The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

"Hold the formation!"

At the front and center of the Jingnan Army, a group of generals roared to maintain the integrity of the army formation.

The musketeers in the army formation had already begun firing freely.

In the early stages of a firefight, a perfectly synchronized volley can unleash the most ferocious firepower in an instant, maximizing the casualties on the enemy's orderly ranks and demoralizing them.

However, once the battle enters a sustained firefight phase, switching to free fire is necessary to ensure sustained firepower and maximum output efficiency.

At this stage, whoever can fire more projectiles and cause more damage will gain a greater advantage.

At this moment, the Jingnan Army's musketeer line had entered a state of free firing.

The popping sounds of the gunfire were no longer uniform, but became incredibly continuous, showing no sign of stopping.

The musketeers in the back row were responsible for loading the guns, while the musketeers in the first three rows were only responsible for firing.

They didn't need to worry about loading; they simply took the musket from behind, braced it, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

The smoke from the firing had barely risen when the empty muskets were quickly passed to the rear, and soon after, another fully loaded musket was placed into their hands.

This cycle repeated itself, resulting in an astonishingly high firing rate.

The musketeers of these two divisions, deployed on the flanks of the central formation, were not fully equipped with bayonets due to limitations in military production capacity.

This means they lack the ability to engage in close-quarters combat and must not be directly drawn into melee fighting by the surging tide of Qing heavy infantry.

However, its disadvantages are also its greatest advantages in some ways.

Because they used muskets without bayonets, they didn't need to consider the impact of bayonets on loading and transmission.

Therefore, such a relay tactic can be used to unleash firepower far exceeding that of conventional formations within a limited time.

This is not some revolutionary tactic, but simply the most classic, yet most discipline- and training-intensive, tactic of the firearms era—the three-stage attack.
However, this also maximized the firepower output of the flintlock musket from the front.

The flintlock musket had advantages over the matchlock musket in terms of loading speed and range.

Most importantly, because flintlock muskets use flint to strike the fire, there is no need to worry about sparks from the matchlock of neighboring soldiers igniting their own gunpowder bags. This allows the flintlock musket soldiers of the Jingnan Army to form a more compact formation.

After a meager exchange of fire lasting nearly fifteen minutes, the Qing Han Banner musketeers finally succumbed to the immense casualties and collapsed completely.

Even the supervising team behind them couldn't stop their rout.

After suffering heavy casualties, the musketeers at the front finally collapsed, and fear spread like a plague, quickly eroding the morale of the armored infantry of the Han army in the rear.

They watched helplessly as their comrades fell one after another under the relentless hail of bullets from the Jingnan Army.

The survivors had barely retreated when they were ruthlessly killed by the overseer team, their bloody heads held high as a warning to others.

Fear gripped everyone's throat, and the instinct for survival made them want to turn and run away.

but……

They dare not...

Behind them lay not a path to survival, but a scene even more terrifying than the muzzle of the Jingnan Army's guns before them.

Tens of thousands of fully armed elite bannermen of the Plain Yellow Banner stood less than fifty paces behind them.

The Qing emperor's dragon banner stood behind them.

These Plain Yellow Banner soldiers, personally commanded by Huang Taiji, were not only a strategic reserve force, but also the most ruthless enforcers on the battlefield.

The casualties suffered by the musketeers at the front also deeply affected the morale of the armored infantry behind the Han army banners.

But they dared not flee; they watched helplessly as the musketeers at the front, after falling apart, were mercilessly slaughtered by the supervising soldiers.

Behind them were tens of thousands of fully armed banner soldiers of the Plain Yellow Banner.

If they dare to turn and flee, they will face more than just death.

Their families and relatives in their former homeland of Liaodong will be regarded as the families of criminals, stripped of their banner status, and demoted to bondservants.

Going forward means death, and going backward means death too.

Under this extreme fear and oppression, the will to retreat was completely crushed, instead giving rise to a desperate madness.

The armored infantrymen of the Han army banner let out a trapped beast's roar and gripped their weapons tightly.

The thunderous war drums sounded again, and the armored infantrymen of the Han Army Banner charged desperately toward the Jingnan Army's formation.

However, their desperate struggle did not cause much of a stir.

The Jingnan army easily shattered their already faltering will to charge and their formation with a well-coordinated volley of five rounds of fire and a barrage of shrapnel from a large number of cannons.

The metallic storm of lead bullets once again plowed through their charging ranks, leaving behind a trail of writhing, groaning bodies.

When the remaining Qing army Han Banner troops approached within thirty paces.

The loud sound of trumpets suddenly rang out in the Jingnan Army's ranks.

Immediately afterwards, the melee spearmen who were originally in the second echelon moved out upon receiving the order.

They burst forth with astonishing speed and efficiency in an instant, a feat they had practiced countless times in training.

They swiftly and orderly crossed the line of gunners who were retreating and reloading, and after a brief reorganization, quickly formed thick and tight gun formations.

The change of formation was completed in a very short time. The musketeers who were just at the forefront of the line were now in a relatively safe rear position, while the spearmen who were originally in the rear had advanced to the front line.

Countless spears, each over ten feet long, were laid flat, instantly forming a formidable steel jungle in front of the battle lines.

In the Jingnan army, the large drums of the front-line troops beat continuously.

The thunderous sound of war drums, like the heartbeat of a prehistoric beast, instantly drowned out all the noise on the battlefield.

"Tiger!"

The Jingnan Army's long spearmen gripped their spears tightly, letting out a unified roar. They marched in unison to the beat of the drums, heading straight for the Qing army lines that had been briefly thrown into chaos by the charge and the barrage of fire.

Their target was the Han army infantry who had just managed to get close despite the heavy fire.

These Han army infantrymen had no time to regroup; most of them were still in a state of shock and extreme confusion.

Most of them were panting and their formation was scattered.

Many officers had already perished under artillery fire and bullets, and the remaining officers were simply unable to organize an effective line of fire; they themselves were still in a state of panic.

To their even greater surprise, the Jingnan Army not only did not retreat in the face of their desperate charge, but instead launched a counterattack that was even more ferocious than their own.

The Jingnan Army's spearmen kept advancing, maintaining a tight formation, and continued to press forward.

They didn't need to find a target at all; they could simply thrust their spears at any moving figure in front of them.

A crash occurred.

The already low morale of the Han army infantry was completely shattered by this sudden counterattack.

Those who retreated were hacked down by the supervising team, while those who advanced were mercilessly swallowed up by the gunfire.

The chaotic crowd collided and trampled each other, making the situation even more uncontrollable.

The surviving soldiers completely lost their will to fight, crying out and scattering in all directions, exposing their backs to the ever-advancing hail of gunfire.

At this point, the Qing army's central front completely collapsed.

The elite soldiers of the two blue banners had already been deployed to the battlefield earlier.

Huang Taiji had only the Plain Yellow Banner left as his last trump card... And in the next instant after the Qing army's Han Banner infantry line collapsed, the Jingnan Army's spearmen were chasing down the defeated enemy in front of them.

A sharp, distorted swan-like cry suddenly rang out in the sky above the battlefield, piercing through the layers of noise and clearly reaching the ears of every Jingnan Army soldier at the front.

This signal was completely different from the tone of all previous commands, carrying the highest level of alarm and urgency!

The faces of all the Jingnan Army spearmen changed, and the originally rapid war drumbeats suddenly turned into a low and slow sound.

"gather!"

The officers of the Jingnan Army looked tense, as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Quickly, quickly! Move closer to the military flag!!"

"Form ranks! Spears, form ranks!!"

The Jingnan Army pikemen who were charging forward immediately abandoned their pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Obeying the orders of their officers, they turned around without hesitation and ran quickly toward the nearest friendly flag, attempting to regroup into a tight defensive pike formation.

The Jingnan Army's spearmen were already moving extremely fast, but they hadn't yet been able to fully regroup and form an effective defensive formation.

A deep, yet oppressive rumble of thunder rolled in from the north, clearly reaching their ears.

Moreover, the thunder was getting louder and closer at an alarming rate!
The earth began to tremble slightly, as if a million giant drums were beating underground.

Some of the Jingnan Army pikemen who were running and gathering even felt unsteady on their feet, experiencing a sensation as if the ground was shaking.

they know……

That wasn't thunder...

That was the terrifying roar of thousands upon thousands of iron hooves striking the earth simultaneously!
"Raise the gun!"

A while ago, a battalion commander of the Jingnan Army shouted at the top of his lungs.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his hand gripping the sword was trembling uncontrollably.

His entire body, even his soul, trembled violently before the overwhelming aura of death that pressed down upon him.

That is the most primal, instinctive fear that humans feel when faced with an irresistible, purely destructive force!
That is the instinctive fear of impending death that people feel when faced with an onslaught of steel.

In the field of vision, countless bright yellow banners fluttered in the strong wind, converging into a powerful sound like the tide.

As the cavalry formation increased in speed, the banners were gradually stretched and unfurled by the powerful airflow until they were completely taut during the rapid march.

The rumbling of iron hooves was no longer a muffled thunder, but a tsunami that was right next to us!
The earth trembled violently, and the shadow of death completely enveloped the entire vanguard of the Jingnan Army.

That was the last force that Huang Taiji held the trump card for, and it also served as the Qing army's final reserve force.

Plain Yellow Banner.

This force, which had always been under the command of Huang Taiji, represented the absolute elite of the Manchu Eight Banners.

at this moment.

They revealed their sharp fangs without reservation!
The Qing army's Plain Yellow Banner cavalry had pushed their horses to their limits, maintaining a breathtakingly tight wall formation, like a moving city wall, sweeping towards the Jingnan Army's spearmen whose formation was not yet fully formed.

The terrifying impact instantly engulfed everything.

When hundreds or thousands of heavily armored cavalrymen charge in a tightly packed, seamless formation, concentrating all their momentum, the resulting destructive power is undoubtedly devastating.

Faced with the immense kinetic energy of the warhorses charging at full speed, many of the Jingnan Army spearmen at the forefront were sent flying backward, their bones shattered by the force of the impact.

Many Qing army cavalrymen of the Plain Yellow Banner were also pierced by several spears at the same time, but the huge inertia still made them continue to roll forward, dragging the spear tips, causing terrible secondary crushing.

All of a sudden.

The painful neighing of warhorses, the desperate cries of the dying, the chilling crack of bones breaking, and the sound of spears piercing flesh all intertwined to create a terrifying symphony.

The deep, resonant sounds of conch shells filled the air, while fierce shouts of battle in Manchu echoed across the open fields on the eastern outskirts of Jining.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!"

Despite the immense pressure exerted on the front and rear lines of the Jingnan Army, the musketeers still managed to pull their triggers after the front-line pikemen's formation collapsed.

After breaking through the formation of the Jingnan Army's spearmen, the Qing army's Plain Yellow Banner cavalry formation became somewhat jagged and disordered.

Those armored cavalrymen who charged at the forefront suffered heavy casualties again under this sudden close-range firing, with many men and horses falling to the ground.

However, the musketeer lines, now without the cover of pikemen, could not stop the cavalry charging in a desperate attempt.

The musketeers' lines also crumbled under the charge of the Qing cavalry.

The Qing army's Plain Yellow Banner cavalry continued their charge.

The moment the cavalry formation started, it meant they couldn't stop.

They couldn't stop, and they couldn't stop.

The great formation marched forward, the cavalry array majestic and imposing.

Retreat means death; only by charging forward can we fight for a chance of survival!
From the rear of the Qing army, the muffled drumbeats came faster and faster, like a death knell.

Driven by the horrors of death and bloodshed, these Jurchen hunters from the land of Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang River roared wildly.

They roared and charged once again into the musketeer formation of the Jingnan Army's front line.

They routed one Jingnan Army musketeer unit after another.

They broke through one after another of the Jingnan Army's spearman formations that came to their aid.

They launched a more ferocious attack on the Jingnan Army's positions deeper into their territory.

they.

It truly deserves the title of the most powerful army of this era.

In Sarhu, in Shenyang, in Guangning, in Songjin, and in countless battles, they proved this point!
Huang Taiji's bulky body rose and fell with the movement of his warhorse.

He gripped the ornate sword inlaid with jewels tightly in his hand.

The pungent, nauseating smell of blood mixed with the stench of mud and rainwater was violently forced into his mouth and nose by the headwind.

But this did not make Huang Taiji feel uncomfortable at all; on the contrary, it was as if he had drunk a strong liquor.

The strong liquor shot from his feet to the top of his head, giving him an unprecedented feeling of excitement and clarity.

Huang Taiji had never felt so physically fit.

It was as if the accumulated pain and fatigue of the past years had been swept away by the fierce winds of the battlefield, and the aging body seemed to be infused with the vitality and fervor of youth.

Thousands of iron cavalry galloped forward, and the enemy's lines crumbled in waves.

The magnificent scene of destruction before him filled him with immense ecstasy.

within sight.

Countless horse heads are rising and falling, like surging waves.

The warhorse's thick mane flew wildly in the gale, like a burning fire.

Amidst the thunderous clang of iron hooves, the enemy's agonizing cries echoed across Hongye.

Wherever the iron hooves went.

It seems that all obstacles are crumbling... (End of Chapter)