Chapter 50 Finally Escaping Unscathed

Chen Liyuan inwardly praised Lu Xiangsheng for his magnificent generosity. He was well aware of how much a bounty of ten taels of silver for rescuing a single wounded soldier would attract his men, and Lu Xiangsheng's explicit rule spared him from awkward dilemmas. Such a superior officer was truly exceptional. Harboring these stray thoughts, he quickened his pace outward while shouting, "Two men to a stretcher! Lift the wounded carefully, watch out!"

Du Guangting was struggling to hold his ground. Although the situation had improved significantly after receiving reinforcements from the cavalry battalion, they were still generally at a disadvantage. The main problem lay with the wounded. Although most of the injured bit their lips and refrained from crying out loud, the surrounding soldiers could not help but be affected by the sight of their comrades' suffering, worrying that they might become the next casualties—a prospect that would spell serious trouble.

At this moment, Chen Liyuan rode ahead and called out, "We have been ordered by Division Commander Lu to rescue the wounded and are completely unarmed. Please, fellow soldiers, do not worry." He possessed enough self-awareness to know that his men suddenly rushing into the ranks of the Imperial Guards might cause misunderstandings, so he thought it best to announce themselves first.

Soon, those "brave" Han troops rushed over. Upon spotting the wounded on the ground, two men would immediately lift them from front and back, then sprint back rapidly. If they moved fast enough, they might even get several chances to save lives—and every single one of them meant hard cash!

Outside the city gate arch, medical officers and apprentices were waiting. Nearby, able-bodied men held stretchers ready. As soon as the Han troops placed a wounded soldier onto a stretcher, an Imperial Guard officer would immediately press twenty silver coins into their hands. Gazing at these exquisitely crafted silver coins, the Han troops ran even faster and more enthusiastically.

Although carrying a wounded soldier with two men yielded the same monetary reward as carrying a corpse alone on one's back, the Han troops considered carrying corpses to be inauspicious. Therefore, they prioritized the wounded, turning to corpses only when no injured men were left.

Consequently, the wounded were swiftly evacuated. By this time, the Imperial Guard soldiers had learned that arrows usually inflicted wounds only when striking specific areas, so they began to better protect those vulnerable spots. As a result, the number of casualties plummeted sharply, and knowing the wounded were receiving proper care tremendously boosted the troops' morale.

At this juncture, Du Guangting ordered his men to fight while retreating, gradually pulling out of the range covered by the Later Jin heavy infantry's archers. At this distance, the striking power of the matchlock fire-tubes was not noticeably diminished, meaning the Later Jin forces continued to suffer casualties while the Imperial Guards sustained virtually none.

Yoto surveyed the surrounding Later Jin archers; each had loosed around seven or eight arrows, and the accuracy and force of their shots had drastically waned, with some men no longer capable of drawing their bows at all. Consequently, he ordered the remaining capable armored soldiers to advance while shooting, closing the distance with the Imperial Guards, and to launch a close-quarters melee charge once the range was sufficiently narrow.

Lu Xiangsheng had been observing the situation from atop the city walls through a telescope. Seeing that the Later Jin troops had entered the artillery's effective range, he immediately gave the order to fire. The artillerymen, who had long been eager to test their mettle, swiftly ignited the fuses upon receiving the command. A series of thunderous cannon roars soon merged into a continuous din, and iron balls of varying sizes plunged into the Later Jin formations, bouncing and rolling, snuffing out the lives of one armored soldier after another.

Anyone merely grazed by a bouncing iron ball was essentially beyond saving. Even if death was not instantaneous, the agonizing, miserable shrieks were enough to terrify the rest of the Later Jin troops so thoroughly that they dared not charge any further.

Yoto stood stunned for a moment. It was not as though he had never witnessed Ming dynasty artillery before, but the Imperial Guard cannons seemed to have a significantly greater range than any he had previously encountered, and the shells were visibly larger. For a crucial moment, he forgot to give the order to retreat. Then, a second volley of artillery thundered, mowing down yet another large swath of troops.

Yoto hurriedly shouted, "Sound the retreat!" The gongs clanged, and the Later Jin soldiers, already paralyzed by the terrifying power of the cannons, fled for their lives, paying no heed to the pitiful screams of their surrounding comrades.

Lu Xiangsheng summoned Chen Liyuan via a messenger and said to him, "The Later Jin troops surely dare not venture within the artillery's current striking range. Does General Chen have any appetite for collecting enemy heads?"

Chen Liyuan replied with an embarrassed smile, "All achievements belong to the Imperial Guard soldiers; how dare we covet such glory?"

Lu Xiangsheng laughed and said, "How about three shares for you and seven for me?" The Imperial Guards had no need for enemy heads to claim military merit, but Lu Xiangsheng still wanted the Han troops to go out and collect them. Firstly, it would temper their courage; secondly, it would burn their bridges behind them, leaving them no path of retreat, which would make future cooperation much more reliable.

Overjoyed, Chen Liyuan thanked Lu Xiangsheng profusely and led the Han troops out to collect the severed heads. According to Ming regulations, a single enemy head was worth fifty taels of silver or counted as a formal merit. Even if the actual payout might be somewhat discounted, cutting it in half still valued a single head at over seven taels of silver.

At this moment, the Second Brigade had fallen back. With a ghastly, ashen expression, Du Guangting mounted the city wall, saluted, and said, "Division Commander, due to my incompetent leadership, our forces have suffered heavy losses. Please punish me accordingly, sir."

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said, "This is not your fault; I was simply too careless. Having won a minor victory last time, I grew contemptuous of the Jianzhou Tartars. His Majesty once stated that engaging the Jianzhou Tartars in open-field combat requires numerical superiority over the enemy or reliance on fortifications. I forgot His Majesty's teachings. Your command was sound; this setback has nothing to do with you. Go attend to the aftermath of the battle."

Glumly, Du Guangting departed to tally the casualties. Not long after, Chen Liyuan returned with the Han troops, having completed their head-hunting. Wearing a regretful smile, he reported to Lu Xiangsheng, "There are two hundred and eleven heads in total. Some others were completely mangled by the artillery fire and destroyed, otherwise there would have been well over two hundred and twenty. We didn't dare venture far out to harvest the ones killed by firearms in the distance, but there appear to be another two hundred or so of those."

Lu Xiangsheng smiled and asked, "Does General Chen prefer to take the silver or record the military merit?"

Chen Liyuan carefully gauged Lu Xiangsheng's expression before replying, "Your subordinate wishes to take half as monetary rewards for my men and record the other half as official merit."

Only then did Lu Xiangsheng set his mind at ease. Had he taken all of it in silver, it would have signaled that he was prepared to flee at a moment's notice; yet choosing to take half as merit demonstrated his intent to build a proper future within the Great Ming—and that was a very good thing.

That evening, Lu Xiangsheng summoned all the officers for a council of war. First came the matter of battle losses: the Imperial Guards had suffered one hundred and sixty-eight dead, two hundred and thirty-seven severely wounded, and three hundred and twenty lightly injured. According to the military medical officers, as long as the severely wounded could survive through the night, they would all pull through.

As for the Later Jin heads, there were two hundred and eleven collected, plus roughly two hundred more whose heads were not harvested. Their wounded were likely slightly fewer than those of the Imperial Guards, but the difference was negligible. Overall, the exchange ratio was barely acceptable. However, the Imperial Guards did not view it that way, because their equipment was inherently superior to that of the Later Jin troops, and their numbers were fewer; such an exchange ratio was ultimately unfavorable to them.

Lu Xiangsheng declared, "We must stick to defending the city. If things continue this way, our own men will be wiped out first."

Du Guangting inquired, "Division Commander, why doesn't the Emperor recruit more Imperial Guards? If we currently had three divisions—even just two—Yoto and his forces would have been wiped out by us long ago. Our Imperial Guards total a mere three divisions and one brigade, and we still have to guard the capital. The only force we can dispatch to Liaoning is this tiny fraction. With our vast population in the Great Ming, if His Majesty were to establish twenty divisions, the Jianzhou Tartars would truly be crushed in a matter of days."