Chapter 162: Whoever You Are, All Get Beaten

After eating and drinking their fill, the soldiers tidied their armor.

The auxiliary soldiers stepped forward to help the regular soldiers put on their gear properly, all very busy.

The regular soldiers wore full sets of lamellar armor, offering complete protection and considerable weight.

After finishing their tasks, the auxiliary soldiers each put on their own simple armor.

In such a great battle today, they too would enter the battlefield as reserve troops.

The auxiliary soldiers felt no fear, only the will to fight.

Only by taking an enemy head on the battlefield could they become regular soldiers.

The exceptionally high treatment of regular soldiers had long made the auxiliary soldiers envious.

It's just fighting desperately—who can't do that?

Lin Dao's various units gathered by squad, forming one small army formation after another.

Two thousand-commanders' four squads gathered as a yingjun to form a great army formation.

The first few rows were spearmen, behind them sabre-and-shield soldiers, then archers, crossbowmen, and firelock men.

Officers of all ranks stood at the sides of the formations, constantly shouting orders to keep the whole formation running.

One army formation after another unfolded along the Grand Canal, with an awe-inspiring momentum.

"The Jiangnan Region actually has such strong troops!"

On the hill, Huang Taiji's expression grew increasingly grave.

The afternoon sunlight fell, and the glint of countless armors dazzled the eyes.

The bandit army opposite was completely unlike the various Ming Army units he had seen before.

From his angle, the troops opposite gathered into ranks, like one metal mountain after another pressing forward!

In the past, among Ming armies, only the most elite household servants had such equipment.

But opposite, everyone actually had it!

Both Ming and Qing armies lacked iron armor; this old slave once raised an army with thirteen sets of iron armor.

The Qing Army's armor-wearing rate was higher, but a large part of it was leather armor.

And those bandit troops opposite not only wore iron armor each one.

Even more exaggerated, those in the front row were actually all wearing lamellar armor!

Lamellar armor, such high-grade goods, in Ming and Qing usually only officers, elite soldiers, and brave warriors were qualified to own.

Over there it had become common goods; just what was seen numbered in the thousands.

Armored against unarmored, iron armor against leather armor—that was a dimensionality reduction strike.

Huang Taiji felt some regret; previously he should have listened to Duoduo and thrown in the cavalry while they were eating.

"What's wrong with me." Feeling dizzy, Huang Taiji covered his nose and raised his head, "Have I even lost the courage to go all-in?"

"Great Khan~~~" The people around him hurried forward.

Blood gushing from his nose seeped out between his fingers.

Huang Taiji shook his head to clear his mind, but his brain felt heavy and hard to control.

"Generals, return to your respective units." Supporting his body, Huang Taiji raised his hand and pointed at Dorgon, "Prince Rui will temporarily take command."

He was carried down the hill for medical treatment, and Dorgon rode his horse to beneath the great banner.

"The Great Khan's illness is getting worse and worse."

"Who knows if he can hold on until returning to Shenyang."

"If something improper happens, who will inherit the Khan position?"

"The Great Khan ordered me to temporarily take over; surely not..."

Lost in thought, Dorgon heard a humming sound coming from the sky.

He looked up in confusion and saw a strange large bird circling in the air.

Suddenly, the strange bird circled once and then dove straight toward him.

In a flash, Dorgon suddenly recalled what the Plain Blue Banner's White Teeth La, who had fled back to Shenyang last year, had said.

"There is a strange bird in the sky, charging straight at Rao Yu Beile."

"Where it strikes, the sky collapses and the earth shatters, fire reaches the sky, and all within dozens of steps die."

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Dorgon, and he madly spurred his horse forward.

A drone descended from the sky, landing on the ground and exploding with a roar!

The soaring firelight and gunpowder smoke swallowed everything nearby.

Huang Taiji's great banner also disappeared into the firelight.

Such a huge commotion left everyone stunned.

When the firelight and smoke cleared, the hill was a mess.

Charred limbs were everywhere, and the overturned ground was still smoking.

Without a doubt, the Qing Army's morale was greatly affected, and it even vaguely began to stir restlessly.

At this time, however, Huang Taiji rode his horse, surrounded by a large group of Two Yellow Banner White Teeth La, patrolling various places on horseback.

Wherever he went, cheers erupted, and the Qing Army's morale quickly recovered.

"Don't wait any longer."

Huang Taiji, still chewing a ginseng slice in his mouth, burned his life to hold on, "Advance! Push the red-clad great cannons to the front and open fire!"

Lin Dao, sitting on the observation platform, saw the personal soldiers skillfully assemble a new drone, holding the control board to fly the drone.

Originally he had gone to find the Wild Boar Skin high-ups.

Unexpectedly, he saw the opposite side desperately pushing a large batch of artillery forward.

Lin Dao immediately picked up a walkie-talkie beside him marked with a label reading Artillery Camp and ordered, "Artillery Camp, advance, advance! Blast the enemy's artillery!"

The drone circled twice, selected its target, and dove down.

Numerous arrows flew into the sky, the vast majority missing; the few that hit caused little effect.

The drone descending from the sky slammed into the horse team dragging a red-clad great cannon.

The violent explosion destroyed the horse team and overturned the cannon carriage.

Bondservants driving horses and carts all around, along with the gunners of the Han Army Banner, fell in large numbers.

"Hurry, assemble the next one!"

Lin Dao loudly instructed his bodyguards to assemble the new drone, then held the walkie-talkie in his other hand and ordered, "Those up front, hold the formation, don't advance so fast! Artillery Camp, hurry up and move forward, blast all of the enemy's artillery!"

No matter how thick the armor, it cannot withstand artillery shells.

The dozens of firelocks of the Artillery Camp finally crossed the troop lines and rushed to the very front.

At this moment, the two battle lines were less than two li apart.

The red-clad great cannons opposite had already begun to set up cannon positions.

The Artillery Camp uses horse-drawn artillery, with rapid deployment.

The artillerymen were all good at arithmetic in night school, using various observation equipment provided by Lin Dao to mark distances.

'Boom~~'

Another suicide drone descended from the sky and blasted a red-clad great cannon to pieces, with casualties all around.

Some bondservants were terrified, turned and ran, but were immediately slain by the banner guards supervising the battle.

"My drone is very expensive."

Lin Dao, operating another drone to take off again, frowned and muttered to himself, "One drone for one primitive cannon, a huge loss."

"At the very least, it should be exchanged for a Beile to break even."

The threat of the artillery is great; one cannonball flying into a dense group of armored soldiers can sweep out a lane of flesh and blood.

This is a major threat and must be eliminated as soon as possible.

The archers on the Qing Army side were all shooting arrows wildly toward the sky.

Liu Liang Zuo and other units on the battlefield's flanks faced enormous pressure.

The Eight Banners Foot Soldiers supervising them had blades pressed directly against their necks, urging them to advance at the fastest speed.

Liu Liang Zuo and the others, with no choice, could only bite the bullet and move forward quickly.

'Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~'

'Bang bang bang~~~'

The strong crossbows and firelocks of the rebel army fired in rotation, felling large numbers of former Ming troops who had not even changed into clothes and armor.

Lin Dao, seeing this scene through the drone, also frowned.

He then relaxed his brow, saying, "Whoever you are, hit them all!"

The former Ming troops charged forward.

On the rebel army side, the horn sounded, and officers at all levels quickly shouted to form ranks.

The armored soldiers in the front row thrust their long spears forward in rhythm, while the shield bearers in the back row raised their shields and advanced, leaping forward to engage in slaughter.

In the blink of an eye, it was bloody close-quarters combat face to face.

The rebel army's morale was very high; the Grand Marshal had offered unprecedented bounties for this battle.

Even for a Han Army Banner man, one head was worth fifty taels of silver and one mu of dry field.

Mongol Tribesmen were worth a bit more: one hundred taels of silver plus two mu of dry field.

Naturally, the most valuable were the Tartars, each head worth up to two hundred taels of silver and two mu of paddy field!

As the saying goes, under a heavy reward there must be a brave man.

Such a high-standard bounty also stirred the fighting spirit of the soldiers.

They were willing to risk their lives to make a fortune.

The sound of horse hooves thundered as large numbers of Mongol Tribes cavalry rode around and began throwing projectiles from a hundred steps away.

At a distance of a hundred steps, the throwing of bows and arrows actually had little killing power; it was mainly used to shake military morale.

'Bang bang bang~~~'

The sound of firelocks rang out, and large numbers of Mongol cavalry fell from their horses.

A Tribe Noble whose warhorse was hit fell and broke his neck.

Before dying, his head was full of question marks.

"Their firelocks, how can they shoot so far and so accurately?!"

The battle on the flanks quickly entered a white-hot state.

Facing the rebel army, all clad in iron armor, the troops under Liu Liang Zuo at the very front fought in extreme despair.

The gap in equipment was too great.

Their formation had already become loose, while the opposite side remained well maintained.

Long spears thrust, shield bearers slaughtered, firelocks and bows and crossbows continued without end.

'Boom boom boom~~~'

The war drum sounds grew denser, and the rebel army advanced in large steps to the drumbeat.

The spearmen shouted loudly, gripped their long spears tightly, and continuously thrust into the bodies of the enemy.

The sabre-and-shield soldiers holding shields leaped back and forth in combat without cease, reaping the lives of the Fake Ming Army.

Duoduo, supervising the battle on this side, ordered the Mongol Tribes cavalry to charge the formation and disrupt the ranks.

The Mongol Tribes dared not disobey, could only grit their teeth and take the field, riding their horses to strike from the flanks, praying in their hearts that the enemy would quickly collapse and flee.

The rebel army did not flee, but responded with rows of long spears.

Faced with the forest of spears, the Mongol cavalry charging into the formation fell like tide foam.

The few who broke through the ranks and stormed into the formation were soon surrounded and killed by the sabre-and-shield soldiers.

"Bang bang bang~~~"

The firelock soldiers fired a round, then fixed bayonets and charged forward to stab men and horses.

The ferocity displayed by the rebel army made the Tartars and the various Mongol tribes feel their hair stand on end.

They had never encountered so many fearless Han soldiers who did not fear death!

The battle on the left wing was extremely bloody and tragic.

The right wing advancing along the Grand Canal had not yet engaged.

The central route was even more engaged in an artillery duel between both sides.

On this side of the left wing, however, it had already become dark sky and dim earth from the killing.

The rebel army on this side had high morale and successfully held the line against the Mongol cavalry charge.

But Liu Liang Zuo's troops could not bear such heavy losses and began a large-scale rout.

They had defected to Huangtai and had not yet had time to receive any rewards before being thrown into this life-and-death situation.

With neither will to fight nor morale, being able to hold on until now was already enough to repay the Great Khan.

The Eight Banners Foot Soldiers of the Supervising Army brandished their sabres and killed the routing soldiers.

These routing soldiers were no pushovers either; they brandished their weapons and fought back.

"Form ranks."

Lin Dao, seeing this scene through the drone, held his walkie-talkie and instructed the various camps of the left wing.

"Rear Camp advance and engage, Front Camp form ranks and send back the wounded, Auxiliary Soldiers fill the gaps."

Not far from the left wing, a large batch of Mongol cavalry were gathering, about to launch the next round of charges.

Lin Dao saw several figures who looked like nobles, riding high-headed big horses and constantly shouting, riding back and forth to boost morale.

He immediately turned the direction of the suicide drone and dove straight into them.

"Whoever you are, hit them all!"

End of Chapter