Huangming

Chapter 297 Destroying Cannons to Stop the Enemy, for the Ming Dynasty

The night was dark.

He Shixian's two thousand light cavalry had already slipped out of the secret passages of Shenyang like a silver lightning bolt.

Horse hooves pounded the grass, splashing up tiny droplets of water. Two thousand sabers drew cold arcs in the early sun, pointing directly at the still-roaring artillery positions outside the city.

"Charge! Blow up those Jurchen cannons for me!"

He Shixian's roar, accompanied by the sound of wind, made the armor plates of the guards around him tremble.

He took the lead and rushed outwards.

The Jurchen artillery outside the city continued to bombard the northeast corner of Shenyang.

"Boom! Boom!"

The flashes from the cannons were particularly blinding in the darkness, and shells, trailing fiery exhaust, crashed into the city wall.

In less than an hour, a gap had been blasted open in the northeast corner of the fortress. Although it was only wide enough for one person to pass through, the broken section with the bricks and stones peeling off was expanding at a visible speed, revealing the rammed earth inside that had been scorched black by the artillery fire.

If they keep bombing like this, even sandbags won't be able to stop it.

"accelerate!"

He Shixian's eyes were bloodshot; he could imagine the anxious look in Xiong Tingbi's eyes from the city wall.

The light cavalry reached their maximum speed, the dust kicked up by their hooves resembling a yellow dragon as they charged straight at the artillery barrage that was engulfing the city walls.

However, when the Ming cavalry got closer, they discovered that the artillery positions had already been surrounded by a dense array of barricades.

Those obstacles, sharpened from hardwood, were like fangs suddenly emerging from the ground, instantly blocking the cavalry's path.

Immediately afterwards, a layer of cold light appeared on the ground; it was iron caltrops that the Jin soldiers had laid out overnight, with sharp spikes pointing upwards, specifically to pierce the horses' hooves.

"Xu~"

The cavalrymen in the front row suddenly pulled on their reins, and their warhorses reared up, neighing in pain.

Several horses, unable to stop in time, stomped on the caltrops with their front hooves, spurting blood with a "plop" and throwing the riders violently to the ground.

"Oh no! An ambush! The Jurchens were prepared!"

He Shixian's heart sank, and his gaze swept over the outer perimeter of the artillery position.

Six Niru (units of the Jin army) were peeking out from behind the shield carts, their bowstrings drawn taut like full moons, their arrows all aimed at them.

The guards formed a tight formation: the outermost layer was barricades and caltrops, the middle layer consisted of infantry pushing shield carts, and the innermost layer was armored soldiers holding bows and arrows, like an impenetrable shell protecting the artillery group in the center.

"Fire arrows!"

With a shout, a rain of arrows from the Jin soldiers poured down.

The Ming cavalry were trapped in front of the barricades and, unable to dodge in time, were hit by arrows and fell from their horses.

One of the guards tried to slash the barricade with his sword, but as soon as he raised his sword, three arrows pierced his chest, and the blood gushing from his mouth stained the gunpowder pouch on his chest.

He Shixian brandished his saber to deflect the rain of arrows, the blade clanging as it knocked them away, but his warhorse suddenly let out a miserable neigh.

An arrow struck the horse's eye.

He was violently thrown to the ground, and as he rolled, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Looking down, he saw an arrow grazing his arm through the gap in his armor, and blood was flowing down the gap.

He Shixian's cavalry were trapped in place by the barricades and caltrops, and the Jurchens' arrows rained down like locusts. Just when they were about to suffer heavy losses, a deafening shout suddenly came from the southwest.

Qi Jin's thousand southern soldiers finally arrived at Yongchang Gate!

"Clear the way for the cavalry!"

Qi Jin's roar was carried by the wind, carrying the unique ferocity of the Zhejiang soldiers.

He sat astride his warhorse, with the Southern soldiers behind him in neat formation, the twenty "fire dragon chariots" at the front row particularly eye-catching.

This is a shield cart improved by Qi Jiguang's army. The cart is three feet longer than the ordinary shield cart, and the front end is equipped with two rows of sharp iron hooks, like iron beasts ready to pounce.

"Release the horses!" Qi Jin suddenly swung his sword.

Twenty "fire dragon" vehicles started moving simultaneously.

Each "fire dragon chariot" was pulled by three draft horses, the wheels making a dull "crunching" sound as they rolled over the grass, and the iron armor on the chariot gleamed coldly in the morning light.

Just as they were about to crash into the barricade, the driver suddenly pulled on the reins, and the iron hook at the front of the shield cart clicked precisely onto the crossbar of the barricade.

"change!"

The drivers roared in unison and abruptly turned their horses around.

The shield cart swayed violently due to inertia, and the iron hooks gripped the chevaux-de-frise tightly, even pulling several hardwoods uprooted!
The barbed wire was flipped over, revealing the yellow soil underneath, instantly clearing a passage more than ten feet wide.

"Rockets!" Qi Jin ordered again.

The Southern soldiers, who were prepared, raised their rocket launchers.

Dozens of rockets, covered with tarpaulins, were ignited, their arrowheads coated with a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and wolfsbane, and shot "whoosh" toward the Jin soldiers behind the shield wagons.

The moment the rocket landed, it exploded into a cloud of grayish-green poisonous smoke. The pungent smell made the Jin soldiers cough repeatedly, and they could no longer hold their bowstrings steady.

"Zhejiang soldiers, charge!"

Fifty Southern soldiers, wielding extended wolf-tooth clubs, charged into the poisonous smoke like unsheathed swords.

The wolf-tooth rakes in their hands were five meters long, with sharp iron hooks all over the bamboo poles, and they danced like long snakes in the poisonous smoke.

Under the cover of smoke, the iron hooks precisely probed into the gaps in the shield cart, and fifty men simultaneously exerted force to pull backward.

"Hey!"

"Ho!"

With each muffled screech, the heavy shield cart was pulled backward, revealing gaps just wide enough for one person to pass through.

Unable to see clearly through the smoke, the Jin soldiers were about to draw their swords to slash when their wrists were entangled by the iron hooks on their wolf-tooth rakes.

"Throw!"

At Qi Jin's command, more than ten southern soldiers drew their "Ten Thousand Enemy" swords from their waists.

This is an incendiary bomb wrapped in clay and filled with saltpeter, sulfur, and pine resin.

They lit the fuses and hurled the incendiary bombs into the gaps between the shield wagons.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The incendiary bomb exploded upon landing, with flames shooting up more than ten feet high in an instant.

Even more deadly, several of them landed right next to the gunpowder barrels piled up behind the shield cart. The dry gunpowder ignited upon contact with the fire, immediately triggering a series of explosions.

"not good!"

The Jin soldiers behind the shield wagon were terrified. They tried to escape but were choked by the poisonous smoke and could only struggle futilely in the sea of ​​fire.

One of the Niru's leaders really wanted to lead a breakout, but as soon as he poked his head out, his neck was hooked by the iron hook of a wolf-tooth rake, and he was dragged into the fire. His screams were swallowed up by the explosion.

As Qi Jin watched the shield wagon formation collapse in the sea of ​​fire, a cold, sharp smile curled at the corner of his lips.

Dog-like Jurchens!
Die!
He brandished his sword, pointing it at the opened passage: "Southern soldiers, form ranks! Protect the flanks!"

Two hundred Southern soldiers quickly formed a shield formation, with swordsmen in front and spearmen behind, firmly protecting the passage.

Upon seeing this, He Shixian's cavalry felt as if they had been granted a pardon.

He wiped the blood from his face and bowed to Qi Jin, saying, "General Qi, I will remember your life-saving grace!"

"Commander He, break through the artillery formation first!" Qi Jin shouted in a deep voice.

He Shixian nodded.

Looking at the passage torn open by Qi Jin's Southern soldiers with their flesh and blood, he roared at the top of his lungs: "Brothers! The Southern soldiers have opened the way for us. Anyone who is a coward should not call himself a man of Liaodong!"

As soon as his roar subsided, a heavy scraping sound of armor clashing echoed behind him.

Twenty cavalrymen rode forward, their horses draped in soaking wet cotton blankets, water still dripping from the cotton wadding.

That was specifically designed to deflect arrows.

The knights on horseback all had gray hair, and their faces were wrinkled with gunpowder and dirt. The oldest was probably sixty years old, but the flames burning in their eyes were fiercer than the torches on the city walls.

"The Death Squad is willing to die for the Ming Dynasty!"

He Shixian looked at the bulging gunpowder bags on their backs, each bag containing thirty catties of gunpowder and a handful of iron nails, heavy as if carrying a mountain.

His throat bobbed, but he only uttered two words: "Take care. The Ming Dynasty will not forget you, His Majesty will not forget you, and I, He, will not forget you!"

"For the Ming Dynasty!"

"For Your Majesty!"

The twenty assassins shouted in unison, their voices showing no fear whatsoever.

They were all men with a blood feud with the Jurchens. They had only wanted to survive in Shenyang, but after the new emperor ascended the throne, all the military pay and rewards owed to them were paid out overnight, and even the pensions for the brothers who died in battle were sent to their families.

"The imperial court has not wronged us!"

This one sentence was enough to make these veterans, half-buried in the ground, willingly give the rest of their lives to the Ming Dynasty.

"rush!"

With a flick of his spear, the veteran sent twenty warhorses through the path opened by Qi Jin's southern troops, like twenty bolts of lightning wrapped in moisture, straight towards the Jurchen artillery barrage.

"Fire the arrow! Fire the arrow quickly!"

The Jin soldiers behind the shield wagon panicked and their arrows rained down on the old knights like locusts.

The soaked cotton quilts puffed and blocked many arrows, but a few still pierced through the cotton and stabbed into the necks of the warhorses.

A warhorse let out a miserable neigh and carried its rider into the barricades. The old knight was thrown off and was about to hit the ground when he suddenly lit the fuse of the gunpowder at his waist. At the moment of impact, he lunged at the nearest shield wagon.

With a loud "boom," the car and its occupants exploded into a fireball.

"father!"

The cries of young soldiers echoed from the other end of the passage, but the charging ranks did not falter in the slightest.

Three more knights were hit, and some of the gunpowder packets were ignited and exploded in mid-air, raining down nails on the surrounding Jin soldiers.

Some men and horses fell into the fire, but they still struggled to use their last bit of strength to aim their three-barreled guns at the fuse of the powder bag.

"Quick! Stop them!"

Huang Taiji, watching from the high platform, was filled with rage and grabbed his horsewhip, lashing it fiercely at the personal guard beside him.

"Send the White-Armored Soldiers!"

But it was too late. The last two old knights, horse and all, charged through the shield wagon defenses, only ten paces from the dark muzzles of the cannons.

The wrinkles on their faces smoothed out, as if they were seeing the wheat fields of their hometown. One of them raised a three-barreled gun and aimed it at the fuse of the gunpowder bag on his back.

"May the Great Ming Dynasty be victorious!"

"boom--!!!"

The deafening explosion drowned out all other sounds.

The two bags of gunpowder exploded simultaneously, and the iron nails mixed with gravel, broken wood, and scalding gunpowder residue formed a giant net that covered the artillery group.

The foremost few large cannons were lifted half a foot off the ground by the blast wave, their barrels slamming heavily to the ground, their muzzles tilting towards the sky, no longer emitting a roar.

The gunners around them were blown away by the blast wave. Some crashed into the gun barrels and their brains splattered, while others were pinned to the ground by iron nails. Their screams were crushed into fragments by the explosion of the gunpowder.

He Shixian stood at the entrance of the passage, looking at the artillery formation engulfed in flames, and suddenly punched the sky hard.

He saw the old knight with his gun raised seem to bow towards the direction of Shenyang before the explosion.

Their children and grandchildren live there, and there is the path to survival they bought with their lives.

He Shixian muttered to himself, "Don't worry, the Ming Dynasty will provide the best treatment for your families."

Inside the artillery formation.

The Jurchens were already furious.

"Damn Ming dogs! Guard this place for me!"

Abatai's roar exploded like thunder amidst the artillery barrage. He grabbed the collar of the Niru Ejen beside him, his scarlet eyes fixed on the burning cannons.

"These thirty cannons were painstakingly scraped together from the teeth of the entire Eight Banners army! Destroying one means one less cannon. If anyone lets the Ming dogs get even half a step closer, I'll chop them down!"

He had barely finished speaking when a more rapid sound of horses' hooves came from afar.

Fifty Ming soldiers were charging along the newly cleared path by Qi Jin's southern troops. Their warhorses were also covered with wet cotton blankets, and their swords flashed in the smoke.

Upon seeing this, Abatai was nearly scared to death.

"Fire! Fire as many arrows as you can!"

Abatai himself picked up the bow and arrow, drawing the bowstring taut like a full moon.

This time, the Jin soldiers guarding the artillery group learned their lesson; they hid behind the remaining shield wagons, specifically targeting the eyes of the warhorses and the throats of the riders.

The sounds of arrows piercing through the wet cotton quilts rose and fell in waves. More than ten suicide soldiers at the forefront fell into pools of blood, along with their horses. Some were shot through the chest as soon as they lit the fuses, and the gunpowder packs exploded on the spot, kicking up a cloud of blood mist.

Surprisingly, not a single one of them charged into the artillery barrage.

"Commander He, we can't keep rushing like this!"

The guards around him were so anxious that they roared.

He Shixian watched his brothers fall one after another, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

"Change tactics!"

He Shixian suddenly turned his horse around and roared at the person behind him.

"Bring the Landmine Dragon!"

Several cavalrymen immediately unloaded the pottery jars from their horses.

Those were "landmine dragons" specially made by the Ming army. The earthenware jars were filled with gunpowder, and a three-foot-long fuse was attached to the mouth of the jar. The fuse was also wrapped with oil-soaked linen, which could delay the burning process.

"Remember, throw it under the gun carriage!"

He Shixian spurred his horse forward, personally lit the fuse of a pottery jar, and ignored the arrows that were shooting wildly at him.

Once he reached a position where he could throw it into the artillery barrage, he flicked his wrist, and the pottery jar traced an arc in the air.

The cavalry behind them followed suit, and the ignited landmines, like a group of iron balls with fiery tails, were flung into the artillery by the high-speed charging warhorses.

The Jurchen cannons were all fixed on wooden frames, without wheeled chassis, making them inherently heavy and difficult to move.

Seeing the Ming army throw over the earthenware pot, the Jin soldiers mistook it for an ordinary fire pot and reached out to catch it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of explosions erupted at the bottom of the gun carriage.

The specially made pottery shards, carrying the impact of gunpowder, were designed to blast wooden structures. With a crisp "crack," the wooden frame of a general's cannon snapped, and the cannon body crashed to the ground with a "bang," its muzzle tilting towards the sky, never to be stood upright again.

Immediately afterwards, more landmines exploded in the artillery barrage, some igniting the scattered gunpowder, others directly shattering the support pillars of the cannon carriages. In a short while, seven or eight more cannons were overturned, their barrels sinking into the scalding mud.

"Withdraw! Quickly move the rest of the cannons away!"

Abatai watched helplessly as his beloved cannons were destroyed one after another like toppled building blocks, his heart aching so much it felt like it was bleeding.

But the Ming army's arrows and Qi Jin's wolf-tooth spears were already close at hand, and the remaining Jin soldiers dared not linger in battle. They could only drag a dozen or so cannons that were still barely usable back.

"Stop! The Jurchens' cannons have stopped!"

A deafening cheer suddenly erupted from the top of Shenyang city.

The soldiers looked at the gradually quieting artillery formations outside the city, and at the crooked and collapsed Great General cannons, and embraced each other excitedly.

Although smoke was still rising from the northeast corner of the city wall, the deadly bombardment had finally stopped.

He Shixian stared at the crooked gun carriages, a cold glint in his eyes, and suddenly drew his sword, pointing it at the enemy lines: "Throw poison smoke balls!"

The cavalrymen lit the poisoned smoke balls that had been prepared beforehand. The ceramic balls, filled with a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, wolfsbane, and arsenic, were vigorously thrown into the enemy lines amidst the hissing sound of the matchlock.

These grayish-green toxic smoke balls traced arcs through the air, exploding the moment they hit the ground, sending up plumes of pungent smoke with a bitter almond smell mixed with the stench of sulfur that assaulted the senses.

"Cough cough... My eyes! My eyes!"

The Jin soldiers were immediately thrown into chaos.

The toxic fumes entered the nasal cavity, causing people to cough violently; if they splashed into the eyes, they would immediately become red, swollen, and tearful, making it difficult to even draw a bow.

Many Jurchens had barely shouted "Hold on!" when they were choked by the thick smoke and fell to their knees, clutching their throats and convulsing violently, foaming at the corners of their mouths.

These are symptoms of "blindness and vomiting blood".

He Shixian reined in his warhorse, gazing at the enemy formation shrouded in poisonous smoke, a cold smile playing on his lips.

The smoke wouldn't dissipate for at least half an hour, giving Xiong Tingbi ample time to set up his defenses on the city wall.

He turned to look at Qi Jin, only to see the other man frowning and staring at the flank.

"Commander Qi, the Jurchens are surrounding us!" The guard's shout was filled with anxiety.

He Shixian and Qi Jin turned their heads sharply and saw that on the eastern and northern horizons, the Jurchen cavalry were surging in like a rising tide, their white armor like waves, and the sound of their hooves shaking the earth.

Clearly, Huang Taiji, seeing that the cannons had been destroyed, had brought in reserve troops to trap them outside the city.

"Use the magic smoke nozzle!" Qi Jin's roar tore through the smoke screen.

The Zhejiang soldiers, who had been waiting for orders, all raised their bamboo tubes.

These smoke nozzles were three feet long, filled with gunpowder and mugwort. When ignited, they would "poof" out thick smoke over ten feet long, like long, gray-black snakes that rolled and spread in front of the battle lines.

The pungent smoke, carrying the spicy scent of mugwort, stung and brought tears to people's eyes. In no time, the battlefield was shrouded in a thick, inky smoke, making it impossible to see anyone more than two steps away.

"withdraw!"

He Shixian pulled on the reins and charged ahead towards Shenyang.

He knew this was not the time to linger in battle; destroying most of the enemy's artillery was already an achievement beyond his mission.

Under the cover of smoke, the Ming cavalry charged forward like arrows released from a bow.

Qi Jin's southern soldiers formed a shield formation, with swordsmen blocking stray arrows in front and spearmen protecting the flanks, fighting and retreating simultaneously.

The smoke cannons continuously spewed out thick smoke, creating a moving smoke wall for them. Although the Jin soldiers roared and cursed outside the smoke, they couldn't figure out the situation and dared not rush forward.

But the smokescreen eventually thins out.

Just as they had rushed out 150 paces, a sudden burst of arrows pierced the air from the west.

A Jurchen cavalry unit circled around to the edge of the smoke screen and fired arrows at the retreating Ming army.

"careful!"

He Shixian swung his sword to parry, and the arrows clanged against the blade, sparks flying everywhere.

But the cavalry behind them were not so lucky. A young knight was shot through the shoulder by an arrow, screamed and fell from his horse, and was instantly trampled into a bloody pulp by the hooves of horses outside the thick smoke.

"Follow me!"

He Shixian roared and led his personal guards to the front, carving a bloody path through the enemy with his sabers.

Qi Jin's southern soldiers followed closely behind, their wolf-tooth spears leaving afterimages in the smoke screen, hooking onto the armor of the pursuing Jin soldiers and tearing gaps in it.

The road back to the city was more difficult than expected.

The outline of Shenyang was faintly visible in the smoke, as if separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.

The Jurchen cavalry poured in continuously, the poisonous smoke was gradually dispersed by the evening wind, their formation became clearer and clearer, and their shouts crashed against the Ming army's formation like raging waves.

"We're almost at the city gate!"

Qi Jin's armor had three knife marks, and his body was covered with arrows, making him look like a hedgehog.

If it weren't for his strong armor, he would probably have died dozens of times over.

He stared at the slowly opening city gate ahead, his voice tinged with blood.

"Victory is at hand!"

Just then, a Jurchen cavalry suddenly charged out from the side, like a sharp scimitar, and slashed fiercely at the rear of the Ming army.

With a "whoosh," the last dozen or so Zhejiang soldiers were instantly scattered, their screams abruptly cut off in the smoke.

He Shixian looked back and saw the armor of the Jurchen cavalry gleaming with silver light.

It was actually Abatai leading his white-armored soldiers!
His heart sank.

He knew that the real battle was just beginning.

The city gate was just a stone's throw away, but this short distance of a hundred paces became an insurmountable barrier that had to be paved with blood and flesh.

Can we bring our brothers back alive?
At this point, even He Shixian was uncertain.

　The "Poison Smoke Balls" recorded in the *Wujing Zongyao* (Complete Essentials of Military Classics) are as follows:

　　The raw weight is 5 catties. Use 15 liang of sulfur, 5 liang of aconite, 1 catty and 14 liang of saltpeter, 5 liang of croton, 5 liang of wolfsbane, 2.5 liang of tung oil, 2.5 liang of sesame oil, 5 liang of charcoal powder, 2.5 liang of pitch, 2 liang of arsenic, 1 liang of beeswax, 1.1 liang of bamboo shavings, and 1.1 liang of hemp shavings. Pound them together into a ball. String it with a hemp rope, 12 feet long and half a catty as a string. Pound together 12.5 liang of old paper, 1 liang of hemp bark, 2.5 liang of pitch, 2.5 liang of beeswax, 1.1 liang of litharge, and half a catty of charcoal powder. Apply this mixture to the outside of the ball. If people are exposed to its fumes, they will bleed from their mouths and noses.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)