Chapter 1274: Outside the Capital, Many Soldiers, Few Bandits

Xu Yong, however, had his own assessment. Shi Manqiang, who guarded a sector in the northern district of Huai'an, was steady and thorough in handling matters — already the stuff of a commander-in-chief. Ji Xiang, having spent so long at Zhao Jin's side without a chance to take sole command, was a fierce tiger of a general, but not necessarily a fine commander. This time, with the light cavalry advancing swiftly, a single brigade commander should have sufficed by rights, yet Zhao Jin had dispatched both brigade commanders, Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang. Looking at it now, Master Jin was indeed Master Jin — his thinking was thorough after all.

"The enemy has already seen the size of our force. Given the government army's usual style, they'll think we're few and weak, and will certainly come to test us. Once we win this battle, we'll have far less trouble later," Shi Manqiang said in a deep voice.

No sooner had this judgment been made than a cavalryman came spurring his horse from outside to report: "Brigade Commander, two enemy columns are converging on this position — one from south of the city, over a thousand cavalry and eight thousand infantry; one from northeast of the city, over fifteen hundred cavalry and seven thousand-plus infantry."

Hearing this, everyone in the room grew excited. The enemy clearly had the advantage, yet Shi Manqiang, Ji Xiang, Xu Yong, and all the officers present felt no alarm or fear — only excitement. From Xuzhou all the way north, victory after victory in a hundred battles had long since built up their confidence.

"Shitou, you call the shots — how do we fight this one?" Ji Xiang asked.

Every gaze converged on Shi Manqiang, including that of Xu Yong, the commander of the First Cavalry Regiment. Xu Yong and Ji Xiang were both directly under Zhao Jin's command, and the two had dealt with each other often. At this moment, Xu Yong was inwardly reflecting that Fifth Master had matured considerably. In the past, he would have rushed to voice his own ideas, but this time, with Zhao Jin explicitly placing Shi Manqiang in charge, Ji Xiang had taken the initiative to say these words — even if the finer points were not entirely proper.

Shi Manqiang smiled and said, "We fight it straight. No matter how many routes they come by, I'll only take one route. After finishing off one column, we'll turn back and deal with the other. Get the brothers moving — drop the dry rations and everything else, carry only weapons and ammunition. Around this capital, we won't lack for food or clothing!"

The order was given, and the Zhao Family Army cavalrymen, who had just begun to rest, mounted up one after another. The cavalrymen towing the cannons also hurriedly greased and reinforced the axle bearings of the gun carriages. Having rushed all the way from Tianjin, no one felt weary. Gazing at the distant walls of the capital, all their fatigue melted away.

The Zhao Family Army cavalry's position was closer to the northeast side of the city. The capital garrison was vast in number, but only a very small portion was stationed inside the city. This column from the northeast of the capital had actually marched out from the military encampment.

The terrain outside the capital was flat, but the cavalry could not move too fast, for there were no level, broad roads. In the fifth month, the crops in the fields had already grown very tall, which would impede the cavalry's movement — to say nothing of the villages and estates scattered like stars across the landscape, their very structures fragmenting the terrain into broken pieces.

The cavalry moved in company units, while the column towing the cannons ran at the very front. These Zhao Family Army cavalrymen had a distinctive feature: their saddlebags were all bulging, each horse carrying three cannonballs. An extra ten catties of weight per horse was no great matter.

Under such terrain conditions, the light cavalry's movement was largely unaffected. There was no need to worry about being attacked when passing through estates and villages — the gentry and common folk inside had either already fled into the city or were cowering in terror inside their houses and cellars. They felt not the slightest concern for the capital's safety. These capital commoners had seen too many rich and noble households, too much extortion and plunder; they did not feel that this court, this capital, had anything to do with them. It all belonged to the big shots.

If the same battle had occurred in Xuzhou or its controlled territories, and enemy cavalry dared to pass near fortified villages and farmsteads, being struck by firearms and shot by arrows would have been the least of it — very likely, people would have chased out to intercept and block them. But here, though estates and fields were everywhere, it was as if they were passing through uninhabited land.

Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang at the center had already spotted the dust clouds in the distance. The light cavalry ahead had sent back confirmed reports. The main force continued advancing at a steady pace, while the horse column towing the cannons up front began to accelerate. Under the escort of cavalry companies, they started splitting off to both flanks.

Once the cannons were set down over there, the cavalrymen immediately dismounted. It was fortunate that the Zhao Family Army's gunners were mostly of student-soldier background, with all-around battlefield skills and no slouches at riding either. After dismounting, they at once called out and began setting up the cannons. Though the Zhao Family Army's steel gun carriages were of excellent quality, after such a long-distance dash and all the jolting — and with the three-pounder barrels weighing several hundred catties — deformation was inevitable. To guard against this, the Zhao Family Army had even brought spare gun carriages.

While they were busily at work over here, someone had already climbed onto the nearest rooftop to observe the movements of the steadily approaching enemy. These several three-pounder cannons were all concealed among the courtyards, yet they could not let walls and buildings block their field of fire — adjusting them was still somewhat troublesome.

Once the cannon positions were arranged, the main force led by Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang also arrived. Because there was no overly open terrain, the main body of troops could only advance along the official road. After the Zhao Family Army cavalry halted, looking down the official road, they could already see the banners and insignia of the government army ahead — they too were coming along this same road.

The Zhao Family Army cavalry did not advance further, merely halting to rest and prepare. Apart from light cavalry activity to scout the battle situation, the main force simply stopped there. They did not even intercept or screen against the government army's light cavalry. Under such circumstances, the government army naturally had a clear understanding of the Zhao Family Army cavalry's movements.

They could tell that the Zhao Family Army cavalry numbered only a few thousand, that there were no ambushing troops around, and that they were waiting here, halted and motionless. The only thing the government light cavalry could not see were those several three-pounder cannons hidden in the gaps between courtyards and haystacks.

Not long after they had halted, the soldiers observing from high vantage points detected a change in the government army. The government army's marching speed had noticeably increased, as if they were in a great hurry to arrive and claim first merit. However, in this situation, a two-pronged joint attack was impossible no matter what, because the Zhao Family Army cavalry's position was far too close to the column from the northeast of the city.

The routed soldiers from the various forces at the Battle of Jinghai had long since brought word back to the capital. Tales of how ferocious and mighty the Zhao Family Army was had spread everywhere, but those tales were simply too outrageous — people heard them and found them unbelievable. The more honest ones reckoned that the Xuzhou bandit army's battle strength might be on par with the Jianzhou Jurchens or the steppe Mongols. The cleverer ones figured there must have been some shady deal behind it — either to force the purist faction out of power, or because of internal strife — and that was why such a crushing defeat had occurred.

And at this moment, no matter what everyone thought, a force of just over three thousand cavalry — and in this kind of terrain at that — was hardly worth taking seriously. If they struck with three or four times that strength, at the very least they wouldn't come out on the losing end. If they could win under such circumstances, it would be a tremendous merit; promotion and rewards would certainly not be lacking.

The Zhao Family Army had marched north from Xuzhou, sweeping aside all resistance, every battle a devastating victory. Even before this engagement, the Zhao Family Army had already won several major victories against the government army with inferior numbers. But those victories had been far too clean and swift, and the Zhao Family Army had not deliberately publicized them, so the government army had never given them the attention they deserved.

If they had committed enough troops, they could have won this time. If they had not delayed their movements, they could have won this time. If they had held on just a little longer, they could have beaten back the bandit army. The Ming military always labored under this sort of misconception.

In the final analysis, it was that the Great Ming court and the government army, from top to bottom, lacked a sense of reality about the Zhao Family Army. In truth, the same was true of every party under heaven. Zhao Jin had started from nothing and built his enterprise, achieving all this in ten years — possessing a mighty army that could sweep the realm, firearms unlike anything in the Great Ming tradition, and financial resources like mountains of gold and seas of silver. These things had not fallen from the sky; there had been a process, with slaughter, with hardship, with diligence.

But for this era, accomplishing all this in barely ten years — far less than ten years — was simply too contrary to common sense; it was fundamentally impossible. Under such a perception, their judgment of the Xuzhou Zhao Family Army was also thrown into disarray; they did not know how to respond, and would not even respond seriously.

But how could they be serious? This was only three thousand cavalry, and an isolated force at that. The government army outnumbered them more than four to one, not to mention that another column was on its way — a two-pronged joint attack would be nearly a tenfold advantage. With such odds, how could they possibly lose? When people encounter something that defies common sense, they can only judge it by common sense. The government army could not fathom the Zhao Family Army's methods and tactics, so they could only mull it over according to their own routines.

The cavalry force commanded by Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang did not simply wait there dumbly, but slowly spread out, adapting the formation's size to the battlefield terrain, so that when they launched, they could charge or maneuver at any moment.

The Zhao Family Army soldiers on rooftops and high ground kept their eyes fixed on the approaching government army column. Once it entered cannon range, they began signaling. The gunners, long since prepared, quickly inspected the cannons and then opened fire. The several three-pounder cannons were not in the same position, and their distances from the government army varied; now they fired in succession!

A volley would naturally have been thunderously impressive, but with the three-pounders firing one after another, and with the clamor of men and horses all around, these muffled reports were hard to notice. By the time the cannonballs came howling in, it was already too late to dodge. The cannonballs plunged into the ranks, and whether infantry or cavalry, flesh and blood flew in every direction.

The Xuzhou bandits were firing cannons! The rumors had made them sound uncanny, saying that Xuzhou's cannons were truly like thunderclaps — that when they went off, it was as if heaven collapsed and earth split. Though there was some exaggeration in this, everyone in the government army, high and low, more or less knew that the bandits' firearms were deadly. Seeing the enemy cannons fire, the forward ranks scattered with a roar, no longer caring about formations or protocol. At this moment, the government cavalry unit was in an awkward position: if they charged now, the bandit cavalry had the numerical advantage, but if they did not charge, they would just take hits or fall into disorder.

More than one man in the government army, high and low, was cursing. Hadn't they said the bandit light cavalry was advancing recklessly and couldn't possibly have brought cannons? Then what in blazes was this cannon fire?

What truly caught the government army off guard was that the cannons were not in one position and were not firing in volleys. One shot landed; another came flying from a different direction. The officers and soldiers who had just dodged thought they had reached safety, only to find another swath of flesh and blood flying. With cries of alarm and shrieks, they scattered and fled again — only for a third shot to land. They simply could not evade it.

One update today. Quite a few brothers have tipped — thank you to old friends "Feng Chui Yan Xue Man Tian, Feng Zhong Long Wang, ALLZEROaiyu, Hua Ji, Duan Yichen, Yuan Heng Li Zhen, Qi San Wen" for your tips. If I've missed anyone, don't hold it against me.

Also, let's not let our imaginations run wild. Old Bai rests for three days and some of the speculation flies to the heavens. I too have a need to sleep in and zone out...

Thank you all for your subscriptions, monthly tickets, and tips. Thank you for your support, brothers. Cast your monthly tickets to those who need them more — I won't be contending for them in September and October.