Section Twenty-Eight

Because the enemy they faced was still somewhat unfamiliar, and because they lacked detailed, in-depth intelligence, the military council failed to produce a comprehensive battle plan. As a result, the Han army’s operations were currently rather cautious. Although Zhao Liangdong’s forces had broken through a large enemy flank not long before, that victory now appeared to have little representative value. The battle-hardened Han generals clearly did not regard the Qalqha and Huihui auxiliary troops as being on a par with the Dzungar elite.

At present, the two armies’ front lines extended across the region around Xinzhou and the Yunzhong River. At Lin Feng’s command, nearly one hundred thousand civilian laborers from the rear advanced as one, constructing large camps and fortresses and laying out artillery emplacements under the army’s protection. Through this ant-like labor, the main force steadily established one position after another, slowly but resolutely gnawing away at the Mongol army’s forward line.

Using elite cavalry to assault enemy fortifications was unquestionably foolish. The Mongol army soon abandoned these futile attempts. Once the Han army’s advancing line had crossed the Yunzhong River, the Dzungar forces quickly realized that they had fallen into a difficult predicament. Their vaunted Mongol cavalry was powerless before the unbroken chain of sturdy fortifications, while in terms of firepower, whether individual muskets or heavy artillery, they were vastly inferior to the Han army.

Given the present situation, Galdan’s strategy of passive defense and attrition had effectively failed. Judging Han manpower by the standards of a nomadic people was nothing short of laughable; he had greatly underestimated the Han army’s patience and mobilization capacity.

After the Han king’s envoy entered Taiyuan at the beginning of the month, Yu Chenglong, the puppet Qing governor of Shanxi, surrendered to the Han court for the sake of Taiyuan’s hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. His sole condition for surrender was that the Han army transport a consignment of supplies to Taiyuan in the near future, providing relief to the city’s troops and civilians, who were on the brink of desperation.

There was no justification for refusing such a request. Thus, once Yu Chenglong’s letter of surrender and the governor’s official seal arrived at Boming, the Han army’s transport convoy bound for Taiyuan immediately set out.

A vast fleet of transport vessels departed from the Han army’s main camp, laden with grain and supplies and bound for Dingxiang. When news of this reached the Mongol camp, Galdan needed little time to discern the Han army’s intentions. In fact, given the current circumstances, those intentions were perfectly obvious. The elite forces of both the Mongol and Han armies had gathered along the Xinzhou front, yet this fleet was sailing toward an unrelated destination. Its purpose could hardly have been clearer.

The Dzungar army was already trapped in a difficult position, held immobile by the Han main force. If they allowed this supply fleet to reach Taiyuan, it was easy to imagine that within only a few days the troops there—who loathed the Mongol army to the very marrow—would be greatly reinforced. Should those forces strike them in the back at such a critical moment, coordinating with the powerful enemy attacking from the front and catching them between two fires, the consequences would be disastrous.

Upon receiving the news, Galdan immediately moved his khan’s tent to the Xinzhou front. From the cavalry stationed there, he selected more than ten thousand elite horsemen and, at dusk, sent them galloping along the official road toward Dingxiang.

No matter how carefully the Mongol army concealed its movements, an operation involving such a large force could not escape the notice of the Han army opposite them. The Han headquarters naturally had no intention of sitting idle while the Mongols launched a major raid. Ma Ying’s troops, stationed on the eastern side of the main army, immediately received Lin Feng’s order: the entire force was to march out and intercept the Dzungar troops racing toward Dingxiang.

This book.

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