Tong Tuyuan never expected that Zhu Youzhen, who seemed weak and empty-handed, shot himself first before he could make a mistake between the two horses.

In fact, among the cavalry of the Ming army, a kind of three-eyed gun was also commonly used. But this kind of fire gun is the same as the bird gun, first, the range is shorter, not as good as the bow and arrow; The second is that the firing is too slow, and it is also necessary to fill the gunpowder first, and then smash the fire cap with a hard object such as a stone to detonate the gunpowder and shoot the projectile out.

In this way, the shooter must occupy both hands, holding the three-eyed gun in one hand and smashing the fire cap with the other. Not only is it extremely inconvenient to use, but it is also more difficult to aim when smashed, so the hit rate is really low.

When the Ming army first began to equip this three-eyed gun, because it could make a loud sound when firing and was filled with gunsmoke, it seemed to be amazingly powerful, but it could also scare and scare those enemy troops who had never seen the world.

But after a long time, the enemy army knew that this thing was useless, and even the Ming army itself was troublesome to use, so most of them were discarded.

The flintlock pistol in Zhu Youzhen's hand is similar in principle to the three-eyed gun, with only one more change, that is, the trigger is used instead of the stone.

But with this small change, the flintlock pistol has the incomparable advantage of the three-eyed gun, that is, it can fire with one hand, and it can be aimed more accurately.

And Tong Tuyuan naturally didn't know about this new weapon from the West. In peacetime, if the enemy wants to attack him with a firebolt, he will inevitably hold the gun in both hands, sit upright on his horse, and make a shooting posture in advance, and he will be aware of it.

But this time, because the pistol was not large, he had already lost too much blood, and his eyes were blurred, so he didn't even notice that Zhu Youzhen was still holding a gun in his hand.

Zhu Youzhen saw Tong Tuyuan rushing four or five steps away from him, and raised his hand to shoot. During the pursuit, he had already loaded his ammunition, and at this time, he suddenly attacked, and it was so close that he didn't need to aim at all, and it directly hit Tong Tuyuan's head.

Hearing a loud "bang", Tong Tuyuan's head was immediately opened, his brains splashed, and the dead body was planted from the horse.

And those Tong Tuyuan's personal soldiers only reacted at this time, and just wanted to rush up to intercept Zhu Youzhen, only to hear the sound of bows and arrows breaking through the air, and dozens of sharp arrows had already swooped in with the breath of death.

The rebels were caught off guard, and five or six were shot down on the spot, and the rest did not dare to fight any more, nor did they care to rob the dead body of their master, so they fled one after another.

Zhu Youzhen shot Tong Tuyuan to death, and only then did he feel a little afraid. Although he had shot and killed people before, this time it was the most dangerous. I couldn't help but think that if the shot just now didn't hit, or didn't fire successfully, it would be me who was dead at this time.

And fortunately, the rain of arrows from the follow-up troops came in time, otherwise, even if he killed Tong Tuyuan, he would still be trapped in the rebel formation. The flintlock pistol could not be fired continuously, and when the time came, it would be too late to load the bullets, and he had to hang up on the spot.

Just when Zhu Youzhen was afraid of his reckless behavior, Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui, and He Kegang led a large group of cavalry to follow. Seeing that he was not injured, Zu Dashou almost didn't read the blessing of the Buddha, and immediately ordered the soldiers to scatter in all directions, firmly protect Zhu Youzhen in the middle, and beat him to death and did not let him continue to chase.

Zhu You glanced at the dead body of Tong Tuyuan lying on the ground, and suddenly became angry again, so he jumped off the horse, found a steel knife, and cut off the head that had been blown to pieces with one sword, and stomped up twice.

Seeing this, Zu Dashou hurriedly persuaded: "Your Highness is angry, keep this head, and you can ask for merit when you go back!" ”

Zhu Youzhen said angrily: "It's too cheap for him to die like this!" ”

The generals saw that Zhu Youzhen was covered in blood, and his expression was terrifying, just like a devil who had just been killed from hell to the world, and they all felt a pang in their hearts, secretly thinking that this prince was different from ordinary princes, it was really not easy to provoke!

By this time, the sky was completely bright. Zu Dashou was just about to lead the army to retreat, when he suddenly heard a faint shout of killing in front of him.

Wu Sangui stood on his horse and looked at it for a while, and laughed out loud: "Why are these rebels coming back?" Do you think you're living too long? ”

Zu Dashou said with a cold face: "Not good! The leader of the rebels is dead, and his heart is lost, how dare he kill back? This must have been driven by the Tartars to come! It seems that the army of the Tartars is not far from here. Quick, cover Your Highness, hurry up! ”

But by this time it was too late. I only heard a few extremely ugly horns sounding from behind the mountain opposite, and then the golden drum shook the sky, and the sound of killing shook the sky, and countless Jurchen cavalry had turned out from behind the hidden mountain and in the dense woods, and surrounded the Ming army from all directions!

"Ambush!" Although Zu Dashou was taken aback, he was not flustered, and shouted on the horse and gave orders: "Wu Sangui! ”

"The last general!"

"The encirclement of the enemy army, only the northeast is weak! You lead the cavalry of your headquarters to protect Your Highness from this way, there must be no mistake! ”

"Obey!"

"He Kegang!"

"The last general!"

"You lead a hundred cavalry to pretend to break through to the south and distract the Tartars!"

"Obey!"

"All the rest, follow the Chinese army that will take the Tartars directly and disrupt the Tartars' formation! Shame on the enemy, right now! After Zu Dashou finished shouting this last sentence, he picked up the big gun in his hand and rushed out first.

And the hundreds of cavalry behind him were also deeply moved by the spirit of the main general's sacrifice of life, and while shouting loudly, they followed closely and bravely charged at the place where the Jurchen cavalry was most numerous and the flag was waving!

And He Kegang, a slender and white-looking young general, led a hundred cavalry to turn around and kill south, the tip of the spear in his hand reflecting a cold light.

Wu Sangui no longer hesitated, and without saying anything, he helped Zhu Youzhen onto the horse, and shouted with a knife: "Soldiers! But there is a breath of air, and I must send His Highness back safely! ”

At the same time, in the Jurchen array opposite, two generals were sitting upright on their horses, motionless watching the movements of the Ming army.

The one on the right will be about 30 years old, more than 1.9 meters tall, born with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, a face full of meat, and a shocking scar on his face, starting from the corner of the left eye, running through the bridge of the nose, and leading to the right corner of the mouth, as if the whole face has been divided. Seeing that the Ming army was dividing the way, he was a little breathless, and hurriedly said to the military general next to him: "Lord Belle, the Ming army is already planning to divide its troops to break through, should we rush up now!" ”

"Aobai, what's the hurry?" The young Jurchen general smiled nonchalantly, "We have thousands of iron horsemen, plus those who just surrendered, surrounded on all sides like iron barrels, can we still let them run?" ”

The person who spoke was none other than Huang Taiji's eldest son and Nurhachi's grandson, Gushan Belhaug. He is only twenty years old this year, but he has already made a name for himself in the Later Jin army.

Nurhachi divided the Jurchen army into eight banners, and he led the three banners of yellow, white, and yellow. Among them, he handed over the yellow flag to the eighth prince Taiji to take charge of. And Huang Taiji intended to cultivate his eldest son Haoge, and often asked him to lead the army on his behalf, because Haoge was young and was already the actual commander with a yellow flag.

Since the Battle of Guangning last year, the Ming army was defeated for thousands of miles and retreated to Shanhaiguan to defend it. And around the next military action plan, fierce disputes also broke out among the Jurchens.

One of them, represented by Nurhachi's second son Daishan and nephews Zilharang and Amin, advocated consolidating the existing territory first, and not rushing south.

The other faction, led by the eighth son Emperor Taiji, the twelfth son Azig, and the fourteenth son Dolgon, advocated immediately going south, beating the remnants of the Ming army, and occupying Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop. Then wait for the opportunity to take the Beijing division directly and set the Central Plains.

Both factions are very powerful, each holding its own word, and not giving in to each other. But none of them said it counted, and in the end, it was up to the Great Khan Nurhachi to make the decision.

Nurhachi knew very well in his heart that this was not a simple dispute over the military line, but an extremely complicated political struggle.

He knew that he was in his sixties this year, and although he was still very strong on horseback and bow, he could not compare with when he was younger. And as we get older, a major question becomes more and more imminent, that is, who will inherit the throne of the Great Khan.

The Jurchens, like the Mongols, did not have the habit of inheriting their father's business from their eldest son, and their father never appointed an heir, and even if he did, it would be for nothing. For whoever is strong enough and stronger will be entitled to seize all his possessions, including his women, after the death of the previous chief. And the loser of the competition will either stay away from the tribe, or obediently become a slave, otherwise he will have to die.

For thousands of years, this cruel game of survival competition has forged the strong character of the Mongols and Jurchens, but it has also deeply engraved the word "cruel" into their bone marrow.

Nurhachi knew very well that as long as he died, Daishan, Huang Taiji, and Zilharang would definitely break out into fierce conflicts over the throne, and even fight each other.

Since this is unavoidable, Nurhachi is not very worried. But what worries him is that a huge Ming Empire is still weighing on the heads of the Jurchens. Although in recent years, under their own command, the Jurchens have won many battles and even established a khanate, but the hundred-legged insects are dead but not stiff, and the Ming army still has strong strength. If there is a civil strife among the Jurchens, will they be taken advantage of and broken by each other, destroying the good situation of the past few decades?

Therefore, Nurhachi was very cautious in this dispute, neither supporting Dai Shan nor Huang Taiji, but adopted a compromise approach, that is, the main force held Quang Ninh firmly and sent a small force to harass to the south.

But Huang Taiji didn't think so. He volunteered to accept the task of harassment warfare, but ordered his men to be ready to attack alone at any time to turn harassment into a large-scale operation. As long as he can defeat the Ming army, his prestige and power will be even stronger, and it will be more advantageous in the future battle for Khan.

As the eldest son of Huang Taiji, Hauge deservedly served as the vanguard of this operation. At this time, Tong Yanghao secretly got in touch with Tong Yangzhen, who had already surrendered, and planned to lead the army to rebel against Ming. Huang Taiji was overjoyed and immediately ordered Haoge to lead his troops to respond.

Unexpectedly, Tong Yanghao was exposed in advance due to the lack of secrets, and was captured and beheaded by the prison army Yuan Chonghuan. And Tong Tuyuan, the son of Tong Yanghao, hurriedly launched a mutiny, but was also killed, leaving only hundreds of remnants, much to Haoge's great disappointment.

But Hauge had already learned from the mouth of the defeated soldiers that there was another prince in the pursuing Ming army, and he was immediately overjoyed. He didn't have time to ask Huang Taiji, so he immediately decided to attack the nest, and he was determined to capture this prince alive and make his first contribution.

So, after the Battle of Guangning, another Mingjin vicious battle began!