Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 173: The Defeat of the Dzungars

It's daybreak.

The rain is still falling, neither heavy nor light.

Above a wasteland in the northwest, the sky was dim, dark clouds gathered, and the rain continued like silk threads, falling on the earth, making the scene even more gloomy in the mist.

The originally barren land became muddy because of the rain.

This muddy wasteland is the battlefield where the Great Zhou and Junggar are fighting again today.

On one side of the battlefield was the Great Zhou army of more than 30,000 led by Wang Ziteng, including more than 1,000 dragoons who arrived last night.

On the other side of the battlefield was the 25,000-strong Dzungar army led by Khan Tseren.

Both sides had already deployed their troops and were advancing towards each other across the muddy wasteland.

On such a rainy day, and in a field battle in the northwest wilderness, it was inconvenient for both sides to use their artillery and muskets.

Even bows and cavalry were affected. The rain would affect the accuracy and range of bows and arrows, while the rain and mud would affect the charge of the cavalry.

In the eyes of Khan Tseren, today's battle is a contest between close combat and bravery.

In this battle, the Dzungars had fewer troops than the Great Zhou, and had just experienced a major defeat and a breakout, so the morale of the soldiers was not high.

Despite this, Great Khan Tseren still believed that the Dzungar army could defeat the Great Zhou army.

Because the Junggar soldiers are good at field battles, close combat, and fighting in the rain, while the Zhou army is not good at these, and it is inconvenient for them to use artillery and muskets, so their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

In fact, Khan Tseren's decision to fight again today was also a helpless move, and he was making a desperate counterattack.

If we do not fight today, the Junggar army will be chased and attacked by the Great Zhou army, and will continue to lose soldiers until Junggar is annihilated by the Great Zhou.

If Junggar wins a great victory today, it may be possible to turn defeat into victory in this great battle in the northwest. Even if it cannot turn defeat into victory, at least it can make the Great Zhou agree to peace talks as a delaying tactic.

At this time, Khan Tseren was standing on a small hill, holding a telescope, looking at the armies of both sides approaching in the muddy wasteland in the distance.

Suddenly, he became suspicious and felt strange.

He observed that although the Great Zhou army was approaching the Dzungar army in battle array, their formation was somewhat strange.

The first three rows of soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty all held up their spears and prepared to fight, but the soldiers in the fourth to sixth rows did not hold any cold weapons and kept their hands hidden underneath.

Why?

Great Khan Tsereng was stunned for a while before he guessed an answer: Could it be that the enemy would use the flintlock formation on this rainy day?
After guessing the answer, the Great Khan Tsering was shocked and exclaimed: "Oh no, the enemy is cheating!"

However, it was too late to order a withdrawal.

On the muddy wasteland, the Great Zhou army and the Dzungar army were getting closer and closer.

The vanguard of the Dzungar army had not yet noticed the flintlock rifles hidden by the vanguard of the Great Zhou.

The fourth to sixth rows of the Great Zhou vanguard army consisted of more than a thousand soldiers from the Jianrui Battalion and more than a thousand soldiers from the Dragon Cavalry Battalion, a total of three thousand people.

At this moment, each of the three thousand soldiers held a new flintlock rifle, and they hid the new flintlock rifles underneath.

The flintlock rifle uses sparks created by striking a flint anvil to ignite the fuse, so it is inconvenient to fire on rainy days.

The Da Zhou flintlock rifle developed by Yuan Qingbai and Dai Jin could be fired on rainy days.

How to do it?
It’s actually not complicated.

Use beeswax to coat the seams, then put the firing assembly into a holster and remove the holster before firing.

This would allow the flintlock to fire on a rainy day.

It would be no good if you continued to fire, because after firing a shot, the flintlock would become damp.

At this moment, on the muddy wasteland, the Great Zhou army and the Dzungar army were only a few dozen steps apart.

If it weren't for the rain, this distance would be suitable for shooting with the Da Zhou's new flintlock rifles.

The 3,000 elite soldiers and dragoons hiding in the vanguard were not in a hurry to shoot.

In this battle they could only fire one shot, with a total of only three thousand shots. In order to have a good effect, these three thousand shots had to be fired unexpectedly and when they were close to the enemy.

This was the strategy discussed by Wang Ziteng, Shi Ding and Niu Jizong. According to their decision, the three thousand flintlock rifles should fire at ten steps today.

Thirty steps...twenty steps...ten steps!
Ten steps of the Great Zhou Dynasty were equivalent to more than ten meters in Yuan Qingbai's previous life.

The soldiers of both sides were about to engage in battle, and some of the Junggar vanguard had already noticed something strange in the Great Zhou vanguard at close range...

at this time!

"squat!"

Following the order from the Great Zhou general, the Great Zhou soldiers in the first three rows all squatted down.

The 3,000 elite soldiers and dragoons in the fourth to sixth rows fired three rounds together.

bang bang bang bang bang...

Under the gloomy sky, on the muddy wasteland, in the continuous rain, bursts of intensive gunfire suddenly rang out. Instead of being drowned out by the sound of the rain, the gunfire seemed particularly harsh.

With the bursts of gunfire, groups of Dzungar soldiers were shot and fell.

Suddenly, there were bursts of screams and cries of terror from the Junggar vanguard.

Many people died tragically, and those who survived became panicked.

How could they fire guns in the rain? And three thousand flintlock rifles fired at such a close distance? Originally, the morale of the Junggar army was unstable in this battle.

The fact that flintlock rifles could be used in rainy days was truly shocking to the Dzungar army.

This unexpected attack threw the formation of the Dzungar vanguard into chaos, and the soldiers began to flee. Some brave soldiers did not flee, but charged towards the Zhou army, where they were either killed by flintlock muskets or by spears.

The Dzungar formation was originally tight, but the wasteland was muddy. Some Dzungar soldiers panicked and lost their way or fell to the ground when they fled, which led to some people being trampled to death and caused more and more Dzungar soldiers to flee.

The Grand Strategy Officer Dundub and the Junior Strategy Officer Dundub, who were at the scene, hurriedly ordered their soldiers not to escape and also re-deployed the troops.

However, the situation is irreversible.

"kill!"

The Great Zhou army launched a hunt for the Dzungar army.

Among them, more than a thousand soldiers of the Dragon Cavalry Battalion rode on horses. They were all wearing light canvas uniforms, and the impact of the rain on them was less than that of regular cavalry.

It was no longer convenient for them to fire, so they all put bayonets on their flintlock rifles, rode their horses in pursuit, and killed the enemy with their bayonets.

The Junggar army and the Great Zhou army were already close to each other, and the Junggar formation was in chaos, and it was not easy to escape in the rain and mud.

Under this situation, the Junggar soldiers were losing at an alarming rate...

The two great generals of the Dzungar Khanate, Da Tsereng Dondub and Xiao Tsereng Dondub, did not flee at this time. They both knew that a great defeat in this battle would almost mean the destruction of the Dzungar Khanate. They would rather die on the battlefield and be buried with the Dzungar Khanate.

At this time, Xiao Celeng Dundub led several personal guards, rode upstream in the fleeing troops, and killed a group of dragoons.

"You damned beasts, even if I die today, I will also chop off all of you and bury you with me!"

Little Tsering Dundub couldn't help but shout out.

He had been defeated twice by the Dragoon Battalion before and hated the Dragoons to the core.

Qi Ping'an, the lieutenant general of the Dragon Cavalry Battalion, was leading a group of dragoons under his command to chase down the defeated army.

Suddenly, Qi Ping'an found that Xiao Celeng Dundub was rushing towards him, and he immediately recognized the other party's identity. He was excited and nervous for a moment.

What excited him was that if he could kill little Tsereng Dundub with his own hands, it would be a great achievement.

The worrying thing is that young Tsereng Dundub is big and brave and difficult to defeat.

Fortunately, Qi Ping'an was surrounded by dozens of dragoons, and they were united in purpose.

kill!

Before little Celeng Dundub could get close to Qi Ping'an, a brave dragoon took the lead and stabbed little Celeng Dundub with the bayonet on his flintlock.

Little Tsering Dundub held a heavy broadsword in his hand and chopped at the flintlock rifle, thus blocking it. Then he swung the sword in the opposite direction and cut down the dragoon.

kill!

Another dragoon stabbed Little Celeng Dundub with the bayonet on his flintlock rifle, and was also killed by Little Celeng Dundub.

After Xiao Tsereng Dundub killed four dragoons in succession, he was surrounded by several dragoons.

Little Tsereng Dunduobu had a ferocious look on his face. Although he was in a desperate situation, he still bravely swung his sword and killed two more dragoons. He had been stabbed once, leaving a bloody hole in his body.

Even so, he gritted his teeth and slashed at Qi Ping'an with a knife.

Qi Ping'an suddenly bent down to avoid the knife, then stabbed out with a gun, piercing the neck of little Celeng Dundub.

Little Celeng Dundub groaned, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Qi Ping'an. He was really unwilling to die like this, but he still fell off the horse's back and his body lay in the mud, with his eyes open.

Qi Ping'an looked down at the body of little Celeng Dundub from his horseback and thought to himself, "That was a close call."

Just now he was nearly hit by a knife from little Tsereng Dundub.

If this happened, he might die on the spot, his ambitions would be unfulfilled and he would die before he could return to Beijing safely. His old father Qin Zi Zhang would lose his only remaining son.

"When a man goes to war, he should not be sad about separation. He should be a hero and fight against the enemy with his spear in hand!"

"For families like us with military honors, this is even more important."

At this moment, Qi Ping'an remembered what his old father had told him before he went to war.

With a determined look on his face, he gritted his teeth and led his dragoons to continue chasing the fleeing Junggar army...

Less than a quarter of an hour after the death of the younger Tsereng Dondub, another great general of the Dzungar Khanate, the elder Tsereng Dondub, was surrounded by a group of elite soldiers led by the captain of the battalion, Ni Er.

Ni Er, wearing armor and holding two whips, led his elite soldiers and quickly killed all the guards around Da Celeng Dundub.

Da Celing Dundub watched Ni Er rushing towards him, knowing that this Great Zhou general was extremely brave and that he could not escape death.

He took out a dagger, looked up at the rainy sky with a look of unwillingness, then turned around and looked at his homeland in the west with eyes full of reluctance.

Now that things have come to this, what can we do even if we are unwilling to give up?

So he suddenly stabbed himself with the dagger.

With a splash of blood, he fell into the muddy wasteland, surrounded by blood.

What a life!
The sky grows darker and the rain continues.

Today, Little Tsereng Dundub died in battle, and Big Tsereng Dundub committed suicide.

The Dzungars were defeated!
(End of this chapter)