Chapter 109: The City Falls

In Miyun city, Adun hadn't slept well all night, dark circles ringed his aged eyes. He had sent seven messengers to Pinggu for reinforcements overnight, and not one had returned — this made him deeply anxious.

Adun was just about to eat some breakfast when a soldier came running up in haste, saying: "Sir, the Ming army is attacking the city!"

Adun was greatly startled — how could this Crown Prince of the Ming not play by the rules? Did he not care about the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Miyun city? What about benevolence and righteousness? What about the way of the sages? Though Adun understood the Great Ming extremely well, at this moment he was utterly dumbfounded.

What depressed him even more was that although the Ming army had ten thousand men, half were cavalry, and only a few thousand could actually assault the city. By the standard three-to-one ratio of attackers to defenders in siege warfare, the Ming army would need at least ten thousand or more assault troops.

What were they going to use to attack the city? Fire lances? He had heard that this portion of the Ming army had formidable fire lances, but they weren't much use in a siege — they couldn't very well climb the walls while firing their guns, could they?

"It seems this Ming army is determined to fight to the death with our Great Qing forces!" Adun worried inwardly. He was afraid the Ming army would fight desperately. He didn't care how many men the other banners lost, but his Plain Yellow Banner was personally led by the Emperor — if casualties were too heavy, it would be hard to explain when he returned to Shengjing.

"Quickly, put the Ming civilians on the walls to defend! Whoever dares disobey will be executed on the spot!" After giving the order, Adun hurried to the south gate. Before he could even ascend the gate tower, he heard the thunderous roar of cannons from outside the city.

Adun hastily climbed several steps up the gate tower. Just as he poked his head out to look into the distance, he heard a black iron cannonball fly past above his head, scaring Adun so badly he fell on the spot.

The old slave Nurhaci had been crippled by red barbarian cannon at Jinzhou back in the day. As the old slave's bodyguard, Adun had been right there at the time and witnessed history firsthand. Ever since then, the sound of cannon fire made him tremble with fear.

Adun fell to the ground, breaking out in a cold sweat. He thought to himself: That was close — I nearly went to see the Old Khan.

That iron cannonball shattered an upturned eave on the gate tower to pieces. Tiles and broken wood rained down, startling Adun again. The Tartar general beside him immediately helped him up.

Adun walked to one side of the gate tower and stretched his head out to look again. He saw the Ming army arrayed in neat formation below the city, with several dozen cannons lined up in a row before the formation. In front of the cannon array there was also a ditch two zhang wide and half a zhang deep. Several dozen cannons were all firing in unison at the city gate of Miyun, their momentum truly terrifying.

Zhu Cilang had no intention whatsoever of having soldiers climb ladders to assault the city — he directly used red barbarian cannon to blast the city gate open by force! This was not only simple and brutal, it also protected the city walls and avoided harming the civilians.

The sound of cannon fire from below the city came in an unbroken stream. Some shots struck the city walls, some hit the gate tower, some smashed into the city gate. Within twenty or thirty paces of the gate tower, there was no longer a single living person — the Tartars had long since scattered to the sides.

It wasn't just the south gate — the west gate came under attack as well. The city gates had already absorbed many cannonballs. When the cannonballs struck the gate planks, they made a dull "thud thud" sound, as if the gate could be smashed open at any moment.

Only now did Adun understand — so this was the Ming army's siege tactic. In the past, Ming cannons were generally used as defensive weapons for holding cities. No one had ever thought to use them for attacking a city, and Adun naturally hadn't thought of it either — that cannons could be used this way.

Remembering about defending the city, Adun hastily said: "Quick, return fire with the cannons!"

The captured Ming artillerymen in Miyun city were driven up onto the city walls, and gunpowder and cannonballs were carried up. They began frantically loading and firing.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The dozen or so cannons on Miyun's walls began their counterattack. Adun crouched at the crenellations watching outside the city, waiting for the cannonballs to land in the Ming army's positions. He felt slightly more at ease — at least they could finally fight back.

But after the dozen or so cannonballs landed one after another, most only flew a little over two hundred paces, still falling far short of the Ming army's positions. Though a few flew somewhat farther, reaching one li, the cannonballs bounced several times on the ground, then leaped forward another few dozen paces, finally rolling into the ditch in front of the Ming cannon array.

Most of the cannons on Miyun's walls were Franchi guns with a range of only two hundred paces, and the few six-pounder red barbarian cannon had a range of only one li — they posed no threat whatsoever to the Divine Engine Camp's cannon array.

The Divine Engine Camp had brought red barbarian cannon of twelve pounds and above this time, which could easily fire two or three li. Wang Wannian was extremely proud — breaking the city gate was only a matter of time, and the Divine Engine Camp had secured the foremost merit!

The Divine Engine Camp's cannons continued firing ceaselessly at the gate tower. The city gate was about to give way — dozens of dents had already been smashed into its middle, and huge cracks had appeared around its edges.

A quarter of an hour later, a soldier came to report to Zhu Cilang: "Your Highness, the city gate has been blasted open!!"

Zhu Cilang could see it clearly through his telescope. He immediately said: "Pass the order — musketeers advance in formation. Once inside the city, clear out the Tartars by squad unit! The Shenshu Camp cavalry follows behind!"

Zhang Shize had no objection to the Crown Prince's arrangement. The Shenshu Camp had already earned considerable merit — it would be unreasonable to snatch the credit for entering the city as well.

In truth, Zhu Cilang wasn't simply trying to let the Yongwei Camp earn merit. Although using cavalry to charge ahead would be better for entering the city, there were four to five thousand Tartar soldiers inside. The Shenshu Camp's pampered young masters could handle pursuing routed troops, but if it came to real fighting, it would be a bit risky.

War drums thundered. The Yongwei Camp's musketeers advanced layer by layer according to their formation, while shield bearers guarded their flanks, blocking the Tartars' arrows from the city walls.

Watching the dense masses of Ming soldiers flood through the city gate, Adun's face turned ashen as he stood on the city wall. He murmured: "The city gate... it's broken just like this?"

When they had taken Miyun back then, they had expended tremendous effort — over a thousand Great Qing warriors had died. He never imagined the Ming army would blast it open now without losing a single soldier.

Adun desperately wanted to return alive, to bring this new style of warfare back to the Great Qing, to tell all the banners — the Great Qing now had plenty of cannons too, and with them they could blast open Jinzhou's city gate, break through Shanhai Pass, and enter the heartland of Ming territory by the main road.

However, he had little chance of that now. Not only had the south gate been blasted open, the west gate had fallen too. Large numbers of Yongwei Camp musketeers, protected by shield bearers, were charging through the city gates.

The other side of the gate tunnel was packed with Tartar soldiers. Seeing the Ming army charging in, they drew their bows and loosed arrows one after another. For a moment, ten thousand arrows flew at once. Large numbers of musketeers in the Yongwei Camp's front ranks fell. The shield bearers covering the musketeers' flanks as they entered the city hurriedly raised their shields and pressed forward, preventing the Yongwei Camp's casualties from mounting further.

Several Yongwei Camp artillerymen carried tiger-crouch cannons to the mouth of the gate tunnel. Under the shield bearers' cover, they aimed the tiger-crouch cannons loaded with grapeshot at the Tartar soldiers blocking the gate tunnel.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

After a few blasts, a torrent of steel pellets, lead shot, and stones sprayed forth. The Tartar soldiers blocking the gate tunnel were riddled like beehives. For a moment, a mist of blood filled the air. The Tartars in front who had miraculously survived fled madly to the rear.

The Yongwei Camp's musketeers seized the opportunity to charge through the gate tunnel and enter Miyun city. The moment they were inside, the musketeers formed three ranks and opened indiscriminate fire on the Qing soldiers around them. The Qing soldiers returned fire with bows and arrows.

Several dozen artillerymen from the Yongwei Camp's rear units each carried tiger-crouch cannons into the city to provide support, all loading grapeshot and firing wildly at the Qing troops gathered behind the city gate.

Seeing the Ming army's ferocious firepower, the Qing troops dared not charge forward and fell back repeatedly. The Yongwei Camp advanced several ranks abreast to the rhythm of drumbeats, reloading and firing as they moved forward.

Stunned by these formidable firearms, the Qing troops began dispersing into the various streets, using civilian houses as cover, and started street fighting.

The Yongwei Camp operated by squad units — several dozen men to a squad, still advancing three ranks abreast, clearing the streets one by one. For a time, gunfire rang out unceasingly throughout Miyun city.

A quarter of an hour after the Yongwei Camp's musketeers entered the city, the cavalry battalion and the Shenshu Camp also launched a full-scale assault, charging and slaughtering the Tartar soldiers on every street.

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