A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 855 The More Urgent

The sound of cannons and shouts shook the whole field, and at the end of the day, outside the thirteen gates of the inner and outer cities, there were bandits' cavalry galloping and roaring.

On the east side of Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen in the inner city, Guangqumen and Yongdingmen in the outer city, and outside the city gates in the south, there are even more black and rogue soldiers and horses, which are endless.

They lined up nearby, beside the houses in each gate, and in the fields outside the city, people were everywhere. The seedlings in the wheat field near the city, and the vegetables in the vegetable field had already been trampled down by everyone unceremoniously.

Outside Chaoyang Gate, there are many soldiers and horses of the Right Battalion in red uniforms, and the flags they hold are also bright red. Guanxiang Street rushed towards the archery tower, intending to pass the stone bridge over the moat and force it to the side of the city wall.

Unexpectedly, there was thunder and thunder on the archery tower, and the Hongyi cannons fired sharply, and the howling cannons rushed into the crowd, a burst of blood danced, accompanied by arms and thighs flying around, and then cried for their father and mother, and the Youying Shunjun, who had survived the rest of his life, left behind. Long ladder, turned around and ran, only hated parents for losing two legs.

Liu Xiyao, the general of the Right Battalion who was standing in the Guanxiang, frowned. The city gates were not easy to attack. It seemed that trenches still needed to be filled, and the best thing was to attack the city walls everywhere.

Chaoyang Gate is the city gate through which grain enters and exits. It is known as the "Grain Gate" and also the "Exotic Goods Gate". There are row upon row of houses in Guanxiang, and Guanxiang Street is also very wide.

The road surface is even paved with bluestone slabs, and the power of shells hitting it is really unimaginable.

Moreover, this Chaowaiguanxiang Street was facing the Arrow Tower, and the sergeant approached from the street, which was crowded and dense. Every time the shells passed by, it was an alley of flesh and blood, which was horrible.

Chaoyangmen has a huge urn city, and the entrance of the city gate is on the side of the urn city. Although there is a stone bridge on the moat to walk, even if you are lucky enough to pass through the firepower of the front archery tower and run to the gate, you have to face the urn city and the city wall. Firepower from both sides attacked, and the soldiers who attacked the gate suffered heavy casualties.

At this time, the drizzle was drizzling, and although the power of the bow and arrow blunderbuss at the top of the city was greatly reduced, and there were often situations where they could not shoot well and could not shoot far, but the terrain near the city gate was narrow, their power was still extraordinary.

In particular, the stone bridge on the moat was not big, only a few steps wide. When densely packed sergeants rushed across the bridge, some people would often be squeezed out of the moat.

……

"Attention, the bandits' team is about to attack."

In the middle of the night, at the Yongding Gate, Fu Yingchong suddenly noticed some movement from the bandits on the other side of the Guanxiang.

At this time, the inclined gate of Yongding Gate had been smashed into a pile of broken bricks and broken tiles, and most of the houses near the city gate were in ruins. In view of this, the bandit artillery team who attacked Yongding Gate did not dare to rely on the houses anymore, and they scattered to the field Go up, constantly bombarding the archery tower and the city wall.

With the aim of the artillery at this time, it is naturally difficult to hit those artillery positions that are only small to the naked eye, so Fu Yingchong and the artillerymen have no choice but to ignore them.Fortunately, there is a strong city wall blocking them. As long as they are not very unlucky, the artillery of the bandits is not a big threat to them, at most it will cause a little psychological pressure.

However, at this moment, Fu Yingchong saw that under the cover of the ruins, a large group of thieves were approaching. They were scattered widely, obviously afraid of the threat of the artillery at the top of the city.

Judging from their target, it is impressively the Yongding Gate city gate that they are in charge of.

A soldier in Fu Yingchong said a few words in Fu Yingchong's ear, Fu Yingchong nodded, and he shouted: "You all obey my orders from Master Fu. Don't shoot bows and arrows first. All the Lumi musketeers gather here. They will fight in three layers later. I say fight." Hit... There is still one person to see the other, don't hit randomly... The Nine-headed Bird and Baizi Gun are also prepared, and after the Lumi Gun is used, they will fight..."

He screamed and ordered to make arrangements. Because of the drizzle, the bows and arrows of all the archers lost their strength, so Fu Yingchong asked him not to shoot the bows and arrows.Although firearms such as bird guns and Lumi guns may not be able to fire due to moisture, as long as they are fired and hit, their power can still be guaranteed.

At this time, Fu Yingchong's prestige was quite high, and as soon as he finished his order, all the soldiers immediately howled, "Only Commander Fu is the one who follows."

"Kill all the thieves!"

Arranged by Fu Yingchong, a large group of infantrymen in yellow uniforms kept coming. They were covered by a large number of archers and gunmen in front of them, and the crowd behind them carried some ladders. The ladders were extremely long, but they were the city walls of the capital. Because it is too high, ordinary ladders can't get on it at all.

They came silently, boarded the sloping official road, and walked a long way along the road beside the moat, and soon they were not far from the somewhat uneven stone bridge over the moat.

The capital is crowded with people, and they all have archery towers and urn walls. Most of the city gates are built on the side of the urn walls. If the enemy comes, they will be attacked by firepower from both sides. The protection is tight. Therefore, there are no drawbridges on the moats of the gates. There are stone bridges specially built.

There is also a stone bridge on the moat of Yongdingmen, but the entrance of the city gate here is directly under the archery tower, because most of the enemies of Ming Dynasty came from the north.

Seeing that the thieves were not far from the moat stone bridge, they suddenly shouted and began to charge, while the archers and gunmen who were covering also fired their guns one after another.

Fu Yingchong looked nervously at the thieves outside the city, and heard what the armored soldiers beside him said, and he shouted: "The first-level Lumi gunslinger, fight!"

According to the crenels on both sides of the archery tower and the crenels of the urn city, the gunners who were also very nervous heard the order and immediately fired in the first row. Their gunpowder smoke was connected into one piece, and thick white smoke rose densely. They gathered more than two hundred gates. Lumi guns, they fired a volley, and nearly a hundred of the bandits who charged intensively fell down immediately.

"Second floor, hit!"

There was another burst of violent volley, and more intense white smoke erupted from the crenel. The charging bandits fell down in a large piece again, and the people they were shot rolled on the ground screaming hoarsely.

"Third floor, hit!"

The defenders at the crenels fired another volley. The crenels of the city wall were already covered by thick gunpowder smoke. They fired again, and saw the flashes of flames in the white mist. Then there were more bandit soldiers on the other side of the moat who fell to the ground in pain. , The pain of being shot made them roll on the ground and struggle desperately.

The defenders fired three volleys, and the bandit soldiers rushing towards the stone bridge were almost empty, and the moat was full of people moaning in pain, and the wounded corpses were piled one by one.

Fu Yingchong was at a loss when he saw the rest of the bandits, but there were still some bandits rushing up to the stone bridge, he shouted: "Hundred blunderbuss, nine-headed bird, all fight towards the stone bridge!"

There are several Baiziguns and Nine-headed Birds on the crenels of the Wengcheng. It is said that the main shooters of those Baiziguns rotated their vertical poles and aimed at the stone bridge from the side.The deputy next to him took the matchstick and pointed it at the fire door, there was a loud bang, and long smoke was sprayed out.

In the bright flames, nearly a hundred bullets of different sizes from each door scrambled out of the gun bore, and threw them at the thieves on the other side of the stone bridge.

The blood mist was soaring, and the projectile hit the stone bridge with sparks. The bandit soldiers who rushed up the stone bridge continuously sprayed blood arrows, and then their bodies trembled, and they lay on the stone bridge crookedly.The Baizi guns fired one by one, and immediately there were a lot of corpses on the narrow bridge deck, lying here and there, with blood gurgling horizontally.

There were also a few bandit soldiers carrying the ladder, covered in blood, rolling into the nearby moat, and the long ladder poured into the river, while it was still on the bridge, floating up and down together. .

"Bang!" A nine-headed bird emitted a thick flame, and in the billowing gunpowder smoke, several bandit soldiers near the stone bridge fell to the ground, their bodies covered with blood holes, rolling on the ground and howling terribly...

Behind a ruin in Guanxiang was the banner of the Mountain Patrol Battalion. Now they were old battalion soldiers. They could comfortably supervise and watch the battles. Most of the battles were done by outside battalions.Beside a ruined wall, Lao Hu tiptoed towards the top of the city, looking at the battle situation above and below the city, Lao Hu was speechless: "Which hero is defending the city so fiercely?"

……

At the beginning of Shenshi, the thieves attacked the capital more urgently, and found that not only the gates in the southeast, but also the Guang'anmen, Fuchengmen, and Xizhimen in the west were attacked by thieves.Wang Chengen and Li Guozhen, the admirals of the city defense, patrolled around, exhausted.

Hearing the shooting of guns and guns everywhere, everyone inside and outside the capital panicked and terrified.There was no one on the street, and everyone locked themselves in the house. They prayed to God and Buddha with trembling feet, praying for the safety of themselves and their families.

There was no one inside or outside the Meridian Gate, but Fan Jingwen, Zhou Fengxiang, Ma Shiqi and others were still on duty, because they had already retreated from the court and the situation was urgent, so they gathered at the entrance of the hall to talk.

At this time, Uncle Xiangcheng, Li Guozhen, who was ordered to supervise the capital and guard the city, suddenly rushed over with his horse. In the wet and cold weather, his clothes were covered with sweat, and when he got off the horse, his changing belt was lost.

At this time, the servant stepped forward to stop Li Guozhen, and Li Guozhen sighed: "When is the time, the monarch and his ministers want to meet each other, and there are not many."

Soon Li Guozhen was proclaimed to the side hall, and Emperor Chongzhen greeted him. He hurriedly asked, "How is the matter of defending the city?"

Li Guozhen knelt down on the ground suddenly, and he cried and said: "The city guards refused to use their lives. One of them was whipped up, and one of them fell back down as before. There is nothing I can do."

He said: "Only the guards of Yongdingmen City should respect and serve their lives, and spend all their wealth to reward the army. The rest of the gates pretend to be guards and thieves. The irons do not strike downwards, but upwards, and they all hit the air, without hurting a thief, only making a sound."

Emperor Chongzhen listened tremblingly, he burst into tears like rain, and sobbed: "All the ministers have misled me to this point!"

At that time, dozens of civil, military and internal officials held each other and wept on the ground, and the sound filled the palace.

Emperor Chongzhen went back to the palace crying, Li Guozhen galloped away, and all the officials dispersed.

Back at Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen's tears were still wet, he was physically and mentally exhausted, hesitating in the pavilion, should he summon Wang Dou?At this time, it is still possible to send elites out of the city to ask for help. After all, the city wall of the capital is sixty to seventy miles long. Although there are many thieves, it is impossible to besiege them. As long as the envoys arrive at Wang Dou...

He has elite soldiers and powerful generals like a cloud, not to mention anything else, Han Chao, the mighty general under his command, is very close at hand, only a few thousand people are needed, and the capital's defense will be very impressive.

only……

Soon after, Emperor Chongzhen issued several decrees. One was to promote Fu Yingchong, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Battalion, as the Boss of Dingcheng.

The second is to let all the eunuchs in the palace go to the city to defend, and there are thousands of them, including 30 Chinese and foreign treasury funds.

On that day, some of the small people cried bitterly and lost gold, or three hundred gold, or four hundred gold, each awarded to a thousand households of brocade clothes and guards.

……

In Shenshizhong, the rogues began to attack the city, shouting and killing, and the rogues flocked to the walls of the capital like a flood.

The sound of the cannon became louder, and the arrows flew like locusts flying all over the sky, and the arrows rained down, falling into the city continuously.The sound of gunfire above and below the city followed one after another, and the smoke from the gunfire was connected with the rain and fog, forming a dense and inseparable fog.

"Golden juice, pour it!"

Following Fu Yingchong's roar, the defenders on the city scooped up the dung juice from the burning cauldron on the city wall, covered their faces and poured it under a ladder that had been erected.

The boiling dung juice poured down, shining golden light.Then there was a shrill howl below. Some thieves who were about to ascend the city were poured with feces, and they all rolled on the ground. Some even howled and threw themselves into the nearby moat water.

The bandit old camp drove out the camp to fill in some moats, and then recruited nearby residents and forced them to carry trees and stones to fill in the moat. At the walls of each gate, ladders are about to be erected from time to time.

From time to time, the armored soldiers beside him said something urgently, and then Fu Yingchong desperately directed, and suddenly he saw a ladder approaching again, and hurriedly shouted: "Over there, over there, Langya Pai come here!"

He roared, and the nearby defenders heard it, and hurriedly pushed the rope winch block towards the direction of the ladder, and then many people struggled to raise the mace, and shot it down the ladder.The rope winch pulley whirled and made a creaking sound, and even caught sparks, and it ended in a blink of an eye.

The spike shot shot from the top of the city to the foot of the city, and some thieves who were climbing on the ladder were constantly being shot away. They either sprayed blood, flew away from the air, and then fell heavily from the city wall more than ten meters high. If you are photographed by Langya, you will not die or be disabled.

Or it fell straight down and was slapped down by the wolf teeth. Several people piled up and patted into a thin meatloaf. The bone marrow was broken and the internal organs burst, which was horrible.

The mace is made of hardwood, weighs several hundred catties, and is extremely thick. It is covered with iron nails, and the two ends are connected by iron locks. It is connected to the winch on the city. It can be recycled after the shooting. It is always a sharp weapon for defending the city. .There is also Yiyiye, which is also a sharp weapon for defending the city, but it is made of logs, and it is also nailed with countless iron nails.

Another ladder was about to lean over, Fu Yingchong roared, "Bump over!"

A group of soldiers carried a thick ramming pole. They roared hoarsely and rushed towards the ladder. With a bang, the ladder and the ramming pole came together, but they couldn't be overturned immediately.

Seeing the wrestling between the two sides, it was impossible to tell the winner, Fu Yingchong roared: "Golden juice, come here."

A defender came over with a dung ladle, which was full of boiling dung juice and had a stench to the sky. He poked the dung ladle out of the city, and a few arrows flew past, and he fell down immediately.

There was a horrific cry from below, and then the ladder was overturned with a bang, and there were several screams. It was obvious that a thief was crushed by the falling ladder.

The thieves attacked the city in a hurry. There was no sheep and horse wall on the Yongding Gate, and the banks of the moat were relatively gentle, more like a beautiful stream. After the thieves filled the moat, they could rush directly to the city.

What the armored soldiers said, Fu Yingchong quickly looked around, and another large group of thieves came to the city. There were quite a few of them. He shouted: "The cupping pot, get ready. Ten thousand enemies, take them all."

Dozens of porcelain jars containing fierce fire oil are held by long iron spoons with wooden handles, and there are lead wires on the outside.There are also huge ten thousand enemies, the size of a human head, with a lead wire at one end and a wooden handle at the other end.A large group of defenders gathered here, some with cupping jars, or ten thousand enemies, all nervously listening to Fu Yingchong's orders.

Fu Yingchong peeked out again, and he hurriedly shouted: "Click."

Immediately, torches were brought, and the porcelain jars that everyone was spooning and the ten thousand enemies in their hands were lit, and the porcelain pots immediately turned into fire pots, and the lead wires of each ten thousand enemies also burst into sparks.

Fu Yingchong roared, "Throw it away."

One by one, the cupping pots and the ten thousand enemies were thrown out of the city. Amidst the terrified yells of the thieves outside, the sound of explosions under the city was joined together, accompanied by blazing flames, and then there was a howl that did not sound like a human voice.

In particular, after the cupping pot exploded, thickened flames rose high, and after the thieves were splashed, even if they plunged into some moat water, the fire on their bodies would still burn until they were burned alive. Oil. Bombs are similar to...

Yongdingmen is the main attack place of the bandits. The bandits are attacking the city with ants. The military situation is urgent. Fu Yingchong roars and commands, running back and forth, and the main energy is still on distributing rewards.

He has the promise to practice, which makes the morale of Yongdingmen extremely high.

"Fu Shuai, the little one beheaded one level!"

A small soldier excitedly came over with the head of a thief.

Fu Yingchong laughed loudly: "Okay, Master Fu keeps his word, and I will reward you with fifty silver dollars!"

"Fu Shuai, I suspect that I killed a thief."

"Suspected? Five silver dollars."

"Fu Shuai, the little one shot a thief to death, Tian Guerrilla can testify."

"Brother, take the fifty silver coins and keep fighting. Master Fu will definitely not treat you badly."

"Uncle, the silver coins in the silver box are empty."

"Go to the mansion to move money again, don't be afraid, I have made a lot of money in the past two years. I have also figured it out, and I will come back after all the money is gone, hahahahaha..."

Fu Yingchong spent all his family wealth to reward the army, and the capital was transferred. Although everyone had different thoughts at this time, they had to admire Fu Yingchong as a hero.Many people who knew him found it even more inconceivable that this Fu Daya would only fool around on weekdays, and he looked like a Beijing oil boy, so it turned out that he was really different at critical times.

……

As night fell slowly, the city walls of Yongdingmen were brightly lit, dense torches were burning, and lanterns were hung one after another. Looking around the gates of the capital, this was the case.Looking at the interior of the city, it is full of bright lights, like stars in the dark night, but it is much dimmer than before.

The drizzle came and went, and the spring was cold. Most of the soldiers hid in the grass factory to avoid the rain, or warmed up around the campfires.

Near the Yongdingmen tower, a lot of bonfires were burning here. The strong smell of wine and meat filled the bonfires. The soldiers guarding the city gathered in the laughter and laughter. Then one by one the bonfires spread, and the sides were also full of people.

Surrounded by the fire, everyone drank and ate meat comfortably. The steaming meat dispelled the chill from their bodies and gave them sufficient strength.

"Brothers, listen to me."

Fu Ying stood up fiercely, holding a big bowl in his hand, his thin face was flushed, full of vigor and pride.

The four armored soldiers who were inseparable from him stood silently nearby, as if they wanted to merge with the darkness.

"Everyone eats and drinks well. If it's not enough, brother will send it to the restaurant immediately. But remember, you should drink less wine and eat more meat. Eat well, drink well, defend the city well, and fight thieves well. Brother promises Well, if the bandits attack for one day, the brothers will not be starving and freezing for a day. If you fight well, you will be rewarded even more!"

There was a boiling howl on the city wall: "Follow Fu Shuai to fight the bandits..."

The night was getting darker, and the city walls of the capital were still brightly lit, but looking at the bandit camp from a distance, apart from the scattered lights, there were shadows between the two, like ghosts and ghosts.

As the night became darker, the soldiers guarding the city relaxed, and gradually many people became sleepy, leaning against the city wall, and fell asleep by the campfire, except for the soldiers guarding the night.

After five drums were missed, Fu Yingchong inside the city tower woke up suddenly. There seemed to be some movement outside the city?
At this moment, a shrill cry pierced the dark night sky: "Night attack..."

"Shearers."

"It's child soldiers..."

Fu Yingchong was startled, and hurriedly leaned out of the city tower, and saw light figures rising up from all over the city wall.Iron hooks were thrown onto the top of the city one by one, and some ladders approached, and then some dexterous figures jumped down from the ladders and the top of the city.

By the light of the fire, they were all fourteen, fifteen, or even thirteen or fourteen-year-old children. Their eyes were full of tyranny, cruelty and inhumanity.

Fu Yingchong took a deep breath: "The shearer."

Hearing the embroidered curtains and mattresses looted by the thieves, they take pleasure in wrapping boys and riding horses in the city, and they will be the first to cover the night raids of the siege.

A young boy among thieves, who is accustomed to killing and looting, Min is not afraid of the dead.

Boy soldiers are the so-called hair-shearing thieves.

(End of this chapter)