Chapter 8: Observing the Battle (1)

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  Zhu Yinglong brought a group of carefully selected and specially trained people on this trip to the north, and they basically won't have any problems with disguise and concealment.

  Zhu Yinglong led the group, including Xiong Tingbie, to sneak up to the top of the mountain on the right side of Nurhaci's camp. He took out his binoculars and looked around, seeing the Eight Banners soldiers rushing towards Ningyuan City, shouting and killing. The city was also filled with flags and smoke, with cannons firing continuously from the city walls, spewing out flames. The Qing soldiers were falling down in large numbers at the foot of the city wall, but still, they continued to charge forward fearlessly. Besides the cannons, there was also a continuous rain of arrows shooting down from the city walls, and the moat had already been filled up by one-third.

  Xiong Tingbi saw the great battle below the mountain, but the distance was really too far, and he couldn't see clearly. Among them, Zhu Yinglong now had a telescope that could see the actual situation of the great battle, and his heart itched so much that he couldn't bear it, just like a drunkard who encountered good wine, which was right in front of him but not allowed to drink, this would have driven him mad. He didn't dare to open his mouth to ask Zhu Yinglong, and he stared at the telescope in Zhu Yinglong's hand with envy, something he had never seen before.

  Lu Haitian was the same, lying here and hearing a burst of killing shouts, but further away it became muffled, and he had no idea what the situation was like. His heart was like cat claws scratching, especially wanting to see how this battle would turn out.

  "Your Highness, Your Highness, may I borrow this telescope to take a look?" Xiong Tingyi couldn't help it. A seasoned general who had been through hundreds of battles was already finding it difficult to be kept away from the battlefield. Now that the battlefield was right in front of him, he couldn't even get a clear view, and although it was due to objective reasons, this was still unbearable for him.

  "Go, go to the bundle of this king to fetch it. Inside, there are still four telescopes, General Xiong, Captain Lu and Lianiang each have one."

  Xiong Tingbi was overjoyed and didn't wait for Lu Haotian to react, he pounced on the package behind Zhu Yinglong's back, his speed was indeed that of a seasoned veteran of a hundred battles.

  Four brand new telescopes were revealed, Xiong Tingbi took one for himself and handed one to Xiong Hu, Lu Haotian also took one, leaving the last one back in Zhu Yinglong's backpack.

  "Prince, you're being too biased. Isn't there one left? Why not let me take a look?" Shen Xi said with some resentment, feeling unfair that even Lian Xiong Hu had gotten one, while he and Zhu Ying Long's oldest man hadn't.

  Zhu Yinglong heard Shen Xi's complaints and thought to himself, "They've all given theirs, it's a bit unfair not to give him one too." But what would this merchant want with it? This last one was reserved for Yuan Chonghuan. After a moment's consideration, he came up with a compromise: "Alright, Old Shen, you take it first, but this one can't be given to you. When we return to Kaifeng, I'll have someone make a new one for you, how about that?"

  "Let's go! Thanks, Your Highness!" Shen Xi excitedly grabbed the last telescope and eagerly raised it to his eyes, gazing out at the battlefield.

  Zhu Yinglong's words had barely left his lips when Xiong Tingbi and the other two were overjoyed. The three telescopes in their hands were originally intended as gifts from the prince. Telescopes were rare throughout the Ming dynasty, and most of them came from the red-haired foreigners, besides being single-tube, long and inconvenient to carry. Where could they find such a wonderful new-style binocular telescope, short and compact, allowing both eyes to see at once, and even wearable around the neck?

  Xiong Tingbi brought the telescope to his eyes, and the Ming soldiers on the Ningyuan city tower more than ten miles away could be seen clearly drawing their bows and shooting arrows. He exclaimed: "Your Highness, where did you buy this telescope? It can see much farther than the one I used before!"

  "Buy?" Zhu Yinglong still gazed at the bloody battlefield, and chuckled: "General Xiong, have you ever seen a telescope like mine?"

  "Before he could finish speaking, a sudden urgent voice cried out, 'Your Highness, look quickly! The Later Jin has launched another fierce attack!'"

  "Hmm, I see. The Houjin actually paid such a huge price to fill up the moat." Zhu Yinglong had been paying attention to every single one of Houjin's attacks from the very beginning.

  Xiong Hu had never seen such a massive siege, with tens of thousands of people clashing, blood staining the city walls, and limbs scattered everywhere. As a woman, every time she saw a life disappear before her eyes, the bloody scene made Xiong Hu's heart undergo a tremendous change, her face turned pale, and she finally understood what war was. If she were to enter the battlefield now, she probably wouldn't even have the strength to hold a knife.

  "The enemy will estimate that there will be three more such attacks, and then the moat can be filled!" Xiong Tingbi put down his binoculars and analyzed.

  "What's the use of filling up the moat? Does Nurhachi think he can't take the city with cavalry?" Zhu Yinglong said, taking his eyes off the telescope.

  "Of course not, Nurhaci wanted to use cavalry archery to cover the infantry's attack on the city, but outside the moat, it was too far away. The Later Jin did not have giant crossbows, and the cavalry archery could not play a covering role at all. Therefore, Nurhaci had to fill up the moat." Xiong Tingbi explained to Zhu Yinglong.

  "If Nurhaci's cavalry were in the position of the moat, wouldn't they become live targets for the Ming army on the city wall? Would Nurhaci do such a foolish thing?" Zhu Yinglong asked in puzzlement.

  "Nurhaci is not a fool, he now has many soldiers and generals, Ningyuan city only has so many people, as long as he chooses to make a fake attack on three sides and a main attack on one side, the limited number of defenders inside the city will have to divide their forces to defend against it. This is a huge hidden danger for Ningyuan city which does not have many soldiers. If he uses cavalry archers to cover infantry attacks on the city and attracts most of the defending forces of Ningyuan city, he can completely turn one side of the fake attack into the main attack. If the defender cannot find a way to respond to this kind of attack, it's only a matter of time before Ningyuan city falls!" Xiong Tingbi explained, after everyone listened, they all had a sudden realization and gained a deeper understanding of Nurhaci.

  "Captain, how many of our Ming guards do you think are in Ningyuan City?" Lu Haotian asked Xiong Tingyi, although he was still a bit unaccustomed to the title "Captain", but since they no longer belonged to the Divine Machine Battalion's roster, they had to follow Zhu Yinglong's requirements.

  Xiong Tingbi shook his head and said, "I really can't guess this. The commander of Ningyuan City is General Yuan Chonghuan. When he went to Liaodong, I was imprisoned, although we have a good private relationship, but I don't understand how he uses troops at all."

  "Ling Niang sees that there are at most 15,000 troops!" Xiong Hu suddenly spoke up.

  Zhu Yinglong was greatly surprised in his heart, because he knew that the history books recorded that during the first Ningyuan Defense War, there were only about 10,000 soldiers in Ningyuan City, and even if you counted the able-bodied young men who could fight, it would be around 15,000 at most. He didn't expect Xiong Hu to actually figure it out, which surprised Zhu Yinglong.

  "Ling Niang, don't talk nonsense. Can you guess how your Uncle Yuan wages war?" Xiong Tingyi rebuked lightly with a tone of displeasure.

  Zhu Yinglong hastily stood up and said: "Li Niang, tell me and everyone else, how did you figure out that Ningyuan City only has 15,000 troops?"

  Kong Hu looked at his father, saw that his face didn't have a stopping intention, cleared his throat and said: "Ningyuan City is about 10 kilometers in circumference, with four sides of city walls. If the troops are divided to defend each side, at least 3,000 soldiers are needed for each side's defense. But now we see that the north side of the city wall has only around 1,500 soldiers, and the rest are young and strong men, so it's roughly around 12,000 people. If the Later Jin army continuously attacks, then each side will need to replace troops, alternating defenses, which would require about 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers. After more than a dozen attacks earlier, casualties were at least over 1,000 people, so Li believed that there are less than 15,000 soldiers inside Ningyuan City."

  Zhu Yinglong nodded in agreement with Xiong Hu's analysis, but in fact he was still an outsider when it came to military matters. This time he had come to learn, and compared to Xiong Hu, he was even more inexperienced. Apart from some novel and strange theories that weren't even his own practical experiences, they were things he had learned from who-knows-how-many predecessors in that other space-time.