Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 178 Sun Chuanting's formation is broken, and the entire army is wiped out at Lugou Bridge!
Huang Taiji had no intention of exchanging Dorgon with the Ming Dynasty; he planned to seize him by force!
The drizzle showed no sign of stopping until the sun set, only changing from a light patter to a dense downpour. The surrounding environment remained terribly cold and damp, with orange palace lanterns lit within the Forbidden City offering a meager measure of warmth.

As night fell, the drizzle turned into sleet, and news came from the garrison outside the city: the ice on the moat had thickened by three inches, and could not be broken by hammers.

As dawn broke, the officials who had rested came to relieve the night watchmen, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony gradually filled with more people. Zhu Youjian, too, slept restlessly. The entire Ming court was pondering the same question: would the Jurchens launch a night attack on the city?

Once bitten, twice shy. The methods of warfare are always the same, and so-called surprise attacks are predictable, but often we know they can't prevent them. For example, the Jurchen's surprise attack on Jizhou was a possibility that had been mentioned as early as the Tianqi era. The court wasn't unaware of it, nor did it not want to intervene; it simply lacked the power to do so.

At the third quarter of the Yin hour, when people and horses are most exhausted, and it is also often the time of day with the lowest temperature, the Jiannu arrived as promised!

Instead of using the heavily fortified Qinghe Bridge, the Jurchens marched across the river from the relatively flat northwest corner, then advanced eastward along the city wall to launch a surprise attack on the Ming cavalry camp below the city. Their daytime raid failed, so they launched another night attack, gambling that this was a one-time event and that the Ming cavalry would become complacent due to their daytime victory.

Fortunately, the Ming court dared not slacken its efforts in the slightest. The garrison inside and outside the city was required to work in three shifts overnight, maintaining not only the night patrols but also a third of the army in a state of combat readiness. The Jurchens' infiltration was successful, but their surprise attack failed, and the two sides once again engaged in fierce fighting at the foot of the city walls.

However, since the Jurchens had reached the foot of the city walls, the Ming army could no longer use their artillery. The large cannons could not fire at a downward angle, and the small cannons were afraid of accidentally hitting friendly forces. The defenders on the city walls could only provide limited support with muskets and crossbows, and they also had to be on guard against the enemy climbing the city walls at all times.

The Jurchens were truly desperate. Carrying flimsy siege ladders, they began attempting to scale the city walls—a clumsy, swarm-like tactic. Yet, it was precisely this rudimentary method that allowed the Jurchens to breach the Ming Dynasty's border walls and capture several cities.

Meanwhile, the Ming army's wagon camp, three miles away, was also besieged by the Jurchens, with even more troops participating in the siege than those attacking Beijing. Alternatively, one could say their attack on Beijing was intended to draw the attention of the city's defenders, allowing them to focus on dealing with the Ming army's wagon camp.

The Jurchens surrounded the wagon camp from all sides, dug pits under the shield wall and buried gunpowder, blowing the shield wall away. Then they used small cannons to bombard the Ming army and sent a large number of cavalry to charge into the enemy lines.

The night was very dark, and both sides' artillery had lost its aim. However, the Ming army's camp was fixed, while the Jurchen cavalry raiding the camp were mobile. Not long after the battle began, both sides tacitly aimed their cannons at each other's artillery positions, firing wherever there was light.

The situation at the wagon camp was not good. Although they had ambushed and won a great victory against the Jurchens during the day, they faced various difficulties such as a lack of sufficient tents, firewood, and warm clothing. Raincloths were prioritized to protect the gunpowder from the heavy rain, and the charcoal used for cooking was also neglected and got soaked by the rain.

In this situation, even getting a hot meal was impossible, let alone having enough fire pits for lighting and warmth. They could have dismantled some of the tanks to build rain shelters, but Sun Chuanting rejected the idea. The soldiers could only huddle together for warmth, crammed under the very limited shelters, able to sit but not have enough room to lie down.

Wet clothes can only be dried by body heat, making it difficult to wear armor under these conditions. Many soldiers had to remove their armor and wear only a single layer of clothing. Sun Chuanting noticed this when he searched the camp, but he was too embarrassed to make any further demands, especially since quite a few soldiers were already showing symptoms of typhoid fever.

All he could do was order hot soup to be made, with a little salt, pepper, and dried meat, and distribute it to the soldiers, hoping that this small amount of hot soup would help them get through the long night, and also hoping that the weather would clear up soon. As long as all their firearms could be fired, even if the Jurchen 30,000 cavalry came out in full force, they would have no fear, and it was uncertain who would chase whom then.

Even under such difficult circumstances, the Jurchens came again. Didn't the Jurchens need rest? Didn't the rain soak them? Sun Chuanting was puzzled and angry, but he could only do his best to organize his soldiers to resist, hoping to stop the Jurchens.

However, commanding an army of tens of thousands of people late at night is extremely difficult. After studying the methods of famous generals of the past, the solution was to do nothing. The commander-in-chief would sit calmly in the center of the army and sleep soundly, waiting for the chaos to gradually subside.

Of course, this approach may not be suitable for the current situation. Sun Chuanting was also furious and ordered the soldiers of the standard battalion to pour oil on his central command tent and set it on fire.

A raging fire erupted in the central command tent, flames shooting three zhang (approximately 10 meters) into the sky. Even the garrison of the capital city witnessed this scene, and the fire illuminated the battlefield. Against the backdrop of the fire, Sun Chuanting's standard battalion soldiers raised their command flag, the flag billowing in the heat of the fire.

The soldiers who saw the fire in the central camp were startled, and all eyes turned to it. Between fleeing and providing support, they chose to spontaneously move towards the central camp.

Sun Chuanting smiled. He knew that what he was doing was unconventional and even a gamble that could lead to the complete defeat of his army. But he knew he had made the right bet. Every single soldier in his army was a top-notch man, not a single coward!
The soldiers then witnessed a breathtaking scene: amidst the firelight, beneath the commander's banner, their civil official commander stood on horseback, sword drawn, with hundreds of standard-bearers already in formation, standing like statues. The commanders of each battalion spurred their horses toward him, and Sun Chuanting identified each of them, calling out their names precisely, and issuing clear orders for their defense.

At this point, several breaches had appeared in the outermost wooden wall of the wagon camp, and enemy troops were continuously pouring in, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the defenders inside. Unable to organize effective firearms archery, the wagon camp soldiers, whose armor was relatively light and who were not skilled in melee combat, were at a disadvantage against the Jurchen cavalry.

Seeing that the outer layer was no longer defensible, Sun Chuanting ordered the outer layer soldiers to retreat to the inner layer of the formation. The inner layer still had a wooden wall formed by shield carts. This wall was originally intended to be used as a military camp, but Sun Chuanting preserved it, and now it was playing a useful role.

On the other side, the Jurchens successfully breached the seemingly impregnable Ming army wagon camp, greatly boosting their morale. However, they also harbored a deep sense of frustration. The prolonged siege and the failure to defeat the remaining enemy forces would make anyone question their existence. Their daytime battles with the Ming army had already made them doubt themselves and whether their Eight Banners army was truly invincible.

Rumble! Finally, after the Ming army abandoned the outer defenses, the inner circle began to organize a large-scale firearms attack, and the Jurchen casualties gradually increased. This time, the commander of the night raid was Daišan, the old bandit chieftain who had been in power for many years. Daišan was not a conservative from the beginning; in his youth, he was no less brave than Hauge and Dorgon.

When the old man swore an oath to rebel against the Ming Dynasty and led his army to attack Fushun, he encountered a heavy rain halfway through the march and began to feel uneasy. It was he who strongly advised the old man: "Now that our army has entered Ming territory, if we retreat because of the rain, can we still negotiate peace with the Ming? If military secrets are leaked, there will be endless troubles in the future!"
Although it was raining heavily and the roads were muddy and difficult to travel, we could still advance. And because of this, the enemy would surely become complacent. Why would they come from afar to attack the fortress in the rain? Therefore, we should launch a surprise attack while it was raining, as if it had fallen from the sky. They would be caught off guard! The old servant listened to the advice and captured Fushun.

During the Battle of Sarhu, Daishan served as the deputy commander of the army and defeated Du Song's troops, the strongest of the four Ming armies. It can be said that in terms of fighting, Huang Taiji was far inferior to Daishan.

However, Daishan was later terrified by the old servant and learned to pretend to be a good person. He acted so much that he even believed it himself, and he even earned the negative reputation of being "gentle and mild-mannered, without any violence, and probably unable to control his brothers".

He's more volatile than the old servant; even tigers don't eat their cubs, yet he almost abused his own son to death. What kind of gentle and kind person is he? It just goes to show that people change, and Daishan was really desperate to survive.

For Daishan, there were no brilliant strategies in war; he just had to fight. What if the soldiers were afraid and unwilling to go? He would kill them, and then lead the charge. He was ruthless to the enemy, but even more ruthless to himself. He wasn't afraid of his men not cooperating; he didn't believe that the Ming generals on the other side could be more ruthless than him.

Of course, it wasn't time for Daishan to lead the charge during this night raid. He was too old to charge, and more importantly, there was no one in the entire Jin Dynasty who could force him to charge, not even Huang Taiji!

Daishan looked at the shattered Ming army camp and smiled. Although the towering flames rising from the camp puzzled him, he didn't think too much about it, assuming that a few young warriors had infiltrated the Ming army's central camp and set it on fire.

Dai Shan squinted, his face full of rapture, thinking to himself, "The Great Jin still can't function without me. Alas, the fourth brother is too clever for his own good. He can't stand the slightest casualties in battle. How can there be no deaths in war? Liaodong was won by risking our lives."

The younger generation is even worse. Dorgon, that lad, seems quite clever, how did he get captured? And that rebellious son, Yuetuo, his death was too suspicious. When we get old, who among the younger generation will be able to lead the way? Ajige?! No, no, Ajige is not like us!
Even Amin is finished; he can't even beat Mao Wenlong. Does this mean that in the end, the power of our Great Jin will fall into the hands of outsiders?!

Daishan thought of the several non-royal generals who had recently risen to prominence, and then of Huang Taiji's recent promotion and heavy use of Han officials and Mongols. He couldn't help but shake his head. He actually hoped that Huang Taiji would be killed by Ming army cannons under the walls of Beijing. At that time, he could rightfully take over the position of Great Khan and bring the Great Jin back on track.

But he found his own idea ridiculous. Huang Taiji was even more afraid of death than he was. He dared not charge into battle himself, yet he was unwilling to give up his military merits. He let his sons and younger brothers charge into battle, so that they could seize military merits while his own position would not be threatened.

This time, if Huang Taiji hadn't been out of options, he wouldn't have even put Daishan in command; he would only be given tasks that were clearly not easy to handle. Unfortunately for Daishan, Huang Taiji was wrong this time. Daishan was indeed a genius; he could conquer fortified cities and break through large formations that others couldn't.

Daishan was already looking forward to seeing Huang Taiji's displeasure mixed with forced praise. However, the thunderous cannon fire shattered his dream. A frontline general stumbled back with a report: "Your Highness, the Ming army's artillery fire is fierce! Our men can't hold on any longer; over a thousand cavalry have already perished!"

"What?! You only just found out that the Ming army has cannons? We have cannons too, what are we afraid of?!" Daishan said discontentedly.

"Our Black Camp soldiers have suffered heavy casualties in the exchange of fire with the Ming army, and many have already begun to flee under the cover of night. Your Highness, these people are not our own people to begin with. They take off their military uniforms and change into civilian clothes to become Ming people again. They cannot be trusted!"

The Jurchen commander tried to offset his failure in the offensive by attacking friendly forces, but Daishan was very receptive to this approach. He found the Han Chinese saying, "Those who are not of our race will surely have different hearts," to be very reasonable. He also did not trust any other ethnic groups besides the Jurchens. Furthermore, because Huang Taiji valued these people, he treated the elderly with disrespect.

"Anyone who abandons their post will be killed!" Dai Shan said fiercely. He then dispatched 300 cavalry to hunt down the fleeing artillerymen, and then continued to reinforce his troops to attack the Ming army's wagon camp.

They've taken down the highest and heaviest outer shield wall, so there's no reason they could lose in battle inside. Even if the Ming army had cannons, so what? When have they ever fought the Ming army without cannons? Cannons are just intimidating to look at; in terms of killing efficiency, they're not as good as their mounted archery.

Artillery cannot completely defeat the enemy. A normal wagon battalion needs musketeers to fill the gaps in firepower in addition to firing the cannons. A wagon battalion with thousands of muskets is not just for show. Artillery is used to create momentum and break through formations, while muskets are used to kill the enemy. However, nowadays most muskets cannot be ignited, so the only option is to rely on the blocking effect of the wagons and fight the Jurchens with real swords and spears.

The Jurchen cavalry drew their bows and shot arrows, but as the battle progressed, they discovered that their bows were falling apart. The horn bows cracked, and the sinew on the bowstrings came undone. Even if they didn't fall apart, the arrows they shot lacked power, the feel of the bow changed too much, and they lost their accuracy.

The slave cavalry could only abandon their bows and arrows, charging the Ming army with lances and maces, while the Ming soldiers formed spear formations to counter them. Both sides were armored, and the melee within the confined space of their formations prevented them from spreading out into a larger formation. Limited by the large number of chariots and other debris, they could not launch large-scale charges, and in the end, they could only engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Since both sides are armored, it often takes dozens of stabs and hundreds of slashes to defeat an enemy. Both sides are rapidly depleting their energy, becoming more and more tired as they fight, and are only able to hold on by sheer willpower.

According to the discussion between Zhu Youjian and Zhu Xieyuan, if Sun Chuanting's chariot camp was in dire straits, the court would need to send troops to its aid. However, deciding which troops to send was a difficult problem. The cavalry had been dragged into the melee by the Jurchens and were already struggling to hold on; diverting troops would be even more challenging.

There was originally another wagon battalion, a mixed wagon battalion on the border commanded by Yu Zigao, which could stand on its own. If it wasn't raining, he would be very suitable to go and provide support.

With the imperial forces dispatched to other regions, only one cavalry battalion, two wagon battalions, and three thousand-man infantry battalions remained in the capital, totaling over 20,000 field troops—equivalent to the Jurchen forces. Adding to this the massive garrison within the city, they were more than capable of defending it; capturing the Jurchen commander was unrealistic.

In fact, there was another formidable force, enough to change the course of the battlefield, and that was the emperor's lifeline: the three thousand White-Spear Guards! Zhu Youjian ordered his ministers to quickly discuss and come up with a suitable support force, but after a flurry of arguments and self-refutations, they all looked at the emperor.

Zhu Xieyuan said in one breath, "Your Majesty, I believe that it is most appropriate to send the White Pole Guards into battle at this time."

"Holy crap, even you're going to betray me?!" Zhu Youjian stared wide-eyed at Zhu Xieyuan in disbelief. Old Zhu didn't dare to meet young Zhu's gaze and lowered his eyes slightly to avoid it.

At a critical moment, Bi Ziyan stepped in to act as a human being. Perhaps it was because he had been burned at the stake, or perhaps it was because in his calculations, the emperor was a high-net-worth asset. In any case, he jumped out to reject the option on behalf of the emperor, arguing that the Jurchens were good at cultivating spies, and that the White-Spear Guards' work in guarding the imperial city was also very important and part of the defense of the city.

Everyone knew that Bi Ziyan was talking nonsense, but no one chose to expose his lies. The most crucial thing was how the emperor would choose to keep his precious imperial guards or sacrifice the White Pole Guards to save his favorite minister and father-in-law.

Zhu Youjian said he could send the White-Pole Guards, but he would personally lead the expedition; wherever the White-Pole Guards were, he would be there, otherwise he wouldn't feel at ease. Everyone shook their heads. What a joke! A personal expedition?!
Where would they get the money to ransom the emperor? Although this scoundrel emperor was terrible in every way, it seemed even worse without him. Most of them still hoped Zhu Youjian would live. But then again, the courtiers love their emperor so much, yet you're so wary of us—how heartbreaking!
"Your Majesty, I invite you to fight!"

Huh?! The officials turned their heads and saw that it was Lu Xiang-sheng, the governor of the six prefectures, who was speaking.

Faced with the skeptical gazes of the courtiers, Lu Xiang-sheng continued, "I have led an army of ten thousand to defend the emperor, yet my troops are wasting money and provisions in the city every day. What good has it done for us to be here for over a month?! My righteous men are also puzzled, which is why they have requested permission to fight."

“Minister Lu, the Jurchens are no ordinary rebels. Your local militia are probably no match for them. Your spirit is commendable, but it would be a waste to lose your lives in vain,” Zhu Youjian said helplessly.

"Your Majesty, for over a month I have been preparing my troops for war, training them tirelessly. Following the training methods of Qi Bo and Zhongzhen Hou, my soldiers are no longer a rabble. Hebei has many righteous men, and my soldiers are no ordinary local militia. I hope Your Majesty will not underestimate them!" Lu Xiang-sheng said loudly.

"Minister Zhu, what do you think?!" Zhu Youjian asked Zhu Xieyuan as a final question.

"Can!"

"Very well, I will also place my Four Guards under your command. Go forth!"

"Your subject obeys!" Lu Xiang-sheng's voice boomed, and his entire aura changed. He was already tall, and he looked like a mountain.

The Four Guards, namely the Tengxiang Left Guard, Tengxiang Right Guard, Wuxiang Left Guard, and Wuxiang Right Guard, were the direct descendants of the Ming emperors, their origins traceable back to the reign of Zhu Zhanji. The Four Guards were known for their exceptional loyalty and good training, but their performance on the battlefield was questionable; they might simply be well-equipped but ineffective.

The reason why the two thousand men of the Four Guards were lent to Lu Xiang-sheng was because the Four Guards were cavalry. Although their original job was to guard the corners of the walls for the emperor, the selection criteria for them did require them to be skilled in riding and archery.

Lu Xiang-sheng's 10,000-strong army was mostly composed of infantry, including local militia he recruited and trained himself, as well as garrison troops drawn from the six prefectures and fortresses under his control. In a strict sense, they weren't purely local militia, but rather a second-tier regular army. Pure infantry is at a disadvantage and always needs to be paired with a certain number of cavalry for support.

With the situation urgent and critical, Lu Xiang-sheng dared not delay. His army was on high alert, not being deployed from scratch. So, just half an hour later, Lu Xiang-sheng's 12,000 troops set off from Ding'an Gate, the second gate on the north side. With Lu Xiang-sheng's addition and the Ming Dynasty's increased efforts, the intensity of the war between the two sides further escalated.

The appearance of the army at Ding'an Gate startled Huang Taiji. He was besieging Desheng Gate and thought they were coming to cause him trouble. However, they didn't even glance at him and instead cut diagonally towards Cheying, three miles away.

Three li is too close; it only takes half an hour for infantry to march. The reinforcements that Huang Taiji had been longing for to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements have arrived. Whether or not he can take the city depends on him.

Regardless, Huang Taiji decided to send troops to test the mettle of the Ming army. If it was a weak force, he would take it down; if it was another strong army, he would have to consider fleeing. If any Ming army he could field was an elite force, how could he possibly fight them?!
Forty miles from the capital, an army familiar to both the Ming court and the Jurchens was rapidly marching toward the battlefield. Ma Xianglin, who had been away from the capital for a year, had returned. To be honest, he really missed the young emperor. Last time, his mother had sent him back because his wife missed him, so this time he brought his wife, Zhang Fengyi, with him!
"Come, come, draw lots for life and death! Follow me in a night raid on the Plain Yellow Banner camp, kill Huang Taiji, and become the Duke!" Cao Bianjiao declared with boundless pride in Tongzhou City.

Lugou Bridge, located thirty miles southwest of the capital, is where a great battle quietly came to an end! At this time, Lugou Bridge was covered in blood, which dyed the frozen Yongding Riverbed red.

This ancient bridge, which is 200 meters long and 10 meters wide and has a history of more than 400 years, was built by the legendary Wild Boar Skin ancestor. Half of it was destroyed by the bomb.

Many of the holes in the ice caused by cannon fire have not been healed to this day. The bodies of many Jurchens and warhorses are frozen and motionless beneath the ice. The entire Ming army of 6,000 wagons that were left to guard this place was wiped out!
(End of this chapter)