Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 229: Shield of the Empire (Two chapters in one)

At the top of the hill, Horusi, covered in dry grass, climbed up a tree to stabilize his position. More than ten military advisors stood around the tree trunk, more or less camouflaged.

They peered through fixed telescopes.

At the end of the endless plain, the Tartars finally arrived.

Dense crowds of Qing soldiers emerged from the end of the sight, like a black line extending from the foot of the mountain in the east to the seashore, and then from the line into the surface without stopping, breaking into the observation range. The eight banners of the Manchu, Mongolian and Han sequences fluttered in the wind.

War horses neighed, the cold wind howled. An army of over a hundred thousand men swept in from the south, covering the earth like a swarm of eight-colored locusts that obscured the sky and sun.

Everything on the earth, the crooked trees, the official roads, the dry grass, the rubble, the ruins of the houses, all trembled before the swarm of locusts and were swallowed up by them.

"The Tatars are coming!"

The commander's voice was conveyed to all the captains, and the alarm sounds echoed in the camp one after another.

The players who were originally chatting and AFK quickly entered combat mode, carefully crossed the bomb shelter in the camp, and waited close to the low wall.

The players lying in ambush on the mountainside all raised half of their bodies and did warm-up exercises up and down and left and right to stretch their muscles and bones, getting their fighting blood boiling.

Everyone saw the might of the army of over 100,000.

Some people were astonished, some were extremely excited, and some climbed up the low wall, stood there with their backs turned, took selfies and videos, and recorded this spectacular and terrifying scene.

Even though he knew this was just a game, He Lusi couldn't help but feel deeply shocked.

The army of more than 100,000 was like magma erupting from a volcano, howling and ready to burn all obstacles in front of them into ashes.

"Only the extras in old war movies with tens of thousands of people could achieve such a stunning effect, right?"

He Lusi recalled the difficult city defense battles in history. How did those generals defend the city against the siege of one or two hundred thousand troops with only thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers?

The sheer force of the enemy was enough to scare the defenders.

No wonder in history, when Hong Chengchou led an army of 100,000 to rescue Jinzhou, he was frightened and unable to move when he heard that Huang Taiji was going to lead the army in person. In the end, his retreat was cut off by the Tartars, and he was defeated and captured.

Anyone who sees the powerful army of more than 100,000 people, which is rumored to be "invincible if the Jurchens are less than 10,000, or more than 10,000," will lose the determination to resist to the end.

Fortunately, the late Ming Dynasty was just a game. He Lusi raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Even if he died on the battlefield, he could start over.

The dragon banner representing Huang Taiji himself was like a bonfire in the middle of the night, providing multiple morale boosts to every Tartar soldier surrounding him.

Relying on the high mobility of horseback riding, more than 100,000 infantry and cavalry quickly approached the Beiwei army within ten miles.

The enemy did not choose to attack directly, but instead set up camp around a mound. The conspicuous dragon flag was inserted on the top of the mound like a stabilizing force, and the rest of the soldiers were making preparations for the attack step by step.

The bondservants and slaves who transported grain were ordered to cut wood and set up camp in the surrounding area.

At this time, thousands of Qing cavalry did not stop to set up camp, but continued to rush forward. The distinctive Qing-made cloth armor was like a hard crab shell covering the Tartars.

He Lusi knew very well that almost half of the Qing army's bannermen were armored, and the remaining half also had protection such as chain mail and leather armor.

And those armored men were further divided into ordinary Bayala, red Bayala, and white Bayala, all of whom were elite heavy infantry who had experienced many battles.

These elite veterans would also wear double layers of armor, including chain mail and cloth armor, and some Tartar strongmen would even wear triple armor.

They usually maneuvered on horseback, dismounted and fought on foot when they arrived at the front of the battle.

Hundreds of red and white Bayara Tatar soldiers could often defeat thousands of Ming troops, just like humanoid Gundams.

Such perfect protection could not be broken by ordinary bird guns. Fortunately, the Beiwei Army brought a lot of armor-piercing turtledove guns, and the rifled flintlock rifles were also powerful, enough to give the Tatars a hard time.

However, this cavalry of a thousand men did not foolishly charge at the trench, but stopped in front of the trench.

They steed their warhorses left and right, stabbed the ground with the spears they carried, and looked left and right as if they wanted to memorize the Beiwei army's defense system thoroughly.

"Aha, are the Tartars scared of the human-shaped mines, so they sent a special mine-clearing team?" "Hong Xiuqing" under the tree covered his mouth and laughed.

"Mine sweepers, which were only supposed to be invented hundreds of years ago, actually exist today. Hahahahaha—the mines on the ground can be cleared, but can all the mines in the mountains be cleared?"

"Should we give them a few shots to scare them?"

"Well, I think it's okay." He Lusi activated the voice, "Brothers in the mountains, don't move. The musketeers in front are free to fire."

As soon as these words were spoken, the brothers standing behind the breastwork let out a roar of excitement.

The Turtledove rifle rested on the rough surface of the parapet. Huang Zilong expertly pulled the trigger. The match ignited the gunpowder, causing the barrel to recoil. A lead bullet, swirling with white smoke, erupted forward...

Huang Zilong didn't know whether he hit the target or not. A row of turtledove guns and flintlock rifles were fired around him, and thick white smoke instantly covered his nose and mouth.

All that could be heard through the smoke were the cries of soldiers and horses being shot, and the urgent shouts of horses retreating.

The reconnaissance cavalry retreated in this way.

"The Tartars have retreated, oh oh oh oh..."

Even if there are only a thousand scouts leaving behind dozens of corpses before retreating, the brothers will still cheer.

Huang Zilong secretly cursed these idiots for being born to be funny. They would make a big deal out of even a tiny victory.

Some people started dancing together, and a series of elegant, coquettish, and rogue instruments began to play. More than a dozen people even crossed the breastwork with excitement, stepped on the planks they brought, and lightly crossed the wide trenches to the front.

They skillfully killed the Tartar soldiers who were still breathing, cut off their heads and hung them on spears, stringing them up like skewers.

They inserted the "skewered" spears on both sides of the road, like two welcoming flower baskets placed at the opening of a new store.

They took out the glass bottle from their waist, poured out a ball of powder soaked in water and sprinkled it on their heads.

Perhaps because they were worried that the temperature was not high enough, some people used fire sticks to smoke these special powders one by one.

After doing all this, they untied their belts together, turned around in unison to reveal their plump white bare buttocks, twisted their bodies, and turned their heads to hook their fingers at the Tartars.

"Beiweijun BBQ Restaurant, welcome your guests!"

Soon the powder spontaneously combusted, and the two columns of "welcome flower baskets" instantly turned into roasted pig heads. The charred spear shafts snapped and broke apart, and the still-burning heads fell everywhere, like lanterns falling to the ground and burning.

Through the telescopes in their hands, the princes and high officials saw this brutal scene clearly.

Although this brutality and bloodiness did not scare the veteran generals, the irony of this humiliation on the battlefield made everyone feel itchy.

Damn Han dogs, how dare you insult the corpses of Qing warriors!

The Beiwei Army only has a few thousand soldiers. Aren’t they afraid of being tortured day and night after being defeated for mocking the Qing warriors in the battle?

The princes and nobles all requested to go to war, but were all rejected by Huang Taiji.

Although the scouts found no human-shaped mines or trip pits in front of the trench, Huang Taiji, based on his many years of combat experience, judged that enemy soldiers must have been ambushed in the mountains and forests near several narrow roads.

He decided to send a small number of bannermen to supervise the attack of 20,000 armed bannermen to test the enemy's firepower distribution and the difficult-to-detect deep trench traps.

But before that, let’s calm down the Beiwei Army first.

Huang Taiji nodded slightly to the guards, and immediately someone conveyed the order to the outside and blew the horn symbolizing different commands.

Faced with the ridicule of the Beiwei Army, the Qing Army's tactics took a 180-degree turn. The first thing that greeted the Beiwei Army was not close combat with armored soldiers, but bursts of sharp whistles that broke through the air.

Dozens of black spheres flew out from the Tatars' rear positions one after another, like dozens of visible ink dots leaving behind chaotic tail flames in the air.

The shells flew at breakneck speed. One passed over the parapet and landed on the dirt a hundred paces behind Huang Zilong, smashing into an entire column of dozens of players, sending blood and severed limbs flying. The shells puffed and sank into the mud, emitting wisps of white smoke.

"Enemy bombardment!"

The commander's voice echoed in his ears, Huang Zilong's heartbeat seemed to slow down, and a thrilling feeling gripped his heart.

Another shell landed just fifty steps away from Huang Zilong. The moment the iron bullet hit the ground, it struck a piece of rock underground. The crisp sound of the impact was like a heavy hammer hitting Huang Zilong's heart, causing him to tremble all over.

Relying on his combat experience under artillery fire, Huang Zilong climbed down immediately, then crouched down and crawled into the bomb shelter trench dozens of steps behind him.

Players can choose to face the shells head-on or hide in the trenches to save their lives. Ajige, who was hanging on the hem of the wooden frame, was in a miserable state.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" The rags stuffed in his mouth prevented him from uttering a clear cry for help. He could only try his best to swing his body left and right, like a swing to avoid the shells.

This thrilling game of dodge almost exhausted Ajige's luck and strength. A lot of sweat soaked through his coarse clothes and flowed down.

Subsequent artillery shells from the first round whizzed in one after another. This time, five shells penetrated into the mountains and forests on both sides and knocked down trees, and three shells flew over the trench above Huang Zilong's head.

Broken shrapnel flew everywhere, and several players who didn't have time to hide in the trench groaned, staggered, raised their heads and fell down to cover a corner of the trench.

One person in particular died in a terrible manner, with an expression of unwillingness as he stood blocking the entrance of the trench.

Huang Zilong always felt funny and wanted to laugh, so he had to reach out and turn the man's head to the side.

"Wang Bang!"

Hearing a familiar call, Huang Zilong looked around. The brothers who had hidden in the trenches were playing Landlord and Chinese chess. Brothers further away were clapping their hands and playing the "charged wave" game from their childhood. Some were even playing musical instruments and singing...

Huang Zilong suddenly felt that he had mistakenly entered a chess and card room instead of a narrow and dull trench, and there was no dullness at all from the artillery bombardment.

The dust kicked up by the solid bullets hitting the ground fell like rain, and the excitement of the shells bombarding everywhere came naturally.

Isn’t this just a “baby version” of World War I trench warfare?
"Cool!"

Even when being beaten, Huang Zilong still felt it was extremely exciting.

This kind of accelerated heartbeat, the surge of blood, as if a ball of fire was about to burst out and exploded, had not been felt for a long time. He did not experience it with the Qihuo Army or the Black Flag Camp, but felt it when he was fighting against the main force of the Tartar army.

He was like a cannon fodder in the European war holding a single-shot rifle, waiting for the enemy's artillery bombardment to end, and then followed his superiors to launch a desperate assault.

He gripped the Turtledove gun tightly, as if it were a Mauser rifle, anticipating the terrifying yet exciting whistle...

Suddenly, a sharp and clear whistle sounded, and Huang Zilong subconsciously climbed out of the trench holding the "Mauser rifle", but he saw a group of "idiots" standing in a loose horizontal line outside the trench.

Someone stood at the top of the triangular ladder, wearing heavy armor painted blue and holding a saxophone. He completely ignored the dangerous shells flying towards him, closed his eyes and swayed his hips back and forth in ecstasy.

Huang Zilong seemed to think that he had walked into the wrong set. He seemed to see a blue-armored space warrior playing the saxophone in a very sexy way in a dangerous place surrounded by gunfire.

"You crazy bastards are dying!"

As soon as Huang Zilong finished speaking, many unlucky players were left with a bloody battle line behind them due to the shells.

At this moment, a player with a face covered in dirt rushed to the location of the bombardment, picked up a broken body and cried loudly, "Brother, you can't die. You promised me that you would go to Kyoto, Japan to watch the Empress dance..."

Blood seeped out into a red pool beneath their bodies, and the twisted and mutilated bodies of the seriously injured lay in the blood, like countless pieces of solid garbage discarded at random, piled up among the friendly troops.

"I can't go to Japan... You must win and avenge us..." The seriously injured man struggled to raise his bloody and broken arm and pointed to the other side of the battlefield. "I'll be waiting for you in Valhalla..."

Soon the seriously injured died.

The resurrected person with the same name came up to his brother, patted his shoulder and said soothingly, "The dead cannot be resurrected. Please accept my condolences..."

"Thank you."

Huang Zilong thought to himself that these two brothers really love to act. They pretend to be comrades to comfort their brothers right after they are resurrected, right?

The players did not panic because of several rounds of artillery bombardment with large intervals. On the contrary, every friendly soldier killed by the artillery shells was like a spiritual totem left on the battlefield, prompting each player to accumulate more energy for revenge and killing.

The commanders and captains all knew that no matter how powerful the Qing army's artillery was, it would take time for the barrel to cool down.

Under normal circumstances, the Qing soldiers would rotate the teams responsible for breaking the bombardment, continuously consuming the enemy's manpower through long-range bombardment, weakening the enemy's morale, and even forcing the Beiwei Army, which could not tolerate casualties, to take the initiative to attack.

Once the party that loses patience launches a hasty attack in anger, it is equivalent to exposing all the flaws to the enemy, and the fight is half lost before it even begins.

But this requires a lot of time to push one party to the limit of patience!
It just so happened that the fortifications built by the Beiwei Army had already anticipated the intensive artillery bombardment.

As long as everyone hid in the bomb-proof trenches, even the intensity of artillery bombardment during the American Civil War could not break the morale of the Beiwei Army.

Moreover, the Qing army of more than 100,000 was in a strategically surrounded situation and had no time to wait for each cannon to cool down one by one. Moreover, the number of shells they could carry at one time would not be large, and they would be gone after they were used up.

The Beiwei Army did not need to take the initiative to attack. They just needed to wait for the Qing artillery to shut down, and the unilateral artillery fire would turn into close combat.

All they had to do next was wait, until the other side lost patience and sent out infantry to meet the enemy.

Riding on horseback, Jirgalang looked straight ahead, his wrinkled expression of surprise seemed to be frozen in time.

Holding the telescope firmly in front of his eyes, he spoke with a stiff face, as if talking to himself, or Huang Taiji beside him, "We've been bombarding them for so long, killing countless people, and they still haven't moved?"

Artillery shells whistled overhead, and death continued to fall on the Beiwei Army's front. Even if the blood of their teammates splashed on their faces, those Beiwei soldiers who faced the bombardment remained like standing pine trees, nailed to the spot and motionless.

The Beiwei Army was not afraid of death, nor of broken limbs or blood, nor was they afraid of hearing the mournful cries of their allies. Their morale was like being locked by a sorcery, and they were not afraid of the Qing army's artillery, or in other words, they were not afraid of death at all!
Huang Taiji used all available artillery to fire a large number of shells in a short period of time, but still failed to force the Beiwei Army to take the initiative to attack.

This is a clever tactic, but it is also a one-time trick that will be useless after use.

When most of the artillery pieces emitted boiling hot steam, the artillerymen would be forced away by the heat wave if they just got close to them, officially declaring that this endurance competition of the first confrontation ended with the Beiwei Army's complete victory.

Huang Taiji no longer cared about the casualties suffered by the Beiwei Army in the artillery bombardment. The iron will to fight demonstrated by the Beiwei Army through actual actions instantly shocked Huang Taiji's worldview.

The bravery of thousands of people who relied on simple fortifications to remain unmoved in the face of artillery fire forced Huang Taiji to admit from the bottom of his heart that

The Beiwei Army is a brave and courageous force, composed of tough men with strong bones who have gone through hardships and battles all over the country!

If I had a strategic advantage, I would really like to rely on the long siege to deplete the food supplies of the Beiwei army and then capture them all alive.

It’s a pity that those who were surrounded were the Qing warriors. The army of more than 100,000 had no time to play the food-consuming game with a few thousand people.

"Charge." Huang Taiji ordered.

The war drums beat, the horns blew, and five thousand Eight Banners marched in a long line, escorting twenty-five thousand armed bannermen forward steadily.

It was not that Huang Taiji did not want to send more troops to charge, but the passages between the mountains and forests were too narrow. Even if he had an army of more than 100,000, he could not fully deploy to kill the enemy.

This is what limited battlefield width means.

Thirty thousand auxiliary troops, carrying all sorts of siege equipment, trampled across patches of dry, yellow grass. The soldiers, divided into forward and backward waves, formed a black fungal carpet on the ground, advancing with an overwhelming and terrifying momentum.

"Forward!" Nikan followed behind the team on horseback.

He did not need to participate in the first round of "fire test", but the failure of Fuzhou brought shame to him. If it were not for the magnanimity of his uncle, he would have been demoted to Gushan Ezhen by now.

He wants to avenge his shame!
Today, the army led by the emperor's uncle is right behind him. He wants to regain his own glory under the verification of all the princes and nobles!

Moreover, this group of armed coverts are definitely not the weaklings of other armies.

They have been loyal to the Qing Dynasty for many years and are only one step away from raising the flag. They can be called veteran lackeys and are not afraid of fighting one-on-one with the soldiers of the Southern Dynasty.

Moreover, the Baoyi in the front row were holding thick shields. Even if the Beiwei Army had sharp firearms that could hit targets two or three hundred steps away, ordinary bullets that penetrated the thick shields would be buffered by the cloth armor.

This was the response made by Nikan, who had suffered a great loss!

This time he is commanding 30,000 soldiers, and he will surely defeat the thousands of Beiwei troops!

"The Tartar soldiers have entered the one thousand meter range!"

The artillery observer reported the distance using the ranging pole on the position.

Red wooden poles are placed every two hundred meters and inserted into the soil.

Members of each artillery group took their positions. The maximum range of the Beiwei Army's field artillery was over 1,500 meters, but its effective range was only about 800 to 900 meters. It could fire at around 1,000 meters, but the hit rate was low.

The twelve field cannons were divided into three fire groups, with only four guns used in each round of bombardment of the enemy. When the barrel overheated due to continuous firing, the other four guns were replaced to fill the firepower gap.

The loading speed of a field cannon is generally one round per one or two minutes. If it is a Portuguese cannon with a sub-cannon structure, it can fire a round in less than 30 seconds.

An average infantryman could walk 50 to 60 steps in a minute at a fast pace. If they sped up to a trot or even a sprint, they could reach the front of the battle within three or four rounds of artillery fire.

The gunners raised their matches and waited for the order to test fire.

The gun crew leader listened to the distance figures reported by the commander on the top of the mountain.

"One thousand four hundred meters!"

"One thousand two hundred meters!"

"One thousand meters!"

When the front row of the Tartar army approached the 800-meter range pole, the artillery captain no longer hesitated and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Fire!"

The fuse burst into a brilliant flame and drilled into the barrel. The impact of the instantaneous explosion of gunpowder was suppressed by the barrel at the muzzle.

Mixed with the terrifying power generated by the gunpowder explosion and thick smoke, the solid bullet rushed out of the barrel at a high speed. The solid bullet tore through the air in the air, making a sharp whistling sound, like a falling plane suddenly sinking down and drilling into the dense array of Tatar soldiers.

A solid bullet pierced through a column of Tartar soldiers, sending dozens of crimson flowers of blood filling the air. Broken arms and limbs flew everywhere, and white brain matter and yellow fat splattered everywhere.

The solid bullet that fell to the ground bounced up due to the residual energy, and it rushed forward in the group of Tartar soldiers, smashing more Tartar soldiers to pieces.

Another solid bullet came flying and hit a double-armored Tartar soldier who was holding the line. The solid bullet was like a toothpick piercing white paper, and it made a big hole in the armored soldier's abdomen. The splattering blood splashed all over the head of the Tartar soldier in front.

The armored soldier fell to the ground with his head raised without even a groan. The solid bullets, which had not yet completed their mission, continued to rush forward, splashing a blur of blood and flesh. The two shots killed and injured more than sixty Tartar soldiers.

"Charge! Don't stop!" Nikan shouted while waving his knife in the queue.

Despite the casualties caused by three or four rounds of solid bullet bombardment, tens of thousands of soldiers quickly approached the wide trench, and some soldiers even climbed up the hill using their hands and feet.

"Raise your shields!" The Jiala Zhangjing on the front line roared to the sky, and all the front-row soldiers raised their swords and shields to defend against the enemy's guns.

The intelligence obtained from the prior reconnaissance came into play at this moment, and the bannermen in the formation quickly threw out the sandbags in their arms to fill the trench.

As long as the trenches are filled up one by one, they will reach the breastwork that is not even a defense.

As for the ambushes hidden in the mountains and forests, Nikan had already sent the remaining troops to climb the mountains, so it was impossible for him to be attacked.

But just as the trench filling was progressing smoothly, a roar came from the breastworks within several trenches, "Fire!"

The low breastwork spewed out intermittent white smoke, and the projectiles that swept across were like hammers swung by strong men, clanging as they hit the shields and armor.

Rows of armed guardsmen screamed and fell to the ground. Before the front-line officers could recover, the second round of interval volleys of bird guns rang out.

Bang, bang, bang, more prisoners groaned and fell to the ground. The unlucky ones who were shot but not killed covered their bleeding wounds and screamed in pain.

"How can this be!"

Nikan was shocked. According to common sense, bullets that could be fired far away would not have much killing power. How could the thickened shield and cloth armor not be able to defend against it?
You have to know that the Ming army’s ordinary bullets couldn’t even penetrate a layer of cloth armor!

At this moment, the forests on both sides suddenly erupted in a sound of fighting. The enemy and our side engaged in a fierce battle, but it was obvious that the Qing soldiers did not have the upper hand.

Because Nikan saw dozens of cloth bags spewing out from the mountainside on both sides, leaving shallow traces of gray smoke.

What's this?
(End of this chapter)