The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 114 Military Soul
Hundreds of red sparks rose from the south bank. After rising into the air, they poured down like a red waterfall onto the southern section of the floating bridge, immediately igniting the bridge deck.

The two long card players were engulfed in the blazing fire and turned into two fireballs.

Where the rocket landed, flames more than one person tall shot up five steps in front and behind.

The flames, carried by the river breeze, spread like snakes to both sides of the floating bridge.

As soon as the fire started, the archers on the south bank immediately concentrated their heavy arrows and fired a volley of arrows.

The heavy arrows flew across the sea of fire like an impenetrable wall and hit the Kaiyuan soldiers on the bridge thirty steps away.

Qin Jianxun immediately fell to the ground and turned over a Bayara corpse to block the way forward.

The heavy arrow hit the corpse with a hissing sound. A white-pole soldier behind him was unable to dodge and was shot in the neck, falling to the ground with a groan.

He twisted his body a few times on the bridge, then slipped and fell into the Hunhe River.

A hammerman next to the white-pole soldier was also hit by an arrow.

A long shield player rushed out from the mandarin duck battle formation at the back, and ran all the way to the sea of fire under the dense heavy arrows before stopping.

Flag captain Wang Quan blew the whistle hard at the back, urging the people in front to hurry up.

Just as Qin Jianxun was about to get up, another wave of heavy arrows came flying at him.

Within thirty steps, the heavy arrows had a very high armor-penetrating rate. A group of people crowded at the bridgehead, making them perfect targets.

The soldiers who had just stepped onto the pontoon bridge were like long snakes whose heads had suddenly been cut off, stuck on the bridge, unable to move forward or backward.

Hearing the advance whistle, the long-handled player at the front looked back at his companions, gritted his teeth, roared, and rushed into the fire bridge in front.

~~~~
On top of the north gate city wall, the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty raised his lips slightly as he looked at the burning floating bridge in front of him.

There were five or six personal guards standing beside him.

The golden dragon banner above the Khan's head had disappeared.

Just now, a divine fire crow flew across the Hun River, whistling over the city wall, and passed right over Nurhaci's head. Amid Goshiha's screams, it knocked the Khan's dragon banner off the city wall, causing it to explode and burn into pieces in mid-air.

Including Mao Yunlong's last bombardment, Nurhaci had survived two disasters within three days, fully proving his status as a true dragon emperor.

Thinking of this, Nurhaci's manic mood calmed down a little.

The Khan ordered his personal assistant Goshihabayan to bring the master's wife to the north gate.

In a little while, this real dragon will destroy Liu Zhaosun and this group of rabble in the Hunhe River. The witch needs to arrive in time to calm their souls.

When the Kaiyuan cavalry attacked the pontoon bridge last night, the Later Jin soldiers sprinkled tung oil and sulfur on the pontoon bridge on the south bank. Liu Zhaosun had limited troops and could not rush to the south bank. In addition, he had no scouts, so he did not know the situation of the pontoon bridge on the south bank.

The southern end of the pontoon bridge was quickly engulfed in flames. The Kaiyuan soldiers, who had been full of morale just now, stopped in front of the sea of fire one after another. The soldiers behind them rushed up, causing congestion on the bridge.

"Nothing more than this, a bunch of rabble. Aren't Liu Zhaosun's soldiers said to be fearless and undaunted?"

Nurhaci smiled coldly. He had just received a report from a scout that Huang Taiji, leading 3,500 elite soldiers of the Plain White Banner, was only ten miles away from Shenyang. In half an hour, they would be able to reach Liu Zhaosun's rear and cut off his retreat.

The reason why the Later Jin Khan did not order the pontoon bridge to be cut off was to allow all the Kaiyuan soldiers to cross the river, and then choose the most appropriate time to attack them when they were halfway across the river.

Now that the effect of attacking them halfway across the river has been achieved, the Kaiyuan soldiers have lost their fighting spirit and can only retreat to the north bank and watch the Zhejiang soldiers be destroyed.

Of course, once the Zhejiang troops were defeated, this isolated force would eventually be doomed.

"Great Khan, the boats on the south bank are ready and ready to cross the river and pursue the Ming army at any time!"

Fan Wencheng was reporting loudly to the Khan. He looked up at the thick smoke rising from the Hun River and felt quite sad. It was such a pity to burn such a good bridge.

"Alright, wait until the White Banner arrives, then have the warriors cross the river. Tens of thousands of troops will attack the Ming army on the north bank from both north and south. Even if Liu Zhaosun is a god, he won't be able to resist!"

~~~~~~~~
The thick smoke rising from the pontoon bridge drifted to the south bank with the river breeze. Bayala shouted loudly, summoning archers to continue shooting at the chaotic Ming army on the bridge.

As the archers of the two yellow flags were defeated, only the bordered white flag and the pure blue flag were left to be recruited.

The Niulu Ezhens mobilized thousands of archers to shoot light arrows at the stagnant Kaiyuan soldiers behind the flames.

The soldiers on the bridge used long shields to block the attack, but some were still hit by arrows and rolled into the Hun River.

Twenty steps directly in front of the Later Jin archers, a fire dragon more than ten feet wide coiled on the bridge, separating the bridge from the south bank.

Jacques looked at the raging flames and believed that no one would be able to escape from the sea of fire alive.

He had just seen a long card player who tried to rush over and was burned to death a few steps away from the shore.

This Bayala from the Zhenglan Banner carried a long axe and, along with several other Bayalas, supervised these hastily assembled Later Jin archers.

Most of the archers were not wearing armor, and in order to make their arrows fly farther, they tried to get closer to the pontoon bridge.

Yakshan waited for the wood of the bridge to burn through, and then waited to see the Nikans on it trample on each other. By then, I wonder how many of Liu Zhaosun's men would die.

"Burn you southern barbarians to death!"

Yaksan felt that it was not enough to stay at the back to support the team, so he took a crossbow and walked to the archer.

He first adjusted the bowstring, then raised his head and looked at the Ming army on the bridge. He quickly locked onto the target. Fifty steps away, an unarmored musketeer was still staring at the burning bridge in a daze.

He aimed his bow at the musketeer with a triumphant look on his face. Just as he was about to release the bowstring, he suddenly felt that the flames on the burning bridge seemed to have dwindled.

The Ming army covered the flames with something.

sand?

How could there be so much sand on the bare bridge surface?

Just as Yakshan was feeling puzzled, the river breeze blew away the white mist on the bridge.

Then, this Zhenglan Banner Bayara, who had survived hundreds of battles, saw a scene that shocked him!
In the distance, the Ming army, which had stagnated for a while, began to move forward again like a giant snake awakening.

The Ming army marching in the front were like corpses unafraid of fire, one after another, rushing forward like they were throwing themselves onto the burning bridge.

The first row of Ming soldiers rushing forward consisted of thirteen people, forming a complete mandarin duck battle formation.

These elite troops should have rushed to the south bank and killed the Jiannu who outnumbered them several times.

Now, two long-card holders walked in front, holding their long cards and moving step by step towards the dancing flames.

The red mandarin duck-colored battle jackets on their bodies quickly merged with the flames. After the soldiers' bodies covered the flames, the open flames on the bridge were greatly reduced.

Next came the second team of soldiers.

The long-handled player was in the lead, and all thirteen of them were silent, marching in neat steps like puppets, until the moment before rushing into the sea of fire, when they burst into a loud and passionate shout.

"Kill the slaves!"

"Kill the slaves!"

Finally, they were poured onto an open flame one after another.

The third row of soldiers continued to advance.

They looked calm, with no emotion visible on their faces, neither fear nor excitement.

Just step on the burning corpses and move forward.

Yaksan's mouth opened wide.

At this moment he was defeated.

He had just seen with his own eyes the twenty-six soldiers on the opposite side extinguish the sea of fire with their own bodies.

Bayala, the most ferocious commander of the Zhenglan Banner, had already put down his bow and was staring blankly at the fallen and burning soldiers. He suspected that the soldiers who were putting out the fire were not alive.

He didn't believe that anyone had such courage and endurance.

Until the open fire was extinguished, thick smoke billowed and the stench of burnt corpses spread all around.

Bayara, a cruel and brutal man, had participated in the genocide of the Huifa Haixi and other tribes.

He personally burned to death countless enemies who rebelled against the Khan.

What is floating on the south bank now is the smell of living people being burned by fire and boiling blood.

"Really people."

Yakshan murmured to himself that he had followed the Khan in fighting for more than ten years and had seen enemies who were not afraid of death.

However, the temperament displayed by the soldiers in front of him was no longer a question of whether they were afraid of death or not.

Are they flesh and blood, or are they under a spell cast by Liu Zhaosun? Don't they feel pain?
He suddenly felt a chill running down his spine, as if someone had suddenly poured a basin of ice water on him.

He couldn't help but shiver, and his body unconsciously took two steps back, subconsciously wanting to stay away from these soldiers.

Last time, Amin was almost wiped out by these people in Kaiyuan.

Is it possible that Zhenglan Banner will suffer the same fate today?

Yaksan was still in a daze until a sharp bamboo whistle sounded from the bridge. A large group of swordsmen stepped on the burning corpses on the ground, broke through the black smoke, and appeared in his sight. Behind them followed a row of spearmen and halberdmen.

Yakshan suddenly felt as if he was suddenly placed on a red wasteland, with thousands of troops marching towards him.

He turned around and looked around. The archers who had been shooting arrows happily just now were also staring blankly at the bridge.

"Shoot an arrow! Shoot an arrow quickly!"

Yaksan woke up as if from a dream and shouted loudly.

"Guard the pontoon bridge, don't let them come over! Don't..."

Before Yakshan finished speaking, a burly tall card player rushed to the bridgehead!

He ignored the rain of arrows flying overhead, shouted something loudly in Chinese, jumped down, and crashed into a group of Later Jin archers.

A thin archer was knocked down by a long-blade player. Before he could react, the long-blade player swung the long-blade like a sledgehammer and hit the archer hard.

The soldier smashed the objects while letting out terrifying screams.

A moment later, the unfortunate archer's head was smashed to pieces.

The Later Jin archers in the front row were frightened by the momentum displayed by the Ming army. They all took a few steps back and stood there stupidly, not knowing how to fight back.

"kill him!"

Jacques San swung his heavy sword and chopped at the long-card player. The archers only then reacted, drew their swords, and a group of people struggled to kill the long-card player.

As soon as he looked up, four soldiers jumped down from the bridge. Just like before, as soon as they jumped down, they began to attack the Later Jin soldiers frantically.

They coordinated with each other, attacked more methodically, and soon carved a bloody path among thousands of archers.

Jacques looked at the chain mail on their bodies and the halberds, spears, and muskets in their hands, and suddenly his teeth felt a little sour.

"Let's go together and kill them all! Hurry up! Block the gap!"

The black mass of archers behind them swung their swords and clubs and finally overwhelmed the four men.

The four of them cleared out a small open space on the south bank.

A steady stream of soldiers jumped off the bridge, and teams of soldiers immediately formed a mandarin duck battle formation and deployed on the south bank.

The spearmen and halberd soldiers skillfully assassinated the surrounding Later Jin archers, while the musketeers behind them threw five stone mines at the crowd of Later Jin soldiers in one breath, and then bombarded the crowd with flintlock rifles.

The combination of long and short weapons, and attacks using both cold and hot weapons made the archers very uncomfortable. Their armor was weak, and they had no spears or swords to protect them. Under the brutal and fierce attack of the Kaiyuan soldiers, they soon began to suffer a defeat.

Bayala and the armored soldiers behind began to reinforce and kill the retreating archers.

As the Later Jin archers retreated, the position expanded further, and more than ninety Yuanyang warriors from the 1,000th headquarters reorganized into a huge Yuanyang formation on the south bank.

More than thirty long-shield soldiers were at the front, with spearmen and halberd soldiers behind them, using their spears and halberds to stab any enemy that showed out of the shield formation. The sword and shield soldiers were responsible for attacking the enemy's lower road, and the musketeers shot outside through the long shields.

A huge gap was immediately torn in the archer formation.

At this time, the soldiers who had landed by boat were also approaching, and the two groups merged into a larger mandarin duck battle formation. Following the breakthrough gap, they attacked the Zhejiang chariot camp at the east gate with all their strength.

"Stop them! Anyone who retreats will die!"

The mentally broken Yaksan shouted, abandoned hundreds of archers who were still resisting, and fled to the rear without looking back.

Just after running away for more than ten steps, there was a loud bang, and a stone shaped like a teapot fell from the sky and rolled to the feet of Bayala, hissing and emitting white smoke.
~~~~~~
On the top of the city wall, the real dragon Nurhaci watched the fire dragon rising from the floating bridge being extinguished by the Kaiyuan soldiers who came one after another, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Several Goshas behind the Khan looked up at the burning bodies of the soldiers on the pontoon bridge and sighed.

These usually ferocious Jurchen warriors now showed a hint of fear in their eyes.

"How can you be so fearless and unafraid of death? You are inhuman!"

Knowing why you die and not being afraid of death are two completely different states.

"How did Liu Zhaosun turn a group of ants into this?"

More than 3,000 Kaiyuan soldiers formed a mighty wave of troops, roaring and charging towards the Later Jin formation.

Mao Wenlong led the Liaozhen troops and followed the Yehe elite cavalry to rush from the north bank to reinforce the soldiers.

Further away, the Liaozhen troops from Guangning, Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan and other places had already set out on their journey. They were like countless streams, converging into the Hunhe River at the feet of Liu Zhaosun.

Nurhaci looked at these soldiers who were willing to fight to the death and felt a chill from hell.

He suddenly thought: If they lost this battle, the one who would be killed by the Hunhe River would not be Liu Zhaosun, but the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty himself.

The end of the Later Jin Dynasty?

The personal guard Goshiha is finally back.

"Where is the master?"

Nurhaci stared at the Kaiyuan soldiers who had broken into the south bank positions, feeling a little panicked.

"Khan, the master's wife is dead."

Nurhaci turned around and looked at Bayan coldly.

"Great Khan, the young prince said that the sorceress was a liar who deceived the Khan and deceived the people. The soul-calming bottle was fake and there was no evil spirit. The young prince killed her with a single blow."

Nurhaci was stunned for a moment, and the familiar buzzing sound rang in his ears again.

"Where is Dudu now?"

The burly Bayan shrank his neck and whispered:

"Reporting to the Khan, the young prince has led his troops into the city. He said Tong Yangxing and Ding Bi are the bane of the Great Jin, and he wants to help the Khan execute these two dogs."

Nurhaci raised his head slightly, suddenly drew his sword and roared:
"Du Du wants to take advantage of this opportunity to rebel!

"The other banners were locked in a bitter battle, and he wanted to avenge his father!
"Tong Yangxing is right. He was the one who let Mao Wenlong go! He is a traitor to the Jin Dynasty just like his father! I can't keep him here any longer!"

(End of this chapter)