Chapter 469: Racing to the Liaodong Battlefield

The Ming Dynasty taking the initiative to stir things up in Liaodong was a very good opportunity for Sun Chuanting.

The people who followed Sun Chuanting to Liaodong also harbored great hopes in their hearts, preparing to pull off something big in Liaodong this time.

After the ten thousand troops arrived in Liaodong, they were quickly split up.

Sun Chuanting, Cao Wenzhao, and Wu Xiang led five thousand troops to Shenyang City. Their mission was to coordinate with Xiong Tingbi and build momentum there. At the same time, if the Jianzhou barbarians dispatched troops, Sun Chuanting and his men were also to coordinate in the attack.

These five thousand men had been transferred here as elite troops. For Zhu Youxiao, these soldiers were the innermost circle of his inner circle—losing even a single one would pain him deeply.

These were Zhu Youxiao's personal troops. Though reluctant to part with them, he still had to use them; at a time like this, he couldn't afford to have other thoughts.

If it really came to a fight, Zhu Youxiao was genuinely afraid that Xiong Tingbi's men wouldn't hold up. Xiong Tingbi might be fine defending inside the city, but if it came to open-field combat outside the walls, and Hong Taiji was dead set on fighting to the bitter end, Xiong Tingbi probably couldn't withstand it.

And Hong Taiji himself was no stranger to desperate courage—the Jianzhou barbarians had come this far precisely that way.

That was why Zhu Youxiao had transferred Sun Chuanting there—this force was being used by him as elite troops. If one had to make an analogy, it would be the top ace division of the Huaihai Campaign—the Second Division of the East China Field Army. The Second Division had only one commander, and that was Li Yunlong.

In Zhu Youxiao's eyes, Sun Chuanting's five thousand men were his top ace division.

In terms of commander pairing, Zhu Youxiao had also made very detailed arrangements.

Sun Chuanting was a civil official—there was certainly no problem with his tactical command, but he was somewhat lacking when it came to charging into battle. So Zhu Youxiao paired him with Cao Wenzhao and Wu Xiang.

Wu Xiang's martial skill was somewhat inferior, but still acceptable—he could fight.

As for Cao Wenzhao, he was a thoroughly ferocious warrior. With someone like that around, Sun Chuanting's force would certainly gain considerable strength—at the very least, they wouldn't lack manpower when it came time to charge into the fray.

The other force was dispatched by Zhu Youxiao to Guangning to assist Wang Zaijin.

Though it was unknown whether there would be fighting in Guangning, if there was, the troops in Guangning City certainly wouldn't measure up—they might even be worse than the troops in Shenyang City.

Although Wang Zaijin had been drilling and training his troops for a long time, in reality they still weren't up to par. If a major battle truly came, the troops in Guangning City definitely couldn't hold the line. So Zhu Youxiao dispatched a force to Guangning City.

The leader of this force was Lu Xiangsheng, a figure Zhu Youxiao held in very high regard. His martial skill naturally went without saying—Zhu Youxiao liked him very, very much.

Paired with Lu Xiangsheng was Liu Xian, an outstanding graduate of the Imperial Academy. Though Liu Xian was somewhat lacking in court strategy, his military strategy was beyond reproach. The two of them working together was naturally like a tiger gaining wings.

After the two forces split apart, they swiftly rushed toward the battlefield. Liaodong instantly tensed up—the entire region was shrouded in the clouds of war.

Inside Shenyang City.

"Alright, I understand." After hearing his subordinate's report, Xiong Tingbi turned around and prepared to go receive them.

Though this force only numbered five thousand, and the general arriving wasn't anyone particularly famous, these were His Majesty's trusted men—Old Xiong couldn't afford to be negligent toward them.

Besides, this Sun Chuanting had battle achievements to his name. When suppressing the rebellion in the southwest, he had sent the rebel bandits scattering in complete disarray.

Though the Ming Dynasty had always looked down on the south, believing the main threat lay in the north, the fact that Sun Chuanting could send the rebels fleeing in chaos with no ability to resist was proof enough of his capability.

Moreover, in Xiong Tingbi's view, both he and Sun Chuanting were His Majesty's men—they were on the same side. That meant there was plenty to talk about; it was easier to deal with one's own people.

Early in the morning, while the sky was still dim with the first light of dawn, Xiong Tingbi led a group of people waiting outside the gates of Shenyang City.

Having stood for a long time in the morning dew, Xiong Tingbi showed not the slightest sign of impatience.

Rather, it was Xiong Tingbi's subordinates who were somewhat displeased. After all, with their Grand Marshal Xiong's rank and seniority, making him stand out here so arduously waiting for a young man really wasn't quite right.

But since Grand Marshal Xiong hadn't shown any dissatisfaction, the others couldn't very well say anything either.

Just at that moment, dust suddenly rose from the distant horizon, and then vague, shadowy figures appeared.

"They're coming!" Someone in the crowd shouted excitedly, and everyone who had been drowsy moments before instantly focused all their gazes over there.

Sure enough, the column appeared.

At the front rode a squadron of cavalry. What came into view were tall black horses, their coats gleaming slick and shiny under the sun's reflection.

Needless to say, these horses were certainly of extraordinary origin—rare even in a place like Liaodong. Being able to equip an entire unit with horses like these clearly meant serious money had been spent.

When the people of Liaodong saw these horses, they immediately turned green with envy.

Li Guangrong, standing beside Xiong Tingbi, couldn't help but remark: "As expected of the Son of Heaven's personal troops—they really are loaded!"

In his tone, besides envy, there was more jealousy, and a bit of dissatisfaction as well.

Clearly, in Li Guangrong's view, all this money spent on these men was wasted—they were all showpieces that could never actually be sent into battle.

Xiong Tingbi didn't speak. He shot Li Guangrong a glare and said in a lowered voice: "Don't talk nonsense! When you get back, tell the men below not to speak out of turn!"

Li Guangrong nodded and said: "Grand Marshal, don't worry, I know my limits."

In fact, Li Guangrong really did know his limits. He only complained here in front of Xiong Tingbi—back at camp, he truly wouldn't dare say a word.

These men were the Son of Heaven's personal troops—what did that represent?

The Emperor's face!

If these men really weren't up to par, you still couldn't expose that. Was slapping the Emperor in the face supposed to be fun?

For military officers like them, matters concerning the Emperor were not something they could discuss. The civil officials could jump around and make a fuss, but military officers couldn't.

So Li Guangrong knew very well in his heart that he wouldn't speak out of turn.

The others all looked toward the distance as well. After their gazes swept past the horses, they turned to look at the men riding them.

These men gave off a very different feeling. If one hadn't looked carefully just now, they might have seemed like showpieces. But now that they saw them up close, many people sensed something out of the ordinary.

These personal troops on horseback were not very old, nor very tall, but their builds were sturdy and strong. Their faces were long and dark, their eyes bright and sharp—clearly men who had been tempered through hardship.

Beyond that, looking at their equipment: each man wore two short muskets slung diagonally at his waist, with a long musket carried on his back.

Hanging from hooks on the front of their horses were horse-slaying sabers—clearly fine pieces of equipment. These horse-slaying sabers could also be found in central Liaodong, and everyone had seen them before; cavalrymen were very fond of them.

The armor on these personal troops was clearly iron armor, yet it wasn't very heavy—quite thin and light. As for these plate armors forged together, no one knew how their defensive capability would be.

In fact, regarding plate armor, Zhu Youxiao knew very well in his heart that discussing defensive power without mentioning weight was just being a scoundrel.

Whether it was plate armor, chain mail, riveted mail, or even scale armor—setting aside weight and only talking about defensive capability was being a scoundrel.

After all, the heavier it was, the thicker the armor, and the higher the defensive power. There was no arguing with that.

After all, in this era, there wasn't much gap in materials—unlike later ages with composite armor or depleted uranium armor.

In this era, it was basically all iron armor, and everyone's forging skill wasn't that far apart. Though Zhu Youxiao used better steel, it wasn't that much stronger.

It was just that at equal weight, plate armor had much better defensive capability. Especially against arrows—the effectiveness was far superior.

But if faced with heavy weapons like the enemy's meteor hammers, getting smashed once—the defensive capability was only so-so. Damage from that kind of brute force was hard for any type of armor to defend against. There was no helping that.

But the armor on these cavalrymen before him — that was all fine stuff. Light and thin, with excellent defensive capability — absolutely top-tier for its weight.

The reason it was made so light and thin was so as not to hinder their speed; not every cavalryman needs to wear heavy armor.

Light-armored cavalry pursue speed, and these men before him were exactly that.

They were equipped with firearms. Though the quality of the guns wasn't all that good yet, each man had three firearms: one long gun for firing at range, and two short pistols for close-quarters shooting. Each could fire three rounds. Even without the ability to reload, their killing power would be considerable.

Moreover, these men had undergone daily training — reloading while on horseback was no longer any great difficulty for them. These men were Zhu Youxiao's gun-cavalry.

As for the horse-slaying sabers the light cavalry used, those were naturally fine goods as well.

The people from Liaodong were nearly stunned dumb from watching.

Such equipment was truly mouth-watering. This could no longer be described merely as being wealthy — they were just fucking loaded. They truly wanted to rob them! Strip every last piece of gear off their bodies!

But soon, Xiong Tingbi's men's gazes were drawn to something else.

Those were war chariots, one after another.

War chariots had existed before — in the Spring and Autumn, Qin, and Han periods, everyone liked to fight with chariots. But later, as battle tactics evolved and cavalry developed, chariots were gradually phased out of history.

Yet none of the people in Liaodong ever imagined that they would see, in such a formation, simple war chariots pulled by a single horse and fitted with two wheels.

These things had cost the Hundred Crafts Institute a great deal of effort. Whether it was the steel bearings or the leaf-spring shock absorbers, immense thought had gone into them.

The steel bearings in particular — producing balls of precisely equal size had taken enormous effort. In the beginning, the old master craftsmen had to grind them by hand.

Zhu Youxiao greatly admired their keen eyes and steady hands, that they could achieve such minimal error. Within the Hundred Crafts Institute, craftsmen capable of hand-turning bearing balls were all grand masters.

Later, the Hundred Crafts Institute devised tools, which greatly improved the efficiency of turning balls, but the reject rate remained very high.

With these components, the little chariots before them looked much like ordinary carts, but their speed and performance had been greatly improved. Especially in terms of steering, there had been a qualitative leap.

The crowd's gazes left the chariots and fell upon what was mounted on them.

Upon the iron frames sat cannons, one after another, looking quite bizarre. These cannons were pulled by the chariots — clearly, these were gun carriages.

Though they could not fire while on the move, they could fire from the carriage. Once the horses were removed, the gun carriage itself served as the firing platform, its strength sufficient to withstand the recoil of firing.

Because these were standard cannons, the parabolic elevation angles had already been preset; by adjusting according to the scale, they could fire at different distances.