Chapter 17: Narrow Road Encounter

  Shengjing, Imperial Palace.

  Scarface rushed into Chongzheng Hall and said to Wang Pu: "General, Jian Nu has been deceived!"

  "Oh?" Wang Pu couldn't help but turn his head and glance at Zhen Youcai, asking, "Did Jian Nu really fall for it?"

  "It's true." Scarface nodded, "The little man on the city wall saw it clearly, there were more than 2,000 slave cavalrymen carrying torches out of the big camp, chasing after Big Beard and his men."

  "More than two thousand cavalry?" Wang Pu nodded, "At least several hundred cavalrymen were blown up outside the east gate, and this time Jian Nu has mobilized more than two thousand cavalrymen. It seems that they have launched a full-scale attack."

  Scarface licked his lips and proposed: "General, why not take advantage of the emptiness to raid the Jian Nu's large camp outside the South Gate, maybe we can catch a big fish."

  "Nonsense," Wang Pu rebuked, "Dai Shan and Jierhalang have both been caught, what other big fish can be outside the South Gate? The most important thing now is to quickly withdraw from Shengjing, the faster the better, we must not lose the bigger picture because of a small mistake."

  "Right, right, right." Scarface said repeatedly, "The little man is confused."

  "Scarface!" Wang Pu said in a low voice, "Let the brothers hurry up and rest, we'll set off an hour later!"

  Scarface said: "Are you still going out of the east gate?"

  "Right." Wang Pu said in a low voice, "The most dangerous place is the safest. We have already failed once at the East Gate, Jian Nu will never think that we will break through the East Gate again. But even if Jian Nu knew about it this time, there's nothing he can do about it. Two hours later, their main force would have chased out more than a hundred miles away, hum!"

  ■■■

  An hour later, a massive fire broke out in the city of Shengjing, engulfing the 300-acre Jianzhou Imperial Palace and the adjacent palaces of the princes and nobles. As the fire raged on, a series of deafening explosions were heard from the four city towers, where the sixteen red cannons had been mounted, sending them flying into the air before crashing back down as mangled heaps of scrap metal.

  In the raging flames, Wang Pu led the remaining 900+ households to withdraw from Shengjing.

  Such a fierce fire and huge explosion sound could not be hidden from Jian Nu's ears, and Wang Pu did not think of hiding it. Now Jian Nu's main force had been led to more than 100 miles away by the Doubtful Soldier of the Big Beard, and when Jian Nu discovered that he was deceived and sent someone to chase this cavalry back, at least several hours would pass, and by then Wang Pu and his family army had already escaped more than 100 miles away.

  As planned, Wang Pu led more than 900 households to advance eastward for fifty miles, then extinguished the torches and suddenly turned south towards Korea under the cover of darkness, the purpose of which was to shake off the soul array and get rid of possible pursuers.

  "Not right!" After advancing about a dozen miles eastward, Wang Pu suddenly reined in his warhorse, shook his head and muttered to himself, "The situation is somewhat not right."

  Zhen Youcai rode up beside Wang Pu and asked, "General, what's wrong?"

  Wang Pao said: "Zhen youcai, don't you think that the situation around us is a bit off?"

  "Huh?" Zhen Youcai looked around at the dark and desolate wilderness, as if suddenly enlightened. "You're right, General. Now that you mention it, things do seem a bit off."

  "Smooth, too smooth!" Wang Pu said in a low voice, "So smooth that it's a bit abnormal!"

  Zhen Youcai nodded and said, "Even if the main cavalry of Jian Nu were led away by Da Hu Zi and others, there should still be a few teams of roaming cavalry left behind. But on this road out of the city, not even half a team of Jian Nu's roaming cavalry was encountered, which is indeed somewhat suspicious."

  Wang Pu suddenly raised his hand and shouted: "Halt!"

  The stern roar of Wang Pu overwhelmed the chaotic sound of horseshoes, clearly entering the ears of each servant. The servants who were urging their horses to gallop suddenly tightened the reins, and the rolling cavalry gradually slowed down and finally stopped. The scar-faced man who was leading the way hastily turned back and asked in surprise: "General, what's wrong?"

  Wang Pao said: "Don't ask so many questions, let the brothers form up immediately."

  Wang Pu's face was stern, and the scar-faced man did not dare to ask more questions. He turned his head and shouted at the family guards: "Brothers, quickly form a circular defensive formation!"

  ■■■

  Several miles ahead, two thousand Janissary iron cavalry had quietly ambushed in the dense wormwood bushes.

  The firelight that had been slowly crawling in front of them suddenly stopped, and Ta Zhan and E Bi Long poked their heads out from the clump of grass. Ta Zhan asked suspiciously, "What's going on? The Southern Ming barbarians seem to have stopped moving?"

  Yi Bilong also shook his head and said, "Who knows what these Southern Ming barbarians are up to?"

  "Or should we just kill our way over?"

  Yi Bilong shook his head and said, "Let's wait a bit longer, it's too far away."

  ■■■

  Well-trained grooms quickly sprang into action, forming over a thousand war horses into several large circles with their heads and tails interlocking, forming a rigorous ring-shaped defensive formation. These horses were all strictly trained warhorses that had long been accustomed to the smoke and noise of the battlefield, and even in the most intense battles, they could remain calm.

  "General, the array is already formed." Scarface ran to Wang Pu's side and asked, "But where is Jian Nu?"

  Wang Pu pointed forward and said in a low voice: "If General Ben hasn't guessed wrong, Jian Nu is waiting for us ahead."

  Scarface hesitated and asked: "Jian Nu isn't chasing after Big Whiskers, how did they end up running to the front again?"

  Wang Pu said in a low voice: "If there is no Jian Nu ahead, that would be the best. But it's always better to be careful and cautious."

  Scarface panted: "What are we going to do now?"

  Wang Pu said: "You go gather six hundred brothers."

  Scarface received his orders and left.

  Wang Pu turned his head and gazed at the dark horizon in the east, a hint of murderous intent floating in his eyes.

  As a modern man, Wang Pu deeply understood that the advantage of Jianzhou lay in its cavalry, while the advantage of the Ming army lay in its firearms. One important reason why the Ming army repeatedly lost to Jianzhou in historical wars was that it did not use firearms properly and failed to fully exert their due power! Take fire guns, bird guns, and three-eyed guns, for example. They should have been a nightmare for Jianzhou cavalry, but history is just the opposite. The Ming army equipped with advanced firearms simply couldn't beat Jianzhou's cavalry and often became the object of slaughter on the battlefield.

  Can firearms not defeat cavalry?

  Of course not, the main reason for the defeat of the Ming army was that their military equipment was abandoned and a large number of firearms were actually unusable. Another reason is that they did not know how to use firearms. In the early days of firearms, due to the shooting speed, only dense shooting could pose a fatal threat to cavalry, while the Ming army used firearms in a scattered manner, making it difficult to pose a real threat to the Jianzhou cavalry. After firing one shot, there was basically no chance of firing a second shot.

  If he had a choice, Wang Pu would not have wanted to engage in an encounter battle with the Jianlu cavalry here, because his bodyguards had not undergone systematic modern shooting training, and it was uncertain whether they could grasp the essence of three-stage shooting and form a dense shooting effect. Unfortunately, Wang Pu no longer had a choice now.

  Wang Pu's past life was a ruffian leader, living under the shadow of being assassinated by others for many years. This abnormal life gave him an unimaginably keen sense of smell for potential dangers.

  Wang Pu sniffed out the hidden murderous intent in front of him! Although he didn't know the specific location of Jian Nu, they should be just ahead.

  The hidden Jianu cavalry in front may kill at any time, and the time left for Wang Pu is not much. He must teach this group of family members the tactics of three-section shooting within the shortest time possible. Of course, in actual combat, Wang Pu plans to use six-section shooting because he really has no confidence in the firing speed of the Ming army's firearms.

  Six hundred men were quickly assembled and arranged in six rows of one hundred each as Wang Pu had requested.

  Time was pressing, Wang Pu directly entered the subject, sternly shouting: "Everyone must remember which team they are in. When I call out the first team, the first team acts, and the other five teams do not move. When I call out all, the whole army starts to act. Do you understand?"

  "I understand."

  Six hundred households responded loudly.

  "Alright." Wang Pu nodded and suddenly shouted, "First squad, squat down!"

  The first team's Ding Xun quickly squatted down.

  "Squad two, take cover!"

  The second team member crouched down beside him.

  Wang Pu gave orders one after another, and the six teams of household troops all squatted down in succession. Wang Pu shouted again: "Everyone is present, stand up!"

  Six hundred households suddenly stood up again.

  "Very good, that's it." Wang Pu nodded in satisfaction and continued, "When I shout 'First team prepare', the brothers of the first team will raise their firearms to aim at the front, but they cannot fire. They can only wait until General Ben shouts 'Fire' before firing together. After firing, the brothers of the first team must immediately retreat to the back to quickly load the lead bullets, do you understand?"

  "I understand."

  Six hundred households responded with thunderous applause.

  "Very well." Wang Pu nodded and suddenly raised his sword, shouting, "First squad, prepare..."

  The first row of one hundred family guards quickly raised their firearms and aimed at the front in unison.

  Here is the translation:

  "Introduction: Ming army's firearms such as bird guns, fire guns and three-eyed guns all belong to the most primitive type of matchlock gun. The matchlock gun has a curved hook on it, the bottom end of which can rotate around an axis, with the top end holding a burning slow match. When firing, soldiers press down the curved hook to push the burning slow match into the flash pan, igniting the gunpowder in the chamber and propelling the bullet out of the barrel."

  "Fire!"

  Wang Pu let out a loud shout, and nearly simultaneously, the hundred family guards pressed down on the curved hooks. In an instant, a deafeningly loud rumbling sound erupted in the night sky, and the pungent smell of gunpowder quickly spread with the night wind. After firing, the first row of one hundred family guards immediately retreated behind the sixth row of family guards, and began to nervously reload their ammunition.

  Wang Pu nodded slightly, and the performance of this group of family members was still satisfactory.

  But to tell the truth, this is just a drill. When the household troops face the slave cavalry's overwhelming charge, whether they can remain calm and follow orders remains to be seen in actual combat.