Chapter 19 Are you drifting too?

The red cannon at the northwest artillery position on the Ningyuan city wall really helped a lot.

This is a muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon purchased from the Portuguese, in the shape of a Spanish spindle. The eleven cannons in Ningyuan City are all genuine imported copper cannons, which are less likely to explode than iron cannons and have a longer service life.

China is a copper-deficient region, and most of the copper is used to mint private coins. Therefore, the artillery cast locally is generally iron cannon. Even if craftsmen from Portugal imitate the Red Cannon, the power of the locally cast cannon is not as good as that of the imported cannon.

In any previous battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty had never used imported red cannons.

Therefore, when this thousand-pound behemoth with a range of three miles spit out the solid cannonballs in its mouth, the huge noise caused by the gunpowder in its barrel and the smoke in the sky immediately caused a great psychological shock to the war horses under the city. Even the Jiannu riders had to turn their heads to observe what was happening.

When the solid shell hit the ground, it hit a Jiannu horse with a flag. A considerable number of war horses around the impact point were frightened, and they stood up and fled in all directions without caring about the reins and whips.

The rest of the Jiannu war horses that could still be controlled by the riders were disturbed by these uncontrollable horses, so the scattered cavalry of the Zhenghong Banner who were chasing the Ming army were suddenly reduced by more than half.

After the second salvo of the four guns from the northwest fort, the pursuit of the Zhenghongqi cavalry was finally and temporarily stopped.

The scattered Zhenghongqi cavalry chose to stay away from the city walls while continuing to chase the Ming army rushing towards the southwest.

"General Li, let's go to the west gate. Even if the city gate is not open, as long as we reach the city, we can defend it with our backs. Without the shield carts pushed by the bondservants, the large group of Jiannu cavalry will not approach the city wall."

Cao Wenzhao suggested this.

"Follow me, go around the west gate!" Li Hao followed suit, shouted, and took the lead to rush straight to the west city wall.

"The Red Cannon can fire farther. This time it only fired a little over a mile. It seems the gunners still want to retain the Red Cannon's range. We don't have to worry about the Jiannu pursuers behind us. We'll be successful as long as we can get to the west wall."

After taking a glimpse of the large group of cavalrymen of the Bordered Blue Banner appearing around the north city gate, General Li Qian gave a more specific plan to return to the city.

This type of imported red cannon is Ningyuan City's last resort. It should not be used until Lao Nu leads his army to attack the city with all their might. But perhaps the officer in charge on the city wall thought that they could solve the current dilemma first, so they launched two rounds of short-range salvos.

With the intervention of the artillery on the city wall, Li Hao and others had no more trouble on the way back to the city. When they were two hundred steps away from the city wall, he still had the leisure to recruit powerful generals.

"Brother Wen Zhao, Brother Bian Jiao, are you two willing to transfer to my camp? Yuan Bingxian of this government office once promised to open a camp for me, but now I am short of manpower."

He didn't care about the two people's seniority and addressed them by their age.

"I'd like to be driven by General Li!"

Cao Bianjiao was more straightforward and agreed on the spot. The garrison he and his uncle originally belonged to had only more than 400 men under their command. The garrison had a very low status and was randomly sent to the front line when a war was about to start. When they arrived in Ningyuan City, they didn't even have the treatment of following Man Gui's orders. Cao Bianjiao had long wanted to get away from that coward.

Da Cao acted more orderly, "Thank you, General, for thinking highly of my uncle and nephew, but we are all soldiers under Zhao Zhen. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to suddenly change to Man Zhen."

Li Hao laughed, "What Zhao Zhen and Man Zhen? It's all up to Yuan Bingxian. Besides, I'm not a soldier directly under Man Gui. I'm in Dao Biao Camp now, and I won't be rewarded with the title of commander of a camp until after the war. Let me report to Yuan Bingxian and tell him that you two have similar personalities and want to be transferred to my camp. Marshal Zhao and Yuan Bingxian have a good relationship, so this is 90% feasible. From now on, you two will follow me with your servants and handle these chores together after the war."

Now that he has such great military achievements, it would not be difficult for him to transfer a few soldiers to the Ningyuan and Qiantun areas under the jurisdiction of Yuan Chonghuan, or even to the Liaodong Governor's Office where there is no official.

If Yuan Chonghuan was promoted to the governor of Liaodong a few months later, it would only take a word from Yuan Dudu to station troops outside Shanhaiguan.

"In that case, Wenzhao will hold the saddle and reins and follow the general." Da Cao also agreed.

After dealing with the two, Li Hao tilted his head and looked at the servants who had gathered behind him, "If any of you are willing to follow me, I'll tell you when we return to the city later, especially you, General Jiqi. I need a talent like you." General Jiqi was not easy to recruit.

"General Li, I am the chief of the servants of Manzhen. I have been favored by Manzhen for several years. How can I change my family? This is absolutely not allowed. If we want to kill the Tartars together in the future, you can summon us from Manzhen. We will come if you call us."

Ji Qi always shook his head.

As a servant of a general, his career is tied to that of his chief officer. If his chief officer gets promoted, he, as a confidant, can also benefit.

As a flag commander in charge of forty or fifty household servants, if he led the troops into battle, he would definitely be promoted to a captain, or possibly a captain. However, there is actually not much room for advancement for him if he becomes Li Hao's disciple. It would be better for him to cling to the big shots of the whole town and gain a reputation for being loyal and devoted to his master.

Of course, in order to take advantage of the military merits of a powerful general like Li Hao, he still tried to smooth things over and said that they could kill the Tartars together in the future.

"I won't force you. If you figure it out, you can come to me anytime." Li Hao was slightly disappointed.

What he didn't know was that this Jiqi general was just a sesame seed, and there was a watermelon waiting for him on the city wall.

Someone was ready to open the west gate of the city wall. After entering the city wall, Li Hao stood on the basket holding his severed head, and went up first with Cao Wenzhao in the same basket.

"Is this the head of Daishan the Great Tartar?"

As soon as he climbed onto the city wall, a strong young Ming soldier rushed up to Li Hao, wanting to see the biggest trophy of this battle.

"Where did this little jerk come from?" Li Hao certainly would not show the head of the Tartar to any random soldier. He pushed the young soldier upside down.

Unexpectedly, the young soldier got up and came forward to introduce himself:

"General Li, I'm not some jerk. I'm the nephew of Zu Dashou, the lieutenant general of the Xiongwu Camp, and my name is Wu Sangui. I've learned before that General Li is the grandson of Marshal Cheng Liang, and my uncle is on the same level as General Li Rubai. So the general and I are brothers of the same generation, so I should call the general "Big Brother."

Li Hao, who was walking with the head in his hand, stopped immediately and asked, "Are you Wu Sangui?"

He was a little surprised that he met this bastard just like that.

This man had ordinary facial features, a large nose, and a few wisps of black hair on his chin. The only thing that made people remember him was the dullness revealed in his narrow eyes.

"Brother, I am really Wu Sangui. The soldiers on the city wall can testify to this. You can ask me anything you want."

He was the nephew of the third-ranked general in the Ningyuanwei City garrison, and most of the soldiers who were originally stationed here knew him.

Li Hao looked at him and corrected him, "You are asking the wrong questions. Li Chengliang and I are brothers through life. You should call me Grandpa! What do you want to do with Grandpa?"

This little brother Sangui should be only seventeen or eighteen years old now, but he is already quite alert in his actions.

When Wu Sangui heard Li Hao asking him to call him Grandfather, he immediately knelt down and said, "Grandfather is a bit distant. General Li is ten years older than me. Why don't I just acknowledge the general as my godfather? I admired the godfather's style of cutting down generals and breaking through the enemy lines. I wanted to get to know him. Now that he is my godfather, Sangui can serve him and show his filial piety."

Li Hao was trapped by him and couldn't move forward or backward. "You are drifting too?"

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(End of this chapter)