The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 16 The Mighty Qi Family Army

There was no sound from the artillery on the mountainside, but the muskets at the foot of the mountain were firing loudly.

I don’t know if it was God’s will or the weather was abnormal, but the Ming army was actually in the upper wind on the battlefield. In this way, the tragedy of the Korean teammates in the pit would never happen again.

The reversal of wind direction brought more advantages to the Ming army than just this.

It should be noted that in the era of cold weapons, the added effect of attacking with the wind on one's own combat power cannot be explained by common sense.

Well, it should be classified as supernatural.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it would be for the Blue Banner archers, who were facing upwind, to kill the Korean musketeers with heavy arrows.

What is certain is that Liu Jing in this dimension will no longer be shot into a hedgehog by the archers of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Perhaps because the captured Ming army artillery was still on the way, or was withheld by Nurhaci, the Bordered Blue Banner did not carry any firearms this time.

Liu Zhaosun estimated that the opposite side didn't even have a bird gun or a three-barreled gun. When the Korean gunners fired at Baoyi Aha, the Blue Banner position had no other effective counterattack except for a few heavy arrows shot against the wind and landed more than fifty steps away from the gunners.

Oh, and a few Portuguese cannons fired a few shots at the Korean soldiers.

I don’t know if it was because of the poor quality of the Portuguese cannon or the gunner’s lack of skill, but several shots were fired without any accuracy. One of the shells went directly over the musketeer’s head and flew straight to the mountainside of Shajianzi, scaring Liu Zhaosun into a cold sweat.

If Amin could kill Liu Jing who was guarding the mountainside with one shot...

Liu Zhaosun didn't dare to think further.

Fortunately, because the muzzle was hot, the Later Jin gunner on the opposite side stopped shooting after firing a few shots.

The heat dissipation of the gun barrel in this era took a long time, often several quarters of an hour, and the sustained output capability of the artillery was very poor.

The Bordered Blue Banner stopped fighting, so the Ming army continued to fight.

Seeing that the enemy was no match for them, the Korean soldiers became bolder and aimed again at the baoyi who were filling the trenches. They treated the high-spirited Later Jin slaves as living targets and eliminated them on a targeted basis.

After the Imjin War, the Japanese army's advanced firearm technology began to flow into Korea, and the shooting accuracy of Korean firearms was greatly improved.

Just as the island nation valued muskets and despised artillery, North Korea, which was short of supplies, also invested its limited military resources in training musketeers.

That's why the Korean musketeers came to the aid of Liaodong.

Amin, the second prince of the Jin Dynasty, said that Koreans only know how to eat kimchi. Well, this statement is a bit biased.

It has to be said that these bird-gunners are quite capable. When fighting a favorable battle, their morale is high and they are no worse than the Ming army's servants.

Of course, this is only possible if they can stay in a safe position and shoot calmly.

With the extraordinary performance of the Korean gunners, more and more baoyi Aha were shot by bird guns. Most of the baoyi were not wearing armor, and they were almost certain to die if hit by the bird guns.

At present, Nurhaci was busy preparing his troops and even lacked armor for his Zhenyi master, so how could he care about these slaves?

To put it another way, even if they were wearing double layers of heavy armor, it would be difficult for them to withstand close-range shooting from bird guns.

The attack of the Bordered Blue Banner was quite hasty. The entire banner wanted revenge, and they had no preparation for shield carts or anything like that. The Jianzhou Jurchens were said to be invincible when they were over 10,000 strong, but their previous opponents were weaklings like the Yehe Tribe. Not to mention encountering firearms, the Jiannu had never even encountered any proper fortifications.

Amin and several Niulu Ezhen agreed that Liu Jing could be dealt with with just one offensive.

So these bondservants suffered great misfortune.

Amidst the disturbing screams, the team of armored personnel, which was moving forward at a snail's pace, finally could not bear the huge casualties. The armored personnel filling the trenches in front began to shrink back, and those behind stopped moving forward. The entire team showed signs of collapse.

The vanguard captain saw the opportunity and blew the trumpets. The soldiers took advantage of the opportunity and rushed out of the trenches with round shields in hand, chasing those who were left alone.

The soldiers from Huguang, Fujian and other places, stimulated by food, wages and military merits, chased after the bannermen and killed them fiercely, each of them as if they were injected with chicken blood.

The high morale of the Baoyi Aha disappeared in an instant. A few brave Baoyi tried to turn around and resist, but were quickly chopped into meat paste by the Ming army that swarmed forward.

The remaining bannermen were like seeing a devil, and regardless of the mission of liberating Liaodong that they were responsible for, they dropped their sandbags and fled to their own positions.

Seeing that the Baoyi Aha fell into chaos, the soldiers in the front were no longer in a hurry to chase them, but began to snatch heads. When a Baoyi fell, groups of Ming soldiers would rush up to cut off the head.

The innocent Ming soldiers knew that the heads of the bannermen could be disguised as those of the real barbarians, and one head could be exchanged for ten taels of silver.

Despite Liu Zhaosun's repeated warnings before the battle, the incident of snatching and cutting off the heads of slaves still occurred.

Looking at the somewhat chaotic Ming army formation in front of him, Liu Zhaosun recalled the scene of Du Song's army's defeat: fighting for military merit, snatching the heads of Jiannu soldiers, and finally the military discipline was broken and they were defeated.

He immediately summoned Pei Dahu and whispered a few words to the head servant. Soon, two bloody heads were raised high in front of the trench. Pei Dahu stood in front of a group of bloodthirsty soldiers and said hysterically:
"Liu Qianzong said, don't fight over heads. Nurhaci has a mountain of silver in Hetuala. Take Hetuala and I'll give you the silver. Anyone who dares to grab a head again will be cut into pieces!"

The soldiers put away their murderous intent. Although military merits were easy to gain, they only cost one head.

Everyone knows Liu Jing's methods. He even dared to chop down the Korean marshal, let alone these small soldiers. What's more important is that Liu Zhaosun has spoken, so everyone has to give face to the Thirteenth Master.

The retreating Baoyi Aha suddenly stopped, like receding waters blocked by rocks. The people fleeing in front cried out in fear and fled in all directions like a herd of horses.

Behind the Baoyi Aha team, a group of short and strong white-armored soldiers holding thick shields were swinging their swords to chop the Baoyi.

They hacked fiercely at the fleeing soldiers at the front, killing them all regardless of their wailing and pleas for mercy!
"Anyone who retreats will die! The whole family will be beheaded!"

The Niulu Ezhen shouted loudly in the back, and the Zhenyi masters held bows and arrows and swords, forcing the Baoyi to pass through the dense fire of muskets and continue to fill the trenches with their lives.

When the bannermen saw their leader, the white-armored soldier, swinging his sword and hacking at people, they remembered their mission. They hurriedly picked up sandbags from the ground, filled them with sand, and rushed towards the Ming army trenches.

The crackling sound of muskets rang out, and another brutal massacre began.

After two rounds of charging, more than 2,000 bannermen suffered more than 500 casualties. Fortunately, the trench of the Ming army on the opposite side was half filled and was barely passable.

A mournful conch shell sounded, and the soldiers filling the trenches ahead seemed to have been pardoned. The survivors threw their bags of soil on the roadside and scrambled to retreat.

Behind the Baoyi, a black mass of dead soldiers banged their shields, crossed the trenches, pushed aside the chevaux de frise, and marched towards the Ming army's position.

They held Shundao in their hands and had throwing weapons such as flying axes and iron bones on their waists. They marched in a row of twenty and advanced step by step with unstoppable momentum.

Compared with the neat military appearance of the Jiannu dead soldiers, the Ming army's fighting spirit was obviously inferior.

Fortunately, the weapons used by both sides are basically the same, with very few firearms, and they are all sophisticated short weapons. If they fight to the death, no one can gain the upper hand.

Nurhaci's other identity was the Dragon and Tiger General of the Ming Dynasty, who was personally conferred by Emperor Wanli.

Before the rebellion against the Ming Dynasty, the training of the Eight Banners Army showed traces of imitating the Ming Army in many aspects.

The only difference is that compared with the declining and decadent Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci's Jurchen tribe was in a rising period.

It was because of this that the Later Jin army was about to crush the Ming army.

When the two sides were fifty steps apart, they stopped at the same time. The dead soldiers took out their bows and arrows and began to shoot at the Ming army with heavy arrows.

The Ming army in the front row was shot down and the ranks became chaotic.

Some soldiers who knew how to shoot arrows took out their bows and arrows and fought back against the Jiannu.

Heavy arrows flew back and forth between the two armies, cruelly exchanging lives.

At this distance, bows and arrows have terrifying lethality and can easily penetrate chain mail.

The targets on both sides are large, so there is no need to aim much. Every shot will take away one or more lives.

Although these Ming army's guest soldiers had extraordinary combat capabilities and were not much worse than Liu Jing's servants, they were guest soldiers after all and did not have the determination to die. In the face of the Jiannu's relentless attack, their momentum gradually weakened. After large-scale casualties, everyone became frightened and showed signs of collapse.

The situation began to develop in a direction unfavorable to the Ming army. Liu Zhaosun saw it and it was completely within his expectations that the soldiers would fight like this.

Nurhaci had been planning this for a long time, and these Jiannu dead soldiers were fearless and unafraid of death. Without a devastating blow, it would be difficult to completely destroy the fighting will of the dead soldiers.

The thousand dead Jiannu soldiers were like a gust of wind blowing through a wheat field, and the bodies of the fallen Ming soldiers around them increased. The Ming soldiers behind saw that the situation was not good and knew that they would only die if they went forward, so they retreated one after another.

At this moment, a deafening shout came from behind:
"Those who backslide, die!"

The retreating Ming army soldiers were stabbed to death by their own spears, but the spears continued to fire towards the second to last row of retreating soldiers.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the soldiers were no match for the spearmen, so they gritted their teeth and rushed towards the dead Jiannu soldiers on the opposite side again, wielding their swords and clubs to chop and kill them, fighting for their lives.

Densely packed sharp and shining spear tips pierced the sky obliquely, and the rustling sound of armor scales shaking was heard everywhere, like a summer rainstorm, sweeping across the entire battlefield.

The Ming army's spearmen advanced step by step like puppets, marching to the rhythmic beat of drums.

"Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!"

The battle formation of the Bordered Blue Banner dead soldiers had been a little messy due to the impact of the previous wave of Ming soldiers. After the Ming army was defeated, the dead soldiers ran all the way in heavy armor to catch up. They were a little exhausted and completely lost their formation. Just when they thought that they could completely defeat the Ming army with a wave of surprise attacks, this powerful army with strict formation and strict discipline appeared before them.

The dead Jiannu soldiers were somewhat panicked.

At this time, they were more than 300 steps away from their own position. Without the cover of the Blue Banner archers, they were completely exposed to the attack of the Ming army.

This strange group of Ming soldiers armed with bamboo spears reminded them of the horrific night attack they suffered the day before.

A mere 500 spearmen held off the siege of over a thousand brave warriors of the Bordered Blue Banner for a whole hour, fighting without retreat and killing without stopping, causing serious casualties to the Bordered Blue Banner.

After the battle, the Niulu Ezhen of each Niulu counted that the number of Blue Banner warriors killed or wounded by this group of spearmen in the night attack was more than 500.

You know, a few days ago at the border, the Bordered Yellow Banner and the Plain Yellow Banner wiped out 30,000 to 40,000 troops of Du Song, while the casualties of their own bannermen were only 800.

The dead soldiers were furious. They were ambushed by the southern barbarians the day before yesterday, suffered heavy casualties, and were punished by the Second Beile. Now they were facing a fair battle and were determined to kill all these cunning and cowardly southern barbarians.

(End of this chapter)