novelden Chapter 756 Dorgon's New Scheme
Chapter 756 Dorgon's New Scheme
The Qing soldiers watched as their opponents swam faster and faster, soon out of the range of their arrows. They themselves couldn't swim and were helpless, so they could only beat their chests in frustration.
Taktan reacted quickly. He saw the dark cannon muzzle on the side of the large ship opposite him, shuddered, and shouted, "They're probably going to fire again! Get out of here!"
The Qing soldiers then came to their senses. The enemy infantry had used the seawater to escape, and without any worries, they feared the cannons were about to fire again, so they hurriedly ran towards the shore. The personal guards carried the wounded and fallen Hauge, and under the cover of a group of Bayara, they walked at the front.
Just as Taktan had predicted, the cannons on the large ship opened fire again. Without the worry of friendly fire, this time they switched to exploding shells.
"Boom boom boom..."
A deluge of shells rained down, exploding on the beach. The blast waves sent people flying, shrapnel flying everywhere, and the Qing soldiers screamed in terror. Compared to solid shot, explosive shells had a far greater psychological impact, completely shattering the Qing army's will to fight.
Amidst the deafening roar of cannons, the Qing army retreated from the battlefield in disarray, leaving behind piles of mangled corpses on the beach. In the battle of Jinzhou coast, the Qing army suffered over a thousand dead and countless wounded. Their commander, Hauge, was seriously wounded and, under the desperate cover of his men, was carried back to Jinzhou city, never daring to step out of the city gates again.
On the Shandong, Li Fei said to Boerhu, "Good brother, you did a good job. I will ask the general for commendation for you when we get back."
"Thank you, Master." Bor replied with regret, "Unfortunately, our casualties are also quite high. Although we haven't taken stock yet, we have at least three to five hundred casualties. We can't hold out against them for the time being."
"It's alright. This battle has established the reputation of the Qionghai Marine Corps and made Hauge and others realize that we are not to be trifled with, whether on land or at sea. The mission to reclaim Liaonan will not be easy to complete. Our goal of holding them back has been achieved." Li Fei comforted him. "The Zhenglan Banner army has at least tens of thousands of men. The number of men who came out of the city to pursue you this time is estimated to be around seven or eight thousand. To achieve such results and be able to retreat unscathed is already quite good."
"So what should we do next?"
Li Fei gazed in the direction of Jinzhou and said confidently, "As long as our fleet is still sailing around southern Liaoning, neither Hauge nor Dorgon will dare to retreat to Liaodong. We can send some ships back to Dengzhou to recuperate and resupply, and then rotate them. As long as we keep more than half of the ships in the Jinzhou and Lushun area, we'll be fine."
A few days later, Dorgon's Plain White Banner army arrived in Jinzhou and entered the city.
Through scouts relaying messages, Dorgon learned of Hauge's defeat before even arriving in Jinzhou. Dorgon's feelings about this were complex: on the one hand, he was pleased with Hauge's setback; on the other hand, as a member of the Qing Dynasty's power structure, he was unwilling to see the Ming Dynasty produce such a formidable army. With these feelings in mind, he visited Hauge, finding him bedridden at the Jinzhou garrison headquarters, which served as a temporary command post.
To Dorgon's surprise, the once arrogant Hauge appeared unusually dejected. The severe injury to his shoulder had left his face pale and his expression dejected. It was likely that the psychological setback from this battle was more severe than the physical trauma.
Dorgon concealed his true thoughts and asked with concern, "How is Prince Su's injury? If it is serious, I will send someone to take you back to Shengjing. After all, there is a lack of medical care and medicine in this place, which is not conducive to the recovery of your injuries. If anything happens to you, how can I explain it to the Emperor?"
Hauge replied curtly, "Thank you for your concern, Fourteenth Uncle. I am still holding on. I dare not return without completing the task assigned by Father Emperor."
Looking at the thick white cloth wrapped around the other man's shoulders, Dorgon sneered inwardly: "Just keep at it and see how long you can last. I'm afraid you're worried about being scolded when you go back defeated, while I take all the credit for this battle."
Thinking this to himself, he said aloud, "Prince Su, we must not be careless. The Ming army's muskets have poisoned lead bullets, and gunshot wounds are more difficult to treat than ordinary sword wounds. It would be bad if any hidden dangers were left behind."
Hauge was startled. He knew the lead was poisonous. Although the lead had been picked out in time after the battle, who knew if it had been cleaned properly? But he didn’t want to show weakness in front of Dorgon, so he braced himself and said, “It’s alright. I’m in good health. A small gunshot wound is nothing to me.”
Seeing his insistence, Dorgon stopped trying to persuade him. He had already said what he needed to say, and whether the man lived or died was no longer his concern. He then changed the subject: "I've heard that this Ming army is very troublesome, unlike any army the Qing has ever encountered. Prince Su is personally leading the charge. Do you have any insights?"
Speaking of this opponent, Hauge gritted his teeth: "This Ming army isn't some kind of superhuman force. In terms of archery and horsemanship, they're not as skilled as our Qing elite troops, but they're about on par with the White-Spear Soldiers and Qi Jiguang's army from Zhejiang back then. However, besides their sharp firearms, which are equipped with hardened short blades on the muzzles, allowing them to attack from a distance or engage in close combat, they've combined the advantages of the White-Spear Soldiers and the Zhejiang soldiers. Dealing with them requires suffering heavy casualties. The most important thing in this battle is that they chose to confront our main force on the coast, relying on the cannons of their large ships at sea, which has wounded many of our warriors. We still haven't found a way to counter this." He then recounted the details of the battle that day.
After listening, Dorgon frowned and said, "Relying on large ships at sea, such tactics can only be used occasionally, so they are not a big threat. What I'm worried about is that their main force's field artillery is no less powerful than their warships, which would be troublesome. I heard that Ajige and Abatai also encountered them and suffered a great defeat outside the capital of the Ming Dynasty."
Thinking of Ajige and Abatai's defeats, Hauge felt somewhat at ease, and his breathing became much smoother. He asked, "Now that this Ming army has retreated to the sea, we can't reach them or drive them away. As soon as the main force withdraws, they will return by sea. Aren't we stuck here? How can we deal with them? Does Uncle Fourteen have a good plan?" Although he harbored many complaints about Dorgon, Hauge couldn't deny that the other man was more astute than himself. To successfully drive away or even annihilate this Ming army that relied on warships and moved like the wind, he could only rely on his Uncle Fourteen for now.
Dorgon smiled: "The Han Chinese's Art of War has a strategy called 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao.' Right now, we can't do anything to the warships at sea, but I've already sent men to investigate and learned that they have troops stationed at Port Arthur, because this place is a crucial link between Pi Island and Shandong. As long as we attack Port Arthur with all our might, forcing the enemy to defend it, we can hope to lure these Ming troops ashore, then set up an ambush and annihilate them..."
Hauge was ashamed: "So it turns out that Fourteenth Uncle had a plan all along. I admire you." He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Regardless of whether this plan will succeed or not, it is at least the best way at present. No wonder this Fourteenth Uncle has been suppressed by Father Emperor for so many years. Not only has he not been defeated, but his power has become stronger and stronger. He is quite capable.