The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 201 The Fall of the Black Dragon
More and more cavalry appeared on the battlefield on the east coast. After forming a short formation, they launched a fierce attack on the two red flags.

The arrival of the cavalry battalion completely reversed the situation on the east coast battlefield.

The two red flags found themselves in an awkward position:
Although they had an advantage in military strength, they were caught in a pincer attack by the enemy's soldiers and cavalry.

They could neither quickly capture the half-moon position nor withstand the increasing cavalry attacks.

The Zhenyi armored soldiers in the city wall moved as slowly as a snail and were unable to reinforce the battlefield for a long time.

The artillery on the city walls was not accurate enough, and the armored gunners were not determined to carry out indiscriminate attacks on the battlefield and fired at their masters. In the end, they simply gave up the artillery support.

More than a thousand Later Jin cavalrymen who penetrated deep into the enemy camp finally met their fate of annihilation.

Abatai's most trusted Niulu Ezhen, the master of the Red Banner elder Darhan, was galloping on his horse on the brutal battlefield.

He shouted at Bayala to break through the Kaiyuan cavalry's blockade, and at the same time waved a flag to order the infantry behind him to come up quickly to reinforce.

Half an hour ago, Dalhan solemnly assured the flag owner that as long as the cavalry went into battle, the battle could be easily resolved and Liu Zhaosun could be captured alive.

As a result, half an hour later, nearly half of his cavalry were attacked from both sides by Nikan, and were about to be wiped out.

The Zhenyi armored soldiers pouring out from the west gate finally arrived.

The two red flags deployed all their troops to the battlefield.

"A thousand-year-old turtle, a ten-thousand-year-old tortoise, Huang Taiji has finally shown his face."

Liu Zhaosun looked at the endless stream of Jiannu spearmen, and an inexplicable sense of absurdity came over him.

"He imitates us and learns pretty quickly!"

Deng Changxiong looked stern:
"General Liu, if we fight them in close combat, the losses will be huge."

Liu Zhaosun looked at this professional officer in surprise, and said with a half-smile:

"Why should we fight them in a full-scale battle? Our artillery and flintlock rifles are useless. Concentrate your firepower. Even the most powerful enemy can't withstand the artillery attack. If they can withstand it, then give them another round!"

Deng Changxiong suddenly realized that his mind was still stuck on the bloody battle of Hunhe River. At that time, they lacked firearms and could only rely on swords and guns to exchange their lives with the Jiannu.

"The cavalry should halt their pursuit and wait for the soldiers to land before destroying the Jiannu together. Right now, we need to expand the battlefield as quickly as possible to reduce the enemy infantry's mobility. All artillery, advance towards the city gate. Fire when you're 300 paces away from the Tartar spearmen, then let the musketeers take charge! I don't believe their morale won't collapse."

When Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he suddenly remembered his trump card and turned to the leader of the Leijiang clan following behind him.

"Master Lei, what about the Divine Fire Flying Crows you brought this time? When the Tartar flintlock soldiers show up again, send them to them and arrange for Huang Taiji to be reunited with his father!"

~~~~~
Hetuala West Gate Walled City.

On the top of the city wall, a group of senior generals of the two red flags were walking around anxiously, like ants on a hot pan.

Niulu Ezhen Yangguli, who had just fled back to the west gate from the battlefield on the east coast and escaped the crushing enemy, cried out in surprise, without even taking a breath:
"Master, why hasn't the Khan sent out his troops yet? Is he going to let our seven or eight thousand people fight Liu Zhaosun and his men to the death? Look, Liu Zhaosun has three or four thousand cavalry and tens of thousands of soldiers..."

"Get lost! I can't count or something!"

"A thousand of Nikan's cavalrymen were just killed, leaving only three thousand. How could there be four thousand men? You, a dog slave, have never learned your lesson. You can't defeat Nikan, so you say you can't. You even dare to lie about military intelligence like a Han dog! If the Khan finds out, I'll make you lose your head!"

Dalhan was so angry that he had no place to vent it. Seeing Yangguli's dejected look, he became even more annoyed.

Niulu'ezhen, the most powerful man under Abatai, knew very well that as a general on the front line, he must not show any panic at this time.

"Alright! Yangguli, stop complaining. The other day, Changshengtian appeared in my dream and told me that a black dragon would fall into the river and Nikan would die!"

Yang Guli stared blankly at Niulu Ezhen, who was at the same level as himself, with a confused look on his face.

Darkhan explained impatiently:
"The black dragon is Liu Zhaosun. The oracle of Changshengtian is very clear. Liu Zhaosun will fall into the river and die today!"

After Darkhan finished reading the oracle, he turned to the two Bayalas behind him and ordered:

"Go urge that Niulu Ezhen below Wengcheng to quickly lead his troops to reinforce and drive Nikan down the river! Attacking Nikan's position is their job! It's all my fault for meddling in other people's business!"

"You just wanted to win the credit, so you stopped the warriors. The cavalry attacked without authorization."

Yang Guli snorted softly and turned his head to the side.

Fortunately, Dalhan didn't pay attention to what Yangguli said.

The two Bayalas turned around and ran eastward, giving orders to the Niulu Ezhen.

There were more than 5,000 armored soldiers who had been waiting by the moat for a long time. They immediately took action, divided into three waves, front, middle and back, and advanced towards the battlefield on the east bank.

After the disastrous defeat at Hunhe, due to various accidental factors, the weapons and equipment of the Eight Banners were rapidly upgraded.

First, the Kaiyuan Army in Tieling smuggled and sold flintlock rifles to the Jiannu. They improved the flintlock pistols they accidentally obtained, increasing their accuracy and range.

The craftsmen of Wuzhenhachao also imitated the Kaiyuan army and produced a seven-pound field gun.

In addition, the Jiannu also put a lot of effort into training in cold weapons.

Each flag added a spearman unit, and each spearman was equipped with a 17-foot long spear. With the assistance and training of the surrendered Ming army, the thrusting and fighting skills of the Later Jin spearmen were continuously improved.

The tactics, movements and formations of the Later Jin spearmen were almost completely modeled after those of the Kaiyuan spearmen.

Imitation is the shortcut to success.

On the east coast battlefield, the battle to encircle and annihilate the two Red Flag cavalry units continued.

Finally, the more than 500 Jiannu cavalrymen trapped in front of the Banyue position finally came to their senses and decided not to fight on two fronts. They gave up attacking the Banyue position and turned to fight the Kaiyuan cavalry head-on. Unfortunately, this remnant of the army was not to be trifled with. Feng He led more than 60 people to fight desperately, not giving the Jiannu a chance to escape.

The movement space of the two red flags was compressed step by step. Finally, hundreds of riders were squeezed into a ball, and the horses had no space to turn around.

Despite this, the Jiannu cavalry did not dare to dismount. They would rather be shot to death by arrows than be trampled into a pulp by horses' hooves.

Compared with the chaotic two red flag cavalry, the Kaiyuan soldiers behind the breastwork appeared to be well organized.

The surviving archers shot calmly and their heavy arrows had amazing killing power within fifty steps and could easily break the leather armor of the light cavalry.

Just now, several waves of light arrows covered the breastwork, and the inside and outside of the breastwork were densely packed with arrow feathers. Almost everyone was hit by arrows. After the Jiannu approached the breastwork, there was another brutal exchange of deaths. After several rounds, only 300 people were left alive in the breastwork, and more than half of the 600 people were killed or wounded.

Fortunately, the cavalry battalion charged in time, exacerbating the chaos between the two red flags and giving the remaining soldiers of the 5,000th headquarters a chance to catch their breath.

"Brother Yang, more than 3,000 people from our 5000th headquarters crossed the river, and now there are only a few hundred people left in front of us. Only one in ten survived!"

Yang Tong raised the flintlock musket. Fifty steps ahead, a Bayala in silver armor jumped off his horse, dodged several charging war horses, raised the bow in his hand, held the heavy arrow, and shot at the enemy archer behind his chest fifty steps away.

"Get away!"

Yang Tong roared and pulled the sleeve of the talkative archer's battle jacket hard. The archer moved and a heavy arrow with a three-edged arrowhead brushed his chin and flew backwards.

"Thank you, Brother Yang, so much..."

Yang Tong saw that he was shot in the cheek. Although it was only a minor skin injury, it would affect his speech.
The last two hundred cavalrymen, bearing heavy casualties, finally rushed to the front of the breastwork and shouted loudly to Nikan, who had less than three hundred men behind the breastwork:

"The Khan treats captives well and admires talents. As long as everyone does not seduce Liu Zhaosun in the future, we can..."

The weapons brought by the Jiannu were obviously not suitable for fighting against the long axes and spearmen behind the breastwork, wielding waist swords.

The first Later Jin soldiers to rush to the breastwork were quickly killed one by one by the Kaiyuan spearmen.

The remaining cavalry fled in panic and directly to the two piles of mud on the battlefield.

By the time the Kaiyuan cavalry charging the battle line joined the soldiers behind the breastwork, there were less than two hundred soldiers still alive on the ground.

The Qilin battle flag is still fluttering in the air, covered with holes caused by the rain of arrows.

Two thousand soldiers began to land on the east bank continuously. The vanguard of more than 2,000 people was temporarily commanded by the commanders of each battalion.

Shortly after the battle array was completed, Suzi Bridge was three miles away from the city wall, beyond the range of the Later Jin soldiers' artillery. The Later Jin soldiers on the city wall could only watch the enemy cross the river and form a battle array.

"Why hasn't the ice broken yet?! You little dog slave, you said this plan was foolproof, but now the Kaiyuan soldiers are going to cross the river!"

Abatai swung his fist and hit the stone pavilion pillar in the face, causing the bondservant to bleed from the nose.

Shi Tingzhu was originally a firearms craftsman in Liaoyang City. After the Great Khan launched his rebellion in the 46th year of Wanli, he took the initiative to defect to the Later Jin Dynasty. He can be said to be a meritorious follower of the emperor.

Later he was assigned to the Hetuala Firearms Bureau, and because of his ability in making cannons, he was promoted many times by his superiors.

After the bloody battle of Hunhe, Huang Taiji handed over the two captured field guns to Shi Tingzhu and asked him to lead people to imitate them. Thus, the story of the seven-pound gun came into being.

In fact, Shi Tingzhu was not only proficient in artillery manufacturing, but also had extensive research on gunpowder blasting.

The plan to blow up the enemy halfway across the river was the work of Shi Ting. To be more precise, it was the result of a discussion between him and Huang Taiji.

"Master, don't worry. With tens of thousands of people crossing the river, the river definitely can't handle it."

"Can't bear it? Open your fucking eyes and look! The Kaiyuan cavalry have already crossed the river. The warriors have been cut off by them. When their soldiers come over, I will kill you!"

Abatai was furious. Although he was the lowest-ranking beile among the beile, he still had the power to kill a Han slave.

The two Goshiha immediately stepped forward, grabbed the rat-tail braid of Shi Tingzhu and dragged him towards the battlements of the city wall, raising their swords to chop off his head.

At this moment, screams were heard from the surface of the Suzi River in the distance. The cracks that exploded in the south spread after more than half an hour and finally reached the bottom of the Suzi River.

The auxiliary soldiers who were carrying wood on the river fell into the river one after another.

The long marching team was cut in half, and the soldiers near the two banks retreated one after another. On the west bank, there were still more than a hundred soldiers from the 1,000th headquarters who had not crossed the river. When they reached the center of the river and had nowhere to retreat, the hundred soldiers fell into the river one after another. They were all spearmen from the 1,000th headquarters, wearing two layers of iron armor, and immediately sank to the bottom of the river after entering the water.

The accompanying war horses neighed and knelt on the broken ice, struggling desperately to swim to the shore. These war horses were loaded with armor and weapons, and their strength was quickly exhausted in the water. The last one after another slowly sank to the bottom of the river.

Liu Zhaosun, who was supervising the battle at the front, suddenly heard a scream from the side and rear. He turned around abruptly and saw the black dragon battle flag of the 1,000th headquarters slowly sinking in the middle of the Suzi River. On the east bank, more than a dozen soldiers who were sailors took off their armor and jumped into the river. Regardless of the biting cold, they quickly swam to the center of the river and picked up the huge black dragon battle flag from the bottom of the water. Several people worked together to drag the battle flag to the shore.

Ping Liaohou looked at the spearmen in front of him who were frozen blue all over, and immediately ordered the auxiliary soldiers to light a fire.

"Put on their mandarin duck battle jackets and light the fire!"

The auxiliary soldiers were busy, and the battle flag that was fished out was completely soaked by the river water and frozen into a lump.

Kang Yingqian lowered his voice and said:

"The battle flag falling into the water for no apparent reason is a bad omen. Since we've already severely damaged the two red flags, we might as well withdraw while we're ahead and retreat to the west bank! Huang Taiji will surely not dare pursue us!"

Liu Zhaosun said disdainfully:

"Since setting out from Kaiyuan, there have been no good signs along the way. Destroying the two red flags is only the first step. The second step is..."

Liu Zhaosun suddenly drew out his goose-feather knife:

"Raise the battle flags and follow me to attack the city! Destroy the Later Jin!"

(End of this chapter)