Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 171 I am you, Abatai! You bastard born of a servant!

In a fleeting glance, Zhao Shuaijiao recognized Abatai, the old Jurchen, and Abatai finally learned who the commander of this Ming cavalry was. Although Abatai wanted to kill his old friend Zhao Shuaijiao, reason prevailed.

If a heavy cavalry charge can break through the enemy cavalry in one fell swoop, that would be ideal. If the charge fails and the enemy is blocked, then a timely retreat is necessary. Otherwise, the enemy, wearing heavy armor, will be hampered on horseback, making it a worthless military achievement, as they can't even defeat infantry.

Zhao Lüjiao's personal guards were terrified and desperately shook off the Jurchen entanglements to rescue their commander. Meanwhile, Abatai grabbed the reins of Hauge's horse and dragged him away. Although the White-Armored Soldiers were fierce, the Ming army was simply more numerous and had a thicker formation. After Zhao Lüjiao's central cavalry withstood the Jurchen cavalry's charge, the cavalry on the flanks quickly surrounded them.

The Jurchens did manage to break the Ming cavalry's formation, but this also left them surrounded on three sides and rapidly closing in. Among them, the Gansu and Ningxia soldiers, who were not valued by Zhao Lüjiao, were the most eager and active to flee.

When they first arrived in the capital, their thousand-plus cavalry couldn't even muster a hundred sets of iron armor, because they had sold their armor to the Mongols in exchange for food, and their warhorses were starving and looked like mules. The court had no choice but to replace them with a batch of newly produced, worn-out armor originally intended for infantry.

The elite troops outside the city were naturally provided with plenty of food. These starving cavalrymen finally had a full meal and were so happy that they no longer wanted to go back to their hometown to eat yellow sand.

Bai Jia Bayala wanted to escape, and Zhao Shuaijiao understood that this was a good opportunity to annihilate the Jurchen elite. Such elites must have important members of the imperial clan as their leaders, and today was the day to be ennobled as earls and marquises! The general was a bastard and could not inherit the title, but the marquisate was possible.

He was getting old and wanted to secure wealth for his descendants, so he led the central army in hot pursuit. The cheerful sound of gunfire rang out again in the Ming cavalry camp, and every now and then, slave riders were shot in the back and fell to the ground.

Cavalry are most vulnerable to being attacked from the flanks. Faced with the Ming cavalry flanking them, Abatai and Sony could only lead the left and right flanks to push forward, protecting Hauge and creating a path for him to escape. At this moment, a large group of Ming cavalrymen rushed towards the Jurchen cavalry, while the Jurchen cavalry, which had initially advanced in three parallel columns, turned into a fleeing formation with their flanks spread out, forming a pitchfork shape.

The Gansu cavalry stubbornly believed that letting the enemy escape would mean starvation, and nothing was more terrifying than hunger, even death. So they charged headlong into the Jurchen left-wing cavalry without hesitation.

Boom!
Abatai thrust out his lance, sending a Ming cavalryman flying. However, the cavalryman did not feel the familiar sensation of piercing through the Ming armor; instead, his hand was numb from the impact.

The Ming cavalryman fell to the ground, vomiting blood, but his strange armor only had a dent, not a puncture. Abatai's face turned grim; he stared intently and saw that the tip of his spear was bent!

Abatai stepped forward with his spear, about to finish off the Ming cavalryman with a final blow, but was blocked by a Ming general who looked somewhat familiar, but whose name he couldn't quite place.

Bang!

The two clashed weapons, the immense force causing their hands to ache from the impact. They knew then that the other was no pushover and that they would be unable to defeat him in a short time.

"Who goes there? Come forward and announce yourselves!" Abatai shouted.

“Hehe, I am your father! Abatai, you bastard born of a servant, how could you forget your own father?” Ma Shilong said with a bright smile.

Abatai still couldn't remember who the person was, but the insult "born of a concubine" was so accurate that his blood pressure spiked, his eyes turned red, and he roared in a rage, "Hey! You Ming dog, I don't care who you are, give me your life!!!" Abatai was known for his bravery and skill in battle; this guy was a true warrior, and when he got angry, he lost all restraint and became savage, fearless and ruthless. Ma Shilong had had his moment of verbal sparring, but now he was being beaten so badly that he could barely defend himself and could only lament in his heart, "My life is miserable!"

Hauge took pleasure in killing his wife and children, which made him a despicable person, but within the Aisin Gioro family, he was considered a moral exemplar. Seeing that Abatai and Sony were engaged in a fierce battle to rescue him, he hardened his heart and led his central army back.

In the previous battle, his central army had charged the fastest and fought the hardest, but now it had less than seven hundred cavalry. Abatai was originally fighting with great enthusiasm, but when he saw that Hauge had actually run back, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood. In his disordered state, he gave Ma Shilong an opening.

Bang!
Abatai felt a chill and a buzzing sound in his left ear. When he reached out to touch it, his hand was covered in blood. Only after the pain subsided did he realize that his ear had been knocked off.

At this moment, Ma Shilong threw away a musket that was still smoking. He shook his head regretfully, marveling at how lucky Abatai was that he had only lost an ear.

The cavalryman who was knocked down by Abatai was seriously injured, but he was lucky enough to survive. Perhaps his lighter weight saved him and reduced the impact of the blow.

He was wearing an experimental, modified pendant armor, consisting of square plates cast in steel, one finger thick and three inches on each side. The plates were connected by holes drilled on only one side, and fell under gravity, resulting in an overlapping pattern between the plates.

This is an extremely powerful armor, with the thickest plates of any armor. The defensive power of a single piece is comparable to the triple armor of the Jurchens. Neither powerful bows nor muskets can penetrate this armor. Of course, cannonballs can easily tear apart any armor, and blunt force attacks will also cause full damage. There is no dome structure to cushion the impact.

The advantages of this type of armor are its strong defense, simple manufacturing process, and fast production speed. In fact, due to the significant reduction in labor costs, although this type of armor uses more materials, its overall price is cheaper than existing iron armor.

There are advantages, but there are also disadvantages. The armor relies on gravity to maintain its shape, and its design is relatively rigid. This kind of hastily produced armor is even a two-tiered armor, only protecting the torso. It is also quite heavy and lacks a stress-relieving structure. The weight of more than 20 kilograms is all pressed on the shoulders and back, making it very tiring to wear and uncomfortable.

But bulky, cheap, and durable are considered good products. The Ming Dynasty's equipment logic was never about getting the best, but about getting the easiest to popularize. As long as there wasn't a revolutionary advancement, any slight advantage would be smoothed out by large-scale production. Even if this steel plate armor wasn't the best, it was still a heaven-defying piece of equipment comparable to triple armor, and it was so cheap that it basically only cost about the cost of steelmaking.

The Ming Dynasty's smelting technology is unparalleled in the world. The materials used to make one cannon can be used to make hundreds of these armors. When everyone is armored, let's see how the Jurchens can still ride and shoot!

"Pah!" The soldier clutched his stomach as he got up, spitting out a mouthful of black blood mixed with foam.

Logically, even if he retreated while severely wounded, he wouldn't be considered a deserter, and no one would blame him. But he didn't. He drew his three-foot-long sword, gripped it tightly with both hands, and shouted, "Kill!!!"

When Zhu Youjian climbed the city wall, what he saw was a fierce battle between enemy and friendly cavalry below. They fought on horseback, fell off, and continued to fight. Even if they were knocked down, as long as they could still crawl, they would crawl over and bite the enemy to death.

Zhu Youjian had always thought that the Ming army was useless and that the soldiers were cowardly and would collapse at the first sign of trouble. But what he saw now was unexpected. These soldiers had done right by the Ming Dynasty!
As the elite of the Jurchens, Baijia Bayala was one in a hundred, and he had his own pride. Even when facing Ming troops that outnumbered him several times over, he never backed down!
(End of this chapter)