Chapter 374: Capturing Jirgalang Alive
Wanshan watched the Jianlu Eight Banners cavalry through a telescope, looking like rabbits being caught by dogs. He ordered the artillery, "Fire three rockets to the left and make the Jianlu run to the right. There's a minefield to the right. I'm going to give them a taste of what it's like to use a homemade plane."
Three more streams of white smoke rose, and three earth-made rockets flew over, half of which were filled with tiny steel balls.
Even if it exploded among the scattered Jianlu Eight Banners, it would still cause a large number of casualties. The cotton armor on the Jianlu was like paper, and was easily torn apart, leaving horses and people in a bloody mess.
The Jianlu were a little confused after being beaten, and Jirgalang immediately ordered the entire army to run to the right.
They suddenly entered Wanshan's minefield. Due to the distance being too far, Wanshan boarded a hot air balloon to give command.
After all the Jianlu Eight Banners cavalry entered the minefield, Wanshan pressed the button.
Boom, boom, boom! The whole earth was shaking. The Ming army in Changping County thought it was an earthquake and came down from the city walls one after another!
First, an orange-red flame rose into the sky, followed by a large amount of smoke and dust.
The Jianlu Eight Banners cavalry were thrown into the air by the explosives. Jirgalang hesitated and ran forward, unexpectedly running out of the minefield. However, he was knocked off his horse by the shockwave of the explosion. He suddenly felt deaf and his whole world was shaking.
He struggled to get up and looked at the people around him. They seemed to have lost their hearing and were staggering around, not knowing what to do.
He looked back and saw smoke and dust rising, and fragments of human and horse bodies falling from the sky from time to time.
At this moment, someone suddenly called him: "Master, go! Go!"
He looked back and saw that the man was spitting blood, but he was pushing him with all his strength, asking him to leave quickly.
Jirgalang finally saw who that person was. It turned out to be Goshaha who was beside him.
He finally woke up. Although there was still a buzzing sound in his ears, he could hear some people talking clearly.
"Master! Run! Run!" These voices kept ringing in his ears.
He looked down and saw that his horse, while not dead, had fallen to its knees, blood oozing from its ears. It looked like he couldn't ride it anymore, so he had no choice but to run.
He ran forward desperately, and lost his cotton armor, helmet, and even the knife on his body.
Seeing a ditch ahead, Jirgalang jumped in without hesitation. The water in late autumn was cold, like a piercing needle, which made Jirgalang completely sober. He grabbed a few reeds and hid in the reed marsh, using them to cover his whereabouts.
After the explosion, Wanshan waved a command flag towards Changping County, and the Ming army began to leave the city to clean up the battlefield and collect spoils.
Unfortunately, the meat was so finely fried that there was almost nothing left to clean. The only thing left was to bury it to prevent the spread of the plague.
Wan Shan descended from the hot air balloon and laughed heartily, "Hahaha, you bunch of Jianlu Eight Banners are so arrogant! How about my homemade plane? Let's see if it has Jirgalang's head!"
The guard said, "Yes, I'll go and have them search thoroughly!"
Unfortunately, although the result was reported that the Jianlu cavalry was almost wiped out, Jirgalang did not find his body.
All the Jianlu cavalry were wiped out, and the infantry were left with no choice but to be slaughtered.
The Ming cavalry charged a few times and scattered them. These infantrymen were not all Jianzhou Jurchens, but also included Han people, Koreans, and other Jurchen tribes.
Statistics show that the Bordered Blue Banner lost over 8,000 men, including the entire cavalry. Over 10,000 infantry were captured, and over 5,000 were killed or missing. From that point on, the Bordered Blue Banner disappeared from the Eight Banners, becoming a historical term.
Inside the Forbidden City, Princess Kunxing threw the memorial to the ground with a bang.
"You are all ministers who only know how to talk and do nothing. If you think you are better than Admiral Zhao, I will let you lead your troops to guard Gubeikou now!" Princess Kunxing said sternly.
The Jianzhou Jurchens had originally raided the Gubeikou Great Wall, preparing to enter the pass again for plunder. The vanguard, Jirgalang's Bordered Blue Banner, was annihilated by the Wanshan defenders upon reaching Changping County.
The victory memorial was delivered to the capital, and everyone was delighted. However, some blind censors impeached Zhao Xiaokun for his poor planning, which led to the fall of Gubeikou. They also asked the court to punish Zhao Xiaokun, the commander-in-chief. They didn't realize that without Zhao Xiaokun's planning, the Jian'er army would have already reached the capital.
Ni Yuanlu looked at the furious Princess Kunxing and the Empress, and he said, "Empress Dowager, Your Highness. The Imperial Censors, following the instructions of the Emperor Taizu, are responsible for reporting any incidents."
"Taizu's legacy?" Princess Kunxing snorted coldly and continued, "Taizu's legacy also states that anyone who embezzles more than 60 taels of silver will be skinned and stuffed with straw. Why haven't you mentioned it? Reporting matters as soon as they are reported, the rules should be changed! The Ministry of Justice and the Censorate must cooperate, and reports must have evidence. Besides, when it comes to military and national affairs, the Censors should not interfere unless corruption is uncovered. The Cabinet will decide the success or failure of military deployments! The Censors' duties are limited to investigating corruption and bribery and rectifying official discipline!"
"Your Highness, this is not appropriate! The laws of our ancestors..." Before Ni Yuanlu could finish her words, she was interrupted by Princess Kunxing.
"You want to say that the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed? That's fine. If the laws of our ancestors could be used for eternity, how could there be changes of dynasties? Maybe you and I would have been the people of the Han and Tang dynasties. The official who submitted the memorial should be stripped of his official position, demoted to a commoner, and allowed to go home and farm!" Princess Kunxing said coldly.
"Your Highness, the court is short of talent right now. It would be better to demote him to a rural area to gain some experience," said Cabinet Minister Yang Tianhe.
"For Lord Yang's sake, transfer him to a county in Guizhou to gain some experience!" Lu Ling said at this time.
When Yang Tianhe heard this, he thought it was the end of this censor. Going to Guizhou was tantamount to exile. But it was better than having his fame and honor stripped away.
At Juyongguan, Zhao Xiaokun had learned that Wanshan had annihilated the Jianlu Eight Banners and the Bordered Blue Banner who were holding the pass. Although they had also sent troops, they could only pick up a few scattered Eight Banners soldiers. Jirgalang stripped a set of ordinary soldier's clothes from a dead body and put them on himself, then was imprisoned in the prisoner camp with most of the prisoners.
He escaped from the reeds and walked north for a short distance before being captured alive by Wu Sangui's troops who came to his rescue.
Wu Sangui had seen Jirgalang before, and he recognized him when he passed by him.
"Admiral, I recognize that man. He is Jirgalang, the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner!" Wu Sangui said, pointing at the man in tattered military uniform.
Jirgalang looked at Wu Sangui with a venomous look and said, "You dog, a slave of three surnames! You shall not die a good death!"
I fell asleep yesterday and forgot to post it!
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