The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 378 Zhu Chong is too despicable
Time quickly entered October, and the war atmosphere in Asia Minor became more intense.

All the surrounding forces are nervously waiting for the final result.

In the past, they thought that Timur would unilaterally massacre outsiders.

But the sudden action of the Qin navy taught everyone a lesson.

In one day, they destroyed the navy of the Aries Kingdom, and went upstream along the Dashi River for more than a hundred miles, attacking all the settlements along the way.

More than a hundred years after the Mongol invasion of the West, Westerners once again felt the fear of being dominated by gunpowder.

Moreover, the Qin's firearms were more powerful than those of the Mongols and were invincible.

No one dared to underestimate the Qin State anymore. Even if it was no match for Timur on land, it could still roam the oceans with its advanced gunboats.

If the enemy has enough firearms, it is not impossible for the weak to defeat the strong.

Timur was not certain to win this battle.

Immediately afterwards, the Qin State announced a warning order.

During the war with Timur, all non-Qin ships were not allowed to enter Anxi Bay.

This is tantamount to declaring that I am the maritime overlord of Anxi Bay and I have the final say here from now on.

Under normal circumstances, no one would care, and might even laugh at them for overestimating their own abilities.

But now, all forces, including the Black Sheep Kingdom, are sending their ships out of the bay as soon as possible.

Qin Guo's actions reached Timur's ears, making his expression even more serious.

He was very clear about Zhu Chong's purpose. The more powerful he showed at this time, the more he would be able to intimidate those neutral forces.

At the same time, it can also give allies more confidence.

That King Qin, Zhu Chong, is a capable man and should not be underestimated.

In fact, it was just as he thought. As a victim country, Aries did not have a whole nation that was outraged and wanted revenge.

Many people expressed their concerns about the war.

Some even complained, why should they get involved in a war that had nothing to do with them?
This attack was completely unprovoked.

Forces such as the Black Sheep Kingdom also completely drew a line between themselves and Timur and dared not leak any intelligence about the Qin State to them at will.

The white-robed princes of Asia Minor gained confidence and once again assembled 3,000 cavalry as auxiliary troops.

Many tribes that had originally sided with Timur returned here.

Although their presence or absence does not affect the overall situation, their direction represents certain trends.

Although Timur had never read Sun Tzu's Art of War, as a famous general with many battles, he also knew the existence of "momentum".

I know I can't wait any longer.

The longer it drags on, the stronger Qin's power will become.

As he was the overlord of the Western Regions, his power was already at its peak and could not be raised any higher.

The stronger the opponent's momentum, the smaller the gap between the two sides.

Therefore, the war must begin as soon as possible.

After having this idea, he immediately ordered the army to set out three days later, heading straight for Asia Minor.

When Zhu Chong received the news that he was sending troops, he laughed:
"He's anxious."

Li Fang and others were full of admiration.

Zhu Chong had said before that Timur would start a war in the near future and also analyzed the reasons.

Now all his speculations have come true.

At this point, even the most conservative people were full of confidence in this battle.

The commander always anticipates the enemy's moves, so there is no reason for him to lose.

Xu Yingxu stepped out and said, "My king, send out the troops."

Zhu Chong nodded, his face solemn, and said, "Xu Yingxu."

Xu Yingxu bowed and said, "I am here."

Zhu Chong ordered: "You lead the cavalry to hide your tracks and do not engage in battle with Timur's troops until you receive my order."

"No matter how great the danger is for my infantry, they must not fight without my signal. Do you understand?"

Although Xu Yingxu did not understand what he meant, he knew that military orders were as heavy as mountains, so he accepted the order and said:

"I will obey the king's order."

Zhu Chong continued, "Fu Zheng."

Fu Zheng: "I am here."

Zhu Chong: "You command the navy to continue to blockade Anxi Bay, and at the same time pay attention to the battle situation on the shore."

"Once our army is victorious, we will enter the Dashi River and wait for an opportunity to stop the enemy from fleeing."

Fu Zheng: "I will obey your orders."

Zhu Chong then said to Li Fang: "Li Changshi, you take your men to guard Basilin Island."

Li Fang: "Yes, sir."

Finally, Zhu Chong said: "The rest of the generals will follow me to the battle."

Following his order, all units of the Qin State moved in an orderly manner.

Xu Yingxu went ashore first, bringing with him two thousand cavalrymen from Qin and another six thousand cavalrymen in white robes, a total of eight thousand cavalrymen who disappeared into the vast desert.

With a guide familiar with the local conditions leading the way, you don't have to worry about getting lost.

Zhu Chong then boarded a warship and deployed his infantry to the Al Khafja area, which was roughly equivalent to Saudi Arabia in the previous life.

Then they began to slowly move closer to Timur's army.

It wasn't that he didn't want to walk faster, nor that he was afraid of Timur, but that he really couldn't walk fast.

Although he had only 14,000 men, he carried the baggage of 30,000 men.

They are called the main force, but more like baggage troops.

But no matter how slowly we walk, there will always be a moment when we meet.

Eight days later, the two sides met in the Haf al-Batin area, which was equivalent to Saudi Arabia in the previous life.

In fact, Timur was most afraid that Qin would move its cannons to land for use, so he had been trying to spy on the Qin army's movements.

I was relieved when I learned that nothing suspected to be a cannon was found.

At the same time, he sneered at Zhu Chong's arrogance. Having such a powerful weapon but not using it is the way to self-destruction.

However, he still remained cautious enough and sent out cavalry to harass them first.

Then he found that things were not as simple as he thought.

As soon as the two sides encountered each other, Zhu Chong ordered the baggage vehicles to be connected end to end to form a defensive fortification.

Or rather, this was his real intention from the beginning.

Use infantry vehicles to deal with enemy cavalry.

There are too many examples of this kind of battle. Generals such as Wei Qing and Li Ling have all used it.

Even grassland forces like the Xueyantuo used similar tactics to deal with the powerful cavalry of the Tang Dynasty.

This trick is also very effective against infantry.

Zhu Chong's military ability is beyond doubt.

When he first arrived at Paradise Island, he considered that he had no cavalry and would suffer a great loss in the future battle for supremacy.

After thinking about it for a long time, I came up with this idea.

From that time on, he began to build this kind of baggage vehicle and train around this kind of warfare.

Now is the time to test our tactics.

One reason for carrying double the baggage load is to transport more supplies so as to fight a war of attrition.

These chariots carried millions of arrows, enough to fight the entire battle.

The second is to use baggage vehicles to build more solid fortifications.

Now, all his preparations were paying off.

Faced with the defensive fortifications formed by chariot formations, Timur's cavalry suffered heavy losses.

The chariot formation blocked the cavalry's charge, and the Qin army shot with bows and crossbows inside the fortifications, making it impossible for Timur's cavalry to get close.

Just one encounter resulted in the loss of more than a thousand men.

It was only because Timur saw that the situation was not right that he ordered to stop the attack in time, otherwise the losses would have been even greater.

Looking at the traffic jam in front of him, Timur frowned.

It wasn’t because of the convoy itself, but because this time the attempt didn’t reveal anything.

Especially the kind of exploding shells that he feared the most.

Even if this thing is not fired from a cannon, it can still cause great damage if thrown into the enemy camp when two armies are fighting.

Putting himself in his shoes, if he were Zhu Chong, he would definitely carry this kind of shell.

He firmly believed that Zhu Chong would definitely bring it. However, this time, he failed to make the other party use his trump card.

This battle is not easy to fight.

The development of things to this point has completely deviated from the initial expectations.

Zhu Chong's strength and ability to command troops far exceeded his imagination.

What made it even more difficult for him was that he was just a prince of the Ming Dynasty.

It is said that there are at least two other princes who possess this ability.

The key point is that a prince with such outstanding abilities is actually convinced by the emperor.

Looking at his own descendants, the eldest son and the second son died early, the third son is disabled and mentally abnormal, and the fourth son, Shah Rukh, is capable but too kind.

What's even more distressing is that the eldest son and eldest grandson, who were both highly regarded, died young, and the eldest son and second grandson were too young to win the support of the people.

In other words, his vast empire still has no suitable successor.

Of course, he thought he was young and strong and didn't need to worry about this problem.

There is plenty of time to train a suitable descendant to inherit the throne.

But everything is afraid of comparison. Compared with the emperor of the Ming Dynasty... it's all tears to talk about it.

As the overlord of the Western Regions, he was so overwhelmed when facing a prince of the Ming Dynasty. How could he challenge the Ming Dynasty itself?
This reality made Timur a little depressed.

But he was not an ordinary person and he quickly returned to normal.

No, this battle must be won, and it must be won quickly and cleanly.

Thinking of this, his eyes became determined.

So……

Let's have a showdown between men.

Head-to-head.

He ordered the troops to take turns to attack the chariot formation.

This time he did not send the cavalry to die, but only sent out infantry.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle over the baggage train fortifications.

After all, the Qin army had preset their positions in advance and had already prepared their weapons, so they could stab the enemy through the chariot formation.

The archers also provided long-range suppression in the rear, causing great damage to Timur's army.

The soldiers on Timur's side were all armed with regular weapons, so they naturally suffered a great loss in the battle.

Even so, after a day of fierce fighting, the Qin army still lost more than two thousand people.

However, Timur's side suffered greater losses, with more than 7,000 people killed.

Faced with this victory result, Timur looked grim.

It’s not because the casualties were too great. It’s normal for the casualties to be higher when actively attacking enemy fortifications.

What he was worried about was that the battle was so fierce that the other side could resist using that kind of bomb.

It seems that the pressure is still not enough.

We must launch another attack early tomorrow morning.

Zhu Chong's expression was also not relaxed. With the defensive advantage, he thought he could achieve a casualty ratio of one to five or even higher.

But who would have thought that the ratio was less than one to four.

"Timur is indeed the overlord of the Western Regions, and the soldiers under his command are indeed very powerful."

Then he ordered the soldiers to cover their ears when sleeping at night and not to move when they heard any noise.

In the second half of the night, he sent out only one hundred cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack on Timur's position several miles away.

In fact, it was not a surprise attack. Timur was an experienced warrior and was naturally wary of night attacks.

Not only were there scouts outside, but there were also people on night duty in the camp.

If someone really launches a night attack, the probability of falling into a trap is probably greater.

Not long after the Qin army moved, Timur had already received the information.

However, Zhu Chong’s real purpose was not to attack at night, but to disturb them at night.

The one hundred riders approached the enemy camp, took out dozens of firecrackers that were as thick as thighs and two feet long from their packages, lit them, and began to retreat.

After a while, a loud "boom boom boom" sound came from behind.

In the middle of the night, the sounds seem especially loud and travel far.

The Qin army was already familiar with the sound of the artillery, and after being reminded before going to bed, everyone turned over and continued to sleep.

But Timur's army was different. Most of them had never seen a cannon with their own eyes.

Especially the war horses here, they have never experienced the baptism of artillery fire.

You can imagine how frightened you would be if you heard a loud noise without any warning while sleeping.

For a moment, the military camp was filled with shouts of fear and the neighing of war horses.

Timur, who had been worried about the Qin army's artillery shells, jumped out of bed when he heard the sound and shouted loudly that the enemy was attacking.

Then he rushed out of the tent and organized his army to prepare for resistance.

After a long time of struggling, I realized that it was a false alarm and there was no enemy at all.

A patrol team was sent out to search in the direction of the sound, and they soon saw scraps of paper on the ground and a strong smell of gunpowder.

At this point, Timur had no idea what was happening.

The other party is using this method to consume our energy.

After learning about this, Osman was so angry that he jumped up and down:

"Zhu Chong is so despicable, so despicable...he only knows how to use such despicable means."

Timur ignored him. There was no such thing as despicable in a war between two armies. There was only victory and defeat.

Then he ordered the soldiers to calm down and take time to rest.

However, no one was able to sleep after being frightened by the explosion and being tormented like that. Most people stayed up all night like this.

But they are all well-trained soldiers, so it’s not a big problem if they don’t sleep well for one night.

The next day, the army started cooking before dawn. After eating and drinking, Timur ordered the army to attack again.

Today's offensive is more intense, one round after another, like a tide.

After all, the Qin army had few men and its defense line was breached several times.

It was only thanks to Zhu Chong's advance of the reserve troops that the enemy was defeated.

Tang Wei asked several times to use part of the bomb.

Yes, they did carry shells, just not many.

Zhu Chong has been hiding it and not allowing anyone to use it.

"No, exposing our trump card now will only lead to even more frantic attacks from the enemy."

Moreover, once the enemy gets used to the sound of artillery, how can the harassment plan be carried out?

The two sides fought from morning to night, and only withdrew their troops when night fell.

According to the statistics of the battle results, the Qin army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, while Timur's army suffered more than 12,200 casualties.

Although neither side knows the specific loss figures of the other side.

But as a veteran, I can figure out some things just by looking at the battle situation.

Timur's face became even uglier. Last night's harassment still affected his combat effectiveness.

Today's loss is obviously higher than yesterday's.

Zhu Chong showed a look of joy, it seemed that the tactics were effective.

Then that evening, the Centurion Cavalry set out again.

Although Timur sent people to intercept them, how could they be stopped in such a large open space?

In the end, the firecrackers were still lit, and what happened last night happened again.

Hearing the sound of artillery fire outside, Timur's face darkened. He ordered his soldiers to calm down, then fell asleep again.

With the experience of last night, although Timur's army was still awakened from their sleep, they did not panic.

After making sure that the enemy did not attack, he fell asleep and continued to sleep.

Originally, they thought that things were about over, right?

However, in the second half of the night, there were sudden sounds of horse hooves and even more violent explosions.

This time Timur's army was awakened again, and the sound of the enemy attack spread throughout the camp.

Timur also thought that this was a real attack and quickly organized people to resist.

In the end, it turned out to be a false alarm.

So the night passed like this, and Timur's army finally couldn't hold on any longer.

(End of this chapter)