Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 427: Go through fire and water! No more refusal!

"Taiji! The Ming army camp is ahead, we can't do that."

"Snapped!"

The general had only said half of his words when the horsewhip used to whip animals had already landed on his face. He then glanced at the Ming army camp located a few miles away, and finally had no choice but to follow the group and continue the pursuit.

After wandering around for most of the day, Dayan paid a huge price to force these dragoons into the point where they were out of ammunition and food.

If he withdrew his troops at this time, not only would those thousands of men be wasted, but even the remaining ones would be unable to fight again due to lack of supplies.

Under such circumstances, how could Dayan listen to the general's advice?

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This terrain is really terrible.

The southern part of Hanzhong City was built along the bend of the Han River, and the Ming army camp was located two miles north of the city.

At first glance, although this place is not wide, it is quite flat. In addition, given the distance between the Ming army camp and Hanzhong City, the cavalry should be able to move freely here.

But fighting in a war is like playing chess. If you cannot predict the enemy's movements, then the whole land may turn into an endless hell in a moment, leaving you with all your skills but no chance to display them.

At this moment, this place seemed quite suitable for cavalry operations, but if the Ming army directly blocked the opening, the more than 10,000 cavalry under Dayan would be like walking into a pocket.

Even if they could completely annihilate this group of dragoons at that time, they would have to pass through the tight infantry phalanx to escape, and the difficulty of this can be imagined.

This is probably the reason why the general made such a suggestion.

But then again, Dayan was not stupid, and he could see some clues of what his generals could see.

After all, in addition to the flat area between the Ming army camp and the river, this pocket also has a two-mile wide and narrow corridor between the camp and the city for passage.

Once he completely annihilates this group of dragoons, he will be able to retreat calmly from the side controlled by the Qing army.

Could it be that Hauge couldn't even defend a few miles of land?

With such considerations, he would not worry about whether he had enough money or not.

"Whoever seizes the Ming army's musket will be rewarded with three iron pots!"

Dayan's years of fighting in the south and the north were not in vain. At the same time as the horse whip passed across the general's face, he had already offered a reward to his soldiers.

I have to say, this is already a sky-high price.

Different from the perception of the Han people, in the eyes of nomadic tribes, only iron objects have real value, while gold, silver and jewelry are just fancy things.

According to historical records, after Emperor Jiajing cut off the inflow of ironware, Shanxi soldiers' helmets became the most sought-after items among all tribes because they could be used to warm food during hunger.

Whenever a border fort was breached, helmets and iron pots were the top trophies.

Of course, by this time, iron pots were no longer as scarce as they were in the past due to the existence of the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia. However, the Khoshut tribe was not only thousands of miles away from these two countries, but there were also many tribes in between that exploited them.

Therefore, when Dayan's reward was offered, the cavalry under his command immediately became excited and completely forgot about the possible danger.

near, near.

Seeing the distance between his own men and the dragoons getting closer and closer, a surge of excitement immediately arose in Dayan's heart.

Two thousand flintlock rifles!

Even Kazakhstan, which was supported by Tsarist Russia, probably couldn't gather so many.

If he could really form a group of dragoons, he might be able to beat the Russians to a pulp like Gustav II did.

By then, let alone Yarkand and Junggar, even the Volga River with its abundant water and grass may be considered.

As his thoughts turned, Dayan's hands holding the reins turned slightly white, but at this moment all his attention was on the dragoons dozens of steps away, so he was unaware of this.

At that time, the Oirat people had to choose to migrate westward due to the rise of Eastern Mongolia. Later, they, the Khoshut, had to choose to flee south as the leader of the Oirat alliance due to internal and external troubles.

By this time, although Gushri Khan had established a country in Kham and Tibet, the power of the Lamas was too strong, and the Khoshut could never gain a firm foothold.

Under such circumstances, the displacement of several generations constantly reminded Dayan that he needed to strengthen his own power so that he could have a place in this world.

At this moment, the opportunity for Khoshut to turn things around is right in front of him, and he must seize it firmly no matter what the cost.

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"Bah!"

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

Just when Dayan was fantasizing about unifying the Mongolian tribes, a very familiar sound interrupted his beautiful dream. When he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw thick smoke rising from the Ming army camp, and a large number of knights nearby had fallen.

Firegun!

Great!
Seeing this, Dayan felt annoyed.

Previously, he was so focused on chasing the dragoons that he forgot to pay attention to the distance between them and the Ming army camp.

At this time, bullets were fired from the Ming army camp, and so many warriors of the Khoshut tribe fell for no reason.

After all, the Ming Dynasty had been famous for its firearms for hundreds of years. Even though it had been beaten to only half of its territory by the Manchus at this time, the empire was still alive and well. How could such an empire not be equipped with muskets?
Faced with the current situation, although the Ming army did not dare to leave the camp because they did not have time to form a battle line, it was reasonable for them to fire a few guns across the camp fence.

But then again, as far as he knew, both the Ming and Qing sides were equipped with only matchlock rifles. Not only was that old stuff inaccurate, it also took a lot of time between firing. The cavalry he led were all riding on the best horses picked from a hundred miles away, and given the speed of the horses, the Ming army in the camp could probably only fire one gun.

Under such circumstances, he would certainly not bypass the Ming army camp.

"accelerate!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Khoshut cavalry suddenly sped up a bit. Even though his mind was completely focused on the two thousand flintlock rifles, when more than ten thousand cavalrymen increased their speed to the extreme, he still glanced towards the Ming army camp with complacency.

At this time, behind the Ming army camp, there were densely packed soldiers loading ammunition. When he was about to turn his gaze back to the two thousand flintlock rifles that were within his reach, his eyes widened.

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

Why? !!!!

How could it be? !!!!!!

As another round of musket firing was heard, more than a hundred knights fell off their horses under Dayan's gaze.

His surprise was not because of the loss of just one or two hundred men, but because the Ming army's movements of loading ammunition and firing muskets were both strange and familiar.

All???

They are all flintlocks???
When the power in your hands is only slightly higher than that of others, even if you are surrounded by a pack of wolves, it would not be able to express how dangerous it is. But when the power in your hands is several times stronger, even if the wolves will not immediately turn into loyal dogs, they will still feel fear and dread.

This was probably how Dayan felt at the moment.

Facing the flintlock rifles sticking out from behind the fence, he felt powerless and even forgot about the dragoons who had run out of ammunition.

Have you forgotten the misery of your ancestors? !

After all, Dayan grew up in hardships, and all the negative emotions only lasted for a moment before being completely eliminated by him.

After all, the Ming Dynasty’s primary enemy was still the Qing Dynasty.

As long as he took away these flintlock rifles, he could get out of this pocket along the edge of Hanzhong City. At that time, he could withdraw to Xining on the grounds that the losses were too great. Even if the Ming Dynasty had more flintlock rifles, it would not abandon its mortal enemy to cause trouble for him.

As for the fall of the Qing Dynasty
Humph! What's the point of surrendering?
After all, he and the Shuot tribe are still the nominal leader of the Oirat. Doesn’t the Ming Dynasty know which is more important?

There is nothing wrong with his thinking.

At that time, the tentacles of the Later Jin Dynasty only reached the tribes in the southern part of the Eastern Mongolian Desert. Not to mention the Oirat Mongols thousands of miles away, even the closely adjacent Khalkha tribes in the northern part of the desert were still enemies of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, Huang Taiji was able to become the overlord of all the Oirat tribes.

The root causes of this were, firstly, they had a common enemy, and secondly, they were brought together by the Khoshut tribe.

Zhu Cilang was very clear about this.

But in his opinion, some people are still the kind who fear power but not virtue.

This time the Khoshut people actually had the courage to interfere. Even if he let Hauge go, he had to teach Dayan a lesson.

"Order! Li Guo leads his cavalry to help the imperial guards seal off the west passage to the camp!"

"Order!"

"Send an order! The rear guards will rush to the south of the camp as soon as possible. We must push the Tartars back into the city and not let any Khoshut escape!"

"Order!"

As the two military orders were issued, Mei Chun, Xiang Rensheng and Li Guo immediately led their troops to the battlefield. However, Hu Yiqing, who stayed with Zhu Cilang, was hesitant as if he had something to say.

He was not a person who did not know how serious the situation was. He knew that protecting His Majesty's safety was a matter of great importance.

But at the same time, he could also see clearly that His Majesty attached much more importance to firearms than anyone else.

First, he installed cannons on the warships as if it were free, and then he spent a large amount of money to form a central guard army.

By this time, even the cavalry had been equipped with self-propelled guns, and a general like him who relied solely on close combat would probably have no place to use his skills.

Faced with such a situation, he naturally wanted to seize every opportunity to engage in battle. What's more, Sun Shoufa was also beside His Majesty. With that guy's martial arts skills, he should be able to protect His Majesty even with his left arm hanging.

Under such circumstances, he naturally wanted to go out and meet him for a while.

"Your Majesty, we need to send people to protect the rear army in case the enemy attacks the flanks."

"You want to go out?"

Zhu Cilang could see what Hu Yiqing was thinking. He frowned and asked a question before the man had finished speaking.

This is indeed an issue that cannot be ignored.

Although the rear guard army has 5,000 men, the task it has to accomplish is the most arduous of all the armies.

The passage between the main camp and the city is about two miles long. Even if the enemy cavalry dare not approach their own camp, the rear army is responsible for guarding the distance of about a mile.

Under normal circumstances, each small formation led by a centurion could do this without any pressure. However, seeing the arrival of their own cavalry, the Qing army in the city would certainly not remain indifferent.

Under such circumstances, the closer they get to Hanzhong City, the greater the pressure the small rear army formation will face, so sending a group of troops to protect them is a proper arrangement.

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Although there were more than 10,000 infantrymen brought by Li Guo in the camp, Hu Yiqing and they were not under the same command.

If we want to send troops to protect the rear flank, we need someone with enough prestige to support them.

"Order! Leave 5,000 infantrymen to guard the main camp, and the rest will follow me to meet the enemy!"

"His Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, not only did Hu Yiqing and Sun Shoufa bow down on the ground, but even the generals who were a little further away hurried to dissuade him after hearing what he said.

To be honest, Zhu Cilang knows exactly how much he is worth.

Over the past year or so, although he performed well in planning strategies, he was still far behind when it came to fighting the enemy in battle.

But then again, the two generals present were not Li Guo's superiors. If something went wrong during the battle,
"It's okay. I'm not going to fight the enemy. I'm just suppressing them for you."

"His Majesty!"

It had been a long time since anyone dared to interrupt Zhu Cilang.

When the crisp voice of "Your Majesty" was heard, the huge area immediately became silent. Both the generals and soldiers looked in the direction of the voice with astonishment on their faces.

At this time, the young soldier was kneeling about ten steps away from Zhu Cilang. Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, although he could hold his neck straight, his face had turned red.

"Do you have anything to say?"

"Your Majesty, I am the humble servant."

"Li Laiheng, Li Guo's adopted son, I know."

After he finished speaking, Li Laiheng was stunned for a moment, and then he kowtowed three times to the ground. It was unclear whether he was apologizing for his impoliteness in front of the king, or he was moved that Zhu Cilang remembered his name.

"Your Majesty, I have been on the road of escape since I can remember. If it weren't for my adoptive father's pity, I would have become a delicacy in the mouths of others."

As he spoke, Li Laiheng suddenly paused, probably because these words brought back childhood memories, but Zhu Cilang did not show any impatience because of this. It was unclear whether he was giving Li Guo face.

"At first I thought this was how the world was supposed to be, until Your Majesty gave us a place to stay."

The voice was heard again, but the emotion inside was subtly different from before. Then he ignored the etiquette and looked directly at Zhu Cilang.

"Your Majesty, I just want to say that you don't have to worry about my soldiers not obeying the orders of the two generals. As long as the emperor's order comes, we dare to go even if it means going through mountains of swords and seas of fire!"

After he finished speaking, Li Laiheng bowed heavily to the ground again, and his intentions were finally revealed to everyone without any concealment.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Cilang only planned to appease the people and then lead his troops out of the camp. However, when his eyes inadvertently swept across a soldier, he saw that the man also knelt on the ground like Li Laiheng.

"I will go through fire and water! I will never refuse!"

"I will go through fire and water! I will never refuse!"

"I will go through fire and water! I will never refuse!"

One, two.

One battalion, two battalions.

Wherever Zhu Cilang's eyes swept across, the soldiers and generals all burst into overwhelming cheers.

When he looked around, the cheers from the crowd were so loud that they made people tremble in their hearts.

"Send the order!"

"exist!"

"Order! Hu Yiqing, Sun Shoufa, lead Li Guo's troops to suppress the enemy!"

"Order!"

(End of this chapter)