The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 197: Becoming a King Through Hundred Battles (I)

Yang Tong picked up a flint and clamped it, took out a short gun from his bag, loaded it, and loaded it skillfully.

The shield cart stopped two hundred steps away from the moat. The horse traps and deer horns in front blocked the soldiers' way forward, and the fire soldiers did not dare to move forward rashly.

The sudden attack from the flintlock muskets on the top of the Wengcheng city killed and wounded more than one hundred auxiliary soldiers. The Kaiyuan musketeers fired two rounds at the top of the city wall with their muskets, suffering heavy casualties. Their numbers were too small and they were completely suppressed by the Later Jin musketeers.

The battle then fell into a stalemate. The Later Jin soldiers on the city wall brought in artillery and began to bombard the shield carts. Wood chips flew everywhere, and soldiers were constantly hit by the flying wood chips, rolling on the ground with screams.

The two Red Flag cavalrymen followed and began to strangle the Kaiyuan artillerymen who were crossing the river. In order to avoid heavy casualties in subsequent landing battles, the artillery battalion had to allocate more artillery to deal with the Jiannu cavalry who were gathering.

As a result, without the suppression of the artillery on the top of Hetuala city, the Later Jin artillery hiding on the top of the city became even more rampant.

The first five huge shield carts that crossed the river became targets of the Jiannu's artillery fire.

The two shield vehicles were hit by the Franco-Machine Cannon, and wood chips flew everywhere, and they had no power to fight back.

Yang Tong hid behind the shield cart and tried to keep his body low. Without the cover of the cavalry and artillery, it was difficult for the soldiers to attack. It was obviously impossible to expect these five or six hundred people to attack the city.

Yang Tong glanced at the follow-up troops crossing the river behind him, wondering if his flag captain Cheng Liang was among the team.

Yang Tong firmly believed that as long as the brothers of the 2,000th headquarters successfully crossed the river, there would be no problem in defeating the Jiannu.

"Stay away from the shield car, don't lean on it!"

The flag captain braved the flying stones, raised his round shield, and shouted loudly to the soldiers.

There was an archer hiding behind the shield cart on Yang Tong's left. He was skillfully taking out a light arrow from the arrow holder and shooting it into the distance without even looking.

Yang Tong felt that such a projectile would have limited damage to the Later Jin soldiers two hundred steps away, but it was better than being trapped here and doing nothing.

Yang Tong raised the flintlock musket, aimed at the Jiannu's head shaking on the city wall two hundred steps away, and pulled the trigger. The rat's tail braid two hundred steps away rolled and fell to the top of the city wall like a thin black line.

"Good marksmanship!"

The archer happened to witness this scene and shouted to Yang Tong.

Yang Tong nodded slightly to the archer and was about to ask his name when a cannonball whizzed towards the shield cart.

The shield cart was hit hard by a three-pound iron ball, and the wheels suddenly moved backwards. The archer leaning next to it was hit in the chest by the shield cart and fell backwards. As soon as he left the shield cart, he was hit by a lead bullet, vomiting blood and soon died.

The painful howls of soldiers could be heard all around, and several more were hit by the flying wood chips.

Yang Tong gritted his teeth and loaded ammunition. When the cannon fire from the city wall stopped, he aimed at a Jiannu gunner.

At this time, a low conch shell sounded from the west gate, which was the order for the Jiannu to attack.

A spearman nearby spat and cursed:
"I'm not going to beat you up, but you guys are coming out on your own. Wait till I stab you to death."

The soldiers around all crouched low and looked over there cautiously. From time to time, artillery shells flew over the shield vehicles.

The artillery of both sides began to bombard each other.

Huang Taiji finally stopped concealing the strength of the Later Jin artillery. More artillery were pushed onto the city wall and engaged in a bombardment with the artillery on the east coast. After several rounds of artillery fire, the two sides were evenly matched and suffered casualties on both sides.

The Jiannu artillery was improved, and its range and accuracy were increased. Although it was still inferior to the Kaiyuan artillery, they offset the technological deficiencies with their numerical advantage.

After several rounds of artillery fire, both sides felt that the results were too small, so they began to change their targets to the other side's cavalry and infantry that were gathering.

Such a target is obviously easier to hit.

Zhu He, deputy commander of the 5000th headquarters, ordered:

"Soldiers seize the riverbank and build a trench breastwork towards the east bank. Protect the artillery!"

A captain next to him whispered:

"Deputy Captain Zhu, Captain Shao gave us the order to attack the west gate..."

The burly Zhu He pushed the general away and said angrily:

"Everyone's dead, what's the point of attacking? They didn't do a good job of reconnaissance beforehand, and that's why so many of my soldiers died!"

Zhu He cursed a few times and continued to shout:
"General Shao Qian underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, falling into a Tartar ambush and is dead!"

"His death is not a pity. I just received an order from General Liu, commanding our 5,000th Headquarters to halt the siege and, along with the cavalry, protect the artillery on the east bank. Lord Liu will soon lead the main force across the river and capture Hetuala! Why are you all standing there? Follow the order immediately, dig trenches, and build breastworks!"

The short captain asked doubtfully:

"Deputy Captain Zhu, when did Lord Liu tell us to stop attacking the city? I haven't heard of this news."

Zhu He waved his hand impatiently and said:
"I just sent a messenger over to tell you that... the messenger was killed."

After saying this, he waved his hand, ignored the nagging captain, raised his round shield and went down to supervise the construction of fortifications in person.

The order was quickly conveyed by the flag commander to each soldier, and more than 600 people immediately got busy.

The soldiers retreated to the position Zhu Dong had just pointed out. It was a raised earth slope, much higher than the riverbanks on both sides, making it convenient for the defenders to defend.

In winter, the water is shallow, and both sides of the earth slope are muddy and shallow, and you don't know how deep it is when you step on it. Although this is not the only way for the Jiannu to attack with artillery, it can be used to control and threaten surrounding targets.

Unless the Jiannu infantry can withstand being beaten without fighting back, this nail must be pulled out first.

"Archers and archers, move stones. Sword and shield soldiers and spearmen, dig trenches. Halberd and halberd soldiers, build breastworks! Cavalry, lay mines and caltrops. Auxiliary troops, carry water to the river! Once our bombardment ceases, the Tartars will leave the city! Quick! Quick!"

The gunners on the city wall quickly noticed the situation here and immediately concentrated their artillery fire on the crescent-shaped position under construction.

Several shells fell, all hitting the shield carts dozens of steps away from the position, either hitting the shield carts or crashing into the soft soil.

The positions were all soft river mud, and it was difficult for the iron balls to ricochet after hitting the ground, greatly reducing their power.

Finding that the bombardment was ineffective, the artillery on the city wall quickly turned its target to the Kaiyuan Cavalry Battalion that was assembling.

This place is less than two miles away from the Suzi River, and the soil is particularly suitable for excavation. The recruits have received strict civil excavation training during military training, so the excavation is very fast. A half-moon shaped trench more than two feet deep was quickly dug in the open space in front of the slope.

A dozen steps behind the trench, the Kaiyuan army built a breastwork more than three feet high with stones. After the battle began, except for the 32 accompanying cavalry who were patrolling outside at night, more than 1,500 soldiers would be guarding behind the breastwork.

There were wooden stakes made of shaved bamboo sticks and caltrops dipped in cow and horse dung standing upright in the trenches. There were Lafa mines buried in front and behind the trenches, and the mine pools were filled with ceramic pieces and iron nails.

The auxiliary troops temporarily dug several waist-deep trenches in front of the trench to prevent the Jiannu soldiers from charging. However, due to time constraints, they only dug a few trenches before withdrawing to defend.

Of the ten four-pound cannons that crossed the river with the soldiers, six sank into the Suzi River with the main force, leaving only four.

Zhu He ordered the artillery to be placed in a hidden position in the position and reminded the artillerymen to fire only at the critical moment.

The eight artillerymen immediately pushed the artillery and hid around the position.

They personally removed the wooden boards from the carriage to block the sides of the cannons, and then found some weeds and branches around to cover the gun carriages. The black gun barrels were like ghosts, secretly aiming at the areas where the Jiannu passed.

Yang Tong took two flintlock soldiers and started the second round of moving stones. They walked north along the Suzi River, and the riverbed under their feet was covered with pebbles of various sizes.

Yang Tong bent down and picked up the two largest stones, which felt heavy in his arms. He looked up at the west bank. The cracked ice on the river surface was getting bigger and bigger, and there were few living people on the river.

The sound of powerful drums and gongs rang out from the west bank, and the soldiers who had not crossed the river began to gather at the wooden bridge, which was about two miles away from the explosion point.

"Lord Liu has led his troops across the river. With the 1,000th headquarters coming, the Tartars are doomed!"

"Without artillery, even gods can't help."

The two fusiliers spoke in low voices.

Yang Tong said nothing, staggering while holding the stone. The three of them hurried back to the defensive position.

The sound of artillery shells whistling through the air came from overhead. The eight-pound cannons fired from the river bank were incredibly powerful. They passed over the half-moon position and slammed heavily into the wall of Hetuala. The bricks and stones of the wall suddenly collapsed, making an unsettling cracking sound.

"Hurry up! The bombardment is over, it's our turn to attack!"

Half an hour later, the half-moon formation was set up and all the soldiers hid behind the breastwork to rest.

The archers drew their arrows and stood guard at the front.

The auxiliary soldiers distributed coconut ladles filled with water to all their comrades.

Everyone looked at Hetuala Simon nervously.

Hetuala West Gate Walled City.

Abatai, the leader of the Bordered Red Banner, walked into the big tent accompanied by Goshiha. In the tent were sitting generals and officers above the rank of Niulu Ezhen of the Bordered Red Banner. When they saw the new leader, they all looked up at him.

Abatai nodded with satisfaction, sat down on the top flag seat, and said loudly to everyone:
"The Khan's intention is simple: capture the Nikan artillery as quickly as possible and turn around to bombard Liu Zhaosun."

The Niulu Ezhen nodded one after another. The task assigned to the Bordered Red Banner by the Khan was not difficult, and could even be said to be quite easy.

Niulu Ezhen raised his arms and shouted.

In the bloody battle of Hunhe River, the Red Banner suffered heavy casualties, with five to six thousand killed or wounded by Zhejiang soldiers. From then on, the Red Banner never recovered.

Huang Taiji replaced the leader of the Bordered Red Banner with Abatai, who had just turned thirty years old. He was the seventh son of Nurhaci and his mother was the concubine Irgen Gioro. He had always been ignored.

After Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, in order to win the hearts of the people, he put Abatai in charge of the Bordered Red Banner.

However, the tragic fate of this bastard did not change at all.

After the bloody battle of Hunhe River, both the Bordered Red Banner and the Bordered Blue Banner became abandoned pawns.

Huang Taiji hardly gave Abatai any reinforcements until two months ago when he added more than a thousand Jurchens and two thousand Mongolians.

The fighting power of these people cannot be compared with that of the Jiannu and Zhenyi, especially the Mongols, and is even inferior to that of the Baoyi.

The Khan spared no effort in supporting Daishan, who had helped him to ascend to the throne, and transferred a large number of Jurchens to strengthen the power of the Zhenghong Banner, which became the main force of the Eight Banners.

"There are only 600 Nikan on the east coast. Their cavalry has been defeated by Wuzhenhachao. The Khan said that if we kill all the Kaiyuan troops, Fushun will be guarded by our Red Banner."

(End of this chapter)