The cool February breeze blew gently, still bringing with it a slight chill. The Huaxia army's formation passed through the riverside near the Iron Bridge.
The frontal battle near the Iron Bridge had completely stopped by now.
Groups of surrendered captives were detained in several triangular depressions on the riverside. The Huaxia army's firearm formation guarded the openings facing outward, and a small number of troops went to the other side to prevent the captives from crossing the river and escaping. On the battlefield in a larger area, the Gold Men's flags were toppled and their supplies were in chaos. The corpses were the most concentrated on the frontline, and the tragic scene spread towards the river.
Where the rockets raged, the fires had already been extinguished, leaving behind horrifying charred corpses and soil after the explosions and burns. The wounded Jin soldiers were still moaning in the wind, and some of the soldiers who had been driven away and taken into custody were even shedding tears.
Looking at the bridgehead in the distance, the ground had turned into patches of black.
The accuracy of "Dijiang" was still a problem that needed to be greatly improved. Because of that, in order to seal off the only escape route and increase the casualty rate of the 30,000 Gold Men to the maximum, the Huaxia army fired more than 60 rockets at the bridgehead. Black spots spread from the bridgehead, and half of the small stone bridge had been blown up. At present, there was only an opening that two people could walk through side by side.
Ning Yi rubbed his fists and walked through the battlefield where the cool breeze blew.
Around him, everyone seemed excited. Even the Huaxia veterans nearby were a little surprised by the victory of the battle and beamed with joy. Ning Yi was the only one who seemed a little distant as he looked at the scenes around him.
"Wangyuan Bridge … How far is it from Zizhou?"
"Eleven kilometers."
"… Oh." Ning Yi nodded.
On the 21st of September, 1860, on the outskirts of Beijing, more than 30,000 Qing troops faced 8,000 British and French troops at Bali Bridge. After a fierce battle for half a day, the Qing army suffered more than 1,200 casualties, while the British and French had five dead and 47 wounded.
This was the most humiliating scene in the Second Opium War in another period of history.
Of course, most of the time, history was more like a little girl without the ability to make her own decisions. Just like Han Shizhong's "Yellow Skies Great Victory", the record of the Battle of Eight Mile Bridge was also full of strange things. In the records of the later generations, people said that King Monk Senggrinqin led more than ten thousand Mongolian cavaliers and fought valiantly against twenty thousand infantrymen. Even though they put up a strong resistance …
However, in the end, the Qing army suffered 1,200 casualties, which led to the defeat of the 30,000 strong army. After returning to their country, some of the French officials wantonly publicized the heroic fighting skills of the Qing army, saying that "they withstood the intense firepower that caused them to suffer heavy casualties … they would rather not retreat a single step, bravely persisted, and all of them died on the spot" and so on. But there were also some councilors who thought that what happened at Bali Bridge was nothing more than a "ridiculous war."
What about the truth of history?
At this moment, it seemed more like an unimportant detail.
Would that part of history disappear because of his arrival in this world? Thinking about it, it was unlikely.
He walked around the blackened crater and sighed softly.
The gap in technology seemed to be an insurmountable mountain, but it might not be completely insurmountable. During that period of history, the Chinese people were humiliated and backward for more than a hundred years. Until the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea began in 1950, China was still in a state of great backwardness.
In a place called Shangganling, the Americans used tens of thousands of shells and explosives to bombard a position of only 3.7 square kilometers every day for forty-three days. They fired 1.9 million shells and dropped more than five thousand bombs from planes. The granite of the entire mountain top was shaved off by two meters.
And the volunteer army, who lacked even explosives, even dismantled the dud bombs that the Americans threw down without exploding and used them to dig air-raid shelters.
At that time, it was the will of the Chinese people, who had endured a hundred years of humiliation, that smoothed out the even greater gap in technology and won for the later China decades of breathing space.
And the Wu dynasty had already endured more than ten years of humiliation.
The screams of the wounded soldiers continued.
They were the Jurchen veteran who had been affected by the explosion in the previous battle. He sat in a pool of blood with one of his legs blown off. He woke up from a coma and the great pain made him scream on the battlefield.
Ning Yi walked up to him and looked at him quietly.
His military coat fluttered slightly in the wind. There was no pity in Ning Yi's eyes. He just quietly looked at the veteran with a broken leg. Such a Jurchen soldier must have experienced many battles. Countless enemies and even innocent people had died in his hands. Most of the Jin soldiers who could set foot on the battlefield of Lu Qiao today were people like him.
The Jurchen veteran's screams gradually stopped under Ning Yi's gaze. His teeth chattered and he didn't dare to look at Ning Yi. Ning Yi stepped on the pool of blood and walked into the distance.
"Li Heng … is he unhappy?" Hong Ti asked softly from beside him.
Ning Yi looked back at the ending scene on the battlefield and then shook his head.
"No."
He said.
At this time, the news of victory was spreading in different directions.
Even within the Huaxia army, there was going to be a wave of shock soon …
…
In the camp of the Jurchens, it was a completely different scene.
People were waiting for the confirmation of the news on the battlefield. After Shema shouted, "This must be fake …", Zong Han who was sitting on the chair did not express his opinion. The scout was called in and under the questioning of Shema and the others, he gave a detailed account of what happened on the battlefield. But before he could finish, Wanyan Shema kicked him out.
"This is a spy who is trying to disrupt our morale!"
Shema said firmly, and Ba Li Su added, "Maybe it's true."
While waiting for the second round of news, Zong Han walked around the room and looked at the map on the other side of Lu Qiao. He then said in a low voice, "Xibao is rough but smart. Even if Ning Yi is tricked and ambushed, he should be able to deal with it."
Shema nodded, "Father is right."
The tent was quiet for a long time. Zong Han sat back on the chair and said, "I'm just worried that although Xibao is smart, he is still arrogant. If he can't make a decision when it is time to retreat, it will lead to disaster. "
Shema did not say anything.
At quarter past five (4 pm), more detailed information came. The scout who was hiding far away from Lu Qiao described the chaos on the battlefield in detail. Some people had escaped, but it was not known whether Xibao was among them. The rest had already gone to the front to provide support. Zong Han listened to the description of the scout, his hand holding the railing of the chair trembling slightly. He said to Shema, "Zhen Zhu, go and take a look at the front."
After Shema left, Zong Han allowed the scout to continue describing the scene on the battlefield. When he heard the scout talking about how King Bao Shan led his troops to charge forward in the end, the commander's flag fell and it seemed like he did not manage to kill his way out, Zong Han stood up from his chair. The armrest that his right hand was holding onto broke with a 'crack'. Zong Han threw it on the ground.
The scout was still describing the terrible bombardment of the Lu Qiao bridgehead. The continuous flames and explosions prevented a large number of soldiers who ran to the bridgehead from crossing. Some soldiers were caught on fire and screamed as they ran among the crowd. Some fell into the still bone-chilling river. The northerners were not good at swimming. Most of the soldiers drowned.
"Enough."
Zong Han interrupted the scout's description. The scout knelt there and kept quiet out of fear.
But after a moment, he heard Zong Han's voice again, "You … continue talking about the firearms."
Only then did the scout dare to speak again.
At quarter past five (4: 30 pm), the people gradually learned about Wanyan Xibao's heroic charge and unknown fate from the soldiers who had escaped from the Lu Qiao front line. After a while, it was confirmed that Xibao had been captured.
At this time, the attack and defense of the entire Lion Ridge battlefield had stopped under the orders of both sides. This proved that both sides already knew about the shocking results of the battle at Lu Qiao.
Most of them could understand the meaning behind the outcome of the battle.
Six thousand Hua Xia soldiers, armed with the new firearms, had defeated thirty thousand Jin elites led by Xibao within an hour. Thousands of soldiers were killed, more than twenty thousand were captured, and only a few escaped. The casualties of the Hua Xia army could be counted on one hand.
Most of the time, both sides were trying to confirm whether this heavenly battle result was real or not. On the Hua Xia army's side, Yu Zhongdao asked the orderly to confirm the source of the information three times before he accepted the reality. Qu Zhengyan sat on the ground with the information and was silent for a long time before he asked someone to confirm it again. As for the advisor Chen Tian, he first laughed when he received the information. "Who is making fun of me? It must be because I …" Then he reacted and flew into a rage. "No matter what, you can't joke about military intelligence."
The people accepted the entire information in various ways.
Before the end of the afternoon, Ning Yi had already met up with Han Jing. They pulled some of the carts loaded with "Dijiang" rockets and launchers towards the Lion Ridge front line. As they rode forward, Ning Yi, Han Jing, and several technicians and advisors reviewed the problems that had occurred on the entire battlefield.
"The strength of the barrel has always been a problem. It was better in the first few rounds, but after the third round, we noticed that the rate of the barrel explosion was increasing …"
"After the third round, the paper shell of the ammunition was a little jammed …"
The Jurchen originally wanted to take a leisurely detour to the south, but we fired ahead of time, so they were not mentally prepared. Later, they wanted to speed up, but it was too late … We noticed that in the second round, the head of the Jurchen cavalry was affected. The rest of the cavalry did not detour, but chose to charge in a straight line, so they happened to run into the muzzle … If the enemy comes prepared next time, the speed of the cavalry might still be a threat to us … "
"The consumption of the rockets was not as much as expected. They were so frightened that they collapsed. Now they can still fight a few more rounds …"
In the chatter, people began to talk about the usefulness of the rockets. Some people even said that the name "Dijiang" was mighty and domineering. According to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", Dijiang was shaped like a yellow sac, red as fire, with wings but no face. Most importantly, it could dance. The rockets were named after Dijiang, and it was indeed vivid. Mister Ning was really good at naming, and the meaning was profound …
Han Jing came closer and stammered, "Although … it's a joyous occasion, the word 'Di', isn't it a little inappropriate? We killed the emperor …" He used his hand as a saw, and it looked like he was sawing Zhou Zhe's head in the air, but he did not continue.
Ning Yi tilted his head. "Dijiang, it's …"
"Yes, Dijiang."
"Dijiang …"
"Dijiang … it's Dijiang." Han Jing pondered for a long time, then urged his horse to catch up. "What does it mean?"
As the sun set, the Shiling frontline was nearing.
Zizhou.
Li Shishi also received the first round of battle reports after Ning Yi's departure. She sat in a simply decorated room and was silent for a long time by the table. Then, she covered her mouth and cried. There was a smile in her tears …
For many years, she had doubted whether Ning Yi's action of killing Zhou Zhe in the throne room that day was rational. Now, there was no longer a need to question this matter. At the most crucial moment of this battle that almost determined the survival of the entire race, on the sixth day of his attack, he easily destroyed Wanyan Xibao, whose military strength was five times his own.
The setting sun shone in through the window of the small house …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
