open sea

Chapter 1409 Consciousness
The fleeing people in London collided with the marching troops, and Baron Charles' vanguard arrived in the west of the city nearly half an hour later than expected.

The vanguard was a group of cavalry. They originally wanted to walk through the street at the foot of the wall in the northwest of Westminster Abbey, but they were forced back by the volleys of guns and arrows fired from the wall and the tall stone courtyard wall of the City of London.

Feather arrows are not afraid, but the musket fired a bullet that weighed more than twice and collapsed into a hole in the breastplate. The first few riders were knocked down and the gods couldn't save them, so they had to detour from the north.

They are very familiar with these muskets, and only Spanish heavy muskets have such power.

Those who stopped them on the wall were sergeants from the Second Pastoral Battalion. Their muskets came from the Western-style regiment under Robert Dudley. It should be assigned to them.

The Muye warriors had no musket skills, and a battalion only had more than a hundred guns. It took six times as long as the Ming army to reload early. When they saw cavalry galloping with fire, they were only used as disposable weapons in the city. They knew that they might not be able to shoot accurately. , It's just a big momentum.

However, the horror of the Ming army had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the defenders. Not to mention the great battle at Winchester, the four thousand troops chasing north were beaten so badly that they couldn't even return to the city, it was enough to scare people.

After a while of gunfire, the cavalry retreated like a tide, which caused trouble for the Muye soldiers on the city wall-they had to put down the well-stringed crossbows and complete the tedious loading process of the heavy matchlock guns again.

On the night of early spring, the moon only showed half of its back teeth, and the gloomy light was shining on the ground, reflecting the raging fire that ignited in the distance.

The battle at Westminster Abbey was over long ago. The monks and stragglers who spontaneously resisted the offensive were not opponents of the regular army, and most of them died before they could draw their swords.

The nun who lit the fire on the top of the tower didn't make up her mind to die with the fire in the end. The Dongyang preacher who rushed up poured cold water on her soberly, carried it on her shoulders and brought it down.

At this time, the main force of the Ming army has already camped on the wide grass of Westminster Abbey. Relying on the walls and windows as defensive support points, they set up large crossbows and tiger squatting cannons. The opportunity of the Tower of London.

The warriors of the No. [-] Muying Battalion are good street fighters, each of them guards outside the temple under the leadership of Jiachang.

The fighting on the street was still going on, and the new London Battalion, which was temporarily handed over to Linden's command, was assigned several Oriental cavalry as officers, like the tentacles of a spider extending far away, carrying out purposeful looting and burning in the west of London.

Unlike the London Camp, which was in chaos like a swarm of bees that had lost their king, Ying Ming had the elite power to turn things around. Half of the men of the Eastern Banner Army had already found a place to sleep in Westminster Abbey.

Ying Ming seized the time, half of the No. [-] Mu Camp outside the city would enter the city within half an hour, and the other half would stay outside the city and use shelling to contain the northern enemy, so that the defenders would not dare to throw everyone into the street fighting inside the city.

The wounded soldiers and the Puli Battalion, who are recuperating fifty miles away, are not expected to enter the city until tomorrow afternoon, so tomorrow morning is the most dangerous time for him. He needs the most elite troops to maintain sufficient physical strength to deal with street fighting tomorrow morning. .

Wei Jinzhong was accompanying Ying Ming to look for maps and blueprints in Westminster Abbey. In the library that was almost burned down by the little nun, Linden said that there were documents from the past dynasties of England and maps of the city of London.

More than a dozen servants rummaged through the useful and useless leather scrolls, cloth scrolls, and paper books.

Yingming can't rely on Linden for everything. If he wants to know the basic situation of London's defenses, especially the key to the defense of the Tower of London, a fortress group, he must find the blueprints.

There was a burst of gunfire in the southwest, and Ying Ming and the others knew that there were British troops trying to break through the blockade line of the Muye Second Battalion on the city wall.

Not long after that, the shouts of killing came from the north again, first from the Englishmen, and then from the muye camp firing tiger squatting guns, Ying Ming couldn't sit still, and said to Wei Jinzhong: "You bring some people Go oversee the battle and drive them away."

What he was worried about was that Linden's gang of London soldiers who were like grass on the wall would turn against him, and he was afraid that the pasture camp would be killed by surprise.

Wei Jinzhong, who was crossing his arms and curling his beard and staring at the portraits of ** hanging on the wall, was stunned for a moment, and then he solemnly clasped his fists in response, put bone on his gloves, and went down to the library to light his resting horse. , got on the horse and ran.

The place where the battle took place is not far away. When you look up from Westminster Abbey, you can see the flames in the north. I don’t know if it’s Linden’s soldiers or the poor people in the city who are taking advantage of the chaos. It’s always someone who set fire to the houses on both sides of the street in the distance. Clicked.

The wooden and thatched houses were already flammable, but the north wind blowing at night further fueled the fire, lighting up the street that was in the midst of fierce fighting.

The soldiers of the London Battalion in front were killed, carrying girls on their shoulders, wrapped in flannelette, and leading cattle and horses that they did not know where they had taken. He ran in the direction of Westminster Abbey.

At this time, British soldiers in similar costumes appeared from all over the street. Some shot with bows and arrows, some chased after them with long swords and spears. It was difficult to tell who was the defenders and who was the London Battalion.

Because everyone has no mercy for the people, and there is no sense of awareness of the defenders at all.

Ordinarily, the pursuers in the north should be the defenders, but it seems that their purpose is to snatch the goods. The London soldier carrying the girl here was just stabbed in the thigh by a sword from behind, throwing the girl on his shoulder.

The pursuers behind him didn't intend to kill anyone, they picked up the girl and ran away, not knowing what he wanted to do.

It even made Wei Jinzhong wonder if the London Camp had divided the loot unevenly among themselves.

But follow closely, it's not like that.

Because several teams from the Muye camp came up to meet them, the London soldiers saw the Muye soldiers as if they had seen a great savior, and they all avoided the road and ran to the back of the Muye camp.

Chasing soldiers is different. Enemies run first before they meet, but they are scolded by the captain after a few steps, and each team forms a street fight.

The Makino Squad, which was formed in terms of combat effectiveness, had the upper hand for a short time. The defenders were more like a group of stragglers, but there were more of them, endlessly popping up from the walls and street corners. The Makino team divided the encirclement.

Two fists are no match for four hands. Once surrounded by many sides, Miao Luokui's big shield hand cannot protect multiple directions.

Their weapons were short, and the long javelins threw at most one person down. The large and small crossbows were forced to draw their swords before they could be cocked in time, and they were caught by the defending pikemen in a blink of an eye.

We can only fight and retreat, hoping that the friendly forces behind will fill up the flanks and change the plight of being besieged.

At this juncture, Wei Jinzhong came here on galloping horses.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)