Chapter 1700: His Majesty Uses Troops with Truly Divine Skill!

Over a hundred Rumi muskets fired at once! And they weren't firing blind with their eyes shut either, because the ones working the muskets were the young personal guards Zhu Youjian had trained himself — all of them had real skill!

And the Rumi muskets they used were fine heirlooms too! They had all been made on the orders of the Wanli Emperor after the Battle of Sarhu, when he commanded the Bureau of Armaments, one of the Twenty-Four Offices, to hire master craftsmen and forge them using the secret methods left behind by Zhao Shizhen, who had died of illness in the thirty-ninth year of Wanli. Because the Rumi musket was complex to manufacture and the yield rate was low, not many had been produced by the time the Wanli Emperor passed away — only a few hundred in all.

And those few hundred Rumi muskets never found much use. Before Chongzhen took the throne, they had simply sat in the Bureau of Armaments' warehouse. In the original history, Zhu Youjian issued these firearms to the Valiant Guard Camp, and then nothing much came of it — they never seemed to do any great service.

This time, however, the "back on the job" Zhu Youjian had learned a thing or two, and knew how these Turkish matchlocks ought to be used. The Turkish matchlock's ball was lighter than the Spanish matchlock's, but heavier than the Japanese matchlock musket's, and its accuracy was higher than both the Spanish gun and the Japanese musket — it was best suited for firing from ambush.

And the first batch of "black-gun" troops to use these "Turkish black guns" were all young personal guards trained personally by Zhu Youjian — these youths had all received an education, could read and write, and had strong learning ability. Under Zhu Youjian's personal instruction, within a few months they had all become proficient in the art of firing from ambush.

He wouldn't claim they could pierce a willow leaf at a hundred paces, but at around forty paces they had some confidence in piercing a man or a horse — if the target wore heavy armor, like the Eight Banners' white-armored soldiers, it would still be a bit of a struggle. Fortunately, the Chahar tribe's ironclad cavalry didn't have such sturdy protection, so there was still a fair chance of killing or wounding those ironclad riders.

After a crackling volley of gunfire, some twenty-odd ironclad cavalrymen of the Chahar tribe were brought down, among them Guiyingqia, who had been charging at the very front. The one who shot him dead was none other than the Great Ming's foremost warrior, the hero whose martial prowess was supreme under heaven — Zhu Youjian! The bullet pierced straight through his skull, and he lost his life before he could even cry out.

This volley brought down twenty-some men — not really all that many — but the remaining Mongol iron-lance warriors were all stunned witless by this sudden black-gun fire!

They hadn't even seen where the black-gun shooters were, and that many brave warriors were gone just like that — among them, it seemed, the foremost warrior of the Mongols, Guiyingqia!

A warrior that mighty, and just like that he was gone!

This was too terrifying — better flee for their lives!

The Mongol warriors of this age, truth be told, were no longer all that brave. Over two hundred Mongol warriors reined in their warhorses one after another, then wheeled their mounts around, and the charging formation instantly fell into chaos.

This was the moment for the tent-front iron cavalry to launch their assault!

Zhu Youjian had brought more than seven hundred men out this time. Of them, one hundred were his "black-gun personal guards." Another five hundred belonged to the First Battalion of the First Regiment of the tent-front personal army, commanded by Sun Chuanting and Hu Dawei. And a hundred-some were Man Gui's household retainers, who were right now following beside Zhu Youjian, just waiting to rescue His Majesty once the Mongols charged in.

But Man Gui would have no chance to earn the merit of rescuing the emperor, because this generation's Great Ming Son of Heaven was the type who used troops with divine skill!

Besides the hundred-odd black guns, he had other ruthless moves in store! Just as the Mongol cavalry fell into confusion, Sun Chuanting and Hu Dawei had each led two hundred iron cavalry out from behind the deserted village and begun their charge. The two bodies of iron cavalry had both formed up in two ranks, front and rear. Four ranks of cavalry in all, every man with a long lance in hand, and the formation was extremely dense, almost shoulder to shoulder. Like four walls of knights, one after another, they ground down upon the tangled mass of Mongol iron cavalry.

Lance cavalry advancing like a wall found it hard to break a dense infantry pike formation, but against a loose cavalry formation, one charge hit home every time.

Moreover, these four ranks of cavalry only charged and did not engage in close combat — once they had charged through, they left, so as not to obstruct the next wave. But they did not go far; instead they quickly reformed beyond the optimal charge distance, then charged again — if one wave couldn't break the enemy, then two waves, then three, until they broke them!

And at the same time, the hundred-odd light cavalry led by Li Zicheng (they too had armor, only they weren't wearing it) had scattered into groups of five, hunting down the lone Mongol iron cavalrymen who were fleeing. In each group of five, two couched lances and three held bows, working in coordination — the bowmen shot the horses, the lancers stabbed the men. No survivors were left! This was truly ferocious!

Watching the Son of Heaven's household retainers — light cavalry, armored cavalry, and black-gun troops — working in coordination, skillfully using the terrain to lure the enemy, set ambushes, counterattack, and pursue, the battle-hardened Man Gui could scarcely believe his own eyes. Never mind his own household retainers — even Li Chengliang's household retainers at their peak could not have fought with such coordination!

Household retainers were no more than men of superb personal martial skill who feared not death. If they could form a "two walls" or "three walls" horizontal formation and launch a single mounted charge (after which it was sure to come to close combat, since heads had to be taken!), they were counted as invincible elite troops.

But how could the Son of Heaven's household retainers before his eyes fight like this?

How had they been trained, how organized, how commanded?

Of course Man Gui couldn't figure it out! Zhu Youjian had trained his own household retainers using the methods in the cavalry course textbooks of the Nanjing Military Academy. And only two battalions had truly been trained to this standard (one of them being the unit belonging to Lu Xiangsheng's Second Regiment), along with his young personal guards. The other battalions could only manage the coordination of light-cavalry luring and the three-walls tactic.

Just as Man Gui stood there dumbstruck, Zhu Youjian began shouting again: "Quick, quick, quick! Put away the Rumi muskets! Go fetch the horses — we're going to seize the shallow ford across the river! Man Gui, are you coming or not?"

What? They were going to seize the shallow ford across the river too?

Man Gui was startled for a moment, then immediately recovered. "Your Majesty, swords and blades have no eyes — you should quit while you're ahead!"

Zhu Youjian glared. "Danger my ass! Now is exactly the time to press the victory! If we don't seize control of the shallow ford now, the Tartars will strike first — how many more of our men will have to die?"

"But we have only a thousand-some men in hand..." Man Gui reminded him in a low voice.

Zhu Youjian glared at him again. "Not enough men? Then go call up more troops! The window of opportunity vanishes in an instant — it must not be missed!"

"But it's already getting dark..."

"Dark is perfect for a night battle! The tent-front personal troops do not fear night fighting!" As he spoke, Zhu Youjian turned to his attendants: "Pass on Our verbal edict: order Lu Xiangsheng to bring the Third and Fourth Battalions at once as reinforcements!"

Then he loudly commanded Man Gui: "Man Gui, quickly mobilize several thousand infantry, and bring plenty of chevaux-de-frise, long spears, three-eyed guns, and also some great general cannons, crouching-tiger cannons, and war drums. No mistakes!"

Zhu Youjian had indeed begun to feel like a famous general. He planned to seize the shallow ford before the Mongols could react, and establish a beachhead. If he still had strength to spare, he would harass the Mongols relentlessly and make sure they got no sleep tonight!

His orders given, Zhu Youjian paid Man Gui no further attention. He mounted the warhorse that Hei Wentao had led over for him, and then, with a hundred-odd personal guards, prepared to advance once more.

Man Gui had no choice either. He had to send a squad of household retainers with his token of command to mobilize the garrison troops and household retainers to come as reinforcements, and then he led the household retainers around him to escort Zhu Youjian forward.

By this time, the battalion of the Son of Heaven's household retainers commanded by Sun Chuanting and Hu Dawei had nearly finished their repeated charges. Seeing the young Son of Heaven moving toward the bank of the Imperial River, Sun Chuanting immediately gathered his troops, leaving Hu Dawei and Li Zicheng to clear the battlefield. He himself brought the main force to Zhu Youjian's side — several hundred armored cavalry, sweeping grandly toward the riverbank.

Along the way, many of the mounted scouts and patrolmen Man Gui had sent out earlier fell in with them, and by the time they had driven a small number of Mongols to the riverbank, nearly a thousand men had gathered.

By now the sun was nearing dusk, and on the far bank of the Imperial River there were only one or two thousand Mongol nomadic cavalry keeping watch, with no defensive works constructed.

"Your Majesty," Man Gui had long known where the Imperial River ran shallow, so he said, "this place can be forded — the water is at most waist-deep."

Zhu Youjian said with a smile to Man Gui, who was right beside him: "Commander Man, then just watch how We slay the enemy!"

Man Gui hardly dared let Zhu Youjian risk himself, and quickly volunteered: "Your Majesty, let this subject take the household retainers up!"

Zhu Youjian waved his hand. "Your men won't do — watch Ours!" Then he roared: "Sun Chuanting, Wu Sangui, Hei Wentao! We command you to lead five hundred men, dismount and form square, and ford the Imperial River!"

What? Dismount and form square? Man Gui was stunned again. Having horses yet not riding them, dismounting to form an infantry formation, using infantry to defeat cavalry — was there such a way of fighting in this world? What kind of approach was this emperor taking?

(End of Chapter)