The first wave of attacks by Xianglan Banner resulted in the casualties of more than 200 Ming army gunners on the earth wall, nearly half of whom were killed.
Most of the soldiers were hit by arrows in the face. Within fifty steps, the heavy arrows fired by the dead soldiers of Jiannu were astonishingly lethal and easily penetrated the cotton armor. These fire gunners basically did not wear armor, and many of them were killed by one arrow.
More than twenty people died from the explosion of their own guns. There was no way, the quality of the guns in the hands of the Ming army was so poor, they could only make do with it for now.
The white pole soldiers of each battalion blew their horns, and the gunmen who suffered heavy casualties retreated one after another to make room for the white pole soldiers behind them.
A thousand soldiers with white poles were arranged in a simple queue, slowly climbing up the long slope.
Among the white spears that were one foot to seven feet long, there were also figures of heavy knives, maces, and wild goose feather knives. The owners of these weapons are all Liaodong Rangers, Jizhou Frontier Army, and Xuan Daye. The total number is about two hundred.
Many of them have a blood feud with Jian Nu, and there are also some fierce people who, in order to win military glory, appear as dead soldiers among the white pole soldiers.
Unlike the Zhejiang soldiers, the white pole soldiers from the southwestern mountains did not have strict requirements for formations, so they could tolerate other soldiers joining in.
The white pole soldiers are between the Qi Jiajun and the wolf soldiers. They have a tenacious fighting will and focus on personal combat power. They are not a nearly modern military organization like the Qi Jiajun.
The so-called modernization of the military is not as simple as inventing a few new weapons.
At the same time, Morris in Europe established the infantry drill code. Soldiers drilled every day, and the entire army worked on soil work. They trained every day to dig trenches and pile sandbags.
The Netherlands at the same time was rich enough, and the money could be distributed to the soldiers in full. The soldiers could not only eat well, but also feed their families. Only then could they have the energy and motivation to engage in high-intensity training.
Of course it is impossible for Ming Dynasty to do this now.
The white-pole soldiers were divided into more than twenty teams, each with fifty people, and advanced towards the protruding part of the earth wall.
As groups of soldiers arrived behind the earthen wall, the trumpet sounded again, and the entire army stopped advancing. The soldiers in the front row squatted half-crouched, and the densely packed white-barred guns pointed diagonally at the sky, like a static steel forest.
The thin Fan Youjin followed his master. Under the cover of cannon fodder in front, the two ran across the blood-stained pontoon and reached the north bank safely.
This was the first time Fan Youjin went to the battlefield with his master. Half a month ago, he almost lost his life on the Hunjiang battlefield. If his master hadn't pulled him onto his horse in the end, his head would have been hung on the opposite city wall by the Nanmanzi.
When the Ming army shelled the pontoon bridge just now, Fan Youjin and his master lined up behind the dead soldiers, preparing for the second wave to cross the river. They were only a dozen steps away from the cannons, and saw with their own eyes the body of a stout female virgin in front of them being beaten into pieces.
When it was Fan Youjin's turn to cross the river, the sky was clear, and the artillery behind the wall on the opposite side suddenly exploded, killing several Nanmanzi gunners. Fan Youjin and his master took advantage of the chaos of the Ming army to rush to the other side.
"Master, why didn't the Ming army on the opposite side use firecrackers and shoot arrows?"
He held a round shield in his left hand and a heavy knife in his right hand. He carefully avoided the broken wrapped corpse on the ground and followed his master closely, not daring to fall behind.
Fan Youjin's master is an old soldier with a blue flag, named Bactu. He is already forty-five years old. If he hadn't caught up with Houjin's rumbling chariot, this old Jurchen would have been so old. Hunter, you should still be chasing rabbits in the deep mountains and forests at this moment.
"Perhaps their fire cannons have exploded and they have run out of arrows. The Southern Barbarians' fire cannons will only kill their own people, so don't be afraid."
Bactu was covered in dozens of kilograms of heavy armor, and he started to pant after running only a few dozen steps.
Veterans like him should have been eliminated in the post-Jin army.
After the Xianglan Banner Hunjiang War, the troops were insufficient, and this time they were the main attackers, so they had to recruit some veterans from various villages. Forty-five-year-old Bayintu was among them. His family was poor, and only Fan Youjin was the one to cover it. Before he became a man, he was taken to the battlefield in order to grab more money and take it back.
"Fan Youjin, when the dead soldiers break through the earthen wall, rush to the front. Remember, after the city is broken, don't go beheading people or grabbing money. Women... wait until the dead soldiers break through the city gate. Our things were stolen!"
Fan Youjin was a little timid. He was thin and had just turned seventeen this year. He was running behind his master carrying a heavy knife, and his arms were a little sore.
"Stop using heavy knives. Just grab a smooth knife and rush over. The Nanmanzi are very powerful with their cannons and will collapse in close combat. Don't be afraid!"
"After this battle, I will go back and carry the flag for you! I will reward you with a Han woman!"
After hearing the last few words, Fan Youjin's eyes gleamed. He immediately dropped the heavy knife, picked up a knife with an arm from the ground, pulled off the severed hand on the handle, and was about to rush forward. He just ran a step, Then he was caught by his master.
"Do you want to die? We are poor and you are not wearing armor. Don't rush."
Bayintu waved his hand and slapped him in the face. The roar of the dead soldiers in front was loud, and he was about to look forward.
Suddenly, screams rang out from the pontoon bridge behind them. The pontoon bridge was interrupted by Fran machine guns again, and more than a dozen of the dead soldiers supervising the battle were killed or injured.
The others retreated far away, waiting for enough coated cannon fodder from behind to attack again.
"Fourth brother, the three gates of the southeast and west are fighting. The red flag and the white flag have surrounded the Zhiliao Town cavalry. The blue flag has gone to intercept the reinforcements of the Ming army. The Ming army in front of us has not many troops. It is a round of killing soldiers. Charge, the soldiers are on top, and it’s time to defeat them.”
Amin looked at the murderous Fei Yangwu in front of him, feeling quite relieved and said lightly:
"With my eighth brother here, we will definitely be able to conquer Kaiyuan. However, the Xianglan flag must not be damaged too much, otherwise, the attack will be useless."
Fei Yangwu knew what his brother was worried about. At present, several Baylors were eyeing the Xianglan Banner. During the last battle at Hunjiang, the Great Khan did not give the Xianglan Banner any more Niulu, but punished them with seven Niulu.
"Fourth brother, I'm going to ask for some artillery from Zhenglan Banner and Zhengbai Banner. When the cannons are in place, we'll return them just like the Nanmanzi bombarded us just now!"
When we crossed the river just now, we lost 500 coats and more than 100 dead soldiers. We captured the earthen wall in front of us. I don't know how many more people will die.
Although the coated Aha is cheap, consuming it like this is really too wasteful.
After the battle of Jingan Fort, several Baylors knew that the Ming Franco machine was a powerful siege weapon. Although it could not directly destroy the city wall, it could cause a serious blow to the morale of the defenders.
Amin was not sure whether Mang Gurtai would lend the French machine gun to Xianglan Banner. Everyone was attacking the city now and needed to use the cannon.
But since Fei Yangwu said it, it was okay to let him try it. Amin said nothing and nodded in agreement.
Just as Fei Yangwu left with his horse, war drums suddenly sounded in the direction of the north gate, and the drums became more and more gentle. He knew that this was an order for the dead soldiers to charge into the formation. It seemed that another strong Ming army had appeared.
Fei Yangwu was nervous, and he muttered silently in his heart:
"I hope we won't encounter that spearman from Hunjiang again!"
Behind the Ming army's earthen wall two miles away, Ji Zhen soldier Qiu Ying looked at the coated soldiers a hundred steps away and said coldly:
"Two Tartars, come to give me military honors!"
He wiped the dust off his face, took off the coconut gourd, took a sip of wine, put his bulging cheeks close to the Yan Ling Dao, and squirted hard.
The wine spilled on the blade, and the four-foot-long Yanling knife became cold and gleaming.
Qiu Ying laid the blade horizontally, as if caressing a woman, wiped the blade carefully, and chanted:
"The general marched south with great courage, his waist was crossed with a wild goose feather sword in the autumn water, the wind blew the drums and the mountains and rivers moved, the lightning flashed and the flags were high in the sun and the moon. There are unicorns in the sky, how can the ants in the cave escape..."
Next to him was a slightly thin soldier with a white pole, who was also wiping the hook of his gun. He listened to Qiu Ying reciting a poem and said in a thick Sichuan accent:
"You're such a stern immortal, why do you mourn every day? You're not a scholar, so why are you!"
Qiu Ying glanced at the white-poled soldier, suddenly closed the Yanling Saber, and sneered:
"You know a hammer! I am memorizing the poems of Emperor Sejong. When generals go to war, they all use wild goose feather knives, unlike you country bumpkins who only know how to use guns!"
After that, he ignored the white-pole soldier, looked up into the distance, and said sadly:
"It's a pity that the soldiers and horses of Ji Town were scattered, and all the brothers died in Jiefan, so they got mixed up with you barbarians!"
Sichuan Bing had enough of these words and shook his head with a smile.
Qiu Ying held the sharkskin scabbard tightly and suddenly said loudly:
"If you don't break Loulan, you won't pay it back! Let's see how I kill the Tartars later!"
The white-pole soldier was startled, cursed the immortal, turned around and went to set up a dragon gate with his Sichuan fellow.
Qiu Ying glanced at the coated soldiers who were constantly coming and going on both sides of the moat, his fingers trembled slightly and his eyes were a little red.
Half a month ago, he was still a flag general in Ji Town. He came to Liao with Brother No. 100 and came under the command of General Du.
The army left Fushun Pass, but before they saw Hetuala, they suffered a defeat at Jiefan. After the battle, General Du's head was gone, and all of Qiu Ying's brothers were dead, leaving him alone.
As a guest soldier, Jizhou could not go back. He had to live in Kaiyuan. For more than ten days in a row, he dreamed of his dead brother every night, with bloody faces dangling in front of him.
In the end, the hero of Jizhen finally returned to the war and prepared to kill the Tatars.
Hearing a few days ago that Liu Shen was going to have a fight with the slave chieftain, Qiu Ying called a few Xuan soldiers and found Pei Dahu. He wanted to come to the north gate and serve as cannon fodder with the white pole soldiers.
Although this tall soldier had a delicate face and resembled a woman, his fighting skills were not bad at all. In Jiefan City, he killed two Zhenghongqi Ba Ya La by himself, and then hid among the dead for three days. Three nights later, after the Tatars left, they fled back to Fushun Pass alone.
"Who said Yan Ling Dao can't fight openly? I will kill A Min with Yan Ling Dao today!!"
Qiu Ying had never seen white-armed soldiers, and he did not like these chieftain soldiers with poor equipment and insufficient food and wages.
Except for the slightly unique white pole spear, everything else is normal.
This equipment, not to mention compared with the servants, even the border troops in Jizhen can't compare.
The coated soldiers approached the earth wall fifty steps, and the white-poled soldiers were all on alert.
This round of offensive by the Hou Jin soldiers consisted of about a thousand people.
Further back, the newly joined dead soldiers were forming a team in the vacated area by the moat. Some auxiliary soldiers were busy cleaning up the smashed shield carts. The shield carts and corpses left behind by the coat in front blocked the advance of the dead soldiers.
The Franco machine behind the earth wall stopped bombarding and stood at Qiu Ying's position. Due to the restricted field of vision, he could not see his own artillery position. He did not know whether the two desperate gunners were dead or alive.
Fifty steps away from Qiu Ying's front, Cao Zhongqing, a coat soldier who was as eager to kill the enemy as he was, was also looking towards the earthen wall.
All the muskets, bows and arrows in front of him stopped shooting. Cao Zhongqing was still surprised when he discovered a strange Ming army appeared on the earth wall.
Each member of this Ming army holds a spear. The barrel of the spear is similar to that of the previous Hunjiang pikemen. However, the spear of this Ming army has a blade at the front and a barb.
They were not wearing the mandarin duck war jackets that were common in the Ming army, nor were they wearing cotton armor or chain mail. Instead, they were wearing rattan armor, and the felt hats on their heads were also very strange.
The Ming army in front of them did not choose to take advantage of the earth wall to attack on the spot. Instead, they used the hook on the tip of the gun to hang it from the crenel, climbed down like an ape, and rushed to the front of the earth wall.
"What kind of soldier is this?"
Cao Zhongqing opened his eyes wide and stared blankly at these ape-like enemies.
Before he could figure it out, something even more surprising happened.
After the soldiers of the Ming army on the opposite side borrowed their spears and went down to the ground, they did not rush to form a formation, but immediately used their spears to attack the surrounding coated soldiers.
They are quite skillful in wielding their spears. The spears with sharp hooks can be used to chop, chop, stab or pick. They are invincible among the coated people holding short soldiers, as if... they are chopping melons. Cut vegetables.
"Damn it, Grandma, the blue flag was broken again today!"
Cao Zhongqing had killed countless people. At this moment, he intuitively told himself that this Ming army was difficult to deal with. Xianglan Banner might suffer another disastrous defeat in Hunjiang today.
This fierce armored soldier had just shot three musketeers to death with his bow and arrow. He was still unscathed by the intense musketry fire, which was considered a lucky fate.
Encountering such a powerful army, he not only did not feel timid, but also aroused murderous intention.
"Sir Gushan Ezhen will bring the artillery later and kill you!"
At this time, a rapid horn sounded from behind the earth wall, and Cao Zhongqing was a little panicked. He found more Ming soldiers holding strange spears appearing on the earth wall.
After they climbed down the earth wall, they rushed towards the coated soldiers before they could get into formation. Their spears were opened and closed, and the sharp hooks of the spearheads were like cutting grass, cutting through the unarmored coated soldiers.
Suddenly, blood splattered on the battlefield, and the walls were quickly filled with wrapped corpses.
"A bunch of useless trash, they do bad things every time they rush into battle!"
Cao Zhongqing cursed loudly. He picked up a broadsword in one hand and a round shield in the other. He followed a group of dead soldiers and charged towards the group of spearmen with a roar.
A few dozen steps in front of Cao Zhongqing, a bright and sharp Yan Ling knife was slightly raised, heading towards the murderous coated soldier.
