Wang Pu suddenly found himself credited with a tremendous military achievement for no clear reason. Looking at the more than one hundred captives and the thousand plus Manchu heads now under his command, he was completely dazed.
He quickly went to find Bai Mao and said, "Generals Wang and Ma, you achieved such a great victory the moment you arrived. I must immediately report this to the imperial court and request commendations for your accomplishments."
Bai Mao shook his head. "This was all thanks to your brilliant leadership, General Wang, which allowed us to decisively defeat the Qing forces. Neither of us dares to claim credit. These achievements should rightfully belong to you."
Wang Pu thought Bai Mao was subtly testing him and quickly waved his hands. "How could that be? No, no, this is clearly your achievement. I cannot take credit for it."
Bai Mao pressed on. "General Wang, you were the lead commander this time. You led us here, did you not?"
Wang Pu hesitated for a moment. "Well… yes, that is true."
Bai Mao continued, "When fighting a battle, the commanding general does not need to personally charge into combat. But the achievements of his subordinates are naturally attributed to him. Take Zhuge Liang setting Xinye ablaze as an example. Did Zhuge Liang personally go onto the battlefield to hack at enemies? Of course not. But the feats accomplished by his soldiers and the enemies they killed were all attributed to Zhuge Liang."
Wang Pu thought carefully. "That… actually makes sense."
Bai Mao said firmly, "This decisive defeat of the Qing forces is proof of your capable command, General Wang."
Wang Pu's face reddened slightly. He felt something was a little off, but with such a major achievement placed in front of him, if others insisted on giving him the credit, it would be foolish to refuse.
Wang Pu was not a foolish man.
He nodded and said, "Very well. Since you two brothers insist on attributing this credit to me, then it would be impolite to refuse. When I receive the rewards, I will certainly share a portion with both of you. My word is my bond."
Bai Mao laughed. "You are too kind."
Ma Shouying merely snorted coldly at the side and said nothing.
Wang Pu then said, "Now that we have defeated the Manchu western flank, we can consider retaking Changping City."
All three of them turned their gazes toward Changping City in the distance.
Changping City was a crucial strategic area protecting the capital. It had been upgraded to a prefectural city during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor. To better defend the capital, Changping City had been built tall and imposing, easy to defend and extremely difficult to attack.
No one knew how the Qing forces had managed to capture it so easily.
The Manchu Eight Banners soldiers, who had been defeated earlier by the Gao Family Village militia, had now retreated into the city and were guarding the walls. Qing made cannons were mounted along the battlements.
Wang Pu took one look at the city walls and shook his head. "This is truly troublesome. It will be extremely difficult for us to assault these walls."
Ma Shouying also turned to Bai Mao and Wang Er. "Gentlemen, this city is not easy to attack. My cavalry will be useless in a siege."
Bai Mao said in a low voice, "If we bring out our cannons, the city walls will not be a problem."
Wang Er, however, shook his head. "Our Gao Family Village special artillery should not be used here."
Bai Mao was confused. "Why not?"
Wang Er lowered his voice. "The soldiers defending the city are not our Ming troops."
Bai Mao was startled. "Not Ming troops? Why does that mean we cannot use cannons?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly understood.
"Oh no. I see it now. There are many of our Ming civilians still inside the city. If we bombard the walls, the Qing forces will push the common people onto the battlements, lining them up as shields. They will show no mercy to our Ming people."
Wang Er nodded. "Exactly. It seems you have already figured it out."
This was the greatest difficulty when an enemy occupied a city belonging to one's own people.
The civilians inside were their own people, but the soldiers defending the city were from the enemy nation.
A reckless assault would only lead to the deaths of countless innocent civilians.
Bai Mao's face was filled with frustration. "In that case, even if we use flintlock rifles to suppress the walls, they will simply push civilians out as targets."
"Yes," Wang Er agreed. "We should not attack for now. In fact, we should withdraw further to avoid making the Qing forces feel threatened. We absolutely must not corner the Manchu soldiers in the city. Otherwise, they might burn the city, slaughter the population, and then open another gate to escape. At that point, we would be completely helpless."
Bai Mao was extremely unwilling, but he knew Wang Er was right.
Just then, Ma Shouying leaned closer and said in a low voice, "I have a plan that can save the civilians."
Wang Er's eyes lit up. "Please, speak."
Ma Shouying said, "After capturing a city, the Qing forces do not usually hold it for long. They kill those who resist, then march the remaining people back to Liaodong as slaves."
Wang Er raised his eyebrows. "Strike under cover of night?"
Ma Shouying chuckled softly. "Exactly. We will first retreat some distance and pretend to abandon the siege. When the Qing forces believe we have left, they will tie up the city's civilians, each with one leg bound, and send a small escort team to march them back to Liaodong. We will ambush that escort halfway and rescue the civilians."
Wang Er asked, "What if they use the civilians as hostages?"
Ma Shouying replied, "We will move with extreme speed. We will cut off their front and rear and kill the escort officers before they have time to give any orders. If the officers do not order the use of hostages, the ordinary soldiers will mostly not dare to act on their own. At most, a few clever soldiers may try to use human shields, but our losses can be greatly reduced."
Wang Er and Bai Mao exchanged glances and clenched their teeth.
"There will still be losses," Wang Er said, "but it is better than allowing mass slaughter of civilians. Let us do it."
With their plan decided, the three of them, dragging Wang Pu along, retreated toward the capital.
The Qing forces in the city, having been shaken by the earlier battle, were too frightened to come out and fight. Seeing the Ming army withdraw toward the capital, they mistakenly believed this powerful firearm unit was heading to defend Beijing, and they finally let out a sigh of relief.
While the Qing forces sent men to report to Ajige about the powerful Ming firearm unit, the soldiers inside the city, after confirming the Ming army's retreat, indeed tied up the civilians with ropes, binding one leg each, exactly as Ma Shouying had predicted.
They then dispatched five hundred men, opened the East Gate, and led the civilians northeast.
Their main force abandoned the city and continued searching for their next target to plunder.
Their movements were extremely cautious. To prevent the powerful firearm unit from faking a retreat and launching an ambush, the Qing forces spread their scouts far and wide, with many cavalry ranging dozens of li away.
This ensured that no enemy scout could monitor the movements of their main force.
However, what they did not know was that Gao Family Village's hot air balloon was drifting several li above the ground, observing everything through telescopes. No matter how widely the Qing scouts spread, they could not block the eyes watching from the sky.
A bamboo tube slid down from the hot air balloon.
The paper scroll inside quickly landed in Ma Shouying's hand.
Ma Shouying said firmly, "I will go rescue those civilians."
Wang Er grasped his hand. "I will go engage the main Manchu force."