Chapter 1431: The Great Wagon Convoy Laden with Supplies

But the Zhao Family Army's troops were far more ruthless than they had imagined — they simply refused to accept surrender. They were only interested in the dead. In the eyes of the Jurchen and Mongol cavalry, leaving no one alive under the blade was something only they could do. Han people always talked about decency and mercy; as long as you surrendered, you'd always be treated well. They never expected the Zhao Family Army to be so cold-blooded.

Some still managed to escape. A few were on horseback and could return to Gaizhou Garrison City to report the news. Others were on foot. Whether they could get out, whether they could find comrades — that would depend on their luck. Nine out of ten would not survive.

Under the command of the company commanders, the battlefield was swiftly cleared. They made sure no enemy remained alive, gave the corpses a quick search, and took any usable dry rations and weapons on the spot. Gold and silver were ignored, but any serviceable horses had to be taken. After picking and choosing, they abandoned the wounded, old, and sick mounts, and still managed to gather nearly four hundred sturdy horses. Only after the fighting had reached this point did the Zhao Family Army's soldiers withdraw from the battlefield, fully satisfied.

For the Jianzhou Jurchens, perhaps they thought that before the great armies clashed, it was a contest of spirit between cavalry forces. But for the Zhao Family Army, cavalry was not the only way to contest spirit. Chen Sheng dispatched small cavalry detachments and matchlock companies. After scouting the terrain, they identified several unavoidable routes and then began preparing an ambush. This first victory before the great battle arrived — it mattered greatly to everyone.

The matchlock soldiers made extensive preparations before heading to the hilly area — for instance, taking the longest possible detours to avoid leaving footprints in the snow, and driving away birds and beasts in advance to prevent any sudden anomalies from giving them away. Even the bait of letting a few enemy cavalry scouts escape during the ambush was deliberately arranged. During the ambush, they purposely spared two men. One man would be suspected; a second man escaping back would be far more credible.

But no one expected the ambush to yield such good results. The Jianzhou scouts were far too overconfident. From start to finish, they believed they held an absolute numerical advantage and that their combat strength surpassed the Zhao Family Army's. With such confidence, such arrogance, when the Zhao Family Army dangled the bait, they swallowed it without hesitation, almost step by step following the Zhao Family Army's rhythm straight into the ambush pocket.

"Did we overdo it this time? Next time the Tatars might not be so obliging!"

"This kind of thing — you take what you can get. You're already thinking about next time? Where in the world do you find such easy pickings? Next time it'll be a hard fight!"

The company commanders all understood this battle very clearly. The Jianzhou Jurchen troops had not had much contact with the Zhao Family Army. Before, they had always thought their defeats were due to underestimating the enemy. After suffering such a devastating loss, they likely would not be careless again. And this time, the Jianzhou Jurchens never imagined the Zhao Family Army would commit such strength during the scout-cavalry skirmishing phase. From here on, there probably wouldn't be much they hadn't imagined…

The Zhao Family Army, including cavalry, had committed a total of six companies to the ambush and managed to annihilate nearly a thousand cavalry — a record that could already be called brilliant. But total annihilation was impossible; fish slipping through the net were always inevitable.

The Jianzhou scouts fleeing for their lives soon returned to the main camp at Gaizhou Garrison City. Once the news spread, from Amin, Jirgalang, and Yoto on down, the entire army was shaken. Every man was dejected and dispirited. They had lost this opening battle, and lost it so disastrously.

Beile Amin flew into a thunderous rage. Of the nearly hundred men who escaped back, everyone at the company commander level was seized and beheaded. The rest were ordered to atone through death in battle. All their family property and dependents were confiscated and enslaved.

The punishment was brutal, yet no one thought it unjust. Light cavalry scouts operated in dispersed fashion — even if the enemy set an ambush, they should not have lost ninety percent of their scouts in one stroke. The reason for this outcome was nothing other than everyone's reckless rush for glory and failure to follow military law.

What infuriated Amin even more was that among those who escaped back, none could even clearly state how many enemy troops had lain in ambush. They had been completely beaten senseless. This was absolutely not how scouts and reconnaissance riders were supposed to conduct themselves.

After the Jurchen and Mongol commanders conferred, they concluded that to devour these several hundred cavalry, the enemy must have had several thousand troops lying in ambush. This already counted as a contact battle and had to be treated with gravity. When a lion hunts a rabbit, no amount of care is excessive. Not long after the scouts' heads were hung from flagpoles as a public warning, one military order after another issued from the command tent. With Yoto as the vanguard, leading two thousand of his own cavalry and over four thousand infantry, they advanced toward that hilly, mountainous region. The main army prepared to press forward in full force.

At the same time, each camp selected and dispatched cavalrymen who were meticulous and not greedy for glory or reckless in advance. No squad was to exceed five men, they were not to combine forces, they were not to take fixed routes, and they were to skirt around the mountainous area from the outer edges as much as possible.

For the Jianzhou Jurchen main army, the appearance of a large enemy force in the hilly region near Xiongyue Post Station was not a crisis — it was even something they had hoped for.

Gaizhou Garrison City was the Jianzhou Jurchen main camp; Fuzhou City was the Zhao Family Army's main camp. In this wind, snow, and bitter cold, mobilizing a large army, maintaining supplies, pitching camp, and bivouacking were all considerable troubles, and dangers besides. When a great army took the field, it sought absolute security. The closer to one's own main camp, the shorter the supply line for fodder and provisions, the greater the odds of victory. The farther from one's own main camp, the reverse was true.

That hilly region where the ambush battle occurred was closer to the Jianzhou Jurchen encampment. If the Zhao Family Army's main force had already thrust forward to that position, it would actually be greatly advantageous for the Jianzhou Jurchens. But the key was confirming whether they had come, and where they had pitched camp. To be utterly routed without clarifying these details — that was what made Amin so furious.

Having learned the earlier lesson, Yoto dared not be the slightest bit careless this time. The scouts and spies he sent out were all veterans of deep experience, especially the elite among the Jurchens — old hunters who had roamed the White Mountains and Black Waters for many years. Their experience moving through old forests and snowy ground in winter was incomparably rich; they would absolutely not repeat the previous mistake.

Under such searching, the results were quickly relayed back to Yoto. The hilly area where the fierce battle had occurred no longer showed any trace of large enemy units moving about. All that remained were corpse after corpse of their own men.

"The Han dogs have people who know their business over there too — likely some from Liaodong who went over to them. They're also moving in small squads, probing for our intelligence. We've tried to tail them several times but couldn't pin them down. But there's definitely no ambush lying in wait."

The scouts' report was very specific, but Yoto, hearing this news, showed no sign of pleasure. The ideal outcome for the Jianzhou Jurchen troops would be for the Zhao Family Army to cross through this mountainous region and choose the area around Xiongyue Post Station as the battlefield.

If they did so, this mountainous region would become a death trap at the Zhao Family Army's back, because the valley roads here were narrow. In normal times it was manageable, but if a large army moved rapidly, there was simply no possibility of deploying, let alone transporting supplies back and forth. If the advance went smoothly, all would be well. But if they were repulsed and fell back, chaos would inevitably erupt as they approached the mountainous area. Then, by seizing the moment to pursue and slaughter, a great victory would surely be in hand.

But as things stood, the Zhao Family Army had not made such a reckless choice. This advantage of terrain could not be exploited.

The Jianzhou Jurchen Jin Kingdom had spies spread thickly throughout the Great Ming. Before, they had not paid much attention to the Zhao Family Army, but now a flood of intelligence was pouring in. From the Great Khan Nurhaci down to the Four Great Beile, and further down to the several Han advisors, all found the battle records here inconceivable. Amidst their skepticism, they could still analyze some information — namely, that this Zhao Family Army's style of warfare was far too fierce and aggressive. They hardly paid any heed to the prudence of military doctrine, nor did they concern themselves with advantages or disadvantages on the battlefield. They always took the initiative to engage.

Such a style could be called fierce and aggressive, or it could be called reckless. Such a style would allow others to seize opportunities on the battlefield — to counter motion with stillness.

Amin and Jirgalang very much hoped the Zhao Family Army would act recklessly just once, advancing north first, while the Jianzhou Jurchen troops responded with composure, setting the battlefield on the flat ground north of the hilly region. That way, in terms of supply lines and grain routes, and in terms of the terrain at their backs, the Jianzhou Jurchen side would hold the initiative.

So when the news of this ambush came back, the Jurchen commanders, on one hand, felt utterly humiliated, but on the other, felt a measure of hope, wishing that developments would proceed as they had anticipated.

However, the situation reported back by the scouts and spies was that the Zhao Family Army was not that reckless. If they wanted to advance to the Xiongyue Post Station area, they would have to control the several key routes through this hilly region. Otherwise, if the main army were ambushed while on the march, that would be a catastrophe of heaven-scorching proportions.

If the enemy was not in this mountainous area, then where were they? Had the Zhao Family Army's main force advanced? It was only at this moment that Yoto realized something: the situation south of this hilly region was not at all clear to their side. Although scouts had been active and constantly reported back that all was quiet there — if all was quiet, how could there have been an ambush battle of this scale in the hilly region?

Just as he was about to press for further investigation, new intelligence arrived, saying that a force of around a thousand men from the Zhao Family Army was operating in an area ten li south of the hilly region. Their purpose was unclear; all that was known was that it was a large wagon convoy — wagon after wagon, laden with supplies, on the move.

Could it be they were paving the way for follow-up battalions? Though Yoto was young, his harsh youth had given him a caution rarely seen even in adults. With this piece of meat laid out before his eyes, he did not rush to devour it. Instead, he dispatched additional men to scout, seeking further intelligence.

Once it was confirmed that there were no enemies in this hilly region, the speed of messengers and scouts coming and going increased greatly. There were no signs of Zhao Family Army activity near the great wagon convoy.

Outside the mountainous area, on flat terrain, it was very difficult for a large force to conceal itself, and laying an ambush was exceedingly hard. Once Yoto received word that the great wagon convoy was an isolated force, he immediately issued urgent orders, commanding his cavalry to thrust forward swiftly and devour this convoy.

Whatever the purpose of this convoy appearing here, laden with supplies, it had to be intended for more troops. Annihilating this force would prevent more battalions from advancing and delay the timing of the enemy main army's movement.

But under these terrain conditions, only a cavalry thrust would allow enough time. If the infantry advanced together with them, it would take far too long. That enemy convoy appeared to be an isolated force, but a forced march from Fuzhou City to here would take only two days — less than a day for cavalry. So it had to be a quick battle, quickly decided.

In the final analysis, the Jianzhou Jurchen troops now needed a victory. This could no longer even be called a triumphant start to the campaign; it was merely to recoup their losses and boost morale. As for whether Yoto wished to distinguish himself in such circumstances and earn merit while commanding the army — that was another matter entirely.