Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 141 Defending the City
On the top of Guangzhou City, in the corridors of the city wall, people kept carrying stones, rolling logs and other city defense equipment to the top of the city wall and piled them on the battlements.

There were people walking around everywhere on the city walls, making it look busy.

At intervals on the city wall, twenty or thirty strong men stood, practicing under the leadership of the leading soldier.

The Qing army was going to arrive at the city in a few days. Although the city had recruited young and strong men, there was no time to train them. So Jiao Lian and others simply pulled the young and strong men up to the top of the city wall and trained them directly on top of the city wall.

"prick"

Pershing held a small flag in his hand and shouted while waving the chess piece in his hand forward.

"prick"

Xu Wu was standing at the front of the line. Hearing the command, he shouted loudly, then grabbed the spear in both hands and rushed forward.

"receive"

Pershing shouted again, and then took back the flag in his hand. Xu Wu and a group of young men beside him also shouted and took back their spears.
"Remember this, when you are on the battlefield, you will stab when I tell you to, and you will collect when I tell you to. Don't even think about running away. There is a supervision team behind you. Whoever tries to escape on the battlefield will die first."

"When the enemy is attacking the city, if you can't hear the command clearly, just look at the flag. If the flag is forward, you stab it. If the flag is back, you take it back. Don't worry about anything else. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Xu Wu and other young men shouted in unison.

"Keep practicing, stab"

Pershing finally shouted again and waved the flag forward, while Xu Wu and other young men continued to bayonet their spears as ordered.
The Qing army will attack the city in a few days, so it is impossible to do any detailed training for these young men at this time.

Jiao Lian used the imperial guards as grassroots officers to train and command the young and strong recruits.

The training these newly arrived young men received was also extremely simple. They ignored all the bells, drums, and flags, and did not practice archery or swordplay.

The young men were only trained in one thing, which was stabbing with spears. They would stab at the command and retract at the shout. Apart from that, they would act according to the flag. If the flag moved forward, they would move forward too. If the flag moved backward, they would move backward too.
Everywhere on the city wall, there were soldiers shouting slogans and thrusting their spears. Xu Wu followed the young man beside him and thrust his spear and put it away, with a relaxed look on his face.
It has been two days since Xu Wu was sent to the army. Apart from the initial uneasiness, he has gradually gotten used to it in the past two days.

Except for the flag officer named Pan who had a bad temper and kicked people if they disagreed with him, the rest were fine.
Their daily training these past two days consisted of nothing more than stabbing and putting away their guns. Moreover, they did not practice very hard, basically only practicing for a quarter of an hour and resting the rest of the time. This was much easier than moving goods at the dock.
This was not because Jiao Lian and his companions were soft-hearted, but because they saw that the Qing army would attack the city in a few days, and Jiao Lian and his companions did not dare to train the enemy to death.
Not only did they not dare to train them strictly, but on the contrary, they had to pay attention to preserving the physical strength of these young men, otherwise when the Qing army really attacked the city, these young men might not even be able to lift a gun.
Xu Wu and his men naturally had no idea what Jiao Lian and his men were thinking. They just thought that being a soldier and guarding a city was just like that. Every day they just stabbed casually with their guns, and the day passed by.

Xu Wu made a living by moving goods at the dock, so he was naturally very strong. This training of stabbing and retrieving the gun was nothing to him. While listening to the command to stab the gun, his eyes subconsciously glanced outside the city wall.

A few dozen steps away from the city wall is Guangzhou Donghao River. Hundreds of laborers on the opposite bank are carrying bamboo baskets and dumping sand and gravel into the river. Some laborers are carrying wood and building a floating bridge on the river.
At the foot of the city wall, a dozen cavalrymen in red armor suddenly rode out on horseback.
The Ming cavalry rushed to the riverside, raised their bows, and a hail of arrows suddenly flew across the Donghao River and shot into the civilians who were filling the river.

There were so many civilians on the other side that there was no need to aim. A rain of arrows flew in, and more than a dozen civilians fell to the ground.
The civilians on the other side of the river immediately went into chaos. Everyone dropped their bamboo baskets and rocks and fled in panic.
Countless figures pushed and shoved and fled backwards, but before they could get far, another wave of arrows rained into the crowd.

Wu Sanshui looked terrified. The civilian beside him fell to the ground with an arrow piercing his chest. Blood splattered all over Wu Sanshui's face.

He was originally a commoner in the market town. A few days ago, a group of Tartars suddenly appeared and rushed into the town. Those who resisted, fled, and were injured and unable to work were all killed by the Tartars. The remaining obedient people were all driven here to fill the river.

Warm blood flowed down his cheeks. He stood there for a while, his mind went blank. Then he suddenly screamed and tried to run away in fear.
But before he could take a step, someone grabbed his ankle and he fell to the ground.
"Sanwaer, if you want to live, lie down and don't move."

Wu Sanshui was already near the river bank when he saw a gray-haired old man lying on the ground by the river, covered with the body of a dead civilian.
Wu Sanshui knew this old man, he was Old Man Sun from the same village as him.
Wu Sanshui watched the crowd run away, his face full of rage. Just as he was about to speak, a hail of arrows suddenly came from behind.

The few civilians who were fleeing in front fell to the ground, while the remaining arrows flew across the river and shot towards the Ming army cavalry on the opposite side.

Wu Sanshui saw the civilians lying in front of him, and cold sweat immediately flowed down his face. If he had fled with the crowd just now, he might have died under the rain of arrows from the Tartars behind him.

Arrows were flying overhead, and only the sound of sharp arrows breaking through the air could be heard.
Wu Sanshui looked terrified. He gritted his teeth and dragged a civilian beside him to press on him. He felt as if something warm was soaking his back, but he didn't dare to turn around to look. He just followed the example of Old Man Sun and lay on the ground tightly, motionless.

Wu Sanshui lay on the ground tightly. In addition to the smell of blood, he soon smelled a choking smell of smoke.
He raised his head slightly and looked towards the other side. He saw the Ming army cavalrymen on the other side were constantly pouring something on the wood of the floating bridge. Soon, just when the floating bridge was half built, a burst of fire immediately appeared.

Wu Sanshui lay on the ground tightly. Fire rose on the opposite side, and the river surface was reflected red. His face was also reflected red, but he remained motionless.

On the right bank of the East Moat, a horn suddenly sounded, and soon after, cavalrymen gathered along the shore.
The Qing soldiers in black armor gathered into more than 30 riders, and then rushed directly across the small stone bridge over the river, charging towards the Ming army on the other side. The Ming army had already set fire to the floating bridge, and when they saw more than 30 people charging at them, they did not want to fight at all, and rode their horses directly to flee under the city wall.
The Qing cavalry wanted to pursue them, but just as they reached the city, a wave of arrows rained down from the top of the city wall. The Qing cavalry had to give up the pursuit and retreat from the city.
Wu Sanshui could only hear the sound of horses rumbling, sometimes far away, sometimes near. He looked up and saw that the cavalry on both sides had already crossed the river bank. Except for the fallen civilians, the rest of the people behind them had also fled to the rear. At this time, the entire river bank was empty.

A hint of joy flashed in Wu Sanshui's eyes. Now that there was no Qing army surveillance, he could just escape. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he wanted to take this opportunity to escape!

Wu Sanshui bent his body and tried to escape. He didn't know where to go or how to escape, but he had only one thought in his mind: he had to escape. He had to escape.
Suddenly there was a splash in front of Wu Sanshui, and he saw that Old Man Sun, who was lying in front of him, had already jumped into the river and swam southward downstream along the river.
Wu Sanshui's eyes lit up, and he was about to jump into the water and follow Old Man Sun into the water.
But before he could get up, there was another sound of horse hooves, followed by several sounds of breaking through the air, and an iron arrow suddenly shot into the water and pierced straight into the vest of Old Man Sun who was swimming hard.
Old man Sun froze for a moment, struggled a few times, and then lay prone on the river surface, motionless. Blood gushed out from his back, instantly dyeing the river water beside him red.
Arrows kept falling, and the civilians who jumped into the river like Old Man Sun were all shot and killed by the Qing cavalry who were driven back. The river was full of cries and shouts, and the fire reflected the blood, dyeing the river red.

Wu Sanshui's body trembled, and he fell down again after climbing halfway up. He looked at Old Man Sun lying motionless on the river surface, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes. Everything in front of him became blurry.

About a quarter of an hour later, the shouts of the cavalrymen could be heard again on the river bank.

"Continue to fill the river. The general has ordered that before tomorrow, we must fill five meters of river surface here and build three floating bridges."

"Those in the river will be killed if they try to escape."

"Return quickly to fill the river"

The Qing cavalry drove the fleeing laborers back. The laborers walked back to the river with numb expressions, lifted the bloodstained bamboo baskets, and continued to fill them with sand and gravel and dump them into the river.
Wu Sanshui was lying on the ground. Seeing another laborer appear beside him, he got up and mixed in with the laborers carrying baskets and soil.
There were bodies lying on the river surface, and the blood dyed the river surface light red.
Wu Sanshui carried a bamboo basket with tears on his face. He poured dirt and gravel into the river, and the light red water instantly became turbid.

On the top of the city wall, the rumbling sound of horse hooves echoed

Xu Wu and other young men looked at the Qing cavalrymen charging down from the city with fear in their eyes. They all forgot to move and just stared blankly at the black-armored cavalrymen under the city.

When the rain of arrows fell from the city walls and the black-armored cavalrymen withdrew, cheers suddenly rang out from the city walls.

Then, Xu Wu was hit on the buttocks with a stick.
"I told you to put down your guns, what the hell are you doing? Don't you understand what I'm saying? What's going on under the city has nothing to do with you."

"If you were on the battlefield, people like you would have died seven or eight times already."

"Fuck you, you guys are going to drag me to death sooner or later"

Pershing kept yelling and hitting them one by one with a stick. Several young men stumbled and fell to the ground, but they looked timid and did not dare to move.

This Pan Xing didn't look very tall, but he was very good at fighting. When they were sent to his side, the other party threw them all down without saying a word. Except for Xu Wu and a few others who resisted a few times with their strength, the rest were almost all knocked to the ground by Pan Xing in just a few moves.

Xu Wu and the others who dared to resist were picked up by Pan Xing as the vanguard.

The walls were filled with the sounds of the imperial guards cursing and beating. After a while, the walls finally calmed down and the boring training of stabbing and shooting returned.

After practicing spearing for another quarter of an hour, Xu Wu and the other young men began to rest.

Xu Wu and other young men leaned against the wall, while others lay on the parapet and watched the workers on the other side filling the river.

Xu Wu sat there for a while, and suddenly a clapper sound was heard not far away.
When Xu Wu and other young men heard the clapper sounds, they immediately sat up from the ground, lined up in two rows between the city walls, and then all looked at Pan Xing on one side.
"Damn it, the bayonets are all absent-minded. When they hear about eating, they act like rabbits."

"A bunch of gluttons"

Pershing looked at the young men with expectant expressions on their faces, and he was furious and kept cursing. However, the young men seemed not to notice and just looked at the wooden barrels being lifted up on the ramp of the city wall.

Yes, this clapper sound is the Ming army's order to eat, and it is also the sound that the young and strong men have been looking forward to hearing the most in the past two days.

Pan Xing cursed for a while, but seeing that the young men in front of him had no reaction at all, he could only curse and lead them to get food.

On the wall corridor, Xu Wu was squatting on the ground with a group of young men, holding a bowl of rice and wolfing down the food. The bowl was filled with white rice, and the dish was pork stewed with black fungus and green vegetables.

Xu Wu looked at the pile of white rice in the bowl and the greasy fat and vegetables on the surface of the bowl, and suddenly felt that it would be great if the city could be defended like this forever.

(End of this chapter)