After nightfall, the gunfire outside Ningyuan City never stopped. Tens of thousands of Jurchen elites swarmed in. During the day, they couldn't even get close to the city. Only at night could they surround the small city and attack it repeatedly.
Only by taking down this city could Nurhachi rescue Mangurtai, who was trapped in Liaoxi Corridor. The latter was being pursued by 30,000 Han soldiers and militia and could be destroyed at any time.
Dai Shan brought 10,000 men from the Plain Red Flag and escorted a dozen cannons to the frontline. As soon as he arrived, he received bad news. His eldest son, Yue Tuo, died at the frontline. According to the retreating Jurchen soldiers, Ningyuan City's Han army tricked Yue Tuo into launching an attack and then killed him with a volley of gunfire. When he fell, blood gushed out and even his body was not retrieved.
The relationship between the Jurchen's father and brother was very strange. They were often like fire and water. Dai Shan had never liked his eldest son, but when he heard that Yue Tuo had died, he was stunned. Next, he crazily sent all the cannons he had escorted to the frontline and ordered the gunners to fire at Ningyuan City.
When Dai Shan arrived, it was already dark. Ningyuan City's walls couldn't be seen through the curtain of night, but the campfires outside the city could help. So, a dozen cannons, which had been transported with great difficulty, aimed at the campfires and fired.
Sang Quanlai hid in a trench under the city walls as shells whizzed past his head. The Kennu artillery was trained by the Dutch. Their shells were equally powerful and bounced along the way, but most of them hit the city walls.
Ningyuan City was a small city and its walls couldn't compare to Shanhai Pass. Shanhai Pass's walls were like tickles when hit by a cannon, but Ningyuan City's walls were short and thin. A large piece of it would collapse if hit. The splattering bricks and stones would fly randomly like bullets, and could still kill or injure people.
Sang Quanlai hugged his head and hid in the trench. The wooden shed they had built over the trench was also destroyed by the enemy's artillery. The flying lumber and rocks on the city wall posed a fatal threat. He could only hold an iron pot over his head and pray that God would not let him die an inexplicable death.
In the afternoon battle, Sang Quanlai had led a counterattack and defeated an enemy assault. After that, he was immediately criticized by the entire company. The company commander almost beat him up. If it weren't for the urgency of the battle, he would have thrown him into the confinement room. Not long after, battalion headquarters came over to praise Sang Quanlai. Even people from brigade headquarters came over to praise him.
"Surnamed Sang, you brat, you really are a lucky bastard. The captives said you killed Dai Shan's eldest son. "The captain turned around and cursed at Sang Quan." God is blind! Since that idiot Yue Tuo was going to die, why didn't he run into this daddy's muzzle? "
The company commander cursed for a while until the Brigade Department reported that they were going to give the whole company a collective second-class merit. Sang Quanlai laughed all the way into the night, but he was immediately frightened by the enemy's vicious retaliatory firepower. He could only hide in the trench.
"Damn it, if I can make it back alive, I will definitely report to the higher-ups and request for all the soldiers to be equipped with an iron pot as a hat." The flying debris caused a lot of trouble for the soldiers in the trench. Normal leather hats were completely useless. Only Sang Quanlai, who had the iron pot on his head, had it a little easier. Just as he was shouting, a heavy object suddenly fell on top of his head. With a loud clang, it almost split his head open.
The heavy object fell at Sang Quanlai's feet. It was still scalding hot and had a dark red luster to it. He endured the pain in his head and looked down. Only then did he realize that it was a cannonball that had been fired from several hundred meters away. The cannonball hit the city wall. After the kinetic energy dissipated, it fell into the trench and smashed into his head. If it weren't for the iron pot on his head, he would have died on the spot.
"You're really lucky, brat!" The old cook who had come to deliver dinner sighed. He was the one who had brought the iron pot. Now that he was trapped in the trench and couldn't move, he watched as the cannonball the size of a human head fell right on top of Sang Quanlai's head. "If it weren't for this pot, you'd be dead."
His life had been saved, but the pot had still broken.
Sang Quanlai touched his head. It was dripping with blood. He hurriedly took out a triangular handkerchief to wrap it up. After wrapping it up, he felt a burning pain on his numb scalp.
"Get ready, get ready, the dogs are coming up!" The company commander hurriedly ran past the trench. Seeing Sang Quanlai's face covered in blood, he asked, "What happened to you, brat?"
"It's nothing, just a little cut on my scalp," Sang Quanlai replied. He stood up and looked out of the trench. He saw a large group of Tatar soldiers densely packed together outside the city in the dark of night. These fellows fearlessly lined up and marched forward with their muskets raised. They marched straight towards the trench where Sang Quanlai was.
The company commander didn't have time to care about Sang Quanlai. When he heard that he had nothing to do, he went somewhere else. Sang Quanlai's line of defense had been hit by the enemy's cannons, and he had to deal with them. Sang Quanlai called out to his platoon, "Line up, reload."
Outside the trench, there was originally a low parapet made from the enemy's corpses. The frozen corpses had now been hit by the enemy's cannonballs and there were many holes in them. There was one in front of Sang Quanlai, so he had a good view.
The Kennu hadn't been able to take down Ningyuan Army last night, so they were really risking their lives tonight. After all, if this dragged on, Mangurtai's Plain Blue Flag couldn't be saved, because even if they tried, they wouldn't be able to save many people. Sang Quanlai had come here with only a platoon of a few dozen people, but there were at least two to three hundred people on the other side. The dense formation was the best target for the cannons and muskets.
The cannons on Ningyuan Army's city walls hadn't opened fire, but now they were firing fiercely. With such a dense formation, a single shot from a cannonball could kill ten to twenty people. Sang Quanlai waited for the enemy to come within fifty meters of him before he fiercely detonated the landmines outside. Two explosions rang out. The wave of Kennu on the other side was completely routed after a volley of gunfire. They could only flee in defeat.
"These fellows are crazy." Seeing the ground full of blasted corpses, Sang Quanlai expressed his incomprehension. "How many people have died?"
If Zhou Qingfeng was present, he would definitely look down on this tactic of charging with no regard for casualties and ridicule. Did Nurhachi think he was Naoki Yoshinori? Playing the 'flesh bomb' tactic two hundred years in advance. Did he want to abandon his sons in Ningyuan Army?
But Nurhachi, who was outside the city, really didn't care.
Dai Shan rushed to Ningyuan Army after dark. He brought ten thousand Plain Red Flag elites and threw them into the battlefield. After just one wave, ten thousand people went up, and only six thousand were left after they retreated. The Bei Lie, who was still angry at his son's death, instantly sobered up. He threw himself in front of Nurhachi and begged, "Father, you can't fight like this. If we continue fighting like this, our Plain Red Flag will be wiped out. "
"If the Plain Red Flag is wiped out, then put it on the Red Flag. Tonight, we must take down that city. Let those slaves who are firing the cannons work harder and fire a few more times. You continue to charge. "Nurhachi didn't care. He gritted his teeth and forced Dai Shan to personally lead the troops in front. "If we can't take down Ningyuan Army, Big Jin will be finished. As the heir to Big Jin, you will die first."
Dai Shan never expected his father to think so highly of the isolated city of Ningyuan Army. But looking at Nurhachi's pale face in the dark, he couldn't help but shiver. He could only bite the bullet and continue to lead the troops forward.
After repelling one wave, Sang Quanlai's front line was bombarded again. Seeing this situation, he knew something was wrong. He hurriedly went to the company headquarters to ask for explosives. At least he had to replenish the landmines outside his position. Otherwise, it would be useless to rely on the dozens of muskets in a platoon.
"Commander, commander." When Sang Quanlai rushed into the company's bunker, he only saw the deputy commander. "Where's the commander?"
"The commander has died. Just now, the platoon didn't grasp the opportunity to pull the landmines and the enemy broke into their position. He brought some men to fill the gap, but was slashed in the thigh by the enemy. He died after a while. "The deputy commander was covered in blood. A medic was bandaging him. He asked Sang Quanlai, "What do you want? Tell me. "
"I want two explosives." Sang Quanlai was stunned. He almost forgot why he had come. The commander had just scolded him, "Little Sang, you're really lucky." But in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
The deputy commander didn't have time to cry with Sang Quanlai. He shouted, "Secretary, get Platoon Leader Sang two explosives." He turned and said, "You're cultured, you know how to fight, and you're really lucky. If I die, you'll be the acting commander. Now scram. If the defensive line collapses, I'll take your head first. "
The deputy commander's words were ruthless. Sang Quanlai replied, "Yes, sir." He took the two explosives and returned to his platoon. In the time it took to go back and forth, the Kennu army came up again. They still lined up in a dense formation that showed that they were not afraid of death and rushed straight toward Ningyuan Army's defense line.
"These sons of b * tches, they really want to fight us to see who's better." Sang Quanlai didn't have time to feel sorry for the commander. The Kennu army was attacking like crazy. They relied on Nurhachi's ability to control the minds of the soldiers to send in more troops.
The battlefield was filled with the stench of rotting corpses. It was nauseating. Upon closer inspection, the female corpses on the battlefield were rotting rapidly, as if their life force had been sucked out.
"Monsters, they really are monsters!" The enemy was closing in quickly. Sang Quanlai didn't have time to prepare the explosives. Other than the cannons on the wall, he could only count on the muskets in the hands of his brothers.
When the Kennu soldiers were within a hundred meters of them, a large group of soldiers armed with spears and heavy swords charged forward. They stumbled as they ran on the battlefield filled with corpses. The ground was filled with craters from the explosions of the cannons and mines, causing them to bleed profusely when they fell into them. Their formation quickly became disorganized, but they still charged forward like a one-track mind.
Open fire!
The militiamen in the trenches and on the wall pulled the trigger at the same time. A dense barrage of bullets followed the cannons and swept across, killing tens of enemies in a single breath. But these fellows were really here to die. When the people in the front fell, the people behind continued to charge. When the three platoons of militiamen in the trenches had emptied their ammunition, the remaining Jurchen soldiers had already charged to the front of the trenches.
By the time they finally managed to kill two or three of the remaining enemies who had rushed into the trench, the Jurchens armed with muskets were already twenty meters away from the trench. They could still stand there and reload slowly, exchanging fire with the militiamen in the trenches.
Bang bang bang … Both sides opened fire at the same time.
Sang Quanlai felt blood splattering beside his ears. A large number of the Kennu soldiers fell, and the casualties of the militiamen also increased.
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