Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian
Chapter 369 The bloody storm
Chapter 369 The bloody storm
When it comes to Shanhaiguan and Luanzhou, Emperor Chenghui hesitated. Although the Prince of Dongping withdrew from Shanhaiguan to show compromise, Xuanli, the general guarding Shanhaiguan, was a neutral faction in order not to provoke the Prince of Dongping. To put it bluntly, this guy can also be called a fence-sitter. It is not difficult for the Tongzhou camp to march into Luanzhou, but the fear is to provoke the fence-sitter. If it leads to the Prince of Dongping, it will be really troublesome. But we can't help but be on guard!
At this time, Emperor Chenghui fell into deep thought and could not make a decision. To put it bluntly, the balance he was proud of in the past was useless in the face of absolute violence.
To put it bluntly, we used to be able to operate within the rules with ease, but now we have met someone who is trying to break the rules and there is also someone who has the ability to break the rules but has not yet done so.
The so-called rule-based premise must be backed by strength.
No matter what, if you can’t get it on the battlefield, you can’t get it no matter how good you are at arguing about rules.
"I know!" Emperor Chenghui finally looked up at Yue Qi who was waiting, and quickly made a decision. Li Chi, a cabinet minister with experience in leading troops, was ordered to take charge of Shanhaiguan. Xuan Li was promoted one level, and one of his sons was appointed as a deputy minister of the Ministry of Works. In addition, the Tongzhou camp was ready to send troops to Luanzhou immediately to provide support for Shanhaiguan.
The cabinet quickly approved this decision. Yue Qi, the commander of the Beijing camp (Jiedushi), led the Nanyuan camp north to Changping, with a part of the army reinforcing the passes of the Great Wall, and the main force entering Juyongguan. At the same time, they tried to find out as soon as possible whether the enemy forces outside Juyongguan and the passes of the Great Wall were from Li Ni's main force.
Emperor Chenghui also suffered from the pain of being unable to understand the enemy situation, and could only defend himself for the time being. The Tongzhou camp, which was originally planned to be a reserve force, had to set off early.
The cabinet meeting was still going on. Emperor Chenghui looked at the ministers, hoping that they would come up with effective suggestions, but no one spoke up to suggest sending troops from other places. This was the disadvantage of not giving instructions in advance, and it was also one of the disadvantages of Emperor Chenghui's habit of sitting behind the scenes. After so many times, the ministers had no opinions of their own.
Pan Dingxin stood up and said: "In this case, Jia Lian's troops may face tremendous pressure. We should find out the enemy situation as soon as possible, otherwise the left army led by Jia Lian will be surrounded by the enemy and be in danger of overthrow."
Kong Zhao, who usually doesn't take the initiative to express his opinion, stood up and said at this moment: "We must believe that Jia Lian has the ability to defeat the main force of the enemy! No matter what, we can only hope that Jia Lian can do it now."
Liang Daoyuan also echoed, "What the Prime Minister said is very true. We should order Jia Lian to take the initiative to attack. Only in this way can we find out where the main force of the enemy is."
Guo Yan stood up and said another question: "Your Majesty, there is another food problem. Jia Lian should be informed. The capital can't afford to delay, and the left army can't afford to delay either. We must fight and resolve it quickly."
If the three cabinet ministers had said these words, Emperor Chenghui would have spit in their faces. Both the Xishan Camp and the Shenji Camp were the absolute main forces of the Beijing Camp. Let Jia Lian take the risk of attacking and sacrificing the main force. How can this war be fought? The reality is that after the fire, the grain that was originally well-stocked in the capital has now become a problem. If the grain is transported to the front line, the grain supply in the capital will definitely be a problem. If the price of grain in the capital does not want to skyrocket, the grain supply to the front line must be reduced or cut off.
Emperor Chenghui hesitated for a while before saying, "Let Jia Lian decide on the battlefield. Timely notification is indeed necessary, but the grain supply cannot be stopped. Send an order to the governors of Shandong, Henan, and Jiangbei provinces to urgently transfer local grain to the capital. Explain the reason and make sure to make up for the grain gap in the capital. Then send a messenger to inform Jinling, and Prime Minister Sun will know what to do."
Calling Sun Huazhen "Sun Xiang" made the four ministers on the scene panic! Because Sun Huazhen was now only the Governor-General of Liangjiang, not a minister.
It is obvious that Emperor Chenghui is expressing his dissatisfaction. I asked you to solve the problem, but the suggestions you put forward do not seem to be about solving the problem, but about solving the person, and that person is Jia Lian.
This is how the cabinet meetings are conducted. When it comes to military affairs, Emperor Chenghui can make the decision with just one word. The advantage is that it is highly efficient, but the disadvantage is that the cabinet ministers have become mere decorations.
Or maybe the cabinet ministers can't keep up with the emperor's pace, like abacus beads, they can't move without moving. You say they are incompetent, but that's not objective. It can only be said that since Emperor Chenghui ascended the throne, the consequences of habitual operations have backfired on the emperor. There is a problem that Emperor Chenghui knows in his mind. Transferring grain from the three provinces will definitely affect local grain prices, but he can't take care of it now.
As for when the food would be delivered, no one present was sure.
The rich and powerful in the capital city were not worried about the price of grain, and the Jia family and other families who had farms in the suburbs were even less worried. But what about ordinary people? These people were extremely sensitive to the price of grain!
So Emperor Chenghui added one more rule at the end: "No matter what, the price of grain cannot rise by more than 50%. Those who violate this rule will be punished as treason and their entire family will be exterminated!"
At the last moment, Emperor Chenghui finally gave in and allowed the price of grain to increase by 50%, but this could only cause suffering to ordinary people in the capital.
The Xuanhua front did not know the content of the cabinet meeting, and Jia Lian was carrying out the first step of his plan.
Li Ni was also planning how to cut off the connection between the Wulipo camp and Xuanhua city.
Just as he was thinking about how to balance the various tribes under his control, Chilimu came in and reported: "Something's going on!"
Upon hearing the news, Li Ni hurried out of the camp and ran to the nearby earthen platform. He quickly saw everything in front of him through the monocular telescope. At least 6,000 troops came out of the Wulipo camp and formed several square formations between Xuanhua City and the camp. At the same time, the city gates were opened, and vehicles rushed out of the city and headed straight for the camp.
"They're transporting food! It seems our army arrived too quickly, and the food for Zhou's reinforcements couldn't be delivered in time." Wen Naxing who was beside him saw the problem at a glance.
"Perhaps Jia Lian was worried about a night attack or fire, which would burn the already scarce food, so he took the risk of storing food in the city."
Li Ni watched this scene without saying anything. He really couldn't understand why Jia Lian did this. The army didn't move, but the food and grass went first. How could there be such a big loophole?
"It will be too late if we don't attack now. We have to try it no matter what." Wen Naxing was really anxious and urged again.
Li Ni looked back at the tribal leaders around him. Three of the four princes avoided his gaze. They were unwilling to take risks, or they did not agree with Wen Naxing's judgment. It might also be because they had made back their money from the robbery and did not want to take the risk of damaging their own strength by taking an unreasonable opportunity.
"Dai Khan, I will personally lead the troops to charge." The fundamental reason why Wen Naxing volunteered was that he killed the previous prince to get to the top, and his interests were closely tied to Li Ni. In fact, Li Ni did not want his strength to be damaged, because he still needed him to help him control the situation.
Now Li Ni couldn't reject his request to pay off his debts, otherwise what would the other princes think? In order to protect the interests of Wen Naxing, he was allowed to stay in Zhangjiakou, which was an opportunity for him to plunder the local area, and also prevented Wen Naxing from losing its strength in the battle to attack Datong.
"Let Wen Naxing give it a try! I will lead my troops to support them!" The prince of Chahar has spoken. This time Li Ni can't refuse and nodded: "Be careful of traps!"
The transport convoy leaving the city was not in a hurry, and was heading towards the camp at a leisurely pace, as if they were confident about meeting the troops.
Wen Naxing selected 10,000 cavalrymen and blew the horn without saying a word. The cavalry assembled very quickly and as they trotted forward, the front vehicle of the convoy transporting grain had already approached the camp.
Wen Naxing couldn't help but feel anxious, but he didn't have any better solution. He could only let his men continue to push forward and find a chance to break through the intercepting troops. With one order, two thousand cavalrymen sped forward, using the classic tactics of the grassland tribes to charge and scare.
The Zhou army in front of them did not seem to be frightened, and remained as steady as a mountain. The cavalry protected the two wings and had no intention of actively attacking. At the same time, the infantry phalanx in the middle was not in disorder at all, but the artillery began to load. The shield and spear phalanx advanced ten steps forward, the shields fell to the ground, and the spears were tilted forward.
To be honest, Jia Lian in the Wulipo camp was quite surprised. Was the opponent so impatient? Did he catch fish with a straight hook?
I originally thought that they would at least pull it back, but I never thought it would be so fierce. It can be seen that Li Ni's control over the various tribes on the grassland is not as strong as I expected.
Jia Lian judged that Li Ni could be suppressed for a day or two. It seemed that there were also unknown conflicts among the four major tribes on the grassland.
When infantry faced cavalry attacks, the feeling was really stressful and required extremely strong willpower.
The cavalry came like a tide, and the ground beneath their feet was shaking slightly. Seeing that the cavalry was about to charge over, everyone was panicked.
In fact, no cavalry would be so stupid as to use cavalry to charge infantry spear formations. Even the professional heavy cavalry, the Iron Float, would not use it right away, but would first use light cavalry to repeatedly pull and consume the opponent's mental will, and only release the Iron Float when the formation is slightly loose and about to collapse.
Normally, the grassland cavalry would turn to either side at fifty steps away and shoot arrows from their bows, relying on their mobility to see how many rounds the opponent could hold out without collapsing.
This tactic was actually badly defeated when facing the elite Zhou army which was mainly equipped with matchlock muskets. This was how Taizu swept across the grasslands.
The problem was that the Zhou army had its own problems, a bit like the Ming army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, preferring to use cold weapons rather than firearms. The reason was also very simple, cutting corners and causing the firearms to explode.
Although the Zhou army was not completely defeated, the current situation was very oppressive. The cavalry in front was accelerating, and the cavalry following behind were slowly pressing forward, like a raging wave.
With 10,000 cavalrymen, 2,000 in each round, using horse archery and intimidation, it is really hard to say how much fighting spirit the infantry phalanx will have after five rounds of continuous rotation.
Jia Lian watched all this as calmly as possible. After all, he had never experienced such a situation before. But he certainly could not panic. If the commander-in-chief started to panic, the battle would be impossible to win.
General Yang in the battle formation was also panicking. This was not a battle against the rioters in Yunyang and the White Lotus Sect in Jining!
As I said, panicking is useless. He still has to act like nothing has happened and speak in a steady, trembling voice: "All units, get ready!"
The central army raised the red flag and sharp whistles sounded one after another. Yang Rui knew very well that he didn't have to do anything but sit steadily on the horse.
The whistle blows, get ready!
The whistle blows twice, raise your guns!
The captains of each battalion were so nervous that sweat covered their foreheads. They bit their whistles tightly in their mouths for fear of accidentally dropping them to the ground.
Enter the calibration range! Here we need to talk about how to determine the distance to the opponent. It is very simple. Measure it in advance and leave a calibration object, which may be a bundle of grass or a pile of earth!
The cavalry is speeding up, and the roar of the cavalry seems to be in my ears!
The captains used all their strength to blow the third blast! Bibibi!
Bang, bang, bang! The sound of gunfire was like rain, drowning out the sound of horse hooves!
The officers shouted at the top of their lungs: "Second row, move forward!"
Bang, bang, bang! The smoke rises and becomes thicker!
When the Zhou army launched the first round of shooting, Wen Naxing was secretly delighted. At a distance of one hundred steps, according to past experience, it would take very bad luck to be hit by a musket shot at this distance.
After two rounds of shooting, Wen Naxing stared blankly at the people and horses in front of him falling. How could this happen? Subconsciously, Wen Naxing raised his right hand! The following cavalry instinctively slowed down and stopped!
Looking more closely, the two thousand cavalrymen who were carrying out the charging tactics, when completing the frontal detour, at a distance of fifty steps, perfectly left the flank to the enemy's musketry and frontal shooting.
In fact, the moment the gunshots rang out, all the officers and soldiers forgot what fear was, and could only follow their training instinctively, reloading, shooting, retreating, reloading, moving forward, and shooting!
All of this was done in the smoke. There was no such thing as precise shooting. They just kept firing, and firing again.
After the cavalry completed the turn like two long dragons and the inertia of shooting arrows ended, Yang Rui first discovered that the main force of the opposing cavalry did not continue to press forward and the wave stopped advancing.
"Stop shooting!" It is shameful to waste ammunition, Yang Rui gave the order decisively.
Boom, boom, boom, after three dull drum beats, the shooting stopped and the battlefield fell into a strange silence.
The food convoy had completed its transportation and had all entered the camp. The army responsible for providing cover did not maintain a complete formation and did not move at all.
It seemed as if the impact just now did not exist. Only in the area of one hundred to fifty steps in front of the formation, the fallen horses and the riders who got up after falling off their horses looked around with dull eyes, like a group of zombies.
The faith of these surviving prairie cavalrymen collapsed! What they firmly believed in the past no longer existed.
The tactics they learned from their elders are useless. They can't shoot at 100 steps, and at most a few unlucky horses will be shot. They can't penetrate three layers of leather armor at 50 steps, and their opponents are afraid of death, so they will flee if they are threatened. We can harvest them at will. Oh, and be careful of the opponent's shotguns. By the time you see them, it's too late. Wait!
In fact, the Shenji Battalion's rapid-fire cannons did not fire a single shot, because it was not the most critical moment yet and there was no need to use them now. According to regulations, the correct time to fire rapid-fire cannons (Flange cannons) was when the opponent's second round of attack was approaching and launching a heavy hail of shotgun shells to relieve the pressure on the infantry phalanx.
Who would have thought that just as they were ready, the enemy cavalry did not dare to continue. The artillerymen were all confused, should they light the fire or not?
The battlefield fell into a strange state. The healthy people did not make any sound, and the living people and horses on the ground were either neighing or screaming. The wind brought the strong smell of blood to everyone's nostrils.
"Shoot again!" An officer came back to his senses first. He raised his hand to wipe the cold blood off his face. After shouting, some of the soldiers with the best marksmanship raised their guns and aimed at the backs of the grassland cavalry who were staggering back!
Bang, bang, bang, sporadic gunshots rang out, and those grassland soldiers who were still in shock fell one after another, until there was no one left standing.
(End of this chapter)
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