Chapter 764: Chasing the enemy to the north, attacking Huanglong
Yan Song had watched the training of the Huben Zuowei and was quite impressed by the power of the muskets.
But he had never seen the musket used in actual combat.
And it’s on such a large scale!
The Datong defenders retreated. They were exhausted and were drinking water, eating dry food, and talking about the battle in low voices.
"The Jingwei has gone up."
“It looks very impressive.”
"Awesome? The cavalry under Altan's command are no pushovers. If the captain hadn't led his men so quickly, our left wing would not have been able to hold out."
"By the way, they were holding firearms."
"Don't we have any?"
"It is said that the firearms of the Beijing Guards are different."
"What difference would that make? I can't even use damn gunpowder."
"Don't be too freaking out. We'll have to keep going when the time comes."
"I am no longer capable."
"I can't do it either. My whole body aches."
"Look, here it comes, here it comes!"
The Datong soldiers chewed their food and looked forward.
On the opposite side, Altan's subordinates were also looking at the Ming army's central formation.
What did the Ming army hold in their hands?
Fire stick is just a derogatory term. Everyone knows the methods of the famous Ming general on the opposite side, so, what did he get this time?
Altan was also watching. He even squinted his eyes into a line so that he could barely see the upper end of the battle line.
And ahead of that front line was an endless stream of cavalry.
His warriors were holding their swords high and rushing towards the Ming army's defense line with cheers.
Defeat them all!
Rush into Datong City!
End this damn war!
Zhao Quan clenched his fists, wishing he could rush forward and kill the Ming army.
He needs this big win!
The White Lotus Sect needs this big victory!
He failed in his uprising and was forced to flee to the grassland. He has been sleeping on straw and eating bitter food all these years, and has been flattering Altan!
Zhao Quan looked down on Altan from the bottom of his heart, despising this so-called Khan.
But he knew that he needed to rely on Altan to realize his dream of counterattacking the Ming Dynasty.
As long as Datong City is captured, the rest of the war will be like mercury pouring out of the ground, spreading thousands of miles away...
The elite Ming troops from all over the north are at the front. If we defeat them, there will be no more obstacles in the north.
He only needs to make a call from a high place and countless followers will gather under his command.
Altan's army was scattered throughout the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, and he had to confront the Ming army in the south...
He no longer had the energy to control Zhao Quan or the rapidly expanding White Lotus army.
At that time, what is Altan!
What Ming Dynasty!
I!
Zhao Quan!
Will become the master of this world!
A sharp light flashed in Zhao Quan's eyes.
Ma Tianlu saw it, but there was more sadness in his eyes.
Datong!
Capital!
Ming dynasty!
History is like a reincarnation tool, throwing the world into misery time and time again.
Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are dogs.
Whose fault is this?
When the iron hooves of foreign races trampled on the mountains and rivers.
When the stench of fishy smell covers the land.
I!
Can you face your ancestors?
Ma Tianlu’s greatest wish is to return home in glory.
But when all this seemed within reach, he hesitated.
He seemed to see blood all over the sky.
It was as if I saw my grandfather enlightening me back then.
——Erlang, remember, our roots are here.
The child looked up curiously and asked, "Grandfather, what is a root?"
The old man touched his head kindly and said, "Roots! They are our souls."
"Grandfather, what is our soul?"
"The soul is..." the old man narrowed his eyes, "the Han clothes you wear, the Han classics you read, the food passed down by your Han ancestors, the folk proverbs, the great rivers, and... the ancestral tablets!"
"Oh!" The child didn't understand, but remembered the words.
During the New Year's Day, when they worshipped their ancestors, the children followed behind and watched their grandfather burn incense and make offerings in a solemn manner.
It is more serious and solemn than worshiping gods.
At that moment, the child seemed to understand something.
But I don't seem to understand anything.
Until this moment, the child from that year has grown up and suddenly understood on the battlefield.
"My roots are in the mountains and rivers! In the grass and trees, in the smell of fireworks, and in the ancestral tablets!"
Ma Tianlu gasped, and only then did he understand where the impulse that made him let the two Ming spies go came from.
It comes from what my grandfather said.
From the haunting dream...
"home!"
But now I have to lead the foreigners to charge into the Ming Dynasty and kill in my hometown.
Ma Tianlu closed his eyes in pain.
Countless people opened their mouths and looked ahead...
No one noticed that he was suffering.
Bang bang bang bang!
There were so many explosions that it was impossible to tell the rhythm.
Right on the front line.
Then, smoke gushed out in rows, rising rapidly and dispersing...
It was like a blue cloud hanging over the battle line.
Altan's eyes widened, and the hand holding the knife handle exerted too much force, and it slipped.
His body tilted slightly on the horse's back.
But he didn't care at all.
"What is it?"
Altan asked loudly.
Then he saw that the side of the battle line close to his side was in chaos.
Those warriors fell off their horses, and the horses either fell, or stood up with a long neigh, or jumped wildly, or stood there motionless and slowly fell down...
Countless blood was spurting out.
The dense screams came as if from hell, making people's hair stand on end.
Those people!
It was like being slapped by a giant hand. Rows of cavalrymen in front fell.
As for the Ming army...
Yan Song's eyes widened, "Old man... Old man..."
Zhao Wenhua stared blankly ahead. He had never thought that a flintlock rifle would be so sharp when used in actual combat.
And, shocking!
No need to engage the enemy.
You can kill the enemy from a distance of 100 steps.
Look, those alien warriors are waving their swords in vain at the formation, and then fall down helplessly.
The war horses lost their previous madness and turned around and wanted to run away, no longer under control.
The enemy soldiers on horseback seemed to have seen a miracle, and were so shocked that they forgot to continue their attack.
Let the war horses run around.
But the following enemy troops were charging, sweeping them forward.
"Oh my god!" Huang Mao exclaimed, "Is this a firearm?"
He glanced at Jiang Qingzhi.
The young famous general was smoking medicinal cigarettes with great concentration, as if he was the only one left in the world and the medicinal cigarettes were the only thing in his life at this moment.
He inhaled the medicinal smoke attentively, exhaled it gently, and then said lightly: "Do you like this surprise, Altan?"
Huang Mao shook his head. He didn't believe that Jiang Qingzhi could have imagined that the flintlock rifle would have such great results.
Where does his calmness and composure come from?
Pretending?
wrong!
Huang Mao looked at Jiang Qingzhi carefully, and he swore that there was no surprise or even ecstasy in Jiang Qingzhi's eyes.
It seemed as if all this was within his expectations.
It was as if he had seen all this countless times.
I just don't care about it at all.
"Undefeated, undefeated!" the old prime minister suddenly cheered.
The old godfather lost his composure, and Zhao Wenhua wanted to remind him, but somehow, a feeling of excitement and ecstasy surged in his heart.
He couldn't help but pump his fist, "Undefeated!"
From the day they left the capital, from Yan Song to Zhao Wenhua, every soldier felt like a huge stone was pressing on their hearts.
Twenty thousand Beijing guards.
Assisted by 30,000 elite Ming troops from the north.
Fifty thousand troops may seem like a lot, but Altan has more than a hundred thousand cavalry under his command.
How to fight this battle?
Is it possible to stop Altan's cavalry?
How many people will die on the battlefield, watching helplessly as the enemy rushes into the country, burning, killing and looting.
This tremendous pressure did not dissipate with the victories in the previous battles.
When the final battle comes, the pressure increases.
Until now.
When the smoke is blown away by the autumn wind.
The corpses of enemy soldiers and horses were scattered everywhere in front.
Some enemy soldiers fell off their horses but were not dead. They stood blankly in front of the battle line, as if they had lost their souls, and muttered to themselves.
A warhorse was injured and stood there in a daze, and was then knocked down by the following troops.
A hundred steps outside the Ming army’s central battle line, corpses were everywhere!
Kill the enemy from a hundred steps away!
And the results are so brilliant!
The huge pressure suddenly dissipated, and the whole person was extremely relaxed, and Prime Minister Yan Song lost his composure.
Zhao Wenhua lost his composure.
Huang Mao lost his composure.
Even Du He opened his mouth wide and stared blankly ahead.
"Rotate!"
The generals at the front were also stunned, including the soldiers on the battle line.
But the honed reaction made them subconsciously call for rotation.
The soldiers also subconsciously began to rotate according to the manual.
The first row of soldiers retreated, and the second row took over.
"Raise the gun!"
The muskets were raised in front of the formation, and it looked like rows of strange things had grown out of the Ming army's formation.
The enemy followed the momentum.
Boom!
The drums sound.
The generals shouted with red faces, "Fire!"
Bang bang bang bang!
Intensive gunfire rang out again.
Smoke gushed out from the muzzle of the gun, obscuring the view.
This time no one was dazed, but retreated quickly according to the instructions.
The third row came up.
"Raise the gun!"
The smoke cleared.
The view ahead is clear.
The corpses of the enemy were within sight, and they were increasing in number...
The enemy troops behind obviously began to slow down.
There was horror in their eyes.
What did the Ming army have in their hands?
Someone exclaimed, "That's not a fire stick!"
Many years later, when someone was preparing to write a history of the development of modern firearms, he collected information about this battle. The most common record was that when the flintlock rifle was first used, Altan Khan's army called it a fire stick.
Then, they were hit with a hammer!
This is also the nickname given by later generations to the flintlock rifle, the world's first killing weapon.
——Hammer!
Altan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
He said in disbelief: "That's a firearm! That's the Ming army's firearm!"
Zhao Quan was gasping for breath. He felt as if a huge rock was pressing on his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe.
"This is Jiang Qingzhi's method. He had prepared his weapon long ago. He seemed to be forced to fight, but in fact, he had planned it for a long time!"
"God, this is a god's weapon!" an aristocrat almost screamed.
"What should we do?"
"Jineng is right."
Jineng's almost prophetic warning seemed to still be ringing in his ears, but the front was already hit by the attack that the Ming army had prepared long ago.
"Sweat!"
Meng Xian's face turned pale. "Either the entire army launches a general attack, or... we can only withdraw."
"We can't withdraw!" Jinen turned around with a fierce look in his eyes, "Once we withdraw, the warriors will no longer have the courage to go south. We will be finished!"
"Jiang Qingzhi will lead a large army out of the border, he will attack the royal court, and he will pursue us wherever we go." Ma Tianlu's voice was particularly calm. "In the Central Plains, this is called... Chasing the enemy to the north, and attacking Huanglong directly!"
(End of this chapter)
