Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 665: Frustrated Andre

Hearing Liu Kun's words, everyone looked at Liu Kun curiously, and Liu Kun pointed at Tulu and said, "Tulu Taiji just got a large number of Junggar firearms. Those more than 50 cannons will come in handy right now."

Seeing this, everyone nodded. But after walking for a while, Tulu suddenly thought of something, so he hurriedly said to Liu Kun: "General, among the soldiers going on this expedition, everyone is a good rider, but we don't know how to use artillery!"

Hearing this, Liu Kun was stunned. He really hadn't thought of this for a moment. Then Liu Kun urgently ordered: "Inform the entire army quickly and find someone who is proficient in artillery."

But the result disappointed Liu Kun very much. After searching for a long time, he found that there was only one person in the army who knew a little bit about artillery skills, and he was not very skilled.

Just as Liu Kun was scratching his head, Tulantai gave Liu Kun an idea. Tulantai said to Liu Kun: "General, the Junggars have bought so many artillery pieces, there must be some that can fire them. They can't just put them on display!"

Liu Kun's eyes lit up, and he patted Turantai on the shoulder and praised, "Good boy, good boy!" Turantai scratched his head shyly after being praised by Liu Kun.

Sometimes it's not that you can't think of that layer, but it's like a thin film. As long as someone else points it out, the fog will be cleared up immediately and everything will become clear.

Liu Kun immediately ordered an investigation of all the Dzungar prisoners, and all those who were gunners were selected. Soon, under the threat of swords and guns, and based on mutual denunciations by the prisoners, forty or so Dzungar gunners were brought before Liu Kun. All of these prisoners looked listless, with fear and uneasiness in their eyes.

Liu Kun looked at the group of people, then whispered a few words to the interpreter. After a while, the interpreter, calm and composed, said loudly to the captives: "Listen carefully, now I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. As long as you can operate these artillery according to the general's instructions, not only will your lives be spared after the war, but you will also be rewarded greatly. But if you don't obey orders, haha, this grassland is not short of a few lives of yours!"

The captives looked at each other in bewilderment. After a moment of silence, one of them, who seemed to be more prestigious, asked cautiously, "General, may I ask what the reward is?"

The interpreter was stunned. He didn't expect someone to be so bold as to bargain under such circumstances. However, this matter was obviously not something the interpreter could decide, so the interpreter asked Liu Kun with a somewhat grim expression.

Liu Kun waved his hand indifferently and said, "Ask them what they want."

Following the interpreter's reply, the group of prisoners had a heated discussion, and the prisoner who had just spoken said to Liu Kun: "General, we are willing to follow your orders, but we hope to have two iron pots, ten sheep, five cows, two horses, and ten kilograms of tea bricks per person!"

After saying this, the captives looked at Liu Kun anxiously.

After listening to this, Liu Kun smacked his lips. He had to say that these captives were really asking for too much. In terms of value alone, if it were in the Central Plains, it would be a huge fortune. However, Liu Kun now had so many cattle and sheep in his hands that he couldn't count them all.

So Liu Kun nodded and said, "As long as you follow my command and the artillery fire is accurate, I can agree to more, not to mention this little bit. However, if you fail, hmph!"

As the translation ended, the captives showed joy on their faces and patted their chests excitedly, saying that they would follow the general's orders and fight wherever he directed!

Afterwards, Liu Kun ordered Cha Gu to lead more than 5,000 cavalry, driving a large number of cattle, sheep, horses, as well as captives and wounded soldiers of the Qian army, and march slowly to the east.

The 13,000-odd cavalrymen who stayed behind temporarily rested near the old site of the Dzungar Khanate. In order to prevent a night attack by the Russians, Liu Kun stationed scouts all around the camp. At the same time, Liu Kun stayed in the army all night without taking off his armor or letting go of his sword.

In the Rakshasa camp.

Andrei frowned, and Bogdan was sitting next to Andrei. Their expressions were exactly the same, and they were both thinking about Liu Kun's words.

After a moment, Andre shook his head and said to Bogdan, "I think that what the general of the Qian army said definitely does not mean that he agrees with our withdrawal."

Bogdan gnashed his teeth and said, "Then we have to fight. If he wants to fight, then we will fight. Let's see whose supply is..."

At this point, Bogdan was stuck. Now, in terms of supplies, he really couldn't compare with the Qian army.

Andre sighed and said, "We can't defend to the death. Now these Qian troops have seized the cattle and sheep of the Junggars. If we really want to fight them, we will definitely not be able to outlast them. We have to find a way to evacuate!"

At this time, Andrei's face showed a hint of viciousness. He whispered a few words to Bogdan. After listening, Bogdan said with some compassion: "This is also a helpless act. I think God will forgive us!"

On March 20th of the tenth year of Zhaowu, the Qian army and the Luosha people were on guard against each other, but no conflict broke out.

On the morning of the 21st, the Qian army suddenly approached the Luosha camp. Under Andre's strict order, all soldiers lit the fuse, loaded ammunition, and were ready to open fire at any time.

Suddenly, outside the Rakshasa camp, the Qian cavalry suddenly split to both sides, and then what was exposed in front of everyone was the black muzzle of the gun. Andre took a closer look and realized that this was the cannon he sold to Junggar.

Andre almost cursed, calling Sengge a fool, because through the telescope, Andre had seen several people firing cannons and had given them some advice.

This made Andre feel extremely aggrieved. He was the one who sold the cannon and trained the gunners, but the first shot was fired at himself.

At this time, the barrels of the cannons in the Qian army's artillery formation suddenly retreated, and a red light came out of the muzzle. In an instant, bursts of smoke rose up, and the solid bullets whizzed towards the Rakshasa camp.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, Andre took a few steps back in embarrassment, then roared and fired back, but the large camp was a big target, and although these Junggar gunners were all novices, they could easily hit such a big target and break into the camp.

However, the artillery array of the Keqian army was arranged in a row and was small. In addition, there were only six artillery pieces in Andre's army, and no preparations were made before the battle.

The Qian army's artillery shells kept coming in from above, and Luosha soldiers were hit by shells from time to time. Some were even torn apart directly, causing a cloud of blood mist to burst out.

Only after the Qian army had fired four or five rounds and smashed more than two hundred shells into the camp did Andre pull out his six artillery pieces and carry out pre-war preparations.

Andre, who was almost losing his temper after being hit by the artillery, finally had a way to fight back. He couldn't wait to yell, "Fire! Fire!"