and forced him to divorce her!

The Qing army re-formed its ranks beneath the new city. With Abatai's three Plain Blue Banner niru as the center, five Mongol niru were divided into front, rear, left, right, and center, forming five small formations. Five Han army niru stood at the very front, all combined into one great formation.

Through his telescope, Zhu Cilang looked carefully. The Qing army's banners were bright and clear, their formation solemn and orderly. Uniformly, the battle troops were in front and the servants behind. Every soldier wore fine armor — clearly a battle-hardened army.

"Who would have thought that Abatai, that 'henpecked husband,' is actually a fine commander," Zhu Cilang thought to himself. At the same time he sighed inwardly — the Eight Banner army truly was far stronger than the average Ming troops.

Abatai was also carefully observing the new city. The city was indeed quite large. Why had he never seen or heard of it when he marched south against the Ming capital a few years ago? And it didn't appear on the march maps either.

This march map had been redrawn by the Great Qing within the last six months. There was no reason for such a major error. This left Abatai deeply puzzled.

Abatai had spent half his life on horseback. In every campaign against the Ming army, he was essentially undefeated, taking every city he attacked. Though this city before him was somewhat mysterious, leading twenty thousand troops personally to take it should pose no difficulty at all.

After roughly surveying the new city, Abatai immediately gave the order for two niru of the Eight Banner Han troops to launch the first assault on the new city.

The two Han niru totaled over three thousand men, spreading out in a great swath. In front they pushed shield carts to block muskets and arrows, while soldiers behind pushed over ten scaling-ladder carts, charging at the new city.

Just as the Qing troops entered the firing range of the cannons, Zhu Cilang waved his hand. The flag officer swiftly waved the command flag. Seeing the signal, the squad leaders of each artillery team shouted in unison: "Fire!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Amid the thunderous roar, dozens of red barbarian cannons on the city wall belched out great clouds of white smoke.

Amid the whistling, scorching iron balls flew from the city wall and smashed down into the masses of Qing troops. The several-jin solid shot of the red barbarian cannons bounced and tumbled across the hard ground, carving a bloody path wherever they went.

The dozen or so smaller solid shot fired alongside the main shells scattered wildly in every direction. Qing soldiers screamed and tumbled to the ground one after another. A huge swath of the Qing army below the city had already fallen. Their shield carts and troop formations were simply too dense — it would have been hard to miss.

The main force defending the city this time was the New Camp. The Yongwei Camp, the Firearms Camp, and the Pivot Camp were all held in reserve. Zhu Cilang's purpose in this battle was primarily to temper the New Camp.

The gunners of the New Camp, under the command of their own artillery squad leaders, calmly loaded and fired.

Though their current results still fell considerably short of the Yongwei Camp's gunners, and Zhu Cilang felt they were not yet ideal, compared to other Ming troops they were far more elite.

Beside each cannon, gunners continuously measured and calculated the distance. At their shouted commands, another gunner used a crank and screw to adjust the barrel's elevation angle.

Under their aimed fire, Qing shield carts were smashed to pieces one by one. Flesh and blood flew among the Qing soldiers in formation. The ground was already covered with corpses, and many more writhed on the ground, screaming in agony.

The Ming army's fierce cannon fire stirred waves of commotion in the Qing ranks advancing from the front. It seemed the shield carts beside them could not give them the slightest sense of safety.

Some Qing soldiers could not help shrinking back a step, only to be savagely whipped by the supervising squads led by Bohetuo behind them. In the end they kept advancing through the cannon fire, quickly covering a li.

Abatai could not help being greatly shocked. He had not expected so many cannons on the city wall — and how could they be so accurate?

In his wildest dreams he could not imagine that the world contained the word "science." Whether in the Yongwei Camp or the New Camp, all gunners were required to study the "Methods of Measurement" by Matteo Ricci, Adam Schall, and others, used for ranging cannons, and the "Essentials of Fire Attack" for measuring barrel elevation.

Ever since learning these two bodies of specialized knowledge, and adding front sights and rear scales to the cannons, the accuracy of the Yongwei Camp's artillery had increased enormously.

Dense cannonballs tore several great gaps through the Qing formation, casting an indelible and terrifying shadow over the psychology of the attacking Qing troops.

The second-rate Tartars attacking in the front ranks were terrified beyond measure, yet they dared not retreat. These stepchild bastards — if they fell back, the Manchu and Mongol Eight Banner soldiers behind them would cut them down.

Truly, once you became a booi bondservant, no good fortune ever came your way. But when it came to serving as cannon fodder and charging to your death, round after round came your turn, with no chance to run. Their only prayer was to take the city quickly and go inside to vent their frustrations.

When the Qing troops advanced within two hundred paces of the city wall, they thought they had passed beyond the cannons' long-range fire and were just beginning to relax — when suddenly even more cannon fire erupted from the city wall!

On the walls of the new city, though the red barbarian cannons had stopped targeting them, the shorter-ranged franki cannons and tiger-crouch cannons now all opened fire.

At this moment the city wall was lined with a dense row of cannons, all firing grapeshot. Wave after wave of shot flew out, instantly reaping a vast swath of Qing soldiers. Blood flowed like rivers — a sight too horrible to behold!

Abatai could not help furrowing his brow. From his high platform at the center of the army he could see clearly: the three-thousand-man vanguard had been cut in half before they even reached the moat at the foot of the city wall.

The Ming army had too many cannons, and they were too fierce — this caught him off guard. He had somewhat underestimated the Ming troops defending this new city.

Abatai immediately ordered the attacking forces to withdraw. Though the Han troops could be used as cannon fodder, he could not let them throw their lives away for nothing. Even cannon fodder had to be used in the right place.

Hearing the horn signal to retreat, the Eight Banner Han troops were instantly relieved of a great burden. They all turned and ran, each scrambling to be first, terrified of being a step too slow. In just a moment, the battlefield was left empty, with only over a thousand miserable corpses behind.

Seeing the performance of the Han Eight Banner troops, Abatai let out a dissatisfied snort. The only thing the Han Eight Banner troops were fastest at was retreating.

Above the new city, the officers and soldiers of the New Camp let out a cheer, celebrating how easily they had beaten back the Tartars' first assault.

New week — begging for recommendation tickets!