Chapter 401: Crisis

"Turn the cannon! Knock out the shield carts!"

Seeing that the bondservants pushing the carts had braved the danger of being blown up or maimed by landmines and advanced to about thirty paces from the first low wall, Zhang Yuan decisively issued the order.

The gunner, two loaders, and Zhang Yuan's two personal guards—five men working together—slowly shifted the hardwood gun carriage bearing the five-hundred-jin cannon barrel, aiming the obliquely forward-pointing muzzle at the more than one hundred shield carts charging ahead.

The thunderous explosions of landmines kept flipping shield carts over, men and vehicles alike, while the unarmored bondservants were wounded and shrieking from flying wood splinters—but this front rank of ambitious bondservants was also stirred to ferocity, ignoring the damage from the mines and roaring as they strained to push their carts forward.

With a tremendous "Duang," the depressed-muzzle Folangji cannon let out a terrifying roar. A one-jin shot flew diagonally at speed from over a hundred paces off, flipped one shield cart over, then, its momentum somewhat reduced, landed and bounced high again, sailed over the top of another shield cart, and smashed into the shaft of yet another—as that cart collapsed to the ground, the shot finally came to rest.

The gunners on the right battery, seeing the action of the left battery, immediately responded in kind. The shot streaked into the front ranks of carts, flipping three shield carts one after another before finally stopping.

With the Folangji cannons on both batteries firing in succession, more than twenty Qing shield carts had been destroyed; added to the thirty-odd destroyed by landmines, nearly half of the hundred-plus shield carts were wrecked, and dozens of the iron-hard bondservants pushing them were dead or wounded.

The continuous thunder of cannon and mine brought tremendous terror. The men pushing carts behind and the several thousand bondservants following at last could not bear the enormous pressure. First some of those in front began to flee, and under the demonstration effect of someone taking the lead, several thousand people suddenly burst into all kinds of shouts and bolted toward the rear and both flanks.

But before they could run more than a few steps, the Qing cavalry supervising the flanks galloped in, cutting with sabers, chopping with axes, and shooting arrows. In the blink of an eye several hundred bondservants were slain on the spot. The bondservants, terrified, stopped their shouting and froze in place; many even knelt prostrate, kowtowing and begging for mercy without cease.

Waves of cursing came over. Under the pointing of the blood-stained sabers and axes of the supervising Qing troops, the bondservants—with expressions of weeping, numbness, or terror—turned and continued advancing toward the Ming army's formation.

"Damn it all, how pathetic! Death either way! Why not fight the Jianzhou barbarians to the death! They deserve to be slaves to the Jianzhou barbarians! Tiger-crouch cannons, prepare!"

Seeing the cowardly appearance of these compatriots before the cannon muzzles, Zhang Yuan cursed a few times and then gave the order.

A personal guard waved his banner several times, and Hu Dabang behind the first low wall immediately shouted out the orders. Dozens of gunners stuffed net bags filled with broken porcelain, stones, and iron nails into the muzzles and rammed them tight, then rammed in a three-liang lead shot on top. The several dozen tiger-crouch cannons placed at the gaps in the low wall were all made ready.

The Folangji cannon barrels on the two batteries, having fired continuously, were now hot enough to burn the hand. In such a state, they could only wait for the barrels to cool before the next round of firing, to prevent a burst barrel. And the landmines buried before the Ming formation had basically all detonated. The battlefield, which had been filled with continuous thunder, fell into a rare quiet.

Seeing that the Ming cannons had gone silent and the landmines that had been roaring in succession now only went off occasionally, the bondservants' courage suddenly surged. The bravery that had just vanished instantly returned to them, and the remaining several dozen shield carts in the front rank all abruptly accelerated forward.

The Qing troops on both flanks also quickened their pace. Five hundred archers on each side advanced in front with bows strung and arrows nocked, ready at any moment to sprint behind the shield carts and attack the Ming army.

Just as the front-rank bondservants rounded the wreckage of destroyed shield carts and the dead and wounded on the ground, pushing their carts into within thirty paces of the low wall, Hu Dabang decisively gave the order to fire.

In a series of muffled reports, several thousand iron nails and stones screamed out from the crouching muzzles, spraying in a fan shape into the dense mass opposite. Apart from those that struck the thick shields mounted on the carts, most of the fragments swept like a gale through the gaps between the carts, wiping out the bondservants following behind them.

At that very moment, a loud shout suddenly rang out. The Qing archers on both flanks abruptly sprinted forward, swiftly crossing the great open spaces left by the dead and wounded bondservants, gathering behind the several dozen shield carts, and then drawing their bows with arrows angled toward the rear of the low wall.

At the command of the leading niru captain, several hundred heavy three-edged arrows soared into the air, flew up dozens of paces into the sky, then abruptly turned and plunged down toward the ground.

The horizontal sweep of the tiger-crouch cannon shot caused several hundred bondservant casualties. Those stones and iron nails pierced through their clothing and drilled into their bodies; every man struck fell to the ground without exception.

The bondservants who had not been caught up panicked once more. The supervising Qing troops behind shouted loudly several times, and the bondservants, as if granted a pardon, immediately turned and fled to the rear, while the Qing troops on both flanks accelerated forward.

Although they had long been on guard against the Qing's heavy arrows, and more than a hundred shields blocked most of the arrow fire from harming the Ming troops, quite a few Ming soldiers crouching behind the low wall were still struck by heavy arrows that slipped through the gaps between shields.

The five hundred Qing archers, spread out behind the several dozen shield carts, drew and shot without pause, loosing five volleys in the blink of an eye. Several thousand long arrows rained down, suppressing the Ming troops behind the low wall so completely they could not rise to return fire. The sandbags were instantly bristling with white eagle feathers, and the Qing troops preparing for close combat had already crossed past the shield carts and were charging forward.

Hearing the Qing troops' chaotic footsteps rapidly approaching—in another moment they would be upon them, and then the musketeers would face a one-sided slaughter—Hu Dabang, crouching behind the low wall, suddenly roared: "First rank, rise! Those behind, stand ready!"

After shouting, Hu Dabang, gripping a musket whose match cord was already burning, sprang to his feet with both hands. The shield bearer who had been holding up a shield to cover him was thrown off balance by the sudden force and stumbled.

The first-rank musketeers, who had fused obedience to orders into their very blood, instinctively rose to their feet at the same time at the sound. Amid a chorus of cries, more than a hundred shooters within range of the Qing archers were struck by arrows and fell, but the remaining nearly one hundred muskets also fired in that first instant.

The several hundred Qing troops who had charged to within twenty paces of the low wall suffered heavy casualties under the point-blank musket fire. The muskets, which normally had a hit rate of only about two in ten, this time inflicted nearly four in ten casualties on the Qing—close to forty Qing soldiers were struck down—but most of the Qing troops still accelerated forward.

As Hu Dabang fired, his left shoulder was struck by an arrow. He hurled his musket forward at the Qing troops a dozen or so paces away, then swiftly ducked low and shifted to one side. The second-rank musketeers likewise rose through the rain of arrows and fired their muskets.

The four tiger-crouch cannons on the small platforms of the two batteries suddenly fired one after another. Several hundred shots shrieked into the faces of the charging Qing soldiers, sweeping away the hundred-plus Qing troops at the very front.

By now the Qing archers had loosed eight volleys, and most were showing signs of exhaustion. The long arrows of the ninth volley had already grown noticeably sparse, while the front ranks of Qing infantry had charged to within ten paces of the Ming defensive works.

The remaining Ming musketeers and sword-and-shield men of the first and second ranks bent low and swiftly withdrew to the rear along both flanks. As for their fallen comrades, there was no time to tend to them for now.

The Ming army's third volley of muskets followed immediately. Since the threat of the Qing's long arrows had largely vanished, most of the two hundred muskets this time actually fired. Amid the crackling like popping beans and the billowing smoke, nearly a hundred Qing soldiers were struck down.

As the Ming's third musket volley finished, the main body of the Qing army was surging forward. It looked as if the first defensive line was about to be breached—when, out of the thick smoke, over a hundred pitch-black iron balls suddenly burst through the white gunpowder haze overhead and smashed down into the midst of the charging Qing troops.

As explosions rang out without cease, countless severed limbs and broken arms flew through the air mixed with blood. Between the flying dust and the thick smoke, the twenty paces before the low wall seemed to transform into a snarling, clawing monster that swallowed up every Qing soldier wrapped within it.

At this critical moment, the hundred grenadiers of the rear company arrived on orders and dealt the Qing troops, who were on the verge of breaking through the line, a crushing blow to the head.