Chapter 946

While Li Dingguo was racing a thousand miles to reinforce Liaodong, the Army for the Pacification of Liaodong had not been idle. From the seventh to the seventeenth of the fourth lunar month, the army had launched several offensives against Guangning. For over ten consecutive days, although they advanced daily, they failed to make any substantive progress. They had not even caught sight of the city walls of Guangning. The Liaohe Plain was simply too flat—it was a domain for cavalry. The rivers and streams that crisscrossed the region made the movement of infantry extremely difficult. It was well known that the Ming Army relied heavily on artillery, yet this artillery was precisely what constrained their offensive. By convention, the infantry should lead the advance with cavalry protecting the flanks, while the artillery remained in the rear. If the artillery were placed in front, not only would it drastically reduce the speed of the march, but it would also leave them vulnerable to surprise attacks by the Jiannu Cavalry. The gunners, rarely wearing heavy armor, could never withstand a volley of Jiannu arrows.