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Intelligence reports of Ming army raids reached Fei Yangwu in waves. On the surface, they seemed no different from usual, only slightly more frequent, so they did not initially attract Fei Yangwu's attention.

In fact, given Fei Yangwu's current troop strength, even if he discovers any unusual activity by the Ming army, he would probably be powerless to stop it!

Sure enough, just after dawn on the tenth day, the Ming army's actions became noticeably different. Not only did they deploy more troops, but each troop was also larger and stronger than before.

The Qing army's various camps on the east bank of the Shu River, as well as the pontoon bridges and stone bridges connecting the two banks, were attacked by the Ming army at almost the same time, with the only difference being the intensity of the attacks.

"blossom everywhere?"

Fei Yangwu held a stack of military reports in his hand, his eyes darting around: "Where did the Ming dogs get so many troops?"

Jiala'ezhenhamida stepped forward and whispered to Fei Yangwu, "Gushan, has Lord Tuerge fallen for the Ming dogs' 'luring the tiger away from the mountain' trick?"

Fei Yangwu's expression tightened, his eyes narrowed into slits, and he stared at Hamida for a long while, until Hamida felt a sense of panic before saying, "Judging from the current situation... it is highly likely!"

“If that’s the case, we should ask Lord Turger for help and quickly bring our troops back to kill the Ming dogs,” Hamida suggested.

Fei Yangwu shook the stack of military reports in his hand and sighed, "I'm afraid it's already too late."

Hamida asked in bewilderment, "Lord Gushan, why is it so late... We still have at least ten thousand warriors of our Great Qing on the east bank. Even if the Ming dogs are numerous, it shouldn't be a problem to hold out for a day or two, right?"

Fei Yangwu slammed a stack of military reports onto his desk with a "thud," and said in a deep voice, "It's too late. The bridge is broken. Not only is it impossible to send a message to Turgh... even if a message were sent, I'm afraid Turgh's army wouldn't be able to return."

"Ah..." Hamida only realized the seriousness of the problem at this moment: "Then... what should we do?"

"Order that more scouts be sent out of the camp to closely monitor the movements of the Ming dogs. The entire camp should strengthen its defenses, set up all the barricades, and have the entire army don armor and prepare for battle."

"Yes, sir." After receiving the order, Hamida still hesitated and asked, "Lord Gushan, aren't we going to rescue the other camps?"

"Save my ass! Judging from the current situation, it would be good enough if our Bordered Blue Banner could hold on."

Fei Yangwu was well aware of the current situation. He shouted sternly, "The most important thing right now is to find out where the main force of the Ming dogs is located before we can decide on the next move."

"Whoo."

"Go. Tell the scouts who have left the camp that the main force of the Ming dogs is focused on scouting their movements, and they should not engage the Ming dogs in battle recklessly."

"Whoo."

…………

Li Jiyu and the others gave Fei Yangwu no chance to catch his breath. They had been waiting for this moment for too long. They had been holding back their strength to fight the Jurchens, and everyone was holding back their energy!
Yang Mingqi's Cao army's central camp advanced from north to south...

Li Jiyu's Xuanwu Camp advanced from east to west...

Yuan Shih-chung's small Yuan camp advanced from south to north...

The three armies marched out simultaneously, without distinction of primary or secondary forces; all were the main forces. Undeterred by hardships, they forged ahead, continuously reaping the benefits of the Jurchen camps along the way.

The true strength and weakness of these camps have already been discovered by the Yongyi Army through harassment. Now, all that is needed is to send appropriate troops to attack them one by one... For example, the camps of the various banners of the Jurchen have some garrison troops, so the defense here is relatively stronger. It is necessary to send a strong army to attack them.

While there were also Tatar soldiers left behind in the supply and grain camps, most of them were surplus men from various banners and bondservants responsible for defense, so the defensive strength there was generally weak. As for the prisoner camps, there were only a small number of bondservants, and even surplus men from various banners were rare, so the defensive strength there was the weakest.

The three routes of the Yongyi Army each dispatched their most elite cavalry to rapidly traverse between the various Jurchen camps, heading straight for the pontoon bridge and the stone bridge over the Shu River. Before the Jurchens could fully react, they captured one pontoon bridge and one stone bridge.

At the end of the Chen hour (7-9 AM), Luo Rucai led two large armies of Cao Jun, the standard battalion and the right battalion, across the Shu River via the pontoon bridge and the stone bridge respectively, and immediately joined the mopping-up operation against the various camps of the Jurchens.

…………

Fei Yangwu also tried to send people across the Shu River to report the new situation on the east bank to Turge, but to his dismay, with the loss of the pontoon bridge and stone bridge, the passage connecting the two banks disappeared, making it very difficult to exchange information.

Only swimming across the river remained as an option—although it was much more time-consuming, Fei Yangwu truly had no other choice.

At the same time, around 7:30 AM, cavalrymen from the Yongyi Army appeared outside Fei Yangwu's camp, spying on his Jianzhou Bordered Blue Banner camp from afar.

Fei Yangwu would not allow the Ming army to spy on his camp so brazenly. He immediately sent out cavalry to attack, but the Yongyi Army cavalry did not engage them in battle and retreated upon seeing the Qing army.

As time went on, the number of Yongyi Army cavalry outside the Jianzhou Xianglan Banner camp grew larger and larger, exceeding a thousand in the blink of an eye, and they continued to gather.

“Lord Fei Yangwu, the Ming dogs are too arrogant. Please allow me to leave the camp and teach them a lesson,” Jia La Ezhen Fei Lieduo volunteered.

Fei Yangwu remained noncommittal. He stood atop the wooden building, his eyes fixed on the brave and resolute cavalry outside the camp. His expression was unpredictable, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"Master, why don't we take advantage of the fact that Ming Gou's army hasn't arrived yet and give them a good beating? It would boost our morale." Hamida agreed with Ferido's suggestion.

Fei Yangwu turned his head, looked at the two of them, and said in a deep voice, "Very well, then let the Ming dogs taste the might of the warriors of my Great Qing."

“Feldo, you lead a thousand warriors to attack from the east gate, charging straight into the Ming dog cavalry formation; Hamida, you lead another thousand warriors out of the camp from the north gate, circling around to the outside of the east gate to attack the Ming dog's rear.”

"Whoo."

…………

When the Ming cavalry outside the Jianzhou Bordered Blue Banner camp saw the Jurchen cavalry attacking, they did not retreat but instead dismounted and formed a line to await the enemy.

They formed a triangular formation, with about a hundred men on each side. The front row consisted of shield bearers, the second row of spearmen, and the third and fourth rows of musketeers.

At the heart of the formation were more than three hundred cavalrymen, who would serve as a mobile force, ready to go out and fight the enemy at any time.

The Ming cavalry's actions were somewhat unusual. The Tartar cavalry led by Ferido paused for a moment, but then accelerated and charged toward the infantry formation.

However, seeing that the Ming army was well-organized and in high spirits, and showed no signs of fear or hesitation, Ferredo did not charge straight into the battle formation. Instead, after firing a volley of arrows from sixty or seventy paces away, he turned and flew to the flank.

Meanwhile, the infantry of the Yongyi Army fired a volley of muskets, but due to the distance and the unpredictable movements of the Tatar cavalry, they didn't hit many Tatar soldiers. (End of Chapter)