Chapter 340
Although the main force of the Chechen Khanate is still there, Zasaktu Khan is still attacking southward along Lu'an Prefecture, and the crisis in Lanzhou has not been resolved, in fact, there are not many things that Cheng Shijie needs to do now.
Even though it was clear that Zhao Wencai was defending Lanzhou and was in urgent need of support, the problem was that as 20,000 Ning naval cavalry joined the war, the situation in Lanzhou did not continue to deteriorate, but instead changed for the better.
Unlike Pingding Prefecture, the Jungar tribe slaughtered almost every Ming army and civilian they encountered during their march eastward. They could no longer catch the Ming people around them, and Zhao Wencai could take advantage of the city wall to guard Lanzhou City. , even if you need support, you just need to follow the steps.
As for the 80,000 elite troops of Jasak Tuhan, now Hong Chengchou's main force has returned to support. If Hong Chengchou cannot even deal with the more than 80,000 troops of Zasak Tuhan, he is not qualified to be the governor of the three sides. .
Therefore, Cheng Shijie can return to the capital now. If the Mongol army is completely annihilated, the gang in the capital will definitely receive the news by then, and they will destroy the evidence.
Lu Xiangsheng didn't feel there was anything wrong with Cheng Shijie's actions.
Of course, now Lu Xiangsheng is standing on the city wall, filled with emotions. This trip was not in vain. He has witnessed the end of an era with his own eyes.
Yes, the time of the nomads is over, they have no chance.
Even if Ning Haijun only dispatched a few hundred men, a few hundred infantrymen, and fired hundreds of rocket shells at the tens of thousands of Mongolian troops, the attacking Mongolian army was not only repelled, but was also beaten to collapse. Facing Ning Haijun's rocket launchers and muskets, the Mongolian army had no power to fight back.
Especially Ning Haijun's rocket launchers. A few of them would kill or injure dozens of people with one shot. If they were lucky, they could kill dozens of people.
However, Lei Shisheng, who was responsible for leading the Tianxiong Army on the expedition, was not in the mood to lament. The Tianxiong Army was much poorer than Ning Haijun. Seeing so many cavalry and horses for the first time, Lei Shisheng felt like a hungry man. The tiger finally broke free from the cage and charged at the front. The saber swung and fell like lightning, bringing with it a shower of blood. It didn't take long for him to be killed into a bloody man.
Seeing those Mongolian soldiers fall under his sword one after another, Lei Shisheng was filled with joy. He swung his saber so brightly that it was like a wheel, and the sword saw blood.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at Ning Haijun's rocket artillery, and his eyes turned green like a bachelor who had been a bachelor for forty years when he saw a very beautiful woman. He stepped forward and stroked the launch tube of the rocket artillery, and said with a smile: "Cheng Shuai, your artillery is really good. How about selling it to Lu?"
"Selling it to you, can you afford it?"
This is not because Cheng Shijie is panicking. The cost of rocket launchers is not cheap at all. Now Ning Haijun's Fire Dragon has produced three models. Although the manufacturing technology is becoming more and more mature, the range is getting farther and farther and the power is getting more and more powerful. Big, the cost is getting higher and higher.
For a single four-gun fire dragon, it costs as much as 280 taels of silver. On average, the cost of each rocket shell is as high as more than 70 taels of silver, which is equivalent to five or six lead bullets. The cost, of course, is that five or six, even fifteen or six lead bullets cannot produce the killing effect of one rocket shell.
"How much?"
"Three hundred taels of silver!"
Lu Xiangsheng supported Pingding Prefecture at all costs this time. Their originally few war horses actually lost more than 2,000 horses. It would be a bit unkind for Cheng Shijie to make money from Lu Xiangsheng in this direction.
"Only three hundred taels?"
Lu Xiangsheng really thought that rocket launchers were more expensive than Hongyi cannons. A Hongyi cannon cost between more than 1,000 taels and 2,500 taels of silver. He didn't expect rocket shells to be so cheap.
"Only three hundred taels?"
Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Master Lu is really rich. He only has three hundred taels of silver. In the past few rounds of volleys, I fired more than a thousand rocket shells, which is equivalent to eight or ninety thousand taels of silver..."
"So expensive?"
Only then did Lu Xiangsheng realize the difference between ordinary artillery and rocket launchers. Although artillery arrows were light and powerful, they were much more expensive than Hongyi cannons or Folan machine artillery.
However, there is a reason why it is expensive. If the Tianxiong Army had such an artillery, it would not be very useful whether it was to deal with rogue bandits or to fight against the establishment of slaves in the future.
"Cheng Shuai, how about Lu's plan to buy two hundred sets?"
"Two hundred rocket launchers are too few. A mere 800 rocket launchers will be gone after two battles. It is not easy to replenish them. At least 500 rocket launchers are needed!"
Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly: "The Tianxiong Army doesn't have that much money!"
"If there is no money, will the Tianxiong Army..."
Before Cheng Shijie could finish speaking, Lu Xiangsheng thought that Cheng Shijie had taken a fancy to these war horses. He shook his head and said, "No, this time our Tianxiong Army lost more than two thousand war horses. Now we urgently need these war horses to replenish them. What's more, these war horses They are all high-quality war horses, not the kind of Mongolian horses that are not much bigger than a donkey!"
Does Cheng Shijie have any need for these war horses from Mobei Mongolia? There is definitely a demand, but it is definitely not as urgent as the Tianxiong Army. In fact, in addition to Mongolian war horses, Ning Haijun can also obtain high-quality European war horses through sea routes!
"Tch, Mr. Lu, who are you looking down on? I don't look down on these war horses!"
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng also discovered that the war horses of Ning Haijun were different from the war horses of their Tianxiong Army. They were not like Hequ horses or Yili horses. He had never seen such horses before. The white war horse that Lu Xiangsheng stepped on, Even though he has the bloodline of the West Pole horse, it can also be said that he has the bloodline of high-quality war horses from Central Asia. However, compared with the war horses under Cheng Shijie's command, they are not even the slightest bit worse.
Ning Haijun's horse is tall, strong, has good endurance, strong explosive power, looks good and is durable.
Lu Xiangsheng said: "Cheng Shuai, your horses are good, can you sell me some?"
"Yes, I can sell you all Ning Haijun's equipment, including artillery, muskets, and swords, whatever you like. The key is, do you have the money?"
"money!"
When Lu Xiangsheng mentioned this money, he smiled bitterly.
Emperor Chongzhen raised grain and grass for his three palaces, and also used the money from the internal treasury to pay military expenses to the Tianxiong Army. To be fair, although the military expenses he received were not as good as those of the Guan Ning Army, they were much stronger than the Ning Navy. too much. It's just that these military expenses are used to purchase weapons and equipment in the Tianxiong Army. Among them, the Tianxiong Army's most expensive asset is more than 7,000 war horses. Just purchasing these war horses costs as much as 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver.
Lu Xiangsheng said to the Tianxiong Army soldiers beside him: "Try your best to collect the scattered horses, and don't let any of them go!"
Lu Xiangsheng had a special liking for cavalry, but he could not get enough excellent horses to fulfill his wish. He purchased more than 7,000 horses, which emptied his family fortune.
Now the Chechen Khan tribe has all fled, and many horses were killed and injured in the melee. However, there are still seven to eight thousand horses that are intact and have just escaped. These horses are enough for him to form a sizable cavalry. Troops.
In his eyes, these horses were the most precious trophies, and he refused to let go of any of them. Lu Xiangsheng personally led people to collect them.
Cheng Shijie and Ning Haijun's officers acquiesced to their behavior. After all, without the rapid support of the Tianxiong Army's cavalry, Cheng Shijie would never have been able to persist until the reinforcements arrived. Not only did the Tianxiong army kill more than two thousand war horses on the road, but they also counted the dead ones on the battlefield. It was right to let them share part of the spoils.
Cheng Shijie didn't care about cleaning the battlefield, because everyone in the Ning Navy was already an iron broom, and they were very experienced in cleaning the battlefield, not to mention the weapons and armor of the Chechen Khan. They no longer liked it. Ning Haijun had better The soldiers of the Tianxiong Army were busy catching horses and collecting the weapons on the ground, but the soldiers of the Ning Navy were touching the corpses.
Those who saw the corpses of Mongolian soldiers that had not been searched would dig into their pockets, and they would smile every time they took out a piece of silver or gold from their pockets.
Li Dingguo came over: "General Xiao Yang, we found a lot of good things from the Tatar camp!"
Cheng Shijie smiled lightly and said, "What good things did you find?"
"There are a lot of provisions and weapons, and..."
Li Dingguo's eyes flickered and he gave Cheng Shijie a "you know" look.
Cheng Shijie was delighted: "Okay, okay, good job!"
Although Li Dingguo was young, he was already a veteran on the battlefield. His timing was too precise. Taking advantage of the Tianxiong army's pursuit of the main force of the Chechen Khan, Lu Xiangsheng was seizing the horse, and Li Dingguo sent troops to seize Shuolei's temporary base camp.
The Chechen Khan tribe and the Zasaktu Khan tribe divided Taiyuan City equally and robbed a lot of gold and silver treasures in Taiyuan City. The Tatars put all the looted things in the camp, which was a lot of money.
Cheng Shijie walked down the city wall and came to the battlefield outside the city. What he saw were groups of Mongolian soldiers kneeling on the ground with dull expressions. These Mongolian soldiers were very scared. The rocket launchers of the Ming army had beaten their souls to pieces. Even though there were thousands of people out of body, and only a few dozen Ming soldiers guarding them, they did not dare to resist, let alone run away.
When Lu Xiangsheng saw Lei Shisheng coming back, he asked, "Have you caught Shuolei?"
"No, this old thief runs too fast and there's no way he can catch up!"
Lei Shisheng said very excitedly: "The final general has been beheaded at least five to six thousand levels, and more than six thousand district war horses have been captured. Our Tianxiong Army's cavalry can be expanded!"
Lu Xiangsheng was also very happy. His harvest was no less than the sound of thunder. He captured more than 8,000 war horses, which added up to more than 15,000 horses. Even if he was divided into half of Ning Haijun, it would be a big profit.
Cheng Shijie said: "Master Lu, we have occupied the Mongolian camp. Our army has eliminated the remnant enemies in the Tatar camp and captured a lot. I wonder if Master Lu is interested in going there to see it together?"
Lu Xiangsheng said: "Then go and take a look."
His troops suffered nearly a thousand casualties in this battle. With such heavy casualties, there had to be some substantial compensation. There should be a lot of food, weapons, armor and other things in the Mongolian camp, which could be used to equip his troops.
Cheng Shijie was not polite and asked Li Dingguo to lead the way, and the group hurried to the Mongolian camp.
Hundreds of thousands of corpses lay scattered in the Mongolian camp. It was obvious that the camp was captured after a fierce battle. The Mongolian soldiers who stayed in the camp had been slaughtered, and all the things they looted were revealed. Trophies of the army.
Ning Haijun was quite good at collecting trophies. He had already sorted out the trophies, including rocks of food, bundles of arrows, pairs of heavy armors, extremely sharp sabers and heavy swords, all arranged in categories. Pile after pile.
The quartermaster next to Li Dingguo took a ledger and reported with a running price: "A total of more than 3,900 war horses, 1,072 cowhide pieces, 4,320 pieces of leather armor, and 5,800 iron armor were seized. I have more than 60,000 sharp arrows, more than 16,000 sabers, 2,000 heavy swords, more than 10,000 spears, 43,000 dan of grain, 155,000 taels of silver, iron bones and flying swords. The ax is waiting for a batch..."
Lu Xiangsheng was overjoyed and punched his palm with a smile on his face: "Great, with this batch of weapons and food, our army's combat power has been greatly enhanced!"
"Yes, they are all good things. Let's not talk about anything else. Let's talk about this cowhide. It can be made into leather armor. It has good protective capabilities and is lightweight. Unfortunately, it is missing a bit..."
Cheng Shijie rolled his eyes and pointed at the cowhide tents: "Ha, I almost forgot, these tents are all made of cowhide! Take them all off and make them into leather armor!"
"I'm already picking it up. How can I let such a good thing go?"
Lu Xiangsheng's smile grew wider, his eyes glued to the weapons and armor and couldn't move away.
Cheng Shijie squatted down, took out a silver ingot from the box, and said, "What a beautiful piece of snowflake silver. The bastard Tatars have robbed all our good stuff!"
Cheng Shijie put the money back and asked Lu Xiangsheng, "Master Lu, how do you divide this money? How about a 50-50 split?"
Lu Xiangsheng was startled and glanced at the box of white silver and the piles of copper coins and silverware. His expression was dull and he didn't seem to be very interested.
Lu Xiangsheng was born in Jiangnan, which was the richest place in the entire Ming Dynasty. His family was well off, he was not short of money, and he had a strong immunity to money.
Lu Xiangsheng pondered for a moment: "Cheng Shuai, Lu has an unkind request. I wonder if Cheng Shuai can agree?"
"Master Lu, please speak."
Lu Xiangsheng pointed to the weapons and armor and said, "All the silver and property will go to Commander Cheng, and half of the war horses will be given to Commander Cheng. These weapons and armor belong to us, how about it?"
Cheng Shijie said: "How can this be done!"
Lu Xiangsheng said sincerely: "I also know this is unfair. You can't buy sophisticated weapons and armor like these if you have money, but we still have to encircle and suppress the bandits, and we will inevitably have to fight the Tatars. Our equipment is inferior, so, The Tianxiong Army is in great need of these weapons, armor, and strong bows and arrows, so Cheng Shuai will suffer a little loss. I also ask Cheng Shuai to fulfill Lu's desire to serve the country."
Cheng Shijie was stunned again. He originally wanted to say that you wouldn't take a penny, and it would be a big loss just to take these weapons and armor. Unexpectedly, Lu Xiangsheng completely misunderstood and thought he refused.
Cheng Shijie cupped his hands and said: "Master Lu's loyalty is admirable. These weapons and armors are a waste in my hands. Naturally they should be given to Master Lu. But Master Lu, you have suffered many casualties in the battle, so you don't take any money." Can I do it as a pension?"
Lu Xiangsheng thought it made sense, so he said: "Then... then please ask Cheng Shuai to give me some more money as a pension for the disabled soldiers."
After saying that, Lu Xiangsheng's fair face turned a little red. He probably felt that taking both equipment and money was a bit too much.
In fact, relatively speaking, Cheng Shijie is really not short of money now. What's more, he has done something disgraceful. Although he doesn't know how much money Li Dingguo has hidden, it is definitely not less. The figures reported by Ning Haijun's quartermaster should have a lot of water. . In addition to the silver, Cheng Shijie also seized the property of Wu Zong, the governor. Xie Zhiliang also ransacked the home of the prefect of Pingding Prefecture and the escaped gentry, obtaining six to seventy thousand taels of silver. If Wu Zong's property was included, Cheng Shijie had only In Pingding Prefecture, no less than 600,000 taels of silver were harvested.
Not counting the deaths of soldiers, but only the loss and consumption of weapons and equipment, Cheng Shijie actually did not lose money.
Cheng Shijie said: "Master Lu, Mr. Cheng thinks that we should divide the more than 155,000 taels of silver like this. Mr. Cheng will take the 105,000 taels of silver, and Mr. Lu will use the 50,000 taels of silver to compensate the casualties of the Tianxiong Army. Officers, as for all weapons and armor, all iron armor, bows and arrows, spears, knives and other equipment, all are given to the Tianxiong Army. You will be forgiven by Cheng for the cowhide and cowhide armor."
Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said, "How can this be done?"
Cheng Shijie pointed at the rifleman beside him and said: "The muskets equipped by our Ning Navy have a long range. If it hadn't been for the lack of supplies this time, the Tatars would have had no chance to fight in close combat with our Ning Navy. Therefore, in the future, our Ning Navy will gradually Eliminate the iron armor and replace it with cowhide armor with slightly inferior defensive capabilities!"
Lu Xiangsheng also took a step back and wanted to divide the war horses equally. Cheng Shijie also knew about his own affairs. He really didn't lack these thousands of war horses. After the mutual market was opened in Liaoyang, in less than a month, Jiannu sent people to Ning Haijun sold more than 40,000 war horses.
What Cheng Shijie lacks is not horses, but people, soldiers who are good at riding horses.
In this way, everyone gets what they need and everyone is happy.
After Lu Xiangsheng left, Cheng Shijie called Li Dingguo and whispered into his ear: "How much money have you hidden?"
"Time is tight, and we really don't have time to hide too much. It's just more than seven thousand taels of gold and sixty boxes of silver, each box only has three thousand taels."
"Idiot!"
Cheng Shijie finally opened his eyes: "How did you transport the money away in such a short period of time?"
"No luck!"
Li Dingguo kicked open a piece of cowhide, and there were large boxes densely packed under the cowhide.
"You are Shinroku..."
…
On the other side, Shuolei led the remnants of the Chechen Khan tribe to retreat towards Kukuhetun. He finally understood that reinforcements from the Ming army were arriving one after another. If they continued to fight, they would definitely suffer more losses. This time going south, they had already With the loss of 40,000 to 50,000 young men, it can be said that the Chechen Khanate has been severely weakened.
After three days and three nights of fleeing, Shuolei looked at Kuku and Tuncheng in the distance and finally could take a breath. Of course, it was just a breath.
At this moment, before Shuolei had time to count the losses, he saw the ground shaking slightly, and the thunderous sound of horse hooves sounded, shaking everyone's heartstrings.
Shuolei looked back in shock and saw a torrent of cavalry rushing over from a distance. The battle flag and the battle robes were branded on the hearts of all the Mongolian soldiers, making them tremble all over.
"Building the Eight Banners, why are they here?"
No one answered Shuolei's question, because Huang Taiji was almost on the same foot as Cheng Shijie. When Cheng Shijie arrived in Pingding Prefecture, Huang Taiji also occupied Kukuhetun. At that time, he sent sentries south to inquire about the Chechen Khan tribe and Zhasak. After learning about the news of Tuhan, among the three Mongolian tribes in Mobei, the Tuxie Tuhan tribe was annihilated by Cheng Shijie in Miyun. Almost the entire clan was wiped out. The surviving 16,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people took refuge in the Kingdom of Jin.
Then, the Chechen Khan tribe stormed the city of Pingding Prefecture defended by Cheng Shijie. However, Shuo Lei was too useless. With an advantage of ten times, it could not conquer the small Pingding Prefecture.
At that time, Duduo and Dorgon, including Daishan, all suggested to Huang Taiji that they should lead the elite of the Eight Banners of Jiannu to go south. Now that the Hutuo River has been frozen, they can follow the Hutuo River directly to Yu County in the north of Pingding Prefecture. Yu County is only fifty kilometers, or one hundred miles, from Pingding Prefecture. A surprise attack can reach the northern part of Pingding Prefecture.
Huang Taiji was very tempted by this proposal. However, the problem was that Huang Taiji was also frightened by Ning Haijun's rocket launchers. According to Jiannu's reconnaissance, there were no less than a hundred Ning Haijun artillery in Pingding Prefecture. He had already seen the power of Ning Haijun's artillery. Slave, I began to waver in my heart.
It wasn't until Shuolei bombarded Pingding Prefecture with captured artillery from Taiyuan Prefecture that Huang Taiji realized that Cheng Shijie didn't carry many artillery shells, and he had used up all his shells. Huang Taiji decided to go south and cooperate with the Mongolian army to kill Cheng Shijie. However, before he could start taking action, he received intelligence that Shen Mingyu had sent reinforcements to Pingding Prefecture in the direction of Datong Town.
Under this situation, Huang Taiji naturally believed that even if Cheng Shijie could not defend Pingding Prefecture, he would definitely retreat, even if he left a rear guard behind. If Cheng Shijie wanted to run away, Shuolei would have no chance to catch up with Cheng Shijie. In Huang Taiji's heart , never thought at all that Cheng Shijie would not run away.
In fact, Cheng Shijie waited until the Tianxiong Army arrived, but was bombarded by a burst of rockets from Ning Haijun, and Shuolei's troops were defeated. According to intelligence feedback from the scene, Ning Haijun's artillery was even more powerful. In this case, Choosing the lesser of two evils, Huang Taiji decided to devour the remnants of the Chechen Khan tribe under Shuolei.
Now there are only three roads before the Mongolian army of the Chechen Khan, either surrender, fight to the end, or turn around and head south. But the problem is that the Tianxiong army or Ning Haijun in the south are not soft persimmons. They would rather face the Eight Banners of Jiannu. I don't want to be bombed either.
The Mongolian soldiers looked desperately at the centurions and thousands of captains, but what they saw were the same pale faces. Now they really have no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth. What should they do?
The Eight Banners of Jiannu, as well as the Mongolian left and right wing regiments, advanced like a wall from east to west. In front of Huang Taiji, the two yellow flags were elite, as well as the Han artillery, especially the artillery placed on the snow. Under the sunlight, the black hole of the gun barrel makes people's hearts palpitate.
After Huang Taiji's elite Eight Banners advanced to about one mile away from the Mongolian army, the army stopped and looked at the frightened Mongolian army with indifferent eyes, waiting for them to make a choice.
Fight or surrender?
PS: When I was writing at around 10 o'clock last night, there was a power outage and there was no update. This year I woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning and hurriedly coded. It was still there at night. This chapter is from yesterday.
(End of chapter)
