Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 105 What exactly does Dorgon want to do?

As the sun rises from between the peaks of the Yanshan Mountains, the golden dragon banner flutters in the morning breeze.

Dorgon placed his hand on his brow bone and gazed into the distance. Eight miles away, on the city wall of Xifengkou, the sun and moon flags were fluttering and intertwined with countless other banners.

He suddenly recalled the defensive formation of Yuan Chonghuan that he first saw on the walls of Jinzhou.

That force was no weaker than this one.

But who could have imagined that the Ming army, which was easily routed in that year, has now grown to the point where it can annihilate two banners?

Southerners are truly terrifying.

Just as Fan Wencheng said.

Do not give the Southerners time to reflect. They have thousands of years of history to learn from. Once they awaken, there will be no force in the world that can resist them.

Composing himself, Dorgon said softly.

"Two yellow flags are arrayed in a wedge formation, while the Bayara Protectorate presses down on the central route."

The messenger's flag drew a semicircle in the air.

As the horn wailed, the Bordered Yellow Banner's Jiala Ezhen Ashan led two thousand heavily armored cavalry into battle, the dust kicked up by their hooves resembling a yellow dragon soaring into the sky.

These carefully selected heavily armored soldiers were all mounted on two horses, their lances and tiger spears gleaming coldly in the morning light.

The two horses here are not the kind used for traveling, but the real two horses charging into battle.

Because these two thousand cavalrymen were equipped with too much and too heavy equipment, their own strength alone, plus three layers of heavy armor, was enough to put pressure on their warhorses, not to mention the horse armor as well.

The remaining weapons were placed on another horse, with the heavy horse in front and the light horse behind when the cavalry charged.

After each charge, the cavalry would change horses, ensuring they could charge eight times in a row without losing momentum.

Moreover, these two thousand cavalrymen were practically Dorgon's reliance. The most elite of the Jurchen Eight Banners were in the two Yellow Banners, and the most elite of the two Yellow Banners were in the Bayara Guard.

The elite status of these cavalrymen is self-evident.

Behind the crenellations of the city wall.

Zhu Youjian coldly observed the large formation outside the city, remaining silent.

He could clearly see the brocade dragon and cloud patterns fluttering in the Qing army formation, which was said to be a special ceremonial item bestowed upon Dorgon by Emperor Huang Taiji during his lifetime.

At this time, a large Ming army formation had already been set up outside Xifengkou.

The combat method remains the same as before: the outer formation is a train formation, and the inner formation is a square formation.

The wagon formation was used to create simple trenches, which prevented stray arrows and close combat, and also prevented cavalry from charging.

It's clunky, but it works well.

The Qi Family Army formation below the city wall was the most orderly.

These southern soldiers wore red-tasseled iron helmets and two-piece armor with red uniforms over them, and stood in alternating rows of wolf-tooth rake and halberd wielders.

However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen that half of the soldiers' greaves were hastily bound with leather ropes, and the musket stock of one arquebusier even retained the grain of Liaodong birch wood.

This is not a weapon that comes with the system; it is an old gun that was recently found in the Ministry of Works.

There was no other way; after days of fighting, Qi Jiguang's army suffered few casualties, but lost a great deal of soldiers, armor, and weapons, which could only be made up for by using the capital's stockpile.

If the Qi Family Army, which is rewarded with red tags, has reached this level, then other armies are even less likely to succeed.

Two Mongol cavalrymen got into a fight over half a bag of fried noodles, their faded fur coats turning into dusty clumps.

Needless to say, the bandits under Li Guo's command in the western wing were at best slightly stronger than the Ming garrison troops without any additional information.

The five battalions could barely keep the formation from collapsing.

The army, having fought and pursued for several days, could not recover in just two or three days.

On the other hand, Dorgon's side, with the Jurchen Eight Banners' advantage of being good at tough and arduous battles, became apparent.

During this month, the two Yellow Banners were either on the move or attacking cities, but they showed no signs of fatigue.

Two yellow-flag infantrymen slowly unfurled their armor, which was covered in morning dew. They were all wearing double-layered iron lamellar armor, their breastplates were polished to a shine, and their spears gleamed with a bluish light in the thin mist.

This means that even when the Jurchens were engaged in repeated battles, they did not forget to maintain their armor and weapons, something that no Ming army unit, except for the system soldiers and the word soldiers, could do.

The difference in combat strength is immediately apparent.

In the front section of the two yellow banner formation, the Han army of Wuzhen Chaoha Camp was setting up Hongyi cannons. The gunpowder barrels carried by the bondservants were the cannons that the Dengzhou rebels had taken away in the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign.

After fifteen years of use, these Hongyi cannons are still functional.

Then a horn was blown.

The Eight Banners army began to advance slowly, their footsteps causing the city walls to tremble slightly.

Hundreds of horses were pushing a hundred shield carts that were slowly advancing, with crossbowmen hidden behind sloping boards covered with raw cowhide.

The heavy infantry at the front began to strike their shields with the backs of their swords.

Suddenly, the brocade dragon banner of the Bordered Yellow Banner tilted forward, and the thunderous sound of four thousand pairs of iron hooves pounding the ground startled the crows on the city wall.

Zhu Youjian could clearly see some fourteen or fifteen-year-olds in the Qing army. These boys hadn't even grown full beards yet, but they were already able to wear heavy armor and wield long swords.

This was not something that could be accomplished overnight. During adolescence, when their strength had not yet fully developed, the fact that they could carry such heavy armor in battle only shows how much benefit they brought to the Jurchen tribes during the period of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji's brutal expansion.

Behind him, the new recruits of the firearms battalion who were loading ammunition—many of these soldiers who had been supplemented from the Fifth Army Battalion—couldn't even distinguish between a flintlock pistol and a spear, and gunpowder from their powder bags was scattered all over the ground.

The Jurchens developed by eating the flesh of Han people!
As the rising sun pierced through the clouds, the flags of the two armies finally formed a stark contrast.

The Ming army's sun and moon flags were often patched up, and the ink marks of Baoding Prefecture were still visible on the silk surfaces, which were yellowed by gunpowder smoke.

The forty brocade dragon banners of the Qing army were brand new, and Dorgon's banner was even adorned with pearls looted from the Changping Imperial Mausoleum.

The arrows scattered before the battle also spoke of the disparity in strength.

The Ming army used triangular arrows and fire arrows, while the Jurchen formation contained a large number of armor-piercing heavy arrows with exquisitely carved feathers and tail feathers.

After looking for a long time, Zhu Youjian finally spoke his first words: "I order Huang Degong to lead four thousand men to flank the two wings, Li Guo's cavalry to be ready at any time, and all the Mongol tribes to await my decree."

As the Jurchen formation approached within four hundred paces, the Ming army's ranks suddenly erupted with the deafening roar of breech-loading cannons.

Amidst the firepower spewed from the twenty cannons, the shield wagon seemed to have crashed into an invisible iron wall.

The leather-covered shield was cut in half by a solid shot, the archer was knocked away, and then trampled into a bloody pulp by his comrades rushing from behind.

But a distance of four hundred paces is only enough for the cannon to fire two rounds.

Twenty cannons fired in two volleys, but after deviating from their course, they destroyed fewer than ten shield wagons.

The Qing army approached step by step.

Qi Yuan silently calculated in his mind.

Two hundred steps... one hundred steps...

When the Qing army approached within eighty paces.

Qi Yuan shouted, "Release!"

The sergeant immediately waved his command flag, and three thousand muskets spewed smoke from behind the vehicle formation.

The Qing army vanguard, which had charged eighty paces, was struck as if by lightning; the breastplate of the Bordered Yellow Banner's Jiala Zhangjing was pierced by a lead bullet.

The Qing army could only fight their way forward, and their crossbows could only be effective when they got within fifty paces.

Among the 30,000 troops, the only 1,000 musketeers also began to fight back.

The lead bullets hit Wu Gang's vehicle, but there were no casualties.

Instead, they were pushed back by Qi Jiguang's army, which began firing three rounds of shots.

Fortunately, the shield wagons also provided good protection, allowing the Qing army to continue to approach within about fifty paces despite losing a thousand men.

The war went from being on the defensive to a full-blown brawl between the two sides.

However, what happened next caused Dorgon's cheeks to twitch slightly.

Those Southern soldiers wearing red-tasseled helmets were like cast iron puppets, remaining motionless despite the rain of arrows.

This reminded him of Hong Chengchou's firearms battalion during the Battle of Songjin three years ago, but the Ming army in front of him was clearly much more elite.

"Change the spearhead!" Dorgon uttered two words, threw the golden command arrow on the ground, and Tan Tai, the Gushan Ejen of the Plain Yellow Banner, immediately blew the conch shell.

Nearly four thousand light cavalrymen swept out from both flanks like a whirlwind. These mounted archers, clad only in cotton armor, drew their bows to full length on horseback, raining down arrows upon the rear of the Ming army. The rattan shield bearers of the Fifth Army Battalion fell one after another in the rain of arrows, and their replacements immediately took their place.

However, this emptiness left the musketeers vulnerable, and the dense rain of arrows instantly claimed the lives of hundreds.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Qing army advanced another thirty paces. In that short distance of twenty paces, the breathing of both sides could be clearly heard.

If these heavily armored Eight Banner soldiers were to break through the chariot formation, it would be a devastating blow to Qi Jiguang's army, which was still maintaining its firearms formation.

Qi Yuan remained calm and didn't even give the order to change formation.

He simply raised a small blue flag behind him.

The messenger immediately spurred his horse out, shouting, "Shenji Battalion Artillery Command, move out!"

The three hundred tiger-squatting cannons that had been prepared beforehand were immediately pushed over the pool of blood by the Shenji Battalion.

Tan Tai's pupils suddenly contracted.

Before he could give the order, the small cannons mounted on wheelbarrows were pushed behind the wheelbarrow formation.

Then, holes were opened on the armored vehicle for the tiger-squatting cannons to fire.

Twenty paces is just the optimal killing range for a shotgun.

Scatterballs are not the same as regular shot; they are bullets made by wrapping various materials together and then propelled by gunpowder.

It can be described as a simplified version of a shotgun.

Use whatever you have: gravel, scrap iron, wood chips, arrowheads.

The moment the three hundred cannons unleashed their volleys, Dorgon seemed to see summer hailstones crashing into a wheat field.

Nearly two Niru heavy infantrymen were reduced to a cloud of blood mist amidst the roar.

Then the cannon was removed, and the musket was replaced.

After the three rounds of musket fire alternated twice, the tiger-squatting cannon fired volleys again.

The entire process was orderly and without any chaos.

No matter how many were killed by the arrows, someone would always come to their rescue. Not only were many of the shield bearers killed by the light cavalry, but the army formation remained completely intact.

Even within the formation, one could see individual thousand-household units taking turns making corrections in the safe zone.

Let alone in the past, after so many years of fighting, Dorgon had never seen a military force with such strict discipline.

They were not even as good as the White-Spear Soldiers and Zhejiang Soldiers of that time!
In comparison, Li Guo's troops on the western wing, who were waving the banner of "Shun," were far less capable.

The charge of just 5,000 Qing soldiers was enough to overwhelm Li Guo's troops. If it weren't for the remaining strength of Li Guo's 10,000 veteran cavalrymen, the 20,000 infantrymen would probably have been easily broken through by the Qing army.

Dorgon sighed softly, "Daišan's death was not unjust."

Fan Wencheng asked doubtfully, "Wasn't Prince Li captured? The Emperor shouldn't dare to kill him, right?"

Dorgon shook his head. "No, he is already dead. He died the moment he was captured."

"Order Ah Shan to send the Bayara Guard to charge. If they can break through the Southern Army's battle formation, continue fighting. If they can't, wait until tomorrow."

After saying that, he turned and left. He had already obtained the information he wanted, and he didn't care about any results today.

Two thousand heavily armored cavalrymen were like a pillar of strength; if they were to charge, Qi Jiguang's army would likely suffer heavy losses.

But Dorgon wasn't the only one with heavy cavalry.

Zhu Youjian also had them, and they were even more elite.

Although only 800 of the original 3,500 Xuanjia cavalrymen remain capable of fighting, their fighting strength is still intact.

With only a difference in numbers, stopping two thousand heavily armored cavalry was as easy as drinking water.

Moreover, due to the Xuanjia cavalry's mastery of the horse lance technique, the two thousand heavy cavalrymen were completely powerless to resist and could only use their own three layers of heavy armor to block.

This was the first time Zhu Youjian had faced off against the Manchu Eight Banners in a battle of honor, without any conspiracies or cunning schemes, relying solely on sheer strength.

The fighting was so fierce that it caused chaos and darkness.

As the sun began to set, the fields outside Xifengkou had become a battlefield.

The corpses of Ming and Qing soldiers littered the ground.

The two sides even reached a strange tacit understanding, and the sounding of gongs echoed across the battlefield at the same time.

The pile of corpses in front of the Ming army's chariot formation was over ten feet high, and the brocade dragon banner of the Bordered Yellow Flag was stuck diagonally on top of the pile of corpses, fluttering in the evening wind.

Dorgon gazed at the flickering torches atop the distant city walls and suddenly smiled at Fan Wencheng, "Mr. Fan, do you still remember Sarhu?"

"This servant remembers," Fan Wencheng said, lightly smoothing his braid. "Back then, the late King launched a pincer attack, exploiting the Ming army's internal distrust and their disregard for their surroundings, achieving a great victory in one fell swoop."

"That's right. Back then, Southerners were suspicious of each other. Does that mean they aren't suspicious of each other now?"

"This……"

"If it weren't for the Southern Dynasty emperor as a pillar of support, the Ming army would still be a disorganized mess!"

"Send word to Tan Taitai," Dorgon said, changing the subject, "that he take ten Niru (military units) and change into Ming army armor, and they must pass through Juyong Pass within three days."

"We don't need many people here. Let's send two more Gushan from the Bordered Yellow Banner out to wander around the area."

As he spoke, he took off his warm hat adorned with pearls, letting the night wind scatter the messy hair on his forehead. "Doesn't Zhu Youjian want to be an iron wall, a pillar of white jade supporting the sky? I'll show him what it means for a wolf cub to be tamed."

……

Nothing was said that night, and the two armies continued to line up in battle formation the next day, just as they had the day before.

As the drumbeats continued, Zhu Youjian rose from his bed.

A thick stack of urgent reports had already piled up in front of him.

Unfolding the memorial at the top, Shi Kefa's handwriting was powerful and penetrating: "The navy has passed Tongzhou and will surely arrive before the night of May 3rd!"

Today is May 2nd, which means that the capital will have to hold out for another two days.

Zhu Youjian immediately retrieved Ni Yuanlu's letter requesting assistance from the pile of memorials, wrote down Shi Kefa's original words, and then had a palace attendant immediately hand it over to the night watchman.

The second report was from Zhang Shize, but after reading it, Zhu Youjian had some doubts.

The main force of the Bordered Blue Banner actually broke up into smaller units in Jinzhou, with dozens of thousand-man teams advancing southward along the Nuluerhu Mountain.

Zhang Shize asked whether they should give chase.

Zhu Youjian considered it carefully and hesitated to put pen to paper.

The Bordered Blue Banner has already withdrawn, but instead of returning to defend Shengjing, they are heading south again?

So where did you go back then?
Moreover, they didn't take the main road; instead, they broke up into smaller groups and infiltrated deep into the mountains.

It was obvious that they wanted to avoid Zhang Shize's troops in Guangningwei and instead come from the mountains to attack their own backside.

However, the roads in the mountains are so difficult to travel. Even if the Jurchens came from the Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang River region, their marching speed would be greatly reduced in the mountains, and they could not carry many horses and supplies.

Without warhorses, how could the Qing army utilize its superior mobility?
Just then, I heard an urgent shout.

"Your Majesty! General Huang requests that Mongol cavalry be dispatched to assist in the defense of the western flank."

The messenger, covered in blood, knelt at the foot of the steps. "Li Guo's troops have already deserted three battalions before the battle even began."

Zhu Youjian was taken aback, then sighed and said, “Issue an edict to Abunai, ordering him to send 10,000 cavalry to the western wing. Tell Huang Degong that the Mongol cavalry are not so great, and to be careful.”

After the messenger left, Zhu Youjian had an answer to Zhang Shize's urgent report.

"Issue an edict to the Duke of Ying: all the garrison troops of Ningyuan Guard shall leave the city. The Jurchens have gone into the mountains, so burn them all down! After they are burned down, they shall return to guard Guangning Guard. There is no need to worry about the Bordered Blue Banner!"

He then casually tossed Zhang Shize's memorial aside and picked up the one below to continue reading.

The more Zhu Youjian looked at Zhu, the more confused he became.

Three thousand Qing cavalry appeared outside Xuanfu Town, and beacon towers in Miyun, Huairou and other places successively reported emergencies.

The larger detachments numbered two to three thousand, while the smaller ones numbered three hundred. In one night, Dorgon managed to scramble nearly ten detachments!

A rough estimate suggests that at least 15,000 people were transferred away by Dorgon.

What exactly is Dorgon trying to do?

There's not much left in those cities, is there?
(End of this chapter)