The forty-ninth year of Qianlong, the first day of the third lunar month.
Just past the vernal equinox of February, the land, previously frozen, gradually thawed, rendering the official road from Taian Prefecture to Ningyang an impassable mire.
Had the old dog Qianlong intended to inspect Mount Tai, this road would undoubtedly have been straightened and smoothed. The issue was that Qianlong had no immediate plans to leave Jinan, and the Prefect of Taian Prefecture had already been summarily executed by the Imperial Envoy Agui. Consequently, no one bothered to maintain the road.
The consequence of the muddy and difficult road was that whenever carts, donkey carts, or mule carts carrying artillery became stuck in the mud, it took a considerable amount of time to extricate them.
Regardless, the condition of this broken road was a given, and speed was out of the question.
As a result, Fuluo Nawangduolji and Zuo Duyushi Asiha, who were responsible for leading two thousand men of the Firearm Camp to Jining, found themselves in a predicament.
Despite the generally poor discipline within our Great Qing, the principle of "military orders are like mountains" still held sway. Any delay in meeting the deadline could potentially lead to someone losing their head.
"Clang!"
With a deafening crash, Nawangduolji’s ears were once again filled with the clamor of the soldiers of the Firearm Camp. His already grim expression intensified tenfold.
Asiha's mouth twitched involuntarily as he said, "If this continues, we will certainly face charges for failing to meet the deadline."
Nawangduolji waited for Asiha to continue, but receiving no further words, he understood Asiha's implication.
Asiha, being the Zuo Duyushi, was concerned with appearances and thus could not bring himself to suggest conscripting nearby civilians. This matter had to be broached by himself, the Fuluo, first.
Nawangduolji then replied with a scowl that resembled a donkey's hooves, "Failing to meet the deadline? This broken road is simply as it is. Anyone who can lead their men to Jining on time can come and tell me."
Asiha said, "But the Imperial Envoy..."
Nawangduolji interrupted him with a cold laugh, "Even if Agui were here, this Fuluo would say the same. Do you, the Zuo Duyushi, have any better ideas?"
Asiha was immediately choked speechless.
Nawangduolji could indeed call the Imperial Envoy Agui by name, for he, Nawangduolji, was a Fuluo from the Upper Three Banners and the official in charge of the Firearm Camp, a son-in-law to His Majesty. In contrast, Asiha, the Zuo Duyushi, was merely an ordinary servant from the Lower Five Banners, hardly comparable to the lords of the Upper Three Banners.
Even if punishment for failing to meet the deadline were to be meted out, it would be the Zuo Duyushi from the Lower Three Banners who would lose his head, not the Fuluo Nawangduolji from the Upper Three Banners.
Asiha's face turned from green to red, much like the shifting faces in Sichuan.
After another period of silence, Asiha finally could not help but advise, "Your Highness Fuluo, if Chen Tailai cannot be swiftly dealt with, and the grain transport is severed, the capital itself may be shaken. At that time, we will have no way to account for ourselves to His Majesty."
Nawangduolji grunted and glanced sideways at Asiha, asking, "And then?"
Asiha gritted his teeth and said, "In my opinion, we should conscript the nearby populace to help us push and pull the carts. We must reach Ziyang before the eighth of March."
Nawangduolji finally chuckled and said, "You have such a good idea? Why didn't you say so earlier? Very well, we will proceed as you suggest. We will conscript the strong young men from the nearby villages to help push and pull the carts, and have the others in the village ahead prepare..."
Before the word "prepare" could be uttered, a loud bang suddenly echoed from a distance. Nawangduolji's body jolted, and he then fell from his horse. Blood began to seep from his mouth and under his body, quickly soaking a large area.
Asiha froze, looked down at Nawangduolji, who had collapsed on the ground, and then glanced in the direction of the sound. Suddenly regaining his senses, he quickly dismounted and yelled, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Prepare to meet the enemy!"
The soldiers of the Firearm Camp who had been following behind Nawangduolji and Asiha no longer cared about the artillery on the carts.
Prepared artillery was a formidable weapon, but unprepared artillery was no better than a broken gong; at least a broken gong could make a sound.
The musketeers of the Firearm Camp hurriedly set up their matchlock muskets, the shield bearers raised their shields, Asiha's personal guards pulled their horses down, and along with the artillerymen, they hid behind the shield bearers. Asiha, the Zuo Duyushi, naturally took cover amidst his personal guards.
As for Nawangduolji, who lay on the ground, he was clearly on his last breath, beyond any hope of rescue, and no one bothered to attend to him.
However, once Asiha's Firearm Camp was prepared, the distance grew eerily silent, with not even a rustle.
Asiha was now utterly frustrated.
With his background from the Upper Three Banners, his position as the official in charge of the Firearm Camp, and his status as Qianlong's son-in-law, any one of these identities alone made him a person of great importance. Now, Nawangduolji, who possessed all three, was dead.
The pool of blood beneath his body made it evident that Nawangduolji was thoroughly deceased.
For Asiha, the issue was no longer whether they would miss the deadline, but rather how he would explain this to Qianlong. While the crime of missing the deadline was punishable by death, was letting the daughter of Qianlong become a widow not also a capital offense?
After much agonizing deliberation and seeing no movement from the opposite side, Asiha simply instructed the leader of Nawangduolji's personal guards, "Send someone to scout and ascertain the situation."
Seeing that the leader of Nawangduolji's personal guards was reluctant to move, Asiha threatened, "Your Fuluo was attacked and killed under your protection. If you cannot investigate clearly..."
The leader of Nawangduolji's personal guards snorted coldly, then grabbed a soldier next to him and ordered, "Go and see what the situation is on the other side. If you return alive, I will commend you. If you die, I will look after your wife and children."
Under pressure from both Asiha and the leader of the personal guards, the soldier who was pushed forward could only reluctantly agree. He first helped his horse to its feet, then mounted it, attempting to charge forward to scout for movement.
However, before this soldier could get far, another loud bang echoed from a different direction. That soldier, just like Nawangduolji, fell from his horse.
The riderless warhorse galloped a short distance, whinnied twice, and then nervously pawed the ground.
Huddled amidst his personal guards, Asiha's heart sank to the bottom.
In warfare, the most fearsome enemies are those who appear suddenly but remain unseen by the naked eye.
Uncertain of where the enemy would launch their attack or how they were launching it, only aware of casualties, such losses inflicted far greater damage to morale than direct combat.
Forcing himself to remain calm, Asiha ordered, "Men! Shield bearers provide cover, others unload the artillery, artillerymen stand ready!"
In Asiha's mind, since they could not see the enemy, they should bombard every area they could reach with artillery.
However, Zhu Xiaosong, who had already fired two shots from different positions and had a general understanding of the practical performance of his rifled muzzle-loading flintlock muskets, had no intention of wasting any more time with Asiha.
Raising his rifle once more and aiming at the Tatar soldiers opposite, Zhu Xiaosong pulled the trigger again.
The third shot was the signal for the attack that Zhu Xiaosong had previously arranged.
On either side of the road where Asiha and his men were, grenades, their fuses smoking, were thrown from concealed pits towards the Firearm Camp.
The same formula, the same flavor. The grenades manufactured at Menglianggu, apart from their increased explosive power, maintained their characteristic inconsistent detonation times. Some exploded prematurely in mid-air, while others detonated only after landing.
The shrapnel flying in all directions sent the soldiers of the Firearm Camp into a state of utter confusion.
The soldiers of the Firearm Camp had never encountered such a weapon. Although the smoke from the explosions indicated that this formidable weapon was a firearm, they had never seen such a weapon that could devastate a wide area.
After all, this was our Great Qing. Even though later generations would extensively glorify and praise our dynasty in television dramas, our Great Qing consistently adhered to the principle of archery and horsemanship as the foundation of governance. Even the artillery of the Firearm Camp, composed entirely of Manchus, fired solid shot, not the shrapnel-producing explosive shells often depicted in dramas.
The dazed Manchu soldiers, bombarded into a state of shock, wished to flee, but the grenades rained down from both sides of the road. Whether exploding in mid-air or upon landing, they inflicted casualties on the Manchu soldiers.
The Manchu soldiers of the Firearm Camp were utterly despairing. Eventually, they abandoned any thought of escape and knelt on the ground, allowing the grenades to rain down on them from both sides of the road.
In contrast, the startled warhorses and mules struggled violently. The lucky ones broke free from their reins and bolted, while the unfortunate ones were wounded by the shrapnel.
Only after a considerable time did the barrage of grenades finally cease, and the desolate stretch of road once again fell silent.
The entire Firearm Camp, numbering two thousand men, suffered heavy casualties. Even counting the wounded, only slightly over a thousand remained capable of breathing. Hundreds were directly killed by the explosions, died from blood loss, or succumbed to fear.
This truly broke Zhu Xiaosong's heart.
Zhu Xiaosong grieved not only for the warhorses but also for the Manchus.
To be honest, the discovery at Menglianggu had now largely satisfied their self-sufficiency. However, they were critically short of warhorses and live, sturdy Manchus.
Without warhorses, Zhu Xiaosong could not form a cavalry.
Without live, sturdy Manchus, dangerous tasks such as digging wells and mining lacked labor.
Now, having finally obtained an opportunity to acquire a batch of warhorses and a group of live Manchus, the fact that a large number of warhorses had escaped due to their initial lack of planning caused Zhu Xiaosong immense heartache!
After everything had settled and the artillery of the Firearm Camp had been inspected, Zhu Xiaosong picked up a few of the Manchus' muskets to examine them. To his dismay, he discovered that all these muskets were unrifled, muzzle-loading matchlock muskets!
Zhu Xiaosong was immediately stunned and couldn't help but berate Asiha and the other Manchus, "We painstakingly set up an ambush for you, and this is how you repay us?"
"Look at all of you. You're still using solid shot! And you have the audacity to call yourselves the Firearm Camp? Even the firearms from the Ming Dynasty were superior to yours!"
Although he had a certain degree of preparedness, upon actually seeing the equipment of the Tatars, Zhu Xiaosong could not help but feel a sense of despair.
This? This was the equipment of the Tatar regular army?
During the war in Burma, they had already witnessed the effectiveness of flintlock muskets and suffered losses due to matchlock muskets. Why had these Tatars not learned their lesson?
What further frustrated Zhu Xiaosong was that even with Qianlong's rule in such a state, so many women who admired the Qing dynasty were eager to offer themselves! And the kneeling generation produced television dramas like Liu Luoguo and Ji Xiaolan to glorify and praise Qianlong!
Damn it all!
After cursing to the heavens for a long time, Zhu Xiaosong found that he could not vent his anger. He lowered his head, calculated for a moment, and then instructed Ke Zhiming, "Find a Manchu and let him go to inform Ming Xing. We must make Ming Xing be our great transport captain!"