The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 105 Gap
The divine fire crow fell into the valley with a long tail of flame. Crackling explosions were heard in the dark night, and the smell of burning sulfur filled the north bank of the Hunhe River.

Song Yingxing's improvement of the Shenhuo Feiya increased the range, but did not make much improvement on the other defects of this rocket.

The problem of poor rocket shooting accuracy due to the lack of spin stabilizer remains unresolved.

In the first round of launch, only thirty Divine Fire Crows fell into the Jiannu formation. Most of the rockets whizzed over the heads of the Later Jin soldiers and plunged into the river nearby. A few of them flew directly to the other side of the Hunhe River.

However, what made Liu Zhaosun happy was that none of the rockets fell on the cavalry camp, otherwise he would have had a good talk with Song Yingxing.

Due to limited knowledge, Liu Zhaosun knew nothing about the manufacture of nitroammonium explosives, and he could not make picric acid right away like other time travelers.

The above two types of gunpowder are more powerful.

The improved Divine Fire Flying Crow carries black gunpowder, and its explosion power when it lands is relatively small. In order to make up for this shortcoming, Song Yingxing added caltrops and broken pottery pieces to the warhead, so that it can cause secondary damage to the target.

Despite many problems, when 360 rockets whizzed down from the sky, lighting up the night sky with their tails, they still caused great panic among the Later Jin soldiers who were marching in the dark.

The cotton armor of the Later Jin soldier who was located in the center of the landing point was ignited by sulfur. The flames ignited the dry grass and bushes on the river bank, and soon turned the surrounding soldiers into fireballs, rolling desperately in the formation.

The flying caltrops and broken pottery fragments poured down like raindrops, penetrating armor and bodies at high speed, turning the Later Jin soldiers around the explosion point into gourds of blood and flesh.

The war horses under the crotch of the Yehe people were frightened by the whistling sound and the flames in the sky. The mad horses kicked their hooves and crashed into the formation of the Later Jin soldiers, causing a rain of blood. Some horses turned around and jumped directly into the Hunhe River.

The soft mud by the river covered the horses' bellies. The Yehe people on horseback shouted in despair in the darkness and sank rapidly into the endless abyss.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the chaotic Later Jin formation and ordered the cavalry battalion to prepare for an attack, with Lin Danhan's riders helping to cover the flanks.

The captains of each row of flags rode their horses past the front of the formation and loudly reminded the cavalry to pay attention to various details when charging.

The environment in which the Kaiyuan cavalry trained was complex and changeable, and sometimes the light was even dimmer than it is now.

Horses have excellent vision at night, and trained war horses can avoid rugged terrain and cross roadblocks such as horse traps on their own.

The most important thing for cavalry to pay attention to in night battles is to avoid teammates.

The three rounds of rockets were quickly fired, and the four falconets on the flanks also stopped firing. Thousands of the tens of thousands of Later Jin soldiers fell, and some were covered by white smoke and flames.

There were shrill screams from the battle formation, and the Later Jin soldiers who were set on fire rolled around like fireballs.

Liu Zhaosun smelled the scent of sulfur coming from afar. He pointed his lance forward, shouted, and led the first row of spearmen to charge.

The second row of halberd bearers followed behind the spearmen, with a distance of about three feet between them. The formation was much sparser than during the daytime charge.

Five thousand cavalrymen drove their horses and began to charge towards the Later Jin formation.

Lin Danhan's riders were skilled in riding. They clamped their calves around the horses' bellies, freeing their hands to shoot arrows with their foot bows, and they threw arrows at the target from a hundred steps away from the phalanx.

Liu Zhaosun admired the riding skills of these Mongols very much. He had been fighting on the battlefield with his adoptive father since he was a child, and was quite skilled in archery and horse riding, but there was still a big gap compared to these people.

If I had been a better rider, I might have been able to save Jin Yuji just now.

Perhaps, I will die here in battle.

When they were two hundred steps away from the Later Jin formation, the first wave of light arrows was shot from the opposite side. The arrowheads hit the cavalry's helmets, making a crisp tinkling sound.

Someone was hit in the face by a light arrow. He screamed, fell off his horse, and then disappeared into the dark night.

Liu Zhaosun estimated that the Later Jin soldiers were now focusing on the Mongols, and were using heavy arrows and iron bones to attack the Chahar people fiercely.

After entering a hundred steps, the cavalrymen on their side also raised their bows and shot at the opposite formation.

However, this sporadic shooting is of little use. Horseback bows cannot penetrate armor, so one still has to rely on spears and halberds to charge and kill.

The cavalry quickly approached within fifty steps of the formation. The spearmen and halberd bearers simultaneously drew out iron bone daggers and flying axes from their horses, and using the speed of their horses, smashed them hard at the front row of Jiannu soldiers.

Screams of pain echoed from the other side. At this range, the power of thrown weapons far surpassed that of horse bows; anyone hit would either die or be crippled. The other side quickly unleashed a wave of throwing axes and javelins, but their flurry of attacks left them with little accuracy, wounding only one cavalryman.

The first row of cavalry stretched out their spears, and the horses, sensing the atmosphere of the battlefield, began to accelerate.

Amid the sound of metal rubbing against armor plates, the Later Jin soldiers on the outermost wings were stabbed by spears one after another. Under the huge inertia, they followed the spears that penetrated deep into their bodies, and their bodies flew backwards like kites, then fell heavily to the ground. Before they could get up, they were trampled by tens of thousands of horse hooves.

The Jiannu immediately filled the position of the stabbed armored soldier. Liu Zhaosun used his lance to pick up a sword and shield warrior and flew him towards the rear, smashing into a group of Later Jin soldiers, causing chaos. Liu Zhaosun shouted to the flintlock soldiers behind him to throw stone mines. A violent explosion, shrill screams rang out from the Later Jin army, and several more corpses fell to the ground.

This time the cavalry charged the infantry phalanx with basically the same tactics as they had used before against Tong Yangzhen and his men, with the cavalry passing at high speed, encroaching on the flanks, their spears and palladiums plowing the ground on both wings, and stone mines exploding in the middle.

The difference is that this time, the phalanx Liu Zhaosun and his men faced was much larger, with about five to six thousand people.

Long spears and halberds plowed across the flanks of the two yellow flags, and Ligdan Khan's troops shot arrows from further away on the flanks to block the Later Jin soldiers' counterattack against the cavalry battalion.

Lin Danhan's riders began a fierce dogfight with the Haixi Yehe cavalry who had surrendered to the Later Jin.

Some cavalry from both sides engaged in small-scale clashes outside the main formation, which were as fierce as the cavalry battalion's attack on the Later Jin square formation. The cavalry's clashes at night were very dangerous and full of uncertainty.

These Yehe people, who were used as cannon fodder by the Later Jin, had originally little fighting spirit. Seeing that the Mongols in front of them were in high morale and were vying to fight to the death, after a few rounds of fighting, they fled towards their own main position.

The Later Jin soldiers fighting hard in the square formation certainly didn't know that they had been abandoned by the Yehe people, and were still trying to resist the Ming cavalry who were charging into the formation.

The infantry phalanx, having lost the cover of the Yehe cavalry, marched on the dark plain like a lamb to be slaughtered, with its front and flanks exposed to the cavalry battalion.

The cavalry that had charged through the phalanx regrouped five hundred paces to the east.

The first round of charge was not fierce. After it ended, Liu Zhaosun ordered each camp to count the number of people, and found that more than 80 people were lost.

The casualties of the Later Jin soldiers are unknown, but it is estimated that at least three hundred people died.

Liu Zhaosun had no time to feel sad. He turned his horse towards the Later Jin phalanx that was swarming with swords and spears, and shouted:

"Open a gap to cover the White Spear Soldiers' charge!"

There was another sound of spears piercing armor, and the cavalry battalion fought bravely against the Later Jin soldiers on the opposite side.

Under the reckless charge of the spearmen and halberd bearers, the front-row Later Jin soldiers finally felt unprecedented pressure. The long swords and axes in their hands were a little difficult to deal with the cavalry, and it often took two or three people to deal with one cavalryman.

The two yellow flags were so powerful that their former opponents either fled or were killed by the warriors. From Mongolia to Yehe, from Sarhu to Shenyang.

The consecutive victories doubled the courage of the Jianzhou Jurchens, especially the two Jiala Ezhen of the Bordered Yellow Banner. They both wanted to fight Liu Zhaosun and kill him with their own hands for the Later Jin.

But now, the Later Jin soldiers were stunned. They had never seen such a desperate fighting style.

It's literally exchanging life for life.

The fear caused by cavalry charge is far greater than that caused by infantry charge. Even the well-trained soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty would feel an inexplicable fear when facing a close-range cavalry charge.

A musketeer followed the halberd bearer and came roaring towards them on horseback.

The heavy arrow flew over the halberd-wielder's left shoulder and pierced the musketeer's neck. The musketeer grabbed the reins until his death and crashed into the dense cluster of swords on the opposite side. The stone mine exploded and screams were heard all around.

The two Later Jin soldiers fell to the ground and rolled around, with a small hole torn on their left wing.

Two Zhenyi armored soldiers immediately came up from behind to fill their positions. Before they could stand firm, another long spear came towards them and knocked one of them away.

Another man suddenly threw a flying axe, and the cavalryman who was holding a spear was unable to dodge and was knocked off his horse by the flying axe. Then a musketeer came up and rushed over on his horse. The musketeer went off with a bang, almost hitting the Later Jin soldier who threw the flying axe and smashing his head into pieces.

The musketeer did not stop, but galloped past the phalanx, and before leaving, he did not forget to throw a stone mine into the dense crowd of Later Jin people.

The two sides continued to exchange deaths in this small position. The Ming army's attack became more fierce. After nine rounds of cavalry charge, the gap between the two people was rapidly widened, and the corpses piled up like a hill around it.

After several rounds of cavalry charges, all the armored soldiers who tried to advance around the gap were killed, and the gap, which had expanded countless times, was large enough for an army to pass through.

Liu Zhaosun asked the messenger to send a message to the rear, summoning the white-pole soldiers to attack and continue to tear open the Later Jin formation along the opened gap.

The mighty sound of war drums resounded on the east side of the river bank. After a while, the low and sad sound of a horn echoed more than 500 steps to the west.

Liu Zhaosun knew that it was the order for the White Spear Soldiers to attack, he thought.

As long as the White Spear Soldiers can successfully break through the Later Jin Army's formation, the Two Yellow Flags will be in chaos and will have no choice but to accept the fate of defeat.

(End of this chapter)