Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 230: Pig Skin Scraps (Two Chapters in One)

Nikan, who did not participate in the looting last year, had never seen the Black Flag Camp's special "mortar".

The cloth bags sprayed out in an interlaced manner, like fireworks bursting out at a festive occasion, offering sincere "blessings" to the armed guards trapped in the narrow road.

The cloth bag with an unexpected fuse suddenly exploded above the Tartar soldier's head.

The impact of the gunpowder explosion spread in all directions, and the flying iron bullets were like a sudden downpour in a small area, hitting the ground as if drilling into blood and mud slurry.

The Tartar soldiers in the center of the bullet coverage turned into bloody beasts and died suddenly. The small iron bullets flew everywhere with popping sounds, and dozens of human-shaped "wild boars" were hit with blood holes all over their bodies.

The cloth bag that had not yet exploded fell on his shoulder, and the crackling sound of the burning fuse scared Bao Yi so much that he quickly threw it away.

The moment the cloth bag fell to the ground, the fuse burned out, and the impact of the explosion swept through the army with iron bullets.

"Raise your shields! Disperse!"

The shouts of the Niulu Zhangjing and Jiala Zhangjing came one after another, but the shields and cloth armor were not enough to cushion the blow, and the iron bullets thrown by the cloth were almost fatal at close range, smashing through the armor and embedding into the flesh.

Some of the bondservants were so frightened by the successive explosions that they stopped in their tracks, and even dared not take a single step forward despite being whipped or hacked at by the flag-gathering officers.

Horus on the mountaintop keenly sensed the powerful force of insufficient fuse—

The "artillery team" lurking in the mountains and forests completed the intelligence exchange in an instant and immediately cut the fuse of the cloth bag.

The cloth bags that were supposed to be thrown into the dense enemy formation suddenly turned into "youthful version of shrapnel". The tight gunpowder bags exploded above the heads of the Tartar soldiers, and countless iron flowers scattered black seeds to the ground.

One after another, "shrapnel" exploded above his head. Nikan, who was behind the formation, seemed to see dozens of iron bullets falling like rain, hitting his shields and helmets with clanging sounds.

The tough old bannermen didn't even get a chance to fight in close combat, and turned into a pile of wailing wounded soldiers.

They lay on the ground, swaying from side to side, their exposed skin looking as if it had smallpox, their hands hanging over the wounds, neither moving up nor down, and from time to time they let out heart-wrenching cries.

The exploding gunpowder bags above the head and at the feet are still bearable, but the flying iron bullets are like arrows piercing armor, getting stuck in the gaps between the armor plates and causing some flesh wounds, which gives people more psychological shock.

However, the continuous volleys of "Thunder Guns" from behind the low wall were extremely deadly.

The Beiwei Army deliberately dug several trenches about 200 steps away from the low wall, which was just enough for the Thunder Gun to display its power. Even gods could not stop the rounds of fire.

Behind the low wall, a dedicated person held a giant fan to disperse the thick smoke. If the bird guns were firing frequently, new guns would be replaced to continue the firing. It can be said that the guns were replaced but the personnel were not.

The Baoyi were attacked from three sides, left, front and right, but the Beiwei army still felt that the killing was not going well. About a hundred of them climbed over the low wall, each of them carrying a small stool, which they used to elevate themselves and stand in the trench, with only the area above their necks exposed.

The Beiwei army let out hoarse roars to the sky, loading and firing without stopping.

"Kill kill kill kill kill kill!"

Seeing the enemies of the Golden Rat Tail groaning and falling to the ground under rows of volleys, the players were almost excited to the point of exploding on the spot, with all the nerve signals in their bodies roaring out war songs!

The trenches, breastworks and hills where soldiers were ambushed were like a large slaughterhouse, accepting all the wild boars waiting to be slaughtered.

If the Tartar soldiers stopped to throw sandbags to fill the ditch, they would be shot by the thunder guns in vain. However, if they climbed the mountain to fight with the Beiwei Army, they would not only have to walk a longer distance, but would also be shot at by the enemy soldiers on the mountainside from a high position.

When did the Beiwei Army possess so many sharp and terrifying weapons?

Nikan was completely dumbfounded. The first round of exploratory attack resulted in heavy casualties. Even the first trench was only half filled, and not a single hair of the low wall was touched.

If we break through several trenches and climb over low walls, won’t we lose half of our casualties here?

Even the dumbest generals understood that the first round of military probing had failed. The front army was almost destroyed in the blood plasma and gradually fell into the repeated quagmire of death. The central army was hesitant to advance and fight.

The Tatars attacking the mountain on the left and right wings also broke down, screaming and running backwards. The continuous rout brought down the morale of the other troops.

Nikan didn't want to retreat, but the defeated soldiers sweeping in from the front were too numerous and too fierce, like an unstoppable torrent that swept him back.

Seeing the Tartars begin to retreat, He Lusi's hands were shaking as he gripped the telescope tightly. "Discard your guns, draw your swords, and charge with swords!"

The players, who had been hungry and thirsty for a long time, abandoned their bird guns, drew their steel knives, and rushed down the hillside howling.

The brothers in the central army also took out pieces of wood to pave the way and crossed the trench to pursue the enemy.

Some people were dissatisfied with the slow pace of laying the planks, so they picked up a long pole and inserted it deep into the trench, jumping over it one section at a time. Others took out the stilts they had prepared in advance and stepped across the wide trench.

As he crossed the trench, he shouted in a show of skill, "Ahahahaha—the giant is coming!"

The moment the stilt walker landed steadily on the ground, the two pointed hammers at his waist were already in his hands.

He was the first to capture a bright red-armored flag bearer. The young man yelled, "You offended the players and you still want to run away!"

He swung the blunt end of the pointed hammer and hit the enemy on the back, knocking the flag bearer down with a powerful blunt blow. Then he turned the hammer over, with the pointed end facing down, and stabbed it hard into the flag bearer's neck guard.

The young man suddenly felt a sharp hammer piercing into the flesh, and continued to stab the second pointed hammer into the back of Qi Ding's neck.

"Die!"

He exerted force with both hands, as if trying to pry open a courier box, and pulled the pointed hammer together with the neck armor to tear open the flesh on the back of the flag bearer's neck.

Even though blood from a burst blood vessel sprayed onto his face, the young man showed no sign of panic, as if he was not killing a living person, but a damn giant cockroach.

"We will not take any prisoners in this battle. Golden Rat Tail has no right to eat our food!"

The players who arrived later madly hacked and killed the wounded and fleeing Tatars without showing any mercy or compassion. Even if some bannermen spoke Chinese and begged for mercy, they were hacked to death by the bloodthirsty players.

The war maniacs even deliberately forced a group of defeated soldiers who were crying and begging for mercy to kneel down in rows, and then chopped them down with their swords without mercy in front of a group of Manchu princes and nobles.

They chopped off all the Tatar heads and held them high above their heads, letting the blood drip down their faces, as if it was a glorious mark of a successful hunt by the Iron-blooded Warriors.

When the enemy's face was covered with blood, as if they had completed baptism and evolution, they stared straight ahead with red faces of anger, "The dogs are coming again!"

They kept moving forward with their heads held high, shouting, roaring and challenging.

Hundreds of people leaned back one after another, arms stretched out as if to embrace the sky, and roared deafeningly, "Kill the pigs! Cool!"

They piled the heads of the Tartars into a mountain like they were throwing away garbage, and then, like cultists performing a sacrificial ceremony, they danced and leaped around the Jingguan, occasionally shouting to the heavens, "Blood sacrifice to the Blood God, skulls to the Skull Throne!"

Of course, there were also rational players who took the opportunity to throw out the sandbags filling the trenches, and swung their swords to cut through the sandbags, allowing the mud and sand to flow out and cover the ground.

In addition, they also looted the corpses' armor, helmets, weapons, arrows, bullets, and even the food bags and water bottles they carried with them, and quickly delivered them to the rear.

The Beiwei Army can only rely on irregular supplies from ships at sea. No one knows when the next batch of supplies will arrive, nor how long this battle will last.

If they ran out of weapons, armor and ammunition, they would have no choice but to fight the well-equipped Tatars with spears and stones.

……

"Damn you, you bastards! I'll tear you into pieces!"

The second cruel and brutal provocation further aroused the anger of the nobles.

But despite being angry, they did obtain a lot of useful intelligence at the cost of thousands of casualties.

The effects of the Xunlei Gun and the Beiwei Mortar shocked Huang Taiji and the princes and nobles.

The bloody scene on the battlefield prompted Huang Taiji to recall Dorgon and Hauge's description of the Black Flag Army.

He was trapped in a dense siege by Qing troops, and yet he dared to break out with only 800 soldiers, and finally fought to the last soldier!

Dry intelligence described in words alone cannot attract people's attention. Only by personally experiencing the torment, torture, and pain of fighting against them, or even the interweaving of the five senses on the battlefield, can one truly understand what a terrifying group of death squads they are.

Through this test of force, Huang Taiji found out the enemy's firepower deployment and defense structure, and also understood that these Beiwei troops were indeed fierce soldiers from the Black Flag Camp.

Their hatred for the Qing Dynasty was as great as the sun and the moon. Huang Taiji racked his brains but could not figure out what they had experienced and why they were willing to fight the Qing soldiers to the death even on the battlefield?
According to the reports from the defeated soldiers who retreated, the average age of the enemy soldiers was not high. They were all able-bodied men in their twenties and thirties, and there were even some handsome boys who looked to be in their teens.

These soldiers were only ten years old, that is, a group of young men. It was during the reign of Huang Taiji. He changed his father Khan's brutal massacre policy against Han people and greatly eased the confrontation between Manchus and Han people.

If the Beiwei Army were really the Liao people who had fled over the past decade or so, how could the Han people who had lived under his "revised policy" for several years still harbor such great hatred towards him?

Huang Taiji ordered the artillery to fire, attempting to use the red cannon to kill more enemy soldiers and bring himself comfort to suppress his anxiety.

However, the whistling of the shells cutting through the air echoed throughout the earth, but the Beiwei soldiers acted as if nothing had happened. They continued to hold cult rituals, continue to provoke, and continue to loot weapons and armaments from the dead, completely ignoring the numerical disadvantage of "one less dead".

Even if someone's thigh was broken by a shell, the soldier would drag his bloody broken leg and flesh and force himself to stand up, raise his middle finger to the Qing soldiers, and say, "Come on!"

This deep-rooted hatred and anger, the devilish bravery, and the determination to never give up until the goal is achieved, even Huang Taiji, the ruler who single-handedly turned the Great Jin into the Great Qing, felt a chill.

The 30,000 auxiliary troops were defeated and retreated to just over 20,000. Although the morale of the entire army was slightly lowered, the total number of troops under Huang Taiji's command was still 120,000.

The Beiwei Army's ambushes deployed on the mountainside in this battle likely suffered heavy losses, perhaps hundreds, perhaps even thousands...

Regardless of whether the thousands of Beiwei troops lost a thousand soldiers or not, the ambush troops on the mountainside must have suffered heavy losses.

This time, Huang Taiji decided to attack the mountains first. Fifteen thousand armored men and fifteen thousand bannermen attacked several hills, and another fifteen thousand Manchu and Mongolian armored men attacked the enemy trenches.

If you can take the commanding heights, you can rain down arrows and bullets on the enemy from above.

However, before that, it is still necessary to bombard the mountains and forests several times, killing the enemy and knocking down trees to reduce obstacles in attacking the mountains.

The emperor's order was absolute. After dozens of large and small cannons were silent for a minute, they rang out one after another from the side and rear.

Looking through the best telescope, Huang Taiji was able to see clearly where the shells landed.

Each shell bombarded the forest, carrying the emperor's anticipation. The terrifying shrieks, the smoke and dust kicked up by the falling shells, and the faintly visible blood mist all became the perfect drama to brighten the emperor's mood...

Until the large and small artillery pieces overheated one by one, a long horn sounded in the Qing camp.

The armored men who attacked the mountains and forests rode their war horses to the battlefield. They reined in their horses and stopped at the foot of the mountain, waiting for the bannermen to form a battle formation and block the front.

Even after the Baoyi formation was completed, they did not launch an attack, but waited for other forces.

Another infantry unit attacking the trench advanced slowly.

It’s not that they don’t want to speed up, but the flag bearers in the front row pushing large and small shield vehicles can’t go fast.

The large carts were like hollow battering rams, and the infantry pushed them forward while taking cover inside to protect themselves from stray arrows and musketry. The small carts were like large mobile shields, or a low-profile sidecar, with room for two or three people to stand and fire.

However, the Eight Banners learned from the failure of the first round of attack and not only thickened the wooden boards of the shield carts, but also tied a few balls of hay covered with mud to the wooden boards to cushion the power of stray bullets.

As long as the "chariot-like" shield cart is pushed in front of the trench, the thick shield can be used to block the bullets and arrows, filling the trench bit by bit.

The Beiwei army's artillery opened fire.

Huang Taiji could see clouds of white smoke billowing out. Several cannons sat back down. The Beiwei army gunners were like busy ants, pushing the cannons back into place step by step. They picked up the poker to clean the inside of the barrel, cleaning it twice, once dry and once wet.

The shells flew out with trails of smoke, and one of them happened to hit the shield vehicle target.

Even if the cart was hit by a single shot, it would only break through the shield and injure several flagmen inside. With the subsequent flagmen filling in, the cart could still push the damaged shield cart forward.

In contrast, the smaller shield carts suffered a far more disastrous fate. The shells not only ripped through the large shields but also shattered the carts, splitting them in two. The shattered wood chips scattered like dozens of sharp spikes, wounding those in the process. Some armored men's armor was practically covered in sawdust and spikes.

"Forward!" The grassroots officers filling various units shouted while pushing shield carts.

Although this is a simple "infantry-vehicle coordination", it can minimize casualties in the face of artillery bombardment.

The desire for revenge after being humiliated by the Han dogs boosted the morale of the bannermen. They seemed to be full of energy and wanted to chop the Han dogs' bodies into pieces and use the minced meat to make wine.

The infantry attacking the trenches quickly reached their destination under the artillery fire, and the teams attacking the mountain on both sides also set off shouting.

However, there was no sound of bird gunfire from the low wall opposite the trench, and the Qing army leader and his soldiers were still puzzled.

Could it be that the Han dogs' bird guns were all shot out, so they allowed the Qing warriors to fill the trenches and fight with bows, crossbows and swords when they got close?
Just when the Tartars were puzzled, they suddenly saw a group of fat and bulging soldiers on stilts climbing over the trenches and heading straight towards the shield carts.

Although the Tartar leader didn't know what would happen, a foreboding premonition still made him order a counterattack, "Shoot! Shoot!"

Even if hundreds of Qing soldiers took off their arrows and shot, it was still too late. Dozens of "jugglers" were pierced by several arrows and fell on top of the shield carts and even around them.

The Tatar leader felt an inexplicable fear in his heart, and he desperately swung his sword into the enemy's chest and abdomen, drew out the blood, and stabbed it again. The other Tatars also tried their best to kill the fallen enemy soldiers.

The enemy soldier who was stabbed several times was not afraid. Instead, he showed a ferocious smile, and the corners of his mouth were raised so exaggeratedly that they were distorted.

The enemy soldier sprayed a trail of blood foam at his leader, then shouted proudly and lunged towards the bottom of the shield cart, "I will always be loyal to the great Emperor!"

There was a loud bang, and the leader felt his soul being engulfed by the instantaneous impact of flames.

Other Beiwei soldiers also detonated gunpowder one after another, blowing off the wooden top of the shield cart, tearing apart the shield cart's support, and smashing the rough wheels.

The shield carts that the Qing soldiers had organized with great difficulty immediately turned into a sea of ​​fire, and the scorching heat waves forced the nearby Qing soldiers to retreat dozens of steps.

Until the skeleton of the shield cart was almost engulfed by flames, the teeth-grinding sound of gunfire from behind the breastwork rang out one after another.

The Qing soldiers, without the protection of shield carts, repeated the same mistake and could only fill the trenches with ordinary shields and their flesh and blood.

However, this trench-attack team was obviously more courageous than the previous Baoyi. The armored men and Bayala relied on double armor and shields to hold on, waiting for their teammates to build wooden planks for the passage or throw sandbags to fill the trench.

If they could no longer withstand the attack of bullets, their own bodies would become a bag of "mud" to bury the trench.

The "mortars" on the mountainside on both sides that were supposed to fire also misfired - it seemed that the attacking team had penetrated into the heart of the enemy, making it difficult for the artillery team to fire steadily.

"go ahead!"

Even if the armored men spit blood, they would move forward. The armored men in the back row abandoned their shields and used their armor to move forward by holding their teammates under their arms.

Seriously wounded armored men fell to the ground one after another into the trenches, and the surviving soldiers quickly took their place and crossed the shaky wooden boards.

At this time, the Beiwei army sent a thousand people to fight, and the two sides fought on the plains and wooden boards in the trenches.

Seeing that the Beiwei Army had to use human flesh to stop the advance of the Qing warriors, it seemed that they had run out of firearms and ammunition.

The Beiwei Army was at a severe numerical disadvantage. Once they lost their advantage in firearms, a mere few thousand men could not even stop the more than 10,000 armored men attacking the trenches.

Nikan, who was still commanding the front line, immediately realized that the opportunity to fight was coming.

He immediately sent out all his reserve troops to fight, and even he himself could not help but dismount and rush to the front line of the battle.

"attack!"

Looking at the corpses and seriously injured people falling into the trenches under his feet, he and his warriors hacked and killed the "weak soldiers" of the Beiwei Army along the way, tore a hole in the center, and rushed to the last trench.

As long as we cross this trench, we can break into the enemy's main camp!
The dawn of the Qing Dynasty's victory is just around the corner!
However, Nikan and his men could no longer advance, as the Beiwei Army ignored their teammates who were still fighting scattered on the front lines and resorted to a new tactic.

The Tatars saw with their own eyes that the Beiwei Army threw out dozens of flaming "crystal bottles", and the fragile crystal bottles hit their helmets, shoulders, and wooden planks.

The bottle shattered and splashed a pale yellow liquid on the ground. When the burning gauze at the bottle mouth released the liquid, the fire demon monster sealed in the bottle immediately displayed its power and used a ball of Samadhi True Fire to devour everything around it.

Whether it was the armored men of the Eight Banners attacking the trenches or the soldiers of the Beiwei Army fighting hard to stop the enemy, they were all engulfed by the scorching flames.

Nikan felt his heart sink and his face stiffen. He never expected that the enemy would use the lives of his teammates as bait to attract the Qing soldiers to swarm in.

Even more terrifying was that the Beiwei soldiers who were burned by the flames did not cry out in pain, nor did they curse their brothers for being betrayed. Instead, they rushed towards the armored men who were not burned by the flames, shouting loudly, "Kill the Tartars!"

"I found you!"

Nikan suddenly heard a discontinuous hoarse growl, and then felt a heat wave coming from the side.

(End of this chapter)