Later on, most of the people who had experienced this couldn't describe it with words, even if they had witnessed it with their own eyes. They didn't know what words to use to describe what they had seen and what happened afterwards. The scene they had seen was too terrifying and shocking. It was unacceptable to them, as if it had completely subverted their worldview. At the beginning, everyone was dumbfounded. On the battlefield, there was a period of time when there was a vacuum.
Later on, in the book that Mei Guozhen wrote to Emperor Wanli, he only used eight words. However, it perfectly recreated the terrifying scene — overturning the city as if it was a piece of paper.
In most people's unclear memories, the first thing they felt was a slight vibration. They felt that the earth was shaking, as if there was an earthquake. The Ming Army panicked. The rebel army on top of the city wall was even more panicked. They knew very well what an earthquake meant to the rebel army.
Then, there was a faint roar. It became louder and louder. As the frequency of the vibration increased, the sound became louder and louder. The entire earth was shaking, and the entire field of vision was shaking. According to their traditional thinking, they even thought that there was an earth dragon rolling its body underground, and that the earth dragon would break out of the ground!
What broke out of the ground was not an earth dragon, but a large amount of gas and an even more intense roar.
"Boom!"
At that time, there was only this sound and the long roar left in many people's ears. Even though cotton was blocked, the overly loud sound still frightened them. They were afraid that the apocalyptic thing would happen to them. The white smoke surged up from the ground. The entire ground seemed to protrude from the bottom of the city wall. That piece directly exploded.
This shocking force knocked a section of the western city wall that was about 20 meters long up. The entire section of the wall jumped up like a wave. It was as if a flat surface had suddenly become three-dimensional. It was shocking. Countless bricks and stones flew into the sky. After the main body of the wall broke, it fell to the ground. The white smoke covered everything. Of course, due to the violent airflow, the smoke came quickly and disappeared quickly.
At the same time, countless bricks and stones fell from the sky like raindrops. The speed was fast and the force was fierce. It was something that countless people had never seen before. Three layers of shields were pierced through, some were pierced through. There were even two layers of iron shields that had one layer pierced through. The remaining iron shield had a deep hole in it.
The hands of the soldiers holding the shields were fractured. There were a few unlucky soldiers who were directly hit by the bricks and stones. Some died on the spot and some were crippled. Although the number was small, there were still some.
The ground was still shaking and the stones continued to fall. Screams could be heard from time to time in the Ming Army's formation. Even though they were well prepared, everyone still underestimated the power of gunpowder to break the city. What Xiao Ruxun would never forget was that a brick the size of a fist smashed directly beside his feet. It was deeply embedded in the ground and created a deep hole. Xiao Ruxun had imagined countless times. If the angle of the stone was slightly off, what would happen to him?
When that ten-meter wide hole appeared in Xiao Ruxun's vision, his heart pounded violently. He knew, he knew at the first moment, that he had succeeded. He had tied his future and the future of the entire world to this strike. With this strike that could destroy the heavens and extinguish the earth, everything began to become clear.
At that time, there was a period of vacuum. No matter if it was the rebel army or the Ming Army, there was no movement for a period of vacuum.
In the camp, Wei Xuezeng struggled to get up. He staggered to the outside of the tent. Looking at the doomsday-like scene, tears flowed down his face.
Xiao Ruxun was the first to wake up. He knew that it was because after him, Mei Guozhen's entire body trembled and became sober. However, the first to shout the battle cry was not Xiao Ruxun, but Mei Guozhen, who was like a crazy war maniac.
Xiao Ruxun still remembered that at that time, Mei Guozhen's eyes were red. He was like a bloodthirsty demon. All gentleness and elegance were thrown aside. The armored Mei Guozhen was a general, not a scholar.
Under the leadership of Mei Guozhen, the three thousand Ming Army elites forgot their unease and fear. Their thirst for merit suppressed everything. They roared and charged into the gap.
Ma Gui, Xiao Ruhui, Li Ge, Dong Yikui, Zhao Wu, Niu Bingzhong, and Li Ben seemed to have lost their minds. Like mad demons, they roared and led their troops into the city. Then, the ten thousand troops of the Ming Army also roared and charged into the gap. They began to kill the rebel army in a frenzy.
From that moment on, the rebel army was doomed to fail. Most of the rebel army, whose spirits had been taken away by the gunpowder, did not even dare to resist. They lay on the ground, waiting to be beheaded by the ferocious Ming Army.
The Ningxia rebellion was quelled.
The Battle of Ningxia officially broke out on the eighteenth day of the second month of the Wanli calendar. It ended in the afternoon of the twenty-second day of the fourth month of the twentieth year of the Wanli calendar. It lasted for two months and four days. Compared to the original course of history, it was six months shorter. It greatly reduced the manpower and resources lost by the Ming Army in the original course of history. The money spent in the entire process of suppressing the rebellion was only one-third of the original course of history.
The main credit belonged to Xiao Ruxun, who had presented the plan to blast the city wall with gunpowder and personally presided over it from beginning to end. He was fully deserving of the number one hero. He was recognized by everyone as the number one hero that no one had any objections against.
In the memorial written by Ye Mengxiong, it was very clear that he asked for Xiao Ruxun's credit. He mentioned that if Xiao Ruxun had not presented the "gunpowder plan to break the city wall," he would have presented the "water storage plan to flood the city." It would have taken longer, the losses would have been greater, and there would have been more variables. Therefore, Xiao Ruxun's credit should be heard by the heavens.
Of course, Xiao Ruxun's credit was not limited to this. After the first wave of troops, he led the second wave of troops into the city. After he led the troops into the city, he killed his way towards the direction of the city gate where the main rebel army had suffered heavy losses. At this time, because they were close to the explosion point, a large number of rebel soldiers gathered on the southern city wall had died horribly. It was not an exaggeration to describe it as a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Furthermore, many people had died with blood flowing out of their seven orifices. The explosion was too loud, and they were shocked to death.
Bo Bai did not die, but he was not far from it. When Xiao Ruxun led his troops to attack the dilapidated city gate, a ragged figure appeared in front of the army, laughing crazily. His hair was disheveled, and he looked like a crazed demon.
At that time, someone immediately pointed out that this was the commander of the rebel army, Bo Bai. Without saying a word, Xiao Ruxun picked up his blunderbuss and personally shot the clearly delirious commander of the rebel army, Bo Bai. Bo Bai's heart was shattered, and he died. Xiao Ruxun fired three shots at his corpse before finally cutting off his head with his own hands.
Chi Chengen was hacked to death by Ma Gui. He did not die in the explosion, but his left leg was completely smashed by a brick. When Ma Gui found him, he was still wailing incessantly. Ma Gui slashed him eighteen times before finally cutting off his head.
Chi Chengen was killed by a random shot, and the credit was divided among ten people.
Tu Wenxiu was killed by Niu Bingzhong, and could have been captured alive. He was not affected by the explosion, and his troops were the most intact, so of course he was useless. After being defeated by Niu Bingzhong's troops, the rest of his troops scattered in all directions, and this fellow was captured alive. However, this fellow actually bumped into Niu Bingzhong and tried to escape. Niu Bingzhong swung his hand and stabbed him in the neck, killing him on the spot.
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