BSI Chapter 126 Come on, let's hurt each other!
Chapter 126 Come on, let's hurt each other!
Chapter 126 Come on, let's hurt each other!
Chapter 125 "Boom—Boom—Boom—"
The first volley of shells rained down on the Mongol cavalry like a storm. Before they could even react, the Mongol soldiers and their horses were blown to pieces. The bottom of the Liuhe ditch was narrow, and the cavalry were crammed together. Every shell could take more than a dozen lives.
"There's an ambush! Retreat!"
The Mongol general Noyan cried out in terror.
But it was too late. The Da Ning New Army was no longer newly recruited. In fact, the hereditary military households of the Ming Dynasty were not recruited soldiers with strong fighting spirit, better physical fitness, and more skilled professional skills. They were all professional soldiers.
More importantly, Chen Ying never cared about the cost of cannonballs. Unlike other Ming soldiers who treated cannonballs like treasures, some soldiers could only fire a few shots in their entire lives. It would be a miracle if such artillerymen could fire accurately. Both artillerymen and musketeers were trained by being fed bullets.
As the Mongol cavalry retreated hastily, the sound of muskets exploded like popping beans, and lead bullets rained down on the chaotic Mongol cavalry like locusts.
At the same time, on the hills on both sides of the gully, countless grenades rained down, exploding one after another, with flames shooting into the sky. In less than an hour, or fifteen minutes, of the five thousand Mongol cavalry that rushed into Liuhe Gully, less than three hundred riders escaped alive.
The Taijis of the five Inner Khalkha tribes were furious at the sight. Nurhaci had never treated them like human beings. But the problem was, Nurhaci was too powerful. One Jurchen cavalryman could defeat three of them like an adult defeating a child. Ligdan Khan's more than 40,000 men could not defeat the 10,000 Jurchen cavalrymen led by Huang Taiji. Even though they knew that Nurhaci was using them, they dared not resist.
At this time, Chen Boying appeared. He had won many victories against the Jurchens, which gave them another option. When they faced the powerful Jurchens alone, they had no choice but to surrender or be killed by them. Now they had a new opportunity: to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.
At this moment, the leaders of the five Inner Khalkha tribes were very worried. They had originally wanted to take the opportunity to escape, but if they escaped now, the Jurchens would definitely not care about pursuing them. The Jurchens should now consider how to get rid of the Ming army's pursuit.
The problem was that, to their utter surprise, at that very moment, they also received news that the Ming army had attacked the garrisons of the five Inner Khalkha tribes, and many tribes had been wiped out.
They couldn't care less about aligning themselves now; they rushed back to their camp. If they were even a little late, they would lose their homes. A tribe without women and children has no future.
The five Taijis of the Inner Khalkha tribes all chose to flee without hesitation; they didn't even have the intention of telling Nurhaci a single lie.
The vanguard of 5,000 Mongol cavalry was ambushed by the Ming army and almost completely wiped out. More importantly, the five Inner Khalkha tribes fled without a fight, or rather, they lost 5,000 men and fled dozens of miles away. Hamutai tried to pursue them but failed.
When the news reached Nurhaci, his face turned ashen.
"Father!"
Huang Taiji said urgently, "We can't fight anymore. The Ming army was prepared, and they definitely have other tricks up their sleeves—"
"Pfft—"
Nurhaci gritted his teeth, blood already overflowing from his mouth. Although he tried his best to hide it, he couldn't swallow the blood.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard a "pfft" sound and a spurt of blood gushed out of his mouth.
This brilliant, courageous, and resourceful Khan, Nurhaci, who remained calm even in the face of imminent collapse, was so enraged that he vomited blood. Seeing Nurhaci cough up blood, the Jurchen generals were all horrified. Daišan, quick-witted and agile, supported Nurhaci, crying out in alarm, "Father, what's wrong? Don't frighten us! Wake up!"
Nurhaci's current appearance was indeed quite frightening. His mouth was full of blood, his face was deathly pale, he was barely breathing, and his lips were trembling so much that he couldn't even speak. In fact, he was faking it. He had no choice but to pretend. What would he do if he didn't? Retreat? That would damage his reputation as Nurhaci. If he didn't retreat and continued fighting, there would be no hope of victory whatsoever.
Huang Taiji was a cunning old fox; how could he not see the difference between spitting blood in anger and spitting blood after biting one's tongue? The problem was, he didn't dare to order the retreat on Nurhaci's behalf; if they settled accounts later, he would be in big trouble.
A deathly silence fell over the tent. Several young princes were at a loss, some already wiping away tears. Only Huang Taiji and a few older princes wore strange expressions, but none of them dared to speak first.
After a long silence, Dorgon suddenly stepped forward. He was only fourteen years old, but already quite tall, and his brows held a maturity beyond his years. He glanced at Nurhaci lying on the couch, then at the other princes, took a deep breath, and declared loudly, "Father Khan is seriously ill; military affairs cannot be delayed. Issue the order: the entire army retreats! Each banner retreats in turn, with the two White Banners bringing up the rear!"
A commotion broke out inside the tent.
Daishan raised his head, opened his mouth, but said nothing. Amin stopped, a complex light flashing in her eyes.
Huang Taiji remained expressionless, but inwardly he cursed, "Dorgon, you bastard! You've really messed up! Sending two White Banners to cover the rear? Is your brain made of soy milk? How risky is that?"
After Dorgon finished speaking, he turned to look at the assembled princes, his gaze clear: "My brothers, do you have any objections?"
No one spoke, but everyone knew this was the only option.
Nurhaci remained lying motionless on the couch. But those familiar with him would notice that his slightly rising and falling chest seemed to have calmed down a bit.
The Jurchen army retreated like a receding tide.
The bugle call was deep and urgent. The troops of each banner withdrew in an orderly manner according to the order. The two white banners, as the rearguard, slowly retreated towards Shenyang.
Zhou Bin watched the departing Jurchen army with a furrowed brow. The generals around him were all eager to give chase, wishing they could catch up immediately.
"Lord Zhou!"
Hamutai spurred his horse forward and shouted urgently, "The Jurchens have retreated! Let's pursue them! Strike while the iron is hot!"
Meng Gun added, "Yes, the Jurchen army is in complete disarray. If we pursue them now, we can at least wipe out several thousand more of their men!"
Zhou Bin was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "Before the commander-in-chief left, he said, 'Don't pursue a desperate enemy.' Although the Jurchens have retreated, their strength remains. Huang Taiji and Dorgon are not fools; they must have left themselves a backup plan."
He turned to his generals and said, "Pass down the order: the entire army shall rest. Send out scouts to closely monitor the movements of the Jurchens. Without orders, no one is to pursue them."
Hamutai panicked: "Lord Zhou! This is an opportunity we must not miss!"
Zhou Bin's gaze turned cold: "This is a military order."
Hamutai opened his mouth, but ultimately dared not say anything more.
When news of the Jurchen army's retreat reached the ears of the various tribes in Haixi, those small tribes that had been following the Ming army and taking advantage of the situation suddenly became incredibly excited. In their eyes, the Jurchens were like stray dogs; if they didn't pursue them now, when would they?
Although Hamutai was being suppressed by Zhou Bin, his tribal chiefs were unwilling to give up. They secretly conspired, gathered more than three thousand cavalry, and quietly pursued him under the cover of night.
"Chief," a Xibe tribal leader whispered to Hamutai, "The Ming army dares not pursue, we'll pursue them ourselves. The Jurchens have already been decimated, and all the spoils we seize are ours!"
Hamutai hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Chase! But be careful not to fall into an ambush."
More than 20,000 Haixi cavalry surged out of the camp like a tide and disappeared into the night.
Forty miles north of Kaiyuan lies a vast plain.
Huang Taiji reined in his horse, glanced back at the dark night sky to the south, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.
"Myna bird,"
Dorgon spurred his horse forward. "Those barbarians from Haixi have indeed caught up. Twenty thousand cavalry, and they're running quite fast."
Huang Taiji nodded: "Proceed according to plan. You lead the Plain White Banner to ambush them in front. Once they are in the trap, we will attack them from both sides."
"clear."
Dorgon spurred his horse and disappeared into the night with the Plain White Banner.
The Haixi cavalry pursued them for half the night and finally spotted the Jurchen rearguard on a plain. The Jurchen soldiers looked exhausted, their formation scattered, and they seemed on the verge of collapse.
"Charge!" Hamutai drew his sword and took the lead.
More than 20,000 cavalrymen charged forward with a roar, but they had only gone halfway when countless torches suddenly lit up on both sides. Arrows rained down from all directions, white flags emerged from the front, and white-bordered flags flanked from the rear, completely surrounding the Haixi cavalry.
"There's an ambush!"
Hamutai's expression changed drastically. "Retreat!"
But it was too late. The Jurchens rained down arrows, and the Haixi cavalry fell in droves. Blades flashed, heads rolled. Screams and neighing horses mingled together.
Hamutai fought his way out and escaped with less than 15,000 men, but lost 25% of his more than 20,000 elite troops.
When the news reached the Ming army camp, Zhou Bin's face turned ashen.
"I told you long ago, don't pursue a cornered enemy!" He slammed his hand on the table. "Hamutai, what is your punishment for disobeying military orders?"
Hamutai knelt on the ground, covered in blood, his face deathly pale: "This humble general—this humble general knows his crime."
Zhou Bin took a deep breath, suppressing his anger: "Considering this is your first offense and you volunteered for the mission, I'll spare your life. But if you commit another offense, you'll be punished for both crimes!"
Hamutai kowtowed deeply: "Thank you, Your Excellency!"
The generals remained silent. After this battle, no one dared to underestimate the Jurchen rearguard again.
Dalu Island, salt fields.
Chen Ying stood on the dock, gazing at the mountains of snow salt, his eyes flashing coldly. Su Mei stood beside him, holding an account book in her hands, and smiled, "Sir, we've ramped up production these past two months, and our snow salt inventory has reached over 200,000 dan (a unit of weight). At 120 jin (a unit of weight) per dan, that's over 20 million jin (a unit of weight), enough to feed millions of people for more than half a year."
Chen Ying nodded, took the account book, flipped through it, and a cold smile appeared on his lips: "The Huizhou merchant thought that by flattering and deceiving His Majesty, he could save the Jurchens by summoning me back to the city. But he forgot that I still have salt. Issue the order that, starting today, snow salt be sold off in full, and the price be reduced to half that of ordinary coarse salt. The three directly operated stores in Tianjin, Dengzhou, and the capital will have unlimited supplies."
Su Mei was shocked: "Sir, this price doesn't even cover the cost! We're going to lose a lot of money."
"Loss?" Chen Ying smiled and said, "How could we lose money? Our snow salt has low production costs to begin with. Even if I were to lose money, I would lose so much that those salt merchants couldn't sustain themselves, so much that they couldn't monopolize the market, so much that everyone in the country could afford good salt. What do the Huizhou merchants rely on for their livelihood? Salt. They control two-thirds of the salt in the country. That coarse salt has many impurities, tastes bitter, and some is even poisonous, yet it sells for more than gold. Why? Because they monopolize the distribution channels. I will use snow salt to smash their rice bowl. I will tell them that they don't call the shots in this world."
Su Mei was still a little worried: "Sir, what if they team up to lower the price—"
"Pressure?" Chen Ying sneered, "What can they use to pressure us? Their coarse salt costs more than ours. I can still make a profit if I sell it at half the price. If they sell it at half the price, they'll lose money. They want to wage a price war with me? I'll fight them to the end. Within a month, the production of snow salt must be increased to 600,000 shi. Open up all the salt fields on Dalu Island and Yongning Port. If there aren't enough manpower, transfer some from the four guards of Xingzhou. I want to make sure that the Huizhou merchants can't sell a single jin of salt."
Su Mei took a deep breath and said solemnly, "I will take care of it right away."
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