The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 209 Archer (I)

After nightfall, heavy snow, carried by the northwest wind, fluttered down, lashing against the burning ruins. Driven by the wind, the snow fell heavier and heavier, eager to cover up this sinful and bloody world.

A crystal clear hexagonal snowflake passed over the bloodstained Kaiyuan General's flag, flying like a night elf to the battlefield in the north of the city where iron and blood were mixed.

She dodged the scorching lead and the rain of arrows, swaying in the wind, and finally slowly landed on a flintlock rifle amid the shouts of tens of thousands of soldiers.

Yang Tong stared at the snowflakes melting on the barrel of the gun, exhaled quickly, raised his frozen arm with difficulty, and rubbed the barrel hard to keep the flintlock dry.

The melted snow water will freeze near the crosshairs, and in that case, the good luck bestowed upon him by Taishang Laojun will be sealed by the extremely cold weather.

Yang Tong held onto the shield cart and took a difficult step forward. His feet were frozen like stones and he had already lost all feeling.

"The Tartars are worse off than we are."

He comforted himself in this way and felt much better.

Dozens of huge shield carts were like hungry beasts, not concealing their intentions at all under the cover of night. The blazing bonfires burning around the shield carts were more like blood-red eyes, staring at the Later Jin Khan's palace more than 300 steps away - that was Huang Taiji's last wolf's den.

Yang Tong, holding his flintlock rifle that never missed a shot, chased all the way from Ximen Wengcheng to here.

From afternoon to dusk, and from dusk to dark, he kept pulling the trigger and shooting the Later Jin soldiers who appeared in his sight.

He fought from the two red flags to the plain white flags, until finally, his opponents changed to the two yellow flags.

As he ran along, more and more soldiers surrounded Yang Tong, and follow-up troops were continuously deployed to the battlefield, including cavalry, musketeers, spearmen, halberdmen, and even a team of fire soldiers who were carrying beheading knives to cut off the heads of Tatars.

Later, he learned that Ping Liaohou wanted all branches of the army to go forward for training that day. After all, fighting a favorable battle is the best way to boost morale.

Unfortunately, everyone was wrong...

As they continued to advance, Yang Tong could clearly feel that the resistance of the Later Jin soldiers on the opposite side was getting weaker and weaker. It was no wonder that almost all the bannermen in the city had defected. These people were very motivated when fighting in an advantageous position and were even more ferocious than the Ming army's servants.

Yang Tong was full of hatred for these bannermen. In his eyes, the bannermen who took advantage of the situation to kill and burn people were no different from the Jian slaves. They were all beasts.

He didn't know how Ping Liaohou would deal with these thugs. But one thing was certain: the huge wealth in Hetuala City had been robbed by these bondservants, and they were probably in great danger.

A woman's cries could be heard faintly from behind, mixed with a few words in Manchu. In the streets, several Baoyi with pigtails were still tearing apart the Jianzhou woman.

The Shandong archers who had followed Yang Tong all the way here cursed loudly:

"The baoyi dogs are more likely to cause trouble than to help. They only know how to kill civilians. This time, the Tartars will fight us to the end!"

Yang Tong said sternly:

"We have few soldiers and were counting on the bannermen to help us charge the enemy, but they took the opportunity to burn, kill, and loot. Lord Liu will not let these thugs go."

Yang Tong shook his head and turned his attention back to the battlefield.

In the dark night, flames shot up from the Khan's Palace into the sky, and the defensive fortifications of the Later Jin Dynasty could barely be seen. Before dark, the soldiers had attacked twice, suffering more than 300 casualties, but gained nothing.

Huang Taiji completely copied the Shenyang fortifications built by Xiong Tingbi before the bloody battle of Hunhe, with layers of defense. Of course, he made improvements to the Zhejiang soldiers' fortifications.

The Later Jin Dynasty increased the number of artillery and muskets, and increased the layout of trenches and breastworks. Of course, what mysteries are beneath the surface can only be explored by the soldiers at the cost of their lives.

Huang Taiji conducted a detailed analysis of Liu Zhaosun's past battles and concluded that Ping Liaohou fought without regard for casualties. In response to this, the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty exhausted all the manpower and resources of Hetuala to design this trap or meat grinder, waiting for Liu Zhaosun to attack.

Although Hetuala will eventually fall and the Jianzhou Jurchens will eventually be massacred, before that, Liu Zhaosun and the soldiers he brought with him will shed their last drop of blood in front of the position and perish together with the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Yang Tong looked at the watchtowers and towering walls in the distance, feeling uneasy.

The 2000th Headquarters can now only reach the outer positions of the Khan's Palace.

According to the descriptions of those soldiers who were lucky enough to survive, the Tatars had built seven or eight trenches in front to trap horses. There were bunkers and pits between the trenches. The only passage was wide enough for two horses to run side by side. The road was splashed with water, and it was easy for people to fall when walking on it, making them sitting ducks for the Later Jin archers.

In short, all of Huang Taiji's plans were aimed at killing as many Kaiyuan soldiers as possible.

Liu Zhaosun and his arrogant soldiers and generals naturally knew nothing about this. Even the always cautious Sun Chuanting believed that after crossing the river, the Kaiyuan army would be able to counterattack the Jiannu and wipe out their territory.

Unexpectedly, attacking halfway across the river was just an appetizer... At dusk, Deng Changxiong sent a flag team of more than 120 soldiers to launch an attack. As a result, most of these more than 100 soldiers were killed in the trenches before they could even get a clear look at the Later Jin soldiers.

Deng Changxiong called off the attack in time and ordered the artillery and the Divine Fire Crow to provide reinforcements, which led to the artillery fire that lasted for more than two hours.

"How many Tartars have not been burned to death?"

Yang Tong looked thoughtfully at the flames rising from the trench breastwork in front of him, muttering to himself.

~~~~~
When Buyantai saw that Nikan’s soldiers had crossed the river, he knew that the warriors in the royal capital (Hetuala) had no hope of receiving reinforcements in time.

Niulu Ezhen ordered all the soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner who were lying in ambush near the moat to go up and intercept the Kaiyuan soldiers who were crossing the river.

As one of the few archers in Niulu, Buyantai followed several Bayalas as usual to fight against the Nikan soldiers who rushed across the Suzi River.

Between the west gate and the river bank, their 300 Niulu men only held out for half an hour.

After three rounds of projectiles, the enemy landed on the east bank despite casualties, and their flintlock soldiers immediately shot at Buyantai and others.

Then, Nikan's rocket came roaring, making a suffocating scream like the howling of ghosts before exploding.

Buyantai had witnessed the power of the Divine Fire Flying Crow on the Hunhe battlefield, so he hurriedly persuaded Niulu Ezhen to withdraw.

Before they could even speak, more than 300 of their Niulu were engulfed by the divine fire flying crows that covered the sky and the sun, and more than 100 of them were blown to death or burned to death on the spot.

Taking advantage of the cover of Wuzhenhachao's muskets on the city wall, Buyantai retreated into the city with the remaining soldiers.

Then, Buyantai witnessed a larger-scale attack of the Divine Fire Flying Crows at the west gate.

The seven or eight thousand soldiers of the two red flags fell into chaos and were quickly defeated by the rushing Nikan soldiers.

Buyantai had to continue retreating with the defeated soldiers until they reached the Khan's Palace, where he found the remnants of the defeated troops from the Eight Banners gathered.

There is no way to retreat.

The Bordered White Banner surrendered, the two Red Banners were severely damaged, the Plain White Banner was destroyed, and the last 10,000 troops were trapped in the Khan's Palace, with defeated soldiers constantly pouring in from all directions.

After breaking into the city, the Nikan soldiers instigated the bannermen to plunder and kill people everywhere.

Buyantai's home was near the south gate of Hetuala. After the south gate fell, it was set on fire by the defecting bannermen.

The parents, wife and children of the Later Jin archer have now turned into smoke and gone to see Changshengtian.

Bu Yangtai smiled and looked up at the sky, watching the Kaiyuan soldiers pouring in like a tide on the North and South Streets.

He picked up the bow and began to adjust the bowstring.

The Khan said that the Khan Palace was the last and strongest line of defense for the Jianzhou Jurchens.

This tenacious Later Jin archer has lost everything and can only use his life to hold the last line of defense.

Just as the Khan said, they will make the Nikan soldiers suffer a bloody defeat here.

Bu Yangtai had not slept for two days and two nights, and could almost fall asleep while standing.

But there was still a smile on his face.

The equipment of the Later Jin army was far inferior to that of the Nikan army, but Buyantai was not afraid at all.

At the most tense moment of the battle, he even took out a scallion from his waist and took a big bite.

The green onion turned into ice chips in his mouth. He took a bite of it and tears came to his eyes. He felt a little better and felt much more relaxed.

The Later Jin archer behind the breastwork smiled as he looked at a Nikan musketeer who appeared in front of him.

Buyantai raised his bow.

(End of this chapter)