Chapter 289

The red smoke permeating the eight-hundred-pace distance was produced by the explosion of tear-gas porcelain mines manufactured by the Firearm Department.

The powder filled in this special porcelain mine was not iron filings that killed people, but powder ground from extremely fierce dried chili, Sichuan peppercorns, and special medicinal herbs.

It could not only make people's eyes and noses suffer instantly, but those with strong reactions would even faint.

In this special situation, it would even exert a more powerful lethality than lethal porcelain mines.

Providing as much ample time as possible for firearms such as artillery and porcelain mines to exert their lethality to a greater extent.

Through Ai Li rode closely behind Jia Cong, as if to let Jia Cong know that the bodyguard he hired for two taels of gold was worth the price.

The five hundred musketeer cavalry Jia Cong brought this time included two hundred grenade throwers strictly trained by him.

And their destination for the charge was fifty paces away from the eight-hundred-pace round stone marker, because this distance was the best distance for throwing porcelain mines.

The most loyal personal guards surrounded them, using their bodies to block possible harm.

But soon the situation changed; they discovered that many cavalrymen took out things like round balls, lit them with fire-starters, and threw them at the Jurchen large formation.

Li Manzhu shouted to Dong Shan and Fan Ercha: "The artillery fire on the city tower is too powerful. Hundreds of cavalry are only a hundred paces away from us. Although their 'palm thunder' is also very powerful...

But the huge and dense quantity is enough to make these porcelain mines cause lethality no less than the artillery fire that has never stopped on the city tower.

However, there was still an unexpected situation; the continuous explosions of the porcelain mines dispersed the red smoke that had been permeating the air.

At this moment, the entire Jurchen large group was in chaos, unable to organize an effective defense at all, with only a few scattered arrows shot at this cavalry team.

This was no longer a battle between two armies, but a one-sided slaughter.

On the city tower, only Madelun was still mechanically ordering the artillery soldiers to fire artillery at the Jurchen large formation without stopping, and the barrels of three Frankish cannons had overheated and stopped firing.

Others watched the thousands of Jurchens under the city wall, struggling in the endless explosions and the raging waves of death, like falling into an endless Avici Hell.

But after all, there were only a few hundred people. Only by breaking through their military formation could we escape alive; otherwise, our Jurchen Three Guards will be completely annihilated today!"

Soon, explosions no less than artillery attacks occurred one after another in the rear of the Jurchen large formation, and countless iron filings splashed everywhere in the Jurchen large formation, causing huge lethality in the crowded crowd.

This scene refreshed the cognition of battle-hardened generals like Liang Chengzong and Liu Yongzheng forever, letting them witness the power of high-power firearms like divine punishment.

In the extremely high-saturation firearm explosions, among the three Jurchen leaders, except for Fan Ercha who was unscathed, Li Manzhu and Dong Shan were both slightly injured.

In the shockingly dense explosions, countless Jurchen soldiers flew in flesh and blood. Under the ravages of powerful firearms, human life became like grass, so insignificant.

Liang Chengzong and others looked from the Yafu Pass city tower, and the entire Jurchen large formation was receiving a double blow from artillery and porcelain mines from the east and west.

Five hundred cavalry rushed down the mountain ridge like a wind sweeping away clouds. The chaotic Jurchen large formation was somewhat at a loss when seeing a pair of Great Zhou cavalry suddenly killing out.

What made them strange was that this cavalry team of several hundred people just galloped back and forth at a distance of less than a hundred paces from them, and didn't launch a charge at them.

Even if the explosive power of each porcelain mine couldn't be compared with cannonballs.

And each time these grenade throwers threw porcelain mines, there were as few as dozens and as many as hundreds.

When Jia Cong discovered that the red smoke in the air was dispersed by the explosions of the porcelain mines, he realized that the situation would change.

The Jurchen large group on the opposite side, without the restraint of the red smoke, began to gather the remnants very quickly under the scolding of several people who looked like commanders.

At this moment, the grenade throwers under Jia Cong had already thrown hundreds of porcelain mines, and just as they were preparing for a new round of throwing, the Jurchen cavalry on the opposite side had already launched a charge without fear of death!

The distance of a hundred paces would be crossed in a very short time!

Jia Cong gritted his teeth and shouted: "Stop throwing, mount your horses and kill the enemy!"

This was his only choice at the moment. The remaining Jurchen remnants were at a critical moment of life and death, and they would definitely sacrifice lives to launch a crazy charge at them.

A hundred-pace sprint on horseback didn't even give the musketeers time to complete a three-stage fire; it was better to charge with blades and spears on horseback, which could instead strive for a greater chance of survival.

In this fierce battle, from beginning to end, Jia Cong was planning to let the power of firearms kill the enemy to the maximum extent, and never intended to risk his own life and fight on the battlefield.

But the battlefield is always changing rapidly; how can plans keep up with changes? At this critical juncture, a moment of hesitation would only make one die faster!

Everything happened in a rush, and there was no time for people to think too much.

Jia Cong glanced at Through Ai Li beside him, seeing her pretty face was eye-catching, her expression calm, without any fear, she drew her long blade from her waist and leaped out on horseback a step ahead of him.

Her slender and graceful body rose and fell rhythmically with the galloping warhorse, the long blade in her hand reflecting bright brilliance in the sun, and the green hairband on her head fluttering in the wind.

Through Ai Li's heroic posture in the charge stirred up infinite heroic spirit in Jia Cong's heart, and he raised his curved saber and followed closely behind.

The five hundred musketeer cavalry mounted their horses quickly, some opened the folded steel blades of their muskets, some drew the Goose-Quill Sabers at their waists, and swarmed behind Jia Cong and Through Ai Li.

Liang Chengzong on the distant city tower soon noticed that Jia Cong led the firearm soldiers into a fierce battle with the Jurchens, and timely called a halt to the artillery fire to avoid accidental injury.

He also ordered Liu Yongzheng to lead a thousand elite cavalry under the city wall to go and meet them.

At this moment, the seven thousand Jurchens who came to invade had suffered nearly half casualties under the terrifying and dense strikes of artillery and porcelain mines, and the defeat could no longer be reversed.

Liang Chengzong opened the city gate and personally led the troops in the city to charge at the Jurchen remnants.

Through Ai Li's superb riding skills were exerted to the fullest in the chaotic battle formation.

She let Jia Cong follow closely behind her, and she could always find the most suitable gap for charging in the swarming Jurchen cavalry.

Jia Cong saw her waving her long blade left and right, cleanly and neatly hacking down two Jurchen cavalrymen.

In Jia Cong's eyes, Through Ai Li's blade style, which was like a dance, became the sharpest killing technique on the battlefield.

Cossacks pride themselves on fast blades and fine horses all their lives, which was most fully reflected in Through Ai Li.

Through Ai Li in front hacked down a cavalryman who looked like a personal guard, and two cavalrymen in the same attire swarmed up, blocking the sharp-slashing Through Ai Li, as if they were protecting some person.

Jia Cong was afraid that Through Ai Li would be isolated and helpless, so he spurred his horse forward to help. At this moment, a golden light slashed horizontally, and Jia Cong hurriedly raised his curved saber to parry.

But in his haste, Jia Cong's speed was ultimately a step slow, and he was grazed by the blade on his ribs.

Through Ai Li, standing to the side, opened her eyes wide and shouted, hacking down a cavalryman who was besieging her with one blade.

But she was too late to save Jia Cong. At the critical moment, the horse whip in her hand flew out of her hand and fiercely whipped the face of a tall, thin Jurchen knight holding a golden saber.

This Jurchen knight was dressed in expensive clothes and seemed to have an unusual status. The cavalrymen who besieged Through Ai Li often looked back at this person, so he should be the person protected by them.

Through Ai Li's whip, which flew out of her hand, made the knight holding the golden saber dodge reflexively, giving Jia Cong a moment of respite when he was terrified after being struck by the blade.

He didn't have time to check his injuries; in such a chaotic battle, any slight relaxation would result in a life-or-death outcome.

He seized the gap when the golden saber knight dodged the whip, and the curved saber in his hand slashed out obliquely.

The sharp curved saber slashed across the chest of the golden saber knight, and the blade seemed to graze a piece of strange hardness, actually sparking a few sparks.

The chest of that golden saber knight seemed to be wearing hard armor, but Jia Cong's blade was slashed out in a life-and-death struggle, and the force was surprisingly large.

The blade grazed his chest, but the momentum didn't decline, and it swept across the right arm of the golden saber knight holding the saber like lightning.

This time, Jia Cong clearly felt the feeling of the blade slashing into flesh, splitting the arm holding the saber in half.

That golden saber knight screamed and fell onto his horse. Jia Cong stepped forward on his horse and slashed him to the ground.

That personal guard who was confronting Through Ai Li seemed to be stunned by the scene before him, not even noticing the long blade Through Ai Li slashed down on his head.

He shouted in terror: "Lord Fan Ercha has been killed!"

As a personal guard of Fan Ercha, the Regional Military Commissioner of the Jurchen Right Guard, according to the iron law of the Jurchen tribe, if the main general is killed, all personal guards must die, including their families.

So he didn't dodge Through Ai Li's long blade in the end...

At this moment, the sound of killing like a mountain and sea came from the rear. Liang Chengzong and Liu Yongzheng led a large team of cavalry into the Jurchen front, soon cutting the Jurchen remnants into two halves.

The brave Jurchen tribe's last fighting spirit disintegrated in a very short time.

Finally, Li Manzhu, the leader of the Jurchen Guard, and Dong Shan, the leader of the Jurchen Left Guard, led no more than a thousand cavalry to break through the encirclement and flee northward in a panic.

The setting sun was like blood, shining on the vast wilderness covered with corpses. The gunpowder smoke left by the artillery and porcelain mine explosions had still not dissipated.

It seemed to be silently telling the story of the earth-shattering great battle that had just occurred...

Through Ai Li jumped off her horse and ran toward Jia Cong, her pretty face bloodless, with tears hanging on her face, anxiously checking the wound on Jia Cong's chest and abdomen.

But she saw that he was wearing a strange leather armor, on which there was a deep blade mark, but it hadn't broken the leather armor.

Jia Cong smiled: "Don't worry, I wore the Green Rhino Armor and escaped a disaster."

As he spoke, he reached out to wipe the tears from her face and smiled: "You were very powerful just now; why are you crying now?"

Through Ai Li's pretty face flushed, and she said: "I was worried that there would be no place to earn gold. If something happened to you, no one would take me back to the south."

Jia Cong laughed heartily: "Don't worry, I am just like you—I am also very trustworthy."

Through Ai Li looked up at him, her deep blue eyes filled with smiles.

On the third day after the great victory at Yafu Pass, when the glorious results were counted, a victory report written overnight by Liang Chengzong, the Military Governor of Liaodong, was sent to the capital by an eight-hundred-mile fast horse.

And the name of Jia Cong of the Rongguo Prefecture was destined to resound through the Divine Capital once again!

(End of chapter)