Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 24: Defeat

Chen Fu quickly led his men into the west yard. There was a light on in a small house next to the stable. There was indeed someone on duty, but there was no one outside the house.

Although this Shun army was somewhat vigilant and had sentries arranged inside and outside the yard, when it came to actual enforcement, the sentries were almost useless due to the soldiers' laziness and poor supervision.

However, this is normal under such circumstances.

Why should there be any need for more than a hundred fully armed elite cavalrymen to be nervous when facing a group of Cao Gang members who barely have a few sets of armor?
If it weren't for the elite soldiers under Zhu Cilang leading the way, Lin Yongan and the more than 200 young and strong men in the clan probably wouldn't even be able to launch a night attack. The only thing they could do was to escape overnight.

In a blink of an eye, eight black figures appeared on both sides of the door of the small house next to the stable. Chen Fu heard the sound of gambling inside, and then he waved his hand heavily. An armored soldier behind him immediately rushed forward and broke open the door. Chen Fu rushed in after him.

The six Shun soldiers inside were caught off guard. When they heard the sound, they subconsciously turned their heads to look towards the door, and then showed a look of extreme fear. But before they could shout out, the two people on the outermost side were hacked to death in the house by Chen Fu and his soldiers.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Fu kicked over the table in front of him, forcing the remaining four people back, leaving them no time to react while also freeing up space for the soldiers behind him to enter the house and fight.

Among those Shun soldiers who wanted to take up arms and fight back, only two were wearing armor, and both were only cotton armor to keep warm, which could not withstand the sharp thick-backed Qi knives wielded by Chen Fu and his men.

Another Shun soldier who was hacked to death grabbed the blade that pierced his body with both hands and let out a painful wail. Chen Fu's iron hand pinched forward and stabbed the knife in his hand hard. While crushing the opponent's throat, the tip of the knife also pierced the man's body. The Shun soldier who was attacked by him vomited blood from his mouth and soon died.

In this short moment, four of the other six people outside the house rushed in. They launched repeated attacks on the remaining three Shun soldiers. The sharp blades brought up a shower of blood, splashing on the earth-colored walls, leaving bloodstains.

Although these Shun soldiers screamed when they were being hacked to death, the screams were too short and did not attract the attention of the Shun soldiers who were sleeping in other rooms in the yard.

The six Shun soldiers in the small house were all killed in the blink of an eye. Chen Fu then gave a wink, signaling his men to give each of them another stab, and then led his men towards the gate of the compound, ready to meet Lin Changfeng who broke through from there.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy!"

A Shun army soldier who got up for the night heard vague screams coming from the stable. When he came over to take a look, he found several dark shadows suddenly appearing.

However, he had just shouted twice when Chen Fu shot an arrow through his neck, killing him instantly. This was a fierce man who could shoot with both hands on the battlefield.

However, the shouting of the Shun soldier and the whistling sound of the arrows he shot were far beyond the ability of the whistling wind to cover up, and the Shun soldiers in other rooms immediately became agitated.

Chen Fu had no choice but to blow the whistle in advance to notify the army outside to charge in directly. Then he signaled two of his men to continue opening the door, and he took the other five people and rushed to the room where the Shun army soldiers lived.

At this time, the Shun army in the room had just woken up and had not yet had time to put on armor, making them the easiest to kill. This was also the biggest advantage of the attack. If you wait until the enemy put on armor before attacking, it would be difficult to fight ten people at once.

Noisy shouts instantly resounded throughout the entire west courtyard. Chen Fu, with his five armored soldiers, rushed into the nearest house and indiscriminately hacked and killed the Shun army soldiers who had just climbed out of bed and were putting on armor or looking for weapons. Heart-wrenching screams rang out one after another.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang outside the west courtyard heard the whistle and immediately ordered Chang Denggui and Zhou Shixian to lead the troops to charge.

When Lin Yongan first entered the village from the gate, he saw the eleven soldiers who had died tragically behind the wall. He didn't dare to lead his men forward. It wasn't that he was scared, but he was worried that too many of his men would be killed or injured.

Zhu Cilang didn't expect these people to be of any help. Fighting armored men without armor would only cause more trouble. He immediately ordered Lin Yongan to take over Lujiazhai. As Chang Denggui and Zhou Shixian led their troops in, a larger conflict quickly erupted in the west courtyard. The four large houses closest to the courtyard gate held over forty Shun soldiers, who had barely had time to prepare themselves. At most, they had just put on a piece of armor before they were immediately attacked by the Ming armored soldiers who rushed in.

However, the west courtyard gate was too small, and the number of troops that could rush in at once was limited. Chang Denggui could only personally lead the first group of soldiers who rushed in to launch the attack. Even in the last house they attacked, half of the Shun troops in the house were already wearing armor and had weapons ready.

Although Zhou Shixian lacked battlefield experience, Zhu Cilang soon followed him into the courtyard. Seeing this, he immediately gave an order, asking Zhou Shixian to take the soldiers who rushed in from behind to occupy the open space in the courtyard.

They now had no time to raid the dozens of Shun soldiers living in the three innermost rooms of the yard, but at a distance of fifty or sixty steps, arrows and muskets still had great power.

When allocating troops at the beginning, Zhu Cilang followed the advice of Chen Fu and Chang Denggui and placed the forty or so people with the strongest close combat abilities at the front, that is, the vanguard and the team led by Chang Denggui.

Screams continued to be heard from the houses on both sides. The Shun soldiers who had reacted during the fighting were now fighting desperately.

Hao Yaoqi had quite a few elite soldiers under his command, and almost all of them were soldiers who came from peasant armies and evolved into bandits.

In this system, cavalry are the most elite existence. They are usually old bandits or elite border troops who have defected. Each cavalryman is often served by several infantrymen and refugees, so their combat effectiveness is very strong.

At the same time, in the three innermost rooms, armored Shun soldiers rushed out of the doors or jumped out of the windows. They were very experienced in combat and naturally knew that if they were attacked, continuing to stay in the narrow space would be tantamount to seeking death.

But the problem is that Zhu Cilang and several of his generals had already thought of this and concluded that they would rush out regardless of the consequences.

"preparation"

Forty-five archers and musketeers immediately raised their bows and muskets. Twenty-one bows with armor-piercing spikes and twenty-four muskets that had been loaded with powder and bullets were instantly aimed at the Shun soldiers who rushed out of the room in front of them.

"shoot!"

Without any hesitation, following Zhou Shixian's order, twenty-one archers and twenty-four musketeers released their bowstrings or pulled the triggers at the same time.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!!! Bang, bang, bang!"

When more than forty Shun soldiers rushed out of the three rooms one after another, they had just rushed out a dozen steps and were still confused about the situation when a row of orange-red flames suddenly appeared in their pupils, followed by a deafening explosion, mixed with the familiar sound of vibrating bowstrings.

An orange-red flame flashed by, accompanied by a loud explosion, and thick white smoke quickly filled the air. Under the huge driving force of the gunpowder explosion, twenty-four lead bullets quickly flew over a distance of more than fifty steps, fiercely tearing open the armor of the Shun army soldiers, and streams of blood spurted out.

At such a distance, even the most expensive armor would be vulnerable. Eleven of the Shun soldiers who were rushing forward were instantly killed by arrows and lead bullets, and their screams and wails rose to the sky.

The power of the concentrated fire of twenty-four muskets was not too great, but it was enough to destroy the morale of the Shun army when they were caught off guard. Expressions of terror appeared on their faces. The Shun soldiers who had just rushed out of the room fell into panic in an instant, and then immediately turned around and ran back.

(End of this chapter)