Chapter 392: A Tough Nut to Crack, Not to Be Provoked (Part Two)

"Fire!"

Another volley of arquebus fire rang out, and a great cloud of white smoke billowed up before the sheep-horse wall.

Those Chuang army hunger soldiers screamed as they fell one by one, rolling on the ground and wailing in unbearable agony.

The arquebus is not like the bow and arrow. If an arrow does not strike a vital point, there is still a chance of survival. But if the body is hit by a ball,

there is absolutely no chance of living. Especially with the powerful firearms of the Shunxiang Army, and in this bitter cold of the twelfth lunar month.

Very quickly, the arquebusiers had fired one volley in rotation. Chen Sheng had already finished loading his fixed paper cartridge

and powder, and stepped forward again. Beside them, the soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion all watched their arquebuses

with envy. These arquebuses used by the Shunxiang Army were truly excellent.

Their own army also had arquebuses, but they fell far short of the Shunxiang Army's. Not to mention the quality

issue, but in the fierce northern winter winds, the arquebuses their army used lacked the Shunxiang Army's

automatic pan cover device. The priming powder on the pan was often blown away by the cold wind, causing misfires.

Therefore, even when the Vanguard Battalion soldiers used firearms, they generally used three-barreled guns.

By now, the ground was already covered with the corpses and wounded of the Chuang army soldiers. Their flowing blood steamed

with rising heat in the cold wind, and waves of bloody stench drifted over on the breeze. Many who were shot but not yet dead

rolled on the ground, weeping and screaming.

But too many hunger soldiers were charging forward howling; they could not be killed fast enough. Even the fierce fire of the arquebuses was of no

use. Many hunger soldiers had already successfully thrown the earth sacks from their shoulders into the moat and turned to flee,

only for several more waves of hunger soldiers to come charging forward with wild roars.

A great rumble of thunder stirred, and the Vanguard Battalion soldiers on the front sheep-horse wall fired another hundred rocket tubes in unison.

A large swath of Chuang army soldiers were blasted flying away, emptying the human tide before them.

Yet behind them, a dense mass of heads surged forward again.

Human wave tactics...

Under the terrified gazes of the hunger soldiers opposite them, Chen Sheng and the others set up their arquebuses on the crenellations.

Compared to the rockets, these government soldiers' arquebuses frightened the hunger soldiers even more.

Pop pop pop pop. A burst of reports and flashing firelight, and dozens of Chuang soldiers screamed as they were flung sideways,

every single one of them showing streaks of blood arrows bursting from their bodies.

Startling thunder rolled across the sky, and from the north bank of the Jinshui River, vast clouds of smoke rose again, blotting out the sky.

A rain of rocket arrows once more shot over from that side.

"Take cover from arrows!"

Some Shunxiang Army officers with experience from the Battle of Julu and other places shouted.

But the rockets came too fast. They came howling in, and many soldiers were still struck by arrows.

Ju Yiwu, who had just finished firing and was about to withdraw, was struck by a rocket that stabbed in through a crenel, sending him tumbling

backward. Like Ju Yiwu, over a dozen Shunxiang Army soldiers and Vanguard Battalion soldiers were shot and sent staggering

backward, falling down.

"Mind your cover."

The officers barked orders.

Chen Sheng stooped low and came to Ju Yiwu's side, calling out, "Brother Ju, are you alright?"

Ju Yiwu replied, "I'm fine."

He wore an iron mask, and the voice that came from behind it was somewhat muffled and unclear.

Chen Sheng looked him over carefully and breathed a sigh of relief. Although Ju Yiwu had been hit in the chest by an arrow,

he was wearing an iron-studded cotton armor, and this rocket arrow could not penetrate it. Only because the arrow had struck him head-on

with considerable force, it had knocked the wind out of him, leaving his chest aching dully and his breathing and speech somewhat hurried.

In this volley of rocket fire, over a hundred Shunxiang Army and Vanguard Battalion soldiers on the three sides of the sheep-horse wall had been struck

by arrows. The Shunxiang Army fared better; every man wore excellent armor. The iron armor and iron-studded cotton armor they wore could not be pierced

by ordinary arrows. Even if hit by dozens of arrows, they could still leap about lively.

But the Vanguard Battalion soldiers fighting alongside them were crudely equipped. Many of their officers and captains wore only

leather armor or brigandine. Ordinary soldiers wore blue cloth battle skirts, or mandarin duck battle jackets, with a protective vest

draped over the outside. That was merely a cotton cloth vest, not even counting as cotton armor.

If struck by arrows falling from the sky, it was acceptable, counted as a light wound.

But if hit head-on by a rocket, the injury was considerable. The brigandine and protective vest simply could not block it;

even leather armor was at risk. Although the rockets came from the north bank of the Jinshui River, over a hundred paces away, because they were

propelled by gunpowder, their force was still extremely strong. Many men were sent staggering and falling

The propelling force of the gunpowder was still extremely powerful, and many were shot stumbling and falling out.

This sudden volley of rocket arrows from the Chuang army caused several dozen injuries among the Vanguard Battalion soldiers.

The Shunxiang Army, for the time being, had no casualties, all thanks to the fine armor on their bodies.

In this era of alternating cold and hot weapons, armor and protective gear remained important. This was unlike when both sides used hot weapons,

at which time armor might become useless.

Inside the north pass, some local militia were employed by Wang Dou as auxiliary troops and laborers for the army. Seeing that men on the sheep-horse wall defense line

were injured, they hurriedly came out holding shields and helped the wounded Vanguard Battalion soldiers into the pass fortress.

Some were wounded, so they hurriedly raised their shields and came out, helping those injured vanguard battalion soldiers into the pass city.

Inside. There, the Shunxiang Army medical soldiers would immediately treat them.

"Watch for arrows. Fire at will."

Gao Xun gave the order.

Seeing that after their own rockets were fired, the firepower on the government troops' side noticeably weakened. From within the Chuang army formation, rockets continued to sound

incessantly. Wave after wave of howling arrow rain came over, beating down so that the government troops behind the rampart wall could not even lift their heads. They could only

huddle tightly behind the crenellations. This firepower was simply too fierce.

In the space between the rampart wall and the pass wall, many mat-sheds had been erected, serving as the rampart wall garrison's

rest areas. The fronts and tops of these mat-sheds were covered with old cotton quilts, kept constantly soaked with water,

which could effectively defend against incoming arrows.

At this moment, inside these mat-sheds, the armored long-spear soldiers of Gao Xun's unit waited quietly for orders. It was still too early for close combat, and for the time being

it was not their turn to take the field. They sat inside the mat-sheds, listening to the constant thudding sounds overhead. After a brief

silence, a squad officer came out to look and saw that the mat-shed he was in had already become a hedgehog's nest.

"Loose arrows!"

Chen Yongfu, seeing that many soldiers behind the rampart wall were wounded, was extremely furious. He ordered the vanguard battalion

soldiers on the wall to fire rockets at the Chuang army over there.

Seeing the effect was obvious,

the Chuang army foot soldiers, under the protection of layers of shields, crossed the Jinshui River on the ice. Using

the cover of the river surface and the southern bank's slope, holding rocket tubes in hand, they continuously fired rockets at the government troops on the rampart wall,

covering those famine soldiers filling the moat.

"Ignite rockets."

The vanguard battalion officers roared.

On the wall, several hundred vanguard battalion soldiers held various rockets such as "Wasp Nest" and "Fire Dragon Arrow,"

striving to aim at the Chuang army soldiers across the river.

Several hundred more soldiers stood behind them, blowing their fire sticks alight. At the officers'

command, they lit the fuse cords behind each rocket tube.

With a series of reports, great billows of thick smoke rose from the northern pass wall, like the rocket

artillery of later ages. Sharp arrows howled into the air, trailing distinct smoke and fire tracks. Finally, they formed in the sky

what seemed a sky-covering arrow rain, sweeping like a violent storm toward the river surface.

Wang Dou watched with his eyes greatly opened. Although he had fought against Qing rocket troops at the Battle of Julu, this kind of

large-scale rocket exchange was something he was encountering for the first time. Compared to the firepower of rockets, the firepower of the arquebusiers under his

command seemed rather weak.

But with this method of fighting, whether his own side or the Chuang army's side, it was feared that within a few days, they

would exhaust all the rocket stockpiles in Henan Prefecture.

Panic was clearly visible across the river. In the river and on both banks, all kinds of Chuang army soldiers

were packed together. Many of them had no shields. When the dense arrow rain came, like wind blowing through a wheat field, although many

turned tail and ran, under the blanket of arrow rain, in the chaos, swaths of men still fell.

This was the advantage of defending versus attacking a city. The defending side had all kinds of ideal places to

take cover, while the attacking side had none.

With the thunderous roar of cannons, the fifteen falconets on the northern wall of the northern pass fired in succession. The Jinshui River was two

hundred paces from the pass wall, exactly within the effective range of the various falconets on the wall.

A dozen or more cannonballs, weighing from one to three jin, howled toward the river surface. Amidst the booming thunder, iron

balls smashed into the river one after another, striking the Chuang army on the ice or the riverbank, sending flesh and blood flying, severing limbs and shattering bodies.

The hard ice surface caused those iron balls, upon impact, to bounce and tumble with even greater force, multiplying

their lethality several times over.

"Good!"

Huang Yinggui shouted loudly. The cannon he was responsible for had its shot slam into the river surface, instantly carving

a bloody alley of flesh. The lethality was remarkable. As the aimer for that falconet, Huang Yinggui

felt his face was full of glory and could not help glancing at the Shunxiang Army artillerymen beside him.

The squad leader of the Shunxiang Army's red-barbarian six-pounder cannon smiled and nodded at Huang Yinggui. He had taken note of that shot just now;

Huang Yinggui's skill had earned his respect.

The falconet had a great advantage in firing speed. Although the training of these local northern pass artillerymen was far

inferior to that of the Shunxiang Army artillerymen, in a short time, they still managed to fire quite a few rounds.

Iron balls howled over one after another, continuously slamming into the river surface and the riverbank. Wherever they passed, with cracking

sounds, limbs flew, flesh and blood and severed limbs scattered. Countless Chuang army soldiers had their hands and feet broken. Everywhere

was a scene of devastation.

Those Chuang army soldiers, like ants on a hot pan, crowded together everywhere. There was no longer any talk of

filling the moat or firing arrows.

"Boom!"

A deafening cannon roar. On the wall, a red-barbarian six-pounder cannon spewed a great cloud of dense smoke. A

solid iron ball weighing over five jin roared away. Its target, however, was the Chuang army's famine soldiers and foot soldiers.

Infantry, the elite cavalry behind the horse troops, and the Old Camp.

Wang Dou knew that the core of the Chuang army was the Old Camp and the horse troops. Those starving soldiers, no matter how many were killed,

it was useless. As long as the backbone remained intact, people like Li Zicheng could easily gather a massive army. According to his own intelligence

and understanding, although Li Zicheng now claimed to have a force of over a hundred thousand or even two hundred thousand, in reality, even counting the horse troops,

his core strength was no more than ten thousand or so men.

Among these ten thousand-plus men, the Old Camp numbered about two to three thousand, all men who had followed Li Zicheng for many years

and could be considered skilled in archery and horsemanship. Many possessed the martial prowess of Qing infantry in armor, cavalry in armor, or even the Bayara soldiers.

During several encirclement campaigns, they had been scattered by government troops, but now they were slowly regrouping, and many had returned.

These men were the absolute core of Li Zicheng's camp. The remainder counted as elite cavalry, likely numbering three to

four thousand, with combat strength comparable to the retainers in the Ming army. Finally, there were the horse troops, many of whom were horse bandits, armed escorts,

or former cavalrymen from the government troops. If they performed well, they would be absorbed into the elite cavalry; if they performed well again,

they would be absorbed into the Old Camp.

Finally, there were the infantry and the starving soldiers. The infantry were mostly surrendered Ming troops or refugees who had stayed in the Chuang camp for a long

time. The remaining starving soldiers were pure cannon fodder, meant solely to be expended. This group was the largest,

probably numbering over a hundred thousand, including the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled, women, and children.

In this probing attack by the Chuang army, according to Wang Dou's observation, the Old Camp they deployed likely numbered a few

hundred men, the elite cavalry and horse troops perhaps one to two thousand, and the remainder were infantry and starving soldiers.

In wave after wave of assault, the figures of those cavalrymen were not seen; they were only spotted

at the rear, supervising and urging the advance, sometimes even cutting down starving soldiers who retreated.

It seemed they were also aware of the power of the Shunxiang army's cannons on the city wall. Although those starving soldiers who had yet to attack

were arrayed in formation after formation at the rear, awaiting their turn to assault, the formations of these men's horse troops

were extremely sparse, and many of the mounted men were even galloping about in small groups of three to five.

Sparse was fine; it did not matter. Killing one of them was better than killing a hundred starving soldiers.

It was far more worthwhile.

Through the telescope, Wang Dou estimated that those Chuang army cavalrymen were less than one li from the city. Of course, they could not

possibly withdraw any further; any further and they would retreat right back into Li Zicheng's main formation.

This distance was precisely the range at which the Shunxiang army's cannons could fully display their prowess.

Amidst a howling sound, that solid iron ball weighing over five jin had already smashed down upon the heads of those Chuang army cavalrymen.