If His Majesty were not His Majesty, he would surely be a legendary general.
Unfortunately, these words could not be spoken aloud.
He finished speaking and turned to leave.
Li Guo asked with some surprise, "General Zhang, you're not going to watch?"
Zhang Huangyan said without looking back, "There is no need to look; the outcome of the battle is already decided."
Although the Tartar cavalry was agile, once they entered such a battle formation, they were like creatures caught in a quagmire, merely struggling in their death throes.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Stay calm, everyone stay calm, it's just an appetizer. *Cat extends its paws and presses down.*jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock~
Chapter 239
As Zhang Huangyan said, no matter how formidable the Tartar cavalry was, they could not break through the well-trained rope formations, in fact, they even lost a significant number of troops because of it.
These people did not die in a frontal charge; some died from falling off their horses, while others were trampled to death by their startled mounts. Of course, even if they weren't killed by the horses, the fallen Qing cavalry would be finished off by the Ming army.
Seeing that the situation was not looking good, the Meile E Zhen on this expedition immediately ordered a retreat.
When Jiang Quan saw that the Tartars had fled, he immediately arranged for men to pursue them for a short distance, but fortunately, he remained clear-headed and did not pursue them too far, immediately ordered the troops to withdraw and return.
When Zhu Ci sat in the Imperial Study and heard the news of victory, he smiled with restraint, saying, "Not bad."
He had an expression of being quite entitled on his face, but in his heart, he truly breathed a sigh of relief; he had also been under great pressure from releasing the Jinyi Guard this time.
On one hand, he felt that the Jinyi Guard were his own carefully trained men, with even the subsequent recruitment of soldiers being extremely strict; on the other hand, he worried that many of them had never seen blood and might run into trouble.
Fortunately, the results were good now, Jiang Quan also withstood the pressure.
However, the Qing Army had only sent a Meile E Zhen, clearly making this nothing more than a probing attack.
It was not yet time to relax.
Even so, the atmosphere within Yanmen Pass was different; especially after Li Guo led his men out of the city to help clear the battlefield and built a skull tower from the heads of the Tartars, morale was at an all-time high.
Zhu Ci frowned upon hearing what Li Guo had done.
Although the Qing Army was quite barbaric, building a Jingguan was still somewhat beyond his endurance.
He could only sigh helplessly when he heard the cheers from outside.
Forget it, let it be. Technology can overtake through "cheats," but the progress of civilization must come bit by bit.
Moreover, it is said that before he arrived, the Tartars also built skull towers out of the heads of Ming soldiers, when they ran out of heads, they would even kill Han people to replenish them.
So in the end, Zhu Ci simply said nonchalantly, "It will be destroyed in a couple of days. The weather isn't too cold yet, so it's easy for epidemics to break out."
Rotting heads will breed worms and carry all sorts of bacteria; if an epidemic were to break out, wouldn't that turn joy into tragedy?
The people below immediately agreed with smiles on their faces.
After Jiang Quan led his team back, Zhu Ci first bestowed rewards and then inquired about the situation of the Qing Army.
"Your Majesty, this time I did not use the Long-range Guns and Rapid-fire Guns as you instructed. If we were to use these two, the results would certainly be twice the effort for half the work." Jiang Quan's emotions had reached a state of extreme excitement.
Zhu Ci did not say anything about being cautious or avoiding impetuousness, but simply said, "The deployment rate of the Long-range Gun and the Rapid-fire Gun is too low; so far, they barely cover the Jinyi Guard. The soldiers on the front lines do not have these weapons yet. If they are used extensively, I fear some people will grow envious."
Zhu Ci was also somewhat helpless. At that time, Fu Yisheng had used the limited production capacity as an excuse, claiming that the concern was not a shortage of weapons, but rather the lack of uniformity, to have him directly arm the Capital Defense and the Jinyi Guard.
At that time, he thought it made sense; given the current quantities of rapid-fire guns, long-range guns, handguns, it was simply impossible to supply them to the front lines.
After all, if he gave them to one person, why not the others? If he gave them to Li Zicheng, should he not also give them to Liu Zhaoji and Shi Kefa?
If these two sides were to split them equally, it would be good enough if the subordinates of these three people could get about a hundred units; what use would a hundred birdlock guns be to an army of hundreds of thousands? However, if they were distributed to the Capital defense and the Jinyi Guard, the ownership rate would be much higher.
At that time, Zhu Ci also felt that the existing mass-produced rockets were sufficient to deal with the Qing Army, after all, they had not only rockets but also Dongfeng Bronze Cannons.
As it turned out, Dorgon was unexpectedly ruthless; facing the firepower suppression of the Qing Army, he actually came up with the idea of using human lives to fill the gap.
Of course, using human lives as fodder can only level the gap in firearms between the two sides; in essence, the generals on the Ming side were still no match for Dorgon in the strategic games of war, which is why they were retreating step by step.
The firearms held by the Jinyi Guard would certainly be put to use, but Zhu Ci could already imagine how the generals below would make excuses to demand more military supplies once the Jinyi Guard brought out the new firearms.
He found this very headache-inducing; being unable to distinguish between them was simply not an option.
Having new firearms means having military merits. Everyone risks their lives and sheds their blood, partly to protect their homes, naturally, to earn rewards through military merits.
Sigh, if only electricity could be harnessed.
As Zhu Ci was thinking about these things, he suddenly heard a roll of thunder; it was going to rain.
He looked at the gloomy weather outside, a sense of urgency rose in his heart: an autumn rain brings a chill; once this rain finishes, the temperature will drop significantly, in a few more days, when the weather gets even colder and the ground freezes, it will become very difficult to take back Datong.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and then directly called over Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong, Li Guo.
He sat in the high seat, looked around, said, "I have said before that we must take the initiative and strike. We need to select someone to stay behind and guard Yanmen Pass. Who do you think is most suitable?"
Zhang Huangyan was startled. "His Majesty intends to personally lead the expedition?"
Shouldn't we be sent out, while you stay to defend Yanmen Pass?
Zhu Ci understood his meaning and gave a light chuckle, lifting his chin slightly as he said, "If I were only to stay in the rear, why would I come all the way to Yanmen Pass? Would it not suffice to stay in the Capital?"
That was the logic, but for the Emperor to personally lead the expedition while one of the three of them stayed behind to defend Yanmen Pass.. was that.. appropriate?
Seeing their hesitation, Zhu Ci spoke very forcefully, "I have brought you here to discuss who is suitable to stay behind; there is no need for you to try to dissuade me from the expedition."
Fine then.
The trio compromised immediately.
There was no other way; once His Majesty the Emperor had made up his mind, even the Grand Secretariat and the Censorate could not dissuade him.
They didn't believe for a second that His Majesty hadn't consulted the Grand Secretary before this expedition, or that the Grand Secretariat and the Censorate hadn't tried to stop him. In the end, the result was exactly the same, wasn't it?
The Grand Secretariat has the Grand Secretary, who is close to the Emperor's heart, the Censorate has the Duke of Xin, a respected elder of the imperial clan. They have nothing here; it would be better not to oppose His Majesty.
The three looked at each other, feeling that anyone would be suitable to stay, but no one wanted to stay.
Seeing His Majesty win victories right from the start, they wanted to follow him to at least get a taste of the soup, even if they couldn't get a share of the meat.
Zhang Huangyan wanted to prove himself, while Li Guo wanted to earn more merit so that he could secure a better future for his uncle.
After all, there had been no news of Li Zicheng up to now, it was unknown whether he was dead or alive. As the nephew who had always followed Li Zicheng, Li Guo naturally did not want his uncle to die such an ambiguous death.
If Li Zicheng is not dead, he will certainly be held accountable in the future, Li Guo could not simply stand by and watch his uncle be prosecuted.
Zhu Ci was actually somewhat hesitant; any of these three could stay to defend the city, as their abilities were roughly equal.
The three men were silent for a long while, finally Zheng Chenggong said, "Your Majesty, let this servant stay."
Zhang Huangyan and Li Guo both looked at him.
Zheng Chenggong gave a bitter smile and said, "Your Majesty, I.. am still more accustomed to life on a ship."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: When it comes to warfare, besides food and fodder, it's all about communication technology. Sooner or later, I'll come up with something massive. A kitten hugging a magnet research. jpg
Next update at noon~
Chapter 240
Zheng Chenggong had followed his father to sea since he was a child and had participated in countless maritime conflicts. While he might not say he was an expert at naval warfare, he was extremely confident in it; as a result, he unexpectedly found himself somewhat ill-suited to life on land.
Back when the struggle for Taiwan was occurring, the fighting was certainly not this intense, the Dutch Governor Kui Yi was not as difficult to deal with as Dorgon, which had given him some illusions.
Zheng Chenggong thought it over and over, feeling that even if he managed to secure the opportunity to send troops, he might not necessarily win.
Now that the Emperor is embarking on a personal expedition, it means the situation has become very grave; if he loses, it is highly likely that the Great Ming will be no more.
Under these circumstances, Zheng Chenggong sought not to achieve great feats, but merely to avoid making any mistakes.
Zhu Ci sighed and said, "This does make things difficult for you, but so be it."
Although Zheng Chenggong decided to stay behind, he would still have to attend the upcoming discussions.
Don't think that staying behind means he has nothing to do; he controls the supply routes, military supplies must pass through Yanmen Pass, so he will still need to allocate resources when the time comes.
This job is actually not easy either.
As for the expedition, Zhu Ci had already prepared a draft in his mind; although he called it a discussion, it was essentially his own monologue.
He maintained his old habit of splitting his forces; Li Guo led his troops westward to Jingping Post, while Zhang Huangyan headed east toward Mayi.
Zhu Ci led his troops straight ahead.
Neither Zhang Huangyan nor Li Guo had any objections; they had been driven toward the vicinity of Yanmen Pass from these two directions back then, so they were quite familiar with the local terrain.
It was just that they felt uncertain, not knowing if they would be able to pull it off.
Zhu Ci spoke calmly, as if he knew what they were thinking, "Rest assured, at most you will encounter people like Ajige; Dorgon's main force will certainly be used to block me."
He paused after saying this and smiled, "Of course, if the Tartars knew the Tianji Racing strategy, Dorgon might choose to maneuver around and then attack Yanmen Pass. But it doesn't matter; once I take Baoding, he will have no choice but to return to reinforce his troops."
Zhu Ci spoke casually, yet his words left the three of them feeling extremely uneasy.
They were practically traumatized by Dorgon. If Dorgon really attacked again, what would they do if they couldn't win and were driven back to Yanmen Pass?
Zhu Ci saw that their expressions had all changed and said comfortingly, "There is no need to worry. If that is indeed the case, you only need to hold Yanmen Pass."
Zheng Chenggong asked with some unease, "But.. what about the supplies?"
Holding Yanmen Pass isn't difficult; the three of them had held it for a long time before, but the problem was that once Yanmen Pass was besieged, it would be equivalent to cutting off the supply lines.
The more Zheng Chenggong thought about it, the more he felt that this might be the method Dorgon would choose.
Of course, that was assuming Dorgon could also defeat His Majesty.
Zhu Ci said very calmly, "What is there to fear? The Tartars have grain and fodder."
After saying this, he even hummed to himself, "Without food or clothing, the enemy will deliver them to us themselves."
The other three??