Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 22 The First Battle
The personal army that had followed Wu Xiang in battle for many years was already accustomed to this.

The previous battle was filled with blood and corpses.

Just a few hundred bodies of women and children, it wasn't a big scene at all.

Even the common people just couldn't bear to look at the corpses, or were afraid of them.

Wu Xiang immediately understood what Chuang Jun's purpose was.

Because these women and children are relatives of the officials who defended the city to the death!
The rebel army wants to divide the officials in the court!

There are two thousand officials of all ranks in the capital. Any one of them plays a greater role in defending the city than a hundred civilians.

Even if no officials defected to the enemy, even revealing the situation in the capital would be a disaster.

Thinking of this, Wu Xiang hurriedly turned around and called a personal soldier.

"Hurry and report to His Majesty the truth about the corpse floating at Desheng Gate, and request that the Imperial Guards enforce the night curfew. Quickly!"

Upon receiving the order, the imperial guards mounted their fast horses and rushed towards the imperial city.

Wu Xiang sighed deeply and slowly returned to the city wall.

"Call me when the enemy comes within three miles."

……

Half past noon.

The marching speed of the Children's Camp once again refreshed Wu Xiang's imagination.

It was only two miles, but the children's camp took three-quarters of an hour to walk.

When the messenger stumbled up to the Deshengmen tower, Wu Xiang was peeling walnuts with a dagger.

The walnut shell cracked in two on the green brick, revealing the curled-up kernel inside, which looked like a baby curled up in the moat.

"General, the enemy army is three miles away from the city!"

Wu Xiang's wrist shook, and the blade cut a bloody wound on his thumb.

He chuckled, "Alas, I'm getting old. I can't even hold the knife steadily."

Sucking his fingers, he casually walked to the top of the city wall and looked outside. He saw that the yellow dust in the midday sunlight had already spread over the slope, and six thousand barefoot young men formed a loose square formation two miles outside the moat.

The sunlight was so dazzling that it clearly illuminated the knife marks on the parapet, which were left by Grand Tutor Yesen a hundred years ago.

"Have Li Guozhen prepared. If anything goes wrong, I will send him and the 3,000-man battalion to charge the battle."

Wu Xiang spat out walnut fragments, and the iron armor hit the battlement with a dull sound.

……

Liu Tichun, the leader of the Children's Camp, squatted on the elm cannon shaft and sneered at the towering Deshengmen in the distance.

The dry grass sticking out from the cracks in the blue bricks of the city wall swayed in the wind, and to him it looked like the beard of a dog emperor wagging his tail and begging for mercy.

"You brag about your hundred thousand troops in the capital all day long, but when you see a real man, you don't even dare to fart."

He spat on the frozen ground, and the saliva splashed on the face of the skinny boy next to him.

The child was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, and the reed fluff leaking out of his torn jacket stuck to his cracked lips.

Deputy General He Wanshou smiled in agreement, "Haha, Chief Liu is right. Think about Juyong Pass, the world-famous pass. Didn't they also open it and surrender as soon as our army arrived?"

"If you ask me, the Heavenly King takes that damn Emperor too seriously. With a million strong army, we can drown him with just a spit!"

"Hahahaha." Liu Tichun sneered, and then suddenly slapped He Wanshou in the face.

"You are the one who can tell me what to do? You are the one who tells me what to do!?"

He Wanshou hurriedly knelt down to apologize, and Liu Tichun snorted coldly and did not pursue the matter any further.

Looking at the heavily guarded Deshengmen in the distance, Liu Tichun said to the people behind him.

"Our General Liu loves us so much that he asked us to lead the Children's Battalion as the vanguard of a million-strong army. This means he has entrusted us with the great task of capturing the emperor first. We must not make any mistakes."

"Go tell the children to have some last bite of pancakes in front of those nobles from the capital. After noon, we'll take them to the Emperor's house for a feast!"

Several deputy generals burst into laughter and rode their war horses to gallop back and forth in the formation.

"Children, rest here for three quarters of an hour and eat some bread. After noon, Commander Liu will take us to the Emperor's house for a feast!"

After the order was conveyed, the six thousand young men immediately made a noise, sat on the ground, and took out the bran cakes in their arms to eat.

While eating, I was thinking about how delicious the banquet prepared by the emperor must be.

The ladders lay scattered across the frozen ground, like a dead thorn forest. Liu Tichun squinted at the faded Ming Dynasty flags on the city walls, and suddenly remembered the young lady from an official family who had been pinned down by her old camp brothers in the prefectural hall when Ruzhou City fell, shivering in the same way.

When I think of the fair and smooth skin of the young lady from the official family, and then think of the peasant women in the camp who look like old tree bark.

My heart was burning with joy.

I heard that there are princesses and imperial concubines in this imperial city, and they can even sleep there for one night and die the next day!

I ate two bites of chicken legs and drank some wine.

Liu Tichun simply didn't even wait until noon.

He stood up and kicked the messenger, "Get the boys moving, set up the ladder, and we'll step on the dog emperor's face to enter the palace!"

The messenger, who had not even had a moment's rest, had to stand up again.

Six thousand young men, holding the worn-out spears seized from the Ming army, once again formed a loose formation.

Liu Tichun was wearing a set of exquisite armor, which he had found in the home of a high-ranking official in the Shanxi Provincial Government.

He rode on a tall warhorse and swung the long sword in his hand.

"My children, the time has come to avenge your parents and serve the King!"

"Follow me and fight your way in. Let's enjoy the emperor's feast!"

The deputy general spread Liu Tichun's words throughout the formation.

In an instant, six thousand young men roared and rushed towards Wengcheng.

They had no idea of ​​revenge for their parents, nor did they have any thoughts of being loyal to the king.

They only know that they can have a banquet and there will be meat on the banquet when they enter the city!

Liu Tichun followed on horseback, laughing heartily.

"Old He is immortal! I bet Weng City will fall within five minutes!"

He Wanshou also laughed loudly, "I bet three quarters of an hour, when the nobles in the capital see us, who dares to stop us..."

Before he could finish his words, a ball of fire suddenly erupted from the top of the city wall.

……

Li Guozhen felt like his ears were about to explode.

Thirty-five Portuguese cannons roared in succession, and the white smoke from the muzzles instantly engulfed the city walls.

The shells flew across the moat like meteorites, tearing the two young men who were rushing forward happily into pieces.

Broken ice mixed with brain matter splattered on the ladder. The glaring red reminded Li Guozhen of the blood that spurted out when his tenth concubine had a difficult childbirth.

The moment the cannon sounded, Wu Wei from Andingmen also shouted.

"Open the gate!"

The sound of the capstan turning was drowned out by the gunfire, and the iron-clad gate fell to the ground with a loud bang.

The sound of the 3,000-strong cavalry's hooves was even more deafening than that of the Portuguese, and the heavy armor of their black horses glowed blue in the twilight.

Andingmen is only seven miles away from Deshengmen.

The heavy cavalry just had enough distance to accelerate.

When a thunderous roar sounded.

The boys in the children's camp panicked, "Iron Horse! It's Iron Horse!"

A shrill howl erupted from behind the formation, and Liu Tichun's straw was still stuck in his teeth.

He saw the black torrent rolling over the moat, and the ground cracked like a spider web under the heavy hooves.

The children in the front row didn't even have time to stand up before the iron hooves had already trampled the bran cakes into their chests.

"Shoot! Shoot quickly!" His roar was cut off by the third round of artillery fire.

This time, the Shenji Camp changed to shotgun shells, and seven hundred iron balls scattered like flowers from the sky, turning the archers who were drawing their bows into sieves.

An ownerless warhorse ran wildly with its intestines dragging, smashing the newly erected ladder into pieces.

Liu Tichun rolled off his horse in horror, with half a piece of straw still in his mouth.

"This is the Beijing Camp?!"

(End of this chapter)