MLMD -Chapter 143 The Two Armies Face Off

The noonday sun shone down on everyone’s faces. The harsh glare made many soldiers squint their eyes. As the cheers before the Ming formation gradually died away, the corpse of the Later Jin scout shot dead by Wu Chengfeng lay twisted on the ground in a grotesque posture, completely motionless. An eerie stillness settled over the battlefield.

“Wooo—wooo—”

A low, desolate horn sounded from within the Later Jin ranks. With the blare of the horn, the Later Jin army continued to press slowly toward the Ming lines.

Yue Yang narrowed his eyes as he watched the enemy closing in. Having been here for so long, he had gained a rough understanding of the organization of the Jurchen Eight Banners.

Seeing that all these enemy soldiers wore white armor edged with red, Yue Yang knew they belonged to the Bordered Red Banner. The Bordered Red Banner was one of the Five Lower Banners of the Jurchen Eight Banners, established in the forty-third year of the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty (1615). It was named for its white banner with red edging. Under its command were eighteen niru, and its banner lord was the Senior Beile Daišan.

Judging by their numbers and banners, there were about five niru here, commanded by a jalan ejen of the Bordered Red Banner.

Yue Yang had once crammed Ming dynasty history, and knew that among the Later Jin or Qing forces, five niru made up one jalan. A jalan advanced together, halted together, and in battle attacked a single point—just as he was seeing now.

“Good. Come on,” Yue Yang thought viciously as he stared at the enemy before him. “Today, let me see just how formidable these so‑called invincible Jurchens really are.”

The Later Jin army truly deserved its reputation as one of the most powerful forces in the Far East of the seventeenth century. Though the earlier incident had startled them momentarily, these battle‑hardened veterans quickly recovered, advancing steadily as the horn sounded behind them.

As the Later Jin cavalry and infantry pressed forward, the horn suddenly fell silent. The advancing troops immediately halted.

More than a thousand mounted soldiers stood in strict formation at the front, every man radiating an intimidating aura. Their discipline remained ironclad; all stood silently, and not a trace of noise disturbed the formation.

Soon after, a tall great banner was raised at the rear of the Later Jin army. The banner was black, its edges embroidered with alternating red and white patterns—red on the outside, white within. At the center of the banner was an embroidered, coiling qilin, signifying the identity of the banner’s owner.

Beneath this great banner stood a burly, middle‑aged man clad in thick armor, wearing a helmet topped with a long spike like a lightning rod. His eyes gleamed with ferocity as he stared at the Ming army ahead. He was Hafeng’a, the jalan ejen mentioned by Yoto.

As Hafeng’a gazed at the Ming formation not far away, a strange, unsettling feeling rose in his heart.

An hour earlier, he had received a report from a scout that a unit of Ming troops was approaching them. The shock had nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets. Since when had the cowardly Ming army dared to take the initiative and challenge the brave warriors of the Later Jin? And in a field battle, no less—had these Ming soldiers gone mad?

What followed, however, was wave after wave of delight. On this southern incursion, he and his men had encountered very few Ming troops, and those they did meet collapsed at the first touch, which left him deeply unsatisfied. In Hafeng’a’s view, a man’s merit should be earned on the battlefield, with enemy heads serving to highlight his valor.

Thus, Hafeng’a immediately ordered his troops to encircle them. Afraid the Ming soldiers might flee, he even instructed the scouts to scatter and prepare to block any retreat. Yet what he had not expected was that the Ming troops not only failed to run, but instead deployed their formation and glared back at them, clearly inviting an attack. This abnormal posture left him both pleased and perplexed.

But just now, his good mood had been utterly ruined. A brave scout had been shot dead by Ming bows and crossbows right between the two armies. In Hafeng’a’s eyes, this was the greatest possible insult to the warriors of the Later Jin.

Furious, he barked several sentences in Manchu at the niru leaders beside him. These niru leaders shouted in response, and soon their voices rose into arrogant howls.

One niru leader rode up to Hafeng’a and said, “My lord, please allow my unit to take the vanguard. I will make these Ming dogs see the might of our Jurchen warriors!”

Hafeng’a thought for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. Take your men and probe those Ming dogs. Let them know how formidable we are. But remember—don’t hit them too hard, lest you scare them off.”

“Hahaha…”

As Hafeng’a finished speaking, the niru leaders beside him burst into wild laughter, their faces filled with arrogance.

That niru leader laughed as well and said, “Rest assured, my lord. I will treat those Ming dogs properly—I won’t frighten them away so quickly!”

With that, he wheeled his horse and galloped back to his own unit. Soon, as horns sounded again, he led more than three hundred men of his niru toward the Ming formation.

In the Later Jin army, the niru was the most basic combat unit. Each niru possessed two official banners and two personal banner guards. Beside the niru were two kabashe soldiers—what later Qing history would call the vanguard troops. Their helmets bore plumes, and a flying‑tiger back banner was carried behind them. They wore Ming‑style helmets and armor.

There were also seventeen baikeya soldiers—commonly known as White‑Armored troops, later the Qing imperial guards. All wore Ming‑style armor, with tall red plumes on their helmets and flame‑edged banners on their backs.

These seventeen White‑Armored soldiers were led by a Jurchen headman known as a zhuangda. He too wore Ming armor with a red plume, and carried a plain banner with a slanted pointed tip on his back.

Among the Later Jin and Qing forces, each niru had over three hundred men. Of every three men, one was an armored combat soldier—divided into infantry and cavalry. The rest were auxiliaries, including mounted attendants and unarmored foot followers. After Hong Taiji came to power, he made adjustments to the troop types, abolishing the Red baikeya and the Black Camp, folding them into the regular armored combat troops.

Among these five niru, aside from each unit’s personal guards, kabashe soldiers, and White‑Armored troops, each niru also included forty armored cavalrymen. These cavalrymen wore bright helmets and dark armor, carried fifty arrows, and were equipped with bows and sabers. They were commanded by two Jurchen officers called fendeda bosku.

There were also fifty armored infantrymen, led by two infantry bosku. These bosku wore black plumes on their helmets and carried square back banners measuring two chi on each side.

Whether cavalry or infantry, every few men—or every ten men—had a squad leader, though the Jurchens referred to these minor leaders as zhuanda.

In this jalan of Qing troops, there were more than five hundred armored combat soldiers; the rest were attendants and auxiliaries, who wore no armor or only padded cotton armor without iron plates. In addition, each niru included from a dozen to several dozen blacksmiths and saddlers. This was the basic organization of the Later Jin army.

The niru leader led his men forward until they were about four hundred paces from the Ming formation, then halted. After a moment’s thought, he shouted a few orders at a man beside him who was clearly dressed like a Han Chinese.

This man was obviously a Han who had been captured by the Jurchens and now served as a tongshi—what later generations would call an interpreter.

After hearing the niru leader’s words, the interpreter nodded. He mounted a horse and rode to within just over a hundred paces of the Ming formation, then shouted at the top of his lungs:

“Ming soldiers ahead, listen up! Our lord says that you should surrender at once. If you surrender, your lives will be spared. If you refuse, once the main Later Jin army arrives, you will all be slaughtered! Earlier, you killed a brave warrior of the Later Jin, and our lord is extremely angry. Now you must pay the price for your foolishness. Watch carefully!”

As he finished speaking, the interpreter pointed toward the rear.

Following the direction of his finger, cries and pleas soon rang out. The Ming soldiers at the front of the formation saw dozens of ragged Ming civilians appear before the Later Jin lines—men and women, young and old alike. No one knew where the Later Jin troops had abducted them from. Now they could only cry in terror, while Later Jin soldiers behind them lashed them relentlessly with whips, forcing them forward.

Seeing this, the interpreter shouted again, “You all see this! Earlier, you killed a brave warrior of the Later Jin. Now we are punishing you for it. Remember—these people are being killed because of you!”

As soon as the interpreter finished speaking, the Later Jin soldiers behind the civilians swung their blades and spears, hacking and stabbing them. Amid shrill screams, dozens of civilians were slaughtered on the spot before the lines.

As the civilians were killed, the Later Jin soldiers who did the killing burst into loud laughter, their faces twisted with savage grins.

At this sight, every soldier in the Ming formation showed fury. Many gripped their firelocks tightly, rage blazing in their eyes.

Standing at the center of the formation, Yue Yang clenched his fists hard when he saw this scene.

Though Yue Yang had once clashed with Daišan’s men in the Khorchin tribe, that had been on someone else’s territory and merely a direct conflict. But now, seeing these Jurchens vent their anger on innocent civilians crossed the absolute bottom line in his heart.

Taking a deep breath, Yue Yang said coldly to a guard beside him, “Bring that Tatar up.”

The guard quickly obeyed. Soon, a battered Later Jin soldier was dragged forward by two Ming troops. He was the scout leader captured earlier by Bai Kai and the others.

Now covered in wounds and barely able to muster strength, his expression was still ferocious, and he continued to struggle violently.

With a sneer, Yue Yang ordered the soldiers to shove him to the front of the formation. Then the two soldiers drew their long sabers and hacked at the Tatar. Amid piercing screams, all four of the man’s limbs were severed. Deprived of his arms and legs, he did not die immediately. Writhing on the ground in agony, he screamed endlessly, his cries echoing across the battlefield…