Chapter 120: Fierce Battle Beneath the Walls

Even with the protection of an iron helmet, that unlucky Tartar, struck by the hoe, rolled his eyes and collapsed limply to the ground, twitching incessantly, blood pouring from his head—even if he survived, he would be reduced to an idiot.

That burly man who had felled a Tartar with a single hoe raised his weapon and shouted loudly: "Death is death either way—better to fight the Tartars to the death and earn the honorable name of dying for the country than to die at the hands of the government troops branded as a traitorous Han sellout!"

The surrounding Tartars never dreamed that the Ming commoners, who had always been submissive, meek, and weak, would pick up weapons and fight back—and even take one down!

Seeing this troublemaker daring to incite the crowd, a Qing soldier thrust his long spear viciously at the burly man. The man instinctively used his hoe to block, then hurled the hoe at the Tartar. While the Tartar dodged the hoe, he lunged forward, reached the Qing soldier, and grabbed him in a death grip.

The Tartar's long spear was useless in close combat, so he had to drop the shaft and grapple with the burly man, the two rolling on the ground in a brawl.

Seeing this, the other commoners also erupted, snatching up weapons from the ground and roaring: "Fellow villagers! Fight the Tartars to the death!"

The rioting commoners grabbed whatever weapons lay on the ground and lashed out wildly at the Qing soldiers driving them, slashing and hurling, using every move imaginable.

The Qing soldiers were beaten back again and again by the commoners, with dozens killed or wounded.

Yangguri and Bohoto watched in stunned disbelief—they too had never imagined that their long-effective tactic of driving commoners to assault the city would end in such a result.

"We can't let them charge through!" Yangguri suddenly bellowed. "Send the warriors forward—slaughter them all!"

Once the order was given, the Qing soldiers at the front surged forward at once, attacking the commoners.

They had been driven back earlier because there were few Qing soldiers driving the commoners; now with the main Qing force pressing forward in numbers, the commoners were instantly overwhelmed. Cut down one after another by the Qing army, their earlier burst of blood-fueled courage vanished, and they all turned and fled toward the New City.

The Qing army chased behind the commoners, stabbing with spears, slashing with sabers, and shooting arrows, slaughtering them relentlessly, while the commoners, having completely lost their will to resist, could only run desperately toward the pass city.

The Qing soldiers surged forward, driving the refugees to the moat beneath the city wall. Some even jumped straight into the river, but the moat was three meters deep, and many drowned on the spot.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang sighed and said: "What a pity."

Sun Yingyuan said: "Your Highness, should we send cavalry down to charge and cut them down?"

Zhu Cilang shook his head and said: "No need—the commoners are blocking the front of the city gate, which is unfavorable for a cavalry sortie."

Sun Yingyuan hesitated: "Your Highness, this will be detrimental to your reputation."

Zhu Cilang stared at him and said: "What damned reputation? Is it worth more than the cavalry of my two main camps?"

The officers of the New Camp were deeply moved—a knight dies for one who appreciates him; to follow the Crown Prince, they would die without regret!

The low status of military men in the Ming dynasty had led to low loyalty among generals. Zhu Cilang's repeated emphasis on valuing military men gradually raised the loyalty of his subordinate commanders, until finally they were completely in his grasp.

Watching the commoners falling ceaselessly outside the city, Zhu Cilang could not bear it and sighed: "Have the standby cavalry withdraw from the barbican into the city, open the outer gate, and let the commoners outside enter the barbican—let in as many as can make it."

The soldiers at the gate lowered the drawbridge. Those commoners who ran fast enough and had crowded by the moat before the gate rushed toward the city gate. Seeing the gate slowly opening, the Qing army chased desperately behind them, the two sides' heads and tails locked tightly together, impossible to separate.

Zhu Cilang said: "Sun Yingyuan, you will command this battle! Set aside all concerns—any consequences have nothing to do with you!"

"Yes!"

Sun Yingyuan took the command flag and bellowed: "Continue bombarding the Tartar formation with the red barbarian cannon! Use the other artillery to cut off the Tartars heading for the city gate! Concentrate the musketeers' fire on the Tartars chasing commoners toward the gate—cripple them! Kill them!"

"Open fire!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Thunderous roars rang out one after another as the artillerymen vented their fury upon the Tartars. The Tartar soldiers chasing commoners outside the city fell in rows and swaths like wheat being harvested, though some commoners were unavoidably caught in the crossfire.

Only by doing this could the pursuing Tartars be separated from the commoners to gain the chance to close the city gate. Thus Sun Yingyuan had to sacrifice some commoners to save the others.

Under the fierce bombardment from the city walls, the link between the Qing army and the commoners was finally severed, and a gap opened between the two sides. Many of the fastest runners had already crossed the drawbridge and entered the city gate.

Sun Yingyuan ordered all musketeers to fire at a distance of over thirty paces from the city wall, blocking the Qing army and buying time to rescue the commoners into the city.

For a moment, shot and ball rained down from the battlements as densely as raindrops. The Tartars chasing the commoners at a hundred-meter-sprint pace were struck down one after another, the tremendous impact scraping their faces across the ground for three or four meters.

The Qing soldiers could not advance an inch at over thirty paces from the city wall. A great number of Tartars trying to charge through the gate fell continuously at that distance, their corpses gradually piling up to form a clearly demarcated line.

But while the Ming army was entangled with the Qing soldiers chasing the commoners, one niru of Eight Banner Manchu soldiers and two niru of Han troops had already pushed cloud-ladder carts right up to the city wall with complete success.

As the Qing army stepped within forty or fifty paces, their white-armor soldiers, cavalry, battle troops, and infantry all drew their bows and loosed arrows at the Ming soldiers on the battlements.

After several dozen musketeers of the New Camp were struck down by arrows, the others hurriedly placed shields on the crenellations of the wall. As a result, the musketeers' ability to harm the Tartars below was greatly reduced.

By this time, the commoners who had fled to the city gate had mostly run into the barbican, and the gate was smoothly closed. Some unusually fast oddities among the Tartars had followed them in, only to discover in shock that their comrades behind them were gone! They then met the fate of a dog beaten after the door is shut.

With no commoners to distract their attention, the Ming army could focus entirely on the Qing soldiers attacking the city, and the Qing army could likewise devote themselves wholly to the assault, no longer seeking shortcuts.

This time the Qing army had dispatched a total of thirty thousand troops. Having already sent out one niru each of Manchu, Mongol, and Han soldiers, the force committed to the attack at once totaled five thousand men. Yangguri also mustered three additional niru of troops to serve as rotating reserves.

Yangguri led his ten thousand men in a frontal assault on the New City, while Abatai took the Plain Blue Banner and troops of the other banners to array before each city gate in a feint, so as to disperse the Ming army's defensive strength.

The Qing army's front ranks had already carried cloud ladders across the ditch before the city wall, propped them against the wall, and begun climbing toward the battlements—the brutal siege battle had begun.

Thanks to book friend 20190727192636255 for the 400 Qidian coins tip!

There will be another chapter tonight.