Chapter 64: Field Battle

A long-distance transfer and redeployment is an extremely severe test for any military force, especially for a newly organized army. Blindly running away would only lead to a disastrous rout and total collapse, much like Li Zicheng’s fate.

This historical lesson has been verified on the battlefields of later eras. Only by continuously winning battles, as the Great Leader did during the Long March, can an army be truly stabilized.

Therefore, Gu Zhenhua had long intended to fight and win a few battles at an opportune moment to boost military morale. As it happened, Wu Sangui cooperated fully by leading his forces in an active pursuit. Gu Zhenhua immediately made up his mind to strike a heavy blow against this arch-traitor!

Naturally, confronting a seasoned and cunning fierce general like Wu Sangui was by no means an easy task. Devising the battle formation and deployment cost Gu Zhenhua a great deal of painstaking effort.

First of all, commanders like Li Xu and Guo Long originally hailed from the Liaodong garrison. Even though they had parted ways with Wu Sangui, years of entrenched awe and intimidation would still cause their soldiers to panic and hesitate to fight.

Without the slightest hesitation, Gu Zhenhua chose the troops brought by Zhou Yingjie. These frontier soldiers were more familiar with firearm combat and had previously fought against the Tatars; they possessed sufficient confidence when facing the elite Liaodong Iron Cavalry. Meanwhile, Li Xu and Guo Long were assigned to secure the safety of both flanks.

With the overall layout properly planned, specific tactical formations also required careful thought. Recalling his combat experience at Yangliuqing, Zhou Yingjie said to Gu Zhenhua, "Seventh Brother, I suggest deploying the infantry in a circular defensive formation. This combines both offense and defense, preventing a total army collapse should our flanks be breached. By fully utilizing the advantages of firearms to eliminate the enemy's vanguard, once we hold the center, our flank cavalry can charge out, and the enemy will undoubtedly be defeated!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Zhenhua immediately approved the proposal. After rehearsing the combat plan once more and confirming there were no flaws, Gu Zhenhua ordered his men to select a favorable position, form the ranks, and await the enemy.

In the center army, Zhou Yingjie and Xie斌 each commanded a battalion, forming a formidable front line. Each battalion was further divided into smaller tactical squares consisting of forty-five musketeers arranged in three ranks. Additionally, reserve musketeers were stationed at the joints between these squares to deal with any enemy soldiers who managed to slip through the gaps.

Without exception, all one thousand of these men were clad in heavy armor, with the front ranks equipped with double-layered armor to maximize protective capability. Since Gu Zhenhua had acquired a substantial number of armors from Shanhaiguan, he did not spare them at all.

Gu Zhenhua personally commanded a battalion in the second line. Because he could not yet fully trust firearms, Gu Zhenhua's own battalion relied entirely on cold weapons, spearheaded by pikemen followed by swordsmen and shield-bearers. Gu Zhenhua himself held a broadsword to oversee the battle.

A large number of supply wagons were placed between the first and second lines to serve as barricades. If cavalry managed to break through the musketeers, these wagons would obstruct the horses' continued charge. Furthermore, scattered musketeers could use the wagons as cover to continue firing.

On both flanks, the cavalry had also completed their positioning. With the defensive formations fully set up against the enemy, Gu Zhenhua simply waited for Wu Sangui's arrival!

The arch-traitor did not make Gu Zhenhua wait too long. Half an hour later, dust swirled in the distance as Wu Sangui led his cavalry charging forward.

The two bitter enemies met once more. For a split second, the air on the battlefield seemed to freeze as both sides stared at each other like vicious wolves.

"My Lord, judging from Gu Zhenhua's formation, he intends to use infantry to resist our iron cavalry. In my opinion, he has lost his mind and is simply courting death!" said Deputy General Yang Ming with an arrogant air.

Wu Sangui furrowed his brow slightly and slowly replied, "This fellow Gu Zhenhua does not play by the conventional rules. Instead of running away, he is opting for a field battle, and he has formed such a bizarre array. When things are unusual, one must be on guard!"

With that, Wu Sangui waved his hand to summon a guerrilla commander and instructed, "Take three hundred men and launch a feigned attack first to find out what trick Gu Zhenhua is playing."

Having fought the Qing forces for years, the Liaodong garrison had learned almost all of the Tatar tactics. In this feigned assault, the cavalry was divided into three groups. Two groups were assigned to pin down the flanks and prevent any surprise counterattacks by Gu Zhenhua's cavalry, while the main assault was concentrated directly on the center.

More than thirty heavy cavalrymen wearing double-layered armor charged at the very forefront. Behind them followed tall, long-armed archers, accompanied by a large number of fierce and robust foot soldiers wielding various weapons. As soon as the front heavy cavalry managed to rip open a breach, these troops would closely follow to expand the victory.

Although it was only a feigned assault, the arch-traitor was filled with anticipation. Perhaps Gu Zhenhua wouldn't be able to withstand a single charge, and his army would collapse instantly. Therefore, Wu Sangui ordered Yang Ming to make preparations so that the main force could immediately follow up once a gap was torn open.

More than a hundred cavalrymen charged toward the center without haste. Their hooves pounded the open plain, the sound carrying far across the field—a formidable psychological deterrence in its own right. Many mobs, unable to withstand this psychological pressure, would simply collapse on the spot.

However, Wu Sangui had clearly miscalculated. As soldiers personally trained by Zhou Yingjie, they had managed to achieve a great victory at Yangliuqing even when their equipment was inferior to that of the Qing army. Now that they were armed to the teeth, how could they possibly fear Wu Sangui?

Not until the cavalrymen entered within a hundred paces did Zhou Yingjie and Xie Bin order the entire army to stand. The soldiers gripped their muskets tightly, their faces set with resolute expressions.

"Prepare to fire!"

At the command, fuzes hissed as they were lit, gunpowder was loaded, and the front-rank soldiers dropped to one knee, aiming their muskets at the enemy.

The distance between the two sides closed bit by bit, quickly coming within some eighty paces—close enough to clearly make out the enemy's expressions. The guerrilla commander leading the charge wore a dismissive expression regarding Gu Zhenhua's arrangement.

Muskets had decent range, but their quality was uneven; if luck was bad, one might injure oneself before hitting the enemy. Relying on muskets to counter the Liaodong Iron Cavalry was pure suicide!

"Brothers, charge!"

At the shout, the cavalrymen rushed forward frantically, roaring and shouting in supreme arrogance.

Zhou Yingjie looked at them with a cold smile, constantly calculating the distance: seventy paces, sixty-five paces, sixty paces...

As soon as they entered within fifty paces, their armor could be pierced. Just as Zhou Yingjie was counting down, a gunshot suddenly rang out on the battlefield. Hearing a shot, a soldier whose nerves were stretched to the limit mistook it for the command to open fire, and the rest fired along with him.

Gunpowder smoke billowed, and sporadic gunfire cracked. A mere handful of the leading Liaodong garrison soldiers were hit, but because the distance was around sixty paces, it was not enough to kill them instantly. Only one unlucky fellow took a direct hit to the face and tumbled from his horse!

"Who? Who fired without orders?!"

Furious, Zhou Yingjie shouted sternly.

"Battalion Commander, it was a soldier from Datong Garrison, not one of the General's men."

Zhou Yingjie's expression turned dark. Among his two thousand troops, not all had been trained by Zhou Yingjie; there were quite a few routed soldiers from elsewhere. Insufficiently trained, they could not withstand such intense psychological pressure and had cracked under pressure at the crucial moment.

Despite careful planning, a loophole still emerged. Too preoccupied for anger, Zhou Yingjie could only shout at the top of his lungs, "Hold your ground, no unauthorized firing!"

Fortunately, Zhou Yingjie's veteran soldiers were exceptionally staunch, and the brief disorder subsided quickly.

However, the Liaodong garrison seized the opportunity to dash within thirty paces—a fatal distance where a horse's leap could shatter the musketeers' square. Without bayonets attached to their muskets, close combat was less useful than a wooden club!

With bloodshot eyes, Zhou Yingjie hurriedly ordered, "Fire!"

At last, the soldiers delivered a proper volley. The searing lead balls flew like a storm, slamming into the enemy's bodies.

At thirty paces, the musket fire was both accurate and ruthless. The tremendous kinetic energy struck the human body like iron hammers, sending the hit soldiers flying sideways to crash heavily onto the ground.

Some had their flesh torn open and mangled, dying on the spot. Others, wearing sturdier armor, miraculously avoided being pierced, but those men suffered an even worse fate. Opening their mouths wide, they vomited blood mixed with dark red chunks of viscera—their internal organs had already been shattered by the shockwave!

A single volley dropped fifty or sixty cavalrymen to the ground, and even their horses could not escape, collapsing one after another. The guerrilla commander leading the charge even had his head blown off, leaving only the upper half of his torso spurting blood continuously.

Witnessing such a grisly scene, the surviving soldiers were stunned, their faces draining of color as they frantically tried to turn back and flee.

Right at that moment, another volley erupted, and the remaining cavalry were mowed down like wheat, with only two or three lucky ones turning tail and running, abandoning everything else in their panic.

As the gunsmoke cleared, the ground before the formation was littered with corpses, and the stench of blood assaulted everyone's nostrils and nerves.

"Seventh Brother, that was entirely too close! If they had been a moment later, the Liaodong garrison would have broken through!" Gao Hongtu said with deep worry. "Should I go remind the Ninth Brother to keep his men in line?"

"There's no need!" Gu Zhenhua waved his hand. "I trust Ninth Brother can handle it."

As calm and immovable as a mountain, Gu Zhenhua watched as Zhou Yingjie dragged out the man who had fired prematurely, bringing him before the entire assembly.

"Brothers, what just happened was merely the appetizer; the real battle is still ahead of us. But two things have been proven to us today. First, the muskets in your hands are sharp and reliable; we are fully capable of defeating the Liaodong garrison, and we can defeat the Tatars as well. You must have confidence. Second, a rotten apple will drag everyone down and even cause the entire battle line to collapse. For such a person, I will never show mercy!"

As Zhou Yingjie finished speaking, his waist-saber flashed down mercilessly. A head flew several meters away, and fresh blood poured onto the ground.

Everyone present was shaken to the core. While Zhou Yingjie's original men remained steady, all the others heightened their vigilance a dozen times over, terrified of making another mistake that would cost them their heads.

Just as the army stabilized, tremors shook the ground once again as Wu Sangui's cavalry launched a fresh assault. This time, the arch-traitor concentrated a thousand elite cavalrymen, surging forward like a tidal wave.

"Come on, your grandpa is waiting!"

Xie Bin and Zhou Yingjie gritted their teeth silently, preparing themselves for battle as the enemy horsemen finally closed within fifty paces.

"Fire!"

"Strike them down with everything you have! Don't let a single traitor escape!"

Zhou Yingjie and Xie Bin gave the order almost simultaneously. A sound like popping beans erupted from the barrels, and the Liaodong garrison fell in swathes as a heavy stench of blood enveloped the battlefield.