Chapter 1248: Somewhat Reluctant

Yang Zhaoji did not order the column to halt. He merely asked Yang Guodong beside him, "Worthy brother, that Xuzhou rebel wasn't wrong. The tide is what it is. If you wish to go, your elder brother here won't stop you."

"Does Brother Taichu wish to go?" Yang Guodong asked back with a smile. Yang Zhaoji burst into hearty laughter and asked no more, only saying with a sigh, "Your elder brother has never understood these Xuzhou rebels. What they think, we don't understand. What they want to do, I'm muddled about too!"

As he spoke, Yang Zhaoji drew his bow and loosed an arrow at a mounted soldier of the Zhao Family Army. At such a distance, a hit was naturally impossible, but the gesture made his stance clear. The mounted soldier simply wheeled his horse around and returned crisply to his own formation.

Yang Zhaoji drew a deep breath, took the long spear hanging from his saddle, and said in a muffled voice, "When I garrisoned Datong, I watched the Anda Mongols rot away day by day, and even the Chahar's Ligdan Khan was worthless. I thought the realm would be at peace from then on. I never imagined that in Liaodong there would be the Jianzhou Jurchens, and then here in Xuzhou a Zhao Jin would emerge. This dynasty is fated to fall; I just don't know who will reap the advantage in the end!"

Over on his side, Yang Guodong tied the leather straps of his helmet tight, took his long saber in hand, and said with a smile, "We can't worry about so much. As long as we brothers are true to ourselves and true to this court, that is enough!"

"Aye, we've been true!"

"Six-pounder cannons and above, hold fire. Six-pounders, three-pounders, load and prepare. One-pounders, load canister shot and prepare. Nest-of-Bees, load and prepare!"

"Artillery regiment, arquebusier company. First Brigade, arquebusier company, prepare. First Brigade, First Regiment, prepare!"

In front of the Zhao Family Army's formation, the various units being deployed began their tense and busy work. The three-pounder and six-pounder cannons, along with the light guns, were hauled to the front by shouting soldiers and then began loading and preparation. The arquebusiers and pikemen moved into position according to the drill manual. The mounted soldier companies began to split apart by company to prevent the enemy from suddenly changing direction and charging.

Beneath the general's great banner, Zhao Jin watched the distant government cavalry column drawing near. Compared to those around him, his expression was not so relaxed or cheerful.

"Big Brother, if they don't surrender, they're just courting death. I reckon in the time it takes to burn one incense stick, we can keep moving forward!" Ji Xiang said dismissively.

Zhao Jin nodded and said in a low voice, "I just feel it's a bit of a pity. These old government generals are quite good at training cavalry, and they have local connections. If they were willing to surrender, they could save us a lot of effort."

After saying this, Zhao Jin shook his head again and said, "But with them making this choice, it will also save us a lot of trouble in the future. Daxiang, since we started fighting the government troops, this is the first time I've felt somewhat reluctant."

Ji Xiang nodded as if he half-understood, then turned his head to look at the battlefield and said with considerable excitement, "Big Brother, the cannons are about to fire!"

Although Zhao Jin and his personal guards were positioned sufficiently forward, according to the drill manual's rules, they were still very far from the battlefield. They could only watch a column of dust rapidly approaching from the north, and all they could make out was a large banner amidst the flying dust.

"I wonder if that's the identifying banner of the Datong Regional Commander or the Shandong Regional Commander. If we capture it..."

Ji Xiang's words were not yet finished when the cannons fired. The three-pounders and six-pounders loaded much faster than the larger-caliber cannons. If they had adjusted the firing angles and made precise observations, the cannons could have fired even earlier. However, the Zhao Family Army's artillery followed standard procedure without adjustment and simply fired two volleys forward. After the first volley, the government cavalry's great banner did not fall. After the second volley, the great banner could be seen swaying a few times, but it still pressed forward.

An intensely dense series of cracking explosions rang out one after another. This was the light cannons and the Nest-of-Bees—which fired over a dozen arquebus shots at once—opening fire. That ever-approaching great banner suddenly lurched and toppled, then was raised upright again, slowly drawing closer, step by step drawing closer!

"Volley fire, prepare~~~"

"Fire!"

The command rang out from the arquebusier ranks, and an even denser burst of cracking explosions erupted. Apart from the dust churned up by the galloping cavalry, the gunpowder smoke billowing from the cannon and arquebus fire also obscured the view. After this burst of explosions, the battlefield had fallen silent.

The wind in Northern Zhili in April is strong, and it quickly blew away the dust and smoke. In the field of view of Zhao Jin and the others, that ever-approaching government army great banner could no longer be seen.

The battlefield quickly fell silent. Ji Xiang, his face full of ease, turned his head and asked, "Big Brother, do we continue the advance?"

Zhao Jin, however, showed no joy of victory. He was silent for a moment, then spoke: "Wait a moment first."

The advance and retreat of the entire army rested with the commander-in-chief. As Zhao Jin had not given the word, the great army began to rest in place. The cannons were cleaned and then re-hitched to the draft animals of the gun carriages. Other companies either returned to their respective units or began to clear the battlefield.

Of the over eight hundred government cavalry, more than half were dead or wounded, and the rest surrendered. Although these men had followed the former Regional Commanders Yang Zhaoji and Yang Guodong in the charge with a resolve to die, once the fighting reached this point, seeing their comrades' grievous casualties, seeing this mountain of corpses and sea of blood, all their spirit and morale were gone. After that great banner fell, men began to dismount and offer surrender.

Quite a few of those who dismounted first were still shot dead by arquebus fire, but after that, the Zhao Family Army began accepting surrender. The scene before them did not look like a trap in any way, and that fearless charge just now had somewhat altered the Zhao Family Army's contempt and disdain for government troops.

This time was indeed somewhat different from before. The government cavalry did not beg for mercy in a servile and cringing manner as they had in the past. They either followed arrangements in a stunned daze, or wailed loudly as they walked. Even the joy of victory in the forward positions was diluted considerably. When Zhao Jin arrived at the forward positions, those government cavalrymen all looked over with resentment and hatred, but they had long since been kept far away by the soldiers and could do nothing.

Zhao Jin walked among the corpses of men and horses. The scene was exceedingly gruesome. Those hit by cannon fire were all without intact bodies, their bodies torn apart and shattered. Those struck at close range by the light cannons' canister shot were no better off, a bloody pulp of flesh, their appearance in life utterly unrecognizable. Those killed outright by the arquebus volleys were relatively better off. The severely wounded were now in agony, begging the soldiers and troops of the Zhao Family Army to grant them a quick end.

It was clear that the soldiers and troops very much wanted to help with this task, but without orders, no one dared to act on their own. Only after Zhao Jin nodded did they begin. Although wails and cries of pain still filled the battlefield, the atmosphere at this moment was somewhat peaceful. The bodies of men and horses, after being searched, would all be piled up and burned to prevent leaving behind pestilence for the local area. After all, the Zhao Family Army still had to take the return route, and this place was close to the canal's water source; if a plague truly broke out, it would be a huge problem.

"General, these are the corpses of Yang Zhaoji and Yang Guodong. Their personal soldiers have already been brought to identify them, and the official certificates and seals on their persons are correct," the regiment commander at the front introduced.

As the chief general and deputy general, they would certainly have been surrounded by personal guards. Thus, judging from the wounds on Yang Zhaoji and Yang Guodong, the two of them had charged to a very forward position. Because the style of the armor the two wore was completely different from the others, the arquebusiers would naturally have focused their fire on them. Each of their bodies had been struck by more than one lead bullet.

The expression Yang Guodong wore before death was frozen on his face: his angry eyes were wide open, yet twisted by the pain of the bullet wounds, a most ferocious visage. As for Yang Zhaoji, the very first bullet had taken his life. This old general's face was quite peaceful, completely out of place on this bloody and fiery battlefield. The government army's great banner lay not far from them, its pole broken, the banner itself tattered by gunfire. The character "Yang" could be seen on it, but the rest was covered in blood and grime, making it impossible to tell whose command flag it was.

Zhao Jin stared at it for a while, then spoke: "Cover them with that great banner. Erect a tombstone and give them a proper burial. They died with dignity."

Once the battlefield was cleared, Zhao Jin's mood returned to normal. The great army marched onward. The prisoners would be temporarily placed under guard within the baggage battalion and brought back in batches to the various farm estates in Shandong. Zhao Jin specifically selected the personal guards of the two Yangs and sent them to inform their respective families, with a promise: if the court blamed and punished them, the surviving families of the two Yangs could come to the territory controlled by Xuzhou to take refuge, and they would certainly be treated well.

This time, the Zhao Family Army was somewhat different from before. Two foreigners dressed in soldier's uniforms walked about within the column, though most of the time they hovered around Zhao Jin. They held notebooks and charcoal pencils, sketching from time to time. Whether it was those escorting them or those walking past them, anyone who saw the contents of their notebooks would be surprised and couldn't help but take a few extra glances.

Because the drawings in those notebooks were all lifelike, as if directly replicating the scene before their eyes. There were panoramas of the army on the march, partial vignettes, and group portraits of Zhao Jin and his companions—completely different from the painting techniques of the Great Ming.

The foreigners confined to the ironworks were being discovered to have more and more skills. Some were brought to the port of Haizhou, and others were ordered to accompany the army, because they understood sketching. Zhao Jin felt it was necessary to use pictures, such a direct method, to record certain things. Whether for preservation or for use in teaching and dissemination, it would be greatly beneficial. Johann Adam Schall von Bell and one companion were chosen to accompany the march. Although they could not preach, and though this did not count as regaining their freedom, it still made them very happy. After all, it was a chance to get out for some fresh air and see many novel things of the East.

However, there were some positions and some people that the priests could not get too close to. For instance, when Zhao Jin and the various brigade and regiment commanders held military councils, they had to be at a great distance. Otherwise, the order to kill without mercy was not an idle threat.

"Today's wave was irrelevant to the overall situation. According to news from the capital and Hejian Prefecture, these nearly a thousand cavalry of the two Yangs were forced out, a move to eliminate dissidents. The two Yangs wanted to die as martyrs for the dynasty, and we obliged them. That's no trouble. But if the nearly two thousand cavalry they disbanded really have gone to Tianjin to join the main army, that's what we need to keep a close eye on."

As the great army continued to advance, Zhao Jin and the chief commanders of each division spread out a map by the roadside to discuss. Zhao Jin pointed on the map and said with considerable certainty, "After this battle, combined with news from all sides, the battlefield will definitely be north of Cangzhou. North of Cangzhou, at the three cities of Xingji County, Qing County, and Jinghai County, the government troops will certainly set up camp relying on the city walls. The battlefield will likely be at one of these locations, most probably Qing County or Jinghai County."

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