The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 55 The rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty depends on this battle!
A Liaozhen night guard set out from the east gate, passed through Kaiyuan City, and rushed to the north of the city in a hurry.

Inside the northern city wall, six thousand soldiers squatted on the ground, taking their final rest.

This is a combat force that Liu Zhaosun is proud of.

The six thousand soldiers were armed with spears, iron wolf-mills, swords and shields, and many of them were equipped with muskets, all of which were equipment of the Qi family army.

They were wearing red mandarin duck-patterned battle jackets and had a neat military appearance. Looking from the top of the city, they looked like a red ocean, ready to rush out of the city gate at any time and drown the blue flag formation opposite.

Three hundred elite servants patrolled back and forth on the top of the city wall, monitoring any movement inside and outside the city. They wore white armor and long weapons, and the armor plates shone slightly in the sun, like a silver river.

Further away, the White-Pole Soldiers, with great momentum, were chasing after the dead Jiannu soldiers. More than half of those dead soldiers were killed or wounded, and the survivors fled back to the Bordered Blue Banner Camp in panic.

Ye Bushu, wearing black chain mail, quickly passed through the various military formations. The black color of his cotton armor formed a strong color contrast with the red of the surrounding Zhejiang soldiers and the white of the servants, which made people dizzy.

When he quickly passed by where the soldiers and servants gathered, it was like black paint splashed into red and white paint, immediately causing a small commotion among the surrounding soldiers.

The army is not allowed to stop the horses at will, nor can it stop them from returning at night.

Liaozhen Night Guards entered from the East Gate and traveled all the way to the foot of the North Gate Wengcheng.

Without even taking a breath, he climbed up the stairs and scrambled to the top of the city wall.

Seeing the lieutenant general pacing on the top of the city wall, he ran over quickly. When he was more than ten steps away, he was stopped by two servants.

The servants stood on both sides, with two sharp Miao Daos pressed against the Liao Zhen Ye Bu Shou, and shouted:

"stop!"

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand to let the servants retreat, pressed his fingers to the scabbard, and looked at the dusty Ye Bushou in front of him, with a premonition that something big was going to happen.

Ye Bushou gasped for breath, knelt on one knee, and kowtowed hastily to Liu Zhaosun, saying anxiously:

"The enemy has captured the East Gate, General He has died for his country, and the Liao army is still fighting hard!"

Liu Zhaosun quickly glanced at everyone around him, paused for a moment, stepped forward to help Ye Bushou up, and said anxiously:

"How did General He die in battle?"

Liaozhen Ye Bushu raised his head, there was an arrow wound on his face, and his eyes were slightly red.

"The general went out of the city to hunt down the Baoyi, but was ambushed by the Bayala of the Plain White Banner and fought to exhaustion..."

Liu Zhaosun's head suddenly buzzed, and he felt as if a huge rock weighing thousands of pounds was pressing down on him. With the East Gate lost, Kaiyuan would soon fall.

Originally in history, the drunkard General He was killed in battle in Shenyang. Today he did not drink, but still died in battle. Perhaps dying on the battlefield is the fate of a hero.

"Put on my armor! Bring me my sword!"

With the help of the servants, Liu Zhaosun put on his mail armor, took the heavy sword, and led a group of servants towards the city wall. After a few steps, he said to the Ye Bushu:

"What's your name?"

Ye Bushou was stunned for a moment and replied:

"Your Excellency, my name is Li Yuchen, from Kuandian, and I serve under General He!"

Liu Zhaosun stepped forward and patted Ye Bushou on the shoulder. Ye Bushou was at most fifteen or sixteen years old. He was tall and had strong arms. He might be of great use in the future.

"Li Yuchen, do you dare to go with me to the East Gate to kill the Tartars? Avenge General He!"

The haze in Li Yuchen's eyes was swept away, and he regained his youthful look and said firmly:
"Why not! I'm willing to follow the lieutenant general to kill the enemy!"

Liu Zhaosun nodded with satisfaction and led the crowd down the city wall with determination.

Inside the city wall, the Zhejiang soldiers who had been waiting for a long time stood up and signaled when they saw their commander coming.

Liu Zhaosun walked up to the general's platform, summoned the captains of each camp and said loudly:
"The Jiannu have breached the East Gate, and Liaozhen has suffered heavy casualties. The fate of the Ming Dynasty, and the safety of the nation, depends on this battle! Whether you can keep the land allocated to you in Kaiyuan, and whether you can stay in Liaodong in the future, depends on this day! Leave ten battalions to assist the White Spear Soldiers, and the rest of you, follow me to the East Gate to stop the enemy!"

Military Supervisor Qiao Yiqi said quickly:

"Liu Zhaosun, if you go to the East Gate, who will command the North Gate?"

Liu Zhaosun looked around and found that there was no one available, so he said to Qiao Yiqi:

"Mr. Qiao, you and General Qin will command the North Gate! You just need to sit here and stand still like a mountain!"

Qiao Yiqi laughed coldly. Damn it, immovable as a mountain! He didn't want to be immovable as a mountain. The last person who said immovable as a mountain was dead.

"Liu Zhaosun, you took away 3,000 men and horses, leaving me with only 3,000. How can you defend the north gate?"

Liu Zhaosun stepped forward and patted the military supervisor on the shoulder, comforting him:
"What I have left for you, sir, are the best soldiers of the South. Three thousand elite soldiers are more than enough! The White Spear soldiers ahead are unstoppable. The Blue Banner will surely suffer another crushing defeat today. All you need to do is stand still here!"

Qiao Yiqi now feels uneasy when he hears the words "unmovable as a mountain".

But if you think about it carefully, in Kaiyuan City right now, Kang Yingqian is imprisoned, Yang Hao is demoted to a commoner, General Ma is a hands-off boss, and everyone else has his own things to do. At the critical moment, he has to take action himself.

"Then I will guard the North Gate. Let me make it clear, I will not stand still..."

"Captains of each battalion, have the soldiers form a mandarin duck formation, thirteen men in a group, and run forward to support the east gate!"

Before the military inspector could finish his words, he was interrupted by Liu Zhaosun.

The Qi Clan Army's "Double-wing" formation was well-suited for this kind of urban street fighting. This new army, a blend of soldiers from various regions, had already shown signs of strength after over half a month of rigorous training. It was time to test them in the test of blood and fire. The battalion commanders and flag captains quickly gathered their troops. In a short time, these long-prepared soldiers formed a "Double-wing" formation of over two hundred men, complete with wolf-milling soldiers, long spearmen, long shield bearers, round shield bearers, and musketeers.

More than 200 mandarin duck formations, led by captains of each flag, formed a red river and rushed towards the east gate of Kaiyuan.

Qiao Yiqi watched the tide of soldiers disappear on the North-South Street. He was anxious and could no longer remain calm. He kept sighing.

The servant next to him was delighted, thinking that his chance to make a contribution had come. He smiled and said to the military supervisor:

"Master, don't you say every day that you want to be armed and fight for your country? Today, if we kill all those Jiannu soldiers on the other side and achieve military merit, we won't have to report our achievements to others every day."

Qiao Yiqi was furious when he heard this. He raised the tip of his horse whip and hit the servant on the head, saying angrily:

"Master, that's just an article. Can you take the words of a scholar seriously? Kaiyuan is in a dangerous situation. The Tartars have broken through the east gate. We don't know whether General Liu is dead or alive. You know nothing!"

The servant was hit twice by the master. He hung his head and looked dejected. Just as he was about to say something in retort, he suddenly heard thunderous shouts coming from the north gate.

"Master! Look, there are more Tartars coming over from the other side of the river! They all have blue flags on their backs."

Qiao Yiqi looked in the direction the servant pointed and saw that five or six floating bridges had been built on the moat in front of the north gate at some point.

Hundreds of blue-bordered Zhenyi soldiers, like a swarm of blue ants, immediately rushed towards the white-pole soldiers on the earth wall after landing.

Behind the Ming army's earthen wall, the lonely French cannon was still resisting desperately. It fired two-pound shells at a rate of two rounds per minute, smashing hard into the pontoon bridge.

Due to insufficient accuracy, only about 30% of the shells hit the target, and most of the remaining shells fell into the river, splashing water.

The Ming army's artillery output was far from enough to defeat the Bordered Blue Banner's will to cross the river. On the other side, more than 2,000 Zhenyi soldiers soon crossed the river and landed.

They began to form up quickly, preparing to crush the White Spear Soldiers with several times their number of troops.

"Why aren't the other Francois firing yet?!"

Qiao Yiqi turned pale and yelled at the servants.

The servant who had been so smug just now finally realized the danger was approaching. His face turned pale and he trembled as he said:
"Master, the gun just exploded and all the gunners ran away. Those who didn't run away were shot dead by the Jiannu. Only two gunners are still there."

"After the battle, kill those gunners who escaped!"

These gunners had very poor fighting spirit and always caused trouble to the army. Master Qiao couldn't help but get even more angry when he recalled the scene of shelling the Jiannu in Hunjiang River.

At this time, the servant asked anxiously:
"Master, there are at least 5,600 Jiannu soldiers on the other side, including cavalry. There are less than a thousand Sichuan soldiers. We can't hold on. Quickly send the 3,000 soldiers in the city to attack!"

Qiao Yiqi calmed down his anger and shook his hand.

"It's not the right time yet. Wait until they get into a stalemate! Then send out the soldiers!"

As he spoke, the 3,000 soldiers of the Bordered Blue Banner who had crossed the river had completed the encirclement of the White Spear Soldiers.

After two rounds of attack, the White Spear Soldiers killed and wounded over 1,500 bannermen and dead soldiers, while their own casualties exceeded 300. Now, there were less than 700 soldiers able to fight, including some soldiers from Xuanda and Jizhou.

Faced with the surging Later Jin army, the White Spear Soldiers did not immediately retreat behind the earth wall. Instead, they chose to form a formation on the spot, using round shields for protection, pointing their long spears forward, and shooting the enemy with short crossbows, showing an attitude of fighting to the death.

A steady stream of Zhenyi warriors from the Bordered Blue Banner crossed the river, totaling five thousand people. They were divided into two parts, one part continued to attack the earth wall, and the other part surrounded the White Spear Soldiers.

These Zhenyi soldiers all had permanent property, similar to small and medium-sized Han landlords, and had bondservants in their families. Whether in terms of combat power or social status, they were the backbone of the Later Jin regime.

Compared with the dead soldiers, the Zhenyi army's formation is more orderly and has stronger battlefield adaptability.

Having just watched the White Spear Soldiers fighting with the Dead Soldiers on the other side of the river, these Jurchen hunters quickly figured out a way to defeat the enemy.

During the battle, these soldiers deliberately kept a distance of about three meters from the white-pole soldiers, instead of rushing forward and stabbing like dead soldiers.

Zhenyi soldiers usually need to undergo rigorous battle formation training, so they can retreat without disorder. In this way, spears cannot pierce them, while they can continue to throw weapons and shoot heavy arrows to kill and injure their opponents and weaken their morale.

In contrast, the White Spear Soldiers had almost no long-range weapons. Although the short crossbows and poisonous arrows were sharp, they had almost no effect on the fully armored infantry of the Later Jin.

The long spears in the hands of the white-pole soldiers are only suitable for killing enemies within a distance of about two meters. The opponents retreat without panic and do not give them any opportunity to do so.

If your side pursues too fast and the shield formation is broken, you will be hit hard by the enemy's arrows.

Facing such a well-prepared opponent, the White Spear Soldiers could not gain any advantage whether advancing or retreating.

Every time the White Spear Soldiers swung their spears, as soon as they exposed their bodies, dozens of flying axes and iron axes would fly towards them. After the front row had finished throwing, the back row would continue to throw. After a few waves, most of the White Spear Soldiers had fallen.

The Bordered Blue Banner had a large number of people, and they fought bravely, regardless of casualties, to consume the enemy.

The round shields held by the white-pole soldiers had many flaws compared to the long shields of the Qi family army.

After all, the White Spear Soldiers were mainly good at attacking, and defense was quite difficult for them, not to mention the charge of the Later Jin heavy infantry who disregarded casualties.

This situation of being beaten but unable to fight back made the White Spear Soldiers very annoyed. Some of them attacked hastily, and as soon as the round shields showed a gap, they were killed by the dense heavy arrows shot from the opposite side.

After suffering hundreds of casualties, the White Spear Soldiers began to retreat, but were held back by their opponents and eventually forced to the river.

The baoyi and dead soldiers standing on the other side of the river saw the Ming army retreating and began to shoot at them with bows and arrows across the river.

Just now, the bannermen were almost wiped out by the White Spear Soldiers. Now the situation has changed and it is time for them to take revenge.

Under the attack from both the Zhenyi warriors and the Baoyi dead soldiers on the other side of the river, the Tusi army, numbering less than 500, was about to be annihilated.

(End of this chapter)