GBP Chapter 119 Hand-to-Hand Combat
Chapter 119 Hand-to-Hand Combat
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The moment of close combat had finally arrived. "Rifle fire!" Quartz shouted the order.
The smoke from the artillery was so thick that no one could see the target clearly. The guards could only fire downwards by feel, then reload, fire, reload, fire... Many of the guards were afraid that someone would suddenly appear out of the smoke and attack them with knives and axes, but the rigorous training made them numbly repeat the actions of reloading and firing.
Gunfire rang out continuously, and many people fell to the ground before they even got close to the trench. Some retreated, but He Rubin had already sent two thousand more men to follow closely behind. The surging tide of people once again filled the battlefield, with the rear guard pushing against the front guard as they charged forward.
"Five taels of silver for crossing the trench, ten taels for scaling the stockade!" Several officers, accompanied by their personal guards, galloped along the already chaotic ranks of the government troops, shouting to boost morale.
"Charge, all of you! A reward of two taels of silver will be given for each bandit killed, and a reward of fifty taels of silver will be given for each bandit leader killed. Anyone who cowers, hesitates, or retreats will be executed!"
General Wang Daoji led the charge, his personal guards and soldiers already half dead or wounded, and his flag bearers replaced twice, but he was still the first to lead his troops to the trench. Some archers were already at the trench, drawing their bows and unleashing a barrage of arrows, and the first wave of casualties appeared on the earthen fortress.
Su's ears were almost deafened by the sound of gunfire. He saw five or six arrows shoot out of the smoke, several of which hit his comrades. One of them groaned and fell off the earthen embankment, where he was instantly beheaded by the soldiers below. He froze for a moment, then heard Huang Hansheng's shout behind him: "Keep firing! Don't stop!" Hearing this, he quickly reloaded his ammunition and continued firing.
A sea breeze blew in, dispersing the thick smoke of gunpowder. The Ming soldiers who were firing arrows to fill the trenches fell one after another into the trenches under the combined fire of the fire from the left and right flanks of the rhomboid earthen fortress, but a second wave of people surged in.
As several sections of the trench were filled with corpses and sandbags, more and more Ming soldiers surged to the foot of the stockade wall. Although they avoided the frontal fire, the fire from the other sloping side still felled them in droves.
Before the previous wave had even fallen, another surged forward, driven by the generals. Soldiers fell in droves on the open ground between the fortified hills, each volley of fire from the earthen fortresses like a scythe swiftly reaping lives. Smoke shrouded the earthen embankment, and those in the distance could only see the flashes of rifles and cannons.
Casualties on the earthen fortress were mounting, with many soldiers falling to arrow wounds. The infantry line behind the wall was beginning to weaken, and the firepower was thinning. Taking advantage of the reduced firepower, some soldiers used ladders or even their hands and feet to climb up. Many soldiers then hurled burning ceramic fire pots at the fortress. Although these pots did not explode, the flames and smoke they produced upon landing caused some confusion among the defenders.
The artillery fire had ceased; firing again at such close range would be an indiscriminate attack, wiping out both the government troops and their guards. Without artillery support, and with rifle fire gradually thinning out, the soldiers continued to climb the earthen bunker, and a breakthrough was imminent.
Once a single point is breached, we'll be completely on the defensive, our lives hanging by a thread. Liu Ye roared, "Use bayonets! Drive them away!"
Shi Ying was the first to raise his rifle, bayonet in hand, and thrust it at the soldiers who had climbed the wall. The soldiers, unsteady on their feet, were stabbed off the wall. The others followed suit, bayonets in hand-to-hand combat with the soldiers.
Su Tui was on the front lines of hand-to-hand combat. He stopped reloading, grabbed his rifle, and charged at the soldiers. Soldiers kept climbing up in front of him. Just then, an arrow pierced his thigh, and he screamed as he fell into a pile of corpses. A soldier leaped over, brandishing his saber to cut off his head, but was immediately stabbed to death by bayonets from the surging troop behind him. The two sides engaged in a fierce, back-and-forth struggle in that small area.
Su Da Tui picked up a soldier's saber, cut off the exposed arrow shaft from his thigh, gritted his teeth, stood up, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Although his leg injury hampered his movement, his solid stabbing skills allowed him to hold his own, and soon two soldiers fell before him.
However, in the context of melee combat, a large number of soldiers can negate any other advantages the opponent might have. Although the officers and soldiers were at a disadvantage in one-on-one combat, they still managed to climb the earthen wall one after another using sheer numbers. Just when it seemed they were about to create a breakthrough by virtue of their numerical advantage, Huang Mengjia led a group of soldiers to reinforce them from the other side of the fortified position.
In hand-to-hand combat, Lin San fully utilized his advantages. He didn't use a bayonet, but rather a more comfortable iron rod that reached his eyebrows. With one blow, a soldier's brains flew out; with another sweeping strike, several soldiers lost their swords and spears. Some had their wrists broken, some had their arms fractured, and others were struck in the chest, their ribs shattered, their chests caved in. Wherever he went, he was unstoppable; no one could withstand his onslaught. Seeing his ferocity, the soldiers avoided direct confrontation with him.
Lin San rallied the morale of the guards present, who shouted and raised their bayonets to stab the soldiers who were still climbing up. As it turned out, in one-on-one hand-to-hand combat, the soldiers fighting alone were far inferior to the well-trained guards; three or five guards could repel more than a dozen soldiers with bayonets.
The attack lasted for an hour. Despite the Ming army's repeated and relentless assaults, disregarding casualties, the earthen fortress's defenses proved extremely strong. The numerically superior Ming troops gained little advantage in hand-to-hand combat. Meanwhile, the cannons on another fortress seized the opportunity to continue firing at the Ming reinforcements, halting their advance. The soldiers who had scaled the fortress, unable to receive timely reinforcements, were gradually driven back down.
While Wang Daoji, the guerrilla commander, was still shouting and organizing the attack, Liu Ye said to Lin San and Shi Ying beside him, "Shoot that general."
Lin San and Shi Ying drew their bows and arrows together, and the arrows shot out like lightning. Wang Daoji was hit by an arrow and fell backward from his horse. Seeing that the general who organized the attack had been killed, the officers and soldiers, who had suffered heavy casualties and had no reinforcements, could no longer hold on and fled with a howl.
He Rubin watched his troops surge and churn beneath the earthen embankment, constantly charging up only to be forced back down, and grew increasingly anxious. Then he saw Wang Daoji's reinforcements retreating enraged. Just as he was about to order the drums to be beaten to urge an attack, he saw even those who had reached the trenches retreating. In an instant, the four or five thousand troops on the battlefield crumbled like an avalanche, leaving behind a field of routed soldiers, their armor and weapons discarded.