Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 263 Long time no see
The slaves under the knife cried for mercy, their feces and urine soaking through their pants and spilling all over the floor, but Abai turned a deaf ear to them, as if he heard the annoying squeaking of rats.

"Ahhh!" Abai roared and swung his sword, and the poor slave's head fell to the ground.

He raised his sword and chopped off nine slaves' heads in succession, blood splattered.

Chopping nine people in a row consumed a lot of energy, so the last knife got stuck in the back of the slave's neck, and he couldn't move it no matter how hard he pulled.

The seriously injured but not dead slave vomited blood in pain, but he felt an even stronger negative emotion drilling into his heart, a kind of anger that came from not being able to get rid of the rats.

"Dead! Die! Die!"

When his sword got stuck, he raised his foot and kicked the slave's head hard. After several kicks, he finally broke the "bamboo joint" head.

Watching the slave's head fall to the ground, Abai felt extremely refreshed and his whole body shivered with joy.

After taking a sip of the hot milk handed to him by Bao Yi, Abai opened his mouth and roared towards the sky, like a powerful wolf king roaming the mountains and forests, "Oh oh oh oh oh oh!"

The loyal bondservants dragged the slaves' bodies away and threw them into a mass grave a few hundred steps away, where hundreds of headless corpses had already been buried.

The bondservants looked around. Thousands of sharpened wooden stakes were spread around Yizhou City, and the sharp points were almost full of slaves' heads.

This is Abai's "masterpiece".

He originally arranged for slaves to chop ice to prevent enemy soldiers from rushing across the river one day. However, the weather here was freezing cold, and the slaves' speed in chopping ice could not keep up with the speed of the river freezing again.

So before all the slaves died of exhaustion, Abai changed his strategy and drove the slaves to lay stakes and chevaux de frise all over Zhenjiang Fort and the vicinity of Yizhou. He even drove stakes into the glaciers to delay the enemy attacking the city.

He was not worried about the attack of the Ming army at first, but a few days ago, His Majesty sent an order to "stay in Korea and wait for orders" and he has not been seen since then.

The scouts sent out to explore the way suffered heavy losses, and the news they brought back was half true and half false.

It is said that His Majesty assembled an army of 100,000, but was defeated by Li Mu, the commander of the Black Flag Camp.

Li Mu thought that the Qing Emperor was also a hero, so he allowed the two to have a one-on-one duel. The Emperor drew his sword and fought with Li Mu for dozens of rounds, but was finally killed by the young and strong Li Mu.

Some say that the emperor was indeed defeated, but not so miserably, and he escaped while preserving considerable strength.

The emperor of the Southern Dynasty personally led the army to recapture Liaodong, and held a grand celebration banquet in Liaoyang, with fireworks, singing and dancing. He also conferred the titles of king and duke on several heroes who had contributed to the recovery of Liao, and vowed to share the world with Li Zhang and the other two.

There are also reports that His Majesty the Emperor abandoned all of Liao and led the main force to flee to the Khorchin grassland, intending to attack the Ming Dynasty from both sides with the Eight Banners troops left behind in Korea.

Regardless of whether the rumors are true or false, Liaodong has most likely fallen into the hands of the Southern Dynasty. Once they have sorted out the affairs of Liaodong, they will head south to Korea.

But Abai was not too flustered.

He firmly believed that some of the emperor's main forces were still roaming outside the Great Wall, waiting for the opportunity to take another bite out of the Southern Dynasty.

The Southern Dynasty had to be wary of the Qing Dynasty returning to Liaodong, so it could not send too many troops to invade the country.

Korea had been a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty for almost three years, and it had cultivated countless "pro-Qing factions" who almost controlled the Korean royal government.

After hearing about the "tragic situation in Shengjing", Dorgon and Jirgalang reluctantly married the daughters of Korean nobles, and the alliance between the two sides became increasingly stable.

Look, there are more than 10,000 Korean troops guarding the gate of the Yalu River, plus bannermen and baoyi, the total number has exceeded 20,000.

The 5,000 defenders of Zhenjiang Fort formed a pincer attack with Yizhou, and the two sides could quickly cross the glacier to provide support.

If the enemy does not have several times more troops, they will not be able to cross this glacier, let alone trap the two fortresses.

Even if the enemy dug deep trenches and surrounded us without attacking, we would still have to endure the cold wind for months.

The tens of thousands of besieging troops competed with the 20,000 defenders in terms of food consumption, and Abai was confident that the defenders had the upper hand.

When the enemy was exhausted by the cold wind, the rear reinforcements only needed to send 3,000 Qing cavalry to annihilate the enemy.

As long as the enemy's first wave of offensive is defeated, they will not be able to organize a second round of offensive within three to five years.

Then their Aisin Gioro family would be able to leisurely cultivate Korea and turn the eight provinces of Korea into a directly governed territory of the Qing Dynasty.

By then, by cooperating with His Majesty the Emperor who is wandering outside the Great Wall, it will be just around the corner to recapture Liaodong and restore the might of the Qing Dynasty.

On this day, the Qing cavalry who were out hunting in the surrounding area suddenly returned early and brought back bad news.

The Ming army's southern expeditionary force arrived.

Tens of thousands of Ming troops marched out of the mountain road and entered the radiation range of Zhenjiang Fort. The defenders inside and outside the fort hurriedly hid inside the fort and entered combat status.

Tens of thousands of Ming troops stopped several miles outside the fort and began to set up camp. Abai finally saw the vague outline of the enemy.

Combined with the information reported by the scouts, the total number of enemy troops was only about 30,000.

According to the art of war, surround the enemy with ten times the force, attack with five times the force, and fight with the enemy if the force is twice as strong.

This Ming army could barely defeat the defenders of Zhenjiang Fort, and even then had to face the situation of Yizhou sending troops to support it and being attacked from both sides.

Even though the familiar black-bordered flags were flying in the Ming army's positions, it did not mean that the 30,000 men were all elite soldiers of the Beiwei Army.

Abai estimated that at most there were only a few thousand elite soldiers and more than 20,000 miscellaneous and auxiliary soldiers.

The two fortress cities have 20,000 soldiers, which is more than enough to defend against 30,000 enemy soldiers.

The advantage lies in his Qing Dynasty!

At the beginning, the Beiwei Army relied on a small number of troops to hold the narrow terrain and resisted the main force of the Qing Dynasty for several days, forcing the Qing troops to take a detour and return north, causing the entire Liaohe Plain to fall.

The families of princes and nobles also died tragically.

When Abai thought of the death of his wife, children and elders, he couldn't help but feel furious.

Today, the offense and defense have changed, and it is his turn to lead the Qing troops to defend the city and block the route that the Beiwei army must pass through.

Today is the perfect day to settle all old and new grudges! The Beiwei Army won't dare to get past Shuangbao.

The battle did not begin on the day of the encounter.

The Ming army was busy setting up camp and arranging their positions, and even at night some people continued to work with torches.

Abai sent people to warn Seoul that the Ming army had arrived, and at the same time strictly prohibited any troops from attacking without authorization.

He also ordered the Yizhou defenders to cut down more trees and pick up more rubble to bring into the city.

He wanted to preserve every bit of combat power and wear down every enemy soldier in the offensive and defensive battles.

The next morning, the Ming army camp became bustling with the sound of trumpets and drums, and hundreds of flags of various kinds fluttering in the wind.

The Ming army, dressed in different uniforms, poured out, like a hodgepodge of armies from many countries, or like a colorful torrent pouring out of the valley.

However, to Abai's surprise, the newly arrived Ming army had surrounded Zhenjiang Fort and all the sharp stakes outside the fort had been removed.

The dense trenches of the garrison were like cracked turtle shells, and the Ming army hid outside the trenches.

The enemy soldiers did not launch a violent attack on the city, and they did not even make ladders to climb the walls. They simply carried iron barrels into the trenches and soon rushed to the bottom of the wall.

It's a tin bucket!

Abai thought of the firearms bombardment encountered in the decisive battle of Xiongyueyi, which was the gunpowder bombs blasted out from such iron barrels.

The explosive package was mixed with iron pieces and iron balls, which were enough to kill dozens of people once they splashed.

"Fight back quickly! We can't let the enemy succeed!"

Before Abai's order was transmitted through flag signals, the defenders on the wall had already organized archers to shoot.

The arrows clanged as they landed on the shields, and the shooting, which had originally been highly anticipated, only caused less than one-tenth of the casualties.

The defenders on the wall became anxious and ordered the Koreans to continue shooting arrows, even if their waists and arms ached!

An enemy soldier on the south side of the trench raised his shield riddled with arrows as if to show off, and raised his middle finger with his free hand.

Seizing the opportunity to show off, the archer on the wall shot an arrow, hitting the unlucky guy in the chest. Then several more arrows were shot, hitting his shoulders and arms before the shield could protect him.

There were many enemy soldiers who were deliberately showing off and mocking, but the defense formed by the trenches and shields was perfect. After a brief silence, Abai saw the soil from the buried buckets flying out again.

damn it!
After all, Abai had fought in many battles for many years and knew what it meant when the enemy approached the city wall without suffering many casualties.

This means that the city wall's defensive power has lost most of its effectiveness, and that the iron barrels can directly bombard the defenders on the wall from under the wall.

What does it mean that the offense and defense are changing? The high walls of the fortress have become a cage that traps its own people!
As the metal barrels were placed, bags of gunpowder were thrown high into the air, landing on the wall and exploding. Delayed booms echoed across the Yalu River, and Abai felt as if his heart was being hammered.

If he allowed the enemy to defeat the defenders of Zhenjiang Fort with very few casualties, he would have to face 30,000 enemy soldiers alone with only 15,000 men!

The enemy may repeat the same trick, removing the sharp stake obstacles in one day, digging trenches to surround the entire city in another day, and sending elite troops to approach and deplete the defenders' manpower within another day, and finally taking Yizhou!
He never expected that the enemy did not play by the rules. They neither launched a strong attack to consume their vitality nor planned to surround the enemy for a long time to compete for food reserves.

And he couldn't think of any way to restrain himself in such a short period of time!
The shame of defeat was like a dark cloud gradually approaching the horizon, and Abai suddenly recalled the shadow of the disastrous defeat at Xiongyue Station.

The fearless fighting ability and mindless charging were once the strengths and weaknesses of the Beiwei Army.

But now, they have grown from mindless warriors into an excellent army that makes good use of tactics!

This growth rate is too astonishing.

The Beiwei Army is like a soul-bewitching demon. By killing the enemy, they can absorb the enemy's wisdom and intelligence in life and become more terrifying.

Such powerful soldiers cannot be defeated by conventional offensive and defensive strategies!
Abai couldn't help but feel shaken.

How about abandoning the defenders of Zhenjiang Fort and retreating with the defenders of Yizhou?

Combining the Eight Banners soldiers who stayed in Seoul and other main cities, they would definitely be able to fight.

But when he turned his head and looked at the Korean soldiers and baoyi, he rejected this idea.

The news that the Ming army had captured Liaodong had spread throughout Korea, and Korea's submission to the Qing was just an inevitable trend.

Once he gave up the Yalu River gateway, it would mean that the Eight Banners Army would suffer a military defeat, which would in turn trigger a political crisis.

While some people surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, others regarded the Qing Dynasty as barbarians and longed to return to the embrace of the Ming Dynasty.

A large number of Korean nobles and militiamen will join the Ming Dynasty's army, which will definitely strengthen the Ming army. The mere 30,000 soldiers will swell to 50,000 or even 70,000...

At that time, a decisive battle would take place between the Ming and Qing dynasties. If the Qing dynasty lost, everything would be over. Even if the Qing dynasty won, it would suffer heavy losses, and the Korean nobles would take advantage of it for nothing.

North Korea remains North Korea.

Looking at the tragic scene of the wall being bombarded continuously, Abai secretly made up his mind that he must hold on and fight here until the last soldier!
Abai immediately ordered the dispatch of 13,000 soldiers and horses, with a small number of bannermen, bondservants, and traitors serving as supervisors.

He would not send out the main force of the flag soldiers to fight until the Koreans' blood was shed dry.

I advise my master to leave some reserve troops to defend Yizhou to avoid danger.

Abai felt that his worries were unnecessary. The Yizhou City, which was still guarded by 2,000 bannermen, was impregnable. The scouts had already swept the surrounding area and found that the enemy had only a little over 30,000 soldiers and horses, without any ambushes.

Faced with the 5,000 defenders of Zhenjiang Fort and the 13,000 reinforcements attacking from both sides, the enemy would not have the spare capacity to send troops to attack Yizhou.

If his personal safety was not related to the morale of the entire army, he would have wanted to lead all the soldiers out to fight the enemy to the death.

"Send an order to the defenders of Zhenjiang Fort! Tell them to cooperate with the reinforcements and attack the enemy from the south!"

Following the general's order, more than 10,000 troops marched out of Yizhou, crossed the frozen glacier and headed straight for Zhenjiang Fort.

The military proficiency of the Beiwei Army was also excellent, and they were able to quickly change their formations according to the enemy's response.

Thousands of soldiers were drawn out from the trench formation to form more than ten square formations, blocking the road to the south of Zhenjiang Fort.

Among them were battle maniacs with ecstasy on their faces and who kept saying "kill the Tartars", strong men who were calm and spitting, and weak auxiliary soldiers who were so nervous that they were even spitting water vapor.

Thousands of soldiers armed with bird guns came out from the Beiwei Army. They fired two rounds of volleys before the enemy rushed up. Then they drew their swords, took out their javelins, and slammed into the still confused enemy soldiers. Swords clashed and blood splattered.

The telescope was almost embedded in front of his eyes, and Abai stared at every detail of the battlefield.

The Korean soldiers who encountered the volley quickly lost their morale and fled backwards, but the bannermen and baoyi who were blocking behind them drove them back with their swords.

So the poor Koreans were caught in the gap between the enemy and were hacked to death from the front and back. They could neither advance nor retreat. Even if some of them managed to escape, they were chased and killed by the Tartar cavalry.

Until a slightly accented Korean voice rang out: "I am a member of the Beiwei Army Heavenly Soldiers escorting the Korean prince Li Hao back to his country. Come with us to kill the Tartars!"

The North Koreans were shocked when they heard this.

It was the nobles who betrayed the country, not the ordinary soldiers and civilians like them.

Escorting the prince back to the capital will surely be a great achievement!

"Kill the Tartars!" Many wavering Koreans finally strengthened their confidence, waving the iron pieces and spears in their hands and turning back to fight back.

Just when more than 20,000 enemies and our own people were fighting each other, suddenly someone saw strange objects rising from the hilly area not far away.

The strange floating objects in the sky soon attracted the attention of the Qing soldiers. Thousands of people looked up at the sky, opened their mouths wide, and screamed in surprise, as if they had seen a once-in-a-century event called the eclipse of the moon by the heavenly dog.

Dozens of top-heavy "ellipsoidal objects" rose slowly into the air through the dead trees and were immediately tied up by the hemp rope at the bottom of the basket.

The whistling northwest wind made them eager to break free from their restraints.

If they were not ellipsoidal in shape, had neither strange evil magic nor signs of lowering their altitude, the Qing soldiers and Koreans would have thought that the Ming army was casting some strange magic to summon the gods from heaven to help.

Especially the Koreans who had never seen an ellipsoid, their minds were almost occupied by superstitious ideas, and they shouted, "Real heavenly soldiers are coming, run!"
Abai, who was in the rear, once again sent hundreds of bannermen on horseback to chase the fugitives, not allowing any Korean to escape successfully.

"Don't panic!"

The flag chief on the front line shouted to stop the words of surrender and swung his scimitar to kill the Koreans who were talking nonsense.

The leader said that such flying ellipsoids had been seen several times in southern Liaoning. They were just a kind of "prayer" prop used by the Beiwei Army and had no function.

However, the ellipsoid object seemed to deliberately slap itself in the face, and it "broke free" from the hemp rope and floated towards the North Korean border along the northwest wind.

When they were about to fly over the Yalu River, two or three hundred people landed and then opened the parachutes behind them one after another.

Hundreds of giant dandelions suddenly appeared in the sky in front of the flag soldiers and Koreans.

Zhenjiang Fort, the reinforcements, and the Yizhou defenders were all a little confused.

It was the first time for them to see the enemy coming not from land or sea, but from the sky. Invisible pressure and fear took root in the hearts of every Qing soldier.

Some people don't know how to deal with the enemies descending from the sky. Are they Han dogs practicing evil magic, or heavenly soldiers and generals bringing divine punishment?

The former is a mortal who can be defeated, while the latter is a god who symbolizes destiny.

Someone drew his sword and roared at the "freak" that was slowly descending from the sky, as if he wanted to give himself courage by scaring the beast with his bluff, but his heart was already on the verge of collapse.

Some people could not bear the strong pressure of the "heavenly soldiers" who were gradually approaching, and fled to the rear while screaming wildly, but were killed by the supervising team with swords and arrows.

The "Heavenly Soldiers" crossed Zhenjiang Fort, passed through the battlefield where the enemy and we were fighting, flew over the frozen Yalu River, and landed safely inside and outside Yizhou City.

"The Zodiac Squad has arrived. Our mission is to pin down the enemy and give them the opportunity to perform a decapitation operation!"

The captain's voice echoed in his ears. Ajie quickly took off his parachute backpack, took off his shield and steel knife, and rushed towards the nearest city gate flagman.

When screams and blood rang out, the Qing army around them realized that the "humanoid creatures" that landed were not sacred heavenly soldiers, but their mortal enemies, the Han dogs, who must be killed.

"Come on! Let's have a good fight!" Ajie held his sword in front of him, grinning and roaring like a lion.

The sudden arrival of hundreds of lightly armed players was like a heavy hammer that stunned Abai.

More than 10,000 fresh troops were still fighting, and hundreds of bannermen were sent out to pursue the defeated soldiers. Only about 1,000 bannermen were left in Yizhou.

Emergency intelligence continued to arrive, and "heavenly soldiers" descended from the sky almost everywhere inside and outside Yizhou, and a large number of reserve flag soldiers were fighting with the scattered Ming army everywhere.

Although this group of heavenly soldiers was small in number, the Qing army outnumbered them in many places.

However, the bravery of this group of "heavenly soldiers" was far beyond his imagination. It was as if they were stronger and tougher men specially selected from the elite troops. It seemed that they would withdraw some of the flag soldiers who were chasing the escaped and provide assistance for a round of defense.

At this moment, Abai suddenly received a message from a messenger that a small team of twelve heavenly soldiers had landed neatly on the east side of Yizhou City.

Abai couldn't help but sneer when he heard that. Humph, are just twelve bastards worth coming back to report the incident?

No matter how brave the twelve enemies are, they can only be defeated by one person. Just sending out dozens of flag soldiers can wipe them all out.

However, the landing location of this team is interesting. It happened to be in the east where there were almost no "friendly forces".

If you want to blame someone, just blame these bastards for their bad luck and ending up in a helpless position.

Abai looked towards the east of Yizhou and immediately ordered the assembly of a hundred soldiers to put an end to this group of Han dogs.

(End of this chapter)