While it was only fair to say that the landmines Meng Lianggu fabricated were nothing special in Zhu Xiaosong's eyes, nor were they much better than those made in the border regions. Despite the cast iron casings being pre-grooved early on, there were numerous drawbacks such as insufficient explosive power and inability to be detonated remotely. Compared to devices like the Type 72 or Type 69 anti-personnel mines, Meng Lianggu's creations were at best mere noisemakers, and even these small devices couldn't be supplied in abundance due to the inherent instability of cast iron. Consequently, they had even resorted to imitating the stone mines used by General Ba.
Therefore, Zhu Xiaosong could only comfort himself, much like Li Yunlong: "Any plaster that draws out pus is good plaster; any mine that blows up the Tartars is a good mine. It's good enough to have something to use, what more could you ask for?"
However, looking at it another way, Zhu Xiaosong had witnessed militias blowing whistles under the poplars, facing the east wind, and often boasting on certain platforms for a frontal shot. But in the entirety of our Qing Dynasty, who had ever witnessed these colossal explosives?
Thus, what Zhu Xiaosong considered mere noisemakers were enough to utterly stun the officials and soldiers of our Tartar Qing.
Ultimately, their lethality was low, but their shock value was quite high.
What was even more ridiculous was that Ming Xing, the Governor of Shandong, in his pursuit of a decisive victory, had thrown in all his Manchu infantry, banner guards, Green Standard Army, and the patrolling soldiers from various prefectures and sub-prefectures. Aside from the three thousand broken soldiers of the River Guard that Chen Tailai had just managed to regroup, only four hundred Manchu cavalry remained relatively unharmed.
Ming Xing watched helplessly as explosions continuously occurred on the open ground outside the city gate in the distance. Some of the Qing soldiers were blown to pieces, with limbs flying everywhere, while others were wounded by shrapnel, their cries of agony filling the air. Those who were not hit fled in all directions like headless flies.
It's all over! This time it's truly over!
The moment this thought crossed Ming Xing's mind, he felt a sweetness in his throat, his vision darkened, and countless stars began to dart before his eyes.
Chen Tailai, who had just finished regrouping the scattered troops, saw the Governor of Shandong, Ming Xing, swaying precariously. Fearing that Ming Xing might actually fall from his horse, he quickly approached Ming Xing and called out, "Your Excellency the Governor?"
Startled by Chen Tailai's call, Ming Xing looked at the scene of "corpses strewn everywhere" before him. He no longer had the courage to regroup the scattered troops. He immediately turned his horse around and shouted at the four hundred Manchu cavalry who were equally stunned, "Go!"
Chen Tailai was once again stunned by Ming Xing's actions.
Did you know you almost fell off your horse? Did you know it was I who held you steady? And now you're only calling to the four hundred Manchu cavalry to flee, what about me?
Chen Tailai cursed inwardly, yet he was afraid that Ming Xing would indeed flee and abandon him. He immediately disregarded the River Guard stragglers he had just regrouped and urged his horse forward to catch up with Ming Xing, shouting, "Your Excellency the Governor! Wait for me!"
Compared to Chen Tailai, the Director-General of River Affairs, other civil officials such as Wu Zude and Zhan Hongbo, who were prefects and sub-prefects, were even more terrified, fleeing like stray dogs behind Ming Xing.
As for the River Guard stragglers recently regrouped by Chen Tailai, they secretly cursed their parents for giving them too few legs. None of them dared to look back, simply following Chen Tailai's men in their escape.
Zhu Xiaosong stood on the city wall and couldn't help but sigh with regret.
If Ming Xing had personally led the troops to attack the city, this batch of landmines could have left the Governor of Shandong, Ming Xing, at the foot of Mengyin City.
Unfortunately, Ming Xing was ultimately a man who cherished his own life and did not personally lead the troops to attack the city, which was truly regrettable.
However, it could still be considered good. If not for Ming Xing's actions, which were fierce as a tiger, the landmines hidden below the city would not have killed and wounded so many Qing soldiers.
...
Ming Xing continued to gallop madly, while Chen Tailai, following behind him, cursed inwardly while also feeling a secret sense of satisfaction.
He cursed because Ming Xing, this useless governor, first used Chen Tailai as cannon fodder, and then, only cared about the four hundred Manchu cavalry fleeing, completely ignoring the life and death of Chen Tailai, the Director-General of River Affairs of Jining.
He felt satisfied because Ming Xing's actions, fierce as a tiger, ultimately resulted in losses and casualties. The heavy losses sustained by the Manchu infantry, banner guards, Green Standard Army, and patrolling soldiers he brought were one thing, and the failure to regroup the scattered troops afterward was another. Combined, even if Ming Xing's surname were Fucha, he would likely be finished.
More importantly, neither Ming Xing, the Governor of Shandong, nor the prefects and sub-prefects now had any soldiers left! Only he, Chen Tailai, still had a portion of regrouped scattered troops under his command!
What did this indicate? It indicated that from Ming Xing, the Governor of Shandong, to Wu Zude and other prefects and sub-prefects, they were all fools who did not understand military matters. Didn't this highlight his own position as the Director-General of River Affairs of Jining!
With this thought, Chen Tailai's heart burned even hotter. After galloping for a while longer, he reined in his horse and rode two steps forward, blocking Ming Xing's horse. He called out, "Your Excellency the Governor! Your Excellency the Governor!"
Ming Xing had also recovered his senses by this time. Hearing this, he slowly reduced his horse's speed. After the horse stopped, he asked, "What is it?"
Chen Tailai said, "We still have troops! The scattered troops I just regrouped are behind us, and we haven't lost yet!"
Wu Zude and others who had just caught up heard Chen Tailai's words, and their faces turned pale.
Wu Zude, the Prefect of Yanzhou, exclaimed, "Twenty thousand men were lost at the foot of Mengyin City just now. What can your meager River Guard stragglers do?"
Zhan Hongbo, the Prefect of Jining, also said, "Indeed! I paid attention just now, and your scattered troops are no more than a thousand or so. Do you still intend to turn back and attack Mengyin?"
Chen Tailai saw that Ming Xing seemed to be swayed by the words of these two pig teammates. He then turned to Zhan Hongbo and said, "This Director-General has only a little over a thousand scattered troops left, but how many rebels are there in Mengyin City?"
After speaking, Chen Tailai's gaze fell upon Ming Xing. "Your Excellency the Governor, the rebels' firearms are quite powerful. They first blew up my River Guard and then the Green Standard Army, but firearms are generally finished once they are used. The second loading takes a very long time.
Therefore, instead of retreating to Yanzhou Prefecture or Tai'an Prefecture, it would be better to regroup my River Guard troops now and launch a counterattack on the unsuspecting rebels in Mengyin County!"
Ming Xing was again swayed by Chen Tailai's words.
Civil officials like Wu Zude and Zhan Hongbo might not understand the shortcomings of firearms. After all, the imperial court had always guarded against these earthly officials. Emperor Shengzu, who was praised by our Tartar Qing bannermen as a wise emperor for eternity, even said this: "Do not be learned by the Mongols or Han!"
"Are there any Han ministers who know astronomy?"
"How many constellations do you recognize?"
"Han people know nothing about algorithms."
The above few sentences were all spoken by Emperor Shengzu when he was showing off in front of Han ministers. A sentence recorded in the diary of the French missionary Jean-François Gerbillon (a mathematician) completely exposed the true face of our Tartar Qing Emperor Shengzu, Kangxi: "He (Kangxi) advised us not to translate any of our scientific things in the yamen we visited, but to do it only in our own homes."
Our Tartar Qing Emperor Shengzu, Kangxi, guarded against earthly officials like this. Our Tartar Qing's Ten-Excellent Emperor Qianlong was always learning from his grandfather, Emperor Shengzu. Except for the pockmarks on his face, everything else was almost carved from the same mold.
For earthly civil officials like Wu Zude and Zhan Hongbo, our Tartar Qing's Emperor Qianlong always treated them as dogs, using and guarding them simultaneously. Yet, these dog servants had long been accustomed to this. Even a swallow knew to place a "kneeling is easy" before kneeling. These dog servants, however, were already "kneeling is easy" from the bottom of their hearts.
Therefore, civil officials like Wu Zude and Zhan Hongbo, whose ancestors invented gunpowder, might not truly understand the shortcomings of firearms. Instead, Ming Xing, a pure Tartar with the surname Fucha, knew the pros and cons of firearms clearly.
However, if Ming Xing were to regroup the River Guard stragglers and attack again now, he would still be somewhat apprehensive.
Ming Xing, having read military books since childhood, knew the principle of "one burst of effort, then weakened, then exhausted." The problem was that their side had just given one burst and had not yet mustered their effort when they were already blown to pieces. Their morale had completely skipped the "weakened" stage and had directly reached the "exhausted" stage.
Could leading these terrified stragglers back to attack Mengyin be effective?
Seeing Ming Xing hesitate, Chen Tailai couldn't help but persuade him again, "Your Excellency the Governor, the situation is already one of losses and casualties. Although it is all due to my poor discipline, please give me a chance to atone for my mistakes!"
Ming Xing felt a surge of anger, thinking to himself, when did it become the turn of a mere earthly official like you to lecture your master? Do you really not know who is the master and who is the servant? And you claim poor discipline, which means you are saying I don't understand the art of commanding troops, aren't you? And giving me a chance to atone for my mistakes means that if I can't capture the rebels in Mengyin, I won't be able to report back to His Majesty, is that it?
You idiot! You should know that my surname is Fucha! How close is my Fucha family's relationship to His Majesty's family? My name is Ming Xing, yet I can hold the position of Governor. How can you, a mere earthly official, understand this?
However, if he didn't go back, Ming Xing would also be anxious.
It was true that his surname was Fucha, and he was indeed not afraid of being blamed for losing troops and casualties. Let alone losing a mere twenty thousand, even losing another twenty thousand would be no big deal.
However, the premise was that it must not affect His Majesty's plan to travel south to inspect the river conservancy projects.
Once Zhu Ni affected His Majesty's inspection tour of the river conservancy projects, and His Majesty became enraged, the surname Fucha alone might not be enough to protect him.
If he could eliminate Zhu Ni, then losing twenty thousand soldiers would be a trivial matter, not even worth mentioning.
With this thought, Ming Xing finally made up his mind. He glanced at Chen Tailai and ordered, "Guards! Return to Mengyin!"
This time, Ming Xing finally knew to seek stability.
Not far from Mengyin County, Ming Xing signaled all the cavalry to stop. He then summoned Chen Tailai and ordered, "Have your soldiers go and scout the situation outside Mengyin County. If the rebel army under Zhu Ni comes out of the city, then we will pursue and kill them."
Chen Tailai bowed and agreed without hesitation, immediately ordering his personal guards to take men and scout the situation outside Mengyin County.
Outside Mengyin County, Zhu Erdan was leading men to round up the Qing soldiers who had surrendered on their knees and those who had been killed or wounded by the explosions. Ke Zhiming was specifically leading men to round up the four hundred Manchu infantry.
What was rather amusing was that while Ming Xing and Chen Tailai and others could somewhat guess that Zhu Xiaosong's group was using firearms, the Qing soldiers, including the four hundred Manchu infantry, believed that Zhu Xiaosong, the rebel leader, was using magic.
As a result, when Zhu Erdan and Ke Zhiming came out with their men, both the wounded and unwounded Qing soldiers obediently chose to kneel and surrender, and no one resisted when Zhu Erdan's men tied them up.
After most of the surrendered soldiers had been rounded up, Zhu Erdan couldn't help but complain, "If word of fighting a battle like this got out, no one would believe it, would they?"
Ke Zhiming also said, "Second Young Master, you are right. This matter is more outrageous than what is written in storybooks. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I am afraid I would never have believed it."
After speaking, Ke Zhiming glanced in the direction Ming Xing and the others had fled and said, "I wonder if the Tartars will launch a counterattack?"