The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 102 Teardrops
Two light arrows flew towards him. Although the horse bow could not penetrate the armor, it could still be fatal if it hit the face within twenty steps. Liu Zhaosun quickly switched his right hand to grab the reins and raised the small round shield with his left hand to block the way in front of him.

In a blink of an eye, they were ten paces away, and the Khorchin still didn't flee. He had just killed two white-pole soldiers, and his face was covered in blood. Now, he gathered his courage, dropped his horse bow, drew a bloodstained long sword, and slashed at the horses' legs.

"die!"

The lance, with the help of the horse, was as fast as a black lightning and rushed towards the Khorchin archer at high speed.

The sound of metal hitting bones came to his ears, and Liu Zhaosun felt a huge impact with his hand holding the spear. He tried hard to control the weapon in his hand, but his palm went numb, and the lance quickly retreated along with the Mongol who was stabbed, and disappeared from his sight.

Hearing the archer's shrill screams behind him, Liu Zhaosun spat, pulled out the Miao Dao that had killed countless people, and slashed at an enemy soldier in front of him who turned around and fled.

"Charge! Charge to the riverbank and line up!"

Liu Zhaosun shouted loudly, not caring whether the cavalry could hear him or not, and urged his horses to continue charging forward.

The first row of spearmen charged quickly from both sides of the white-pole shield formation, scattering the Khorchins gathered around them, leaving more than a hundred mutilated corpses on the ground.

The Mongolian army formation, which was already very loose, immediately collapsed. Many people fled desperately, regardless of Bayala who was in charge of the battle.

Without waiting for the Mongols to adjust their formation, the second row of cavalry followed closely with halberds and maces in hand.

The halberd, shaped like a horse fork, unleashed terrifying killing power in the hands of cavalry.

Unlike the powerful swings of a spear, this weapon, covered in sharp teeth, was short but incredibly powerful. Anyone caught in it would either die or be seriously injured.

The second row of halberd-wielding soldiers swept through the wheat field like a whirlwind, and the Mongols fell down again. Many people had a piece of their cheek torn off by the sharp teeth of the halberds. They did not die immediately, but ran around and screamed inhumane sounds, which aggravated their confusion.

The third row of flintlock cavalry followed the hammermen and accelerated through the messy crowd. The cavalry raised their flintlock pistols and shot at the Mongols in the distance who had not fallen yet.

Bangs and bangs echoed around the shield formations of the white-pole soldiers, and puffs of white smoke rose from the cavalry lines, like the warm breath of a person speaking in winter. Most of the Khorchins were unarmored, and within thirty paces, the short muskets had a deadly effect on them. Soon, a large number of corpses fell to the ground.

After a round of shooting was over, the flintlock soldiers immediately drew their sabers and leaned over to chop at the enemy soldiers who were shot but not killed.

Before the white smoke from the third row of flintlock cavalry had dissipated, the fourth row of spearmen arrived again.

The twelve rows of cavalry were like bloodthirsty steel beasts, galloping forward and ruthlessly ravaging the enemy positions.

Liu Zhaosun rode his horse all the way to the bank of the Hun River. His horse raised its front hooves before the surging water and finally came to a stop, its eyes wide open as it gazed upon the bloody battlefield.

Liu Zhaosun reached out and gently stroked the horse's mane, the Miao Dao in his hand still dripping with blood. In the previous round of attack, their line of spearmen had lost seven men, and the column had been scattered. They were now regrouping on the shore.

"General, are you injured?"

Jin Yuji, with a murderous look on her face, rode her horse slowly towards them. The spear in her hand disappeared and turned into a one-handed sword.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the blood splattered on her face, rode forward, and whispered:

"You take the wounded and stay here. Wait for the White Spear Soldiers to form a battle formation, and then withdraw with them. The cavalry will attack the Houjin battle formation later. It will be extremely dangerous and there is a high risk of death. I can't bear it..."

I can't bear to be separated from you.
Some words will never be said again.

There were two loud bangs.

Liu Zhaosun hurriedly looked back and saw that just behind the formation where they had just charged, about two hundred steps away, more than a dozen French cannons turned their muzzles and began to bombard the flanks of the cavalry's wall-like charge. Soon several war horses were hit and fell to the ground.

"Where are Lin Danhan's cavalry? Aren't they supposed to cover the flanks?!"

The second row of halberd-wielding soldiers also began to line up by the river. The flag captain was a former Liaozhen Yebushou. When he saw the sudden artillery fire on the flank, he roared in anger.

Liu Zhaosun's face darkened. He immediately waved the captain's flag and shouted to the cavalrymen lined up behind him:

"The first three rows follow me to the left wing and kill all these Later Jin soldiers! The rest of the troops continue to attack the Khorchin people!" After he said that, he turned his horse's head, slowly wiped the blood off the blade, looked up at the Later Jin soldiers who were still firing cannons two hundred steps in front of him, and gently whipped the horse's belly with his scabbard.

The warhorse snorted, raised its four hooves, and accelerated towards the location where the white smoke was rising.

Jin Yuji put away her sword, looked at Liu Zhaosun's receding back, loaded the musket with ammunition, and followed him silently.

Three rows of cavalry formed a neat battle formation, each holding a spear and a halberd, and rushed towards the Later Jin artillerymen with murderous intent.

The Later Jin artillery in front of them had just blasted through the white-spear soldiers' shield formation, making a great contribution to their master. Their morale was now high.

Most of them were Ming troops who surrendered to the Later Jin during the Battle of Sarhu, and their leader was Tong Yangxing's brother Tong Yangzhen.

This bondservant, who was a hundred times more brutal than Cao Zhongqing, had just managed to pull the cannon out of the city to bombard the shield formation, and was about to annihilate the white-pole soldiers. He had completed what his master had failed to do, and the Khan would surely be pleased to promote him to Jiala Ezhen.

Unexpectedly, Liu Zhaosun appeared halfway.

This Nikan dared to attack the Later Jin army with only a thousand people, which made the Khan very unhappy.

Tong Yangzhen was so angry that he decided to teach Liu Zhaosun a lesson to let him know the consequences of going against the Jin Dynasty.

He immediately called a group of Zhenyi armored soldiers from the Niulu of the Bordered Yellow Banner to cover the gunners, firing at the flanks of the charging cavalry, and at the same time shooting and killing those cavalrymen of Ligdan Khan who tried to harass them with heavy arrows.

The range of the infantry bow is much greater than that of the cavalry bow, and it can penetrate armor within thirty steps, let alone those cavalrymen under Ligdan Khan who are too poor to wear armor.

The neatly arranged heavy infantry had an absolute advantage over the scattered cavalry. Three hundred Later Jin soldiers formed a hollow square formation. The outer row of armored soldiers raised their spears, and the two rows of Later Jin soldiers behind them used heavy arrows to shoot the Mongols who tried to approach the artillery.

Lin Danhan's riders quickly passed through the Later Jin phalanx, using their horses' speed to shoot arrows and kill the Later Jin soldiers. After several rounds of shooting, the Mongols suffered heavy casualties, leaving behind dozens of corpses and fleeing north in panic.

After they escaped to a safe distance, they stretched their heads and watched as the Later Jin artillerymen continued to bombard Liu Zhaosun's cavalry battalion.

Only two hundred steps away from the rear artillery position, as night fell, Liu Zhaosun could vaguely see the cold luster of the spearheads in the hands of the Later Jin soldiers in the front row. The cold light was particularly eye-catching in the dim wilderness.

"kill!"

Spear against spear.

The two sides soon approached within a hundred steps of each other. Tong Yangzhen, who had been prepared, ordered the Later Jin soldiers to stop shooting at the Mongols and turn around to deal with this Ming cavalry who had come to seek death.

Liu Zhaosun raised his left hand to press down his helmet, and looked sideways at Jin Yuji who was rushing up after him. He glared at her fiercely, feeling infinite emotion for a moment. He had a lot to say but couldn't. In the end, he just nodded to her.

The two horses were riding at different speeds, and soon they were a few steps apart. Jin Yuji's thin figure gradually disappeared into the night.

He stopped thinking about love affairs. Suddenly, he heard a whistling sound in his ears. He subconsciously raised his round shield to block it. More than a dozen heavy arrows flew past his face with the sound of wind and killed a halberd-wielder behind him.

Just as he was congratulating himself for not being shot, he heard a bang, and a rider on his left was hit in the breastplate and fell off his horse. The rider's thin figure flashed by and quickly disappeared from sight.

Liu Zhaosun's heart skipped a beat and he couldn't help but shed tears.

A teardrop fell on the back of my hand, freezing cold.

He continued riding at full speed, raised his Miao Dao, and suddenly looked up like a bloodthirsty beast, glaring fiercely at Tong Yangzhen who was still shooting arrows behind the square formation.

Three rows of cavalry charged at full speed, 280 riders forming a mighty river, charging towards the massive rock in the middle of the river. A second before approaching the rock, the three columns of cavalry split into two wings, rapidly passing the phalanx of spearmen.

Flintlock pistols exploded one after another, puffs of white smoke rose in front of the formation, lightning bolts fell like raindrops, and screams of explosions were heard in the square formation.

More than two hundred sharp spears and halberds pierced through the white smoke, like the scythes of death, and descended upon the earth.

(End of this chapter)