roccoschili Chapter 44 The First Battle of the Triangular Dagger
Chapter 44 The First Battle of the Triangular Dagger
Chapter 044
Chen Ying wasn't really being delusional. Although the Maoshan Iron Mine was only discovered in the 1930s, the main reason was that this area was originally taken from the Jurchens by Korea.
In order to weaken the Jurchens, the Ming Dynasty ignored the fact that Joseon had occupied Musan, including most of Hamgyong Province. The reason why Joseon never discovered the Musan iron mine is actually quite simple: this area was once Jurchen territory, and after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it became a no-man's land like Northeast China.
There aren't even any people, what's the point of developing anything?
As for the development cost, from a commercial perspective, a ton of iron ore currently costs several hundred yuan, with the cheapest iron ore costing around six hundred yuan per ton, which is equivalent to three cents per kilogram.
Steel mills now have a production capacity of tens or hundreds of millions of tons, and the demand is huge. The problem is that North Korea has not discovered iron ore before. For North Korea, the northernmost part of the Musan Iron Mine is only 14 to 15 kilometers away from the Yalu River. This distance is such that even if the North Koreans carry the iron ore on their backs, they can reach the riverbank.
As for the cost, this wasn't something they picked up. Chen Ying even suggested a method for them: they could put the ore directly on the raft and let it float downstream. The actual cost would be labor costs.
The people of North Korea were actually far poorer than those of the Ming Dynasty. When people are poor, what kind of hard or strenuous work can't they do? With just a word from Mao Wenlong, officers in Hamgyong Province of North Korea would scramble to do it. North Korean officers could conscript people to mine for free; if they were in a good mood and gave them some food, countless people would eagerly do it.
Even if 100,000 catties of iron ore were exchanged for a set of armor, it would definitely be a profitable deal. However, given Mao Wenlong's character, he would only make empty promises to the Koreans. Of the tens of thousands of troops in the Dongjiang Army, only seven or eight thousand were armored. Why would he give the best armor to the Koreans?
That's just wishful thinking. Even if North Korea knew they had been deceived by Mao Wenlong, they wouldn't dare do anything to him because they couldn't afford to offend the Jurchens, let alone Mao Wenlong. Mao Wenlong was a ruthless man who had turned Andong upside down.
Wei Zhongxian turned to his nephew Fu Yingxing beside him and said, "Did you hear that?"
"Uncle, I heard you!"
"How about I let you handle this?"
Fu Yingxing laughed and said, "I'm always out and about, I know a lot of people, so this will be easy. I'll go to Pi Island in a few days and talk to Mao Wenlong about it!"
Chen Ying felt certain that the matter was mostly settled.
Wei Zhongxian not only provided him with protection, but also sent his confidants to run the business together. This was both a form of supervision and a clear signal of shared interests.
He immediately bowed, his tone filled with emotion: "Your Excellency's great kindness is something I will never forget! On behalf of the thousands of soldiers and civilians of Shahe, I kowtow to thank Your Excellency for saving our lives! Everything is at Your Excellency's disposal!"
……
Thirty li east of Guangning Qiantunwei in Liaodong, on a desolate plain covered with remnants of snow and frozen soil, stands a newly built garrison fort.
Since Sun Chengzong became Minister of War (not a military officer) and Grand Secretary of the Dongge Pavilion, and served as the Commander-in-Chief of Ji-Liao, overseeing affairs in Ji, Liao, Tianjin, Deng, and Lai, he has been working with various places in Liaodong to reorganize the army.
He successively trained 110,000 troops in Liaodong, and used a combination of infantry, cavalry, chariots and artillery to launch dozens of probing attacks against the Jurchens, with both sides experiencing victories and defeats.
During this period, Sun Chengzong successively promoted generals such as Zu Dashou, Wu Xiang, Yuan Chonghuan, Man Gui, He Kegang, and Zhao Shuaijiao to strengthen the border defenses.
After more than a year of testing, he discovered that the Ming army had more defeats than victories in open field battles against the Jurchens. Since cavalry warfare skills could not be mastered in a short time, he changed his strategy to build fortified positions and fight protracted battles, slowly eroding the territory occupied by the Jurchens and gradually expanding the territory by more than 200 li (in fact, more than 400 li).
As the saying goes, a skilled warrior doesn't need illustrious victories. He subtly and gradually inflicted pain on the Jurchens, making them feel immense suffering. Of course, this also foreshadowed the later extermination of his entire family. In the eleventh year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Dorgon led an army of over 30,000 men, not attacking key military locations, but heading straight for Gaoyang County, all for revenge.
At this moment, the Ming army was arrayed along the side chariots, and musketeers were firing at the Jurchen cavalry.
As the deep bugle call sounded, the Jurchens, at the cost of six or seven hundred casualties, finally succeeded in exhausting the gunpowder carried by the Ming army's musketeers.
The Jurchen general in charge of the attack was Tazhan, the second son of Yangguli, the future Prince Wuying, and a fierce general of the Plain Yellow Banner. Tazhan had been fighting alongside Yangguli since he was fifteen years old and was very experienced. He had long ago calculated that the Ming army's muskets were slow to load and that the barrels were prone to bursting.
Each time he attacked, he would send out a hundred or so men to repeatedly probe the enemy. Now, he suddenly intensified his offensive, sending in two Niru (units of rank), more than six hundred cavalry.
After more than a dozen volleys, the Ming army was now at its most vulnerable. The Jurchen cavalry, braving sparse arrows and the few lucky ones who managed to reload their muskets, paid the price of dozens of riders falling from their horses before finally reaching within a dozen paces of the Ming army's lines.
The cavalrymen grinned maliciously, raising their sabers and heavy axes, ready to charge into the midst of these panicked fire sticks and hack and slash as they had done countless times before.
Ma Shilong, the Liaodong general who was watching from behind, couldn't help but order his personal guards to charge forward. Seeing Sun Chengzong's calm and unmoved demeanor, he finally understood the true purpose of this battle: to test the waters with guns and swords.
This time, the Jurchen cavalry noticed that although the Ming musketeers also looked nervous, they did not retreat or frantically try to reload as usual.
They moved in perfect unison, holding the musket in their left hands and drawing a strange, gleaming short blade from their waists with their right hands, attaching it to the muzzle. The musket, which was originally only four feet five inches (about 1.4 meters) long, suddenly had a three-edged bayonet nearly three feet (about 0.9 meters) long attached to the front.
The entire musket instantly transformed into a short spear over six feet (nearly 2 meters) long. The Jurchen cavalrymen at the forefront realized this, but the momentum of their charge could not be stopped abruptly.
"Hold on, thrust!"
The Ming army commander issued the battle order. The first rank of musketeers lowered their short spears in unison, their sharp triangular bayonets pointing diagonally forward. The bayonets of the second rank protruded from the shoulder gaps of their comrades in the front rank, instantly forming a cold, deadly jungle of metal.
"Pfft!"
"Snap!"
The dull thud of a sharp weapon piercing flesh and the crisp sound of metal striking bone rang out almost simultaneously. A triangular bayonet plunged deep into the chest of a warhorse, which reared up with a shriek, throwing the rider off its back.
Another bayonet pierced precisely into the leather armor of a Jurchen cavalryman, penetrating deep into his neck, and a large amount of blood immediately gushed from the wound. Other bayonets went straight through the relatively thin cotton armor or chainmail, inflicting terrible penetrating wounds on the cavalrymen.
Despite being cold-cast from molten steel, this triangular bayonet achieves a hardness of over 60 HRC after surface heat treatment. Its triangular conical structure concentrates force into a very small contact area, generating extremely high pressure. This design allows it to easily pierce through materials such as stab-proof vests, thick clothing, and lightweight, hard materials.
With the added force of the Jurchen cavalry charge, many Jurchen cavalrymen clad in iron armor were pierced through their armor and bodies without any delay.
The Jurchen cavalry's charge was halted. Their slashing sabers struck the wooden stock or barrel of the muskets, sending sparks flying, but they could not immediately kill the Ming soldiers behind them.
The Ming musketeers, relying on their length advantage, thrust and pulled back with all their might. Although their movements were far less skillful than those of the spearmen, their formation was somewhat chaotic due to the close-quarters combat, and men were frequently cut down or knocked over by startled warhorses.
However, compared to the almost one-sided massacre of musketeers when they were brought to close range in the past, the situation is much better.
At least a hundred Jurchen cavalrymen were stabbed off their horses in the first wave of contact, and many more were forced to fight back and forth by the dense bayonets, making it difficult for them to advance.
On a low slope behind, General Ma Shilong of Liaodong was intently watching the battle situation on the left flank.
When he saw that the musketeers had actually used their lances to block the cavalry charge and inflict considerable casualties, he couldn't help but slap his thigh: "Good! Good heavens! These short lances mounted on the muskets are so effective! Your Excellency, look! With these things, the musketeers are like hedgehogs with fangs! The Jurchens have finally bitten off more than they can chew! The weapons have finally done something worthwhile!"
Sun Chengzong stroked his long beard, his gaze calmly observing the details of the battlefield.
The casualties among the musketeers were also considerable, with the ratio of one to two, or two to three, being almost equal to that of the Jurchen cavalry. Of course, he saw more than Ma Shilong did.
The musketeers were not yet proficient in using this type of musket and their coordination was rusty. If the Jurchen forces had not been small in number and had not underestimated the enemy, the results might not have been so obvious.
This undoubtedly proves the feasibility of a new approach, which costs very little but can greatly improve the close-combat survivability and battlefield resilience of musketeers. This is much more cost-effective than simply adding expensive swordsmen or spearmen as guards.
Sun Chengzong shook his head slightly: "Shilong, you've thanked the wrong government this time."
"Oh?"
Ma Shilong was taken aback: "Isn't it made by the Bureau of Weapons and Staffs?"
"These guns were made by Chen Boying of the Shahe Garrison Command. His Majesty ordered that 20,000 be made first and sent to Liaodong for trial use."
Sun Chengzong organized an army of 110,000 in Liaodong, of which more than 40% were musketeers. These were mainly Jurchen warhorses, and not all of them had undergone desensitization training. Many warhorses would be frightened when they heard the muskets firing, and would also throw the Jurchen cavalry off.
More importantly, the Ming army's cold weapons were almost ineffective against the Jurchen soldiers in white armor. Only the musketeers could fire at close range, and even the white-armored soldiers wearing three layers of iron armor would be seriously wounded and rendered unable to fight.
"Shahe Institute? Chen Boying?"
Ma Shilong quickly searched his memory; he seemed to recognize the name of this commander. After a while, he remembered: "The military household that was promoted last year for making the Tianqi Plow? I think he also caused some trouble because of Prince Xin's studies."
"It is this person."
Sun Chengzong nodded: "Although I have heard that he has dealings with the inner court and his reputation is mixed, this thing is indeed a powerful weapon for the military and the country. It is inexpensive to manufacture and has significant effects. If all the arquebusiers in the army can be issued with it and given some training, our army will be able to deploy its troops with fewer concerns, and the offensive and defensive strategies may see some new changes."
Ma Shilong watched as the musketeer phalanx gradually stabilized on the battlefield and even began to cooperate with friendly forces on the flanks to attempt a counterattack. He then recalled the chain reaction caused by the musketeers being routed after being brought to close range in the past.
It must be admitted that this little gadget is extremely useful. If the gun-and-sword formation is mastered, the Jurchens will have no chance of gaining an advantage.
Ma Shilong clicked his tongue and said, "I don't care who they associate with. Being able to make this thing is a merit! Your Excellency, could we have a few more of these muskets? The musketeers in all the battalions are eagerly waiting for them!"
Sun Chengzong thought even further ahead. Chen Boying was able to obtain His Majesty's permission to try this method and persuade the inner court to promote it. In just one month, 20,000 guns and knives were produced, of which 6,000 were sent to the Liaodong front.
But in any case, this thing has survived this battle and can be considered to have stood firm.
"The report will be presented to His Majesty truthfully."
Sun Chengzong finally said, "As for whether we can ask for more, it depends on the court's allocation and the production capacity of the Shahe Garrison. However... since this item has proven useful, I believe Your Majesty is wise and will make a decision."
Just as the Liaodong triangular bayonet achieved a great victory in its first actual battle, Chen Ying was also developing hand grenades at the gun and cannon bureau in Shahe.
For Chen Ying now, the technology for manufacturing hand grenades is fully mature. He has produced granular black powder, which has the power of a quarter of TNT. It can be directly cast into the grenade body using molten iron from a smelting furnace.
Cast iron is hard and brittle. With a pineapple-shaped design, it can be pre-made into shrapnel. It only needs to be loaded with four ounces of explosive, which is basically equivalent to the power of a Type 67 wooden-handled grenade.
The only technical challenge was the fuse. If it was lit by an open flame with a fuse, there would be no difficulty at all. But if it was detonated by pulling a string like in later times, then a technical breakthrough would be needed.
Chen Ying also wanted to adopt the wire-drawing detonation method, which works by using gunpowder to ignite a fuse, and the fuse ends in a detonator to detonate the TNT inside the projectile. However, the problem was that Chen Ying was not a chemical expert; he only knew the principle behind many things, and implementing them was not easy.
However, Chen Ying's grenade was not loaded with TNT, but with black powder. He then realized the key to the problem: to make a thin copper tube with a thick copper wire inside. Between the copper coin and the copper tube, he filled it with saltpeter and broken porcelain pieces to increase friction.
After experiments, it was found that there was indeed a certain probability of detonating the gunpowder, causing the grenade to explode without the need for an open flame, but there was a nearly 30% chance that it would not explode.
This gave Chen Ying a headache. A 30% misfire rate was far too high. These days, manufacturing a grenade is not cheap, and he couldn't afford to be too wasteful. He had no choice but to make improvements.
Just as Chen Ying was busy improving the hand grenade, Lu Jiucheng came to the Shahe Garrison Command again.
After looking at Chen Ying, he immediately smiled and said, "Congratulations, Lord Chen... Congratulations, Lord Chen!"
"Oh, what's the cause of your joy?"
Chen Ying was slightly taken aback, somewhat puzzled. He had been holed up in the gun and cannon bureau for more than half a month and hadn't done anything.
"Is it a good thing that Commander Sun requested His Majesty to have Lord Chen oversee the manufacture of 50,000 cannons?"
Chen Ying was slightly taken aback: "Are there musketeers like that in Liaodong?"
"Who says a musket has to be used on a gun?"
Lu Jiucheng said, "This musket can also be attached to a wooden handle to become a spear!"
Sun Chengzong was interested in the triangular bayonet because it could enhance the close combat ability of musketeers, but Ma Shilong saw the armor-piercing ability of the triangular bayonet. Although the long spears produced by the Armory Bureau were cheap, their armor-piercing ability was too weak, but the musket did not have this problem. He ordered 50,000 of them in one go, at one tael and five mace of silver per bay, which was a great deal for him.