Chapter 242: Iron-clad Miscellaneous Army
Lao Niu held back his tears and left home. He stood in the distance and watched his eldest son and two younger brothers studying. He felt very comforted.
Now, as he took the bottle from the Jinyiwei, he felt completely at peace. The mission was simple. Follow the linked cavalry into the Jianlu camp and smash the bottle.
As for what was inside the bottle, Lao Niu had no interest in knowing. If he could return alive, he could reunite with his three sons. If he died, his three sons would be taken care of by the court, and he would be able to die peacefully.
Song Chenfeng, a captain of the Imperial Guard, finally saw a large number of livestock. He excitedly arrived at the team. But he found that where did the horses come from? Most of them were mules, with only a few horses. There were also cows and donkeys.
Song Chenfeng asked anxiously, "Didn't we agree to send horses? Why are there only mules? And even cows and donkeys! What's going on?"
The Jinyiwei leader lowered his head and said, "Don't mention it! I don't know what happened on the way, but a group of 1,000 bandits robbed us! We were just transporting livestock, so we didn't have that many guards! Sir, these cows, donkeys, and mules were looted from everywhere. We even stole them from the homes of the gentry under the name of Jianlu!"
The Jinyiwei were truly adept at framing people. Facing these discounted beasts, Song Chenfeng was visibly frustrated. He knew it wouldn't be easy; they couldn't take the main roads, lest they be discovered by the Jianlu. Walking too much at night was bound to lead to encountering ghosts, and they had already!
Song Chenfeng sighed and said, "Alright! As long as we can break into the Jianlu camp, it will be fine! Now put chains on them immediately!"
The Jinyiwei immediately agreed and immediately organized the staff to start working. It took a whole day to finally tie up the 8,000 animals with iron chains.
At the front were a thousand Mongolian horses, chained together in groups of ten, a hundred horses each. The mules, oxen, and donkeys behind were also chained.
After Song Chenfeng saw his men tied up the animals as required, he began to assign tasks.
He gave the order: "Strap explosives onto the horses! Let them charge first! Then the mules, they are the largest. Finally, the oxen and donkeys. Tie the assassins to the donkeys. Once they get there, they will naturally complete the mission!"
"Understood!" the other Jinyiwei replied, and then immediately took action.
In fact, this method was imagined in the story of Hu Yanzhuo's battle against Liangshan in Water Margin. However, the Jinyiwei improved it and used it only for charging the enemy. As long as they could charge the camp, it would be fine!
Logically speaking, the Jinyiwei really didn't need to go to such great lengths. Simply sending the bottles out to the perimeter of the Jianlu camp at night would have been enough to work. However, after receiving Zhao Xiaofei's order, Li Zichu began researching how to make the so-called virus given by the prince take effect faster!
So he came up with the idea of chaining the horses together and lighting firecrackers behind them. Once startled, the horses would start running, breaking through the obstacle in front. The person could then follow in and smash the bottle, allowing the virus to take effect immediately!
So he told his subordinates about his idea, and they discussed it and began to refine the plan. So there was the story of the armored cavalry charging into the Jianlu camp, with the death squad following behind and throwing bottles.
When everything was ready, it was already the middle of the night.
Song Chenfeng waved the command flag in his hand, and the people behind the armored horses began to light the fuses. Then he whipped the horses' buttocks, and the horses began to run slowly towards the Jianlu camp.
When they were a distance away, the firecrackers on the horse's tail began to go off. The crackling sound made the horse panic.
The horses began to accelerate, and the hundred war horses were all tied with chains around their necks, so they could not run around and could only run forward. So these cheap horses immediately ran as fast as the Tibetan horses.
At this time, the secret sentries outside the Jianlu camp were the first to discover something was wrong and immediately began to sound the alarm.
In the Jianlu camp, the soldiers immediately took action after hearing the warning. They picked up their weapons and began to prepare to line up. Dodo Ajige was about to find the scout manager to ask what was going on.
But before they arrived, they heard a deafening roar. When they looked up, they could see a huge hole blown open in the fence outside the camp. The two men immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
The two men thought at the same time, could it be that the enemy was planning a night attack? This was the first time they had ever seen such a powerful explosion. Their ears were buzzing!
Duoduo shouted, "Organize the troops immediately and keep the enemy out of the camp!"
The Jianlu soldiers immediately began to organize themselves into formations, then rushed out of the camp, ready to fight the enemy.
But what they were waiting for was a group of chained mules running towards them, with no one on board. Just as they were stunned, the explosive barrels attached to the mules exploded. Before they could even comprehend what had happened, the people were blown away, and human and animal limbs were scattered everywhere. Several mules were blown high into the air, only to fall heavily from the sky.
Although they didn't understand, Ajige did. He had heard the stories from the Water Margin, and he instantly understood what was going on. He immediately shouted to his generals, "Send your best riders immediately to drive away those animals. They are frightened. Find a way to drive them away or take them somewhere else!"
There were many warriors from herdsmen's backgrounds among the Eight Banners. They immediately mounted their warhorses, took out their lassoes, and charged at the running livestock. Lassoes weren't just for herdsmen; these cavalrymen also carried them. If a horse got spooked and ran away, it would be much easier to bring it back with them. So, even the army had lassoes!
Dozens of riders, risking their lives, began to harness the leading oxen and mules. Because not all the animals had explosives attached to them, the riders were able to pull off the attack. The soldiers forced most of the animals to change direction, while only a few exploded outside the Jianlu camp.
Ajige and Duoduo finally breathed a sigh of relief. If all the animals were tied with explosives, the Jianlu camp would probably be in trouble.
When everyone thought that it was all about to end, they heard the rumbling sound of horse hooves in the dark night. They were startled again. Could it be that there were still a lot of armored horses behind them?
Duoduo shouted, "Set off with light cavalry! Don't let those animals rush in!"
The light cavalry immediately set off again, disappearing into the night. The light and heavy infantry in the camp also began to form a defensive formation, ready to fight at any time.
But in the end, the ones who actually rushed into their sight were actually their own people. The light cavalry who were expelled actually had many heads on their waists and treasures in their arms.
A personal soldier of the Plain White Banner came to Ajige with a glass bottle and said, "Your Highness! This is the spoils of the light cavalry! After they went out, we found that there were not many soldiers and horses. Only a small number of people were tied to the horses, less than three hundred people. They had no ability to rush into our camp. We killed everyone and found that they had a lot of glass bottles in their arms. This stuff was very valuable in the Ming Dynasty!" They looked at the bottles with greedy eyes, but they didn't know that disaster was coming and few of them could escape.
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