Chapter 178: It's a pity the Chuang King wouldn't listen

"Doctor, look at me~"

"You yourself have no physical problems; you're very healthy."

"But I've never had children~"

"Have you considered whether your spouse might have potential infertility issues?"

"Maybe they do, but surely not all of them have this constitution?"

"~~~Them?!"

In the hospital parking lot, Lin Dao sat in his car, leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed, rubbing his brow.

This was a well-known major hospital, and the appointed expert was extremely busy.

Even though battles were still being fought in the Chongzhen Spacetime, Lin Dao had taken time out of his busy schedule to see a doctor.

By rights, he hadn't stopped farming much either, yet he still couldn't bear fruit.

Because of this matter, undercurrents had gradually appeared in both the Yonghe Spacetime and the Chongzhen Spacetime.

This was no exaggeration, but a real problem.

The issue of an heir was extremely important even in the Modern World.

"Could it be because of spacetime travel?"

"That's troublesome."

While Lin Dao was worrying about this, he spotted a female doctor in a white coat running to the parking lot, wiping away tears all the way.

Standing in front of a car, she wiped her tears and sobbed.

Not long after, a male doctor came running after her.

The two struggled in front of a luxury car; finally, comforted by the male doctor, the female doctor broke into a smile, and Lin Dao was fed a mouthful of dog food.

The male doctor wore a green robe and a hood and gloves; this outfit looked strange.

"Are you filming a short drama?"

"The domineering doctor falls in love with me?"

Lin Dao picked up a bottle of Nongfu Spring and smiled slightly. "Doctors are people too; dating is perfectly normal."

Just as he felt the scene before him was very heartwarming, he saw a group of doctors and nurses running over with panicked expressions.

They shouted at the male doctor in the green robe.

"The patient in the operating room is still lying there! Time, time, anesthesia time!"

'Pfft~~~'

Lin Dao spat out a mouthful of water.

No wonder he had thought the male doctor's green robe strange before.

He had actually run out of the operating room!

This this this~~~

What kind of short drama plot is this?!

Lin Dao quickly turned his head, looked through the car window at the hospital's tall sign, and hastily dialed a phone. "Hurry, help me book an expert at another hospital~~~"

Perhaps it wasn't because of spacetime travel; maybe the doctor simply couldn't tell.

Chongzhen Spacetime, Tongguan.

Marquis Liu Fangliang's night raid failed, and over a thousand veteran troops were totally annihilated.

The opposing force was unexpectedly strong, clearly affecting the Shun Army's morale.

Someone habitually suggested retreating and maneuvering, fighting as they had for many years before.

Li Zicheng refused.

They were no longer bandits now, but the Great Shun State.

Their families and old camp, and all the wealth and supplies accumulated over the years, were inside Xi'an City; they couldn't be lost.

Li Zicheng and the others had a very clear premonition.

If they continued on the bandit path, they would never have a chance to turn things around in the future.

The situation under heaven had gradually become clear.

Li Zicheng resolved to fight to the end.

Lin Dao, returning from his medical visit, personally commanded the battle.

The terrain around Tongguan was full of hills and narrow ground, originally unable to accommodate a large army.

Lin Dao sent elite troops to attack the Shun Army's formation at the front of the hills; his total force was no more than a thousand.

All were armored soldiers wearing full armor.

They held riot shields and advanced in formation.

On several small hills behind, dozens of matchlock cannons kept shelling, providing long-range fire support.

The Shun Army brought up their old camp troops and formed up to face them head-on.

Both sides charged at each other, hacking and colliding.

The scene of slaughter was extremely cruel.

Li Zicheng personally took command, directing his troops under command to charge and fight without cease, determined to block Lin Dao's troops.

The elites of both armies were quickly consumed on this narrow battlefield.

"Pay attention." Lin Dao, operating a drone to monitor the battlefield, instructed his guards nearby, "If cavalry comes around, send firelock troops to intercept."

Li Zicheng also had cavalry, known as the Three Walls.

Previously Song Xiance had suggested meeting Lin Dao in the Luoyang Basin to fully utilize the strength of the Three Walls.

But Li Zicheng refused.

Having been a bandit for many years, he had suffered enough at the hands of the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry.

Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, and others had once driven him to a dead end in field battles, with no way up to heaven and no way down to earth.

At the worst of times, only eighteen horsemen remained by his side.

He had already developed psychological trauma from being beaten.

Upon learning that the Guan Ning Army had defected to Lin Dao, he never considered fighting a field battle again.

He simply feared the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry.

But what he did not know at all was that Lin Dao looked down on the Guan Ning Army he feared like a tiger, and had not brought them at all.

Liu Zongmin personally led over a thousand selected elite cavalry, taking a difficult mountain road to appear on the battlefield's flank.

He had intended to launch a pincer attack on the rebel army, but on the way forward, hundreds of firelock soldiers appeared.

"Hmm~~~"

Liu Zongmin had fought many Ming Army firelock soldiers and looked down on those goods from the bottom of his heart.

"A thing to scare people, at most it sounds once or twice."

"More of our own people are killed by explosions than by enemy fire."

"Charge over, kill them all!"

He displayed the bravery of a martial general, personally leading the charge at the front.

When the opposite side raised rows of firelocks, he merely crouched on his warhorse to dodge.

Liu Zongmin had encountered too many Ming Army firearms and already held prejudices in his heart.

"No long spears or shields, not even as good as official soldiers, you are seeking death~~~"

"Bang bang bang~~~"

Dense firelock sounds rang out.

"Firing from this far, indeed"

The warhorse beneath him suddenly collapsed, throwing Liu Zongmin out, heavily smashing him onto the ground.

Liu Zongmin, with broken bones, had just opened his mouth to shout when he saw huge horse hooves whistling over, trampling over his body.

Unlike Huang Taiji, who was skilled in using spies, setting up intelligence points within the Passes, even bribing court officials to steal intelligence, with intelligence levels higher than the Chongzhen Emperor.

Li Zicheng was a bandit, and for many years prior had not even had a base.

Their ability in intelligence gathering was very poor.

They simply did not know that the firearms used by Lin Dao's forces were not on the same level as those used by the Ming Army.

They did not know even more that Lin Dao's forces also had the divine artifact of iron wire nets.

Shun Army cavalry were knocked down in large patches.

But the following cavalry, according to the convention of fighting the Ming Army before, believed the firelock soldiers had lost the chance to fire again, and desperately spurred their horses forward to charge.

As a result, they crashed headlong into iron wire nets stretching over ten li.

It was a scene of men and horses overturned in chaos.

The firelock soldiers who continued firing, after gunpowder smoke filled the battlefield, stopped shooting and fixed bayonets.

Auxiliary soldiers moved forward to lay quilts over the iron wire nets, and the firelock soldiers holding bayonets crossed layer after layer of iron wire nets to stab the trapped Shun Army cavalry.

Over a thousand elite Shun Army cavalry were mostly annihilated, with only a small part scattering and fleeing.

The failure of the cavalry flank attack directly affected the morale of the Shun Army on the front battlefield.

Even with Li Zicheng personally presiding over the war, they were still constantly defeated.

The Shun Army fought tenaciously, but the gap in strength was too great.

The rebel army's heavy infantry in full heavy armor had astonishing defensive power.

The riot shields in their hands could even withstand the shelling of Shun Army firelocks.

Plus the rear artillery constantly shelled Shun Army positions, and finally the Shun Army failed and was defeated.

"Hateful!"

Inside Tongguan, Li Zicheng with an ugly expression, hatefully slapped the table.

"Lin Dao's troops actually fight this well!"

"Chuang King." Niu Jinxing, who firmly supported the decisive battle at Tongguan, stepped forward to advise: "The plan now is only to rely on the natural barrier of Tongguan and hold firm."

"Lin bandit's troops have come from afar, their supply lines are long."

"Just need to delay for days, until their grain runs out and they retreat, then it will be a great opportunity for counterattack."

When dealing with Sun Chuanting before, it was also this tactic.

Luring Sun Chuanting to lead troops on a distant expedition, along the way fortifying walls and clearing fields and cutting off his supply lines, successfully defeating the last pillar of the Great Ming.

With the previous successful experience, he wanted to replicate victory on Lin Dao.

Li Zicheng nodded: "It can only be like this~~~"

"Not good!"

Song Xiance with an urgent expression hurriedly stepped forward to express his stance: "Lin bandit's troops have extremely strong combat power, fear that Tongguan cannot be held."

"Now we should prepare for a rainy day, first arrange for the old camps at Xi'an and other places to retreat to Hanzhong and Chuan Shu."

"The terrain there is difficult, only through layer upon layer of ambushes can Lin bandit be delayed."

These words were spoken, and everyone's expressions were ugly.

We are still fighting here, and you actually start arranging the retreat route?

"Shut up!"

Niu Jinxing flew into a great rage, pointing at Song Xiance: "Dare to disturb military morale here, throw him out!"

It indeed disturbed military morale.

If it were learned that the rear had begun to retreat, the morale of the soldiers at the front would plummet immediately.

Because everyone knew that evacuating the rear early meant they could not win.

"Chuang King~~~"

Looking at the silent Li Zicheng, Song Xiance cried out urgently, "If we delay too long, there will be no opportunity left!"

"Scram!" Niu Jinxing flew into a great rage and called on everyone to throw Song Xiance out.

"Chuang King~"

"Chuang King~"

Song Xiance, having been driven out, stamped his feet in anger.

He had not yet spoken, but the bandit forces of Lin Dao in Shanxi to the north would surely march south, and then a pincer attack from both sides would mean certain defeat.

Unfortunately, Chuang King would not listen.

"Sigh~~~"

Song Xiance, his heart like dead ashes, raised his head to the sky and let out a long sigh, then staggered away.

The Shun Army dug deep moats outside Tongguan, erected fortifications, and built camps to fight Lin Dao to the death.

But these were of little use.

The camps, fortifications, and sheep-horse walls were all destroyed under the incessant shelling of the artillery.

The Shun Army launched one counterattack after another, yet could not in the slightest block the advance of the righteous army.

When they drew near the city wall of Tongguan, Lin Dao brought out his great killer weapon.

He drove a Shantui SD90C5 heavy bulldozer, coming over like Mount Tai pressing down on the top, and leveled one moat after another.

Then he switched to a super hook machine, operating its huge bucket to constantly scrape at the city wall of Tongguan.

Moats could be filled by manpower, and the city wall of Tongguan could also be bombarded and collapsed by artillery.

It was just that Lin Dao did not want to wait that long, so he simply went up himself.

The Shun Army, in the midst of terror, also fought back desperately.

Various bows and crossbows, firelocks, and tiger crouching cannons clanged against the added steel plates of the giant machines.

But these counterattacks were meaningless.

Lin Dao pried open the city wall of Tongguan, and a large batch of armored soldiers surged inside.

"Chuang King, calamity!"

Niu Jinxing, his expression panicked, stepped forward holding the urgent report: "The bandit forces of Lin Dao from Shanxi have crossed the Yellow River at Baode Prefecture, entered Shaanbei, besieged Yulin, taken Mizhi, and are heading straight for Xi'an!"

A pincer attack from both sides!

Li Zicheng's expression was extremely ugly.

"Retreat the troops!"

"Chuang King." Niu Jinxing gritted his teeth and stepped forward: "Before I came, I saw Song Xiance hiding outside, smirking!"

"He must be laughing that he guessed everything right, laughing that we did not listen to him, and that our defeat is deserved!"

"Hmph! You go deal with him!"

"I obey."

End of Chapter