GBP Chapter 553 The King’s Flag changes at the top of the city
Chapter 553 The King’s Flag changes at the top of the city
Under Su Hongtu's leadership, the soldiers who had been fighting independently gathered together in groups of three to five or seven to eight, forming combat teams to fight against the lone soldiers with their collective strength.
The Later Jin soldiers were all hunters by trade, gaining rich combat experience while hunting wild animals. Their combat skills were honed in battles against the Ming army, and they developed immense confidence. Furthermore, the money and people they captured in battle were ultimately used to enrich themselves and create bondservants. They fought essentially for themselves, demonstrating unwavering fighting spirit. Apart from a few border generals who kept their servants in silver, how could the beggar-like Ming army possibly be a match for them?
Although the Qionghai Army had risen rapidly and was showing signs of becoming the strongest army in the Ming Dynasty, its strength lay in its overall strength, relying on strict military discipline and modern military tactics, rather than individual bravery. In one-on-one situations, even veterans of the Qionghai Army could not defeat these armored soldiers, let alone these new recruits of independent regiments who had only been training for a few months. Therefore, in chaotic battles, they were at a significant disadvantage.
However, once they formed ranks, the balance of the battle slowly tilted in their favor.
In the fierce hand-to-hand combat, the Later Jin army had no formation or coordination, relying entirely on brute force. When they encountered the Ming army, which also lacked coordination, they could easily overpower them. However, when faced with assassinations that relied on collective coordination, they were no match for the combined forces and became hesitant and helpless.
When deploying his troops, Su Hongtu positioned almost all four infantry battalions on various sections of the city wall and its protruding corners, leaving no reserves. Excluding the four battalion-affiliated artillery companies, there were over three thousand infantrymen on the city walls, a very high density considering the area covered. However, the Later Jin forces were constrained by the structure of their bastions, resulting in a dispersed and unconcentrated force. Furthermore, the civilians used as cannon fodder hindered the rear troops, leading to a relatively small number of armored soldiers attacking the city. Reinforcements also failed to arrive in time, putting them at a disadvantage in terms of local numbers.
The fighting squads outnumbered the enemy, and the armored soldiers gradually began to lose ground. One by one, they were killed or seriously wounded. The remaining men were forced to retreat by the bayonet charge. When they reached the wall and had nowhere left to go, they had no choice but to turn around and jump down to save their lives. Fortunately, the bastion's wall was not high, and they were safe from the fall.
The Later Jin army advanced quickly and retreated just as fast. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the tide of battle turned twice. The Independent Regiment initially suffered a setback but quickly turned the tide after a brief period of weakness.
Gartu, mounted on horseback, had a clear view of the battle from a distance, given the relatively low city walls. Just as the city's defenses were about to be breached, the Ming soldiers, forming a horizontal line and using the short blades of their spears as long spears, actually managed to repel the Jin warriors, who were virtually invincible in close combat!
The soldiers on the wall either died or fled. With the defenders no longer under pressure, the battle returned to an unsolvable siege mode. Fierce crossfire reappeared, and dense bullets flew indiscriminately towards civilians and Jin soldiers. Whether armored or unarmored, the fate was the same: to become a mangled corpse on the ground.
Gartu felt a chill in his heart. It was all over. He had missed such a good opportunity, and there wouldn't be a second chance. He hesitated whether to send up his Bayaradus to try and salvage the situation, but seeing the lead bullets raining down from the wall, he immediately abandoned the idea. He might be punished for the defeat, but if he sent his Bayaradus to their deaths, the Prince would surely behead him himself.
The driven civilians saw no hope of survival; instead, they drew closer to death. The able-bodied men in the crowd, ignoring the old men's nonsense, picked up swords and axes from the ground, shouting, "We're all going to die anyway, let's fight the Tartars!"
With one person taking the lead, many others followed suit, picking up weapons and rushing backward. Some civilians hesitated, but after seeing the deadly bullets whistling from both sides and the increasing number of corpses on the ground, they realized there was no chance of survival going forward, and they too turned and rushed backward in droves. The Later Jin's lines were relatively wide, and the large number of civilians, converging in one place to charge, actually gained the upper hand in a localized area.
The sudden turn of events by the previously docile populace caught the Later Jin soldiers completely off guard. Caught off guard, their formation was thrown into disarray, and several armored soldiers perished in the chaos. Beset by firearms from above and the onslaught of civilians from below, the Later Jin army on the front lines suffered heavy casualties and was attacked from both sides, showing signs of collapse – a phenomenon unprecedented in the Later Jin army's nearly ten years of campaigns within Ming territory.
In the critical moment, Bayara, who was in charge of supervising the battle, took action.
The gleaming silver armor of the Bayara soldiers dismounted, raised their single-handed broadswords or axes, and trotted towards the surging crowd. The armored soldiers, who had initially been reluctant to fight and were about to retreat, shuddered at the sight of the Bayara's silver armor. Their deep-seated fear of military discipline and the Bayara overcame their passive desire to avoid battle, and they turned and charged back into the dense crowd, braving the hail of bullets overhead to slaughter the civilians.
These strong and ferocious Bayara charged into the crowd like tanks, knocking away the young men who stood in their way. They then wielded axes and broadswords, skillfully hacking at the surrounding civilians. The sophisticated weapons created sprays of blood, and the originally surging crowd was stopped by dozens of Bayara. Blood flowed like a river where they stood, and hundreds and thousands of people dared not approach.
Seeing that these god-like Bayara were even more terrifying and ferocious than ordinary soldiers, the people's hard-won courage vanished instantly, and they threw down their weapons and fled in all directions. Without the onslaught of the masses, the soldiers finally regrouped and stabilized their formation. However, the city walls ahead were still a death trap, raining bullets down upon them. They dared not retreat, yet they dared not advance further.
The central army in the rear seemed to accept the failure of the siege. The retreat signal finally sounded, and the armored soldiers, relieved of their burden, withdrew like a receding tide. The second siege also ended in failure.
Liang Xiaoming gripped his pistol tightly, waiting for the moment the armored soldiers would pounce. He had already decided that one shot at close range would kill one soldier; whether he would have a chance to reload and defend himself was up to fate. However, the battle quickly turned in favor of the defenders, and he never had the chance to fire. When he saw the massive Jin army retreating below the city, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to be alive.
Although Su Hongtu wasn't seriously injured, he was covered in blood, mostly from the enemy. Without even wiping the blood from his face, he began to rearrange the defensive lines. As long as the Later Jin army didn't withdraw, there was always the possibility of them attacking again; he couldn't afford to be careless.