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

The best function of the shield cart is to defend against these small cannons and muskets. Even if the shield cart is damaged by bombardment, the musketeers following behind can be preserved.

The Rakshasa also had twelve cannons. Facing more than fifty shield carts, they were pushed back to within a hundred meters after firing two rounds of fire.

"Form ranks!"

After advancing to a distance of seventy or eighty meters, Ji Nanshou immediately ordered the troops to assemble, but it was clear that these rebels had not had a long period of training and their formation was very slow.

When Luo Sha's two hundred musketeers had already formed three rows, Ji Nanshou's side had only just finished lining up.

Thus, the Rakshasa people took the lead in firing. A series of crackling sounds rang out, and more than twenty Han soldiers were hit by bullets immediately. At a distance of only seventy or eighty meters, under the Rakshasa people's large-caliber matchlock muskets, there was basically no chance of survival for less than 20% of the armored soldiers.

"shoot!"

At this moment, the Han army had already lined up in formation. With Ji Nanshou's order, the first hundred men in the front row pulled the triggers, a cloud of white smoke rose up, and thirty or forty Rakshasa men fell to the ground instantly.

The firearms produced by the Manchus at this time were much more reliable than those manufactured after the rampant corruption at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

The gun barrels were made of high-quality iron, far superior to the firearms provided by Tsarist Russia to Cossack mercenaries, except for their smaller caliber.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Seeing that the first rank had finished firing and retreated to the back, Ji Nanshou originally wanted to press forward, hoping to kill more enemies at close range with his hundred more men, and even crush the few Rakshasa people. However, when he saw the Rakshasa people bring out cannons, his expression changed drastically, and he immediately ordered the musketeers to retreat.

Unfortunately, it was still too slow!

The twelve small cannons fired grapeshots. At a distance of seventy or eighty meters, the Han army instantly took away fifty or sixty men. Some of those hit by overlapping grapeshots were riddled with holes.

"The cunning Rakshasa!"

"Don't retreat, fire now!"

Half of the hundred men in the row were killed instantly. These soldiers, who were only temporarily organized, showed fear. Ji Nanshou immediately drew his sword and held it to the neck of a deserter.

Even under such pressure, these soldiers fired a second volley, then hastily retreated, not caring where the lead bullets landed.

"Ultimately, we don't have enough cannons. We can't continue like this. If the infantry completely collapses, even the cavalry will have a hard time breaking through!"

"All cavalry, listen to my command! Charge with me!"

Seeing this, Zhao Lie knew that if things continued like this, the temporarily organized soldiers would collapse, so he directly ordered a charge and led his personal guards to the front.

At this moment, the musketeers on both sides had already launched their third attack. Surprisingly, when Ji Nanshou's musketeers collapsed, the Rakshasa musketeers also collapsed directly.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. These were just Cossack mercenaries, and their willpower wasn't much stronger than that of the hastily organized Southern Ming rebels.

The Rakshasa commander was a Russian-looking man with a bulbous nose who appeared to be in his forties.

Seeing that the Han army was going all out and fighting desperately, the musketeers of Yinai had already collapsed and immediately showed fear.

They wanted to retreat but found themselves on a plain; retreat meant certain death. All they could do was draw their swords and shout.

"Charge, warriors of the Tsar!"

When the two sides were 100 meters apart, these Cossack cavalrymen raised their muskets and began to aim, preparing to fire at a distance of 70 or 80 meters.

"Release the arrows!"

Zhao Lie immediately gave the order, and the soldiers drew their bows and shot at a Cossack cavalryman. The Han cavalry behind them followed at the same time, and suddenly a hundred arrows were fired.

At such a distance, even armor-piercing arrows would have difficulty penetrating chainmail, but they could disrupt the Rakshasa's firing of muskets.

Sure enough, when faced with a barrage of arrows, some of the Rakshasa opened fire, inciting the others as well.

At a distance of ninety to one hundred meters, the lead bullets from the matchlock muskets drooped severely, and the Han army lost only a dozen or so riders, all of whom were shot at their horses.

Last year, when fighting the Kazakh tribes, the enemy also had musket cavalry, while the Dzungars did not. Galdan used this tactic to defeat them, and Zhao Lie naturally learned from it.

Puff puff.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Rakshasa people did not have muskets, Zhao Lie led more than 500 cavalrymen, increased their speed and charged directly into the fray. In the close combat, blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The two sides were engaged in a cavalry duel with only a few hundred men each, and the gaps between them were quite large. After one exchange, the Han cavalry lost forty or fifty men, but most of them were armored men, because Zhao Lie had not given them armor at all, and deliberately wanted to wear them down.

The three hundred Rakshasa riders were completely routed, with only a little over one hundred and twenty riders managing to escape in haste.

The Han army's cloth-covered iron armor, combined with chainmail, offered far superior defense compared to the Rakshasa people's single-layer chainmail.

Defeat the Rakshasa.

They were still able to win even when firearms failed.

Zhao Lie excitedly stomped on the stirrups, standing up abruptly, and shouted while raising his sword.

"We won! We won! The Han cavalry will all follow me; the rest of you, charge and kill the Rakshasa infantry!"

Under Zhao Lie's leadership, the remaining nearly five hundred cavalrymen split up, with the Han soldiers continuing to follow, while the armored men directly killed the Rakshasa infantry.

These armored men, though unarmored, were already incredibly fast, quickly chasing down the infantry. Often, a single, swift slash would decapitate them.

With cavalry charging, the Rakshasa people couldn't escape at all, and all the mountain savages were wiped out.

The same applies to Zhao Lie's side; the Ili horses are far superior to the warhorses of these poor Cossacks.

However, after pursuing them for less than two miles, the more than one hundred Rakshasa riders were all killed, leaving only the commander; the rest of the Cossack mercenaries were killed.

The commander survived only because his warhorse was a large Eastern European breed with strong explosive power.

Faced with the attack of two hundred cavalry, the commander was quite decisive. He immediately dismounted, raised his hands, and began to beg for mercy in Mongolian, extending five fingers.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

"I am from the Odoevsky family, and I demand that my own ransom be paid in the name of the nobility!"

"How about five hundred silver rubles?"

The three centurions all rose to power under Galdan and naturally had also done business with Tsarist Russia. Zhao Lie was momentarily stunned when he heard that it was five hundred silver rubles.

"Six hundred taels of silver?"

"Do you want some?"

The two Mongol centurions exchanged a glance and were somewhat tempted. After all, they knew a little about the rules in Europe: when a nobleman was captured, a ransom had to be paid, or he would lose face.

"Isn't the Kingdom of Rakshasa too far away? Why not capture him and hand him over to General Subutai for processing?"

Zhao Lie thought about it and agreed. They hadn't received any silver coins yet; they were promoted to officers based on merit. There was no need to worry about a little money.

"Let's go, take him back and talk about it later!"

……

While the Han army in Ningguta was collecting the bodies, Galdan was sitting on the city wall of Pei County, eating Pei County's specialty, dog meat, with Zhao Liangdong.

Meanwhile, 50,000 Qing troops were besieging the city, and reinforcements were being sent every day. Three large stockades had already been formed around the city.

It's estimated that after Kangxi received the news, he mobilized troops from somewhere, probably 60,000 tomorrow. They're here to fight him to the death.

Galdan estimated that Emperor Kangxi might have to personally lead the expedition.