Chapter 366 365 Raid

In the early morning, the sun slowly rose, and the sunlight sprinkled on the ink-stained grassland. Small animals also came out of their hiding caves to look for food, bringing life back to the silent grassland.

"Dang-dang-dang." A bell sounded, and a horse team of about 20 people slowly moved forward in the distance. In front of them, on the endless flat grassland, a city was in front of them.

"Squeaky"

The wood rubbed against each other and made a harsh and unpleasant noise. Four men in Mongolian sleeveless shorts pushed open two heavy wooden doors together, revealing a straight street behind the gate and low houses on both sides. From a distance, you can see a gorgeously decorated palace gate building at the end of the street.

The horse team approached the city gate, and the knights on horseback kept going up and down the city in large numbers, silently calculating the number of soldiers who appeared in their field of vision.

"There are seven people at the city gate, and five more on the city tower. There are not many people."

In the middle of the horse team, a sturdy man whispered to the person next to him.

"You take people to control the city, I will take people to the city gate and send a signal."

The man beside him also answered in a low voice.

"Okay."

The sturdy man whispered and gently urged the reins. The horse under his crotch also quickened its pace, caught up with the knights in front, and gradually walked to the front.

The horse team approached the city gate, and a soldier standing at the gate stood out, blocking the road, and shouted loudly: "Which tribe are you from?"

At the front of the horse team was a man with prominent cheekbones, a low nose bridge, and a typical Mongolian look. He looked at the soldier who was obviously a Han Chinese in front of him with disdain.

He drove the horse closer to the soldier and said, "We are"

At this point, the man quickly drew out the scimitar from his waist and chopped it with his hand. The sharp blade cut from the man's right shoulder and slashed to his left ribs. However, he was halfway through the slash. Perhaps he was exhausted, or his arm could not continue to exert force. He drew back the long sword in his hand and then urged the horse to rush towards the three soldiers who were already dumbfounded under the city gate.

Everything happened very quickly. In a flash, the soldiers blocking the road were chopped down to the ground. As the knight urged his horse to rush towards the city gate, his companions behind him also moved instantly and urged their horses to catch up.

When the horse team rushed up, one person finally reacted and turned to run towards the city, shouting: "Enemy attack, enemy, ah"

The two soldiers guarding the city gate were chopped down without any reaction, and the soldier who turned to run back was knocked to the ground by the warhorse after only a few steps. He only had time to scream before he was trampled to death by the horses following closely.

The sudden change under the city gate made the people on the tower lose consciousness for a short time, but when the horse team rushed into the city gate, they had already reacted. While shouting loudly towards the city, someone ran into the tower and rang the gong.

"Ding ding ding"

The harsh sound of the gong resounded throughout the city, waking up countless people who were still asleep. Many people were still sitting on the bed confused, not knowing what had happened.

However, they still knew the meaning of the gong sound. Some people were cursing the person who beat the gong for disturbing their sleep so early in the morning, while more people had already gotten up and started to dress, intending to go out to see what was going on.

At this time, the knights who rushed into the city gate were divided into two groups. One group had already observed the surrounding terrain. Someone took out a shovel and started digging beside the city gate. Two people in a group unloaded a thick pipe from the horse. After the pit was dug, the two people carried the thick pipe here and put it aside. Someone next to them brought a slightly smaller short barrel and put it aside. A simple falconet position was built.

The other group quickly dismounted after entering the city gate, then took an iron pipe or bow and arrow from the horse and rushed up the city wall along the horse path.

At this time, except for the person who was still beating the gong, the few soldiers on the city wall had already rushed here, using the advantage of being high above to try to block the enemies rushing up from below.

"Bang, bang, bang"

Several iron pipes emitted green smoke at this time, and after a crisp gunshot, the two Bansheng soldiers who were blocking the front screamed and fell to the ground. Taking advantage of this gap, a strong Ming soldier rushed to the city wall. Although he only had a scimitar in his hand, he kept waving it and blocked the two arrows and a spear that was stabbed at him.

The soldiers behind him kept going up the city wall, and the few people who resisted soon fell to the ground. When the Ming army rushed into the tower, the Bansheng soldier who was still beating the gong just now threw away the gong stick in his hand and squatted on the ground with his hands on his head, shouting: "I surrender, I surrender."

But his surrender was met with a ruthless scimitar falling on his head. Just as his head and body were separated, a soldier outside the tower had already opened his bow and arrow and shot the arrow in his hand towards the outside of the city without hesitation.

When the arrow flew out, a shrill long whistle sounded, "咻".

The arrows were fired, which meant that the city gate had been controlled. Yu Dayou, who was more than ten miles away, heard the sound of the bamboo whistle from afar, raised his hand without hesitation, and then slashed forward fiercely.

"Da Da Da Da."

The sound of horse hooves sounded, and then became dense. A large group of cavalry passed by him and rushed towards Bansheng City at a high speed.

After passing several teams of cavalry, Yu Dayou also urged his horse to follow, and there were countless Ming army knights following behind him.

A small group of people temporarily controlled the city gate, but they could not withstand the counterattack of the defenders in the city. They had to rush into the city before the enemy took back the city gate. Time was not waiting for anyone.

The reason for the raid at this time is that the intelligence obtained shows that the Bansheng soldiers guarding the city have little discipline, and they are lazy when they get up in the morning. And most importantly, no one would expect that there would be an attack here.

The gong sound on the tower has stopped, but some people still walked out of the house and walked on the street, approaching the tower to see what happened.

Most of them are people living near the city gate. They heard the sound of guns and the shouts of "enemy attack", and the people living in the city began to speed up their actions at this time, quickly dressed up and picked up swords and guns to prepare to go out and gather.

There is no way, the sound of the arrow is too harsh.

While it is calling for friendly forces to come to support from afar, it also warns people in the city, indicating that something has happened at the city gate.

The first few Bansheng soldiers who approached were knocked down by a row of bird guns shot down from the tower before they reached the city gate. The remaining two or three dragged their injured friends and ran back, and soon hid behind the house, leaving only two unlucky guys lying there and wailing miserably.

Figures began to appear on the street, several, dozens, dozens, and finally the end of the street was full of soldiers holding various weapons. They began to form a battle formation far away from the city gate.

A leading officer began to deploy the formation. Those with shields were arranged in the first two rows, followed by soldiers holding spears and scimitars, and finally archers.

After quickly arranging the attack lineup, the Bansheng soldiers began to advance towards the city gate under the supervision of the officer.

They already knew from the people who escaped from the front that there were not many enemies at the city gate, only about a dozen people.

However, they had no time to waste. The enemy's firing of the whistle arrow meant that there were still their troops outside the city. They were just the dead soldiers who seized the gate and waited for follow-up support.

The city gate must be recaptured and closed as soon as possible to prevent the enemy from rushing into the city, although they still didn't know who the enemy was.

All of these Bansheng soldiers were White Lotus sect members who escaped from the interior of the country, but most of them were farmers. They threw away their farm tools after arriving here and spent the whole day with their weapons. They were okay at fiddling with them, but they were still far from becoming real warriors.

So, after gathering hundreds of people, they began to attack the city gate, hoping to take back control of the city gate with their numerical advantage.

The Bansheng soldiers crowded together and advanced towards the city gate. Their turtle-like movement naturally made them the best targets for the two falconets.

"Bang, bang."

After two explosions, two blood alleys appeared in the crowded Bansheng soldiers, and wailing sounded instantly.

But this was not the end. Just when someone shouted that it would take a long time for the enemy to charge the gunpowder, they should rush over and destroy them.

"Bang, bang."

Two more cannons rang out, and the iron bullets drilled into the chaotic crowd again. Many people fell to the ground or wailed while holding their broken limbs.

The still healthy Bansheng soldiers had never seen such a bloody scene, and their morale was shaken instantly. Some of them began to retreat and wanted to escape from here.

When the Portuguese cannons opened fire, these White Lotus Sect members already knew who the enemy on the opposite side was. There would be no one else who had such firearms on this land, only the Ming army, which they regarded as enemies.

The Ming army was equipped with Portuguese cannons that could fire quickly. Not only the Mongols knew about it, but also the Han people who defected from the interior of the country knew about it.

This weapon has sharp firepower and can be fired continuously without interruption, which is very powerful.

Now, there are at least two such cannons on the opposite side. How can we rush in the crowded streets?

We can't fight like this. The leader who arrived here first saw that there were nearly a hundred casualties on his side before the two sides engaged in battle. The key is that the morale of the army was greatly damaged. He knew that he couldn't rush forward anymore and the manpower had to be dispersed.

But the idea was good, but there was no chance to recapture the city gate.

"Boom boom"

Outside the city, dense horse hoof sounds rang out, as if thunderclouds in the distance were approaching the city, and the ground underfoot began to tremble slightly.

"It's bad, it's too late."

The leader knew that it was not good, and knew that he could not stop the Ming army from entering the city. Looking at the densely packed houses around him, he shouted loudly: 'Go into the house to hide, and let the Ming dogs into the city to fight. '

At the leader's call, the remaining Bansheng soldiers retreated quickly, and people kept breaking open the door and rushing in to hide.

"Archers, aim at the direction of the city gate, and shoot the Ming dogs to death when they enter the city."

The leader retreated while arranging manpower for defense. The most important thing was to use bows and arrows to shoot the Ming army cavalry rushing into the city.

"Street fighting, who is afraid of who."

At this time, this is what he thought in his mind. As long as the Ming army is allowed to enter the city, there are more than 2,000 soldiers in the city. If they are dragged in the city, the boss should report to the Khan and Qingshankou, and reinforcements will arrive, and then all the Ming army will be wiped out.

Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, the leader didn't care at all that the Ming army was coming into the city, and they couldn't stop it anyway.

At this time, in the palace not far behind him, Zhao Quan and Li Zixin also gathered together to discuss the current situation.

Among the White Lotus Sect members in Bansheng City, the leader was naturally Qiu Fu, and below them were the two of them.

But at the moment, Qiu Fu took some people to follow Altan Khan to attack Xuanfu, leaving Zhao Quan and Li Zixin to guard Bansheng City.

When the gong sounded loudly, the two had already woken up from their sleep and immediately sent people out to investigate.

Before they could wait for the others to come back, they heard the sound of arrows breaking through the air, and they knew they were attacked by the enemy, but they didn't know who the enemy was for a while.

Although the recognized master of the tribes on the grassland was Altan Khan, there were many tribes of all sizes, and some of them had been coveting Bansheng City for a long time, so they couldn't tell whether there was any tribe that wanted to seize Bansheng City while Altan Khan was attacking the Ming Dynasty.

But as the sound of several consecutive rounds of Portuguese cannons reached their ears, they knew where the enemy came from, the Ming army.

In the war with the Ming Dynasty, Altan Khan more or less seized some bird guns equipped by the Ming army, but he didn't have this Portuguese cannon.

The Ming army was also very precious about this weapon, and most of them were used in the defense of important castles, and the main fortresses were naturally not easy to break.

Therefore, on the grassland, the Tartars had bird guns in their hands, but there were not many intact ones, and even fewer who could use them skillfully, and there was absolutely no weapon like Portuguese cannon.

The two leaders discussed for a while and quickly made a decision. Zhao Quan immediately went out of the city to Qingshankou to summon thousands of troops there to come back for support and encircle and kill the unknown number of Ming troops.

For them, they had already made a judgment in such a short time that the number of Ming troops would not be large. Perhaps they were the elite of the border town, but the number was at most two or three thousand.

They fought street battles with the Ming army in Bansheng City to delay them and wait for the thousands of troops at Qingshankou to come back for support.

At the same time, in order to prevent being intercepted by the Ming army's scouts, several groups of messengers were sent to send letters to Qiu Fu, who followed Altan Khan to attack Xuanfu. The purpose was naturally to hope to get a group of troops from Altan Khan.

The Ming army had not left the Great Wall for many years, and the closest to here was Datong, so they judged that this Ming army might come from there.

As for Zhao Quan, he naturally brought soldiers in the city to fight with the Ming army in the streets.

"Bringing the Portuguese cannon, just in time to send it to us as a gift, hehe"

After Zhao Quan and Li Zixin had discussed it, Zhao Quan led more than 30 people on horseback to leave the palace, and ran out of the city from the other side of the city gate towards Qingshankou, while Li Zixin began to arrange for people to spread out in various houses in the city, preparing to catch the Ming army off guard.

The Bansheng soldiers ran into the houses on both sides of the street. At first, the Ming army officers thought it was an isolated phenomenon. Seeing that they were defeated, some soldiers deserted and chose to run away.

But soon he found that the Bansheng soldiers seemed to run to the houses on both sides in an organized manner, and the soldiers who came behind were also intercepted and soon dispersed. He understood the enemy's plan.

The sound of horse hooves sounded behind him, and the Ming army led by Yu Dayou had arrived at the city gate. They found that the expected fierce battle for the gate did not occur, and they immediately reined in their horses within an arrow's distance from the city gate.

It was not until the Ming army on the top of the city signaled that a small team of Ming cavalry rushed over to investigate the truth.

"Go and tell General Yu that the Tartars see no way to retake the city gates and are now scattered in the houses in the city."