I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 333 It’s finally snowing
In Kaiyuan City, the north wind blew up sand and snow, which hit Zhou Guotai's face hard, causing him severe pain.

Damn God!

Is it because God offended me this year?

It's already the end of October, and except for a few short periods of sandy snow, the heavy snow that should have arrived in previous years has been delayed, like constipation.

The lack of heavy snow is very beneficial to the Chahar tribe!

But everyone knows that heavy snow will come sooner or later. The sand and snow came particularly quickly in the past two days, and the north wind was blowing strongly, which means that the heavy snow will come soon, and it is also the most critical moment.

Zhou Guotai looked into the distance. The wilderness outside the city was full of corpses, covered with a layer of sparse snow. In the howling north wind, their skin was grayish white, and they stretched out their stiff arms and pointed to the sky.

Three thousand meters away from the city wall, there are hundreds of wooden poles, each with a hideous head stuck on it.

Two of them were from Nayan, more than a dozen were from Mingantu, and the rest were from Zhaotu, Muqi, and Albani Aha. These Wanhu, Qianhu, Baihu and officers of the Chahar tribe were killed by the furious Tumen Khan after the failed siege in the past two days. Their heads were stuck in the wild to deter other tribes!

Tumen Khan is crazy!
Because he knew that if he failed to capture Kaiyuan City, he and the entire Chahar tribe might be doomed.

Woohoo——!
The sound of horns resounded across the wilderness again, and tens of thousands of Chahar soldiers, armed with knives and guns, walked out of various camps like zombies.

The flags they held were incomplete.

There were fewer flags on the city walls, and the remaining ones were like rags, adding a layer of smoky black.

Of the large flag with the Chinese character "Ming" on it, only half of the word "Ming" could be seen. It was still flying on the north gate tower, but the flags around it were gone. It stood alone on the city wall, like this isolated Kaiyuan city in the Liaodong wilderness.

Zhou Guotai turned around, and the blood flowing from his open lips froze into a thin layer in the north wind and stuck together.

He secretly exerted force and opened his mouth wide, and the dry mucous membrane and wounds were torn open, bleeding profusely.

"Messenger, ring the bell. The enemy has begun to attack. All units must deploy their defenses quickly! Quickly!"

The messenger hugged his upper body with his hands, leaned against the stand of the bronze bell and fell asleep in a daze. He was awakened by Zhou Guotai's yell.

He looked up and saw the commander staring at him and making gestures. He immediately understood what was going on and swung the gavel, knocking on the objects.

Bronze bells in other places also rang, and the entire city wall woke up from silence. Thousands of soldiers staggered to their feet and slowly walked into the wooden shelter.

There were also auxiliary soldiers carrying weapons forward and arranging them one by one.

There was nothing to arrange, the ammunition had been used up long ago and the firearms became mere decorations.

There were not many arrows left. The defenders now relied more on the swords and guns in their hands, the courage in their hearts, and their flesh and blood to resist the crazy attack of the Chahar tribe.

The heavy towers and battering rams were pushed forward slowly by thousands of Chahar troops. Hundreds of ladders were carried, like ants moving branches, towards the city.

A Nayan rode forward on his horse, waving his saber in front of the army and shouting loudly.

It was nothing more than capturing Kaiyuan City and rushing into Liaodong. Everyone ate meat and drank wine, and had silver, women, and slaves.

Na Yan shouted as if it was a routine matter, but the Chahar people who were listening around him did not react much. They had long been numb from more than 20 days of killing.

Na Yan pointed his knife at Kaiyuan City and roared.

Tens of thousands of Chahar people finally let out a loud roar, and the dense ants accelerated, quickly approaching Kaiyuan City.

The Ming army was also unable to use firearms for long-range attacks, and had to use their precious arrows sparingly. Only a few of them flew out, hitting the Chahar troops who were rushing in the front.

The tower car was pushed to the foot of Kaiyuan City and slowly approached. It was slightly higher than the city wall, and there were archers inside who shot arrows at the city wall from a high position.

If the Ming army still had ammunition, they would have used the nine-jin artillery to attack it first, and it would not have been able to get close to the city at all.

Now we can only watch it wreak havoc.

The defenders hid in wooden bunkers, dodging the rain of arrows. From time to time, someone was shot and fell to the ground with a scream.

As the tower car got closer and closer, a long door that could be used as a springboard was slowly lowered and placed on the city wall, so that the Chahar tribe in the tower car could rush towards the city wall. It is said that this was learned by the Mongols during their westward expedition to Persia and the Mesopotamian region. Then, it was improved by learning from the nest cars of the Jin and Song dynasties, and it was once a famous siege weapon.

It’s not possible now because there are not many craftsmen who have these skills. It’s already good enough to be able to make a building car like this.

The springboard was placed on the city wall with a bang. Dozens of howling Chahar troops were about to charge out when a Ming army soldier rushed out from the wooden shelter on the city wall.

He carried a basket on his chest, tied to his neck with a rope, and rushed into the building car with his arms around the basket. In the basket was a square quilt-like object, hissing with green smoke.

The explosive pack was wrapped with five pounds of black gunpowder inside, then covered with a layer of iron nails and caltrops outside, and finally a layer of cotton cloth on the outside.

The Chahar tribesmen also sensed the danger and desperately shot arrows at the Ming soldiers.

The soldier had seven or eight arrows stuck in his body, but he stubbornly rushed into the tower car and broke into the Chahar tribe.

The terrified Chahar tribesmen hacked and stabbed the Ming soldiers with their swords and guns, cutting them into a bloody mess. Then there was a loud bang, and huge flames and black smoke burst out from the interior of the building.

The building was on fire, emitting black smoke. The entire three floors were in ruins, full of corpses and wounded. The Ming army took the opportunity to rush up and smashed several oil tanks at the burning area. A huge fire rose up with a whoosh, engulfing half of the building and quickly spreading to the entire building.

After trying their best to destroy a tower, they still couldn't stop the Chahar troops who were rushing up the city wall like a tide.

Zhou Guotai brandished his steel knife and killed countless Chahar tribesmen who rushed over. He was confident that he could defend Kaiyuan City once again, but he didn't know how many of his men he would lose.

Unconsciously, Zhou Guotai changed three steel knives, but found that the Chahar tribe had not retreated yet. In the wilderness below the city, there were still endless people running here and running up the ladder.

Code it!

Tumen Khan is going to fight hard today!
Zhou Guotai stepped back a few steps and shouted to the messenger: "Blow the horn! Blow the horn! It's time to fight to the death."

But the messenger did not move at all. Zhou Guotai was furious and went forward to scold him, but he saw that the messenger had fallen stiffly to the ground, already dead.

A trace of sadness flashed in Zhou Guotai's eyes. He turned around and shouted to his subordinates in the distance: "Pass the order, pass the order quickly!"

The Ming army blew the horn, and all the reserve troops ran to the city wall. The wounded soldiers who were resting in the holes in the city wall also heard the sound, grabbed their swords and guns, and ran up the steps to the city wall.

The walls of Kaiyuan City were densely packed with people, and the Ming army and the Chahar tribe were engaged in a desperate fight. With red eyes and gritted teeth, both sides mercilessly attacked each other.

Zhou Guotai didn't know how many enemies he had chopped down. He felt his strength was draining away quickly and he was about to be exhausted. He bit his tongue hard, using the stinging pain to remind himself that Liaodong was behind him.

Huhu——!
Zhou Guotai gasped and looked at the enemies rushing towards him like a tide. Before being overwhelmed, he calmly changed to a new steel knife.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice coming from a distance.

Everyone on the battlefield heard the sound and turned their heads involuntarily to look in that direction.

A large flag with the word "Ming" appeared in everyone's sight, followed by tens of thousands of Ming cavalrymen. They were waving sabers, holding spears, and rushing over.

The sound of the Ming army's unique smoothbore short guns rang out, and among these rapid gun sounds, the familiar sound became louder and louder.

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"

Zhou Guotai and his comrades had tears in their eyes. The reinforcements have arrived, our reinforcements have arrived!

The defenders of Kaiyuan City seemed to be resurrected on the spot, full of strength, waving their weapons and rushing towards the panicked Chahar tribe.

The Chahar people retreated from Kaiyuan City like a tide.

These people gritted their teeth and persevered to the end, and the strings in their hearts were as tense as those of Zhou Guotai and his men. The moment the Ming reinforcements appeared, the Chahar tribe collapsed and no longer had any fighting spirit!
A subordinate quickly brought a war horse, and Zhou Guotai jumped on the horse. Looking back, he saw five or six thousand cavalrymen following him. They were the only ones among the defenders who could still ride horses to chase the enemy.

Zhou Guotai drew out his steel knife and shouted, "Great Ming wins!"

Five or six thousand cavalrymen shouted in unison: "Great Ming will win!"

They rushed out of the north gate of Kaiyuan City like a whirlwind, joined forces with Wei Jianping and Gao Ce, and chased after the Chahar tribe.

At this time, the sky was lightly snowing and heavy snow was falling!
(End of this chapter)