Chapter 611: Out of Step

Liu Chengzong did not sleep.

Last night he ate plain boiled mutton; with a curfew in the camp, he stayed in his tent leafing through letters and maps, rising to drink a couple of mouthfuls of water when thirsty, and closing his eyes for a while on the tiger-skin rug when weary.

It was not that there was truly any military business requiring him to stay up all night — everything in the army that needed arranging had long since been arranged.

The nearby camps all had their defensive duties assigned; Zhang Xianzhong's and Shi Xiang's three battalions at Weinan were locked in a night-time standoff; as for distant places like Ningxia, Yan'an, even Monan, brooding was useless.

He just… the camp at night was too damn quiet, and he could not sleep.

Strange to say, when the camp was noisy he could doze off; on a vast, surging march he could fall asleep the moment he shut his eyes on horseback.

Only when they halted to rest did his mind go on high alert — everything felt off, and all sorts of stray thoughts flooded his brain; he tossed and turned and simply could not sleep.

Not being able to sleep was no great matter to him; he had already made up his mind to nap on horseback during the next morning's march.

A horse is a fine thing.

For a man to sleep comfortably, he really has to be sitting on a horse's back.

The whole army moving together provides an immense sense of security; the jolting of the mount brings incomparable ease.

But not being able to sleep made him irritable and bored.

Liu Chengzong was so bored he had started fretting on Hong Taiji's behalf about the decline of the Manchu population.

Last year's disastrous defeat beyond the Xuan–Da frontier cost the Later Jin many able-bodied men.

For Liu the Lion, this problem was strictly meddling in other people's business, yet he could not help but worry about it.

The Later Jin was not like his Marshal's Headquarters; the Marshal's Headquarters could vie for living space in Shaanxi — even though the war was not yet over, places like Fengxiang Prefecture had already supplied several months' provisions to tens of thousands of fierce, unruly troops.

The Later Jin, however, could not break past Shanhai Pass or even the chain of forts in Liaodong, which severely limited their expansion; under heaven, that left only one direction that could provide living space for Manchuria — the Mongol steppe.

It was the same old logic: such a contested ground, no one would give it up.

This meant Yang Qi was about to get a beating.

In this season, the Later Jin's Hong Taiji would, in order to subdue the Mongol tribes that had already submitted to the Monan Protectorate, continue to dispatch troops.

He was mulling over the matter of sending a force to reinforce Monan for a short period after the Shaanxi campaign was finished.

Then the shriek of a signal rocket and the bang of a flying-rocket cannon jolted Liu the Lion from his eyes-shut daydreaming, making him shoot up from the floor pallet like a cannonball.

The Yulin Cavalry on night duty outside the tent threw open the tent flap, originally meaning to report the military situation with great urgency.

But when he looked up, he saw Liu the Lion already pulling on a neatly arranged soft leather yesa robe, his face alight with excitement as he held an iron boot and greave, tugging an arm-guard and shoulder-piece onto his body — the sight stunned the Yulin Cavalryman so that his words stuck in his throat; he gaped, paused, then said, "Uh, Marshal, there's a night raid."

His tone was utterly calm.

"Ha ha ha! Good, good that they came — none of you bastards sleep!"

The Yulin Cavalryman never even found a chance to lend a hand; Liu the Lion fastened the shoulder-piece himself, so the man simply took the greave, crouched down, and tied it onto Liu the Lion's calf.

While the greave was still being tied below, Liu the Lion had already donned the upper-and-lower split cloth-faced armored skirt; two more Yulin Cavalrymen came in, pulled a sleeveless cloth-faced cuirass onto him, and fastened the throat-guard on one side and the heart-protector mirror and armpit-guards on the other.

Finally, the waist-guard was buckled, the bowl-helmet put on — a limited-edition Ming Army squad leader rolled off the line brand new.

Just as he stepped out of the tent, Wang Wenxiu, sporting matching dark eye circles, came running over in full helmet and armor.

Wang Wenxiu had the night watch tonight and had been patrolling the camp in armor the whole time.

Liu Chengzong opened his mouth and asked, "How far have they gotten?"

"North, east, and west — on all three sides they haven't broken through the small camps. It's a small-scale night raid of about a thousand men, though they brought quite a few signal rockets."

As Wang Wenxiu spoke, his face showed little worry; he said, "A slight shift in formation, a few small camps roll over, and we can encircle them completely."

Wang Wenxiu wanted to use the eight outer small camps to envelop the night-raiding troops. Liu the Lion nodded: "Fine, but don't let it turn into chaos."

Shifting formation at night easily leads to chaos, and what's more, the eight small camps were eight battalion-commander detachments split from four whole battalions; without unified command, they might not coordinate smoothly in a night battle.

Liu Chengzong pondered briefly, and before Wang Wenxiu could pass the order down, he suddenly raised a hand: "Wait!"

As he spoke, he furrowed his brow and looked southward, listening to the sounds and saying in puzzlement, "Something's off — these men came from the north?"

This was not right.

There could not possibly be enemy troops to the north.

Even a small force of a thousand men, or Bai Guang'en's unit that had earlier withdrawn from the battlefield, could not have come from the north.

Because the Mongol cavalry, the Zhengan troops, the Yan'an troops — those large contingents — had already traversed every passable route to the north; at least during the day, no space to conceal an army existed in the north.

The current situation was a textbook case of "attack on three sides, leave one open," with only the southern route left as an escape.

It was by relying on the formation of separate small camps that he had fended off the night raid; had he not, in the ensuing panic, his routed soldiers would have scrambled to flee southward in a mad rush.

Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong said with certainty, "The direction of this night raid's attack is no coincidence. They have a follow-up move, and that follow-up move is to the south."

Wang Wenxiu was not surprised by this; he merely said, "Marshal, the moment trouble broke out, your subordinate already sent orders to the eight small camps: those not under attack are to send out scouts, and upon detecting an alert, fire whistling arrows. There should be no enemy to the south."

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong raised his hand and said, "No debate. Tell the eight small camps not to change formation. First send the three central battalions of armored cavalry to meet the enemy. Once they drive the enemy off, return to camp — don't stir up extra trouble."

At that moment, Han Shiyou, the deputy commander of the Tiger Guard Battalion, had also finished donning his armor and weapons. Coming forward just in time to hear the order for the small camps not to change formation, he asked, "Does the Marshal suspect there are enemy troops to the south? Shall the Tiger Guard don double armor and form up facing south?"

"Mm…"

Liu Chengzong instead could not make up his mind. He could only be certain that there was a trap to the south.

But how big this trap specifically was, how much courage the enemy had, and how many troops they would mobilize — he did not know.

If the enemy only sent two thousand cavalry, having his Tiger Guard Battalion put on double armor would waste their strength, which would be less than ideal.

After all, his double-armored troops wore cotton-and-leather lining, chainmail iron armor, and cloth-faced iron armor — genuine double-layer iron-armored soldiers. Moreover, it was a summer night; a few large squads of double-armored cavalry would all collapse within two hours at most.

Treating every rustle of wind as a grave threat was clearly wrong. Since Wang Wenxiu had already told the small camps to dispatch scouts, Liu the Lion felt he need not overreact either.

In the brief time he spent pondering, Zhang Tianlin and Gao Yingdeng also came running over.

These two had come seeking battle.

Of the three — Wang Wenxiu, Gao Yingdeng, and Zhang Tianlin — Zhang Tianlin had risen the latest but had come in the greatest haste.

You could tell at a glance he had just woken up: no headscarf, no armor, not even the sleep crust wiped from the corners of his eyes, though he had not forgotten to sling on his saber. Bare-chested, he had bolted into the central camp like a gust of wind and was nearly seized on the spot by the Tiger Guard troops.

He had just reached the command gate and tumbled off his horse when his voice arrived ahead of him: "Marshal! The officers and men of your subordinate's cavalry battalion are clamoring for battle! Give us just one quarter-hour, and three thousand cavalry can strike ten li and wrap the raiding enemy in a giant bowl — not a single one will escape!"

Liu Chengzong looked at him and thought, You spout this bullshit the second you open your mouth — just look at that just-woke-up face, and you call that "clamoring for battle."

What, some of my commandery cavalry officers have already mastered the technique of requesting battle through dream visitation?

The moment he saw that mocking glint in his eyes, Zhang Tianlin knew the Grand Marshal didn't believe him, and said at once: "It's true. I didn't even have time to put on armor before my subordinates shoved me over here to request battle. The troops are under Zhao Zhirui's command and are already prepared to move out."

Gao Yingdeng, standing to the side, thought to himself: that dog-thief Zhang Tianlin is fast when fighting and just as fast when requesting battle. His own horse-and-foot firearms battalion, trailing behind, couldn't even get hot shit to eat.

Now, finally seeing Liu Chengzong's gaze sweep his way, he hurriedly said: "Grand Marshal, the same goes for my humble command."

Liu Chengzong couldn't help laughing at this and said: "If they come with their whole force, the enemy won't dare; if a small detachment raids, you needn't act as if facing a great foe. Don't let eagerness for battle throw your own formations into disorder."

He said it very lightly.

It wasn't that he took this night raid lightly — there was a strong possibility of traps to the south, so of course he had to be on full alert.

It was just that, from the moment they set camp, Liu Chengzong had already considered the possibility of a night raid. That was precisely why he had established four large and eight small interconnected camps — twelve in total — specifically to guard against night attacks.

His encampment was extremely difficult to breach by night raid. In fact, if the Ming army had done proper reconnaissance during the day and seen his camp layout, they would never have chosen a night raid as their tactic.

Each of the eight ring-camps held four to five hundred men. If a small camp in any direction came under attack, as long as it could hold the enemy for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, it would receive support from the two adjacent small camps.

If three small camps could block them for the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, the large camp inside would have time to fully arm and enter the fray in battle-ready condition, rendering the enemy's tactic useless.

The greatest advantage of a night raid lies in that very word: raid.

Like on the southern bank of the Wei River, where Zhang Xianzhong launched an assault on Long Zaitian — that's not called a night raid; that's called a night engagement.

A night raid, by contrast, is the prepared striking the unprepared: a small force throws the enemy into chaos, shattering their chain of command in a short time, causing them to collapse from within in a state of panic.

Under the protection of the ring-camps, the main camp had ample time to prepare.

If the raiding force was too small, it couldn't even constitute a raid.

If the raiding force was too large, it became a night engagement.

With a well-thought-out plan, one naturally remains unflustered in the face of danger.

That was why Liu Chengzong did not fear missing an opportunity. As long as they fended off the night raid, that was victory.

"As for the Ming troops launching this night raid, we have no need to annihilate them. Outside the camp it's pitch-black; if we sally out into a chaotic melee, the best outcome is merely scattering the enemy, while losses like our horses breaking legs or our men getting hung up in trees are unavoidable."

Lion Liu waved his hand and said to Zhang Tianlin and the others: "Tonight, Zhang Tianlin and Gao Yingdeng shouldn't be the anxious ones. The ones who ought to be anxious are the likes of Zuo Liangyu and Cao Wenzhao."

It was rather amusing — on the matter of impatience, he had a remarkably clear self-awareness.

He was precisely the sort of commander whose war style was extremely impatient.

Dispatch troops, find the enemy, start fighting — eager for quick results, seeking to end the entire campaign in a single decisive battle within two or three months of opening hostilities.

This in itself was actually a very serious problem.

But his opponents and subordinates were, almost universally, even more impatient commanders than he was. So much so that, by some perverse twist, it made him seem... well, comparatively steady.

This mentality of pinning hopes on ending a war in a short time before it even began — in any past dynasty, that would be considered reckless haste, the mark of a doomed fool certain to lose.

Even though war never has the ideal state of being fully prepared before it starts, a regime's military and political leaders would still try to prolong peacetime as much as possible, making the maximum war preparations, in hopes of being in better shape and achieving a higher probability of victory when war came.

Only in the Great Ming of the Chongzhen era was this condition absent.

No logistical preparations — there was no grain anywhere. Prepare my ass.

Correspondingly, reconnaissance preparations, probing attacks, battlefield selection, and terrain modification all became extremely cursory. No time — just get it done.

The prevailing atmosphere under these circumstances made engagements sloppy and reckless.

And when everyone tended toward recklessness, whoever was better prepared and steadier would win.

A night raid, in Liu Chengzong's view, was precisely a manifestation of the Ming army's eagerness to force a battle. This made him chuckle: "I'd say we ought to credit Yang Chengzu with a merit. The camp-burning was effective — the Ningxia troops won't rest well tonight and dare not drag the fight into tomorrow."

It had to be the Ningxia army; there was no need to even think about it.

Zuo Liangyu and Ai Wannian's Changping and Yansui troops were all at the city walls. Long Zaitian's Yunnan army was locked in a standoff with Zhang Xianzhong. Only the Ningxia army was idle, able to dispatch over a thousand troops to cross the river and attack.

"Now it all depends on the scale of the force they've sent."

Lion Liu reassured his subordinate commanders: "Setting aside the south, if the dispatched force exceeds two thousand, we must be wary of the south — the enemy may be advancing with their entire force. If it's no more than a thousand-odd, then I estimate the total strength committed to this night raid is around two thousand at most."

Zhang Tianlin blinked, looking first at Liu Chengzong, then at Wang Wenxiu, then at Gao Yingdeng, and finally at Han Shiyou.

Finding that Wang Wenxiu, Gao Yingdeng, and Han Shiyou all wore the same baffled expression as himself, he was reassured, cupped his fists, and asked: "Grand Marshal, please enlighten us — how... how did you deduce that?"

He didn't understand. Why would more than two thousand mean the entire Ningxia army might be coming, but no more than two thousand meant their total strength was two thousand at most?

Lion Liu had only given the answer. The steps in between to solve it — he just couldn't grasp them!

Liu Chengzong was stunned by the question. He stared at the three of them for a long moment. "You don't understand?"

"The Ming army's Ningxia contingent has four battalions in total, with a full strength of over ten thousand. Tonight, they've been harassed to the point they still haven't slept. Launching a night raid — attacking from three sides and setting an ambush on one — is already a certainty. That leaves only two possibilities."

Lion Liu raised one finger. "First: send a small elite force to raid and set an ambush, tying down our army's energy so we can't rest, while allowing the rest of their troops to rest, in hopes of fighting again tomorrow."

"The ambush force has to withstand the impact of routed troops, so its numbers won't be fewer than the raiding force — at minimum, they must be equal. If a thousand cavalry raid the camp, a thousand cavalry must lie in ambush. If two thousand cavalry raid the camp, two thousand cavalry must lie in ambush. Am I making myself clear?"

This was easy for Zhang Tianlin to understand. After all, he was a cavalry officer by background. This night raid was essentially an encirclement — the raiding force could be small and elite, but to actually achieve killing results, everything depended on the ambush force.

So the ambush force had to be at least equal in strength to the force striking from three sides. That was common knowledge.

"If the Ming army uses two thousand cavalry to raid the camp and another two thousand horse and foot to set the ambush, they've committed nearly half their total strength to this night raid."

Liu Chengzong raised a second finger. "If it were you, would you use four thousand men to raid, just to buy six thousand men a chance to rest, hoping to win a pitched battle tomorrow? You couldn't win."

"There's no need to decide victory or defeat tonight. We can wait — but the enemy may not be willing to wait.... First, haul every battalion's cannon to the south and assign them to Gao Yingdeng's battalion."

Just then, reports came in from Zhao Zhirui to the east and Li Baliang to the west — both sides had spotted several hundred enemy cavalry reinforcements arriving, instantly swelling the Ming force outside the camp to two thousand.

Liu Chengzong glanced south and thought: that settles it. Cao Wenzhao of the Ningxia army means to fight me through the night.

"Brother Zhang, select twenty elite riders to escort the Feathered Forest Cavalry across the battlefield straight to Zhang Xianzhong. Inform him of the situation here — the Ming army's two contingents are now disconnected. Order him to launch a fierce assault on the Yunnan army. At the same time, contact Luo Rucai and have him seize the moment to sally out from within the city. Victory or defeat will be decided tonight."

Having said this, Liu Chengzong finally turned to Gao Yingdeng. "Load all the cannons. Let's serve General Cao a hot meal!"