GBP Chapter 547 Coming out in full force
Chapter 547 Coming out in full force
The besieged Mongol cavalrymen, seated on their horses, unleashed a hail of arrows from their elevated position, and the soldiers of the Independent Regiment pulled their triggers almost simultaneously.
Light arrows flew into the crowd, and soldiers were wounded and forced to withdraw from the battle one after another, thinning out the forest of bayonets. The Mongols fared even worse; squeezed together, they became sitting ducks, riddled with bullets from all directions, their skin torn and flesh flying everywhere. Cavalrymen fell from their horses one after another, and the number of more than a thousand cavalrymen dwindled at a visible rate.
Arslan's right leg was grazed by a lead bullet and was bleeding profusely, with no time to bandage it or stop the bleeding. Although not fatal, it severely hampered his movement and made it impossible for him to control his warhorse. As he lost more blood, his face grew paler, and he felt dizzy. He looked at the battle before him in despair; was he going to die here today, without knowing why?
Su Hongtu had been closely monitoring the battle. Seeing that the Mongols were trapped and suffering heavy casualties from the exchange of fire, he thought it would be better to have his soldiers launch a bayonet charge. Perhaps their casualties would decrease once they were in close combat. He raised his sword, about to give the order for his troops to annihilate the Mongols in one fell swoop, when a hand grabbed his wrist from behind, stopping him from giving the order.
Su Hongtu turned around and saw Ma Wei. He asked, puzzled, "Brother Ma Wei, what are you doing?"
Ma Wei, wounded and supported by soldiers, looked exhausted but his eyes were resolute. He explained, “Commander, I’ve dealt with the Mongols quite a bit in Xuanfu and know their strengths and weaknesses. The Mongols of today are not what they used to be; they’re just lackeys who come to plunder with the Tartars, they’ll follow whoever feeds them. Now they’re surrounded and fighting like cornered beasts. If we promise them they won’t be killed if they surrender, they might just give in—if they have a chance to survive, they won’t fight to the death. This way we can reduce the casualties of our brothers and also reinforce the walls in time, since the Tartars outside are the real threat.”
Su Hongtu glanced at the Mongols ahead, pondered for a moment, and said, "What you said makes sense. If we can persuade them to lay down their weapons and surrender, that would be the best outcome." He summoned a messenger, "Notify all battalions and companies to shout together: Lay down your weapons, and those who surrender will be spared!"
The order was quickly relayed to each battalion and company, and the bursts of gunfire gradually subsided, replaced by shouts and announcements.
"Lay down your weapons, and those who surrender will be spared!"
The Mongols regularly traded with the Han Chinese along the border and occasionally followed the Tartars into the Central Plains to plunder. Having frequent interactions with the Han Chinese, they could all understand the language. Even generals like Arslan, who spoke fluent Chinese, were stunned by the shouts, their arrow-shooting movements slowing. Who would want to die if they could live? After all, they were only there to plunder, not to fight to the death.
But they weren't sure if what they said was true or false. What if the other side was bluffing? Besides, what would happen to them if they surrendered to the Han people? Unable to make up their minds, they all turned their gazes to Arsleng.
Arslan, dizzy and swaying from excessive blood loss, was too weak to think much. The Han people said it was better to live a miserable life than to die, and in his condition, he would die anyway, so he might as well take a gamble. He threw his bow and arrows and saber far away to show he was giving up resistance, said, "I surrender..." and then collapsed from his horse.
Once the leader spoke, the others were no longer willing to fight and shouted, "We surrender! We surrender!" They threw their weapons off their horses, and immediately sabers, bows, quivers, and scattered arrows littered the ground.
Su Hongtu was overjoyed and patted Ma Wei on the shoulder, "It's done! You've done a great job!"
Having chosen to surrender, the Mongol cavalry were quite straightforward, dismounting and readily allowing the Independent Regiment soldiers to tie them up. As long as they could live, what did it matter if they were tied up and suffered a little?
With the situation largely settled, Su Hongtu left only two companies to guard the bound Mongols before leading the rest of the men up the city wall.
Liang Xiaoming also saw the battle below and said happily, "That's great! We can focus on dealing with the Tartars now. You can take command from now on; I'm an amateur and won't interfere."
Su Hongtu smiled and said, "Please rest assured, sir, I guarantee that the Tartars will not return alive."
Outside the city, after the Han army retreated, the Tatar army remained silent for a while before starting to move again. A deep conch shell sounded, and one after another, heavily armored Later Jin soldiers filed out, followed by more unarmored or lightly armored men, some carrying shields, some carrying longbows, and finally, a group of soldiers clad in gleaming silver armor brought up the rear.
Su Hongtu watched the enemy's movements through his binoculars, muttering to himself, "This must be the main force of the Tartars, right? Those lightly armored ones are archers? And what kind of soldiers are those in silver armor at the very back..."
Supported by a soldier, Ma Wei also climbed the city wall. Upon hearing this, he was taken aback. He borrowed binoculars from Su Hongtu and exclaimed, "These are the Tartars' white-armored soldiers! They call themselves Bayara, the most elite Tartars. The fact that they have white-armored soldiers means the enemy is at least a Gushan Ejen!" He couldn't help but feel relieved. Fortunately, when they encountered the Tartars in Qingzhou, the enemy hadn't directly deployed white-armored soldiers to coordinate with the Mongol cavalry; otherwise, the group of rookies in the cavalry battalion would have had a hard time surviving.
Su Hongtu had risen through the ranks in Qiongzhou and knew little about the Tartars, let alone the Bayara. He asked in bewilderment, "Are those people in white armor very powerful?"
Ma Wei snapped out of his reverie and replied, “These white-armored soldiers are the strongest archers and horsemen selected from each Niru (military unit). Each Niru has only about ten soldiers, and each banner has only a few hundred. Their individual martial prowess surpasses that of the household guards of border garrison commanders, making them difficult to deal with. Fortunately, their numbers are small, so they won't be easily deployed to the battlefield. Right now, they'll probably be used as a supervisory force…”
Upon hearing this, Liang Xiaoming thought, "Isn't this just an ancient special forces unit?"
“Since the number of people is small and they won’t be directly deployed to the battlefield, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Su Hongtu said. “Whether they are cannon fodder or real Tartars, we’ll fight the same way we always have.”
In the Later Jin army, Gartu said to Abatai, "Your Highness, I am going." This wave of attacks involved all the elite troops, and he was in command of it.
Abatai instructed that the attack should be all-out, leaving no room for retreat. However, if anything went wrong, a retreat was to be initiated immediately, and the fighting should not be prolonged. "We can fight, but we cannot afford to waste all our forces here."
Gartu nodded: "Understood."
This attack involved over 15,000 troops, including the elite of the Plain Blue Banner Bayara under Abatai, five Niru, accompanying bondservants, auxiliary soldiers drawn from other banners, and the remaining Mongol and Han troops from the Eight Banners. The force was immense and seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.