Chapter 3: Surprise Attack on Shengjing

  It was night, Wang Pu's big account.

  Wang Pu called Xiao Qi over and asked: "Xiao Qi, how many firearms are there in the camp?"

  Xiao Qi was Wang Pu's trusted housekeeper, and the military supplies and rations were under his management. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an account book, took a look, and replied: "Including bird guns, fire guns, and three-eyed guns, there are actually over 2,300 firearms in the camp, however..."

  "But how?"

  "But actually usable ones are probably just around a thousand."

  Wang Pu angrily said: "What's going on? Why are less than half of the firearms usable?"

  Xiao Qi said with a hint of grievance: "General, you've forgotten. You said that maintaining these firearms was too expensive, so they were thrown into the warehouse and left unattended. As a result, more than half of them have rusted and can't be used."

  "Alright, let's just say one thousand is one thousand. Immediately send someone to collect all these firearms and re-allocate twice the amount of gunpowder and lead bullets. Wang Pu frowned and said, "Also, gather all the household guards, oh yes, and distribute three days' worth of dry rations to each person."

  "Right now?" Xiao Qi asked in surprise.

  "Right." Wang Pu said in a low voice, "Now, if we're late, it will be too late."

  This is not a groundless statement. Hong Chengchou was thinking of engaging in a decisive battle with the Qing army tomorrow, but Tang Tong and Wu Sangui must have already thought about escaping overnight. Once these guys escape, the Qing army will take advantage of the situation to launch an attack, and by then it will be too late. Therefore, we must act before Tang Tong and Wu Sangui escape.

  "Alright, I'll go take care of it."

  Xiao Qi nodded and left with the order.

  Less than half a time later, Xiao Qi had gathered more than a thousand households of Ding to the school field.

  Wang Pu looked around, under the bright firelight, over a thousand cavalrymen were staring at him unwaveringly. These thousand-odd cavalrymen were all Wang Pu's trusted personal guards, the cream of the crop among the elite troops. In their eyes, there was only Wang Pu, their master, and not the Ming Empire. The personal guard unit was an abnormal product that emerged during the evolution of the Ming military system, a special group within the Ming army.

  Here it is necessary to briefly introduce the military system of the Great Ming Empire:

  After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Empire, he created the hereditary military system, incorporating national troops into local garrisons and allocating land to them according to the number of people. This solved both the army's food supply and local defense. The hereditary military system played an important role in its early stages, but as time went on, its drawbacks gradually emerged. Some officers arbitrarily occupied farmland, appropriating public resources for private use, while soldiers at the bottom level became slaves exploited by various levels of officers.

  Due to the unbearable exploitation by officials at all levels, more and more military households chose to flee. By the Jiajing period, the shortage of troops in various garrisons had exceeded 70%, and the remaining 30% who did not escape were mostly old, weak, sickly, and unable to fight. The powerful Wei-Suo army established by Zhu Yuanzhang with great effort had already become a mere empty shell.

  In order to supplement the troops, the Ming rulers had to adopt other methods, and thus there was a conscription system. The conscription system was quickly replaced by the volunteer soldier system because of the uneven quality of the soldiers recruited. By the late Ming dynasty, the volunteer soldiers had become the main force of the army.

  Unfortunately, however, the recruitment system also has congenital defects that cannot be solved.

  Those who hold military power in their hands, the provincial commanders, embezzle military pay, and eating empty salaries becomes a universal phenomenon. They are only willing to spend money on their private household troops, but not on the national standing army. As a result, the Ming Empire's standing army has various problems such as insufficient personnel, lax equipment, lack of training, etc., which ultimately leads to the repeated defeats of the Ming army.

  The most typical example is the Battle of Sarhu, where the Ming army claimed to have 200,000 soldiers, but in reality had at most 70,000 to 80,000. Yang Hao, a bookworm who didn't understand military affairs, came up with a tactic of dividing and conquering, which ended up giving Nurhaci a huge advantage. In fact, even if the Ming army had divided their troops into four routes, and were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troop numbers, if the Ming army hadn't already rotted to the core, Nurhaci wouldn't have been able to win the Battle of Sarhu with his 50,000 to 60,000 eight-banner soldiers who were equipped with outdated gear.

  Seeing the thousands of households, each with a full spirit and a majestic momentum, Wang Pu nodded in satisfaction and asked Xiao Qi beside him: "Have the firearms and dry rations been distributed?"

  "They've all been distributed." Little Seven nodded and said, "Two doses of gunpowder lead bullets per person, and three days' worth of dry rations."

  "Are all the horses bridled?"

  "It's all set, the horse hooves are also wrapped with cotton cloth." Xiao Qi said, "General, rest assured, night marching cannot make a sound, this common sense I still know."

  "That's good." Wang Pu said, "Extinguish the torches and set off."

  Xiao Qi ran two steps forward and stood in front of the reviewing stand, shouting at the top of his lungs: "The general has ordered, extinguish the torches, depart!"

  Over a thousand households extinguished their torches, then mounted their horses and surged towards the gate in the dark night sky. A military mobilization of this scale could not possibly be hidden from the soldiers in the camp. More and more soldiers ran out of their tents, these soldiers did not know what had happened, they began to speculate, an uneasy atmosphere began to spread throughout the army.

  "General, wait."

  In the midst of the urgent hoofbeats, Deputy General Zhao Wuzhu of Datong spurred his horse to catch up with Wang Pu, and asked excitedly: "General, where are you going?"

  "What?" Wang Pu said in a low voice, "Does General need to ask for your advice before sending troops?"

  "This..." Zhao Wuzhu said, "General, since you want to send troops, shouldn't you let us know? Besides, sir, you left with your personal guards without a word, what about the tens of thousands of brothers in the big camp?"

  Wang Pao said: "You are the deputy commander of Datong Town, if this general dies in battle or goes out, the more than 10,000 brothers in the big camp will naturally be commanded by you. Does this simple military rule still need to be taught by this general?"

  "But..."

  Wang Pu shouted: "Less nonsense, get out of the way."

  Seeing the murderous intent revealed in Wang Pu's eyes, Zhao Muzhu couldn't help but shiver and retreated to clear the way. Wang Pu turned his horse around and left with a long sigh. As he was about to exit the camp gate, Wang Pu still couldn't resist turning back for one last look, and a hint of regret flashed across his eyes. Wang Pu didn't want to abandon the over 10,000 Ming soldiers in the main camp, but he had no other choice.

  Bijiashan has fallen, and the defeat in Songshan is now certain!

  Hong Chengchou was thinking of fighting a decisive battle with the Qing army, but Tang Tong and Wu Sangui would not give him this opportunity. Staying behind meant death, and following Tang Tong's escape also meant death!

  The Manchu slave emperor Taizong had already adjusted his troops and dispatched multiple routes of elite soldiers to guard the roads that the Ming army would have to take when retreating. As soon as the Ming army began to retreat, the entire army would lose its will to fight, and they could only lament that their parents had not given birth to two more legs for them to run with. Furthermore, with the Qing army blocking in front and pursuing from behind, a historical tragedy was about to be reenacted.

  Even if Wang Pu can kill his way out of the chaotic army and escape back to Shanhai Pass, his ultimate fate will only be death. Emperor Chongzhen has never been lenient towards defeated generals. The reason Wu Sangui was able to escape death in history is that the Great Ming Empire at that time really had no one else to use, and could only rely on him to support the situation outside the pass.

  Then stay and die with Hong Chengchou in Songshan?

  That's also a dead end! The 130,000-strong army under Hong Chengchou was the last mobile force of the Ming Empire, and Emperor Chongzhen could no longer dispatch many troops to lift the siege of Songshan.

  Escaping is death, staying is also death, it seems like Wang Pu has no way out?

  In fact, there is another way for Wang Pu to go, that is to launch a surprise attack on the capital of the Qing Dynasty - Shengjing, and then take a detour through Korea to seize ships and escape by sea back to Dengzhou. As long as Wang Pu can capture the old nest of Jianluo, Shengjing, and grab something, it will be enough to offset the great crime of losing the battle at Songshan, and Wang Pu can still safely serve as his commander-in-chief of Datong.

  Of course, surprise attack on Shengjing can be said to be extremely dangerous, and it's not an exaggeration to describe it as a narrow escape from death. At least there is still a glimmer of hope!

  Nowadays, the commander of Datong, Wang Pu, is a rough and tumble origin, waiting to die, gains and losses have never been his style of doing things. Once something has been decided, no matter how difficult it may be, he will stick to it until the end.

  Since it's a surprise attack, the key is the word "surprise", relying on the element of surprise to win, and to achieve this, one needs to conceal their tracks and advance quickly. Therefore, Wang Pu cannot bring along more than 10,000 soldiers from the main camp. The reason is simple: bringing along these soldiers would not only make it impossible to conceal their tracks but also severely slow down the marching speed.

  There is another more important reason, previously Wang Pu arbitrarily deducted military pay and exploited the soldiers, and the army had long been dissatisfied with him. Once these soldiers knew that Wang Pu was going to lead them to attack Jianzhou's capital, it would definitely trigger a mutiny. Rather than messing up at that time, it is better to cut through the chaos now and directly abandon more than 10,000 soldiers!

  Can't bear to part with one's children, can't make a wolf wear a sheepskin!

  Wang Pu led over a thousand households to leave the main camp, taking advantage of the darkness to move forward for several miles before turning into a low-lying area to lie in ambush. The Qing army's main camp was not far ahead, and moving forward would easily be discovered by the Qing army. This was a critical moment, and if Wang Pu had not guessed wrong, the Qing army inside the camp might have already been waiting with bated breath.

  At this time, once discovered by the Qing army, it's all over.

  PS: New book uploaded, please vote for recommendation, brothers!

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