The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 613 Ambush
With just a few words, Jia Huan calmed the public anger and ignited everyone's rage for revenge against the Jurchens. It seemed simple, but this ability to incite people to make light of a heavy task and turn disadvantages into advantages is obviously not something that ordinary people can have. One must have a calm and flexible mind, quick eloquence, and a steady heart.

Wu Sangui always boasted of his extraordinary talent, but he did not have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. What's more, Jia Huan was only fifteen years old, while most people were still ignorant teenagers at the age of fifteen.

Wu Sangui is already 22 years old this year. He is a naturally intelligent person who is unwilling to lag behind others. He is brave and resourceful. The last time he successfully rescued tens of thousands of refugees trapped in the Thirteen Mountains, he became famous and was promoted from a guerrilla general to a lieutenant general. His self-confidence also exploded, and he seemed to be thinking "Who else in the world can be a hero but me?"

Therefore, although Wu Sangui was very respectful in front of Jia Huan, he was actually not very convinced of this man who was half a year younger than him. However, at that moment, Wu Sangui suddenly felt a strange feeling in his heart. He couldn't tell whether it was admiration, loss, or jealousy. In short, he felt that he would hardly be able to catch up with Jia Huan in his lifetime.

"Commander Wu!" Jia Huan called out twice, and Wu Sangui finally came to his senses from his inner struggle. He stepped forward and said sternly, "I am here!"

Jia Huan glanced at Wu Sangui in surprise and ordered, "Arrange personnel to take charge of the aftermath. All civilians who died under the swords of the Jiannu will be given funeral expenses and compensation. Each person will receive ten taels of silver, and the injured will receive five taels."

Wu Sangui hesitated and said, "Master Jia, this is probably against the rules. The court has no precedent of providing relief to the people, nor does it have any public funds for this kind of expenditure."

"Then let's pay it from the public account first, and then deduct it from my salary later!" Jia Huan said calmly.

Wu Sangui was stunned for a moment, then said solemnly: "Yes!"

At this moment, the eyes of the Liao soldiers and generals present when they looked at Jia Huan obviously changed, and the villagers even knelt down and bowed to him in gratitude.

It's not that Jia Huan deliberately put on a show to win the hearts of the people, but the Jurchens took advantage of the busy farming season to harass and kill, clearly wanting to disrupt the spring ploughing in Ningyuan. At this time, the people must be appeased and encouraged, otherwise, once the people panic and flee, the foundation of Ningyuan City will be gone, and it will be difficult to maintain it for long.

Of course, if spending a few hundred taels of silver could appease the people and win their hearts, why not do it? And to be honest, Jia Huan was not short of money now. Last year's honeycomb coal dividends alone brought him nearly ten thousand taels.

At this time, Jia Huan ordered murderously: "General Zu, all those who are in charge of guarding the beacon tower today will be whipped fifty times. If the Jiannu sneak in next time without raising the smoke to warn, they will be killed immediately!"

Zu Tianshou promised solemnly and immediately sent people to carry out the execution. From Lianshan City to Ningyuan City, all the soldiers on duty at the twelve beacon towers along the way were whipped fifty times, leaving their skin torn and flesh broken. Two people were killed on the spot.

From then on, the soldiers guarding the beacon towers learned their lesson and dared not slack off. They stayed alert day and night to monitor the movements in the direction of Jinzhou. Once they spotted an enemy, they would immediately light the beacon to give a warning. When the people working in the fields saw the beacon smoke rising, they would immediately hide in the carved forts in their respective villages.

In the days that followed, the Jiannu cavalry came to invade almost every day, either in groups of three or five, or even alone, running to the city of Ningyuan to show off their strength and be extremely arrogant. However, the Jin defenders in the city seemed to have no intention of leaving the city to seek a fight, and simply allowed the Jiannu cavalry to run rampant in the countryside.

…………

In Jinzhou City, Dorgon heard the report that the Jin army in Ningyuan City ignored the invading Jin cavalry. He couldn't help but wonder why Jia Huan was hiding like a coward. Was he plotting something again?
Dorgon was a brave and resourceful man, unlike the second prince Kemin who was reckless. In addition, he had fought with Jia Huan before and knew that Jia Huan was not an easy person to deal with, so he summoned his general Yue Tuo to give him a lecture and told him to be careful.

It is said that Yuetuo was a Niulu Ezhen under Dorgon, who was responsible for harassing the area around Ningyuan and disrupting the other side's spring ploughing.

It is worth mentioning here that the Jin soldiers were organized into groups of 300 people into a Niulu, with the leader being called Niulu Ezhen. Five Niulu formed a Jiala, with the leader being called Jiala Ezhen. Five Jiala formed a Gushan (i.e. one flag with 7500 people), with the leader being called Gushan Ezhen.

It is said that Yuetuo was a Niulu Ezhen who commanded 300 people. He was considered a middle-level general. He was brave in combat and was highly valued by Dorgon, the flag leader. However, Yuetuo obviously did not take Dorgon's reminder seriously. As usual, he sent out cavalrymen every day to harass the vicinity of Ningyuan and intimidate the people there so that they dared not go to the fields to work.

On this day, Yuetuo personally led the team. Three hundred Jurchen cavalrymen followed the official road and headed straight for Ningyuan City from the direction of Jinzhou. They did not try to hide their tracks, so when they just arrived near Lianshan City, more than 20 miles east of Ningyuan, the warning beacon on the top of the city was lit.

Yuetuo didn't take it seriously, and the 300 cavalrymen galloped directly outside Lianshan City. As the saying goes, if the Jurchens are less than 10,000, they are invincible. The combat power of the Jurchen cavalry was originally the best in the world, and over the years, the Jin army was scared and fled when they saw the Jurchen cavalry, so the psychological advantage of the Jurchen cavalry was extremely obvious, and it was greatly inflated.

Yue Tuo was personally leading 300 Jurchen cavalrymen at this moment. Naturally, he thought that the Jin army would not dare to go out of the city to confront them head-on. So after passing Lianshan City, he divided the 300 cavalrymen into groups of ten as usual, led by a squad leader, and went around causing destruction.

Since the people working in the fields had seen the beacon smoke and hid in the fortresses, there was no one to be seen in the fields, so the Jurchen cavalry rode their horses and trampled on the green crops to vent their anger.

"Hehe, we come here to destroy things every day, but the Jin dogs in the city don't even fart, which shows that they have been scared out of their wits. Lord Beile even reminded me to be careful, but I was worrying too much!" Yuetuo thought complacently.

He led thirty cavalrymen to the foot of Ningyuan City, stood in front of a trench more than ten meters wide, and laughed at the top of the city: "Listen up, Jin people on the city. You can hide in the city like turtles. I will come every day to destroy your wheat fields. When the autumn harvest comes, I will come to help you harvest. You just wait for the northwest wind... No, wait for shit! Haha!"

The thirty riders under Yuetuo also laughed wildly, and the defenders on the city walls all glared at them angrily.

Yue Tuo mocked and insulted for a while, then left triumphantly. On the top of the city, all the guards were furious and challenged Jia Huan to a fight, saying, "The Eastern Tartars are going too far. Lord Jia, let's fight!"

Jia Huan said calmly: "If God wants to kill him, he must first make him mad. So what if he lives for another half a day?"

As Jia Huan spoke, a cold light flashed in his eyes. He had been planning for many days, and the reason he had not launched the attack was naturally because he wanted to paralyze the opponent. Now it seemed that the time was almost right.

The general Zu Tianshou beside him said worriedly: "Master Jia, our cavalry has only been training for a few months. I'm afraid we are still no match for the Jiannu cavalry. I'm afraid the losses will be a bit heavy."

Jia Huan said calmly: "Losses are inevitable, but as Hu Zi said, real sword and gun fighting is the best training. You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. Only after the tempering of life and death in blood and fire can our Guanning Iron Cavalry grow rapidly."

Zu Tianshou nodded in agreement, but still felt a little pained. It took several months to select 1,500 cavalry candidates who met the requirements. They were all strong young men from Liao under the age of 25. Moreover, war horses cost as much as 80 taels each. Every loss of a horse was a huge loss.

Yuetuo, who was not satisfied with trampling the wheat fields, ordered an attack on a village. Coincidentally, this village was Shihao Village. More than 20 villagers were massacred in Shihao Village last time. The surviving villagers were united in hatred of the enemy. Everyone picked up weapons and fought to the death to defend the village gate.

Yuetuo led thirty cavalrymen to attack for a while but failed to break through the gate of the village. He became very angry, so he ordered the gate of the village to be set on fire and summoned more Jurchen cavalry, about fifty or so.

Those Jurchen cavalrymen carried kerosene with them. They poured the kerosene on the gate of the village and ignited it. Flames rose into the sky in an instant.

"Haha, I can't burn you lowly people to death!" Yue Tuo spat complacently.

A group of Jurchen cavalrymen also held their swords in their hands, with grim smiles on their faces, waiting for the gate of the village to burn down before rushing in to rape and plunder. No one has been caught during this period, and it is not satisfying to just destroy the wheat fields, and there is no benefit to be gained. Today can finally break the fast.

However, just as all the Jurchen cavalry were eager to give it a try, the burning gate of the village suddenly opened from the inside. All the Jurchen cavalry were stunned. At this critical moment, a burst of gunfire rang out, and countless lead bullets mixed with sharp arrows whizzed out.

The Jurchen cavalry were just waiting to enjoy the feast, but they didn't expect this to happen. They fell down like wheat being cut. Niulu Ezhen Yuetuo escaped the disaster because he was following behind, but he was also shocked.

At this time, after a wave of gunfire and arrows, the sound of rumbling horse hooves came from the village, and a team of about twenty cavalrymen rushed out from inside. The leader was tall, like a small mountain, holding an iron stick in his hand, like a tiger descending from the mountain or a dragon emerging from the sea. With a whoosh of the stick, he smashed the head of a Jurchen cavalryman.

Bang...Snap!
The Jurchen cavalryman's head exploded like a watermelon, with red and white splashing everywhere. His neck and lower body were smashed into his chest. The warhorse under his crotch let out a sad howl and was crushed to its knees by the overwhelming force.

Wow, this shocking blow not only stunned the other Jurchen cavalry, but also stunned the Jin cavalry who rushed out behind them. My goodness, Lord Tiger is too powerful!
That's right, the fierce general wielding the iron rod was none other than Tiehu. This time he was responsible for leading twenty cavalrymen to ambush in Shihao Village. He had planned to wait for a signal from the top of Ningyuan City and then rush out to attack those Jurchen cavalry who were causing trouble. Unexpectedly, Yuetuo was not satisfied with destroying the wheat fields and actually gathered people to attack Shihao Village, which happened to be what he shot.

Seeing the gate of the village was burning, Tiehu did not wait for the signal to launch, but opened the gate and rushed out, catching the Jurchen cavalry off guard.

"Brothers, avenge our fellow villagers, kill!" Tiehu roared fiercely, rode forward on his horse, and swung his iron stick wildly, killing left and right. He was truly unstoppable.

The twenty Jin cavalrymen behind him were all new recruits. Some had only trained for a month, and the longest had only been three months. They were a little timid at first, but seeing how mighty Lord Tiger was, they were all greatly encouraged. Their blood boiled, and they all rushed forward with roars, swinging their swords and killing fiercely.

You have to know that these new recruits were all native Liao people. Their homes were destroyed and their clansmen were killed. At this moment, they were extremely jealous of each other when they met their enemies, so they charged forward with extra effort. In addition, the Jurchen cavalry were caught off guard and were shot and killed first. At this time, their formation was disrupted and they retreated all the way.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Jurchen cavalry was not exaggerated. They quickly stabilized their position and counterattacked. The casualties on the Jin army increased sharply. Even though Tiehu was extremely brave, his personal ability was limited on the battlefield.

Just when they were feeling the strain, the launch signal was finally given from the top of Ningyuan City. The Jin cavalrymen who were ambushed in the surrounding villages swarmed out, forming groups of twenty, each chasing after the Jurchen cavalrymen who had been disrupted in the fields.

"Kill!" Man Gui was really good at riding and archery. He led twenty new recruits to charge and attack fiercely, shooting arrows and slashing with swords, and soon killed several Jurchen cavalrymen.

"Good boy, you came at the right time!" Tiehu praised loudly and showed his might.

At this time, more Jin cavalry squads arrived. Yue Tuo realized that he had fallen into a trap. He had no intention of fighting anymore. He rushed out of the encirclement with a roar, called his subordinates together and quickly retreated towards Jinzhou.

"Kill! Kill!" When the new recruits saw the enemy retreat, they all became braver and rode their horses to chase them. The sound of gunfire rang out one after another.

Soon, some Jurchen cavalry were entangled and surrounded, but more than half of them rushed out relying on their superb riding skills and fled towards Jinzhou.

At this time, the gates of Ningyuan City were wide open, and Zu Tianshou led his infantry to charge out and join the battle. The nearly 100 Jurchen cavalry were surrounded and could not break out no matter how hard they tried, and finally all died.

"Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories!" Outside Ningyuan City, deafening cheers resounded through the sky, and the people hiding in the villages also walked out of their homes, each of them breathing proudly.

Besides, Niulu Ezhen Yuetuo led about 160 riders to flee in panic. He was frightened and scared, scared and angry, angry and regretful. He was careless. It was all his fault that he did not listen to the advice of Beile, which led to the defeat today. Damn it, Jia Huan was really cunning! !
boom……

Just when Yuetuo was regretting, a cannon shot suddenly sounded in the front and a group of people blocked their way.

Yue Tuo was startled again, and looked carefully, only to see a cavalry blocking the road a few hundred meters ahead. There were about three hundred riders, and the fifty riders in the vanguard were all holding muskets, and the row of black muzzles of the guns were pointing towards this side.

Yue Tuo was surprised and happy to see that the enemy had only 300 cavalrymen. He knew the combat effectiveness of the Jin cavalry very well and also despised them. The reason for their defeat just now was mainly because they were ambushed and their men were too dispersed, so they were caught off guard.

If it was a fair charge against the enemy, he would even have the confidence that he could defeat the enemy's 300 cavalry with only 50 cavalry, not to mention that he still had 160 cavalry under his command!

So Yue Tuoli laughed and ordered a charge towards the Jin cavalry that were blocking the road, ready to kill them all and get back his revenge.

The Jin cavalry blocking the road were led by Wu Sangui and Shitou. Seeing the might of the Jurchen cavalry's charge, both of them felt their scalps tingling. The hearts of the new recruits were pounding, and the horses under their crotches were in a commotion.

Wu Sangui drew his sword and shouted, "Ready!"

The fifty musketeers at the front of the battle formation immediately pulled the trigger and aimed, staring nervously at the front. In their hands were the first batch of freshly-produced rifling rifles.

(End of this chapter)