Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 300 Encounter

"Report!" The Jin army's cavalry scouts returned to the Bordered White Banner's formation and directly found the leader of the banner, Taiji Dudu.

Aisin-Gioro Dudu was Nurhaci's eldest grandson. In August of the 43rd year of the Wanli reign, Nurhaci ordered the execution of his father, Chu Ying, for "refusing to repent." To appease Chu Ying's former followers, Nurhaci handed them over to the then-18-year-old Dudu.

By then, Nurhaci had already unified the major Jurchen tribes of Jianzhou, Hada, Huifa, and Ula, and had also recruited a large number of Donghai Jurchens, expanding his territory. Nurhaci realized that if he continued to use the original four banners to manage this new population, the four banners would become bloated, and there was a risk that one banner would become too powerful, and a figure like Chu Ying or Shuerhaci would emerge again to threaten his rule.

Therefore, in November of the 43rd year of the Wanli reign, three months after Chu Ying was executed, Nurhaci decided to "divide four into eight" and add four bordered color banners to the original four plain color banners, for a total of eight banners. The bordered white banner was assigned to Dudu.

"Hmm." Dudu was a young man, always energetic and brave, but today he seemed a little absent-minded, as if he was thinking about something else. "Speak."

"Ming army cavalry scouts discovered!"

"Horse Detective." Dudu showed some interest, but not much. "How many are there?"

"Hundreds." Ma Tan answered concisely.

"Go find Jibu Keda and ask him to take his men to drive the Ming army's cavalry scouts back for me." Dudu ordered.

Unless the enemy fought to the death or was surrounded due to carelessness, it would be difficult to annihilate a large number of cavalry. Therefore, Dudu's order was only for Jibu Keda to drive the people away.

"." Ma Tan was stunned for a moment. Normally at this time, Du Du would personally lead his elite troops to meet the enemy. "Yes."

As soon as the scouts left, Dudu summoned another messenger and ordered, "Hurry and report to the Fourth Prince. Our banner scouts have discovered over a hundred Ming scouts. We have dispatched Bayala Jiala Ezhen to drive them away."

"Yes." The messenger took the order and rushed away.

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The Eight Banners Army was divided into three classes: the Long Armored Army, the Short Armored Army, and the Bayala. The Bayala were the best and strongest soldiers selected from each Niulu. They were strong soldiers and powerful horses, with strong armor and sharp swords. They were the elite of the elite. Their leader was called Bayala Jiala Ezhen.

Jibukeda, a Bayala Jala Ezhen of the Bordered White Banner, was an elder of the Wusu clan. He had been with Nurhaci on his campaigns almost since he "raised his army with his thirteen remaining sets of armor." In the first month of the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign, Nurhaci officially dispatched his nineteen-year-old eldest son, Chu Ying, to lead a single-handed expedition against Anchulaku, the settlement of the Walkha tribe of the Donghai Jurchens. Before the operation began, Nurhaci assigned a number of elite soldiers, including Jibukeda, to Chu Ying's command. After the battle, he did not return, and from then on, Jibukeda remained with Chu Ying until Chu Ying angered Nurhaci and was deposed. His entire unit was then given to his eldest grandson, Dudu.

Following the instructions of the cavalry scouts, Wusu Jibu Keda and his cavalry quickly approached the battlefield. Before they could even find the Ming army, they heard the whistling of arrows. Following the sound, Jibu Keda located a group of friendly cavalry scouts on the move.

When the two armies met, Jibu Keda asked, "Where are the Ming troops?"

The person Jibu Keda questioned was none other than Niulu Ezhen, who had previously engaged the Ming army. However, he now had more than a dozen men with him. Just as the Dunbing team leader had said, shortly after the two armies disengaged, several nearby Jin cavalry scouts of similar size converged, following the sound of whistling arrows.

Niulu Ezhen had originally planned to gather some more people and return to continue engaging the Ming army. However, not long ago, the Ming army also fired a flare. Niulu Ezhen didn't know what this flare meant, so he cautiously did not advance.

"That direction." The Ming army's beacon smoke was a favorite reference point for scouts on both sides. Niulu'e calculated the time and added, "About four miles."

"Yes." Jibu Keda nodded and said, "You continue to disperse and scout. If you find the Ming army, send out a signal with a flare."

"Yes." Niulu Ezhen accepted the order and immediately disbanded the cavalry scouts. He divided the team into several groups and spread out for reconnaissance.

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When the Later Jin cavalry scouts gathered, the Ming army's cavalry scouts also gathered. However, because the right wing team had returned early to "report the enemy situation," the Ming army only had three teams of cavalry scouts. Including the guards that each team encountered along the way, the Ming army still managed to gather 200 people.

The three teams of cavalry scouts were not subordinate to each other, but according to the convention of "whoever sends the signal is responsible", the team leader who won the first-level merit temporarily became the commander of the three teams of cavalry scouts and the retreating soldiers.

Under the leadership of the team leader, two hundred people carefully followed the horse hoof prints at a normal pace, following the retreating Jin army cavalry scouts until they saw the elite Bayala gathered on the earthen slope of the platform.

Bayala's features were very distinct: the tallest horse, the most complete armor, and the most imposing presence. Therefore, even though the two sides were more than a mile apart, the Ming army could recognize them at a glance.

"Stop!" The team leader shouted to stop the team, but he did not immediately order a retreat.

Jibu Keda's position on the higher ground afforded him a better view. From his perch, he could immediately discern the strengths and weaknesses of the Ming army. Yet, he didn't immediately order an attack. Instead, he waited until all his men had reached the slope before he drew his bow from his pouch and released the first piercing arrow.

"The rear team becomes the front team, retreat!" the team leader shouted while taking out a tube of fireworks with fuse from the bag.

"Kill!" Jibukeda bent his bow and shot the second arrow, then clamped the horse's belly hard. The horse felt a little pain, neighed loudly, and ran down the slope!
Squeak! Bang!
Almost simultaneously, the fireworks ignited, shooting upwards over fifty meters, finally bursting into a brilliant green blossom in the clear sky.

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Six miles outside Fengji Fort, General Li Bingcheng saw the flickering fireworks from a distance, but could not hear the sound of the fireworks exploding.

"Meet the challenge." Li Bingcheng held his sword tightly and walked down the platform with three captains.

Not long ago, the first team of cavalry scouts returned with the guards. Although the cavalry scouts had not had any contact with the Jin soldiers, the guards still brought very useful information - tens of thousands of slaves and bandits, countless armored soldiers, seemed to be coming out in full force.

General Li Bingcheng wasn't particularly afraid of this. Most of his 3,000 cavalrymen were elite standard-bearers transferred from Gansu Township after the court reinstated the retired general Chai Guozhu. Their morale and training were comparable to those of the Bannermen.

Soon, Li Bingcheng's large force also connected with his own cavalry scouts.

Since the cavalry scouts were only wearing cotton armor, their overall combat weight was much lighter than the Bayala's. As long as they weren't surrounded, the Bayala couldn't catch them if they tried to escape. However, Jibukeda's forces weren't solely composed of fully armored Bayala; they also included so-called light cavalry with short armor. Together with the surrounding cavalry scouts, they pursued the Ming cavalry scouts relentlessly. Arrows were exchanged, resulting in casualties on both sides. Upon seeing the main force of the Ming cavalry approach, the Jin cavalry pursuing the Ming cavalry scouts didn't hesitate, turning their horses and fleeing. From the moment they discovered Li Bingcheng's troops, their mission was complete.

Li Bingcheng did not lead his troops to pursue, but stopped the troops and waited for the scouts to return.

The scouts' pounding hearts slowed down as they saw the large army approach. The captain, putting away his bow and arrows, approached Li Bingcheng, panting heavily, and clasping his fists, said, "General!"

"Thank you for your hard work." Li Bingcheng nodded.

The enemy's main force was attacking, seemingly with the intention of sieging the city, and their main force would be infantry. If we estimate based on the time it took the first cavalry scouts to return, the enemy's infantry formation was still at least twenty miles away. Therefore, Li Bingcheng only asked, "How many cavalrymen are there?"

"About four to five hundred people, about 30% of them are elite Mingjia servants." The team leader replied.

Although Nurhaci had captured Fushun, Qinghe, Kaiyuan, and Tieling, and captured many Han Chinese, these border towns lacked any decent blacksmiths, so the Eight Banners' iron smelting and armor-making technology made no significant progress. The most elite Bayala wore captured Ming armor, and for this reason, they were often referred to as "Ming armor servants."

"Alright." Li Bingcheng glanced at the head hanging from the captain's saddle. "You stay and lead the way. The guards and the wounded will retreat back to the city. The other scouts will expand their reconnaissance on the left and right flanks. If you spot any enemy reinforcements, immediately fire a signal."

"Yes!" The scouts received the order and dispersed.

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Not long after, the returning Eight Banners soldiers successfully reunited with the main force.

"Lord Jibu Keda. We have discovered the main force of the Ming army. There are over a thousand of them in total!" The returning Eight Banners pursuers found Jibu Keda and said while pointing him in the direction.

"More than a thousand? Nine thousand is still more than a thousand." Jibu Keda was a little unhappy. "How many?"

"The Ming army is divided into three phalanxes, with about two to three thousand people!" said Niulu Ezhen, the light cavalry under Jibu Keda.

"Two or three thousand," Jibukeda thought. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to go for it. "You guys go back and ask for help. The rest of you, follow me."

"Yes." The person who was called left immediately.

"Lord Jibu Keda, even if we only have 2,000 men, the Ming army outnumbers us several times. Why not wait for reinforcements before advancing?" Niulu Ezhen, who had spoken earlier, suggested cautiously. He still remembered that the order from Taiji Dudu was to drive away the Ming cavalry scouts, not to engage the main Ming cavalry.

"Hmph." Jibu Keda snorted coldly. "The Ming army is nothing but chickens and dogs. We can fight when we want and leave when we want. The Ming army can't stop us. Are you afraid?"

"No!" Niulu'ezhen shook his head repeatedly.

"Take your men to the back." Jibukeda stopped talking nonsense, waved his whip and led his troops forward.

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Because both the Ming and Jin factions knew each other's location and were intent on finding each other, the cavalry from both sides soon collided, and a battle was inevitable.

Before the two armies could even see each other, nearly 3,000 cavalrymen were reorganized into four divisions according to Li Bingcheng's pre-arranged deployment: the household guards, the left and right light cavalry, and the musket cavalry. With the exception of the household guards, the other three divisions were directly commanded by a Qianzong.

Organization and formation served the purpose of tactics. Li Bingcheng was well aware of the sharpness of the slave soldiers' bows, capable of harassing with piercing arrows at range and penetrating armor at close range. At close range, their lethality rivaled that of the birdcage musket, and the speed of drawing an arrow and drawing a bow was much faster than reloading a birdcage musket. However, the birdcage musket also had significant advantages. While its range was not as good as that of piercing arrows, it was longer than that of penetrating arrows. Compared to the Ming army's bows, its power was even greater.

Based on this, Li Bingcheng devised a tactic for a smaller enemy force: using the musketeers, wearing only cotton armor, as the primary attack force. After each round, they would retreat to a safe location to reload. During this time, he personally led the fully armored cavalry—the elite Ganzhen retainers left to him by Chai Guozhu upon his departure—to intercept any enemy troops attempting to approach the musketeers, from outside the effective range of their arrows. Meanwhile, the larger, lightly armored cavalry, unarmored, would continuously pursue the enemy from the periphery, slowing their flight and reducing their range. Once the encirclement was complete, he could leverage his numerical superiority to annihilate the enemy.

After confirming that the Ming army did have a clear numerical advantage, Li Bingcheng, who thought he had the advantage, took the lead in leading his troops to launch an attack.

A flare arrow, representing a general attack, was shot towards the enemy, and the Ming army immediately moved according to the tactics they had trained.

At this time, Bayara Jala Ezhen Jibukeda had not yet realized the intention of the Ming army. When he saw a group of more than 300 unarmored cavalry rushing towards him, a smile of pride and contempt immediately broke out on his face.

"Kill!" Jibukeda shouted, and then he rode his horse and rushed forward, leading the charge.

The two armies quickly drew together, and the Later Jin army was the first to unleash a hail of arrows. Some Ming soldiers were hit, but no serious casualties were caused.

The Ming army did not fire arrows in retaliation, which made Jibu Keda realize that something was wrong, but he still turned his horse and charged forward.

The cavalry continued their charge, until they were within a hundred and fifty paces of each other. The leading captain shouted, "Ready!" and began to slow his horse. As he turned and headed toward Li Bingcheng, he drew his loaded musket.

When the Ming army gunners collectively took out their tinderboxes and began to light the matches, Jibu Keda finally understood the Ming army's intentions. No matter how much Jibu Keda despised the Ming army, he would not foolishly charge into this formation. He immediately slowed down, but it was too late.

After judging that the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred steps, the captain roared wildly. "Shoot!"

The moment he roared, the musket in his hand erupted with a burst of blazing flames. In an instant, over two hundred lead bullets were fired in a barrage of deadly bullets.

These fire muskets were all top-quality, having been tested with live ammunition. Each one could inflict enough damage to embed into thick wooden planks at a distance of 100 steps. The barrage compensated for the lack of accuracy, immediately dealing a head-on blow to the Jin cavalry that entered range, hitting dozens of Jin soldiers.

Unfortunately, Jibu Keda led his troops to slow down in time, and the muskets were fired at almost the maximum killing range. In addition, the lead was Bayala, wearing heavy Ming Dynasty armor, so this volley did not cause much damage to the Jin army. Only a few unlucky guys were hit in the vitals.

(End of this chapter)