Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 169: Unprecedented Victory

In the north, on the battlefield with the noise of people, horses, gunfire and cannons, Chang Denggui shouted loudly and charged forward. He and the cavalrymen beside him and the Eight Banners cavalry led by Zhunta were now in a complete melee in the wilderness, and neither side retreated.

There were more than a thousand cavalrymen on both sides combined, and there were also thousands of soldiers rushing from the south of the battlefield. The only difference was that the Ming army had pursuers coming from behind the formation, while the Qing army had countless fleeing and rioting soldiers who were only concerned with escaping after their great defeat.

Although the Eight Banners soldiers had considerable combat capabilities, their morale had already been greatly disrupted after suffering such a heavy blow. Most of them were only concerned with escaping and had completely lost their will to fight.

Chang Denggui led a superior force to fight against them and soon gained the upper hand. They blocked the way in the wilderness between deserted villages in the northeast of the battlefield, trying to force the defeated Qing army to the lake in the north.

However, the Eight Banners Cavalrymen were experienced in the battlefield, and it was not so easy for him to stop these defeated cavalrymen. After several rounds of fighting, hundreds of Eight Banners Cavalrymen successfully escaped.

After several rounds of confrontation, Chang Denggui had already wielded the 18-foot-long flagpole in his hand, knocking off four or five Eight Banners horsemen or killing them directly, at least two of whom were Bayara.

He was originally a warrior who had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He was extremely strong and had great martial arts skills. Even though he was briefly besieged by several Bayala soldiers of the Qing army during the melee, he did not give the other side any opportunity to take advantage.

In fact, Chang Denggui had long noticed that Bayala of the Qing army was staring at him. He had sensed the danger from the moment the two armies clashed.

However, if he was afraid, he would not have personally led the charge with the flag!
At the same time, he was also staring at the Qing general who was protected by several Bayala armors. The Manchu general was now on his side and did not seem to intend to break out.

This surprised Chang Denggui a little, but he soon realized that the other party was coming for him!
In Chang Denggui's fierce eyes, he saw the figure of Zhunta rising and falling and running towards him. He had now verified his guess from the other party's expression.

Zhunta was still surrounded by several Bayala armored soldiers, who protected him tightly in the middle, allowing him to escape the melee and even chop down a Ming cavalryman in the chaos.

You should know that when Ajige captured Pi Island, he, like Oboi, was awarded the title of "Baturu" for his merits. After that, he followed Beile Yuetuo to conquer the Ming Dynasty, attacked Qiangziling in Miyun, broke through the border and entered the pass, defeated the troops of Ming court eunuch Feng Yongsheng and general Hou Shilu, and captured Dongjiakou and two other cities.

But now, Zhunta was defeated in Jingzhou and was in trouble. He no longer had the face to return to Xiangyang. However, such a situation made him feel a little emotional!
When he thought of this, Zhunta could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. He roared and led the few remaining Bayala vests around him to charge. He knew that he had no time to hesitate.

However, before he could engage in combat with Chang Denggui, a group of over a hundred Ming army armored cavalrymen rushed directly towards him from the side. The two Bayala armored soldiers on the outer rear had no time to react and fell off their horses with screams under the piercing blows of their spears.

Even under the cover of the surrounding horse hooves and shouts, Zhunta almost didn't hear the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground. He just saw the Ming army coming from the side and rear in his peripheral vision, and he immediately lost his composure!

But the pursuing Ming cavalry would not wait for Junta to react. They did not know Junta at all. When they saw the Eight Banners vests, they rushed forward to kill him.

In a trance, Junta felt a powerful force hitting him, causing his huge body covered with double layers of armor to shake violently several times. Then he flew off the horse and fell heavily to the ground.

Not only that, the Ming cavalry galloping past stepped directly on the remains of Zhunta's body that fell to the ground with their heavy and powerful horse hooves. The armor was directly dented or even shattered where the iron hooves stepped on it.

At this time, Junta opened his mouth in despair, blood gushing out of his mouth like a fountain. He felt excruciating pain all over his body, and his throat seemed unable to make any sound. His scarlet eyes looked at the sky filled with smoke, and the sound of galloping war horses kept coming to his ears.

"Ah, gurgle, gurgle..." Junta's throat was blocked by blood, and only gurgling sounds came out of his mouth.

Before he could regain consciousness, several more horses galloped over him, crushing his head in the chaos. His eyeballs flew into a pool of sticky blood.
“Bang, bang, bang!!!”

On the battlefield, the explosions of musket fire rang out one after another, and it seemed that no one noticed the accidental death of Junta. As the flag representing Junta fell and was drowned in the melee, the Qing army's final breakout was declared a failure.

As the Ming cavalry arrived one after another to reinforce, or pushed the defeated Qing troops to the northern lakeside from the southern battlefield, the lone Qing army Bayala and Eight Banners officers quickly fell off their horses with screams under the attack of the galloping Ming cavalry. The Qing army, having lost its command, completely lost the ability to fight back.

Chang Denggui originally wanted to use the flagpole in his hand to kill the Manchu general in front of him personally, but now he had no chance.

However, he didn't care at all. After leading his troops to chop down several Bayara armored soldiers who rushed towards him beside Zhunta, he immediately changed into a thick-backed long sword suitable for close combat on horseback, and continued to command the cavalry to fight.

Chang Denggui's ultimate goal of charging was to stop the defeated Qing army. He did not attack randomly, but led his troops to the wilderness northeast of the battlefield and continuously blocked the fleeing Qing army.

At this time on the battlefield, after the Ming army's full-scale charge like a storm, the Qing army's infantry formation had already been broken into several sections. Countless soldiers were knocked down and chopped by the speeding cavalry, and their screams resounded throughout the earth.

Not only that, these Qing army infantry formations that were cut off in the middle soon suffered a major rout. Seeing that the situation was not good, many of the Eight Banners infantrymen in the rear formation were quick to react and immediately broke away from the formation in groups of three or five, ran back to the rear formation to get horses and escape. The corpses of the Qing army soldiers who fell in the formation became a clear dividing line, announcing the defeat of the Qing army.

The Bayala cavalrymen who were originally supporting the rear, after seeing the defeat of the cavalry led by Junta, knew that they could no longer control the retreating soldiers, so they fled first, and the rest were soon swept away.

After most of the first wave of fleeing cavalry led by Zhunta were intercepted and killed, the other Qing cavalry who were originally on the south side of the battlefield also rushed over in groups of three or five, trying to break through.

But after learning the lesson of Junta, especially with the fall of Junta's flag, the surrounding Eight Banners vests scattered, and many Qing troops did not dare to charge again. They fled directly to the north of the lake, hoping to find a chance of survival there.

As for those Qing troops who still wanted to break out from the northeast of the battlefield, Chang Denggui did not despise them. He directly led hundreds of cavalrymen who had regrouped under his command and defeated these mobs that had lost their command again.

The morale of all the Ming army units was now high and their offensive was swift. The Qing army had completely collapsed at this time. The Qing army on the battlefield, from south to north and from east to west, quickly evolved into several groups of defeated soldiers fleeing towards the lake in the north or the main camp in the west.

Bahana was already among the chaotic troops fleeing to the north of the lake. While he was running, he was also carefully observing the battle situation in the rear, especially the position of Junta.

At this moment, even a veteran like Junta, who had experienced many battles, could not remain calm, let alone Bahana, the Qing army commander who was strong on the outside but weak on the inside and had already been frightened by the powerful offensive of the Ming army.

When he saw that Zhunta's flag was overwhelmed by a group of more than a hundred fierce Ming cavalrymen, and countless weapons and armor were thrown into the air, he knew that the situation was hopeless and even whether he could break out was a problem.

After all, Bahana is not Zhunta, and many of the soldiers under his command are new recruits. Although the Bayala Majia who protects him has rich battlefield experience, the current situation is far beyond their ability to change.

Zhu Cilang had never thought of letting them go, but the infantry's offensive was far slower than the cavalry's. After breaking through the infantry formation, the various armies were chasing them all the way.

Bahana spurred his horse and galloped, and soon escaped to the northern lakeside. Then he continued eastward along the river. He knew that there was a deserted village there and it would be difficult for the cavalry to move quickly, but to the west was Jingzhou City, which was even more dangerous.

But even if he went east, he soon heard the dense sound of horse hooves coming from the south. Looking back, he saw a large flag with the word "Lin" on it, chasing closely, as if it was running towards him. Behind it were scattered cavalrymen who kept catching up, and soon they merged into a powerful force of hundreds of horsemen.

To avoid the Ming army's pursuit, Bahana had already cut off his flag with his sword, but it seemed to be of no use. In desperation, he could only use his hoarse voice and whip the horse's buttocks desperately, trying to speed away from the battlefield.

On the battlefield, Chen Fu's Palace Front Left Army was charging. The dense and wide formation surged across the wilderness like a tide, directly breaking the entire Qing army infantry formation on the southern battlefield.

Under the loud sound of the charge horn, the soldiers of the left army in front of the palace looked at the remaining Qing army formations that were in chaos, especially the countless people who had their backs to them and were running to the west in panic to escape, and even broke out into killing each other, and kept chasing them.

"Kill, kill, kill!!!"

Thousands of soldiers shouted in unison, they held on to the fleeing Qing army tightly, and kept stabbing their sharp spears at these enemies who were so ferocious just now. Rows of corpses fell to the ground. The collapsed Qing army became more and more crazy under such attacks. Some Eight Banners infantrymen were so frightened that they even swung their swords to kill all the Green Camp soldiers and Baoyi soldiers who blocked their way.

Chen Fu personally led the troops to attack. Looking at the Qing army that was fleeing in disarray, he was filled with high spirits. Thousands of soldiers under his leadership shouted "Ten Thousand Victories" in unison and pursued the defeated Qing army with an unstoppable momentum.

While the Left Palace Army's mobility was far inferior to that of the cavalry, their long and rigorous training, coupled with ample logistical supplies, enabled them to maintain their stamina. Bloodthirsty, the soldiers completely disregarded the blood staining their faces and bodies, forgetting their fatigue and fear. They trampled over the corpses of fallen Qing soldiers, brandishing sharp swords and spears, and strode forward in pursuit of the defeated enemy. With round after round of hacking and stabbing, the sharp spear tips stirred up clouds of blood mist, and the corpses gradually filled the ground.

After the battlefields in the north and south were broken through, the Qing army no longer had any strength to fight back. Such casualties were absolutely irreparable for a feudal army!

Wang Guangtai looked at the Qing army that was being defeated on all fronts and finally made up his mind. Like Bahana, he had fled to the lake north of the battlefield with dozens of servants in a panic.

But in the end he did not go east, but fled directly to Jingzhou City in the west, intending to surrender at the foot of the city to at least save his life.

The battlefield was in chaos. If he surrendered at the lakeside north of the battlefield, he might be killed by the chaotic army. That would be a huge loss!

He knew very well that the several thousand Green Camp soldiers he had led had already been annihilated by the Ming army. After all, even the Eight Banners horsemen supervising the battle had already begun to flee, let alone his cannon fodder?
However, before Wang Guangtai could realize his wishful thinking, Li Guo had already led thousands of infantrymen and hundreds of his own cavalry out of Jingzhou City to attack.

Li Guo could no longer hold back after seeing the battle situation outside the city. He directly assembled all the elite field troops in the city and took advantage of the moment when the morale of the Qing troops left behind in the camp outside the city was shaken to attack.

Not only that, Li Guo did not stay for too long near the camp with his troops. Instead, he left Zhang Neng to lead more than a thousand infantrymen to guard the camp and then charged out directly.

He knew very well where the real victory would be decided!

The morale of the soldiers of the Zhongzheng Camp was also high at this time. Stimulated by the sound of drums and trumpets, they shouted "Victory" frantically and rushed directly towards Wang Guangtai's small force.

Seeing this, Wang Guangtai didn't dare to charge head-on. In a panic, he immediately turned his horse around, wanting to avoid the sharp edge of Li Guo's army first, and then surrender when the opportunity arose. At worst, he could risk breaking through the encirclement and escape back to Yunyang to make a long-term plan.

But Li Guo had no intention of letting him go. He made a prompt decision and sent out a cavalry of more than a hundred men to pursue him, and soon surrounded Wang Guangtai's troops.

Under the fierce attack of the Loyal Camp cavalry, this Green Camp army, consisting of only a few dozen men, was quickly defeated. Wang Guangtai had already lost his will to fight and surrendered on the battlefield in order to save his life!
Zhu Cilang was standing on the stirrups at this time, still looking towards the north with the telescope in his hand. Now that the battle situation had become clear, his expression relaxed, and even the slightly raised corners of his mouth clearly showed his joy.

Although the Eight Banners cavalry were very good at breaking through, he no longer worried about the Qing army breaking through after seeing Chang Denggui leading his troops to block the wilderness in the northeast direction of the battlefield. The lake in the north was large enough, stretching for more than ten miles, and the lake surface was not completely frozen. Even in the frozen areas, the thickness was not enough for war horses to pass.

In other words, after Chang Denggui completed his blocking mission with his cavalry in the northeast direction of the battlefield, the defeated Qing army had nowhere to escape as Li Guo led his troops from the west.

Not only that, with the all-out attack of the Palace Front Central Army, the Palace Front Left Army, and the Zhongzheng Camp reserve troops, most of the fleeing Qing troops were driven to the north shore of the lake, and continued to flee eastward in chaos and fear.

Although the lakeside was not muddy due to the ice and snow, there was a deserted village to the east, where the Tianqi Army was rushing in from the south of the battlefield. It was not a suitable direction for a breakout at all.

But these thousands of Qing troops were now being held tightly by the pursuing Ming army, especially the soldiers who were fleeing at the end, who were completely exposed to the attack of the Ming army and kept falling down with screams.

At the same time, the cavalry melee in the northeast direction of the battlefield was also very brutal. Those fleeing Eight Banners cavalrymen were no match for the well-commanded Tianqi Army under Chang Denggui, and the possibility of a direct breakout was getting smaller and smaller.

Under such circumstances, the remaining defeated Qing soldiers had no choice but to flee eastward along the lakeside. The harassing Ming cavalry and the narrow passages between the deserted villages were soon crowded with Qing soldiers who were scrambling to escape.

Although the Ming army's pursuit gradually slowed down, it was still swift and powerful. Thousands of soldiers from the Central Army and the Left Army in front of the palace cooperated closely with the Tianqi Army led by Lin Changfeng, blocking the front and back, and constantly squeezing the battlefield space of the fleeing Qing army along the lakeside and deserted villages.

Under the command of Lin Changfeng, the Tianqi Army fully utilized the mobility advantage of the cavalry, continuously attacking the fleeing Qing army from the side and driving them towards the ice on the lake.

This was also the only road that the Ming army had not blocked. The fragile ice surface was not suitable for large-scale military operations. If the Qing army fled directly onto the ice on the lake in a panic, they would be completely doomed.

After several rounds of training in major battles, Lin Changfeng's cavalry command level has greatly improved. He even sent several teams of cavalry to bypass the deserted village and intercept the Qing army that was about to escape from the deserted village.

Bahana had already fled into a deserted village at this time, but looking at the Ming cavalry gathered outside the village, he did not dare to break out directly. He could only wait for other defeated soldiers to gather and then organize his troops.

But at this time, even the Eight Banners armored soldiers, who originally had strict military discipline, had become panicked deserters. Surrounded on three sides by the Ming army, although Bahana had hundreds of armored soldiers around him, he was unable to organize these soldiers for a while.

After he organized the cavalry gathered in the deserted village, he immediately led these troops to attack, but twice in a row, he was quickly repelled by the Ming cavalry outside the deserted village.

The Tianqi Army naturally did not block the enemy in the form of cavalry formation at this time, but although they were well organized, their morale was low. Bahana was not a powerful general with high prestige. Under the Tianqi Army's back and forth charges, they were quickly defeated, and dozens of Eight Banners cavalrymen were also killed in the cavalry's charge.

Of course, during this process, more than a dozen Eight Banners soldiers took the opportunity to break out, but Bahana was not among them. He retreated directly back to the deserted village.

Soon, under the continuous attacks of the Ming army, the thousands of Qing troops who were blocked outside the deserted village and unable to enter the village unexpectedly broke out in a stampede.

At this time, the Qing army had almost no ability to fight back, and the most casualties in the decisive battles of this era occurred at this time. For the victorious side, it was a one-sided massacre.

Under the attack from the south, west and east by the infantry and cavalry led by Chen Fu, Liu Rukui, Li Guo and Lin Changfeng, it was only a matter of time before the defeated Qing soldiers who were squeezed to the lakeside were completely wiped out.

As the main force of the Ming army led by Chen Fu, Li Guo, Liu Rukui and Lin Changfeng launched the final assault on the Qing army, tens of thousands of Ming soldiers swept towards the Qing army squeezed by the lake, shouting like an overwhelming force.

Under such an impact, thousands of defeated Qing soldiers rushed to the deserted village. Everyone wanted to escape into the deserted village to avoid the attack of the Ming army, or even escape.

During this process, although a few Qing soldiers surrendered directly, most of them had lost their minds, especially after seeing some Qing soldiers who wanted to surrender being killed by the Ming army armored soldiers who were red-eyed with anger with swords and guns.

The defeated Qing soldiers trampled and squeezed each other, pushing and shoving each other. Those behind kept pushing forward, even ignoring that those in front had fallen. Some angry and humiliated infantrymen even started killing each other. The corpses of men and horses slowly piled up on the lakeside and outside the deserted village.

War is enough to destroy all human nature. For the Qing army that has already fallen into madness, there is no rationality at all at this time. They have only one thought in their minds - to escape.

The Tianqi Army that Lin Changfeng had just sent out to harass was still constantly charging at these defeated soldiers who were unable to move due to the congestion. Waves of wailing and screaming rang out in the rain of blood.

But at this time, no one among the defeated Qing army was willing to stop the attack of the Ming army.

Soon, under the command of Zhu Cilang, the Ming cavalry used war horses to pull five usable four-pound cannons. The artillerymen loaded the gunpowder and ammunition on the spot and bombarded the crowded Qing army's fleeing soldiers. Hundreds of Ming army musketeers also followed and scattered at the same time.

Under the volleys of fire from muskets and artillery, the Qing troops blocking the lakeside and the deserted village suffered heavy casualties. The soldiers on the periphery fell down one after another, like falling bark. The defeated Qing soldiers who had still retained a trace of rationality finally collapsed and began to flee to the lake.

Under these circumstances, the Qing army's fleeing soldiers, out of growing fear, erupted in a stampede. The bodies of those trampled to death piled up like a mountain, and some of the infantry and cavalry who escaped onto the ice soon broke through the ice and fell into the frozen lake.
The Ming army's full-scale offensive lasted until the evening. In the end, only hundreds of Eight Banners cavalrymen who took action at the beginning and fled the battlefield successfully broke through. Thousands of defeated soldiers hid in the deserted villages outside the battlefield during the melee.

It had been too long since the Qing army suffered a major defeat in a decisive battle. Most of the soldiers and generals did not think of breaking out at the beginning. Coupled with the absolute advantage in manpower of the Ming army and the restrictions of the terrain, this led to Zhu Cilang's unprecedented victory in the current decisive battle against the Eight Banners Army!
The war had just ended, and Zhu Cilang rode his horse to inspect the battlefield. Dragon flags were stacked up in layers across the wilderness, fluttering in the wind against the backdrop of disfigured corpses, triggering shouts of "Ten Thousand Victories" from tens of thousands of Ming army soldiers.

The "Battle of Jingzhou", which determined the situation of the Ming Dynasty and even the entire Huguang battlefield, finally ended with the glorious victory of the Ming army.

(End of this chapter)