Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 529: Unmovable Reinforcements

After several days of practice and coordination, the defenders at various locations have become very familiar with the rotation process.

After the enemy retreated, the rear guard, which had not yet engaged the enemy, advanced to replace the front guard, which had been fighting on the front lines, and completely filled the gap left by the casualties. The retreating front guard took the bodies of their allies with them as they retreated, all the way to the moat.

After the front and back rotations are completed and the last row against the wall is empty, the city wall will be opened.

After the city walls were opened and the drawbridge lowered, the retreating soldiers would not enter the city immediately. They would have to wait until the prepared cavalry had completely emerged and formed up their battle formations at the front before they could enter in succession.

These cavalrymen were the bravest and most fearless of the general's banner, veterans of countless battles. Their sole mission was to prevent a sudden attack from the enemy, which would disrupt the orderly rotation of the garrison. If the Jin cavalry attacked en masse and attempted to take advantage of the chaos to enter the city, they would have to charge forward and risk their lives to buy time. Meanwhile, the rotation would continue. Those who needed to enter the city would enter, and those who needed to leave would leave.

If the Jin army did not force a charge until the change of guard was complete, the cavalry could return the same way. If the Jin army launched a surprise attack and the cavalry had already engaged the enemy, they would have no choice but to bypass the entire Shenyang and enter the city through the west gate.

Daytime shifts had to be completed within 25 minutes. If they were delayed, those who delayed the shift would be held accountable. Soldiers' pay would be docked, and officers would be dismissed. Anyone found intentionally obstructing the shift would be shot on the spot by the infantry of the Dumen Battalion.

At night, the outer defenses would undergo a major rotation. The process was similar, but all soldiers at each position would be withdrawn for rest and replaced with fresh troops on standby. According to Sun Chuanting's plan, the rotation would last no more than three days, and there would be no more "new recruits" in Shenyang who had never seen blood.

Today, the Jin cavalry still did not take advantage of the Ming army's shift to launch a surprise attack, so the standard battalion cavalry could calmly retreat the same way. In fact, the Jin army only tried to charge the city once, on the first day of the siege, but found that not only was it impossible to break in, but they were also used as sitting ducks by the front-line bird guns. The Jin army never tried such a futile and foolish thing again.

As the last cavalryman passed through the city gate, the soldier guarding the capstan immediately turned the capstan. The hinges slowly retracted, and the drawbridge lifted off the ground. At the same time, the iron-clad wooden gate, weighing thousands of pounds, was slowly lowered.

Boom!
The wooden door fell to the ground, and the whole ground seemed to shake.

Sun Chuanting's heart, which had been hanging in the air, relaxed along with the huge gate of the city wall. However, not long after, his newly calmed mood was stirred up again by a voice.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!" The personal guard sent by Sun Chuanting to the south city to check the situation came running. He ran and shouted all the way, but when he was almost there, he was tripped by an exhausted artilleryman who didn't have time to retract his legs.

"Ouch!" the artilleryman screamed in pain. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm going to fuck your grandma!" The personal soldier had no time to argue with him. He yelled back and then stood up from the ground and continued to run towards Sun Chuanting.

"You son of a bitch stepped on my foot!" the artilleryman cursed back instinctively, but when he saw that the person he had tripped was a personal guard in full lamellar armor, his anger immediately dissipated. He hugged his leg, feeling the pain inwardly, while his comrades around him laughed in glee.

"What the hell are you laughing at!" The artilleryman was filled with shame, anger, and pain, and he cursed loudly. "If you laugh again, I'll treat you to gunpowder!"

While the artilleryman was cursing, the personal guards also crawled to Sun Chuanting's front.

"Why are you so flustered? What's wrong?" Sun Chuanting's brows knitted unconsciously. "Are the bandits storming the South Gate?"

"No, no! Huh, huh! South, south gate," the guard gasped, his brain almost turning into mush. "Over at the Yudusi of the South Gate, a large group of slave cavalry has been spotted rapidly moving towards the hinterland!"

"What!?" Sun Chuanting was shocked and asked hurriedly, "How many people are there?"

The guard swallowed his thick saliva and said with wide eyes, "Too many to count! They are everywhere, all over the mountains and plains! I'm afraid there are more than ten thousand cavalrymen!"

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The 40,000 reinforcements Xiong Tingbi had brought with him had been stationed on the south bank of the Hun River, over 20 miles from Shenyang's southern wall, for ten days. For those ten days, no matter how fierce the fighting outside Shenyang, Xiong Tingbi showed no sign of breaking camp and crossing the river to support the city. If it weren't for the daily routine inquiries, the Shenyang side wouldn't even be aware of the reinforcements' presence.

However, Xiong Tingbi's reinforcements were not idle. On the contrary, they almost never rested.

The base for the reinforcements to Shenyang had been explored long ago. Even before Xiong Tingbi and his army arrived, some simple civil engineering had already begun nearby. After Xiong Tingbi arrived, he mobilized his forces to construct a simple, six-li-wide defensive position near the south bank of the Hun River. Xiong Tingbi's camp, like wooden stakes driven into the ground by his soldiers, was firmly anchored at the intersection of the Hun River and the Liaoshen Line.

"Whoa!" A tall horse, panting, was hastily stopped by its rider in front of the wooden fence surrounding the central army tent.

Without waiting for the horse to stop, the nimble flag officer jumped off the horse. After landing, he immediately ran towards Xiong Tingbi's military tent.

"Report!!" He shouted while running wildly, and soon ran to Xiong Tingbi unhindered.

"Reporting to the commander!" The flag officer knelt on one knee, took a deep breath, and reported loudly: "The Liuli Lookout on the north bank of the Hun River has detected a force of no fewer than several thousand enemy cavalry! They are galloping along the river towards the main camp!"

Xiong Tingbi, who had just been reading briefings from various places, immediately dropped the documents in his hand and stood up. Without asking any more questions, he said, "I'll report back after further investigation!" and headed towards the armor rack.

The personal guards on duty in the tent immediately understood and followed suit to help Xiong Tingbi put on armor.

"Yes!" The flag officer rushed in and out of the tent like the wind. When they reached the wooden gate, Xiong Tingbi's personal guards had already prepared another well-rested horse for the flag officer. "Gee!" The flag officer mounted the warhorse and squeezed the horse's belly hard.

The horse received the order and galloped away. After a few steps, it passed by another galloping warhorse.

"Report!" Another flag officer, reporting reconnaissance intelligence, brought Xiong Tingbi the same information. "At the Liuli Lookout on the north bank of the Hun River, we've spotted a group of enemy cavalry advancing along the river toward the main camp! Nearly ten thousand in total!"

There were more than one lookout tower along the six-li section of the Hunhe River's north bank. To ensure that crucial military intelligence wasn't missed, each tower operated independently. Just because one scout, arriving with a flag, reported, another wouldn't stop reporting. If nothing unexpected happened, Xiong Tingbi would have to listen to the urgent military intelligence report, "A large number of enemy troops are rushing in," several times in a row.

"Investigate again and report back!" Xiong Tingbi spread his hands flat without turning his head.

"Yes!" The flag officer took the order and left.

"Pass the order!" Xiong Tingbi shouted, his armor on. "General!" A personal guard in charge of passing the order immediately walked up behind Xiong Tingbi, clasped his fists, and bowed his head, waiting for orders.

"Order Chen Ce and Qi Jin to set fire and impose martial law! Hold your position!" Xiong Tingbi ordered.

"Yes!" The messenger took a command flag and ran out.

"Pass the order!" Xiong Tingbi shouted again.

"General!" Another messenger approached.

"Order Liu Qu, Qi Bingzhong, Liang Zhongshan, and Zhang Shenwu to mobilize their troops immediately and come to see me with armor!" Xiong Tingbi ordered.

"Yes!" The messenger took a pole and came out of the tent and shouted, "Come here!"

His shout immediately attracted several people.

"Go to the left camp and invite General Liu!" The personal soldier who received the order threw a command flag to the first personal soldier who came forward.

"Okay!" The guard waved his hand, took the command flag, and turned to leave. When he reached the entrance, the captain in charge of the horses outside Xiong Tingbi's tent had already ordered ten fast horses to be brought in, ready for use.

"Go to the right camp and ask General Qi Zhen!" The personal soldier who received the order threw out the second command flag.

"Okay!" He raised his hand, grabbed the flag, and turned around, all in one go.

"Go to the rear camp and invite Lieutenant General Liang!" The third flag was handed out. After that, the personal guard who received the order held the last flag and headed towards Zhang Shenwu's tent.

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Of the four battalion commanders summoned by Xiong Tingbi, Liu Qu, the last to arrive, was the deputy commander-in-chief of Shanhai Town, who was in charge of supporting the Shen Left Battalion. When Liu Qu arrived, Xiong Tingbi, the governor, was already wearing the armor bestowed by the emperor and astride a pure black warhorse.

At this time, Qi Bingzhong, the general who was in charge of supporting Shen Youying, had already left with the order, while Liang Zhongshan, the deputy general who was in charge of supporting Shen Houying, and Zhang Shenwu, the lieutenant general who was in charge of Jinglüe Biaoying, were standing on the left and right sides of Xiong Tingbi and Gao Bangzuo, the military supervisor of the Central Route of Shandong Province.

Liu Qu was about to dismount and salute, but Xiong Tingbi stopped him with a gesture. So, he just bowed and said, "Greetings to General Xiong! Greetings to General Gao!"

"No need for formalities," Xiong Tingbi simply returned the greeting and waved the reins. "Since you're here, come with me to the front lines!" Gao Bangzuo returned the greeting silently.

"Yes." Liu Qu nodded and bowed silently to the other three generals.

The so-called front line is actually the front-line position guarded by Chen Ce, Qi Jin and the Zhejiang soldiers under their command.

The frontline position was located directly in front of Xiong Tingbi's central camp. After preliminary construction and the last ten days of continuous reinforcement, this six-mile-wide defensive line now had three deep trenches with wooden spikes as a barrier, six heavy artillery positions supported by three-meter-high rammed earth platforms, and hundreds of spaced-apart foxholes.

To the north of the position lay a simple wooden river barge and three sturdy pontoon bridges spanning the Hun River. If necessary, Xiong Tingbi's 40,000 reinforcements could all cross the river within an hour. Conversely, if the enemy attempted to use the pontoon bridges to launch a surprise attack on the reinforcement camp, the garrison on the rammed earth platform and the warships crossing the river could also fire their cannons at the right time to destroy the pontoon bridges.

Xiong Tingbi's military headquarters was located less than two miles away from the front-line position. When he arrived at the front line with the four battalion commanders and Gao Bangzuo despite the noise along the way, beacons had been lit on the Sanli Watchtower on the opposite bank of the river, and the artillery on the rammed earth platform and the river warships also adjusted their muzzles to aim at the three pontoon bridges.

As long as Chen Ce gave the order, the pontoon bridge would be blown to pieces.

Xiong Tingbi and his entourage, gazing at Chen Ce's banner, found their way to a high platform on the riverbank. On the platform were three heavy cannons and a dozen large, uniformly designed Portuguese cannons. Some of these cannons were recently cast, while others were dismantled from the walls of Liaoyang.

"Greetings to General Xiong, General Gao, and all the generals." Chen Ce was already waiting at the entrance of the rammed earth platform. Long before the group approached, he saw Xiong Tingbi's flag on the watchtower.

"What's the situation?" Xiong Tingbi nodded slightly, then walked to the edge of the rammed earth platform, held onto the wooden iron-clad arrow embrasure, and looked from afar at the approaching Jin cavalry.

"The bandits are flying a white flag. I think they must be troops under Huang Taiji, Nurhaci's eighth son. Judging by their formation, they have at least 8,000 men, possibly over 10,000." Chen Ce had even more information about the bandits' massive invasion than Xiong Tingbi. "They were moving very fast at first, but they slowed down after passing Sanlidun."

"How many siege weapons did they bring?" Xiong Tingbi narrowed his eyes slightly, but still couldn't see clearly behind the smoke and dust.

"No," Chen Ce shook his head. "At least, so far, I haven't seen any chariot shields designed to counter muskets and small artillery. There are no ships on the water capable of carrying heavy equipment. I've already sent several teams of cavalry scouts to conduct reconnaissance. Once they return, we'll be able to confirm whether the bandits are carrying siege equipment."

"What the hell?" Xiong Tingbi frowned even more than before. "Ten thousand cavalrymen dare to charge the battle line?"

In front of the fully deployed Ming army positions, pure cavalry were sitting ducks. The Ming army didn't even need heavy artillery, relying only on the most common field cannons and small Portuguese cannons to harvest the lives of cavalrymen in batches like harvesting wheat.

"I don't think it's that simple," Chen Ce said. "Nurhaci has been cautious for so many days, he wouldn't have a sudden hysterical attack and send his son with cavalry to attack our positions. If he was going to come, he would have come a long time ago."

Xiong Tingbi's army camp in Shenyang was designed for positional attack and defense. Since Nurhaci arrived in Shenyang, he had dispatched death-defying cavalry scouts to investigate almost daily. It was impossible for him not to be aware of the situation there. Even if he wanted to send a cavalry charge, he shouldn't have waited until now.

"Could this be a feint to the east and attack in the west?" Liu Qu, who was following Xiong Tingbi, also looked at the slowed-down Jin cavalry. "The Nu chieftain has divided his flags into four parts. Even if the blue flag is split in two to contain Feng and Hu, he still has the red, yellow, and white flags at his disposal. Now, not only are the white flags mounted and charging towards us, they're even refusing to cross the river. Could this be a deception? Are the Nu chieftains actually trying to draw our attention so they can flank us and launch a surprise attack?"

"It's possible, but don't worry," Xiong Tingbi nodded. "Before you came here, I had Qi Aiyu lead his cavalry in a defensive formation."

(End of this chapter)