Chapter 124: All Forces Attack

A night of harassment had left the entire Qing army camp miserable beyond words. By daylight, Abatai and Yangguli both sat with panda eyes, their faces dark and gloomy as they stared at each other.

In the end, the two decided to rest the entire army for a day to recover before withdrawing. Otherwise, withdrawing in a daze—marching in the scorching heat would only make them drowsier, and if the Ming army sent out cavalry in pursuit, the losses would be enormous.

Want to rest? Zhu Cilang wouldn't allow it. Just as the Qing army was preparing to take shifts for rest in camp, another scout came reporting that a large number of Ming infantry had appeared two li from the camp.

The Ming army had come out of the city!

Abatai was startled and hastily ordered the drums beaten to put everyone on battle alert.

Yet by the time the Qing army had formed up their ranks, the scout came back again to report that the Ming army had withdrawn back into the city.

Abatai sneered coldly—with such a disparity in numbers, the Ming army ultimately didn't dare engage him in open field battle. He then ordered all camps to rest and recover at ease.

After a little over half a shichen, the scout came again to report that a large number of Ming troops had appeared two li from the camp. From far away, every Qing camp could hear the shouting of the Ming army—wave after wave of "ten thousand victories" cries came drifting over, and the camps all fell into panic.

Abatai was furious and ordered the cavalry to sally out and harass them, forcing them back into the city.

The Qing cavalry had been tormented all night—men weary and horses spent—what spirit did they have left to sally out? They had barely gone out before the Yongwei Camp blasted them back with volleys of grapeshot from their folangji cannons.

Abatai had no choice but to once again order the entire camp to form ranks and prepare for battle.

And once again, by the time the Qing army finished forming up, the Ming army had withdrawn back into the city.

Yangguli, his panda eyes blackened, gnashed his teeth and begged for battle: "Beile Rao Yu, this general requests permission to lead troops out to fight!"

Abatai granted his request, ordering him to lead five thousand troops to guard the south gate of the new city. If the Ming army came out of the city, he was to strike them head-on, while his main force would also converge and press forward, smashing into the city in one wave and beheading the Ming crown prince.

Ideals were beautiful, reality was cruel. The result was that Yangguli led his army standing there for half a day, and the south gate of the new city showed not the slightest movement.

The way Zhu Cilang played this was just like the night harassment—first, to harass them so they couldn't rest well; second, to embolden the new camp and get them accustomed to the battlefield. And he found the effect was quite good!

By noon, the temperature had risen to over thirty-some degrees. Especially under the blazing sun, the Qing troops blocking the south gate of the new city were burning hot all over, drenched in sweat, feeling like they were being steamed alive.

Just as Yangguli grew impatient and led his army to turn around and head back, the south gate of the new city burst open. The Yongwei Camp and the new camp's ten thousand-plus infantry all sallied out at once, charging at Yangguli's five thousand men.

With rows of Yongwei Camp musketeers clearing the way, the five thousand Tartar troops who had already turned their formation to return to camp were completely caught off guard. In an instant, Yangguli's army collapsed entirely, chased down and shot dead, with over half their number killed or wounded. Even Yangguli himself was shot dead by a Battalion Commander of the Yongwei Camp with a single gunshot.

The news reached the Qing army camp. Abatai was shocked and enraged, so furious that he spat out a mouthful of old blood, and for the third time ordered the entire camp to form ranks and prepare for battle.

Yet by the time Abatai had organized his army and come charging over, the Ming army had long since slaughtered Yangguli's force into rout, patted their backsides, and returned to the city.

Back in the new city, Zhu Cilang ordered only two thousand men left to guard the city, while everyone else took a half-shichen noon rest.

At a little past two in the afternoon—the time in summer when people are most prone to drowsiness—especially the Qing troops, who had been tormented for a whole night plus half a day, they were now even more sluggish and sleepy.

Just at this moment, Abatai once again received a scout's report: the Ming army had appeared once more two li from the camp.

Abatai was at a loss for words, already numb to it all. He spat hatefully: "I've read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms three times over and never seen tactics like this! What the hell are these southern barbarians trying to do?!"

Despite his complaints, Abatai ultimately obediently ordered the entire camp to form ranks and prepare for battle.

The story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was playing out in the Great Ming. The Qing soldiers simply didn't believe it anymore—quite a few people dawdled and lingered, refusing to get up.

If this sort of thing happened normally, they'd definitely be executed by the discipline enforcement squad to bolster morale. But this time, even the discipline enforcement squad didn't want to get up.

Quite a few people cursed: "To hell with your mother! I'm about to be tormented to death!" Having said that, they flopped back down and went right back to sleep.

This time, when the assembly order came, less than half the men grudgingly dragged themselves up. Just as a chorus of cursing rose from the Qing camp, suddenly a large swath of pitch-black iron balls came streaking through the air, pouring all at once into the Qing army camp.

"It's the Ming army's cannons!" someone cried out in alarm.

Wails and screams erupted throughout the Qing camp. Only at this moment did the Tartars realize the wolf had truly come!

Two li from the Qing army camp, twenty Shenwei Grand General cannons and several dozen twelve-pound red barbarian cannons were lined up in a row, blasting away furiously at the Qing camp—especially at the Qing cavalry barracks.

"Fire!"

The artillery commander raised his command flag and shouted with all his might.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The deafening roar of cannon fire made the entire earth tremble. All of the Shenji Camp's large-caliber long-range cannons were trained on the Qing army camp.

Massive iron balls slammed heavily into the various tents of the Qing camp. Iron balls weighing over ten or even twenty-odd jin crashed with a boom into the hard ground, then bounced up forcefully and hurtled onward, smashing everything inside the Qing tents to pieces. Quite a few Tartars still lost in dreams would never wake again.

Some iron balls rolled and bounced at high speed, directly rolling over and breaking the dog legs of Qing soldiers who had already formed up. For a time, miserable screams rang out continuously from the Qing camp, and soldiers busy assembling inside the camp were constantly struck and knocked down by the rolling cannonballs, shrieking and fleeing in every direction.

At the same time, large numbers of horse stables were smashed to pieces by the iron shot. Warhorses were killed and wounded, herds of horses neighed wildly, and many terrified horses dragged their wooden stakes along as they ran about in chaos.

For a moment, a spectacular scene of ten thousand horses stampeding unfolded in the Qing camp. Qing soldiers trampled and knocked over by the panicked horses numbered beyond counting.

"Damn it!" Abatai cursed in Chinese, then gnashed his teeth and ordered the entire camp to assemble urgently, not to panic, and prepare to counterattack.

The Yongwei Camp, Shenji Camp, Shenshu Camp, and the new camp—four camps totaling over twenty thousand men—sallied forth simultaneously from three city gates, heading straight for the Qing army camp outside the city.

The Yongwei Camp took the center, the Shenji Camp's artillery formed the vanguard, the new camp's infantry formed the rear, and all cavalry was split between the two flanks, pressing down upon the Qing army camp.

"Artillery formation, keep advancing! Press forward!"

Under Zhu Cilang's orders, aside from the Grand General cannons and red barbarian cannons with ranges beyond two li, all the shorter-ranged few-pounder red barbarian cannons and folangji cannons advanced with the main force.

When they pushed to within one li of the Qing camp—after the Qing had lost over a thousand men in the panic—the Qing quickly completed their assembly and began their counterattack against the Ming army.

The Qing cavalry mounted up and launched a charge at the Shenji Camp's artillery formation. But after the chaos just now, the cavalry they could organize was only half of what it had been before.

The Shenji Camp's artillery formation had over two hundred folangji cannons, plus the red barbarian cannons, totaling well over three hundred guns, all spitting out fierce tongues of fire at the galloping Qing cavalry in one massive volley.

To achieve maximum area damage, the Shenji Camp's artillerymen had loaded these cannons with thumb-thick lead shot and iron sand, plus some round little pebbles. Nearly three hundred cannons fired in unison, and the sky-filling storm of iron shot blanketed everything in front of the entire wagon formation.

Dense volleys of shot came flying at their faces and heads. Men and horses struck by the rain of shot all bore dense clusters of thick, gaping bloody holes on their bodies.

A chorus of miserable screams from men and horses rose among the Qing cavalry. Then, like a typhoon sweeping across a wheat field—especially the front several ranks of Qing cavalry—they were wiped clean in one pass.

Over three hundred cannons firing grapeshot in unison—the scene was comparable to hell itself, enough to make one's scalp crawl just looking at it.

Qing warhorses that were hit rolled on the ground with bodies mangled and bloody, while others ran wildly in every direction with piercing screams, causing great chaos among the Qing cavalry.

"Fire!"

Wang Wannian's eyelids twitched. Suppressing his nausea, he continued directing the Shenji Camp's attack. Another vast sheet of iron shot flew over, and in an instant all the screaming and shouting among the Qing cavalry was drowned out.

"Fire!"

The firepower in the center was too fierce, so large groups of Qing cavalry veered toward the two flanks of the Shenji Camp's artillery formation. The several hundred tiger-crouch cannons on the formation's flanks sprayed out another massive barrage of grapeshot at them.

"Fire!"

Round after round of grapeshot was loosed. The Qing cavalry charged forward through the rain of shot with tremendous difficulty, suffering appallingly heavy casualties. Great swaths of warhorses fell, a sight too ghastly to behold.

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