Fukanggan was tricked, but not entirely.
First, they used a small wooden sign to provoke Fukanggan by questioning if he was Qian Long Laogou's illegitimate son. Then, they claimed Fu Huan would not feel the cold in winter. Next, he was almost shot dead, and his personal guards, Manchu soldiers, and Green Standard Army soldiers didn't react. Who wouldn't be furious in such a situation?
In his rage, Fukanggan ordered two thousand Manchu heavy cavalry to dispatch five hundred men to pursue the two assassins, and then urged his troops to speed up their march.
Judging by these two reactions, Fukanggan seemed to have fallen for the trap.
However, in reality, Fukanggan had already planned to accelerate his march and widen the distance between his vanguard and Agui's main force. His intention was to lure the rebel leader into ambushing him. After all, the baggage train was carried by civilian laborers, so the soldiers' stamina wouldn't be significantly affected.
His current reactions were merely using the incidents as an excuse.
After advancing another three to five *li*, and having a wooden sign reading "Fukanggan's bones are buried here" removed, Fukanggan continued to urge the army forward.
Today, who would be the one buried here?
However, shortly after they marched, the sound of chaotic horse hooves echoed from a distance. The five hundred cavalry previously dispatched by Fukanggan to chase the assassins were now galloping madly towards Fukanggan's location.
Fukanggan squinted, looking at the undisciplined cavalry of over three hundred men, and felt an urge to curse profusely.
Five hundred men chasing two people, yet only over three hundred returned in a panicked state? Where were the other hundred cavalry? Who was chasing whom?
While Fukanggan cursed inwardly, he turned to his personal guards and ordered, "Relay the order! Load all cannons and flintlock muskets! Prepare for battle!"
At Fukanggan's command, the shield-bearers from the Manchu and Qing soldiers rushed to the front. Musketeers and archers formed a nine-layered, ten-ranked formation behind the shield-bearers. The cannons, which had been pushed forward by laborers, were halted. Some cannon crew soldiers lit torches, while others carried cannonballs and began loading.
The five hundred cavalry galloping from the opposite direction let out a roar and swept past the flanks of the frontmost shield-bearers. The brigadier leading them, a *canjiang*, rushed to Fukanggan's front, dismounted with a tumble, and bowed, saying, "Reporting to Lord Fu, your humble servant and his men went to pursue the assassins, but unexpectedly encountered a large ambush of rebel forces in the distance. My brothers were no match, so we had to retreat. We beg for your punishment, Lord Fu!"
Fukanggan tilted his head slightly and asked with squinted eyes, "Why were you no match?"
The Manchu heavy cavalry *canjiang* bowed and replied, "Reporting to Lord Fu, the rebels had artillery that fired with extreme accuracy. With just one volley, my cavalry suffered heavy losses!"
Fukanggan snorted coldly and ordered, "I shall spare your dog head for now and settle the score with you later! Get lost!"
The *canjiang* was overjoyed and scrambled away. Fukanggan, however, squinted and gazed into the distance, muttering softly, "Is this all the skill they possess?"
After speaking, Fukanggan turned to his personal guards and ordered, "Relay the order! The army will maintain its formation and continue forward!"
...
Zhu Jinsong stood by the Xiaofu River, his expression as dark as water, as if the words "selling mother" were about to be written on his face.
Who could have imagined that the Straight-line Manchu Heavy Cavalry, praised to the heavens by the Tartars, would also be so useless?
With just one round of artillery fire, and all solid shot, no explosive shells were even used, yet these Manchu heavy cavalry, boasted by the Manchus to be able to charge through muskets and cannons, had collapsed?
Damn it, these Manchu heavy cavalry disintegrated at the slightest provocation, so what was a man like Zhu supposed to do? He had originally planned to feign defeat, you scoundrel! He had brought all the cannons captured from Wang Duoluozi and Asihai to the west bank of the Xiaofu River specifically to leave them for you, you bastard!
What kind of situation was this!
Ke Zhiming was also dumbfounded.
What had he told the Great Leader before?
"I need to point out that many of the troops in the Straight-line Manchu and Straight-line Green Standard Armies have fought in Burma and the Jinchuan campaigns, and are considered elites among the Tartar troops. These men are completely different from the Qingzhou Manchu and Shandong Green Standard Armies we are familiar with."
His words still echoed in his ears, yet these Straight-line Manchu heavy cavalry performed with the same level as the Qingzhou Manchu heavy cavalry!
Damn your mother, Fukanggan! Wasn't this slapping him in the face?
Of course, being slapped in the face wasn't the main issue. The key problem was what to do about Liu Heming, who had been lying in ambush beforehand.
Thinking of Liu Heming, Ke Zhiming tentatively asked Zhu Jinsong, "Young Master, what do we do now?"
Zhu Jinsong snorted and said, "Is this your description of the Straight-line Manchu, completely different from the Qingzhou Manchu? What else can be done… hurry up and send a message to the East Bank to have them send over explosive shells, and have the East Bank's rifled cannons prepare for support."
Ke Zhiming first cupped his hands in agreement, then asked with a troubled expression, "What about Commander Liu's side…"
Zhu Jinsong snorted coldly again and said, "Don't worry about Liu Heming. He knows what to do."
At this moment, Liu Heming was honestly hunkered down in a trench.
The sound of hooves approached again. Liu Heming did not poke his head out to scout. His soldiers, like Liu Heming, remained hidden in the trench, but their right hands tightly gripped hand grenades, and their left hands rested on the pull cords at the tail of the grenades.
The first sound of hooves was from only two riders, Ke Zhiming, codenamed "Hound," and a skilled member of the Tiandihui.
The second sound of hooves was more chaotic, seemingly a few hundred cavalry. These were likely the Tartar cavalry pursuing Ke Zhiming and his men.
The third sound of hooves was even more chaotic, originating from the Xiaofu River area and moving towards the Tartar vanguard. This likely meant the Tartar cavalry pursuing Ke Zhiming had been defeated by the Great Leader.
As for the current sound of hooves, it didn't sound like something that only a few hundred cavalry could produce. It was likely the two thousand cavalry of the Tartar vanguard.
However, Liu Heming made no move, remaining hidden.
Liu Heming's mission was to ambush the infantry artillery and baggage train that would follow after the Tartar vanguard's two thousand cavalry passed.
As he waited, Liu Heming's expression suddenly turned extremely grim.
Just as the Tartar cavalry passed, a dense sound of footsteps followed, along with the shouts of laborers pushing baggage and cannons.
It was over. The original plan of feigning defeat to lure the enemy was almost ruined. Who knew the Tartar cavalry wouldn't outrun the infantry artillery and baggage train behind them, but instead, they were marching together?
Damn it!
Liu Heming cursed inwardly, then ordered a nearby messenger, "Relay the order: execute the second plan. If the Great Leader starts fighting, then we will start fighting as well."
Fortunately, fortunately, the Great Leader had considered the possibility of the Straight-line Manchu Tartars faltering and had prepared a second plan long ago.
After waiting for a while longer, Liu Heming finally heard the sound of cannons and shouts of battle. Only then did Liu Heming cautiously peek his head out to observe.
This observation was truly a stroke of luck – the Tartar vanguard's baggage and artillery units were not far from Liu Heming!
Liu Heming withdrew his head, forcibly suppressing the urge to laugh out loud, then shifted his body and reached out to touch a large, square, baby-like object not far from him, with many tubes at the front, a long fuse at the back, and supported by a short wooden frame.
This thing, known as the Shenjijian (Divine Machine Arrow), was a truly precious treasure, something even Zhu Jinsong, the Great Leader of Menglianggu, yearned for.
Yes, it was the Shenjijian recorded in the "Wu Bei Zhi." Yang Huaizhen, invited to Menglianggu by the Tiandihui, had long wanted to create a powerful weapon like the Shenjijian, and Zhu Jinsong, the cheater, had also longed for it. The two, like two wild chickens meeting a rogue, felt a mutual appreciation and quickly created an enhanced Shenjijian.
Unfortunately, while the manufacturing difficulty of the Shenjijian wasn't that troublesome for Menglianggu, the only fatal problem was the cost.
Each Shenjijian had thirty-six launch tubes, each tube loaded with a rocket. Each rocket contained a large amount of shrapnel and rusty iron nails. Although its power was much inferior to the super-bombs of later generations, this thing fired thirty-six rockets at once. Who could afford to play with this thing?
Let alone Menglianggu, even the Ming dynasty court couldn't afford it.
Of course, the Jiannu Emperor might be able to afford it, but the greater its power, the more they would clamp down on it. How could they equip the Green Standard Army with it?
After Zhu Jinsong and Yang Huaizhen tinkered with two Shenjijians, they had to reluctantly announce the sealing of the technology, planning to mass-produce it when they had more money. One of the two existing Shenjijians was in Zhu Jin's hands, and the other was given to Liu Heming's First Division.
Liu Heming chuckled. Seeing that the Tartar artillery and laborers were all focused on the distant battlefield, with no one paying attention to his side, Liu Heming immediately ordered his soldiers to carefully carry this treasure onto the dirt slope, and aimed the front of the treasure towards the Tartar artillery camp.
Chuckling, Liu Heming handed his flintlock musket to his left hand, took out a flint and steel from his embrace, lit the fuse at the rear of the treasure, and then quickly crawled away. He then raised his flintlock musket, aimed at the distant Tartar artillery, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
A Tartar artilleryman fell to the ground.
At the same time, the fuse at the rear of the treasure, which Liu Heming valued as his life, had burned to its end. With a sharp *swoosh*, a rocket-like object shot towards the Tartar artillery camp.
The Tartar artillery camp finally discovered Liu Heming's presence, but the west bank of the Xiaofu River was being bombarded by Zhu Jinsong's men, and numerous ambushers suddenly appeared on both sides of the road. The Tartar artillery camp was immediately confused.
However, before the Tartar artillery soldiers could react, the rocket whistling towards the Tartar artillery camp had already struck the camp.
Then came the second, third, fourth rocket…
It was unclear which rocket was lucky enough to hit the Tartar artillery camp's ammunition.
What was even more critical was that with the detonation of a large amount of Tartar artillery ammunition, the shield-bearers, arquebusiers, axemen, and other Green Standard Army soldiers arranged in front by Fukanggan, as well as the civilian laborers responsible for transporting the baggage behind, mistakenly believed they were being attacked from both front and rear, and began to scatter!
And with the scattering of the Green Standard Army, the armored Manchu cavalry, which had been able to maintain their formation, also broke apart!
In the beginning, Fukanggan still intended to quickly send people to round up the fleeing soldiers, but with thirty thousand fleeing soldiers… with only a hundred or so personal guards under Fukanggan's command, how could he round them up?
With their heads?
At this point, Fukanggan, the Commander of the Nine Gates, was completely bewildered and utterly collapsed.
His thirty thousand strong army, enough to block the Xiaofu River if they all jumped in, had just dispersed like this?
Dispersed?
How would he explain this to the Emperor upon his return?
Or, would he even be able to return alive?