Chapter 88

Seeing this scene, Zaisang's face immediately changed. He squatted down and used his fingers to measure the wound on the corpse's chest, which was only about two fingers wide. Zaisang then turned the body over and sucked in a breath; the back of the corpse had a hole as large as a fist.

Not only Zaisang, but also Wudamu and several Mongolian generals who were following him, sucked in a breath of cold air. To penetrate three layers of cotton armor, how much force must have been used?

Zaisang stood up and looked around. He saw that around Yueyang, there were soldiers holding muskets. He asked in a deep voice, "Nephew Yue, are all these corpses on the ground shot by muskets?"

Yueyang nodded, "Exactly!"

"Wow..." Zaisang sucked in a breath and exclaimed, "The Ming Dynasty's firearms are so powerful?"

Zaisang thought for a moment, then looked at Yueyang and Hailanzhu, his eyes gradually brightening. Just as he was about to say something, a hurried sound of hooves came from behind. Soon, more than ten cavalrymen in white helmets and armor appeared beside them. They quickly dismounted and walked briskly toward Yueyang.

The leader was a very young general, who, by Yueyang's estimation, was around twenty-one or twenty-two years old. He had a square face, which was rare among the Jurchens, and his small eyes revealed a sharpness that did not match his age. When his gaze met Yueyang's, a flash of light appeared in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared as their gazes crossed. On the contrary, a younger general behind him looked at Yueyang as if he were a mortal enemy, his eyes filled with a predatory gleam. Seeing the unmasked hatred in the younger general's eyes, Yueyang guessed that this was probably Dodo, who had just fought with him.

The young general walked over and, without first greeting Zaisang, went straight to Yueyang, who was standing beside Hailanzhu, and said in a deep voice, "If this Prince's guess is correct, you are the lucky fellow who picked the most beautiful flower on the科尔沁草原 (Khorchin Grassland)."

Yueyang looked around and then rubbed his nose, saying, "If the flower you're talking about is the beautiful girl standing beside me, then it's me. But if I'm not mistaken, more people probably think of me as the lucky dog."

"Oh?" The newcomer was surprised by Yueyang's words and looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding. "Hmm, not bad. It seems we underestimated you. No wonder my fifteenth brother was defeated by you. Now it looks like your victory wasn't just luck. Let me introduce myself, I am Dorgon, and the one who caused you trouble just now was my incompetent fifteenth brother."

"Oh?" Even though Yueyang had been prepared, he was still slightly surprised. He carefully examined this historical figure, looking at him from head to toe. Dorgon began to feel uneasy under Yueyang's gaze and finally, unable to bear it, he cleared his throat and said, "Mr. Yue, do you have any grievances against this Prince?"

"Grievances?" Yueyang was taken aback and then shook his head with a smile. The reason for his sudden loss of composure was that he had suddenly remembered a TV drama called "The Secret History of Empress Xiaozhuang." In that drama, the person in front of him and Empress Xiaozhuang had a story that was both touching and tragic. If the situation were different, he would have really wanted to ask if he had any romantic involvement with his future sister-in-law.

However, Yueyang quickly realized that people who left their names in history usually had the ability to turn big things into small ones or even twist the truth. Dorgon looked deeply at Yueyang and said, "Mr. Yue, my fifteenth brother was rash and disrespectful to you just now. We were indeed in the wrong. I will severely punish him when we return. I hope you will not hold it against us."

"Punish?" Yueyang sneered. Dorgon truly lived up to his reputation for being "smart and alert." He wanted to gloss over the incident with just a word of rashness. This was too clever. Just as Yueyang was about to speak, Hailanzhu gently tugged at his sleeve and gave him a pleading look.

Yueyang then remembered that he was here to marry a wife. With his father-in-law watching, it was better to let the old man handle it. If he insisted on pursuing the matter, it would be a loss of face. Thinking of this, Yueyang reluctantly nodded, "We'll settle this another day. For now, let's return to the tribe. After all, I'm here to marry a wife."

Hearing Yueyang's words, Zaisang, Wudamu, and the other Mongolian generals breathed a sigh of relief. Zaisang was worried that if Yueyang insisted on pursuing Dodo's responsibility, it would be a big problem. After all, Dodo was a prince of the Later Jin and a brother of Huangtaiji. Even if he didn't consider the relationship, Zaisang couldn't do anything to Dodo. Yueyang's response was appropriate. Dodo, although he now wanted to tear Yueyang to pieces, was not stupid. He knew that this was the best outcome. Although he remained silent, he had already made up his mind that if he ever had the chance, he would make this Ming barbarian suffer.

"Ha ha ha..." Seeing Yueyang agree to put the matter aside, Zaisang laughed, "I knew my son-in-law wouldn't disappoint me. You are indeed very magnanimous."

Zaisang said to Yueyang, "Son-in-law, I'm sorry for the trouble you've been through. It's rare that you are so magnanimous and don't pursue the matter. But you can rest assured, they will give you an explanation. Bumbutai, isn't that right?"

As Zaisang spoke, a beautiful, plump woman in Manchu attire walked out from behind him and nodded to Yueyang, "Abu is right. We will give you an explanation."

"This is..." Yueyang hesitated and turned his gaze to Zaisang.

Zaisang laughed, "I forgot to introduce her. This is Hailanzhu's sister, Bumbutai, who is now a concubine of the Great Khan of the Later Jin. She is here on the Great Khan's orders to visit her family and attend your wedding with Hailanzhu."

"Your Highness, I apologize for my rudeness!" Yueyang forced himself to suppress his curiosity about this future Empress Xiaozhuang and bowed, thinking, "Well, today I've met both Dorgon and the future Empress Xiaozhuang."

Seeing that everyone had met, Zaisang, relieved, said, "Alright, let's discuss this when we return. For now, everyone, let's go back."

The scene was chaotic, with the battlefield littered with severed limbs and bodies, making it quite nauseating. After Zaisang spoke, Yueyang and Dorgon each led their men to tally the casualties and clean up the battlefield before returning to the Khorchin tribe.

Soon, the casualty report was out. In this battle, Yueyang's cavalry lost eighty-seven men, with one hundred and sixty more injured, while the infantry had far fewer casualties, with only a dozen or so injured. On Dodo's side, out of five hundred men, almost all were killed, with only twenty, including Dodo, escaping. The casualty ratio was an astonishing 5:1, which shocked everyone, including Zaisang, Wudamu, and the other Mongolian generals, who now looked at Yueyang with a different expression.

"Dodo, how did you fight this battle? It's one thing that five hundred brave warriors were almost all killed, but look at your results. You only killed less than a hundred of the enemy. Are these Ming soldiers heavenly soldiers and generals?" In a secluded corner, Dorgon's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and Dodo was standing in front of him with a mournful expression.

He explained with a grim face, "Fourteenth Brother, this is not our fault. The warriors did their best. It's all because of those Ming dogs. They didn't engage us in direct combat but hid behind a circular formation and shot at us with muskets. Many warriors were killed by muskets."

"Muskets?" Dorgon looked at Dodo. Since Dorgon had arrived too late, he had not seen the battle firsthand. His expression gradually became stern, and he asked in a low voice, "What exactly happened? Tell me in detail."

"Yes!" Dodo recounted the battle in detail, emphasizing the high range of the muskets. "Fourteenth Brother, to be honest, I've dealt with the Ming army more than once. You know what the Ming muskets are like. They often explode, are difficult to load, and have a short range, usually only about forty to fifty paces. But today, the muskets used by the Ming dogs had an astonishing range, capable of piercing the armor of our warriors from three to four hundred paces. Many warriors... most of our warriors were killed by those damned muskets before they even got close. The warriors died too unjustly... wu wu wu..." At this point, Dodo could no longer hold back his tears.

Dorgon's face grew grimmer as he listened. If Dodo were not his own brother, he would not have lied. Dorgon could hardly believe that there could be such powerful firearms in the world. He walked over to a large cart, which was filled with the bodies of the Jurchen warriors.

Dorgon pulled open the armor on one of the corpses' chests. The first thing he saw was a blood hole the size of half an egg. He turned the body over and found that the hole on the back had expanded to the size of a fist, indicating the incredible power of the musket. This was a through-and-through wound, and even a god could not save such a wound.

Dorgon examined several more bodies and found that although the wounds were in different places, they were all similar. This made him suck in a breath of cold air.

"Could the Ming Dynasty's firearms really be so powerful?"

A sense of fear welled up in Dorgon's heart. At that moment, he suddenly felt a chill.