Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 173 Charging with Explosives Strapped to Their Backs, the Entire Capital Was Terrified

The silence lasted only three breaths.

A north wind swept across the frozen moat, whipping up a layer of snow powder that stung the face. The muzzles of the three cannons atop the city walls gleamed deathly in the daylight, and the torches held by the gunners flickered and swayed in the wind.

The barrage of comments in the guild channel had just flashed by when Shi Dali's thick neck veins bulged out, writhing beneath his skin. He grinned, the grin stretching all the way to his ears, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

He abruptly slung the rusty greatsword over his right shoulder. The metal slammed into his shoulder blade with a dull thud, shaking the snow off his cotton-padded coat. Then, he stomped heavily on the frozen ground twice, one to the left and one to the right, each stomp carrying the full force of his hundreds of pounds. The hard ice shell shattered beneath his feet, scattering shards of ice, some of which bounced up and struck the calves of nearby players.

"The new map is open but we can't enter? What's the point of keeping this dilapidated city gate open for the New Year?"

Shi Dali shrieked in his hoarse voice, the sound booming across the empty moat, making the floating snow on the ice tremble. His eyes were wide open, the bloodshot whites reflecting the cold glint of the dense armor on the city walls. His face, full of fat, was contorted with extreme excitement, distorting his features, and several bulging veins on his forehead throbbed so hard that the skin around his temples visibly pulsated.

He whirled around, the tip of his rusty greatsword drawing an arc in the air, pointing directly at the Jingying soldiers on the city wall who were carrying bird-shaped batons.

"Brothers! Open your eyes wide and look carefully!" Shi Dali spat as he swung his left arm fiercely towards the city wall. "The developers have put up a tutorial mission for us! A few broken wooden barricades in front of the city gate, with a row of lowly NPCs squatting on top, not even elite monsters! Isn't this just a beginner's level for us to practice on? Free experience points and merit points! Anyone who chickens out and doesn't dare to go up, don't say you know me!"

"Aww!"

c4+

One hundred players shouted in unison.

The sound was not a sound that should be heard by humans. The roars emanating from a hundred throats simultaneously converged into a tangible wall of sound, carrying pure madness, and crashed across the open fields outside Guangqumen. The sound waves struck the towering city walls, were bounced back by the blue bricks, and reverberated back and forth on both sides of the moat, lingering for a long time.

The hundreds of gunners on the city wall shuddered at the sudden howl. A visible commotion broke out in the orderly ranks, and the muzzles of their guns swayed collectively. A green recruit, his face still bearing the traces of youth, jerked his finger, nearly pulling it off the trigger. A veteran beside him reacted swiftly, grabbing the barrel and lifting it upwards, the gun tilting to the sky, narrowly avoiding a misfire. The green recruit turned pale with fright, the cold sweat on his forehead instantly freezing in the frigid air.

Wang Han made a move.

This madman, who had strapped two bundles of explosives to his chest in Wild Wolf Gully and blown three Manchurian soldiers to bits, was now standing lively and energetic in the crowd. The new scar on his face, running from his forehead to his chin, still had a delicate pink hue—a souvenir from the last explosion. He grinned nonchalantly, revealing a set of white teeth, his eyes burning with a fanaticism that would make any normal person want to call the police.

He strode out of the crowd, his military boots shattering the ice, each step leaving a deep crater, until he reached the very front of the line. Once he was in position, without a word, his rough hands grabbed the hem of his oversized cotton-padded coat and yanked it up sharply.

The sight beneath the cotton-padded jacket caused everyone's pupils to contract sharply.

Two oversized homemade explosive packets were strapped tightly to his muscular belly. Each packet was about the size of an adult's head, round and round, wrapped in several layers of yellow paper soaked in tung oil, and bound tightly around his waist with coarse hemp rope. The rope was so tight that it was embedded deep into the fabric of his cotton-padded coat, constricting his waist and abdomen into a strangely shaped gourd. Two fuses peeked out from the gaps in the oiled paper, the wicks swaying slightly in the cold wind, the ends sticking to a few pellets of gunpowder.

The surface of the explosive charge was densely embedded with various pieces of iron. There were rusty nails pried from the armor of Jurchen corpses, flattened copper coins, sharpened iron fragments, and a few lead bullets scavenged from who-knows-where. These metal fragments were firmly stuck to the outer shell of the explosive charge with a mixture of clay and gunpowder, gleaming black in the daylight; each one was a deadly shrapnel waiting to be released.

The expression on his face was not fierce or resolute, but rather a pure, heartfelt joy.

"We have work to do!"

Wang Han opened his mouth wide, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement and eagerness. He lifted his cotton-padded coat with one hand and patted the two heavy explosive packs with the other, making the scrap metal on them rattle loudly.

"I've been hoarding these two precious gems in Yanjiao, unwilling to use them! I originally saved them to blow up that old bastard Huang Taiji, but that son of a bitch ran faster than a rabbit!" Wang Han grinned, clicking his tongue twice with regret, then abruptly turned to stare at the tightly closed iron gate of Guangqumen, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light. "Now it's perfect! This broken gate looks harder than Huang Taiji's skull, perfect for testing its power!"

Wang Han slapped the explosive charge with his rough, large hand, producing a muffled bang that made several players around him instinctively take a half-step back. Without turning his head, he shouted at the top of his lungs into the depths of the crowd.

"Demolition Team! Zhou Keke! Where are your civil engineering buddies?! Stop dawdling in the back and get over here! Demolish Guangqumen!"

With a charred, broken iron pot on her head and a chipped entrenching tool in her hand, Zhou Keke squeezed her way out of the crowd. Her eyes had turned completely green, fixed intently on the iron-clad city gate, the fanaticism deep in her pupils almost overflowing.

"Cast iron hinges! See those?!" Zhou Keke pointed sharply to both sides of the city gate, her voice shrill and piercing with extreme excitement. "The door panels are made of pine, covered with a thin layer of iron! The hinges are cast iron, not hard enough and lacking in toughness! Don't waste those two explosive charges on the door panels, stuff them into the gaps at the base of the hinges, and then use gravel to block the directional energy condensation. One charge is enough! Save the other one to blow up the archway above the gate!"

Wang Han patted the explosive pack, grinning with his yellow teeth.

"Fine! I'll do as you say! I'll keep the other one to blow up the doorway—no, I'll keep him to blow up the gate to the national treasury!"

"No! I have to dismantle the national treasury myself!" Zhou Keke slapped Wang Han on the back with a shovel. "Your lousy explosives are full of nail fragments. After you blow them up, there will be rubble everywhere. You've ruined all the good materials! The doors of the national treasury are definitely made of solid ironwood. They're worth a fortune if you take them apart!"

The two argued loudly about the demolition plan in the cold wind, oblivious to everyone else. Dozens of civil engineering players around them were already excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood. One short-haired player pulled out a thick hemp rope and a handmade iron hook from his pocket, rushed to the moat, squatted down, and slammed the iron hook into the ice.

"The ice is four inches thick! You could run a horse across it! Brothers, charge!"

The others had already pulled out entrenching tools and hammers. They roared as they stepped onto the frozen moat, the ice cracking and splintering under their boots.

A player wearing a tattered cotton-padded coat ran to the base of the city wall and reached into the cracks between the blue bricks. He crushed the dry, hardened pieces of white lime, rubbed them together, and brought them to his nose to smell.

"Glutinous rice mortar! The old recipe!" He turned and shouted to the people behind him. "Coco! This mortar has been around for so long, it's become brittle! No need for explosives, I can pry the bricks off one by one with an entrenching tool!"

"Pry your head off!" Zhou Keke shouted, jumping up and down from behind. "Let's go into the city first! We'll come back later to demolish it slowly!"

Wang Han, clutching the explosive charge, had already rushed onto the frozen surface of the moat. He ran incredibly fast, the ice beneath his feet creaking and groaning under his weight. Shards of ice flew everywhere, but he didn't care, charging headlong toward the city gate.

A dozen or so players followed closely behind, each carrying a variety of weapons, including entrenching tools, hammers, and even a crowbar that had been salvaged from somewhere.

General Zhang on the city wall was completely dumbfounded.

His fingers, which were gripping the parapet, were stiff and white, and his mouth remained open for a long time, unable to close.

He had served in the army for twenty years. He had fought against the Mongol Tartars in Liaodong and risked his life against bandits in Xuanfu. He had seen all kinds of battles on the battlefield. But he had never seen this kind of fighting before.

There were no siege engines, no siege ladders, no battering rams, not even a single shield on the other side.

A group of people dressed in gaudy, tattered cotton-padded jackets, carrying shovels and hammers, charged towards the city gate, yelling as they faced the crossbows and cannons of three thousand men on the city wall.

The one at the very front was carrying two packets of gunpowder that could blow the city gate to the sky.

They're going to blow up the door.

They really intend to blow up the city gates of the Ming capital.

This is rebellion.

This is a blatant, undisguised, and insane rebellion!

"Fire!" General Zhang snapped out of his shock, drawing his sword and pointing it directly at the city walls. A roar, strained to its limit, erupted from his throat. "Archers! Fire! Musketeers, prepare! Shoot, kill them!"

Chaos reigned on the city walls. The archers frantically drew their bows, their knuckles turning white from the extreme tension.

The metal arms of dozens of crossbows creaked and groaned as they unleashed a flurry of sharp arrows aimed at the group of figures running frantically across the ice below.

"Take another step closer, and you'll be riddled with arrows!"

General Zhang shouted himself hoarse.

On the ice, Wang Han, who was at the forefront, raised his head and glanced at the dark mass of arrows on the city wall. Instead of slowing down, he grinned, revealing a row of teeth that were blue from the cold.

"Shoot! Go ahead and shoot if you dare! In my past life, I didn't even flinch when a Jurchen spear pierced my chest, and you think your few broken wooden arrows can stop me!"

After yelling, Wang Han lowered his head and continued running frantically. The ice surface cracked rapidly under his feet, and ice shards flew everywhere, covering his face.

The chat in the guild channel has gone completely crazy.

Cultivator Qian Lele: Charge! Charge! Don't be a coward! Shoot us down, respawn, and keep charging! We have respawn points anyway! Those NPCs don't get that kind of treatment!

Civil engineer Liu Tiezhu: I've seen the bolts on the city gate hinges! Six! Two of them are already rusted and loose! Wang Han, listen to me, stuff the explosive charge under the left hinge, yes, right there! Push it hard into the gap!

Breaking Bad actor Cheng Huaxue: Need my help? I have three cans of chili powder mixed with poison gas. Throw them through the city gate and make sure all the defenders inside are incapacitated.

Shi Dali didn't rush in. He stood on the bank, carrying his rusty greatsword, craning his neck and staring intently at the three barbarian cannons on the city wall. A long line of drool hung from the corner of his mouth, trembling in the cold wind.

"A cannon—a three-pound pure copper cannon—"

He muttered to himself, his eyes a frighteningly green.

Inside the corner tower, Wen Tiren dropped the teacup in his hand.

The scalding tea splashed onto his cotton robe, making him jerk. But he ignored the pain, clinging tightly to the windowsill, his withered fingers gripping the window frame so tightly that his fingernails curled and bled.

He saw it.

He witnessed the madman carrying two bags of explosives, holding a gunpowder pack that could blow up half a street, frolicking on the ice of the moat as he rushed toward the city gate.

And more lunatics are following suit.

They carried shovels, hammers, and crowbars, stomping and jostling across the ice. Not a single person looked up at the crossbows on the city wall, as if those hundreds of cocked crossbows didn't exist.

Wen Tiren's Adam's apple bobbed wildly. He opened his mouth and gagged.

"They've gone mad—they've all gone mad—"

The Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate's legs buckled, and he slid off the brocade stool, his buttocks hitting the floor with a dull thud. His face turned ashen, and a warm puddle quickly formed in his crotch.

"Grand Secretary Wen! They... they're really going to blow up the city gate! That's the capital's city gate! This... this is going to—"

"Shut up!" Wen Tiren roared, his voice trembling.

His mind was in turmoil.

All the meticulous planning, all the show of force, all the threats—at this moment, they all turned into a colossal joke.

He had anticipated that Chu Ze would be angry. He would slam his fist on the table and yell at people. He would argue his case forcefully. He even anticipated that Chu Ze might turn around and leave, refusing to enter the city.

He has ways to deal with all of these.

But he never dreamed that this group of people would not reason with him, would not talk about rules, and would not play the game of court politics.

Aren't you going to open the door?

Okay, I'm going to blow up the door.

Blow up the city gates of your Great Ming capital. Blow up the Guangqumen gate under the emperor's feet.

In front of three thousand garrison troops, in front of the entire court, and in front of the whole world.

What can you do with me?

Wen Tiren's blood froze instantly. The words from the secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard flashed uncontrollably through his mind.

Even with a spear piercing his chest, he could still laugh wildly and ignite a bomb.

Even with his hands and feet severed, he still clung tightly to the enemy's leg.

They even pulled out the gold teeth of the dead and put them in their pockets.

One of these monsters was shot dead, but there were still ninety-nine more to go. Once all ninety-nine were shot, the madman at the front, strapped with explosives, only needed to successfully reach the city gate once more.

Once is enough.

That's it for the city gate.

At that time, a hundred immortal demons will flood into the inner city, and the million soldiers and civilians of the capital will be wiped out.

Wen Tiren slumped down on the windowsill, his back pressed against the cold brick wall, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

On the city wall, General Zhang was so anxious that he didn't even have time to wipe the sweat from his brow.

"Fire! Shoot with your legs! Shoot with your legs! Don't let them get near the city gate!"

Several crossbowmen finally pulled the trigger.

Whoosh whoosh!

A dozen or so crossbow bolts rained down from the city wall, tearing through the cold air.

The player at the very front was pierced through the chest by a crossbow bolt, the arrowhead protruding from his back, spraying blood everywhere. He staggered slightly, then looked down at the still-trembling arrow shaft in his chest.

"Only lost eighty-odd health? This crossbow's damage output is way too low!"

He cursed and snapped the arrow shaft in half, then continued running forward.

The archers on the city wall went limp.

They saw the crossbow bolt pierce the man's body, saw blood splatter everywhere. Yet the man kept running! He didn't even slow down much! He even had the mind to complain!

Is this a human being?

General Zhang nearly dropped his sword. He turned to look at the gunner, his lips twitched, and finally he managed to squeeze out two words through gritted teeth.

"point----"

"stop."

A voice suddenly rose from below the city.