Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 156: Defeating the Qing Camp
To the west of Jingmen City, in the snow on the southern foot of Shengjing Mountain, Ma Zhenfeng's "clairvoyance" slowly moved with his head, observing the ambush troops of the Qing army in the distance.

From his current position in ambush, he could see the golden glow emanating from the Qing army camp to the east as soon as he looked up. Although it was only a faint circle, it was particularly conspicuous against the dark night sky, the plains covered with a thin layer of white snow, and the moonlight.

However, the Qing army did not seem to have set up heavy defenses in this direction. There were not even many ambushes and night patrols, and they were basically concentrated within five miles outside the camp.

After nightfall, Ma Zhenfeng sent out several elite soldiers from the Night Army, but none of them discovered the heavy security on the western side of the Qing army camp.

However, he was not completely sure that there were no Qing soldiers ambushing on the hillside opposite, which was very suitable for an ambush. After all, this place was less than ten miles away from the Qing army camp, and the Qing army could not be completely unprepared.

You know, the snowflakes falling from the sky not only covered their movements, but also covered the Qing army's ambush troops. Most of those Tartars were hunters and were not so easy to deal with.

Moreover, many Tatars are natural hunters, and many are even tribal soldiers captured from outside the Great Wall. Almost all of them have experienced life and death in the mountains and forests and survived to this day by their own ability.

Among them, many young men from the tribes had to stay in caves in the vast snow of Changbai Mountain and Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains for days and nights before being sent to the army, just to wait for prey to take the bait.

Now, the light snow in Jingmen Prefecture is nothing to them. After being equipped with sophisticated armor, these tribal soldiers are like dragons returning to the sea and tigers returning to the forest in the mountains and wilderness, and are extremely ferocious.

The strength of these opponents exceeded Ma Zhenfeng's expectations. Even he himself had almost been attacked not long ago. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough, dodging the Qing army's ambush and quickly using his flying axe to deal with the opponent.

People like Ma Zhenfeng who have escaped death many times are born with certain abilities that allow them to always avoid the enemy's so-called ingeniously designed traps and survive one death after another.

Such experiences have also made Ma Zhenfeng develop an indescribable intuition about danger, which even he himself cannot explain clearly.

Of course, it is more about details than intuition. His rich experience and keen observation enable him to quickly notice details that many people find difficult to perceive, and then make judgments.

"Tan Xiong, you take a team of people and go around the back slope to the north to intercept the Tartars. If I alert the enemy, you must move quickly." Ma Zhenfeng observed for half a day and gave the order immediately.

"Commander, this is too dangerous. What if this is a trap set by the Tartars? We have finally reached this point." Tan Xiong was very excited, and suddenly he became anxious and said with a frown:

"I want to lead my men to sneak over from the back slope. The Tartars will definitely be off guard, and then we can kill all those Tartar ambushes quietly."

However, Ma Zhenfeng shook his head after hearing this. He knew how Tan Xiong felt at the moment. Success or failure depended on this one move, and no one dared to underestimate the enemy. He immediately said:

"Don't underestimate the Tartars. If we don't take the initiative, we'll never find them. His Majesty should be arriving soon with the Heavenly Cavalry. We're on the verge of victory, so we need to be decisive at a time like this."

"Yes!"

Tan Xiong responded, still feeling a little bit unbelievable in his mind, but he immediately collected his thoughts and retreated silently, his white cloak moving with it. It was almost impossible to be discovered in the white plain with snowflakes flying.

Then, several Nighthawks who were lurking beside Ma Zhenfeng came up cautiously. Their backs were also covered with a white cloak, on which a lot of snowflakes had accumulated.

Soon, a figure suddenly emerged from the darkness at the foot of the white foothills of Shengjing Mountain. A moment later, he quietly approached Ma Zhenfeng and reported that the vanguard of the Heavenly Cavalry had arrived.

Upon hearing this, Ma Zhenfeng immediately turned his head and looked behind him, but he didn't see anything, so he finally felt relieved.

That night, various accidents and difficulties that might occur during the reconnaissance kept emerging in his mind, which ultimately led to the failure of the Tianqi Army's 100-mile attack on the Qing army. Fortunately, these accidents and difficulties either did not occur or were resolved by him.

"Your Majesty has finally arrived with the Heavenly Cavalry!" Ma Zhenfeng breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly suppressed those unnecessary emotions and said to his subordinates beside him:

"Pass the order and prepare to take action."

At this time, behind them, on the south side of the long foothills west of Jingmen Prefecture, under the quiet moonlight night, rustling sounds echoed on the snow. The watery moonlight fell on the ground, illuminating the white fields, making the Tianqi Army advance very quickly.

At this time, the plain south of the mountain was filled with rows of Tianqi soldiers and thousands of war horses. They had quietly advanced about ten miles without the Qing army noticing.

Zhu Cilang's hundred-mile raid was finally completed about two hours before dawn. The Tianqi Army, hidden in the night and the snow, had already deployed along the long and gentle southern slope of the mountain. With five thousand cavalrymen from the headquarters and the imperial camp, the distance between the head and tail of the entire raiding team was nearly five miles.

Chang Denggui and Lin Changfeng had reorganized the team. They formed a six-row formation, facing the west side of the Qing army camp south of Jingmen Prefecture. It was a complete battle formation.

More than 5,000 soldiers were taking their final rest. These were the current elite of the Ming army, receiving the highest pay in the entire army and also undergoing the most arduous training. Under Zhu Cilang's personal care, adequate nutrition and rigorous training gave them strong physical strength. Although they were all nervous at this time, they still had plenty of physical strength, and were not inferior to the Eight Banners vests at all.

Chang Denggui was riding on a warhorse with its four hooves wrapped in cotton cloth and a bit in its mouth, making almost no sound when moving. He also had a grenade in his mouth. Through the hazy mountain shadows in front of him, he could already see the light and shadow of the Qing army camp in the distance.

By this time, he no longer felt too nervous. Instead, he hoped that the battle would come soon. However, everything in front of him always made Chang Denggui feel that everything that had happened in the past few days was too unreal!
He actually led 5,000 cavalrymen, galloped for more than 700 miles, and quietly lurked on the side of the Qing army camp. This really happened!

And now, the Qing army camp was only ten miles away from him. If the war horses were to run at full speed, they would arrive in a few minutes. No matter whether Ye Chen or Ye Qi was leading the army, the Qing army would not have time to react!

With the entire army silent, the horses wearing bits and their hooves wrapped in cotton, thousands of cavalrymen galloped across the snow without making much noise.

Of course, when the Tianqi Battalion entered the 20-mile radius of the Qing army camp, the entire army changed to a slow pace, otherwise it would not have taken them so long to complete only the 30-plus miles.

Chang Denggui had already arrived at the front line at this time. About ten steps in front of him were four rows of vanguard cavalry. They would be responsible for the first surprise attack. Before the main army swept through the Qing army camp, they would carry out interspersed assaults and defeat the Qing army's counterattack as quickly as possible, causing the entire enemy army to collapse.

The main force of the Tianqi Battalion will advance in a frontal sweep. Unless the vanguard encounters a strong counterattack, they cannot retreat to the main formation to affect their advancement.

Soon, two horses came galloping from the front. They came directly in front of Chang Denggui and whispered to him the military intelligence sent back by Ma Zhenfeng.

After hearing this, Chang Denggui immediately looked up at the sky, mainly to determine the position of the moon and estimate the current time, so as to finally determine the time for the army to launch the attack.

"How's the situation on Ma Zhenfeng's side?" Zhu Cilang was also at the front line at this time. When he saw Tang Ma rushing back, he rode his horse directly behind Chang Denggui.

"Your Majesty, the Qing army really underestimated the enemy. They probably didn't arrange proper security until they were about five miles away from the main camp. If we advance five miles, we will most likely not be noticed."

When Chang Denggui heard Zhu Cilang's voice, he immediately took out the gag from his mouth, put it away carefully, wiped his cold saliva, bowed and reported.

"Alright, then, proceed as planned. Dispatch the troops immediately, one hour before dawn," Zhu Cilang ordered. His voice was equally excited, even trembling slightly, perhaps due to the cold wind or something else.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Chang Denggui and Lin Changfeng responded with a bow.

The two of them could no longer contain their excitement. Even Lin Changfeng, who had always supported Zhu Cilang's surprise attack on the Qing army, could hardly believe it. They were about to succeed, with only one step left!
Lin Changfeng's mind began to flash with the scene of the Qing army camp with flames rising to the sky and him leading the cavalry to charge all the way. He had to take a few long breaths before he could calm down!
Since Sarhu, when has the Ming Dynasty fought a battle like this? Avenging the previous humiliation is just around the corner!

"All departments, offices, and bureaus, organize immediately!"

As General Tangma's order came out, bursts of rustling sounds were heard in the long resting queue. The cavalrymen took off the cotton cloth wrapped on the gun blades and put on their helmets again.

After all the soldiers put on their Ming helmets, the team leaders of each flag team made an upward gesture to the soldiers under their command without any words.

In a blink of an eye, all the cavalrymen of the Tianqi Army stood up, figures flashed on the snow, and the armor leaves made slight collision sounds at the same time, but the foothills soon returned to calm, and all the cavalrymen stood quietly, waiting for the order to act.

"Get on the horse! Get on the horse!"

"Go! Go!" The officers of the vanguard cavalry were the first to raise their lances. Hundreds of cavalrymen immediately mounted their horses and began to advance, with their lances tilted forward. There was a rustling sound of horse hooves on the snow.

Zhu Cilang was extremely excited as he watched them. These were the elite of the Heavenly Cavalry Army. They looked incredibly strong and powerful. They would definitely be able to kill the so-called Eight Banners Cavalry without any chance of resistance!
He has been waiting for this moment for a long time!
At the foot of the mountain, the marching cavalry columns started to move one after another, gathering and surging like a stream of water, slowly appearing on the snow. The moonlight shone on their armor and helmets, emitting a silvery-white light. These light spots began to sway as the war horses galloped, with the rustling sound of the armor plates shaking, as if there were ripples and the sound of water in the snow.

Zhu Cilang only left behind the Imperial Camp and a thousand-man headquarters, which were commanded by Lin Changfu. As the reserve of the army, he would also lead the army to the front line, but would not personally charge into battle.

Under the moonlight, Lin Changfeng's recognition flag quickly became blurred. The cavalrymen who rode out quickly quickened their pace. Lin Changfu quickly crossed from the side to the front row. He would personally lead the vanguard cavalry to attack.

He was breathing softly. Apart from the increasingly frequent sound of horses' hooves and the collision of armor plates, there was still no other sound in the entire queue. Lin Changfeng held the reins tightly and his heart quickly regained its calm. This was his most basic quality as the commander of an army!
The cavalry roared away, and the Tianqi Army cavalry group, shining with faint silver light, was like a surging tide, quickly sweeping over the snow on the southern foot of Shengjing Mountain. The cavalry in front of Commander Lin Changfeng was the crest of this surging tide, and slammed into the Qing army camp.

Lin Changfeng's face was full of determination. He soon saw the five-mile sign left by Ma Zhenfeng. Looking up, he could clearly see the golden halo emanating from the Qing army camp in front of him, and it was slowly getting bigger.

Five miles away, nearly ten thousand Qing soldiers were sleeping soundly. It was the cold winter time when people were most tired, and many ambush troops in front were killed by the night watchmen of the Palace Army while they were sleeping.

The entire Qing army camp was still quiet at this time, and they had no idea that the Ming army, which they despised, was about to attack them.

In the south of Jingmen City, a few Qing army scouts would occasionally gallop back and forth, even making strange "Yiyaya" sounds, trying to provoke the Ming army soldiers on the city wall and undermine their morale.

Ye Chen was looking at the map in the big tent at this time, feeling very contented. At his age, he got very little sleep, and the dawn came late in this season, so he simply got up early and thought about the next military deployment.

After Li Guo led his troops north, Ye Chen focused the battle on preventing the Ming troops stationed in Jingmenzhou City from breaking through and blocking the Ming army reinforcements from the south.

In his opinion, if Li Guo's 2,000 cavalrymen fought in the city and continuously harassed the enemy, they would definitely pose a great threat, but if they fought recklessly on the plains, they would be vulnerable.

Not only him, but Bahana did the same. So he confidently went south with only a thousand cavalrymen. Apart from the cavalrymen sent to clear the vanguard of Li Guo's army in the early stage, he did not even arrange any flank guards and directly led the main force to attack.

However, Bahana did not encounter any obstacles along the way. The scouts and vanguards sent by Li Guo basically fled after a brief resistance, which was no different from the Shun army at the beginning.

Ye Chen was naturally overjoyed when he received the military report sent back by Bahana. From the scouts and vanguard troops sent by Li Guo, he basically confirmed that the other side had only two thousand cavalry, and no more than three thousand at most.

If these cavalrymen were to fight on the plains, they would definitely not be Bahana's opponents. This also made him full of confidence in the upcoming battle, and he had begun to plan to capture Jingmenzhou City.

In fact, Ye Chen did not know the exact strength of the Ming army in Jingzhou City. The information obtained by the scouts was very vague and unreliable, but as long as he defeated the Ming army's field forces, he was confident that he could quickly break through Jingzhou City.

"Li Guo, that's all!"

Thinking of this, Ye Chen couldn't help but feel excited, as if Jingzhou City was already in his pocket.

After all, as long as Li Guo was defeated by Bahana and Jingmenzhou City was captured by him, according to the previous performance of the Chuang army, the Ming army in Jingzhou City would inevitably abandon the city and flee, or even surrender.

"Emperor Ming, when will you go north?"

Ye Chen looked at the location of Changsha City marked on the map. His eyes gradually focused and soon became sharp. He suddenly tapped the location of Changsha City on the map and said with a cold smile:
"I want to see how powerful the so-called powerful enemy that Duoduo was defeated is!"

At this time, he had already imagined the scene of himself conquering Jingzhou, facing the Ming army in Yuezhou, and forcing the Ming emperor to lead the army in person. A military report had been sent from Aljin earlier, saying that the Ming emperor had arrived in Jiujiang.

However, just when Ye Chen could not contain his joy and thought that victory was in sight, and was completely unaware of the danger, there was suddenly a commotion outside the military camp.

When Ye Chen heard the voice, his brows furrowed instantly, and he immediately walked out of the tent under the protection of several Bayalas. But for a moment, he didn't understand what was going on.

Soon, as the sky gradually brightened, the scouts he deployed around the camp came back to report one after another. Ye Chen soon learned that it was the Ming army that was attacking, but he was still hesitant to believe it.

Ming troops? A night attack? Swarming the mountains and plains? Legions of cavalry?

How could this be possible? The Ming army couldn't possibly have that many cavalry, let alone organize a night attack.
But the dozen or so scouts who escaped back all said the same thing, so Ye Chen had to be skeptical, and then he immediately rushed up to the watchtower regardless of everything.

The vision was hazy under the moonlight, and a "terrible thing" consisting of a dense group of bright spots surging like a tide appeared in front of his eyes, which made the veteran general of the Eight Banners terrified and even stunned for a moment.

If his estimate was correct, this raiding Ming army was now less than three miles away from his camp, or even only two miles away. Those bright spots were the moonlight reflected from armor and gun blades.

On the plains to the west, he did not deploy any troops that could stop this terrifying enemy army. There were only some ambush soldiers who were fleeing in a panic.

"Quick, drum, drum!"

Ye Chen just came back to his senses, his face suddenly changed and he screamed.

"quick--"
.
Lin Changfeng arrived faster than Ye Chen expected. He quickly rushed to the edge of the Qing army camp. The figures of a large group of Tianqi Army soldiers appeared in the firelight emitted by the bonfire, and rows of sharp gun tips gleamed in the firelight.

The Tianqi Army's vanguard quickly attacked the scattered Qing troops on the periphery, fiercely sweeping away all the active enemies before them. The screams of the Qing soldiers rang out immediately. To the west of the Qing army camp, there was a commotion and the screams continued...

At the same time, with the successful raid of the vanguard cavalry led by Lin Changfeng, Zhu Cilang also immediately led the remaining troops into the preset battlefield. Seeing the situation, without waiting for the newly arrived army to be organized, he immediately ordered Chang Denggui to lead the troops to attack.

On the west side of the Qing army camp south of Jingmenzhou City, flags were flying in an instant, and the cavalry from the five thousand headquarters of the Tianqi Army immediately set out. Under the guidance of their respective thousand-headed flags, the sound of horse hooves rumbled.

Zhu Cilang, under the protection of the imperial camp, galloped on his horse, crossed one snow-covered hill after another, and soon arrived at a small hillside northwest of the Qing army camp.

Less than three miles in front of him, at the edge of the Qing army camp, the vanguard cavalry led by Lin Changfeng had encountered the vanguard troops sent by Ye Chen to block them. Some cavalry even took the opportunity to drive away the fleeing Qing army armored soldiers and infiltrated the Qing army camp.

The counterattack troops that Ye Chen organized in a hurry were actually mainly composed of the scouts and infantry on duty that night. They were completely vulnerable in front of the Tianqi Army.

The two sides soon engaged in a melee. The Ming army had hundreds of cavalry in the vanguard, while the Qing army had only a hundred or so cavalry, and hundreds of infantry followed closely behind. They kept shooting arrows at the Tianqi Army and then charged forward.

However, when these Qing army scouts, especially those from the Green Camp, saw the sudden appearance of the Ming cavalry, they were obviously all frightened. The Green Camp soldiers quickly fled and had no courage to fight at all.

After all, it takes a lot of courage and fighting spirit to fight against cavalry with infantry, so that they can counterattack these sudden Ming cavalry in a panic with the intention of dying.
Lin Changfeng's vanguard army was full of fighting spirit and attacked fiercely. The Qing army scouts who counterattacked at the beginning failed to achieve the expected results. The main force of the Qing army in the rear was still in chaos facing the sudden appearance of the Tianqi Army. Even Ye Chen had no time to organize troops to fight.

You have to know that the Eight Banners soldiers are also human beings. They were still asleep. They didn't have enough time to put on their armor, so how could they form a team to attack?
Under the cover of the vanguard cavalry, the Tianqi Army took the initiative. A steady stream of Tianqi cavalry crossed the plains, emerged from the white horizon in the west, and rushed towards the Qing army camp.

The flags of the Tianqi Army fluttered in the wind on the snow, and the sound of charge trumpets was endless. Nearly 5,000 cavalrymen were just like they were on the training ground. The dense horses' heads kept jumping, like sharp arrows shot from a bow, shooting towards the Qing army camp, unstoppable.

Under the trampling of tens of thousands of horses' hooves, the plain covered with a thin layer of snow also emitted a muffled thunder-like sound. Wherever Ye Chen looked, under those golden and silver bright spots, there were all the figures of galloping and jumping war horses.

The Qing army, which was unable to react in time, lost the opportunity to organize troops to counterattack the Ming army, and soon also lost the opportunity to use the camp to block the Ming army. Faced with such a situation, Ye Chen was panicked and didn't know how to command for a while. He completely lost the proud look of having just captured Jingzhou, defeated the Ming Emperor, and achieved great success.

He looked at the Ming army rushing towards him, hesitated for a moment, and immediately ordered the army to withdraw from the camp.

I'm afraid there's no need to fight this battle anymore. Ye Chen only hopes that he can take away the Eight Banners vests under his command!

(End of this chapter)