Chapter 552: Putting On a Show for Joseon and the Rest to See

If they had bows and arrows, they might still inflict some casualties. But there really was no need to worry too much—the range of guns and bows were simply not comparable now. Bows couldn't shoot anywhere near as well as guns. Those people coming would just be throwing their lives away.

Still, the Imperial Household Department did have its bottom line—they hadn't sold off the bows and arrows. The Imperial Household Department had probably already realized that once this equipment left Da'ning City, it would inevitably pass through many hands before ending up in Hong Taiji's possession. Under such circumstances, these things might well inflict casualties on their own people.

Seeing Cao Wenzhao looking unimpressed, Lu Xiangsheng smiled and said, "The goods aren't much to speak of, but it depends on whose hands they fall into. If they're in our hands, then naturally they're nothing special. But once they reach Hong Taiji's hands, they're all fine treasures."

"You should know, just a few days ago they even sold some large items to Hong Taiji. I don't know what price they fetched, but word has it they made a handsome profit—it even startled His Majesty at the time."

"What did they sell?" Cao Wenzhao looked at Lu Xiangsheng with some hesitation.

"Cannons." Lu Xiangsheng said without the slightest hesitation.

"They're too bold, aren't they? How can they dare sell anything and everything?" Cao Wenzhao immediately grew agitated, urgency creeping into his tone.

This time he was serious—he was genuinely alarmed.

Seeing this, Lu Xiangsheng finally broke into laughter.

Seeing Lu Xiangsheng laughing so happily, Cao Wenzhao knew the man was toying with him, but he didn't mind.

As long as this matter wasn't true, nothing else mattered. Besides, he had also managed to put the man at ease.

"As long as it didn't go through, that's fine." Cao Wenzhao said in a tone of indifference.

"You're wrong—it went through." Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "Word has it that after His Majesty was alerted, he approved it, and they made quite a lot of money."

"Not many people know about this. At the time, His Majesty summoned us over and explained it specially. His Majesty issued a gag order, forbidding us from leaking it. But it doesn't matter anymore now."

Cao Wenzhao's face instantly flushed bright red. He wanted to say something but couldn't, since it involved the Emperor.

One thing he did understand though—even though what was sold was cannons, even the casting method for cannons, Hong Taiji had probably been swindled.

After thinking it over briefly, Cao Wenzhao said, "But the casting method for bronze cannons..."

When it came to which cannon manufacturing method in the world cost the most money, none could compare to heavy cannons. The materials themselves were expensive, though the difficulty of construction wasn't very high. So if this thing really did leak out, it could only make Hong Taiji's situation even worse.

"Two things." Lu Xiangsheng didn't continue further, but explained: "One is the casting method for the large cannon—the kind that blew Nurhaci to bits—which uses bronze."

"The other is the primary method for a small steel cannon. You should also know that this type of cannon requires an advanced steelmaking process. So His Majesty sold Hong Taiji the casting method for that cannon, but didn't give him the steelmaking technique. Hong Taiji will have to slowly figure it out and experiment on his own."

"As for whether he might actually manage to make one—probably not. The Embroidered Uniform Guard has intelligence that Hong Taiji already possesses this type of cannon, so we should be able to see it this time."

"That's useless too." Cao Wenzhao curled his lips, speaking with a tone of disdain.

What kind of cannons did the Great Ming use now?

They were breech-loading cannons with metallic fixed ammunition, and they even had rifling—you could say they hit wherever you aimed.

Beyond that, with the application of new gunpowder, their range had doubled. Previously, a range of ten li was something you wouldn't dare dream of; now it could be achieved with ease, and the power was extraordinary.

"I'm telling you all this to say that with these things in hand, Hong Taiji has certainly made his preparations—he won't just sit around waiting to die. These weapons and equipment will definitely give him confidence, and he will definitely come to attack us." Lu Xiangsheng said with certainty.

"Before we set out on this campaign, the Staff Office had already made this assessment. It's just that apart from us and the people in the Staff Office, no one else knew."

"The Staff Office also formulated a plan—on one hand, to make Hong Taiji and his men even more worn down and exhausted, and on the other, to give them courage, to make them come out of the city for a decisive battle. That way, we can crush them head-on."

"You should understand the reasoning behind this as well—after all, we've all studied geopolitics."

Cao Wenzhao certainly understood—indeed, everyone in the military understood—that the Great Ming needed a great victory over Hong Taiji.

Last time the Great Ming had won, but some voices claimed the Ming had resorted to trickery and couldn't win in a straight fight. Moreover, this great battle in Liaodong wasn't just about defeating Hong Taiji—it was also about putting on a show for others.

Although His Majesty said it wasn't a show of military force, in reality those words were just talk. The Mongols were watching, Joseon was watching, even the Japanese would be watching—this battle was meant for them.

The Great Ming needed to display its might, to build up its momentum, to sufficiently intimidate the Mongols and Joseon and the rest, so that they would behave themselves.

Once this great battle was finished, His Majesty would raise new matters and conditions—those were things Lu Xiangsheng couldn't manage or offer opinions on. All he could do was fight this battle beautifully.

"Then you don't need to be so tense." Cao Wenzhao looked at Lu Xiangsheng and shook his head as he spoke.

Lu Xiangsheng was just about to open his mouth to explain when the sound of horse hooves suddenly rang out ahead.

Scouts from not far off had already come galloping over. They rode tall, fine horses at tremendous speed and quickly arrived before the main army.

Nowadays, the Great Ming's scouts were equipped more simply—they didn't even wear armor on their bodies anymore. They wore a helmet on their heads and only a leather armor vest on their bodies, nothing else besides that.

But these scouts had a cavalry carbine holstered at their waists—with just a pull of the hand it could be brought to the front. It was already loaded full of bullets, ready to fire at any moment. They also had two short pistols at their waists, which were also issued to them.

Straps were placed on the horses, filled entirely with bullets. These men pursued speed above all, and specialized in ranged attacks. After all, guns had relatively accurate range—from far away they could turn around and take someone out with a single shot.

After arriving before Lu Xiangsheng, the scout said directly: "Report to the Grand Marshal—Jianzhou barbarian cavalry spotted ahead."

Hearing this, Lu Xiangsheng smiled and turned to look at Cao Wenzhao, saying: "See that? They've already come. I told you he would definitely come to block us."

After hearing him speak, Cao Wenzhao shook his head and said, "Why doesn't he go attack Sun Chuanting's central army instead?"

"That's easy to guess." Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "On our route, there's nothing blocking our advance—we can head straight for Hetu Ala city."

"So Hong Taiji and his men must first crush us, then go after Sun Chuanting. After all, their forces are few—what they need to do is end the war as quickly as possible, and concentrate their superior forces to annihilate one route first."

"Our side would be the route they concentrate their forces to annihilate. Zhongshan Pavilion still has Fushun city there—nothing will happen to it for a while."

After hearing this, Cao Wenzhao gave a cold snort and said: "They're certainly thinking big."

In fact, this kind of thinking wasn't just his—even Lu Xiangsheng thought the same. Was Sun Chuanting someone easy to deal with?

Although Sun Chuanting came from a civil official background, having spent so much time with him, they also knew that he was not someone to be trifled with. Once he made his move, it was absolutely like thunder and lightning—ruthless and merciless.

Hong Taiji and his men actually playing this game—attacking us while having the other side hold the line—was practically courting death. But then again, Hong Taiji really had no better strategic options; he could only do this.

Hong Taiji and his men had to see if they could fight desperately; if not, they could only suffer defeat. Waiting around was just sitting there waiting to die, so they had no choice but to sally forth.

But no matter how Hong Taiji and his men attacked, it really didn't mean much in the end. No matter how desperately they fought, it was useless—before the generational gap in weapons, meaning simply didn't exist.

Lu Xiangsheng and these other generals had all received education and knew what a generational gap meant. According to the categorization of the Hundred Works Institute, what they had now was third-generation firearms.

The first generation of firearms was the matchlock musket paired with bronze cannons—that was how the early Great Ming operated. In the words of the Hundred Works Institute, even with first-generation firearms, the Great Ming hadn't actually completed equipping its forces; the ones most equipped were Qi Jiguang's Qi Family Army.

After the current Emperor ascended the throne, firearms quickly entered the second generation—that is, flintlock muskets paired with bronze cannons. At that time, the Great Ming had already equipped a batch. Back then, their battles were fought with such equipment. Later they merely changed their gear, and all that equipment was sent to Liaodong.

Then the Hundred Works Institute developed the third generation of firearms—that is, the metallic fixed-ammunition long guns that their people were now equipped with, paired with mortars and mountain guns.

At the time, Lu Xiangsheng had asked whether they would soon be switching to fourth-generation firearms. The people at the Hundred Works Institute had already made it clear: this generation of weapons would probably be used for a long time, and switching to the fourth generation was basically impossible.

The Hundred Works Institute had already begun attempting to manufacture the fifth generation, but it seemed that even if they succeeded, they wouldn't equip it—they'd seal away the technology and continue researching the sixth generation. As for the specifics, they didn't know either.

But Lu Xiangsheng also understood that the third generation was sufficient for now. No matter which side's army they faced, the third generation could basically handle it. In the current Emperor's words, although the firepower was still slightly insufficient, it was already enough to fight a battle.

Except those words were just His Majesty talking and them listening. Many people felt it wasn't a question of being able to fight a battle—it was that there was already no one left who could fight a battle against the Great Ming's personal guard.

It was just that no one could refute what the Emperor said, so they all praised him in one breath:

Your Majesty, you are absolutely right!