Chapter 50: Winning Over the Army's Hearts

(Chapter 49 inexplicably returned a 404 error; an application to lift the block is currently in progress.)

After the Yongwei Camp was equipped with paper-cartridge gunpowder, their rate of fire became faster, and after several volleys they wiped out an entire niru of three hundred Qing cavalry.

Several rounds of such lopsided results left many Yongwei Camp soldiers staring in stunned disbelief, including some veterans who had fought in the border troops. They never imagined that the Tartars, who in their memory were utterly vicious and ferocious, could be finished off so easily—it was simply unimaginable.

Back in the day, many of them had fought the Eight Banners with real blades in the border troops, and those battles were extremely bloody—taking a single head was no easy feat. Yet now, with a few shots from a firelock, they had killed a whole group.

"Your Highness, I never expected these firearms to be so formidable. I was a bit worried at first!" Huang Degong said with a rough, hearty laugh.

Sun Yingyuan also seized the opportunity to rally the troops: "His Highness plans with great foresight. Follow His Highness from now on, and you'll be piled with military merits, drinking wine and eating meat!"

"Right! If we follow His Highness, we're sure to make our mark and enjoy the good life!" A group of Yongwei Camp officers and soldiers burst into laughter.

Zhu Cilang cracked a grin as well and said, "Alright, enough chatter. Quickly clean up the battlefield—there's still a big battle ahead."

At this moment, the group of Night Scouts who had been pursued hurried over to pay their respects. At their head was a sentry post Battalion Commander named Yang Qili.

Yang Qili was thirty years old this year. Though his name was refined, he was built lean and sturdy. He had originally been an old Night Scout in Jinzhou, and because of his outstanding abilities he had been selected for transfer to the Capital Camps—which made his old superior "grieve" for quite some time.

Yang Qili had repeatedly taken first place in the assessments of the Longxiang Night Scouts and had been appointed Battalion Commander of the First Sentry Post.

Zhu Cilang asked, "What happened? Why were you pursued by the Tartars?"

He refused to believe his Longxiang Night Scouts could be so incompetent as to be discovered and chased by Qing cavalry while in disguise.

According to Yang Qili's report, after the Qing army marched south from Changping, the area around the capital was swarming with Qing soldiers plundering in every direction. Members of the First Sentry Post of the Longxiang Night Scouts had discovered Zhu Chunchen hiding in a farmhouse.

Zhu Chunchen was the top man of the Capital Camps, and many Yongwei Camp soldiers who had come from the Capital Camps knew him. Upon encountering their former big leader, they naturally thought to lend a hand and rescue him.

Yang Qili, the Battalion Commander of the First Sentry Post, then assembled the entire post's Night Scouts to kill the surrounding Qing soldiers, escorting Zhu Chunchen all the way toward the capital while covering the rear.

After Qing scouts discovered that a group of Ming cavalry was escorting a high official, they immediately dispatched a niru of cavalry to give chase and kill.

Fortunately, the Longxiang Night Scouts were exceptionally capable. At the cost of five Night Scouts lost, they killed seventy-seven Qing cavalrymen and broke out of the encirclement.

Listening to Yang Qili's detailed account, Zhu Cilang suddenly erupted, kicking Yang Qili over with one blow and raging: "Idiot! Who told you to save him? Your Longxiang Night Scouts' mission is to scout enemy intelligence, not to rescue people. If you're thinking of saving some big official to claim merit, then you'd better get the hell out of the Yongwei Camp right now!"

Seeing the Crown Prince enraged, all the Night Scouts knelt to the ground, and even Xu Sheng, the top man of the Longxiang Night Scouts, knelt down as well.

Seeing them frozen in shock and not quite understanding, Zhu Cilang continued: "Let me tell you plainly—that Zhu Chunchen has already been executed by me. A cowardly wretch like him who retreats in fear isn't worth even one-tenth as much as a single one of my soldiers!"

Not only the members of the Longxiang Night Scouts, but also the Yongwei Camp men nearby were deeply stirred by these words, all of them moved.

No one could have imagined that His Highness the Crown Prince valued them so highly. Many people at this moment silently swore in their hearts to follow His Highness the Crown Prince unto death.

Though Yang Qili had been kicked over, his heart was even more moved at this moment. In the border troops he had always suffered unfair treatment from his superiors—none of them treated Night Scouts like human beings at all. Only when dividing military merits and silver did they show him a shred of "care."

The Crown Prince's words made Yang Qili feel like crying. He hastily scrambled up and knelt again beside Zhu Cilang, saying, "This humble officer deserves death for failing Your Highness's expectations!"

Seeing him like this, Zhu Cilang could not bear to punish him further. He helped him up and said sternly, "Remember, you are the most elite soldiers of the Great Ming, nay, of the entire realm! Go scout again. If you do not redeem your error with merit, find a place and take your own life!"

Sun Yingyuan sighed inwardly. Though the Crown Prince was young, his skill at winning over the hearts of the army was truly masterful. It seemed he had not followed the wrong man.

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Twenty li from Xizhi Gate there was a stretch of woods, adjacent to Shijingshan. The terrain nearby was uneven, with many slopes.

On a vegetation-covered hillside, Yang Qili was observing the surroundings through a monocular telescope.

This telescope was from the batch that Zhu Cilang had ordered the Armory Bureau to craft back then. Now they had been issued to the Yongwei Camp—every Longxiang Night Scout had one, and every Yongwei Camp officer above the rank of Company Commander had one as well.

When they first received the telescopes, everyone was curious, and after using them they all marveled—this thing was simply a thousand-li eye, able to see things several li away. In the Yongwei Camp, everyone called the telescope the "Thousand-Li Scope."

After a few bird calls, a man emerged from a patch of woods in the distance and came before Yang Qili.

Yang Qili said in a low voice, "Well? Any sign of Tartars?"

A Night Scout took off the green grass ring on his head and said, "Reporting to you, sir: no enemy camp found within five li in any direction. Only to the southwest did we spot a group of Tartar scouts, around thirty men."

Yang Qili nodded and said, "Tartar scouts being present means there must be a large body of Tartar troops nearby. Keep watching them—the moment anything moves, report back to me immediately."

That Night Scout acknowledged with a grunt, turned and left at once, and after a few twists and turns vanished into the thicket.

A Night Scout Company Commander beside Yang Qili asked, "Sir, when do we make our move?"

Yang Qili said, "No rush. First send men to contact the other Company Commanders and have them bring their teams back. We'll eat this group of Tartars together."

This Company Commander said in confusion, "Sir, with just our team of ten, killing them shouldn't be hard!"

Yang Qili shot him a glance and said, "Didn't you hear what His Highness said? Our lives are precious indeed. Is it worth risking sacrifice for these thirty dog Tartars? The other teams aren't far—they'll arrive soon. Wait!"

In the past, Yang Qili had served as a Night Scout in Jinzhou of the Liaodong garrison, going out of the city year-round to scout the movements of the Jianzhou barbarians, and from time to time chopping off a few heads to bring back for bounty money. Because he was unwilling to share his bounty with his superiors as tribute, his old boss had "reluctantly" recommended him to the Capital Camps, and later he was selected for the Yongwei Camp.

Based on his understanding of Qing scouts, although his ten Night Scouts could handle thirty Qing scouts without issue, Yang Qili knew well that his mission was to scout enemy intelligence, not to lock horns with their scouts.

These thirty Qing scouts—if they were to be dealt with, it had to be done cleanly in one go, leaving no survivors to report back.

Of course, it would be best to capture a few Qing scouts alive, so as to inquire about the location of the Qing main camp and the true strength of their forces.