Everything went exactly as Li Ruolian had predicted.
He had just given the order for the entire army to halt its advance and change formation on the spot.
Li Zicheng had just unloaded the cannons from the vehicle and removed their covers.
Jurchen cavalry appeared in the distance.
Huang Taiji, mounted on his steed, looked at the Ming army in the distance with a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"Haha, the intelligence was right, the Ming army is indeed here!"
Fan Wencheng, standing behind him, laughed and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, those Shanxi merchants wouldn't dare to cheat us."
"They wouldn't hesitate to betray the Ming Dynasty in order to do business with my Later Jin!"
Huang Taiji gave a cold snort.
"This kind of merchant is truly without loyalty or respect!"
Upon hearing this, Fan Wencheng quickly advised, "Great Khan, those merchants are indeed not good people, but if you want to defeat the Ming Dynasty, you will still need to use them."
"You can criticize them behind their backs, but you can't say that to their faces."
Huang Taiji readily accepted the advice and said with a smile, "Fan Wencheng, rest assured, this Great Khan knows what is important."
“You are one of my own in the Later Jin, so I’m telling you what’s on my mind.”
Fan Wencheng was extremely honored to hear this.
The words "one of our own" kept echoing in his ears.
Before long, he even had tears in his eyes.
"Waaah, the Khan treats me like one of his own!"
"It seems that my decision to side with the Later Jin was truly the right one!"
"I must assist the Later Jin in conquering the interior and then unifying the world!"
Regardless of what Fan Wencheng himself thought, Huang Taiji felt genuinely disgusted seeing his tearful gratitude.
"Pah! You're just a mere Han Chinese. I said a few nice words to you, and you actually took it seriously? You're such a spineless wretch!"
“The foundation of our Later Jin can only be our Manchu Eight Banners. What are you Han Chinese compared to us?”
But Huang Taiji's acting skills were already top-notch, and although he looked down on Fan Wencheng.
But on the surface, he puts on a magnanimous appearance.
"Wencheng, I wonder if you would be willing to make a trip for me and persuade the Ming army to surrender?"
Huang Taiji's request was not made on a whim, but rather intentionally.
Although the Eight Banners cavalry was strong, their horses were not cars.
After a long journey, the horses need time to recover their strength.
Instead of wasting this time, let Fan Wencheng try his luck.
If they could actually persuade the Ming army to surrender, the Jurchens would make a huge profit.
As for the failure to persuade them to surrender...
"Even if the Ming army is enraged, I, the Great Khan, will only lose Fan Wencheng, so it's not a loss."
Fan Wencheng was unaware that Huang Taiji had already treated him as a disposable item.
He said gratefully, "Your Majesty, how could I refuse such a great responsibility entrusted to me?"
"Don't worry, this servant will go and persuade them to surrender right away!"
As he spoke, he pulled on the bridle, turned the horse's head, and then fiercely cracked the whip, driving the horse to the front of the Ming army's formation.
At this time, the Beijing garrison had already set up its formation.
However, the generals of the Beijing garrison each had their own ulterior motives.
We had already made preparations.
As soon as the Jurchens launched their attack, they scattered like birds and beasts, betraying Li Zicheng and Li Ruolian.
They were preoccupied and didn't notice that the caravans that usually followed behind them had also quietly changed their formation.
It seems like he's trying to reassure himself.
When they saw Fan Wencheng riding up, they were somewhat disappointed.
"What are the Jurchens doing? Why didn't they send a large army, but instead sent a cavalryman?"
These generals also knew that it would be unreasonable for them to collapse immediately if a single cavalryman arrived, so they remained inactive.
But they forgot that their own Beijing garrison was not some powerful army that obeyed orders without question.
"The Jurchens have already attacked, why hasn't our general given the order to flee?"
"Forget it, the generals probably forgot to give the order. Let's run!"
A clever fellow slapped his forehead and made the first retreat.
Seeing this, the other soldiers of the Beijing garrison also ran away.
Even the general of the Beijing garrison did not expect that his usual lack of dedication to training troops would lead to such a blunder.
A single Jurchen cavalryman led his own army into a rout.
"Oh no, oh no!"
Those generals were all secretly lamenting their misfortune.
The scene was so ridiculous that the court would surely discover something was amiss and investigate them afterwards.
But at this point, it was no use saying anything; they could only grit their teeth and flee with their own group.
"Forget it, let's just hope the Jurchens can be more effective this time, and after seizing our cannons, they can also take Ningyuan as well!"
"In that case, the imperial court will be too preoccupied with its own problems to bother us!"
At this moment, they placed their hopes on the Jurchens.
Meanwhile, the Jurchens were completely dumbfounded.
"What's going on with the Ming army?"
Huang Taiji rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.
When he actually discovered that the Ming army had retreated, he was overjoyed.
"This is Fan Wencheng's unparalleled eloquence. Just like Zhuge Liang, he repelled the Ming army with a single speech."
"Is it the invincible reputation of my Eight Banners that has terrified the Ming army?"
"Forget it, who cares about all that! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Ignoring the fact that his cavalry had not yet recovered their strength, he hurriedly ordered the army to launch an attack.
After all, in his view, most of the Ming army had already fled, leaving only a few cannons still aimed at him.
"Hmph, after that artillery fires a round, it will be silent for a long time."
"As long as I carefully dodge the first round of artillery fire, I can advance at my leisure."
On the other hand, Fan Wencheng himself was also somewhat bewildered.
"The Ming army is so weak that they collapsed and retreated at the mere sight of me?"
But he was too lazy to think about it much.
He rode up to Li Ruolian and asked her, whose face was ashen, "Could this be General Li?"
"I came here to persuade them to surrender, but in my opinion, I don't need to waste my breath."
Li Ruolian was indeed in a bad mood. His own Beijing garrison had collapsed instantly, which was a huge embarrassment for him.
He said irritably, "And who are you? I see you speak Mandarin so fluently, you must be Han Chinese too."
"Why would you side with the Jurchens?"
Normally, Fan Wencheng would definitely be debating with Li Ruolian.
Tell him how tolerant the Jurchens were, how good they were to him, and that being a lackey of the Eight Banners was the greatest fortune in the world.
At this point, Fan Wencheng believed that the Jurchens had the upper hand and was too lazy to waste any more words.
He sneered, "Who said I'm Han Chinese? Actually, I, Fan Wencheng, have long been a Manchu!"
At that moment, the shouts of the Jurchen cavalry could be heard.
Fan Wencheng smiled smugly again and tried to persuade Li Ruolian to surrender.
Then he saw Li Ruolian jog to Li Zicheng's side.
"Brother Li, are you sure this cannon will work?"
Li Zicheng was somewhat flustered, but he still tried to remain calm.
"Since this cannon was a gift from you, sir, then there's definitely no problem with it!"
As he spoke, he took action, firing a cannon at the Jurchens.
The shot hit its target perfectly, and its power was indeed considerable.
With just one shot, more than a dozen Jurchen cavalrymen were killed.
Hiding behind the army, Huang Taiji saw this scene and felt both heartache and envy.
"The Ming army really has good cannons!"
"However, this cannon is mine!"
He swung his whip sharply, urging his warhorse to charge to the front.
"We plan to charge straight in and seize that cannon."
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