The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

As expected of a scholar, he hadn't been in Ningguta for nothing; he knew all about these matters. Zhao Lie was deeply impressed and took the initiative to ask him for advice.

"After a great battle, our army now has only 230 cavalrymen. Should we send a messenger? Our Han army still has 20,000 to 30,000 iron cavalry in Hetu Ala."

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhaoqian shook his head and took out a blueprint from his pocket, which clearly showed the appearance of Ningguta City.

"The walls of Ningguta are made of wooden piles and rammed earth, without the addition of blue bricks for covering, so they cannot withstand continuous bombardment by cannons."

At this point, Wu Zhaoqian looked at Ji Nanshou again.

"However, the Ningguta treasury has over three hundred muskets and ten 500-pound mortise and ten trebuchets. It's a pity these armored men aren't good at using them, but Ji Nanshou and his men are Southern Ming rebels, so they're no strangers to these. As long as our firearms are on par, surely you can't defeat these mere Rakshasa people!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Nanshou immediately stood up and patted his chest.

"Today, there are three hundred people who are rebelling with Ji. Most of them know how to use muskets. Chen Liu and his men are from the navy and can operate all kinds of cannons."

Just as Ji Nanshou finished speaking, a man who was only a little over 1.6 meters tall, with dark skin and a fierce face, stood up.

"My name is Chen Liu, a naval officer in Fujian. I have 32 brothers under my command, all of whom are skilled in operating artillery."

They're all talented people!

Zhao Lie was overjoyed upon hearing this!

General Subutai has said more than once that he will lead troops to the territory of the Rakshasa people in the future. If he can kill five hundred Rakshasa demons in advance, it will be a great achievement.

"Alright, Ji Nanshou, Chen Liu, you two get the firearms ready. Tomorrow we'll have our final battle against the Rakshasa!"

Upon receiving the order, Ji Nanshou and Chen Liu immediately went out of the main hall to organize the personnel. The other two Mongol centurions remained silent. They were used to Zhao Lie giving orders, after all, he was indeed capable and his achievements were considerable.

……

The next morning, the north gate of Ningguta was opened.

Zhao Lie led more than 500 cavalrymen out of the city, followed by Ji Nanshou with 300 arquebusiers, Chen Liu with his men pushing ten mother-and-child cannons, and more than 200 slaves pushing shield carts.

The extra two hundred or so cavalrymen were surrendered armored men who did not belong to the Eight Banners. Among them were Koreans and Jurchens who did not submit to the Manchu Qing.

These people are the ones that the big man is trying to win over.

The slaves, on the other hand, were genuine Eight Banner soldiers, mostly from the Plain Yellow Banner and Bordered Yellow Banner. They were brought out this time to deflect lead bullets and prevent them from causing trouble in the city.

These nearly one thousand people represent our entire military force.

Meanwhile, the Rakshasa on the opposite side had already emerged from their camp, with three hundred cavalrymen clad in chainmail and fur coats behind them, a dozen small cannons in front, and two hundred men in the middle armed with muskets.

On both sides were more than two hundred savages dressed in animal skins with Asian skin, carrying harpoons and hunting bows. They could also be called Siberians. On the Nurgan Commandery map, they were collectively referred to as the Northern Jurchens.

When the two sides were about 700 or 800 meters apart, they stopped advancing. At the same time, a Rakshasa cavalryman rode up and shouted when he was about 100 meters away from the Han army, still in Mongolian.

"You Qing people over there, we are the army of His Majesty the Great Tsar. This is now His Majesty's territory. Please leave!"

No sooner had the Rakshasa man finished speaking than the Mongol centurion beside Zhao Lie spurred his horse forward.

"You son of a bitch! This is the territory of my Great Han. You dogs were slaves of the Mongols more than a hundred years ago. Even your Tsar was just a tax collector for the Mongols."

This Mongol centurion must have often heard Galdan tell stories, and his words were always deadly. After all, he wasn't lying; the Rakshasa Kingdom was indeed ruled by the Mongols for over two hundred years, and the Tsar did collect taxes from the Golden Horde.

The Rakshasa soldier who relayed the message was a Cossack mercenary. He knew nothing about these things. He was about to go back to form ranks when he found that the enemy hadn't stopped at all and had charged straight at him.

When they were more than fifty meters away, the centurion had already drawn his bow, changed to an armor-piercing arrow, and shot it out with a whoosh.

"ah!!!"

The Rakshasa screamed as an armor-piercing arrow pierced his chest, the arrowhead protruding from his back.

"Hmph, you Rakshasa dog!"

The centurion stepped forward, cursed under his breath, grabbed the reins of the enemy's horse, and led it back.

Upon seeing this, the Rakshasa commander on the opposite side was probably furious. He immediately raised his saber and ordered his army to slowly advance, with cannons still leading the way.

When the two sides were 300 meters apart, their artillery began to fire tentatively. Although these cannons, which weigh several hundred kilograms, could fire a distance of 1,000 meters, they were no longer accurate. This distance was the optimal distance for the small cannons.

The first round of shelling was not very accurate, and the solid shot from both sides hit the area around the artillery, with some even going more than 20 meters off course, which was quite unusual.

The accuracy of the second round of shelling immediately improved, with solid shells the size of a baby's fist tearing apart the artillerymen on both sides, sending limbs and heads flying.

"Proceed!"

Chen Liu was very experienced with artillery and discovered that the opponent was using a single-piece cannon. Because it was airtight, it had a longer range, higher accuracy, and greater power. In contrast, the mother-and-child cannon had less power and lower accuracy, but a faster rate of fire.

The artillerymen immediately pushed the gun carriages forward, and the five laborers pushed the carts at a very fast speed, quickly reaching 200 meters, which was the optimal firing range for the mother-and-child guns.

Because they moved their cannons first, while Luo Sharen was still pushing his cannon, Chen Liu had already switched to a smaller cannon and chose to fire directly at this distance.

With a series of cannon shots, ten shells, along with five artillerymen and a cannon, were overturned.

"Quickly, damn it, switch the cannons!"

"Has staying in Ningguta for too long made you useless?"

"Come here, let me do it!"

Seeing that the Rakshasa had advanced 150 meters, in order to fire two more shells, Chen Liu started swearing and eventually pushed a gunner aside to load ammunition.

A distance of 100 meters or 10 meters is already very dangerous; an experienced gunner can hit it accurately.

Sure enough, both sides were aiming at the cannons.

In this round of firefight, the Rakshasa lost three cannons and seven or eight artillerymen, while the Han army lost five cannons, and even Chen Liu was almost hit by a cannonball.

Therefore, artillery was very dangerous in this era, because in every battle on the plains, both sides would bombard each other's artillery relentlessly before launching a large-scale attack.

Zhao Lie, who had been observing the battlefield, knew that bombarding would not bring victory, since the Rakshasa had seven more cannons than his side. He immediately gave the order.

"The shield carts advance, with the arquebusiers close behind!"

"Dare to retreat even half a step, and you will be executed!!!"

Two hundred Manchu prisoners, guarded by musketeers organized by Ji Nanshou, pushed shield carts forward at high speed. These carts were wheelbarrows filled with sacks of mud to protect against cannon fire and musket shots.

When the shield cart was advanced to eighty meters, the Rakshasa cannons fired again. They were very experienced in dealing with these shield carts and chose to directly bombard their lower body.

Once the wheel is hit.

The shield vehicle was then rendered unusable.