The sun never sets in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 23 Arranging the Battlefield
In the evening, Huang Sheng invited Sun Yuanhua to accompany him, and drank farewell wine with Mao Yuanyi.

Sun Yuanhua was drunk, and patted Huang Sheng on the shoulder and shouted repeatedly: "Hao Erlang is not afraid of life and death, and kills all directions, we should follow suit!"

As early as two months ago, Huang Sheng asked his maid Qiaozhen and the others to buy a lot of beef, and taught them how to make beef jerky.

It trades with the Mongols here, so unlike the mainland, beef is relatively easy to obtain. If you refuse to slaughter cattle in the customs, you will be punished.

Beef jerky is really good as dry food. As long as it is stored properly for a year or two, it will not deteriorate. The disadvantage is that it costs too much money.

Huang Sheng thinks that it doesn't make any sense to keep money if you don't bring it with you when you die.

It is not as useful as storing food. After the Ming Dynasty, natural disasters and man-made disasters will continue, and the common people will not have enough to eat. Food is the most important strategic material, so of course we must be prepared.

Huang Sheng also taught the women in the family how to make 'nang' as dry food for marching. 'Nang' uses flour as the main raw material, mostly fermented noodles, but no alkali and a little salt are enough.

This kind of food is regarded as the existence of life by ethnic groups such as Uighurs and Kazakhs, and it has been passed down for thousands of years.

The biggest advantage of this thing is that it can be stored for a long time without deterioration, and it is very convenient when it needs to be eaten. Drinking a few sips of water and taking a few bites of 'nang' can fill the stomach, which is convenient and quick.

Huang Sheng's whole family is preparing for the ambush, and the house is in full swing.The women piled up freshly baked 'nang' like pot lids one by one.

Huang Mingli and the others were polishing their armor and weapons, and Huang Mingdao was training the new servants to obey orders.

Huang Sheng went to Ma Shihu to discuss the matter of dispatching troops, and was going to blackmail him, so he brought a few servants to his station.

Seeing that three or four days had passed, the general Zan Hua hadn't moved. He felt a little restless, and was thinking of going to Huang Sheng to find out what happened.

Seeing that Huang Sheng himself had come, he was overjoyed and rushed to welcome him into the living room. Before Huang Sheng had a sip of tea, he asked him when he was going to leave.

Huang Sheng said: "Don't worry, general, everything is ready for me, but the ambush requires too many supplies and not enough horses."

The war horse is the treasure of the cavalry, as long as a good soldier treats his war horse as a family member, wanting a cavalry horse is equivalent to wanting his wife.

Ma Shihu said: "Not enough horses? This...? How about this, I will find a way to help you get some horses."

Huang Sheng is bad, he doesn't want war horses, but borrows them, not more than ten horses.

Huang Sheng said: "General, I can't ask for your horses for nothing. You only need to borrow ten good horses from me."

The market price of ten war horses is 400 taels of silver, while draft horses and pack horses are cheaper at about 20 taels of silver each.

Huang Sheng was going to fight, and his life and death were unpredictable. The ten borrowed war horses might not be able to find the creditor.

Although Ma Shihu was in a dilemma, he still gritted his teeth and agreed: "Okay, I will lend ten high-quality war horses to Mr. Huang, but I don't know when my lord will leave?"

Huang Sheng said: "I will go to ambush in three days. As for where to choose the battlefield? This is a first-class secret and cannot be told to anyone. You don't need to ask, General, you just need to wait for the good news in Ningyuan City."

Huang Sheng didn't dare to tell him his marching route and ambush point. Ma Shihu wouldn't intentionally reveal the secret, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't tell others.

If there is a third person who knows, more people will know, and finally the risk of leaking the secret will appear, which is related to the life and safety of myself and more than [-] servants.

Ma Shihu has been in the army for a long time, and he also knows the virtues of the Ming army. He understands why Huang Sheng is so careful.He said: "How can Master Huang cooperate with the lower officials?
Huang Sheng said: "General, you just need to set off from Ningyuan City in ten days' time, follow our pre-set route through the hilly area of ​​Lianshanyi, and leave some clues there. Then go to Jiannu to show off your prestige before you run away."

The two made an appointment and discussed how to lure Jiannu. Huang Sheng brought back ten war horses with his servants.

Now the number of people participating in the ambush has reached 25, and there are 28 horses.

Huang Mingli and Li Dagang, the seven warriors who practiced hard for three days, equipped them with the best horses.

The other war horses are used to carry supplies, and all the horses need to bring supplies for a month, which are already very heavy, and they also need to bring gunpowder, armor, weapons, axes, saws, shovels and other tools.

Although it was only the beginning of August, Huang Sheng, who acted cautiously, took everyone's cotton coats with him.

My team went to lurk in the wilderness, and when I couldn't escape for a while, a sudden cold snap came, and the result was tragic, and it would cause staff reduction due to illness, so we must prevent it before it happens.

This time, although there are more than a dozen people in the family, they are not combat power, but labor. When marching, they have to lead the horse and carry the burden.

There are too many supplies, and seven good horses are set aside for Huang Mingli and Heihu to ride. 21 horses are not enough to carry supplies, and everyone else needs to carry things on their shoulders.

On the third day of August in the fourth year of Tianqi, Huang Sheng led his servants quietly out of Ningyuan City and arrived near the abandoned Lianshan Station.

It is the season of high and refreshing autumn, and there are lush trees everywhere. There are mountains but not tall, there is water but not very deep, and there is a big forest.

Several former Liaodong soldiers were familiar with this place, and Heihu and Li Dagang had come here many times for reconnaissance.

Huang Sheng took all his servants to the scheduled campsite. There is a water source here, and it is a mountain depression, and only a narrow path can pass through this place.

Huang Sheng arranged two secret sentries at dangerous places on the trail, asked them to observe the movement with an eight-fold telescope, and agreed on a warning signal.

Everyone put down their luggage and led the horses to trek along the trail for an hour, and they could reach the predetermined ambush site. After the ambush was successful, they evacuated along the trail.

If it is found that there are Jiannu chasing them, the people who have broken the queen can block the road.If the chasing enemy takes a detour, it will take half a day to reach the camp.

Every time Huang Sheng arranges, he is planning ahead. He first considers how to escape from the enemy's pursuit when he fails, and then begins to consider how to defeat the enemy.

The ambush location is the official road from Guangning and Jinzhou to Lianshan Station. Although the road has been in disrepair for a long time, it is relatively wide.

Jiannu should have come to spy on the movements of the Ming army. They were all soldiers with missions, and it was impossible for them to leave the official road and take a small path to drill into the forest.

It would be unrealistic to lure Jiannu to leave the officialdom with the same method he used to deal with Ta Gukan last time.

There are almost no common people's activities near Lianshan Station, Jiannu is not stupid, and no Han people have been found all the way, but a Han woman suddenly appeared here, and they will chase into the mountains without any precautions?

Huang Sheng didn't want to hit the big luck, looking forward to Jiannu whose head was squeezed by the door, so he honestly set up an ambush in the official way.

There are only seven real fighters on our side, and we can't block all the Jiannu who want to count here.

Because here only the road close to 100 meters from the ambush point I chose is narrower, and it is only slightly narrower. It is not dangerous and cannot block the road in advance.

Jiannu came riding from the official road, and they could see the situation here from a long distance. When they found a roadblock ahead, they would not ignore it and rush up.

The reason why I chose this place is because it is close to a hill, but the hill is too small and not steep to pile up a lot of wood in advance, and when Jiannu comes, I cut off the rope and suddenly block the road.

The advantage is that there are many rocks here, and the ground is also very hard. You can place the designed earth bomb here. When it explodes, it will increase the power of the bomb when it hits hard. I hope it can be used to solve the problem of insufficient manpower.

This time the expectations were not high. I didn't think about being able to wipe out the enemy, but wanted to kill them in the fastest and most effective way.

Then everyone jumped out and cut off Jiannu's head and fled along the path. As for the Jiannu who suffered a loss, did they want to trouble the Ming army deployed nearby?Mr. Huang, General Zanhua, has nothing to do with it, he is only responsible to his servants.

Huang Sheng brought [-] catties of gunpowder this time, and planned to make them into bombs, or shoot them himself to detonate them. Each bomb used [-] catties of gunpowder, six in total.

The 100-meter official road can be completely covered by the explosion. When the Jiannu team came, they detonated the first bomb just as they were about to pass here, and then Huang Mingli and Huang Mingdao led Han Kuan and Han Guang. They were divided into two groups of three. Armed and out.

Huang Sheng detonated the remaining bombs one by one. Of course, these bombs were getting farther and farther away from Huang Mingli and the others.

The Jiannu were suddenly attacked, and there must have been a lot of casualties. Even if they were well-trained and able to stay calm in the face of danger, it would be impossible for the horses to obey their master's command after being frightened by such an explosion.

Huang Mingli and the others were wearing three layers of iron armor and attacking on foot, and they were taking a surprise attack. It shouldn't be a problem to assassinate the injured Jiannu on the spot.I will also carry out precise shooting to cover Huang Mingli and the others to meet the enemy.

Hei Hu was only arranged to follow Huang Mingli, and they first used the step bow to make long-range attacks to provide them with cover, and then decided whether to follow the attack on horseback according to the changes in the battlefield, and strived to make up for the omissions and expand the results of the battle.

But a death order was given to him, and he must hear six explosions and the dust settle before he can gallop on horseback.

This kid is not stupid, he was watching when the bomb was tested in the forest near Ningyuan.

He patted his chest and promised that he would not be fooled by adults. I, Heihu, live a comfortable life now, and I don't want to die for no reason.

The biggest workload now is to clear up the places that can become Jiannu bunkers on this section of the road, and to camouflage his sniper position.

It is also necessary to make Jiannu unable to attack himself, that is, Jiannu cannot reach his position.

There is no good way, that is to dig deep the ditch on the side of the road in the direction of the ambush, so that people can jump down and climb up, and collect the dug stones to increase the explosion effect of the bomb.

Use cut wood and soil to make a bunker to ensure that when you and the loader move positions, you will not be found by Jiannu when you bend down.

On the side of the official road ten miles away from the ambush point, several piles of rubble were piled up at a certain distance. This is Huang Sheng's illusion of familiarity to confuse the enemy.

When the real bombs and rubble piles appeared, Jian Nu must have turned a blind eye to them. These bombs were all ten steps apart, fifty steps away from Huang Sheng's sniper position.

Huang Sheng wasn't worried at all that he couldn't hit it with one shot. The bomb was too big, which means the target was too big. The accuracy of the flintlock rifle in his hand was much better than that of the Lumi blunderbuss.

The workload is not easy, and the servants are exhausted every day. Fortunately, Huang Sheng brought a lot of beef jerky, which can keep up with the nutrition. These people are used to hard work, and they all grit their teeth and work hard.

Nine days later, the arrangement was finally completed. Huang Sheng arranged for Heihu to ride back and forth from the official road many times, and corrected all the doubts he could find.

Huang Sheng was full of confidence in the ambush this time. How could those hunters in the deep mountains who had just walked out of the mountains and didn't even master the vocabulary be able to cope with this kind of fighting method.

Jiannu had no idea that there were things like landmines, let alone that the pile of rocks at the foot of the mountain beside the official road would suddenly explode.

It is estimated that the Jiannu who slipped through the net this time will be afraid when they see the pile of rocks when they march, and they will definitely avoid it.

(End of this chapter)