Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 358 Confidence
Jirgalang nodded, a look of satisfaction in his eyes, as if the situation of the battle was finally beginning to develop in his favor.

After several days of repeated thinking, he had already guessed that this would not be a short war. Dorgon has always been cautious. If the battle situation in Gaizhou City is still uncertain, he will naturally not rashly send the main force to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army.

Therefore, he made a prediction as soon as he received the battle report, sent people to mobilize the troops in the city, and began to make pre-war deployments to make full preparations for the upcoming decisive battle.

He nodded slightly to Jiala Ezhen with a hint of satisfaction, then turned and gave orders to the commander of the army outside the tent:

"Tai Lan, tomorrow morning, you will personally lead 500 armored soldiers and 5,000 bannermen to lure the enemy out, and the rest of the troops will follow me to make a detour from both sides.

This time, we must annihilate this Ming army at the gates of Gaizhou City!"

Tailan is his elite commander. He is an extraordinary warrior, resourceful and courageous, and has won the trust of Jirgalang.

Jirgalang had long known that although the Ming army was large in number, it actually lacked good command and organization. After several days of small-scale exploratory confrontations, Jirgalang had a clear understanding of the Ming army's true combat effectiveness.

Although he knew that the main force of the Ming army was still intensively gathering, he decided not to wait any longer. He had already made up his mind and believed that this Ming army of less than 20,000 was nothing to worry about if the strategy was right.

After all, even if the Ming army's combat effectiveness exceeded expectations, at most another three to five hundred armored soldiers would die. As for these losses, he had already made psychological preparations.

There was no shortage of well-trained Eight Banners soldiers in Jirgalang's army, but he knew very well that the Qing Dynasty had a weak foundation and a small population, and the life of every Eight Banners soldier in the battle was extremely precious.

Unlike Dorgon's cautious approach, Jirgalang's thinking was more straightforward. He would never hesitate to sacrifice a few hundred men. Using bondservants as cannon fodder, or even as bait, was a common practice among the Qing army.

The deaths and injuries of the bondservants were nothing. They were just sacrifices on the battlefield. Their lives were just to serve the nobles.

In Jirgalang's eyes, the value gap between the Eight Banners soldiers and the bondservants was obvious. He did not care about the life or death of the soldiers. Even his own personal soldiers were nothing more than pawns on the battlefield.

In every battle, he could easily sacrifice the lives of these soldiers as long as he could achieve the goal of the battle and get the final victory.

For him, victory means fame, power and higher status, while failure means demotion, demotion and even losing everything.

However, although he was not afraid of fighting to the death or the sacrifice of his soldiers, he knew clearly that he needed a big victory, especially under the shadow of Oboi's death and the defeat in the Gaizhou night attack. Any small mistake could cause him to lose everything.

The memories of those failures lingered in his mind, and the stain of defeat still weighed on his heart like a huge stone, reminding him from time to time that if he failed again, it would not only be a blow to his reputation, but he might also lose his position in the Qing Dynasty political arena.

Although Jirgalang was a member of the Manchu royal family and held a high position, he was not as confident as his group of younger royal family members who lacked practical experience.

Especially young bannermen like Lor and Aljin, Jirgalang always believed that they lacked real military talent and had never experienced the baptism of large-scale battles.

Whenever he saw their hollow military views, Jirgalang would scorn them, believing they were merely relying on their family's influence and bloodline. Especially after the failure of the previous night raid, he had already made up his mind: if he hadn't been unable to lead the battle personally due to illness, how could the situation have suddenly turned so disastrous?

Every time Jirgalang thought about that battle, he became more and more angry and unwilling. The situation was obviously favorable. If he had not been physically exhausted, everything could have been easily resolved.

Thinking of this, a flash of anger flashed in his eyes, and his clenched fists could not help but tremble slightly. He knew that if he could not completely reverse the previous defeat through an absolute victory, then he might never be able to get out of the shadow of Oboi's death and the defeat in the Gaizhou night attack.

Jirgalang stood in the tent, staring at the map in front of him, and quickly thinking about the battle that would unfold tomorrow: this decisive victory, which would determine the future of Gaizhou, must be led and won by him personally.

The fierce fighting for several months had made the main force of the Ming army miserable. Although the enemy's strength was obviously inferior to theirs, every time they clashed with the enemy, they could always launch a counterattack unexpectedly, and even forced the Qing army to retreat step by step.

However, Jirgalang was not afraid, as he had already seen through the weaknesses of the Ming army. Because of this, he had already formulated an ingenious plan to completely eliminate these threats in the battle tomorrow.

Jirgalang's plan was very simple yet highly effective - using the Baoyi soldiers as bait, he would first lure the Ming army to the designated battlefield, and then use the Baoyi soldiers as "meat shields" to consume a large amount of their ammunition and physical strength when the enemy was unprepared.

When the Ming army's ammunition is almost exhausted and their physical strength is overdrawn, he will order 5,000 Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry to charge in turns, using the fierce force of the cavalry's attack to directly break through the Ming army's formation.

Finally, the Baoyi soldiers would quickly retreat, and the Eight Banners cavalry would take advantage of the situation to launch an overwhelming offensive and wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop.

He thought clearly that the key to this battle was speed and intensity, and the enemy must be completely defeated before they could adapt.

A sneer flashed in his eyes. Even though this Ming army had 3,000 cavalrymen and some firearms, it would probably be unable to withstand the impact of the Manchu cavalry in the face of such tactics.

Jirgalang knew clearly that the role of the Baoyi soldiers was nothing more than to consume the enemy's firepower and delay time, but the most crucial thing was the 5,000 elite cavalry.

However, Jirgalang did not underestimate the Ming army. He knew that even if the enemy was small in number, if they could be effectively organized into battle formations, relying on the impact of cavalry and the suppression of firearms, they could still pose a great threat.

Therefore, he was extremely cautious in his arrangements for the Baoyi soldiers, requiring them to remain highly alert during battle and never allow any slackness. Even if it cost them ammunition and physical strength, the Baoyi soldiers had to maintain the most basic formation to prevent the enemy from easily breaking through.

It was dark outside and the wind rustled the branches of the trees.

Jirgalang turned his gaze outside the tent, and his mind had already begun to think about every detail of tomorrow's battle, not even missing the slightest changes.

At the same time, his heart was filled with the desire for victory. However, Jirgalang's plan was not without its flaws. Although he had enough confidence, the enemy might not be completely foolish.

Although the Ming cavalry wasn't as elite as the Manchus, they were battle-hardened warriors. If they could see through his tactics and deploy a tight defensive formation, they could even cause him unforeseen trouble. To prevent any unforeseen events, he also arranged numerous reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions to ensure he always had a clear grasp of the Ming army's movements.

At the same time, Jirgalang also realized that although the baoyi soldiers played a vital role in combat, their combat effectiveness was limited.

Even if the Ming army was in trouble, they could still fight back stubbornly with their firearms and cavalry. Therefore, he prepared contingency plans and was ready to adjust tactics at any time to ensure that the cavalry could play the greatest role.

At the same time, the movements of the Ming army did not escape Jirgalang's eyes. Li Xiaolin's army was quietly gathering, preparing to launch an attack under the cover of night.

According to the information sent back by the reconnaissance cavalry, the main force of the Ming army's northern navy has begun to move towards the Niangniang Palace, preparing to launch a surprise attack before dawn.

Jirgalang calmly analyzed the current situation and knew that if the Ming army's navy could land quickly and occupy a favorable position, then once the main force of the Ming army surrounded the Niangniang Palace, it would be in an extremely dangerous situation.

Li Xiaolin's feint attack plan achieved some success in the short term, but Jirgalang was not worried. He knew that although the Ming army's navy was powerful, if it could not effectively cooperate with the army, the navy's attack alone would not be able to completely destroy the Qing army's defense line.

Jirgalang arranged the baoyi soldiers in the city to remain on high alert, especially the secret sentries and Eight Banners soldiers around the Empress Palace, who had to pass on information at any time to ensure that every move of the enemy was under his control.

Despite this, Jirgalang was well aware that this battle was not simply a matter of strength. Victory or defeat depended not only on the number of troops but also on how to effectively utilize tactics and take advantage of factors such as terrain and weather to maximize advantage.

And this was exactly what he was best at. As the roar of Li Xiaolin's order for the test artillery resounded throughout the field, the Qing troops on the city wall suddenly fell into panic.

The sound of the cannon was deafening, as if even the air was torn apart. For a moment, the baoyi soldiers, green camp soldiers and several Eight Banners armored soldiers on the city wall all hid in a hurry and took cover inside the parapet of the city wall, not daring to stick their heads out.

The deterrent power of the artillery fire far exceeded their imaginations. Even the strongest city walls seemed to be vulnerable to the sound. However, as the sound of the artillery fire gradually dissipated and the two rounds of artillery fire from the Northern Army outside the city ended, the tense situation began to ease.

The baoyi soldiers, green camp soldiers and the Eight Banners armored soldiers standing on the city wall gradually calmed down.

At this moment, they suddenly noticed something wrong - the sound of these cannons did not sound like the red cannons used for sieges, but more like... something else.

At this time, the sky had not yet fully brightened and was still shrouded in a hazy gray.

Several Baoyi soldiers who carefully peeked out from the battlements of the city wall finally discovered the truth: the artillery fire just now was not from the red cannon, but from the anti-Lu cannon that fired stone bullets.

The Mieluo Cannon fired dozens of stone bullets the size of eggs at a time. Although it was powerful, it was obviously not enough to be used for siege.
"This is just a Wuxun cannon. It's ridiculous to think of using it to attack the city." A Baoyi soldier muttered in a low voice, feeling a sense of contempt.

The Mielu Cannon could not be compared with the heavy red cannon in any way. It was obviously a pipe dream to want to break through the thick city walls with only these insignificant weapons.

This is actually where Zhu Cilang's negligence lies.

In order to concentrate his firepower on a decisive battle with Dorgon's main force, Zhu Cilang transferred most of his artillery to the front lines, leaving the northern army with only five Mielu Cannons and fifteen Hudun Cannons. This firepower configuration was insufficient for both sieges and enemy cavalry.

As a result, the Qing army saw these cannons and non-threatening firepower on the city wall, which made them sneer at them. However, as the artillery fire from outside the city was unable to break through the city wall, the morale of the Qing army was quickly restored.

Especially when they learned that the Ming army did not have enough siege equipment and did not even bring real siege cannons, their originally tense nerves relaxed.

On the city wall, the expressions of the Baoyi soldiers and the Green Camp soldiers gradually became arrogant. Except for the part of the city wall that the Wuxun Mielu Cannon was facing, the Qing troops in other places almost no longer made any evasive moves.

"How many Nikans are there outside the city?" Ezhen Kada, the Manchu Niulu in charge of defending the city, glanced coldly at the city below. Seeing the dense Ming army, he couldn't help feeling a little contempt in his heart.

Although the Ming army was large in number and filled with boats, especially the large number of ships on the river, making the situation outside the city seem serious, Kada did not care about these enemies.

"Sir, I just sent someone to check. There are at least 7,000 to 8,000 Ming troops under the city. There are also many boats on the river. It is estimated that there are several thousand people." An armored soldier reported, with a hint of nervousness in his tone.

"Hmph, these Nikans are so cunning. Instead of attacking Liangfangkou Pass, they took a detour to attack the Empress Palace." Kada sneered, secretly despising the Ming army's strategy in his heart.

He could see that this Ming army unit was obviously not coming for the real defensive force of the Niangniang Palace, but hoped to weaken the morale of the Qing army by approaching and disrupting them.

Kada's gaze swept over the Ming troops below the city, his eyes as sharp as a knife. He then said coldly, "But what's the use? When Luo Er Beile leads his army, these bastards will be slaughtered without a single soldier left, no matter how many soldiers they have."

Then he waved his hand, pointing to a Baoyi soldier standing respectfully beside him, and ordered, "Order the entire Green Camp to defend the city walls. Gather all the armored soldiers and Baoyi soldiers at the city gates. As soon as Lord Lor's reinforcements arrive, charge out and wipe out these ignorant Nikans!"

These words were filled with contempt and arrogance; Kada clearly didn't take the Ming army seriously. He was convinced that no matter how fierce the Ming army's offensive, once Luo Erbeile's reinforcements arrived, they would easily sweep away these so-called enemies and wipe them out. The Ming army before them was nothing more than a bunch of straw bags, not worth mentioning at all.

In fact, Kada's confidence was not unfounded. As an experienced commander, he was well aware of the formidable defensive power of the city walls. He also understood that even with a force several times his own, the Ming army would be unable to break through the Qing defenses without effective siege equipment.

However, despite Kada's confidence in the situation, he did not let down his guard. Although the Ming army's artillery fire was not enough to threaten them, the subsequent attack was still full of variables, and such variables often only revealed their true danger in actual combat.

The Baoyi soldier received the order, bowed his waist, and replied respectfully: "Yes, master, I will go right away."

(End of this chapter)