Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 494 Adventure
When they arrived at the Great Wall, Hei Yunlong happened to receive an order from the court to assist the king.

Military orders are as heavy as mountains. Hei Yunlong urgently mobilized his troops and followed General Hou Shilu to the capital for rescue. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui had just entered the Great Wall and immediately found Hei Yunlong to ask about the battle situation.

When Hei Yunlong saw Zhu Shenzhui and his men arrive, he asked about the battle situation and told Zhu Shenzhui everything he knew. However, he didn't know much about Huang Taiji's marching route and military strength at that time. The court just said that a large number of Jiannu and Mongolians had invaded and the capital was in danger, so they asked troops from all over the country to rush to the capital to defend the king.

After listening to Hei Yunlong's story, Zhu Shenzui frowned and after careful consideration decided to go to Gyeonggi with Hei Yunlong.

Over the years, Zhu Shenzui had dealt with the Mongols many times, but he had never fought with the Eight Banners Army.

There have been rumors that if the Later Jin army is less than 10,000, it will not be able to defeat the enemy. However, in Zhu Shenzhui's view, the Jiannu's words are just empty talk and are not as scary as the rumors say. More importantly, Zhu Shenzhui wants to take this opportunity to test the waters, not only to see the true combat effectiveness of Huang Taiji's Eight Banners soldiers, but also to take a look at the situation of the various border troops known as the elite of the Ming Dynasty.

Doing so is extremely risky. In a war of this magnitude, Zhu Shenzhui's men are only a minority no matter how good they are at fighting. An army of only a thousand people can't play any role in a large-scale battle. If they get into trouble, they will be defeated.

But even so, Zhu Shenzhui finally made this decision. Although this time he took a big risk, Zhu Shenzhui thought it was worth it. Moreover, he was not going alone, but following Hei Yunlong's troops. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui trusted his subordinates more. Once there was a real risk, Zhu Shenzhui had the ability to act independently. As long as he was not surrounded, it should not be a problem for him to escape with his own ability. Therefore, Zhu Shenzhui made up his mind and asked Hei Yunlong to go with him.

Faced with Zhu Shenzui's request, Hei Yunlong refused at first, but was eventually persuaded.

After all, although Hei Yunlong was not Zhu Shenzhui's subordinate, he was actually influenced by Zhu Shenzhui. Facing Zhu Shenzhui's tough demands, he had no choice but to agree. Secondly, the military situation was urgent, and Hei Yunlong was short of troops. This time, his trip to the capital was likely to be dangerous. Zhu Shenzhui's new army and cavalry were both elite. If he had such an army to help him, Hei Yunlong would have more confidence.

In this way, Zhu Shenzhu arranged for 200 people to return to Daming with the goods first, and the remaining nearly 800 people were directly incorporated into Hei Yunlong's army. Among them, 500 new soldiers were organized into a unit, commanded by Zhu Shenzhu himself, and his deputy was Li You.

As for the remaining 300 cavalrymen, they served as Hei Yunlong's household cavalry and were divided into two groups, left and right, together with Hei Yunlong's original household cavalry.

The commander of the cavalry was Wang Jinwu. This guy got excited when he saw a war. Originally, Zhu Shenzui wanted him to go back to Luzhou Wei directly, but this guy refused to leave. He also shouted that if he was allowed to go back to Luzhou Wei, he would definitely lead troops to the war when he returned to Luzhou Wei. After all, the court's order to defend the king had been issued, and the garrisons in Shanxi could not remain indifferent. Instead of taking the garrison troops to defend the king, it would be better to follow directly. What's more, these cavalrymen were all Wang Jinwu's subordinates, and they were also trained by him. Since all his subordinates had gone, how could he, as the main general, be left behind?

After consideration, Zhu Shenzhui agreed to Wang Jinwu's request, but also made three rules with him: he must not act on his own and must obey his orders. Wang Jinwu agreed immediately, grinning, as if going to the king's service was a great thing for him, and his face turned red with excitement.

In this way, Zhu Shenzui followed Hei Yunlong's actions and sent troops from his garrison to the capital to defend the king.

When they arrived near the capital, Man Gui and Hou Shilu had already fought with Huang Taiji's Eight Banners in a small area. Because Hei Yunlong arrived late, he did not catch up with the first few battles. After arriving in the capital, Hei Yunlong's troops were stationed outside Deshengmen as the left wing under Hou Shilu's arrangement. After a few days, Yuan Chonghuan commanded his troops to set a trap for the Eight Banners, intending to lure the Eight Banners to attack and then attack from both sides in an attempt to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop.

However, Yuan Chonghuan overestimated himself and underestimated the fighting effectiveness of the Eight Banners. Not only did his plan fail, but he almost got himself into trouble.

If it weren't for his subordinates risking their lives to rescue him, this commander-in-chief Yuan would have died on the spot. After Yuan Chonghuan was defeated and fled in a panic, the entire defense line of the Ming army was shaken. The Guanning Army fought desperately but was about to collapse. At this time, Man Gui saw that the situation was not right and hurried to lead his troops to rescue. However, he never expected that Yuan Chonghuan fled back and ordered the artillery troops to desperately stop him. Under the simultaneous firing of hundreds of cannons, Man Gui happened to arrive with his troops at this time. Because of the poor communication between the two armies, Yuan Chonghuan's artillery fired randomly and directly injured Man Gui. Although the Eight Banners soldiers took the initiative to retreat when they saw the fierce artillery fire of the Ming army, and the Ming army also held the defense line, Man Gui not only lost hundreds of people, but even Man Gui himself was almost killed by Yuan Chonghuan's cannons.

As soon as this happened, the Xuan and Da armies were in an uproar, and Zhu Shenzhui saw it clearly in the army, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He couldn't understand how the commander of Ji and Liao could be so unreliable. Not only did the two armies fail to effectively strike the enemy, but their own cannons almost killed the leader of the friendly army. It was ridiculous.

This battle gave Zhu Shenzui a clear understanding of Yuan Chonghuan's command ability in battle. Although this General Yuan was famous, he actually did not have much military ability. Not to mention other things, his command ability in the field was not worthy of his reputation. The Guanning Army, which was known as the elite, performed well except for the cavalry unit, but the performance of other units was really disappointing.

But it is not surprising. A careful recall of Yuan Chonghuan's battle record shows that no matter when Yuan Chonghuan was the military governor or later when he was the governor or even the general manager and commander-in-chief, although Yuan Chonghuan fought with the Jiannu many times, he basically focused on defense every time.

Yuan Chonghuan's most praised military achievement was that he injured Nurhaci with artillery fire in the Battle of Ningyuan, causing the old slave to eventually "die of serious injuries."

It is unknown whether this story is true or not. After all, judging from the time, when Nurhaci died, more than half a year had passed since the Battle of Ningyuan. If he was seriously injured by artillery at the time, it would be impossible for him to survive for so long with the medical level and conditions of the Jiannu. He would have died long ago.

However, let's not discuss the truth of this matter for now. Let's just talk about the much-hyped Ningyuan victory. This battle was also a defensive battle. Yuan Chonghuan relied on Ningyuan's solid walls and artillery to defend Ningyuan City, thus repelling the attack of Jiannu. From this point of view, it is not wrong to say that Yuan Chonghuan only knew how to defend the city, but what did he rely on to defend the city? Defending a city is different from fighting in the field. It does not require flexible command and response capabilities. As long as there is enough morale and the power of the city walls and firearms, it is not difficult to hold on to the Jiannu who lack firearms and are weak in attacking the city.

To put it bluntly, even if someone else was in charge, Yuan Chonghuan's contribution was worthless in Zhu Shenzhu's eyes. Moreover, the battle of Ningyuan also happened at the same time when Juehua Island was captured. As the main general, Yuan Chonghuan was very close to Juehua Island, but he had no way to deal with it, and he did not even send troops to rescue it. This just proves that Yuan Chonghuan's reputation was not worth mentioning.

After witnessing the battle, Zhu Shenzhui shook his head secretly and was very disappointed with Yuan Chonghuan. At the same time, he also saw the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners soldiers and had to admit that the Eight Banners' cavalry and archery were indeed fierce and their combat effectiveness was indeed strong.

But to say that the Eight Banners were unstoppable was just bragging. Although the Eight Banners cavalry was strong, it was not ridiculously strong. In terms of combat effectiveness alone, the elite cavalry of the Guanning Army was only slightly inferior to the Eight Banners. In Zhu Shenzhu's opinion, the combat effectiveness of both sides was about 6 to 4, which meant that the Eight Banners had a slight advantage.

The Eight Banners cavalry relied on superb archery and fierce fighting. In comparison, the Guanning Army's archery was naturally inferior, but the Guanning Army's equipment was better than the Eight Banners. In addition to armor, swords, guns, and bows and arrows, the Guanning Army cavalry was also equipped with horse-fighting firearms such as three-barreled guns. If they could improve their numbers and morale, and their archery skills were more sophisticated, they might be able to compete head-on with the Eight Banners.

Having lived in the Mongolian grasslands for a long time, Zhu Shenzhui had a good understanding of cavalry and could tell the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners soldiers at a glance. In terms of personal bravery, the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners soldiers was not much different from that of the Mongolian cavalry. Both sides were proficient in riding and shooting. However, in terms of equipment and command, the Eight Banners soldiers were better. After all, the Eight Banners soldiers had been a professional army since Nurhaci, and the Mongols had not retained many professional cavalry troops in the more than two hundred years since they lost the Central Plains. Except for the guards of the Khan or the guards of the Taiji of each tribe, the Mongols usually served as soldiers on horseback and herded sheep on foot, and did not form a professional army.

From this point of view, although the Mongols were not bad in individual fighting strength, they were far inferior to the Eight Banners in terms of coordination and morale. In addition, there was the problem of equipment. Although the equipment of the Eight Banners was not as good as that of the Ming Army, it was much better than that of the Mongolian cavalry. You must know that ordinary Mongolian cavalry, in addition to a bow and arrow and a waist knife, did not even have many sets of leather armor. The difference in weapons also led to the difference in combat power between the two sides. What's more, there were extremely elite "white armor soldiers" in the Eight Banners. These white armor soldiers were carefully selected, and their equipment was even stronger than that of the Ming Army. Coupled with their personal fighting strength and organized training, they became an irreplaceable elite force in the Eight Banners.

It can be seen from this that the Eight Banners were indeed strong in combat, but in Zhu Shenzhu's view, it was just that. As early as after taking over the Tenger tribe, Zhu Shenzhu selected strong herdsmen from the tribe to form a professional cavalry unit.

Over the years, although this cavalry was small in number, it was not inferior in terms of equipment, training, and combat effectiveness. After annexing the Bushitu tribe, this cavalry was expanded again and became the most elite and powerful military force of the Tengger tribe.

The reason why Zhu Shenzui was able to subdue the Tumed tribes was that he had the confidence of the capable cavalry. Although he did not bring many cavalry this time, there were only 300 cavalry commanded by Wang Jinwu, but these 300 cavalry were well-equipped and well-trained. In addition, he also had 500 new troops. With the cooperation of the two forces, he was not afraid of a head-on battle with the Eight Banners with a scale of thousands of people.

(End of this chapter)