latelenovela Chapter 611 A Marathon Battle
Chapter 611 A Marathon Battle
Wang Hong was utterly dumbfounded. He had heard of the victories at Qionghai Town, and the news of capturing the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang alive had been announced to the world by the imperial court, but these things did not make him think that the Qionghai Army was particularly powerful. However, after witnessing the Qionghai Army slaughtering the arrogant Tartars like pigs and sheep, he realized what kind of army he was facing.
The thought of his resolute refusal of the Qionghai garrison commander's request for troops sent him sent chills down Wang Hong's spine. Offending Yang Sichang would likely lead to future trouble, but offending Liu Ye might also result in a violent confrontation if Liu Ye, in his anger and humiliation, turned against him. If such troops were to storm Jinghai County, Wang Hong felt his fate would be even worse than that of the Tartars.
Liu Ye had no time to consider Wang Hong's feelings; his only thought was how to catch up with Abatai.
Regardless of whether being the General of Guangdong and going to Tianjin to fight the Tartars was considered futile, or the logistical difficulties of fighting in a foreign land, these obstacles could not shake Liu Ye's determination. Whether it was Abatai or Ajige ahead, he wanted to defeat them. The Later Jin had only a handful of generals capable of leading independently; killing one meant one less, which would greatly reduce resistance when he became emperor and launched a northern expedition to Liaodong. If it were Huang Taiji personally leading the campaign, he would spare no expense, even if it meant losing all his troops—if he could eliminate Huang Taiji at this juncture, the Later Jin would fall into disarray, greatly reducing the threat to the interior. Huang Taiji was a shrewd and ambitious figure, the soul of the Later Jin, deserving the title of "great talent and strategy." Besides the foundation laid by Nurhaci, the greatest credit for the rise of the Later Jin should go to him. Dorgon was certainly shrewd, but in terms of territorial expansion, he was a level below Huang Taiji. In Liu Ye's view, if Huang Taiji and Chongzhen had switched places, with Huang Taiji's vision, skills and courage, the Ming Dynasty would never have fallen, and the Later Jin would never have been able to cross the Shanhaiguan Pass.
The strategy of using cavalry to entangle the enemy while infantry pursued them began to show results. Although Liu Guozhu could not confront the Later Jin cavalry head-on, he took advantage of their eagerness to retreat and their lack of will to fight. By catching up and engaging in close combat, he could greatly slow down the Later Jin army's march and give the Qionghai Army the opportunity to catch up.
Although Abatai was willing to make drastic sacrifices, repeatedly sending troops to deal with Liu Guozhu, it couldn't buy him much time. The Qionghai Army would catch up soon, leaving one or two thousand men to clean up the mess, while the rest could maintain their pursuit.
Xu Yifan led the Second Regiment at the forefront. After encountering the second wave of Tartars, he left the First and Second Battalions to deal with them. Not long after, the Third and Fourth Battalions finished off the previous opponents and caught up, continuing the pursuit with him and Liu Guozhu. Next came the First Regiment and the Independent Regiment, the large contingent jogging forward, barely glancing at the fighting. In their view, it was only a matter of time before the Second Regiment wiped out these cannon fodder troops; they only needed to maintain their momentum.
This tactic of taking bites off pieces of flesh and pursuing in staggered waves put Abatai in a difficult position. While cavalry were certainly faster than infantry, the Baoding garrison was entirely composed of cavalry, making it difficult to completely shake them off. Stopping to engage them would fall into Qionghai Town's trap, allowing them to catch up and then attack from both sides, plunging him into utter ruin. Leaving some troops to cover the rear would allow the enemy cavalry, in coordination with infantry, to quickly wipe them out. Repeating this process several times would be like a strong man being repeatedly bled dry; even the strongest man couldn't withstand such torment. If this continued, the entire Plain Blue Banner army would likely be worn down and killed before even reaching Shunyi.
Abatai looked at the billowing dust behind him—the troops from Baoding were catching up again—and felt a sense of despair. If things continued like this, it would be difficult to escape Qionghai Town. If they were to fight the enemy in this situation, their chances of survival would be slim.
Gartu came to his side and asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, why don't we have a good fight with them? Being chased like a stray dog is really frustrating. Let's have a quick and decisive battle!"
Abatai resisted the urge to adopt the suggestion and said in a deep voice, "Don't act rashly. We're not at our wits' end yet. We still have a chance to escape. As long as we find an opportunity to wipe out that Ming cavalry, Qionghai Town won't be able to catch up with us unless they grow wings. Remember the Han Chinese saying: 'Where there's life, there's hope.' As long as we preserve the foundation of the Plain Blue Banner, we'll have a chance to return to the interior of China and make our way back to the humiliation of today."
Gartu lowered his head: "Your Highness is right, I acted impulsively."
The pursuit lasted from noon until dusk, with more than a dozen battles of varying sizes taking place. Although intermittent, the ferocity was no less than that of a long campaign. In this marathon-like pursuit, the Later Jin lost more than 3,000 men. Although most of them were cannon fodder and the elite troops were relatively intact, the army, which had numbered 15,000 before entering Shandong, was now less than 8,000 after several battles in a few days, a reduction of half. The losses were extremely heavy. The Qionghai Army suffered relatively fewer casualties, but Liu Guozhu's men still lost 2,000 men in the pursuit, either killed or separated from their ranks, a loss of nearly half.
The Later Jin army had been marching at high intensity all the way from Shandong, and with the enemy's harassment along the way, they were exhausted and could no longer move quickly. However, Liu Guozhu's troops were also exhausted and were only holding on by sheer willpower. Neither side could move fast, and the battle had become a contest of willpower and endurance. Whoever relaxed their grip first would completely collapse.
Liu Guozhu ordered his men to keep a close watch on the Tartars ahead, keeping a safe distance behind. Then he turned around and met up with the Qionghai Army, finding Liu Ye. He said worriedly, "General Liu, I'm not afraid of fighting the Tartars, nor am I afraid of being injured or dying. However, people need food to survive, and my men aren't made of iron. They set off from Bazhou, arrived in Tianjin in half a day, didn't eat a single grain of rice at noon, and then chased the Tartars without stopping. Now they are starving. If we continue fighting, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on..."
Liu Ye glanced discreetly in the direction of Tianjin. He didn't know why Qin Tian hadn't sent any news yet, but he absolutely couldn't tell Liu Guozhu about this. If Liu Guozhu knew that their food supply might be cut off and they would have to fight on empty stomachs, he might understand, but his men's morale would definitely be dampened, and they would lose their courage to fight. Without their assistance, his infantry alone would never be able to catch up with Abatai, and this pursuit would be in vain.