Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 282 An unexpected encounter

Inside Dangtu City, Xu Yong led the Xianzhen Camp down the stairs of the city wall and immediately charged bravely along the street towards the South Gate. There were sudden explosions on the street and shouts of killing shook the sky.

This was the first time that the Yuan army in Jiangnan fought against the Shengwu Army in Luzhou. Before that, they only thought that this group of people were just ordinary Red Turban rebels. After all, rebels must be newly recruited peasants, so how powerful could they be?

Although the Yuan army in Jiangnan was similar in that they were all temporarily recruited peasants as soldiers, they were at least the official army of the imperial court. They had weapons and armor provided by the imperial court. Although only a small number of people could be equipped, they still had the official army generals of the imperial court to command them. What could the Red Turban rebels do?
How are the Red Turban bandits in Luzhou better than Xu Shouhui, who proclaimed himself emperor? Even Xu Shouhui was beaten back by them, so the Red Turban bandits in Luzhou are no different.

The Dangtu Yuan army, with the power of their recent victory over Xu Shouhui, generally did not take the Shengwu Army on the other side seriously, thinking that they would be as easy to deal with as the Xu Song Red Turbans.

But as soon as the battle started today, before the two sides officially engaged in battle, the Shengwu Army used muskets to beat them so hard that they dared not even go up to the top of the city walls, suffering heavy casualties. Now those who rushed in were not ordinary peasants, but all heavily armored infantry, wearing uniform standard heavy armor, which was well-made, fighting bravely and with a hidden method.

The weapons were just as varied as they had imagined, but the weapons of these Xianzhen Camp soldiers did not look cheap or makeshift at all. These were all rewards they had won in competitions within the camp. They were privately customized weapons, and although their styles varied, they best suited the characteristics of each of them.

These are not rebels at all, they are more like government troops than the government troops.

What about Nahachu's previous prediction that the enemy's muskets would be useless if they entered the city? Now the muskets are indeed gone, but the grenades in the hands of the soldiers in the Xianzhen Camp are still not vegetarian.

Boom—Boom—

Two more grenades exploded in the crowd of Yuan army. Xu Yong took the lead and led everyone forward. They soon reached the south gate. Soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp immediately rushed into the doorway and worked together to remove the huge bolt. The Imperial Guards' Musket Battalion outside immediately lined up and rushed in.

Li Wang, the battalion officer of the 1st Musket Battalion, rushed to the front holding the battalion flag and shouted as soon as he came out of the door.

"Quick, hurry into the city, advance into the city according to the battle plan, do not linger at the city gate! Do not hinder the follow-up troops from entering the city!"

"Pay attention to the street fighting formation, don't be left alone, pay attention to the essentials of street fighting, and use the bamboo whistle to keep in touch!"

Li Wang commanded the soldiers of the First Musket Battalion to enter the city quickly. Seeing that most people had come in, he also rushed into the city with a flag raised.

Qin Rong, Guo Xing and Zheng Yulin of the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Guard followed closely behind, each leading a battalion of musketeers into the city.

They had obtained the city map issued by their superiors a few days ago, and made appropriate arrangements based on the characteristics of the city. For example, to attack the wider streets in the city, they had to advance in platoons, with four squads taking turns firing muskets, and each squad of twelve people was just enough to control the entire street.

When attacking a narrow alley, they would do it in squads. Each squad was divided into three combat teams, with four people in each team, just enough to control the width of an alley.

Once they reach the corner of a street in the city, the squad leader must blow a bamboo whistle first. Friendly troops that hear the whistle must also blow a bamboo whistle in response. If there is no response, it will be regarded as an enemy outside the alley. They must first throw a grenade and then the whole squad will rush out and fire in unison.

This arrangement is also to prevent accidental injuries to friendly forces or ambushes by the enemy.
As a result, as soon as the four musket battalions entered the city, sharp bamboo whistles sounded one after another in the city, as well as the sounds of musket fire and grenade explosions, and the screams and pleas for mercy of the Yuan army.

Li Wang led the First Battalion of Musketeers to attack the main road in the city. Not long after entering the city, they ran into a group of Yuan army soldiers. These were the reserve troops arranged by Nahachu in various streets in the city. The original plan was to send them to the four city walls to support the battle if the defenders on the city walls could not hold on.

Now, the city gate was lost not long after the battle started, and the main force of the enemy army rushed into the city. This was a fart support, so Nahachu simply sent out all the reserve troops, trying to take back the city gate and drive the Shengwu Army out of the city while the Shengwu Army was still unstable.

As a result, before they saw the city gate, they saw a group of soldiers wearing yellow cloth armor and holding strange short spears rushing towards them from the intersection in the distance. There was no need to ask, because this was not the Yuan army, so it must be the enemy army.

The leading centurion of the Yuan army shouted, "Kill the bandits to serve the country and defend our hometown. There will be a huge reward for beheading the bandits. Kill them!"

But the Shengwu Army on the other side seemed to be stupid. They did not raise their short spears to fight them. Instead, they formed a team at the street corner, about three rows. The bandits in the front row even knelt down in front of them, holding up their short spears and making a gesture of blocking the way.
The captain of the Yuan army almost laughed to death when he saw this. "Do you think you can stop me with such a thin formation and dozens of short spears? Our long spears are more than four meters long. They have already stabbed the opponent to death before they even touch the opponent's short spears."

Or was the other party preparing to kneel down and surrender to him? In that case, he could accept it.

Just as he was thinking about what the soldiers of the Shengwu Army were doing while rushing forward, a man who looked like an officer on the opposite side also raised the long sword in his hand and seemed to be shouting something.

Cai Sheng, the platoon leader of the first platoon of the second company of the first musket battalion, saw the Yuan army soldiers rushing over from 200 meters away, and immediately drew his sword and ordered, "First, second, and third squads, form up, and the three rows are ready to fire in turns!"

Upon hearing the order, the musketeers immediately formed themselves into three rows according to their usual training, with the first row kneeling and the second and third rows standing.

Seeing the soldiers lined up in a horizontal line, the Yuan army had already rushed to about 150 meters, but Cai Sheng was still calm. He knew how long it took his soldiers to line up normally, so he was not panicked at all and gave orders one after another.

"Raise the gun!"

Swish, swish, swish - the soldiers raised their heavy flintlock rifles, which were nearly two meters long and had bayonets inserted in them.

"preparation!"

Cai Sheng issued another order. At this time, the enemy army had rushed to a hundred meters away. When the soldiers heard the order, they pressed down the flint hammers with their thumbs, making a clicking sound of spring compression.

"aim!"

At this time, the enemy had rushed to within 60 meters. When the musketeers in the formation heard the command, they put their faces on the butts of their guns, aimed at the enemy in front of them through the sights and notches, and their fingers were already on the triggers.

"Kill them! The enemy troops are as cowardly as mice and dare not fight me. Kill them with me and win merit!"

The captain of the Yuan army on the opposite side saw that the Shengwu Army did not move at all, and immediately gained confidence. He led a group of Yuan army soldiers and rushed over shouting. When the two sides were about thirty meters apart, the shouting of Cai Sheng on the opposite side finally reached their ears.

"Squad One, open fire!"

The next moment, bang bang bang bang bang. A thick white smoke suddenly emerged in front of the musketeers' formation, and in front of the smoke, each flintlock rifle instantly fired seven shotgun shells, one large and six small. 12 flintlock rifles fired 84 bullets, like a barrage of bullets, instantly shooting towards the Yuan army in front.

The captain of the Yuan army had no idea what was going on. He couldn't understand why the weapons in the hands of the enemy clearly looked like short spears, but were emitting smoke and fire and firing like muskets. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to figure this out.

After the first round of 84 shotgun shells were fired, a dozen Yuan army soldiers who were in the front fell to the ground immediately. The armor on their bodies could not withstand such close-range musket shooting. They were all covered with blood holes and fell unwillingly on the street.

The Yuan army behind didn't understand what was going on. They didn't know why the people in front suddenly died. They only saw a burst of fire and white smoke coming out of the pistols of the bandits on the opposite side, and the captain in front suddenly fell to the ground and died.

Some of the Yuan soldiers who were rushing fast could not stop and were tripped by the fallen bodies in front of them, falling to the ground. Little did they know that it was this seemingly unlucky coincidence that inadvertently saved their lives. "Second squad, fire!"

Cai Sheng didn't care about that. Although it was his first time going to the battlefield, he had practiced the same training with his soldiers countless times and had already mastered it thoroughly.

The second volley of gunfire fired another 84 shotgun shells, knocking down more than Yuan soldiers on the opposite side.

Without waiting for the Yuan army behind to react, Cai Sheng's second squad automatically squatted down after firing a volley of gunfire, leaving space for the third squad to shoot.

"Squad three, open fire!"

Bang bang bang bang bang bang————

Another 84 shotgun shells were fired, instantly killing another twenty Yuan soldiers rushing towards them.

They saw their friendly troops and officers being killed instantly by the strange short spears in their hands that could spit out fire, smoke and thunder before they could even reach the enemy's formation. The Yuan soldiers behind them were suddenly shocked as if they had seen a ghost. They couldn't even touch the enemy soldiers, nor did they see any arrows flying towards them. They were clearly wearing iron armor, but they couldn't stop the enemy's attacks at all. How could they fight?
Many Yuan soldiers who had never seen a fire gun, or even if they had seen one, had never seen this kind of fire gun, immediately ran away shouting, "The captain is dead, the enemy army knows witchcraft, run!"

"The bandits know witchcraft, run!"

The remaining Yuan soldiers seemed to have been warned, and immediately turned around and ran with their spears in hand, each one running faster than the other, all wanting to get ahead of the others, fearing that another round of gunfire would come from behind them. This way, as long as they could get ahead of others, at least there would be someone to block the bullets for them.
A platoon of musketeers of the Shengwu Army defeated a hundred-man Yuan army in front of them with only three rounds of volleys. Dozens of corpses lay in the street, blood was all over the ground. There were a few people who had tripped and fell. They were not shot but lay trembling among the dead bodies pretending to be dead. There were also some wounded who were shot but not dead, lying on the ground howling miserably.

Cai Sheng ignored these people. His family were also peasants oppressed by the Yuan court. In order to rescue his brother who was sold as a slave, he joined the Shengwu Army in Luzhou. The Tartars of the Yuan court were all bad guys, and these lackeys who helped the Tartars do evil were all accomplices and deserved to die!
"The fourth squad is on guard with guns, and the rest of you are reloading on the roadside!"

"Yes."

The soldiers immediately came to the side of the road and began to reload, making way for the following troops that had not opened fire to continue advancing. As the continuous gunshots rang out in the city, the musketeers entering the city also advanced into the city in an orderly manner.

At this moment, a burst of shouting and killing sounds came from the direction of the west gate. It turned out that the Xianzhen Camp opened the west gate and let Yang Jing's Fourth Regiment into the city. The two old centurions Wu Fu and Pu Ying, who had been eager to be promoted, immediately led their troops to charge towards the North City and the East City. They had not fought for a long time. As the first batch of centurions who had defected to Luzhou, they were more anxious than anyone else as they saw others being promoted to commanders one by one.

The other captain who belonged to the same fourth regiment was Guo Zixing's second son Guo Tianxu, the one who was said to like Ma Xiuying.

During the battle of Anqing, Guo Zixing was not aggressive enough in the battle and was treated coldly by Lu Jin after the battle. Liao Yongan told Guo Zixing about this privately. So in order to change Lu Jin's opinion of him instead of hiding him, Guo Zixing personally wrote letters to his sons, asking them to be more aggressive in the battle and at least not to fall behind others, otherwise it would be difficult for them to make a name for themselves in the future.

Guo Tianxu remembered it in his heart, and he was confident in the strength of the Shengwu Army. He knew that this time the attack on Dangtu was a sure thing, so he was very brave in the battle. Although he did not personally charge at the front, he also followed the first echelon with his personal soldiers. This guy did not fight with others, but threw grenades without cost, making the Yuan army cry for their parents.
It took less than half an hour from the time the Xianzhen Camp climbed the city wall to the time the two main forces entered the city. The Shengwu Army had already controlled a small half of the southwest corner of Dangtu City, and was still advancing towards the east city. Their ultimate goal was to surround three sides and leave one behind. They wanted to drive the Yuan army out of the east gate to prevent them from fighting in the city.

However, some people, in order to get the earl title that Lu Jinxu offered and the promise of a promotion of three levels, really risked their lives and blocked the East City in advance, hoping to make a big profit.

Zhu Yuanzhang led his team of 12 people and a captured prisoner. They fought and hid along the way. According to the map he remembered, he actually found his way to the vicinity of the East City Gate.

He glanced at the layout of the surrounding houses and said immediately, "Shuangguifang, this is it. This is the only way to get out of the city from the south gate!"

Zhou Tong held the bloodstained saber in his hand and looked around. He found that the Yuan army had not yet come over, so he immediately asked, "Then we stop them on the street? How can the 12 of us stop the fleeing Yuan army?"

Zhu Chongba also looked around and saw a large house at the corner of the street. He immediately pointed and said, "Let's occupy that yard. The wall of this yard faces the corner of the street. Let's hide in the yard and act according to circumstances."

"This..." Li Wu hesitated when he heard this.

Zhou Tong also said, "Zhongba, trespassing into a private residence is not appropriate. If the instructor finds out, it will be a violation of military law."

Zhu Chongba said, "Bullshit, what military regulations are you violating? Listen to me. This is the key to street fighting written in black and white in the Marshal's military manual. Street fighting is not a flat battle. You must pay attention to the roofs and buildings on both sides, and don't be restricted by the building layout. You must learn to go through walls and go around the back, and don't take the usual route, so that you can catch the enemy by surprise.

"Listen to me, occupy this courtyard. Li Wu, Qian Hui, you two archers go up to the roof and keep an eye on the Yuan army passing by on the street. Guan Chen, Zhang Ye, we will use spears and clubs to build barricades and prepare to intercept the passing Yuan army. Zhou Tong, you use the saber, and you take Zhao Gan and Xiao Chen to hide in the back and prepare to attack from behind the Yuan army.

"Li Wu, you guys stay on the roof and watch. If it's just an ordinary Yuan army, we'll just hide and let them go. If it's someone like Nahachu, I'll lead my men out to stop them. You guys shoot arrows from the roof to suppress them. Zhou Tong and his men will go around from behind. We'll attack from the front, back, top, and bottom. We'll definitely be able to catch that guy!"

The two thought about it and then nodded vigorously.

"Done!"

"Gamble!"

Zhu Chongba waved his hand and ordered, "Climb over the wall and open the door from the inside. Be quick and don't let the Yuan army find you."

After that, Qian Hui and Wei Jia, two of the more agile people in the class, immediately climbed up the wall with a human ladder. As soon as they entered, they heard someone shouting, "Someone's here!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tong also climbed over the wall using a human ladder and immediately saw Qian Hui holding a shield in one hand and a knife in the other, confronting two scholars holding wooden sticks.

Zhou Tong jumped off the wall, swung his saber forward, and chopped off the sticks in the hands of the two men. He said viciously, "Go back to the house. We will stay in your yard for a while. Don't force me to hurt your lives!"

The two young scholars looked at each other, and saw that Zhou Tong was covered in blood, with the saber in his hand pointing at them with a cold glow, but it seemed that he really had no intention of killing anyone. So they bowed to Zhou Tong and obediently returned to the house.

After a while, the courtyard gate opened and Zhu Yuanzhang led his men rushed in. They saw a middle-aged man with a beard standing at the door of the main room, and two young men blocking the door. The voices of women and children seemed to be coming from the room.

Zhu Chongba immediately bowed to the man and said, "Sir, please let me borrow your courtyard for a while. We are the Shengwu Army from Luzhou who are fighting against the Yuan Dynasty. We will not harm Han people, but only kill Tartars. You stay in the house and we will not go in. How about that?"

The middle-aged man nodded and said, "Please do as you please. I hope you will keep your promise and not disturb my family."

"rest assured."

Zhu Chongba agreed and immediately looked around the courtyard, then looked at the wall facing the street, and said, "Brothers, help me and tear down a hole in this wall."

"."

The three people in front of the main hall were stunned when they heard this. Good fellow, you guys are not going to enter the house, but it is not good to come up and tear down the courtyard wall.
(End of this chapter)