MLMD -Chapter 224 Prelude to the Great Battle

“Kill—!”

Wu Chengfeng let out a hoarse roar and lifted the three‑meter‑long cavalry lance from the hook on his saddle. With a round shield in his left hand and the lance in his right, the shaft tucked beneath his armpit, he charged straight toward the Later Jin cavalry ahead.

The opposing Later Jin rider swung his heavy tiger‑head spear at Wu Chengfeng. Even though several meters still separated them, Wu Chengfeng seemed to hear the weapon whistling as it sliced through the air. He made no attempt to dodge. Instead, he leaned forward, nearly flattening himself against the horse’s back. Raising his round shield with his left hand to protect his upper body, he aimed the lance tip at the enemy’s chest.

Clang!

A deafening crash rang out, followed by a numbing pain shooting up Wu Chengfeng’s left hand. He knew at once that the web of his hand must have split under the violent impact. Yet his movement did not falter in the slightest—without hesitation, he drove the lance tucked under his arm straight into the enemy’s lower abdomen.

“Ah—!”

The Later Jin cavalryman had intended to use his speed advantage to hack Wu Chengfeng off his horse first, but he never expected his tiger‑head spear to strike a round shield instead. Realizing the danger too late, he was struck by a sudden, searing pain in his abdomen. Unable to hold himself any longer, he tumbled from his horse.

The moment Wu Chengfeng felt the lancehead sink into flesh, he immediately released his grip—an action that had long since become instinct. As a veteran soldier, he understood perfectly that once a cavalry lance pierced an enemy, it had to be let go at once; otherwise, the immense recoil of the charge would flip even the rider himself off the horse.

Ignoring the Later Jin rider he had unhorsed and the discarded lance, Wu Chengfeng drew the saber at his waist and continued charging forward. Amid flashes of cold steel, another Later Jin cavalryman was cut down from his mount.

The grassland was filled with the neighing of warhorses, the furious roars and screams of cavalrymen, the metallic clang of colliding weapons, and the chaotic thunder of hooves.

As one of the Upper Three Banners personally commanded by the Great Khan, the elite of the Bordered Yellow Banner was beyond question. In both combat experience and fighting will, they were among the most outstanding forces of the age.

Had it not been for Hogg’s rashness and their blundering into the encirclement that Yue Yang had long prepared, they would not have ended up in such a sorry state. Even so, the cavalry left behind to cover the retreat displayed astonishing combat power despite being surrounded by superior forces and knowing full well they faced certain death. During the fighting, riders from the Yingzhou Army were continually struck down from their horses.

By the time the last Bordered Yellow Banner cavalryman was killed, nearly two ke of time had passed. Panting heavily, Wu Chengfeng looked at the ground littered with corpses and dead horses. A trace of sorrow flashed through his eyes. By his rough estimate, although they had annihilated some three hundred enemy shock cavalry, they themselves had lost at least nearly a hundred brothers—truly a case of killing a thousand at the cost of eight hundred of one’s own.

He glanced around and gave the order, “Clean up the battlefield immediately. Bring the bodies of our fallen brothers with us. And remember to collect the stray warhorses and cut off the heads of the barbarians to take along as well.”

“Yes!”

More than ten minutes later, having finished clearing the battlefield, Wu Chengfeng and his men rode off at full speed, leaving behind nothing but headless corpses strewn across the grassland.

Less than a quarter of an hour after Wu Chengfeng departed, the sound of hooves came again from the rear. Yue Tuo and Dorgon, who had lagged behind, finally arrived with their troops…

Staring at the corpses covering the ground, Dorgon’s face darkened. He turned to look at Hogg behind him, whose face was flushed a deep liver‑purple, and said coldly, “Hogg, didn’t you say you would capture Yue Yang alive? Where is he now?”

Hogg no longer showed any of his earlier arrogance. He lowered his head and said nothing. Yue Tuo, standing to the side, made no attempt to speak in Hogg’s defense. He too was furious at what had just happened—within less than an hour, nearly a thousand elite soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner had been lost just like that.

The Jurchens could afford losses, but to die so senselessly because of someone’s momentary lapse of judgment was something no one could tolerate. Even though Hogg was Huang Taiji’s son, this matter would not simply be brushed aside. Once they returned to Shenyang, accounts would have to be settled.

Although Dorgon wore an unhappy expression, inwardly he felt a deep satisfaction. His hatred for Huang Taiji had never diminished with time. As the saying went, the vengeance for killing one’s father could not share the same sky—nor could the vengeance for killing one’s mother.

From the day Huang Taiji forged a false imperial testament and forced Dorgon’s biological mother, Abahai, to be buried alive with Nurhaci, Huang Taiji had become the person Dorgon most wished to eliminate. Over the years, Dorgon and his younger brother Dodo had worked desperately to build up their strength, while exerting every effort to play the role of loyal servants before Huang Taiji—all for the sake of one day avenging their mother’s death with their own hands.

Though it was still far too early to speak of taking revenge on Huang Taiji himself, Dorgon was nonetheless pleased to have undermined his son—causing him to lose over a thousand elite troops of the Bordered Yellow Banner and swallow the loss in silence.

At last, Dorgon said calmly, “Enough. We’ll let the Great Khan decide this matter once we return to Shenyang. For now, let us go meet this Ming army. What do you say, Yue Tuo?”

Yue Tuo watched coldly as Dorgon lectured Hogg and did not intervene. Hogg’s earlier arrogance had left him deeply displeased. Now that Dorgon asked, he nodded faintly. “Since Fourteenth Uncle has spoken, then let us go have a look.”

“Good. Pass the order—send the scouts ahead to reconnoiter. The main army will follow!”

“Yes!”

Two ke later, two great armies from different nations met on the vast grassland…

“Beep—beep—beep… da‑da‑da‑da… woo—woo—woo—”

Sharp bugle calls and mournful horns intertwined in the air as the two armies—of different peoples and different beliefs—gradually drew closer.

The neighing of warhorses and the heavy breathing of soldiers merged into the tense atmosphere before battle. Standing at the center of the formation, Yue Yang calmly observed the advancing Later Jin army through his telescope. The enemy finally halted at a distance of one li.

Lowering the telescope, Yue Yang asked Wu Chengfeng beside him, “Just now when you engaged the barbarians, how was their fighting strength?”

Wu Chengfeng replied solemnly, “This subordinate led his men in a clash with the barbarians just now and found that the Bordered Yellow Banner truly lives up to its reputation as one of the Upper Three Banners. Those barbarians can only be described as fearless of death and ferociously brave. The fact that they were willing to turn back and fight to the death so their comrades could escape, even knowing they were doomed, shows how elite they are. Originally, I thought that with three thousand troops at hand, we could easily wipe out those two enemy units, but in the end we still lost more than two hundred brothers. This alone shows how vicious the barbarians are.”

As he spoke, a trace of bitterness appeared on Wu Chengfeng’s face. Today, although they had wiped out more than six hundred enemy soldiers, they themselves had lost nearly two hundred. He reckoned that if not for their superior armor, sharp weapons, and numerical advantage, their losses would have been several times greater.

“Yes, they are indeed a tough enemy,” Yue Yang said, patting Wu Chengfeng on the shoulder in comfort. “Don’t be too disheartened. The barbarians have dominated Liaodong for many years and become our Great Ming’s number‑one threat—it’s no empty reputation. Their soldiers have trained since childhood, each with at least six or seven years of service. How long have we trained? To fight them to this extent is already very impressive!”

Yue Yang was not overly concerned about the cavalry losses. Being able to fight the Later Jin cavalry to such a result was already remarkable. Moreover, he knew exactly where his own advantages lay.

At this time, the total Jurchen population numbered only six to seven hundred thousand. Men aged sixteen to forty numbered no more than one to two hundred thousand at most. Every Jurchen soldier killed was one fewer forever. By contrast, the Ming possessed a population of over a hundred million—manpower that was practically inexhaustible compared to the Jurchens’. Even trading ten men for one could wipe the Jurchens out several times over. And when it came to reproductive capacity, if the Ming claimed second place, no country in the world would dare claim first. Given a few decades of rest and recovery, the population would balloon like an inflating balloon. Otherwise, later generations of Huaxia would not have listed family planning as a basic national policy.

With this in mind, Yue Yang was filled with confidence in this war against the Jurchens. As long as he had sufficient grain and military supplies, he would not lose.

Thinking thus, Yue Yang looked at the approaching Later Jin army and shouted loudly, “Relay my order—artillery battalion, prepare! The moment the barbarians enter cannon range, open fire and blow those bastards to pieces!”

“Yes!”

Following Yue Yang’s command, more than thirty muzzle‑loading cannons set up behind the infantry formations slowly raised their muzzles. The gunners began loading powder and shot, ready to unleash a thunderous strike once the enemy entered range.

At this moment, the Ming and Later Jin forces had come within visual distance. The Later Jin army halted, not rushing to attack but instead stopping calmly to make their pre‑battle preparations.

Standing on a rise, Yue Tuo held a high‑priced long‑distance telescope purchased from overseas and carefully observed the Ming army opposite. After watching for quite some time, his gaze finally lingered on the large banner bearing the character “Yue.” He then turned to Dorgon beside him and said through clenched teeth, “It’s Yue Yang—no doubt about it. This Ming army, whether in its banners or the style of its armor, is uniquely Yue Yang’s Yingzhou Army. No other Ming force has armor made this finely.”

Dorgon nodded calmly. He had seen the same. Now, the biggest question on his mind was how to defeat the Ming army before them.