Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 172 Who said that flintlock rifles cannot be fired in the rain?
There was continuous gunfire, bullets raining down from the sky, thousands of horses roaring, bows and arrows shooting, close combat, blood and flesh flying everywhere...

On that day, the 40,000-strong Great Zhou army led by Wang Ziteng, together with the 30,000-strong outer Dzungar army and the nearly 20,000-mile-long Dzungar army, fought at the main exit of Bokto Ridge in a thrilling, shocking and earth-shaking battle.

The brutal and fierce battle lasted until the evening. The scene was devastated, with corpses scattered all over the ground and blood flowing everywhere.

At dusk, the sun sets in the west, the twilight is vast, and the setting sun looks like blood.

The outer Dzungar army led by Great Khan Tsereng finally rescued the inner Dzungar army led by Great Tsereng Dondub and Little Tsereng Dondub from Bokto Ridge.

The outer and inner Junggar troops joined together and broke out.

But it came at a terrible price.

The 30,000-strong Junggar army on the outer route suffered 12,000 casualties, and the Junggar army on a journey of nearly 20,000 miles also suffered 12,000 casualties, some of whom fled in panic.

The Dzungar army that broke through the encirclement consisted of only 25,000 people.

In today's battle, the Junggar army lost a total of 24,000 people!
The 40,000-strong Great Zhou army suffered casualties of over ten thousand, including several hundred soldiers from the Jianrui Battalion.

Although the army of the Great Zhou also suffered heavy losses, compared with the Dzungar Khanate, today's battle was undoubtedly a great victory for the Great Zhou.

At the cost of tens of thousands of casualties, the Dzungars suffered 24,000 casualties and their morale was severely damaged.

Moreover, the Great Zhou was a prosperous country with strong military force. Apart from other things, in this battle against Junggar, in addition to the northern army led by Wang Ziteng, there was also the western army led by Yue Zhong, and the western army had a strength of more than 100,000.

It is a tragedy for Dzungar. The nearly 50,000 Dzungar troops participating in the battle today account for more than half of Dzungar's total force. Dzungar has suffered a heavy blow today.

Just as Great Khan Tseren predicted, if the Dzungar army cannot inflict heavy damage on the Great Zhou army today, Dzungar will be in great danger.

However, the Great Khan Tsereng still led 25,000 Junggar soldiers to break out, and perhaps there was still a chance to turn the tables...

At dusk, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, Wang Ziteng wanted to order the Great Zhou army to pursue the Dzungar army that had broken through, but he suppressed his eagerness.

More than ten thousand Great Zhou soldiers have been killed today. The remaining thirty thousand Great Zhou soldiers are almost all exhausted after a long and fierce battle, and many of them are in low morale.

If they continued to pursue, they would inevitably be met with a desperate counterattack from the Dzungar army.

Darkness is also not conducive to the Great Zhou army's pursuit in the field.

In addition, today's battle allowed Wang Ziteng to witness with his own eyes the sharpness and domineering power of the flintlock rifle formation.

Wang Ziteng has ordered the transfer of the Dragon Cavalry Battalion, which has more than a thousand soldiers left.

There are still more than a thousand soldiers left in the Jianrui Battalion, and after joining forces with more than a thousand soldiers from the Dragon Cavalry Battalion, this force will continue to play an important role in the following battles.

……

……

The night is deep.

The Northwest is a vast area with a large temperature difference between day and night.

The sun was shining brightly during the day, and it was hot and dry, but at night it was a little cool.

It's just a little cool, not cold.

However, at this time, Khan Tseren felt cold all over, and the coldness mainly came from his heart.

The Great Khan Tseren was staying alone in the royal tent.

Although the king's tent was not small, the furnishings inside were simple, with only a few simple items such as a bed, a table, and a mat.

Great Khan Tsereng sat on a cushion. On the small table in front of him was a map and a new flintlock rifle made in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Dzungar army either robbed or picked up several new-style flintlock rifles from the Great Zhou.

At this moment, the Great Khan Tsereng was looking at the flintlock on the table, and sighed in his heart with a gloomy face: "The flintlock improved by the Great Zhou is extremely powerful and formidable. What a pity, the war between my Junggar and the Great Zhou has begun, and my army has suffered a heavy blow today. The Great Zhou will definitely pursue our army relentlessly. I don't have time to imitate and manufacture this kind of flintlock, not to mention that it is not easy to imitate and manufacture a large number of this kind of flintlock."

Previously, under the arrangement of Khan Tsereng, Junggar imitated and manufactured hot air balloons.

This time, Great Khan Tseren wanted to imitate the Zhou Dynasty and manufacture new flintlock rifles, believing that once the Junggar army was equipped with a large number of new flintlock rifles, its combat effectiveness would be greatly enhanced.

However, it would take a lot of time to imitate and manufacture the new flintlock rifle. Under the current situation, the army of the Great Zhou Dynasty would obviously not give Junggar so much time.

Great Khan Tseren had also asked his soldiers who were proficient in firearms and learned one thing: it would be difficult for Dzungar to imitate and manufacture a large number of new flintlock rifles.

The main reason is that the materials are difficult to collect, such as good quality flint.

The Great Zhou had already manufactured thousands of new flintlock rifles, all of which used high-quality flint. Yuan Qingbai had spent a lot of effort to get these flints. Where could the Junggars get them? Could they rob the Great Zhou of their flints?

Great Khan Tsereng continued to sigh in his heart with a gloomy face: "Since we can't imitate and manufacture, the only thing we can do is plunder! We must severely damage the army of the Great Zhou, plunder their artillery, and even plunder their new flintlock rifles!"

He immediately thought: "But, our army has been badly damaged today. In this war between the two countries, our Junggar is in danger. Now we are facing the pursuit of the Great Zhou army. How can we turn defeat into victory?"

Thinking of this, a chill ran through Great Khan Tsering's heart again, and the chill spread throughout his body, making him shiver.

Since he inherited his father's throne and became the Great Khan, he had never suffered such a big defeat as today, and he had never been so afraid of the Great Zhou as he was now.

He was cunning and proud. Ever since he became the Great Khan, he had always believed that the Dzungar Khanate, led by him, had a high chance of destroying the Great Zhou, and that he had a high chance of becoming the second Genghis Khan.

He rarely feared the Great Zhou, and even when he was afraid, it was only occasionally and to a minor degree.

He had taken the initiative to provoke the Great Zhou many times.

But now, he already felt a great fear of the Great Zhou.

"Perhaps, I should send someone to negotiate peace with the Great Zhou? The peace negotiation is of course fake, this is just a delaying tactic! However, at this point, how could the Great Zhou be willing to negotiate peace so easily?"

Great Khan Tsereng sighed in his heart again.

He once used a fake peace negotiation strategy on Emperor Chengtai, and knew that under the current situation, he wanted to seek peace with the Great Zhou as a delaying tactic, but the Great Zhou would not fall into the trap easily.

If we don't negotiate peace, how can we escape from the current dire situation?

The more Dahan Celing thought about it, the colder he felt.

Even so, he fell asleep on the table without realizing it.

He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and really needed a good sleep.

But I couldn't have a good dream.

But I had a nightmare.

In his dream, he led many Junggar soldiers in a fierce battle with the Great Zhou army. The Junggar soldiers around him kept dying, and soon he was the only one left, facing the muzzles of hundreds of new-style flintlock rifles from the Great Zhou...

At this moment, he woke up from his dream, not because of a start, but because of his personal bodyguard.

"Great Khan, Great Khan..."

Great Khan Tsering opened his sleepy eyes and looked up at his personal guard. He was stunned for a moment before reacting. He immediately put on a majestic attitude and asked, "What's the matter? Are the enemy troops coming?"

The personal guard said respectfully, "The enemy has not yet arrived. The two generals requested to see the Khan, saying that they have important matters to discuss."

Great Khan Tseren breathed a sigh of relief and ordered his personal guards to bring in the two generals.

The two great generals were the Great Tsereng Dundub and the Little Tsereng Dundub.

As soon as the young Tsering Dundub entered the king's tent, he said impatiently: "Khan, it's raining. Our army can take advantage of the rain to launch a counterattack!"

Da Tsering Dundub added: "It is raining, and the artillery of the Great Zhou is not easy to use, and even the new flintlock rifle is not easy to use. This is a godsend opportunity for our army to counterattack!"

Great Khan Tsereng stood up hurriedly and walked outside the royal tent.

It is now the second half of the night and it is raining in the dark night sky.

It was sunny yesterday, but now it is raining.

Khan Tseren stood in the rain, looked up at the sky, and let the rain hit his cheeks. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, he smiled excitedly.

"Okay, okay! God is helping me!"

In excitement, Khan Tsereng muttered to himself.

The strengths of the Great Zhou lie in its artillery and muskets, but on rainy days, artillery and muskets are inconvenient to use, and even cavalry and bows and arrows will be greatly affected.

Khan Tseren has 25,000 Dzungar troops under his command, and Wang Ziteng has 30,000 Great Zhou troops under his command. The difference in military strength is not that big.

Great Khan Tsereng, Great Tsereng Dondub, and Little Tsereng Dondub all believed that when the rain limited the artillery and muskets of the Great Zhou army, including the new flintlock rifles, 25,000 Dzungar soldiers would be enough to defeat the 30,000 Great Zhou army in close combat in the wild, and might even wipe out the enemy army.

In the opinion of Khan Tseren, although the Dzungar army had suffered heavy losses, if they could defeat the northern army of the Great Zhou led by Wang Ziteng and seize a large number of Great Zhou artillery and new flintlock rifles, the Dzungars would have a chance to turn the tables, or at least gain the qualification to negotiate peace with the Great Zhou.

Immediately, Great Khan Tsereng, Great Strategist Dondub and Little Tsereng Dondub summoned a group of Dzungar generals and discussed the military deployment for the counterattack in the royal tent.

After less than half an hour of discussion, Khan Tsereng issued an order for the entire army to counterattack!

……

……

Great Khan Tseren didn't know that he had unknowingly made another serious mistake!

Indeed, according to his previous common sense, a matchlock gun is not convenient to use on rainy days, even a flintlock gun is not convenient to use on rainy days.

However, who says that a flintlock rifle cannot be fired in the rain?

When Yuan Qingbai ordered Dai Jin to improve the flintlock rifle, Yuan Qingbai put forward a request, requiring Dai Jin's improved flintlock rifle to be able to fire a shot even in rainy days!
If the flintlock rifle is required to fire normally on rainy days, it will be very difficult to improve it, and it is difficult to do so with the current level of technology in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It was not very difficult to fire a shot with a flintlock rifle on a rainy day, and Dai Jin did it.

Even if only one shot can be fired, if thousands of flintlock rifles fire together on a rainy day, that would be thousands of shots. If these thousands of shots can achieve unexpected results, the impact would be huge.

When the Great Khan Tsereng and his Junggar generals were about to launch a counterattack due to the sudden rain, the Great Zhou made corresponding preparations...

(End of this chapter)