weaving

Chapter 1606 Landmine?

March 4th.

The Jurchen Eastern Route Army decisively defeated Liu Yuanqing's Ming army at Shigouya, and also repelled Zhong Minggao and Xue Minzhong's Ming army at Zhaoxianzhuang and Tinggou. The overall situation on the battlefield was very clear, and the scales of victory once again tipped in favor of the Jurchens.

Upon seeing this, Abatai immediately ordered Baiyintu to lead the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner, the Mongol Bordered White Banner, and the Han Bordered Red Banner to set off immediately, break through the Ming army's defenses, and head south to reinforce Turgh.

He himself led the elite troops of the Manchu Plain Blue Banner to Su Village in the west to take charge of the overall situation.

After all, Cao Bianjiao already had the main force of five banners under Shuo Tuo, Wu Lai, Hu Shibu, Li Bayan, and Liu Zhiyuan, which should be more than enough to deal with Cao Bianjiao and Tang Tong. However, Su Village in the west only had three banners of warriors led by Du Lei, two of whom were Han bannermen, which made him a little worried.

As for the Manchu Plain White Banner of Zhumala, they remained at the camp to guard against any further attacks by the bold Ming army, which would be disastrous!

…………

The Baiyintu and Jinli tribes jointly advanced southward on the west bank of the Shu River, while Suna's Mongol Bordered White Banner marched southward alone on the east bank of the Shu River, mainly due to their different garrisons.

In addition, Abatai also thought that if both sides of the strait went south at the same time, they could quickly reach the Turge post in Yanzhou to provide reinforcements, so as to avoid any unforeseen complications or internal conflicts.

However, he overlooked an important issue—since the Ming army dared to set up camp on the banks of the Shu River to intercept them, especially those who were easy to deal with.

Sure enough, as soon as Baiyintu left the Jurchen encampment area, he was constantly harassed by Ming cavalry. Whenever he sent out Jianzhou warriors to intercept them, if he had too few soldiers, they would not be able to win. But if he had too many soldiers, they would turn around and run away.

Moreover, a new situation arose—as the procession rode forward, explosions occurred repeatedly for unknown reasons. Although each explosion was not very powerful, it still caused some casualties to the Jianzhou Bordered Yellow Banner of Baiyintu.

It wasn't until after experiencing more than ten inexplicable explosions that they discovered the Ming army had planted earth mines in the soil. They were normally undetectable, but would explode if a warhorse stepped on them.

Knowing the reason was good, Baiyintu immediately ordered some mules and packhorses that accompanied the army to be brought over, and had his bondservants drive them ahead of the army to protect the Jianzhou warriors under his command from danger.

Although this method effectively reduced the casualties of the Tatar soldiers, it also greatly slowed down Baiyintu's southward advance, which infuriated him.

Not only that, Jin Li, who was marching behind Baiyintu, also had a rough time. Facing frequent harassment and interception by Ming cavalry, Jin Li's situation was much more miserable than Baiyintu's.

Jin Li's troops were all Han traitors who had surrendered to the Tartars. Although they were issued warhorses and mules that they could ride, they usually trained with firearms and their horsemanship was not outstanding. How could they withstand the harassment of the Ming army's elite cavalry?
Moreover, Jin Li's army also had many heavy cannons, and now they were constantly harassed by the Ming cavalry. His already slow pace of movement was a concern, and fearing that it would delay the army's mission to rescue Turge, he kept asking Baiyintu for help ahead.

Faced with the current situation, Baiyintu had no choice but to temporarily halt his advance. On one hand, he sent out warriors of the Bordered Yellow Banner to intercept the Ming cavalry that were harassing him, and on the other hand, he sent troops back to support Jin Li's Han army of the Bordered Red Banner.

...The soldiers of the Vermilion Bird Camp were actually using "landmines," a deadly weapon for infantry. Landmines, which are set underground or on the ground and consist of a casing, explosive charge, and detonation device, are explosive weapons that existed in ancient my country. There are records of their use as early as the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.

The "Chronicle of Ming History: The Rise of the Prince of Yan" records that during the Battle of Baigou River in the second year of the Jianwen Emperor's reign, "firearms were hidden in the ground, and when men and horses encountered them, they were immediately destroyed."

However, early landmines were relatively simple in construction. They were mostly made of stone, filled with gunpowder, with a fuse inserted, then sealed and buried underground, and properly camouflaged. Whenever an enemy approached, they would step on the fuse, which would then ignite and detonate the landmine.

Subsequently, the use of landmines in warfare gradually expanded. After several improvements, their casings were mostly made of cast iron, and the fuses were also greatly improved.

For example, in the eighth year of the Wanli reign, when Qi Jiguang was stationed in Jizhou Town, he made a steel wheel flint ignition device called "steel wheel ignition".

This "steel wheel ignition" device is a transmission mechanism installed in the casing. When an enemy approaches and steps on the trigger cable, the falling stone in the casing will fall, which will cause the steel wheel to rotate, causing it to ignite by violent friction with the flint, thus detonating the landmine and injuring the enemy.

It is precisely this "steel wheel ignition" device that greatly improves the accuracy and reliability of landmine ignition timing.

By the Chongzhen era, the types of landmines had become even more numerous. According to records in books such as "Chouhai Tubian", "Lianbing Shiji Zaji", and "Wubei Zhi", the Ming army used more than ten types of landmines.

Based solely on the detonation method, mines can be categorized into types such as ignition-activated, pull-activated, tripwire-activated, and mechanically activated mines; in terms of deployment, they can also be classified as single-shot mines or multi-shot mines.

A mass mine is a type of landmine that uses a single fuse to control a group of mines. When a mother mine is detonated, several smaller mines will explode simultaneously.

Moreover, at this time, landmines could be placed underground, on vehicles, inside buildings, or even carried by livestock such as mules, horses, donkeys, cattle, and sheep to attack enemy lines, depending on different combat needs.

However, landmines at this time also had many drawbacks. Limited by gunpowder preparation technology and overall process level, landmines at this time were obviously not powerful enough, and the explosion was also very unpredictable. They often failed to be triggered and had a high probability of becoming duds.

This explains why Zhang Cheng didn't rush to create this infantry superweapon at the beginning of his transmigration to this parallel world. However, not creating it doesn't mean he didn't pay attention to it...

Since the Yunzhou workshop in Xuanbei got on track, it has been researching and improving landmines. Thanks to the progress of pellet gunpowder in Yunzhou workshops, and even more so to the craftsmanship of Yunzhou, not only has the manufacturing process of landmines been improved, but its quality has also been guaranteed.

Even so, it still couldn't achieve the power of later methods to stop the enemy's advance; at best, it could only slow down the enemy's advance.

If we really want to stop the Jurchen army led by Baiyintu, we still need the bravery and fighting spirit of the Yongyi Army soldiers.

Zhang Guangda was well aware of this. The harassment and interception by the elite cavalry on the west bank of the Shu River, as well as the laying of landmines—this new weapon—were all aimed at slowing down Baiyintu's southward advance, giving him time to set up a defensive line ahead and stop him.