Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

Harald explained, "To let the general know, we are not the first batch of reinforcements. Long before our army, reinforcements had come to chase this group of bandits, led by General Lai Bu. After discovering the situation in Huangqi Fort, General Lai Bu asked for help from Shengjing and chased the enemy all the way here. We followed General Lai Bu's marks all the way here."

"I see..." Ding Jili nodded, and then looked puzzled again: "But, if that's the case, why can't we see General Lai Bu?"

"I've been thinking about this as well. I found a lot of traces of fighting in a valley before, and I thought General Lai Bu must have encountered the enemy, but the problem is, there's no sign of him alive, and no sign of his body dead. We followed the trail all the way to Phoenix City, only to find that General Lai Bu didn't send any reinforcements. It's really unbelievable."

"There is such a thing... This matter is extraordinary and must be reported to the court immediately." Ding Ji Li keenly realized that there must be something fishy here.

"That's what I was thinking. Let's talk about the present situation. What is the current situation in the city?"

"Oh..." Ding Jili sighed.

"Why is the general sighing?"

"General, you don't know that the invading bandits are really, really unheard of!"

As he spoke, Ding Jili tearfully introduced to Harald the whole story of the attack on Phoenix City. Everything the Iron Blood Force had done in Phoenix City was simply too numerous to mention! "This group of thieves didn't attack the city, they just bombarded it with artillery fire! It was as if the shells were free! It had been three days since the general arrived! They never stopped for a moment! Our soldiers sent troops to reinforce the city walls day and night, but just after they were repaired, the thieves bombarded them with artillery fire! We wanted to go out of the city and fight the thieves, but we didn't have enough troops! We could only hide in the city and wait for reinforcements."

Huang Taiji led his troops into the pass, and it can be said that his entire family went out in one wave. The F2A directly pulled the barracks out. Since Korea and Pi Island had been resolved, he had no worries and the number of troops he deployed in the rear was pitifully small. This also led to the fact that after encountering an attack, no city in Shengjing could be mobilized to defend the city, and they could only let the other side do whatever they wanted. Watching the other side die one after another, he could only bite his lighter with reluctance on his face.

What the Iron Blood Army does nowadays is so hateful, just like the Zibeng dog in the Canyon of Kings. Hey, I come up and bombard your city wall with a cannon. Do you want to repair it? If you have already repaired it, hey, I'll hit you again. Come on, keep repairing it.

But building a city wall is not like building an electric arc, where you can fill it up with just a little effort. It requires laborers, resources, and money. How can you just build it? Moreover, building a city wall is not that easy. Stones are hard to find, and you have to cut them into squares.

Now, the defenders' speed of repairing the city wall obviously cannot keep up with the speed of the other side's destruction. It is visibly lower than the other places' city wall. If this continues, the east city wall will be like my door always open, waiting for you with open arms. Ding Ji Li is naturally anxious and angry.

"Just firing cannons, not attacking the city?"

Harald was surprised: "Why is this?"

Good fellow, you brought so many men and guns, and blasted the city gates open, but you didn't come in and fight against the city walls? Aren't you a waste? Are there people like this?

"Take me to see it"

Soon, under the leadership of Ding Jili, Harald arrived at the front line of the East Gate. The situation here was completely different from other places, and the situation in the city was much worse than Harald had expected when he came here before.

Almost all the people in East City have moved away. They can see people on the road preparing to leave Phoenix City with their families. Looking at the many Han faces among them, Harald's face was filled with disgust.

"What a bunch of rats..."

"At the beginning, the situation in the city was still good, but later, the artillery fire on the city walls continued, and people's hearts began to waver. Now the battle is intense, and there were rocks flying into people's homes. The people in the East City were in a panic, so some people moved away with their families. Someone took the lead, and after a while, most of the people nearby had moved away, so it was just right, and we could use the money for the boys."

"General, be careful. The other side should..."

As he was speaking, a cannonball landed on the city wall and blew away an unlucky Qing soldier. The unlucky guy was blown into two pieces, with his upper body smashing on the roof of a civilian house and his lower body hanging on a tree.

"Quick! Take your butt off the tree, piece your upper body together, and bury it!!"

Ding Jili directed the soldiers while leading Harald to a safe area: "General, please follow me over here. There will be falling rocks when artillery fire hits the city wall. Please be careful."

As Harald walked, he observed the condition of the Phoenix City defenders. Seeing that these defenders had numb faces and hid in the wall when they had nothing to do, with no expression of sadness or joy on their faces, his heart sank. Now it seemed that these defenders could most likely not be relied upon.

"Killing people and destroying their hearts...what a cruel plan"

Harald sighed slightly. The enemy clearly had the ability to break through the city, but chose to stay outside the city and use artillery to constantly wear down the will of the people and even the soldiers in the city. Now it seems that their efforts were very effective. Most of the defenders of Phoenix City have been destroyed. If they want to win this battle, they can only rely on their own people.

Volume 331: Chapter Chapter : Check the Quality

The fifth day of May is the Dragon Boat Festival. Of course, this is calculated according to the lunar calendar. According to the solar calendar, this time is already mid-June. This season should be a time for climbing mountains to cool off and for dragon boat racing. However, there is not much of a festive atmosphere in Beijing.

With the continuous changes in the climate, the Ming Dynasty as a whole is experiencing a strange situation of drought in the south and floods in the north. Northern Zhili has seen heavy rain for a week, while places like Guangzhou and Fujian have not seen a single drop of rain.

Not only that, the war brought by the Tartars' invasion, the locust plague, and the drought brought a large number of refugees and victims who continued to flow into the capital. A large number of refugees starved to death in the capital every day. The muddy roads bred a large number of mosquitoes and spread diseases, completely diluting the original atmosphere of the solar term.

In the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen was surrounded by ice, overwhelmed by the memorials submitted from all over the country.

What's the matter? Today the Tartars are not following the rules and causing friction in this place. Heavy rain in that place has caused the collapse of houses. There is a locust plague and the people have no food to eat. In short, they just want money.

The people's livelihood was in a mess, and in the military, it was a mess. Before, the Qing army did whatever it wanted in northern Zhili, and everyone in the court was in danger. The ministers were frightened, and Chongzhen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

What's even more outrageous is that the anti-Qing cause was taken up by a rebel. The rebel Jiang Han defeated the Tartar army head-on and captured the Tatar chieftain Ajige alive. Huang Taiji turned his target to Yangzhou and negotiated peace with the court. The court began to become festive again.

Chongzhen couldn't laugh, he had tears in his stomach. When the Jiannu invaded, the Ming army was unable to stop the Qing offensive and watched cities fall. But the one who stood up to turn the tide and rallied the army was actually a traitor. If this continued, where would the Ming Dynasty put its face?

While he was thinking, Yang Sichang came to meet the emperor. He respectfully bowed to the emperor, then lay obediently on the ground waiting for the emperor's instructions.

Although Yang Sichang was in great favor, he was never arrogant. He was not only cautious in his work but also quite capable and extremely respectful to the emperor. Chongzhen liked such a minister very much. How could Chongzhen not pay attention to Yang Sichang compared to those tusked little cows and horses who would oppose him in the court?

"No need to be so polite, my dear!" Chongzhen's mood would inexplicably improve when he saw Yang Sichang. That old face seemed somewhat friendly to Chongzhen, as if he had seen a hero in the group who would attach a link after the erotic pictures.

Yang Sichang kowtowed again, then stood up and stood aside respectfully with his hands hanging down. His posture was more standard than that of the young eunuchs in the Qianqing Palace.

"What's the current situation with the Jiannu?" Chongzhen began to care about the battle situation at the front.

Yang Sichang bowed his head and replied: "The slave chieftain Huang Taiji was leading his troops to confront Jiang Han in Yangzhou. When they exchanged the hostage Ajige, an accident occurred. The specific circumstances are still unclear, but the slave chieftain Ajige died in public, with his intestines ruptured."

After hearing this, Chongzhen slapped his thigh with joy and said, "Dead? Good death!" It was like opening a bottle of champagne! "This damn slave army should have died more! How did he die?"

"This... I don't know, but there are many rumors that Huang Taiji coveted his brother's military power, so he poisoned him, but in my opinion... it's not very reliable."

"Oh? Why?" Chongzhen was a pure and innocent person, so he didn't understand what was going on here.

"Let alone the fact that war is imminent, any despicable schemes should be done after the fact. With the intelligence of the slave chief Huang Taiji, if he really did it, he would never be caught with such an obvious handle and pointed out in public. There must be something fishy about this matter. Moreover, the slave chief Huang Taiji was furious and led his army to march into Yangzhou, fighting with Yangzhou's 10,000 soldiers for several days, which is enough to show that there is something fishy going on."

"What? Ten thousand people? Wasn't it only a few thousand?" Chongzhen was shocked. In the previous battle report, Jiang Han only had four or five thousand people. How come the number doubled in the blink of an eye?

Yang Sichang said, "Your Majesty, it's more than 10,000. Now the whole of Yangzhou has taken in a large number of refugees. It is roughly estimated that there are 800,000 registered in Yangzhou alone. Now, Jiang Han has seized Changzhou and Zhenjiang. Moreover, they have been able to fight the Jiannu for so long. In my humble opinion, I am afraid that... Jiang Han, the leader of the bandits, must have at least 50,000 soldiers and horses."

"What!! Fifty thousand!" Chongzhen was so confused that he was paralyzed. He had listened to memorials from various places before, and the number of Jiang Han's troops had always been several hundred or several thousand. He had always believed that they were just a slightly powerful group of bandits, and they would be defeated when a large army arrived. He withdrew his army and did not deal with Jiang Han because of the urgency of the Jiannu, but he did not expect that man to quietly take out 50,000 troops!

Chongzhen was very worried. It would be good if the problem could be solved this time. But if it was not solved, it would be another disaster for the Ming Dynasty!

Looking at the somewhat uneasy emperor, Yang Sichang did not say anything, but just stood quietly by the side.

After a long time, Chongzhen's pace gradually slowed down, and he said: "My Ming Dynasty has too few elite soldiers and generals. After all, we are outnumbered against the Eight Banners Army of Jiannu. We still need to train more elite soldiers."

Yang Sichang immediately understood what the emperor meant when he heard it. He immediately expressed his opinion: "Your Majesty is right. Our Ming army is large but not well-trained. It is difficult to compete with the enemy. I think we can train elite soldiers from each town. For example, we can select 1,000 out of 10,000 and have the military supervisors and governors of each town train them. In two years, we can have tens of thousands of elite soldiers!"

Chongzhen liked Yang Sichang more and more for his thoughtfulness and understanding, and felt that he had made the right choice of him this time.

Chongzhen said: "My dear, please plan this matter carefully. We can discuss it in detail after we defeat the Jiannu. Where are Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting now?"

Yang Sichang replied, "We have already arrived in Nanyang Prefecture and should be able to reach Jiangnan next month."

Chongzhen frowned: "We have only arrived in Nanyang now? It will take until next month???"

In fact, he didn't know where Nanyang was or how far it was from Yangzhou. He just heard that it would take until next month to get there, so he subconsciously felt that the speed was too slow and expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Besides, how come Jiang Han's troops have already arrived in Huai'an, fought a battle and are returning, while Hong Chengchou's troops are still on the way?"

Yang Sichang was sweating on his forehead: "This.....it should be because the mountain road to Baoding is rugged and difficult to travel, plus the big men from Henan, it is difficult for the army to get water..."

Yang Sichang himself didn't believe such criticism. What rugged mountain roads? There was no rugged mountain roads in the North China Plain. It was even difficult to get water. It was completely a lie that the emperor couldn't understand the map and was a fool.

Sure enough, Chongzhen's expression eased a lot, and he nodded with deep understanding, as if he had been to Henan.

"My dear, do you have anything important to report?"

"There is indeed one more thing, Your Majesty. I just received news that in Shaanxi..."

Not to mention that Yang Sichang was doing sit-ups to measure Chongzhen's blood pressure, the situation in Yangzhou was solemn and solemn. At this time, the area around Yangzhou was filled with densely packed flags of various colors.

The camp stretched for several miles. From time to time, soldiers and horses wearing cotton armor of various colors ran out of the camp, spread out in all directions, and inquired about the movements of the surrounding Ming troops.

In the central army tent, the Qing army generals with thin braids on their heads were very quiet. Everyone had an ugly look on their faces, and they looked at each other without saying a word.

They had already spent a day outside the city fighting with the defenders of Yangzhou, but the front line had not advanced even a bit. The strange bunkers and city defense fortifications made the Qing army, which had never seen these before, suffer a lot. Not to mention, a large number of mortar shells exploded in the army formation, causing casualties and a scattered formation that required a lot of time to reorganize.

Everyone began to take the enemies they encountered this time more seriously. The last time they were put under such pressure was by Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army. No, the Tianxiong Army was not as outrageous as these people. After all, Lu Xiangsheng did not have the ability to capture a Beile alive among thousands of troops.

Now Huang Taiji was so angry that he fainted and needed to recuperate. The heavy responsibility fell on Jirgalang. At this moment, he looked around at the generals in the account and said, "The enemy army said that they captured my brother alive by themselves among the thousands of troops. I don't believe it."

Jirgalang's encouraging opening made everyone in the tent look at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what to say.

Gushan Beizi Shuotuo was the first to speak: "I don't believe it either! Our Eight Banners soldiers are so brave and invincible, how could we suffer such a tragic defeat!"

Shuotuo was the second son of Prince Li Daishan and the younger brother of Yuetuo, the leader of the Bordered Red Banner. They were born of the same parents. After Ajige's death, Shuotuo, who was in his thirties, was still sad for a long time. He was full of anger towards the Ming Dynasty and killed dozens of captured Ming people in one breath to vent his anger.

The leader of the Zhenghong Banner was Prince Daishan of Li. Daishan was nearly sixty years old this year, and had many hidden injuries from years of fighting. Now half of his body was buried in the ground, and he was not far from death.

During the campaign against the Ming Dynasty, Daishan was stationed in Shengjing and handed over the Zhenghong Banner troops to his second son Shuotuo, hoping that he could make more achievements and be as outstanding as his elder brother Yuetuo.

Beizi Bolo said: "Yes, the enemy army must have hidden their forces!"

Bolo was the third son of Abatai. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, his second brother Bohetuo died in the Ming Dynasty. This time, Bolo specifically asked Huang Taiji for permission to go on an expedition to attack the Ming Dynasty to avenge his father and brother. However, before the Ming Dynasty was conquered, Huang Taiji had a new enemy. This time, the Avengers were formed.

"However, we cannot let our guard down. Now that our army has been attacking their city for a long time, they will definitely send cavalry to harass them. Among them, there may be the generals that the enemy army boasted about before. We should not underestimate them."

Borg said fiercely: "Then let him come! I will definitely place his head in front of Brother Ajige's grave as a memorial! Think about my Eight Banners warriors. Even if there are less than 10,000 of them, they are invincible. They are just a small bandit army. Why should we be afraid?"

This sentence was stolen by Huang Taiji. It can only be said that after getting too close to the Koreans, he was somewhat influenced by them. In the Song Dynasty, the Jurchens were invincible if they had less than 10,000 men, but invincible if they had more than 10,000 men. Huang Taiji thought at the time, how come the Jianzhou Jurchens are not Jurchens? This sentence is very good, I stole it, but I had to modify it a little so that people can't see it was stolen at a glance, so it became: The Eight Banners are invincible if they have less than 10,000 men, but invincible if they have more than 10,000 men.

This sentence sounds very pretentious, but it has a strong motivating effect on the Qing troops. In an instant, there was a lot of discussion in the tent, and people were excited and wanted to fight against the rebel army.

At this time, a Niulu Zhangjing came to report, saying: "Your Majesty, the enemy scouts are outside challenging us, and they are also saying..."

Jirgalang frowned and asked, "What else?"

Niulu Zhangjing stammered, "That rebel scout also said... that if the prince is not... if he is not a son of a bitch, then we should have a good fight..."

"Fuck you!" Feeling his father insulted, Jirgalang's eldest son kicked Lord Zhang Jing so hard that he fell down twice.

The Niulu Zhangjing who reported the news immediately shouted in horror: "Your Majesty, spare my life, this is not what I said, I was just passing on the message..."

Jirgalang looked at Niulu Zhangjing kneeling on the ground and felt like picking up a knife and chopping him to death.

"Someone is coming!!!"

He wants to see why these damn bandits are so arrogant, and he must fight them to the death today!

At this time, outside Yangzhou City, 191 was quietly waiting with a team of cavalry. She was now wearing a set of silver armor, looking extremely dashing. The mask on her face covered her beautiful face, adding a bit of ferocity to it.

In the previous battle, after 191's thoughts became clear, his entire realm seemed to have been elevated a lot, and his temperament was completely different from before, which made Jiang Han very excited.

"Ah... I really want to become Miss 191's Qinglong Halberd..." Looking at the heroic figure of 191, Jiang Han couldn't help but sigh.

"Commander, what's wrong with you? Why do you want to make cold weapons?" 416 was a little confused about what his commander was doing.

"This way, she can hold my halberd tightly."

"...Commander, let me say that you are truly invincible."

"Good boy...good boy..."

Watching the Qing army formation beginning to stir in the distance, 191 freed one hand to calm the restless warhorse under her crotch. This time she did not ride the mecha war dragon that she got from Miss Dragoon, but chose an authentic warhorse because she said she still wanted to try riding a traditional warhorse, otherwise it would not feel right when fighting.

Although Jiang Han secretly complained that 191 was still riding a traditional war horse in this day and age, he was still very attentive and prepared a large chestnut horse for her. The horse was nearly 191 meters tall at the shoulders and had a explosive personality. It stood out among the war horses. It took a lot of effort to tame the horse.

"Good man, this is our first battle, you have to perform well..."

191 was communicating with her warhorse before the battle, and the horse seemed to understand her intentions and snorted softly.

"We've found the target, and the enemy's army has started to move. Unfortunately, the big fish we wanted didn't come out. This time, the leader is a man named Borg. I'll share the intelligence with you. I guess he's releasing you to test your quality." Parosa's voice came from the communication channel. At the same time, 191 also received a personal intelligence file on a man named Borg. These were all information obtained by undercover agents from the Intelligence Department.

"Oh, it seems that the quality of our General Mu Tao's military achievements has been questioned. I'm not trying to cause trouble. If it were me, I would definitely not tolerate it."

AK12, who likes to watch the fun and stir up trouble, started to stir up trouble.

191 smiled and didn't take her teammates' teasing to heart: "They will understand soon." Unlike the hatred in the past, her eyes were full of confidence at this moment.

Volume 332: Chapter Chapter : Isn't this bullying?

The volunteers began to line up outside the city, and the troops filed out from the city gate behind the triangular fort. They were equipped with cannons, muskets, and everything else, all neatly arranged.

Today's Volunteer Army is no longer the weak and timid people of the past. In just half a year, they have experienced fighting against bandits, Ming army, regular army, and now they have to fight against the high-intensity Tatars. These experiences have allowed them to continue to grow. Today, they are swift in action, calm in reloading, and accurate in shooting, and they already have some of the shadows of an ace army.

At this moment, facing the power of the Qing army, they remained unmoved and continued to do what they were doing.

Borg was no fool. He saw at a glance that the Volunteer Army's formation could not be defeated by a head-on fight. He changed his mind and divided 3,000 men out to launch an attack on the center of the Volunteer Army's formation.

Seeing the Qing army's war horses start to move, the volunteers' artillery also began to respond.

Hundreds of red-haired cannons of the Volunteer Army's artillery brigade fired at the same time, spewing out lightning-like tongues of fire and roaring like thunder, violently ejecting the shells in the barrels and slamming hard into the Qing army's cavalry.

The artillery array was divided into three parts. The artillery array in the middle used direct firing, while the artillery arrays on both wings used oblique cross-firing, which controlled the entire attacking team of the Qing army within the artillery's attack range.

The damage effect was quite significant. The leading cavalry suffered heavy losses on the spot. However, the Qing cavalry turned their horses around and retreated the moment the volunteers opened fire. The Qing cavalry's riding skills were indeed very superb. The riders could hold the horse's neck and circle around on the ground and then turn back. Hiding under the horse's belly was a basic operation. After a wave of firing, the casualties effect could only be said to be good, but not particularly good.

"Huh, as expected."

Borg sneered. She had heard before that the bandits they encountered this time were very fond of using firearms. Today she saw that it was true. Fortunately, she was prepared.

"Retreat two miles!"

The Qing cavalry disappeared in a flash. This was a skill they had learned from years of long-distance running competitions with the Ming army, and the volunteers were stunned.