The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 98: Envy of the Fish by the Abyss
Liu Zhaosun rode his horse on the official road.

Just like the night attack on the Bordered Blue Banner at Hunjiang, the most elite cavalrymen followed General Xuanwu at this time.

The cavalry is well-equipped and quite lethal.

In addition to cold weapons such as lances and clubs, they were also equipped with firearms for cavalry warfare.

And the latest killer weapon developed by Kaiyuan Workshop.

Specifically, the cavalry battalion was equipped as follows:

Chain mail, cotton armor, lance, club, throwing axe, iron bone flower, heavy sword, small round shield, stone mine, tiger squat cannon, divine fire flying crow, flintlock pistol...

Horsemen who could shoot carried short-pointed bows and large arrows, which, in certain circumstances, were more lethal than flintlock rifles.

For cavalry to make long-distance raids, one horse was not enough, so all the cavalrymen had two horses, and some even had three horses.

The armor, weapons and supplies each person carried weighed dozens of kilograms. During the march, a warhorse acted as a running horse, carrying these equipment on its back.

Wait until you get to the battlefield before switching to charge.

The war horses used to transport armor consume less energy and are used for charging.

In this way, the cavalry can be ensured to be in the best condition at all times.

Liu Zhaosun now possessed more than two thousand war horses.

In addition to the 1,000 horses brought by the Yehe people and his own 500 horses, Lin Dan Khan also gave 800 Mongolian horses to General Xuanwu.

Lin Danhan was known for his poverty, and the Ming History called him a "poor and hungry prisoner."

This descendant of the Golden Family lacks everything except horses.

Before setting off, Liu Zhaosun told the Mongols that the Later Jin was very rich and all the money was in the camp outside the city of Shenyang.

Of course, Liu Zhaosun said this not long ago.

The Mongols mobilized a large army and followed Li Yuchen to attack the Later Jin's lair. They stayed in Hetuala for two days, but got nothing except ginseng and pearls.

However, the kind and simple Mongolian Khan still chose to believe General Liu.

Liu Zhaosun said that Nurhaci led the four great beiles and robbed all the way from Kaiyuan to Shenyang, killing countless people and looting countless people. He stole at least 8 million taels of silver, and the grain and cloth piled up into mountains, which could not be transported.

He swore an oath to the Mongols in the name of Eternal Heaven:

As long as Lin Danhan leads 400,000 cavalry to Hunhe to help his brothers and provide support at critical moments, the two families will divide the money equally after the Later Jin is destroyed.

When Lin Danhan heard that Liu Zhaosun was going to Shenyang to die and that he would be given some money, he was very moved.

Moved by this, the Mongolian Khan generously gifted his ally 800 fine horses and encouraged General Xuanwu to go to Hunhe River to fight a life-and-death battle with the Jiannu.

Lin Danhan repeatedly assured that his 400,000 cavalry would arrive soon.

The impoverished prince of the Golden Family will not miss any opportunity to make a fortune.

Since Emperor Shun of Yuan fled north, Genghis Khan's descendants have been in a difficult situation and suffered humiliation.

During the Hongwu period, Lan Yu led a large army to attack the Northern Yuan Dynasty, defeated it at Buyuer Lake, and captured countless Mongolian nobles.

The Mongol Queen Quan was captured. General Lan Yu felt that he should avenge the Jingkang humiliation for the Han people, so he took the Mongol Queen...

During the Yongle period, Aluta, the Grand Tutor of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, pledged allegiance and tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and recognized Zhu Di as the common ruler of the Han and Mongolian peoples.

After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, Lin Danhan of the Chahar tribe, who had always been at odds with the Qing Dynasty, was forced to flee to the Tumed tribe. Huang Taiji did not let the last Mongol Khan go. He chased him from Liaodong to Qinghai, and finally forced Lin Danhan to death. He also distributed his eight wives to the Manchu beiles.

Only by briefly reviewing the humiliating history of the Northern Yuan Dynasty for more than two hundred years can we understand why Lin Danhan supported Liu Zhaosun so wholeheartedly.

Lin Danhan hoped that General Liu could defeat the Later Jin in one fell swoop, so that he could also grab some things and teach the traitor Khorchin a lesson, so that all tribes would know who is the real master of the grassland.

It's the Golden Family.

Of course, in history, Lin Danhan’s ambitions were not limited to this.

The last Khan of Mongolia devoted his life to restoring the glory of the Golden Family and unifying the various Mongolian tribes.

It's a pity that he was ambitious but lacked talent, and made enemies everywhere. He also encountered a perverted opponent like Huang Taiji. In the end, his country was destroyed and he died. Even his eight wives were divided among Huang Taiji.

Fortunately, with the intervention of Liu Zhaosun, Lin Danhan’s fate will not be so tragic.

The dying Huang Taiji had neither the intention nor the ability to snatch Hu Duntu's wife away.

At some point, Kang Yingqian, who was riding on horseback, had a new type of stone mine in his hand.

This brave and careful old man took the stone thunder and examined it carefully. He felt that this object looked like the purple clay teapot in his study, and could not help but reach out to touch the handle of the teapot.

"Don't!"

"Master Kang, don't, don't pull that ring."

If they were not careful, the two would be hit by hundreds of iron nails, and their bodies would be covered in blood, and they would die on the road to the cause of pacifying Liao.

Kang Yingqian withdrew his finger from the pull ring, feeling that this warrior's tool was ultimately boring, and threw it to General Liu.

Liu Zhaosun caught the stone bomb, his heart beating violently.

"General Liu, why did you bring so many rare things? I haven't seen them in Kaiyuan. It seems that Song Yingxing and his men have concealed a lot of secrets from me. I will have a good talk with him when I get back."

As Kang Yingqian spoke, he reached out to touch the divine fire flying crow stuck on Liu Zhaosun's saddle.

"General Kang, don't move. Whoosh! He's taken the man up to heaven."

Seeing Liu Zhaosun's serious expression, Kang Yingqian knew he was talking nonsense again and finally put his hand back. While Mao Yuanyi was casting the Red Barbarian Cannon, Song Yingxing was also busy. Under his meticulous design, the Kaiyuan Workshop upgraded the stone mine.

The stone shell was replaced with a wooden structure, a wooden handle was added, and the internal gunpowder capacity was increased.

Finally, the craftsmen installed a flintlock-like mechanism inside the stone mine, changing the original ignition detonation method to a pull-type detonation method.

In this way, the stone mine has some characteristics of modern hand grenades, which are:
After the explosion, people might really be killed.

The improved stone mines are no longer the defective ones that weigh three or four pounds and cannot be thrown out at all. They are only thrown out occasionally to save the enemy.

Similar to Shi Lei, Song Yingxing also made improvements to the Divine Fire Flying Crow.

The newly designed rocket is larger, contains more gunpowder, and can fly farther, up to three miles, enough to rival the Red Cannon, but of course its power is much smaller than the latter.

Most importantly, the rocket's shooting accuracy has been greatly improved.

At least there will no longer be the strange situation where the rocket turns 180 degrees and shoots towards the launcher immediately after being ignited.

Liu Zhaosun patiently introduced to Kang Yingqian the various new weapons in the workshop, from the Divine Fire Flying Crow to the landmine cannon, and then from the flintlock pistol to the light tiger squat cannon.

Kang Yingqian lost interest after listening for a while. Neither the flintlock pistol that could penetrate double armor nor the tiger squat cannon with a longer range and greater power could arouse the interest of this civil servant.

Kang Yingqian waved his hand and finally put down the flintlock pistol that was aimed at Liu Zhaosun.

He thought of his good brother Qiao Yiqi who was still suffering in Kaiyuan, and could not help but sigh:

"General Liu, you want Mao Yuanyi and his men to kill Huang Taiji with a single shot from a red cannon in Kaiyuan. Isn't that absurd?"

Liu Zhaosun and Kang Yingqian reined in their horses and advanced slowly. The elite cavalrymen who passed by them saluted General Liu one after another. The faces of these young cavalrymen were filled with the desire to fight.

Liu Zhaosun glanced at Kang Yingqian and laughed:

"At Sarhu, the Nu rebels shot General Du dead with a single arrow; later, they shot Zhang Xianzhong dead with a single arrow. You don't find these absurd. But I'm going to kill the Nu chief with a red cannon, and Lord Kang finds this absurd. What's the logic behind this?"

After the Battle of Kaiyuan, a prisoner of the Bordered Yellow Banner confessed that Du Song was indeed shot in the face by Bayala and died with one arrow.

Kang Yingqian also knew about this, but he didn't know who Zhang Xianzhong was.

Just as he was about to ask, Jin Yuji rode forward and Kang Yingqian took two steps back. Jin Yuji glanced at him and whispered to Liu Zhaosun:
"Sir, we have captured two Jiannu scouts. Do you want to interrogate them?"

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand and said:

"Kill him directly without delaying the journey."

Tieling is about 140 miles away from Shenyang. If the cavalry does not spare any effort, they can reach the destination in one day.

For the infantry, it was an impossible task.

Even if the soldiers under Liu Zhaosun had iron wills, they could not complete the journey in one day while wearing full armor and carrying spears.

In later generations, a certain army quickly captured Luding Bridge and marched 120 miles in one day and night. However, that was the limit of the human body.

Moreover, the load-bearing capacity of individual equipment three hundred years later was completely different from that of ancient times. At least, those light infantrymen did not have to carry armor and spears weighing dozens of kilograms.

Liu Zhaosun believed that as long as he gave the order, the soldiers would run to Shenyang even if they died of exhaustion.

However, he was not prepared to risk the lives of his elite troops to challenge the limits of medieval infantry marching.

Even if they could reach Shenyang and the Hunhe battlefield before sunset, the soldiers would be exhausted and would be doomed to be defeated by the Later Jin army, which was ten times their number. It would not make much sense.

There are many kinds of bravery, but dying in vain is not one of them.

After comprehensive consideration, Liu Zhaosun ordered his soldiers to march one hundred miles today.

They must reach Xiaocaitaizi Village, 40 miles north of Shenyang, before dark. After resting for two hours, they will launch the attack at dawn.

Before that, 5,000 cavalrymen will set out in advance and launch a night attack on the Later Jin soldiers all night long.

The attack interval between cavalry and infantry was about one hour.

The command of the combat troops was handed over to Captain Deng Changxiong, and Burhanggu was responsible for covering the combat troops' flanks.

Liu Zhaosun personally led 1,200 elite cavalrymen and Ligdan Khan's vanguard cavalry, a total of 5,000 cavalrymen, and they spared no effort to march south.

At dusk, before the sun set over the Hunhe River, the cavalry arrived safely at the north of Shenyang.

Outside the white-pole soldiers' formation on the north bank, the dark mass of the Later Jin army was still shooting arrows and firing muskets. The rat-tail braids of the armored soldiers and the baoyi were like the beards of the banyan trees in the south, fluttering in the wind.

Liu Zhaosun observed for a long time but did not find the golden dragon banner of the Later Jin Khan.

He suspected that Nurhaci was besieging the Zhejiang troops at the east gate.

No reports were received at night. For the entire afternoon, the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty sat under the woven gold dragon banner on the north bank of the Hun River, staring at the river in a daze, as if he was looking at the fish in the river.

"Watching fish? The chieftain is still in the mood to watch fish?"

"Doesn't he know he's a big fish?"

After hearing Ye Bushou's report, Liu Zhaosun smiled coldly.

"It is better to step back and weave a net than to stand by the abyss and envy the fish."

"Tonight I will weave a large net to catch this big fish."

After Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he looked up at the sky and realized it was getting late.

"Rest here and follow me for the night raid after dark."

(End of this chapter)