"Woo ~ ~" Yang Ling was awakened by the sound of the horn and jumped up with a start. Because Han Youniang was by his side, it was inconvenient for him to stay with Magistrate Huang and the others in the large shared bunk in the building. Yang Ling slept in the Jade Emperor Pavilion between the east and north city gates.
Han Youniang rubbed her eyes and also woke up with a start. Yang Ling jumped down and ran while shouting, "The Tatars are attacking the city, stay here obediently, I'll go take a look."
The sound of killing was heard everywhere, the soldiers were running back and forth on the city wall, constantly swinging their swords to cut the hooks and ropes thrown from below the city wall, and using sharp arrows to return fire. Inside the city wall, there was a winch every ten steps or so, with thin iron chains tied to it. In the middle was a round log with a diameter of one foot and a length of about one zhang. The round log was densely covered with iron nails about five cun long, looking a bit like a giant mace.
Two officers and men hid under the battlements, they only needed to lift the wooden mace and throw it down the city wall, then they would hear miserable cries. Then the two ends would swing the winch and the 'mace' would be twisted back.
Although this kind of city defense tool was somewhat cumbersome and time-consuming, there were several archers assisting at both ends at the same time, enough to make up for the shortcomings, so the lethality was not small.
He hurriedly ran to the front of the battlements, just as he held onto the battlements, a sharp arrow flew past his cheek with a whoosh and hit the lintel of the Jade Emperor Temple. The tail of the arrow buzzed, causing Yang Ling to break out in a cold sweat.
Yang Ling composed himself and hid behind the battlements to look down. He could not help but be shocked. Why did so many enemies suddenly appear? They saw everywhere under the city wall were Tatar soldiers, the city wall was several zhang high. They used hooks, ropes, hooks and ladders to throw onto the city wall, and climbed up without any fear of death. Behind them, a large number of archers on horseback were galloping back and forth, shooting arrows to cover them as they attacked the city. The archers on the city wall also unceasingly shot arrows back, but the enemy was outnumbered, although they had the geographical advantage, they were still suppressed to the point that they could not raise their heads.
Yang Ling bent his waist and hurriedly ran towards the south gate. Just as he reached the top of the gate tower, he heard a loud explosion. The ground trembled and smoke rose up everywhere, startling Yang Ling. He looked down and saw a large pit in the ground. There were more than ten people lying on the ground. A horse with a broken leg was lying in a pool of blood, crying out in pain.
Yang Ling was secretly speechless. He didn't expect the cannons of this era to be so powerful. Was there a bomb in this era? He had thought that the shells of that time were solid iron balls.
But when this cannon was fired, the smoke was really thick. Yang Ling had just run over, his breathing was rapid. He choked on the gunpowder and coughed incessantly. The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing County Magistrate Huang behind the city wall. He anxiously beckoned to Yang Ling and said, "Nephew, quickly come here, be careful not to be injured by stray arrows."
Yang Ling bent his waist and ran over. He saw in front of the city wall tower were three cannons, facing below the city wall. Several cannoneers were nervously loading and reloading. The fuse of the cannon on the left had already ignited with a 'chi chi' sound. Several cannoneers quickly covered their ears and closed their eyes. They heard a loud explosion, the cannon's position was immediately filled with smoke, not a single person's shadow could be seen clearly.
Yang Ling's eyes were red from the smoke. When the thick smoke in front of him slowly dissipated, he saw that the cannon in front of the city tower, which had a stand attached to it, had been set back more than ten feet. If not for the fact that the body of the cannon was anchored in place, who knew where the cannon would have jumped to. A few cannoneers were pushing the cannon back to its original position.
Because the Tartars below the city wall had scattered in all directions and avoided the front, although the cannon's sound was earth-shattering, it only killed one person and wounded several others. It was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
Yang Ling loudly asked, "Official Huang, why did so many Tartars suddenly come? Where is Jiang Zongzong? "
County Magistrate Huang pointed to the side and said loudly, "Two and a half li of the relay station has fallen, the Tartars have increased their troops. Jiang Zongzong is supervising the battle from the front. There are only a hundred or so soldiers on the city wall. We cannot attend to one thing and lose sight of another. Quickly go to the relay station and ask the people from the relay station to come and defend the city."
"Alright!" Yang Ling complied. He turned around and ran down the city wall. By this time Dianshi Liu had led more than two hundred strong people up the city wall. Under the command of a sentry captain, they were dispersed to different parts of the city wall. These strong people were only common people, they had never received military training. In a panic, after listening to the soldiers' explanation, they did not care whether there were enemies below the city wall or not. They grabbed the stones and threw them down, making the soldiers stomp their feet in anger.
These people did not know how to protect themselves. One of the strong people who stuck his head out was shot in the chest by an arrow. Han Youniang, who had just run over, caught him. The rest of the strong people saw this and were so frightened that they cowered in fear. Although there were officers and soldiers shouting at them, they did not want to show their heads no matter what.
By this time the streets were deserted, the common people under the yamen runners' scolding were indeed staying at home, they did not dare to run around. Just as they reached the crossroads, Yang Ling saw the Post Deputy Ma, leading more than a dozen courier messengers, driving three horse carriages, rushing toward them in a hurry. Yang Ling hastily halted his steps and said in a loud voice, "Official Ma, the Tartars below the city wall have scattered to attack the city, the defending soldiers are not enough. County Magistrate Huang, please send all the courier messengers up the city wall to help defend."
The Post Deputy Ma jumped down from his horse and said, "Where is the manpower? There are also a large number of Tartars attacking the city from the east and west gates. They do not have enough siege weapons, so they spread out to climb the city wall. My men have already been sent out, only these are left, they are delivering cannons to Official Jiang."
As soon as Yang Ling heard there were cannons, he could not help but was delighted; but thinking about the effect of the iron tool just now, he was somewhat disappointed. He stamped his foot and said, "Right now the Tartars are bursting out on all sides, the main problem is that the defending soldiers are not able to take care of them all, I am afraid the cannons will not be of much use."
The Post Deputy Ma directed two horse carriages to go separately to the east and west gates, while he himself took one horse carriage and continued forward. He said, "Virtuous Nephew is wrong, this is not the Great General's Cannon, these cannons are the 'Divine Weapon Pomegranate Cannon', 'Mighty Stone Cannon', 'Ten Thousand Men Can Rival Lychee Cannon', they are the most effective for defending the city."
Yang Ling was baffled. Seeing that he did not understand, the Post Deputy Ma hurriedly explained to him on the edge of the city wall. It turned out that the cannon that the Post Deputy Ma was talking about was actually a bomb. The 'Divine Weapon Pomegranate Cannon' was somewhat similar to a modern hand grenade. It was made from pig iron and shaped like a big ripe pomegranate.
The 'Mighty Stone Cannon' was made from stone and filled with gunpowder. Each stone bullet was mixed with a hundred small pebbles, the destructive power of the explosion was extremely high. The 'Ten Thousand Men Can Rival Lychee Cannon' was the largest, the clay pot was filled with gunpowder, as well as crushed stones, pieces of iron, and iron caltrops. When it exploded, the shrapnel flew several hundred steps away, injuring many of the enemy.
Hearing this, Yang Ling was ecstatic. He remembered when he watched 'Burning the Old Summer Palace', the Great Qing was fighting against the Eight-Nation Coalition Army, they used the human wave tactic, broadswords and long spears to fight the Japanese. He did not expect the Ming Dynasty's firearms to be so developed. With this kind of thing, even if he was a scholar, defending a section of the city wall would be as easy as turning his hand. He could not help but rubbing his hands in glee.
The arrival of this batch of bombs indeed produced a great effect. Although the Tatar cavalry who used cold weapons were not afraid of death, they were basically unable to fight against the explosives. Following the sound of explosions everywhere, there were countless casualties below the city wall, the siege was temporarily halted.
On the top of the city wall, there were more than forty Ming soldiers dead or injured. Including the civilian soldiers who did not know how to protect themselves, the total number was about a hundred. The army and the conscripted civilian doctors were busy treating the wounded everywhere.
Jiang Bao Zong personally beheaded several Tatar soldiers, he was in a murderous mood. Carrying two bloody zhanmadao, he loudly scolded the civilian soldiers for their stupidity. From time to time he would kick their butts, and berated the soldiers to teach them how to fight. District Magistrate Huang, Dianshi Liu and the others ran to the East and West cities to inspect the casualties.
Yang Ling climbed up the city wall and saw the Tatars had retreated to a distance of three arrow's distance, preparing for the next round of attack. The Tatar soldiers outside the East and West cities also began to gather there. Looking at their numbers, there were more than three thousand of them. Han Youniang asked for a whistle stick from a familiar yamen runner and stood by his side, looking after him carefully. Although her stature was petite, she had a valiant and heroic bearing.
Yang Ling saw that there were still so many enemy troops outside the city. Even if it was purely a battle of attrition, it was still unknown whether the remaining defending troops could withstand the second round of attack. Moreover, the most formidable weapon for defending the city, those bombs, were left with less than twenty of them. He could not help but feel deeply worried.
But the feeling the Ming army gave him right now was already beyond his expectation. He did not expect that the military technology of the Ming Dynasty was already this advanced. In his impression, the Ming Dynasty had always been weak and unable to withstand a single blow. The Emperor did not do proper work, the eunuchs brought disaster to the world. He did not know anything else.
However, as an ordinary person who was more familiar with the Qing Dynasty drama, he could only know this much. If he did not know that the current Crown Prince was called Zhu Houzhao, and had coincidentally watched the movie 'Swimming Dragon and Frolicking Phoenix', he basically would not know who was the current Emperor after the current Hongzhi Emperor, much less have a deeper understanding of the Ming Dynasty.
Because the history of the Ming Dynasty was written by the people of the Qing Dynasty, the hidden story was self-evident. Whatever drama or romance derived from it was even more untrustworthy. One 'Ten Yangzhou Diaries' and the other 'Jiading City Massacre Record' unexpectedly disappeared in China for more than two hundred years. More than two hundred years later, they were only found in Japan. From this it can be seen how thorough the literary inquisition of the Qing Dynasty was.
In fact, at that time, the Ming Dynasty was not far from capitalism. Its iron production was the sum of all of Europe. One-third of the world's silver was traded to China. Its industrial production accounted for more than 60% of the world's production. During the so-called Qianlong Era, its production only accounted for 6% of the world's production.
No wonder the Ming Dynasty missionary Matteo Ricci's' Notes on China 'recorded China like this: "The material production here is extremely abundant. There is nothing lacking. Sugar is whiter than Europe, cloth is finer than Europe … The people's clothing is luxurious and elegant. The people's spirits are cheerful, courteous and refined." And the British special envoy Macartney who visited during the Qianlong Era said: "There is shocking poverty everywhere … Many people have no clothes to wear … The army is as shabby as a beggar."
The Ming Dynasty of China was somewhat like the later Japan. If they could invent something, they would invent it themselves. If they couldn't, they would spend a lot of money to buy foreign products and then research and imitate them. At that time, the 'Shenji Battalion' in the capital had 5000 people. They used 3600 thunderbolt cannons, 200 rapid-fire cannons, and 400 hand guns. What modern equipment!
However, the economic and cultural advancement and the political and military corruption could not be reconciled. This allowed a more backward culture to enter the relatively civilized China. Miraculously, time flowed backward. Scientists became extinct and advanced firearms were buried.
Guns were condemned as' strange and obscene 'and abolished. During the' Yakesa War ', the Qing army seized two trigger firing guns. Kangxi only kept two for himself and ordered the Qing army to ban the use of this new type of gun. The reason was that' the bows and arrows and spears taught by the predecessors must not be broken. ' By the time of the Opium War, the Qing soldiers who were armed with sabers and spears were completely unfamiliar with firearms. They regarded them as evil and thought that they could be defeated with dog's blood.
Naturally, Yang Ling didn't know much about these things. It was just that the weapons used by the Ming army were beyond his expectations. He thought about how the Eight Banners army swept through China and couldn't figure out the reason.
The Registrar Wang and the old man from the village led a group of people to deliver food to the soldiers. The boss of the 'Swan Goose Restaurant' specially slaughtered a big fat pig to reward the soldiers. Han Youniang went to fetch two bowls of rice and a bowl of pork stew. "Husband, let's eat," she called.
Yang Ling woke up from his daze. He quickly took the food from Han Youniang's hand and put it on the snow-covered city wall. The two of them stood by the wall and ate. Yang Ling was really hungry. He shoved half a bowl of rice into his mouth before he realized that Han Youniang was eating in small bites and looking at him with a smile on her face. He couldn't help feeling strange and asked, "Why are you looking at me?"
Han Youniang pursed her lips into a smile and softly said, "I'm looking at Husband eating with relish and feeling happy."
Yang Ling's eyes were a bit wet. He saw that Han Youniang was fighting with him for the food and left the meat in her bowl. The weather was cold and the meat was about to freeze. He quickly picked up two pieces and put them in her bowl. "Quickly eat the meat," he ordered, "Xianggong doesn't like fat pork, do you understand?"
Han Youniang sweetly agreed. She used her chopsticks to break the meat and put the thin part into Yang Ling's bowl. She ate the rice herself, her eyes peeking out from the edge of the bowl and blinking at him. Yang Ling smiled helplessly and obediently put the meat into his mouth. He chewed in big mouthfuls. Han Youniang saw that he was eating with relish and her big eyes turned into crescent moons with satisfaction.
After the meal, Han Youniang obediently snatched the bowl and wanted to return it. Yang Ling saw that there was a grain of rice on the corner of her mouth. He couldn't help but feel funny and stretched out his finger to scratch her lips. Han Youniang was startled. Seeing that there was a grain of rice on his finger, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Seeing that Yang Ling didn't flick the rice away, but instead put the grain of rice into his mouth, her pretty face suddenly turned red.
She hurriedly looked around and found that no one was paying attention to her husband's intimate action. Because of her nervousness, her shoulders finally relaxed. Seeing that her husband was still looking at her with a smile, she couldn't help but shyly roll her eyes at him. She quickly picked up the bowl and turned around to run away.
Yang Ling saw that although she was also wearing a man's robe, her waist was still slender. When she slowly swayed, her heart couldn't help but sway. Thinking of the possibility that one day she would give his gentleness and love to another man, his heart was suddenly filled with jealousy, "Now that the atmosphere is like this, Young-niang definitely won't remarry, right? In that case, can I … "
He suddenly turned around and grabbed a handful of white snow to rub his cheeks, "God damn, what were you thinking? If you invest too much in her, wouldn't she be in even more pain? If you haven't tried, how do you know that you can't make her fall in love with someone else? "
"Fall in love with someone else?" As soon as this thought popped up, he found it even more unbearable than losing her again. The scales of love began to waver between selfishness and 'greatness'. On his face, the snow melted like tears.
"Wooo ~ ~ ~" The horn of the bull rang out at an inopportune time. Yang Ling wiped off the snow on his face, then bent down to pick up an arena stone that weighed over twenty pounds.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
