1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3903

Years later, various legends about the Battle of Zhangjiang Gate in the summer of 1660 still circulate among the people of Nanchang.

The most widely circulated version of the story is that General Shi Chengwu of the Haihan Kingdom was actually the Thunder God from heaven, reincarnated to assist the Haihan Kingdom in unifying the world. At that time, the Haihan army was besieging Nanchang for a long time without success. In order to prevent the war from causing more bloodshed, Shi Chengwu revealed his true form and summoned a hundred bolts of heavenly lightning, which instantly destroyed Zhangjiang Gate, allowing the Haihan army to enter the city.

These folk tales, passed down by word of mouth countless times, were naturally embellished and fabricated in a seemingly plausible manner. Some said that a divine decree was issued from heaven before the battle, ordering the people to take refuge; others said that divine lightning struck down Zhangjiang Gate; still others said that it was thanks to the mercy of the Thunder God that the entire city of Nanchang was not blown to the sky by divine lightning, thus turning the various tactics used by the Haihan Army at that time into mystical blessings.

Shi Chengwu was certainly not a thunder god descended to earth; he did not possess any special magic. Moreover, the attack on Nanchang did not present any difficulties in taking it for a long time. The tactic of blowing up the city gate at Zhangjiang Gate only occurred on the second day after the Haihan Army launched its attack.

But for all those who experienced this battle firsthand, the shock of the explosion at Zhangjiang Gate that day was even more intense than the descent of a god.

Most of the important government offices in the city were located in the areas near the west and north of the city. Ding Baoguo's military office was no exception, with a straight-line distance of only a little over a mile from Zhangjiang Gate.

However, there was another government office near Zhangjiang Gate that was even closer than the Military Commander's Office and felt the impact of the explosion more intensely—that was the Provincial Administration Office where Zhao Mingyu worked. Standing on the roof of the Provincial Administration Office, one could see the gate of Zhangjiang Gate directly with the naked eye.

At this moment, Zhao Mingyu stood on the roof with a look of horror, looking towards Zhangjiang Gate in the west of the city. He had his men bring a ladder after the explosion and went up to the roof to observe.

Although Zhangjiangmen was still shrouded in smoke and dust, Zhao Mingyu was basically certain that the city's defenses had been breached by the Haihan army in some incomprehensible way.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, the area where Zhangjiang Gate was originally located gradually came into view, but the city gate was no longer there, replaced by a large area of ​​ruins between two sections of the city wall.

What shocked Zhao Mingyu even more was that the red and blue flag of the Haihan Army had appeared prominently on the ruins of Zhangjiangmen!
Zhao Mingyu didn't understand how Zhangjiangmen had vanished into thin air and turned into a pile of ruins, but he was certain that it was related to the Haihan Army's offensive. If this gap wasn't plugged quickly, the Haihan Army would surely rush in from the west of the city soon.

"Quickly, go to Zhangjiang Gate to reinforce! Send everyone from the yamen to Zhangjiang Gate to reinforce!" Zhao Mingyu snapped out of his daze and quickly gave the order to his men who were looking up at him in the courtyard.

Although most of his subordinates were clerical staff, and going to the battlefield would likely just be sending them to their deaths, Zhao Mingyu didn't care about that in his desperation. Once Nanchang fell, all these people in the government office, regardless of their rank, would become prisoners of war, and their lives might be in danger as well.

Zhao Mingyu hurriedly climbed the ladder back to the ground and then asked his attendant to fetch his sword—a gift from the current emperor. Although it wasn't a royal sword, it was still a symbol of his status and position.

Several attendants quickly stopped Zhao Mingyu. For an old civil official like him, who was nearly sixty years old, let alone going to the battlefield to fight the enemy, he might not even have the strength to run from the Provincial Administration Office to Zhangjiang Gate in one go. It was more like he was going to his death than to risk his life.

For a high-ranking official like Zhao Mingyu, living was far more valuable than dying. Whether for public or private reasons, his entourage had to do everything in their power to protect him. Zhao Mingyu, however, was oblivious to his entourage's thoughts, single-mindedly focused on repaying the emperor's kindness with his life. But given the current situation, his fate was no longer entirely in his own hands.

The explosion at Zhangjiang Gate caused heavy casualties to the garrison in the surrounding area. Hundreds of people may have been buried in the rubble, and more than a thousand were knocked down by sand and gravel fragments within a radius of several dozen feet around Zhangjiang Gate.

Although many people did not suffer any external injuries, they were so shaken by the huge commotion that they could not distinguish directions in the vast dust and smoke, let alone fight.

As a result, when the Haihan Army outside the city launched an attack on the ruins of Zhangjiang Gate, only a few dozen people were able to return to the city gate in time to continue fighting, and they were all fighting individually, making it difficult to form a united force.

Although these Ming soldiers were willing to resist, their individual martial prowess was ultimately no match for the well-organized and organized Haihan Army. They often received several close-range shots as soon as they met, and had no chance to enter the close-quarters combat stage.

According to the battle plan, the first vanguard that stormed into the ruins of Zhangjiang Gate did not rush to advance into the city. Instead, they first climbed up the city walls at both ends of the ruins, cleared away the remaining defenders on the nearby city walls, cleared obstacles for the troops that would arrive later from outside the city, and blocked the defenders and reinforcements coming from inside the city from their high ground.

Due to the obstruction of the ruins, heavy firepower equipment such as artillery could not be transported into the city for the time being. Therefore, although the Haihan Army had opened a breach in the city's defenses, it could only rely on infantry to build positions for the time being.

Faced with a large number of defenders rushing from all directions of the city to block the breach, the vanguard force was indeed somewhat outnumbered and could only rely on its firepower advantage to shoot down the scattered Ming soldiers who were eager to charge.

But as organized Ming troops arrived, the counterattack intensified. Squads of archers had already assembled in formation on the street a hundred paces away from Zhangjiang Gate, and then, under the command of their officers, launched a barrage of arrows at the ruins of Zhangjiang Gate.

This indiscriminate firing, which distinguishes between friend and foe, can cover an area of ​​several meters in a single volley from dozens of archers. This poses a significant threat to the unarmored Haihan army, and those hit by arrows will either die or be seriously injured.

Meanwhile, the Ming infantry, armed with heavy shields, continued their advance under a hail of bullets. These heavy shields were not only large in area but also extremely thick and sturdy. Furthermore, a layer of soil-filled cloth bags was tied to the outside of the shields, greatly enhancing their protection against bullets.

Although this made the shield extremely heavy, requiring two people to lift and move it, it was indeed effective in stopping the Haihan army's rifle fire.

More than ten heavy shields lined up in a row, forming a moving wall that protected the soldiers behind them as they slowly advanced.

These heavy shields were not standard equipment for the Ming army; they were clearly a tactical deployment made after summarizing and learning from past battles, specifically targeting the characteristics of the Haihan infantry.

Lacking heavy weapons, the vanguard of the Haihan army, seeing that rifle fire was ineffective, had no choice but to resort to their limited number of hand grenades to slightly slow the advance of the shield formation. However, when they threw the grenades, they revealed their position, and a volley of arrows rained down from the sky.