The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 115: Broken Shield
Four bare-chested drummers boarded the drum cart and beat the marching drums with all their might. The powerful drumbeats echoed on both sides of the Hunhe River.

The last flag team of the 3000th headquarters, consisting of 130 soldiers, quickly crossed the pontoon bridge and entered the battlefield on the south bank.

Amid the passionate sound of war drums, the Mandarin Duck Formation formed by the Kaiyuan soldiers on the south bank began to expand rapidly.

The 3,000-man Mandarin Duck Formation fired spears, halberds, and maces, spraying lead bullets and stone mines, crushing all living things that stood in its way.

It smashed the Zhenglan Banner formation, which was on the verge of collapse, into pieces, leaving behind dense corpses of the Zhenyi armored soldiers. Amid the terrified screams of the Baoyi Aha, the Yuanyang formation rushed forward like a raging steel behemoth, crashing into the east gate of Shenyang.

On the north bank of the Hun River, under the 16-foot-long general's flag, Liu Zhaosun pointed his sword at the south bank, and a blue advancing flag was immediately raised in front of the cavalry camp.

The last 1,300 elite cavalrymen composed of the Yehe Cavalry and the Kaiyuan Cavalry Battalion, led by the deputy battalion commander of the cavalry battalion, Burhanggu, rushed onto the pontoon bridge like a black torrent.

The cavalry rushed towards the south bank in groups of four.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves soon reached the south bank of the Hun River. Burhanggu rushed across the pontoon bridge and without having time to let the cavalry form a battle array, he immediately rode his horse and killed the armored soldiers of the Zhenglan Banner.

The capture of Haixi City and the annexation of the Yehe clan by the Later Jin Dynasty were not only due to the credit of Jirgalang's Bordered Blue Banner, but the Plain Blue Banner also played a key role. Manggurtai killed many Yehe people at that time.

When the Yehe Jurchens met the Jianzhou Jurchens, the two enemies met and became extremely jealous of each other.

The Yehe cavalry under Burhanggu's command had basically the same training methods as the cavalry battalion, and their weapons and equipment were exactly the same as those of the cavalry battalion.

Stone mines and flintlock rifles are both necessary.

The cavalry slashed and killed fiercely along the gap torn open by the Mandarin Duck Formation in front. After Burhanggu cut off a waist knife, he ordered the cavalry to stop the dogfight and form a formation to charge and strangle the chaotic Zhenglan Banner formation.

"General Liu spent so much money training you, not just to show off your horsemanship! Form a formation immediately! Charge like a wall! Send all these Jianzhou Tartars to see Changshengtian!"

Burhanggu, with a bloody face, shouted excitedly, rode his horse to the front of the commanders of each camp, and gave them loud orders.

He killed more than ten soldiers of the Zhenglan Banner in a row, and his horse ran out of steam and fell to the ground with its front hooves limp.

Burhanggu, in a killing spree, fell from his horse, threw away his broken sword, turned a deaf ear to the shouts and screams around him, knelt on the ground, looked towards the west with a pious face (the Jurchens valued the west), and shouted loudly:
"Oh, the almighty Changshengtian! Grant me divine power and help me chop off half of Nurhaci's body today! Avenge my father, brothers, and clansmen!"

~~~~~~
Liu Zhaosun looked at the messy and chaotic battlefield on the south bank and faintly heard the sound of a bugle coming from the opposite bank. He judged that the Zhenglan Banner was completely doomed this time.

Manggurtai's sudden death caused the Zhenglan Banner to fall apart and fall into a chaotic state with no leader.

The five Jiala Ezhens under him hindered each other and were unwilling to submit to each other. They only maintained superficial harmony in front of the Khan.

The Bordered Blue Banner has suffered continuous losses in the past few days. First, it was beaten by the White Spear Soldiers, then it was strangled by the Cavalry Battalion, and finally it was wiped out by the Divine Fire Flying Crows.

After three rounds of attacks, more than 6,000 of the 13,000 people were killed, leaving more than 6,000 remnants.

The Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty did not know where he got the confidence and courage from, but he wanted to rely on these 6,000 defeated soldiers to stop the Kaiyuan army.

After defeating the Zhenglan Banner, we still have to deal with the two yellow banners and the bordered white banner.

The three flags together have at least more than 20,000 people, especially the Bordered White Flag, whose main force is intact and its strength should not be underestimated.

However, Liu Zhaosun believed that his soldiers could break through all obstacles.

Thinking of this, he decided to cross the river in person to supervise the battle and boost the morale of the army. He ordered the drum carts to cross the river with the army to cheer them on.

"Sir, I will also cross the river to fight. I believe the north bank is not very defensible. If the south bank is defeated, the north bank will not be spared either!"

Mao Wenlong saluted Liu Zhaosun and loudly requested to fight.

Mao Wenlong was surrounded by more than 500 Liaozhen soldiers. They fought bloody battles for three days at the east gate, leaving behind more than 2,000 bodies of their brothers and fled back to the north bank overnight.

At this moment, they wanted to go back for revenge more than anyone else.

Liu Zhaosun noticed that there was a gleam of revenge in the eyes of these Liaozhen soldiers, and many of them were looking towards the Shenyang city wall.

Seeing that Liu Zhaosun remained silent, Mao Wenlong thought that he disagreed with his crossing the river, because according to the previous battle plan, their Liao soldiers were responsible for covering the rear of the north bank to prevent the arrival of Jiannu reinforcements.

"Sir, many of my brothers and their families are still on the other side of the city wall! They just watched helplessly as the Tartars killed people in the city!"

Liu Zhaosun patted Mao Wenlong on the shoulder and said firmly:

"Commander Mao, let's go. I'll cross the river with you!"

~~~~
Liu Zhaosun walked slowly across the floating bridge. Even though no one on the other side had been shooting arrows at him, two guards still held up long signs and carefully stepped forward to shield him. The bridge, less than a mile long, felt like a lifetime for Liu Zhaosun.

Most of the bodies of the soldiers on the bridge were carried back by the auxiliary soldiers, and only some that were burned and could not be identified were left there.

As we got closer to the south bank, we could hear the screams of the Later Jin soldiers and the roar of Bayala on the opposite bank.

The guard whispered that the soldiers were in front where they would put out the fire.

Liu Zhaosun took a few steps forward and saw a section of the bridge surface that had been burned black.

A pile of charcoal-black wreckage was pushed to both sides of the pontoon bridge, and part of it had fallen into the Hunhe River.

Just now, the military situation was urgent, and the soldiers and cavalry walked across the bridge, with no intention or ability to care about the remains of their companions.

Most of the auxiliary troops are now following the combat troops and have rushed to the east gate.

Liu Zhaosun, dressed in armor, knelt down with difficulty, his eyes slightly red as he looked at his soldiers and the burnt remains of them.

The tragic scene of soldiers fearing death appeared before his eyes.

He found an unburned long card in the ashes. He didn't know which long card player left it there, but only a corner was left.

Urgent bamboo whistles were heard from the south bank, and the soldiers began to attack further.

Liu Zhaosun suddenly grabbed the palm-sized broken shield and stuffed it into his chain mail regardless of the heat.

He stood up with difficulty, followed the two guards, and walked quickly down the pontoon.

As he stepped onto the land on the south bank of the Hunhe River, a pungent smell of blood hit him in the face. Liu Zhaosun felt relaxed and felt like he was back in a familiar place.

Looking around, from the Hunhe River to the north gate of Shenyang, the area within a radius of several miles was littered with the corpses of Later Jin soldiers, with some Kaiyuan soldiers and Yehe cavalry lying in the middle.

Liu Zhaosun was accustomed to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and had long been numb to such scenes.

He quickly counted the number of corpses at his feet and roughly estimated that the casualty ratio between the Kaiyuan soldiers and the Later Jin soldiers was about one to five.

The river section west of the floating bridge is where the fishing boats land. On the slope where the river bank and the riverbed connect, the corpses of the war soldiers and the Later Jin soldiers have submerged the entire hillside.

Three hundred steps away, on the top of the city wall, the Later Jin soldiers were running around like headless flies, and Liu Zhaosun could not see clearly which flag was on the opposite side.

The two guards were facing a powerful enemy, fearing that an arrow would suddenly shoot from somewhere and hit General Liu.

At this time, the auxiliary soldiers who were transporting the war drums from behind also rushed up. Seven or eight auxiliary soldiers shouted and moved the golden drums that were more than five feet high down from the bridge head. A captain commanded them.

Seeing General Liu also on the south bank, the captain came over and saluted, saying with concern:
"Your Excellency is injured, how did you cross the river, and..."

He looked at General Liu and saw that there were only two guards around him, which he thought was too few. He immediately waved his hand behind him and called over a few soldiers.

Liu Zhaosun patted the captain on the shoulder and said to him with a smile:
"Don't worry about me, the central guards have been sent to charge the battle. I'm here to boost the morale of the army. Quick, beat the drums!"

The captain was still worried, so he arranged two soldiers to protect Lord Liu before he went to command the auxiliary soldiers to set up the drum.

"Sir, where is the golden drum placed?"

"Move closer to the east gate. I want all the Ming troops to see it!"

Liu Zhaosun looked to the east and saw that the Yuanyang Formation had advanced more than 500 steps eastward from the south bank and was blocked by a group of Later Jin soldiers. Their position was less than two miles away from the Zhejiang Army Chariot Camp at the east gate.

Liu Zhaosun felt a little relieved and was about to follow the army eastward when he heard Pei Dahu's voice behind him:

"Sir, Miss Jin has woken up and keeps asking me where you are. She wants to cross the river to look for you."

Liu Zhaosun called Pei Dahu and said to him:

"After rescuing the Zhejiang soldiers, we will have a decisive battle with the Nu chieftain. After this battle, I will marry Jin Yuji in a sedan chair carried by eight people..."

He looked up towards the east, not knowing whether Pei Dahu could convey these words to Jin Yu Ji.

He followed the captain who was carrying the golden drum and walked towards the Later Jin soldiers who were blocking the sky at the east gate.

(End of this chapter)