Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 311: Fengji Attack and Defense

"Know the Khan!" Daishan, the great prince, led all the flag owners and generals to kneel down and kowtow to Nurhaci, the Khan of Heavenly Mandate.

"Everyone, get up." Although Nurhaci was smiling, a closer look revealed that his expression wasn't particularly good. After spending a night in close proximity with Eyidu, he realized that Eyidu, three years his junior, had suddenly aged like a withered leaf, completely drained of its succulence. Nurhaci even felt that it was a special favor from heaven that allowed Eyidu to survive the previous winter.

Nurhaci wanted to send someone to send Eyidu back to recuperate, but Eyidu insisted that the Khan not let his actions affect the morale of the army and ruin the situation.

"Thank you, Great Khan." All the flag leaders and generals stood up and bowed again.

Nurhaci consciously suppressed the sadness on his face, bypassed Daishan, and gave an order directly to Huang Taiji: "Fourth Prince. I want you to lead the four banners of infantry on the left wing and attack Fengji's northern city with shield chariots. Concentrate your elite cavalry in concealed areas on both wings. If the enemy cavalry emerges, we will follow their lead. When they connect with our infantry, we will then attack from both wings together."

"If Li Bingcheng is among the cavalry, then surround him with all your might and send a messenger to report. I will personally lead my elite troops and help you kill Li Bingcheng. If he is not, then cover my infantry's retreat."

"Whether Li Bingcheng comes or not, we must withdraw our troops and return to our base when the sun is high in the sky. We must not linger on in the slightest."

"I will obey the Khan's order!" Huang Taiji saluted and accepted the order.

"Grand Prince." Nurhaci then turned to Daishan, who was at the head of the group. After yesterday's conversation with Eyidu, his negative feelings towards Daishan had eased slightly, but this was not enough to change his overall impression of Daishan, so Nurhaci still didn't have a particularly good face for him.

"Yes." Daishan, feeling apprehensive, bowed respectfully. He still remembered how they had colluded to bring down their fallen elder brother, Chu Ying. He didn't want to follow in Chu Ying's footsteps.

"You lead the infantry of the Red Banner and the Blue Banner to line up six miles west of Fengji, and deploy them to guard against the reinforcements of the bear bandits." Nurhaci ordered.

"Yes." Daishan's eyes were gloomy. In the past, the main attack mission was given to him. Nurhaci didn't even need to send anyone to take charge of the reinforcements. He just gave it to others without even asking.

"Dergelei." Nurhaci finally looked at the tenth brother.

"Here!" Degelei responded very clearly.

Nurhaci was infected by the young man and laughed.

This time, he did not bring Amin and Manggurtai with him, but instead tried to let Huang Taiji and Dergelei take charge. In addition to suppressing Daishan, he also wanted to train the younger generation to prevent a talent gap.

For this reason, Nurhaci was extremely lenient in his evaluations of Dergelei, Yuetuo, and Shuotuo. Even if a single expulsion operation resulted in the loss of over thirty men and the failure to recover their remains, he offered no reprimand. In war, it's a miracle if no one survives. As long as one doesn't rush into battle, rushing headlong into an enemy encirclement with a small force, there won't be any problems.

"I will transfer the infantry of the Plain Yellow Banner and the Bordered Red Banner to you. You will lead your troops to be stationed near Zhu Wanliang's troops to prevent the enemy from reinforcing." Nurhaci ordered Degelei.

"Yes," Degelei replied, then asked, "May I ask, Great Khan, if Zhu Wanliang were to break camp and attack, how would I respond? Should I fight or retreat?"

"If he dares to leave his base and attack, then you should fight him, but don't fight too long." Nurhaci explained:

"We must have a plan for our deployment. No matter how we fight, we must retain the ability to escape at any time. We must not allow the enemy to pin us down to the point of immobility, nor should we rashly charge just because the enemy retreats. You must understand that we are now in the heart of the enemy. The reinforcements coming to Fengji are definitely not limited to Zhu Wanliang's. If we are surrounded, our losses will be very heavy."

"Yes, I understand." Degelei nodded seriously.

After arranging the offensive strategy and the support for the two sides, Nurhaci looked around at the crowd. "Everyone, listen up! The cavalry scouts must not stop. We must expand our reconnaissance and continuously drive out the Ming army's spies. The Ming army will increase their cavalry scouts, and our army will also increase their cavalry scouts. We will continue until we encounter the main force of the Ming army."

"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison.

"Let's go!" Nurhaci ordered.

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Half an hour later, at the curved city wall at the north gate of Fengji Fort, Li Bingcheng, the garrison commander, stood atop the towering ramparts, gazing at the approaching Jin infantry. Without his barking orders, the defenders, each assigned their own duties within and outside the walls, had already taken up their positions under the command of officers at all levels.

Beside Li Bingcheng stood a thick, long, muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon. This was the largest and heaviest cannon in Fengji Fort. It came from Beijing and was one of the twenty-eight large Luzon bronze cannons cast by Huang Kezan, then Minister of Punishment, at the beginning of the 47th year of the Wanli reign (1644-1711), when he was Minister of War and Assisting in Military Affairs at the Beijing Camp. This was at the initiative of Xu Guangqi, then Left Instructor of the Hanlin Academy and now Minister of Rites.

The top three of these 28 bronze cannons weighed over 3,000 jin, over 2,000 jin, and over 1,000 jin, respectively, while the others were all "small cannons" weighing less than 1,000 jin. In September of the 47th year of the Wanli reign, Xiong Tingbi arrived in Liaodong and inspected the border cities near the invaders. He found that the cities were in dire need of artillery, so he submitted a memorial to the late emperor, requesting the issuance of various types of artillery.

The late emperor, having abandoned his habit of repeatedly failing to report, responded promptly, ordering officials to promptly inspect the artillery in the warehouses and escort them to Liaodong without delay. Consequently, the military bureau dispatched officials to transport the artillery to the front lines overnight.

When the artillery arrived, General Xiong Tingbi personally supervised the test firing. One of the cannons, weighing a thousand pounds, exploded on the spot due to excessive charge. However, after several firings, Xiong Tingbi distributed the remaining artillery to the Shen, Feng, and Hu garrisons, instructing them to remember to charge the correct amount of gunpowder and not to fire it carelessly.

Among the artillery pieces shipped to the three towns, Shenyang received the most artillery pieces, Fengji received the heaviest artillery pieces, and Hubiyi only received a few "small artillery pieces" because it was relatively close to the hinterland.

Soon, the Jin army advanced to within the range of the Luzon cannon. The fire soldiers pulled out the red-hot iron rods from the braziers and waited quietly for the commander's orders.

"Give it to me." Li Zhenshuai wanted to fire this shot himself.

"Yes." The fireman carefully handed over the iron rod. "Don't put your palm too far forward, it's easy to burn," the fireman reminded. "Okay, thank you for the reminder." Li Bingcheng still looked straight ahead. After the Jin army advanced a few dozen steps, he inserted the side tip of the iron rod into the fire door.

Although the side tips were no longer red due to the cold wind, the residual heat on them could still ignite the gunpowder.

In a moment, the gunpowder burned out in the barrel, turning into a pile of residue and rapidly expanding gas, which pushed the cannonball forward along the barrel.

Boom! With a violent bang, a cloud of blinding smoke erupted. Then, a solid cannonball, slightly larger than a fist, pierced the smoke and flew upward. Simultaneously, the recoil pushed the cannon backward, but due to the cannon's immense weight and the support of the gun carriage, it didn't retreat far.

After firing the cannon, Li Bingcheng nodded with satisfaction and handed the iron rod back to the pyrotechnician. "Keep firing."

"Yes." The pyrotechnician took the iron rod, put it into the brazier to heat it up, and waited silently for the artillery to reload.

Unlike the breech-loading falconet, this recoil-loading muzzle-loading cannon required a very tedious reloading process after firing a round. The artillerymen first had to reset the gun and then use a hooked brush to hook out any unburned debris.

Then use a wet brush to reach into the barrel and clean it carefully, and extinguish any sparks that may be in the barrel to prevent "spraying as soon as the gunpowder is loaded". After completing the above steps, use a gun barrel wrapped in dry cloth to reach into the barrel and wipe it dry before filling it with an appropriate amount of gunpowder and reloading the shells.

This whole process couldn't be skipped at all. To save time, the only way was to improve the artillery's proficiency as much as possible, but even the fastest way took at least two minutes. In that time, the breech-loading Portuguese cannon would have already fired two rounds. However, the advantages of the muzzle-loading cannon were also very clear: its range and power were significant. Even if laid flat on the ground and fired straight ahead, it could reach a mile, severing any soldier it came into contact with. A high-angled upward shot from a city wall like this could reach even further.

After firing the cannon, Li Bingcheng immediately moved to a position where he would not be obscured by the smoke to observe the flight trajectory of the cannonball.

But once a cannon is fired, a hundred cannons fire. His 3,000-jin cannon itself bears the task of giving orders. In an instant, hundreds of light and heavy artillery pieces on the city walls and below simultaneously responded to the commander-in-chief's call, either straight or thrown, spewing furious fire at the Jin army's formation.

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The incoming artillery shells immediately shook the Jin army's formation. However, due to the presence of shield carts, most of the small Portuguese lost their "power" against cavalry. After a slight shake, the Jin army's formation was stabilized by officers at all levels.

The garrison officer guarding the northern section of the city wall leaned against the battlement, looking puzzledly at the long and wide wooden shields that continued to advance under the bombardment. He noticed that most of the shells didn't penetrate the shields, but instead bounced off or embedded themselves in them. "What is that?"

"This should be the chariot the Kaiyuan and Tieling escapees mentioned. Last night, the slave soldiers must have used this thing to cover the bodies." Although this was Li Bingcheng's first time seeing a shield chariot, he had previously heard from the deserters and refugees in Kaiyuan and Tieling that the slave soldiers had a chariot that could not be penetrated by guns or artillery.

At first, this type of chariot helped the Jin army withstand the bombardment from the city walls and escorted the soldiers all the way to the city. After arriving at the city, the Jin army began to use ladders to forcibly climb the city walls, or directly undermine the walls.

For a proper army, this wasn't a major problem. Defensive chariots were only useful for defense; attacking still required manpower. To defend a city, one must defend the surrounding areas. As long as the Ming soldiers arrayed beneath the city walls could withstand the Jin army's frontal assault, unlike the soldiers who fled Sarhu during the Battle of Kai and Tie, who collapsed at the first sign of the enemy, the Jin army would be unable to erect siege ladders or dig into the walls.

Most firearms were ineffective, and the Jin army continued its advance, creating a tense atmosphere within the city walls. The voices of officers maintaining order could be heard everywhere. To maintain morale, Li Bingcheng, like Zhu Wanliang, assigned trusted confidants to supervise the battle. Only by making sure the recruits knew that being a soldier meant more than just food and pay, and that retreat meant no life, did they dare to face the coming death.

"Stop firing from a distance! Lower yourself and aim and fire!" Li Bingcheng ordered the garrison commander with a stern face. "Use the big guns to shoot at the vehicles, and the small guns to shoot at the people!"

"Yes!" The garrison immediately started running and ordered the artillery deployed on the northern section of the city wall to stop attacking distant targets and instead fire at nearby enemies.

While the Ming army was adjusting its artillery positions, the Jin army's shield carts had already covered the infantry and advanced to a distance of less than fifty steps from the first-line position.

"Shoot!" With Niulu Ezhen's command, the Jin army archers, protected by shield carts, began to unleash their arrows. Waves of arrows, with no accuracy but only direction, flew over the soldiers pushing the carts and flew towards the Ming army lines.

"Shields raised!" Seeing the incoming hail of arrows, the captains of each team quickly ordered their soldiers to raise their shields to meet the attack. However, the Ming army, lacking combat experience, was poorly organized. Some were completely confused, completely forgetting the tactical maneuvers taught in training. They were also deaf, ignoring the officers' orders. Consequently, the barrage of arrows resulted in numerous casualties and even fatalities.

"Shoot!" The Ming army also fired back with projectiles. However, the Jin army's vanguard consisted of heavy infantry wearing both iron and cotton armor. Even without raising their shields, the Ming army's arrows would have been unable to effectively inflict damage. Furthermore, the Jin army was superior in both experience and fighting spirit. Even without orders from officers, they raised their small shields to protect their vitals.

When the Jin army continued to advance to a position less than ten steps away from the Ming army, it launched a charge on the front line.

"Kill!" Hundreds of vanguard armored soldiers armed with spears emerged from shield carts and swarmed into the Ming army's outer positions. In the blink of an eye, they were embedded in this first-line position that was almost two miles long.

"Kill!" The Ming army's spearmen also raised their spears to fight against the Jin army.

boom!
Once the Jin soldiers left the protection of their shield carts, they immediately became targets for the bird guns. At such a distance, the round lead bullets could penetrate the iron sheets and cotton armor directly into the human body.

"I hit it!" Just when the bird gunner was proud of killing a Jin army soldier with his first shot, an arrow accurately pierced his unprotected neck and exited from the other side of his throat.

boom!
The artillery on the city walls also began to provide close support to the city below. As expected, the heavy artillery that could be used to directly bombard the brick wall by pulling down the city walls was simply not something the shield carts could stop.

As the fighting went on, the Ming army's line began to waver.

"Go!" Seeing the front line about to collapse, the Ming army commander in charge of the front line decisively ordered the second-line troops to the battlefield, and then ordered the front-line soldiers to retreat. "Retreat! Regroup!"

At this point, if the handover was chaotic, it would be easy to seize the opportunity and break through the entire line in one go. However, this was under the city, not in the open air, and the musketeers and artillerymen on the city walls were almost unaffected, providing support to the friendly forces with various firearms. The Jin army had no chance.

(End of this chapter)