Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 122 Great Victory
A cannonball flew over the city wall and headed towards the tower of Huerhan and Liao Jin.

Liao Jin shouted, "Master Hu, be careful!"

In an instant, Huerhan's Jurchen guards stood in front of him and used their bodies to block the impact of the aftermath of the artillery shells.

Perhaps Huerhan was not destined to die. The shells did not hit him accurately. When the city wall was blown up, shrapnel and iron sand were blown into the room, but were blocked by his personal guards. Only a piece of iron sheet scraped his cheek, leaving a bloodstain.

Huerhan suddenly saw stars and had ringing in his ears.

Liao Jin climbed out from the ruins and hurried forward to shake Huerhan, hoping to wake him up quickly.

"Master Hu, hurry up, we should leave! If we don't leave now, we will definitely not be able to escape! Once the Dachang Army adds another round of artillery shells, a gap will definitely be blown out of this city wall!"

Huerhan woke up as if from a dream, shuddered, and saw the guard who died in front of him. His eyes couldn't help but turn red.

These were all the guards he brought from his family. He had long been as close to them as family. This morning, they were still laughing and having breakfast together, but in the blink of an eye, they all became dead bodies.

Seeing Hu Erhan standing there in a daze, Liao Jin said anxiously, "Sir, we can't wait any longer, let's go!"

After saying that, Liao Jin pulled Huerhan, walked down the city wall quickly, and galloped out with the cavalry.

Hu Erhan, who was now alone and jolted by the turbulent horse, suddenly realized, "Damn it, the Northern Barbarians must have heard that Dachang was equipped with new cannons, but they didn't tell us, deliberately letting us suffer a defeat!"

Liao Jin didn't know how the Jurchens negotiated with the Northern Barbarians, so he could only suggest, "Now, we can only return to Guangning City as soon as possible. Fortunately, some of the food and supplies have been transported out of the city a few days ago."

"Although you have suffered two defeats, you have tested the strength of Dachang's army. The Black Armored Army and the new artillery battalion are definitely the prince's two trump cards. From now on, we will be on guard."

"My lord, now is not the time to decide the outcome, please cheer up!"

Hu Erhan didn't want to need the Liao generals to comfort him after he was defeated. He looked a little embarrassed and said, "General Liao is right. The current defeat is nothing."

Liao Jin asked again: "Lord Hu, what are our plans for the future? If we don't prepare early, it won't be difficult for this artillery array to capture Guangning Town."

Hearing this, Hu Erhan suddenly became alert, glared at Liao Jin and said, "If there is any errand, I will tell you, don't ask too much!"

Liao Jin hurriedly bowed and said, "It's Meng Lang who is here."

Then, he let out an imperceptible sigh.

……

"Clean the barrel! Change the cannon!"

Flag signals were switched again in the artillery camp. Four soldiers were operating a Portuguese cannon together, with a clear division of labor from loading, to fixing the subgun, aiming, and firing.

Compared to ordinary artillery, which takes three to five minutes to fire another shot, the Portuguese cannon only takes less than a minute.

Another round of artillery fire plowed the ground, and the walls of Ningyuan were already in tatters.

Today's Ningyuan City is not a solid fortress made of bricks and stones. Since the ethnic minorities do not have powerful firearms as support, Ningyuan City has several cannons. Compared with them, it naturally appears very solid.

But in front of the newly equipped artillery of the Dachang army, it was no match for them.

Soon, the flags on the city wall fell to the ground, and a white flag slowly rose up, waving vigorously in the air. The city gate opened, and a group of ordinary soldiers wrapped in turbans walked out, throwing their weapons on the side of the road, all of them looked dusty.

The King of Qin smiled with relief.

"Give the order, enter the city!"

The cavalry on both wings set out, quickly circled the city and pursued the fleeing enemy.

The infantry formed up, entered the city in an orderly manner, and began to take over the city defenses in various places.

The city was captured without bloodshed, and every soldier had a look of joy on their faces.

Enter the city, the city lord's mansion, the meeting hall,

The King of Qin listened to the officers and soldiers below reporting on the battle situation.

"Three vehicles were destroyed at the South Gate, with 21 injured and no one dead. Ten vehicles were destroyed at the West Gate, with 70 injured and 12 dead. Seven vehicles were destroyed at the East Gate, with 43 injured and 4 dead. Most of the soldiers who died were killed because the weather was cold and the artillery was not preheated enough, causing the barrels to explode."

The King of Qin thought it was a complete victory, but after receiving the report, he found out that there were still casualties. He frowned slightly, feeling unhappy.

Yin Taihe stood up and took the initiative to admit his mistake, saying, "Your Highness, I was not familiar with this cannon before, and I was a little hasty when I gave the order, so I made a mistake. But don't worry, Your Highness, I guarantee with my head that I will never make the same mistake again."

The King of Qin sighed and said, "Don't say these unlucky things when you are about to fight. Remember that you have passed away and will help me with military affairs in the future."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

At that time, another soldier came to report, saying, "Your Highness, the well water in the city has been polluted by the Jurchens and is no longer drinkable."

Yin Taihe slammed the table in anger, "These despicable villains!"

The King of Qin frowned and said, "They are only here to contain us, so we will do whatever it takes. Send people to the upper reaches of the river to fetch water." "Yes."

When counting the treasury in the city, the King of Qin was relieved to find that there were still a lot of weapons, food and supplies in the city.

"We will build another fort forty miles outside the city to serve as the hub between Guangning and Ningyuan. After this fort is completed, we will send troops to Guangning. With the fort connected, the line between Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan, and Guangning will be stable, and we can continue to advance into Liaodong."

"Yes."

……

"Great Commander, good news, good news."

A minor official walked quickly into the hall and handed Yue Ling the battle report sent from the border.

Yue Ling unfolded it and saw that it turned out that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had won a great victory at the border. He defeated the Jurchens in one battle and captured Ningyuan City in another battle. The progress could be said to be very fast. Now, only a month had passed and he had already advanced towards Guangning.

The distance from Shanhaiguan to Guangning is not much different from the distance from Guangning to Liaodong Town. It seems that if everything goes well, it may not be impossible to return home in three months.

Yue Ling finally breathed a sigh of relief. There has been very little good news recently.

He had been suffering a lot in the capital for a month. First, the spies in Datong Prefecture and the Northern Barbarians seized the city gate. Then, the Northern Barbarians, with a 150,000-strong army, attacked the pass in three directions. Daoma Pass, Zijing Pass, and Juyong Pass were all facing threats to varying degrees.

Judging from Tugi Khan's deployment, he wanted to use decoy troops to mobilize the troops between the three inner passes for rotation of defense, and it was impossible to guess where his main force was.

However, Yue Ling responded to all changes with the strategy of remaining unchanged. He only asked the officers and soldiers in each town to rely on the terrain to block the enemy layer by layer, blocking bridges and blasting mountains, so as to slow down the march of the northern barbarians and buy precious time for the capital.

It was originally planned that the Northern Barbarians might be able to reach the foot of the capital within a month, but under Yue Ling's arrangement, more than twenty days have passed and the Northern Barbarians have not yet broken through the three inner gates.

Guards from all over the capital entered the city to strengthen its defenses, and the gunpowder bureau of the Ministry of War also kept its workshops open all day, firing gunpowder and shells non-stop for twelve hours and storing them in warehouses.

Everything is in order under Yue Ling's management.

Yue Ling drew on the map and put down his pen, muttering, "Zijing Pass, it must still be Zijing Pass."

Yue Ling fiddled with the small porcelain bottle in his hand and dug out the gunpowder inside. He thought to himself, "I really can't spare the troops to garrison the pass, but it's always okay to cause you some damage. I can't let you ride into the pass at will. Do you think you're here for a trip?"

A gong sounded outside the courtyard. Yue Ling put the porcelain bottle into his sleeve and strode out of the room.

Not long after, Privy Councilor Lu Yuan walked out of the classroom and came to the Council Hall, the room where Yue Ling was currently handling government affairs. He took a quick look at the map that Yue Ling had drawn, and found it to be so messy that he could not make out anything.

"Lord Lu? What are you doing here?"

Lu Yuan trembled slightly, and looked back. Seeing that it was Feng Yu, he couldn't help but smile and said, "What else can we do here? Of course, we are looking for Yue Ling. I didn't expect him to leave so quickly. He disappeared as soon as the gong sounded."

Feng Yu curled his lips and said, "He has left many times without the sound of the gong. There is a rumor in the capital that he has a mistress hidden in his golden house. I think it is true."

Lu Yuan followed Feng Yu out of the classroom and said with a smile, "This is not wartime, I thought he would stay a little longer. I just came up with some ideas on how to deploy defenses in the capital, and I was planning to discuss it with him."

"Tomorrow, I'll come look for him tomorrow."

……

Yue's House, back hall,
After leaving the court, Yue Ling returned home and found Jia Yun outside the curtains. He placed the small porcelain bottle on the table and said slowly, "I have an errand for you recently. You have to go on a long journey."

Jia Yun bowed and said, "Master, please tell me what you mean. How can I be so polite to you?"

Yue Ling showed him what he had in his hand and asked, "Can you tell what this is?"

"Porcelain bottle?"

Yue Ling shook his head and said, "Follow me."

The two men came under a tree in the courtyard and saw Yue Ling stepping the porcelain bottle into the soil. He then took out a flint from his arms, tied a hook to it with a rope, and fixed it to the mouth of the bottle.

Yue Ling pulled the thin line and came ten steps away. He pulled it hard and saw sparks coming out from the friction between the flint and the iron hook. The gunpowder in the porcelain bottle was ignited instantly.

With a dull thud, a hole was blown up on the ground, exposing a large area of ​​tree roots.

Jia Yun was shocked. "How could the porcelain bottle in the master's hand just now, which was only half the size of a palm, have such power?"

Yue Ling turned back and looked at Jia Yun who was stunned, and asked, "Do you understand?"

Jia Yun nodded.

"This is a simple method of making landmines." Yue Ling continued, "In order to slow down the progress of the northern barbarians moving south, this thing can be of great use. You go to Zijing Pass and use porcelain jars, earthen jars, and stone jars to make landmines several times the size. Use this method to set up an ambush on the road that the northern barbarian army must pass through."

"The power of gunpowder alone is not enough, especially since the northern barbarians are mainly cavalry. We can add some broken iron pieces and iron sand to it to increase its lethality."

"You must be careful when using it. Not only must you keep the gunpowder dry, but you must also pay attention to your own safety and not accidentally injure friendly forces..."

(End of this chapter)