The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 191: The War of Pushing Forward (I)

Until all the artillery had crossed the river, Huang Taiji had not organized any effective counterattack.

Ping Liaohou's eyelids twitched. "It's all different from before. Can we really push forward smoothly?"

His voice was low, as if he was speaking to himself. Kang Yingqian didn't hear what he was saying clearly, and glanced at Sun Chuanting who was standing next to him. Sun Chuanting's throat moved, as if he had something to say.

The artillery that landed on the east bank was debugging the artillery, and more than a dozen field guns fired a round of bombardment at the west gate of Hetuala.

The troops on the city wall are very thin, and it seems that there are only about a hundred defenders at most.

Sun Chuanting said worriedly, "Marquis Ping Liao, I have a bad feeling..."

Before he could finish, Kang Yingqian interrupted, "Sun Baigu, when will your premonition come true?"

Sun Chuanting ignored him and continued, "Marquis Ping Liao, the Jiannu must have more than 10,000 troops in Hetuala. Huang Taiji may have ambushed them somewhere on the east bank. Cavalry and artillery cannot stop them. The troops must cross the river as soon as possible."

Liu Zhaosun said, "If there really was an ambush, the artillerymen were just transporting their guns across the river, and we should have attacked them halfway across."

Kang Yingqian suspected that Sun Chuanting was deliberately delaying the advance. He knew that this person was farming and recruiting soldiers in Fushun, recruiting many refugees from Shaanxi, and he didn't know what ambitions this man named Sun had.

"That's complete nonsense! The Kaiyuan cavalry is invincible. On the battlefield of Hunhe, they defeated the two Yellow Banners in one fell swoop. This Jiannu army is just a remnant of the defeated army. How can they be a match for the cavalry battalion? Sun Chuanting, is it because Ping Liaohou withdrew the Fushun troops that you are resentful of?"

Sun Chuanting did not argue with Kang Yingqian and said loudly to Ping Liaohou:

"Less than a thousand cavalrymen crossed the river, and most of the fighting men were new recruits. These few thousand men charging forward would be like a blind man riding a blind horse near a deep pond in the middle of the night."

Liu Zhaosun remained silent.

~~~~~~~
On the east bank of the Suzi River, twelve six-pound cannons raised their muzzles and continued to bombard the Hetuala city gate three hundred steps away.

"Boom! Boom!"

The six-pound cannon spewed out an orange-red tongue of fire more than three feet long, like a fire dragon spewing fire. The cannon body suddenly retreated backwards, and countless clouds of thick white smoke rose from the ground. The iron ball rushed out of the barrel and hit the west gate of Hetuala at a high speed.

Ping Liaohou raised the telescope and saw wood chips flying everywhere from the gate of Hetuala city where iron balls hit it. Two shells hit the top of the city wall, ricocheting on the hard bluestone. The iron balls rolled into a team of Houjin Bayara, splashing blood among the crowd.

"The accuracy of the artillery has improved significantly. Excellent! After this battle, I'll give the workshop a reward!"

Liu Zhaosun checked the results of the bombardment and nodded with satisfaction:
"The city will be captured soon, don't worry."

He turned his eyes to the cavalry on the east bank. After the bombardment began, the cavalry accelerated across the moat and began to shoot at the top of the city. The golden archers behind the city were suppressed by the artillery and hid behind the battlements, not daring to show their heads to fight back.

The power of horse bows was limited, so many people simply jumped off their horses, took their foot bows from the horses' backs, and stood on the ground to shoot at the city wall.

After several rounds of shooting, the top of the city was densely packed with arrows, and the Kaiyuan archers suffered only minor casualties of a dozen people.

The auxiliary soldiers came up pushing the shield carts. The bearded cavalry commander shouted to the cavalry to mount their horses and make way for the shield carts coming up from behind.

"Stop shooting! Stop shooting! Clear the way and leave a few heads for the musketeers! Get on your horses and go to the south gate!"

Fang You looked very proud. Today's battle went more smoothly than he had imagined. It was even easier than the usual exercises. He pushed all the way to the city.

The cavalrymen were reluctant to leave, and only at the command of Captain Fang did they mount their horses and gallop south.

The bombardment gradually became less frequent, the top of the west gate was reduced to rubble, and billowing smoke and dust rose into the air.

A large number of Later Jin soldiers' bodies fell on the city wall. Many of them were buried under bricks and rubble. Some people were not dead yet, their whole bodies buried in the rubble, with only their hands still scratching around outside.

The west gate was riddled with holes, but the city gate did not fall down. Through the gaps opened by the iron balls, one could see the panicked Later Jin soldiers in the city.

~~~~
Suddenly, the sound of artillery fire was heard from the top of the city wall, and everyone on both sides looked up at the city wall.

"Is this our gun?"

Liu Zhaosun asked loudly, and everyone around him was dumbfounded, with their mouths wide open and unable to speak.

The red cannons hidden behind the city wall suddenly fired, shooting out a large number of shotgun shells, iron nails, caltrops and broken porcelain pieces. The cannonballs rained down the cavalry who were still shooting arrows in front of the moat.

There was a burst of screams from the city. Fang You shouted loudly and ordered his cavalry to retreat.

"Be careful of the Tartar artillery, scatter! Scatter!"

After dozens of red-haired cannons launched the first wave of attacks, they immediately replaced the shotgun shells with solid iron balls. The Uzhenhachao gunners skillfully operated the cannons, slightly raised the muzzles two inches, and aimed at the soldiers who were crossing the river a mile away.

boom! boom!
A ten-pound iron ball whizzed into the ranks of soldiers crossing the river, plowing bloody grooves in the dense crowd. Under the fierce bombardment, the ice surface quickly began to crack.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the chaotic scene in front of him and his face turned ashen.

~~~~~
Han Zhenyi, who had already crossed the river, looked up at the red cannon that suddenly appeared, then looked back at the river. Some soldiers had already been hit by the Tartar artillery, and the river was in chaos. The artillery battalion commander shouted to the surrounding artillerymen:

"Adjust the direction and aim at the Tartar's red cannons. Shoot them hard and cripple them all!"

The red-coated cannons cast by the Jiannu were incredibly powerful, but not as accurate as infantry cannons. From the moment they exposed their positions, they were doomed to be destroyed.

boom! boom!
A six-pound iron ball hit the Wuzhenhachao artillery directly, smashing two Later Jin gunners into pieces.

Several field artillery shells pierced the gun carriage, causing the wheels of the carriage to roll into the city and crash into the crowd of Later Jin infantry, creating a scene of ghostly cries and chaos.

The Red Cannons came under sudden attack, suffering heavy losses. Two Bayalas shouted to their subordinates, who yanked the cannons, turned them, and fired fiercely at the Kaiyuan Army artillery positions on the east bank. Unfortunately, the Red Cannons were far less accurate than the infantry field artillery. Within half an hour, more than half the artillery on the Hetuala city walls had been lost. The gunners fled, and the soldiers circumvented the broken ice and continued their crossing.

"It was a close call, the Tartars are nothing more than that!"

Han Zhenyi looked at the scattered general cannons under the city wall and laughed loudly.

After firing more than a dozen shells in succession, the gunners began to clean the barrel, using a wool brush dipped in water to insert it into the hot barrel to cool the gun. There were bursts of sizzling sounds all around, and white mist rose all around.

~~~~~
The shield cart, pushed and pulled with all the effort of the auxiliary soldiers, finally reached the east bank. A tsunami of cheers came from the soldiers on the west bank.

Cavalryman Fang You glanced back at the 5,000th headquarters soldier who had finally crossed the river and said disdainfully, "A bunch of new recruits, all they know how to do is yell!"

Shao Jiechun personally led the main force of the 5000th headquarters, 2,500 people, to cross the river, leaving only 500 spearmen to support on the west bank.

Teams of soldiers formed neat square formations. Under the command of the captains of each flag, the soldiers walked on the ice, forming a black river that flowed towards the east bank.

~~~~~
The city wall behind the Hetuala West Gate City Wall was demolished half a month ago and temporarily filled with earth to form a large slope of more than 200 steps.

This type of defensive fortification, called a war horse city, usually appears in the south. It is conducive to the rapid mobilization of troops within the city and can even ensure that cavalry can attack at any time to support fighting on the city walls.

During the bloody battle of Kaiyuan, Liu Zhaosun transformed the North City into a War Horse City for defense, which allowed the White Spear Soldiers from behind to suddenly charge out and inflict heavy damage on the Bordered Blue Banner.

After the bloody battle of Hunhe River, Huang Taiji learned about Liu Zhaosun's defense plan from a captured Kaiyuan soldier. Combined with the defense methods learned from the positions of the Baigan soldiers and Zhejiang soldiers, Huang Taiji completely transformed the fortifications in Hetuala City.

Three thousand Han soldiers, Wuzhen Hachao, holding flintlock rifles, stood quietly under the warhorse wall, waiting for the order to attack.

There were shouts and cries of killing on the east coast across the wall, but it had nothing to do with them.

As flintlock soldiers built at great expense by the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, their target was the spearmen who had no cover from muskets.

~~~~~~
three days ago.

In the Hetuala Khan's palace, Huang Taiji, fully armored, looked up at the old man in front of him and said with a pleasant face, "Please stand up quickly. Please give my regards to your chief minister on behalf of this Khan."

The vigorous old man in front of him was the Second Cabinet of the Wukong Sect (a branch of the White Lotus Sect).

The Wukong Cult was active in the southern part of Liaoning. During the Laonu era, the Nu chieftains were superstitious about shamanism and brutally suppressed various evil cults of the Han people.

After Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, in order to fight against Liu Zhaosun, he adjusted his policies in a timely manner and won over the various branches of the White Lotus Sect in southern Liaoning.

The Wukong Sect is the most influential among them.

In his early years, Dagui Tangshan was a wandering Taoist who helped the dead to call back their souls. Later, he was arrested by the government for committing crimes.

After being released from prison, Tangshan claimed that he had acquired supernatural powers and could know what had happened in the past five hundred years. He said that those who believed in him could be cured of all diseases and gain immortality. As the situation in Liaodong deteriorated, more and more people followed him.

"Tell your chief minister to start an uprising in Fushun immediately. Liu Zhaosun has withdrawn all of Fushun's troops to Hetuala. Whether it's arson or murder, you must cause chaos in Fushun. Cut off Liu Zhaosun's food supply. After this is accomplished, this Khan will allow the Wukong Sect to spread its teachings in Liaodong."

The second cabinet squinted his eyes and looked at the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, his small eyeballs moving constantly.

"Great Khan, please understand. I am a businessman. I will not do anything that will harm others. You said you can kill Liu Zhaosun, why should I believe you? The Kaiyuan army is coming out in full force this time. You can hardly protect yourselves..."

Goshiha, who was standing beside him, had a fierce look on his face. He drew his sword and was about to chop someone, but was stopped by Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji pointed toward the Suzi River and patiently explained, "The Kaiyuan army that crosses the river will die on the east bank. Liu Zhaosun will lose his artillery and food, and end up like Du Song."

"Do you want to know how Juniper died?"

~~~~~·
Wendeng County, the county government hall has two small courtyards.

Pregnant Jin Yuji sat on a chair, looking up at the northeastern sky. In front of her was a desk with writing brush, inkstone, and paper on it.

The maid leaned over the table, grinding carefully. When she finished, she saw that Mrs. Jin was lost in thought and whispered:

"Ma'am, you can write now."

Jin Yu Ji woke up as if from a dream, stood up and walked to the table, spread out a neat white piece of rice paper, held the brush in her slender hands, dipped it in the ink pool, picked up the brush and wrote the four words "Husband, how are you" on the paper. Thinking of the nightmare she had last night, she was a little absent-minded. The ink splashed along the wolf hair brush onto the rice paper, printing out two dark plum blossoms.

"Ma'am, ma'am."

The maid Ruyan called out twice in a low voice, and Jin Yuji gestured to her to be quiet. The sound of children reading could be faintly heard on the street.

I was reading Li Bai's ancient poem "The Duke Does Not Cross the River".

The old man with disheveled hair is crazy and foolish. What is he doing by the river in the early morning?

Others did not hesitate to let their wives stop them, but you did not cross the river with such difficulty.

You can fight a tiger, but you can't rely on a river. As a result, the man drowned at the edge of the sea.

Jin Yuji suddenly remembered the nightmare she had last night: an old man with white hair and beard ignored his family's advice and insisted on crossing the river, and was drowned.

She grabbed the maid's shoulders and exclaimed:
"You should not have crossed the river, yet you did! If you fell into the river and died, what can I do to you?"

"Oh no! Your Excellency is in danger in Liaodong."

(End of this chapter)