Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 218 Fighting
Tengxiang Army, Central Army Headquarters, Ma Bao looked at Chen Qice who was covered in mud and said

"We just received news from the scouts ahead that the Qing cavalry have discovered our whereabouts. I'm afraid the Qing will attack soon."

Chen Qi Ce did not show any surprise when he heard this. This place was not too far from Zhao'an County. The Qing troops in the city had to pass through here to communicate with the Qing troops in the rear. It was basically impossible to hide it from the Qing invaders for a long time.
The Ming army launched a massive siege yesterday in order to cut off the Qing cavalry in the city and buy them time. That is why they dug trenches at night after arriving yesterday.
"The trench has been dug, and there is only about half a mile left to cross the entire passage. Even if the Qing army comes now, they will have to attack our trenches. How are you going to deal with it now, General?"

"Please ask Chen Jianjun to come over. I want to discuss this matter with him."

"Now I have sent people to occupy the heights of Fengshan Ridge and set up three artillery pieces on the mountain to prevent the Qing invaders from sending their elite squads to go around the mountain passages to the rear of our army."

"Of the remaining 3,000 men, I plan to have 1,000 of them as the central army, and the remaining 2,000 men will be divided into teams of 200, with a team guarding the trench every 300 meters. What do you think?"

The Tengxiang Army had 6,000 soldiers, 3,000 of whom dug trenches at night, and 3,000 of whom were resting to guard against the Qing invaders' attack. If all of them were digging trenches, and if the Qing invaders discovered their tracks in advance and attacked them by surprise, the soldiers would be exhausted and would probably be defeated in an instant.
After hearing this, Chen Qi Ce thought for a moment and felt that there was nothing wrong with this arrangement, so he spoke directly.

"Your Highness said that we missionaries are only responsible for the logistics of the army and the missionary work in the army. As for the battles in the army, they are all decided by the commander-in-chief. The general is a veteran in the army. How to deal with the enemy, the general must have already made up his mind. I have no objection."

After Chen Qi Ce finished speaking, seeing that Ma Bao was silent, he also stood up and said

"The Qing invaders are coming. There is still a small section of the trench that has not been completed. If there is nothing else, I will go back."

"Now we need to announce this to the soldiers in the army. When they know that the Qing invaders are coming, they will work hard. In this way, we can completely dig the trench before the Qing invaders arrive."

Ma Bao had also learned about the situation in the Ming army from Yan Keyi and others during these days, and knew that these military supervisors in the Ming court had always been very lenient.

Ma Bao just heard what Chen Qice said and thought that Chen Qice was retreating to advance. After all, if there was no military deployment, how could the ability of these military supervisors be shown?

But seeing that Chen Qi Ce had finished speaking, he actually did not raise any more objections and was about to leave. Ma Bao was also shocked and subconsciously tried to persuade him to stay.

When Chen Qi Ce saw Ma Bao speaking, he stopped and asked

"What else, General?"

When Chen Qi Ce came to ask, Ma Bao didn't know what to say for a moment.

Ma Bao hesitated for a while, and seeing the dust on Chen Qice's body, he finally found a topic and said

"General Chen has been digging with the soldiers for a whole night. It is really too hard. Now that the trench is almost completed, let the soldiers dig the rest. General Chen should take a rest first."

Chen Qi Ce heard this, but waved his hand and said

"Thank you for your care, General. I have already done the 99 prostrations, so this last bit won't make any difference. I'd better go back and finish digging with the soldiers."

"His Highness the Regent said that when we, the missionaries, enter the army, the first thing we should do is to set an example."

"If we stand on the stage and shout about justice, while the soldiers below work hard, how can they be convinced?"

"We are here under the order of His Highness to join the army, not to sit on the soldiers' heads and enjoy the good life, but to spread the great principles to the soldiers in the army, so that they can fight for our Ming Dynasty and the Han Dynasty. We should preach and teach, and practice it ourselves, and then we can spread it widely."

After Chen Qi Ce finished speaking, he bowed to the top and left the tent.

In the big tent, Ma Baoma Yingyuan watched Chen Qice leave in silence for a long time. After a while, Ma Yingyuan couldn't help but say
"This Chen Jianjun is really, really..."

Ma Yingyuan said "really" several times, but in the end he still didn't know how to describe Chen Qice and those weird military supervisors.
Ma Yingyuan looked up at Ma Bao and said

"This Chen Jianjun is extremely outstanding in both ability and character. At least none of the county magistrates I have seen can compare to Chen Jianjun. If Chen Jianjun were allowed to govern a place, he would definitely be a capable and good official."

"Dad, why did His Highness not use this person and instead put him in the army? Why?"

Ma Bao was silent for a long time, and then he said

"It is precisely because of this kind of person that he should be placed in the army."

After Ma Bao finished speaking, he did not wait for Ma Yingyuan to ask again and said

"Call Hao Shangjiu, Yan Keyi and the others. This is the first battle of our Tengxiang Army. We have suddenly taken command of an army, and some people in the army have long been dissatisfied. We must not let them down this time."

Upon hearing this, Ma Yingyuan did not dare to neglect it. He bowed to Ma Bao and hurried out of the tent to summon Hao Shangjiu, Yan Keyi and other generals to discuss the matter.
In the county government office in Zhao'an City, Bolo's face darkened immediately after hearing the scout's report.

He had already realized that the Ming army yesterday was not just someone who could not bear it any longer.

The Ming army attacked the city yesterday simply to blockade the city. They wanted to protect the Ming army in Fengshanling and let that Ming army cut off Zhao'an's retreat. Thinking of yesterday's siege, Bolo's expression became more and more ugly. Yesterday, the Ming army attacked the city for a whole day and withdrew only at dusk. However, only one or two hundred Ming soldiers were killed or wounded in that day. That group of Ming soldiers dared to play tricks on him under his nose!
When Bolo thought of this, he was furious and wanted to lead his troops out of the city to kill all the Ming troops outside the city. However, Bolo quickly suppressed his anger. The most important thing at this time was not this matter.
Bo Luo looked at the Baiyintu below and spoke in a cold voice

"Bayintu, you lead one thousand Jurchen warriors and four thousand Han soldiers out of the city immediately. You must defeat the Ming army in the rear and take back the passage."

"Durde, you lead 3,000 Jurchen cavalry out of the city. Don't attack the chariots. Block the north and south sides. If the Ming army dares to attack the city, you lead the cavalry to kill the soldiers attacking the city."

"If the Ming cavalry comes out, we will directly fight them and defeat them. Let them know the advantage of our Qing cavalry!"

Bo Luo in the hall gave orders to everyone. Soon, the south gate of Zhao'an was opened, and Bai Yintu led 5,000 people to Fengshan Ridge in the southeast direction.
The Qing army was mobilized in large numbers, and the Ming army outside the city naturally discovered the Qing army's movements. Tens of thousands of troops gathered again and pressed towards Zhao'an. The cavalry scouts of the two armies continued to fight under the city, and the two sides once again confronted Zhao'an.
Near noon, after the Ming army dug the last section of the trench, Baiyintu finally led 5,000 troops to Fengshan Ridge.

The trench dug by the Ming army was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. It was 10 feet wide at the top and 6 feet deep. It became narrower as it went down. At its narrowest point, it was only wide enough for a toe.

Baiyintu looked at the long trench that crossed the official road and was dug from the edge of the mountain to the seashore. His expression was extremely ugly, but at this moment he had no choice but to lead his men to attack.

Among the Qing army, five shield carts were in the front, slowly pushing towards the trench, while more than a thousand soldiers hid behind the shield carts and approached the trench of the Ming army.
The shield cart slowly moved forward until it was about 300 meters away from the trench. Suddenly, a cannon roared from the Ming army formation on the opposite side of the trench. Bright yellow flames spewed out from the muzzle of the cannon, and then seven or eight iron bullets hit the shield cart on the opposite side.
The shield carts on the opposite side saw the shells coming, but instead of retreating, a burst of rapid drumbeats rang out from the army formation. Then the shield carts suddenly increased their speed by several points, and quickly approached the trenches in the face of the artillery fire.
But they were fast, but the Portuguese artillery was even faster. The Ming army artillery on the opposite side of the trench quickly replaced the sub-guns, and the rounds of shells were almost without any interval, constantly bombarding the shield vehicles on the opposite side.

The Qing army's shield carts pushed forward for more than a hundred meters against the artillery fire. When they were still dozens of meters away from the trench, they were finally destroyed. However, the Ming army's artillery shells did not stop at all and continued to be fired at the Qing army on the opposite side.
Bullets whizzed across the battlefield. Although these bullets were not very accurate, the terrifying sound of the whistling cannons alone was enough to make people collapse.

Iron bullets whizzed past, and a Jurchen soldier in iron armor was hit and instantly exploded into a ball of blood mist. Balls of blood mist continued to rise in front of the formation. The soldiers in the front finally collapsed completely and fled to the rear.
However, as soon as these Han soldiers fled to the rear, they were hacked to death by a group of Jurchen supervisors in iron armor in the rear. However, even so, they still could not stop the soldiers from fleeing in the front.

But no matter whether they were defeated soldiers or Jurchen military supervisors, no one dared to approach within a hundred meters of the trench.
Although the largest group of Qing troops was blocked by Ming army artillery, they advanced smoothly in other places.

The Ming army's artillery was basically concentrated in one place, attacking the largest Qing army, while the Qing army in other small formations pushed their shield carts to the edge of the trench smoothly.

After these Qing troops arrived at the trench, they crossed the shield carts and rushed into the trench under the leadership of the Jurchen soldiers. However, as soon as they showed their heads, they were hit by a hail of arrows.

Some unarmored Han soldiers were shot to the ground, but the armored Jurchen soldiers were not afraid at all. They covered their faces with their hands and jumped down the trench to kill the Ming army on the opposite side.

However, just as these Qing soldiers jumped into the trench, before they could climb out of the trench, a row of long spears had already pierced into the trench from above. The Qing soldiers in the trench looked ferocious and kept trying to rush upwards, but they were constantly pierced down by the iron spears.

Liu Wang held his iron spear and stared at a Qing soldier in armor waving a long sword at the edge of the trench.

Liu Wang thrust the spear in his hand suddenly, piercing the Qing soldier's forehead. The Jurchen soldier screamed and fell directly into the trench.
Liu Wang pulled out his spear, and blood gushed out immediately.
Liu Wang was not surprised when he saw the blood gushing out. Instead, he looked excited and kept shouting.

"It's great, it's really great, come on, let me kill a few more, and I'll definitely be the flag officer."

Liu Wang roared repeatedly. Almost all the soldiers in Tengxiang's army were veterans who had experienced war. Stimulated by the blood, all of them had red eyes and kept stabbing the Qing soldiers in the trenches.

In the trench, roars and screams were heard one after another. One after another, Qing soldiers were stabbed to death in the trench. At the bottom of the trench, blood gathered into a stream, and soon the soil in the trench turned red.

The Qing army drove the Han soldiers to attack several times, but no matter whether the Han soldiers were in front and the Jurchen soldiers were behind, or the Jurchen soldiers took the lead, they were all stabbed to death in the trenches by the Ming army's spearmen.

After losing more than 1,500 men, the morale of the Qing army finally collapsed. No matter how the Jurchen soldiers tried to drive them away, no one was willing to attack the trenches.
Baiyintu looked at the bloody trench filled with corpses of the Qing army in front of him with a gloomy face. In the end, he had to order the army to retreat.

Baiyintu pretended to lead the troops to retreat, but secretly left 300 elite Jurchen soldiers to lie in wait on one side, hoping to launch a surprise attack when the Ming army entered the trench to cut off the heads.
But the Ming army on the opposite side was extremely cautious. Even when they saw them retreating, they still stood by the trench with guns in hand. Only a dozen soldiers jumped into the trench to count the heads and merits.
Baiyintu waited for half an hour at the rear, and seeing that the Ming army did not move, he finally gave up the idea of ​​a surprise attack, recalled the hidden soldiers, and retreated towards Zhao'an City.

In Zhao'an City, Bolo Eshehei and others were sitting in the hall with gloomy expressions on their faces. Bolo looked at the dusty Baiyintu below and shouted angrily:
"what is going on"

"Beile Rong, when I led my men to Fengshan Ridge, the Ming army had already dug a trench there, and had deployed more than ten artillery pieces in advance opposite the trench."

"We rushed to the trench under the artillery fire, and were attacked by arrows and spearmen. The Ming army in Fengshanling has 5,000 to 6,000 people, which is not inferior to me. They also deployed trench artillery in advance. If there are not more than 10,000 people, it will be difficult to break through here."

When Eshehei and others in the hall heard this, their faces darkened instantly. There were only about 12,000 Qing troops in the city. If Baiyintu said so, wouldn't it take the entire army to defeat the Ming troops in Fengshanling?
But how could this be possible? There were still 20,000 to 30,000 Ming troops outside the city. How could the Ming troops outside the city watch them march out and remain indifferent?

There was silence for a long time, and Boro finally spoke.

"Send a message to Tulai, asking him to send 5,000 men to support Zhao'an. If Changtai cannot be defended, then retreat to Zhangzhou and stop the Ming army in the direction of Changtai."

Everyone was relieved after hearing what Bolo said. The Ming army they were facing this time was extremely difficult to deal with. It was like a turtle shell that made it difficult to start. Asking for help was a last resort.

As long as the reinforcements from Zhangzhou arrive, the Ming army in Fengshanling will have no choice but to retreat. If they don't retreat, they can attack from both sides and directly defeat that Ming army!
Zhao'an is no longer indefensible. After retaking the passage, they can immediately retreat eastward.

Although they would lose Zhangzhou and Quanzhou if they retreated now, they would lose the Ming army here and the Ming army in Changtai.

But everyone felt relieved when they thought that they no longer had to confront this tough Ming army in this small town.

At this moment, they couldn't attack and couldn't retreat. If they stayed any longer, they might be completely wiped out here.
Bolo and his men decided to seek help. In the afternoon of that day, more than a dozen Qing cavalrymen had already rushed out of the east gate and headed towards the mountains in the east. Although the Ming army blocked the passage, they could not stop the long mountains.
The Qing army messengers rushed to Zhangzhou for help, but before they could wait for the reinforcements from Zhangzhou, the merchant ships of Haojing had already arrived in Chaozhou.
(End of this chapter)