MLMD -Chapter 439 Rotation

As the explosion rang out, a massive shockwave threw Dorgon and the others to the ground.

When Dorgon forced his eyes open from his dazed state, his ears were filled with a constant buzzing, stars flashing wildly before his eyes. When he finally managed to focus, the sight before him made him almost jump in rage—more than a dozen gosha who had been right beside him moments ago were now sprawled in pools of blood, lying in every direction. Wu Sangui and his brothers, who had just been speaking with him, along with Ao Bai and the others, were all collapsed on the ground as well.

Dorgon struggled to prop himself up and tried to shout something, but the moment he opened his mouth, a thick stench of gunpowder rushed into his nose with his breath. Before he could utter a word, he broke into a violent coughing fit, gasping for air.

“Your Majesty… Your Majesty…”

Just as Dorgon struggled to sit up, someone pulled him to his feet and shouted urgently into his ear, “Your Majesty, are you all right? Quick, someone come here… Is there anyone still breathing? Hurry and help His Majesty down! If anything happens to His Majesty, I’ll chop off your dog heads!”

Dorgon recognized the voice—it was his chief bodyguard, Tulu’a. He coughed twice, waved his hand, and hurriedly said, “Don’t panic. I’m fine. Tulu’a, go check on Ao Bai and Wu Sangui first.”

Tulu’a hesitated before saying, “Your Majesty… your imperial body is most important!”

Dorgon roared angrily, “Go at once! Or do you intend to defy an imperial order?”

“Yes, sir…”

Left with no choice, Tulu’a rushed over to the others, helped them up one by one, checked their bodies, and pinched their renzhong points for a while. At last, he managed to revive those who had been knocked unconscious.

As he watched them regain consciousness, Dorgon’s face darkened like the bottom of a pot. “You’ve all seen it. The Ming army is attacking with extreme urgency. If anyone still dares to play the game of preserving strength, our Great Qing will be finished! Minister Wu—if our Great Qing falls, do you think the Ming army will spare you? You’re worried that once the millstone is unloaded, the donkey will be slaughtered, aren’t you? Don’t worry. As long as we get through this crisis, after the war I’ll give you priority in resupply—men if you want men, materials if you want materials. But if you keep playing at preserving strength, don’t blame me for turning ruthless!”

Slapping someone once and then handing them a sweet date—Dorgon, as the leader, had long since mastered this tactic. After this mix of threats and inducements, Wu Sangui and his brother were left speechless. Moreover, the Ming army’s increasingly fierce assault made it clear that the situation was extremely dire. If they continued to preserve their strength, the Great Eastern Gate truly would not hold.

Yet Wu Sangui was Wu Sangui. Even with Dorgon having spoken so plainly, he still frowned and said, “Your Majesty, it’s not that this humble general is unwilling to give his all. But our troops have already suffered nearly half casualties, and the soldiers are utterly exhausted. Meanwhile, the Mongol Eight Banners are still standing idle. Why not let them replace us on the defenses? Allow us to go down and rest for a while, and once we’ve recovered our strength, we’ll fight again.”

“You—” Dorgon never imagined that even at such a moment, Wu Sangui would remain this stubborn.

“Fine… very fine!” A flash of killing intent passed through Dorgon’s eyes. He looked at Wu Sangui, then at the soldiers lying everywhere behind him, and finally nodded slowly. “Very well. Since General Wu insists on rotating out, I won’t force you. Ao Bai—issue the order immediately. Transfer E’rile and Keke and the others here to replace General Wu’s forces. Let General Wu and his men go down and rest.”

“Your Majesty!” Ao Bai was unwilling. The Manchu troops were still holding the walls, yet these lowly slaves were allowed to go rest—wasn’t this chaos?

Dorgon’s expression darkened. “Did you not hear my order?”

“Yes, sir…”

In the end, Ao Bai could only glare resentfully at Wu Sangui before turning and leaving.

A quarter of an hour later, Wu Sangui and Wu Sangfeng led several hundred soldiers down from the city wall and entered the hidden troop caverns below, where they met their father, Wu Xiang.

“Why are you all down here?” Wu Xiang asked in shock when he saw them.

“It’s nothing. His Majesty rotated us out,” Wu Sangui replied.

Wu Sangfeng explained what had just happened. Wu Xiang’s face immediately changed. “Sangui, you’ve caused a great disaster. Today you fought so passively, clearly preserving your strength. In the future, His Majesty will certainly settle accounts after autumn. Our Wu family is facing a grave calamity!”

Wu Sangui sneered. “A grave calamity? Let’s survive this first. If we don’t make it through, everything else is meaningless. Haven’t you heard? My uncle at Desheng Gate fought far more miserably—his troops have already been completely spent. I don’t want to end up like him, sacrificing myself for others.”

Wu Xiang had never been a decisive man. Hearing this, he panicked. “Sangui, the situation is so critical. You’ve always been resourceful—what should we do?”

“What else can we do?” Wu Sangui forced a bitter smile. “There’s nowhere we can go now. We can only take it one step at a time…”

Leaving aside the Wu family’s anxious deliberations, as the Ming army intensified its supply efforts, Qing casualties rose rapidly. Especially after the Ming hot-air balloons joined the battle, the situation became increasingly one-sided. More than a dozen balloons floated above the city walls, each carrying over ten musketeers who picked off ground targets at will. As a result, Qing casualties at the Great Eastern Gate and Desheng Gate skyrocketed. The first day of the siege fighting lasted until nightfall, ending with nearly ten thousand Qing casualties.

As the sun slowly set, the Ming army ceased its attack, and all assault units withdrew from the battlefield. Only then did the Qing troops on the walls finally breathe a sigh of relief. Many survivors collapsed onto the ground, faces ashen, eyes vacant. The day’s battle had been utterly brutal. Corpses that had yet to be removed littered the walls, and the once-dry ground had become slick with blood.

Standing on the wall and gazing at the setting sun, Hogg felt it unbearably dazzling and crimson. At that moment, faint sobbing reached his ears—he knew it was the soldiers of the Mongol Eight Banners’ Plain White Banner crying.

Heavy footsteps approached, and Ao Bai’s voice sounded low and hollow beside him. “Prince Su, do you think we’ll make it through this?”

Hogg looked at Ao Bai in surprise. He could hardly believe such despondent words came from someone famed for bravery. He gave a bitter smile. “Who knows… I’ve done all I can. Today, the Han Army Banner and the Mongol Eight Banners assigned to us suffered heavy losses. I doubt they’ll be sent back into battle tomorrow—either there’ll be a rotation, or it’ll be our turn to go up ourselves.”

Ao Bai nodded. Wu Sangui’s behavior today had already shown that neither the Han Army Banner nor the Mongol Eight Banners had the resolve to fight to the death for the Great Qing. If pressed too hard tomorrow, internal strife might truly erupt.

After a long silence, Ao Bai said viciously, “No. We fought so badly today—we must rest tomorrow. Later we’ll speak to His Majesty and have other banners rotated in.”

“Mm.” Hogg nodded in agreement.

Sure enough, after dinner, Dorgon summoned the ministers again. When the assembled princes and officials saw Hogg and Dodo covered in blood and utterly disheveled, they were shocked. Even those usually at odds with them felt a pang of sympathy. They had all heard about the fighting at the Great Eastern Gate and Desheng Gate, and now could easily imagine how brutal it had been.

With candles lighting the hall brightly, Dorgon sat on the throne and addressed the silent crowd. “Hogg, Dodo—report today’s battle.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Hogg spoke first. “Reporting to Your Majesty: today I was ordered to defend the Great Eastern Gate. The Ming army attacked with great ferocity, especially their artillery and muskets, which were extraordinarily powerful. Our cannon and matchlocks were utterly outmatched, and our soldiers suffered grievous losses. At the Great Eastern Gate alone, we lost over two thousand from the Han Army Banner and more than three thousand from the Mongol Eight Banners.”

“Desheng Gate was much the same,” Dodo added. “Today, all of Zu Dashou’s Han Army Banner was shattered. We had to urgently call in Mongol Eight Banner reinforcements. Total losses were around six thousand.”

The listeners all sucked in sharp breaths. Over ten thousand casualties in a single day—how many troops did Shengjing have in total? At this rate, the entire garrison would be wiped out in less than ten days.

Seeing everyone silent, Hogg continued, “Your Majesty, my Plain White Banner fought too fiercely today. I hope that tomorrow we can be rotated out and have another banner defend the Great Eastern Gate.”

“I second this,” Dodo unexpectedly echoed, despite his usual discord with Hogg. “The Ming army is focusing its attacks on Desheng Gate and the Great Eastern Gate. Relying on a single banner to defend is far too difficult. I suggest the Eight Banners rotate their defenses.”

“Your Majesty, that won’t do,” Du Du, the lord of the Bordered Blue Banner, stepped forward after they finished. “When the late emperor was alive, he decreed that the eight gates of Shengjing be defended separately by the Eight Banners, each with its own sector. They cannot be rotated at will. Moreover, those fighting desperately today were the Han Army Banner and the Mongol Eight Banners. The strength of your banners doesn’t seem to have suffered much—why can’t you continue fighting?”

“Bullshit!”

Du Du’s words instantly enraged Hogg and Dodo. Dodo stepped forward, pointing at Du Du. “From three days ago, the Ming army has been pounding our two gates with artillery. Even then, the Bordered Yellow Banner and Plain White Banner had already taken heavy losses, and today we held the walls all day. We fought to the death while you stood by watching, and now you say this—aren’t you ashamed?”

“Hmph…” Du Du realized he had gone too far. He snorted and fell silent, though he still stubbornly refused to agree to the rotation.

In the end, it was Daišan, the senior Prince Li, who spoke. “We are all descendants of the Taizu and should support one another. With a great enemy at our gates, how can we all try to preserve our own strength? In my view, since the Ming army’s focus is on the Great Eastern Gate and Desheng Gate, the Eight Banners should rotate, each defending those positions for one day. What do you think?”

Seeing no response, Daišan added grimly, “Do you really intend to watch the Bordered Yellow Banner and Plain White Banner be completely spent before you’re satisfied?”

Hearing this, and seeing Dorgon’s gloomy expression on the throne, the others finally agreed grudgingly. In their minds, guarding for one day per banner didn’t seem too difficult. But the brutality of the fighting on the second day far exceeded their expectations.

When the sun rose the next morning, the Ming army again bombarded the walls with artillery. After the barrage, they formed up in a clear assault posture. The Qing troops hiding behind the walls crawled out from the ruins, preparing to repel the attack.

That day, the defenders of the Great Eastern Gate and Desheng Gate were Du Du’s Bordered Blue Banner and Ajige’s Bordered Red Banner—and it was fated to be a day of bloodshed for them.

Two li from the city walls, Yue Yang stood on high ground, watching the neatly formed Ming ranks advance toward the walls. He turned to Hu Dawei beside him and said, “General Yang fought well yesterday, but we still had over seven hundred casualties. Today your attack must be even more cautious. Do not let the troops charge blindly—coordinate closely with the musketeers. For now, you’re only to feint. Wait until the hot-air balloons finish their bombing before launching the general assault. Understood?”

Hu Dawei grinned foolishly and scratched the back of his head. “Since the Marquis has ordered it, I’ll obey. I’ve fought wars my whole life, but I’ve never seen tactics like this before. And having heavenly soldiers and generals come to aid us—this is truly a first.”

At this, everyone smiled. A fortress like Shengjing, guarded by over a hundred thousand elite troops, would ordinarily require more than three hundred thousand attackers to even attempt a siege, with astronomical daily casualties. Yet now, after a full day of fighting, they had wiped out over ten thousand enemies while suffering fewer than a thousand losses themselves—and the Marquis still thought the casualties too high. It was almost nitpicking.

“Enough laughing,” Yue Yang scolded. “Think about how high our compensation payments are now. Every additional casualty costs us more silver. If you want to save money, you’d better fight carefully. Do you all understand?”

“Yes… we obey the Marquis,” everyone replied with laughter. Hu Dawei clasped his fists toward Yue Yang and went off to command his troops.

Watching Qing soldiers gradually appear atop the walls, Yue Yang narrowed his eyes and muttered, “No matter what, today Shengjing City is mine. A bunch of natives who just crawled out of the deep forests dare to covet our Chinese lands—utterly courting death! Today I’ll let you taste the flames of death from hell itself.”

As his words fell, more than a dozen massive hot-air balloons drifted slowly toward the walls of Shengjing.

“Kill—!”

With soldiers hoisting scaling ladders and charging forward, the second day of the siege battle began…