Chapter 271: The Power of the New Bird-Gun Muskets

Without another word, Wang Xiantong led his soldiers straight through the door, kicking it open, and drove out all the guests who were eating and chatting on the ground floor of the inn. Looking at the proprietress who had hurried over upon hearing the commotion, he said coldly:

"Do you have a dog here named Ning Wanwo?"

The proprietress looked at the formation of soldiers before her and knew they were not to be trifled with. After hesitating for a moment, she shook her head and said, "Sir soldier, ours is a small business. If you were to take him away, how could we ever hold our heads up again?"

"Hold your heads up? How much did that traitor pay you?"

Wang Xiantong let out a cold laugh, then suddenly swung a palm across her face, sending her seeing stars. Turning back, he pointed upstairs and gave the order:

"By His Majesty's decree, dig this place three feet down if you must—root out that traitor dog and all his followers! Search! Search floor by floor, damn it!" As he shouted, Wang Xiantong glanced back at the proprietress, who was clutching her face in bewilderment, murderous intent plain in his eyes:

"If even one of those rebels slips away, this inn of yours is finished!"

The words had barely left his mouth when Wang Xiantong's expression shifted. He instinctively dodged to the side as a cold arrow shot down from upstairs, thudding straight into the wooden floor where he had just been standing.

"Who dares ambush this Earl!" Wang Xiantong felt a surge of relief, quickly followed by blazing anger as he bellowed.

"Kangtulu, Commander of the Great Qing!" A Jianzhou barbarian dressed in Han clothing spoke in fluent Chinese. Even as he spoke, he leaped down from the second floor, landing steadily before Wang Xiantong like a massive boulder.

The proprietress and several of the hired hands saw the situation turning dire and abandoned all other thoughts, scrambling away in utter disgrace. In such circumstances, hoping for compensation was out of the question—they could only pray these soldiers wouldn't tear the whole inn apart.

"Barbarian dogs!" Wang Xiantong shouted with relish, but inwardly he was filled with dread. Even his feet unconsciously shuffled back a few steps, ready to respond to an attack at any moment.

As Kangtulu finished speaking, seven or eight fierce-faced Jianzhou barbarians threw off the veils covering their faces, revealing their true features, and without a word began loosing arrows from the second floor.

Though these Jianzhou barbarians wore no heavy armor, they bore silver-white chainmail beneath their clothing. That suggested only two possibilities: either they were Dorgon's direct Two White Banners, or they were the Bayara guards.

But would Dorgon really send a Bayara Commander and several Bayara soldiers all the way to the capital just to protect a mere Ning Wanwo?

"Raise shields!"

Wang Xiantong shouted the order at once, but it was already too late—at least a dozen arrowheads had been loosed with unstoppable force.

The city defense soldiers were somewhat panicked. Though they drilled regularly, this was still their first time facing such a sudden crisis, and before arriving they had expected to arrest a feeble scholar who couldn't even truss a chicken. None had imagined they would run into a dozen or more strapping Jianzhou barbarians.

That Commander at the head looked even more formidable than the newly enfeoffed Earl Wang Xiantong.

Caught off guard, the soldiers took arrow after arrow. In a single instant, a large swath of the city defense soldiers on the first floor collapsed. These Jianzhou barbarians were masters of mounted archery by nature, and in such a cramped space their arrows were terrifyingly precise—as if fitted with sights—nearly every shot piercing straight through a soldier's throat.

The soldiers who were hit either died on the spot or lost all combat capability in an instant. Wang Xiantong watched with shock and fury. Not waiting for Kangtulu to make his move, Wang Xiantong was the first to act, charging forward with his steel saber and swinging a blow at the head.

"Clang!"

Kangtulu was, after all, a seasoned veteran with quick reflexes. Wang Xiantong had already relaxed, thinking his strike had landed, but the next moment he saw the barbarian raise his tiger-head broadsword and block it completely.

"Heh heh, southern weakling, is that all you've got? Like a woman!"

Wang Xiantong's face flushed red with suppressed fury. Shaken by the barbarian's strength on one hand, and knowing he could not fight force with force on the other, he sneered in reply: "Barbarian, is it that your bird-tongue doesn't suit you, so you learned Chinese out of inferiority?"

With that said, just before the infuriated Kangtulu could respond, Wang Xiantong suddenly thrust his blade forward with the speed of lightning.

Kangtulu hurriedly dodged in desperation, but in his haste he failed to mind his weapon, and Wang Xiantong seized the opening—another cut sent the tiger-head broadsword flying from his grasp.

A sharp-eyed Company Commander of the city defense forces on the side saw the opportunity and rushed forward several steps, snatching up the tiger-head sword from the ground and hurling it behind him.

Having disarmed the barbarian, the Company Commander was about to flee when the enraged Kangtulu caught up to him.

Kangtulu seized the Company Commander, gripped his neck tightly, and gave a vicious twist. Everyone heard a sharp "crack," and the Company Commander went silent, his sturdy body slumping limp to the ground—clearly beyond saving.

"You men, get upstairs at once and seize Ning Wanwo! Leave this villain to this Earl!" Wang Xiantong shouted, even more furious.

"As ordered!"

All of this had happened within a few breaths. The remaining soldiers heard Wang Xiantong's shout and hurriedly clasped their fists, raised their blades, and gave chase—but they had barely taken a few steps when several towering figures appeared before them.

These Jianzhou barbarians cast aside their bows and arrows, each wielding a great saber as they charged down to clash with the pursuing city defense soldiers.

One soldier slashed his blade down fiercely. The barbarian neither dodged nor flinched, meeting it head-on. The moment the two blades collided, the city defense soldier suddenly let out a miserable scream—the impact had split the web of his hand, and he flung his sword away.

The barbarian followed with a sinister laugh, killing him without mercy, then turned and went for another soldier.

Though these Jianzhou barbarians numbered only a dozen or so, each was a master of close combat. They held the second floor against a city defense force several times their number. Within a few breaths, at least twenty-odd city defense soldiers lay dead, while only one barbarian had been wounded.

These barbarians stood in the way like an impassable chasm. Wang Xiantong fought bitterly against Kangtulu, and with the enemy disarmed, he finally managed to kill him—but barely, and with no strength left for further battle.

The city defense soldiers looked at one another in dismay. Staring at these barbarians drenched in the blood of their own comrades, they felt anger, but far more fear.

Wang Xiantong knew he could not keep trading blow for blow—the cost was not worth the gain. He turned to go out and rally reinforcements, and as he stepped through the door he happened to see a fresh batch of bird-gun musketeers arriving.

These musketeers were not carrying the shoddily made matchlocks of old. These were the first batch of flintlock muskets hurriedly produced by the Ordnance Bureau, supervised by Song Yingxing, Bi Maokang, and others. They had been issued to the army only after multiple rounds of test firing, so their quality presumably would not suffer the problems of the past.

After a moment's thought, Wang Xiantong clutched his wound and shouted: "Take them up! Shoot those barbarians full of holes!"

"Follow me!" The Platoon Officer of the musketeers nodded and led a squad of a dozen or so men running into the inn. Before long, a continuous volley of reports rang out.

"Bang bang bang!"

The gunfire ceased, and no sounds of fighting could be heard from the inn. Wang Xiantong led the city defense soldiers back inside to look—and stood frozen on the spot.

The scene in the inn was utterly gruesome. The barbarians' bodies were riddled with bloody holes; their chainmail had been no defense against the point-blank volley of musketry. They had truly been shot into sieves.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder smoke and blood. Wang Xiantong frowned and shouted: "After them!"