Even the Emperor was not worried, so the soldiers below were even more unhurried.
For a time, it seemed as if the Ming Army had suddenly become passive and lazy; every day, they would attack Juyong Pass at a fixed time, much like clocking in for work, without caring whether they could inflict any losses on the enemy or whether they could even win the fight.
After several waves of attacks, they would sound the retreat and withdraw as soon as the designated time arrived.
The Qing Army commander was momentarily bewildered; he thought the Ming Army had lost its spirit and thus attempted to arrange for men to ambush them to claim military merit.
As a result, the Ming Army that was attacked acted like a beast waking from its slumber. Every squad the commander sent out was slaughtered by this beast, not a single person managed to return to deliver the news.
Commander??
Why do you act so fierce, yet pretend to be so weak?
The defending general, of course, had no idea that Zhu Ci was waiting for Dorgon.
Unfortunately, the Qing Court could not afford to exhaust Dorgon like this indefinitely.
As long as Dorgon held Baoding, he could not be easily redeployed, so in the end, the Qing Court had no choice but to dispatch their other Regent, Jirgalang, along with Dodo.
Jirgalang and Dodo exchanged a glance when they set out on the expedition, never imagining that they would ever have a day where they had to cooperate again.
However, at this time, the two of them could no longer engage in internal strife.
Dorgon was recovering from his injuries while defending the city in Baoding, the situation appeared to be quite dire, so Dodo naturally had to be careful to avoid the storm.
Of course, there was no need to be overly cautious. Dorgon was his brother, but he did not rely solely on Dorgon to achieve his current status.
The most important thing was that if the internal strife continued, the Great Ming would fight their way in!
Juyong Pass was already very close to Beijing, one could even say the enemy was at the gates. At a time like this, even if the two of them had a massive grudge, they would have to set it aside and unite against the external threat; besides, their previous hatred was not even that extreme.
Zhu Ci looked at the flags fluttering atop the city walls and said with some regret, "It seems Dorgon will not be coming this time."
Different flags represented different generals; currently, these two flags represented Jirgalang and Dodo.
Zhu Ci turned his head and asked, "How is the Night Stealth Squad doing?"
Wang Chang bowed and said, "Reporting to His Majesty, they are already in position."
This time, the Night Stealth Squad did not use signal flares, as using that would have easily exposed them; instead, they took the opportunity to release a hot air balloon.
In the eyes of the Qing Army, hot air balloons with or without gunpowder packs looked no different, but the Ming Army could easily tell them apart, as there were subtle differences in everything from their size to their appearance.
Zhu Ci said, "Then let's take action. It would be best to leave both of them here."
Although he had cooperated with Jirgalang before, an enemy was an enemy, both sides were very clear that the contradictions between them were irreconcilable.
Otherwise, Zhu Ci could easily have people contact Jirgalang to coordinate an internal and external strike; if that happened, what would there be left to worry about?
Unfortunately, even if he could, he wouldn't want to do it this way. If he truly exploited Jirgalang, no matter what the final outcome was, he would have to treat Jirgalang well; otherwise, who would ever defect to the Great Ming in the future?
But Jirgalang had slaughtered many cities back then; treating him well.. Zhu Ci couldn't get past that in his heart.
If he wouldn't even accept Wu Sangui's surrender, how could he possibly accept Jirgalang?
That night, the Night Stealth Squad began their operation. This time, they brought more than just birdlock guns; some carried rapid-fire guns, while others carried long-range matchlocks.
As for grenades, they had naturally brought plenty of those as well, making the journey quite a heavy burden.
Similarly, the number of people assigned to go this time was much greater than last time. Although the mountain paths were difficult to traverse, they were still simpler than climbing the city walls.
Jirgalang and Dodo arrived at Juyong Pass and were still discussing how to defend the city and whether they could launch a counterattack when they were suddenly ambushed.
They were the first to witness that no matter how many successes the Ming Army had, they only sought to have successful hot air balloon bombs.
Dodo looked at the hot air balloons floating in the sky and couldn't help but say irritably, "Is the Emperor of Ming not afraid of wasting money?"
The success rate of hot air balloon bombs was not high, but if one succeeded, it could blow up a whole crowd of people.
That was why Dodo was so irritable.
Jirgalang said with a heavy expression, "The Ming Kingdom has defeated the Dutch. After they occupied Taiwan, they gained control over the maritime trade routes and became masters of the seas; they certainly won't be lacking in wealth."
Dodo's expression darkened even further upon hearing this, because he thought of Alna, whom he had sent out previously. Originally, he had sent him out to covet the Zheng family's wealth, but after that man went to Japan, there had been no news of him.
Even if Dodo were foolish, he knew he had been deceived. Perhaps Alna had embezzled the wealth and had no intention of returning; of course, it was even more likely that there had never been such a fortune to begin with, it was merely a lie fabricated by Alna to save himself.
It was just that Alna had not been captured when he brought out this news; what kind of danger did he feel at that time that forced him to flee?
What on earth did he do this time?
Beside him, Jirgalang sensed that Dodo was in a bad mood. He had originally intended to make a sharp remark to him, asking if the Jala E Zhen whom he had let escape had brought him any wealth.
However, he thought that it was really not the time for internal strife, so he swallowed his words and asked with a sigh, "What do we do now?"
Indeed, what should be done now?
Dodo also really wanted to ask this question.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Why don't you two just commit suicide? Just close your eyes and you won't have to worry anymore. *Cat paws a knife toward you with a pleasant expression*. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 255
To tell the truth, both Jirgalang and Dodo had come here with no other choice.
In truth, there was no one left in the imperial court to dispatch, they couldn't really have the Little Emperor lead a personal expedition, could they?
But to tell the truth, both Jirgalang and Dodo were defeated by Zhu Ci.
Although military formations have no constant state and water has no constant shape, losing once does not mean one will lose forever; the problem is that this war god emperor of Southern Ming has already defeated Dorgon.
To speak truthfully, Dorgon could be considered the God of War of their Qing Dynasty; now that he has been severely wounded in battle, it is unknown if he will even recover.
Just when everyone thought there was hope after finally holding Baoding, news arrived that the Emperor of Ming had not gone to Baoding at all.
The confidence that had just been rising plummeted to rock bottom once again.
Before this, there had been a fierce argument in the court about whether or not to call back the Imperial Uncle Regent, as everyone was truly shaken by the defeats they had suffered.
In the past, the Qing Court always felt that the Emperor of Ming's so-called "undefeated in a hundred battles" was merely false propaganda from the Ming side to boost morale. Although it appeared that the Emperor of Ming indeed had never lost, he had hardly fought many battles at all.
If that's how it works, the Qing Court could also pick someone, or even have their own Emperor lead a personal expedition to some minor skirmishes, after winning a few battles, they could claim their Emperor was also invincible in every battle.
No one could have expected that the Emperor of Ming truly possessed such immense value.
At the very least, being able to defeat Dorgon has already explained everything.
Of course, there are also those who are unwilling to admit it, insisting instead that the Ming Kingdom's victory was due to having divine weapons.
Then the question arises, why doesn't the Ming Kingdom have them?
In any case, all parties held their own views, but in the end, the Empress Dowager forcibly suppressed the discussion, stating that the Imperial Uncle Regent needed to focus on recovering from his injuries, noting that the terrain of Juyong Pass was treacherous and difficult to capture.
In the end, he sent the two of them out.
At first, Jirgalang and Dodo also thought that there shouldn't be any problem this time; they didn't have such a terrain advantage back then.
As a result, things have turned out quite differently; they are ignoring your terrain advantage and have begun an aerial strike.
If he could, Dodo would also like to be this extravagant once, but unfortunately, let alone the National Treasury not having that much money, even if they did have the money, they wouldn't possess such technology.
Dodo looked up at the hot air balloons swaying and drifting over, took a deep breath, said, "We must find a way; he must have a way to deal with this firearm."
"His firearms depend on the wind direction; once the wind direction is unfavorable, they will inevitably be useless," Jirgalang said.
Dodo glanced at him and said nothing.
This was obvious; he could see that too.
The question is, what happens after it becomes unusable?
Jirgalang pondered and said, "How about we send someone to raid their camp?"
Dodo really wanted to ask if that would work.
But upon careful thought, it seemed like this was the only way left. As for a frontal assault, let's not even go there—Shang Kexi was defeated, Dorgon was also defeated.
They have three different ranges of firearms—short, medium, long—and can also use those flags to communicate and issue commands.
Previously, Shang Kexi had tried to have the flag-bearers killed, but he discovered that unless the person holding the red flag was killed, others would simply step in to take their place whenever those holding the colored flags were killed.
It was as if all the Ming Army soldiers could take over command duties at any time.
Of course, this was an illusion; the ordinary soldiers of Great Ming could not do this; only the Jinyi Guard could.
Most ordinary soldiers only learned a portion of the common flag signals because Zhu Ci led the Jinyi Guard on a personal expedition, teaching them as they fought their way along the route.
However, Shang Kexi did not know, he did not analyze much either; he simply reported what he had seen and heard, much of it was analyzed by the Imperial Court itself.
Then let's try it.
It must be said that when facing a powerful enemy, flanking and surprise attacks are the first choice for many generals.
Zhu Ci made this choice, Dodo and Jirgalang made the same choice.
Thus, both sides were ambushed on the same day, as if they had reached a silent understanding.
Zhu Ci looked up at the sky and said, "They have carefully chosen this day."
The weather was nice today, with hardly any wind; at least the current mountain breeze wasn't enough to move the hot air balloon.
Zhu Ci was not worried upon hearing the news that the camp was under attack; he merely asked, "What is the situation?"
“Your Majesty's foresight is incredible; they indeed chose the east for their raid.”
Zhu Ci raised his right index finger and shook it, saying, "This is no divine calculation; it is that the location we chose forced them to choose this side for their raid."
From the very beginning when choosing the campsite, Zhu Ci had selected two different locations: one was the site of the actual military camp, while the other was chosen to deceive the enemy. Both sides contained military tents and looked identical.
The only difference was that the terrain on both sides was different; the eastern side of the other fake camp had a gentle slope.
If it's a sneak attack, it would naturally be easiest to come from that direction.
As soon as Zhu Ci finished speaking, he heard the sound of explosions coming from the mountain.
He had long ago ordered people to bury explosives at the gentle slope; not just at the gentle slope, but there were explosives everywhere beneath the fake military camp as well.
If the opponent dares to launch a sneak attack, he can just use these explosives to welcome them.
Unfortunately, these explosives were originally intended to welcome Dorgon.