Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 137: Battle at the City Gate
February 15th,

Activities in the Northern Barbarians’ stronghold are becoming more frequent.

This made the atmosphere in the capital increasingly tense, as if a storm was about to come.

After finding out that the Northern Barbarians had the intention to attack, Yue Ling began to make the final deployment.

Except for the troops directly under Yue Ling's command, only 10,000 garrison troops were left at Zhengyang Gate, and the troops were dispersed to the other eight gates.

Zhengyangmen is the southern gate of the capital city. It is the tallest gate and has the strongest city wall. The northern barbarians have attacked Zhengyangmen many times but never did.

Therefore, the generals also thought that Yue Ling’s arrangement this time was extremely reasonable.

Early in the morning, the flag bearers each took a command flag, climbed to the top of the city wall, and waited for orders at their familiar positions.

The flag bearers at Zhengyang Gate received flags without tassels for the first time. They thought it was a bit strange, but due to their status, they did not dare to say much and continued to stand upright on the city wall.

At that moment, a few bird calls were heard from the city wall, and a Saker Falcon was circling in the sky.

Jia Daihua looked up, his lips slightly raised, thinking, "Young man Yue is not lying to me. I should make achievements today."

Shaking his wrist, Jia Daihua picked up the big knife, stood on his horse to command the troops, opened the city gate and formed a battle array outside the city to wait.

This time, Tuji Khan did not insist on attacking only one gate. He issued an order in the big tent: "Alapinzhang will attack Chaoyang Gate, Qiyan Temur will attack Xizhi Gate, and I will personally lead the army to attack the passive and lazy Zhengyang Gate. This time we will attack the city from three sides. I don't believe Yue Ling can guess which side will be the main attack. Let's see how he will rescue it."

"Do you think that because Zhengyang Gate is tall, you can reduce the number of soldiers defending the city? Yue Ling is ridiculous. He doesn't know that we know the defense of the city very well."

After hearing what Tuji Khan said, all the other leaders in the tent laughed. Having prepared their troops for a long time, they were confident that they could win the final victory and capture the capital.

"Report! The army is arrayed outside the three gates, only Jia Daihua, the commander of Zhengyang Gate, has chosen to array his troops with his back to the city."

Upon hearing this, the leaders of each tribe looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what this meant.

Tuji Khan added: "This old guy is just bluffing. Zhengyang Gate is empty. He wants to use this to intimidate us. This is absolutely impossible!"

"The moat is now frozen. Even if we fight with our backs to the city, we can no longer repeat Yue Ling's victory in the first battle."

"Pass on my military order. Charge as quickly as possible and destroy the part below the city first. See if they will open the city gate to rescue us. If they do, it will be a good opportunity for us to enter the city."

Tuji Khan's brother Jili suggested: "This is unusual, I'm afraid it's a trick."

Tuji Khan had lost all face after being robbed by Yue Ling, and he was full of anger. When he heard his brother's advice, he was also furious. He glared and said, "What kind of fraud could it be? The garrison at Zhengyang Gate is weak, and Jia Daihua is stubborn. If he dares to fight behind the city, he will pay the price. There is no better opportunity than this time."

Tuji Khan took down his sword, tightened his armor and said, "Today, I will personally fight and defeat the enemy!"

Under Zhengyang Gate,

Tuji Khan led his personal guards and raised a large banner in the army formation, which greatly encouraged the Northern Barbarian Army.

"The Khan is with you. We will capture the capital today. After you capture the capital, you will not put down your swords for three days and plunder at will!"

"Kill, kill, kill!"

"Push the artillery out and fire a few shots first to give them a surprise. We have this thing too!"

The shouts of killing in the Northern Barbarian Army shook the sky.

Jia Daihua took a deep breath and told the people around him, "The Northern Barbarians have artillery, so we must be on guard. Tell everyone to hide behind the chariots to avoid being scratched by the shells. Also, tell the guards on the city walls to fire as much as possible. We must fire as many shells as possible during the time when the Northern Barbarians are charging."

"Yes."

The Northern Barbarians' artillery formation, covered by a chariot formation, moved forward and launched a round of artillery fire at the fortifications below the city and Jia Daihua's army formation.

"All troops lie down and take cover!"

The artillery captured by the Northern Barbarians were mainly cast copper cannons and iron cannons, and the shells they fired were mostly shrapnel shells, which caused less damage to tanks. It was mainly the iron sheets and debris in them that were used to harm infantry soldiers.

At the same time as the Northern Barbarians' artillery sounded, the cannons on the city walls also opened fire. The roar, the neighing of war horses, and the wailing of soldiers hit by the artillery were endless.

Relying on the grassland people's fearless fighting spirit, the northern barbarians still quickly approached Jia Daihua who was backed by the city.

Jia Daihua was also not ambiguous. After the Northern Barbarian army approached, he immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Northern Barbarian cavalry despite being shot at by arrows.

The two sides immediately engaged in a fierce battle.

on the city wall,

Lu Yuan looked at the Northern Barbarian Army that was like a tide, and his expression was startled. He thought that this was the battle in which the Northern Barbarian Army had the best chance of breaking through the city gate.

Not long after the war started, ladders were gradually placed on the top of the city walls.

"Lord Lu, the city wall is dangerous, please go this way!"

At that moment, a small group of people escorted Lu Yuan to the city gate.

When Lu Yuan walked to the city gate and saw the scene behind it, he was shocked. "Yue Ling, what are you doing?"

Yue Ling rode his horse in front of the army, and said with a relaxed smile: "Lord Lu, this is wartime, and you still have to address me by my title."

Lu Yuan looked at the artillery array, crossbow array and musket team behind Yue Ling, his eyelids trembling slightly, "Grand Commander, did you expect that the Northern Barbarians would mainly attack Zhengyang Gate?"

Yue Ling shook his head, pinched his fingers, and gestured to Lu Yuan, "That's not the case. I also relied on a little trick. Lord Lu, please step back first, so as not to hurt you later."

"Someone! Open the city gate!"

The two city gates were wide open and the space in the city wall was small. If it was just for horse racing, more than ten rows abreast would be the limit.

Seeing the city gates wide open, Jia Daihua immediately issued an order, "Sound the horn, retreat to the city!"

The soldiers immediately changed from the rear team to the front team and quickly retreated into the city. Jia Daihua, as the general guarding the rear, led a small team of cavalry to consolidate the defense line, delay the offensive of the Northern Barbarian army, and buy some time for the infantry soldiers.

It also makes the play more fulfilling.

Seeing that Jia Daishan's troops were defeated and opened the city gate to escape back to the city, Tuji Khan, who was watching the battle from a rammed earth platform in the distance, was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Jili, you lead the people to charge, and make sure to block the city gate so that they can't close it. I will personally lead the army to support you, and today is the day to capture the city!"

Jili cupped his hands and said, "Yes, Khan."

Tuji Khan laughed loudly, "What did I just say? This Jia Daihua is just a stubborn person. Once he is defeated, he will not live any more and wants to open the city gate to escape. What a joke! Only you can open this city gate, not close it!"

"Du Ke, what do you think? I will break into the city today!"

Suddenly, Tuji Khan thought of Du Ke who had died in his tent when Yue Ling attacked the camp, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "After all, you have been our guide all the way south. After we conquer the capital, we will build a temple for you."

With a slight sigh, Tuji Khan raised his whip and led his guards into the army.

The Dachang army slowly retreated into the city, and the Beiman army pursued them relentlessly, rushing into the city wall.

Jia Daihua fought and retreated all the way to the inner city gate, with several arrow wounds on his body already healed.

Using all his strength, Jia Daihua pushed away the northern barbarian's long sword, spurred his horse back, and took a detour along the city wall.

"Yue boy, I have done it all. Now it's up to you!"

After completely defeating this infantry, the morale of the Northern Barbarians was greatly boosted, and with support from the rear, they immediately rushed into the city.

They thought victory was just around the corner, but when everyone rushed into the city they saw something was wrong.

In front of them was a flag with the word "Yue" on it. Relying on the terrain of civilian houses, cannons had been set up. Among them, surrounded by various small cannons, there was a huge cannon with a barrel as thick as a man's waist, facing them.

All kinds of weaponry were like stacked up to form a bag, tightly covering the open city gate.

The first row was chevaux de frise and heavy chariots with spears on them. There were also many tiger-crouching cannons on both sides. Facing the city gate were crossbow carts, musketeers, and several rows of Portuguese cannons. Finally, there were the cavalry surrounding the periphery.

Even though the vanguard of the Northern Barbarians was close to the army formation, they were still hit by the barricades and chariots and died.

But at this time, the front and rear troops could not take care of each other. Even if the people in front wanted to stop, they were still pushed in by the people behind.

Yue Ling immediately ordered: "Fire!"

The tiger squat cannons on both sides fired at the same time, knocking down all the northern barbarian cavalry who squeezed in, and hundreds of people were injured in the blink of an eye.

Even though they saw the damage to the front army, the cavalry in the city wall could not turn around. They also heard a row of musket sounds. The northern barbarian cavalry, whose armor was not as good as the Dachang chain mail, fell off their horses after being shot and lost their combat effectiveness in the stampede.

"fire!"

The Portuguese cannons with a longer range fired at the same time, and the artillery fire from the troops on the city wall and in Yue Ling's army formation went straight into the city.

In an instant, the city became like a purgatory on earth, with corpses everywhere and blood staining the ground and city walls red. However, the cavalrymen were unable to stop their horses and continued to march into this purgatory.

Ji Li led his troops closer and found that cavalrymen were continuously entering the city, but the city walls were still not breached. Cannons were still being fired continuously, and thunder stones and rolling logs were being thrown down to the city. He suddenly realized something was wrong.

With these thousands of cavalrymen rushing into the city, they should have captured it long ago.

Just as he was about to give the order to delay the advance, he heard a loud noise in the city. The red cannon was loaded with solid lead bullets and fired into the city wall through the city gate.

The penetrating power of solid shells was terrifying. When they hit the cavalry, they crushed both the horses and the men. The shells seemed to be skipping stones in the Northern Barbarian Army, sinking and floating, and penetrating all the way out of the city.

Geely, who was close by, was not spared either. He was affected by the aftermath, fell off his horse, and was trampled to death by friendly troops.

After this loud noise, it was like a signal.

From a hidden place outside the city that the Northern Barbarians had not noticed, several more cannon shots were fired, which exploded in the Northern Barbarians' formation.

Of the eight red-barbarian cannons in the capital, the remaining two had been hidden outside by Yue Ling when he left the city last time, and they were finally put to use at this moment.

"Add more medicine and fight another round!"

(End of this chapter)